10

Proposal: Digital Fabrication

Note: Now we are in Commitment, this questiuon has been superceded by NEW! Vote for the Name of this Proposal. NOW!

Suggesting names

Please answer in the following form:

  • A Suggestion section with a name suitable for this proposal.
  • A Domain section suggesting a suitable domain name (e.g. makers.stackexchange.com).
  • A Pros section detailing what makes this a good name.
  • A Cons section detailing why this might not be a suitable name.

Voting on suggestions

Since everyone can vote on on any number of answers, this is a form of approval voting where you cannot vote for your own suggestion.

As such I would also suggest that everyone votes up all suggestions which you approve of, vote down all suggestions which you disapprove of and leave suggestions which you neither approve nor disapprove with no vote.

Sadly there will be a strong bias towards older answers, but I will try to take this into account.

Background

When I created this proposal, I just named it the same as the old proposal but some people have suggested (here and here) that we might get more traction with this proposal if we consider a different name.

To prevent How can we make the new Personal Manufacturing proposal better for the reboot? being taken over by this issue, I would suggest that we try to enumerate the possibilities and detail their advantages and disadvantages here.

The possible names so far include Personal Manufacturing, Desktop Manufacturing, Making Things, Desktop Robots & Maker Community, while for reference, “Personal Manufacturing” or “Desktop Manufacturing”? details the decision taken during the last proposal.

In July 2012 I changed the name of this proposal to Digital Fabrication given the votes here and my own preference.

Since the scope of this proposal has changed substantially since I asked this question there has been a suggestion that it still might not be right, I have edited all of the questions here, giving people the opportunity to change or remove their vote from any name suggestion and vote for any proposal.

6
  • Now that this proposal is in the commitment phase and its description fixed, this question is obsolete.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jun 29, 2013 at 13:17
  • If this question is obsolete, how did we end up w/ the name change?
    – user22356
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 14:16
  • I was wondering the same. Can the person who created the new Proposal change the name even after it is in the commitment phase? Or did he possible contact Support?
    – CeeNoEvil
    Commented Jul 23, 2017 at 18:59
  • No @CeeNoEvil I couldn't change it, it had to be changed by a member of staff.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 13:45
  • What is the best way to contact a member of staff?
    – CeeNoEvil
    Commented Jul 29, 2017 at 0:24
  • "Flag" with "Requires Moderator Attention" @CeeNoEvil
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 9:59

9 Answers 9

Reset to default
7

Suggestion:

  • Manufacturing & Fabrication

or

  • Fabrication & Manufacturing

Domain:

  • fab.stackexchange.com (Thanks for the suggestion shoul25)

Pros

  • Covers both the Manufacturing and Fabrication angles of this proposal. Making it inclusive to both hobbyist & artisan fabricators and industrial & commercial manufacturers.
  • Wider scope than both Personal, Desktop and Digital suggestions.
  • It doesn't suffer an implicit limit on the size of the machine.
  • Nor does it suffer an implicit limit on industrial use.
  • Removes the confusion that trying to be Fabrication in the digital age introduced.
  • Like most successful Stack Exchange sites it has a two word name which makes it easier to find n web searches.

Cons

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: 0

Votes on 24th July 2013: +8

6
  • Why would this be off putting to maker and hackerspace supporters? Isn't this what they're all about?
    – shoul25
    Commented Feb 5, 2013 at 5:48
  • @shoul25 - It's just the implied move away from the maker community, which is where this proposal and it's supporters are rooted.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Feb 5, 2013 at 9:28
  • 1
    Since this has gained the most votes in this round, I have renames the proposal and hope that the widening of the scope will help get this proposal into commitment.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Mar 1, 2013 at 13:10
  • +1 for fab.stackexchange.com
    – user34375
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 7:48
  • +1 for fab.stackexchange.com
    – CeeNoEvil
    Commented Jul 29, 2017 at 0:27
  • There is no point in commenting or voting on this, as the proposal got into beta, failed and then the site was deleted! See the banner at the top of this page and the top of the Digital Fabrication page.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Aug 3, 2017 at 10:16
6

Suggestion:

  • Digital Fabrication

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

  • The term "Digital fabrication" seems reasonably widespread and the Wikipedia page references many of the technologies this proposal refers to.
  • A google search on "Digital fabrication" currently finds 384,000 results.
  • It doesn't suffer an implicit limit on the size of the machine.
  • Nor does it suffer an implicit limit on industrial use.
  • "Digital Frabrication" can mean Fabrication in the digital age as well as Fabricating digitally.

Cons

  • It may be a term less familiar to the maker and hackerspace communities.

