Either way, we're certainly not going to get a replacement, because that would involve spending extra money and otherwise-productive time on training someone to take his place. We've lost our only blue poster, and we're not getting another. Ever. And with this news dies the poetry contest and--more than likely--Ask CDev 3, which Blizzard will hope fades into obscurity if they just ignore it.

Cynical? Yes, but ever since I started working at my current employer, there has never been a time when they weren't having "restructures" and "progress reviews" and firing people who weren't at the top in order to protect the higher-ups from the Reaper's scythe--which means with less employees comes those who remain pushed to do more work with less people in a work environment forever tainted by fear, despair and anger.

Then the next round of cuts comes, then the next, each time pushing more and more people towards mental and emotional breakdowns as they're forced to do more and more work and do more and more unpaid overtime to make sure everything gets done.

Everyone suffers except the assholes at the top.