Flohmarkt - a Fediverse replacement for Facebook Marketplace
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And why should we name things for the exclusive convenience of monolingual English speakers to the detriment of everyone else?
I don't disagree conceptually, but English has been the lingua franca for a long time now.
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I can't understand why every other fediverse name is so stupid as to be off putting to the average user.
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My American brain wants to read it as "FlowMart", or "Flowmark". Neither of which I have a problem with.
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Flohcebook mohktplohce
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I don't disagree conceptually, but English has been the lingua franca for a long time now.
That's not an issue for brands. German and Chinese brands are just doing fine everywhere with the possible exception of the two countries in the world where people are not exposed to other languages.
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Yep. It’s kind of annoying when people see everything through an “english” lense and assume anything that isn’t made to work for english speakers won’t work…
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The latter. Though given the downvotes, I think people are either not smart enough to get it, or too smart and think I don't get it.
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The latter. Though given the downvotes, I think people are either not smart enough to get it, or too smart and think I don't get it.
You just said what everyone thinks when they hear 'lingua franca' for the first time.
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Oh look, the Queen of Naming has spoken! Everything should just be named "Facebook something" or "Twitter that".
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Not enough umlauts to count as easy.
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Because more people speak it?
Chinese says hi.
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SPEAK ENGLISH ÖR DIE
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Yep. It’s kind of annoying when people see everything through an “english” lense and assume anything that isn’t made to work for english speakers won’t work…
Op has a point. Even English names that succeed internationally are somewhat bound by the ability of speakers of other languages to spell and pronounce the name. Y'all are here acting like what they're saying is hateful or something...
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Maybe just like Facebook Market, simply ignore it? /s
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But telling a friend about this starts with the name. Simple names are easier. And that would just start with making it short. Single syllable being best.
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Does it? If you set up an instance for your local community/city/whatever, and name it something that makes sense for your intended userbase, I think it would be fine.
It goes from "I sold my couch on FlohMarkt" to "I sold my couch on Local Ottawa Marketplace" for the 'normies' out there. They're not going to care about the underlying software so long as their couch gets sold.
Do recommend a DIY local advertising strategy if trying to get something like this running, though - posters at IRL flea markets, adverts in small community papers for antiques and collectibles, crossposts/links to postings on stuff like MaxSold/Kijiji/Craigslist/GumTree/FB Marketplace/[insert online marketplace operating in your area],that kind of thing.
Focus on the current primary use case of centralized marketplace services (buying shit from your neighbours), then introduce the "Oh yeah, we've also set it up so you can see postings on Local Toronto Marketplace, Local Kingston Marketplace, Marché Local de Montréal" etc. from there.
I really, really think talking to people in terms of specific instances over the overarching platform/protocol is a way around 'normie' confusion about the Fediverse when first trying it, then getting exposure to how it works in practice will help them understand the nitty gritty stuff better. Is this problematic in some cases, like with Lemmy? A little bit, yeah. For something like FlohMarkt? I think less so.
('normie' in quotes 'cause I'm not the biggest fan of the term, but it's a useful shorthand)
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I tried to use it myself and it really isn't ready yet. It's missing so many features that a specialized Lemmy instance seems like a much better alternative.
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Why would English be objectively better than German?
I didn't say it was. An important aspect of promoting the adoption of any product or service is having a brand name that is easily pronounceable to facilitate word-of-mouth promotion. It's something that's all the more important for a Fediverse service, given the lack of means to promote Flohmarkt with paid advertising campaigns.
While Flohmarkt works as a brand name in German, it's not immediately clear how to pronounce it in English, versus the easily pronounced Lemmy, Mastodon, Misskey, Pixelfed, Loops, and Friendica. For that reason, 'Flohmarkt' should be kept as the platform's name in German-speaking countries, but be localized as 'Flowmarket' in English-speaking ones.
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I didn't say it was. An important aspect of promoting the adoption of any product or service is having a brand name that is easily pronounceable to facilitate word-of-mouth promotion. It's something that's all the more important for a Fediverse service, given the lack of means to promote Flohmarkt with paid advertising campaigns.
While Flohmarkt works as a brand name in German, it's not immediately clear how to pronounce it in English, versus the easily pronounced Lemmy, Mastodon, Misskey, Pixelfed, Loops, and Friendica. For that reason, 'Flohmarkt' should be kept as the platform's name in German-speaking countries, but be localized as 'Flowmarket' in English-speaking ones.
Do you think Flohmarkt is worse than Volkswagen?
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Do you think Flohmarkt is worse than Volkswagen?
Yes, since the pronunciation of Volkswagen can be inferred from taking 'Volks' as rhyming with 'Folks' and either pronouncing 'wagen' as intended—with 'gen' rhyming with the 'gain' in 'again'—or just pronouncing it as 'wagon'. In contrast, the pronunciation of 'kt' at the end of 'flohmarkt' can't be inferred from an existing English word. Additionally, using the spelling 'flow' disambiguates the English pronunciation of 'floh', especially when dialect is taken into account.
Ultimately, because Volkswagen has had decades of advertisements marketing its proper pronunciation and making the brand name widely-recognized, it has an inherent advantage in terms of brand recognition to start with.
