SoylentNews

Feedback Requested: Name Vote

posted by NCommander on Wednesday April 23 2014, @10:00PM   
from the apt-get-install-democracy dept.

I wanted to get feedback on how the community feels about our current name vote. There have been some concerns that we've had relatively small percentage (~10 percent) of members register to vote, and wanted to see if there was something more fundamental going on. As it is currently setup, here's how things are

• You had to be registered by April 12th to have been included in the name vote; if you received a ballot for submission, you should have gotten ranking ballot
• We haven't retroactively added in additional users, though it hasn't been clear that there was a hard cutoff
• The submission phase went until the 19th, and the vote for the name will continue until the 27th
• The current system is email only (but we are looking at getting something integrated into the website implemented for future votes)

I want to hear your feedback below from everyone. Based on what we get back, we'll roll improvements into future votes, or if need be, reset the vote and do it again; I know a lot of you are active here or at least more involved, so the relatively low turnout is a warning canary for me. Leave your comments below, and expect another story in a few days to see how we're using your comments.

• Too late and choices weren't goodToo late and choices weren't good (Score: 3, Interesting) by umafuckitt on Wednesday April 23 2014, @10:52PM

  by umafuckitt (20) on Wednesday April 23 2014, @10:52PM (#35208)

  My main gripe with the whole process is that it took too long to get to the name to a vote. SoylentNews isn't an accessible name. I'm a geek, but I haven't watched the movie and Soylent just makes me think of this [soylent.me]. We need a better name, but leaving the vote so late increases the chance that the existing name will stick. If so, it won't stick because it's a good name but because people are just used to it.

  The other problem I have is that the alternatives presented weren't very good. Many of them were just echoes of "slashdot" and I think we want a total shift from that name. Now you may say "why didn't you come up with a better name". Frankly, if I'd known what the choices would have been like I would have spent an afternoon thinking of names. I didn't think I'd need to do that, though.

  In the end the names I preferred were things such as "baconnews" and "thegarlic" They're ridiculous enough that if the look of the site was designed around them, they might work. The design matters as much as the name.

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Interesting=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Interesting' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3

• Re:Too late and choices weren't good(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Thursday April 24 2014, @07:38AM

  by mojo chan (266) on Thursday April 24 2014, @07:38AM (#35391)

  I was going to suggest ctrlaltslash or some variation, but didn't even know it was happening until it was announced that the submission period was over. I didn't get any emails, didn't know there was a "willing to vote" tick box in my profile (it wasn't there when I registered I think), and the post just happened to be during a period where I was temporarily unable to read every article for a couple of days due to travelling.

  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)

  Parent