Hi Girls, as most of you know, we have considered having a new name for a long time. When TW was first started more than a decade ago, the word tranny was not a problem the word has been hijacked by porn sites and TG people themselves now often prefer not to use it. There are lots of other reasons for not using the word 'tranny' in our name too, which are quite tedious but important all the same. I won't bore you with them.

So, before I tell you what name we have now decided upon, at long last and after a very long period of consultation with our members, let me just clarify what we are and are not about.

First, what WE ARE NOT:

* WE ARE NOT a porn site!
* WE ARE NOT anything to do with the seedy side of the internet.
* WE ARE NOT trying to attract members who are simply looking for sex.

Anybody who thinks we are any of the above is in the wrong place or has probably been watching too much Jerry Springer.

WHAT WE ARE:

* WE ARE a society, an alliance, an association of 'special girls'.
* WE ARE a private club for like-minded people.
* WE ARE a networking community much like Facebook but we offer so much more than that.
* WE ARE here to provide friendship, information and support for transgender people, their families and friends.
* WE ARE a place to come to for fun and to communicate with your TG friends.
* WE ARE a place where you know you will always be welcome.
* WE ARE like a family, a place where, once you have joined, you belong.
* WE ARE always here with a friendly smile, help and advice, even when you are your lowest ebb.

* Whilst WE ARE NOT activists, we do uphold the right of TG people to live without fear of ridicule and we do get cross when we hear about our sisters being treated poorly.

Our new name needs to make us sound less like a community that's been knocked up in a back bedroom, and more like a proper organisation, which people from both inside the transgender community and from outside will respect. It needs to give us credibility.

It's important to get our new name right so that it reflects the values we believe in, is not too long and does not contain the word, "tranny'.

Having heard your suggestions for many months, I think we finally have it.

Hugs,

Katie x

Just checking that we're all singing from the same hymn book. All will be revealed shortly!

Hugs,

Katie x

Mary is quite right Doanna. Transgender is an umbrella term that covers all kinds of, er, trans gender. There must be a clue in the title.

If you've read my book you will know that I have spent much of my life studying the 'differences' between the various transgender categories. I firmly believe that it's wrong to put anyone in a particular box, not only because people don't like being put in boxes but also because our gender identity can shift from one week to the next. For example I identify as a crossdresser today but know I need more than that. It's quite possible that in a year or two I could change crossdresser to transsexual and my hobby could easily become a permanent fixture.

The Harry Benjamin Scale was a good attempt to categorise people who's gender identity did not match their physical gender but while trying to improve on that with the Katie Glover Gender Identity Scale, I realised that it was a hiding to nothing because nothing is set in stone.

Also, because Trannyweb is for all kinds of TG people, the umbrella term Transgender fits perfectly.

Having said that, the word transgender does not feature in our new name so really, it's academic.

Any yes, we will have to rebrand everything Mary, including membership cards. It's going to be a huge job which will take months and cost a fortune so please bear with us.

Hugs, Katie x

Thanks for that Marsha but the time for suggestions is past. That's a good one though and our new name is not dissimilar, as you will see.

Hugs, Katie x

There's a lot more at stake here than just other people's opinions Miss Sudha. For example, we are marked down in search engine listings because we are a "tranny" site because, as all search engine companies know, all tranny sites must be porn sites.

We also have trouble sending emails to people because our domain contains the word tranny. Until very recently, many of our new registrants using MSN Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail addresses were unable to receive their password because our Welcome email was automatically deleted, simply because the domain it came from contained the word 'tranny'.

We have got around that now, by not allowing new registrants to use those mail services on our registration form but that's not a perfect solution.

There's a number of other reasons why we have to change but as I said before, I won't bore you with them. Suffice to say that this is a necessary change and one which I'd rather not go through, but it has to be done to safeguard our future.

Hugs,

Katie x

It's true that a lot of folk are still very anti-tranny. I mean, anti the word tranny, and most of them are actually trannies themselves. The establishment, search engine companies, banks, free email providers, the media, credit card payment gateways like PayPal and a host of others are also anti tranny.

We could continue to take a stand and continue to reclaim the word tranny for us, as you suggested, the way that the gay community have done with the word queer.

However, we've been doing that for a decade now and have taken some serious knocks because of it. We even lost our Google ads which formed a large part of our income. We have been brought to our knees because of our insistence on using the word tranny in our name and I don’t think we have managed to reclaim a thing. Times have never been so bad as they are now so in an effort to save the community from oblivion, I took the decision to change the name.

Remember everyone, that before doing so, that we did have a period of consultation with the membership that has lasted for months.

This is not something that is being taken lightly as it is our last chance to ensure survival beyond this year. We have to make a go of this or we are sunk. Trannyweb needs to grow into a new and credible organisation, that people from outside our community will take seriously and even look up.

I'm so frightened that you won't like the new name and that is why I'm holding back on telling you what it is, for now anyway. First, I want everyone to understand the reasons for the change and the necessity of it all.

There's no going back now though. The new domains have already been purchased and steps are afoot to start the site's rebranding. I promise that all will be revealed soon. Please bear with me for a little longer. We’ll be offering one final Trannyweb offer to help pay for it all, probably sometime tomorrow.

Hugs,

Katie x

Yes, it was nearly a year back (March 14th 2009) that I first asked for ideas. Nobody can say that we didn't have a good and lengthy consultation process on this.

Initially I was worried about losing the name Trannyweb because we have spent so much time and effort in building it as a brand around the web. However, if the name is toxic, as I've been led to believe, then trans or tranny can have no part in our new name.

I see this as a chance to start over with a clean slate. We can start a fresh, new gender organisation but having learnt from our mistakes in the past. I would imagine that the new and the old will run parallel for some time before being amalgamated into one. I'm sorry to keep you all in suspense but I'm still seeking technical advice on exactly how it will work.

The new name will be revealed soon. Then you will know.

Thanks for your patience and your continued support.

Hugs,

Katie x