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Why is it called Gun? The name is a little off-putting. What's next, a database called Kill? How about Murder? Genocide? Edit: The fact that I'm being downvote

by eridius 12y ago

Why is it called Gun? The name is a little off-putting. What's next, a database called Kill? How about Murder? Genocide? Edit: The fact that I'm being downvoted for voicing a concern about the naming is really disappointing. This is a serious issue, and I would appreciate a response, not being buried.

tlrobinson 12y ago
The fact that you're being downvoted suggests most people strongly disagree that this is a "serious issue".
marknadal 12y ago
I didn't downvote you, so please don't think I'm the one trying to bury you. I'm calling it GUN because it is powerful and therefore a dangerous tool to wield. Because I'm going with a fully decentralized/distributed system, it has also generated some controversy with people. Fact is, centralized/master-slave consensus based databases are incredibly popular right now. Things like Riak, Cassandra's CRDTs are not getting enough traction as they should - but probably because they can be difficult to set up. I'm trying to blow this all out of the water and make distributed database systems easy for developers. So I'm admittedly going for an edgy name. I'm not wanting to kill anybody, just centralized software.
- eridius 12y ago
  Thanks for the response. I didn't think you were the one trying to bury me, but I appreciate the fact that you care. I'm glad to hear that you are aware of the fact that this is a loaded term and that you intentionally chose it because you wanted an edgy name. While I'm still not a fan of it, I feel much better about it knowing the reason behind the naming. And I think you need to put this info somewhere on the site and the GitHub project. I read gunned.io, and I skimmed the README of your GitHub, and nowhere did you even acknowledge that the name was edge, much less indicate that this was an intentional choice. I would urge you to add a FAQ entry on gundb.io, add a wiki page to your GitHub repo, and put a line somewhere in the README (perhaps at the bottom) linking to that wiki page. Otherwise, you're going to end up with more people than just me thinking that you chose a potentially-offensive name as opposed to a deliberately edgy one. Speaking of your GitHub repo, you should also add gundb.io as the webpage for the repo, and probably link to it in the README.
- acjohnson55 12y ago
  For what it's worth, I second the concern. The name probably wouldn't prevent me from using it, if it's the right tool for the job, but I definitely find it distasteful. And it's rather incongruous with the very friendly personality you exhibit in dealing with some pretty pointed criticism in the threads here. I can just imagine the dialog: Me: Hey let's check out Gun for this. Team: What's that? Me: A distributed cache data store. Team: Why's it called Gun? That seems kind of violent. What does that have to do with distributed cache? Me: Hell if I know. Perhaps it would be more effective to choose a name that captures the decentralized aspect of the system?
sp4rki 12y ago
Why is it off-putting for you? What do you have against an inanimate object? Kill? Murder? Genocide? Guns don't kill, murder, or commit genocide. At least I've never seen a gun go on trial for any of those. People on the other hand... Anyways, you're probably getting down-voted because people here dislike politics. You're trying to inject a political issue into a technical one.
- eridius 12y ago
  You can't use a politically-charged term as a name and then claim that it's purely technical. I'm not trying to inject a political issue in here. And in fact I don't even care about the politics. But what I do care about is the fact that naming a product "Gun" is quite distasteful and, as a result, I will go out of my way to avoid using it.
  - sp4rki 12y ago
    I never claimed the name is "technical". The product itself if though, and instead of discussing the product itself you're expressing your opinion on the distastefulness of the name as fact. You might say you're not trying to inject a political issue, but you sound just like that guy that said "darkmail" is racist against white people.
    - eridius 12y ago
      Your argument seems to be that everybody should just ignore the name and focus on the product. And that's bullshit. Names are important, they have meaning, and they cause reactions in people that see them. To claim otherwise is being willfully blind.
      - sp4rki 12y ago
        No, my argument is that "gun" is not "rape", "terrorism", or any other socially unacceptable word that's linked to morality and the ethically correct. You know what's bullshit? You saying you have absolutely no political intentions regarding your opinion. You obviously live in the US. You obviously feel strongly about gun control. Anything anywhere can be found to be offensive to someone. As such we all need to have a little restraint and realize that if we start policing people because they gave something the made a name you don't like you're contributing to the problem instead of the solution.

