ABC News has taken all FiveThirtyEight articles offline

Takedown and what changed

• Commenters note ABC had already “sunset” FiveThirtyEight, laid off staff, and removed the projects page earlier; the new development is old articles and projects disappearing.
• Some say this is unusual: even dead sites typically keep archives online.
• DNS still points to the old WordPress host, leading some to suspect the content still exists behind redirects.

Speculated motives for removal

• Ideas raised (none confirmed):
  • Brand / reputation management, including not wanting old content or a revived 538 competing with ABC’s political coverage.
  • Retaliation or pettiness after the founder criticized ABC’s handling of the brand and was reportedly told the IP wouldn’t be sold “at any price.”
  • Political discomfort with pollster ratings or data-driven election coverage in an election year.
  • Plain mismanagement and short‑term cost-cutting.
• Others argue it might just be a strategic decision to avoid embarrassment if a buyback led to a successful relaunch.

Forecast accuracy and public perception

• Strong disagreement over whether 538 “got everything wrong” or was actually well‑calibrated.
• Several cite its 2016 forecast (roughly 70–30 for Clinton) as more realistic than other outlets that gave Trump almost no chance.
• Multiple comments stress that many people misunderstand probabilities and treat anything below 50% as “impossible.”
• Some recall 538’s own “checking our work” page showing its probabilities matched outcomes closely across thousands of forecasts.

Corporate consolidation, fiduciary duty, and “sellout” debate

• Many see this as another example of big media buying a valuable niche brand and then wasting it.
• Others argue corporate owners owe no strict legal duty to maximize profit at all times and can plausibly justify not selling the IP.
• There’s a side‑debate on what fiduciary duty actually means, with contrasting interpretations about obligations to shareholders.
• Some blame deregulation and media concentration; others say the internet undermines legacy media’s power anyway.

Loss, alternatives, and archiving

• Commenters mourn the loss of 538’s visualizations, explorable explainers, pollster-ratings, and podcasts.
• Several point to archived versions on the Internet Archive and datasets/code on the project’s GitHub; some plan to mirror repos in case they vanish.
• Alternatives mentioned include newer data‑driven politics blogs, poll-aggregation projects, and podcasts, but many feel none fully replace 538’s breadth and style.