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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.

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6 Answers 6

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No, coming up with "c' as a badge is so obvious I'm not sure why it justifies a silver badge. What's more, it leads to people mass tagging answers with new tags they create just to get this badge. We've had issues with this in the past. IMHO Taxonomist not only adds nothing, it's actually detrimental.

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  • 1
    +1. It probably promotes tags to diverge to chaotic many instead of converge to useful few.
    – Eugene Yokota
    Jun 29, 2009 at 0:00
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    "We've had issues with this in the past" can you provide specific examples? I think this is a 'problem' only in theory and not practice.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Jul 6, 2009 at 10:26
  • Some of the earlier edit wars related issues on UV related to people inventing their own tags over ones that already existed.
    – cletus
    Jul 6, 2009 at 23:01
  • @Jeff: I think in practice, it's too hard to determine if people ignore tag suggestions out of ambition or knuckleskullery...
    – Eric
    Jul 9, 2009 at 2:14
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I think you radically overestimate the power of a badge.

People will create new tags for no reason whatsoever, all the time, regardless! I doubt the average user even knows that badge exists, so to attribute tag creation problems to it is laughable.

Here's some data.

This guy just got the Taxonomist badge.

https://stackoverflow.com/users/2772/borrego

Guess he's gaming the system! Oh wait, he hasn't been on the site since AUGUST OF LAST YEAR.

(unless there is specific data you can point to.. but I haven't seen any yet. So pardon me if I don't take your claims seriously in the absence of any actual, y'know, DATA.)

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  • I have a real issue with the "server" badge, it is rarely used in a useful way.
    – Cade Roux
    Jun 28, 2009 at 14:43
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    If the tags you apply yourself don't count in this badge it's quite fair I think. (That might even be easily implements)
    – Steve Schnepp
    Jul 6, 2009 at 15:44
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    "I doubt the average user even knows that badge exists". That depends on your definition of "average". There's probably an 80/20 rule here: 80% of the content is produced by 20% of the unique users (maybe even wider gap than that). Certainly the non-average users are producing most of the content, and badges were specifically created (I thought) to encourage those users to contribute.
    – Kip
    Jul 6, 2009 at 19:37
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My problem with the Taxonomist badge is that it's a land-grab badge. Whoever gets there first, gets it.

As soon as Google Tide (the successor to Google Wave that includes a programming API) comes out, I'm going to run to SO and ask a question on it so in a week or two, I'll be able to get the badge.

It's not granted on merit, like Organizer, it's just granted on who got there first.

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    it's OK to have a few different dimensions of experience rewarded with badges. For example, Enthusiast and Fanatic. All you have to do is visit the site to get those.. that's simple endurance, not skill.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Jun 28, 2009 at 23:16
  • life is a land grab... (think of all those people whose ancestors owned property early on in Manhattan or Hong Kong) it sucks but we just gotta live with it.
    – Jason S
    Jul 6, 2009 at 22:09
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Accurate tagging is important, so should be encouraged. Perhaps a taxonomist badge shouldn't be awarded until other people start to use the new tag a lot.

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    It isn't: A tag has to be used 50 times before a badge is awarded
    – Stu Thompson
    Jun 28, 2009 at 14:23
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    It is: Nothing prevents you from applying the tag to 50 questions yourself after you created it.
    – Ludwig Weinzierl
    Jun 28, 2009 at 14:29
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    Hmmmm...are we sure about this? Definitely would be something that the SO team could code logic to avoid.
    – Stu Thompson
    Jun 28, 2009 at 14:41
  • But then again, if some user tries to tag his own tag, other users can remove it if it's not appropriate. (Can moderators merge tags too? I think this could be a good idea)
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Jun 28, 2009 at 14:53
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    "Nothing prevents you from applying the tag to 50 questions yourself". Have you ever re-tagged 50 questions, in a row?
    – Jeff Atwood
    Jun 28, 2009 at 15:10
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    I've done dozens, and it's a pain.
    – Cade Roux
    Jun 28, 2009 at 15:11
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    +1 to Cade's comment - I remember retagging "c#3.5" to "c#3.0" in an airport. The CAPTCHA was a pain.
    – Jon Skeet
    Jun 28, 2009 at 17:03
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    I've re-tagged 50 questions, in a row. But for merging tags, not creating a new one. That said, it is a lot of work - IMHO, anyone who wants a badge that badly deserves it...
    – Shog9
    Jun 28, 2009 at 19:00
  • @Jeff "Have you ever re-tagged 50 questions, in a row?" I've done things just as tedious for achievements in video games. the only thing preventing me from doing it on SO is etiquette. I've opened a new question that is kind of spun off from this one: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2931/…
    – Kip
    Jul 6, 2009 at 20:44
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Well, with that qualification, then why have a Beta badge? (It's existence has been questioned too: Why Are Beta Badges Awarded At All?) Or the Yearling badge? Or the Woot badge?

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3

This is easily the most annoying badge to be awarded. I have this badge on stackoverflow.com, and the very first day I got it, I threw this question on uservoice:

http://stackoverflow.uservoice.com/pages/1722-general/suggestions/42635-make-it-easy-to-see-why-you-got-taxonomist

As I don't know what tag I created, I feel frustrated at the pointless nature of it. I haven't been rewarded for something I've done intentionally, I've been rewarded for something I've done unintentionally far in the past that's had this consequence.

I don't know what tag it was! Was it 'svn'? Was it 'linux'? was it 'vimrc'? Does this badge make me cool or a failure? I DON'T KNOW?!

Speaking as someone who has been rewarded with this badge, I think the very least that should be done is let the user know why they're awesome, otherwise the user doesn't really feel awesome at all.

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