Dear Nerd World Reader,
This post is to inform you that next Monday, November 16th, Nerd World as you know it will cease to exist. The sparkling nerd-humor, topical nerd wit and incisive nerd commentary that are the only things that make your lives on this bleak orb we know as Earth worth living will no longer appear in the format to which you are accustomed.
Yes. It is a shattering blow.
But even as the end of the Nerd World approaches, a bright spark of hope is kindled in the firmament. The name of this spark is Techland. We spent a lot of time on this name, and we can say without a shadow of a doubt that it is the best name that seemed even vaguely relevant and for which a trademark and a domain name were legally available.
Basically what happened is that you people made Nerd World successful. And like all successful things, Nerd World must now be taken and turned into something larger that might fail. Techland will be bigger than Nerd World. It will be run by more people than Nerd World. It will cover pretty much the same stuff as Nerd World did, but it will cover it a lot more. You will be seeing actual multiple posts per day. There will be more tech news.
Techland will also be blue in color. Much bluer than Nerd World ever was.
That's about it. The tone and the personality of the site will stay the same. Everybody who wrote for the site will keep writing for it. It's just going to grow up a bit.
I put up the first Nerd World post almost three years ago -- January 2, 2007. It was a different time then. A time when I would actually write a 700-word post, instead of just pasting in a YouTube video plus three words of commentary, italicized for humorous effect.
I'm proud of how far we've come since then. I hope you'll all stick around for more.
Lev
But... but... it's Nerd World! Not as clumsy or random as Techland; an elegant blog name for a more civilized age.
Lev, would you say that this was the Plan of the mysterious powers-that-be, to usurp you by putting almost robotic underlings like Peter Ha under your command, only to have them strategically in place for the ultimate downfall of Nerd World? Now there's nothing to stop Techland from taking over! Help me, Leverus, you're our only hope!
Dave
Nov. 9, 2009 18:08:pm
at 18:08:pm
Almost? I'll have you know that Peter is ENTIRELY robotic. we spared no expense.
leverus
Nov. 9, 2009 18:18:pm
at 18:18:pm
seriously techland is basically the same deal. just bigger/fancier. we all wanted it out from under the time.com domain. and as it happened the guy who owns nerdworld.com has a very high estimate of its value.
leverus
Nov. 9, 2009 18:21:pm
at 18:21:pm
Does not compute. Does not compute. *POOF*
Peter Ha
Nov. 9, 2009 18:23:pm
at 18:23:pm
As long as we get the same amount (or more) of delicious Lev writings, I don't care that much. It would be nice not to have to wade through fifty posts about gadgets or mobiles to get to the juicy goodness, but life is hard sometimes. Sigh.
karuben
Nov. 9, 2009 18:35:pm
at 18:35:pm
Too bad. I liked being under the Time umbrella. It provided gravitas. There are a million tech blogs, but only one Nerd World and the heft of Time contributed to that uniqueness. I do approve of giving the owner of nerdworld.com the shaft, however.
tyrantking
Nov. 9, 2009 18:47:pm
at 18:47:pm
Oh please. This is just a dodge so that Lev doesn't have to hear "how can you have a blog called nerdworld and not have seen BSG?"
Church
Nov. 9, 2009 19:12:pm
at 19:12:pm
ARGH! I don't really give a crap about the technology posts. I like all the other, nerdy stuff. Grr...
tereglith
Nov. 9, 2009 21:07:pm
at 21:07:pm
This.
alaskanturkey
Nov. 9, 2009 21:22:pm
at 21:22:pm
"how can you have a blog called techworld without a basic understanding of cylon technology?"
That Anonymous Dude
Nov. 9, 2009 22:17:pm
at 22:17:pm
Have to agree. I already get tech from Slashdot, Daring Fireball, Ars Technica... /Forest Gump
Church
Nov. 9, 2009 22:42:pm
at 22:42:pm
You're going to make us get new logins and passwords AGAIN, aren't you?
Brew
Nov. 9, 2009 23:23:pm
at 23:23:pm
I think I said some of the same stuff when Peter first posted about the iPhone or whatever it was. I agree with the shooting gallery that I don't need another tech blog, though I certainly understand wanting to get a piece of the Engadget/Gizmodo money pie.
