I couldn't agree more.
.

Richard the Phipps!

A fish for a logo, now that wouldn't be bland at all!

I must say, things are not moving fast enough here. (No decisions are being made and that can't go on forever. We need a dictator/fearless leader for "art" that comes with the lib.)

We've been discussing on IRC this morning, that it might be wise to brainstorm and create an entirely new character, whose sole purpose of existance it would be to be the mascot for Allegro. That way, we could give that new character away freely within the Allegro giftware license.

So far, there have been suggestions to make a new Allegator and just not call him Alex (but that would be quite lame and cheap).
Another suggestion was an Alley-Cat or some sort of bird(an Albatross perhaps).
(puns were made: Allegro - Free Like A Bird, Allegro - Free As In Bird(not beer))

Well, most of that discussion was probably just joking around but I for one do think that the idea of having a unique new character(created/chosen by the community) as the mascot is good.

There was also the idea to have that character depicted in various different activities which could be used as header-images to various sections of the manual.(Matt had already created a few sketches with an Allegator for that purpose:one,two,three,four)

Another idea that has been brought up was that the mascot could lead through a few short introductional tutorials about using the library, which I think is a very good idea.

Well... brainstorm away! Suggest an animal+name which should become the Allegro mascot! Also give some reason why you think that the animal you suggest would be a good mascot for Allegro and give some characteristic properties that the mascot should have. (examples from the Wikipedia mascot page: "Wikipede is male, bookish, and an individualist." "The Miwiki ant is innocent, wide-eyed, androgynous, and collectivist.")

[edit]256th post(in this thread) \o/[/edit]

Considering the difficulty in deciding on a new logo, it's no wonder that development of Allegro 5.0 has taken so many years..

I like the allegosaurus. It's old but cool. Seems fitting

My logo contribution:

http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/592634

Allan the Allegrosaurus!

(I know it's not a perfect logo... but what do you think of the character?)

Looks familiar.

So I was playing around with this site out of boredom. Here's two more additions:
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/592635
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/592636

Nah, I think you're right Dennis, a decision needs made. In fact, we need a Decider. A Fearless leader as it were.

...

I just wrote a long winded rant about needing a fearless leader. But whatever. I do think someone needs to take up the position, but who is willing?

I agree: http://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/592305

It does, actually, but the post is sortof vacant at the moment. I subtly tried to get Elias or Peter to take this on, but I was either too subtle or neither of them felt like it.

Well, in absence of there being a "new" dictator, I sort of feel the position is still mine, which makes me feel bad because I don't have enough time for it at the moment. Peter is managing the releases at the moment, which is probably one of the more annoying aspects. Then again, it's not necessarily the Dictator's responsibility to do this.

If anyone want to volunteer, they should post on the mailing list so we can have some discussion (if necessary). We might also discuss what sort of things the Dictator is responsible for. IRC would be ok for doing that if a meeting is ever held at a time when I can actually attend.