Poll HN: Is TechCrunch Doomed?

Realistically.....yes. There are so many new tech blogs popping up everyday, one of them is going to nail content and insight; but at this point TechCrunch is a sinking ship. Even Mashable has been extremely flakey with content lately. It's all "oh check out this meme" or "top ten comments this week"; there's no real value or insight. It seems like Mashable keeps hiring these flakey interns who have no idea how to write insightful content. TechCrunch on the other hand has been trying out multiple writers every weekend with guest posts. Some of them are really well written, others are not so hot.

Yes, AOL will turn it into another pointless blog like Engadget where all the news is just 2nd or 3rd hand link-bait stuffed with SEO-bait.

No, because the authors are smart enough to realize The AOL Way of journalism doesn't have to be a one-time payment so they're setting up new sites for AOL to buy. Those blogs will carry the TC torch until they return to AOL.

It will lose its status as the "paper of record" for Silicon Valley. It won't actually die for a long time.

My previous employer insisted that I read every single article on TechCrunch. I could not possibly imagine better ways to bore myself. Avoiding it ever since (both of them, actually.)

No. The brand is pretty strong and AOL will bring more traffic to the site. However, I think the profile of the average reader will change significantly.

In what sense? Will news quality go down? I think it already has. Will ad revenue follow? I'm not so sure.

No. They'll find a way to keep their readers engaged.

Yes - TechCrunch is over.