This website needs a name change.

the8thark · May 15, 2013

I believe this website needs a name change.

Why do I think this?
A while back Apple changed it's name from Apple Computers to Apple, cause Apple fit what they do much better then Apple computers did. And that got me thinking. Does MacRumors really still fit what this website does? I don't think so. Sure there still is Mac Rumours being put up here, but the vast majority of the rumours here are not Mac related. A large number of the rumours here are not even Apple related. Today is a good example of this. The whole front page almost, is all google related.

What should the new name be?
I don't know. But it should be something that really fits what this website does. And that is provide rumours and advertising about the whole IT industry. That covers the large amount of Non-Mac, Non-Apple and patent and other rumours that this site chooses to write about.

What if the staff here don't want to do a name change?
That is not ideal but it can be worked with. In this case you just change the tag line this website from "news and rumors you care about" to something like "Apple and other rumors you care about". I don't know. Or even just change the whole thing to "The best Apple and other IT rumours on the internet". I'm not a big fan of the whole "you care about" part. It does not really fit what this website is about. To me the article authors are giving us what (in their opinion) is the best rumours. Them actually being the best or not is not for question here, and honestly I don't even care if they are the best or not. The whole issue is, it's what they think is best, not what we care about. Both ideas are not mutually exclusive, and at times they do post articles we care about, but I feel that is not the main aim here. This is not a bad thing at all though. I think overall the article writers do a better than most job of sending us the rumours.

My whole point here is to try and get the website name to more accurately reflect what this website does. Because at the moment the website name does not reflect well at all what this website does.

Comeagain? · May 16, 2013

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All of these websites certainly do what you'd expect them to do based solely on the URL or name without previous experience with them. Apple grew to be more than a mac only company, the websites also grew. It's a recognizable brand known for Apple news/rumors/discussion. Why change that now?

eawmp1 · May 16, 2013

No.

For some of us nostalgic type we pine for the days of MacRumors. I am weary of going off the rails on the iDevice rumor crazy train.

the8thark · May 16, 2013

Comeagain? said:
Apple grew to be more than a mac only company, the websites also grew. It's a recognizable brand known for Apple news/rumors/discussion. Why change that now?

Apple Computer grew to be more then just a Mac company, so it changed it's name to Apple. And MacRumors grew to be a website about more then just Mac rumours.

The websites you listed never had a name that related to what they did. So your point (I understand it) but does not apply here. Here we are talking about things/websites that in the past had a name that related closely to what they did. But now what they do has changed and no longer reflects the name it has.

eawmp1 said:
some of us nostalgic type we pine for the days of MacRumors. I am weary of going off the rails on the iDevice rumor crazy train.

I believe those days are long behind us. The site has moved on to more then just the Mac and I don't think it'll ever go back to being majority Mac or Mac based.

rmwebs · May 16, 2013

Realistically it wont happen. It'd be SEO suicide for one thing.

Granted, Mac related rumors are very rare, but its too late to change the name.

Sites with 'slightly wrong' names still serve their purpose without it causing any problems.

The thing that does need to change is the tagline - its no longer relevant.

Ddyracer · May 18, 2013

rmwebs said:
Realistically it wont happen. It'd be SEO suicide for one thing.

Granted, Mac related rumors are very rare, but its too late to change the name.

Sites with 'slightly wrong' names still serve their purpose without it causing any problems.

The thing that does need to change is the tagline - its no longer relevant.

To me that's what is relevant. "News and rumors you care about" nothing about mac written there. It's almost perfect.

wordoflife · May 18, 2013

the8thark said:
My whole point here is to try and get the website name to more accurately reflect what this website does. Because at the moment the website name does not reflect well at all what this website does.

MacRumors is a brand (so you could say) now. Everyone knows "MacRumors" so why would you change that, just for accuracy sake? It doesn't matter.

That is like saying, Apple should change their name (and logo) because they do not sell apples (the fruit).

rmwebs · May 18, 2013

Ddyracer said:
To me that's what is relevant. "News and rumors you care about" nothing about mac written there. It's almost perfect.

