Some useful feedback from the ethereum/EIPs Gitter channel:
Nick Johnson @Arachnid 01:55
Can I just say that “Berlin Council” is not a great name.
Micah Zoltu @MicahZoltu 02:05
So many people hating on the name of this thing.
Thomas Jay Rush @tjayrush 07:18
Should be”Berlin Inclusion”. I can see the headlines now. “Magicians’s Council meets at Berlin. Only 100 Allowed In.” Stop calling it a council!
Nick Johnson @Arachnid 08:09
“Workshop” and “Working group” both sound better than “Council” to me
Or just “Meeting”
Jamie Pitts @jpitts 08:59
Interesting, @arachnid what do you think is wrong with it? I have my own opinions but don’t want to bias yours
Nick Johnson @Arachnid 09:01
It just sounds a bit exclusionary and far more ‘official’ than it really is. Councils have closed memberships.
It also sounds pretty pretentious. Like “the Tokyo accords” or “the Geneva convention”
Jamie Pitts @jpitts 09:03
LOL. ok that is good feedback. The Magicians metaphor can go too far and communicate the wrong intention.
So if you feel that “Council” as a term is just not right for what this set of meetings will embody, say that here. And declare an alternative as well.
I’m circling back around to this. I think we’re going full meme with this and people aren’t too fussed with the naming anymore? I shouldn’t have caved so easily the first time around
Magicians – this forum and its members.
Rings – working groups
Scrolls – long term knowledge, playbooks, notes in the Github wiki
Councils – the tri-annual meetings that we’re committing to for now
Meetings / events outside of the tri-annual ones are likely to be Ring Meetings and regional and/or ad-hoc events. Back in Drupal land, we called them Drupal Camps, but that doesn’t fit our meme-ology.
Chipping in. I do not think, from a comms perspective that the word council has a negative connotation. What I do believe, is that the message has not been clear enough that EVERYONE can join these meetings. I tried to clarify in my blogpost, and got some interesting questions around.
I believe that if we can reinforce blogposts, invitations, share them on Reddit (always ask as I got enough karma), and etc. we can raise awareness on this. It’s not the word but the lack of communication.
It’s always been our intent that anyone can attend. It’s also true, and Council sort of communicates, that we are gathered for a purpose, so those not deeply interested working on our technology will probably be very bored.
Is it too late to suggest “Summit”? It gives the heightened connotation, encourages networking and mingling, and matches the meme-core of all the mountains they climb in the book to meet their goals. Some might think they’re “top-brass only” and/or exclusive, but after many of the non-top-brass non-exclusive summits I’ve been to this interpretation might be on the way out.
