[HN Gopher] Mastodon Renaming "Toots" to "Posts"
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Mastodon Renaming "Toots" to "Posts"
Author : pitermach
Score : 63 points
Date : 2021-04-20 21:53 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| Blikkentrekker wrote:
| Where does it say in the discussion that it was accepted?
|
| Someone suggested that it be done, and most seem to be against
| and no conclusion has been reached at the bottom, as far as I can
| tell.
| tosh wrote:
| Gargron is the lead developer of Mastodon
| Arnavion wrote:
| That doesn't mean the PR is guaranteed to be merged, let
| alone already merged, as the submission title implies.
| tosh wrote:
| it doesn't, I added the comment for context in case other
| readers are not aware (@ "someone")
| xiaq wrote:
| AFAICT the PR author is actually the #1 developer of Mastodon
| and also authored the original change of renaming "posts" to
| "toots".
| kgwxd wrote:
| It shows "Changes Approved" at the bottom. I've never done any
| collaboration work on github, does that mean it's happening?
| ufo wrote:
| It means that another mastodon developer (ykzts) reviewed and
| approved the code. However, the commits haven't been merged
| to the main branch yet.
| detaro wrote:
| no, that just means someone has given approval. The more
| relevant bit to "will this be merged" is that Gargron is
| pretty much the BDFL of Mastodon.
| [deleted]
| imgabe wrote:
| As someone who doesn't use Mastadon, I immediately went to the
| toots -> farts connection.
|
| I get that a Mastadon is an elephant, elephants trumpet or
| "toot", so, toot is a post. A lot of people are going to think of
| farts though.
| myself248 wrote:
| I didn't realize they were meant to be trumpets, I thought it
| was a deliberate lambasting of the implied quality of tweets or
| whatever.
|
| Huh. Posts it shall be.
| LegitShady wrote:
| >I thought it was a deliberate lambasting of the implied
| quality of tweets
|
| You are not alone
| bscphil wrote:
| Likewise, I've never heard it used in a different way. At
| best, in my head, it was an onomotopoeia that could be used
| for the sound a kazoo or paper trumpet makes... but usually a
| fart.
| skierguy wrote:
| Same. As an American, I would be much less likely to use or
| spread good word about a product that centered around the act
| of "tooting". Our culture sees the word as silly, childish, and
| a bit gross. I could get used to it eventually, but if it's the
| first thing I see about the product, I'm probably going to find
| something else to use that doesn't make me think of farting or
| introduce fart terminology into my everyday word choice.
| tarboreus wrote:
| Yes. If you wanted to be charitable, the other connotation is
| tooting your own horn, which isn't that great either.
| Bragging is better than farts, though.
| inopinatus wrote:
| Being a native English speaker from another country I don't
| have have this allusion at all, and have to dig quite deep to
| remember that Americans do.
|
| I do get _tootsuite_ = > _toute de suite_ i.e. a sense of
| immediacy, the present moment, alongside the onomatopoeic
| elephant.
|
| Hard-bitten cynical take: notwithstanding the denial of the
| PR, that original author knew the allusion, and that it has
| parochial scope, i.e. they actively intended to annoy
| Americans, and in particular those with a prim streak.
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| I take it as self deprecating. Most things people write online
| is shit- including my comment. Get off your high horse, you
| aren't special, you're making farting noises online.
| hprotagonist wrote:
| i demand /s/toot/poot/g !
| throwawaymanbot wrote:
| This is very mature of them.
|
| (Now maybe i can stop giggling when someone mentions tooting, i
| mean.. "posting" stuff on mastodon.)
| quesera wrote:
| I approve.
|
| No one asked me, but if they had, I'd have opined that the pre-
| cuting of your nomenclature is usually the result of too much
| time spent thinking about branding and not enough time building
| features.
|
| Note that "tweet" was spawned organically by the community, and
| Twitter did not adopt the word formally for a couple years after
| it was in popular use.
| bogwog wrote:
| > is usually the result of too much time spent thinking about
| branding and not enough time building features.
|
| Uh, I think you might have it backwards there. The Mastodon
| folks probably didn't spend enough time thinking about
| branding.
| marcinzm wrote:
| I feel it's more that they spent too much thinking about
| branding but they were just not very good at it.
| bscphil wrote:
| > The word "toot" is a part of mastodon, it fits, people know
| what you mean. If you take that away you take away a part of
| mastodon's soul.
|
| Proof people will react dramatically to basically any change, I
| guess.
|
| More importantly, as Blikkentrekker has pointed out, this hasn't
| been merged yet, and in fact from the comments seems to be very
| unpopular. Possibly it won't be merged at all.
| ggggtez wrote:
| > people know what you mean
|
| If someone tells me "hey wanna toot with me" I certainly don't
| think I'd have a clue what they meant.
| agogdog wrote:
| I prefer to opt for the more fun option, but it's generally an
| immaterial change.
| okareaman wrote:
| Toot (Oxford Languages): a snort of a drug, especially cocaine.
| "he still likes a toot"
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| I'll be sad to see "toots" go away. I understand it was
| unintentional (I believe an interview with the creator on a
| podcast stated: "As for 'toots'...[he] just thought that was the
| sound an elephant makes."), but as a commentary on the average
| quality of discourse on social media, it was _brilliant_.
| bigyikes wrote:
| I know little about Mastodon, but it seems like somebody went out
| of their way to make the cringiest sounding product possible.
| "Hey man, I just tooted on mastodon!" It really sounds like
| parody. I hope I am just missing the point.
|
| You might say this is a superficial criticism, but I think naming
| is important when it comes to social appeal. At least, it becomes
| important when the naming has gone so horribly wrong.
|
| If they're changing course there might be hope yet.
| dsabanin wrote:
| I just googled Mastodon, and I think you're right. Now I'm
| going to go tweet about it.
| TulliusCicero wrote:
| Even when 'google' as a verb was brand new, I don't remember
| it sounding awkward.
| agogdog wrote:
| Many people felt the same way about tweeting. I doubt it makes
| enough of a difference to matter one way or the other.
| solarkraft wrote:
| How sad to see this piece of culture fading (or maybe it's not?).
| Luckily the Mastodon code base is merely a recommendation and
| lots of instances use custom names. I can see many sticking with
| toots.
| egypturnash wrote:
| They're still gonna be "rars" on my instance, whatever Garg does
| on his.
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(page generated 2021-04-20 23:00 UTC)