That'd be debatable I guess. When there's no 'relevant' news that anyone cares about, the editors fill it up with stuff they usually ignore (e.g patent disputes, fines, etc). It just so happens that because Apple really havent had any new hit projects in a long time now, that all we see is 3rd party promotions (e.g announcing a new watch, or a new thunderbolt dock, or an iPhone app) and lawsuits.

Arran · May 18, 2013

MacRumors is fine.

It's not like there's hordes of Scottish folks rushing in here, looking for Scottish celebrity gossip and scandal.

the8thark · May 19, 2013

wordoflife said:
MacRumors is a brand (so you could say) now. Everyone knows "MacRumors" so why would you change that, just for accuracy sake? It doesn't matter.

That is like saying, Apple should change their name (and logo) because they do not sell apples (the fruit).

Ah but Apple Computer did change their name to Apple. Because they felt the old name did not fit with that they are doing now.
And Apple did change it's logo from the multicoloured Apple to the plain coloured one. Sure that was only a colour change but it did happen. I'm pretty sure that happened as a cost saving exercise.

Brand names can change over time if they originally described the product or service being provided but no longer do anymore. Apple Computers and MacRumors are good examples of this. Amazon and yahoo and nike are examples of brand names that never related to what they do. And never will. And it's ok.

Sure it's a brand name but there also is product association with the brand name. People recognised Apple Computers as just that computers sold by Apple. They had to change it to Apple to say "hey Apple sell things more then just computers now". And similarly MacRumors needs a change to tell people "hey we do a lot of rumour articles that are not Mac related anymore. Sure there is brand association there with MacRumors. But people are complaining "where's the Mac rumours? Cause they see MacRumors and expect there to be Mac rumours. They don't know or realise it's just a title and that >50% of the rumours here are not Mac or not even Apple related anymore.

But if MacRumors the name is to stay, then the tagline has to be totally changed to reflect the fact that MacRumors is just a name and that there is many other types of rumours here too.

MacDawg · May 19, 2013

I'm gonna guess for the vast majority of users who visit this site either as a regular or a lurker this is a non-issue

IMO the name/brand is iconic now and transcends any attempt to impose the limits suggested

the8thark · May 19, 2013

MacDawg said:
I'm gonna guess for the vast majority of users who visit this site either as a regular or a lurker this is a non-issue

IMO the name/brand is iconic now and transcends any attempt to impose the limits suggested

Your opinion is to leave the name as is. I can understand this (even though I disagree). And that is fine. But . . . what do you think about changing the tagline to make it more suitable to what this website is all about now? And letting people (new to the site and regulars) know it's not just about the Mac?

I ask because new users might see MacRumors and think "hmmmm lots of Mac information here. Look on the front page and see not a bit of Mac rumours or news and go "no Mac rumours on MacRumors?" And never come back.

SPNarwhal · May 19, 2013

I haven't read all comments prior, so I'm not sure if this has all been said already- but I do think the name still fits in a sense. Usually all news posted here is in relation to apple or connected in some way or another. A lot of companies are mentioned solely due to apple being involved with so many areas of the market, and news is usually about their competition if it's about another company; the website still does seem to revolve around apple, even if indirectly.

c1phr · May 20, 2013

the8thark said:
Today is a good example of this. The whole front page almost, is all google related.

Granted, Google is Apple's number one mobile competitor, and they just had their developer's conference: Google I/O, at the time of you posting this. This means that Google was making plenty of announcements, which Apple will retaliate with in some form.

E.Lizardo · May 20, 2013

I'm sorry but I just can't get my head around the fact that you started this thread and seem so feel so strongly.It's just simply bizarre to me.The last thing I would think to do is go on someone's blog and tell them their name is all wrong and needs to be changed.Maybe I'll call USA today and tell them they need a new name because they cover international news.Then Taco Bell and Burger King need to be TOLD they NEED to change their name because some moron might walk in and find different things for sale.

the8thark · May 20, 2013

E.Lizardo said:
I'm sorry but I just can't get my head around the fact that you started this thread and seem so feel so strongly.It's just simply bizarre to me.

