Questions tagged [ambiguous-tags]

Tags whose meaning or purpose may be, or has already been, interpreted inconsistently by users of the site it exists on. Use this tag if your question relates to tags which are being used inconsistently or are likely to cause confusion.

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A real solution to ambiguous tags

Introduction Even within a site's relatively focused range of topics (it's unlikely anybody on SO will think sun refers to the solar system's star), some tags are inherently ambiguous. There are ...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 6,919
77 votes
0 answers
480 views

Give mods/communities better tools for large retagging jobs

TL;DR This issue remains unresolved seven years later. Please enable communities to deprecate tags. I suggest that deprecated tags could no longer be added to question posts (but allowed to remain ...
Murch's user avatar
  • 1,070
38 votes
0 answers
244 views

System to enable hand-sorted moderator retagging for sizeable disambiguation jobs

This is a hopefully less complex alternative to this old request, directed mostly at the same problem. This request was inspired from Jeff Atwood's comment on this answer, quoted for quick reference: ...
Grace Note's user avatar
  • 84.8k
26 votes
1 answer
235 views

Apache tag is frequently misapplied [closed]

According to its Tag Wiki Summary, apache is about: The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache [...] In the Java environment (and not only there) there are tons of Apache projects that ...
Joachim Sauer's user avatar
25 votes
1 answer
182 views

Skeleton is an ambiguous tag [closed]

The skeleton tag info tab says that Skeleton is a Wordpress theme, but it has been used (20 times total) for several different things and looks like none of them is related to Wordpress. For me, as a ...
Pavlo's user avatar
  • 577
22 votes
3 answers
277 views

Ambiguous tag 8080 [closed]

The tag 8080 has about 5 questions related to Intel 8080 or 8085 assembler code, and about 14 questions related to HTTP port 8080 (and when I looked, it had only 19 questions). I was reviewing a ...
Jonathan Leffler's user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
193 views

Question about prototypal inheritance need to be disambiguated from questions about the Prototype JavaScript library

It's really annoying that a major JavaScript library decided to name itself after a language feature (imagine the confusion if there was a library called 'Array' or 'Strings'...) but that we have to ...
Yi Jiang's user avatar
  • 17.8k
18 votes
2 answers
331 views

How should ambiguous tags be dealt with?

If tag "foo" refers to two or more different technologies or concepts is it better to retag the less common usages or is it better to add additional tags to disambiguate? My particular issue is with ...
Christopher Barber's user avatar
17 votes
5 answers
659 views

Let's Ban the [ASP] Tag on StackOverflow! [closed]

If the question is about ASP.NET, then it should say asp.net If the question is about Classic ASP, then it should say asp-classic I can think of no valid reason to tag a question with asp. Let's get ...
John Saunders's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
128 views

Overlap? [deleted-accounts] vs. [deleted-users]

deleted-accounts 252 questions Use it for questions about user accounts that have been deleted or the process of that deletion. deleted-accounts is for questions about user accounts that have ...
ale's user avatar
  • 24.8k
15 votes
2 answers
552 views

Xcode is just an IDE [closed]

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6248422/network-access-in-ios https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6248272/need-help-with-kballard-rss-parser UIImageView /UIImage Not Working - What Am I Doing ...
sarnold's user avatar
  • 8,373
15 votes
1 answer
213 views

The [address] tag is ambiguous as-is [closed]

The address tag has no central focus. I work in the address verification industry (postal/street addresses) so I've subscribed to this tag, to contribute where I can. However, I've seen all sorts of ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 315
15 votes
0 answers
164 views

Remove the "Linked" Tag [closed]

The linked tag on Stack Overflow has no tag wiki, no summary, and is ambiguous as to what it does. Referring to Jeff's Criteria on Meta-Tags If the tag canā€™t work as the only tag on a question, itā€™s ...
Bad Wolf's user avatar
  • 2,680
14 votes
8 answers
423 views

How to handle tags with multiple meanings? [duplicate]

The tagging system doesn't support (as far as I know) a tag to be "separated" into two tags. For example, the Flex tag on SO currently has questions on Flex and Flex. I'm sure there are more tags that ...
Jorn's user avatar
  • 371
14 votes
3 answers
273 views

Ambiguous tag: sts [closed]

(Since there is no way to flag a tag for moderator attention, I'm posting this meta-question.) The 'sts' tag (55 questions) has been used for two completely different things: SpringSource Tool Suite ...
MarnixKlooster ReinstateMonica's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
346 views

Should the "metro" tag refer to a Java framework or Windows 8 technology? [closed]

Looking through pending edits, I noticed someone had stripped metro off a Java webservices app. However, Metro is a well-known Java WS framework, as well as what the tag currently says: "Metro is ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 1,102
13 votes
1 answer
331 views

Suggest disambiguation to user when tagging

Minor/Moderate Problem: From my minimal time here, it appears that there are several tags: jcl free at .net as sts create document, and a few others tagged as ambiguous-tagson Meta, which might have ...
M. Tibbits's user avatar
  • 12.6k
13 votes
1 answer
105 views

The "after" tag

I have encountered the tag after. From looking at the list of questions using it, it seems to have no real use or standard meaning. Should it be removed? BTW, is this the right place to come to for ...
Inkbug's user avatar
  • 744
13 votes
2 answers
631 views

What makes a good tag?

