[jdonato]

1. More intelligent and diverse discussion. I don't know how you would do that, but try to make it the opposite of reddit.com/r/politics.

2. Convenient links to relevant background information for the article. E.g. relevant statistics, opposing viewpoints, press releases, wikipedia articles, a summary of "just the facts" from the article, previous quotes from the people the article is about.

Also, I know you weren't asking for feedback on the site, but the name would otherwise make me assume that it's a site about atheism.

[leejw00t354]

Promoting intelligent, diverse discussion is definitely something we hope to do. It's something that becomes harder when you have a wider range of topics, which in turn, attracts a wider range of people. It may be better to promote discussion that is sensible to the topic at hand.

The name comes from combining the words Athena (the Greek goddess of wisdom) and syntax (meaning arragement).