2 ms·

> It’s really jarring that the orgs are called ACRONYM and Shadow... Still feels like a parody of some sort. I thought it was satire the first time I heard as

by rdtsc 7y ago

> It’s really jarring that the orgs are called ACRONYM and Shadow... Still feels like a parody of some sort. I thought it was satire the first time I heard as well. Voting software from a company called Shadow inc. is just such bad optics. Nobody there thought to at least spin off a company called "Open Digital Democracy Services Inc.", open source the thing and maybe get some external entity to take a look at it? This reminds me a bit about putting funny messages in logs which are emitted during catastrophic events. It might seem cute at the moment, but when shit hits the fan and the customer calls and quotes those lines back at you over the phone it is just so embarrassing.

SilasX 7y ago
Amen! It would be like if North Korea chose an official name of “Tyrants’ Oppressive Nation of Korea” (instead of democratic people’s republic).
salawat 7y ago
>Open Digital Democracy Services Inc. Fails the acronym test. ODDS or ODDSInc (pronounced like odd-sink). Still much better than Shadow though. I'd probably have just gone with something like "Crier", "Political Systems Awareness", or even "Total Internal Communications and iNfrastructure Services. Crier is harmless because all you're doing is shouting the results from the rooftops to anyone who'll listen. Everybody can respect a metrics communication implemented by that PSA company. A little contrived and maybe a bit dated imagery-wise, but an IT company that's whose name degenerates to TIN-CANS (with a string in the middle of course) is refreshingly on the nose, and most importantly, way more appropriate than Shadow. Naming is an art best approached with at least some level of care. Not trying to legitimize most marketing-wank, but you do prime the discourse through your decision with regards to what you call yourself.

2 ms·

> It’s really jarring that the orgs are called ACRONYM and Shadow... Still feels like a parody of some sort. I thought it was satire the first time I heard as

by rdtsc 7y ago

SilasX 7y ago
Amen! It would be like if North Korea chose an official name of “Tyrants’ Oppressive Nation of Korea” (instead of democratic people’s republic).
salawat 7y ago
>Open Digital Democracy Services Inc. Fails the acronym test. ODDS or ODDSInc (pronounced like odd-sink). Still much better than Shadow though. I'd probably have just gone with something like "Crier", "Political Systems Awareness", or even "Total Internal Communications and iNfrastructure Services. Crier is harmless because all you're doing is shouting the results from the rooftops to anyone who'll listen. Everybody can respect a metrics communication implemented by that PSA company. A little contrived and maybe a bit dated imagery-wise, but an IT company that's whose name degenerates to TIN-CANS (with a string in the middle of course) is refreshingly on the nose, and most importantly, way more appropriate than Shadow. Naming is an art best approached with at least some level of care. Not trying to legitimize most marketing-wank, but you do prime the discourse through your decision with regards to what you call yourself.