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Rebranding (again) #32

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xenithorb opened this issue Aug 7, 2018 · 54 comments
Open

Rebranding (again) #32

xenithorb opened this issue Aug 7, 2018 · 54 comments

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@xenithorb
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With the recent release of pro and the clear direction and motives of the orignal project and owner, I think you have a real opportunity here to name this something like "Librebox" and continue on with the initial vision of rambox.

I propose that the following should take place in order to distance this project from the pro and now defunct community-edition:

  1. Decide on a new project name... popular avenues here are usually suffixing with something that signals open source / free software like "Librebox", "OpenRambox"
    • Rebrand the project to reflect that name change
    • Rework the logo to differentiate it (legally and ethnically) from the original project
    • Give attribution to the initial project

And ...?

Hopefully this can be an open conversation about turning your maintainership into a serious offering.

@TheGoddessInari
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  • Of course. Open discussion is good.
  • There is attribution (everywhere) to the the upstream project, unless I missed something.
  • A new logo's a good idea, I'll see what I can source, unless someone wanted to contribute something.
  • A total rebrand was suggested via this reddit discussion. I'm partial to "Oxboxen" perhaps. Mostly because I kinda miss the days of remoting into free linux boxen on the web.
  • I'm doing my best in the spirit of open source. I realize that may not be all that great, or perfect, but I hope people realize that I'm just one person and I've been working on this sometimes upwards of 18 hours a day to try to address issues people are actually facing. Any contribution no matter how trivial is greatly appreciated.

@TheGoddessInari
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Looks like any actual renaming will depend on #21 as this has been so hardlinked to localStorage, that a flag day and backup/restore will be needed.

I'll probably have to make a release with backup/restore that loads the old config and can make a backup that'll be readable by newer versions after that.

Even so, due to ExtJS, probably still won't be able to get away from something as opaque and hard to deal with as localStorage.

@LiBOSS-CZ
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LiBOSS-CZ commented Aug 7, 2018

I have to say that i do not like Oxboxen :-( OpenRambox is not great as well but better for me. Something completely different will be great. Perhaps something with messaging in name which suggest the idea and a purpose of an app.

@deerhunter91
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I like Librebox. I agree that Oxboxen does not sound great.

@TheGoddessInari
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Meant to comment earlier, "librebox" is already widely used.

@rodneyrod
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How about Lambcrate?

@tmikaeld
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tmikaeld commented Aug 8, 2018

Boxplate?

The .com is free, It's a plate of boxes with webapps inside + easy to remember.

@LiBOSS-CZ
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LiBOSS-CZ commented Aug 8, 2018

Why box/crate/.... ?
If you have to explain meaning of name it is not right one.
AIOMessaging
Message4ALL
MessageBrowser
OpenMessaging
if box is neccessary
MessageBox
MemBox

@TheGoddessInari
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Well, it's not just about IM, there's messaging too. I'm sure there'll be other types of things that it can work better with in the future as well, and a lot of more generic names are already taken.

@TheGoddessInari
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TheGoddessInari commented Aug 18, 2018

There hasn't been much activity on this, so unless a better idea* comes up fairly soon, probably will go with Oxboxen, Oxenboxen, or similar, because there aren't any conflicts there.

*Better idea includes not merely more palatable, but also with effectively NO trademark concerns. While US trademark law allows for duplication across distinct industries, I'd rather it be as unambiguous and unique as possible to avoid having to rename a third time. Most ideas have been too generic or already taken widely. No offense intended, it's just the reality of the situation.

I'll give it a think over the weekend regardless and try to come up with a few other alternatives.

@deerhunter91
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deerhunter91 commented Aug 18, 2018 via email

@TheGoddessInari
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What does it mean?

Nothing in particular.

@rodneyrod
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The logo for Rambox is a gorilla right? Rillabox might be an option.
Gorillapp too, kinda like WhatsApp.

Also, Lambcrate is like Rambox, but younger and different. Cattlecrate too if you want to go with the bovine theme.

@TheGoddessInari
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We'd need a new logo anyway. I know someone who can.

The latter two, Lambcrate and Cattlecrate amuse me.

@sxe
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sxe commented Aug 21, 2018

Hey, thanks for this fork, really appreciate your work and keeping the open source spirit alive!

That being said, please don't make the mistake so many other open source projects do and choosing a horrible name. I mean no offense, you can obviously name it what you want, but please don't name it Oxboxen IMO it's the worst of the suggestions here.

