LIFE AND DEATH ON THE WEB

I took the subway downtown recently to the great lofts of New York City's Silicon Alley to make a condolence call. The infant Stim, a Website that was born here in May amid a tide of ain't-the-Net-great hype, had just succumbed, carried off by a corrective wave of antihype. I figured I'd pay my respects to the survivors.

I found Mikki Halpin, Stim's erstwhile editor, sitting among a double row of mauve, mostly vacant cubicles. Stim (named after William Gibson's imaginary "digital drug") was typical of the flood of 'zines that launched last year. It was silly and fun and new,...