Do we really need the not-working tag on Stack Overflow? It sounds similar to the blacklisted tags problem and question which were previously banned. Maybe somebody can ban not-working too.
3 Answers
It doesn't seem not-working add anything to the question being asked, in the same way problem doesn't.
Rather than making the tag a synonym of another tag, I would block it.
Seems like we should just make not-working a synonym for error... which I just suggested here.
EDIT:
Since none of the downvoters have left any comments, I'm left to guess wildly about what they are disagreeing with. Perhaps they don't like the fact that I am suggesting we get rid of one rarely-used meta tag by making it a synonym of a frequently-used (although still kind of meta) tag. They are synonyms, since if something is "not working" it implies some kind of error/mistake/problem.
If people don't like the existence of the error tag and want to dispute its existence, then that should be brought up elsewhere as neither the question nor my answer are focused on that matter. I don't see any problem condensing meta tags via synonyms. It's something the community can easily do itself without having to petition a moderator for blacklisting. It also means there will be fewer tags to deal with later if we decide the dominant synonym is too meta and should be removed.
If anyone has any thoughts on the matter, I'd like to hear them.
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4@random: Much of it, but there's also "explain this to me", "how do I do this", "is there a better way to do this", etc. types of questions that aren't related to an exception or bug. Jun 17, 2011 at 15:36
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@gnostradamus I'm not the one who downvote this. But I'm not really like to be this a synonym for [error]. Tags like [error] and [problem] are not really adding valuable information to the question, when you see it in the question list on the main page of SO, and in my opinion they should be banned Jun 17, 2011 at 17:16
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@igor milla: That's all well and good, but banning [not-working] will probably just drive users to use similar established tags, like the ubiquitous [error] tag (currently used on 6,597 questions). Until [error] is gone, banning similar tags isn't likely to do anything more than the alternative of stopping them through making them a synonym. Jun 17, 2011 at 17:24
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@gnostradamus good point, but for the some reasons, community decided to ban problem tag, maybe it's a way to go Jun 17, 2011 at 17:34
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I agree with @igor that error adds nothing, and I can't imagine anyone following that tag. Jun 19, 2011 at 6:33