by eridius 12y ago

tlrobinson 12y ago

The fact that you're being downvoted suggests most people strongly disagree that this is a "serious issue".

marknadal 12y ago

I didn't downvote you, so please don't think I'm the one trying to bury you. I'm calling it GUN because it is powerful and therefore a dangerous tool to wield. Because I'm going with a fully decentralized/distributed system, it has also generated some controversy with people. Fact is, centralized/master-slave consensus based databases are incredibly popular right now. Things like Riak, Cassandra's CRDTs are not getting enough traction as they should - but probably because they can be difficult to set up. I'm trying to blow this all out of the water and make distributed database systems easy for developers. So I'm admittedly going for an edgy name. I'm not wanting to kill anybody, just centralized software.

eridius 12y ago
Thanks for the response. I didn't think you were the one trying to bury me, but I appreciate the fact that you care. I'm glad to hear that you are aware of the fact that this is a loaded term and that you intentionally chose it because you wanted an edgy name. While I'm still not a fan of it, I feel much better about it knowing the reason behind the naming. And I think you need to put this info somewhere on the site and the GitHub project. I read gunned.io, and I skimmed the README of your GitHub, and nowhere did you even acknowledge that the name was edge, much less indicate that this was an intentional choice. I would urge you to add a FAQ entry on gundb.io, add a wiki page to your GitHub repo, and put a line somewhere in the README (perhaps at the bottom) linking to that wiki page. Otherwise, you're going to end up with more people than just me thinking that you chose a potentially-offensive name as opposed to a deliberately edgy one. Speaking of your GitHub repo, you should also add gundb.io as the webpage for the repo, and probably link to it in the README.
acjohnson55 12y ago
For what it's worth, I second the concern. The name probably wouldn't prevent me from using it, if it's the right tool for the job, but I definitely find it distasteful. And it's rather incongruous with the very friendly personality you exhibit in dealing with some pretty pointed criticism in the threads here. I can just imagine the dialog: Me: Hey let's check out Gun for this. Team: What's that? Me: A distributed cache data store. Team: Why's it called Gun? That seems kind of violent. What does that have to do with distributed cache? Me: Hell if I know. Perhaps it would be more effective to choose a name that captures the decentralized aspect of the system?

sp4rki 12y ago

Why is it off-putting for you? What do you have against an inanimate object? Kill? Murder? Genocide? Guns don't kill, murder, or commit genocide. At least I've never seen a gun go on trial for any of those. People on the other hand... Anyways, you're probably getting down-voted because people here dislike politics. You're trying to inject a political issue into a technical one.

eridius 12y ago
You can't use a politically-charged term as a name and then claim that it's purely technical. I'm not trying to inject a political issue in here. And in fact I don't even care about the politics. But what I do care about is the fact that naming a product "Gun" is quite distasteful and, as a result, I will go out of my way to avoid using it.
- sp4rki 12y ago
  I never claimed the name is "technical". The product itself if though, and instead of discussing the product itself you're expressing your opinion on the distastefulness of the name as fact. You might say you're not trying to inject a political issue, but you sound just like that guy that said "darkmail" is racist against white people.
  - eridius 12y ago
    Your argument seems to be that everybody should just ignore the name and focus on the product. And that's bullshit. Names are important, they have meaning, and they cause reactions in people that see them. To claim otherwise is being willfully blind.
    - sp4rki 12y ago
      No, my argument is that "gun" is not "rape", "terrorism", or any other socially unacceptable word that's linked to morality and the ethically correct. You know what's bullshit? You saying you have absolutely no political intentions regarding your opinion. You obviously live in the US. You obviously feel strongly about gun control. Anything anywhere can be found to be offensive to someone. As such we all need to have a little restraint and realize that if we start policing people because they gave something the made a name you don't like you're contributing to the problem instead of the solution.