To be at least a little bit constructive in my criticism I suggest a name related to the original "rambox" but obviously different. The first thing that came to mind was switching the "ram" part. Ram is an animal so to show the relation to the original software a different ram breed would be a cool idea and there are a lot of possible names to choose from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sheep_breeds

Here a few suggestions based on ram breeds (I like simple names, so I will go with that):

  • BondBox
  • HuBox
  • RudaBox
  • RyaBox

You could even remove the box part of the name, there are so many great names in that wikipedia article. :)

  • Ancon (I like this one a lot)
  • Baluchi
  • Skudde
  • Soay

Anyway, just my two cents.

Cheers and keep it up.

@tmikaeld
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I agree with the above, I don't like Oxboxen, makes me think of farming rather than an App.

Same with Rambox, sounds like a RAM memory optimizer (My first thought when i saw it).

@LiBOSS-CZ
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Exactly. I do not get the idea of Ram (and also all the other animals), but if the development will go on, I do not care about name.

@deerhunter91
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deerhunter91 commented Aug 21, 2018 via email

@deerhunter91
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deerhunter91 commented Aug 21, 2018 via email

@lmnoop
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lmnoop commented Aug 21, 2018

❤ Skudde!

@TheGoddessInari
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My email apparently hasn't been updating comments as often as I'd like.
I like Skudde. I know a lot of open source projects have particularly silly names.
I don't want to necessarily repeat that problem, but as has famously been said many times, naming things is hard.

@tjorim
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tjorim commented Aug 25, 2018

I think Skudde looks a bit like Skuddy, which is also an app 🙁

@TheGoddessInari
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I think Skudde looks a bit like Skuddy, which is also an app 🙁

Of course.

@ilevantis
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How about Dartfrog?

  • Poison dart frogs carry around their tadpoles on their backs (this program carries webapps on its back?).
  • They also look cute and colourful so would make for a nice logo.
  • I don't find any google hits about software when I search "Dartfrog".

@tjorim
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tjorim commented Aug 28, 2018

There's Dart Frog LLC, with a lot of iOS apps (https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/dartfrog-llc/id545694122). But those are just games, not really productivity programs for pc.

@notNSANE
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notNSANE commented Aug 28, 2018

hey all, I can help with this. I know quite a bit about naming, branding and all that crap most people don't care about; also including all the copyright and legalese.

Here's the rundown:

  1. It seems that rambox refers to the animal "ram", but the logo is somehow a gorilla. This dichotomy makes things both hard and easier for branding.
  2. It's important to keep part of that name, or concept, or something as legacy, so new users can understand it's a fork.
  3. It's also important that the name is distinctive and not generic - this is sort of a guideline for any brand. You shouldn't call your brand "sandwich" or "water", besides the glaring legal issues.
  4. Mind that it's extremely normal and encouraged to change a letter here and there for aesthetic reasons, i.e. Megadeth instead of Megadeath.
  5. In the end, branding isn't about finding the absolute perfect fit, but finding two or three names that work or can potentially work.

Well, since w don't have a concept, we'll start with a few keywords: messaging, text, services, open source, free, animals, horns, strength, bulky, stout, powerful, sturdy

If we take the concept a bit further, I think that since we're a "leaner" version of the whole rambox software (which is now 2 softwares), I that keywords like lean, slim, light, clean, fast could also work.

Knowing all this, it should be not difficult to come with a similar concept, which is basically an animal that can gather many things. It might be important to keep the name with a length of two syllables too.


I like to do a process that I call "clean the storm", which is basically write absolutely and everything one can think and start discarding what's not useful. I think it's a good idea to cite all/most animals that can belong to the group of keywords and its concepts.

  • similar to "ram": ox, deer, elk, moose, alces... maybe include lamb, sheep
  • similar to "gorilla": ape, baboon, chimpanzee, lemur, orangutan
  • similar to "box": crate, pack, package, trunk, case, container, chest, locker, basket
  • animals that gather/hoard: squirrel, hamster, beaver -- note: I'm excluding birds and insects
  • and remember all the keywords we already mentioned! (everything that's italic, use them as guidelines)

This should give everyone a lot of ideas to think about, I'll propose some, but I'm a bit tired and I'm sure someone will come with something better.

I'll cite some good and bad examples and explain why they are good or bad:

  • Elkrate: creative way to mixing elk and crate with a k, but has many problems, it can be EL KRATE (?) or ELK RATE - app to rate elks?
  • PackrHamstr: it's double the syllables we need. Still very related to the concept, though.
  • SquareOx: square = box. I feel like this one sounds way too much like the probably TMs "SquareBox". But it also works.
  • Hamsket: Hamster + Basket, easily solved with imagery. I like this one quite a bit, and I see no glaring issues except that the name is a little weird at first.

Took me like ~20 minutes to make these ones, as you can see, it's not easy.

THANK YOU for reading all this (and thanks for creating the fork), lol, hopefully it will help with this issue.

