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What's in a name? ...or, is a rose by any othername worth the trouble?

Hi All...its been awhile. I'd like to chime in. As one of the few with a retail business trying to promote the use of Darkcoin...I have found the name ....um limiting. I remember this discussion a nearly a year ago and the same thoughts then. Talking with several large Darkcoin investors in my area...the name has always been a sore spot. What has kept all of our group in is the dev team and the technology around it. Darkcoins window dressing has vastly improved its appearance. This being said...this is still, IMHO no where as good as it could be.

I'm my case...I'm in the business of selling super premium wines...in a luxury market. We are just rolling out 2 new brands/companies this winter to address some of the challenges I've created for myself. Branding is everything....when we first started our winery...Misconduct Wine Co...it was done as a cheeky poke and the pretentious world of wine. We had and do have very clever marketing...we have even hired the former regional brand ambassador for Krystal champagne who was also the founding partner one of the first super premium wineries in our region as our GM. By using a brand name that is associated with....well Misconduct...its doubled the amount of work we have had to put in to our branding and marketing...it has definitely not been the path of least resistance.

I fully understand the battle the Evan faces....I was and am still there. A positive out come of this though is, that once our clients "drink the koolaide" or wine :) lol they are rabid fans of our wines and brands. But...the name has alienated 60+% of our target. Bright side ...we sell of our wines ....so something must be working.

How does this relate to Darkcoin...well...I believe that this needs to be far more "consumer" friendly. We are dealing with peoples money...not a luxury product like wine. People are far more conservative when making decisions around financial matters.

And that has been my biggest hurdle...not only are my clients, when explain about Darcoin, immediately turtle in...as the name sub-consciously raises red flags, when I ask for their thoughts...they think its something to do with money laundering and drugs and don't feel comfortable even talking about it. This is red flags for us as a community living in our own fish bowl...the name should not raise red flags and doubts, but instill confidence and security. Take it from me....it will be far more difficult if its going to take us all to collectively hand sell and explain the name and purpose to the name of our crypto currency to every single adopter.

Sorry for the rant...but this is a timely discussion!

Richard
 
Hi All...its been awhile. I'd like to chime in. As one of the few with a retail business trying to promote the use of Darkcoin...I have found the name ....um limiting. I remember this discussion a nearly a year ago and the same thoughts then. Talking with several large Darkcoin investors in my area...the name has always been a sore spot. What has kept all of our group in is the dev team and the technology around it. Darkcoins window dressing has vastly improved its appearance. This being said...this is still, IMHO no where as good as it could be.

I'm my case...I'm in the business of selling super premium wines...in a luxury market. We are just rolling out 2 new brands/companies this winter to address some of the challenges I've created for myself. Branding is everything....when we first started our winery...Misconduct Wine Co...it was done as a cheeky poke and the pretentious world of wine. We had and do have very clever marketing...we have even hired the former regional brand ambassador for Krystal champagne who was also the founding partner one of the first super premium wineries in our region as our GM. By using a brand name that is associated with....well Misconduct...its doubled the amount of work we have had to put in to our branding and marketing...it has definitely not been the path of least resistance.

I fully understand the battle the Evan faces....I was and am still there. A positive out come of this though is, that once our clients "drink the koolaide" or wine :) lol they are rabid fans of our wines and brands. But...the name has alienated 60+% of our target. Bright side ...we sell of our wines ....so something must be working.

How does this relate to Darkcoin...well...I believe that this needs to be far more "consumer" friendly. We are dealing with peoples money...not a luxury product like wine. People are far more conservative when making decisions around financial matters.

And that has been my biggest hurdle...not only are my clients, when explain about Darcoin, immediately turtle in...as the name sub-consciously raises red flags, when I ask for their thoughts...they think its something to do with money laundering and drugs and don't feel comfortable even talking about it. This is red flags for us as a community living in our own fish bowl...the name should not raise red flags and doubts, but instill confidence and security. Take it from me....it will be far more difficult if its going to take us all to collectively hand sell and explain the name and purpose to the name of our crypto currency to every single adopter.

Sorry for the rant...but this is a timely discussion!

Richard

Bingo and good seeing you post again.
 
If we are going to start quoting Sun Tzu, how about:

"... the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain."

