5 ms·

They really need to do something about that name. They seem to be having trouble with it themselves: http://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/commit/708e9f88a55cc371

by xelfer 16y ago

They really need to do something about that name. They seem to be having trouble with it themselves: http://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/commit/708e9f88a55cc37130f93cc47b820f62fbf48d2d http://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/commit/708e9f88a55cc3713...

mlinsey 16y ago
You're unfortunately right. I say unfortunate because I really, really like the name: it sounds good and conveys their mission very well, but ease of spelling is probably paramount.
- a_m_kelly 16y ago
  I'm not so sure about the name. I understand how it conveys their mission exactly and it does that really well: leave facebook(or twitter or wherever), come here. I can see how setting themselves up from word 1 as opposition to facebook has a huge amount of importance but what happens to that branding on the off chance they win? (I know this is like planning where to put the swimming pool in your 1 bedroom apartment in the event that you win the lottery but I think the choice of name does/did have a lot to do with just how long the view of the founders was when they started.) That said, it is currently my only quibble. I'm glad to see that things actually got done and out the door. It sure seems to have gone a lot better than anything I worked on this summer.
  - mlinsey 16y ago
    A diaspora isn't just about leaving a place and going somewhere else; it means roughly "a scattering" in Greek and means that a group of people are leaving one central homeland and going all around the world. Even if they win, the distributed nature of their network makes the name perfect.
  - queensnake 16y ago
    I dunno. Nintendo survived 'wii'.
  - Kadin 16y ago
    I think the name is quite perfect, really. I can't think of any other single word that sums up what they're trying to do so well, at least not so evocatively. The whole idea is to allow the Facebook-bound multitudes to leave that particular kingdom and spread -- along with their data -- across the Internet, as a decentralized system. The name is therefore the goal, the intended result. It's a high bar, but it's an ambitious project.
mahmud 16y ago
It's not that bad. It was a typo in a file template. Of course it's gonna propagate quickly.
alanh 16y ago
For a lot of people, their name’s strongest connotation is Jewish persecution. To me, this is so awkward as to rule out the name for use in serious software.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  It's like at my work when I proposed that we could get some benefit from an "interim solution" until we could finish up what we were planning. Of course people started (innocently, ignorantly) calling the original plan the "final solution". Always made me cringe.
  - mahmud 16y ago
    You either work with uneducated simpletons, or closet nazis and crypto-fascists. There is just no way anybody with a modicum of culture would hear "final solution" and not cringe, much less use the phrase passively in everyday non-historic conversation.
  - kleevr 16y ago
    Given the misspellings/mispronounciations/miscommunications already inherit in the name, I think they should re-brand as something like: Disápora ... (or some other spelling of a similar phonetic ilk) * I say this because every time I've tried to describe it verbally, I always end up saying something like 'disapora' and making a hand-wavey gesture in a direction "away" from 'facebook'
- RickHull 16y ago
  > For a lot of people, their name’s strongest connotation is Jewish persecution. Funny, I think of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_diaspora http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_diaspora
  - niels_olson 16y ago
    Funny, I think of New Orleans
Pistos2 16y ago
I've found multiple instances of text in more or less official places containing general English problems (spelling, grammar). I'm assuming for the time being it isn't due to outright lack of fluency in English, and so that leads me to think that they just aren't putting in the [little] extra effort to proofread before publishing. It's not that big a deal, but I think it would help for them to look more polished as far as official text goes.
obiefernandez 16y ago
It's too hard to pronounce easily.
- againanewacount 16y ago
  Lol. If you are German, pronouncing this is no problem at all. I guess this will hold for a lot more languages, except maybe the English ;-)
bl4k 16y ago
The name reminds me of the holocaust. It doesn't help that the color theme of the app evokes Schindler's List. You can bet for most non-US people that 'diaspora' reminds them of some sort of persecution their people have faced. It is also a word that is used in a lot of languages, I have friends who are Russian, Ukranian, Serbian, Lebanese, Armenian, Jordanian etc. who all refer to themselves being in the 'diaspora' (ie. persecuted people who left their homeland and are now living in the west)
- SkyMarshal 16y ago
  "You can bet for most non-US people that 'diaspora' reminds them of some sort of persecution their people have faced." I like it for that reason. Edgy, accurate, and with the potential to repurpose/reframe the word in the minds of many. That kind of persecution also tends to cause the persecuted to bond even more strongly and proudly with their cultural identity, so the connotations are not all bad.
  - DavidSJ 16y ago
    Sure, but this sounds like a cult of victimhood or differentness, and you'll find that these subcultures remain in the minority, in part because they define themselves as a minority.
    - SkyMarshal 16y ago
      The individual subcultures do, but taken altogether they could be quite large. Good point though, we'll see, hopefully that's not Diaspora's fate.
- zem 16y ago
  actually, for most south asians, the "diaspora" just refers to the extended south asian community who have moved to the west in search of better jobs etc. there are no negative connotations to the term.
- bld 16y ago
  And now the name has a positive connotation. Powerful, in a way, because so many cultures identify with it.
dRother 16y ago
To the average person who hasn't encountered this word much, it is reminiscent of 'spores' and 'diarrhea'. Clearly, not the best branding.

