‘Muff Wiggler’ Now ‘Mod Wiggler’

Synth forum Muff Wiggler has officially changed its name to ‘Mod Wiggler‘, in response to user feedback.

The name has been controversial among site users for more than a decade, with about two-thirds of the visitors in a 2008 survey either ambivalent about the name or characterizing the name as: unacceptable; mildly offensive; or stupid, but harmless. Only about one-third of the visitors were strongly in favor of it.

While the site’s late founder Mike McGrath said he named it after a pair of popular Electro-Harmonix effects pedals, the ‘Big Muff’ and the ‘Wiggler’, the name was seen by many as a single entendre – a phrase with a bawdy meaning, that’s not really cleaver enough to have the dual meanings of a double entendre.

In recent years, interest in renaming the site has only grown, because users had the same issues as ‘Gearslutz’ users: the name was seen as unprofessional; it was broadly considered sexist; and the name led to the site being blocked or avoided in schools and workplaces.

Site organizers released this statement:

“Today marks the 2 year anniversary of Mike’s passing, so I thought it would be a good time to detail the often hinted upcoming changes to the site that will be going live over the next week:

Effective today, we are now Mod Wiggler.

ModWiggler.com is now active, although your old bookmarks will continue to work until the old DNS registration expires, on November 21, 2022.

Images and site configuration will be updated over the next couple days to match the new name. If by Monday I’ve missed anything, please shoot me a message.

We will not be rewriting history. We will not be changing old post contents. We are not banning or scrubbing words.

I’m not going to go into details about why the name was changed. That and settling on a new name was hard enough. It’s done and not open for debate.”

186 thoughts on “‘Muff Wiggler’ Now ‘Mod Wiggler’”

    1. Saying the word “incel” does not negate someone’s valid arguments or criticisms in the way you seem to think it does. In fact, if anything, it signals you are merely parroting discourse you hear online and may be somewhat disconnected from a base layer of reality as a result of too much twitter/tumblr/tiktok use.

      2. Saying the word “culture war” does not negate someone’s valid arguments or criticisms in the way you seem to think it does.

        Maybe you’ve yet to realize what you think are valid arguments and criticism are just silly and not that valid at all. If you’re getting this upset about a name change and want to label that as a broader ‘culture war’ by people who parrot ‘twitter/tumblr/tiktok’ discourse, it’s time to go for a walk and connect with people outside. Have you even been on these sites you mention? They’re not even remotely similar when it comes to the popular discourse that is present on these platforms or comparable.

  3. “…it’s done and not open for debate.”

    Everything is open for debate, everything. I am not a member of Muff Wiggler and I did comment on the name change of GearSlutz. Why did “site organizers” decide to keep the “wiggler” part? Perhaps they were not aware that a “Wiggler” is a slang term for a penis, which is self defeating given their intention to placate to the woke-mob. I suppose that advertisers see more dollars from sanitized market platforms that alienate the least amount of potential customers, yet there is an interesting aspect to this logic:

    Placating to only potentially offended females (a minority in this sector) and the males who are offended on behalf of those females (de facto appropriation) is one-sided at best when there are plenty of men who might cry themselves to sleep over seeing the word “wiggler”…..

    What this means is that men are, on a whole, more tolerant to synonymous epithets, and willing to spend their dollar on platforms that openly choose to continue to objectify male sexuality whilst admitting a wrong in objectifying female sexuality.

    “But, it’s just the name of some Electro-Harmonix Guitar Effect Pedals!” I can hear “Site Organizers” cry out. If that were the case, why change the names in the first place? If it were so innocent, why bother taking action at all? Why take only half of an action to distance yourselves from sexual objectification you brainless twits?

    Me and my Wiggler will never spend a dime on a link on these spineless, turn-coat websites that will side whichever way the wind happens to blow.

    -L

      1. I’m trying to decide which of the two words are more offensive and inflammatory, and funny: “muff”, or “wiggler”. But really, I think they’re both just great.

        In fact, everything is great. You guys and girls, I’m feeling great. You’re all great! 🙂

        Life’s great. 😀

    2. Google the word ‘wiggler’ followed by the word ‘slang’. Nothing comes up that suggests the term commonly refers to a penis.

      Google the word ‘muff’ followed by the word ‘slang’. The first entry is a popular TV show that used the term in a derogatory fashion to mean ‘vagina’.

      If you’re going to try to make an argument, at least base it on some semblance of truth.

      1. Check urban dictionary, it describes wiggler as either a penis or as someone who gets sexually assaulted via the back by surprise

  5. I haven’t been a forum member of Muff’s for a couple years so I don’t have any skin in the game, but I’ve long contended that if someone doesn’t like the way someone else is conducting their activities/business/facilities/services/etc, particularly when there is no charge or requirement to use them, the “offended” person should just simply leave and go elsewhere. I don’t understand why that is so hard for people to figure out?

