I've been a long time fan of the Tavern and think it has done a lot of good for our community. I applaud these updates to further foster a more positive and inclusive community. However, when thinking about this further I feel that the alcohol-centered branding is at odds with the mission of building a better community.

My take on it is that lots of folks in our community don't use alcohol for many reasons such as religion, country, age, personal preference, etc. When we have a tagline like "Free as in Beer" and pages named "Ask the Bartender" it glorifies alcohol which dissuades people from wanting to be part of arguably the most important WP news community.

Imagine you're a recovering alcoholic and trying to get your career on track by learning WordPress. Would you want a reminder of your past demons when trying to stay up on the news? There are many scenarios I can think of where a more positive brand would just "fit" better... for instance, WP Candy ;)

I understand it would be a big shift to go away from the "WP Tavern" branding because it's so widely known, but I just wanted to provide my perspective and some food for thought and discussion. To be clear, I do drink and am personally not put off by the branding but I do have friends who are recovering alcoholics that avoid all alcohol places/references like the plague.

Has this come up before as a discussion? What are your thoughts?