According to The Real Essential Questions of Every Beta one of the essential questions private beta is to establish our tag line. This site's elevator pitch.
I will not include a suggestion in the question itself but just ask everyone who has an idea to post an answer that can be voted on.
One suggestion per answer please.
A result of our January 2, 2017 chat event:
Internet of Things is a Q&A site for consumers and developers of interconnected objects embedded with electronics to be sensed, monitored, and controlled remotely.
Internet of Things is a question and answer site for enthusiasts and users of the "smart devices" connected into the physical world computer-based systems.
As per Wikipedia page:
The Internet of things (...) (also referred to as "connected devices" and "smart devices")
so we're not re-inventing definitions and also we do not have pitch tag line with circular meaning (such as: IoT is a place for questions about IoT).
Further more, these "smart devices" needs to be connected to be part of IoT:
The IoT allows objects to be sensed and/or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit.
Related: What classifies a device as IoT?
Okay, so like the chat, we need to define what we're looking for.
Something that's short. It should be a whole sentence, but it shouldn't draw out so long and keep going so long that when people start to read it they keep on reading and reading until they stop reading because it is so long and skip to the end to see if they can get the jist of it by reading the end; failing which they wander off without ever having read through the whole sentence. Okay, you get the point. :)
Something that is descriptive. It should describe the site well, but also in a way that the your Joe-on-the-street will get an idea what we're talking about. In other words, saying simply, "We are a question and answer site about the Internet of Things" will probably put a few people in the fog who actually do know something about it simply because it isn't in their vocabulary.
It must be pithy. Not rambling. Not a bunch of fluff. Short. Crisp. Precise.
It should be catchy. Something that catches a person's eye and makes them stop for a second. I heard once that the majority of sales are truly made in the first 10 seconds of an interview. First impression is everything.
In light of these things, try this out:
"Internet of things is a Q&A site concerning everyday objects which function autonomously by means of a network connection."
(Edited twice)
I'm aiming to keep it short and open:
"Internet of Things is a Q&A site concerning the everyday objects that use networks."
The word "everyday" tries to qualify the objects just a little bit, to exclude phones, computers, and networking equipment. (Perhaps "ordinary objects" would be clearer, but it sounded too alliterative to me.) I thought about qualifying it further like "everyday objects that contain a computer but are not primarily computing devices" but that takes all the punch out of it.
It doesn't describe the objects as containing electronics, computers, or chips (which would be redundant); it doesn't describe the environment the objects are in (IoT objects could be installed in a data center but that doesn't make them servers); it doesn't describe the users of the objects (they aren't limited to "ordinary people" or "non-technical users"); and it doesn't describe the size of the object (pedometers and refrigerators are all welcome in the IoT.)
It doesn't qualify the what the object does with the network. For this definition it doesn't matter if the object uses it for status reporting or permits remote control, or if the object provides remote control or monitors status.
It also doesn't qualify the type of the network; not wired or wireless, digital or analog. It presumes that if an object can get to a network (any network), the implication is that network can ultimately bridge those messages to and/or from the internet.
Another one from the chat event:
Internet of Things is a Q&A site for power users and developers of interconnected objects embedded with electronics to be sensed, monitored, and controlled remotely.
Not my idea, thus community wiki. This is from the Area 51 proposal:
(Internet of Things StackExchange is) Q&A site for everyday objects embedded with electronics to be sensed, monitored, and controlled remotely.
(Parenthesized part added by me)
Rather than focusing to much on hammering an IoT definition in the phrase I post this as a site user focused tag line suggestion.
Internet of Things is a question and answer site for everyone from curious user to enthusiasts, to professionals—a place for all questions IoT.
Internet of Things is a Q&A site for users, creators and enthusiasts of connected Things in private and professional environments.
Rephrasing definition from Internet of Things from the Wikipedia:
Internet of Things is a question and answer site for enthusiasts and users of the internetworking of physical devices, smart devices and other items that enable these objects to collect and exchange data.
to avoid creating yet another definition of “Internet of things” just for this site.
I'll take a crack at it:
Internet of Things SE is a great place to ask technical questions about device inter-connectivity and real-world automation such as "Smart Thermostats".
The last bit about "Smart Thermostats" is to help make it relatable to those who are not as acquainted with other Smart Home concepts or industry related IoT practices.
