I think this is very sad, and to be honest could have been so easily avoided.  I applaud all the staff at KOL and RED for what they have built and achieved and this move by AOL is no reflection on them.  Somewhere, sometime in the future there will be another Big Red Button!!!

These were some of the most useless sites. Thank god these are going.

Thanks John, Your mature words of wisdom I am sure are appreciated by everyone.

Malcolm, CareTALK(tm) knows how hard it is to cultivate an online community , even with AOL’s resources.  The heart and soul the staff at KOL and RED poured into these franchises was evident, and they are all owed a debt of gratitude for attempting to fulfill the promises network television has defaulted upon season after season, year after year, decade after decade—for our children.  Good luck with your new venture(s).

Renata,

Thank you for your kind words.

Mal

This is really a shame to hear! KOL and RED were excellent platforms, and I believe had lots of potential. The people that I had the pleasure of dealing with there were all excellent in my opinion.

Another great decision by an AOL exec. Hey, how’s thsy stock doing?

It’s a shame to see KOL and RED go - they were truly among the best, innovative and energetic parts of the AOL offering.  During my stint at AOL Broadband it was my honor and privilege to collaborate with the KOL and RED teams on some key initiatives and some truly groovy tent-pole programming.  KOL and RED, you will be missed.  Best of luck to the remaining team - the road is long and there’s still much good work to be done on the web.
Warmest regards,
AD

This is just a sad state of affairs. Even as Bill Wilson applauds the success the dedicated RED and KOL teams have had in his weekly e-mails they are closing doors on these ventures. Heck, this week Wilson led the success of “weekly wins” with RED metrics.

All past and present RED and KOL staff should be incredibly proud of the work we did. Mal gave us the ball and ran with it. Could you ask for anything more? Unfortunately Mr. Bird left to pursue new ventures so did the soul of the products no matter how much effort those teams put in.

I echo Adam Dubov’s sentiments “The road is long and there’s still much good work to be done on the web.” One can hope that whiel there may again bea big red button but that some day soon there will be a home for “Splat!!”

Cheers,
Jonny

Malcolm and Co.

Sorry to hear about KOL and Red.

There are plenty of other opportunities where you talents and expertise can be leveraged. 

The online experience for kids and tweens will continue to evolve and demand will most certainly triple. 

Sites like imbee.com, club penguin and others validate this.

Best of luck with your new venture!

I personally think that Red and KOL did as awesome as the Hub! GO HUB!

And I thought KOL was awesome with that non-open standard interface combining FDO91 and, uh, some no-name version of flash. Pure genius.

I (the real Jim Crosby) did not write the previous post.  Someone posted posing as me.  Very classy.  KOL and RED did some great stuff and it’s a shame to see it going away.  Good luck to everyone on the staff as you move on to your next adventure.

It was a pleasure working with Malcolm, and the entire KOL team. The kid business isn’t easy, and their ability to stay current while expanding the properties into tv was terrific. It’s sad to watch AOL slowly dismantle a group of talent production professionals who were making a difference… best of luck to everyone.

What’ll be interesting is how this affects other AOL properties. This is especially after it was announced more recently that the social media site will be removed from Netscape.com, possibly to a new domain.