[ruby-talk:14305] Re: Ruby mascot proposal

Before I start:

I will talk about a logo in this mail. I had no problem with the term
'mascot' but some people obviously do. And we are really in search for
a logo, right?

On Fri, Apr 27, 2001 at 03:20:53AM +0900, Conrad Schneiker wrote:
> 
> I think the most important conclusion is that there is no pressing
> need for this rather divisive and controversial feature.  So I think
> we should hold off on choosing a mascot (official or otherwise).
> Given the various moderately reasonable critiques of all proposals to
> date, it may be that we would be better off without a mascot for the
> time being.

Hmm, Hmmm, Hmmm. Even though I like parts of what you said, I cannot
really agree with you here.

In my opinion there will be a logo for ruby soon, whether we choose
one here or not. Even if we choose one, it might not end up as _the_
logo for ruby. Maybe it will be chosen by some person/bookdesigner. In
the end the symbol people mostly associate with ruby will be the
logo. Whether you like it (including the way it got chosen) or not.

The discussion here got quite unproductive by now, so I don't think
there is much sense in arguing much more about conrete proposals for
logos. But I also don't see that this will be improved in a year with
more people around.


Lets take a glance to the side how Tux became the logo for Linux:
According to the 'Complete History of Tux'[1] there was a lot of
dicussion about a logo for Linux in 1996. Many people also wanted to
put a lot of meaning into it, sharks or eagles were proposed. 
Then Linus Torvals simply said[2] that he liked penguins and people
stuck with it. After that contents were proposed, but again Linus
simple chose the one he liked best[3].

And was it a bad choice? I don't think so. I like the Tux my wife
bought me some time ago and who now smiles mildly at me from the side
of my monitor.

[1] The 'Complete History of Tux' is located at
    http://www.woodsoup.org/projs/tux_aqfh/doc/ but seems to be down
    at the moment. Use googles cache to look at it:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.woodsoup.org/projs/tux_aqfh/doc/+Tuxhistory
[2] http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9605/0499.html
[3] http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9605/2071.html


So what to do now in rubyland? A ruby gem, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet
and the sorceress/girl are the three main logos proposed until now. I
like all of them, but also wouldn't want to put too much meaning into
what the logo contains.

I would propose that Matz simple says which one he likes best. He has
already shown a good taste by creating ruby. We then shall praise his
choice and spread it around the world. :-)

Or we might just let this discussion fade out. I don't see the
benefits of other choices.

-- 
marko schulz

                          Dieser Satz beinhalten drei Fehller.