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High-reputation users tend to be more familiar with the site, and are more likely to add useful tags. Low-rep users often add the first tags they think of when writing a question. Thus...

Question: Can we sort tags by the average reputation of the user who added the tag?

Importantly, we count the reputation of the user who adds the tag (who might not be the OP).

To clarify, if some tag is used, say, four times, with the users' reputation 1, 402, 402, and 1211 then it's average is (1+402+402+1211)/4. And we create a list sorting tags by this average. (For practicality, I suggest using the current user reputation.)

I'm envisaging adding a button to the tags page thusly:

I feel this would help manage tags: if high-rep users are using a tag, there's almost certainly a good reason for it. If only low-rep users are using a tag, it probably needs maintenance.

It's a quick way to identify potentially useful tags e.g. when writing questions (when you don't have time to carefully scrutinize each tag). It's also a useful way to identify potentially useless tags (misuse-bait) when managing tags: it's an objective metric.

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  • (PS. I'm guessing this could be done in Data Explorer, although my DE-fu is not that good.) – Rebecca J. Stones Jul 22 at 4:35
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    Often enough a low-rep user makes a tag and a high-rep user smacks it into proper shape. Or a low-rep user becomes a high-rep user over time, now which of the reputations did you want to sort on? I see no benefit in your proposal. – Mast Jul 22 at 5:42
  • This one-> "the reputation of the user who adds the tag" Nothing to do with who created the tag. (I'd suggest using the current reputation.) – Rebecca J. Stones Jul 22 at 5:42
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    Using the current reputation renders the system moot for older questions, does it not? And if you don't want to track the reputation of who created the tag but who applies the tag, won't you get a plot that goes all over the place instead of a useful data-point? You can put the tag only on one place in your sort result yet it can be applied by hundreds of thousands of users. Where would you rank language tags for example? Would you sort on the average reputation? Median? – Mast Jul 22 at 5:47
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If only low-rep users are using a tag, it probably needs maintenance.

No, we shouldn't implement this.

As with any other post there are no sort options that refer to user reputation directly (could be done with DE queries though).
What counts is the content, usefulness and quality, regardless of the OP's reputation (be it the tag creator, or the OPs which use that tag).

That's what we should judge about:

  • Is there a reasonable tag-wiki explaining what this tag should be used for
  • Aren't there any synonyms already
  • Does the tag serve a useful category of questions

It's also a useful way to identify potentially useless tags (misuse-bait) when managing tags: it's an objective metric.

No, it isn't.

Tag burnination often is a heavy process (example from Meta Stack Overflow), and there are already certain criteria defined to get it in place. Those mentioned in the FR usually aren't part of these.

A very simple example why this FR won't work as intended by the OP:

At Meta Stack Exchange we have the and tags, which are oftenly misused by new users, who didn't grasp what the site is all about.
Now ask yourself:

  • Should this justify burnination requests for these tags?
  • Does that indicate that the tag wikis need an overhaul?

I don't think so.

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  • The last edit would be appropriate for a "we should switch our brain off and auto-burninate tags" request. I'm just asking for more data to make better-informed tag decisions (and not necessarily about burnination). – Rebecca J. Stones Jul 22 at 6:32
  • Thanks! I'm getting the impression this feature request is not going anywhere, but that's quite a useful link! I might make use of it – Rebecca J. Stones Jul 22 at 7:05

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