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Some (perhaps many) questions get asked over and over and we have an informal concept of a canonical-question. I've been trying to think of a way for people to find those more easily. I'm terrible at it, though that might just be me.

One of my thoughts was to have a tag for this, but my fear would be that it would be overused if anyone could apply it. If the concept of such a tag is useful at all, then the concept of tags that can be applied only by moderators might also be useful and possibly used for other things.

Another option, probably less desirable, would be a class of tags that could only be applied by high-reputation users. But, mod-only would probably work better since mods have back-channel communications open to them that others don't.

Maybe some other device could be found (or already exists) for canonical-questions that would make searching for them easier. And maybe more thought needs to be given to the general concept of mod-only tags.

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    Related, most likely a duplicate: academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4097/68109
    – GoodDeeds
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:16
  • 1
    And a useful thread linked there: What potential duplicate targets should I know about as a reviewer?
    – GoodDeeds
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:16
  • @GoodDeeds, lots of overlap. Thanks. But how about the mod-only tag idea. I don't see that anywhere. And one of the comments on the linked question was about making things more visible.
    – Buffy
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:26
  • Agreed, it's not covered there. But I am not sure it's even possible to have mod-only tags on the main site (at least, I don't recollect seeing any such instance anywhere). So it would probably have to be a feature request to SE. Edit: just realized that is also mentioned in the linked post.
    – GoodDeeds
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:31
  • But what's the issue with using the existing meta question that collects a list of canonical questions from the main site?
    – GoodDeeds
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:34
  • @GoodDeeds, the problem is visibility for the average user. Tags can be searched easily. There isn't an obvious way to point people to the canonical list. Question askers often have rep 1 and no experience. Answerers, might not remember where to find it. I admit that is my own issue. The list of "similar questions" provided on the main API isn't always useful, nor linked to the canonical list.
    – Buffy
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:38
  • @GoodDeeds, I also don't find meta especially useful, since there is so much there that the things you want are hard to find. Maybe the whole issue can go away with a better help section and faq. For all my rep, I have a hard time navigating.
    – Buffy
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:41
  • I wonder if any of the current mods have anything to say, since it would be an additional task for them.
    – Buffy
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:43
  • Mod-only tags exist only for meta, and so the creation of mod-only tags for the main site would require a network wide change.
    – Massimo Ortolano Mod
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:50
  • 1
    @MassimoOrtolano, yes, I figured that it would need escalation, but who better to do so than yourself. ;-)
    – Buffy
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 16:52
  • My thought is that, even if well-received, it could take years for them to implement mod-only tags. What would you think about just creating a regular tag called "canonical"? I doubt that new users would often misuse a tag with this name, so it shouldn't be too difficult to maintain. Let me know whether this would scratch your itch; I can write it up as an answer if so (or someone else can).
    – cag51 Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2021 at 19:43
  • @cag51. I actually do think it would be overused. If the canonical list is huge it defeats the purpose altogether. It might lead to tag wars if it is over-applied. Unlike the current list, which is a central location, it would result in more dispersed information. Maybe a discussion about it among mods (and higher levels) would be useful to have. This is really why I raised the issue.
    – Buffy
    Commented Aug 16, 2021 at 19:49
  • @Buffy - OK. Well, I have no objection to mod-only tags, but it seems like most of the upgrades coming out now were requested 5+ years ago. So, it's too bad if we can't think of any way to grant your wish without needing to request new upgrades.
    – cag51 Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2021 at 19:52
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    I think there could be some usefulness to this and there are definitely times I've wanted an easier way to find some of these questions, but I think given stackoverflow.blog/2010/08/07/the-death-of-meta-tags (despite it being quite old) it might be an uphill battle.
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2021 at 23:08

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