    Anyways, regarding the pole mentioned, in all due respect, I think it is being spun way too hard in favor of a name change. The truth is that only 20% of respondents had a serious problem with the name while 80% felt it was harmless to awesome. The category most in favor of the existing name had 28% of the vote alone, 8% more then the two offended/unacceptable categories combined. See below:

    404 28% I think it rocks!
    215 15% It’s pretty funny! But I see the other side as well
    297 21% I don’t care either way
    223 16% It’s immature/stupid, but harmless
    190 13% It’s mildly offensive, to be honest
    101 7% It’s bordering on, or is, unacceptable to me

      1. the way you worded it is still quite odd. about two-thirds of the visitors in a 2008 survey either ambivalent about the name or characterizing the name as: unacceptable; mildly offensive; or stupid, but harmless. Only about one-third of the visitors were strongly in favor of it.

        the facts are in 2008 more than 2/3rd did not find it harmful. less than 1/3rd did find it to some degree offensive.

        I just don’t like the post-humanus change, that is in fact re-writing history, for good or for bad.

        I didn’t know mod was short for modular, this community doesn’t have a sub-thread that is mod (modifying) gear. It’s just a circle jerk of lust and mid life crisis’.

      2. Actually, it still seems really biased, perhaps even worse now. “The name has been controversial among site users for more than a decade, with about two-thirds of the visitors in a 2008 survey either ambivalent […]”

        Classic case of rigging the stats. Only one third were strongly in favor. The rest were either ambivalent or opposed. (mumble 7% opposed mumble). Technically true, but still gives very skewed sense of the stats. Intentionally bad summary of stats = lying. Please don’t start doing that, I like this website.

        Let’s lump the “ambivalent” in the “pro” column, and write an article about the 7% minority who argued in favor of the name change.

        1. You’re conveniently ignoring the fact that, in summarizing the stats, Synthtopia rounded up 28% to ‘about one-third’.

          So you could just as easily make the argument that Synthtopia is inflating the stats for the ‘Pro Muff’ group by 5%.

          The reality is that they summarized the stats in a pretty fair way, and the fact that there are 100+ raging comments on this article just confirms their point that “The name has been controversial among site users for more than a decade.”

    2. If people follow your advice and leave if they don’t like the name, then it’s also perfectly rational for MW to change their name so people don’t leave… I don’t understand why that is so hard for people to figure out?

        1. what if even more turn up because of the name change? To be honest I’d now be more likely to hang out there in “SFW” situations. (But I agree with John L Rice to the extent that I never criticized the name, since it’s not mine to criticize.)

        2. REalistically, they won’t because where are they gonna find another site with all that content? And that’s the same thing that makes the original ‘if you’re offended, leave’ argument so stupid. Sure, if there were a bunch of similarly well resources sites to choose from then it’d be no thing. But when one site (vendor, whatever) dominates a niche then there’s a stickiness effect, known among economists as inelasticity of demand. So then arguments about names turn into conflicts with trolls saying they need to defend the culture and other people pointing out the culture is just fine except for this one thing.

          In the end all the people fighting a rearguard action against the name change will become irrelevant as a few weeks go by and everyone realizes it’s just as enjoyable and easy to find as before. If a few of them leave because they’re more obsessed with the name of the site than the subject matter, nobody will miss them.

          1. anigbrowl “if a few of them leave because they’re more obsessed with the name of the site than the subject matter, nobody will miss them.”

            LOL, sounds like something I might say!

          2. This. The argument that, if you don’t like something, you should just go away, was always disingenuous and little more than a means of reinforcing the status quo at the expense of those whom it may disinfranchise.

            At a certain point, a community has a responsibility to move beyond what it was conceived as and become an inclusive and welcoming place for all facets of the topics it’s willing to put up for discussion. Hopefully the name change is a sign that the site’s management are willing to truly embrace its current position as the de-facto forum for the discussion of modular synthesis.

            1. Even a single remark about the name might be enough to incite a change if the owners don’t intend to cause offense and consider the criticism to be well-founded. No reason to turn this into identity politics – it’s just plain reasonable.

        3. Who’s going to be offended by ‘Mod Wiggler’?

          Realistically, only the only people that are offended are people that love to spout hate in the comments.

          And they’re going to keep showing up anyway, because they’re in it for the attention, and where else are they going to go?

