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by dreyfiz 2958 days ago
I do like the idea overall. So, let me tell you why I instantly hated it and closed the tab.

Your Show HN headline did a great job, I was excited to see what a github repo quality bot does!

This is a personal preference, but I find the name "Git Enforcer", the police officer emoji, and the git logo with a police hat on it completely off-putting. Not the atmosphere I would want to foster when I'm trying to use persuasion to get colleagues to adopt good practices. In my world, police are authoritarian bullies who demand instant compliance without negotiation, or else they'll brutalize you.

It's humbler and more inviting for a bot to come across as an assistant. "Git Enforcer" comes across as something a clueless boss imposes. I think all the wrong-footed design cues come from the name "git enforcer".

Basically your bot is a linter for collaboration behaviors. It can't actually enforce anything, all it can do is nag. Actually, if the name was GitNag and the icon was a horse, I would find your bot charming.

Speaking of linters, lately I've been using [Black](https://github.com/ambv/black) for my Python. Its self-description in that Readme sold me on it instantly.

I wish you well with this! It is a cool idea.

3 comments

In Ruby world I use http://batsov.com/rubocop/ every day. In Perl world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl::Critic I personally couldn't care less about logo or naming.
That's just like Perl to have a literary name like Perl::Critic :-)
Yes, this. Presumably the best, even average, teams opperate on a voluntary basis. The "Enforcing" paradigm runs against this grain.

Alternative messaging while still communicating the same information might revolve around helping, reminding, checking. Hell, how about bumper bowling?

Very cool project never the less and I might implement with my team.

Nitpicking: if you're keeping the name, pick a canonical way to spell it and "enforce" that everywhere :-)

Repo name: Git-Enforcer

Logo at top of readme: git ENFORCER

call-to-action button: "Install Git Enforcer Free"

shields.io version badge: "GitEnforcer"

Which one is it? Pick one to be known by!

Great, thanks for the feedback! I'm no designer by any means. I have already gone through one name change, but your points are fair.