[pjc50]

See "do not post shallow dismissals to HN" rule.

Etymology is youtuber -> virtual youtuber (Kizuna Ai et al) using motion tracked 3D models -> shorten to vtuber -> people develop 2D models as cost reduction -> even further cost reduction by just representing yourself with a static image -> "pngtuber".

It also places things in a cultural context, like most language. Nobody would describe a news broadcast with a static image of the news anchor as a "pngtuber" even if technically it's similar.

[DidYaWipe]

How about "do not post meaningless titles?"

Pointing out intentional obscurity that degrades the usefulness of headlines is not "shallow dismissal." But thanks for the citation, hall monitor.

[6P58r3MXJSLi]

nitpicking but etymology isn't exactly what you think it is, what you did is explaining how a slang came to be, which is not etymology.

Anyway, according to your definition Max Headroom should be regarded as a virtual Television host or a "Vhost", except a host is a host, so a vtuber is just a youtuber and a youtuber is just a host.

> Nobody would describe a news broadcast with a static image of the news anchor as a "pngtuber" even if technically it's similar

exactly the point: a host is a host, an anchor is an anchor, that's why nobody would use "pngtuber" for "a news broadcast with a static image of the news anchor" because we already have a name for that that is good enough and generic enough to be understandable by anybody.

Instead now we got terms that are so specific that are useless in any general sense

and that's why etymology doesn't fit here, the word pngtuber is not "in the language" it's a slang and it wants to stay like that, if it eventually reaches mainstream status, pngtubers will start calling themselves jpeg2000vimeoers to separate themselves from the peasants

p.s. anyway this is nothing new, it's just a new name for something old, there was a time when internet and the computing devices in general were very limited resource wise and you had to do sh*t like this because it was the only way to do it.