Sitename Discussion

[Kenadian]

The subject has come up that perhaps naming this Website Fragtard.net isn't in our best interests if we're interested in an "our best foot forward" approach. Essentially, the thinking is that not everyone is going to be as accepting of being considered a "tard" as some of us are (some more than others lol).

To quantify this thought process a bit more, we are discussing growth of the Community and if we're interested in growing our name could be a limiting factor in what level of growth is achieved and what kind of audience we'd attract.

I do believe it's a valid point, my argument is that I like the free wheeling, fun loving attitude we have here and I believe the name is part of that formula.

...BUT, this isn't about what I think it's more about what you think so I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter.

I will say though that I cannot entertain a branding change that is even goofier than what we currently have. If we're going to re-brand ourselves then it needs to be more professional in manner.

There will a Poll on this topic once it's been discussed. For now though I don't want a Polling as it gives no insight into everyone's thoughts on the matter.

Any and all input greatly appreciated!

 

[Die Alone]

I have actually brought this exact point up myself in discussions with other members when it came to the discussion of bringing more members in. I personally dont mind the name but can see how others would consider it degrading to ones self to be branded as a tard. I know its all in fun and a silly name that is meant to convey the playful nature of the group. But some might even find the term offensive throwing it around lackadaisically if they have sensitivity toward the people afflicted with mental retardation. That being said I am also one that doesnt like the political correctness of the world and applaud bold strides against it.

I am new here still and have no pull and real say in this decision. And will still be here fragtard or what ever else its called. Because its not the name that brought me here or keeps me here its the people. But I do find myself apprehensive in fully flying the fragtard flag because it occasionally gives fuel to insult from less mature gamers. And they already have enough of a reason from my poor gaming performance to ridicule me.

Either way I'm with you Duke and here for the long haul.

 

[Fireblade]

To be brutally honest, when the outsource recruiting and marketing of Fragtard stops being our main recruiting tool and the use of our servers is the tool the name won't matter. 90% of the 100-150~ people I had returning daily to play Planetside 2 were recruited from in-game recruiting, advertising and gameplay, not from marketing us on the forum.

At current almost all of Fragtards' current people filtering in are from my out-dated and un-maintained Planetside 2 and WarZ Fragtard posts on the official game forum and yes, I will admit I have more than 20 private messages stating that they would not check us out due to our name. But like I said, I don't think people with entitlement issues and a broom up their ass over the name of the community would fit in or stick around, anyway.

Just my two cents.

 

[ElektroVodka]

After all we are a Gathering of Gamers......
I tried to come up with a middle word that starts with "A" so the tag would be GaG

Anyway, it doesnt matter if you change the name, we will always be Tards

 

[Engnr]

Ohhhh, about time! Yes let's change the name!!!!

How about:

"My cock is bigger then your cock dot com"
"Epenile Implants for the Win dot com"

Not interested in a serious name, I find those people a little disconcerting to be honest. The guys over at TLB get it, they call themselves lazy bastards, nothing wrong with that.
I get it, that's why I'm a tard. If you don't "get it" then move on because you probably wont fit in anyway with this concept, it's a freaking video game!

On second thought, let's keep it Fragtard.

 

[tmtm]

To be honest, I've never been a big fan of the tard part of it. It's not a deal breaker, but it is insensitive and I'm not sure it conveys just who we are.

Maybe I have entitlement issues or a stick up my ass or whatever, but there's not much difference between retard and any other slur. No one would support "frag_(insert favorite slur here)__" and I'm not sure just what the difference is.

 

[mondo]

What engnr said. Someone somewhere would get upset if we called ourselves "happy gamers site.com". If you're a gamer and you see the word 'tard', you don't think actual mentally or physically retarded person, you think terrible player in online games.

Besides, the tiny minority who might get upset wouldn't fit in here anyway.

BTW my sister is physically retarded if we want to put it that way, with MS (she's wheel chair bound) and I never once made a connection until it was brought up here about people getting offended.

Duke; who do you want to attract? What do you want this site to look like in 2 or three years? Would keeping the name Fragtard affect those plans?

 

[Kenadian]

Back when I came up with the name Fragtard.net, Pentarix had been banned from Wolf and I was helping him with his site. At that time it was called Pentarix.com and I felt it had no meaning, at least not one that would appeal to gamers.

After about a month or so of toiling over names, I came up with Fragtard which was actually a play on a word every gamer should recognize, "Fucktard".

Fragtard was simply meant to be less offensive in nature yet remain recognizable to gamers, hence "Frag".

Duke; who do you want to attract? What do you want this site to look like in 2 or three years? Would keeping the name Fragtard affect those plans?

This I don't know and can't say. We have no idea who we'll attract so I don't want to hamstring us with some false target.

All I can say is that we'll attract a wide range of people initially and those who feel they fit will stay and those who feel they don't, won't.

That being said, any Webmaster will tell you that you need to appeal to the masses if you want to grow which we need to be cognizant of.

I do understand the mentality that those offended may not be suited for this site but just perusing this topic it's pretty much split down the middle within the Community we now have as to whether or not the name is offensive.

Even Die Alone (I'm not picking on you, I'm thankful for your reply!!!) who is in fact a New Member has had this thought as well as tm who we've all known and loved for years. Are we saying we don't think either is a fit because they don't like the name?

I sure hope not.

