Gregory's Server
Probably not a lot of people know this now, but Mastodon's web app started out with "Publish". In 2016 a famous YouTuber jokingly offered to support Mastodon's Patreon forever if I changed the button to say "Toot" instead. Needless to say, this was a really early, and not very informed decision. The first glimpse of attention and financial support. As a non-native speaker I had no idea there was another meaning.
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 @Gargron  @Gargron That's a funny story actually :blobcatgiggle: And ofc this was a logical decision back in the day! :toot: Personally I really don't mind how the button is being called as long as it makes sense, and in this case it totally does! I have had nothing but positive replies from people online and AFK about it :blobcatgiggle: It uh.. takes the edge off or something :mastolol2: @Gargron Free software has traditionally had a major issue with off-putting names. I've been very impressed with the prudence of your leadership of this project, and I would like to say that I 100% support you in this decision.  @Gargron, this might sound weird, but I liked that it said “toot”. It made it seem different from other platforms. “Publish” is so generic. “Toot” was very on-brand with the whole Mammoth theme. I thought it was fantastic. @Gargron I think "post" would be better. "Publish" is a little heavy for a tiny 500-character piece of text, it sounds more like you're putting out a book or an academic paper or something.  @Gargron what a great history to the name. TIL. Yes, likely a good decision to take away friction. And I've seen countless HN discussion where people took offense, while others defended the name. "Toot" will live on in the Urban Dictionary of the fediverse and people say it affectionally. I am no sociologist but I feel that that simple "dare to be different" name might have contributed a lot to the current Fediverse culture we have, and which we like so much. @Gargron So kurz ich auch im Fediverse unterwegs bin, ich nutze Mastodon gerade wegen der anderen Begrifflichkeiten. Man versuche dem geneigten Nutzer zu erklären, warum man auf deutsch bei anderen Plattformen zwitschert, (ver)bucht, aufstellt oder abschickt und doch immer *to post* benutzt. Wer weiß denn, dass "Google" sich von Googol ableitet, einer Bezeichnung eines neunjährigen für eine 1 mit hundert Nullen? @Gargron Wer im SocialMedia-Umfeld trötet oder tootet, der erntet sofort Aufmerksamkeit und wird, nach eigener Erfahrung, gründlich ausgefragt. Aber wer fragt schon nach dem *Wo*, wen vom Posten die Rede ist?  @Gargron A bit of self-sarcasm never harmed anyone. Tooting might be a way to remember not to take ourselves too seriously and be open to the opinions of others rather than just smell our own. Bottom line, tooting is a-ok. Puns intended and I'm sorry.  @Gargron You know, I kind of read it as "I shall now toot my own horn", which is a lovely little English idiom grounded in a simpler, quainter past I miss very much. Keep up the great work. The 4.0 candidate looks killer. @Gargron Losing "toots" seems like a good change. What about swapping the term "instance" to "server(s)" to describe other.... servers. 💿  @Gargron I think Publish is much better than toot fwiw! Also, I think we should reevaluate the term "Reblog". I know I'm just one person, and this isn't a huge deal so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but the prefix Re means to do something again, and none of the other language used insinuates there was ever and initial Blog. I think Boost is still fine, but also Repost and Republish are better options, with my money on Boost and Republish. There's my unwarranted opinion for the day lol @Gargron There is always the bravado method of making it your own. More than one social group has turned a negative label into one they fully owned and defined. @Gargron i think it would be a service to flatulence, generally speaking, if everyone started to think about toots as something more whimsical. but i’m actually glad to hear that it’s actually a contingent feature for you!  @Gargron Posts and post, or publish, are more neutral/transparent/unassuming too, like good prose. "Post" has my vote.   @Gargron Please don't misquote Mr. Von Doom, PhD, it's "DR. DOOM TOOTS AS HE PLEASES".  @Gargron  @Gargron personally I’ve embraced the “toot” but I understand where you’re coming from.  The toot button is charming, and I suspect the silliness encouraged me to give the platform a chance. Sometimes not too serious is a good thing.    @Gargron Ah, well. I think that other meaning is a kind of Americanism, more than anything, so it doesn't really matter.    @Gargron to be fair there are people who sound like they are talking out of their arse sometimes (even though I've yet to find someone like that on here yet), I like it. 