Some readers may remember Salon. It was somewhat influential for a time, but today the left-wing site announced it was shutting its doors for good.

Today, after 31 years, we are saddened to announce that Salon is ceasing publication.

It’s difficult to find the right words for the end of something that has meant so much to so many people. Salon was never just a website. It was an idea about what journalism could be, born at a moment when the internet was still a largely unexplored frontier.

When Salon launched in November 1995, the web was a very different place. A small group of journalists set out to create something original: a publication with a strong voice, a curiosity about the world and a belief that the internet could bring journalism and readers together in new ways. They helped pioneer a form of journalism that would come to define an entirely new era of publishing...

Thirty-one years is a remarkable run, but what matters most is what happened during those years: the journalism, the ideas, the voices, the conversations and the community that grew around them. Salon helped demonstrate what digital journalism could be and could become. We hope that legacy will continue to matter long after today.

Thank you for being part of our story. It has been an extraordinary privilege.

A few people remember it fondly but former FCC chairman Ajit Pai is not one of them.

Others began posting some of their favorite Salon stories.

Can't forget this one:

Or this one:

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We could keep going:

Salon writers all seemed to have a strong dislike for anything American. I pulled this quote myself a decade ago.

But my real interaction with Salon happened over what may truly be one of their most famous stories. It was titled, "I'm a pedophile but not a monster."

The story was pulled down long ago but here's a bit of what it said:

Those individuals who have the courage to come forward and lay claim to this affliction with the understanding that they only want to use their pedo powers for good should be commended, not hated and feared… So, please, be understanding and supportive. It’s really all we ask of you. Treat us like people with a massive handicap we must overcome, not as a monster.

The author, Todd Nickerson, was part of a group called virtuous pedophiles (VIrPed) who wanted validation because, unlike most pedophiles, they had vowed not to sexually abuse children. I wrote a pretty balanced response to it for Breitbart at the time. 

Of course I wasn't alone. Other people responded to the initial Salon piece, but Nickerson wrote a follow up for Salon which made it clear he was most irritated with me. His response in Salon used a superimposed version of my Breitbart headline as the image.

Here's a bit of what he said in his response, though he never linked to what I'd written about him.

John Sexton’s article for Breitbart attempted to paint me as a terrible person, since the author apparently had no good arguments against my actual position and never bothered to ask me to clarify the points he was confused about. First off, Sexton attacks me for not narking out the people at the pro-contacter forum who were supposedly doing illegal things. This is purely a straw man attack, since I never observed anyone there doing anything illegal or admitting to illegal activity (which is actually forbidden by that forum’s rules)... 

As I said earlier, I never witnessed any illegal goings-on at the forum, nor heard anyone confess to molesting kids or using child porn. What exactly does Sexton expect me to have done? I should point out here that politically, most of the forum’s membership, including its moderators, actually fall into Breitbart and Sexton’s camp: they’re raging anti-government libertarian / minarchist types who believe their oppression is largely down to a feminist conspiracy. If you don’t believe me, go ask them yourself. Anyone can sign up and post there.

I'm not exaggerating by saying that most of his follow-up was a response to me and what I'd said. He was clearly upset that I didn't automatically see him as a good kind of pedophile. I responded in detail to what he'd said in my own follow-up here.

And not long after that, Nickerson's articles disappeared. Someone at Salon decided maybe they weren't such a good idea after all. All of this came back to me last year when another VIrPed member tried to shoot himself on stage at a Wikipedia conference. The person involved in that incident had been asking others whatever happened to Todd Nickerson and it seems no one knew.

So, no, I will not miss Salon. They specifically gave space to a pedophile to call me a monster full of right-wing rage. If anything, I will have a glass of champagne later to celebrate their demise.