SIFFY? You're renaming it Siffy? Really?

[elfgrove]

Okay, so I think everyone knows this already, right?

[LINK: Dragon*Con TV: What’s up with SyFy?]

SciFi Channel announces that it's changing it's name to SyFy.

Okay, let's be honest, they can't copyright/trademark the name "SciFi" and you know that has to bug the ever-loving hell out of the studio execs. Of course they want to change the name. And as Dragon*Con TV (and many other geeks have pointed out) it's been a long time since the "SciFi Channel" exclusively showed science fiction.

So understand, it's not so much the name change or the quality of the new name that people are all in a tizzy about.
Although the "changing its name to something that is phonetically identical yet spelled like a 3-year-old text messaging" is just really not helping your case SIFFY.

So why is a large percentage of the geek community up in arms over the name change?
From what I'm hearing, there are two main reasons.



REASON 1: Distancing Themselves From the Geek Demographic

It's not so much the fact that they want to do it, as it is that they listed it as one of the primary reasons for the name change as well as the way they worded that reason.

Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel:
"We'll get the heritage and the track record of success, and we'll build off of that to build a broader, more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand."

Tim Brooks, TV historian who helped launch SciFi Channel:
"The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular."

[LINK: Syence fyction: because geeks are inhuman], [LINK: Sci Fi Channel Aims to Shed Geeky Image With New Name]

I am a female geek. (Hey, look at that, we exist. Welcome to the 20th21st century.) I am a software engineer. I like the science fiction and fantasy genres. I am an intelligent and social woman.

And THAT? That was insulting. You want to get a more "human-friendly brand"? You might want to start by not insinuating that your current core audience is in some fashion less-than-human and beneath you.

It's not the new name we dislike. It's the reason you gave, and the attitude it came with.

I don't see "geek" as a bad word. Most geeks do not fit that stereotyped description you gave. In fact, most people with any amount of free thinking cell in their brains realized that was a minority of the "geek culture" rather than the norm sometime during the late 1990s.

As dqbunny said, "We're journalists, astrophysicists, engineers, financial investigators, physicists, historians, librarians, artists, writers, students, and many other professions. We're men, women, young, and old. Pretty much all of my female friends are geeks. We are not stereotypes, and don't you dare even begin to lump some of the most brilliant minds out there into one thanks to your pathetic, small-minded, pea-sized brain."

I still watch SciFi Channel occasionally. I enjoy shows like "Destination Truth" and "Ghost Hunters" from time to time. But they aren't science fiction shows. I do not watch them because of the network they're on. I watch them for the same reasons I watch "MythBusters". It's reality TV in an entertainingly geeky light, and you might get to see something that makes you think. Those two are just the paranormal side of the coin.

This sort of insult makes me want to actively boycott the station all together, just because the attitude it's being done with angers me. I really don't care about the name switch so much as the way they're phrasing it. But I know I won't, and it wouldn't matter if I did. (It's not as though I've turned it on in months anyways.)

The network executives might want to seriously consider apologizing for how they have worded this.

I am a geek, and I am not ashamed.



REASON 2: Credit Where Credit Is Due

This reason is not as wide spread from what I've seen, and perhaps less important, but you guys know me, It's the principal of the thing.

A lot of people recognized the name "SyFy" when it came out on Monday. For the past 10 years, there's been a major science fiction website known as the "SyFy Portal". A month ago, it mysteriously changed its name to "Airlock Alpha" citing that it sold the rights to the name to an undisclosed entity.

Now that the news is out, the owner of Airlock Alpha has confirmed that they did indeed sell their name to the SciFi Channel.

SciFi is officially saying that they "worked with the branding consultancy Landor Associates and went through about 300 possibilities before selecting Syfy."

They've continued to say they made up the SyFy name completely on thier own, and only bought out Michael Hinman (founder and site coordinator for SyFy Portal/Airlock Alpha) to ensure they had the rights.
"When the New York Times first announced the story, it stated that SciFi Channel came up with the name independently using internal employees and a marketing firm. When they were confronted with the fact that SyFy had been under the use and ownership of Hinman for more than a decade by Media Post's David Goetzi, NBCU apparently stuck to its story.

A representative told Goetzi that the network conceived the "Syfy" name "completely independently" of its current usage, and that any deals struck with Hinman were simply to clear up other usages of the name they developed." [LINK: NBCU, Hinman Grapple Over 'Syfy' Moniker]

One problem with that.

"I don't own any rights to the name at all now, and have no connection to it. But at the same time, I have been making it clear that there's no way the "Syfy" name was developed independently by NBC Universal -- especially as they have worked directly with us for years, and there's nothing wrong with at least giving creation credit where creation credit is due." [LINK: Web Explodes With 'Syfy' Origin Story]

They've worked with this guy for years. He's been on the sets. SciFi's VP of programming, Mark Stern, is a friend of Hinman's on Facebook. He's been a part of many conference calls for SciFi Channel shows. NBCU blacklisted SyFy Portal for several weeks at the beginning of 2009 because of their displeasure of our spoiler news model -- one we changed specifically for them and had our blacklisting removed. [LINK: Hinman: Why The Games, SciFi Channel?]

But now they claim they've never heard of Hinman and SyFy Portal before this. They claim that they invented the name on their own.

Hinman doesn't want more money, but as I said:
It’s the principal of the thing.
Give credit where credit's due.


(This post inspired by dqbunny's and the general outcry occurring on Twitter and various Sci-Fi/News blogs.)