Do we still need the Retag privilege?

Question

Ever since suggested edits were rolled out, the Retag privilege has been a bit... Weird. You can retag questions at any rep-level, even with no rep (or account) at all - you just need a few people to approve your changes. Then suddenly, you don't - but any other changes you make to a post still goes into a queue for approval.

We recently made this a little bit less weird by rolling it into the same UI as other edits - but this just leaves the question of whether or not this is really needed at all.

As animuson notes,

This has confused users for too long. The only reason it existed was because users couldn't suggest edits once upon a time, and retagging was a legitimate privilege that let them edit the tags only. Now that users can suggest edits and access the edit screen, having separate functions seems incredibly pointless, and as stated, the system knows when a tag-only edit is made. It's time to say goodbye.

Reasons to remove it

• It's unnecessary
• It can be confusing
• There are a handful of outstanding bugs that should probably be fixed if it is to remain.

Reasons to keep it

• It can motivate users without the reputation to perform full edits to perform more retags
• It can reduce the load on suggested edit reviewers somewhat
• It's still somewhat useful on sites (child metas) where suggested edits aren't enabled

Bullet #1 needs some evidence. Here's a graph of retags by reputation level (in 100-rep increments) over the past 90 days on Stack Overflow, and here's a graph of all edits excluding retags by rep level.

It's not huge (and it doesn't last) but there is a noticeable bump in activity from folks who've just gained the privilege. However, it's worth noting that this bump is far less pronounced since we merged retag and edit (graph) - indeed, by simplifying the interface, we may well have removed the thing that motivated people to use it in the first place.

So, is this worth the added complexity?

Answer 1

Yes, the retag privilege is useful on medium-to-heavy-traffic sites. It is useful because retagging allows a question to be directed towards the people who are best suited to understanding it, possibly editing it into shape (when that requires knowledge of the content matter and not just of English), answering it or closing it.

I don't think the retag privilege is useful on low-traffic site where many users read all the questions. It probably doesn't help so much on Stack Overflow now that suggested edits are reviewed very quickly. On intermediate sites, where many users filter questions on tags, it's very useful to have questions' most important tags sorted out as quickly as possible.

To give a concrete example: when I joined Stack Exchange, I started participating on Super User. I gave up after a few months. My primary reason (not the only one, but the most decisive one) was that I got to see an awful lot of posts that I didn't care about. I'm a Unix guy, so I don't care about all of these Windows questions. But I wasted a lot of time sifting through many Windows questions that didn't have tags that allowed me to ignore them. Situations like these need more retaggers, and quicker retags. Removing the retag privilege only makes the situation worse.

The user interface was recently made very confusing when retagging and suggested edits were merged. Retags now have exactly the same user interface as suggested edits, which in itself isn't a bad thing. What is bad is that there is an incorrect explanatory text that tells the user that his edits will be peer-reviewed (no, that isn't the case for a tag-only edit), and also that the user must enter an edit summary which is then scrupulously ignored.

There is a simple fix to the UX confusion, which is to make it less confusing. Tell users with the retag privilege that tag-only edits will take effect immediately, and don't require an edit summary.

Of the reasons against you cite, we've seen that #1 (unnecessary) and #2 (confusing) are wrong. #3 is no reason at all: just fix the bugs. Of the reasons for, #1 (motivation) is corroborated by the data you give for SO, #2 (load on reviewers) is not critical but still nice, and #3 is also a good one (there are plenty of metas where all the questions are tagged [discussion], and what do you mean you can have more than one tag?) — though admittedly suggested edits would do in that case, if only they were possible. But the most important reason for is that retags are useful.

Keep it.

Answer 2

I don't see the need for the privilege.

The only place it might be useful is very early on in public betas, but generally I don't think it's really necessary there as typically several people pretty quickly (first 2 weeks usually) amass 1000 rep necessary to approve the edits.

Typically a question needs more than just a retag and only allowing someone to retag without approval discourages them from making other needed edits. The privilege as currently formed actually encourages behavior we don't want rather than encouraging proper behavior.

Answer 3

I can easily strike out two of the reasons for keeping it:

It can reduce the load on suggested edit reviewers somewhat

While that may be the case, the current load on suggested edit reviewers is very manageable, unlike the load on close vote reviewers.

It's still somewhat useful on sites (child metas) where suggested edits aren't enabled

I prefer having suggested edits on all sites anyway, since bad edits by newer users are always possible.

Answer 4

I've only been an active member after the suggested edit was introduced.

I've always felt it was a very strange privilege. I've only used it once or twice to the best of my knowledge, the rest of the time, any retag was combined with other edits. In general, most posts need more work than just a retag, so the post will need to go to the review queue anyway.

I'd say ditch or replace the privilege.

Answer 5

Another reason why the original retag priviledge was useful: retag only edits get rejected as being too minor.

If you want people to maintain the tags (that is if you value the tags), you should make it easy for them to do just that.

Answer 6

I mentioned some of this in a comment, but I think I'll make it a full answer.

I don't recall ever having used the retag (only) privilege. I'm not saying I never did, but I don't recall any and it would have been a very rare occurrence. The reason is that it is exceedingly rare for tags to be the only thing worth fixing on a post. If the tags are wrong there is almost certainly something else wrong too.

Therefore, I will go a step further and say not only drop the retag privilege, but also forbid tag-only suggested edits. Suggested body edits already require 6 characters changed in the name of encouraging substantial edits, so keep encouraging substantial edits by making them do more than simply change the tags.