I hope I keep reading here, I grok Lev and the Nerd World aesthetic. I like the blog the way it is, but life moves on... I've been commenting a lot less since Peter came on, but that's not necessarily a reflection of future behavior.
dennitzio
Nov. 10, 2009 01:32:am
at 01:32:am
I guess Lev got tired of doing all the hard work of working for Time/writing novels/twittering/blogging, and Matt has disappeared off the surface of the earth for more subterranean realms of comedy, so new bloggers must fill in...
I blame Twitter. Lev got all techy and now he's off the deep end...
Hey, on the plus side, maybe the new site won't be bouncy!
dennitzio
Nov. 10, 2009 01:33:am
at 01:33:am
Don't get too hung up on the name. Matt and I will be writing the same stuff we always did. Except we'll be able to get a bit looser, since it's not officially part of Time.com.
But this thing has to pay for itself, and tech=traffic. Any guesses as to the all-time most-read post on Nerd World? It's Peter's Droid review from last Thursday. By a big margin.
leverus
Nov. 10, 2009 01:57:am
at 01:57:am
So in this brave new world your founding, would Time not have its own droid review?
tyrantking
Nov. 10, 2009 02:34:am
at 02:34:am
Well, I for one will miss the kick-butt name Nerd World. But I can see the financial incentives. Cheers and best of luck,
sbfrank
Nov. 10, 2009 09:03:am
at 09:03:am
Will the same RSS feed work, or will we need a new one?
Michael A. Burstein
Nov. 10, 2009 10:22:am
at 10:22:am
I guess we made the point that a blog called Nerd World had no BSG coverage one too many times, and this is your attempt to nullify it?
Seriously, I'm all for growth, and I hope it's succesful, but part of the charm of this blog for me has always been the the offbeat posts and the places the comments take them. Remember the epic zombie literary war debate that raged for two days just because of the headline Lev did about the new Tolkien book?
So do your techie posts and get your hit count, and your commenters getting angry and insulting because someone doesn't understand 3G, but please don't forget that we'll still need our cutting edge observations about other aspects of geek culture like all the critical analysis of Battlestar... Oh, wait. Why do I read this thing again? (Kidding, kidding.)
Kemper
Nov. 10, 2009 10:35:am
at 10:35:am
Techland is so...mainstream. Nerd World is a whole world! For Nerds!
I feel so abandoned.
HOW COULD YOU ABANDON US LIKE THIS
Kidding. I'll get over it. If I could learn to love "Engadget" I can learn to love Techland.
loonyboi
Nov. 10, 2009 11:16:am
at 11:16:am
A sad development indeed.
I hope you can remain ONE OF US and avoid becoming just another hardware reviewer for the mainstream reader.
uvmerlin
Nov. 10, 2009 11:38:am
at 11:38:am
I cannot stress enough: I will be writing exactly the same crap I was writing before. IT will just be somewhat encrusted with other stuff AROUND it, including tech reviews.
None of us, Peter included, were happy about the name Techland. It gives the wrong impression about the site, like it's gonna be Gizmodesque or Engadgetoid. But it was either that or come up w/ a nonsense name like Hulu or Wii or something. It was a close call -- maybe I should publish some of the near misses -- but in the end we couldn't do that, because we are either too dignified or too stupid.
If anybody wants to pass the hat for enough money to buy us nerdworld.com, I am not too proud to accept your charity. But I'm telling you, you're gonna need a big hat.
leverus
Nov. 10, 2009 12:12:pm
at 12:12:pm
what about thenerdworld.com?
Can "Nerd World" remain part of the title, like in "Techland: a Nerd World" or "Techland: a world for nerds" or even "Nerd World 2: Electric Boogaloo?"
Actually http://www.electricboogaloo.com is taken, so scratch that.
yummycarrots
Nov. 10, 2009 12:20:pm
at 12:20:pm
Honestly, Lev, I don't think anyone really cares what the name is. We enjoy the blog, and if the new incarnation is going to be along the same lines, we'll still come and enjoy it.
We also just really enjoy giving you crap for just about anything we can. I think the only way you could have avoided us giving you crap over any name aside from Nerd World would have been to name it levsbsgfansite.com (but it's not too late for that one, is it? Is it?).
I, for one, would be interested in reading the near-misses.
(Also: why didn't you ask us for suggestions? [sadface])
Dave
Nov. 10, 2009 14:54:pm
at 14:54:pm
Seriously, if it's hits they want why not hotgirlongirlaction.com?
Oh, I see. Nevermind. Techworld it is.
Church
Nov. 10, 2009 16:01:pm
at 16:01:pm