12

There are actually a few 'background' tags floating around in the... background.

...Ok, that one was terrible. In all seriousness:


Updates

These tags have been removed:

  • background - used generically for both background tasks and background images, it has been replaced with more precise tags.
  • desktop-background (Merged with )
  • wallpaper - Synonymised with
  • background-job / background-process
    • From Oliver below:

      Background processes are not an area of expertise and/or interest. There aren't any experts on background processes who would see your question and have an answer because they deal with background processes all the time These tags don't add any useful grouping or filter to the question, and should be removed/replaced

These are the ones that remain to be cleared:

Questions about desktop wallpapers/backgrounds should be tagged instead. Other uses of these tags should be dealt with on a case-by case basis (but generally just removed).

6
  • 7
    I don't think that any of those tags are actually helpful Aug 6, 2014 at 9:38
  • 1
    @OliverSalzburg - I wasn't too sure about the wallpaper ones, But I can see an argument being made to keep background processes
    – Robotnik
    Aug 6, 2014 at 9:59
  • 1
    I agree with @OliverSalzburg. Wallpaper and Desktop-Background aren't helpful at all... Aug 6, 2014 at 23:01
  • 1
    background-image is not a desktop-background by nature. Aug 7, 2014 at 18:02
  • 1
    I agree with @Qix. Examining the background-image tag, several non-desktop-background related titles include "Is it possible to use an image in the background of the log on screen?", "How do I set a background image on a running terminal emulator?", "How can I create a PDF with a different full-page background image for each page, perhaps using Word 2011 or OpenOffice Writer 4?", and "How to set a custom background image in ConEmu?" Aug 8, 2014 at 16:30
  • Updated after clearing out [background]
    – Robotnik
    Nov 13, 2015 at 2:29

3 Answers 3

1

was the only piece of this thread remaining and it has been completed. Change to .

1
  • 1
    Flagging is probably better as the mods are the only ones that can action the status-* tags
    – Robotnik
    Apr 9, 2017 at 9:33
2

I merged into , but would still suggest removing that tag from the system completely.

and have been merged into but that tag should be cleaned up and removed as well.


To reiterate, these tags require attention and should be removed:

8
  • I think wallpaper should be a synonym of desktop-customization.
    – gronostaj
    Sep 28, 2014 at 11:17
  • I'm confused. What's wrong with background-process (or -task or -job, as long as there's only one of them)? (I discovered this question and answer when ṧнʊß removed the tag from my question: superuser.com/q/809340/199803) Sep 29, 2014 at 17:20
  • @KyleStrand: It doesn't provide any value whatsoever. You might be interested in meta.superuser.com/questions/8146/help-us-clean-up-tags Sep 29, 2014 at 17:22
  • @OliverSalzburg I'm not sure I agree (note that one of the two answers on my question has everything to do with handling background processes and nothing to do with Chrome specifically), and I'm also not sure I see a community consensus on the issue. It looks like you merged -job into -process and suggested removing the tag completely, at which point ṧнʊß started removing the tag from questions. Sep 29, 2014 at 17:31
  • 1
    @KyleStrand: You're welcome to post an answer here, making a case for the tag, but my position remains that the tag doesn't provide any value. Background processes are not an area of expertise and/or interest. There aren't any experts on background processes who would see your question and have an answer because they deal with background processes all the time. The important tags here are the product you're dealing with and the operating system you're using. Sep 29, 2014 at 17:40
  • I am in the process of creating just such an answer. Sep 29, 2014 at 17:42
  • @OliverSalzburg - ping in case you don't see the updated question, but [wallpaper] got recreated. Might be worth to make it a synonym of [desktop-customization]?
    – Robotnik
    Nov 13, 2015 at 2:30
  • @Robotnik: Good call! Nov 13, 2015 at 11:42
0

I don't see why is considered "worthless" by Oliver Salzburg et al. (though perhaps I'd be swayed if someone were to actually state their reasoning for thinking the tag has no value.

In the meantime, though, here's my pre-emptive counterargument, based on the criteria presented in the main tag clean-up question.

  • Tag is only useful when combined with another: Admittedly it's rather difficult to think of a good question for which would be the only applicable tag; if nothing else, since the behavior of background processes varies from OS to OS, the OS involved would probably be an applicable tag for any question using . It's quite easy, however, to think of questions for which background processes are the real core of the question; my question that led me here (see comments on Oliver Salzburg's answer) is one such example. I can also imagine some good questions about interacting with background processes on, say, various mobile OSes (Android, iOS, and Windows phones spring to mind).
  • Tag does not describe a specific technology or area of expertise: I would consider an understanding of background processes to be a specific area of expertise, though again this is somewhat OS- and hardware-dependent. However, their basic principles--how background processes work, what problems they're likely to cause, and what tools users have for dealing with them--are pretty similar from platform to platform. Oliver Salzburg contends that background processes are not "an area of expertise and/or interest" (again, see comment thread on his answer). Personally, I can imagine someone being interested in how multi-processing is handled on multiple OSes, but not in other facets of the OSes themselves (UI, file systems, etc); indirectly, then, that person would become something of an "expert" in background processes (perhaps from both a programming perspective and a user perspective) without being an "expert" in a particular OS.
  • Tag could mean different things: I don't think this applies at all.
  • Tag describes an extremely broad topic: Nor this.
2
  • 1
    A small nitpick (I'll give a proper response when I'm off work): the 'Tag could mean different things' sentence is actually 'Tag means different things on different platforms' - In other words, a Windows application running in the background is a separate knowledgebase than the same situation on a Linux machine. Also, just tagging with the OS is probably a better solution.
    – Robotnik
    Sep 30, 2014 at 1:00
  • 1
    Kyle is correct. Background processing, the execution of background processes, long-running batch jobs, etc, is most certainly an area of expertise, and it is one fraught with pitfalls, exactly the kind of problems that people look for help with on this site. Removing this tag is senseless, wasteful, and makes the site less useful. The tag should have been left alone, and the time spent removing it should have been spent on something more productive. What a shame.
    – user76780
    Mar 10, 2016 at 7:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .