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I thought it would promote better interactions if we changed 'meta' to metta. Realistically, having more compassion and perspective is what meta means, anyway.

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I disagree, since in the context of SE, "Meta" is not a Pali word. It comes from the Greek prefix. The same prefix is used in 'meta-physics' (what goes beyond physics), 'meta-literature' (the study of the study of literature), 'meta-linguistics', etc.

As Wiki says:

Meta (from the Greek preposition and prefix meta- (μετά-) meaning "after", or "beyond") is a prefix used in English to indicate a concept which is an abstraction behind another concept, used to complete or add to the latter.

Of course, changing 'meta' in 'metta' would be a somewhat funny pun most would probably understand, but it would in fact not convey the meaning of the Greek and I don't think it's all it takes to promote loving kindness and compassion.

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    Well, it was worth a try. But metta is "after or beyond" where many people feel that they currently are, so it seems applicable that way.
    – user2341
    Apr 14, 2017 at 17:51
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That would indeed be a -- i.e. it is not something which moderators can edit/implement, and it would instead require the SE site designers/developers/operators to make that change.

There have been more than 20,000 feature request topics on SE. Now it's not that they don't implement any, and clearly they do implement some (nearly 3,000 of those 20,000 are tagged "status-completed") -- but I've never seen one being proposed and then implemented.

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While I agree fully with Tenzin Dorje's post I want to add that the meta-name/function is considered a core element within the Stack Exchange Network that needs to remain streamlined across SE's.

As an SE we are pretty open to changes but this is a bit too radical IMO.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

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    Maybe metta should also be a core element in SE :-)
    – user2341
    Apr 14, 2017 at 17:48

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