Yeah the answer is BS, what I read is that there is an interest in this other (marginally related) site to succeed and as a result someone fired up the PC half baked nonsense PC mumbo jumbo answer. It had been discussed between the site proponrents previously and NO its NOT a dupe site by admission also of the cog.sci people.
I understand that SE is in it for the money and not the service, but just like in science and business not allowing initiatives to even start is not the way to go, it shows the real values and intent behind the company and causes a lot of bad blood. I really don't see a good reason for the whole area51 thing, its one thing to have a way to help people that need help creating and maintaining a community its another to become a bureaucratic hurdle that stomps initiative and innovation.
