| |
|
(I agree with Quantum to an extent, but I also like talking about names and branding and identity-association, so I don't really mind tossing this stuff around.)
What *is* this site supposed to be? Is it a Grant Morrison fan site or not?
Not.
If not, I don't see a reason for it to be called Barbelith at all
If we were creating an online forum from scratch with no overt intention of discussing Grant Morrison at all, I'd say there is no reason to call it "Barbelith" as well.
But there's (a) a lot of effort and energy and goodwill behind this iteration of "Barbelith," and (b) renaming it would cause a lot of divisiveness, angst, arguments over best names (STEVE aside, which is obviously perfect) etc.
and I don't understand how we owe to the gentleman to make his hypersigil expand further
We don't. That's not a central concern of mine, anyway. Were this site currently named "Gaffleflab" after a special kind of sandwich made in Tom Coates' favourite restaurant, and had it evolved from a sandwich recipe site into this discussion board, I'd be arguing just as strongly to keep "Gaffleflab" and saying that it means more to more people than the sandwich name means to just the sandwich.
...and are very unlikely to be able to do so to anywhere near the level his original casting of it has. It's out there on comic shop shelves ... it's circulation surely way outstrips the visibility of this site.
I disagree there.
World population > comic-book readers > late '90s comic-book readers > late '90s "mature comics" comic-book readers > late '90s Vertigo comic-book readers > Invisibles comic-book readers > Invisibles comic-book readers who remember the name of that satellite thingy > Invisibles comic-book readers who remember the name of that satellite thingy and care to look it up on the Internet.
Google for "Barbelith" returns first this forum, second the old "Bomb" archives, third a Wikipedia entry on this forum, fourth barbelith.co.uk.
Dollars to donuts that if the "Barbelith Temple" project comes off, Barbelith will have more currency from that once it starts circulating than from the Grant Morrison fanstragglers. Anecdotally, the call for submissions to the project seems to have attracted a lot of new applications from interesting, intelligent people to the board.
I think the rebranding is a good idea, but branding something brand new would probably be even better. To me, at least, it's the ideas that matter, and I think they can survive being separated from the name. Dontcha think?
Well, mostly. A name change would entail a lot of discussion about names, and as we all know discussions can get a bit terse around here sometimes. Some people would probably drop off through the changeover, not updating their bookmarks or whatnot, and other "satellite" posters (ha! ha!) who don't stop in consistently would lose track of the site. More dwindling.
I have no guarantee that a new name would be more engaging and attractive than Barbelith, but a certain sense that the changeover would entail a drop in active posters.
From a more practical perspective, if I'd taken the time it took me to write this post and e-mailed some of my more intelligent, Internet-centric friends to invite them here, I might have done a bit to accumulate new members. If I'd taken this time to post something on my blog, or a reply on someone else's blog, mentioning Barbelith (the forum), it would raise the Barbelith-as-forum stock a bit more out there in the ether.
Every day, the Invisibles gets older. But Barbelith-the-forum doesn't, because new members arrive, new posts are written, new ideas are tossed around. Inevitably, Barbelith-the-forum would/will eclipse Barbelith-the-Morrison-satellite, while keeping an interesting tie back to its earlier roots. Which also appeals to me. |
|
|
