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Update 11/25: Thanks for your feedback! We're going to go ahead and drop "& Usage" from the site title. The header image and the "official" language around the site (in the help center and about page, for example) should be updated within the next few days.

I know this community would prefer to have the site name in Spanish as well, but that's not a change we're prepared to make at this time.

I'm Laura, a product manager at Stack Exchange.

I wanted to let this community know that I've started a discussion over on Meta Stack Overflow about some general guidelines for naming our sites, specifically our language sites, going forward. Feel free to read and discuss my post over there.

The gist of my proposal is that "& Usage" generally makes a site name longer and more difficult to say and type without adding much, if any, meaning.

We'd like to rename existing Stack Exchange language sites to just "X Language" and drop "& Usage" from both existing sites and any new language sites we launch in the future.

This means the header image on the site would simply read "Spanish Language" rather than "Spanish Language & Usage", and all of the official documentation would drop "& Usage" as well. The site URL would not change.

We've already done this with our Italian Language site (in private beta at the time of this writing), and they were pleased with the simpler name. Until now, our language sites have followed the naming convention of "X Language & Usage Stack Exchange", but why? It seemed to make sense at the time, but as we've grown, it's become clear that "& Usage" isn't really necessary. A site about a particular language is, by definition, concerned with the usage of that language — that's where all the questions come from!

Before we actually make any changes to existing sites, I wanted to hear any concerns you might have. I feel like a shorter, simpler name is a big win for everyone, but please feel free to post concerns about this particular community here, or any general concerns over on the main MSO thread.

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  • it's become clear that "& Usage" isn't really necessary. more than that, it's plainly dumb. I'm glad that it's being dropped.
    – leonbloy
    Commented Nov 26, 2013 at 18:38

2 Answers 2

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Personally, I would rather see the title in Spanish;

El Idioma Español

Although, admittedly, this would make more sense once the UI is in Spanish as well, which is waiting on the Localization effort, as I understand it.

I would also suggest that the following URLs all direct to the site (regardless of which one remains the official one):

  • spanish.stackexchange.com
  • espanol.stackexchange.com
  • xn--espaol-zwa.stackexchange.com
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  • 2
    I have made the same suggestion on the main meta discussion.
    – Flimzy Mod
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 0:40
  • Apoyo toatalmete..Totally agree
    – Emilio Gort
    Commented Nov 18, 2013 at 4:09
  • To keep everyone here up to date, here's what I said on the other post: I don't think having the site names localized without localizing the rest of the interface makes sense. And our localization / internationalization project is not far enough along where we can talk about this in a concrete way. When I encounter a site name and URL in a language other than English, I expect that everything on that site is in the target language, and it's confusing to land there and find out that content might be in the target language but the UI is in English.
    – Laura Staff
    Commented Nov 19, 2013 at 16:25
  • Honestly curious; I get the request for both spanish. and espanol. URLs, but what does the 3rd suggestion signify?
    – WendiKidd
    Commented Dec 4, 2013 at 3:00
  • @WendiKidd: Punycode for español.
    – Flimzy Mod
    Commented Dec 4, 2013 at 8:36
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Mi sugerencia es hacer los sitios sobre Idiomas en sus propios idiomas, ej:

Titulo: Idioma Español (como @Flimzy dice) url: espanol.stackexchange.com

Titulo: Lingua Italiana url: italiana.stackexchange.com

Es mucho mejor si uno esta aprendiendo o buscando por expertos en un idioma tener el sitio en el idioma en cuestion.

Yo conozco algunos filologos los cuales no les gusta o no saben Ingles

I also suggest make the all language sites to their languages eg:

Title: Idioma Español (how @Flimzy said) url: espanol.stackexchange.com

Title: Lingua Italiana url: italiana.stackexchange.com

ETC..

I'm not sure about my translation to the italian title, but I seem that may be the idea..

It's better when you are learning or looking for expert in a language topic always do in the proper language, IMO

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    I'll repeat what I said in response to Flimzy's post on MSO: I think it would be more confusing to change the site names out of English without changing the whole interface to be in the target language, and we're still a long way off from being able to host Stack Exchange sites in any language our users want. So unfortunately, this isn't going to happen right now.
    – Laura Staff
    Commented Nov 18, 2013 at 15:24

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