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The target audience of this proposal is:

linguists, teachers, and students wanting to discuss the finer points of the Latin language

This is more or less the same as every proposal for a language site other than English had so far (i.e., they were all inspired from each other). Unless we opt against this, this wording will probably be used for the welcome text on the site, i.e., the first thing unregistered users see when they visit the site. It will look like this:

Welcome text example

In my opinion the above wording does accurately describe the proposed site for two reasons:

I thus suggest that we change this wording. Note that a similar change was made on German Language SE a few months ago.

When proposing a new wording, note that the layout will be broken, if this text exceeds roughly 130 characters – the details depend on the line wrapping and thus on the individual text.


Proposal: Latin Language

1 Answer 1

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Adopting the new wording for German Lanugage SE, I propose as a new wording of the target audience:

linguists, teachers, and students of all levels who want to share and expand their knowledge of the Latin language.

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  • "... and culture?" or does that go over our character limit? Jan 23, 2016 at 20:31
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    @MattGutting: It’s borderline (130 characters) and also something that should be discussed separately in my opinion. I do not intend this to become a discusison about what should be the scope of this proposal but rather whether the current wording actually reflects the scope as elaborated in other discussions.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jan 23, 2016 at 20:36
  • Understood; I was writing in light of well-upvoted answers like this. Jan 23, 2016 at 20:50
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    @MattGutting: I do not think that the upvoted answers favour the proposal being about the culture in extent that would justify mentioning culture this prominently. Or coming from the other side: I think that mentioning culture would give a false impression of this proposal’s scope as characterised by that answer.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jan 23, 2016 at 21:23
  • That makes sense as I think about it. Jan 23, 2016 at 21:44
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    I would certainly be unable to discuss the "finer points" of Latin - I just want to learn it! The standard wording might put off beginners like me.
    – TheHonRose
    Jan 24, 2016 at 14:25
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    I haven't followed the discussion on German.SE, but I'm not too fond of "increase their knowledge". It makes it sound like knowledge is something measured by one quantity, like "increase the volume of German in their brain". I would favour "share and expand their knowledge" (or deepen or broaden).
    – Earthliŋ
    Jan 25, 2016 at 18:00
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    @Earthliŋ: Both seem to be used roughly equally often. I have no preference in either way, so I changed it to expand.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jan 25, 2016 at 18:05
  • @Wrzlprmft Oh, yes. For English there's free Google NGram. I should have looked there myself! I guess increase knowledge is more common, and it was just a matter of personal preference, so I don't mind either way.
    – Earthliŋ
    Jan 25, 2016 at 18:37
  • @Earthliŋ: Keep in mind that it may be beneficial to change the audience of this proposal before it goes into Beta.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jan 29, 2016 at 19:56
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    I think "…share and expand their knowledge of the Latin language" is excellent. It makes clear that the site is about learning Latin, it places the focus clearly on the language and not on any period in history, it's inviting to both beginners and experts, and it has an appropriately serious tone. Well done, Wrzlprmft!
    – Ben Kovitz
    Feb 5, 2016 at 22:28
  • I do hope to see the occasional bizarre question like this. Technically that kind of question is not included in the description. That might be OK, since the actual questions and answers should make people with extraordinary questions like that feel welcome regardless of the official description. However, what do you think of adding "scientists" to the list? Maybe expand "linguists" to "linguists and other scientists"?
    – Ben Kovitz
    Feb 5, 2016 at 22:38
  • @BenKovitz: While I would like such word requests on the site (in fact, I have one of my own to make), I do not think that we have to consider every such case in that short line. It’s important that we do not exclude large groups such as learners, but it’s not the case that only such people are ever allowed to ask a question.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Feb 5, 2016 at 22:44

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