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diff --git a/README b/README
index d1c17766..f12c1cba 100644
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+++ b/README
@@ -1,36 +1,54 @@
-public-inbox - shared mailboxes via git for public discussion
--------------------------------------------------------------
+public-inbox - an "archives first" approach to mailing lists
+------------------------------------------------------------
+
+public-inbox implements the sharing of an email inbox via git to
+complement or replace traditional mailing lists.
+
+public-inbox spawned around three main ideas:
+
+* Publically accessible and archived communication is essential to
+  Free and Open Source development.
+
+* Contributing to Free and Open Source projects should not require the
+  use of non-Free/non-Open Source services or software.
+
+* Graphical user interfaces should not be required for text-based
+  communication.
+
+public-inbox aims to be easy-to-deploy and manage; encouraging projects
+to run their own instances with minimal overhead.
+
+Features
+--------
+
+* anybody may participate via plain-text email
+* stores email in git, readers have a complete archive of the inbox
+* Atom feed allows casual readers to follow via feed reader
+* Mail user-agent (MUA) users may use Maildir, mbox(5) and/or IMAP locally
+* uses only well-documented and easy-to-implement data formats
 
-public-inbox is an "archives first" approach to mailing lists.
-It implements the sharing of an email inbox to complement or replace
-traditional mailing lists.  public-inbox is primarily intended as a
-Free, distributed public communications tool for users and developers of
-Free and Open Source Software.  public-inbox should be easy-to-deploy
-and manage; encouraging software projects to run their own instances
-with minimal overhead.
 
 Implementation
 --------------
+
 public-inbox uses ssoma[1], Some Sort Of Mail Archiver which implements
 no policy of its own.  By exposing an inbox via git, readers may follow
-the mailing list without subscribing via SMTP and have easy access to
-old messages.
+the inbox without subscribing via SMTP and have easy access to old
+messages.
 
-Traditional mailing lists use the "push" model.  List servers deliver
-content via SMTP to other mail servers used by readers of the mailing
-list.  For readers, this requires commitment to subscribe to the list
-and extra effort to unsubscribe.  New readers may also have difficulty
-following existing discussions if archives do not expose Message-ID
-headers for responses.  List server admins are also burdened with
-occasional bounce messages.
+Traditional mailing lists use the "push" model.  For readers, this
+requires commitment to subscribe and effort to unsubscribe.  New readers
+may also have difficulty following existing discussions if archives do
+not expose Message-ID headers for responses.  List server admins may be
+burdened with delivery failures.
 
 public-inbox uses the "pull" model.  Readers import mail into an mbox,
 Maildir, or IMAP folder from git repositories periodically.  If a reader
-loses interest, they simply stop syncing.  Since ssoma uses git,
-mirrors are easy-to-setup, and lists are easy-to-relocate to different
-mail addresses without losing/splitting archives.  Dedicated readers
-only need to install ssoma, a command-line tool[1] currently implemented
-in Perl.
+loses interest, they simply stop syncing.  Since we use git, mirrors are
+easy-to-setup, and lists are easy-to-relocate to different mail
+addresses without losing/splitting archives.  Dedicated readers only
+need to install ssoma, a command-line tool[1] currently implemented in
+Perl.
 
 Casual readers may also follow the list via Atom feed or web archives.
 
@@ -39,18 +57,12 @@ a public-inbox git archive to subscribers via SMTP.
 
 [1] http://ssoma.public-inbox.org/README
 
-Features
---------
-* anybody may participate via plain-text email to the public address
-* stores email in git, readers have a full archive of the mailing list
-* Atom feed allows casual readers to follow via feed reader
-* Mail user-agent (MUA) users may use Maildir, mbox(5) and/or IMAP locally
-* uses only well-documented and easy-to-implement data formats
-
 Requirements (Atom, read-only client)
 -------------------------------------
 * any feed reader capable of following Atom feeds
 
+Any basic web browser will do for the HTML archives.
+
 Requirements (participant)
 --------------------------
 * ssoma - http://ssoma.public-inbox.org/INSTALL