We've finally reached the end. The name will be....
...SoylentNews.org!
I know, it's a bit anti-climactic, but we've gone over the results and our current name won by a significant margin. We'll follow up with a post detailing the voting results in a few days.
Edit: The results data are available in responses to this comment.
For what it's worth, there were a lot of us that would have like to see the name change. The staff even had a chance to override this decision, but instead we decided to support the community's choice.
I'd like to thank everyone who spent a lot of time (and in some cases money) suggesting domains, voting, and bearing with us through this long complex process. It turned into a huge, non-trivial task to pull off, and I appreciate your patience and understanding. We listened to your criticisms of the process as well and we've learned a lot about how we can significantly improve this process for the future.
Okay, now cue all the "I told you that SoylentNews would win!1!!1!!" comments...
Related Stories
After several early attempts, we have settled on a process for deciding on the final name for this site currently known as SoylentNews.org. You'll need to log in and go to: userprefs/homepage and check the box marked "Willing to Vote" if you'd like to participate (do this now, the submission round will go out soon). The vote will occur using an email-based solution loosely based on the Debian/Condercet method that we cooked up. Note: checking this box will indicate that we are scraping your email address from the database for participation (this is completely opt-in). If you wish not to participate, just make sure this box is unchecked (this is the default).
We are opening the floor to name suggestions. If you have suggested a name earlier, you'll need to re-submit it through this email voting system. Though we prefer available domains, if you have pre-purchased a domain (eg: to prevent squatters), by submitting the name you are stating that you are the owner of the domain(s) and will give it without strings attached to this project if it were to be chosen.
The criteria for an acceptable name:
- Unique and free of obvious trademarks
- Ideally be a bit technological/geeky and signal the site is "news"
- Domain should be available in all permutations: .com/.net/.org
- Easy to pronounce
- Easy to type
- Easy to 'market' or has a "hook" (imagine a mug with the name, a logo, slogans, plays on words, etc.)
- Passes the girlfriend / wife / significant other / random person at work - test
This is how it will work:
- The first round will go out asking for name submissions
- Submissions will remain open for 7 days
- The community will vote to yield 5 names
- Staff will vote and produce 5 names
- A final vote on all 10 names will be held
- At this point, the staff will have a second full vote on the same ten items the community voted on
- The result of this vote, and the community vote, including its runoff, will then be published
- The staff vote is the final decision. We have to live with this. But the community will have a powerful influence on the final staff vote.
If you're interested:
NCommander adds: So its finally here, and I wanted to apologize for the long delay before this actually happened. To the editoral team, please bump this to the top of the index for the next 24 hours so everyone gets a chance to see it (click 'fastforward' then save to autoupdate the timestamp). I promise a Featured Story option is coming in the next major update so we don't have to deal with this!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Subsentient on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:49PM
*pop* *fizzle* WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Soylent News !!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! *puke* WOOOOOOO!!!!!
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:28PM
I already forgot the other names on the ballot... um technocrap or something?
subicular junctures
(Score: 1) by _NSAKEY on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:11PM
So did I. Forkdot was the only good alternate name on the ballot.
(Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:47PM
Champagne? OK, in keeping with the french theme, all I have to say is plus ca change ...
(Sorry, no idea how to format the c with a cedilla.)
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:51PM
Well that's curtains for me. I'm off to go find something else to do on the Web. Bye from Mr B
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @01:28AM
the name sucks, but it just means i won't be mentioning it in rl. doesn't mean that the community sucks though. i'll be staying cos i like chatting on soylent irc and occasionally trolling tfa comments on the sn website :-P
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Sunday June 01 2014, @06:42AM
Honestly, as far as names go, even mentioning the other site in RL wasn't that fun either.
Still always moving
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Appalbarry on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:52PM
I'm actually pretty happy with that - Good Stuff.
Since I did vote in the first round I'm a bit annoyed though that I never saw an email or anything else inviting me to vote in the final round. Yes I've checked settings and spam filters etc.
It's not the end of the world, but is worth examining if other decisions come up in the future.
(Score: 1) by mrchew1982 on Saturday May 31 2014, @10:32PM
happened to me too, so don't feel lonely...
