I have just one comment:

NEVER CHANGE A WINNING TEAM !!!!

The Name GOL was best ever...
stephan_m, Jul 24, 2007 @ 13:47

...the bit in the email that you sent out to everyone saying:

"Evolving from being a "GoLer" into being a "Glocal" ain't easy.
Please help us by being open to the new name, and by practising saying 'Glocals.com' until it sounds just right..:-)"

The second line really made me laugh! ;-D J.

JulianT, Jul 24, 2007 @ 13:58

I very recently joined the community but I love the new name?

Aren't most of us all global because expats but also locals in our hometowns?

I am really proud to have become a Glocal!!!

Btw, I also love the logo!!!

Congrats/Parabens/Bravo!
jmagalhae, Jul 24, 2007 @ 14:20

Glocal doesn't do it for me (glauque in French is not a positive expression). I'm really not bothered about what's happening on a regular basis in Zurich and Basle...! Lausanne, perhaps. I just want to know about the Geneva area - I can see I'll have to wade through blurb from people partying in Zurich before finding something good in to do on a Tuesday in Geneva.

Hey, what's wrong with keepin things local? First WRG, now GenevaOnline... If it ain't broken, why try to mend it?
jogeneva, Jul 24, 2007 @ 14:30

When is the party for to celebrate this new name? :-) (nt)
silverwolf, Jul 24, 2007 @ 15:41

we're already working on it...(-: (nt)
Nir Ofek, Jul 24, 2007 @ 15:47

This annoying reference of *Glocal* to the French word "glauque" is annoying.

Firstly, this is (not solely, but) primarily an anglophone website. Unless I've misunderstood (and I used to live in Geneva when I joined GOL by the way), the objective now is to have this wonderful tool, which makes life better for people coming to Switzerland, expand to other parts of Switzerland. Nobody outside the French speaking part of CH (nor in other non-speaking countries, if and when it were to expand there too) will ever make the connection between Glocal and "glauque"! In fact, the Swiss Germans are likely to pronounce it as Glo-cAAL!

Incidentally, I noted (funnily enough) that mostly "foreigners" who speak French, are complaining about this association! And there are many Romands who are members on this site already, not many of whom have piped up with this silly complaint.

If you don't like it, it's your loss for not having put in a vote when you could/should have voted against it, when it was still possible.

I was following the voting from the start, and contributed mine. I did not vote for Glocal, but also noted that, of the 10,000 members online at the time, only a few hundred actually voted, no?

So where was your vote then?

Too late. Accept change. And Glocals, is that new change.

Well done and many thanks to Oded, Nir et al for giving us the choice in the first place, and managing the end result.
Roberta, Jul 24, 2007 @ 19:02

Really needed that.... NOT!!!
jogeneva, Jul 25, 2007 @ 21:36

Hi Roberta!
I would not say that foreigners speaking french "complain" about the new website name.
They notice that it sounds like the french word "glauque". And what !? It's the truth. It's not only to criticize the result of months of discussion about that new name.
I noticed it, and some of my friends, french and swiss romand, noticed it as well. I don't doubt it sounds perfectly with other languages than french.
LOCAL people give their feeling. Too late you think? It's another discussion.
Anyway! We'll live with it, don't worry Roberta! And above all, don't worry the GolGang (sorry I can't use the new name yet ;-))!
Cheers
Steph
Steph_007, Jul 26, 2007 @ 00:34

...what's done is done, and we can't (really) do much about it now... I preferred GoLocal, but it seems like a few people were able to vote quite a few times on the other(?)... Gave me the impression that the name had already been chosen and that the vote was to 'make it look fair', anyway, it's all water under the bridge now...

For anyone reading Roberta's posting and thinking that she's a real 'tough nut'... I know her, and she's a truly adorable person(!), so don't get the hump...! But it's true, how many of us here are really active? ...Nir & Oded, umm, you've got to do some more deleting!

