So there's news on SE's policies regarding beta sites and graduation. One important take-away was that perpetual beta status is definitely a thing, which doesn't have to mean the site isn't being successful. So some people have objected to the use of the "beta" label in these cases, and I've actually shared that sentiment for a while.

I obviously don't have data for this, but I've come to think that the beta label might actually hinder the growth of the community. Here on SE we all know that the "beta" label doesn't have to mean that the site isn't a full-fledged community. But to people not familiar with the network, especially if they're not from a tech-related background, I could see the "beta" label being daunting, as in "Oh, this is still being worked on, and isn't entirely polished yet... I'd rather wait until this is an established community." Especially since "beta" might evoke the impression that the software is still in beta, not the community (which is a legitimate assumption if you don't know the entire network behind that one beta site).

Since no one has followed the call to create a separate meta post yet, here it is. Can we do something about this? Rename "beta" to something else? Remove it entirely? (People on the network will recognise beta sites by the design.) Remove it for some semi-graduation as this answer suggested?