The southpaw blogger named Billmon stopped pouring Dec. 28. And now the saloon's closed. You try to call up his site, and an error message bars the door. For many readers, including this one, it was the most satisfying watering hole on the strip.

Billmon didn't say if this is a pause - he's had a few - or a full stop. But his readers have noted some hints in recent posts. A week before he closed, he wrote: "I've been spending some of my spare time these past few weeks rummaging around in the Whiskey Bar archives, trying to decide what, if any of it, is worth keeping. . . ."

Blog Firedog Lake observed that Billmon assembled a "greatest hits" collection of his commentary on Iraq. Before Billmon pulled the plug, Firedog Lake noticed how he'd lamented that his and other blogs hadn't served a useful purpose, such as changing the course of the war.

Russ Wellen, writing in OpEdNews, called Billmon "the man who may have done more to bring respectability to blogging than anybody." But he noted that Billmon had worried in his posts that dedicated blogging came at a high price, robbing time from work and family.

I put in a call to Billmon's home in a suburb of Philadelphia. Not available, a woman there said. He didn't get back to me. Last spring we'd talked for about 45 minutes for a profile.

At the time he was slowing down, questioning the worth of what he'd written, complaining about burnout, wondering if he should just write a blog on the history of travel. I published that, and Billmon proceeded to go on a vicious tear, writing with more energy and passion than he'd summoned for months.

I'd happily be made to look foolish again if it meant he returned to form. But I wouldn't count on it.

It's hard to know whom to turn to for the real story of Billmon's disappearing act. He writes anonymously - he's a corporate marketer, and revealing himself wouldn't exactly help at work. He didn't frequent the Drinking Liberally gatherings of lefty bloggers in Philadelphia. He kept to himself, writing with the social detachment of a journalist, which he used to be, and with deep, personal conviction.

On Moon of Alabama, a site that mirrors Billmon's Whiskey Bar with the exception that it invites reader comments, fan Elizabeth Doughty wrote: "I don't know Billmon's name or his face. I wish we could put some of his best posts (any of them are his best) on the back of a milk carton and send them far and wide. And in suburban Philadelphia - put them on milk cartons, yogurt containers . . .

"I'll wonder who he is, where he is, wish he could still help me see things clearly, using his understanding and the facts. Hope he's safe and sound. Thanks very much, Billmon."

Guerrilla exits. The left lobes of the blogosphere suffered more than Whiskey Bar's closing. Suzy Madrak is giving up control of Suburban Guerrilla to become a city operator. She's got a gig as press secretary to Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox.

Madrak, 52, a recovered suburban newspaper journo, will hand over the keys to some hand-picked guest guerrillas until the primary or general election, depending on how well her boss does. She writes by e-mail that the new writers include Maya Dexter of South Jersey and Dr. S. of Bucks County, who is a former newspaper editor from some other city. Two others, local activists, are lined up to post occasionally, she says. She may still drop a line or two.

Overheard. I love the idea that a site that gathers eavesdroppings has market value - but how much? Wanna buy Overheard in Philadelphia? The purloined local chatter site's for sale.

Blog buzz. Nielsen BuzzMetrics has discovered that the top of the blogosphere is a select group with great influence. Only 18 bloggers - including Crooks and Liars on Stephen Colbert's White House monologue; Keith Olbermann on Donald Rumsfeld; and Michelle Malkin, supporting the Danish paper that published the Muhammad cartoons - produced the 100 most popular posts of the year.