Can the hardware and software tags be obliterated?

Question

Do we really need the hardware and software tags?

Looking at the tags into detail:

• They don't group all the questions that should belong to them.
• Their statistics don't make sense, they are both less popular than command-line.
• They have no additional value when searching, as you would look for more specific things.

Looking at the questions tagged into detail:

• It's clear from the other tags and title if the question is about hardware or software.
• It's very weird to add software next to windows-7 or hardware to cpu.
• There is no single question that actually needs the tag.

To me, hardware and software are meta tags:

Let's check:

1. If the tag can’t work as the only tag on a question, it’s probably a meta-tag.

   If a question was tagged software, we have to wonder about what software. Check!

   If a question was tagged hardware, we have to wonder about what hardware. Check!

2. If the tag commonly means different things to different people, it’s probably a meta-tag.

   What software are you thinking about? Or what hardware? Check!

So, can the hardware and software tags be obliterated?

The problem is that these "meta" tags cover "all" questions on the site, while there isn't a single question that needs such a tag. Can anyone give sufficient counter-examples? From a software engineering perspective, these tags are like god classes while they better fit to be used in the form of the mediator pattern (thus in the form of tag sets).

— Source: Private discussion

— Originated from: Area 51 - Computer Hardware Proposal Discussion, Chat Discussion & Tagging.

Answer 1

I agree -- these tags add nothing, and they are perilously close to meta-tags, which are forbidden. Ask yourself this:

Could a (valid) question have the single tag software?
Could a (valid) question have the single tag hardware?

I think the answer is clearly no in both cases.

So, I have burninated these two tags.