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(This is a spin-off of this question which was probably too broad.)

The beginning of our FAQ currently reads (bolding mine):

What kind of questions can I ask here?

Jewish Life and Learning - Stack Exchange is for students and teachers of Jewish law and tradition.

I bolded the phrase that we'd like to come up automatically in different places when the site needs to remind someone what the scope is. Perhaps most prominently, every new visitor to the site sees the following notification:

Welcome to Q&A for students and teachers of Jewish law and tradition — check out the FAQ!

I've had a new visitor complain to me that this sounds too formal and that it could turn away people who don't see themselves as either students or teachers.

Another possibility is the definition we used during the Commitment phase on our Area51 proposal:

... for people who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more.

The idea behind this formulation, which I explained in detail in the comments on the proposal, is that it describes the core expert group we're targeting - people who think about Judaism all the time because they consider it binding and live their lives by it - while also opening the door to people with curiosity but less Jewish involvement.

Should we keep the current phrasing? Should we come up with something new? Answers that include concrete phrasing proposals will be most appreciated.

Don't forget: We want every new visitor to see these words, so it's pretty important to make sure they leave the right impression.

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    Regarding the concern of the new visitor: Are there any firsthand data indicating repulsion of potential users caused by this line?
    – WAF
    Jun 3, 2011 at 13:40
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    @WAF We'd have to do a survey or a focus group or something to get that. I think we'll just have to go by the intuition and judgement of the community.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jun 3, 2011 at 15:34

1 Answer 1

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I like

for people who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more

from the proposal (though frankly I'd replace people with those).

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    So replace it. This is your answer.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jun 2, 2011 at 15:31
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    Why do you prefer "those" to "people"?
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jun 2, 2011 at 19:32
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    @IsaacMoses re "Why...": Because (and I don't know the words to explain this right, so bear with me) those is less strong a word. People calls more attention to itself, is more noticeable, and, therefore, pulls more attention away from the more important part of the line. At least, that's my impression. Re "So replace...": Well, I did replace it, by mentioning the replacement. As I was responding to the people version, I specified mine as a diff of that one.
    – msh210 Mod
    Jun 2, 2011 at 19:47
  • I've implemented this answer (using "those") in the FAQ.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jun 13, 2011 at 17:32
  • Followup question: english.stackexchange.com/q/100966
    – msh210 Mod
    Jan 21, 2013 at 22:23

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