To not modify tactics as the battle develops is to court defeat. As crowne and others have stated, and I think all can agree, the change from X coin to Dark coin was certainly beneficial. In addition, I hope no-one here doubts that DRK stands on the cusp of greater acceptance. As I stated earlier, that will happen with or without a name change, so long as development proceeds. The question before us is how to best move forward to gain as rapid and wide-spread adoption as possible. (And yes, this is ultimately in the hands of Evan and the board). Our purpose here is to provide as complete a list of reasonings to them as possible.

To make it as simple as possible, does anyone opposed to a name change think that gambling, porn, and dark markets will slow their adoption due to a name change, provided development proceeds as it has been? Can you cite examples of those who have expressed an opinion like this? I think you will find that while many may think "Pink Pony" is a stupid idea, they will continue using and spreading the word, if it meets their needs. The very endeavors they are engaged in reveal their practical, utilitarian, if not contrarian outlooks.

What about the vast majority of humanity who have not heard of any crypto-currency, but think "dark" represents "evil?" Our one and only crouton suggests we simply enlighten them with, 'No, it's not. It's like Bitcoin, but private, and a hundred times faster. Also you can earn more money by just having some and running an app to help the network.' Whoops did I say enlighten? I'm sorry I should have said "endarken," er no, I mean "keep them in the dark," no that's not it, we need to "win them to the dark-side"... oh never mind!

I am of course being facetious, but as others have pointed out, the very language itself is aligned against us. For enlightened (sorry) societies like ours it is easy to dismiss the metaphor, and surely crouton's argument will work for many, but not for those who believe that evil really does exist! Those who do not accept this will not be able to fathom the revulsion of those who do--and they constitute the majority (though dwindling) of westerners, and the vast majority of the rest of the world's population. (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...nsible-for-recent-us-tragedies-209383941.html) There is a reason that when the largest marketing firms in the Near East decided to adopt the marketing tactics associated with Black Friday, they changed the name! http://uae.souq.com/ae-en/white-friday/c/ Were they stupid, ignorant, or superstitious? NO--they were marketing geniuses!

This is not the place for a theological or philosophical debate. This is about marketing. Our coin will continue to capture the adoption of those who do not mind the Dark name, no matter what. There are also many who can be persuaded with crouton's argument. I would like to hear a sound reason for ignoring the far greater majority who will refuse to associate with the Dark-side?

So far the only reasons I have heard stated are, 1. "Dark is cool, I really like it." 2. "The Dark name has served us well up to this point." 3. "Change will hurt adoption." and most popular of all, 4. "You and anyone who wants to change the name are trying to destroy the coin and are ignorant jerks."

There is no answering 1, and 4. I think I have dealt sufficiently with 2, and 3, but would welcome reasoned debate on any of these points, or others that have not been expressed yet. I have presented an argument that I think is sound, but know I am limited, and hope that someone can point out what I am missing.

And again... the question is not "what should the name be changed to?" it is "Would adoption be enhanced with a different name?"

Peace to you all...
 
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Hi! I've posted in the btctalk thread under the "YourMother" username and fortunately/unfortunately, i'm the one that revived the "name changing" discussion. My first comment was me complaining about the way this currency is being branded plus other frustrations, while the second is pretty similar, but a little more easier on the emotional aspect.
______________________________________
"It's not like the name should be changed in a hurry and also a rebranding could easily be taken into consideration at the final release of InstantX. You weigh in which of these technologies would be more attractive to the general public (anonymity and speed or both) and change the variables (name + marketing) accordingly. You could also do a "name changing" contest, polls and everything. I'm pretty sure that even Evan had this type of conversation with himself, maybe long before we even thought about writing on the subject.

You can also keep Darkcoin and you will see that the need of a 'name change' will come naturally as all of these new technologies like InstantX, Masternode applications/services and others will be implemented, and then you would want them to be shown off by a more representative name.

My previous opinion was expressed as a result of what Darkcoin did for me on our first encounter. Unfortunately, It inspired fraud and uncertainty and it's comical, because you can do almost the same type of things with fiat, bitcoin, dogecoin and others. It's just that this name is scary and it creates this strong perception...
______________________________________

Besides that comment i would have to add:

Darkcoin is awesome, fascinating, fast, anonymous and all the great things. I'm truly honest about this. Let me even back up my claims... (i also worked my ass off for many months)
jwYQXoR.png


BUT

If you would open a business tomorrow in Agriculture, Accounting, Advertising, Aerospace, Airline, Apparel&Accessories, Automotive, Banking, Broadcasting, Brokerage, BioTechnology, Call Centers, Cargo Handling, Chemical, Consulting, Computer, Consumer Products, Cosmetics, Defense, Department Stores, Education, Electronics, Energy, Entertainment, Financial Services, Food, Beverage and Tobacco, Health Care, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Pension Funds, Music, Online Auctions, Real Estate, Retail and Wholesale, Soap and Detergent, Sports, Television, Transportation, Trucking, Venture Capital etc

Would you ever insert "Darkcoin Accepted Here" in it ?

