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Comment by rtpg | Hacker News Reader

What an unfortunate name. I don't get it, have some pride in your thing!

Looks like an awesome product though. Like sibling, as a lefty I would love to see a "mirrored" version of this product.

I do wonder about the general feel of the case. It's 3d printed yeah? Perhaps this is very dependent on the materials. But overall an open design will mean that people can iterate on this idea and share knowledge. A win-win for everyone involved!

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I agree. I find the name off-putting too, and they have also embossed the product with name in big bold letters. If they like it, more power to them, but I would honestly be hesitant to own this trackball because of the logo on it.

Specialty mice aren’t quite as image-focused as social media, but it does give Mastodon’s “toot” a run for its money. There’s also a fine line between not being marketing-focused and deliberately sneering at the sensibilities of folks who culturally associate less with FOSS culture. Some day he might admit to himself that clinging to his juvenile sense of humor kept his product out of people’s hands and cash out of his pocket. The number of upvotes this product gets on HN indicates he should be selling a ton of them but I’ve only seen one or two comments from owners.

What’s wrong with the name? It sounds cute.

Oh: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ploopy

It sounds and looks like "poopy", and makes me think of poo.

I agree. Sure it’s fun, but some people will either be turned off by it as it brings up negative connotations, and it can impact word of mouth effects if people don’t want to recommend something that the other party might think sounds juvenile.

I'm shy about saying silly words, so I would never be able to recommend this product or talk about it.

There's a bunch of food items I won't order off a menu if the restaurant chose to give it some ridiculous name I can't say out loud. Same thing here.

Their take on it: https://blog.ploopy.co/yall-need-a-new-name-48

Can anyone confirm if the trackball is actually ploopy? Looks like ordinary hard plastic from the pics.

I own one; it a normal FDM 3D print, with ridges and all. I assume PLA, but could be ABS.

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