GoLocal.org wins my vote, for reasons previously discussed! ...and why not, eh?!! Cheers! :-) J.
JulianT, Jul 3, 2007 @ 22:28

I prefer GoLocal.org! :-) I vote... (nt)
silverwolf, Jul 3, 2007 @ 22:59

Hey there - I prefer golocal.org but think that its too hard to remember - glocals is far far easier.

A.
Carrie, Jul 3, 2007 @ 23:10

It's the best, no doubts !!
Gracie, Jul 3, 2007 @ 23:28

...just to be awkward! As a marketing rule (probably with the exception of the Snickers chocolate bar)...It's hard to rename something... we're all going to call it GoL forever more...apart from new people who come...like me, that never knew 'Sindy' for example and call GoL, 'Sindy!' (took me months before I found out there was no hot chick organising stuff... very disappointed...I had an image in my head and everything....anyway!) So no GoLer is going to favour anything new....just go with what feels right for you, Nir et al... I'm cool with whatever as long as it keeps it's 'village square' type feel! But SwissPats.com is kinda cool don't you think?? Call my lawyer if you want it!! ;0)
Deano1uk, Jul 4, 2007 @ 01:21

just let me know when i should start updating all my Hot Links to GoL....
at least it's not like changing all the clocks around the house ;)

will it change the look/feel of the site?
YouMeCo, Jul 4, 2007 @ 01:26

even if that really sounds bad in French. but it is less worse than golocal.
I think any other name would fit, such as amazon is not a female archer riding horse but selling books and dvds, and carrefour is not a crossroads but the name of a supermarket.

Better keep the old name until a really good new one be found.

Guillaume

GuillaumeTel, Jul 4, 2007 @ 02:50

Sorry, but I think they are both dreadful. Unlike "Genevaonline" you have to spell both of them to people because they won't get it right immediatedly.

Timo
Timol, Jul 4, 2007 @ 10:10

it's just a logo change.

We will keep upgrading the site and launching new features tho, as we have until now.
Nir Ofek, Jul 4, 2007 @ 11:02

Glocals is not good because of = Glauque......that comes to my mind while reading it...
Crepe, Jul 4, 2007 @ 11:53

Nevermind the .org. Besides, when people ask each other which site they are on, most people said GOL, not Genevaonline. That's what they'd say when asked what GOL means. So the Go Local will make no difference, which is good.

Hopefully then, more people NOT based in Geneva, like Zurich, will be more inclined to join, rather than thinking it's just a site for Geneva dwellers.

All the best,
Roberta
Roberta, Jul 4, 2007 @ 12:09

Here are several reasons why should GoLocal.org be chosen:

-By using his noble, secret and orally transmitted art of reading in the entrails of orycteropus, the Oracle said:
"ooh. Ah. Hmmm. Grmbl. Hm. Ah. Ah-HA!"
Which was interpreted as "choose GoLocal.org"

-The Viking Druid ?lmage, specialist of decyphering the last breath of dying soldiers heard a saxon muttering "gulurgle-Aaargh" before passing. He interpreted this sign as GoLocal.arrgh er- golocal.org.

-Syd Brown that was passing by on his way to buy food but got lost in the wrong temporal dimension troubled the Devines questionned by the mighty king Leonidas himself. Before getting his butt kingly kicked back in his time ("This is no restaurant! THIS IS SPARTAAA!"), in suggested the name "Golocal.org". In fact, that was just a strangled noise because he just saw the half-naked divinatory virgin. Nevertheless, he justified it by saying that Golocal.org is a cool name because of the ".org" that makes it important, and that we find "GoL" in front of "ocal.org".

0.213 seconds later, the holy sandal of Leonidas transmitted enough kinetic energy to send a screaming Syd Brown 2487 years later.

Don't laugh: I'm writing that standing, because I still have the footprint of his highness Leonidas on my butt!

Syd.

PS: Cool voting system! You guys will always impress me!

Syd_Brown, Jul 4, 2007 @ 12:30

the thread counter has a bug. When someone unique clicks from Forums tab, the counter doesn't add that click. It adds it otherwise.

A bigger dilemma is how to vote on this one.

I love Roberta's suggestion. She is simply brilliant. Agree with her. My friends in Zurich, Lucerne and Basel say the same thing - why sign up on a geneva thingy?! Then the discussion drifts to other topics.

.com versus .org is a big big big issue. Can GoLocal.com cause confusion? Will newbie end up going to NMD with voodoo web service executives instead of Sherri. May be I should do what Syd_Brown did - try finding food and wine, end up with Mephistophilis and Helen of Troy, with Plato's mafia discussing Republic, with Aristo in Lyceum, with Nostradamus, with 1960s flower children, etc.

Either. Or. Something else. Lets think.
colorado, Jul 5, 2007 @ 00:39

frankly, if we could get GoLocal.com , we would not have doubts and we'd just go for it. But the .org is a potential confusing element, hence the survey...

thanks Colorado.

