

Response from Pitchfork Regarding Tumblr Subdomain - aichcon
http://pitchfork.tumblr.com/post/393233651/dear-tumblr-community

======
pyre
I can see why Tumblr though it was abandoned:

From March 14, 2009:

    
    
      DON'T FOLLOW ME
    
      I AM NOT A REAL TUMBLE BLOG, I AM USED AS A FILTER
      SINCE TUMBLR TOOK AWAY MY REAL FILTER.
    

From Nov 18, 2009:

    
    
      I Have Found The Tumblr Filter
    
      This Filter is Obsolete
    

How can this guy claim (with a straight face) that he was actually using this
as a blog, when he has _posts_ on the blog explicitly stating that it _is not
a blog_?

Personally, I think there is enough blame to go around:

* Meaghan is probably trying to cover her ass because she over-stepped herself in removing this blog without notification to the user because she though it was abandoned.

* Tumbldore is just using this to generate drama and publicity. It's also possible that Tumbldore is just a giant troll that had this whopper of a piece of bait dumped onto his lap, so now he's just going to milk it for all it's worth.

------
tdm911
The original owner of pitchfork.tumblr.com has his own response with a
screenshot of an email from Tumblr stating that they didn't ask him before
reassigning it:

[http://tumbledore.tumblr.com/post/393276231/this-is-in-
respo...](http://tumbledore.tumblr.com/post/393276231/this-is-in-response-to-
me-being-libeled-by-a)

~~~
nopal
From Tumblr's TOS: "Tumblr reserves the right to remove any Subscriber Content
from the Site, suspend or terminate Subscriber’s right to use the Services at
any time, or pursue any other remedy or relief available to Tumblr and/or the
Site under equity or law, for any reason...or for no reason at all."

Just because they can, does it mean they should have? It doesn't seem like a
fair assumption that the account is abandoned if there are a few posts form
the past year, especially when Tumblr didn't contact the user (assuming they
did not).

It sucks, but you get what you pay for.

I can't say that the original owner has made the best case for himself.
Throwing around terms like "libel" and "exercise my right" is off-putting and
makes it hard to empathize with him.

------
petesalty
November 18, 2009 isn't exactly what I'd call inactive. Sure it wasn't super
recent, but still, it's less than 3 months ago.

~~~
davidkarp
If you've posted five times in a year, and the last one sounds like you've
decided your blog is obsolete, then it's not an instance of somebody
abandoning a longrunning thing. It looks like somebody gave the service a few
tries and gave up.

~~~
sounddust
People often "give up" on a site a few times before they become a regular
user. I do this all the time; For example, I signed up for HN "675 days ago"
but I think I might have made 1 or 2 comments in the first 200 days.

------
jmm
Yeah, I can't say I feel all that sorry for this guy. He got his 15 minutes of
HN fame, if that's what he was after.

This is a more interesting to me as a Pitchfork copyright/trademark issue:
<http://pitchforked.com/> (Context here:
<http://twitter.com/zachklein/status/9188476155> )

I hope the guy doesn't get the smackdown after just building the site, but who
knows. (A lawyer knows.)

------
Jach
Personally, I'm all for ridding the internet of name-squatters, though Tumblr
really should have deleted all of the old data first. I think Pitchfork
Media's response is fair and more than I would have expected.

------
andymoe
It sound like they did not try very hard to contact anyone, this is pretty bad
even from a free service. If this was a facebook or google doinging this there
would be a huge shitstorm from you guys.

~~~
jasonlotito
When the user says he isn't using the URL anymore, and tells people not to use
it... that's pretty definitive in my mind.

------
steve19
Correct me if I am wrong, but you cannot trademark the name of an everyday
object, such as a pitchfork, and then have rights to any use of the word in a
domain.

So do they have the rights to pitchfork.wordpress.com, pitchfork.heroku.com
and pitchfork.github.com ? Of course not.

This is not about IP, this is about a company doing their friends a favor. I
will now stay away from tumblr. If I cease posting for a few months they could
take my domain away.

~~~
pyre
> _Correct me if I am wrong, but you cannot trademark the name of an everyday
> object, such as a pitchfork, and then have rights to any use of the word in
> a domain._

You _can_ trademark the name of an everyday object. See 'Apple' computers vs
'Apple' the music label. Now they only have a trademark dispute is someone in
their industry has the apple.com or apple.github.com or whatever (e.g. if
Microsoft or Dell registered apple.wordpress.com, Apple might have a case to
take it away from them do to brand confusion -- which was the original reason
for trademarks).

~~~
steve19
I did not say you cannot trademark an everyday object, I said trademark it for
all uses.

Microsoft could register apple.wordpress.com and use it to blog about apples
(the fruit).

Edit: Spelling

------
thibaut_barrere
Rule #1: own your domains

\- Tumblr: <http://www.tumblr.com/docs/custom_domains>

\- FeedBurner MyBrand: <http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mybrand>

------
anigbrowl
A refreshingly drama-free resolution to the affair.

~~~
jackowayed
Except it's not a resolution. Tumblr's response
([http://meaghano.com/post/393246405/tumbledore-ive-run-
pitchf...](http://meaghano.com/post/393246405/tumbledore-ive-run-pitchfork-
tumblr-com-for)) totally contradicts it.

~~~
codexon
There is only 1 contradiction: the part about notifying the original owner
through email. There is really no way to verify this since the screenshot of
the email may have been forged.

The part about having 0 posts was explained by Meaghan all the way at the
bottom of the page. The RSS feed shows deleted posts.

I found this comment thread amusing though.
[http://meaghano.com/post/393246405/tumbledore-ive-run-
pitchf...](http://meaghano.com/post/393246405/tumbledore-ive-run-pitchfork-
tumblr-com-for#comment-34786194)

~~~
sounddust
Well, Pitchfork claimed that the subdomain was handed over by tumblr 10
minutes after their inquiry. That would imply that it would have been
impossible for tumblr to have sent a "72-hour notice" mail.

Also, it appears that the person was actively using the account as a filter
(following people and reading news), so the "inactive" part seems to be a
contradiction as well.

------
rogermugs
i dont care what he was using it for. he registered it. he should be able to
sit on it and let it die.

thats my opinion... taking it away under any circumstance is sketchy in my
opinion.

------
waterlesscloud
Bottom line- who here will put anything they care about on Tumblr now?

Exactly.

------
fnid2
Is pitchfork too poor to get a blog on their own domain? Why they gotta be
taking domains from other people?

