I think it's fine. BTW, the same issue with adding a vowel to FCK is also there in German - it's different vowel, but the meaning is the same!

rimsystems wrote:I'd prefer my customers didn't even have to consider that we named something so close to an offensive word.

I apologize if this has already been stated, but I wanted to make sure it was said.

I've worked in the marketing and advertising industry for years now, as a developer and project manager of various websites. I think rebranding is a good idea, and can really help you take off.

One think to do to help overcome the initial decline in recognition is to set a timeframe in which you will actively retain your old name in conjunction with the new one. All of your references to the new name, in text/copy or in logos/graphics, should ALWAYS have something like "formally FCKeditor" somewhere. After about a year, you shouldn't need that.

Sorry for being so late to the discussion and I'm in serious need of sleep so I'm cheating by not reading all previous posts, I just skimmed through the thread.

If you experience that you're getting bad reactions to the name and people making F word references, than yes you probably should change it - if not for anything else, then for your own sake. I know it can be tiresome to read such things in the long run, and I'm sure you'd rather invest your energy in fun things like development than having to read people's often childish remarks.

Frank62 wrote:Just change it to FCeditor or FredEditor.

Freditor FTW!

You know it makes sense...

Possible suggestions for new names:

I believe it should. We use the editor on a site that's accessible by all of our 60,000+ employees worldwide. A vast majority are in the US or England. We have plenty of folks that are content creators that do know the name of the editor and will complain about "how unfortunate" the name evey time they use it. From a corporate marketing standpoint, the current name is a complete disaster. From a hacker marketing standpoint, it's an awesome name. Though, I can envision a day where a company will refuse to use the editor solely because of its name. The name should be changed to make the product easier to market.

Actually, I personally don't care about the name, as long as the editor does its job as expected.

It's a great editor! I've been struggling for two days with another editor - quite a cumbersome one (I don't want to mention its name here) which loads maybe about 5 times slower and unloads maybe about 10 times slower than FCKEditor. Then I googled, and came across FCKEditor, gave it a try and now I'm in "business"

Keep up the good work!

//and don't worry about the name

One thing that just came to my mind, after reading some previous posts in this thread:
I'm not sure if it's a good idea but since commercial guys complain about the name, maybe you should give them another, more commercial name, while keeping the Open Source version with the current name. Thus, whoever has problems with the name, is free to purchase the commercial version
Everyone else, who uses it at no cost, is free to enjoy its great functionality and somehow live with its "bad" name

Actually, there are some even worse names, e.g. FCUK (a.k.a French Connection United Kingdom)
The name doesn't make them less famous

If you change the name, it will only die a slow death. THere are so many independent resources that refer to this editor as the FCKeditor, that it will mean that a lot of questions will have to be re-answered because noobs won't know to google the previous name.

Changing a name, once a product is established is never a good move. Changing it because some softy is offended by it is the worst reason. Look at FCUK. They're doing pretty swell.

It won't help a thing, and only divide the existing reputation.

If someone has a problem with it, tell them to go fck themselves.

If you really have to change it, call it the FredCK editor.

I don't think the name should be changed. As someone already mentioned above - it can be fatal to change a product's name when it has established some recognition.

From a marketing point of view, a product's name is not about the name, but what the name represent (a slight, but very important difference..).
That is called building brand (ie: it doesn't matter what it's called as long as people like the consept. Good example: Google).

The idea that FCK should change its name is just ignorant or stupid. Effectively those in favour of a name change are stating that FCK's founders initials are offensive to them because the initials are part of a word that they don't really like. The initials are only offensive to someone thinking of a way that they 'could' be offensive if they were changed slightly. How about we tell other people to not use their initials because they offend someone else... learn to be a little tolerant of a world that is not set up to pander to your every wish and remove anything offensive. That is just bigoted and shows a complete lack of any multi-cultural thought processes.

It is bad from a marketing point of view, and if anything those that don't like the name at least aren't likely to forget it - a good thing!

Frederico, excellent job with FCK and thank you for sharing it with us. It deserves to carry your name.

The day someone convinces you that you are not able to handle being offended is the day that they convince you that you are a child.

Sincerely,

Eefrit

I vote to change the name because FCK sounds like F*CK.

A large portion of my client-base consists of older-generation folk who would most definitely see it that way. They have no idea what FCK really is, other than that it sounds like a bad word.
It would give them a false perspective of me, causing me to potentially lose clients over it.

Therefore, I've alternated using FCKEditor and TinyMCE depending on what I know about the client, simply because of the name.

I believe rebranding is a good idea under certain circumstances, and to those who say it's never good, prove it (in a different thread please).