😂 @Gargron This is kind of cute, though. And I like the (alternative meaning of the) term "Toot" if only to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously.    @Gargron I respect your decision but there's a part of me that wishes you stuck with toots. It's just too fun and cute! Hmmm... I wonder how hard it would be to make a browser extension to change the publish button to toot...  @Gargron When I first got here many years ago, I thought it was childish and meant the platform wouldn't be taken seriously. Now I think maybe not taking ourselves too seriously is a good thing to be reminded of. @Gargron I bet you wrote a "Comedy is now legal on Mastodon" toot right afterwards. Right? No? Okay, I'll see myself out.  @Gargron Honestly IMO that's an example of one of the best things about FLOSS though. Every screen isn't processed and sanitized through some corporate PR team or focus group. Things evolve chaotically. Decisions get made just because someone thought it was fun. It's *human* :)    @Gargron well, considering the definition of "twit" (at least in US English), I'd say that it isn't the worst thing I've seen in this context. @Gargron In Czech language, "tůt" is just fine, cute, sounds same, so everyone understands and has no second meaning. So don't worry. Lot of us are not native speakers. In fact - most of us. Who cares about Anglo's slang anyway 🙂 @Gargron Can we at least agree on the fact that the first toot should be called the root? I’ll support your patreon? @Gargron Getting a huge kick out of the fact that I just get here, and see that I'm going to "toot", and wondered if I was the only one to know it as another thing entirely, discover that I'm not at all alone in that, and now discover the actual origin story from the creator himself. I love this place @Gargron I learned in my German class in high school, "Don't accept a Gift from a German!" @Gargron 🤣🤣   @Gargron I think for the UI a default of Post might be better but idc as long as the official name for the posts are toots. Instances Will change their buttons to say toot but we should never try to distance ourselves from that term. I believe that YouTube might have done this platform one of the greatest services by planting the word toot  @Gargron this is a really charming story. I’ve been dying over “toots” since I joined, but I feel weirdly defensive of toots now that I know how it happened. Sorry you kinda got trolled with that a bit. I love the software ♥️♥️ How does one get a green check? I assume it means some sort of certification that you are who you claim to be? Or is it just a joke? I am a stranger in a strange land. @Gargron “Post” is really what is most in common parlance for microblogging i think - twitter even will use that in place of “tweet”. “Publish” has connotations of an article or even book I like "toot" Why? I imagine taking a solid xxxx on Musk's site and each toot gives me a little satisfaction. 💩 @Gargron 😂 Thank you for the info. I'm so glad to hear there was a financial aspect to it, because the term was suspiciously childish to a middle aged USA user. Had me wondering if Mastodon's were extra flatulent. And NO I was not going to Google it.  @Gargron The most internet story ever. Could've easily been something like, "And that's how we ended up with a platform called #PostyMcPostFace" @Gargron thanks for this explanation - personally I never used the word, and likewise appreciated that the button says "Publish!" and the word isn't ingrained anywhere formally. I'm sticking to "Posts" because, in my mind, #Mastodon is a lot like self-hosted #wordpress  @Gargron can you please overcome your hesitation and explain the other meaning? I only found a snort of cocaine. So what’s the problem? @Gargron I honestly think "toot" is genius. It means "to blow a horn". That some people equate that with the letting of wind can't be our problem? 😁  @Gargron I just hope you got a generous donation for making the change. As for me, I prefer to toot my own horn on Mastodon rather than being a twit for a multi-billionaire who thinks free speech can be bought. @Gargron I toot in your general direction…thanks for creating a safe place for artists and enthusiasts to exchange ideas and information. @Gargron Origin story! I do like elephants but maybe our server will merge in https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/18583 a bit early. |
I like that I was able to go back to "Publish" in the official iOS and Android apps. It may be less whimsical, and less branded, but after using the platform for such a long time, I'm perfectly happy with a button that just describes what it will do without trying to be cute (not that I dislike cute, I'd never part with our elephant illustrations). I have seen enough "Dr. Doom toots as he pleases" quotes in the first two years of Mastodon to last me a lifetime.