Weingartenchatters began its slow, painful downward spiral toward an
untimely death in the spring of 2007, when its inspiration and
figurehead, the inimitable Gene Weingarten, went on hiatus for several
months. Like when writers go on strike, the fans had nothing to talk
about in the yahoo group, so the board became progressively more
sparce. With no weekly chat to boost the morale of his thousands of
fans, the weingartenchatters yahoo group languished, barely surviving
on a few posts a week. As the year moved toward its inevitable end,
these token posts became fewer and farther between, until finally, in
the waning days of 2007, there were no more posts at all. It was as
though lethargy or inertia (or something) had wiped out the entire
population of weingartenchatters, even with the robust return of Mr.
Weingarten's chat sessions, or bull sessions, as some secretly called
them. The weingartenchatters group boasted several hundred members,
predominantly hailing from the nation's capital, home of Gene himself,
but many from far-flung states and nations. Several notable
personalities were known to participate in, or at least read the
transcript of, the weekly chat sessions, including prominent
cartoonists (one of Mr. Weingarten's passions), and fellow employees
of the Washington Post including the Empress of the equally esteemed
Style Invitational. Gene has professed personal acquaintance with the
Czar of the Style Invitational, the Empress's predecessor. While the
Tuesday discussions will continue, the weingartenchatters yahoo group
may be DOA unless it is resuscitated soon. RIP.
