The SE developers are currently busy implementing a new review tool that will replace the old /review
queue. I think this new review tool could also be used to make large-scale retagging and tag removal easier.
The workflow I propose would be something like this:
- community decides that a specific tag is useless or problematic, needs to be eliminated or disambiguated
- Diamond moderator creates a queue (for all questions in that tag) in the review tool with a short explanation of what should be done and a link to the meta post discussing the issue. The options to delete the tag and specific tag replacements can be enabled as review actions by mods.
- Users review the questions in the queue and vote to remove the tag, replace the tag with one of the predefined alternatives or inline retag freely.
Until now, this sounds exactly like what we're currently doing manually when retagging. But having a dedicated tool would allow some additional options, especially some to avoid breaking the frontpage with mass retags. The review tool could for example:
- Not immediately execute the retags, just take them out of the queue, and execute them in between the normal activity of the site, ensuring that they don't interfere with the normal operation of the frontpage
- Allow retags without bumping the question, but then requiring x users to agree to a retag even if they have the reputation to retag alone. The review queue would supply the necessary peer review, eliminating the need to bump the question
The edits that are performed using the review queue could also automatically link to the meta post about the retag, making the reason for the retag more obvious to users that didn't see the meta post.