11 ms·
I know little about Mastodon, but it seems like somebody went out of their way to make the cringiest sounding product possible. “Hey man, I just tooted on masto
by bigyikes 6y ago
I know little about Mastodon, but it seems like somebody went out of their way to make the cringiest sounding product possible. “Hey man, I just tooted on mastodon!” It really sounds like parody. I hope I am just missing the point.
You might say this is a superficial criticism, but I think naming is important when it comes to social appeal. At least, it becomes important when the naming has gone so horribly wrong.
If they’re changing course there might be hope yet.
- catillac 6y agoThis is, superficially and stupid as it was, why I never really felt comfortable recommending “FogBugz” bug tracker from Fog Creek software. No disrespect to any capability it may have had, but I couldn’t bring myself to recommend something called that in serious conversation.
- dsabanin 6y agoI just googled Mastodon, and I think you're right. Now I'm going to go tweet about it.
- TulliusCicero 6y agoEven when 'google' as a verb was brand new, I don't remember it sounding awkward.
- jjtheblunt 6y agoand "go ogle" actually has the approximate meaning that "google" took on as a verb (phrase).
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoI don't find “to toot” sound any stranger than “to tweet”.
- imwillofficial 6y agoIn the US, “toot” is not only a word used for something you might do with a horn. It also means “a fart.” A hilariously bad name if your humor is like that of a child. (Mine is)
- wombatpm 6y agoMy wife, exasperated at our two teenaged boys, asked me if men ever outgrow fart jokes. I laughed, said maybe, then asked her to pull my finger. Though when primed with the word Mastodon, I did think of the large trunk and a cartoon-like trumpeting of that trunk. Right after thinking how my grandmother would call her farts toots.
- xnyan 6y agoFart jokes have always been found funny at all age and maturity levels. Even Martin Luther made fart jokes: "When the argument that the Christian is without the law and above the law doesn’t help, I instantly chase him away with a fart."
- tesseract 6y agoThe oldest known recorded joke, from ancient Sumeria, is a fart joke.
- bobthechef 6y agoDon't forget Mozart. He even went further with his shit jokes (it was a family affair).[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_and_scatology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_and_scatology
- userbinator 6y agoA horn played badly also sounds like farting, so perhaps that's where the second meaning came from.
- the_lonely_road 6y ago
- selfhoster11 6y agoThe difference is that "google" and "tweet" are something the general public is used to, whereas "toot" is not.
- munk-a 6y agoI actually just finished twatting about it. Talk about naming things in a cringey - these folks should think through all the verb tenses first.
- npteljes 6y agoThe past form would be tweeted, no?
- munk-a 6y agoFor a while I believe that there was a push by twitter for it to be "twittered" but it's a made up word so we can craft our own tenses. To most english speakers tweet having a past tense of twat is perfectly reasonable (unless you're british but enjoy how quickly you speeded over this comment). Companies use BS word creation as a way to get around trademark collision and validity concerns but I strongly dislike the habit of making new words up so you can get an easy registration. I think it's perfectly legitimate to counter their BS with our own BS shaming them over their easy out and I'd encourage other folks to follow in suit. So, until the end of time, the name of that console is the X-Bone. When you're naming a thing you should be careful and deliberate in your process - generally coincidences will work against you, though you might get lucky and pull a Kit-Kat[1]. 1. https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/the-kit-kat-in-japan-a-transliteration-success/ https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/the-kit-kat-in-japan-a-trans...
- agogdog 6y agoMany people felt the same way about tweeting. I doubt it makes enough of a difference to matter one way or the other.
- int3 6y ago> I hope I am just missing the point. Pretty sure it's a pun for the French `tout suite` -- "right now / ASAP". Pretty clever actually given how much value people place on immediacy on social media...
- dataflow 6y agoAlmost, it's 'tout de suite'.
- ihuman 6y agoYou're probably right, since repo is under the "tootsuite" organization. This also explains Hootsuite's name.
- marshallward 6y agoI reckoned it was the mastodon tooting its trunk, but now I'm just confused.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- omoikane 6y agoI am on Mastodon, and it feels very much like a non-corporate version of Twitter in its interface and content. I am not surprised that they went with "Toots" to match Twitter's "Tweets". But it mostly doesn't matter whether they called it "Toots" or "Posts" (or Japanese localization of "Toots", which is what I get), since I mostly don't pay any attention to the UI elements after I have gotten used to it. It might make a difference for acquiring new users, but I don't get the feeling that rapidly growing the network is a priority for Mastodon.
- mulmen 6y agoHomebrew is awesome and I love beer but the names and metaphors really do not deliver value. I much prefer descriptive names to cute ones.
- signal11 6y agoI have this exact same feeling with some Java programmers' fascination with coffee terminology, especially Beans. Maybe because I grind my own beans at home, it always triggers me in some sort of Pavlovian way.
- kuang_eleven 6y agoI'll take a whimsical metaphorical name over a name that is utterly generic and un-googleable any day though. Looking at you, Go...
- orblivion 6y agoI like "Mastodon" because it's awkwardly long and just sort of sticks out this way, but it's still kind of bad-ass. As a counter-culture social network, not like a silicon valley company, I think it fits well. "Toot" is cutesy and kind of lame, more of the usual I'd expect from the Free Software world. But I don't love the idea of changing it to "posts". I'd rather they find a different clever name.
- bobthechef 6y agoNo, you're right. It's a stupid verb. Otherwise, why not go with a flarp? Will Biden toot on Mastodon one day? Will he toot at Kamala Harris? "Toot" also makes Mastodon look like a cheap knockoff of Twitter that wanted to sound like Twitter without infringing on any trademarks.
- axiosgunnar 6y agoNaming is marketing and marketing is 80% of the success when building tech products.
- thiht 6y agoDuckDuckGo is a big one in the stupid naming area. They own duck.com, they suggest using "Duck It" (which kinda works IMO) and they still choose to use the ridiculous "duckduckgo" branding. It's stupid but it's honestly the main reason I'm not using it. That and their crappy duck logo. I wish they would be wise and rebrand too.
- npteljes 6y agoIt's not like Google or Twitter ("tweeting" something) is any more serious. They just established themselves in the public consciousness earlier.
- thiht 6y agoThey sound better. "DuckDuckGo" sucks. It's even annoying to write.
- signal11 6y agoApparently Google owned Duck.com ever since it acquired Duck Corp. in 2010[1], and only 2-ish years ago transferred the domain to DuckDuckGo. However, Duck is rather generic-sounding and will require $$$ in ad-spend to get name recall. Even though it's awkward, DuckDuckGo is certainly memorable, sometimes that works in a product's favour. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/12/18137369/duckduckgo-duck-com-google-acquisition https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/12/18137369/duckduckgo-duck...
- fsflover 6y agoYeah, Apple is definitely the best company name ever invented. /s