Figures. The web guy gets out alive.

Will Tacy, the Star Tribune's online managing editor, has resigned to become Newsweek.com's editorial director/executive producer. It's a promotion.

As I wrote a few days ago, startribune.com under Tacy has rocked, traffic-wise. In November, it was the nation's fastest-growing newspaper site (12th overall), with the third highest "time spent on site."

I'm sure the recount didn't hurt; startribune.com's mesmerizing "Ballot Challenge" was just one of the recent imaginative traffic drivers. While the site still has hills to climb — for example, playing catch-up to the low-buck Uptake on recount video feeds — its readership has consistently ranked higher than the Strib's print position.

Says Tacy, "First and foremost, it's the audience. It's a great audience. Second, we've done a pretty good job of creating something of value for that audience. 'Ballot Challenge' was a great example."

Tacy, whose last day was Friday, says he's leaving for personal reasons, not business troubles. That's convincing on two levels.

One, his wife is a New Yorker and he used to work at the New York Times, so it's a return home.

Two, jumping from the Strib to Newsweek is frying pan to raging fire. The mag has slashed jobs and copies distributed; as with newspapers, many have prophesied the newsweeklies' death. For now, Tacy remains vague about his plans for the dot-com side, except to praise the acumen of his new Newsweek bosses.

So back to the Strib. I couldn't let Tacy leave town without addressing two major startribune.com annoyances that bug me, and readers:

1. What's with the goofy pagination? Why do I click to the third "page" of a web story to find only a credit line? Isn't that a cheap stunt to get pageviews?

"It's an imperfect solution," Tacy explains. "We've discussed it and we know we need to address it. It's not a half-hour solution. With the introduction of any content-management system, there's compromise.

"Let me put it this way, there's no grand plan to create that (cheap page view) scenario."

2. What's with the goofy constant page refreshes?

"I would says two things about that. In the breaking news business, there's a not-small segment that has a page up for a half-hour or more. If it's a developing story, we file an update."

OK, but refresh all the friggin' time? The home page, maybe — but for the page two of a feature?

"Again, there are probably more elegant solutions, but if you look at any Top 10 website in the country, we all do it. We update every 10 minutes. The Chicago Tribune is every 10 minutes. The Washington Post is every five minutes."

Tacy doesn't know if his position will be filled (the Strib went from one to three managing editors last year), but says management "really wants to succeed in the digital space." He said Terry Sauer, who runs the day-to-day news operation, would assume more responsibility, backed by an "incredibly talented staff and newsroom."