If any of you have been diverted and delighted by Overheard in New York in the past, it’s time to update your bookmarks. After some sort of falling-out, my pal Michael Malice, the brains behind that site (he selected the submissions and wrote all the billiant snarky headlines since the site’s inception) has struck out on his own. New York, Overheard is now the spot to find the Gotham eavesdropping you’ve come to know and love.

It looks like the old site’s publisher will try to make a go of it without Michael, for a while, at least. I can’t imagine the quality won’t decline, though — hacky punsters are a dime a dozen, but Michael’s acid sense of humor and editorial hand is what made that site so popular in the first place. I predict the quality will inexorably follow the guy who drove all of the content for three years. The new site will have the same vibe you got from the old site. The old site is now an imitation.

Michael sent out a letter to site contributors on Wednesday:

Dear Overheard contributor,

As you may have seen on Overheard in New York, I was informed this morning that I am no longer affiliated with the site. If you don’t know me, I’m the guy who edited the entries and wrote all the headlines.

I have launched NewYorkOverheard.com. Same Overheard, less overhead. It’s the same thing you and I have built and loved. If you have any links, please change and please spread the word.

An explanation is forthcoming, and will appear on the site.

PS OverheardAtCollege.com is a go, too!

Yours,
Michael Malice
Editor, New York Overheard

So keep an eye on New York, Overheard. Its new sister site, Overheard at College, looks like it’ll be a winner too, as soon as it starts posting entries. Colleges are goldmines for this kinda stuff. A now-defunct off-campus newspaper at my own alma mater used to run a feature called “From the Horse’s Mouth,” which was basically a weekly overheard column without the witty headlines. It’s amazing the kind of bizarre stuff you can overhear when you have 30,000 young Mormons all in one place. Some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever read . . .