It's fascinating, because shelters in and of themselves are positive things: they're built to be refuges or safe havens. Places where you expect help is at hand.
They sound negative when you start to look at the reason for them existing. Not because shelters are bad, but because homelessness and abuse and abandonment is bad.
From a UK perspective, shelter to me makes me think of a bus stop or an awning to get out of the rain, or to get some shade.
Yes, that's how I perceive it as well. The fact that you're in circumstance X might suck, but shelter for that is always good. It's interesting to me that people find the word "shelter" itself negative because they associate it with the unwanted circumstance. I wonder if the same happens with "haven", "succor", etc.
Sorry for the negativity, man. I hope this thing succeeds in a big way. Only consider this point a little while, and don't rule out grepping through the code base with the name change just now.
The meaning of words changes all the time. I don't think this is a big issue. If Code Shelter does good work and establishes a positive reputation, the phrase will generally develop positive meaning.
The degree to which the word shelter has negative associations for some people is not something I would see as deal breaker territory.
I will add that there are far more uses for shelter than just homeless shelter or animal shelter. Just a few examples:
A book about a New York woman's house hunt was titled "Gimme Shelter." (Author: Mary Elizabeth Williams)
The basic essentials in life are typically listed as food, shelter and clothing.
Shelter from the storm is a well known positive expression for sanctuary during a crisis.
Shelter magazines is the umbrella term for magazines having anything to do with homes, such as home plans, bed and bath, kitchen makeovers etc.
I think the order and placement of the words is also important.
The format "(noun) shelter" is similar to and might more readily bring to mind "animal shelter" and "homeless shelter" than a phrase in the "(verb) shelter" and "shelter _____" formats.
Personally, I liked the name and logo. I do see the points about it being taken negatively, but I didn't take it that way, and I had a reasonable guess at what the project was after reading the first two words of the headline. Just one data point.
