Would anyone like to suggest names/domain names for an ageless version of TPU? Please don't spam this thread with "joke" names. I'll probably delete such posts silently.

Possibly something like 'Programmers United'??

Union Of Hobbyist Programmers.

I like RDD suggestion...

You could also do: Hobbyist Programmers Union or United...

How about Psion's Pall's Programmer's Union? after all www.pppunion.org is avaliable ;) On second thoughts, I'm not actually that fond of Union. I'm trying to think of something similar to community that would be suitable.

How about "Free Programmers"?

As in, you can use us for free, or you're free to modify us?

Possibly appropriate community names:

Club (probably not)
Group
Association (too formal, just like union?)

Free is in "we are not in for the money".

I like the sound of "Hobbyist programmers group" or "Recreational programmers group"

maybe... 'Happy Programmers'...or 'Programming 4 Fun'??

"Recreationnal Programmers Group" and ItinitI suggestion sounds too childish or not serious enough.

"Hobbyist" sounds alot better.

That's just my opinion of course. Let's keep throwing ideas.

Anything with "union" I don't like, and as well as anything with numbers in the place of letters.

The names that have a notion of recreation in them are good.

"Independent Developer Group" or "Independent Programmer Group" maybe?

I like that last one.

Why on earth Independant?

Because we're programming free from any entity forcing us to do it. I like that idea as well.... but, unfortunately, I think it is too strongly associated with "contract programmers," and I've found several sites using "independent programmers" with a Google search.

Well, one could always refine it by adding something to it, "Independent Hobbyist Programmer Group" for instance.

It would be nice to have at least a shortened version of the name that is unique and not an acronym. (Finding a unique acronym is hard enough that the second condition is probably superfluous.)

How about just "Hobbyist Programmers". I believe the .org for this is free as well.

That is a helluva long domain name.

Too bad hp.org is already taken ;O

I have a few domain suggestions.
codedreams.org
codeshaker.org

that's it. quite original eh?

I don't think that they reflect hobbyistness or independenceas much though, unless shaker is meant to be shaper or something.

maybe... 'Club Cyberia'...or something like...'Club Programmeria'...

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Programmers (SPCP)

or on a more serious note,

Fellowship of Independent Progammers (IPF)
Programming Hobbists Fellowship (PHF)
Fellowship of Hobbist Programmers (FHP)

Fellowship = The condition of sharing similar interests, ideals, or experiences, as by reason of profession, religion, or nationality

Though I like the sound of some of these, the acronyms don't sound that good imo.

Hm.... upon reviewing our ideas so far, I like "Recreational Programmers Group" the best. Does anyone actively dislike this name?

I dunno...it makes me think of people running in a park throughing frisbis... (^_^)

I go along with ItinitI. Recreationnal doesn't sound very serious.

I'd prefer Hobbyist or even Fellowship.

Well, TPU was founded as the result of a thread on the rec.games.programmer USENET newsgroup, and the "rec" there is for recreation!

(OK, so far we have only one complaint from someone who speaks English natively. Anyone else? :P)

Well, "Recreational" actually translates literaly into french and it means the same things as in english.

So you have to include me! AH!

Agreed, Hobbyist or Fellowship sounds better than Recreational...what about Alliance??

Blame Tolkien, but "fellowship" remainds me of ... medival stuff. Nothing I associate programming - I'd go for group instead.

And I agree, "recreational" sounds like throwing frisbee and playing soccer. (Although my opinions doesn't seem to count anyway; I'm no native english-speaker either. =)

This native-speaking constraint looks like another way for Psion to silently impose his point of view :P

Well, I guess that idea isn't going to work. I'd just like to point out that "fellowship" is a candidate for a different part of the name than "recreational" or "hobbyist."

One word that has been used frequently before for programming groups is "guild," though I don't think I really like it. I just though I'd throw it into the mix.

So, do we all like:

Hobbyist Programmers ____

Where ____ is something that may be group, association, ..., something......