          1. Chiara said “Who’s going to be offended by ‘Mod Wiggler’?”

            Well, at least in the UK I would assume that the Rockers would be up in arms over that name? (listen to the album Quadrophenia by The Who if you aren’t familiar with the cultural reference. 😉

        4. If more people leave because of the name change than because of the old name, they can change it back or change to a third option. Or someone else can make some forum with a similarly lewd name and capitalize on the opportunity if it really exists.

          Really, the point is that they can and should try to make as many people happy as possible because it’s good for their business and their business is good for their users. It’s really weird to care that they’re changing their name, even if you were fond of it, if it doesn’t affect you in any way other than reminding you that you disagree with some people about words and feelings.

  6. the timing of this change smacks of the current trend du jour… which is not respectable imho

    then again i never used that site anyways so i dont really care one way or the other

  9. If people follow your advice and leave if they don’t like the name, then it’s also perfectly rational for MW to change their name so people don’t leave… I don’t understand why that is so hard for people to figure out?

    1. Some people just have no imagination outside of something that might offend them and far too much time on their hands. This is a sad day for words

  11. Frankly, I always kinda found the name mildly irritating. But I knew Mike from other web-boards before he ever started his, and ‘Muff Wiggler’ was always his ‘nom de plume’ on those sites. So I always accepted this as merely an extension of his own online personality.

    With Mike’s passing, there’s no explicit reason to stay with that for the site’s branding, so I personally don’t see any problem if the new admins want to change the name…

    1. I think changing the name to appease an overly sensitive minority is kinda silly and more than mildly irritating. No one has had a problem with the name for as long as I can remember. It’s never been an issue until recently it’s become so damn easy for people to be offended by the smallest things.

      From what I recall, Mike – the person who created Muffwiggler, enjoyed going against the grain and apparently had a sense of humor that a lot of people seem to lack these days. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like changing the name dishonors his legacy. It’s pretty shitty IMO.

      I wish someone would make an 18+ gear forum that’s impervious to cancel culture. Sure, it would be a shit show, but what isn’t a shit show these days?

        1. I think NOT changing the name to appease an overly sensitive minority is kinda silly.

          That some are so easily irritated by something as basic as other people’s feelings is only mildly hypocritical.

          If Mike — the person who created Pube-Tuft-Agitater — went against the grain, perhaps he wouldn’t care so much about being dishonored.

          1. Because Muff can only mean one thing right?

            Like there is literally 0% chance it could mean something other than what a person with zero imagination thinks it might mean right?

            What about Knob?

            Would we be having the sam issue here if the site had originally named Knob Wigglers?

            1. They’re just updating the site name so it’s not tacky and dated.

              And you all want to pretend that it’s the apocalypse, that it’s ‘censorship’ and that the ‘woke agenda’ is destroying America.

              We all know ‘muff’ is slang for vagina, and that the site name might have been funny when you were in junior high in the 70s. Most of us grew up a little since then.

              Grow a pair, people!

            2. Maybe it’s because I’m British, but Knob Wiggler would be fckng hilarious. And have numerous meanings, especially given how many people like watching “you tube synth brand influencer” videos now

      2. I don’t believe a reason for the name change was given?

        As perhaps a minority woman here, I found it immature, but I love synthesizers and the content here so was happy to look past this.

        Why are you so offended that people get offended?

  12. Yet the Big Muff guitar pedal from which the site takes it name is still for sale and very well known.
    Utterly pointless game change in my opinion….flange sounds a bit rude, let’s ban it!

    1. No, the site does not take it’s name from the Big Muff pedal, and the Big Muff pedal (named from its predecessor, the “Muff Fuzz”) is so named beacuse it was a “muffled fuzz” with a longer sustain than the original Muff Fuzz.

  15. It’s funny how it’s always the people who tell us not to be offended by a name are the most offended by a new name.

      1. “That’s a good point”

        eh.. no it isn’t because nobody is upset by the new name

        they are upset by the perpetually offended mob of cancel culturists that have led to this

        these same people would be well at home at a good old fashioned book burning

        and here we are pandering to their outrage over certain words

        1. 1. Nothing is being cancelled.
          2. There is no mob, there is no outrage.
          3. This is a very minor disagreement about tastefulness, a non-controversy.
          4. No one is under attack. No one is being censored.
          5. Bring it down a notch.

        2. The only outrage, offense and calls for cancellation I see here come from people that are against the new name. Silly debate and not worth spending any more time on.

    2. It’s not the new name that’s offensive. It’s cancel culture that’s offensive. It’s out of control. It reminds me of the health nuts that wanted to stop the Cookie Monster from eating cookies. Remember when they were waging war on cereal box mascots a few years back? Like it’s a mascot that force fed their obese children… That’s crazy. This is all crazy. These sensitive bastards must be stopped. What’s going to be canceled or renamed next, Nickelodeon’s Rugrats?

