There's been some global network discussion about how to improve the SE community's response to newcomers. I just wanted to pose a question in the context of Philosophy.SE about how we should read the meaning of the "friendliness drive" with respect to our site.
Let me say straight away that, despite some perception that it is difficult to ask questions here, that my sense is that Philosophy.SE users tend to go far above and beyond the call of duty with respect to charity, friendliness and generosity in reading questions, especially with respect to questions from newcomers. In my experience folks also tend to go a good bit out of their way to offer guidance and support to new users.
That said, despite a generally exceptionally open and welcoming atmosphere, there are occasional problems. Let's try to come up with a friendliness policy! I have suggested a few major points below I think such a policy should attempt to meaningfully address; please free to suggest others! Note that I am not necessarily expecting a detailed response to these -- I would really just like to start this conversation about what the SE Summer of Love means for Philosophy.SE.
How might we combat insularity? "Be nice" is a global SE guideline, but how should we interpet this for our community? What might be some concrete policies implementing this directive?
How can we encourage impartial and generous reading of questions? (This issue is really about establishing/preserving a friendly tone in comments and answers, regardless of concerns we may have about the way a question is formulated.)
How should we organize our effort to bring new users, especially experts, into the community -- in particular to replace old users that may drift away? (A great friendliness policy should take into account outreach as well as atmosphere.)