Google authorship feature deactivated (rather silently, half a year ago)

Web content could be related/linked to a Google+ profile, with markup that became known as "rel=author markup". That was an important SEO feature offered by Google. You might be surprised -- like me -- that this feature is no more. The markup can be removed from your website:

http://gehrcke.de/2015/02/google-authorship-feature-deactivated/

TL;DR: the removal of the feature was communicated through Google+, half a year ago. I came across this accidentally today and figured that it's worth sharing, because clearly the ecosystem adjusted to the feature, and now requires active cleanup. The worthless/distracting remains will exist for years, probably.