Riot is now Element • Hacker News Board

Re: Riot is now Element

#361

Post by bartread » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

tripzilch wrote: post #356

bartread wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always wondered about that one too. I mean naming is a minefield, but using a name that's well known to be at least mildly offensive in a particular dialect of English is probably something I would have chosen to avoid. I suppose at least they didn't call it "prck", "twt", or "cnt". One has to be grateful for small mercies.

Is "twat" worse than "git"? I thought it was relatively mild as well

I think you'd get different answers from different people but you can really put your back into the UK pronunciation of "twat" to make it sound really venomous, as opposed to the much more innocuous "twot" pronunciation of the US. That tends to make it more offensive. "Git" just doesn't have quite the same impact.

Re: Riot is now Element

#362

Post by efreak » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 8:33 PM UTC

_8j50 wrote: post #85

No!!! Of all the names in the world why this. "Hey bro, let's chat on Element" ,not quite a ring to it. The hardest problem in computer science strikes again! Matrix,Riot and Libolm are epic projects, I wish them all the success but man, even Riot was a hard sell as a brand. I would seriously be dissapointed if it loses popularity over this. I don't think the project maintainers understand that their core users/fans…

How does the name WhatsApp convey a theme of messaging and communication? Signal and Telegram are obvious.

It's worth noting that other services have equally nonsensical names. Skype, Slack. Others, like Line, have only a vague connection that take thinking about to see.

See the list of services mentioned in Wikipedia's IM template; only half of them mention chat, talk, etc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Instant_messaging

I should note that I'm not saying I agree it's a good name (I don't have an opinion on that, personally), just that it's not unusual.

Re: Riot is now Element

#363

Post by efreak » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 8:39 PM UTC

jklm wrote: post #349

quasarj wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also a native English speaker, also had no idea it was supposed to be a pun until right now. I just thought it was another silly name from an Asian company.

Are you thinking of Wechat? Whatsapp is run by Facebook.

As a nonuser of WhatsApp, I don't care who owns it. Thinking the app comes from Asia is understandable; There's a large number of apps coming from Asia whose names sound nonsensical in the West (quite likely some of them have as much meaning as our own apps have, and are just foreign words or sounds). There's not many apps coming from Africa or South America these days (that I'm aware of), while Asia has quite a lot.

Re: Riot is now Element

#364

Post by nytpu » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 10:17 PM UTC

hellofunk wrote: post #113

LarvaFX wrote: post #33

I don't like the name because it is so generic and for me the word invokes no association with communication whatsoever.

How about another very generic and common word, “Apple.”

Except they were originally "Apple Computers" until they slowly gained enough recognition to rebrand to "Apple," plus that was in 1984, there wasn't an oversatuated market of other computer brands also called "Apple," unlike "Element" which has tons of existing tech-related and non–tech-related overlap and is generic on top of it.

Re: Riot is now Element

#365

Post by mekster » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 6:15 AM UTC

simias wrote: post #102

_8j50 wrote: post #85

No!!! Of all the names in the world why this. "Hey bro, let's chat on Element" ,not quite a ring to it. The hardest problem in computer science strikes again! Matrix,Riot and Libolm are epic projects, I wish them all the success but man, even Riot was a hard sell as a brand. I would seriously be dissapointed if it loses popularity over this. I don't think the project maintainers understand that their core users/fans…

I actually don't like "Signal" either, because it's such a common word that it makes it hard to search for it online. "Telegram" is marginally better, since original telegrams are not very relevant today. But yeah Element is arguably even worse, it's a super common noun and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with communication. But in the end these naming discussions are always going to end up as bikeshedding. If…

Who would use a word "element" in their daily conversation that is indistinguishable from the context?

You must be some scientist? I don't see people crying over the company name Apple.

Re: Riot is now Element

#366

Post by Arathorn » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 9:51 AM UTC

patmorgan23 wrote: post #330

cyphar wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matrix is a decentralised e2e-encrypted chat protocol (similar model to email) that you can self-host and is all free software. Encryption is between devices so the homeserver doesn't see the contents, but if you self-host then only the homeservers involved in the chat ever see your encrypted messages -- this is in contrast to centralised services like Signal where everything goes through one entity. You can create a…

Does anyone know why they moved away from vector in the first place? It made sense with the protocol being named matrix. Was it seo?

It was collision with the game Vector (a parkour game), as well as being a bit too geeky and not mainstream enough.

Re: Riot is now Element

#367

Post by jakubnarebski » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 1:15 PM UTC

It looks like Riot.im accounts got forcible password change - at least I cannot login with my saved riot.im password to element.io

There is nothing of note there in my case, but resetting/changing password supposedly means loosing conversation history. Not good!

Re: Riot is now Element

#368

Post by gagege » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 4:33 PM UTC

bigintjin wrote: post #331

gagege wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's it, I hear words in my head, but didn't get the pun until I watched a Jimmy Fallon bit where he made fun of the name.

Following on this train, as an fluent English speaker, millennial, Asian American that grew up in Texas public school all my life, and a lover of memes and puns...I also didn't realize WhatsApp was a pun...woah.

Well that proves it, it's not a great name :)

Re: Riot is now Element

#369

Post by BrandoElFollito » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 8:04 PM UTC

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #173

_8j50 wrote: post #85

No!!! Of all the names in the world why this. "Hey bro, let's chat on Element" ,not quite a ring to it. The hardest problem in computer science strikes again! Matrix,Riot and Libolm are epic projects, I wish them all the success but man, even Riot was a hard sell as a brand. I would seriously be dissapointed if it loses popularity over this. I don't think the project maintainers understand that their core users/fans…

Whatsapp can be an extremely confusing name for non-native English speakers. I'm from Spain and I think 90% of the time I see it written in Spain, it's written wrong (wassap, whasapp, wuatsapp, whatsap, watsap, wuassap, wuassapp, whatsup, watsup, etc.). Sometimes a phonetically "transliterated" version is used instead, like "guasap", which I find more tolerable because at least then it becomes a genuine Spanish word,…

I just realized what the name mean, knowing the expression at least since wazzzzaaaaahh

Re: Riot is now Element

#370

Post by subroutine » Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 11:21 PM UTC

mariocesar wrote: post #184

subroutine wrote: post #52

Discord is next.

Discord is a great name, why the will change it ?

Discord wants to attract communities beyond games (e.g. python developers). Their name means a disagreement between people. I think they will aim for a name more like "Discourse".