Here are a bunch of nouns I gathered at:

http://vancouver-webpages.com/synonyms.html
and
http://vancouver-webpages.com/wordnet/index.html

I know some of them make not make much sense but following good principles of brainstorming, anything mentioned might lead to another, better idea.

collective
alliance
clan
team
band
organization
society
consortium
bunch
order
squad
establishment
gathering

or nothing at all. Just saying "Hobbyist Programmers" makes sense to me.

I have just registered hprog.org to be on the safe side, in case there are web spiders finding domains people are considering and registering them for squatters. So, with that said, does it sound like a good domain name? =) The third word in the name, if any, can be anything at all, and it still fits!

(I also registered codedreams.org earlier because it sounds sorta neat. =)

Yes. Very good move Psion. It's short and easy to remember.

hprog.org = nice! (^_^)
haha...the 'H' can be Happy Programmers!! LOL (^_^)
no
i guess hobbyist sounds good.

If hprog.org is used (which I like), then codedreams.org could be the projects arm of the new organization. I think it's a rather fitting title for that.

Sounds like a good idea. (codedreams.org sounds really sweet).

Fellowship sounds cool and is suitable, but can't think of words to put aroudn it to sound cool.

Fellowship of Independent Programmers or something

Hm.... I think I like that name, too. I just want to make sure that we don't end up with one word chiseled into the name that almost everybody views negatively, like "unite." We've seen some complaints about "fellowship," including that it reminds people of The Lord of the Rings. =) Another one is that it is often used for some special purpose by Christians.

Of course, it's possible to point multiple domains to the same site, and pick one name to display for the beginning, possibly to be changed later.

Problems with "indepedent":
At least one person has a site that uses "independent programmers" to refer to commercial consultants/contractors: http://www.programmers-ads.com/
Here's another one, which was probably created by a native English speaker, in contrast with the previous: http://www.aristotle.net/~rscott/
I'm sure the list goes on.

What about "Fellowship of Hobbyist Programmers"? It's sounding pretty good to me at the moment, and it fits with the most recent name I registered. =)

I think that this name is good.

"Fellowship" sounds very medieval or very LOTR to me but I don't see it negatively. In fact, I think is gives us a great starting point for a future logo.

lol... 'The Fellowship of the Programmers'

I guess you'd be hard pressed to find a programmer who doesn't consider a LOTR allusion positive. :-)

Indeed. LOTR rules - can't wait for that third movie =)

Sure, let's go for "Fellowship of Hobbyist Programmers" - if it turns out to be a bad choice, one can always rename it somehow.

I kinda like Unite... Hobby Programmers Unite! I like how "Teen Programmers Unite" is a full grammatical statement and not just a name.

I don't like the "ist" part of Hobbyist. =/ Maybe it's just me but couldn't we use an adjective that doesn't require modification?

Maybe we could turn the name around to focus on the programming...

Fellowship for Hobby Programming
Society for Recreational Programming
(Although I must admit, "recreational" does sound odd)
Programming Hobbyists
Computer Coders Club
Programmers For Fun

I'm feeling disenfranchised from my youth. =(

Yeah! I like the 'Society' term!!
It reminds me of names [cant think of them at the moment...] of 1700's/1800's scientific societies.
Maybe something like... 'Society of Hobbyiest Programmers'.
dunno

Society for Programming Hobbies
Society for Hobby Programming
Society of Englightened Techologists

mmm... I really like the wiki. =)

?? My memory must be going, I don't remember posting about the fellowship thing twice. Soz, didn't mean to sorta double post.

Code Monkey Society? CMS
Compulsive Programming Disorder Society? CPDS

I came up with fellowship while looking through a thesauras for altnatives to society cause I feel its over used.

Well, I think there is no way to use "hobby" as an adjective. It would just make it sound like we don't know English.

I think using "society" instead of "fellowship" would be acceptable, and also that names that don't get across the idea that we program for fun are not.

I'd stick with 'Fellowship'. Society is too common :)

I believe that (at least in New Zealand law) a society must incorporate in order to call itself so.