(Score: 1) by nwf on Monday June 02 2014, @03:18AM
Ditto. Nothing from SN on voting. I was getting daily update emails, but even those stopped. The winner is what I would have voted for anyway.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:53PM
I can dance to it, and it's got a good beat. I give it a 10.
(But mine goes one better! Mine goes all teh way to 11!)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by d on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:56PM
I told you that SoylentNews would win!1!!1!!
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:59PM
See, I called it...
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:23PM
Is People!
subicular junctures
(Score: 5, Insightful) by black6host on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:56PM
I just wanted to say thank you for giving it so much consideration and putting the time and effort into it.
Job well done, folks.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:25PM
Yes this is a community success, mo matter the result.
NExt up on the docket,
changing the name of slashcode to soylentcode,spaghetticode,slashcode, or ____
subicular junctures
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday May 31 2014, @08:36PM
BACONCODE.
Filter Error: Just like your lard ass, chump.
(Score: 1) by stephenw32768 on Saturday May 31 2014, @08:53PM
+1.
I've been lurking here almost since the beginning. I didn't register to vote because I'm not an active member of the community and thus didn't have any skin in the game, so to speak; but I like the name and I'm glad it won.
Nice one, guys.
*resumes lurking*
-Stephen
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Saturday May 31 2014, @10:49PM
Speaking of time... why will it take "a few days" to put up a post with the voting results? You already have the results, right?
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:29AM
Sorry for the delay. The results data have been compiled and written up in response to this comment:
http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=1177&cid=50339 [soylentnews.org]
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 1) by NullPtr on Thursday June 05 2014, @07:50AM
And it's amusing that even you thought it was a stupid name! Out of interest.....why? Why was it called Soylent Green? What's the connection between a slashdot fork and a limp movie?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by moondoctor on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:02PM
i got nothing against the name, but when there is a cultural history *and* a company called soylent making headlines regularly, it seems odd to me. on hearing 'soylent news' my first thought - i don't care about rich kids lazy (and misguided imho) food alternatives...
anyway, keep up the good work, *very* glad this place is here.
Cheers!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Saturday May 31 2014, @11:12PM
And it appears neither the food company nor the original movie company has clear title to the name or the word soylent.
We are not likely to run into trouble, because the Soylent food company is probably going bust soon anyway, because nobody likes it, its not significantly different from any other liquid diet, which as a class have proven pretty un-healthy.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by everdred on Monday June 02 2014, @02:40PM
I don't know; I would think that a company nobody likes that is supposedly going bust soon is the most likely to indiscriminately have lawyers cause trouble.
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:02PM
If it ain't broken, don't fix it.
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:58PM
Sanity prevailed.
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Sunday June 01 2014, @06:54AM
For whatever reason, I read your post as "Salinity prevailed." Perhaps it's the soylent food theme.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by Ryuugami on Sunday June 01 2014, @09:32AM
Soylenity prevailed?
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Lagg on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:10PM
Seriously though it was already established as the name for some time so it was a foregone conclusion. If you wanted it otherwise it probably would have been best to figure out the name before you had soylentnews.org registered and everything and implying that it wasn't anything but a codename. I know that given the circumstances that couldn't be done, but honestly who cares. There's not enough soylent in the world (the stupid disrespect-to-the-name food doesn't count, just like it shouldn't count when you think of why this name isn't good enough).
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 3, Interesting) by zizban on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:11PM
I thought the name was good from the get go but my second choice would have been apt-get-news, which makes the geek in me happy. A proud nerd here!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Lagg on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:19PM
I liked that too (even though I don't use debian for most systems anymore) but it's too debian-centric, and ubuntu-centric as sad as that is. Would have also implied that this is some kind of apt project site or a news site for debian itself.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 3, Funny) by tangomargarine on Saturday May 31 2014, @09:32PM
If you ask me, it doesn't actually make sense if you stop to think about it either.
apt-get update - doesn't take an argument, and you don't read the ensuing file/output anyway
apt-get install news - you only likely do this once, so it doesn't work as a recurring metaphor for fetching news either
apt-get upgrade/dist-upgrade - often takes a really long time to run...is that the message we want to send? And again, you only actually look at the output if something goes wrong.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Saturday May 31 2014, @11:26PM
Yeah, especially if you consider the debian guidelines saying stuff should only output for unexpected conditions and errors if it isn't intended for a machine to read (e.g. piping to something). I guess you could just say the awesome power of soylent wrote an extension subcommand for news. But now we're really entering nerd territory.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by Foobar Bazbot on Sunday June 01 2014, @01:59PM
"This APT has Super Newspaper-Fetching Cow Powers."?
