I used to hang out on a board called Atomic, and they had a splinter group… Otamic.
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Adams doesn’t come close to cutting across “every category of geek”. He’s popular with a particular group of people, but there are many, many people who should feel welcome here that will never have picked up a book by Adams.
Adams is sci-fi, and a fairly specific type at that. I (hope) this board isn’t just about that flavor of things, because there are many other fascinating and worthwhile flavors to sample.
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I agree.
GoingGoingGone
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is a an example of the sort of thing we should strictly avoid, IMO. Any wink or snarky reference to the Olde Blog is going to look silly in two years’ time. Let’s come up with something uniquely our own, and broad enough to contain multitudes… There are enough creative people here to make that happen.
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I’d like to wait a little bit to vote. I feel like things are percolating. I’m not too worried about a cease and desist. We can just cease and desist if we get such a letter.
I feel like ideas are brewing.
I don’t want mutants in the name. I want an identity that does not refer to BoingBoing though rebel or underground stuff appeals.
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What, like the Cafe at the end of the world? The towel enthusiasts? The Rag Flags?
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Brogdinab, after the gray too swarm in Doctorow and Rosenbaum’s True Names?
I’ve started thinking of this as The Other Place, although it looks like that domain’s already been taken
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That having been said, some of my favorite posts were departures from sci-fi and tech issues, like Mark Dery’s article on Victorian post-mortem photography.
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I want to make the case one more time for “hieroglyphics” because it occurs to me that not only does the word itself inspire curiosity, but that it also juxtaposes the concepts of both “word” and “picture” (in much the same way that the TimeWarner logo is a mashup of an ear and an eye). It would represent the same naming strategy as Medium, which is also a contributor-driven site with a techie audience; it refers to communication in a way that allows for a broad range of topics, without resorting to a boring/generic moniker (“writerplace.com”).
Arthur Machen, a forerunner of Lovecraft, used it as the title of a book of literary criticism where he defines art as that which evokes a feeling of “ecstacy,” or “withdrawal from the common life.”
I like Numbers Station for similar reasons; it references communication, but in an intriguing way. “This is a site where people share ideas…but also, those ideas are actually interesting.”
And if neither of those quite hit the target, it seems worthwhile to continue thinking in that direction.
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Free Mutants?
Liberté, Égalité, Mutation
Though I do like that idea too.
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I’ve got an interim plan to work around my unfortunate naming choice.
I’ve got some backend work to do first, but I’ll provide some more details later this evening.
Keep working on names. Take the time to make it right. I’ll take care of the potential dark cloud looming.
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I was going to say that I fully support everything @nothingfuture and @ChickieD said. Seriously, we should really be our own thing. We are awesome. We may have met at BB during certain phases of awesomeness that it has exhibited. But as we know, we became the draw; at least for those of us who are here and reading this thread 
BUT
The last time I read HHGTTG was '87 (actually, listened to books on tape while I applied polyurethane to my godmother’s fence. In Nashville. In July) which means I was twelve. But, I’ve gotta say, if we can get something like cafeattheendoftheworld.org, I could really get behind that, since it works in the sense of “cafe society” and enlightenment salons, plus a certain learned, cynical outlook or prediction for our collective world fate. This would be valid irrespective of whether the user understands the Adams reference.
I have my own suggestion, too, but I’ll post it separately since voting with likes is easiest and that way it’s unambiguous which idea the likes support.
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I think there’s sufficient reason to be concerned that modern literary references could summon lawyers for the authors/their estates. Even though “Cafe at the End of the World” isn’t the same as “Restaurant at the End of the Universe,” if there’s enough expression to make it apparent that it’s intended a Douglas Adams reference, then it would seem that there’s enough evidence for a lawyer to argue that we’re infringing on his IP. And, of course, lawyers don’t have to be right; just better-funded.
I’m not against it, but if we decide to go this route, we should consult with a lawyer first.
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HAARP?
stupid post must be 10 characters
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Oh yeah?
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Cory may still have the trademark on Banana, but I think we can claim Rob Ford.
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bbs.thisisntevenourfinal.space, another $4.
temporary.site was my first choice, but it was a premium domain.
This should be reasonably litigation resistant, and it’s clear that it’s no keeper.
Let me reiterate that I alone chose the name happymutants.space, based on the fact that many members of Boing Boing refer to themselves as Happy Mutants. Although I was previously aware of Happy Mutants LLC, I had forgotten about that when choosing a domain name. I did not perform adequate due diligence to avoid this, and for that I am genuinely sorry.
My current plan is to transition the site to the new domain as quickly as possible, while trying to minimize any service outages that may occur. I’ll make an announcement prior to the switchover, and then set bbs.elsewhere.cafe to redirect to bbs.thisisntevenourfinal.space.
Once we are firmly established at the new domain. I will reach out to the authors, admins, and publisher of Boing Boing and offer to transfer ownership of the happymutants.space to them. If they accept, that will be the end of it. If they decline, I’ll probably either point it to bbs.boingboing.net or to nothing at all. Also, if I retain ownership, I’ll let the domain expire after one year.
This should resolve any issues, and give us plenty of time to come up with a new identity.
Also, and this is a very small matter, but regardless of any funding model we end up using, all of the money that I have spent on these two domains ($8) will only ever come from my own pocket. It would be unfair to ask you to contribute to the costs when you have had no part of the decision making process.
Thank you for your continued support, and please let me know what you think.
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It’s more like a passphrase than a domain name.
ME IN THREE DAYS: Um, bbs.notevenourfinalspace.com? Was that it?
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