What is the current consent on version-specific tags?

Question

This question from 2012 asked about adding specific version tags to warhammer-40k, such as warhammer-40k-8e.

The accepted answer uses an example from StackOverflow, where it was brought up that the "Java" tag is much more popular than the "Java-ee-6" tag.

I personally see this reasoning as way too specific to StackOverflow. Differences in versions of programming languages are generally related to available features. Code written for C# 5 will most likely work perfectly fine in a C# 7 compiler.

Games such as Warhammer 40k are vastly different. The entire game system is overhauled from edition to edition, and answers will be completely incompatible, depending on the version in question. For instance, this question would have completely different answers, depending if it is played in eighth edition or seventh edition.

One example of this being used is RPG.se, where specific tags are created for specific versions of games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, because a question asked by a player intending to play 5th Edition may have a radically different answer than someone playing 3.5E.

As such, I am asking if the view on game version tags has changed over the past few years? Does the community consider version-specific tags to be valuable or add clutter?

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Edit: In regards to confusion when using multiple tags. I suggest the following info for warhammer-40k:

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. Warhammer 40,000 is a detailed futuristic table-top battle simulation. Use this tag for questions about the tabletop game. Consider including version-specific tags, such as warhammer-40k-8e, if your question is about a specific version of the game.

And likewise for warhammer-40k-8e:

The eighth edition of warhammer-40k. Use this tag when asking questions specific to the eighth edition of the game. If your question is generic enough to be applicable to multiple editions, do not include this tag.

Answer 1

I would strongly disagree with your assumption that the entire game system is overhauled from edition to edition and there are things that remain the same across all editions of a game.

The main issue and argument against those tags is they are not always needed and can be confusing as when to use and may cause users to use an incorrect edition version or use multiple version tags when it is not needed.

As for your example question I am not knowledgeable to know if there is a difference due to different editions but the user who asked the question provided no information about which one they are asking about so for all we know it might not even been 7th or 8th editions.

If you have a question that applies to a specific version it can be added if needed but as was said in the past it should be avoided if not needed.

Think of it this way if you are looking for warhammer-40k information it becomes a lot harder to find the more edition tags that are added.

Answer 2

This is the policy on the RPG SE, and I think it should be the policy here, as well, for the same reasons.

I was actually about to ask this question myself, when I saw this one pop up in the "related questions" box. I think that having a policy that is so different between such similar SE sites is likely to be confusing to new users, as is the fact that the "Related Questions" sidebar in Warhammer 40k includes questions about radically different editions; the rules of Warhammer 40k 7th Edition are vastly different to the rules of 8th Edition, to such an extent that they're almost entirely different games.

I also think it might be worthwhile to discuss whether or not we should adopt RPG.SE's policy of closing any new questions that lack the appropriate edition tag - there are arguments for it (e.g. optimizing for good questions), and also arguments against it (e.g. new user inclusiveness). You can see their most recent discussion about this policy here.

Of course, the vast majority of questions here are about Magic: the Gathering, where this wouldn't apply, but I think that this would be a useful way of explicitly defining questions for games where it does.