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Recently, was added as a synonym of . As the help page on synonyms says:

Whenever you see questions being repeatedly tagged with the wrong or incorrect tag -- or multiple tags that mean the same thing -- it's a good idea to propose a tag synonym. The goal is to avoid manually editing the tags on every post by making the retagging automatic for common tag mistakes.

While started out as an April Fools' joke, people are now working to create such a device, and by making it a tag synonym, not only is that a misuse of tag synonyms, but it's calling it an April Fools' joke, and only that, despite its great potential, and there are on-topic questions you can ask on MSE about . Why would this be added as a synonym?

UPDATE:

How often do people actually copy and paste from Stack Overflow? Now we know is a perfect example of an on-topic question that could use the tag on MSE. There are several others that are relevant and it doesn't make sense that this particular prank is a synonym.

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  • 3
    I agree. It is confusing to link the-key to april-fools. For example, other April Fools' jokes were not linked as a tag synonym to april-fools. So I think we should remove this synonym.
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 9, 2021 at 14:56
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    Just for clarity, it was synonymized by an employee.
    – Spevacus
    Apr 9, 2021 at 14:58
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    @Spevacus Thanks for the info. Could you please tell me, if possible, what you think is the reason for them to add the tag synonym link? Thanks!
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 9, 2021 at 14:59
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    I'm guessing here, but probably because the key was a one-time event that lasted only a couple days and will probably not be referenced again in the future. As such, it being associated directly with the april-fools tag seems fine.
    – Spevacus
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:02
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    Also, I don't think there are any on-topic uses of the tag, so what good will it do bringing it back?
    – Luuklag
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:04
  • @Spevacus Yeah, I guess so.
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:11
  • @Luuklag Yes, apparently all MSE questions referencing the-key are off-topic and have been closed.
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:11
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    @Tec Not true.
    – Anonymous
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:20
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    @Ano Meh. Are you really certain that's called "on-topic"? Getting upvotes and not getting closed doesn't mean it's not technically defined as "off-topic," which I believe it is.
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 10, 2021 at 21:30
  • @Tec I do think that it's on-topic, because it's requesting that they change a feature with the site.
    – Anonymous
    Apr 10, 2021 at 23:30
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    "people are now working to create such a device" ... WHAT??
    – charlietfl
    Apr 11, 2021 at 12:58
  • @charlietfl Exactly my point. It's no longer just an April Fools' joke.
    – Anonymous
    Apr 11, 2021 at 13:49
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    @Ano IDK, I guess maybe it's on-topic.
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 15, 2021 at 15:50
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    @charlietfl Yes. They're attempting to create a replica of the Key shown in the Stack Overflow Twitter (or Instagram, I forgot) video.
    – Tech Expert Wizard
    Apr 15, 2021 at 15:51
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    I agree with the "Update" section. The same post on SO is tagged [april-fools], which doesn't make any sense. I left a comment there.
    – 41686d6564
    Apr 20, 2021 at 21:49

1 Answer 1

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by making it a tag synonym, not only it that a misuse of tag synonyms,

The key was an April fools joke, so synonymizing these isn't a misuse of tag synonyms. Bugs are also always just tagged , and not split out by subcategory (like translation bugs, UI bugs, or pluralization bugs). So, I'm not sure where you draw this conclusion, but you're being way too aggressive and harsh here.

but it's calling it an April Fools' joke, and only that, despite its great potential.

Well, it was that and nothing more. It may have had great potential, but that's not relevant for this site.

Having said that, the better argument to make here is that other, previous years April fools jokes still have their own tag: and come to mind, and it allows for easy filtering for specific questions and feedback on past April fools gags. Desynonymizing for that reason, easy overviews and searches, is a much better argument than accusing the person of synonymizing it of 'misuse'. Whether it's a valid one... meh.

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  • Not relevant for MSE, I agree, but what about the sites where it is on-topic?
    – Anonymous
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:12
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    @Anonymous Then go ask on the meta's of those sites about desynonymizing if it even was synonymized... these things go per site, and you asked on MSE about MSE.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:13
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    We only synonymized it on MSE and MSO - so ... I think you misunderstand how synonyms work @Anonymous - they're per site and metas and main sites each have their own synonym lists, too... so there's no conflict there.
    – Catija StaffMod
    Apr 9, 2021 at 15:19
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    @Catija Why did the team synonymize this tag this year, whereas they didn't do so for the relevant tags in previous years (e.g. the tags mentioned in the bottom paragraph of the answer)?
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Apr 9, 2021 at 17:05
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    @SonictheCuriouserHedgehog it was a test to see if you were still paying attention. You passed.
    – rene
    Apr 10, 2021 at 7:26

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