Riot is now Element

I don't like the new name, is too generic. I think an original alternative would have been better, like Trello, Slack, ...

I think those names are taken.

(Really though, Slack is as generic of a word as Element! It just had a strong connotation now)

Yeah, I share that feeling a bit, it's definitely going to make searching for things related to it difficult.

Eg, I just Googled element: "About 2,480,000,000 results (0.68 seconds)"

Ironically Riot.im is the 4th hit for me on an incognito VPN'd browser for the word Riot. So I hope that Element will end up with the same visibility :)

Yeah they are taken, I meant a name of that kind, rather than an already existing word that is pretty common too

The best of the 3 names was Vector imho and it was still quite generic.

Agreed. Catchy names also have 1 to 2 syllables, usually, so Element seems a bit unwieldy. But maybe they want to step back a bit and give the Matrix brand a boost.

People often get confused, they think the word is strong (Nike,Google,...) while the word nearly never is. As you've said it's the other way around, what the company evokes in us with their product over time is brought back to the name.

I am always surprised when I see projects choosing such general names. This will make SEO and name recognition so much harder. Not adopting such generic names should be elemental wisdom. Guess now at least they are always in their element though. /s

That does not mean that a generic name is fine.

It means that a unique, made-up word is fine because it will gain meaning. It may sound strange now because it is new and unknown but that does not matter because that will change. 'Google' went to a strange, made-up word, to being an everyday noun and verb.

In that respect a made-up word is the best option because you start with a blank slate and you can create its meaning.

Whereas a generic word already has meaning, several competing ones, even, and you have to struggle against that to build your brand, so it's an inferior choice.

Yes, I also tell people whom I consult to use a short, easy to remember fantasy word. I like a mix, like Mailchimp which evokes images in customers.

Though as Apple, Nike, Windows, Slack, Segment have shown, the generic approach can work.

slack is not very original if you think about it.

No, it's just that I'm not a native English speaker, I'm realizing just now that I checked on WordReference that "slack" is an existing word!

I'm not sure what it is with companies just picking a name from the English dictionary. You could be a little more inventive and come up with something either foreign or new-ish. Even a wrong but witty spelling of an existing word would do, but things like Apple, Amazon, Slack, Bird, Riot, Glassdoor... come on.

Not to take away from the tremendous work they're doing but that name really isn't good.

Agreed. Generic names are difficult to find help on, especially in the software world. Like that modelling tool which was mentioned a while back - "Hash". Imagine googling for "Hash syntax error".

What's next, an ITIL-enabled accounting system called 'IT'?

Yeah - it is a pain trying to search for technical support for overloaded terms. Matrix is an especially bad one given the mathematical terms. I think Riot was a terrible choice for a messenger name, especially for an encrypted one (doing the work of politicians to demonize it for them) but it would still be easier to search for because preciously there weren't IT questions about riots.

Slack is an existing word that's pretty common word, though, which was my point.

So are Zoom, Medium, Apple, Windows, Segment, etc. We just don't remember that sometimes, because the company has redefined the word.

No, it's just that I'm not a native English speaker, I'm realizing just now that I checked on WordReference that "slack" is an existing word

Ah, apologizes then! Didn’t realize you weren’t a native speaker at all :) in that case, I can see it seeming like a made up word!