(I would insert ASCII art of a cow holding a newspaper, but slashcode wouldn't like it, so y'all gonna have to use your imaginations this time...)
(Score: 5, Informative) by NCommander on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:34PM
This was one of the big issues I had as part of the build up of me taking over as head of the site. The should have been well under way before I ever was head of operations. Instead, it didn't even get started until I took over, plus the other issues that go. I've got more to write about it, and that will go up with a post soonish.
I'm not hugely happy that SN won, but it was by such a significant margin that it would have been a slap to the community had we gone with anythng else.
Still always moving
(Score: 3, Informative) by mrbluze on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:42PM
If it was the apparent will of the community, then there is nothing more to say. I wish the project all the best an encourage anyone who has the slightest inclination to put themselves forward and help out. Cheers everyone.
Do it yourself, 'cause no one else will do it yourself.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday June 01 2014, @01:50AM
Me, I'm glad SN won -- but I'm more glad you guys are going with the community instead of against it. We've got a lot of years to come in us. :)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by islisis on Sunday June 01 2014, @02:01AM
Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from leaving things late then. It's possible people simply got too used to the name to process any change.
Considering some of the staff comments in this post, it may have been useful to have heard their reasons before the vote, too.
(Score: 1) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday June 01 2014, @02:15AM
Well yes, but I'm sure there were a lot of more immediate issues with which to deal as things were getting started.
I certainly agree with this. I kind of get the feeling the staff wanted a change for some reason as I never saw any posts from the community complaining about the name. Perhaps if the staff would have simply presented a case for a change the community would have rubber stamped it. Maybe they thought it was better to stay above the fray, but ultimately if the staff is unhappy I see little chance the community will survive.
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Tuesday June 03 2014, @04:00AM
There were many actually.
From the "Name Finalists [soylentnews.org]" article text:
Many people had already mentioned issues with this name, I didn't personally feel it was necessary to reiterate those thoughts. Some hate the name, but many more seem to like it.
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @06:12AM
There were numerous deficiencies in this. It's a crying shame.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 02 2014, @04:48PM
For the record I believe this name choice is a mistake and the process was poorly designed and executed. For this reason I have left the project, and this should serve as a warning because I am not the first to have walked over substandard management in this project. Nonetheless I sincerely wish the project best of luck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 02 2014, @10:47PM
Wait, even NCommander himself agrees that the site name is TERRIBLE? What a travesty. He should have taken the initiative to change it and use something presentable.
There's NO reason he couldn't do it anyway. The "community" voted for a known quantity because of fear. Don't let their stupidity and fear ruin the site you're dedicating so much of your time and money to, NCommander.
SoylentNews is an awful, ridiculous name that damns this site to obscurity.
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:45AM
He didn't say it was "terrible" he just said he "I'm not hugely happy that SN won". It's a matter of opinion really, there are comments damning the name, comments praising it, and pretty much everything in between. That's why we rolled with the majority of the community's choice. I'm not sure what you mean by they voted out of "fear," but not respecting that decision is worse in my mind.
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 1) by kbahey on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:45PM
Well, I liked SoylentNews.org and voted for it. So I am relieved it is staying the same.
I do realize that we needed a vote, but it did take much more effort and time that warranted.
Let us not spend too much effort on things that don't need it, and spend more effort where it is needed (e.g. more participants in submissions and commenting).
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning [2bits.com].
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:46PM
1711, the call sign of the USS Enterprise. I think the only geekier number is 42.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by pogostix on Saturday May 31 2014, @05:59PM
Ummmmm..... actually. .. nevermind :)
(Score: 3, Funny) by n1 on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:14PM
Just like to mention, as a member of staff, this outcome is not one I was hoping for.
I respect the result even though I quite strongly disagree with keeping the name. We can be the GIMP in the 'news for nerds' sphere.
(Score: 2) by mattie_p on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:49PM
Hopefully you don't disagree enough to ragequit, we would miss you.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by lhsi on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:55PM
Part of me was hoping for a different name, one that's easier to get across to other people in discussion would be nice. The last set of choices weren't too much better though.
