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The tag was burninated by Jeff Atwood during the Great Tag Cleanup of 2012.

Since then, it's been recreated nearly every other day by people with enough reputation, but not enough tagging skill. Once created, it'll be used by the clueless a dozen times a day, literally.

It's a horrible tag teetering on the edge of being a meta tag: It can't stand alone, and it can mean something different to different people.

I've been nuking it almost every day for the past three months, and it's getting old. It's time for the blacklist.

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  • 3
    Wait, so what you are saying is that Jeff Atwood is actually Trogdor? Mind = Blown! Jul 15, 2012 at 18:06
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    Should client also be burninated? I assume this has the same reasoning
    – mmmmmm
    Jul 15, 2012 at 21:44
  • 3
    Why are you burning the client? They are innocent. Wait... tag? Burn it.
    – nhahtdh
    Jul 17, 2012 at 4:32
  • 3
    How about blacklisting these, too: column, sum, row group, percent, taken from here: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/134267/…
    – Lukas Eder
    Jul 17, 2012 at 7:02
  • @RichardJ.RossIII burnination by Jeff (or another mod) is actually a pretty common concept around these parts. Here's one example of many.
    – Pops
    Aug 24, 2012 at 18:40
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    @nhahtdh, no client is ever innocent... Aug 25, 2012 at 7:43
  • if-statment is one I see all the time, as well.
    – David
    Sep 9, 2012 at 22:35
  • @benisuǝqbackwards - damn it Apr 10, 2013 at 20:57
  • @Blah: Zero questions tagged server. [status-meh]
    – user102937
    Apr 10, 2013 at 21:01
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    12 minutes ago, another one. Just got rid of it.
    – user200500
    Apr 10, 2013 at 21:49
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    @Robert 2 more now. I am on mobile so it's too cumbersome to remove but I'm just saying - this needs to go forever
    – Doorknob
    Apr 10, 2013 at 22:23
  • Meh, I've given up with the blacklist happening. It's on my ever-growing list of 30+ tags I check regularly to ensure that they remain dead, including such gems as conversion, computer, multiple, visual, studio, etc...
    – Charles
    Apr 10, 2013 at 23:45
  • Are you on holiday :-(... it's winning at the moment; I can't keep it clean for an entire 24 hour period without someone using it when I'm asleep or something. Jul 21, 2013 at 16:12
  • @benisuǝqbackwards I only check two or three times day. It's managed to be recreated a few days in a row this past week, judging from the number of times I've had to put back in the "DO NOT USE THIS TAG" wiki. My list of 30 in April is now up to 59...
    – Charles
    Jul 21, 2013 at 22:15

1 Answer 1

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It's a horrible tag teetering on the edge of being a meta tag. It can't stand alone, and it can mean something different to different people.

Ok, I don't get the meta-tag bit. Are there waiters/waitresses posting questions and using this tag?

The "different meanings" thing is clear enough though. So... What should it mean? Is there one meaning among many that makes sense on SO?

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    Maybe because it is too broad that it doesn't make the tag any more useful than a meta-tag?
    – nhahtdh
    Aug 25, 2012 at 3:07
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    Hmm... Yeah, maybe if folks are using it in the sense of, "my code runs on a server - better throw that tag in!" Of course, that's also the dirty little secret of, say, most c# questions.
    – Shog9
    Aug 25, 2012 at 3:31
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    I've counted at least three distinct meanings, all of them bad: 1) Combined with client when they meant to tag it client-server, 2) "it runs on a server" / "I'm connecting to a MySQL server", and 3) "I'm writing a server". Oh, and sql+server, which != sql-server. In any case, it's basically bait for people that have no tagging skill. The last one might have some possible validity, but ... eh.
    – Charles
    Aug 25, 2012 at 21:24
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    It's a generic tag. "Hey, my code's on the server, let's add the [server] tag". It doesn't enhance the question at all. If it sticks around, does that mean we can have [laptop] and [pc] tags as well? Aw, crap they already exist! Burn them too! Apr 10, 2013 at 20:43
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    Server can mean, in rough decreasing order of technical-ness, 1) the server end of a client/server relationship, 2) a listener on an e.g. TCP port, 3) a machine in a room that a server admin makes sure is secure and doesn't catch on fire and stuff, 4) a machine in the cloud, 5) a long-running program that responds to requests. Note in particular load-balanced architectures de-couple (5) and (2).
    – djechlin
    Apr 10, 2013 at 21:03
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    Okay. I admit it. Meta has me confused. There's an extended statement as a question, that has a couple of questions as an answer.
    – Ben Barden
    Apr 10, 2013 at 21:44

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