Apologies for using the questions forum for this, but is there somewhere that I can request a name change to the software? There is a mental health crisis in the U.S. (of which I am a part) and use of the antiquated terms for mental illness (lunatic, lunacy, crazy, etc) serve, IMO, to perpetuate stigma and ignorance. I am wondering if there could be consideration or an open dialogue about changing the name? Thank you! Jill
Jill, thank you for bringing up such an important subject as mental health crisis. We, as a company, support fighting the stigma and normalizing having mental health issues in the society with all our hearts. It’s also understandable, that what for one can work like reclaiming, for the other can stay plainly offensive.
We are always open for a dialogue, and are ready to discuss the subject with you. Feel free to share your thoughts in this thread whenever it is more convenient to you.
Thank you!
Julia,
Thank you for your reply. And thank you to the organization for leading the fight against the stigma surrounding mental health conditions. As a former business owner myself, I know it is a comprehensive and arduous process selecting a name for a business or product. As you imply, part of the selection of the word 'Lunacy" was to forward the cause. I applaud you for having the courage to be on the front lines. I would love to hear more about your plans to raise the level of awareness of the stigma that people with mental health issues face so I can pass these ideas on to other businesses. Thanks again! Jill
Jill,
Sure, we are only in the beginning of this way, but we try to include mental-health related subjects into our projects nevertheless, and we put a lot of work into it, as it’s very important to show our users a good representation of them.
We have a stock photo project and an icons website and we try to include the representation there, too.
But back to the subject! Our team works on giving the word Lunacy a right vibe through creating positive associations for it whenever it’s user experience or any other field. A recent conversation with our users shows that the connotation of this word now is a fully positive one, with no offensive/“weird” subtext. It sounds really promising.
We also support our twitter users on the mental health day/similar events and of course, we put an effort into keeping our work environment as healthy as possible, while also supporting our fellow workers’ in their struggle.
We will be super glad to hear your experience in this field and the suggestions you have!
Thank you.
Can you show me examples of the projects, stock photos and icons website? And, what do the users associate with the word? Thanks
Sorry, we don’t publish the in-company researches, hope you understand!
And sure, here are our other websites:
Please, don’t pay much attention to the names/tags used on some photos on the Moose site, we are in a process of training the AI for creating these things and it is not doing that well yet.
Also, please share the resources/projects/researches you support or are a part of! We know there is a lot for us to learn yet and it’s a great opportunity to start with!
I would just like to give my 2 cents here -
@StudioJill, I understand your concerns but in this case I would agree with @Julia_K. While I donot have access to any data / survey, I can share my personal experience.
Lunacy has been a great tool and really helps a lot with my day to day workflow. I use it pretty much every day. Ever since I started using the tool, I personally associate “Lunacy” with freedom, creativity and a whole lot of awesomeness while doing a huge service of being generous/free (while other competitors charge upwards of 100$+). Had I not been using the tool or if it had a different name, my first thought would be the textbook definition of the word, which as you described is not a good vibe.
I feel that the name is actually helping your cause and not hindering it.
Once again, I am not saying that it is a fact. Just my opinion and my experience as a user and how my thought process has changed. I do understand where you are coming from.
Thanks
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Thank you a lot for taking time and sharing your experience!
We are genuinely happy to hear such stories from our users, as it means that we are moving in the right direction at what we do <3
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I do enjoy the software.
In general, when a word is offensive to a sub-group, it is usually only the right of the sub-group to reclaim it. I don’t know where your company is located so I can’t speak to the culture you live in, but in the US, no company would think of using the word “fag” in a product name unless they were homosexual. Similarly, the n-word was reclaimed by the African-American community, but it is still quite offensive for a non-African-American to use it. (I am a part of neither group.) I don’t know if “nomail” or the users you surveyed are part of a group that has been called lunatic, insane, crazy, freak, unhinged, psychotic, psycho, disturbed, nuts, spastic, mad, loony, or wierd, etc. but I am. I won’t go into my specifics but I don’t think anyone who has not lived their life with these words directed at them and people like them should have much of a right to tell us what words are okay to use or not. I find it a bit problematic that someone without this history would see their association with software as license to feel good about the word without concern for how those with these conditions might feel about it (not having had their view of the word re-framed by positive association with software.)
My favorite source is myself, but also www.nami.org if you’d like something more objective.
I searched some terms in your photos.icons8.com. Unfortunately, you are perpetuating myths about mental health issues there too. Here is what I found under a search for “therapist.” I found many antiquated images of a Freud lookalike with descriptions underneath that could be very offensive and scary to someone seeking help for their condition for the first time. Psychoanalysis (Freud’s method) is quite old, portions of it have been disproved, and it is rarely used today. It is seen as intimidating, institutional, and domineering as is shown by your photos.
I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to retire my involvement in this discussion unless someone wants to compensate me for my opinions and writing. I was laid off because of COVID and this is a lot of thinking and work that is very difficult for me. It is an emotional and taxing subject for me. I believe my opinions on this to be valuable to a company’s marketing and diversity efforts and here I am giving it away for free! Thanks, Jill
Thanks for raising the question/topic StudioJill. I think there is alot of controversy surrounding this issue in general- as it is quite divisive between the two main political ideologies in the USA. I’ve seen on many social media outlets an incredible amount of name-calling and angst between folks who identify as liberal and conservative. This is nothing new. I am making my best effort to try to understand what both sides typically complain about in the other, and find it reveals alot of the unspoken fears of either group. Conservatives make the claim that "language Nazis"are limiting their freedom of expression (with folkways more than the law); and might remind us that hate speech is protected in America. (Not indecent, obscene, or unseemly speech though, as these violate our puritanical religious roots perhaps.) The left typically complains about anti-science views, racism, sexism, classism, etc… Centrists are left to pick which they find more distasteful and have/will vote accordingly. I think to a certain degree, being sensitive about language/word choice is what suggested left-leaning ideologues were tone-deaf to middle America. There is a similar situation with trigger warnings.
Most of my friends are liberal, and still drop trigger warnings- and chastise those who don’t. But recent research shows those warnings are counter-effective or of negligible effect. I guess we liberals are also science deniers depending on our own set of indoctrinated views. Whether or not protecting minorities from insults is moral or not, it is unpopular and contributes to an overspending of political capital- and perhaps that is why executive leadership is… questionable these days. Personally, I believe in owning insults and refactoring them into a form with inverted semantics. Like “bad” turned out to mean “good” after the success of various songs. I guess its called “reclaiming”, as mentioned above. As a bipolar man, I like the idea of fighting stigma this way at least in regards to my own illness. Anyway, I’ll get off my bully pulpit now. I guess I must have been triggered. 