Venture capital is a brutal game when you're on the losing side. Some partners get whacked; others just disappear. When ComVentures abruptly cut two of its partners, Baris Karadogan was not on the hit list — but when the VC firm reemerged with the new name Velocity Interactive Group, Karadogan was nowhere to be seen. He remains absent from Velocity's website. But we called him this morning and found him at the office. "I've been getting this question a lot, and it's temporarily frustrating," he said. "There's no big reason behind it. There's different levels of seniority among partners." Nonetheless, he remains a partner with the firm, and he's now overseeing some of the investments left orphaned by the departures of Michael Rolnick and Jeb Miller.

"Second Life is like a giant porno. All people do there is have sex." — Baris Karadogan, a partner at VC firm ComVentures, speaking after a panel on digital goods. What, pray tell, are visitors to the ComVentures-backed, nightclub-themed vSide world going to be doing? [Orrick}