I run a really small site and received two supposedly reasonable offers for the domain in the past, but when I asked for more information about what they would be doing with the domain or if I could still participate in content generation, I never received a reply.

Although I barely had any content - unlike Jeffro et al - I still felt obliged to ensure it wouldn't "fall into the wrong hands" or be used to promote WordPress in what could be perceived to be a exploitative way, since it was quite a nice domain name. I guess brand loyalty still exists.

So I fully appreciate why Jeffro would make the decision he did with the Tavern.