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Is it appropriate to edit many questions at once for the purpose of creating a tag? At the moment, 12 (!) questions are on the front-page because of this, all edited within the last hour. (Some even appear to have been edited because they merely contain the word in question, even though the question is clearly not about this subject.) I have to say that I find this rather disruptive, the front page is not in a usable state.

Update: now it's 13. Update 2 (a few seconds later): now 14. Update 3: guess what. You get my point, I'll stop updating this (I can't keep up anyway).

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    I also have some doubts about the actual usefulness of the tag in question. Indeed, it does not appear that the user's thought process went further than "I'll search for questions containing this word and add the tag to it." But if the question can be found by searching for the word, then what's the point of the tag? But that's another discussion
    – user9646
    Feb 17, 2018 at 10:35
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    Possible duplicate academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1246/…
    – StrongBad
    Feb 17, 2018 at 12:22

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Creating a new tag is reasonable, front-page effects are a byproduct

I'll provide a (biased) response as the person who created the tag.

Occasionally on one of the StackExchange websites, the idea for a certain tag forms in someone's mind. It could be because of a question they asked where a tag was missing that they had assumed should exist; or because an existing tag covers too much and someone feels it needs to be split up into subtags; etc.

What then happens (again, often, not always) is that the proponent of a tag:

  • Finds relevant questions which should have the said tag
  • Tags said questions
  • Makes an initial tag wiki edit

If the community doesn't like the tag, it can get removed (and the tag wiki edit could be disapproved etc.)

On small sites, this has the side-effect of bringing many of these questions to the front page (on SO or SU that won't last more than a few seconds or minutes). That's unintended, and one should perhaps note that it doesn't increase the tagger's reputation.

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    Or you could edit maybe 2-3 questions at once and then wait a few hours. It's not like adding the tag to all questions is urgent. Math.SE is a much bigger site, and this kind of front-page hogging is not tolerated there.
    – user9646
    Feb 17, 2018 at 10:47
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    @NajibIdrissi: Does it really matter if the front page gets 2-3 questions because of tagging, every hour for a day, rather than getting 12-13 questions once? After all, by now the monograph questions are only 3 of the top 7 on the "active" pane.
    – einpoklum
    Feb 17, 2018 at 10:49
  • Yes, it matters... For example, a few questions were asked just before your flurry of edits, and now these questions are way deep into the "active" queue and will not receive much attention. In any case, you can't unilaterally decide whether it "matters" or not.
    – user9646
    Feb 17, 2018 at 10:52
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    @NajibIdrissi: 1. On many sites on the network, a question gets bumped off the main page display in a heartbeat, or the equivalent thereof. 2. If I could avoid bringing those questions back up to the main page I would. Having said that - I see your point about a site such as this one.
    – einpoklum
    Feb 17, 2018 at 11:01
  • A full day later and seven of your edits are still on the front page, FYI.
    – user9646
    Feb 18, 2018 at 11:13
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    @NajibIdrissi: If you scroll down again and again and again. By the way - I've been active on academia.SX for several years, and never have browsed the front page (as opposed to asking a question, searching for a question/answer, or coming in through a link to a question).
    – einpoklum
    Feb 18, 2018 at 11:27
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    And of course if you behave in a certain way, then everyone should follow suit? There is one approved way to use the website, and you decide what it is? Do you even listen to yourself?
    – user9646
    Feb 18, 2018 at 12:41
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    @NajibIdrissi: I'm claiming you are massively overstating your concern.
    – einpoklum
    Feb 18, 2018 at 12:45
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    "It doesn't affect me so it's no big deal"
    – user9646
    Feb 18, 2018 at 12:48
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    "It affects (almost) nobody, but I don't like it, so it's terrible."
    – einpoklum
    Feb 18, 2018 at 12:58
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    And you know it affects almost nobody... how exactly?
    – user9646
    Feb 18, 2018 at 12:59
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    "What then happens (again, often, not always)..." What should happen in a site which isn't in the very early states of its beta is that the proponent posts a question on meta to get feedback about whether the community agrees that the tag is desirable and if so what it should be called, because retagging is disruptive however it's done, and retagging twice ("If the community doesn't like the tag, it can get removed") is doubly disruptive.
    – Peter Taylor
    Feb 19, 2018 at 17:09
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    @PeterTaylor: I could see why this would be a good idea for some lower-traffic-volume SX sites. But - the interface lends itself towards individual autonomy in tagging. If it had been suggested to me it's customary to suggest new tags on meta first, I probably would have done that. I disagree with the claim that the retagging is meaningfully disruptive.
    – einpoklum
    Feb 19, 2018 at 17:45

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