  16. I’ve got nothing against the name change but the campaign and rhetoric that has been used to push the change is emblematic the sites decay since Mike’s death. Users want a place to talk about synthesizers not site politics. I’ve been gone from both the muff wigglers site and fb user group for a while now – there is a dominant ideological minority that makes the group uncomfortable interact with. They make such a noise, that people who disagree daren’t at the risk of being dogpiled.

  17. Honestly, what did y’all think “Muff” was a reference to (and don’t tell me the Big Muff meant something entirely different)? If so, then what service is done in honor by a community named after it, majorly populated by men? I’m cool with Mod. Is actually descriptive of what we do with our gear.

    1. Muff is a guitar pedal. I stress is.

      Mike Muffwiggler is the forums founder. He’s dead now.

      He liked guitar pedals, synths and wiggling knobs.

      But fuck him and legacy right?

      Some unimaginative people can’t see past their faux outrage to even begin to see what it might mean

      If the site had been named Knob wigglers I can guarantee we wouldn’t all be having this same argument

      Despite the fact that knob is as much of a rude word as muff

  21. isn’t it reason enough for a change something if just one person is offended? people who don’t care, don’t care. and people who find it funny, aren’t offended and also don’t need a change. i do see how making the world a less offensive place is *yawn* to some people. but i don’t see how one can be against it. please, explain.

    1. Tolerance makes the world a better place and not a sense of entitlement. Btw we’ve seen before the cry for a less offensive place…The Greek statues were de-sexed because some “political ancestor” of these ones today were offended by nudity. .

    2. To be honest, I don’t care either way in this case, but I care about reasoning behind some people. Not yours, but some, and it happens in my field of science. I’m nuclear physicist so I am safe for now, but some other fields close to mine are already hit with something that might be base for changes we see around the world. And that is that some people get offended because they attach to ideology or emotions and they get controlled by emotions. This problem is problem of most people in western culture, who don’t practice awareness or don’t hold intelectual potential as highest value (those people are only kind of people that I know, who are not controlled by emotions without practicing awareness). Sometimes it is only this – name change. But most often it is change of rules to rules that sacrifice reality for felling good. It actually is very common and is a sing of personality disorder that is very prevalent from my home country to the west. As I scientist I see that this is a trend that is spilling from unimportant customs (I had to check dictionary and am unconvinced by this translation) debates to more important scientific fields as we are being okay with the trend described above (letting people identify with ideologies and be driven by emotions).

      I actually have some strong hypothesis about, why that happens (why are we letting this to happen), but this is not the place for academic discussions. For those willing to do their research, I am recommending learning games theory and reading “Prince” and “Hitman”. That’s for start.

        1. And what is wrong with that? Do you have any arguments ad meritum? Since you are clearly trolling, by abandoning any reasoning, but some people might not read it right, I will expand my answer.

          I said that to state my perspective, as I have colleagues from faculties like environment physics (worst case) and socio-physics (using mathematical models, mainly from quantum physics, to simulate social behaviours – also hit by prejudice). In nuclear physics there is one part that is also hit, but most of my colleagues have abandoned that field and we don’t really care much, focusing now at elementary particles. Mentioned part is nuclear energy that was heavily hit by irrational fear, where opinions matter more that real world data. And I’m saying that as one of kinds that were drinking Lugola (iodine solution) to prevent thyroid cancer.

          Anyway, I know people from other fields, further from physics, and damage done to their whole fields are heart breaking.

    1. Please, go and educate yourself about the horrors of fascism. Then, come back here and apologise for using the word in such a flippant way. The two things are not remotely comparable.

      1. I think you’ll find the cancelling of words, ideologies and other things deemed inappropriate by an authoritative mob, is a hallmark of fascism

        1. No one cancelled words, ideologies ‘and other things’ though, so your point is kind of moot (And shit human, if you truly think a site owner changing its name to appeal to more visitors has -anything- to do with fascism)

  24. That’s sad news, I’ve always had a slight kick out of this weird name, especially when mentioning it to others.

    BUT
    the other day a really good+smart guy told me this ridiculous scenario:

    as he’s scrolling on Facebook he comes across this post which reads “Who remembers these?”
    with a photo of a piece of toast with blueberry jam and peanut butter…

    I’m not s#!++!%6 you,
    the comment section turned into a torrent of hate because of a comment which read something along the lines of “how dare you post that photo? Do you know how many people have never enjoyed such a luxury?”.

  25. I just googled “Topia”. Nothing there to complain about. Topia- a place in which human society, natural conditions, etc., are so ideally perfect that there is complete contentment. Website Name – Official. UNLESS, you dont have the luxury of owning a synthesizer…..

