this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Calckey/Firefish is based off of Misskey, a powerful microblogging server on ActivityPub with features such as emoji reactions, a customizable web UI, rich chatting.


Wow, what a wild ride, huh? From those first brainstorming sessions that sparked Calckey, to the epic journey that brings us here today, rebranding as Firefish - I've gotta say, I'm seriously blown away.

One year ago, Calckey was just my side project, after being a Misskey contributor for a while. But when y'all jumped on board, you made it so much more. You transformed it from my dream to our reality.

Firefish isn't just a cool name. It's everything we've been working towards. It's late nights, strong coffee, wild ideas, laughs, and even the occasional tears. It's our little space on the web where we're constantly pushing for the next big thing, and always looking out for one another.

So here we are, at the start of something new. Firefish is more than just a rebrand - it's a celebration. A celebration of you, me, and us. It's a tribute to the amazing community we've built together. Firefish is all of YOU.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Really don't know how they thought of the name Firefish without thinking it would make people think of Firefox first. Like how did they brainstorm this name, it makes me wonder

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Was Lavafish taken?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This may be intentional. Wouldn't be the first time.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I adore Calckey/Firefish. It's amazing software, but these are both pretty bad names. lol

I guess Firefish is better, because it sounds like software you'd want to use and not something you have to put up with to file a tax return, but also... why?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

Yeah... They're definitely 0-2 on naming...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Calckey is functionally 39584882x better than Mastodon but I've tried several servers now that are all pretty weak.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

“Firefish isn’t just a cool name”

Yeah, it’s also a generic name that isn’t very good?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It also sounds too much like Firefox. But either way, it doesn't sound like accounting software anymore which was my issue with calckey's branding prior to now anyway lmao

But it's by far the best fediverse platform I've used from a functionality standpoint and I'm quite fond of it so hopefully this puts more eyes on it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed. I just wish they had native mobile apps. The PWA on iPhone is good, but not as snappy as a native app. The design otherwise is soooo nice.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A lot of issues with PWAs on iPhone are due to Apple limitations. Maybe one day Apple will improve their support for PWAs. The thing is that they have no incentive to make the experience as good as apps, since they can't charge their Apple Tax (30%) for purchases in a PWA.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firefox, but make it wet

(I don't know if it's a worse than "calckey" tbf)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Waterfox is already a thing

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firefish sounds like what someone would call malware targeting Firefox users. I was hoping the name would be better.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Anyone remember Firesheep?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not just specific to Clackey, but I really hate when sites hijack the right-click menu, either to remove options, or to modify it for "theme". I get that it looks pretty wrt to the site's theme, but seriously, leave browser controls the fuck alone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You can hold shift while right-clicking in Firefox to bypass any custom right-click code and always show the browser's native context menu.

At least I think it's shift. Might be alt.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Calckey now Firefish seems really cool, but tbh I really can't say I'm a fan of this rebrand. Calckey was distinct. Firefish sounds either like a Mozilla product, or a Firefox browser fork, or else bland office software. Definitely a downgrade imo.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Calckey sounds like it should be a spreadsheet name

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

CalKey would have cause a little less choking when trying to pronounce it...

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

Calckey was a bloody awful name because it was hard to say and difficult to know how to say.

Firefish fixes that but is honestly quite generic.

Either way, I wish them the best.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So what actually is calckey/firefish? Is it just trying to be Twitter? Is it meaningfully different to Mastodon?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's Mastodon with a better featureset and UX. Forked from the well-established Fediverse platform MissKey. Some things I like:

  • Threaded comment replies (though they display differently from Lemmy's).
  • Antennae for discoverability.
    • Can use hashtags AND keywords.
    • Can filter results by instance.
    • Can create multiple timelines to display content in.
  • Customizable UI via widgets.
  • I think the theming options are better.
  • Full-text search.
  • Quote posts.
  • Cat mode.
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Antennae are such a neat feature that I have yet to play around with.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Imo more people would use them if they were called something clearer. Saved search. Custom timeline or feed. Something like that. But yeah they are awesome

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cat mode.

Could you elaborate on this? lol

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your avatar gets cat ears (more like extra triangles like cat ears on your avatar)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Well that's pretty fun. Thanks for sharing.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Firefish née Calckey is a microblogging platform like Mastodon, but that's about all it has in common. Firefish has extra features like emoji reactions (like Facebook's, but you can use any emoji, including custom emoji), quote posts, and better support for deep threads (it displays replies in a tree view like Lemmy or Kbin, unlike Mastodon which tries to linearize them and makes them a confusing mess). it also supports text formatting like bold, italics, headings, custom link text, and even animations (don't worry, they don't autoplay). it's even themable, and supports migrating posts from other accounts so you don't have to start over!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The name is way too similar to the Firefox trademark and could create the impression that Firefish is associated with Mozilla. I suspect some lawyers are currently in a huddle trying to figure out how to send a Cease and Desist letter that won’t completely piss off the community.

(Trademark law, at least in the US where Mozilla is headquartered, requires organizations to actively defend their trademarks. So just ignoring Firefish would be risky, even if they don’t actually mind the similarity.)

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

All these federated services suffer from similar well-publicized problems, but Calckey appears to offer one of the nicer user interface schemes so far. Though unrelated, maybe the rebrand can help build mindshare for Firefox.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Fire... fish? Okaaaay...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

https://mas.else.social/@choyer/110746384528095273

Someone checked and there's already an existing trademark for Firefish in software specifically, at least in Europe. Apparently they make HR solutions of some sort.

https://jobs.firefishsoftware.com/about-us/meet-the-team.aspx

ohno

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wow, if they haven't already cleared this with the existing company or lawyers, this is embarrassing.

Wouldn't you do a quick search as an early step in any branding exercise?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Wow checking out the site now, Calckey/Firefish looks great. Is this meant to be another Fediverse replacement for Twitter?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I like that they've read the memo about fediverse projects being named after animals, but firefish doesn't fit. They should have gone with Coelacanth or something like that... but easier to spell.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Also not a fan of the new name sorry. like others said it sounds too much like trying to be firefox

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably a good choice. Calckey sounds like an unmaintained spreadsheet software project. Firefish is better, if a little generic.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Calckey sounds like a calculator/math/graphing application and Firefish sounds like another generic fork of Firefox.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Did they come up with the new name in some kind of software name generator? Sort of like the hip hop name generator that Donald Glover used to come up with Childish Gambino?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I really like the new logo. I thought calckey was some type of speed typing thing lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I absolutely love Firefish as a platform. They’ve made something really special. The name Firefish is awful though. I hope they take everyone’s feedback and rebrand again (though I’m sure that’s a massive undertaking)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I like the new name.

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