When the .blog TLD was started by Automattic, employees were given the option to reserve a domain for free. In return […], they asked that the domain be used as a primary domain (no forwarding to a different site), and that the site be updated with new content at least once a month. This requirement was the last argument for me NOT taking boris.blog — I didn’t want to make this commitment, plus I like gorelik.net a lot.
Recently, there were some not so nice developments about .blog names that were given away to Automatticians. The complains about this situation are usually anonymously, but I think that in this case, anonymity isn’t the right approach. That is why, I decided to share here an anonymous post from the Antimattic blog. Although I am not the author of this original post, and I don’t share the views of some of the posts written there, I do share the concerns expressed in this particular article. Posting in return for a domain name might have been a reasonable request at the beginning of the .blog TLD to help promoting its adaptation. But now, several years after this TLD is active, this requirement is simply not OK. To read the original post, click the screenshot below.
The first paragraph of this post is a verbatim copy from Antimattic.
Boris Gorelik 