There's been some recent discussion on ELU that, among other things, mentions that some ELU users feel like they're being "kicked out" of ELU and pushed to ask on ELL when asking questions that are either more appropriate for ELL than ELU, or are in "overlap territory" where they could belong on either site.
Now, when we comment on ELU questions and inform users of ELL's existence, we are trying to be helpful. We're trying to give the asker a resource for the future, if the question can remain on ELU, or point them to asking instead on ELL/having their question migrated if it is not an ELU-acceptable question. We're trying to ensure they get answers to their questions, and generate more traffic for our site. This is a good thing.
But if our comments pointing to ELL are being taken the wrong way, perhaps we ought to more carefully consider the way we word them. Are we being too terse in our comments, so they seem like we're brushing the user off? Or what can we do to more clearly explain that we intend to be helpful, and are not trying to force the user out of ELU?
I posted this comment in response to the discussion:
Regarding people feeling like they're being kicked over to ELL, I sincerely hope that's not the case. I know several ELL users who, when viewing a question on ELU that could fit on either site or is better for ELL, mention ELL as a resource for the future. I think our general feeling over at ELL is that not a lot of people know about us yet, so spreading the word is a good thing. But we're not trying to kick anyone anywhere, I promise! We just want you to know we're there. If this is a popular feeling we might consider rewording our comments; we don't want anyone feeling this way. (ELL Mod)
How can we make our intentions more clear? We're trying to do a good thing but it seems to not always be taken that way. Any thoughts? I'm also going to invite the asker of the ELU meta question to this question, in case they'd like to shed more insight as to why they felt brushed off. I think this is very important to discuss, so if you have any thoughts at all please share them!