    1. i pray someone finds something sexist about a synth site run by a woman.

      of course, sisters with transistors came out friday and this was the only synth site NOT to plug it…..

      1. What the fuck is wrong with you if you’re wishing on sexist things to happen? Maybe time to look into the mirror and find out where all your bigotry and sexism coming from, you have a long way to go.

  26. It was a stupid sexist name. The founder said it got its name from the pedal, which got its name (http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html) from the fact that it had a muffled sound – muff here meaning any furry covering. However, muff has also been slang for female public hair for over 300 years, and that is a very common usage nowadays, probably more common than the innocent one. The name Muff Wiggler clearly played on that, and equated using music tech with fiddling with women’s pubic hair. It’s not just offensive, it’s embarrassing and everyone should grow up.

  27. Just wanted to say 100% agree. Can’t explain why some people find it so sad etc. Everyone has weird stuff that upsets them I suppose. I hate when my partner leaves the milk out and I have to have luke warm milk on my bran flakes, ugh ?

    3. If you were part of a big forum site that renamed itself rectum licker, and you were kind of grossed out and decided to leave. Would that be a political decision?

  30. For those complaining about the name change, have you ever had to explain to people why the site is called what it’s called? I have. “I hang out on Muffwiggler” or “hey, your kid is into synths? He’ll love Muffwiggler”. I have to explain it, apologise for it, and protect myself from judgement because of it. “Heh. Some people need a sense of humor!” If gatekeeping via a smutty name is your thing then the site it better off without you. “I never use the site anyway…” Great! Sure glad you came by to talk about how you don’t want the name to change despite you publicly stating in a performative way how little you care about it! Ugh. Long live MW… whatever that stands for.

    1. > I have to explain it, apologise for it, and protect myself from judgement because of it.

      Damn, there is so much wrong in your life. Growing up is a good start. Changing people, with which you talk to is another step, but that requires growing up and caring about things that really matter. I am not the person to count all things crooked in your personality so I will leave it at this: good psychiatrist might help. But then – wouldn’t you be ashamed of going into psychotherapy? 😀

      1. You’re saying that it’s more reasonable for you to sever all your relationships than it is for a forum to change its name.

  31. Musicians and music fans have a long history with edgy names. Sex Pistols, Butthole Surfers, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, etc… all were edgy names at the time. Authority, conformity and appropriateness were looked down upon, and particularly back then as opposed to today, fans had a tribal connection to the band and to other people that liked the same music. They felt like they were a band of rebels, connected through this edgy music.

    So when we look at recent name changes to Muff Wiggler and GearSlutz, I think it is natural that some folks, who I am assuming are musicians or at least music lovers, will view these name changes as conformity, and bowing to pushers of appropriateness and authority. It goes against what, for some people, is deeply ingrained in their connection to the world of music, and their view of what music means to them outside of the notes.

    I get both sides of the argument. I also understand that neither of these sites are mine to change. They are someone else’s creative vision and they have chosen to make a change. I can’t begrudge anyone that right. Bands do this occasionally, by shifting genres, usually by softening their tone, and some of the old fans accuse them of “selling out”, and I think a lot of what is behind that is the same thing as what we see here. When people are part of a smaller, edgy community, they naturally are unhappy if they view that community as becoming larger and less edgy. To them, they see it as a loss of what was, not a gain of what is to come.

    I’m about to head upstairs to my studio, fire up a computer and an old synth, as well as work with a wide variety of amazing soft synths and effects and work on my next album. I have it better than billions of other people on this planet who could only dream of have a life so devoid of a lack of safety, a lack of freedom, or a lack of resources, that they could actually have the time to be upset about a web forum changing their name. When I keep that fact in mind, it helps put all this other stuff in perspective.

    1. Ahhhh….the reply that failed to actually figure out how reply’s work on a message board. Please note that for everyone else to know who you are mocking, you actually have to know how to reply to the post that you are mocking.

  36. Y’all are right. Anyone who is offended that the name got changed should just stop going there.

    Please, I beg of you. If you’re offended by them changing it, never log in again.

    Thanks!

  37. I don’t have any problem with any name given a website considering how people get triggered with anything nowadays. If you don’t like a website or it’s name, don’t visit it.

    2. YES.

      Do the people complaining about the name have any clue how much they sound like whiny little snowflakes?

      If you’re triggered by the site using a professional name instead of ‘Muff Wiggler’ (cringe), for the love of all that is holy, just man up and stop going.

