Should we be adding tags like [beginner] to questions?

Question

See the revision history on this question, where the beginner tag was edited in (and subsequently edited out after I started this discussion). I think, by adding this tag, you're making assumptions about the OP which they could find a little bit offensive. Particularly with this question, there's no mention of the level of PHP knowledge — it's more a math question than it is a programming question.

Someone could be excellent at a particular language whilst not being particularly great at math, so isn't it a bit insulting to make the assumption they're a beginner?

It's also interesting to note the question count for the tag tag, which currently stands at 7,784 on SO. Compare this to expert, which only has 18 questions, most of them being "discussiony." Why do users retag questions as "beginner" but not "expert"?

UPDATE, beginner, we barely knew ye.

Related
Tag Cleanup Request: Please get rid of “beginner”
How about a difficulty rating for questions? (thanks @Ralph)

Answer 1

I don't like the idea of a beginner tag for two reasons:

1. People's standard for what constitutes a beginner question differs from person to person.
2. The question asker might get offended by having his labeled as a beginner question.

Besides, I don't see the value of a beginner tag really. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose.

Answer 2

I would point you to this question here. It is about a qualification system of beginner, advanced, expert.

It can be

• very hard for the person to put herself into a category
• very discriminating and absolutely wrong to brand somebody with a category

But even more dangerous. People could start to phase out certain categories:

• an advanced person that is looking for reputation will only be after the beginner questions and easily filter them out
• an expert might be tired of the badly put beginner questions and phase them out, missing the great questions that are really helpful on the way

Having said this, I strongly support the request to ban beginner, newbie, advanced, expert from the tag system and just hope that there aren't any products around with these names.

Answer 3

Recent meta discussions have convinced me that the beginner tag is just too toxic in a public forum. I'd favored its use, because when I asked a completely nooberiffic linux question, I wanted the [beginner] label to serve as a shield that said, "I'm linux-impaired, sudo be gentle and use small words."

It never occurred to me that people would think the label was supposed to apply to them instead of their question. Or that people would use it as a form of attack. Perhaps this knife should not be left laying out on the counter.

I like Zephyr's idea of a fundamentals tag, and I still think such a tag could be used for good (e.g. a beginner who wants to read all the [fundamentals] questions to gain a variety of basic knowledge quickly.

Answer 4

I don't think skill should be a tag. Here's a meta question:

Hi, I can't get the following C code to compile, can someone help me?

for (i=1; i<10 i++);

Please note, I am a beginner with C and am trying to work through some exercises and tutorials.

This really obsoletes the use of tags for the same, with the exception of the ability to quickly find beginner questions in any given tag, but the search provides the same functionality.

Humorously, I strongly recommend against labeling yourself as expert when asking a question, the irony and subsequent down-vote is just too hard to resist.

Its up to the original author to let people know if:

• They are at a beginning / novice level - which tells us that the person would appreciate an in depth explanation of a relatively simple concept.
• A language barrier exists - combined with novice, this tells us that the person would appreciate an in depth explanation that is devoid of idioms, slang and other colloquialisms

Usually, even if not explicitly noted, we're able to figure out if you are a beginner or a little rusty with your English.