The reason why i posted all of those industries in here is for you to make up an idea on what DRK is cancelling with its name/brand. Besides the Dark Markets, some VPN/VPS/Proxy and other similar services, i really don't see how it could be accepted anywhere else.

Ok, so now the biggest bang for Darkcoin would be to get accepted in the Dark Markets. You can generate hundreds of questions on this subject. How is Darkcoin better than Bitcoin or Fiat when you are trading physical stuff ? How much money are floating in the Black/Dark Markets around the world ? What percentage of those Black Markets do you think that would use Darkcoin ? Do you think that drug dealers, for example, Chapo Guzman would use Darkcoin ? He's responsible for moving billions and billions of dollars in drug money. How about the Ochoa brothers ? You see ? I could create endless silly questions about acceptance. Acceptance in a really low percentage already.

The sad part, though, is not this. The sad part is that there's InstantTX, a technology that could benefit the entire world, yet it could end up being restricted to only a small percentage of people and that one filled in most part with drug users/dealers, hackers, whistle blowers, few of us and you add the rest.

Other additions:

1 - Some people are talking about DRK being a success. $10 million marketcap is NOT a success, especially when you have shitcoins above and right below you.

2 - I'm maintaining the idea that on a global scale, people are more interested in Speed rather than Anonymity. Anonymity could work very well aside it as an option.

3 - Dash doesn't sound good. In my opinion, people should start thinking more global. I'm living in Romania and i'm telling you that both Dash and Dark sound goofy. Dark sounds good only when you read it without using a loud voice. My mother listened everything i had to say about Bitcoin and she was truly fascinated, but the moment i told her about Darkcoin (weeks after), she dismissed me (haha). She doesn't take me seriously anymore when i talk about cryptocurrencies.

Universal names like "litecoin", "bitcoin", "Vertcoin", "Viacoin", "Vericoin", catchy names that don't have to necessarily mean something would sound much better. Or names directly targeted at the future instant speed.

Or, in the end, you could keep the same name and see how far it can get with it. The part that scares me the most is that a team of talented developers could fork the project, add some development, change its name, brand it differently and then make it a global accepted currency. This is the second nightmare that i have while holding DRK, besides the one with the code being exploited to the point of ruining the entire currency.

Anyways, i hope i didn't ramble too much.
 
As Strix has mentioned above...the question is "Would adoption be enhanced with a different name?" What the name should be...would be a discussion that should really be seriously thought over as to how to approach it. I firmly believe if we were to go down that path that it should be something in which we would consult with outside experts that are not in this eco-system. IMHO.

Best of the Season to all here!!!
 
Great points ValentiJesse. $10 Million dollars is laughable...thats the wine inventory and sales of a single small to mid-sized winery in my area. Never mind vineyard and equipment assets for that single small winery, for example.

And in there lies the issue....when a technology like this is in its infancy...there are those that really need perspective. 10, 50, 100 500 millions dollars is chump change in the real world outside of crypto. In adoption ... one must look at scale-ability...we are talking about a currency here. One of the reasons that crypto hasn't gotten real teeth in the real world is its a technology driven by techies...and not business.

Think of it this way...remember smart phones...windows and black berry and even before that Palm OS devices? These devices were in the realm of techies. It wasn't until Apple(i hate saying this lol) made the iphone for the ipod peeps with a simple clean and catchy name did "smartphones" become cool...the rest is history.

I certainly did not invest into Darkcoin thinking of a 50 million cap as being successful. I would consider it a failure in terms of any real world use and would exit this promptly if that is the plan, for the record.

I believe there needs to be a board of individuals that are tasked with thinking globally and business minded. I also firmly believe Evan has been very insightful in developing a robust crypto coin...and this is a LONG TERM project. Lets also as a group think of its future in the same respectful manner...I'll shout my yup. ;)

Richard
 
Or, in the end, you could keep the same name and see how far it can get with it. The part that scares me the most is that a team of talented developers could fork the project, add some development, change its name, brand it differently and then make it a global accepted currency. This is the second nightmare that i have while holding DRK, besides the one with the code being exploited to the point of ruining the entire currency.