I just read the tag FAQ and it didn't seem to make clear that tags should be unambiguously meaningful. I would suggest that a "good tag" be one that you could write a tag wiki excerpt for (and not ...
Gabe's user avatar
  • 5,178
13 votes
1 answer
323 views

Best practices for tagging: a search engine optimization view

Should we optimize the tags both for "connecting experts with questions" and for search engines to better index the questions? The above Help page mentions: Because the tags appear below ...
Timur Shtatland's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
152 views

Could the automat* tags be cleaned up? [closed]

There are several tags: automate 62 questions automated 77 questions automatic 147 questions automator 72 questions automata 45 questions automatically 55 questions automaton 13 questions automation ...
M. Tibbits's user avatar
  • 12.6k
12 votes
1 answer
109 views

What should we do with [glossary]?

glossary has eight questions (the last week I added it to three questions), no tag excerpt, and no wiki. The most prominent question having this tag is Stack Exchange Glossary - Dictionary of Commonly-...
Rubén's user avatar
  • 15.4k
12 votes
2 answers
175 views

Should the [table] tag be removed? [duplicate]

The table tag seems to having no meaning on itā€™s own. It has questions about: Database tables HTML tables ADO.NET table class Generating tables in Word documents (and that was only the first page of ...
Ian Ringrose's user avatar
  • 26.7k
12 votes
2 answers
164 views

The shark tag is ambiguous [closed]

The Stack Overflow shark tag is being used for several very different things at the moment, and as such is almost useless. From its tag wiki: Shark can refer to Apple's performance analysis ...
Chris's user avatar
  • 454
11 votes
1 answer
210 views

Clarify the [normalize] tag [closed]

Does the normalize tag mean normalize.css, does it mean normalizing text (Ć³ -> o), the Normalizer::normalize function in PHP or something else? Maybe someone who has enough privileges could split ...
Anish Gupta's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
191 views

Xcode tag cleanup request [closed]

I have noticed a disturbing trend: Every day I am retagging posts about iOS that have the xcode tag in them. The xcode tag should only be used for questions about the IDE itself, not about ...
Undo's user avatar
  • 50.8k
10 votes
1 answer
84 views

This tag encompasses a large [web] of topics

We have a web tag here on MSE. I think it should go. It was 21 questions (as of now) with no tag wiki or info. It includes the following topics: The "web" version of SE (in contrast to the ...
cocomac's user avatar
  • 13.7k
10 votes
1 answer
185 views

The Stack Overflow 'as' tag is very ambiguous [closed]

The as tag can refer to the As keyword in VB.NET, the Unix assembler, ActionScript and possibly many other things. Is there a way to resolve this?
Phonon's user avatar
  • 409
10 votes
1 answer
182 views

The cl tag ā€” CL and OpenCL language, or MSVC C compiler? [closed]

The tag cl has just over 50 questions. Many of them are about CL and OpenCL. Many of them are probably tagged to represent the MSVC C compiler, cl.exe. I've just rejected a suggested edit for a ...
Jonathan Leffler's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
286 views

Cleaning the Prototype tag [closed]

Summary The prototype is ambiguous. After reviewing the current questions, the tag wiki should be updated. Progress update I have retagged over 1700 questions. We need a better tag wiki excerpt. If ...
Rob W's user avatar
  • 10.4k
10 votes
1 answer
231 views

The "bootstrap" tag is ambiguous [closed]

Currently, bootstrap can refer either to either twitter-bootstrap (the CSS framework), or bootstrapping. Thus, bootstrap is ambiguous. Can people help me clean up this tag so it refers to either?
Peter O.'s user avatar
  • 3,467
10 votes
1 answer
100 views

Ambiguous tag: switching [closed]

There are 134 questions using the switching tag. Most are using it in the sense of "changing from one thing to another," e.g. "Switching from UIViewController to UITabBarController." However, there ...
Tim's user avatar
  • 301
10 votes
0 answers
161 views

What should we do about our [donation]s?

