How did we get here?

As always, John Gruber was right.

In promoting his brand at daringfireball.net, it was prudent that he also control daringfireball.com.

During an episode or two of The Talk Show, he discussed this with Jason Snell of sixcolors and sixcolours fame. The two had acted for sake of brand protection, but they also acknowledged real-world security implications.

As I listened to one such episode, I had an intrusive thought:

I hope Gruber also picked up daringfirewall.net…

He had not. But someone had fairly recently parked daringfirewall.com in Iceland…

So I locked down .net myself, and reached out to Gruber by email. I've been hoping to transfer it to him gratis; no strings. A tiny gesture in (I believe) the public interest.

Did he ever get that email? I don't know. I can't expect that I would have myself, under similar circumstances. I've tried again a handful of times, but I've seen no response.

I've considered kicking it to the ATP guys. Surely one of them could think of an entertaining alternate use, while keeping it generally in the family… Then another intrusive thought:

Oh, my great googly… Moltz!

So that's where I am now: packaging up a placeholder site for an intended audience of… Moltz.

Free to a good home. To a safe and responsible home. Or, at the very least: to a man on the inside.

Can this be what it takes? I'm trying my best. Cheers! /jct/