M@g, M*g, etc. - Why not just type Mag?

[bobo383]

Why not just type "Mag"? From my pure laziness point of view, that's less keystrokes than using a symbol for the "a".

A quick search on CPF shows the number of posts for these criteria:

Mag*: >113,000 (does not include M@g or M*g)
Shurefire: >23,600 (I didn't search P6, M6, etc.)
Fenix: > 20,000

I have several brands of lights and don't think Mag has any overall advantage over the other quality brands other than they've been around forever, are reasonably adequate and reliable, are widely available, and everybody sells hotrod parts for them. Mag appears to be the most common brand discussed on CPF (educate me if otherwise). Why not just say Mag?

This has probably been discussed before but I couldn't find it by searching - the "@" and "*" must really mess things up. Clue me in if there's a previous thread.

Thanks
Can-O-Worms-Opener-Upper

 

[KeyGrip]

I've read two main theories. One is that after Mag industries sued Arc out of existence for daring to make a tubular flashlight, people started jokingly writing M*g so they wouldn't get in trouble with Mag's legal team. The other theory is that, for whatever reason, some consider Maglite to be a dirty word, so they "censored" it much like they would censor sh*t. I think it's kinda silly.

 

[Illum]

m@g is a more definitive term than mag, especially when used as a search query. There's more than one word in the dictionary that contains the three letters.

 

[Mjolnir]

It is fairly annoying for researching purposes, since the list of results by searching "mag" will not include threads with other spellings. Regardless of the reason that it started, I don't see much use for it. If it is a way of mocking maglite for suing another company, than I think it is a somewhat immature, since it does cause an inconvenience for people. However, now it seems like more of a trend, especially since some of the people who type "M@G" don't really know where it originated from.
It also likely unnecessarily confuses new users, who may think that the word "maglite" actually isn't permitted because it violated some advertising rule (or something like that).

 

[chamenos]

m@g is a more definitive term than mag, especially when used as a search query. There's more than one word in the dictionary that contains the three letters.

Good point, I've actually never seen it that way.

I always thought it was just a deliberate misspelling meant to poke fun at Maglite for various reasons, that ended up being an inconvenience when doing a search.

 

[iapyx]

Mag*: >113,000 (does not include M@g or M*g)
Shurefire: >23,600 (I didn't search P6, M6, etc.)
Fenix: > 20,000

and why shurefire?

 

[Dioni]

and why shurefire?

Yep, why? :thinking:

 

[kramer5150]

interesting... silly as this thread is, I have often wondered this too. I wasn't around here during the lawsuits.

 

[Illum]

Yep, why? :thinking:

sticky keys?

 

[LumenHound]

Many people list their flashlights in their sig line. Using M@g rather than Mag in the sig line can help prevent the search CPF function from returning hoards of hits that may not have anything to do with Maglites whatsoever when your search is "Mag-lite" related.

 

[Dioni]

sticky keys?

Many people list their flashlights in their sig line. Using M@g rather than Mag in the sig line can help prevent the search CPF function from returning hoards of hits that may not have anything to do with Maglites whatsoever when your search is "Mag-lite" related.

I got a little tip from a buddy of the forum. After that I changed my sig to a pic.

Back to OP.
bobo383, have you tried the google search on main page?

 

[dano]

Yep, why? :thinking:

Because SF sued Pentagonlight out of existence, hence the surefire = shurefire?

Seriously, though, the whole "M@G" nonsense started with the ARC lawsuit, as some sort of protest. It's all a bit silly.

-dan

 

[bobo383]

Why Shurefire? I'm so smart I mis-spelled it. Surefire gets 22,900 posts on the Google Search for CPF (that's the one I'm using).

I guess if I sued the pants off alot of people my name would get messed up too, alot worse than M@g! Thanks for the insight, I didn't know about the Arc deal. Interesting.