[Noisebridge-discuss] naming

Andy Isaacson adi at hexapodia.org
Thu May 22 00:09:40 UTC 2008


On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 04:09:05PM -0700, Noah Balmer wrote:
> noisebridge, Noisebridge, NoiseBridge, Noise Bridge, Noisebridge Research,
> ...Evil Resistor...
> I've seen or heard all these, maybe there are others.
> Which should be the official name?

IMO, the official name is Noise Bridge, just like the circuit.  It might
make sense to coalesce it to "Noisebridge" depending on the context we
end up going with -- to me "Noisebridge Heavy Industries" scans better
than "Noise Bridge Heavy Industries".  (Props to L0pht, of course.)

> I personally don't care for the addition of "Research".  I sounds ok, but
> doesn't encompasses the stated purpose of the group very well.  If we want a
> more descriptive name I'd suggest "Noisebridge Labs", which still has some
> nerd cred but sounds more inclusive.

There is no requirement in California law (AFAIK) that the name have
any specific words in it.  Many nonprofits put "Inc." in their name, but
it is not required; I don't see any reason for us to do that, and would
prefer we not.

We should avoid words that say things we are not, such as "Foundation"
(which has a particular meaning that we do not want, WRT the IRS).

Reviewing other california public benefit corps, I see names like

    Northern California Velodrome Association
    New Vision Children's Services
    SMRA Emergency Repeater Network 
    SILICON VALLEY GIRLS SOFTBALL LEAGUE (SVGSL)
    Sycamore Stingrays Swim
    SOCIETY FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
    THE GOETHE SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA
    California Association for Adult Day Services
    OPEN SOURCE INITIATIVE
    Asha for Education
    SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
    NEPAL ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

(specifically avoiding "fund", "inc", and "foundation".)

Having an "action noun" (to coin a phrase) like "Network", "Services",
"Initiative" or a collective noun like "Society", "Association",
"Coalition" both seem like good ways to drive home our point, but none
of those seem quite right for us.

Here are a few possibilities:

Noise Bridge Labs
Noise Bridge Cooperative
Noise Bridge Association
Noise Bridge Services

More?

-andy



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