We should have a notification system for when users suggest tag synonyms

Question

I have recently suggested tag-synonyms for a couple of tags. There has been no activity on them regarding up-voting or down-voting those suggestions, probably because no one knows I proposed them.

So, I propose that there should be a notification system to alert or get attention from users with sufficient rep and the ability to vote on the synonyms of the specific tag.

The notification doesn't have to be sent out to the users specifically. It could be just, like when they are on a post tagged with a tag that has pending synonyms and the users have sufficient privilege to vote on it, it can show a marker like:

The counter can show how many pending synonyms there are.

So, what are your thoughts?

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All proposals are welcome too. You can add them in the comments, answers or edit the question.

Current proposals:

1. Show a counter on the tags that the users have sufficient privilege to vote on when they visit a post with those tags.
2. Show the notifications on the Favorite Tags sidebar.
3. Adding a review queue for synonyms. You could also filter it by wanted tags. When suggesting a synonym, one could add comments explaining the desire for synonymization to make it easier to vote on them.

Answer 1

The general consensus in the comments is that the original idea of having a little notification bubble is too extreme: Instead of nobody knowing about proposed synonyms, every single person who uses/views that tag will be distracted by it. On the bigger sites, that just won't function.

What most comments instead suggest is that tag synonyms should be a part of their own review queue. (This is actually its own feature request, go upvote that too if you support it.) In my opinion, this is the most practical solution.

The other thing is, approving/rejecting tag synonyms is a part of community moderation, and all community moderation is optional for users- if you don't want to flag, you don't have to, if you don't want to close, you don't have to, etc. Those features are therefore not overt and obvious and are sometimes hidden behind a few clicks. Having those glaring red bubbles on each and every tag with a proposed synonym goes against that principle.

Other ideas from the comments:

• (From user Erik A) Show the notification bubble on the 'watched tag' section on the right sidebar, so that only 4k+ users who are interested in a certain tag will be notified. Like this:

My issue with this is that very few users watch/favorite the more obscure tags, so it wouldn't do enough. Still worth exploring, though.

• (From user Rob) Only notify people who have the relevant silver/gold tag badge. Good, although again, smaller sites have a smaller pool of tag-badge holders, and again, we lose the publicity.

My own solution (just throwing it out there, I still prefer the idea of a separate review queue) is that users with the privilege can opt in to see these notifications. This way, the uninterested aren't annoyed, and those who do care can promptly address the proposals.