      1. That argument works both ways

        Interesting that you choose to use “man up” to emphasise your point

        That offends me – could you use a different more gender neutral and inclusive term please

  39. Good change IMO. There’s enough casual (and not so casual) sexism in the music business – this, along with Gearspace (was Gearslutz), is positive.

  40. The site’s late founder Mike McGrath said he named it after a pair of popular Electro-Harmonix effects pedals.

    Skip the rest. They clearly don’t understand that by changing the name they made Mike look like a sexist.

    But screw anyone that is willing to debate that right? Just act like a dictator and slam down any opposition against this sick cancel culture where everything gets twisted.

    “I’m not going to go into details about why the name was changed. That and settling on a new name was hard enough. It’s done and not open for debate.”

    Well F you too. We all know that forum is going to be a future commercial shitshow anyway just like Gearslutz. 😉

    1. It’s their site, they can do what they want. It’s not up for debate. And if you decide to leave, I doubt anyone’s going to miss your sore attitude. No one’s calling Mike a sexist, you’re the first to say something along those lines.

      Personally I’m sure I’ll say something sexist from time to time, doesn’t mean I personally am sexist. Words are hard, but before you flip out and tell people to fuck themselves for changing a name to a site they own without your consent, maybe think twice.

    2. Do you know anything about starting a new board? I’d love to be part of a community that isn’t so damn uptight about everything. We need a music community that refuses to conform to this SJW ideology.

  41. We -want- more people (and a more diverse set of people) in the synth community. Why not make the central forum more welcoming?

    1. All this arguing ignores the simple fact that the kind of edgy losers who complain about sjw pc newage whatever, tend to be losers with approximately zero buying power. literally no one cares what they have to say because capitalism. so rant away, the sky is not falling, artists make art

  42. Well I saw nothing wrong with the name nor did I see it in a sexual way, now if it was called Pussy Wiggler, I can see the reason, reminder pussy is the word for cat, now get your mind out the trash, shame on you! The nun will spank you now.

    I have to say Mod Wiggler, is a horrible name, I get what Mod means but still bad name, how about Synth Wiggler or if it has to start with M, then Meta Wiggler or Muse Wiggler or Muffin Wiggler, keep it simple how about Sound Wiggler. Well its is sad to see the name go but new beginnings ahead! Hail to the Muffin Wiggler oh sorry I mean Mod Wiggler!

    2. You have a good point. Mod Wiggler does sound like someone is doing something inappropriate to one of the forum moderators!

  43. Geez….I thought growing up in the political correctness of the 80’s was bad. This is ridiculous.

    Here’s the thing folks: no matter what you title something, you’re likely to offend someone at least some of the time.

    Electro-Harmonix isn’t likely to rename their pedals any time soon, which is what the site pays homage to. It’s incongruous, at best; entirely shallow, at worst.

  45. Any person or organization has the right to represent their brand and values however they wish. The values of a society, and the thresholds of what is acceptable change with the times. That change is (largely) a very good thing. Some people are scared of change (but that fear is often disguised as offense).

    If I made a product and gave it a name I thought was funny in my 20’s, but then in my 50’s I found it offensive and embarrassing, I’d change it and I wouldn’t care if it bothered some sentimental fans/users/owners of that product.

    If you asked any anti-political-correctness person to come up with a list of brand names that they WOULD find offensive, they could probably do so easily. Their thresholds are just higher; i.e., they are less sensitive– but at the same time, they are so easily offended that more sensitive people exist. They might argue that sensitive people always get their way. That is laughable, of course.

    There are plenty of good reasons to change a problematic forum name, and there are few downsides. But people will try to paint any name change as an affront to some upside-down morality where it is better to offend a significant number of people than to offend no one.

  46. I’d just like to say , in the friendliest way … to my woke friends , that once you’ve had your muff wiggled your eyes will be opened .. love and peace to all my friends who believe they can tell everyone else what to think, the world is big enough for all of us ..

    1. Yeah so shut up and leave your private site Named what I want so you can think for yourself and not cater to people’s overreactive feelings unless they are mine.

  47. The road to Hell is paved with “Thundercats” DVDs and indignant Internet posts. The site’s name being changed is not some giant offense to the gods. Its a minor shift to accommodate the evolution of better social macro-manners, that’s all. The company explained it in a clear, rational manner. Asked & answered. Now get back to your wavefolding, heh.

  48. “The site’s name being changed is not some giant offense to the gods” not yet , but we’re not far away from needing approval from the new gods. (will the woke approval paperwork be shorter, I can’t be doing with paperwork, approvals and trying to figure out who can shout loudest about being most virtuous)

  49. Xdfo,
    Wouldn’t leave, especially if the person running the forum site was a Hot Chick, although, I think Ass Licker would be a more appropriate.name.

