Hearing that the Nationalbibliothek might be interested in his web musings, a blogger called Night Watchman thought the German national library should mind its own business.
Robert Basic, another blogger, was thrilled, however. “My parents are never going to believe I'm going to be catalogued by the German national library,” he wrote.
As my colleague Gerrit Wiesmann reported last week, the German internet was buzzing with news that the library was going to force every blogger and website to submit material, or face a fine of €10,000 (£8,300, $12,700). This was an exaggeration. The library was saving a selected number of websites and the fines were there only as a last resort.