[kde-community] Renaming KScreenGenie

[Boudhayan Gupta]

On 19 September 2015 at 00:00, Eike Hein <hein at kde.org> wrote:
> I'd like to object to using Kapture for a number of reasons
> ... apologies for getting involved at this late hour, I was
> on vacation for most of this thread :)
>
> * The forcibly-inject-a-K naming scheme used to offer some
>   utility in the form of communicating to users that an
>   application was meant to use in a KDE workspace, and would
>   work well in it. Through various efforts (cross-desktop
>   standardization via freedesktop.org, KDE's porting efforts,
>   even our rebranding exercise) we've moved beyond that in
>   need and spirit, and largely only negatives remain - such
>   as its gimmicky nature and bad reputation. I think the app
>   is great and it would be unfortunate for its rollout to be
>   overshadowed by a reaction to this backwards-oriented
>   name.
>
> * It's not very memorable. Verb-based names don't easily
>   imprint as a thing.
>
> * It doesn't sound pleasant and feels out of character due
>   to many strong consonants and the snap of the first
>   syllable. It doesn't sound approachable or nimble, it
>   sounds serious and heavy-duty. Note these kinds of things
>   transfer to a great degree across language spheres (cf.
>   the Bouba-Kiki effect).
>
>
> Personally I'm a big fan of the "Selfie" suggestion:
>
> * It's clever and funny (the computer taking a self-portrait).
>
> * For those who can't take the word seriously - it also works
>   tongue-in-cheek. It's not a fad, though; a word for the
>   concept was needed, this it it, there won't be another
>   (with the exception of Korea's "selca" for self-camera,
>   perhaps). It's won.
>
> * Selfie is a artifact of globally interconnected culture,
>   it's familiar to many non-English-speakers and not nerdy,
>   while capture is advanced English and fairly technical and
>   unapproachable.
>
> * It's an opportunity to appropriate a mainstream word for
>   our purposes before anyone else really does. Those don't
>   come along that often.
>
> * It sounds pleasant due to weaker consonants and i/e
>   vowels. Cats would like this name. (But admittedly some
>   language spheres can't pronounce f well.)

When I first thought of Selfie, I thought of the following:

* It makes perfect sense (screen taking a self portrait).
* While most other applications and projects take an "appropriate" and
subdued approach to naming their apps, this would be very "with the
times" and culture-appropriate, at this point.
* A fresh jolt from the dreary and monotonous world of coding?

While it is a bit late now (the repository rename was done yesterday),
I'm still in love with the word Selfie (for the above reasons and
more). I'm heavily considering requesting another rename to Selfie.

Are there any strong objections?

Cheers,
Boudhayan