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Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

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Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#471
post #213

As someone who depends on amphetamines to function daily, it’s disheartening to see their use further stigmatized. For many people like me, amphetamines help them live a normal life. The app isn’t called “meth” or “methamphetamine” and it’s not referring to a street drug. I’m saddened to see so many equating amphetamines to illicit drugs, when that’s simply not the full story. This perception is exactly what stops pe…

Cocaine is also used as a medication. We use topical spray cocaine for anesthetizing the nasal cavity and pharynx before certain procedures.

Just saying.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#472
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My advice is to immediately rebrand as gracefully and effectively as possible and use all that activist energy to effect the transition. Apple will definitely appreciate it if all of us would just shut up and let them screw us. While I appreciate your well-meaning advise to the author - pick your battles in life carefully - I'd like to add that using your anger constructively at some injustice is a positive move to…

Do you expect to see a box on a shelf of any retail store labeled, “Amphetamine” with a colorful picture of drugs? It’s entirely reasonable for the retail store to tell the vendor to rename the product or else it will be removed from the shelf.

It is unreasonable when the store is the only store in town, and the town (Apple ecosystem) ensures monopoly of that single store.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#473

You’re angry. I’ve felt this in a trademark lawsuit. You think the world should get behind you and change the corrupt system. My advice is to immediately rebrand as gracefully and effectively as possible and use all that activist energy to effect the transition. They kind of have a point which doesn’t make them right, but they hold all the cards and you will lose this one and regret the wasted bandwidth.

I like “Up All Night” as a new name. Icon image could be people partying in their pajamas. While taking amphetamines.

Insomnia might already be another app but seems appropriate name.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#475
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a very intelligent software engineer who told me he had never used Exercism (despite him using other similar tools) simply because he’s a practicing Catholic and thought the name to be in poor taste. You definitely alienate people at the fringes by naming things something even slightly risqué.

You could argue that this is also why we now have system services instead of daemons.

There are a surprising number of Christians in CS, but they're generally of the more contemplative kind. I definitely remember people being uncomfortable with that but big enough to not make much of a fuss about it.

I'm guessing it's been slowly changed by people big enough to realize the name doesn't matter.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of software that I won’t touch simply because if I ever had to explain the name, I would immediately be put on the defensive, regardless of how useful they may be. It’s a conversation that would waste my time. Similarly, I would avoid naming something potentially weird or offensively for much the same reason, no matter how appropriate or funny it might seem at the time. While rebranding might be a pain…

I'd set up a mastadoon server but I don't want to tell my friends to check out my toots. Hehe your fucking five, but then it just gets annoying.

To most of the world, that word does not mean farts. That is only the case where you happen to live.

To most people, it refers in this context to the noise an elephant makes.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#477
post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't HOAs widely hated?

No. Certain internet communities have a culture of dunking on them, but they do not represent any kind of real majority. The housing market continues to show a preference towards communities with HOAs.

> The housing market continues to show a preference towards communities with HOAs.

I wouldn't read too much from that. The market preferring something doesn't mean most people dealing with it like it, it means that it makes money for the people with most say in the matter.

In this case, I think the sufficient explanation for the phenomenon is that HOAs are good at protecting property values. In my experience, most of the silly / annoying rules can be explained by either protecting property value, or by most people being too busy to attend meetings, allowing a small group of bored people to take control.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not illegal, it is perfectly legal, but like driving a car you need to go through a process for it that not everyone can clear. For example, if you have issues staying awake from narcolepsy it's possible to legally obtain amphetamines, and our society generally accepts this to be a good thing.

Opioids are often prescribed for good reason as well but there's still an opioid epidemic and referencing them in your app's name or icon probably isn't a good thing to do. Some amphetamines are schedule 2 drugs in the US so possession is illegal in most circumstances. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#cite...

Most amphetamines except for methamphetamine are generally possessed legally. Surprisingly, most of the illegal market for non-meth amphetamine is misdirected legal pills.

They're also quite different from opiods because unlike them, they aren't inherently addictive if prescribed properly. For example, prescribed for ADHD, all cause addiction rates do not increase from amphetamine use. In general, it's about as addictive as alcohol, and that's perfectly acceptable as the name for software such as WINE.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#479

You’re angry. I’ve felt this in a trademark lawsuit. You think the world should get behind you and change the corrupt system. My advice is to immediately rebrand as gracefully and effectively as possible and use all that activist energy to effect the transition. They kind of have a point which doesn’t make them right, but they hold all the cards and you will lose this one and regret the wasted bandwidth.

> but they hold all the cards..

It's a free app. There is no business to sustain. The indie dev can walk away, and app can die and Apple users will suffer.

Re: Apple has threatened to remove Amphetamine from the App Store

#480
post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But do you believe Apple should be the ultimate arbitrator of such silly things like the name of an app you create?

In their environment that they clearly indicate is their environment from the outset? Yes.. They are not telling the author they can't call his app whatever they want. They are saying they will not sell it in their app store under that name. And that's the bargain you enter into when you sell in a walled garden ecosystem.

> They are saying they will not sell it in their app store under that name.

But they were indeed selling it under that name for 6 years!

How would you like it if you spend a lot of money to advertise your company or product and create a brand value to it, to one day Apple telling you that they would like you to change the name or they will not distribute it on their store?

Yes, the app store is a closed environment where they can dictate some terms. But don't forget that the developers PAY THEM to use it, and as such their terms cannot trump the consumer laws that exist to protect against such abuse. (By the way, "my shop, my terms" have already faced legal scrutiny some of which were found to be illegal - popular ones include refusing to serve people of colour or gays.)

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