@tjorim
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tjorim commented Aug 28, 2018

Thanks for this great write-up @notNSANE! Gave me some good insights.

What about something like HamsterHorn?

  • Hamster, a cute animal which gathers stuff, all in one place
  • Horn, something that is used to warn people, just like notifications and messages from all the supported applications

If you google hamsterhorn there will be quite some pictures of a hamster-unicorn (the horn on its head) mix. Something similar could maybe be the logo/mascot.

@galenbrazell
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Rillbox?

The .com is available

A great generator for this stuff while also checking for available domains is: https://www.namemesh.com/domain-name-search/ram?show=1

@TheGoddessInari
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It really doesn't have to be ram, box, or gorilla related. I do sincerely appreciate the effort, though. 💟

I've been trying really hard to think of things, but it dawned on me, (especially my own) programmer-generated names tend to be weird or whimsical, if not functionary or practical.

I'm also not certain how much scope will grow beyond communications/email in the future. In some ways, I want to keep it there, because electron is not a web browser, and can't afford the same security guarantees, and they say as much. It's potentially more reasonable to pin down what's strictly needed for a specific set of applications, rather than arbitrary browsed code.

Besides, if someone wants it for anything else, they only need to use the custom option and can turn off the fallback js_unread with {}.

In other ways, I want to deliver everything Rambox Pro can offer without forcing users to subscribe or their activity tracked or anything.

But I'm digressing a little.

Since there's no way I could defend against a suit, something trending toward greater uniqueness is fairly important, and as people have already said, there are a bunch of names that just sound silly and they wouldn't want to really use a software that's named that way, which I can sympathize with.

@deerhunter91
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deerhunter91 commented Aug 28, 2018 via email

@notNSANE
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notNSANE commented Sep 7, 2018

heyo, sorry I don't have much time to check github but I do keep track. I like any "hamster" variation, I think it's very fitting.

if you need more help try @ me, I think I have notifications enabled. I think :P

@AlvaroBrey
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Does it have to be animal-related? Or even follow the same name scheme as Rambox? Since we're clearly diverging from Rambox, we could go for something different altogether.

That being said, the best I've seen in this thread is "Hamsket" by @notNSANE . Would also make for a cutesy icon probably.

@AlvaroBrey
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Also, since we're at it, you should remove the reference to https://rambox.pro from the GitHub project:
image

@Gaboris
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Gaboris commented Sep 13, 2018

My first idea was simply "IMB" as in Instant Messaging Browser, but I guess that's kinda less creative or marketable and is probably better for naming these new types of multi-chat clients, but still an idea is an idea. :)

@Thaii
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Thaii commented Sep 23, 2018

Just going to throw in a few of my suggestion for a name.

HydraBox/HydraTank - Hydra heads being the sources that is available and how more can keep growing. The Tank variant is kind of a play on words. Tank because we think of the military vehicle being strong and robust but also a Tank for containing things.

PandaPen/PugBox/OttaChat/OttaMsg - Just going for the animal and box combo here (OttaChat/Msg is also a play on words. For some who may not know, Otta sounds like Gotta which means Got to)

MsgBox/OpenMsg/OpenCom - Going from the idea above.

Also agree Hamsket by @notNSANE is a pretty good choice and as @ontherunvaro has mentioned cute logo could be made.

If I come up with anything more I'll post it up :)

@ikenichiro
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I'm just a user only reading the issues, but I just wanted to say that I also think that "Hamsket" is one of the best names so far and would love using it.
Also leaving a suggestion, I just came up with Hydra + Hamsket = Hymsket

@TheGoddessInari
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"Hamsket" is a pretty nice name and not taken, so I'm definitely leaning toward that.

Apologies for the lack of commits, I'm still here and still looking into issues/etc, so if there are any ideas/suggestions/contributions, feel free. It's hard to let people know via GitHub that September is a crazy month.

@TheGoddessInari
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TheGoddessInari commented Nov 11, 2018

This is still blocking on a 0.5.18 release because without an intermediate release with working import/export, you'd simply lose all existing service config.

I'm leaning toward releasing that ASAP at this point, but currently #66 is pretty damn inconvenient.

Would anyone prefer I do the intermediate release ASAP (within the next week) and kick everything else to the next one for rebranding purposes? It wouldn't matter much except that the intermediate release would have broken non-menu shortcuts.

Still leaning toward "Hamsket".

@vraravam
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@TheGoddessInari - i would be willing to try out any beta versions of the new app - in case you want someone to test on Mac OS Mojave.

@rmcsharry
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rmcsharry commented Dec 22, 2018

Awesome project, some great ideas here. Coopbox is ok but reminds me of being "cooped up", a very negative term (in mental hospital, in prison etc). Not a good association to conjure up. So coop does not make me think of chicken coop but actually being locked up in the coop! Not something you want related to an open source message manager app!

