Here's a little secret. I don't actually like the name "Blahsploitation".
In general I think I'm pretty good at coming up with or appropriating names for things.
"Platform Wars" is a decent chunk of generic namespace I'm happy to have grabbed. I increasingly like "Smart Disorganized" and even though the original "SdiDesk" sounds clunky it's one of those clunky things that has proved solid enough. (Even if the original pun on CityDesk is lost on people.)
"ThoughtStorms" sounded fantastic when I came up with it as a chapter-title for an unfinished novel I was writing back in around 91. And it proved an extremely felicitous name for a personal wiki. "OPTIMAES", though I say it myself, is a damned fine acronym : saying and sounding everything I want. "Synaesmedia" is beautiful; a classic, even if I don't have quite the right "thing" to hang it on. I am not Synaesmedia. But Synaesmedia.net has ended up as my personal homepage. Hmmm ...
NooRanch is very good as long as you know to pronounce it "noo-o" as in noosphere and not "noo" as in "new" in certain US regional accents.
"GeekWeaver" I like. It's a little bit gangly but captures the idea. And I believe it will grow to fit the programming language I'm working on. Gbloink! ... not sure what I can say ... come on, it works! Interstar was the name of a javascript and dynamic HTML game I wrote back in 1997. It was right for that. How it ended up being my generic email and login nick-name I'm not sure, but it's too comfortable to throw away.
Oh, and I have some real kicking names for a couple of below-the-radar projects I'm working on : names that are exotic, daring, memorable. Names that may make you gasp with surprise and admiration at their sheer reckless, exuberance. ;-)
And then there's "Blahsploitation". Frankly "Blahsploitation" sucks. I find it horrible. I'd never read a blog called Blahsploitation. I wouldn't link to it. Or recommend it to my friends. Ugh!
How the hell did I manage to end up with this name for my main, personal, blog? Do I look like someone who was down with the Blaxploitation revival scene of the early 90s? Do I listen to the theme from Shaft and S'Express's "Superfly Guy" (er, well actually, now you mention it ... NO! )
Really, basically, the answer is "None of the above."
"Blahsploitation" is a really dumb name ... sometime around 2003 I decided to transition my previous blog "BlahBlahWorld" (which *is* quite a good name for a blog, I think) from EditThisPage.com to Blogspot.com. Somehow it seemed like I needed a new name, but one which had continuity with the old. "blahsploitation" was all I could think of. But somehow I got stuck with it.
And yet ... is it possible, after 5 years to rename this blog? Obviously the URL is hard to change, but I could get another and forward it. I can change the title as it appears. Can I think of a name which could be better? And yet continuous? Is it starting from scratch? Would people miss the name? Lots of questions. Comments anyone?
4 comments:
Phil,
Frankly, ever since the beginning I've been wandering what the hell is that name :)
Yeah, never an easy one. Personally, I find the name a little odd (am I supposed to make the "blaH" into a back-of-the-throat "blacchhgchg" to make it sound a little like "black"?).
I think people will generally just subscribe to a new feed if you switch - especially if you make it easy/obvious, like sticking a link to the feed in the "new site" post on the old blog.
When I switched "Blunkett is an Arse" over, I think I set up a new blog, renamed the old one with a new URL but with the same content, and then put the newly-created one back over the top of the old one. At least this way you can keep your archives.
Name wise, wise though.. blah, no idea ;) "Blahnet" would be a nice take on, um, Planet or something, but is also really vague. Ignore me. Get really drunk, then think about it.
I'm not so particular about names. I can't imagine not reading or linking to a site because the name was somehow lame--obscene is another matter. Beyond that, I rather like the name. Partly it's a generational thing, as I was fond of the Blaxploitation movies in first run.
What I like most about your blogs is that you host really great discussions. You and your fans have smart ideas.
Much of Internet conversation consists of sharing links and information "out there." That's fun, but also somewhat Blah. So here in this blog you point to links, and you also write occasional essays. So in a way you exploit the blah and make something more interesting.
You can change the blog, I suspect, without loosing any readers. But I hope that when you do you don't loose the easy entry feel to the blog. This blog is rather a portal into your online writing; some of which I find quite brilliant.
This blog is a place where I feel free to say: "Look at this."
thanks guys
still wracking my brains on this.
one of the *good* things about "blahsploitation" is that it's totally meaningless. I can think of some cool names if this was a specific blog about X or Y or Z, but I don't want a name which constrains what I write. This *isn't* a theme-blog like Platform Wars / Smart Disorganized or OPTIMAES.
People should be able to say "look at this" about anything.
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