4 ms·

It's fairly idiotic at this stage that this has never been changed. Highly damaging to the products outward appearance.

darkwater 2y ago
Then, when the announcement of the name change is on the HN frontpage, tens of HNers will post their anger "the name was already well-known, this is a marketing disaster!! They should know better!" Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
- beezlewax 2y ago
  Yes but those people would be wrong in this case.
DonnieBurger 2y ago
I don't think it's highly damaging. It's an acronym. Is BBC's name highly damaging?
- crtasm 2y ago
  BBC isn't a great comparison - it's an initialism, not read or said as a word. I can't think of an acronym example though.
  - zahlman 2y ago
    And the embarrassing meaning that some might attribute to "BBC" is also an initialism.
- iamkonstantin 2y ago
  Why would it be? I can't think of a single meaning of BBC which translates to an insult. GIMP on the other hand has more than one meanings as an insult (not even an acronym).
  - mardifoufs 2y ago
    Uhhh BBC also stands for something else, and that second meaning is a very common term on the internet.
    - isodev 2y ago
      Describing one’s … favourite desert? (HN is American so not sure we can say the word here) doesn’t constitute an insult - people say it all the time irl. But you’re also right that BBC wouldn’t be a good name for a design tool either. Naming things is hard, someone should setup a focus group :)
      - Ylpertnodi 2y ago
        Are you thinking of the Coventry University Netball Team? (again).
  - npteljes 2y ago
    Try this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_(sexual_slang) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_(sexual_slang) Definitely came after the original BBC being established, and definitely is orders of magnitude less known than the sexual slang variant. So yeah, the Gimp comparison doesn't stand, at all.
- alexey-salmin 2y ago
  You're laughing but when I worked on a search engine, it was a serious question which videos should we display if the search query is just "BBC". The prudent approach prevailed for a hundred different reasons but online user metrics weren't one of them. Apparently people were not very fond of the British Broadcasting Corporation, especially outside of the angloshpere.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
npteljes 2y ago
From what I gather, the people running the project don't mind the name, and that is basically to what this boils down to. I too think it's a stupid name, and that the project would be better off with a rename, but if being less "idiotic" or whatever is not the project goal, then they are no so idiotic after all, no? Idiotic would be to self-sabotage with the name, like failure to get into app stores because of policy or something, and still not changing the name, or trying to fight the perception of "gimp" as a word, or anything like that. But overall, I think situation is settled and the people running the show are consistent.

Then, when the announcement of the name change is on the HN frontpage, tens of HNers will post their anger "the name was already well-known, this is a marketing disaster!! They should know better!" Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

beezlewax 2y ago
Yes but those people would be wrong in this case.

DonnieBurger 2y ago

I don't think it's highly damaging. It's an acronym. Is BBC's name highly damaging?

crtasm 2y ago
BBC isn't a great comparison - it's an initialism, not read or said as a word. I can't think of an acronym example though.
- zahlman 2y ago
  And the embarrassing meaning that some might attribute to "BBC" is also an initialism.
iamkonstantin 2y ago
Why would it be? I can't think of a single meaning of BBC which translates to an insult. GIMP on the other hand has more than one meanings as an insult (not even an acronym).
- mardifoufs 2y ago
  Uhhh BBC also stands for something else, and that second meaning is a very common term on the internet.
  - isodev 2y ago
    Describing one’s … favourite desert? (HN is American so not sure we can say the word here) doesn’t constitute an insult - people say it all the time irl. But you’re also right that BBC wouldn’t be a good name for a design tool either. Naming things is hard, someone should setup a focus group :)
    - Ylpertnodi 2y ago
      Are you thinking of the Coventry University Netball Team? (again).
- npteljes 2y ago
  Try this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_(sexual_slang) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_(sexual_slang) Definitely came after the original BBC being established, and definitely is orders of magnitude less known than the sexual slang variant. So yeah, the Gimp comparison doesn't stand, at all.
alexey-salmin 2y ago
You're laughing but when I worked on a search engine, it was a serious question which videos should we display if the search query is just "BBC". The prudent approach prevailed for a hundred different reasons but online user metrics weren't one of them. Apparently people were not very fond of the British Broadcasting Corporation, especially outside of the angloshpere.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

npteljes 2y ago

From what I gather, the people running the project don't mind the name, and that is basically to what this boils down to. I too think it's a stupid name, and that the project would be better off with a rename, but if being less "idiotic" or whatever is not the project goal, then they are no so idiotic after all, no? Idiotic would be to self-sabotage with the name, like failure to get into app stores because of policy or something, and still not changing the name, or trying to fight the perception of "gimp" as a word, or anything like that. But overall, I think situation is settled and the people running the show are consistent.