[Wolf]

Site creators!

Out of curiosity, how you choose your site name? What is the thought process behind it?

Is it something you put a bit of thought into? Or are you lazy and name your site after the fandom e.g. Hobbit Soul, Potter World? What are your preferences around site names? For original RPs, you do name your site after the setting?

Do you feel like a site name should be easily distinguished from it's content? How much do you think it should reflect its content? i.e. have fancy and nice-sounding but vaguely related. Are you afraid of selecting cheesy names? Do you grab a random but dramatic sounding combination of words? Lyrics? Idioms?

Are you concerned over having a good acronym? Are you concerned over having a short and sweet name as opposed to a long name?

For other people, do you have any preferences towards site names? Are there any that deter you from joining (at least initially)? 

Just a point of interest.

[SIFR]

For fandom sites, I feel it's personally important to make a reference to the fandom itself. Keywords that they themselves use in the series, or the title of songs. EX: Duelist Legacies for Yu-Gi-Oh, Red Like Roses for RWBY, Crossing Field for SAO, Senshi of Terra for Sailor Moon, Elder Tale for Log Horizon, etc. It helps with the Google hits which do bring in members to your board.

As for original boards, usually I just name it after the setting.

[seraph]

Although I haven't realised a site before, I've mocked up some and when choosing a name I always choose a word that relates to the plot. For example I wrote a lot of stuff up when I first started role-playing in English about Bleach and how the site would work with its systems yadadada. I ended up snagging the name vanquish. Vanquish can mean to defeat and since its shinigami v arrancar / hollows I thought it was fitting.

I feel like as long as the name is cleverly thought out, it shouldn't matter. I personally have a pet peeve for sits with a lot of 'X's in their name like xxinsertlegacyxx or something, because when they wanted to have insertlegacy it was taken, in that case i just go why couldn't you think of something else ;_;

[Kuroya]

Mar 3, 2015 1:38:36 GMT -8 seraph said:

I personally have a pet peeve for sits with a lot of 'X's in their name like xxinsertlegacyxx or something, because when they wanted to have insertlegacy it was taken, in that case i just go why couldn't you think of something else ;_;

Okay I actually have to say something here. If the first "Insert Legacy" is five years dead, why is it a problem to like the name enough to toss some xs in? If you like a name enough to stick with it even though someone has used it before, I actually think that's really big... especially since some people use urls that turn out to have little to do with their actual name. Add in the fact that even if a forum has been deleted, that url is gone for good. If you take the url "Catching-Fire" just to have it, then delete it... no one else can have it (which would be a shame since it's a good url to start and actually really good for a Hunger Games site, for obvious reasons). They have to do something else, and really, what does it matter what the url is? The url does not necessarily equal the site, and if the site really is good, it won't (or shouldn't) matter if the url is catching-fire or xxkittenrainxx.

Judging a book by its cover, or a site by its url, really is poor taste in my opinion. Though I guess I will tack a personal asterisk in that with "I will judge the heck out of you if there's an extreme disconnect between the site name/premise and url" such as if you have an Ace Attorney site named Lies and Libel but with the url i-see-fire or a variation thereof. Or a Lord of the Rings site with a name of I See Fire and a url of "telexxphone" or a variation. The list is endless, I'm just making up some examples off the top of my head.

And now I'm actually going to segway into the topic oops. I pick my names either by inspiration of genius, listening to songs and picking lyrics, singling out one aspect of the site, or otherwise prodding it with a stick. Sometimes I make the url the same. Sometimes I don't. Depends on how long it is and how much attention I want on the name. Usually the name and the url play off each other, however.

Actually to be fair I tend to come up with five or six possible names and whittle down according to which are already used (since I'm too much of a pansy to use the same name if the name is used by another site first), which sound nice, and which have the best acronym to shorten it to.

That's actually how I migrated Black Hearts, Black Wings from being the other way around. BHBW sounds ten times better on the tongue both long and short than BWBH.

[seraph]

Mar 3, 2015 3:01:48 GMT -8 Kuroya said:

Mar 3, 2015 1:38:36 GMT -8 seraph said:

I personally have a pet peeve for sits with a lot of 'X's in their name like xxinsertlegacyxx or something, because when they wanted to have insertlegacy it was taken, in that case i just go why couldn't you think of something else ;_;

Okay I actually have to say something here. If the first "Insert Legacy" is five years dead, why is it a problem to like the name enough to toss some xs in? If you like a name enough to stick with it even though someone has used it before, I actually think that's really big... especially since some people use urls that turn out to have little to do with their actual name. Add in the fact that even if a forum has been deleted, that url is gone for good. If you take the url "Catching-Fire" just to have it, then delete it... no one else can have it (which would be a shame since it's a good url to start and actually really good for a Hunger Games site, for obvious reasons). They have to do something else, and really, what does it matter what the url is? The url does not necessarily equal the site, and if the site really is good, it won't (or shouldn't) matter if the url is catching-fire or xxkittenrainxx.

