5 ms·

You're allowed to dislike the name. I like the new name. If you're pissed about Element, you must be absolutely livid about Apple.

rvz 6y ago
> If you're pissed about Element, you must be absolutely livid about Apple. Nope. 'Apple Computer Inc.' already marketed themselves specifically first in 'computers' and that association was built over the years. After they had success in products that weren't attached to only 'desktop/laptop computers' it made sense to remove 'Computer' from the name. The same was done for Tesla Motors Inc. to Tesla Inc. This is more like a full blown renaming of Riot, New Vector, Modular -> Element. You need to rebuild that SEO and previous associations from scratch again.
- bovermyer 6y ago
  Sorry, you missed the point of my comment. I was addressing the original commenter's dislike of the specific name Element because of its generic nature.
  - CydeWeys 6y ago
    And you're missing the point that "Apple" is a decades-old brand that everyone knows. It doesn't need to be explained to anyone now. Element is a new chat app that people won't have heard of and thus does need to be explained, and the "Element" name isn't helping in that regard because it's extremely generic and has nothing to do with messaging. Even worse, it has bad name collision problems; I just Googled "element app" and all the results are other apps named Element, including one hosted at elementapp.com (which will seem like a more legitimate domain name to many casual users than element.io).
    - bovermyer 6y ago
      I was talking about when Apple originally came about, not Apple today.
      - rangibaby 6y ago
        Wasn’t it originally Apple Computer?
      - CydeWeys 6y ago
        And for every one success story along the vein of Apple, there's hundreds of failure stories (caused by a variety of reasons). Having a good name gives you a better chance than having a bad name. You're just exhibiting survivorship/selection bias here. And anyway, they were known as "Apple Computer" back then. See e.g. this ad: https://i.redd.it/f1o3uol6q2dx.jpg https://i.redd.it/f1o3uol6q2dx.jpg The name is not at all ambiguous. It was good branding relative to its competitors.
      - rvz 6y ago
        You might as well say the same argument about Snapchat Inc. who is now known as Snap. Even more generic than 'Apple' as it is used as a verb, adjective and now a company name which appears at the top of the Google search results despite the founders launching their company as Snapchat Inc. From a SEO point of view, The transition of 'New Vector' -> 'Element' is just as bad since the continuity of the name is completely lost and has to compete again in the SEO rankings. The thing is with very generic names in search engines and word of mouth, continuity is essential and the creators of Riot have to rebuild it again with a generic name.
  - rovek 6y ago
    I also missed it, I'd say it's not a good example. Apple is not a generic word, it's very specifically about fruit or tech which are concepts with little-to-no overlap. Element is a word that appears throughout life and technology with both specific and generic usages which will often closely relate, in a confusing way.
stronglikedan 6y ago
> pissed I didn't get that from the comment. Did we read the same comment? > Apple Now you're just comparing Apples to Elements. One is a general purpose device, and the other has a specific purpose, providing an opportunity to elude to that purpose through the name.
gsich 6y ago
Apple is the company name. The product names (ios, mac os, ipad ...) are all unique enough.
derefr 6y ago
People talk a lot about apples, but AFAIK there's no other time the singular word "apple" comes up in the English language without an article, other than in reference to the company.
badrabbit 6y ago
Apple and many fruit names are catchy and memorable. Like blackberry!

rvz 6y ago

> If you're pissed about Element, you must be absolutely livid about Apple. Nope. 'Apple Computer Inc.' already marketed themselves specifically first in 'computers' and that association was built over the years. After they had success in products that weren't attached to only 'desktop/laptop computers' it made sense to remove 'Computer' from the name. The same was done for Tesla Motors Inc. to Tesla Inc. This is more like a full blown renaming of Riot, New Vector, Modular -> Element. You need to rebuild that SEO and previous associations from scratch again.

bovermyer 6y ago
Sorry, you missed the point of my comment. I was addressing the original commenter's dislike of the specific name Element because of its generic nature.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  And you're missing the point that "Apple" is a decades-old brand that everyone knows. It doesn't need to be explained to anyone now. Element is a new chat app that people won't have heard of and thus does need to be explained, and the "Element" name isn't helping in that regard because it's extremely generic and has nothing to do with messaging. Even worse, it has bad name collision problems; I just Googled "element app" and all the results are other apps named Element, including one hosted at elementapp.com (which will seem like a more legitimate domain name to many casual users than element.io).
  - bovermyer 6y ago
    I was talking about when Apple originally came about, not Apple today.
    - rangibaby 6y ago
      Wasn’t it originally Apple Computer?
    - CydeWeys 6y ago
      And for every one success story along the vein of Apple, there's hundreds of failure stories (caused by a variety of reasons). Having a good name gives you a better chance than having a bad name. You're just exhibiting survivorship/selection bias here. And anyway, they were known as "Apple Computer" back then. See e.g. this ad: https://i.redd.it/f1o3uol6q2dx.jpg https://i.redd.it/f1o3uol6q2dx.jpg The name is not at all ambiguous. It was good branding relative to its competitors.
    - rvz 6y ago
      You might as well say the same argument about Snapchat Inc. who is now known as Snap. Even more generic than 'Apple' as it is used as a verb, adjective and now a company name which appears at the top of the Google search results despite the founders launching their company as Snapchat Inc. From a SEO point of view, The transition of 'New Vector' -> 'Element' is just as bad since the continuity of the name is completely lost and has to compete again in the SEO rankings. The thing is with very generic names in search engines and word of mouth, continuity is essential and the creators of Riot have to rebuild it again with a generic name.
- rovek 6y ago
  I also missed it, I'd say it's not a good example. Apple is not a generic word, it's very specifically about fruit or tech which are concepts with little-to-no overlap. Element is a word that appears throughout life and technology with both specific and generic usages which will often closely relate, in a confusing way.

stronglikedan 6y ago

> pissed I didn't get that from the comment. Did we read the same comment? > Apple Now you're just comparing Apples to Elements. One is a general purpose device, and the other has a specific purpose, providing an opportunity to elude to that purpose through the name.

gsich 6y ago

Apple is the company name. The product names (ios, mac os, ipad ...) are all unique enough.

derefr 6y ago

People talk a lot about apples, but AFAIK there's no other time the singular word "apple" comes up in the English language without an article, other than in reference to the company.

badrabbit 6y ago

Apple and many fruit names are catchy and memorable. Like blackberry!