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Thank you for the reply! I agree that meaningless phrases are good for brands, and much better than ones with baggage (as you say, in that regard Hacker School

by dmazin 12y ago

Thank you for the reply! I agree that meaningless phrases are good for brands, and much better than ones with baggage (as you say, in that regard Hacker School can't get much worse). And I believe that you will be able to properly add meaning to "Recurse Center." My point with my "umph" comment was that "School" refers to an object/category, while "Center" refers to a blank entity, it's kind of a dead word (it also has a bit of a connotation of something formal and boring, like a business office center). I believe we like references to objects, not placeholders - "Sears Tower" and "Nokia Theatre" both sound better than "Staples Center." But I'm not offering advice, I'm just curious about your process. Did y'all consider things other than "Center"?

nicholasjbs 12y ago
Yes, we considered a few others. For instance, we thought about "retreat" but decided against it because it felt too limited, and we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Center is definitely kind of a "dead" word, but we'd rather err on the side of too little meaning rather than too much given our past mistakes :) (We also like the acronym "RC" more than "RR" or "RI.") Thanks for the thoughtful comments!
- JoshTriplett 12y ago
  > we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Mildly so, but "Recurse Institute" still sounds awesome. :)
  - computerex 12y ago
    Heck yes, anything but "center". Even "academy". Anything.
- agarden 12y ago
  I first saw Hacker School name-dropped on a blog. It was such an intriguing name I Googled it and read up. Sounds fantastic, like something I would really like to do some day. Seeing a reference to Recurse Center on a blog would not have the same effect on me. It would have gone uninvestigated. "Center" sounds officious, beauracratic, stuffy, and boring to my ears. Exactly the kind of place I would like to avoid and would not bother to investigate. I second "Institute" as being better; it summons to mind the Instute for Advanced Study and other think-tank, idea-cauldron kind of places.

by dmazin 12y ago

nicholasjbs 12y ago

Yes, we considered a few others. For instance, we thought about "retreat" but decided against it because it felt too limited, and we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Center is definitely kind of a "dead" word, but we'd rather err on the side of too little meaning rather than too much given our past mistakes :) (We also like the acronym "RC" more than "RR" or "RI.") Thanks for the thoughtful comments!

JoshTriplett 12y ago
> we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Mildly so, but "Recurse Institute" still sounds awesome. :)
- computerex 12y ago
  Heck yes, anything but "center". Even "academy". Anything.
agarden 12y ago
I first saw Hacker School name-dropped on a blog. It was such an intriguing name I Googled it and read up. Sounds fantastic, like something I would really like to do some day. Seeing a reference to Recurse Center on a blog would not have the same effect on me. It would have gone uninvestigated. "Center" sounds officious, beauracratic, stuffy, and boring to my ears. Exactly the kind of place I would like to avoid and would not bother to investigate. I second "Institute" as being better; it summons to mind the Instute for Advanced Study and other think-tank, idea-cauldron kind of places.