Judging a book by its cover, or a site by its url, really is poor taste in my opinion.

First off I never said that the url equaled the site, I listed a pet peeve of mine which has nothing to do if I would join or not (just because i dont like something dosent mean i wouldnt give it a go). I just personally dislike it. The fact of the matter is, names like xxkittenrainxx to me is unappealing. I don't mind when there's like an x to link two words together e.g bestxninja but when you need to add say more than one x on either end of a name, to me that's the point where you can. At the end of the day it's the person's site, let them name it what they want but I think we can all say there's a line when it becomes too long. Or should I just go make a site and call it xoxoxoxoxoxoxothisisrpxxoxoxoxo?

[Kuroya]

Mar 3, 2015 3:11:44 GMT -8 seraph said:

First off I never said that the url equaled the site, I listed a pet peeve of mine which has nothing to do if I would join or not (just because i dont like something dosent mean i wouldnt give it a go). I just personally dislike it. The fact of the matter is, names like xxkittenrainxx to me is unappealing. I don't mind when there's like an x to link two words together e.g bestxninja but when you need to add say more than one x on either end of a name, to me that's the point where you can. At the end of the day it's the person's site, let them name it what they want but I think we can all say there's a line when it becomes too long. Or should I just go make a site and call it xoxoxoxoxoxoxothisisrpxxoxoxoxo?

Ah but you brought up the interesting point of the fact that the url is just as important as the name.

I'm not going to argue that xxkittenrainxx is a poor name choice outside of a cat RP... And even then there are thousands of "better" options. My point more was if the first Insert Legacy is dead nearly five years, what does it matter if there's one with xxinsertlegacyxx? Idk. Maybe I say this as more of a "when the url is long, you got me judging", but to me, that's actually not a bad name. Make it xinsertlegacyxx and that's when I hunt you down for a talk on names.

Two xs is okay to me. Three is even okay. Mostly because to me, xxinsertlegacyxx doesn't mean xinsertlegacyx was already taken. It means that admin made the choice to put in two xs. Maybe it has value in the site. Personally I think it actually looks better with two rather than one.

I snorted at that last url. Mostly because of the pet peeve I'd edited in. And the frivolous use of xs. But if it's a joke RP site, sure, why not. Certainly adds to the air of it not something to be taken seriously.

I guess what I'm saying is there's a time and place for everything. If the xs fit, use them. If you're adding them to add them, use them. Just don't go overboard with xxxxxxinsertlegacyxxxxxx or something similar (dear Maker five xs, I think my phone is done with me). There's no real rule of thumb for xs. Like you think two on either side is too much. I think it looked okay. Four or five though I think is universally agreed to be too much.

To each his own?

Dang it though I want to see that joke RP site running around now, always good to have a laugh at yourself.

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Mar 3, 2015 3:11:44 GMT -8 seraph said:

Mar 3, 2015 3:01:48 GMT -8 Kuroya said:

Okay I actually have to say something here. If the first "Insert Legacy" is five years dead, why is it a problem to like the name enough to toss some xs in? If you like a name enough to stick with it even though someone has used it before, I actually think that's really big... especially since some people use urls that turn out to have little to do with their actual name. Add in the fact that even if a forum has been deleted, that url is gone for good. If you take the url "Catching-Fire" just to have it, then delete it... no one else can have it (which would be a shame since it's a good url to start and actually really good for a Hunger Games site, for obvious reasons). They have to do something else, and really, what does it matter what the url is? The url does not necessarily equal the site, and if the site really is good, it won't (or shouldn't) matter if the url is catching-fire or xxkittenrainxx.

Judging a book by its cover, or a site by its url, really is poor taste in my opinion.

First off I never said that the url equaled the site, I listed a pet peeve of mine which has nothing to do if I would join or not (just because i dont like something dosent mean i wouldnt give it a go). I just personally dislike it. The fact of the matter is, names like xxkittenrainxx to me is unappealing. I don't mind when there's like an x to link two words together e.g bestxninja but when you need to add say more than one x on either end of a name, to me that's the point where you can. At the end of the day it's the person's site, let them name it what they want but I think we can all say there's a line when it becomes too long. Or should I just go make a site and call it xoxoxoxoxoxoxothisisrpxxoxoxoxo?

