A sort of odd idea, but we could always just combine the words to be ‘The Leftarian Party’, make our own word to suit our needs. A little more abstract but it’s original and sort of conveys the ideas.
I’m just so surprised that a name change is seriously being contemplated. “Pirate Party” links us to an international movement. I can’t see how it’s any more “silly” as a name than the Sex Party, or the Greens. Perhaps the Sex Party is a good comparison: the name could be criticised for being frivolous or unserious, but over time - combined with consistent campaigning - the fact that it stands out so much has provided an opportunity for that party to gain some very solid public awareness of their policies. I don’t believe that the sort of people who see “Pirate” and say, “what a stupid name!”, then think nothing more of it, would be the sort of voters who would vote for any non-conventional sounding party, even if it was called “Equality Party” or “Left Libertarian” or what-have-you. I just don’t think that we should be tailoring our name to dismissive, conventional voters like that, in the first instance.
I hate to bring in brand recognition to a political discussion, but “Pirate” is a much stronger brand than the vague (and contestable) descriptors of a party’s place on the political spectrum that have been suggested in the forums so far.
I am of the opinion that we will not garner any more ‘respectability’ with a name change that sounds like it was chosen through a focus group to please everybody. Better to stick with a name that has history and a philosophy behind it, then gain the desired trust and gravitas through the sorts of strategies that have been proposed and discussed in the Party Strategy thread.
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Pirate Party Australia is a great name IMO.
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Could always go with “TISM”.
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Reflecting on my recent experiences HTVing, my preference is definitely to remain as the Pirate Party. The Pirate brand put HTVs in hands.
Several times people who’d refused all the HTVs before me said “No thanks… wait, Pirate!? Lol what’s that about?” I’d give a short spiel and the HTV and then “hey, these are actually good policies!”
I can’t see any generic sounding name creating such curiosity.
So… I will vote to remain a Pirate.
…Unless we rename ourselves the Troll party or something equally ludicrous.
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I’d like a rename.
While discussing who to vote for (she’s a public school teacher so mostly based on education funding) I told my girlfriend I was going to vote PPAU and she thought I was an idiot, and tried to make me not vote for the party. I had to spend an hour arguing to convince her otherwise.
Last night at a party The Pirate Party came up, and aside from us, the universal opinion was “Who the hell would vote for them? Haha”
When I chimed in “I do, every election” they were interested and asked what the party stands for. It was surprisingly easy to convince a few that PPAU has great policies but I doubt they will put any number on the ballot form next election unless the name is changed.
Also, I’d like a different colour. Blue feels “political right” to me.
I wasn’t participating in this campaign, in fact I only joined after. But at the polling station I convinced most people I talked to to vote Pirate. Turns out its a really easy talking point and gives you a great opportunity to deploy the policy. But I can see reasons people think we should change.
I would be pro change if it was something equally unique, as Hypershock said. But I am strongly opposed to any change to something that sounds like just another party.
My experience on handing out HTV cards is that it creates a hook, but I estimate conversions into getting someone interested in policy is 1/2 in those who find it funny, but 1 in 100 in those who I actually tell them the name without them laughing on the broader scale.
We have had the Pirate Party name for 10 years and it’s clear that in this country the name isn’t going to propel it into the spotlight through grass roots movement as originally intended, but it was enough to bring us together when Pirate movement first started. We will always be The Pirates and have relations with PP international movement no matter what name we use, that is our identity. Many people refuse to take a party seriously if it doesn’t have a serious name, point blank.
I’ll address the name in the other thread on party names but from my preliminary market research, current lesser “TLDR” just DOES NOT cut it for general voter resonance. The only practical name that I can think of is “The Freedom Party” (or to that effect about Freedom) there is just no other way to encapsulate everything of what we believe in a simple way that resonates with a popular value
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Hooks could convert most of the time, but how did it compared to the times did you hand out a HTV with no strong reaction or did not laugh/engage/take a HTV without reacting to the name?
Of the name hook/conversions, we are already working on a subset group
edit: just to add more opinion:
Sex Party have more awareness than us even though they have been at it since 2009, the party is in the name of a controversial topic (not just a joke) whereas Piracy was never very controversial in the wider community (and now less so since the Music & Movie industry are improving their practices by making more digital commercial services available, which still aren’t great with all the DRM incompatibilities and very limited offline access, whereas initially the internet as a distribution platform was totally ignored by them).