I wasn't expecting this split in how people felt about the name but since it exists it needs to be addressed.

Will it help us grow, will it attract the wrong audience, will it in fact make any difference at all; I can't say? What I can say though is it is clearly an issue to some and since I know and respect the input of everyone here, the idea of a name change needs to be seriously considered.

 

[mondo]

I understand your reasoning, I really do. There's a difference though between knowing some might find it offensive and actually not signing up because of it though.

For the record I'm proud to call myself a [tard], its the best clan tag going. Even my WoT logo is Tard. Reminds me to not take things to seriously.

 

[Kenadian]

I understand your reasoning, I really do. There's a difference though between knowing some might find it offensive and actually not signing up because of it though.

For the record I'm proud to call myself a [tard], its the best clan tag going. Even my WoT logo is Tard. Reminds me to not take things to seriously.

I honestly could not agree more and I love the [tard] tag pretty much for the same reasons you do. I even wear it proudly at reddit if you can believe that and wear it for Scrims against other clans instead of [rddt].

I just don't think everyone has the capacity to look at it this way and I don't want that being a factor in holding us back.

It's a clearly identified issue with some people so we'd be doing ourselves, our site and our future a disservice if we ignore it IMHO.

Some people could care less about growth but the reality of it is no growth = death. It may take a while but it will happen. This site needs to be self sufficient financially (without donations) and it won't get there if we stifle it from the start.

If we change the name and start getting in some "sticks in the mud", we'll advise them to stay within our agreed upon atmosphere; if they can't, they'll be shown the door.

Ideally I'd love to make a lateral move to another "Gamer Friendly" or "Gamer Identifiable" ID or play on words that still emanates the footloose and fancy free environment we currently enjoy.

I'm sure between all of us we can come up with something; the only caveat is that it needs to have some level of meaning IMHO.

 

[Kitlope]

I'm TLB and I even love the [tard] tag.

 

[D.O.A.]

I say a whole hearted NO to a name change , i like Fragtard .
Why fix something that is not broken ?
From what i understand is that fragtard stands for a friendly place to come on ts and talk some bs while playing some games .
A place to relax with like minded people in a not so serious manner .
And Fragtard represents that attitude perfectly ...

 

[Kenadian]

I say a whole hearted NO to a name change , i like Fragtard .
Why fix something that is not broken ?
From what i understand is that fragtard stands for a friendly place to come on ts and talk some bs while playing some games .
A place to relax with like minded people in a not so serious manner .
And Fragtard represents that attitude perfectly ...

D.O.A., I'm with you and everyone else who likes the name the way it is and the attitude it reflects. I absolutely loath the idea of changing the name but clearly it is an issue to some.

All I'm doing right now is entertaining the possibility of changing the name assuming we can find something that carries the same attitude as Fragtard but less offensive in nature.

Even though the name was never created with malicious intent, I can't be certain that some won't take it that way which is why we're going through this exercise.

To be completely honest thought, I know from experience that a name can really stunt the growth of a Community. As much as I love Lifesupporters.com, it was the worst name possible for that site and nearly 10 years later it only has a few thousand members and still can't pay itself off.

I can't have that for this or any other site I run because my wallet is not bottomless. Fragtard will need to support itself financially over the longer term. It would be nice if part of this picture included at least one Gaming Server.

An targeted, inviting website properly optimized for SEO should be able to cover its costs within the first few years and my fear is that this place could become another Lifesupporters.com. If that were to be the case, I'd eventually have to ask financial support (which I hate), sell it or close it down; none of which I'm interested in.

All that being said, a name change does not guarantee any results but it does bury the potential issue of us offending people and having them join in the Community. Even if this only represents a small %, over time it adds up.

As for our Community atmosphere, it is what we make of it.

 

[Fireblade]

As for our Community atmosphere, it is what we make of it.

My balls itch. Mind scratching them for me darling?

 

[Kenadian]

There your wife's balls and it's her job to make sure they don't itch.

...besides, it's not like you actually use them anyways.

 

[Kenadian]

Here's a few more:

• FragLords
• Fragnubs

 

[Kenadian]

Another possibility is several words but abbreviated such as The Average Gamer or TAG.

 

[PepsiChic]

Here's a few more:

• FragLords
• Fragnubs

Im gonna be picky, I dont like "lords", maybe its because its hard being female in such a male orientated part of the web, but that just screams "men only". And while female gamers are far and few between, you dont want to put off the ones you do find, by having a name that is so masculine.

that however is just my thought on it.

you said something earlier that caught my eye...

so how about FootLoose Gaming
or *cough*wolf gaming*cough*

or if you wanted to mess with that or the animal side of things

Red Dog Gaming
Blue Cat Gaming

these could have some great logos!

Or
Scoped Gaming
Red Dot Gamers

FPSRTSMMORPG gamers!

I honestly dont see too much of a problem with fragtard...however I can also see the POV thats coming across and I guess Im on the fence, Im not too attached the name so I wouldnt be sorry to see it change but I also wouldnt mind if it stayed the same.

 

[Die Alone]

So are we aiming for universal appeal neutral naming and a very large community? Or wanting to keep it directly appealing to medium/hardcore gamers and small tight? What do you want this community to really be, whats your vision/goal Duke?

 

[PepsiChic]

There your wife's balls and it's her job to make sure they don't itch.

...besides, it's not like you actually use them anyways.

maybe I want them to itch so he can suffer.