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Do we really need the and 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 .
  • They have no additional value when searching, as you would look for more specific things.

Looking at the questions tagged into detail:

To me, and 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 and 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.

1 Answer 1

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

I think the answer is clearly no in both cases.

So, I have burninated these two tags.

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  • IMPORTANT COMMENT REMINDER: you may now have some questions tagged untagged, which only had these tags, which need to be retagged and/or deleted if they are of no value and unanswered for long enough .. superuser.com/tags/untagged Jan 30, 2011 at 4:57
  • Yeesh 96 questions tagged [untagged] - got it down to 82 for now
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Jan 30, 2011 at 6:51
  • Now at 50 questions & I've exhausted my Mod flags for the day
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Jan 30, 2011 at 7:34
  • Done! Just need a moderator to retag the last question there... Jan 30, 2011 at 11:48
  • Nice job @Sathya and @TomWij! Jan 30, 2011 at 16:18
  • Yes, this is the best meta answer to date!
    – Troggy
    Feb 1, 2011 at 7:18

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