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We have a number of tags that are for categories of games, such as "trick-taking-games". In looking at them, it looks like they mostly exist for the following reasons:

  • 19: As a supplementary tag to a question about a specific game and already tagged with that game's tag (e.g. )
  • 8: Closed recommendation question
  • 2: Identify this game
  • 2: Closed as too broad
  • 2: Tagged solely with these tags (potentially had their game tag purged)
  • 8: Other (seem to be able to be tagged with other things)

The first reason in particular makes it seem like a meta tag. For instance, Determining if/when to use trump in the "pre-game" of 2-handed Pinochle is tagged with and , but I don't think that anything would be lost if the first tag were removed.

Here's a specific breakdown by tag.

  • x 14
    • 8: Also tagged with a specific board/card game (three of them have )
    • 1: Comparison of a specific game to other trick-taking-games
    • 1: General rule for error in play (could be ?)
    • 1: Counting cards
    • 1: Request for tools to solve puzzles (possibly a )
    • 1: Closed recommendation question
    • 1: Closed as too broad
  • x 14
    • 8: Also tagged with a specific board/card game (5 of them have )
    • 2: Game questions without a game tag (mostly one-offs that were likely purged)
    • 1: Pricing for Avalon Hill Wargmaes
    • 1: Modeling terrain
    • 1: Closed recommendation question
  • x 8
    • 6: Closed recommendation questions
    • 1: Identify this game
    • 1: Also tagged with a specific board/card game
  • x 3
    • 1: Playing games at a casino with a visual impairment
    • 1: Identify this game
    • 1: Also tagged with a specific board/card game (in this case, about video poker)
  • x 2
    • 2: Also tagged with a specific board/card game
  • x 1
    • 1: Closed as too broad

I'm definitely seeing a pattern here: these game category tags either are supplementary information that is not strictly necessary, or they are for recommendation questions (which are no longer on topic). The rest seem like they could be retagged without hurting the question.

Given that the vast majority of these tags are not needed on the questions they are tagged with, is there any reason that we should keep these category tags?

1 Answer 1

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My vote is to Delete them all.

I've always favored using game tags are our main form of tagging and don't have much use for tags which encompass more than one game.

Exceptions are certain tags which aren't directly about particular games, ex:

Also some games that use a very close similar rule set can be usefully grouped when it is likely that an expert on one would be able to assist across those games, ex: ,

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  • I think removing the game type tags from the questions is a good move, though it has been nice for games that do not yet have their own tag, and perhaps are looking for consensus based on similar games within the same type. This is particularly potent for low rep users who need to tag their question, but cannot tag a game that does not yet have it's own unique tag.
    – daviscodesbugs
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 23:00
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    @daviscodesbugs - we should optimize for experts. Newbies are awesome, but they will nearly always need help (editing, categorizing, how to answer...etc) Tagging a new game is rare enough that I don't think it warrants worrying about it much.
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Commented Mar 29, 2017 at 18:55
  • @daviscodesbugs It doesn't seem like [identify-this-game] was benefiting from category tags anyway, so I don't think anything was lost there. As for newbies, it's definitely unfortunate when they want to tag with a game not in the system, but since these tags don't make sense long-term, I don't think this is the right solution to that.
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 0:15
  • I agree with the above statements (as mentioned in my original comment) just thought I'd mention the downsides to see if there were a more elegant way to address both issues.
    – daviscodesbugs
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 20:39
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    This retagging is complete. Thanks for suggesting this!
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Apr 7, 2017 at 20:07

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