On guidelines to tagging and avoiding unnecessary tags

Question

I wasn't able to find guidelines as to how generally tagging is done on SO (and possibly other SE sites).

Not that we want to have a long list of rules or rule-likes but something tags such as python AND django are unnecessary and sometimes may cause non-ideal behavior.

Take, for example, users who have an interest in python but have no interest in django. Tagging a question both means such users will also be distracted to such a question via the highlighting system. But if one follows a principle that since django implies python, it doesn't mean they need to also tag with python.

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In other words, django being a subset (in terms of interest, so-to-say) of python, people interested in python are not necessarily interested in django.

Answer 1

General guidelines for tagging where one tag can be considered a subset of another

If both tags apply to the question, then use both.

If one tag applies to the question, and the other tag applies to the first tag (but not directly to the question itself), then omit the latter.

If you're not sure, then use both.

Don't use non-applicable tags to draw in more readers. And don't omit applicable tags to shield readers from subjects they're not interested in: you can easily craft a search to exclude tags you aren't personally interested in.

For specific examples, see: Should jQuery questions always be tagged with “javascript”?