Anyways, i hope i didn't ramble too much.
I agree, having the same fear also. One particular DRK clone coin has been on my mind, and I would rather not name it here, (but you probably already know.) Its name is not great but has no connotation for dark markets.. and who knows they will change their name for a better one...
 
I'm sorry to say, that because of InstantX, DASH is an awesome name, and InstantX may be as important or even more important to adoption than privacy. It'll hurt, it'll be a fricken pain in the @$$, it'll gather ridicule, but in the end, I think a name change now would be fruitful. Even more so, the hoopla might even be beneficial. The name Darkcoin has served us well, it actually may have gotten us more attention than if it had a less controversial name, so it may be that the way things have played out was the best we could have hoped for.

Well, that's my gut feeling now... I like our past and our previous decisions. I think the time may well be ripe now for a name change, and it can be swung in a positive way. InstantX is amazing.

Edit, shit this means we'll have to redo the Bitcoin Rush show.... shoot me!
 
How many of us would be here if it was called Dash? Sounds like a brand of washing powder.

Here's how you deal with the 'OMG dark is bad and evil and illegal isn't it?' question:

'No, it's not. It's like Bitcoin, but private, and a hundred times faster. Also you can earn more money by just having some and running an app to help the network.' Go from there.
I understand your point, really I do, and that was how I saw it before. But now, Dash makes for such a perfect name, and it doesn't require explaining anything to anyone. It's fast, and it's private. People understand fast better than private. If we want to grow, which I think all of us want, we must market ourselves to a more mature audience now. I loved the name Darkcoin, thought it matched perfectly, but if you step back and see that we're always having to explain that Darkcion is not a nefarious coin but a privacy coin, then the wind is constantly being taken out of the sails. And what if all a person hears about is a negative report on how dangerous "DARK" coin is, they won't have one of us around to explain the name. It's too much of a handicap. This issue keeps coming up for a reason.

I think it was actually helpful to have a controversial name up to the point where we want general adoption. Now we're closing in on wanting true generalized adoption, and it's time. Time for a name change to represent the growth of Darkcoin. Darkcoin is now so fast, we're naming it DASH.

I know this is assuming we're using DASH but wow, it's perfect! As perfect as Dark once was!
 
tl;dr

Dash is WAY short sighted

Let's think about 50 years into the future - and not about a feature that has yet to be released



We can do so much better
Well, Mangled, I kind of thing DASH is also benign and would have no problems aging 50 years from now. Do we ever think of the origins of MasterCard or Visa? Who cares? They are what they are. So too will be DASH.
 
Hi All...its been awhile. I'd like to chime in. As one of the few with a retail business trying to promote the use of Darkcoin...I have found the name ....um limiting. I remember this discussion a nearly a year ago and the same thoughts then. Talking with several large Darkcoin investors in my area...the name has always been a sore spot. What has kept all of our group in is the dev team and the technology around it. Darkcoins window dressing has vastly improved its appearance. This being said...this is still, IMHO no where as good as it could be.

I'm my case...I'm in the business of selling super premium wines...in a luxury market. We are just rolling out 2 new brands/companies this winter to address some of the challenges I've created for myself. Branding is everything....when we first started our winery...Misconduct Wine Co...it was done as a cheeky poke and the pretentious world of wine. We had and do have very clever marketing...we have even hired the former regional brand ambassador for Krystal champagne who was also the founding partner one of the first super premium wineries in our region as our GM. By using a brand name that is associated with....well Misconduct...its doubled the amount of work we have had to put in to our branding and marketing...it has definitely not been the path of least resistance.

I fully understand the battle the Evan faces....I was and am still there. A positive out come of this though is, that once our clients "drink the koolaide" or wine :) lol they are rabid fans of our wines and brands. But...the name has alienated 60+% of our target. Bright side ...we sell of our wines ....so something must be working.

How does this relate to Darkcoin...well...I believe that this needs to be far more "consumer" friendly. We are dealing with peoples money...not a luxury product like wine. People are far more conservative when making decisions around financial matters.

And that has been my biggest hurdle...not only are my clients, when explain about Darcoin, immediately turtle in...as the name sub-consciously raises red flags, when I ask for their thoughts...they think its something to do with money laundering and drugs and don't feel comfortable even talking about it. This is red flags for us as a community living in our own fish bowl...the name should not raise red flags and doubts, but instill confidence and security. Take it from me....it will be far more difficult if its going to take us all to collectively hand sell and explain the name and purpose to the name of our crypto currency to every single adopter.

