Pajamas Returns

Charles Johnson & Roger L. Simon at OSM blogged Once upon a time, some friends who met in the casual atmosphere of the blogosphere (us) got together and decided it would be groovy to start a blog company. "We could call it Pajamas Media," we said, referring to the now-famous quote by whatshisface, who disparaged bloggers as a bunch of guys sitting around in their sleepwear. Well, we were as surprised as anyone when we managed to raise a significant amount of capital to form said company.

At our swanky launch party in the Rainbow Room at New York’s Rockefeller Center on November 16, we changed out of our "pajamas" both literally and figuratively. We went from being www.pajamasmedia.com to OSM™ Media, LLC, the OSM being short for Open Source Media. And oh, what a drubbing we took. Many, many readers pointed out to us that OSM™ was an oxymoron; the open source tech community expressed concern; and a very fine gentleman named Christopher Lydon at Open Source (www.radioopensource.org) politely pointed out that we might be trampling on his space. (We’re sending him a pair of warm, fuzzy slippers, a heartfelt apology, and his name back, as we speak.)

All of which, as it turns out, has led us to make a change for the better. We are re-assuming our identity as Pajamas Media. (Just give us a few days to sort the technical issues out.) In short, the whole experience of being caught with our pajamas down has been a bit embarrassing, but in the end, when we realized we could get our beloved name back, we were overjoyed. So a warm, hearty thanks to all of you who expressed your displeasure with our phony identity.

Whoopee!!! I joined Pajamas Media, and liked the name, and was disappointed by the change in names, but I still like the concept. But I am even happier now that they have gone back to the original name.

So how did this happen in the first place? Back at the beginning, certain, shall we say, paternalistically minded parties (i.e., the guys in suits) decided that we should act like grownups, and being as yet somewhat immature—at least as businesspeople--we did as we were told.

Which is how, one day, we ended up sitting around a conference table listening to representatives from a "branding" company. What followed is still a bit of a nightmarish blur, but it involved a PowerPoint presentation on the history of names, and such probing questions as, "If you were an animal, what animal would you be?" (Which is how we almost ended up as Jellyfish Media.)

Enough said. So, in the spirit of "open source," we thought we’d tell you the real story behind the reason for our name change. And hope that our corporate parents will be satisfied with good grades and healthy revenue.

LaShawn Barber blogged OSM has reverted to its original name, Pajamas Media. Trademark issues aside, the name Pajamas Media has more character. I was disappointed when I heard the name would change and even more disappointed when I heard it was Open Source Media. But that’s the past. Onward to the future, baby! We are the pajamahadeen and ought to say so. The name not only mocks Jonathan Klein, but it invokes a rebellious and defiant spirit. A new medium has emerged and will continue to challenge traditional media to at least do accurate, if not objective, reporting. (I’ve come to the conclusion that not many human beings can be objective.) Unfortunately, we can’t expect anything more of leftist journalists, can we?

Eric Deamer blogged I agree with commenter Benjamin at Jeff Jarvis's that the marketing people were right and Pajamas Media is a bad name. (My problem with it being that it relates to an extremely inside baseball joke that can only be appreciated by blog geeks). The problem wasn't changing the name, but changing it to Open Source Media, which goes too far in the other direction, sounding too dull and corporate. And it was already in use to begin with. I'm not saying I can come up with a better name. Names are hard. Even if I could think of one I wouldn't post it for fear of somebody using it.

Decision08 blogged I think it’s a good move…and I also think Pajamas should take advantage of this second chance and re-launch, as it were, with more content…HuffPo may be a joke, but they launched with an incredible amount of material. I may have been one of the few who liked Open Source Media, but hey, Pajamas it is (and it fits my lifestyle much better)…