So Will Dana, the managing editor of Rolling Stone, has quit. And three members of the fraternity at University of Virginia, smeared in the magazine’s infamous hoax titled “A Rape On Campus,” have filed a defamation lawsuit. Neither result is a surprise.

The idea that Dana “resigned” is hard to swallow. “After 19 years at Rolling Stone,” he said, I have decided that it is time to move on.” Few believe that. Leftist publisher Jann Wenner said “many factors go into a decision like this,” but it seems likely that the main reason it was “time to move on” for Dana was the fallout over the phony rape story.

The magazine published a stupendous falsehood. The only question is whether Dana and writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely knew the story was codswallop, or whether they were stupid enough to believe “victim” Jackie’s preposterous tale.

Before the three fraternity brothers sued in late July for more than $75,000, Dean Nicole Eramo sued for $7.5 million in May. These came after Columbia University School of Journalism dissected the magazine’s many failures.

Rolling Stone is in big trouble. If the settlement after the Duke Lacrosse Rape hoax indicates anything, Eramo and the fraternity brothers might well get rich. Though the settlement was confidential, a tax lien showed that the three falsely accused lacrosse players may have collected as much as $20 million each.

And we still await the re-reported story.