It began as an independent zine but became part of Wired, where its creators already worked. You can check the archives to see whether it was more outrageous in the early days, before it started running advertising like its parent company. Salon moved from a literary magazine model to rake a little muck during the scandals of 1998. The emphasis is still on book reviews, columns, comics, travel and entertainment. See MediaCircus column archives, and its own best-of collection.
Feed is another online publication modelled after classic magazines.
IMedia and technology are major interests. It also has the addition of discussion areas and searchable archives online. Slate played catch-up with Salon and Feed, but had very deep pockets. It is Microsoft's attempt at Web magazine publishing, and started as a free site, then became a pay site, and now is free again , mostly. The EFF Publications Archive provides background information on the organnization's activities on behalf of online free speech.