Sorry for the rant...but this is a timely discussion!

Richard

Just got this far, and I'm gonna say thanks for your input! Like Misconduct Wines, the funky name can help catch the eyes, and make you stand above the crowd, but even you are now maturing into something else. It feels exactly the same. Moving on to bigger and better things :)
 
More, LOL : I am not against going through other names, I'll keep an open mind. But I want to say that Los Angeles has a bus that circles around business districts that they call the DASH, and I know there was a lot of thought and research that went into that name. I wouldn't have thought it would be an option for Darkcoin until InstantX came along. I just feel sold on it. It sounds good for English speakers (I'm speaking for all of us, LOL, so you may kick me if you disagree ;) ) It's not at all a silly name, IMO. I know I've latched onto it, but I also know if you all come up with something better, I'll change my mind ;)

Right now, the only thing I can see being better is ecash, but that would raise the hackles of everyone, so I don't think it's a good option ;)
 
More, LOL : I am not against going through other names, I'll keep an open mind. But I want to say that Los Angeles has a bus that circles around business districts that they call the DASH, and I know there was a lot of thought and research that went into that name. I wouldn't have thought it would be an option for Darkcoin until InstantX came along. I just feel sold on it. It sounds good for English speakers (I'm speaking for all of us, LOL, so you may kick me if you disagree ;) ) It's not at all a silly name, IMO. I know I've latched onto it, but I also know if you all come up with something better, I'll change my mind ;)

Right now, the only thing I can see being better is ecash, but that would raise the hackles of everyone, so I don't think it's a good option ;)
I read on BCT you suggested "Duffcoin"... Have you changed your mind? :)

I think "Duffcoin" or just "DUFF" is ok, too. :smile:
 
This is Evans coin project, it would be insightful as to what are his real thoughts on this matter.
 
This is Evans coin project, it would be insightful as to what are his real thoughts on this matter.
The vote on Bitcointalk tilts slightly in favour of keeping Darkcoin at this point...
More support for changing the name than I would have thought though, so that's encouraging.
It would be nice to hear Evan's take on the future...
 
Maybe it would actually be a good idea to post the poll link here? Been reading trough the pages 3 times to discover it's not even posted :eek:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=902675.0;all

I voted against a name change for the sake of sites that already adopted Darkcoin and need to implement (small) changes. Also personally working on a project related to the Darkcoin name and wouldn't be too happy if I had to redesign.
 
Maybe it would actually be a good idea to post the poll link here? Been reading trough the pages 3 times to discover it's not even posted :eek:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=902675.0;all

I voted against a name change for the sake of sites that already adopted Darkcoin and need to implement (small) changes. Also personally working on a project related to the Darkcoin name and wouldn't be too happy if I had to redesign.

You said it yourself, small changes and how would you need to redesign on something that would ideally still use the same logos, text, and color scheme, just a different name? Literally a find-and-replace sort of deal. I find it hard to believe your project is that complex that it would be a deal breaker, especially with how young the coin is. The merchant list, if anything, is still quite small and manageable.
 
You said it yourself, small changes and how would you need to redesign on something that would ideally still use the same logos, text, and color scheme, just a different name? Literally a find-and-replace sort of deal. I find it hard to believe your project is that complex that it would be a deal breaker, especially with how young the coin is. The merchant list, if anything, is still quite small and manageable.
Personally, I'm talking about the actual design change(s) in terms of the name and logo wich I derived from darkcoin. For instance, you believe you could still use the name "DarkDice" if the coin takes a new name like "DASH", wich has nothing DARK related in the name anymore? It would require me to do a bit of rework.

Without getting into more fuzz; IF the name change happens I hope it really is rather be sooner than later :tongue:
 
Personally, I'm talking about the actual design change(s) in terms of the name and logo wich I derived from darkcoin. For instance, you believe you could still use the name "DarkDice" if the coin takes a new name like "DASH", wich has nothing DARK related in the name anymore? It would require me to do a bit of rework.

Without getting into more fuzz; IF the name change happens I hope it really is rather be sooner than later :tongue:
Domain name, no (but with forwarding), but any content on the site should be an easy fix. If you designed the logo in photoshop, I'm assuming you still have the psp file in which case, make altercations to it from there. Again, it's not the end of the world. This is more to engage the mind in terms of whether or not future adoption is hindered by the existing name or whether there is a name more appropriate for the now speedy tx's instantx would offer vs just solely being a privacy-centric coin.
 
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