...Then we could have another 10K party!... ;-D J.
JulianT, Jul 26, 2007 @ 02:03

Of course I'll live with the new name, but I can express an opinion, surely - before or after the fact - without getting my fingers smacked? What's in a name anyhow? It's the change of format and content that I'll be looking out for, and I'll certainly be giving it a chance...
jogeneva, Jul 26, 2007 @ 15:18

Hey Glocalers team !!!

I love the conept , the new logo and just wanted to congratulate u!!

I know it must have been a lot of stress for you guys to change it all and it was really great of you to take the time to involve the whole communitiy in the process ...I love the spirit guys .. keep it going !!!!

The most totally glocaler girl :) bizzzzzzzzzz
Zohra, Jul 27, 2007 @ 01:32

it is not an easy one to pronounce :) Glocal is fine and easy to get used to it ..but to be a Glocaler...sounds less easy than Goler :)
Zohra, Jul 27, 2007 @ 01:40

but you can become a 'Glocal', not a 'Glocaler'...(-:

what ever you become, I will always love you, Zozo!

Nir Ofek, Jul 27, 2007 @ 01:43

ok ok :) I will be ZOZO the TOTAL GLOCAL :)

Whatever the name of the site :) I know the guys behind :) so I will always LOVEEE it :)


Zohra, Jul 27, 2007 @ 01:49

i voted against glocal......with all the chatter i hear about this poor choice of a name, i find it hard to believe that there was a majority voting for it.....were there too many hanging chads? is jeb bush on gol? is anyone's brother involved with the local voting in geneva? hmmm, sounds too familier. and pleeeeese don't tell me to make an effort to try and think like a glocal, and say it over and over until it sounds pleasant....this is not a sect, and also "this is not a dating site"........stir, stir, stir :-) i'm sure i'm making lots of new friends , lol
epicure, Jul 27, 2007 @ 12:11

No one is asking you to love it (or even to like it), and I am sure you realised the request to 'pls say Glocals many time until it sounds good' was a wise crack.

Glocals was the majority vote - believe it or not - so we went with it.

Re the hints that the survey was rigged, I assure you - for what it's worth - that it wasn't. The objective of doing a public survey, for us, was to really understand what's the best name we could go with. It was not to enforce a specific name on the community if the majority of people do not like it. That would be suicide.







Nir Ofek, Jul 27, 2007 @ 12:56

Same here! :o)
Roberta, Jul 27, 2007 @ 17:33

I like Geneva but I like the Globe even more! I like to be online but I like offline activities even more!

We are living in the most globalized era/world. However only genuine local life makes us feel home wherever we are. Many GOLers (soon to be GLOCALers) are mobile globally due to their professions/jobs. We want to feel home wherever we live.

GLOCALs reflect this sprit. I can embrace it as much as I have embraced GOL…

It is good to evolve.
wayne, Jul 27, 2007 @ 20:26

It will be GOL for GOLers, and Glocals for the newbies. So what?
GuillaumeTel, Jul 27, 2007 @ 21:41

Ah here we are in France
careful, Jul 29, 2007 @ 11:43

Now I understand why you were a bit nervous
careful, Jul 29, 2007 @ 11:47

Very trendy logo. It will live. The name, we will be used to it. It's true, this is new, we speak Frech and it sounds bizzare in French. But let's say: a hard work is done, let's celebrate.
careful, Jul 29, 2007 @ 12:01

Thanks Pauli, well said. But why a finnish male cat?!? (-:
Nir Ofek, Jul 30, 2007 @ 00:58

Who cares about a name? Manor is still Placette to many of us. It is the good work done by the dedicated team that matters. Keep it up Nir et Co.
Molula_M, Jul 31, 2007 @ 00:15

Could you remind me why Placette changed the name?
careful, Aug 1, 2007 @ 13:51

ok ok, so the managers wanted a name change. they have the right to do what they want, it's their product. end of story.
do we like it, does it represent what we have grown to know and identify with?
maybe not.....after all a poll with 64 to 61 in a community of 10'000+ members, no need to be a statistics guru to realize this is not a significant sample. what i'm trying to say is that GOL has become a brand in its own right.geneva on line means much more than geneva. for example IBM is much more than International Business Machines......they never changed their name, GE is general electric, but means so much more than just electricity, and there are many others too. so i am a bit astonished that the owners of GOL have not considered the basic concepts of marketing in their desire to relaunch the GOL brand. to my mind there is nothing more local than ZOL, zurich on line, LOL, lausanne on line, etc etc, all under the brand of GOL. but, i suppose 64 people voting for GLOCAL can't be wrong......right?
epicure, Aug 1, 2007 @ 14:16