In all, I'm not too bothered about it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by pe1rxq on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:03PM
I did not visit the other site all those years because its name made sense or was explainable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 31 2014, @08:25PM
Amen brotha!
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday June 01 2014, @01:48AM
This!! I visited the other site all these years because it was worth visiting... and a bit because I could remember the bloody name. I'm glad SN won... another name I can remember, another site I hope to visit for a lot of years. :)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by islisis on Sunday June 01 2014, @02:10AM
So sad and so true
(Score: 1) by islisis on Sunday June 01 2014, @05:19AM
I would still like to know why you decided to use a 'moderation' system rather than a voting algorithm, like instant-runoff. Might the outcome have been changed...?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ambient Sheep on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:41PM
Yeah it's not a great name... but tbh, all the others in the final shortlist were worse, so I'm happy for it to stay as it was.
I thought there were some much better names in the longlist that never got down to the short one.
(Score: 1) by terryk30 on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:41PM
Tough and Badder!
Duff in Batter?
(Score: 1) by ticho on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:44PM
I think the name is good enough, and what's more, it already gained some (small) fame, so one more reason to stay with it.
I still would prefer to call the site DotStar (as in .* regexp, meaning "anything"), but oh well... :)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday May 31 2014, @08:03PM
but you have to type it in a disguised, anonymous kind of way. too late, as usual..... :(
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Insightful) by present_arms on Saturday May 31 2014, @08:52PM
I'm happy that the site has kept it's name, made no difference really, it could have been called shitonastick as long as the content and comments are decent it matters not the name :)
http://trinity.mypclinuxos.com/
(Score: 1) by Kunasou on Saturday May 31 2014, @09:17PM
Me too, the most important thing on a website (in my opinion) is its content and SoylentNews does it well.
(Score: 1) by lcklspckl on Saturday May 31 2014, @11:47PM
Yay inertia!
(Score: 2) by skullz on Sunday June 01 2014, @12:47AM
Now I don't have to get this "I Soylent!" tattoo removed or modified. Thanks, Soylent!
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Sunday June 01 2014, @06:40AM
Did you really get a SN tattoo?
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by skullz on Monday June 02 2014, @01:35PM
No. But I should have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @01:51AM
I like the name, I like the tagline, I like the inertia. I now get 9.6% of my news from this site.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @02:12AM
SoylentNews is a stupid name.
(Score: 2) by skullz on Sunday June 01 2014, @02:33AM
Yes. And that is why it is awesome.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Sunday June 01 2014, @02:53AM
Go get a fork
subicular junctures
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @04:37AM
Fuck the new name!
(Score: 1) by chewbacon on Sunday June 01 2014, @03:10AM
Didn't need to change it. It's a great name.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Sunday June 01 2014, @06:41AM
I'm disappointed... I was lobbying for changing the name to "pipedot".
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Sunday June 01 2014, @11:17AM
I know a handful of other people have said it already, but I feel that it can't be said enough: Thanks for respecting what the community here wants! The fact that the community is no longer respected is one of the major things that's driven me away from that other, similar-looking website with a different color scheme (well, similar looking when they don't load their "beta" version on you, anyway).
Long live soylentnews.org!
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @11:37AM
How many votes were there? What were the counts for each of the finals?
(Score: 1) by TheRaven on Sunday June 01 2014, @12:22PM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Sunday June 01 2014, @03:32PM
Er uh...yeah I did that on purpose...
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 1) by khakipuce on Monday June 02 2014, @08:51AM
There is this thing called DNS which will allow multiple names to point to the same web server. We are all reasonably intelligent and can handle the fact that a site could have two names. I know the marketeers will be throwing their iPhones across the room at this suggestion but hey, why not break some more moulds
I wanted a name change and I thought there were some very good alternatives offered, is it possible that your method of selection (9 as favourite, rather than 1) could have skewed the result, i.e. people intended to put soylent as a bottom of the list default, ended up giving it top score? Although perhaps not if soylent won by a wide margin.
One final nit pick and sorry if it's been pointed out before but in this case it's cue not queue...
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:37AM
We've considered pointing the other domains that we already control here, but I'm not sure it would do much at this point. And someone did already point out the "cue" mistake, it was mine, I was tired. Sorry. = )
(Score:1^½, Radical)