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Why is Arqade spelled with a q instead of being spelled "Arcade" as is the correct spelling?

I have looked around and could not find any evidence that showed that "Arqade" is even a real word.

Is it a different language or what?

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    relevant : meta.gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/4821/introducing-arqade As a bonus, "Arqade" even contains the acronym "QA" in it!
    – WizLiz
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 12:54
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    Because it looks cool!
    – Panzercrisis
    Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 14:16
  • CAUZE EY KANT SPAEL. SOZ DOOD.
    – Nick T
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 18:25
  • It is one of those things that are cooler than useful, since whenever I have to look up for this site (I'm just a casual user) I search for "Arcade" and never find it. (I came to this Question exaclty because I wanted to know why the awful Q instead of C).
    – carla
    Commented Jul 21, 2017 at 16:20

4 Answers 4

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It's spelled that way because Arqade is a question and answer or "Q&A" site about gaming, so they (as far as I remember) incorporated that into the name: ArQAde. It's not technically a real word, and isn't intended to be in any other language. It is just an alternative spelling that is a fun way of subtly hinting at what we do.

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    Oh that's clever! I guess that makes me dumb for missing it haha
    – Aequitas
    Commented Apr 9, 2015 at 5:29
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    It took me longer than I care to admit to notice this.
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Commented Apr 9, 2015 at 8:39
  • @Studoku just like me, that this question was the first time you noticed? Damn, stupid little things you overlook
    – Mathias711
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 6:25
  • You mean it's not a reference to Dennis Quaid?
    – Whelt
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 15:22
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    The official naming of the site spawned a brief fad where a number of users forced, usually awkwardly, the letters Q and A into their display names.
    – Private Pansy
    Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 11:33
  • "subtly hinting" So subtle I would have never guessed nor probably most people in general because the QA are never displayed upper case.
    – Winston
    Commented Oct 10, 2020 at 5:25
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In addition to the neat "Arqade," one of the requirements was to find a name whose domain name wasn't already taken.

Wait, what? A domain?

Well, yes and no. Domains have been exceedingly problematic in the past and have big search implications. So for now we would only use gamecouncil.com to redirect to gaming.stackexchange.com, a la Ask Different. We would use gamecouncil.com in advertising and so on, but the site will still live at the same address. We’re hoping that this gives the site an identity without all the pain associated with changing domains.

Unfortunately, most real words have already been taken; but you'll notice we managed to snag Arqade.com :)

For more information, here is the original thread requesting name ideas, and here was the thread announcing the new name.

As a side note, a great suggestion from that last link was to emphasize the "QA" in our logo:

arQAde

However, for some reason that idea was never implemented.

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    I do like this red-blue style better
    – David says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 5:04
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    I had the same question, ended up here, and would say this red/blue logo would have answered that question from the start!
    – DA.
    Commented Jul 9, 2015 at 19:29
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To add to everything being said, If I can remember right, the ArQAde name was suggested by a user.

Back in 2012, it was simply gaming.stackexchange, but at some point Stackexchange asked us what we should be called instead of just being the subbranch of SE that talks about gaming.

So an open thread (pretty sure it was a meta post) was created, and suggestions poured in.

If somebody finds that post, we could see some other names that were suggested, I remember ARQADE not being my favorite choice but cant remember the other choices.

Also, before the ARQADE name was taken for this site, the site had a different logo: enter image description here

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I think there are 3 reasons: Because it is a Q&A site,it is,I think,like ArQ&Ade,this is one reason for why it is spelled Arqade. The second reason is just about looking better and cooler. It is,after all,a Q&A site,not a game type (if it would have been spelled Arcade,it would have had the same name as a game type,count this as the third reason).

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  • ...you really think this would be useful when both of the previous answers said the exact same things well before?
    – user114997
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 10:14
  • Hey,but I thought if the answer myself and I created an account much later than the question was posted. So,I was not able to post an answer that. It's just a late answer,but I somehow got downvoted. Can I say it's some kind of discrimination for new users? @Texenox
    – John
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 10:47
  • There is no discrimination. The question had already been answered with the exact same things that you have said. Still doesn't change anything.
    – user114997
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 11:41

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