José prefers Elixirists 
https://twitter.com/AkitaOnRails/status/669855737418485760
https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/669864765569835009
https://twitter.com/hubertlepicki/status/669870498067673088
I agree that Alchemists is way cooler 
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I’m also on the Alchemists side!
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When I first heard of Alchemists, I thought it was in reference to those using the Alchemist Emacs/Spacemacs plugin. There’s no immediate connection to Elixir and so I can see why José is not keen on it. I think it definitely grows on you and I do like it.
I quite like Chris McCord’s suggestion of something as simple (and self-assured) as Elixir Programmers (or Elixir Developers) - Elixir is a very confident language and these terms reflect that.
Having said that, whatever José adopts will ultimately become the de facto term… so I’m with José’s Elixirists until he says otherwise 
Gophers is a terrible name 
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+1 for Alchemists. My favorite Anime - Full Metal Alchemist
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I dont rly care, but imo both sounds weird.
elixir developer is fine i guess.
I like Alchemists，it’s cool. Software development is not predictable enough to be engineering and not
rigorous enough to be science.
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I really do like “Alchemists” and though prefer it.
When I think about the mid-age alchemists, I do see very mystical people that are misunderstood by the mundane, because the knowledge they use seems like magic to the masses.
Sometimes there are people, that do treat me exactly like that. I do often encounter people, that consider building a spacecraft and flying to mars applied science, while programming (or even using) a computer is somewhere inbetween dark and light magic.
So I think alchemists is very suitable 
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Software engineering may not be rigorous science when you consider all the management and human variables involved, but Computer Science sure is a rigorous science.
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I’ve used Elixir Alchemist a lot since I’ve been starting to code in Elixir.
(I like it particularly because I can tell people I’m an Alchemista.)
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What I really like about it is that so many in the community not just like it but LOVE it
Here are some positives and negatives:
- it’s fun
- It’s cool
- It’s unique/different
- It’s not taking ourselves too seriously
- It’s related to Elixir:
alchemy - the medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir. occult sciences, such as alchemy and astrology.
- It sounds good
Some negatives:
- Not immediately obvious that it refers to an Elixir developer (though in time that would be less of a problem, esp if it is mentioned on the Elixir Lang site)
- It’s meaning has some negative connotations:
alchemy - the medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the*transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir. occult sciences, such as alchemy and astrology.
occult - mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena: a secret society to study alchemy and the occult.
(But this could be seen as ‘cool’ too).
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Yeah, hence the Elixir before Alchemist 
I really got into this topic. And like Elixir word came from Word Al Ich Sir. Which is cool and make sense a lot to me.
Just like that I am really requesting you people to consider Alchemist Over anything else. I loved it.
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Did he said otherwise? Or people just didn’t care about it and repeated “alchemist” over and over until it got stuck with us and there’s no way back? 
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I don’t really hear people saying it now - but then I am not on Twitter much these days.
With regards to José, I don’t know what he’s said about it since those tweets - maybe it’s grown on him… maybe it hasn’t
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I don’t image job offer "I am looking for alchemist to fix my backend scale problesm "
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I vote alchemist based entirely on a BBS game that I played as a kid called Usurper. It was a daily play RPG with races and classes. Eventually I figured out that a troll alchemist was the best combo in the game and it worked so well that I felt like I was cheating.
Fast forward 20+ years and I get to be an alchemist again and it still feels like I found a secret so good that it’s basically cheating again.
I’ll be very disappointed if we retire alchemist.
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It hasn’t
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Good to know!
But seriously @AstonJ, I found many people who referer themselves as alchemists, maybe is not that much and I’m a bit overeacting because I really hated this name (sorry anyone who liked it, I didn’t).
But yet, I guess this is one of the things even the creator of the language cannot control that much. If people want to, they will still entitle themselves like that (refer to the poll I created) so maybe we should just get used to it.
A shame, but I think we can live with it. Right?
PS.: I know the poll had not that big quorum, but still, from 16 voters, 13 are ok with alchemists.
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Noooooooo…
Elixirists!
I like to think we are doing more of engineering/science/craft than magic
Apparently I’m the only one who thinks that “Elixirist” can evoke the image of a snake oil salesman concocting and peddling his so-called elixirs (hardly an image of engineering/science/craft).
Also
Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir of life.
For whatever reason I first read that as “I’ll be very disappointed if we retire as alchemists”.
PS: Also Hex? Sure there is a hexagon logo - meanwhile without that logo it is nice and ambiguous with hex/curse. Maybe Chris was on to something.
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