From what I have observed it doesn't help identify a user who is any better at asking and answering but instead helps clutter the system with unnecessary alternative names for tags. These extra tags then cause finding to be a harder process than it should and therefore gradually make tags more and more useless.
From what I have observed it doesn't help identify a user who is any better at asking and answering but instead helps clutter the system with unnecessary alternative names for tags. These extra tags then cause finding to be a harder process than it should and therefore gradually make tags more and more useless.
Edit:
I like badges, and only the taxonomist I have a problem with for it's potential to award messing up the tag system.
Maybe the badge is not causing the generation of the tags (as I can't prove that) but it is most probably influencing any cleanup decisions. If a mod want's to do any merge/cleanup he/she has to make decisions as to which is most popular (can that simply be calculated as most questions in that tag as the good ones may be in the other tag), has a user been awarded the badge or about to. It would probably mess up the user's badge creation count.
Also if this is not true then can you please explain why tags are in such a state as it has been like this since as far as I can remember it. Searching within tags doesn't make any sense any more. It is more effective to use google with site:stackoverflow.com and bypass the tags all together.