POLL: Site name

22

What I can notice is that any dev, chat, talk, community, online variation with fm already exists somewhere.

After giving this name situation a serious reflection, I see two serious disadvantage of picking a name along these lines:

1- Unless people have it bookmarked, they can struggle to find the "right" combinaison. That is especially true if invited by a peer. Case in point:

I am a very occasional visitor on a few other very established forums. I read English and French and do not necessarily note in which I am reading. I cannot tell you how many times I have been on FMForums thinking I was going to FMSource and vice versa. I would think to myself "did they change the forum layout?" before realizing I was not where I intended to go. I don't consider myself particularily stupid - distracted, sure.

Now how would i find us if i need to figure out fmdev or fmdevs or devtalk.fm or fmdevelopers.org?! It's all the same!

2- As Bobino eloquently demonstrated, ranking wise, using the usual words will get us nowhere.

Even fmsoup, which I like very much, pops up as Soup FM in Google ranking (radio stations). At least it is another industry and it would pop very first once we get listed because of the word order (there is nothing fmsoup so google separates the words and finds soup fm)

FieldMaker seems to be part of another software... http://www.kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Article/104018
FieldMakers are a bunch of architect
MakingFields is a company making design tools
Makefield is a city in England!
Markfield is the surname of someone who wrote about multiple orgasms :joy:

unless we have a phrase name - how about "the-site-formally-known-as-mfsc.org" (am being ironic here)
we will have to sacrifice something; what will that be?

Clarity? uniqueness? concision? conviviality? rankings? good rapport with coopetitors in the ecosystem?(absolutely against that one).

Food for thoughts...

23

Sorry about that, didn’t take time to check and was just posting ideas, holiday weekend here and grabbed a few moments

24

We’re late to the party, hence we’re limited fmpchat.com and all other top level domain versions appears to still be available and doesn’t clash with any products as far as i’m aware.

25

If considering something oblique all TLD’s are available for notinanutshell, i.e. notinanutshell.com, .org, etc. I don’t think the original MS-DOS one will count as a brand anymore, LOL

26

‘fmcauldron’, ‘fmcooker’, ‘fmselect’, ‘fmcore’, ‘rapiddev’, ‘quickdev’,

Just brainstorming.

27

1-more-thing’s Nutshell Console is a wink to it!

28

If FileMaker goes away as the product name (which is very likely and needs to happen anyway) would be consider changing the name then or should that be considered now?

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29

Pretty much anything will link to something eventually. However, one I really like that is available is outofcontext.fm

Hits many levels

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30

That’s a good point and one of the reasons nobody has put forward anything to do with fmp12 for instance. Again a reason why I’d prefer something more oblique.

31

Interesting points. I doubt FMsource or FMforum would change names.
The seo optimization of the sites will fill in for the missing dots.

I like outofcontext a lot. However a search on google returns a Nederland tech group

32

Sure FmSource and FmForum have been around a long time so it makes a lot less sense for them to change their names now as opposed to a new forum with no history. Does this forum what to look forward or look back? Do we only care about FileMaker or will this forum discuss their other products as well.

FileMaker didn’t want to be a one trick pony anymore do we? I personally like “Claris Insights” or something with the Claris name. It makes this forum sound new which it is as well as implying it’s broad enough to address the new world of Claris products. This would probably be the first forum with Claris in the name. Do we want to be the first to do this or be the last one with FileMaker in the name?

Cecile this is your baby so you need to do what you feel is right but if you want to give this forum the best chance to be successful I suggest you look forward and not backward. In the next 24 to 36 months we all are going to have to learn about the brave new world of the next generation of FileMaker (or whatever it may be called in the future) that brave new world might as well start with this forum…

1 Like
33

I’m not attached to anything specific right now.

Recently, I’ve been approached by a headhunter for a client who needs a Mendix developer. Since there are hardly any in Canada, she was authorized to look for developers skilled in similar platforms (hence FileMaker, hence me).

I need work right now so I am starting the Mendix (free online) 12 hours certification program. It is pretty well done. I have no opinion about the platform so far. I’m certainly not going to stop developing in FileMaker but given the current wave of interest for low code fast dev platforms, it is not a bad idea to see what is out there.

In line with that thinking, I feel that our community, by being independent from companies such as Claris, Mendix or EasyMorph can provide a very interesting forum for developers that wish to surf the wave.

So I am not going to force people into diversity but if others feel comfortable as I am about cathering to the broader fast development community, yet keeping anchored on the product currently named FileMaker, it could be interesting. Let’s say remaining evangelical about FM yet multidenomination friendly.

34

I wish you the best of luck with that. I just looked at the Mendix website and it looks interesting but the cost starts at almost $2K a month. If you wish the move to enterprise level platforms then this could be a good move but it’s an entirely different animal than FM “low code” is probably the only thing they have in common. I doubt others here want this forum to morph into platforms besides Claris especially ones no one has ever heard of but I suppose we’ll have to wait until here from others about that.

