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Comment by thiht

1 year ago

I wish they would have chosen a better name. Honestly if I have to install a Git server one day I’m gonna install Gitea, not a tool I can’t even pronounce.

Names are important, this is why I also don’t use DuckDuckGo.

The reasons for forking from Gitea were also a bit weak in my opinion.

> Names are important, this is why I also don’t use DuckDuckGo.

You won't use DuckDuckGo because of the name? DuckDuckGo is so tricky to write on mobile that I copy pasted from your comment, but that doesn't stop me from using it. For me, googlability of names is important, but otherwise I don't care.

I'm really curious about your reasoning. Does it offend your aesthetic sensibilities? Do you think people who would choose such a name can't be trusted with search? Or something else entirely?

  • > Does it offend your aesthetic sensibilities

    Yes. I’m completely aware it’s irrational and probably a bit dumb, but I don’t want to use something with a name I actively hate. Some names are "meh" or boring and that’s ok. But for DuckDuckGo and Forgejo I have a visceral reaction against their name.

    DuckDuckGo is an even worst offender because their logo is ALSO dumb and terrible, and I don’t want to see it.

> a tool I can’t even pronounce

jazzyjackson provided the pronunciation guide in a comment above:

> forˈd͡ʒe.jo, to my midwestern ear, "4 Jay yo"

It's totally OK for a project to use words from a foreign language. "Linux" is derived from Finnish Linus (/ˈliːnʊs/) and pronounced /ˈlɪn.əks/, unlike the English Linus - /lɑ́jnəs/.

IMHO Forgejo should have the IPA pronunciation spelled out on the landing page.

> this is why I also don’t use DuckDuckGo

Just how silly "Google" sounded when it first popped up? How Torvalds joked that he named "git" after himself? "Bash" is a play on "Bourne" and "born again"? Silly names are a part of the hacker culture, remaining playful despite the product having huge impact brings color to people's lives.

  • > Just how silly "Google" sounded when it first popped up? How Torvalds joked that he named "git" after himself?

    I knew these examples were coming. Subjectively speaking, these are catchy names, which is why they work. Forjego and DuckDuckGo are not catchy, there's something wrong with their flow. Maybe they're too long or too "breaking", or maybe they don't work internationally (I'm French) somehow, I don't know. I'm not going to write a thesis on why some names don't work, but if someone did I would love it. Silly names are ok but there's a very thin line between "silly" and "annoying". DuckDuckGo definitely crosses it for me.

  • off: google translate English lady pronounces it as "4 Jay ho" with an H. That isn't how a native English speaker would attempt to pronounce Forgejo, is it?

That's a weak reason and you know it.

  • It might not be a very strong reason, but quite enough to pick the original project which also has more development effort behind it (and is still used by Blender FWIW, I don't think they have any plans of migrating). I understand your first language is German. Figures. The name is unpronounceable and feels weird to me also. If we ever migrate from gitea (although I currently see no reason to do it), I'll have to pick some generic term and introduce it to others under that name.

    • > I understand your first language is German. Figures.

      I assume your argument is: “Everyone who had to learn English as a second language is so used to completely random pronunciation that they won’t complain about anything anymore”.

      2 replies →

  • I know. But I don’t want to use something with a naming sounding weird that I actively hate, especially when there are alternatives with a better name.

Clearly Postgres is not a good database and you will wisely use any other. I can see real advantages to this. It saves you so much effort and time. In fact, it allows you to make no effort at all.

> I can’t even pronounce

Even if one is somehow monolingual, forgejo is a perfectly fine word in English. There are even multiple ways to make it sound funny (forge-joe, forge-yo, etc).