Random characters or numbers give off an unprofessional feel to it. It's the general thing in the Internet. I don't think I've ever joined a site with an "x" iteration to it. If the name's taken, I think adding in another word or something is better than slapping in an x. Or coming up with something new entirely.

So I think it matters actually, because the naming sense of the site owner tells something of his/her taste and work ethic. Like, I would never name do that because I want the site to be completely new, striking, and meaningful is every sense.

But it's not like it instantly tells you that everything, without a doubt, is bad because of url naming alone. But it does make you wary, and first impressions are important in some aspects.

[Kuroya]

But Egao, Egao Everywhere, if you're an alien, all site names are random configurations of letters. Down with site names. Come forth... xxqwertyuiopx!

Okay but seriously now, you managed to bring up the words I was thinking of but failing to say, I take my hat off to you for having an exceptional point without any of this awkward fumbling.

[Egao, Egao Everywhere]

Mar 3, 2015 4:02:03 GMT -8 Kuroya said:

But Egao, Egao Everywhere, if you're an alien, all site names are random configurations of letters. Down with site names. Come forth... xxqwertyuiopx!

Okay but seriously now, you managed to bring up the words I was thinking of but failing to say, I take my hat off to you for having an exceptional point without any of this awkward fumbling.

Oh, random configuration of letters isn't bad at all. adjkkljflkdj is the most beautiful and expressive word I've seen.

Back on topic though, Gangnam Style is a terrible site name. But thinking of the names of the other resources sites like Back To Neverland, Adoxography, etc, I feel like Gangnam Style was able to define itself from the corniness by lasting this long. I never knew the craze of Gangnam Style before joining this site but people probably have weird impressions of it because of the name. like maybe we're some k-pop forum or something. And guests thinking we're fashionable, artistic people or something, when we're just a bunch of unproductive nerds...

[Kuroya]

Mar 3, 2015 4:19:40 GMT -8 Egao, Egao Everywhere said:

Mar 3, 2015 4:02:03 GMT -8 Kuroya said:

But Egao, Egao Everywhere, if you're an alien, all site names are random configurations of letters. Down with site names. Come forth... xxqwertyuiopx!

Okay but seriously now, you managed to bring up the words I was thinking of but failing to say, I take my hat off to you for having an exceptional point without any of this awkward fumbling.

Oh, random configuration of letters isn't bad at all. adjkkljflkdj is the most beautiful and expressive word I've seen.

Back on topic though, Gangnam Style is a terrible site name. But thinking of the names of the other resources sites like Back To Neverland, Adoxography, etc, I feel like Gangnam Style was able to define itself from the corniness by lasting this long. I never knew the craze of Gangnam Style before joining this site but people probably have weird impressions of it because of the name. like maybe we're some k-pop forum or something. And guests thinking we're fashionable, artistic people or something, when we're just a bunch of unproductive nerds...

Make that a site name 2k15

Okay but I personally know I have poor taste in names - there's a reason I cringe when I think back to my first site. Counting Cards, a Pandora Hearts site. Or The Darksiders, a YGO site. Yeah we don't talk about those.

And I guess naming a resource site is harder. Unless you're going for something like "The Peanut Gallery" or "--- Database" I actually don't think there's much you can do without skewing yourself one way or another. We just got style here, even if we're all useless procrastinating nerds who rarely accomplish half of what we intend to.

[Elena]

"Before the Mast" was named, at the same time:

- after the setting (before the mast being referred as the place aboard a tall ship where the common sailors have their hammocks);
- after an interesting seafaring book (Two years before the mast, by Henry Dana)
- after two seafaring-related songs (Death before the mast by Alestorm and Two years before the mast by Astronautalis).

I have another, unopened Viking-themed site which was named "The Quest", also from some songs (The Quest by Alestorm and The Quest from "Man of La Mancha") because it gave the feeling of swashbuckling adventures.

[City -]

For the most part my site names are based around their plots (their links, consequently, are based around their basic subject matter). It seems to work out for the most part, I haven't really had an issue doing things this way before (lol). For instance:

My last naruto RPG had a plot based around the moon, so i named it after the Japanese lunar festival tsukimi, a name that was unique and also offered some cool hints to the overall plot of the site.

My last original animanga site was based around spirit wells that gave humans control oover the element their zodiac fell under - it was named "a new way to be human", which both describes the site setting / lore and is also the name of a really good song XD

My newest site will also have a name that closely describes its plot XD its just a way that's always worked for me XD