  50. I’ve been a long time Wiggler, but always found the name somewhat off-putting and irrelevant. If it opens the site to a broader audience, it can only be for the better.

  51. “Woko Haram changed the name of a general interest synthesizer forum to something less risque!!” “That’s nice grandpa, let’s get you to bed.”

    1. Wait, are you talking about the all-female Russian dissident punk band, Pussy Riot? Or are you talking about the mostly white male music tech forum, Pussy Riot?

        1. Compared to your average online instrument forum, I’d say a disproportionately large number of ModWiggler are in fact practising artists/professionals. Sorry if that didn’t work out for you.

  54. This is how it works:

    1. Find something many people know about and love.
    2. Add negative meaning to it.
    3. Deem it as offensive.
    4. Perform virtue signaling.
    5. Suggest a ban or cancelation.
    6. “Next!”

    1. Something similar happens at the rise of all fascist cultures

      Book burnings etc.

      Cancel culture may not be as extreme of a movement but it is nonetheless comparable

      The problem is the world is overrun with irrational, emotional, self centred idiots that should be spending more time reading books than looking at Instagram

      1. If you think a name change of a forum is comparable to fascism I highly urge you to seek mental guidance. That’s a truly worrying thought and despite it having no base in reality whatsoever, I can imagine if you think like that the world must be truly scary for you. Find help, you can get better.

  55. who are these troglodyte commenters that are so outraged that the people running a synthesizer forum changed their website name to be more inclusive to women? they hate the idea of “call out culture” or whatever but they take part in this culture of calling out just the same, only they’re on the losing side this time. what kind of person gets so worked up by a website’s name changing? being angry at this kind of thing is not good for your health nor longevity

    1. Women are not pathetic human beings, they don’t need snowflakes pretending to care about them.

      Nobody is excluding women. All you’re doing is make women look weak.

    2. so if the site had been called Knob Wigglers from the beginning – all the guys that use the site would be looking for a name change too right?

      Because knob is exclusively a demoralising gender specific slang word right?

  56. This debate seems to be about values. On one side people are mindful of their language in order to create a more inclusive space. On the other side there are people who value free speech. I don’t think these are necessarily exclusive – we can still value free speech whilst being aware of the effect it may have. Nothing has been ‘cancelled’, they have changed their name, that’s all, and we can still go there, or to Gearspace and connect with people who like making music.

  57. I’m not PC, but I always found the name a bit tacky. Gearslutz wasn’t so bad for me, but was pretty lame. I find that double-entendres tend to mean only one thing in the minds of certain types of people, and it’s irritating.

  59. Anti-cancellers get mad when someone changes their own website’s name. So isn’t that the anti-cancellers cancelling? So if the website name change was triggered by cancellers, we end up with cancelers angering anti-cancellers so much that it leads to them wanting to cancel because of a cancel. ….I feel like there are more important things in the world to worry about.

  60. Yikes, the commentary here is depressing.

    MW decided, as the predominant modular synthesis forum on the internet, to change an edgy and somewhat offensive name to something different. That isn’t “cancel culture”. That isn’t “fascism”. That isn’t an admission that Mike was sexist. (Really?) It absolutely isn’t a first amendment issue, unless you think a forum’s owner shouldn’t be allowed to change its name.

    It’s simply an admission that, maybe, the old name wasn’t entirely appropriate for the forum’s current position.

  61. It’s curious that no one who seems to be upset about the name change has even raised the one strong point for keeping the name: as an homage to Mike.

    Short of that, every point of outrage can simply be turned around. The name change is cancel culture? Well, then, railing against the name change is also cancel culture. A site should be free to choose its own name? Well, that’s what happened here. If you don’t like the name, you should just find somewhere else to discuss modular synthesis? Right back at you. And so on.

    What you’re left with is, on one side, tradition — a tradition which, intentionally or not, is ultimately exclusive and mildly discriminatory. And on the other, a openness to self-reflection and change for the sake of inclusivity. The site’s name is only a part of that, but changing a name that, too often, needs to come with an explanation is a perfectly reasonable step to take. It’s sad that such a vocal part of the community sees the need to rail against that change, and, as a result, against the very staff they seem to be trying to support.

  62. Some of you people would literally die of faux outrage if you ever visit Ireland.

    We have an entire town called Muff.

    Not too mention the hundreds of other Irish towns that have Cock in the name.

      1. and so the Oscar should go to the reactionary online mob who can’t possibly comprehend a world outside their own eye bleached politically corrected blinkered little world ?