...it had been possible to have something like 'GetOnLine.whatever', I'm sure we would've gone for that - but everything had been taken... :-( ...I suppose 'GenevaOnLine' in Madrid could have meant a certain quality, but it's not very enticing for smne so far away from CH...
Glocal / GoLocal - who cares at the end of the day? The product is still the same (a bit like 'Marathon' bars in the UK becoming 'Snickers' & 'Raiders' in CH turning into 'Twix')...and what are we? A quality website oozing with quality people! :-) J.
JulianT, Aug 1, 2007 @ 14:31

people like to feel an identity to the brand of choice, 10'000 people identified with
GOL for all that they believed it to be. change the name and you destroy that brand identity.....coke never made a new drink for calorie conscious people by taking away the brand name ( diet coke, coke light, coke zero etc) with one exception - TAB. you can't find it anymore- it failed.......and sorry to carry on, but excuse my ignorance, what's so Global (GLOCAL) about 10'000 members in geneva, a few hundred in lausanne and a handful in zurich.?? at least if it was present in 10 countries around the globe, you might consider global, but as of today, it is still a misnomer.
epicure, Aug 1, 2007 @ 14:42

The comparison to IBM, GE and coke is pretty flatering.

GenevaOnline (GoL) is indeed a storng brand, but we have a ways to go before we are in the same class as the companies you mentioned.
We know changing a name/brand is not to be done lightly, but we also know that sometimes its necessary, and that this is one of those times.

I understand that your suggestion is to keep the current name (GenevaOnline) and then purchase new domains in new cities we expand to.
For reasons which have been discussed several times, this is not a viable option and we moved on to the matter of choosing the new name a while back.

We did what we could to involve the community in the process of choosing a new name, and
some people chose to contribute and make suggestions, while others chose not to.

We think and hope that most of our members will get behind the new name,and will keep contributing their time and efforts to to make this community special, and that even those who dont love the name Glocals will tolerate it.
Im hoping that even you might decide at some point that being a Glocal is not so unbearable.

Glocals.com is not our way of claiming that we are a global power.
It is a combination of the words Globals and Locals, cause we are a community for globals(expats) and locals (natives).

I want to thank all the people who took part and contributed to this process again.
Its great to know that you care, and we will do whatever it takes to keep you involved.

Thanks

Oded




SiteAdmin Oded, Aug 1, 2007 @ 16:07

Hi Roberta, I think your commentaries are very appropiate and make a lot of sense.
I would nevertheless want to make a precisson regarding the point you made about the number of votes compared to the number of members, and its that "Democracy is made by those who show up and vote".

Regards,

JAL

jalday, Aug 1, 2007 @ 18:50

Hi. Desperate posting. Sherri, I think you have, how to say, a small exaggeration of two letters "U.S.". Nobody here would say anything about US if you, personally, try to avoid to throw this to the people and, in this way, your personal work on GOL will be more appreciated. How they call it already? Modesty? Next time I see you I will clink my glass with yours and maybe we will be able to become friends.
careful, Aug 1, 2007 @ 19:06

Oh No. Actually, I wont drink with you. I prefer a company of friendly people. Cheers. Natalia
careful, Aug 1, 2007 @ 20:56

everyone had a chance to vote, yet 'only' 1000 GoL'ers took it. When I say we did 'what the majority wanted', ofcourse I mean the majority out of those who decided to vote.
Nir Ofek, Aug 2, 2007 @ 18:03

Just change your hosts file to have www.genevaonline.ch pointing to www.glocals.com and you'll feel home!!

HalfMoon (so sorry to be so geeky ;o)
HalfMoon, Aug 7, 2007 @ 21:33