So maybe "henbox" is better than coopbox - people have positive (mother/caring) associations with hens. Hens look after their chicks etc. Easy logo.

My other idea is:
lottabox

(lotta is slang for lots of)

A google search does not bring up much so would be easy to rank it.
And believe it or not the .com was available, so I bought it just in case. Logo is easy too.

image

Happy to donate the domain should it be chosen.

@MalevolentGrin
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MalevolentGrin commented Dec 26, 2018

RamBox_en_

Read either as comical plural, or made resembling

MuskoxBoxed

A hardier goat.

TakinBox

Because both you have takEn over the CE project effectively, and with gold takin the logo is easily shifted to gold (read as: gold standard of excellence).

Having read the thread

OxenBoxen

Average user will not appreciate "boxen".

Your Ox Box

Positioning Statement (@notNSANE): Pull free your potetntial

OxBox
OxBLOX
OxBlocks
(not: ox bollocks)

OxCroc
Beaver Bunker
Badger Barracks
Ox Flocks (winged ox)

Loose your Moose
Moose Caboose

Social Snare

bad Positioning Statement: why badger your friends

Social Shark

positioning statement: shark size social appetite
shark size your social needs

Shark Party ... because it's better than a riot

@MalevolentGrin
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MalevolentGrin commented Dec 26, 2018

also such projects need loop in the words "text" or "texting" to help capture people who like sheep pour money down the drain on SMS

Sheeple Text

In the same way Jabber is: xmpp texting, or jabber texting, and NOT IM.

..

BuckIT [icon bucket with horns]

Buck + kit

kick + bucket = death is not great branding

kick + kit .. too close to kik?

kick + it = millenial slang for small party / social gathering: kick back

kick bit, kick mit,

flick pick (quick exchange of information)

flick back (quick social)

'flick back texting'

@TheGoddessInari
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TheGoddessInari commented Jan 23, 2019

Since we're closing in on a release finally with #66 getting fixes, any objections to Hamsket?

I'd almost like something more professional sounding, depending on if there'd be any help and coordination in removing and replacing ExtJS.

@DrXadium
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DrXadium commented Jan 24, 2019

Something a little more professional might have the word "Messenger" in it to quickly convey what the project is all about. What about something like "Ultra Messenger?" I didn't see any google hits for it (in my admittedly quick search) Or heck, "Hamsket Messenger". It sounds like a proper name and not too out there.

@LiBOSS-CZ
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As I already said. I am also for something with messenger,... in the name. People do not know what is it for with name Rambox or Hamsket, Also with messenger, ... people could google it if they are searching for something like AIO messenger, etc. and it could helps to spread.

@TheGoddessInari
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Due to Electron limitations, you basically need something that doesn't need spaces or hyphens to convey the name without Electron giving a lot of problems and inconsistency as far as I can tell.

Maybe something like Hamsket Messenger would work, but nearly everything would shorten to Hamsket anyway.

Something like "Ultra Messenger" would be basically impossible to search for. :)

@lmnoop
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lmnoop commented Jan 24, 2019

"Ultra Messenger" has a definite air of the early '00s and/or malware. Riffing on "Messenger" I arrived at "Messinki", Finnish for brass. But looking at this thread it seems "Hamsket" is winning and I think rightly so. It's cute, unique, and can easily be expanded upon with "Messenger", "Multi-messenger container" or whatever in documentation and project home. After all, what does "Skype" or "WhatsApp" mean?

@LiBOSS-CZ
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Hamsket Messenger seems OK for me. From the name I know that it is something for messaging.

@vraravam
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vraravam commented Jul 7, 2019

Any movement on this?

If you are hedging based on auto-importing the settings/localStorage from the old to the new name - I think, at this stage, I would be ok with re-setting up everything from scratch. Such a long delay for that reason is unacceptable to me personally.

@TheGoddessInari
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Real life has been crazy. I suppose I might as well push out a release and get to renaming things.

@TheGoddessInari
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This has been started in the hamsket_rename branch. Works so far so good, working on icons/etc.

@TheGoddessInari
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Everything's been updated except GoFundMe and other minor stuff.

Icons and such still haven't been. I'm still working on new source files.

@TheGoddessInari
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TheGoddessInari commented Aug 11, 2019

GoFundMe was updated thanks to their wonderful support.

Please consider donating via GoFundMe or Patreon if you're able. I'm doing my best but essentially all of my time over the next month will be going towards keeping the lights on at this rate. I'll still update and respond to Hamsket issues as much as possible even without help.

@varlesh
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varlesh commented Oct 18, 2019

image
hamsket_src.tar.gz

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