by xelfer 16y ago

mlinsey 16y ago

You're unfortunately right. I say unfortunate because I really, really like the name: it sounds good and conveys their mission very well, but ease of spelling is probably paramount.

a_m_kelly 16y ago
I'm not so sure about the name. I understand how it conveys their mission exactly and it does that really well: leave facebook(or twitter or wherever), come here. I can see how setting themselves up from word 1 as opposition to facebook has a huge amount of importance but what happens to that branding on the off chance they win? (I know this is like planning where to put the swimming pool in your 1 bedroom apartment in the event that you win the lottery but I think the choice of name does/did have a lot to do with just how long the view of the founders was when they started.) That said, it is currently my only quibble. I'm glad to see that things actually got done and out the door. It sure seems to have gone a lot better than anything I worked on this summer.
- mlinsey 16y ago
  A diaspora isn't just about leaving a place and going somewhere else; it means roughly "a scattering" in Greek and means that a group of people are leaving one central homeland and going all around the world. Even if they win, the distributed nature of their network makes the name perfect.
- queensnake 16y ago
  I dunno. Nintendo survived 'wii'.
- Kadin 16y ago
  I think the name is quite perfect, really. I can't think of any other single word that sums up what they're trying to do so well, at least not so evocatively. The whole idea is to allow the Facebook-bound multitudes to leave that particular kingdom and spread -- along with their data -- across the Internet, as a decentralized system. The name is therefore the goal, the intended result. It's a high bar, but it's an ambitious project.

mahmud 16y ago

It's not that bad. It was a typo in a file template. Of course it's gonna propagate quickly.

alanh 16y ago

For a lot of people, their name’s strongest connotation is Jewish persecution. To me, this is so awkward as to rule out the name for use in serious software.

glhaynes 16y ago
It's like at my work when I proposed that we could get some benefit from an "interim solution" until we could finish up what we were planning. Of course people started (innocently, ignorantly) calling the original plan the "final solution". Always made me cringe.
- mahmud 16y ago
  You either work with uneducated simpletons, or closet nazis and crypto-fascists. There is just no way anybody with a modicum of culture would hear "final solution" and not cringe, much less use the phrase passively in everyday non-historic conversation.
- kleevr 16y ago
  Given the misspellings/mispronounciations/miscommunications already inherit in the name, I think they should re-brand as something like: Disápora ... (or some other spelling of a similar phonetic ilk) * I say this because every time I've tried to describe it verbally, I always end up saying something like 'disapora' and making a hand-wavey gesture in a direction "away" from 'facebook'
RickHull 16y ago
> For a lot of people, their name’s strongest connotation is Jewish persecution. Funny, I think of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_diaspora http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_diaspora
- niels_olson 16y ago
  Funny, I think of New Orleans

Pistos2 16y ago

I've found multiple instances of text in more or less official places containing general English problems (spelling, grammar). I'm assuming for the time being it isn't due to outright lack of fluency in English, and so that leads me to think that they just aren't putting in the [little] extra effort to proofread before publishing. It's not that big a deal, but I think it would help for them to look more polished as far as official text goes.

obiefernandez 16y ago

It's too hard to pronounce easily.

againanewacount 16y ago
Lol. If you are German, pronouncing this is no problem at all. I guess this will hold for a lot more languages, except maybe the English ;-)

bl4k 16y ago

The name reminds me of the holocaust. It doesn't help that the color theme of the app evokes Schindler's List. You can bet for most non-US people that 'diaspora' reminds them of some sort of persecution their people have faced. It is also a word that is used in a lot of languages, I have friends who are Russian, Ukranian, Serbian, Lebanese, Armenian, Jordanian etc. who all refer to themselves being in the 'diaspora' (ie. persecuted people who left their homeland and are now living in the west)

SkyMarshal 16y ago
"You can bet for most non-US people that 'diaspora' reminds them of some sort of persecution their people have faced." I like it for that reason. Edgy, accurate, and with the potential to repurpose/reframe the word in the minds of many. That kind of persecution also tends to cause the persecuted to bond even more strongly and proudly with their cultural identity, so the connotations are not all bad.
- DavidSJ 16y ago
  Sure, but this sounds like a cult of victimhood or differentness, and you'll find that these subcultures remain in the minority, in part because they define themselves as a minority.
  - SkyMarshal 16y ago
    The individual subcultures do, but taken altogether they could be quite large. Good point though, we'll see, hopefully that's not Diaspora's fate.
zem 16y ago
actually, for most south asians, the "diaspora" just refers to the extended south asian community who have moved to the west in search of better jobs etc. there are no negative connotations to the term.
bld 16y ago
And now the name has a positive connotation. Powerful, in a way, because so many cultures identify with it.

dRother 16y ago

To the average person who hasn't encountered this word much, it is reminiscent of 'spores' and 'diarrhea'. Clearly, not the best branding.