Response from Pitchfork Regarding Tumblr Subdomain

I can see why Tumblr though it was abandoned:<p>From March 14, 2009:<p><pre><code> DON'T FOLLOW ME I AM NOT A REAL TUMBLE BLOG, I AM USED AS A FILTER SINCE TUMBLR TOOK AWAY MY REAL FILTER. </code></pre> From Nov 18, 2009:<p><pre><code> I Have Found The Tumblr Filter This Filter is Obsolete </code></pre> How can this guy claim (with a straight face) that he was actually using this as a blog, when he has <i>posts</i> on the blog explicitly stating that it <i>is not a blog</i>?<p>Personally, I think there is enough blame to go around:<p>* 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.<p>* 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.

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:<p><a href="http://tumbledore.tumblr.com/post/393276231/this-is-in-response-to-me-being-libeled-by-a" rel="nofollow">http://tumbledore.tumblr.com/post/393276231/this-is-in-respo...</a>

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.

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.<p>This is a more interesting to me as a Pitchfork copyright/trademark issue: <a href="http://pitchforked.com/" rel="nofollow">http://pitchforked.com/</a> (Context here: <a href="http://twitter.com/zachklein/status/9188476155" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/zachklein/status/9188476155</a> )<p>I hope the guy doesn't get the smackdown after just building the site, but who knows. (A lawyer knows.)

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.

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.

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

Rule #1: own your domains<p>- Tumblr: <a href="http://www.tumblr.com/docs/custom_domains" rel="nofollow">http://www.tumblr.com/docs/custom_domains</a><p>- FeedBurner MyBrand: <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mybrand" rel="nofollow">http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mybrand</a>

A refreshingly drama-free resolution to the affair.

i dont care what he was using it for. he registered it. he should be able to sit on it and let it die.<p>thats my opinion... taking it away under any circumstance is sketchy in my opinion.

Bottom line- who here will put anything they care about on Tumblr now?<p>Exactly.

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