add HISTORY.md (#93)

Resolves #84

HISTORY.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# History
+
+## Financial Times
+
+The `polyfill-library` and the `polyfill.io` service were originally created within the Financial Times.  
+The combination of Internet Explorer lagging behind,  
+a wide range of new and polyfillable features  
+and the rise of a JavaScript first mindset made this a very successful project.
+
+## Sale of `polyfill.io`
+
+Around 2022 the Financial Times lost interest and the active maintainers inside the company were leaving or already left.  
+The Financial Times (together with Fastly) eventually decided to hand control over to Jake Champion,  
+one of the core maintainers who was leaving the Financial Times to go work for Fastly.
+
+Mr. Henry was initially approached to take over but no meetings actually took place.  
+We've been told this was blocked by Fastly who did not consider Mr. Henry to be a safe option.
+
+Early 2024 the `polyfill.io` domain and service were sold by Jake Champion to Funnull, a Chinese company.  
+Other maintainers were not aware that a sale was being considered and this caught everyone by surprise.
+
+We immediately moved to secure the git history of the `polyfill-library`  
+and created a hard fork based on a state we could prove was unaltered.
+
+Shortly after we rolled out an `npm` release  
+and started clearing the dependency tree of packages that were in any way controlled by Jake Champion.
+
+Mid 2024 reports surfaced that the `polyfill.io` service was injecting malware into polyfill bundles.  
+The wider internet community moved to shut down the service.
+
+## Going forwards
+
+Mr. Henry is a web and design agency and the current steward of the `polyfill-library`.
+We value long term support and strongly believe that everyone should have access to the web.
+
+We had been contributing to the `polyfill-library` for several years while it was still maintained by the Financial Times.
+
+Continuing the `polyfill-library` project is a good fit for us  
+and helps us make sites that work for everyone, even users on older browser versions.
+
+Things we will try to do:
+- keep up with maintenance and security issues
+- keep the test framework running
+- welcome contributions
+- welcome new members
+
+Things we will never do:
+- monetize this project or create a service around it that could be monetized or sold
+- add any form of tracking or metrics
+- delete this project

README.md

@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ npm run watch
 
 @mrhenry/polyfill-library is [MIT licensed][license].
 
+## History
+
+See [./HISTORY.md](./HISTORY.md)
+
 [contributing-guide]: https://github.com/mrhenry/polyfill-library/blob/main/.github/contributing.md
 [license]: https://github.com/mrhenry/polyfill-library/blob/main/LICENSE.md
 [license-badge]: https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg