What does it mean when a popular weekly podcast about Second Life is going off the air? Will Ross,  (William Pitre in Second Life) is pragmatic about the end of his show "The Traveling Avatar", a short segment that until this week has been part of the QDNow.com family of how-to podcasts.

“Second Life podcasts existed before me and will soldier on long after my avy is dead,” Ross said. “I've mentioned a few I like on my show and I'll continue to be a loyal listener to them and others.”

Ross said he thinks Daphne Abernathy and Tamera Kirshner of Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara will most likely pick up a lot of his listeners as well as other podcasters from Edloe Island.

“The rest I expect to commit seppuku like the loyal minions they are,” Ross said in his typical acerbic manner.

The decision to end the podcast was mutual between Ross and QDNow creator Mignon Fogarty (Comma Tripsa in SL), also known as Grammar Girl, the moniker of her popular QDNow podcast. Ross stated that the show about Second Life did not fit the QDNow network.

Ross said, “She's got a very professional show, as do the rest of her podcasters, all of whom are super talented. I'm the kind of guy who'd scream F--K in the middle of a conversation, and I probably drove her a little nuts trying to sneak in sexual innuendo, double and triple entendres, and attempts to ruin Santa's reputation.”

Ross cited many factors for ending his show including a decrease in his game time as real life responsibilities increased and the need to stretch his creative muscles. He also admits to burnout on the drama inworld.

“One of the problems with a video game where there are no actual goals seems to be that personal relationships become the game,” Ross said. “Suffice it to say I hated high school; I don't need to relive it, even if I get to be one of the cool kids the second time around.”

Fogarty echoed Ross' assessment of the end of the podcast but with less snark.

“Both Will, the host of The Traveling Avatar, and the management at Quick and Dirty Tips felt as if we had done all we could with the podcast and it was time to move on,” Fogarty said. “The network will be focusing on business-friendly topics in 2008, which meant The Traveling Avatar was ending up as an outlier.”

Fogarty went on to say that both parties were proud of the shows produced and are happy to be looking ahead to other things.

For Ross, that means possibly showing up as a guest now and then on other podcasts, but he feels he has said his piece about Second Life.

“I'm working on a really kick ass zombie/lovecraftian type story with the crew of Smart Bomb Radio right now - Chris Wiig and Christian Haunton,” Ross said. He expects the show to roll out in February.

At its peak, The Traveling Avatar podcast was getting two to three thousand downloads per week, and that figure remained relatively constant according to Ross. Even though the podcast was regularly a top-ranked download on iTunes in its category Other Games, the show was the least downloaded podcast on the QDNow network.