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We closed the domain naming thread (click for details).

Instead, let's start with a killer "elevator pitch!" Joel will be blogging about the elevator pitch approach to naming, but to get you started:

The Elevator Pitch

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Imagine the user who will never read your FAQ and you have two seconds to grab their attention. It should be catchy but descriptive. It should be thoroughly clear but painfully concise. Make every... word... count.

Here are some creative examples:

  • Gawker: Daily Manhattan media news and gossip. Reporting live from the center of the universe.
  • Gizmodo: The gadget guide. So much in love with shiny new toys, it’s unnatural.
  • Autoblog: We obsessively cover the auto industry.
  • DumbLittleMan: So what do we do here? Well, it’s simple. 15 to 20 times per week we provide tips that will save you money, increase your productivity, or simply keep you sane.
  • Needcoffee.com: We are the Internet equivalent of a triple espresso with whipped cream. Mmmm…whipped cream.

Use it as a Tagline

A shorter elevator pitch can be used as a tagline — something you can display in the header at the top of the page. If it doesn't fit, consider shortening it or creating a separate tagline. Here are some great examples:

The Motto (don't forget your logo)

A logo begs for it own little, short tagline — like a motto. Maybe the tagline inspires the logo; Maybe it's the other way around. Mottos make good t-shirt, bumper stickers, and other marketing material. Either way, you'll recognize a good motto when you see it:

  • Just do it.
  • Think Different.
  • The Uncola.
  • Intel inside.
  • Like a rock.
  • The king of beers.

…and perhaps all this leads to a proper name and domain for your site… eventually. So let's start from the basics. Come up with a killer elevator pitch, tagline, and/or motto!

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@Robert I really do not want to sound negative but I am concerned that after we put in effort into this question, obtain community consensus etc, SO Inc will turnaround say: "Not cool enough! Sorry, we were asking the wrong question." (or some such). I am not really expecting you to do or say something in response to the above but just wanted to highlight my misgivings upfront. – svadali Oct 9 '10 at 2:13
@srikant Vadali: I have the same concern. I'm hoping it will only be the occasional site where creativity simply cannot be crowd sourced. But I wouldn't put some gawd-awful byline on every page... out of spite. That's why experts get paid so much to do this stuff. But we still want communities to at least think about and work on this stuff (design, logos, marketing, etc). That doesn't mean that results can be had from the effort alone. That's not from conceit or wanting control over these communities, just an unfortunate reality. – Robert Cartaino♦ Oct 9 '10 at 13:17
Also, I am open to suggestions about how to crowd-source creative endeavors when there is the possibility that community simply has no talent or expertise to do so. – Robert Cartaino♦ Oct 9 '10 at 13:25
@Robert I will think about a good elevator pitch. I would just add that you previously agreed that we had made a good name selection: meta.stats.stackexchange.com/questions/455/…. We went through a very structured process and came out with a good name. – Shane Oct 9 '10 at 15:35
If we are not going to immediately adopt this name, that there is some sentiment that we need to change the existing site name in order to merge the machine learning community because stats.SE is potentially an exclusionary name. See my previous proposal here: meta.stats.stackexchange.com/questions/379/… – Shane Oct 9 '10 at 15:35
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I agree with Shane here; please reconsider giving us CrossValidated back. Not because it is nice and we already have a good logo ideas for it. Not because it is easier to promote in our specific community. Not even because of the work and time we've all invested in selecting it. Just because the name (and this name) is an already done, working solution for the all wide scope problems, including .SE name, community unification, design, new user on-off topic issues... – mbq♦ Oct 10 '10 at 0:59
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@Robert Crowdsourcing decisions can be done in one of two ways: (a) Tell the community to take a decision via some structured process (e.g., voting, blind polls etc) and let the majority be the final word even if the final decision is something that SO does not like. or (b) Ask the community for suggestions but clearly state that the final decision is that of SO Inc. Setting expectations is really important: Are we taking decisions or are we offering suggestions? The answer to this question will determine how much effort the community will invest in finding answers. – svadali Oct 10 '10 at 3:18
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Right now you want a high level of effort (so that quality of output is high) and so you seem to empower us with decision making abilities but you really seem to take our 'decisions' as suggestions with an ability to veto it. I am not sure you can have both ways (want us to put in a high level of effort to generate good suggestions yet veto our ideas if they do not meet your criteria). – svadali Oct 10 '10 at 3:20
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@Robert No-one seems in a huge hurry to answer this. That may just be because it's a dreadful question - which it really is, however Jeff and the other SO bods try to spin it - but I think it also reflects how recent events have soured the atmosphere and dampened enthusiasm around here. The comments above seem to bear out that impression. Hope you're having fun "fighting our corner" at Stack Towers. – walkytalky Oct 10 '10 at 17:37

17 Answers

up vote 17 down vote

All models are wrong, but some are cross-validated.

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Based on our proposed site name and stats.stackexchange.com/questions/726/… – Shane Oct 16 '10 at 21:38
+1 I just love this one. – mbq♦ Oct 18 '10 at 14:05
Totally dig it! – ars Oct 18 '10 at 20:53
up vote 8 down vote

Questions and answers on statistical analysis, data mining, machine learning, data visualization, probability theory and statistical computing.

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(+1) Somewhat dull, but factual, informative and likely to improve our PageRank. – onestop Oct 20 '10 at 7:39
This could improve the page rank if it was used in a particular way. I don't see why we couldn't have a slightly more creative tagline, while SE would still embed this kind of description somewhere else (e.g. already in the FAQ, possible add to meta tags, etc.). – Shane Oct 20 '10 at 13:15
up vote 5 down vote

Falsifying the no free lunch theorem.

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E, it is not a theorem, it is an axiom ;-) – mbq♦ Oct 18 '10 at 22:32
Sorry...see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_free_lunch_theorem. – Shane Oct 18 '10 at 23:27
This is actually my favorite tagline; it implies something about data analysis, while also delivering a message about the fact that we are providing questions and answers for free. – Shane Oct 22 '10 at 14:45
up vote 3 down vote

Data, modeled .

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too promising perhaps? – user603 Aug 4 '11 at 20:33
up vote 2 down vote

The best Q&A site for data analysts in the world... Probably.

(perhaps i'm showing my age though? Based a Carlsberg advertising campaign from rather more years ago than I care to remember. May not ring any bells for those for whom 40 is still a distant prospect rather than a painful reality.)

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up vote 2 down vote

Data Analyses

Statistics, Machine Learning, Data Mining and Visualization

With data.stackexchange.com as url instead of stats.se

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a lot of statistics involves no data at all. – user603 Aug 4 '11 at 20:33
up vote 2 down vote

Ask us a question about statistics or data mining - you can be 95% confident of receiving a satisfactory answer. Statistic based on 1000 questions asked during the beta phase, of which 96% received an answer which was accepted by the questioner. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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up vote 1 down vote

Bootstrap your model.

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up vote 1 down vote

Twisting theories to suit facts.

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From stats.stackexchange.com/questions/726/… – Shane Oct 16 '10 at 21:28
up vote 1 down vote

Don't let numbers numb you - discover what they mean

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up vote 0 down vote

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

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From stats.stackexchange.com/questions/726/… – Shane Oct 16 '10 at 21:19
up vote 0 down vote

Drowning in information and starving for knowledge

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up vote 0 down vote

Data geeks, united.

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up vote 0 down vote

Answers on analytics -- theory and practice

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up vote 0 down vote

To sample or not to sample: That is the question.

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up vote 0 down vote

Like going to school for statistics, but it's free. And it doesn't suck.

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up vote 0 down vote

Lost in the data mines? Let us come to your rescue!

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