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The name alone would kill any chance such a party ever gaining traction in the United States and would mark it boldly as a fridge group. Purely from a marketin

The name alone would kill any chance such a party ever gaining traction in the United States and would mark it boldly as a fridge group. Purely from a marketing and PR standpoint, you would need to use a term that has a very broad positive connotations. Even so much as to be socially unacceptable to dissagree with the name. For instance, just look at the names of bills that congress uses to gain support for their causes such as the Patriot Act. You would be much better off with a name such as the Freedom Party, Hope Party, United Party, Liberty Party, Independence Party, etc... However in this instance, my personal favorite would be: Patriot Party

guruz 13y ago
Not necessarily, it just needs some education about the name. See for example also the OK results in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_Germany#German_State_and_Regional_elections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_Germany#German_St... Think about what a childish and ridiculous name "Google" is and still it got adopted worldwide.
- bahman2000 13y ago
  I don't have any stats, but anecdotal evidence suggests that education on the term "hacker" hasn't been very effective, yet.
  - tg3 13y ago
    In my experience hacker has gone from "definitely a criminal" 5-10 years ago to "maybe a criminal" today. When I tell people (not in the tech scene) that I read a site called "Hacker News" they don't assume that it's some CC swapping forum. I'd say that's progress.
nawitus 13y ago
The name has been succesfull all around the world. There's already Freedom Parties etc. in United States, and nobody cares about those parties. A Pirate Party, on the other hand, can utilize the global movement's brand. Of course, the core problem is not the name of the party, it's the lack of a democratic voting system.
- pseudometa 13y ago
  You vastly underestimate the voting power and wealth of people aged 50+. Try and convince a retirement home that something called the Pirate Party is a good thing. Best of luck to ya!
  - nawitus 13y ago
    I've tried, actually (I was a parliamentary candidate). It's not easy, but when talking to older people the name wasn't such a big issue.

guruz 13y ago

Not necessarily, it just needs some education about the name. See for example also the OK results in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_Germany#German_State_and_Regional_elections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_Germany#German_St... Think about what a childish and ridiculous name "Google" is and still it got adopted worldwide.

bahman2000 13y ago
I don't have any stats, but anecdotal evidence suggests that education on the term "hacker" hasn't been very effective, yet.
- tg3 13y ago
  In my experience hacker has gone from "definitely a criminal" 5-10 years ago to "maybe a criminal" today. When I tell people (not in the tech scene) that I read a site called "Hacker News" they don't assume that it's some CC swapping forum. I'd say that's progress.

nawitus 13y ago

The name has been succesfull all around the world. There's already Freedom Parties etc. in United States, and nobody cares about those parties. A Pirate Party, on the other hand, can utilize the global movement's brand. Of course, the core problem is not the name of the party, it's the lack of a democratic voting system.

pseudometa 13y ago
You vastly underestimate the voting power and wealth of people aged 50+. Try and convince a retirement home that something called the Pirate Party is a good thing. Best of luck to ya!
- nawitus 13y ago
  I've tried, actually (I was a parliamentary candidate). It's not easy, but when talking to older people the name wasn't such a big issue.