The donation tag has 21 questions and no tag wiki or usage guidance. The questions tagged with it vary from inquiries about donating to Stack Exchange/Stack Overflow, the Stack Gives Back event, or ...
Spevacus's user avatar
  • 26.8k
10 votes
0 answers
72 views

Some suggestions for you to retag to help purge [google] [closed]

google (the tag, that is) is a monstrosity. Evil, in fact. See Should the [google] tag be removed and blacklisted? The answer people are gravitating towards is very definitely "yes", and with good ...
Chris Morgan's user avatar
  • 1,388
10 votes
0 answers
74 views

Delete the [detect] tag? [closed]

I just came across detect, a tag with the lovely tag wiki summary: "Detect meaning goes like either discover or identity of presence." Looking at the 484 questions currently tagged with it, I see ...
Ilmari Karonen's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
146 views

The tag [using] on SO has overloaded meanings [closed]

On SO, the tag using seems to be used for two different things: Discussing the using keyword in C# and a few other related issues Not knowing what the tag field is for; e.g. questions "tagged" [...
dsolimano's user avatar
  • 1,670
9 votes
0 answers
73 views

Ambiguous tag: designmode [closed]

The StackOverflow designmode tag is being used for three things: Visual Studio's Design Mode used to graphically define forms (most usages) An old Internet Explorer feature that allows a form of in-...
Sergiu Paraschiv's user avatar
8 votes
6 answers
235 views

Shouldn't the ā€œconvertā€ tag be burninated? [closed]

It seems to me that "convert" is an ImageMagick component, but most questions tagged convert (1,945 questions) deal with various conversions of various formats into other formats. Shouldn't the noun ...
Benoit's user avatar
  • 851
8 votes
1 answer
180 views

Why are we [merging] all of these concepts together?

The tag merging has 47 questions and no excerpt or wiki. It seems to be used for the concept of merging things together, or when talking about merging things. However, we already have more specific ...
bobble's user avatar
  • 7,992
8 votes
2 answers
113 views

Ambiguous tag: f5 [closed]

The tag f5 is used for referring to both f5 load balancers and browser refreshing action by pressing the function F5 key. As of now there are only 28 questions with the f5 tag. I guess this won't be ...
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
154 views

The [filepicker] tag has had its basic tag rights infringed upon by filepicker.io

For those of you who hate fun, Ending the Fourth is what I think needs should happen. I guess the question is "can file pickers in general and filepicker.io be separated?" Once upon a time ...
Chris Morgan's user avatar
  • 1,388
8 votes
1 answer
154 views

How can ā€œtag antonymsā€ ā€” ambiguous tags with multiple distinct meanings ā€” best be nominated for disambiguation and/or bifurcation?

icc is attached to SO questions about one of two distinct things: The proprietary super-optimized Intel C/C++ Compilers, or Color-management theory and practice having to do with ICC profiles (named ...
fish2000's user avatar
  • 227
8 votes
2 answers
51 views

Thoughts on the [info], [information], and [advice] tags? [closed]

These three tags: info with 69 questions information with 126 questions advice with 116 questions appear to be ambiguous (in application to a wide variety of unrelated topics) and really serve as ...
M. Tibbits's user avatar
  • 12.6k
8 votes
1 answer
185 views

Tagging confusion/inconsistency with alloy-ui

I've noticed that many questions tagged as alloy-ui, are incorrectly tagged. Namely, topics involving Appcelerator's Alloy framework for the Titanium SDK. While Alloy UI is a javascript framework ...
Byran Zaugg's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
113 views

How should we clean up and disambiguate the [find] tag? [closed]

find may be a problem. It has a few possible legitimate meanings. "find" is a filesystem search tool on various flavors of *nix. "find" is also a filesystem search tool on various flavors of DOS ...
Charles's user avatar
  • 13.2k
8 votes
1 answer
81 views

'write' is an ambiguous tag

Stack Overflow has 638 questions tagged write. The 'related tags' gives a clue to the various areas where this tag is applied: file x 188 read x 161 php x 76 java x 70 python x 63 c# x 58 c ...
Kevin Vermeer's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
447 views

what tag for Processing? [closed]

that is, the Processing programming language. I saw a tag "processing" and used that, but none of the other questions with the same tag seem to be about the unfortunately named language called "...
Mark Harrison's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
216 views

Homonyms. [ghost] is a tag for Python Webkit client *and* blogging platform

There is an old tag ghost for Python Webkit client. But questions start to appear that ask about Ghost blogging platform. How to deal with homonyms? Create separate tags?
skfd's user avatar
  • 173
7 votes
2 answers
92 views

The [roll] tag is ambiguous [closed]

There are currently 54 questions tagged with roll. The usages of roll include: Rolling dice - These should probably be only tagged dice and not diceroll. Yaw-Pitch-Roll iOS Camera Roll ...
Kara's user avatar
  • 3,313
7 votes
1 answer
172 views

Should the logo tag be renamed to logo-language? [closed]

On Stack Overflow, the logo tag is used to refer to the logo language and also to refer to logos. The latter is also used in Meta Stack Overflow. Is the latter tag a legitimate one? If so, should we ...
Andrew Grimm's user avatar
  • 21.1k