WILL AOL KILL RP-C PATCH?

From Business Insider and New York Times: “Starting today, AOL is going to shrink its local news network Patch from 900 sites to about 600, letting go 250 to 500 people in the process…” “… an effort to reach profitability in a division that has failed to gain traction with consumers and has suffered huge losses financially…”

Given the dwindling number of actual Rohnert Park- and Cotati-related news and information reports since Angela Hart’s departure, is there enough analytic data (reader-interest clicks), local content development and ad buys to persuade AOL not to pull the plug on RP-C Patch?

As reported, it seems AOL may have already determined which sites will be discontinued, yet it can do harm to foster a reader/contributor campaign to generate as many clicks and locally-related content as possible. So, if it’s important to you too, tell and contact as many of your friends and colleagues as you can to join such a campaign, ASAP.  And, despite my opposing effort, that includes Marilee’s Stop Graton Casino NIMBYs, as well; clicks are clicks, and the casino debate continues to be a click generator. And it might help if Patch staff can repair the broken Shout Stream coding.