35

Your post was not specifically asking for feedback, but I felt compelled to give some:

  • I understand our site is in its infancy so many things are possible, that said, I feel like it should have a clear value proposition.
  • Because we are building relationships with community members, I expect that if I have a problem with anything I can take my chances and ask the community (like: how do you do X in MS Excel). That said, I don't expect we would have complete channels dedicated to other platforms. That would bring a lot of noise in the mix (see below).
  • People who like to follow all topics would need to find a way to tune out the content they don't care about
  • People who search for content that is similar across platforms would find posts that are not relevant to the specific platform they are using, having to filter the search results
  • People who don't know what the site is about would have a harder time figuring it out
  • Perception could be that the content is less valuable "jack of all trades, master of none"
  • if we have a hard time to define our identity as a group / finding a name for the site, enlarging the audience is not going to help.
  • a shaky comparison, but if FileMaker's website included a section of the community for MS Access developers because the needs and the questions they face are similar enough, I'm pretty sure it would push me further away from their site and not bring me closer.

For all those reasons, and probably some others I do not think of right now, I would not be in favor of a swing in that direction, because in my opinion, it lessens the value proposition (it may be counter-intuitive that by adding content the value is going down, but I feel it is the case). A bit like dedicated tv channels do well because you know what you are going to get when you tune into their content. If the history channel was to do sci-fi, the travel channel was to run home-renovation shows, it does not mean the content is bad, it does not mean some people would not like it, but I bet the people who tuned in for travel shows would eventually feel like it dilutes the content and would eventually go elsewhere to get their travel fix. Just my opinion.

6 Likes
36

Once again voices of wisdom. I appreciate how you always bring articulated arguments to the table btw.

37

I fully agree with your reasoning…

Yet we still need to find a name :thinking:

38

Sorry for this wall of text, I guess I have something I want to voice.

We found a name, we even found many names, but we want a name that can also be used as a domain name and (it seems like) a name that makes the most people happy by using some form of group decision (meetings, votes, brainstorms, polls, ...).

I'm saying "makes the most people happy" because sometimes we get confused thinking that asking everyone for their input will lead us to the "best/perfect" decision (in this case a decision about a name).

As much as I want to respect our group and how we want to do things, I know choosing a name is not an easy thing, but I think our process is starting to hinder us here:

  • let's agree that A name is better than NO name
  • the current designation is not specifically attractive / memorable (nor was it trying to be back when it started) (I know there are some invites I want to keep for when our site has a more definitive identity)
  • many different opinions were voiced, both as suggestions or some form of approval (reply to a suggestion, like, vote in a poll)
  • within that, there should be enough content for a single person (or maybe 2 or 3 max) to reach a decision on the name and get going with it

I know of this quote that says "If you want to go fast, go alone, If you want to go far, go together."

It could be extended to say "If you want to go nowhere: vote on it."

I'm not saying everything would be better with a dictator ruling things. I'm not saying the group effort is not good: it is good and we learned from it. I simply don't see it as a way to reach a decision: I believe that should be in the hands of a much smaller number.

Of course, the chosen name will not make everyone happy, but the same could be said about a name "chosen by everyone". As far as I am concerned, whoever ends up making that decision does not even have to explain it. Some may be sad about this, but we have to accept that some things are simply not into our hands and that bringing more people at the decision table leads to 1- more time to reach a decision 2- a decision that is the sum of many compromise (seeking to make the larger number "happy").

The best part is once we have a name we can carry on to other things that also need to take place.

If in the longer term, we end up adopting a singular vision that shapes this group differently in a fashion that is very unique & distinctive, we can always rename the group, but for now this is not where we are at.

We have a great "product". It needs a name. It is competing with comparable "products". The name is not going to make or brake the product, it is the product that is going to make or brake the product (sorry for the folks who are big on branding / marketing). If we had a very unique product that people can't even picture, then yes you need a name that carries what it is about and much more. Like I said, I do not exclude this could happen, but I do not believe this is our situation today. In a blunt way, we have a great toy, we like it, we feel like others will like it, let's slap a sticker on the side and see how long we can surf on that (pretty much what Cecile did initially, giving us great results if you ask me: we would probably not be here today had she spent a lot of time to find the perfect name or turned to her network to gather input about it). Also, it is ok to make mistakes and some of our apprehensions may or may not materialize, but the only way of figuring it out is to try it.

So will we rinse, wash and repeat until we find the exit door (something that can be okay if it is what we want, I'm not judging, just sharing my opinion and hope I did not offend anyone) or will we agree this should be handled by just a few?

2 Likes
39

@Bobino, absolutely right in what you say. The only constant over time will be ‘developer’. Without tying it to a specific product but making it special, we need something ‘sticky’ to the mind. This brings me to:

developercandy.org

40

It is handled by just a few: 8 people at the AGM, 14 people voted.

At the AGM, it was decided to not adopt a formal structure for the next 6 months.

I set the general structure of the site in a way that I felt was more appropriate to yield certain types of interaction. I adhere to Lewin’s research action axioms. I also like to be consultative; not to please to everyone but to validate some of my perception on which I base my strategies. The polls are a great consultation tool. I specify when the vote will be binding.

2 Likes
41

Like you Torsten, Bobino’s words ring true to me.

Personally, I’d still like a connection to FileMaker. We’re all involved as we’re still passionate about it and I feel the name should reflect this. Something linked like ‘enablescripttriggers.xxx’, ‘layoutjunkies.xxx’, ‘insertfromindex.xxx’, ‘allowuserabortoff.xxx’, ‘extendfoundset.xxx’ , ‘checkfoundset.xxx’ if we’re not going for FileMaker, fm, fmp, etc. in the name/url (ps the group name and url do not necessarily need to be the same thing). Adding the ‘.fm’ TDC should be enough of a clue to any of this type of obscure link.

Someone needs to make a decision soon though.