[I am not subscribed to -bsd.] On Sun, Dec 14, 2003 at 12:02:44PM -0500, Nathan Hawkins wrote: > On Sat, Dec 13, 2003 at 04:27:27PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote: > > Debian FreeBSD -> Debian Forneus (BSD) > > Debian NetBSD -> Debian Naberius (BSD) > > Debian OpenBSD -> Debian Orobos (BSD) > > > > I got these names from the Wikipedia <URL: > > http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_specific_demons_and_types_of_demons>. > > > > Moreover, none of these names are currently registered with the USPTO, > > so we'd be set in that department. > > I'm not opposed to anything else you've said. I do believe these > particular names are a bad idea, however. One of the reasons the BSD > mascot is considered "cute" is that it has no real connection with > demons, in name, or otherwise. Which to people of several religions are > _not_ cute. > > Your proposal would change that. I oppose it, and I would oppose it just > the same if you wanted to call them Loki, Kali or Hitler. (To pick a few > at random.) Using names of evil, real or imagined, is not something > that would be helpful to Debian. That kind of publicity we don't need. I doubt you'd have known they were names from Christian demonology if I hadn't told you. I didn't propse that we use better known names like "Lucifer" or "Satan". Even names like "Belial", "Asmodeus", and "Mephistopheles" are unfamiliar to uneducated Christians (which is most of them, at least in the U.S.). I have little patience for superstitious beliefs, and less still for people who claim to be defending the tender feelings of the ignorant. I doubt knowledgeable and thoughtful adherents to the Christian religion -- the kind who can actually attend a seminary and not flunk out -- find the names I proposed particularly offensive. If any such people are reading these lists, we can always ask them. In any event, for any name that doesn't raise trademark issues (and thus potentially jeopardize the entire project), I'd say the choice remains up to those who are actually doing the work -- and that would be the Debian *BSD porters. -- G. Branden Robinson | If you don't think for yourself, Debian GNU/Linux | others will think for you -- to branden@debian.org | their advantage. http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | -- Harold Gordon
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