Apache CouchDB™ is a database that uses JSON for documents, JavaScript for MapReduce indexes, and regular HTTP for its API
What a bunch of baloney! I only say this because I helped to write and publish this. Noah and I developed this in the running up of the 1.2.0 release that coincided with the new website that was meant to be a watershed-the-draught-years-are-over release. I think it fulfilled its purpose, but it won’t suffice today. The CouchDB slogan, or byline, or motto is titling all our public communication: It’s the first thing thousands of visitors on our website see. It is the first line in all our board reports and it is the introduction in all our release announcements. It’s the one sentence that gets quoted the most and as it stands it is a wasted opportunity, as it is not sticky, not memorable and not aligned with our goals. We need a slogan that rolls of anyones tongue. We need a slogan that captures succinctly what makes CouchDB unique. We need a slogan that captures our values. I realise that this is a MAJOR bike-shed and that’s why I am bringing this up here rather than dev@ for now. I’ve tried dev@ before and it didn’t go anywhere. My strawperson proposal there was “CouchDB,a database that replicates” and while that is a lot sickier, doesn’t really help either. Over drinks with Noah and Dave in Berlin last winter we improvised a few slogans that would capture the (what we think) value of CouchDB, rather than the technicalities of it. The last thing we arrived at is “CouchDB puts the data in your hands.”. It isn’t perfect, but better what we have now and it opens us up to fill in all the background story that we need to make that claim: capture the ecosystem of Couch-Replication compatible projects and the distinct values of their interoperability. What I’d like to see in this group to take this proposal and evolve it into something we are all comfortable with. We can then prepare all our public facing properties to reflect the changes and see how that goes. I deliberately steer this away from a website redesign, or major rework on our messaging or even a lengthy philosophical debate on “the why of CouchDB” in order to actually just figure out a better slogan that we can use to move forward. What do you think? :) Best Jan --
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