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: +3

Votes on 24th July 2013: +6

8
  • 2
    Since this suggestion was my idea, and this reboot is my proposal, I have decided to make this change now to let people get a feel for whether it works for them. This is far from a final decision however, and I'm more than happy to be convinced otherwise. Make suggestions, vote, comment - it's all good.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 12:03
  • I much prefer fabrication over manufacturing but digital implies that computers must be involved rather than a wider hack/maker scope. Maybe that is intended? Otherwise its possible to merge suggestions eg. Personal Fabrication ?
    – JamesRyan
    Commented Jul 19, 2012 at 14:33
  • Thanks for your thoughts @JamesRyan. We are still trying to define the scope of this proposal, so I would suggest you add questions relevant to the wider maker/hackspace community which aren't related to Digital Fabrication, if you want that. Also adding an answer to this question with your suggestion of "Personal Fabrication" would allow us to enumerate the pros and cons of that name.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jul 24, 2012 at 10:37
  • @JamesRyan - Have a look at my current thoughts on this. I think if we can emphasise the communications aspect, this may well allay your fears. Certainly organising hackspaces and promoting maker communities wouldn't have been very possible before the digital age.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Aug 13, 2012 at 16:43
  • 1
    I'd be slightly worried about this site not surviving its beta if restricted to digital forms; is the intent of this Exchange to exclude things like projects that would be on-topic for <area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/48770/diy-projects>?
    – Iain Hallam
    Commented Dec 25, 2012 at 3:17
  • Hi @IainHallam I'd be happy for you to suggest alternative names and descriptions. Fabrication is a pretty good name on it's own.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Dec 25, 2012 at 18:46
  • @MarkBooth Going to try and spread this as much as I can Mark Booth although my reputation is very low here, and there is a much needed stack that I tried to create but got deleted before I could add questions and whatnot... Trying to create a meta altcoin discussion channel; where basically anything altcoin-related will be posted. I guess I did not follow the guidelines well enough but I did not get a chance to spread it around. After I create it hopefully I can get some support from other users (even if they aren't adept with altcoin) and they could ask Questions that I could answer and etc.
    – CeeNoEvil
    Commented Jul 29, 2017 at 0:29
  • Your reputation will improve if your Altcoins proposal gets any support @CeeNoEvil. Note that there is no point voting or commenting on this proposal as it was closed after failing in beta.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 10:01
2

Suggestion:

  • Fabrication

Domain:

  • fab.stackexchange.com

Pros:

  • Does not limit production methods to at-home or small-scale
  • Inclusive to industry professionals, which will add to overall quality of material posted
  • Just as easily applied to commercial production as to personal

Cons:

  • Don't know how search optimized it is
  • Lack of buzz words might hinder necessary initial enthusiasm

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: 0

Votes on 24th July 2013: +3

2
  • Thanks for the suggestion shoul25, if you could also add an answer to What description should this proposal have? with your ideas on how the description could be changed, I would be interested to see what you are thinking.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 10:55
  • just added my 2c :)
    – shoul25
    Commented Jan 29, 2013 at 18:58
2

Suggestion:

  • Personal Fabrication

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

  • Wider scope of personal vs. digital but with the more in tune Fabrication.
  • A google search on "Personal fabrication" currently finds 85,000 results.
  • It doesn't suffer an implicit limit on the size of the machine.

Cons

  • It may be a term less familiar to the maker and hackerspace communities.
  • It suffer an implicit limit on industrial use.

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: +1

Votes on 24th July 2013: +2

2

Suggestion:

  • Desktop Manufacturing

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

Cons

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: +4

Votes on 24th July 2013: +2

1
  • I have deleted and reposted this answer suggesting Desktop Manufacturing to reset the vote count, as most of the old votes pre-dated the other options here being available and there were no comments on them.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Feb 3, 2013 at 0:39
1

Suggestion:

  • Makers

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

  • Simple
  • It doesn't suffer an implicit limit on the size of machines under discussion.
  • Helps encourage closer ties with the wider Maker & Hackerspace communities.
  • Cory Doctorow wrote a novel called Makers which deals with the futurology of the maker subculture.

Cons

  • It may imply a hobby only context for the site, limiting interest from industrial experts.
  • Common word which will be difficult to push to the top of search results (264 million hits for makers on google).
  • The association with Cory Doctorow's Makers novel *8')

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: 0

Votes on 24th July 2013: +1

1

Suggestion:

  • Personal Manufacturing

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

  • This was the name we agreed on last time.
  • It doesn't suffer an implicit limit on the size of the machine.
  • A google search on "Personal Manufacturing" currently finds 45,300 results.

Cons

  • This was the name we agreed on last time.
  • It may imply a hobby only context for the site, limiting interest from industrial experts.

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: +3

Votes on 24th July 2013: +1

1
  • I have deleted and reposted this answer suggesting Personal Manufacturing to reset the vote count, as most of the old votes pre-dated the other options here being available and there were no comments on them.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Feb 3, 2013 at 0:39
0

Suggestion:

  • Desktop Fabrication

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

  • Wider scope of desktop vs. digital but with the more in tune Fabrication.
  • It doesn't suffer an implicit limit on industrial use.

Cons

  • A google search on "Desktop fabrication" currently finds only 16,000 results.
  • It may be a term less familiar to the maker and hackerspace communities.
  • It might lead people to exclude machines which are too large for a 'desk'.

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: 0

Votes on 24th July 2013: +0

-2

Suggestion:

  • Maqe

Domain:

  • makers.stackexchange.com

Pros

  • Simple
  • Unusual spelling should top search results.
  • Completely different from other suggestions.

Cons

  • Not entirely self explanitory.
  • Completely different from other suggestions.

Votes on 30th Jan 2013: -1

Votes on 24th July 2013: -2 (+2 -4)

3
  • 3
    I would be interested to know why people have voted down this suggestion. I think it is quite a novel approach and I'd be happy to see further suggestions in this vein.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Aug 8, 2012 at 11:43
  • @MarkBooth What bothers me about this one is that it's some kind of unintentional misspelling with no rationale given whatsoever other than being different. If anything, we don't want people to have to search for something goofy for the site to show up in Google. The goal should be for a Google search for "<site name> Q&A" or similar to return makers.stackexchange.com as a top result. This does the opposite. A random person that has never heard of SE should be able to find their way here without knowing the secret magic name of the site.
    – Joe Baker
    Commented Feb 2, 2013 at 5:50
  • 1
    The rationale for the deliberate misspelling was mentioned under pros. It would make it a searchable brand rather than just a common word. Searches based on the content are irrelevant because they will not be affected by the title and if it is along the lines of fabrication, making or hacking then it is not going to appear anywhere high up. The idea is to cover all the bases.
    – JamesRyan
    Commented Feb 3, 2013 at 18:10

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