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Ask Different was sounding a bit outdated almost since the start of this site.

Maybe this generation of Apple was still borderline 'different':

enter image description here

Definately not the case now.

I'm sure Apple would allow use of their logo, giving the site a new legitimacy.

Even the ⌘ with the white square behind it looks tacky now. Not intending to have a stab at anyone, but as the web has evolved, and Apple certainly has, the site still seems "different" and I (and I know others from speaking with general industry collegues) avoid coming here.

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  • Related: Why is this site's URL not the same as its name?
    – nohillside Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 14:42
  • Hi @nohillside. That is different. That is 5 years ago and that is about the URL
    – hmedia1
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 14:47
  • 1
    Is this "can we" as in "is it technically possible to" or as in "are there enough people who would vote for a name change"? If it is the second, please elaborate on the rationale to do so. The site gets >200k page views each day and a lot of Q&As rank very high on Google (which is the main source for visits) so discoverability doesn't seem to be an issue.
    – nohillside Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 14:47
  • The URL already says apple.stackexchange.com
    – nohillside Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 14:48
  • @nohillside The latter - would enough people vote for this. I can only speculate that stats would improve. It makes sense that once upon a time it was called ask different, but now ? I mean it could just be the Apple stackexchange. Makes sense.
    – hmedia1
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 14:50
  • @nohillside I know it does. I'm talking about the name, logo, branding, button labels, everything. I mean whatever ... you can only lead a horse to water. If the site had started when Apple is what it is today, I highly doubt it would have been called ask different. Apple is a slick industry leader now
    – hmedia1
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 14:52
  • 3
    Can you explain why industry people avoid coming here due to a name or do you feel the site design is the problem regardless of the name?
    – bmike Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 15:57

1 Answer 1

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I don’t see the site needing legitimacy from a name and haven’t heard of professionals avoiding it since the design was set to make it attractive for experts and professionals to be welcome so they can provide great answers. Any name change at this point would cause much more confusion IMO since the name is quite established.

Unless there’s formal agreement that Apple would let their brand be used (which would shock me, but you don’t know until the lawyers and business people talk) I would expect we couldn’t use any Apple trademark here for prominent branding.

Apple’s current trademark guidelines help form my option on this proposal being a non-starter.

Web Sites: Web sites that serve only as noncommercial electronic informational forums concerning an Apple product or technology may use the appropriate Apple word mark, provided such use complies with the guidelines set forth in Section 3 above.

Since this is a commercial web site that sells advertisements and under the umbrella of a for profit corporation, we don’t seem to fit under the Magazine and Web Site clause but the company lawyers would need to give us a ruling on this.

I’d say vote for this if you think we should keep things as they are. I did vote up your question since discussion and new ideas are welcome, just I’m a “no” for now.

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    Hi @bmike - remember that when one comes here through google, they see this: i.imgur.com/bApDUgw.png It's not a huge deal how the site is branded if they reach the answer they want
    – hmedia1
    Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 16:03
  • 1
    @hmedia1 What search criteria was used to get that result? Lots and lots and lots of Google search results take users here, for example: 1 and 2. I'm not opposed to the idea of a name change, but it's unclear to me what problem changing the name solves? I mean, if people search for "Apple stack exchange" they get this, so what's the problem we're trying to fix?
    – Monomeeth Mod
    Commented Sep 11, 2021 at 0:04
  • 2
    Like bmike, I upvoted your post because I also welcome the discussion. But for now, I am 99.99% certain we wouldn't be able to use Apple's name and logo as you would like, so I've also upvoted this answer. As for some rebranding, well, that's always a good idea from time to time if it's done right. But to my mind you would need to post a specific proposal and gauge support, and I think making changes would need to be very well considered so we don't create confusion.
    – Monomeeth Mod
    Commented Sep 11, 2021 at 0:04

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