Why are tag suggestions and votes tied together?

Question

I noticed that a new tag block-chain was created and wanted to add a synonym blockchain to it because I frequently encounter either writing. The latter seems to be the correct one so maybe another kind of edit would be appropriate. Anyway. what really confused me is the error I got when I tried to suggest the tag. The second paragraph reads like you'd need 2500 reputation to suggest edits and independently of that you'd need 5 answer score for that tag to approve/reject the suggestion. But it seems like a suggestion also works as a vote.

I can see this as being intentional but I'm not sure. I'm not really seeing why you'd be able to vote on suggested tags with less than 2500 reputation. If the answer score is the important part why not just limit it to the answer score (and maybe increase it)?

Answer 1

What really confused me is the error I got when I tried to suggest the tag. The second paragraph reads like you'd need 2500 reputation to suggest edits and independently of that you'd need 5 answer score for that tag to approve/reject the suggestion.

You need both. You need 2,500 reputation to vote on suggested tag synonyms. You need to be a user with an answer with a score 5 or more (and 2,500 reputation) to suggest a synonym yourself. An alternative approach is to discuss it with the community, and a moderator after a short amount of time, will suggest the synonym themselves.

I'm not really seeing why you'd be able to vote on suggested tags with less than 2500 reputation. If the answer score is the important part why not just limit it to the answer score (and maybe increase it)?

We are trying to avoid a situation where a subject matter expert on oranges suggests that apples would be a good synonym for oranges because they are both fruit. Getting a score of 5 or more in a tag is a trivial task.