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Looking through pending edits, I noticed someone had stripped off a Java webservices app.

However, Metro is a well-known Java WS framework, as well as what the tag currently says: "Metro is the user interface design developed by Microsoft and used in recent Zune firmwares, Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft Windows 8."

What do we do when one tag clearly fits two completely different technologies? I'm actually surprised that wasn't already in-use for Java purposes; its existence predates Windows 8 by a number of years.

Some additional background is on Tag merge request: [metro-ui] and [metro].

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    I'd suggest considering [metro-ui] and [metro-framework] so that neither tag is ambiguous
    – Zelda
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 15:15
  • @BenBrocka - I fear that you would still get people trying to make [metro], or using the [mero-framework] for UI questions, since they won't read the tag description, or may think that the Metro UI is a framework :(
    – cdeszaq
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 15:22
  • @cdeszaq true, but the top suggestions should still be metro-ui and metro-framework. most people should tag accurately and know which they need to refer to. [metro] could then be a tag alias to ONE of the two tags...IMO that's better than [metro] being a common ambiguous tag, but I don't know how we usually resolve these.
    – Zelda
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 15:32
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    @BenBrocka - On Electrical Engineering, we usually banish the ambiguous tag. Making it an alias or synonym simply results in really badly tagged questions; there's no notification that the conversion has been performed. Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 18:36
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    Sorry folks within a year at least 95% of people will think that the tube system is named after the UI in windows 8! Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 21:56
  • @Ian Ringrose: What is this "tube system" you speak of? :) Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 21:58
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    @BoltClock'saUnicorn, why, haven't you heard? The Internet is actually a series of tubes; a "tube system," if you will.
    – Pops
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 23:08

3 Answers 3

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There already is a tag. Use it for the Windows questions. I just edited 20 or so of the questions about the Windows UI; if 10-20 of us take 10 minutes each we can be done shortly, as there are only 269 questions with the tag.

As cdeszaq and Ben Brocka suggested, a framework-specific tag should be used for the Java questions.

There are two schools of thought on prefixes: One states that it should have a prefix, so it can be easily filtered. The other states that it should have no such prefix, so that it can be easily found by people who start typing . Either tag, be it or , would be preferable to the current dual meaning.

After the existing questions are divided up, there should be no vanilla tag. People don't read the tag wikis, so this tag would still need to be cleaned up. That's undesirable.


Edit: I went through about 30 of these today in two sessions. I came across 1 Java question, and there is another down the page a little ways, but the vast majority are questions. It would be far easier to just edit all the Java ones, have a mod do a merge without synonym creation, and delete the original tag.

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  • +1, less ambiguity is better, even at the cost of verbosity.
    – Charles
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 21:10
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I think it best to leave the "vanilla" tag for the Windows UI and perhaps have or something similar for the java framework.

Given the following (unfortunate) facts...

  1. People don't read, so differentiating using the tag wiki excerpt won't do any good
  2. The metro-ui will get much more press as Windows 8 moves towards release
  3. There are many more .Net / Windows-oriented questions than there are Java oriented questions

...having the more commonly used (or most likely used) tag as the shorter varient is likely to keep things the cleanest and reduce the need to re-tag things. Unfortunately, the whims of the unwashed masses who apply the first tag that they see drives what tages are used. Making the more commonly chosen tag line up with the more common topic reduces the disconnect, keeps things clean, and makes the lives of editors easier.

I would much rather see a tag have one use (especially if it can be rather specific as opposed to a paradigm like mvc), like a specific framework or UI, than for a tag to be used for multiple rather distinct things.

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    I'm sure some of the facts you point out will get you downvotes, but facts they are nonetheless. I agree. Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 17:46
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    Why should the nonexistent Windows UI get the tag from the older Java framework? You're correct, people don't read, so 'metro' will continue to receive Java questions. Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 18:13
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    @Kevin - it's not non-existent, and I think it's a safe bet that within the year the Windows-metro questions will dwarf the Java-metro questions. By a lot. Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 22:39
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You update the Wiki to reflect this, then whenever you see it being messed with @ the user who edited to ask them to check the wiki.

The same situation came up with me when I was informed that also described its architecture as . I stopped removing it from javascript questions and updated the wiki to reflect the dual nature of the tag.

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