Heads rolled yesterday at Valleywag, the Silicon Valley gossip site that blog king Gawker Media launched earlier this year. Actually, The Browser slightly exaggerates: One head rolled - that of Nick Douglas, Valleywag's founding editor. Apparently, the Valley has a limited appetite for salaciousness and Douglas, all of 22 years-old, overindulged.

Gawker Media founder and publisher Nick Denton timed the ousting to coincide with a new design for the site. He also posted a Help Wanted plea for a new editor - "someone with, ideally, some background in reporting," wrote Denton. Meanwhile, Denton has anointed himself the new, more puritan-like Nick. Why the staffing change? Douglas dug up too much gossip for the geeks. "I suspect we're going to tone down the personal coverage of civilians," wrote Denton, "because they haven't done anything to seek out attention, and their personal lives aren't that interesting. Unless they are. Anyway, more money, a little less sex: that is Valleywag's new gossip mantra."

Naturally, a gaggle of tech blogs are salivating at the news. "Valleywag, now with less wag," quipped Good Morning Silicon Valley. "Word is," whispered Venture Beat, "Wired is looking at him, for potential hire." SiliconValley Watcher, for its part was magnanimous toward the axed editor: "Nick Douglas did a fine job with ValleyWag although by the time he left he had burnt quite a few bridges/contacts." One thought for publisher Denton: maybe the reason Valleywag has not commanded quite the mindshare of the other Gawker properties is simply that the supply of tech blogs far outstrips the demand...