  63. The ppl who are raging because of the name change think that it’s about putting a lid on forms of transgression or subversion. But as someone else said, the name was like something you’d hear as a nickname in a college frat. There’s nothing transgressive, subversive, or frankly artistic about that. It’s too bad that neither the owners of MW or GS wanted to put in a little effort to come up with something that sounds cooler and instead went with the most banal, flavorless alternative. Anyway, if “muffwiggler” is your kind of “edginess” maybe go out and practice your keg stands and leave the art to artists.

    2. so the people who founded the site and supported the community over the last 10+ years are all keg standing edgelord frat boys?

      1. Don’t know, doesn’t matter, and not implied in what i said. The point is that that’s the atmosphere the name suggested. Plenty of tool-y bro culture in contemporary edm as any cursory tour through the big edm youtube channels will demonstrate. All for the worse. Maybe that describes lots of MW folks, maybe not. But I’m glad to see MW shirk away from it.

        1. Not implied by what you said? Let’s take a look shall we..

          “Anyway, if muffwiggler is your kind of edginess maybe go out and practice your keg stands and leave the art to the artists”

          You’ve quite literally implied that anyone not offended by the original site name is “tool-y bro” edge lord and couldn’t possibly be concerned with “art”

          Hardly surprising that it’s a broad and sweeping generalisation

          “Leave the art to the artists”

          My word! Lol. Almost as though art were defined absolutely as the collective efforts of a small number of individuals who all share exactly the same narrow minded intellectual vision

          1. You might want to learn how to read if you thought this was a ‘gotcha’. Y i k e s. You have some real issues my friend, reading through this comment thread you seem to get so upset over something so trivial I truly worry for you.

  64. You must have a thin skin to be offended so easily. Man or woman or something In between up then. Is that more appropriate?

  65. Chill the flames please. A lot of people might have the same reaction. The article is shockingly biased for a synthtopia article. “Most people agreed it was harmless.” is a valid statement, yes? So why the crazy rhetoric?

  66. The name changed,,,,why do you even care… answer: everywhere is a battleground. Most people don’t care, you some of you write massive dissertation on the topic. Go complain about a real actual world impacting problem edgelords.

  67. Who cares? All posts like this do are expose how misogynistic and toxic this community truly is. If you are offended by a company changing a name in order to be more respectful or inclusive then you are being a little baby and you seriously need to grow up (and you call the leftists ‘snowflakes’…). It’s not fascism, it’s not “cancel culture” or a “woke mob” or any of those buzz words you hear on Fox News. Things change, get used to it and quit whining about it!

    1. THIS ^^^^^

      Never thought I’d be saying ‘Amen’ to someone calling themself randmcnasty, but yes, we DO need to tell some people, with their head in the sand (or elsewhere), to ‘put on your big boy pants’.

  68. If the first thing you think about when you hear muff is not a handwarmer but female public hear than that is more telling about your thoughts than you think it is. ^^

  69. Didnt think there were so many brainwashed trump zombies around. but the comments section here shows me that there are racist cultist bastards in everything now.

    They changed the name of the site which had a disgustingly dumb and bad name, muffwiggler, which was always unrepeatable.

    I cant believe what happened to people in the last year.

    1. Why are some of you always thinking that people who go against cancel culture are Trump fans or even slightly right leaning? As if every person that voted for Trump is right leaning or a racist in the first place. By spreading clear nonsense you only show how silly and uninformed you really are. All you do is spreading false propaganda and try to silence others that are mature enough for a debate by calling them names. You got zero proof that anything of what you say is true.

      Here is some knowledge for you:
      I know i’m not a fan of Trump as I’m not a fan of any politician. (maybe Bernie a tiny bit)
      Maybe I’m a racist cause my girlfriend is black and so are some of my friends? Yeah that must be it. LOL

      Or maybe its you that’s been brainwashed? 😉

  70. Think you’re really off base with this one. Trumpist or not. The name change follows along with everything else that people are offended by the least little things nowadays. Sure, times were different back then and people were too. So stop whining and grow up. If you’re so hell bent about being an ass, make Mile Matthew’s at EHX
    Change the name of his Big Muff pedal to something less offensive. He’d probably tell you to go to he’ll. And rightfully so I might add.

  73. To quote the late Muff Wiggler creator, Mike McGrath: “I am sorry if it offends people…. just not sorry enough to change!“. It’s quite despicable that the name was changed against the late creator’s wishes. How very shameful to disrespect the wishes of the dead like this.

  74. People who are apathetic about censorship or act like it’s not a big deal scare the hell out of me. Do they really not see the slippery slope and implications for freedom and democracy?
    It reminds me of the crusade back in the the 90s of the religious right to ban “vulgar” language in popular music. Except today it’s the artists and musicians actually banning themselves over words as benign as “muff”.

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