Digging deeper, a hunt for The Bold Italic's roots

Amid the smidge of feedback on my recent post about that unusual Gannett online start-up here in San Francisco, The Bold Italic, count me on the side of those who like it.

For those who missed my first post, the new site -- in beta test mode since October -- appears aimed at an edgy, literary audience of young consumers. Its daily essays and other posts about things to do in San Francisco are higher-brow competition for alternative publications, including SF Weekly and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

But it also looks like it's going after youthful readers of more upmarket, glossy titles like San Francisco magazine. For sure, it's so not Metromix-y. (My favorite Bold Italic piece so far is contributing writer Aaron Britt's advice on proper etiquette at a strip club: "A gentleman calls out 'Honey!' only when his Darjeeling is too bitter.")

More intriguing, however, is the website's pedigree: How did the idea come about in the first place, and who's in charge? I can't answer the first question, but I have an idea or two about the second.

Last May, Anonymous@6:45 p.m. alluded to a West Coast project being led by Michael Maness, chief of Gannett's research and development center, known as the DIG. My suspicions that he's in charge are raised further by Maness' Facebook profile, where he lists himself as a fan of just four FB pages, as I post this; one of them is, indeed, Bold Italic.

Finally, as I wonder where Bold Italic might expand to next, I'm thinking: Seattle?

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