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Stop using app icons for political activism

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Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#81

Post by voussoir »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #67
rbanffy wrote: post #2

How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo. I consider the logo an integral part of the application's identity and I should control its identity. I promise I'll do my best to make it easily and readily recognizable, regardless of it using national colors, a rainbow or shades of white, pink and blue. If you don't like it, it's your problem, not mine.

> If it's my app Not picking on you specifically, because this attitude is extremely common among software developers these days, but I think this mentality of treating software running on users' machines as "yours" rather than "theirs" is at the core of a lot of problems with the modern software industry. Software should serve the interests of its users, not its developers. The advent of ubiquitous internet connecti…

> automatic updates

This is one of the most important points of the conversation. The other most important point would be the difficulty / impossibility of reverting to an older version of the application on mobile systems. When you put them together you get users powerless on their own devices, stuck in a needless dilemma between keeping the application in its new, worsened state, or throwing away the whole thing.

On my PC I download "portable" / .zip releases of software whenever possible, and I keep every single package. If a program has an update with a regression, I can just choose to not use it, or run it side-by-side with the older version.

On Android, F-Droid serves the last couple APKs for each app, and I download these to my PC also. However, Android makes side-by-side installation difficult unless you recompile the app with a different package ID. If it's a closed-source app from the Play Store, you're screwed. I would not be surprised if it's impossible on iphone.

So, I disable auto updates, and I ignore the boy who cries "important security fixes". Better luck next time.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#82

Post by Banana699 »

rbanffy wrote: post #2

How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo. I consider the logo an integral part of the application's identity and I should control its identity. I promise I'll do my best to make it easily and readily recognizable, regardless of it using national colors, a rainbow or shades of white, pink and blue. If you don't like it, it's your problem, not mine.

Good. I love it when true believers show their true colors.

When your fashionable beliefs fall out of fashion, it will be your problem soon enough. Just don't cry about oppression then.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#83

Post by marginalia_nu »

rbanffy wrote: post #69
Ajedi32 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's my app Not picking on you specifically, because this attitude is extremely common among software developers these days, but I think this mentality of treating software running on users' machines as "yours" rather than "theirs" is at the core of a lot of problems with the modern software industry. Software should serve the interests of its users, not its developers. The advent of ubiquitous internet connecti…

> Software should serve the interests of its users, not its developers. It is my belief the software is serving the betterment of society if it offends the people who don't approve my activism ;-) More important than serving the individual users is serving society as a whole.

> It is my belief the software is serving the betterment of society if it offends the people who don't approve my activism ;-)

When has ideological grandstanding ever been a successful strategy for convincing anyone of anything? Surely it would just further entrench the convictions of those who disagree with you, harming your own cause and helping theirs gain legitimacy in the eyes of those who are not convinced either way.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#84

Post by [deleted] »

otachack wrote: post #36

You can consider not using the product? If you can't stomach a temporary icon change, which I'm guessing has to do with either Pride or Juneteenth, then I'm sure the app organization and society wouldn't mind you finding an alternative. The latter has become a federal holiday so it's not exactly activism IMO to show alliance with that.

[deleted]

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#86

Post by cato_the_elder »

rbanffy wrote: post #2

How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo. I consider the logo an integral part of the application's identity and I should control its identity. I promise I'll do my best to make it easily and readily recognizable, regardless of it using national colors, a rainbow or shades of white, pink and blue. If you don't like it, it's your problem, not mine.

> How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo.

Sure, but then I'll make sure that I won't use your apps if I can.

And we have the right to complain about these things as much as we want. It's your PR problem, not ours.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#87

Post by RC_ITR »

imwillofficial wrote: post #30
RC_ITR wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm just saying that if it was a rainbow or Juneteenth flag that made you mad, then say that. Don't over-generalize, tell us how you really feel. I'm being earnest.

I’m pretty sure they told you how they feel. Why are you assuming things not stated? How is that helpful? Also, there is a Juneteenth flag? It’s a full time job to keep up these days.

>I’m pretty sure they told you how they feel. Why are you assuming things not stated?

Again, was just pointing out that this article about 'Political Activism' is getting a ton of traction on the one day of the year when we (in America) recognize the historical oppression of both LGBT and black people.

Am I missing a trend of app icons that recognize other 'political' causes? Because if the author is mad about rainbow or Juneteenth coloring of their apps, they should just say that and not self-censor to the point of ambiguity.

If a bunch of apps are changing their icons to support random propositions, then I agree with them, but I don't think that is what is happening.

>Also, there is a Juneteenth flag? It’s a full time job to keep up these days.

Keep up with what exactly (By the way, no one is asking you to take on this job)? Flags? Because I can guarantee that the rate of flag-designing is multiple-orders of magnitude lower than it was even in the early 20th century.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#88

Post by aaomidi »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #83
rbanffy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Software should serve the interests of its users, not its developers. It is my belief the software is serving the betterment of society if it offends the people who don't approve my activism ;-) More important than serving the individual users is serving society as a whole.

> It is my belief the software is serving the betterment of society if it offends the people who don't approve my activism ;-) When has ideological grandstanding ever been a successful strategy for convincing anyone of anything? Surely it would just further entrench the convictions of those who disagree with you, harming your own cause and helping theirs gain legitimacy in the eyes of those who are not convinced eith…

I disagree with this. Minds don’t changed based on one interaction. It changed based on your observations from the world.

Pride logos and icons in companies have made it so you can’t “not think” of LGBT anymore for example. This is HUGE for a lot of people. I’ll give you a specific example, before pride no one in Iran dared speak about LGBT. Now it’s unavoidable when all the apps and services you use have a pride version.

This has already lead to more acceptance privately re: lgbt. The next steps are pushing acceptance to welcoming to them “you’re not going to be treated differently”.

It’s one tool in your entire arsenal.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#89

Post by aaomidi »

cato_the_elder wrote: post #86
rbanffy wrote: post #2

How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo. I consider the logo an integral part of the application's identity and I should control its identity. I promise I'll do my best to make it easily and readily recognizable, regardless of it using national colors, a rainbow or shades of white, pink and blue. If you don't like it, it's your problem, not mine.

> How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo. Sure, but then I'll make sure that I won't use your apps if I can. And we have the right to complain about these things as much as we want. It's your PR problem, not ours.

No post body was provided.

Re: Stop using app icons for political activism

#90

Post by cato_the_elder »

aaomidi wrote: post #89
cato_the_elder wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How about no? If it's my app, I'll use my logo. Sure, but then I'll make sure that I won't use your apps if I can. And we have the right to complain about these things as much as we want. It's your PR problem, not ours.

Quoted post unavailable.

> I would actively not hire you if I saw that in your feeds fwiw

I wouldn't hire you as well. Having a functional and meritocratic workplace is much more important to me than virtue signalling.

Also, your comment is clearly a personal attack and against HN guidelines.

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