Heads are rolling in the Arlington offices of Washingtonpost.com, the longtime WaPo Web lab that is now undergoing a merger with the Post newsroom in downtown D.C. According to a knowledgeable source, the ranks of the RIFed number around ten so far.

City Desk is working on compiling a list of the dismissed, which reportedly includes at least one big industry name.

Meanwhile, one question looms: Are these layoffs? Or just strategic reductions aimed at redundant positions, as Post management would have us believe?

Consider the case of one dismissed employee. This individual was told that the “numbers have been bad on the digital side and because of that, that’s why they’re doing it.”

Another victim of the reduction-in-force reports that the motivation is that the Post is moving to streamline its operations.

Updates to come.