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July 9, 2008

Waxler Veers off TheStreet.com's MainStreet

Caroline Waxler, managing editor of TheStreet.com-offshoot, MainStreet.com, is leaving that position, according to Portfolio by way of PaidContent.

ClickZ News profiled MainStreet in a feature a few months ago that, I have to say, was super fun to report and write, in part because of Caroline. If you haven't checked out the site, I described it as "a pop culture-inspired personal finance site." That's pretty much what it is. It's the kind of place you'll stumble upon doing searches on Alex Rodriguez's divorce. But instead of just providing the rundown on his doomed marriage and Madonna's rumored involvement, you'll get a healthy dose of information about pre-nup agreements.

According to Portfolio, Waxler is leaving the site, but "may stay on in some contributing capacity." Portfolio refers to mediocre site traffic, and notes, "Lately, it has shown signs of shifting away from celebrity-inspired stories and towards more meat-and-potatoes wealth coverage -- a shift that's likely to accelerate once Waxler departs."

The focus of my piece on MainStreet was its obvious SEO-driven content focus and the site's high caliber video promo effort, in part enabled by last winter's writer's strike. (Essentially, Waxler was able to gather a lot of her old comedy writer and actor buddies to put together some truly funny and unique spots that promoted the site and were intended to encapsulate its attitude.)

As Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici noted in his post about the departure, the future of the site and its direction hang in the balance.

Of all the promo videos created under Caroline's stewardship, this is my favorite (and of all blasts from the past, it features Joe Franklin):

Posted by Kate Kaye at July 9, 2008 4:36 PM

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