I see your point. Call it customer feedback. And this is my rather strong feedback. Then the store or website or whatever can use my feedback or they can choose not to use it. Totally up to them.

I too would not walk in, demand to speak to the manager and say "your business needs a name change". I'd put it down in writing on a customer feedback form. And the equivalent of that here is the site and forum feedback area.

d4rkc4sm · May 21, 2013

macandgooglerumors.com

the8thark · May 21, 2013

it seems others are slowly agreeing on this point. I'll quote one topic worth of such examples of many on the news area of these forums.

loft3 said:
This is MACrumors, right?

MonkeySee.... said:
I normally dislike this kind of post but I think this news takes it a bit far.

Absolute pointless article for this site

And this:

JayCee842 said:
This site has become the total opposite of Macrumors. What a shame.

And this:

OlegShv said:
So, what does XBox has to do with Macrumors?

And this:

AaronTheYoung said:
...this on MacRumors?

It's not an Apple product...
It's not a Mac...
It's not even a rumor!

It's sad to see a site deviate from its true mission just to get page hits off another technology.

E.Lizardo · May 21, 2013

the8thark said:
I see your point. Call it customer feedback. And this is my rather strong feedback. Then the store or website or whatever can use my feedback or they can choose not to use it. Totally up to them.

I too would not walk in, demand to speak to the manager and say "your business needs a name change". I'd put it down in writing on a customer feedback form. And the equivalent of that here is the site and forum feedback area.

Fair enough.However a much better way to ensure your voice is heard is to contact them directly:

arn@normalkid.com

It's right at the bottom of the front page.

the8thark · May 21, 2013

E.Lizardo said:
Fair enough.However a much better way to ensure your voice is heard is to contact them directly:

arn@normalkid.com

It's right at the bottom of the front page.

I see your point but . . . All the posts in this part of the forums are read by the staff. And the forums do see your concerns if you post them on the forums. The staff here are very good on this point. Plus posting this feedback in the feedback area means other users can post their opinion on the subject too.

WoodNUFC · May 21, 2013

I love that the site is showing more than just MacRumors.

I find it odd that people get so offended if there is a hint of anything on the front page not related to Apple.

The forums deal with much more than just Apple and I appreciate that the homepage does the same.

maflynn · May 21, 2013

MacRumors is still a site that focuses on apple products but I think we'd do a disservice to our members if we ignored every other high tech news story which affects them.

Many mac users are avid gamers, and they own one or some of the consoles. With that in mind, covering the announcement for the new xbox makes sense.

Many macintosh owners own an android phone so we have an alternatives forum for them to discuss stuff there and also provide a dedicated place so those who wish to focus on iOS stuff can do so without the android threads popping up in the forums. We also touch upon some of the news of android, and Samsung as it has a direct impact to many members.

In short, the focus has not changed in MacRumors, as the site has grown we included other news items that affect our members since many members use multiple platforms.

SandboxGeneral · May 21, 2013

I agree with maflynn's assessment above. I, too, own an Xbox and other non-Apple tech products.

As the diversity of the writers for MacRumors increases along with the diversity of the technology they write about, I find myself more and more staying here for my tech news rather than going to various other sites for it.

This doesn't mean to me that the site needs to change it's name. Its been around a long time and has good name recognition. Changing it would only do a disservice to the site and it's members in my opinion.

arn · May 22, 2013

the8thark said:
I believe this website needs a name change.

We've been over this before.

Short answer: no, the name won't change.
Longer answer: Even if Apple stops making Macs altogether, this site name will not likely change.
Reason: The site name is its brand. It's grown beyond a description.

Now, if your issue is that we are covering not 100% Apple topics, then that's a different question/argument.

arn

davidinva · May 22, 2013

Appledroid Rumors? Seems to be more Android stuff in here than Apple stuff on some days.

This website needs a name change.

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