Naturally, Tim O’Reilly’s post on all the hubub over the service mark for that phrase is thorough, nuanced, human, etc. Sure, his company has a right to staking out the term relative to the successful conferences that have helped carry the meme forward. The gap is between what they can do and what they should do. If legal action contravenes the vibe & ethos of the thing described, then it’s a hollow victory, no?

No matter. As we said the other day, this is all a distraction from making great stuff & using our powers to help people make better connections. The Web community is large and does contain multitudes. Do we contradict ourselves sometimes? Very well then. The very nature of things shifting to the edge means that it will be harder to name the thing, to describe it simply. To contain it. Do your homework. Live in the communities. Soak it in & listen. What is happening will not be something you can subscribe to in one feed, read one overview, watch one channel.

The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. And if you are paying attention, you’ll see people all over the world pointing at the new stuff on the Web. Each his own Adam naming the animals.