Nir Ofek, Jul 5, 2007 @ 01:00

i personally don't see the confusion with .org, maybe someone could explain?

have you tried golocal.net?
joellem88, Jul 5, 2007 @ 01:34

has kind of a cool logo tho... with the arrow ;-)
joellem88, Jul 5, 2007 @ 01:38

My! Where DID you get that imagination from?! You should be writing stories.... or setups for Playstation or SEGA or something (I don't touch that stuff, nor history books). Nice story :o)
Roberta, Jul 5, 2007 @ 14:38

I'm going for the golocal.org as well, it makes me sing "do the locomotion" (Kylie), although it really doesn't flow from golocal...?? anyway, that my 3 centimes worth! Ciao :-)
ange, Jul 5, 2007 @ 15:27

Thank you very much! (nt)
Syd_Brown, Jul 6, 2007 @ 12:25

Few suggestions, Nir

- Consider talking to VCs and whether the .org versus .com would make them nervous in financing GoL (for me, this is a BIG issue; I prefer clean trademarks and zero brand confusion to the customer). I am concerned that golocal.org would confuse newbies to golocal.com or other sites. Rarely do people pay attention to what comes after the dot. Isn't the suffix .com sort of synonymous with commercial internet.

- Perhaps, you folks could turn the tide and make .org distinctive. Tough road. But may be possible.

- Have you considered iGoLocal.com or uGoLocal.com or some other suggestions as well (Roberta and others - any problems with those?)

- Another option if you decide to go with golocal.org, when you can afford to, buy out golocal.com and .net and rest

- Glocal.com is unusual, sounds like Glucose, and has a feel mentioned here. Yet, quite a few brand names are that way. People got used to them (e.g. Glock). The term "glocal" is already in use. Friedman mentioned it in New York Times many years ago. Same theme: Think Global, Act Local. It may find acceptance (or may not).

I will wait any additional comments and then vote on Sunday - is that too late? And, can people reconsider their vote?
colorado, Jul 6, 2007 @ 17:30

call me crazy, or am i typing it in wrongly, but http://www.golocal.org/ is a Philadelphia's foold & Culture site... ... .... if so, maybe we need to rethink all over! ;(
YouMeCo, Jul 7, 2007 @ 13:03

but it's up for sale, and we can get it. Won't be cheap tho, and still carries the potentially-confusing and less-easy-to-remember .org ending. Hence we're doing the survey first.
Nir Ofek, Jul 7, 2007 @ 13:04

How about 'GetOnLine.ch' followed by a/the new tagline from the other posting??? ...We could still all easily refer to ourselves as GoLers too! :-)

Easy to remember, domain name isn't taken - just googled-it, short & to the point.

Ok, probably too late in the day now... :-( ...but it could have been cool - satisfying everyone! :-) J.
JulianT, Jul 7, 2007 @ 19:04

Brilliant, easy to remember ;-) and nt
SWISS, Jul 7, 2007 @ 19:19

very good suggestion, Julian !!
GuillaumeTel, Jul 7, 2007 @ 19:26

we just need a new acronym!!! JT, I'd hate for your head to swell more than it already is but BRILLIANT!!! GET ON LINE, GO on Line... GOL may yet survive!!

YouMeCo, Jul 7, 2007 @ 20:27

Hey Guys

Nice one Julian.

Getonline is a pretty cool and catchy name.

But, while Getonline.ch is free, Getonline.com is already in use.

We prefer a .com name, which is easier to remember, and is not limited to a certain city/country.

Also, I think that Getonline.ch emphasizes the online aspects of the site, while I would rather emphasize the offline benefits of being a part of the community.

What think?

Oded


SiteAdmin Oded, Jul 7, 2007 @ 20:49

glocals.com

otherwise, GoL will need to spend significantly resources emphasizing the .org part of the brand as well. Too much memory work for overwhelmed prospective members. Even tougher in markets where .de, or .uk, or .fr, or .it etc etc occupy the internet users mind.

Perhaps, the logo design can cleverly embed O somewhere in or around the letter g - GoL has a ring to it. And history.

Or, you can color code the G and O and L of glocals.com, for history's sake.

GoLocal.com would have been much better

Tough decision. Good luck deciding, Nir and Oded.
colorado, Jul 8, 2007 @ 00:26

.org, .com & .net ...are there any others? Is there a .eu? ...this isn't my domain of expertise!... and by the time GoL goes really global, perhaps they'll have come up with a new '.' thingy! :-) J.
JulianT, Jul 8, 2007 @ 14:57

How about www.gol.com ?
Sylph, Jul 8, 2007 @ 22:02

and our own GOL
Sylph, Jul 8, 2007 @ 22:04

ideal, but taken...(-:
Nir Ofek, Jul 8, 2007 @ 23:01

SPLENdid Julian! You GOT it! This time you REALLY got it! *slaps forehead*

I BET there isn't any www.GOL.www! Now ain't THAT a master-piece lookin' address, eh? :o]

HAH!!! Can't get more worldly widely webbly than a "."www, eh? ;o) Aaaaaand... it'll be a WOOOOOOOORLD premier website ending! Can't be illegal to have/use www on the other side of the ".", I tell you!! Look it up! QUICK!! YOOHOO!!!