Even with great awareness, The Sex Party have had limited success, only winning a seat in Victorian Parliament - No Federal success.
Let’s look at success stories: Nick Xenophon and Nick Xenophon Team. He doesn’t use a Joke/Funny/Witty name, just an exact representation of his views - his own views. Even Pauline Hanson, managed to get a lot of media attention/controversy through the media, without a joke name (her views however, well she has her audience).
We have tried Pirate, but that ship has SAILED.
Simon - whilst I will be bitterly opposing your position on this, I do think it is very important that the question be raised, and raised well. Respect.
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Yep.
I was leaning ambivalently towards change until exactly this.
- All my radical/anarchist/communist/socialist friends automatically grokked it on socmed.
- At the Community Cup, the pre-poll booth and on the day, it put HTVs in people’s hands. More than the Animal Justice did. More than HEMP did. More than the LDP did.
I will vote to keep the name.
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Could there have been a bias because you were a candidate which made them look more seriously rather than the name? Also your polling place only got 21 first preferences 
much more than mine but not huge, and about on par with other minor parties at that booth. Clearly it is much more than a name issue, but it’s not hooking as strong as we hoped either
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I’d also like to re-iterate after the election that I’d be strongly against re-naming the party. With the plethora of micro-parties all pushing their own barrows, voters will find a party that suits their issues. There were dozens of parties on the senate ballot which DIDN’T have a clear focus and were meaningless to me. They didn’t even get a preference. TLDR, Freedom, Libertarian etc have no brand value or resonance and only appeal to some naive pipe-dream of obtaining comparable brand awareness to the major parties.
Newsflash: nobody gives a stuff about the Animal Liberation Party’s NBN policy. We should focus on our strengths, which are broadband infrastructure, digital rights and copyright reform. Pirate Party adequately conveys that message.
If you want to be the “progressive party of the day” maybe there are more appropriate organisations in which ti pursue those goals.
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I would say there were at least 5 people that put us in their preferences because I was the candidate - two former colleagues, and old friend from Tasmania, an ex-girlfriend’s mother and a 90 year old Italian guy that was really into abortion but thought I was good looking.
While I accept the the first preference numbers are still low, I think the real advantage was actually making it into people’s top 6/12.
And I’d re-articulate, the name was about the foot-in-the-door. Getting the HTV into people’s hands. We are talking a booth that was heavily Green, and had somewhere in the realm of 20 Green vollies, all day, in three rosters.
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I’d add to this that in conversations I had with people leading up to the election, the Pirate Party name and the connection to the movement in Iceland, Sweden and Germany was a factor that made the people I was talking to take interest. People who pay attention to politics and the universal basic income policies that are being voted on in Scandinavian countries were swayed by the Pirate Party’s connection to international movements.
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Name change.
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Changing the name will not increase our effectiveness. Increasing our effectiveness will increase our effectiveness.
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I think this is key point we need to consider, and before changing the name we need to revisit what is more important to us.
If we want to remain a lobbying organ, pirate party (or pirate bureau) is fine, we can still develop policy and make submissions to parliamentary working groups (or whatever they are called).
If we want to move on to phase II and be focused on achieving electoral success then we wouild benefit from a name that appeals to people who will consider voting for us. (EDIT: 4% of an electorate)
So before deciding if we should change the name or not, please consider these goals.
Perhaps we should even formally state the goals of the party, it would create a context from which to make these decisions.
That to me just looks like uninformed ignorance on their part. I often get friends also bringing up the “issue” of the party’s name, but I shrugged off any mockery they make, and then go on a speech defending the choice and purpose of it. They eventually understand, but it highlights one thing = “education”.
What matters most is that our name is not a bait & switch for other agenda that we would naturally oppose.
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I think the current name is pretty great for getting people interested in what the party is and has to say. It’s a little goofy but that’s part of it’s appeal.
That said I’ve got a pitch… The Black & White Party
Thought of it because it retains the pirate history (referring to the pirate flag), still seems fairly evocative while ditching the goofiness and most importantly it has many functional uses for multiple meanings since it’s used in many terms to do with high minded things like truth, justice, unity, etc.
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