AirLockAlpha.com

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many comments have been posted to the story at SciFi Wire about SciFi Channel's name change to Syfy. There's hundreds of them by now, and the mantra seems to be the same: People don't really like the new name.

OK, they hate it.

It's hard for me to see that, to be honest. In that entire listing of comments, it seems that my voice of support for the new name is completely by itself. I have yet to see anyone say, "You know, Mike, maybe you're right. Let's give the name a chance." Instead, they are ripping apart the very name I developed more than a decade ago, going beyond their dissatisfaction of it being attached to a network, but targeting the very essence of the name.

I hope that when I used the moniker, no one really thought on those scales that the name was so horrible, that it seemed like a 10-year-old girl came up with it. I mean, it wasn't the most amazing name on the planet when I first came up with it, and really was never meant to stick as a science-fiction news site was just one step in the overall plans I had to take over the world. But it's a name we have worked hard to build a strong reputation behind over the past decade, and most likely one of the main reasons NBC Universal was interested in it in the first place.

So yes, reading some of the direct attacks to the name can be hard for me ... it's like someone bullying one of my children. But at the same time, I understand where the sentiment is coming from, and at least I can accept it.

What I can't accept is a larger atrocity that is taking place: NBCU's claims that it somehow over the past 10 years, never heard of "Syfy" before and continue to claim it came up with it out of the blue. That when they did come up with it, they only dealt with me as a way to say, "Oh, look, someone beat us to the punch. No matter. Throw some money at him, and be done with it."

I just don't understand what the big deal is. So what if they are using a name someone else created. They know the agreement I signed when I relinquished the rights. It's pretty iron clad. Just because I am staking a claim of creation does not mean in any shape or form that I am staking a claim of ownership. I know the law. I know what I signed. And to be honest, I am not interested at all in getting the name back. It's no longer mine, and I am perfectly happy with that.

But claiming they created the name and pretending like I never existed is just a dumb-headed move by NBCU. It would be like Microsoft buying the Ford Motor Co., and because of that new ownership, Bill Gates claiming he invented the automobile and the assembly line. Creation is creation, and it does not always translate into ownership.

I'm not the kind of person that goes out seeking credit for everything. But for something I actually created, that someone felt valuable enough to name their entire television network after ... I think it's only fair to make sure audiences know the truth of its origin. And if I had just sit back and ignored it, the hundreds of thousands of readers SyFy Portal had over the years would be wondering what's up, because they're not stupid at all. They can put two and two together, and realize that this is a name they've already been seeing for years. For more than a decade now. It very much exists.

I wanted to just give recognition to the many news outlets who have read beyond the SciFi Channel press release to get to the real meat of the story. Publications like Portfolio and MediaPost have gone extremely in depth on this story refusing to be led blindly by NBCU, and I think they should be commended for it. But other news outlets have recognized there is more to the story than what we might see at first glance. I can't list them all, but they include TV Squad, CliqueClack, Gawker, Brand Republic, I Am A TV Junkie, writer Warren Ellis, Starlog, Televisionary, SciFi Pulse, TV Guide, Variety, Screen Rant, io9 ... the list could go on for some time.

What's completely sad about all of this, is that I have been nothing but an advocate of NBC Universal's plans to change its network identity. Sure, I am biased because I created the name in the first place, but that's some strong advocacy to have, wouldn't you think? Airlock Alpha, and its predecessor SyFy Portal, have always been a strong voice in the fan community, whether people agreed with us or not, and at the very least, we could've been spending our energy trying to gain support of the name instead of trying to make it clear that NBCU did not come up with the name.

But maybe this is yet another misstep by the network? The fact that they claim they simply came up with the name out of the blue although they've worked with us pretty closely for years. Where its VP of programming, Mark Stern, is a friend of mine on Facebook. Where Bonnie Hammer has met me more than once. Where I have been a part of many a conference call for SciFi Channel shows. Where I've been to the sets of SciFi Channel shows more than once. Even to the point where NBCU blacklisted SyFy Portal for several weeks at the beginning of this very year because of their displeasure of our spoiler news model -- one we changed specifically for them and had our blacklisting removed.

But of course, NBCU, you never heard of us outside of that.

We aren't just a site that by coincidence had a name you somehow "independently" came up with. No one who already knew or is just now learning about our existence is buying that for a minute. We had the rights to the name for a decade, and we defended it vigorously. We gave up those rights a few weeks ago, and it wasn't just a domain name transfer. It was for all of our rights to the name and any variation of it.

It doesn't hurt to give people credit besides yourself. Seriously. I can tell you that rebranding a site at the scale we did to create Airlock Alpha would take months, if not more than a year. But our team -- which included Nick Chase and Shane Churchman -- did it in less than three weeks. I wish I could take credit for that, but I can't. All I did was nod my head and say, "I like that," or "I don't like that." The real work and talent came from Nick and Shane.

See? It's easy to give credit, especially when it's deserved. So let's stop this nonsense, and work together to help soothe fandom with the new name, and maybe address some of the content issues that is actually fueling much of this discontent instead of a name which has simply become a new target.