This is getting really exciting! I hope the Guinness Book of records is reading this forum and noting down how fast and efficiently 11,000 members plus, can come up with a genu'ine name for a website.

Heh, heh, heh.
Roberta, Jul 9, 2007 @ 16:47

In French « glocals » sounds phonetically like glauque :(
Funny to be part of a group of glauques...

A .org is a major drawback, since most people will instinctively search for .com or .ch
Commercially and in terms of marketing, .org is weaker than .com or .ch
TomLuck, Jul 9, 2007 @ 17:44

Agree. Sounds terrible...
Carol A, Jul 11, 2007 @ 21:18

...would be:

- a real laugh (esp when vets try to explain its origins!) ;-D
- still easy to remember (esp after explanation!)
- means what it says (esp if: www.wwwGettingOnLine.thingy ...'worldwidewebgettingonline'

OR how about simply 'GettingOnLine' - that surely can't be taken! - and with the slogan along the lines of 'locals & expats getting together' (?) ...it still keeps everyone happy! Eh? :-o

:-D J.
JulianT, Jul 13, 2007 @ 04:07

I don't know what 'vets' have to do with anything?!

I don't know that it is so easy to explain to people that the 'www' features twice in the URL?

I don't know that the GetOnLine doesn't overemphasize the whole importance of the 'online. I mean, for me, the online facilitates the offline and is not an end in itself... I am sure for others GOL means something else, but it is still not predominately about creating an online presence and world, is it? The activities are pretty much exclusively real, offline happenings.

I have said it before, but for what it is worth, I take opportunitiy to reiterate my personal dislike of the expression 'expat'. But I understand I am talking semantics here, and that my dislike or the understanding of the expression itself is not a common concept. Expat is not synonymous with foreigner living abroad, but can also have connotations of not adapting to local culture, being on some kind of expat compensation package, temporary residence plans, moved by the company, living in place you don't call home, litterally it means 'out of'+ 'patria'.... patria - nationalist connotations.... Whatever. I don't like 'expat' to the extent that I would probably not have been attracted to sign up to GoL if it has 'Expat' in the logo. This is not to say that I would not stick with it if the future name features it... but it would not rate high in my book for attractive branding.

I like somthing that speaks of 'local', 'global', 'community'... 'GLocal' WORKS FOR ME.

'GoLocal' less so, as it sounds like it is some mantra/recommendation telling me to 'go [and be] local' and I am not sure GoL facilitates me being more local or less local? vs what? vs going 'global'? Why? ...But then I am genearlly not good at being told what to do, and far less when I don't understand what or why...
SimSim, Jul 13, 2007 @ 07:41

What a wonderful passion one sees - so many members chasing a name. Yep Roberta, this could be an effort worth the record books.

Another way to add to the confusion is to do what many companies have done: use word play to create interesting names. Why not wordsmith Geneva Online? Could be interesting... what would we get if we create anagrams of Geneva Online?

Here are few intriguing anagrams of GenevaOnline (of course, one could finish them with a .com - since quite a few of them can not be taken! :-) )

Evening Alone
Alone Even Gin
Leave None Gin

Gonna Eve Line
Leaning Eve No
Gal Eve None In
Naive Leg One

Gonna Even Lie

Align Even One


colorado, Jul 13, 2007 @ 11:00

or something like that if you ZOL, GOL, LOL and all the rest by can they not be grouped together by something identifying the bigger region. They all exist in Switzerland. Plus swizol is fun to say.
TonyT, Jul 13, 2007 @ 17:28

Wizol - World on Line.. Yay, large it!!!

Change - we CAN adapt!
I do also think that we can adapt to a completely new name, and move on from Sindy, GoL....
Didn't Pepsi change their whole branding from Red to Blue, and survive....
Anderson Consulting to Accenture...
I reckon Nir @ Co. are pretty savy about the whole branding and that we are all in good hands there...

SimSim, Jul 13, 2007 @ 18:50

Wizol would be fun to say to. But if we had a big wizol event somewhere that may be a little strange.
TonyT, Jul 15, 2007 @ 00:31

Good points. I am fairly new to the site, but one of the reasons i like it is because its only purpose is to connect people to happenings. It does not seem to have an agenda other then to give English speaking people a place to connect. To me this is important. I like your thinking on the expat thing to. I have never thought of myself as an expat because everywhere I go I am home. What are we actually patrioted to or from? Not the place for that discussion I guess.
TonyT, Jul 15, 2007 @ 00:44

Would that better suit you feeling Sim ?
Hobbes, Jul 17, 2007 @ 15:30

Everything in life is real, really... Some just feels more surreal. [Like when other day I heard a 'ping' and suddenly saw 21 rows of oxygen masks simulataneously drop before me shortly before captain communicated to his crew to prepare for 'immediate landing'. ]
The online and offline is all 'real', even if the former is also 'virtual' and not always 'real time'....
Think a catchy name is good. As opposed to one that compels me to go into a semantic diatribe ;)

SimSim, Jul 17, 2007 @ 16:57