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First i have to say that i have nothing against the actual name, and this question should be unique until now.

Looking at the "StackOverflow" name, i find nice that the name is related to a somewhat common problem in programming, that is justified by the fact that's a Q&A site. I think it's funny.

So why don't think about a similar concept for the name of this section? By now i don't have any idea better than "ShortCircuits" (but i know, it's ugly).

What do you think about this?

(i'm confused about how to tag this question, please edit if you have an idea)

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I think that the second could be similar, but the first not...it was about the meaning of electrical... – clabacchio Jan 15 at 21:24
@clabacchio, you are asking it differently, but the first question in essence is, would you please change from this name, it is not a good fit for whom we are and it is bringing bad questions to the site. – Kortuk♦ Jan 16 at 6:03
Why do we have a meta tag on meta? – Kellenjb Jan 17 at 2:12
@Kortuk ok sorry, what are you asking me? – clabacchio Jan 17 at 10:25
@clabacchio, I am disagreeing that the first link endolith provided is not related. I feel that both questions are in essence asking the same thing. – Kortuk♦ Jan 17 at 16:31
@Kortuk my objection was that the first link point to the difference between Electric and Electronic, and my intention was different...anyway i didn't see the second link and i agree for closing, no problem. – clabacchio Jan 17 at 17:44
@clabacchio, neither is an exact duplicate and it is still a topic people choose to discuss. I am not asking to close it, just pointing out we have had this issue for a bit now. – Kortuk♦ Jan 17 at 18:50
Yes, but it seems not so interesting, neither getting any new idea, so i think that the discussion can be continued in more followed questions...Don't you? – clabacchio Jan 17 at 19:00
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

I really dislike this idea. A name should give you a good idea what the site is about within the constaints of having to be short. Cutesy names with meanings to only a few basically say "Outsiders need not apply".

I don't like names like Stack Overflow, Stack Exchange, Sever Fault, and the like. I don't know these sites well enough to remember what they really stand for, and frankly find it a bit insulting. It's definitely a turn off to the site. I had vaguely heard of some of these sites before, but since the name didn't tell me what it was about I just ignored it. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not interested in closed groups with secret handshakes.

"Electrical Engineering" is a good name because it says what it is. If this site had been called "ShortCircuits", I probably wouldn't have clicked on the link to persue it.

Think about it, cutesy names are aggrevating to the uninitiated because they don't tell you anything, and give the general impression of flakiness and a bunch of giggly girls as apposed to people who pay attention to detail and take the subject seriously.

I would like to see the remaining cutesy names on the larger site fixed. I for one can never remember what each of Stack Overflow, Server Fault, Stack Exchange and the like mean.

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Okay, i agree with you about that, also because i was looking at the bottom of the page and there are some strange names that are not so clear... It was just a funny thing that i saw without any practical sense (not so engineery in fact :D) – clabacchio Jan 15 at 18:01
But at least Stack Exchange is the system behind all these sites, also this :) and i think all this derived from Stack Overflow. And thinking again about that, i think that the purpose was just to use the funny name, not to exclude anyone... – clabacchio Jan 15 at 20:37
@clabacchio: But funny names do exclude people. It says "We have our own little secret and you're excluded", and "If you don't know what it means, then you're not in the "in" crowd and this site isn't for you". – Olin Lathrop Jan 15 at 21:49
I've seen the possible duplicates, and sadly there's someone that aim exactly at this... – clabacchio Jan 15 at 21:56
I would like it if it just got that basic expansion to electrical and electronics engineering. – Kortuk♦ Jan 16 at 6:04
That's a common point: i have also the problem when i have to refer myself, i don't know if saying electronic or electric engineering...there is some english speaking guy who knows the exact difference, the official one? – clabacchio Jan 16 at 7:05
@clabacchio, in the USA we consider Electrical engineering to mostly be all encompassing. If you do electronics you are still an electrical engineer. In Europe they consider electrical engineers to be what we would call power engineers here. Electrical engineers are the ones that layout power grids and such, while the electronics engineers do what this stackexchange is mainly focused on. by using the name Electrical and Electronics Engineering we would use a name both sides of the pond understood. – Kortuk♦ Jan 17 at 16:34
Ok thanks for the informations :) now i can rewrite my curriculum :) – clabacchio Jan 17 at 18:58
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