Grammar of the "What topics can I ask about here?" help center page

Question

From the help center:

For example, questions are welcome that are about:

Creation of elements of a world (languages, species, buildings, etc.)

Effects of events or world elements, including biology, technology and magic, on specific aspects of that world's societies, cultures, and environment

How to achieve a specified effect in a defined world, including by the use of biology, technology or magic, while maintaning in-universe consistency

Several problems I've noticed with this. Nothing about the actual content, but with the grammar and spelling of this paragraph. For one, isn't it awkward to say "questions are welcome that are about"? Wouldn't it sound much better if you changed it to: "questions that are about: list list list are welcome on this site." Also, the word "maintaning" should be changed to "maintaining".

I'm fairly sure this is a per-site change, so I think this is something the moderators could change. I think this is something worth looking into.

Answer 1

You're quite right, in one sense, and a little wrong in another.

For example, questions are welcome that are about:

This is bad grammar. Properly speaking, what precedes a colon -- most especially if what is called for after it is a list -- must be a complete clause.

For example, questions are welcome on any of the following topics:

That's not the most elegant way of putting it, but it's at least grammatically correct.

I suggest the following:

For example, Worldbuilding SE welcomes questions on the following:

That gets rid of the passive voice and is grammatically correct. It is also marginally more specific. "Worldbuilding SE" might be replaced, but with what? "We" sounds a bit patronizing to my ear. "This site" has the same number of words but less specificity.