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According to the tag info, this has little to do with what is called a "Macro" in the VBA world. In essence, to me, tagging a VBA question with is the same as tagging the question with , unless you are (very easily argued) asking a question about recording a macro in Office, using Macros (same name, different thing) in Access, or something else like that.

I have been going through and removing the tag as I see it if I don't feel it is appropriate, but not in a concerted effort to seek out this specific tag (I just fix it when I come across it). Should I be doing this?

Taking Remou's point from the comments, this tag is not incorrect, and new users (and perhaps some more avid users) will still use the incorrectly from time to time. I guess my point is more to ask if it is worth the effort to change those questions that are tagged incorrectly, or if it is well enough understood that there can be this cross utilization? (Or new possible thought, should the tag be modified to include both descriptions, if the tags are to be left alone?)

(This question is similar, but doesn't quite make the same point I am here.)

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  • In MS Access, a macro is quite different to code. You cannot record code or macros in Access. In Access 2010, macros have been beefed up quite a bit. I would consider an Access macro question to be more Superuser than a coding questions.
    – Remou
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:07
  • @Remou If you found on on SO, would you fit an AC2010 'Macro' question into the [Macro] tag, given the current description? I would still think no.
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:10
  • No, but I am saying that it is one of those changes that will only work for a while, then new users will be back tagging macro as long as the macro tag exists.
    – Remou
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:16
  • @Remou Ok, I get it. This is a problem that will not go away. Does that mean I (or others) should not edit these tags/should there not be a cleanup effort?
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:17
  • I agree on the principle although there are for example 819 questions tagged with excel AND macros. Not only will it take time to do it manually but since your edits need to be approved, it's going to clutter the suggested edits queue...
    – assylias
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:20
  • Thing is, an Access macro may not fit the current description, but it is not VBA, so what tag would you use? I generally flag for Superuser, but the traffic is generally too low for that to come to anything.
    – Remou
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:20
  • @assylias Then perhaps those with higher rep can take a look? ;-)
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:21
  • @Remou You have a valid point about Access, and I don't know that I have a better answer. (Except perhaps access-macro, which I doubt would get much use...)
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:24
  • @assylias And for the record, if no other edits are necessary, I can retag on SO.
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:27
  • @Gaffi I just saw some of your edits in the queue, but they indeed also edited the posts. My mistake.
    – assylias
    Jun 28, 2012 at 17:29
  • It was a really bad idea to change the macro tag wiki and start removing macro tags from vba questions indiscriminately. As Shog9 points out there are valid VBA questions that are macros. The important point is now those looking for help with VBA macros have restricted search functionality.
    – Lance Roberts
    Feb 26, 2015 at 21:23

2 Answers 2

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It's simple, really: If questions are tagged incorrectly, re-tag them.

covers more than just VBA, as you have seen in the comments to your question. And I'm sure other programs have what they call "macros" that have nothing to do with VBA.

Unfortunately, as I have seen, some people use every tag they can find when posting a question. Edit the tags and leave a comment if you see a pattern.

As assylias suggested, you might want to consider doing only a few edits per day to limit the amount of work the mods have to do.

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  • I don't mind skipping the mod spam, but at only a few per day, this could take possibly forever, depending on the influx of new questions. I will keep at it in my regular reviewing if I see it. I guess I can also set aside a little time here and there for taking out what I can with a simple retag when possible.
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 19:08
  • @Gaffi You might consider posting this as a question. The mods might be able to tell you how many edits they can handle before they get overtaxed/annoyed.
    – JimmyPena
    Jun 28, 2012 at 20:27
  • I'd think that would vary by mod, wouldn't it?
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 21:30
  • Ask them or I will :)
    – JimmyPena
    Jun 28, 2012 at 21:34
  • Done.
    – Gaffi
    Jun 28, 2012 at 22:30
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Well, first off you should either edit the wiki, or the wiki; else you're just fighting the current. IMHO, VBA is a macro language, albeit one based on a rather less specialized language - it's specifically intended to automate actions that are available elsewhere in the UI, so it does fit (rather clumsily) into the current description given for .

Of course, this is probably not altogether clear to a lot of the folks using it, who as you note simply associate "macro" with "code" in the context of VBA. But this also means that editing the VBA tag wiki stands a poor chance of breaking that habit. Editing the macros wiki to explicitly spell out its use for macro languages, including those that can and are used for purposes beyond this function, will probably stand a better chance of "taking".

Which leaves only the problem of redundant tags. I would simply suggest that, if you come across a use of and in a context other than the use of the latter to automate an application like Excel, you remove it. When both do apply, leave them. As with the many questions tagged both and , this redundancy probably helps more than it hurts.

Oh... And JP pointed out in a comment on your other question that you might also be referring to questions about VBA that are instead tagged "macro". Note that not all questions about macros and Excel are about VBA; it wouldn't hurt some of them to have the tag though.

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  • 1
    Overall, I think a wiki cleanup won't help much, given the usage of the word; people will think "I'm coding a macro, so I'll use the macro tag." JP's comment is correct, and I apologize if that wasn't extremely clear from the get-go. While that's the case, I do realize, more so after all the discussion, that the cases for using the macro tag are not at simple as I had originally thought.
    – Gaffi
    Jun 29, 2012 at 3:33
  • Took me long enough, but I did submit an edit to the macros wiki...
    – Gaffi
    Aug 2, 2012 at 21:18
  • Also now on the vba tag wiki.
    – Gaffi
    Aug 2, 2012 at 21:24

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