Syfy? Seriously?

While perusing the headlines from my news feeds today, I came cross the following story.

For the TL;DR crowd, the executives of the Sci-Fi Channel have decided that their name is too nerdy and that a change is needed. According to Tim Brooks, TV historian and a founder of the Sci-Fi Channel, “The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular”. As inaccurate and offensive as that comment is, the name they came up with is somehow even worse. And what, you may ask, have they determined to be the best candidate for this new name?

One word: Syfy. Yes, you read that right. Syfy.

20 minutes later, I'm still not sure if that looks more like one of the more clever typos from Lauren's blog or some weirdo's pet name for his/her syphilis infection. It's that bad. (no offense Lauren, I <3 your blog.)

Really, what were these assholes thinking? To paraphrase the article, Sci-Fi is coming off their best year ever. Their programming is as good as ever, covering the full spectrum of Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Sci-Fi Channel original movies. What more can anyone ask for from network television?

Possibly the worst part of the article was when they mentioned the public's reaction.“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it. It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise” (Dave Howe, Sci-Fi Channel president).

As someone who uses Firefox, writes in a blog and has Twitter, I think I can safely speak for all members of this "18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd" by proclaiming this as one of the biggest crocks of shit ever spoken. What kind of self respecting technophile would ever use the word "Syfy" in a text message, outside of "Syfy is a fucking retarded name"? Certainly none worthy of being associated with, that's for sure.

To conclude this rant, I extend an open invitation to all of my fellow geeks to protest this horrible decision in whatever way you deem appropriate. Organize sit ins, march on the White House, refuse to use this horrible new word, even boycott the channel if you can survive without your Start Trek fix; I don't care what, as long as we band together and show these fools what happens when you isolate your fanbase.