Request for comment: structured tag cleanups

Question

So one of the major problems we have on Programmers is the proliferation of bad tags. We've had a number of discussions and posse requests for different tags, but killing a tag—when it's even possible—tends to be incredibly ad hoc.

So, based on the recent software tag cleanup, I'd like to propose a more structured cleanup process for tags:

Step 1: determine a tag needs to die

Once a quarter-ish, we'll create a question here, tagged featured, that'll request candidate tags for cleanup. Each tag will get its own answer so they can be discussed in comments.

After two weeks, the question will be closed, and any tag with a score of 5 or higher will move onto the next round. We'll work through each of these tags in the same way: once these are complete, we'll create a new call for candidate tags.

Step 2: create a cleanup notice for the tag.

Once a tag is identified as needing to die, a moderator will create a new meta-discussion question tagged featured that starts the cleanup. The ground rules of the cleanup would be:

• One cleanup notice active at a time
• If a question in the tag is closed as anything other than "exact duplicate", has less than 20 score, and has been closed for a month or more, it can be deleted at any time
• If a question's been closed as an exact duplicate, it'll be listed as a "merge candidate" in the cleanup notice.
• If a question is closed and has a score of 20 or higher, it'll be listed as a "deletion candidate" in the cleanup notice

Once this post notice is created, a two-week cleanup timer begins.

Step 3: cleaning up the tags, identifying close candidates, and the last call for heroic edits

During the two-week cleanup period, the community will be tasked with doing the following:

1. Cleaning up the tags: if a question is on-topic for the site, it needs to be revised and retagged with more meaningful tags.

2. Identifying close candidates: if a tagged question just slipped through the cracks and needs to be closed, it needs to be listed as a close candidate on the cleanup notice.

3. For any tagged closed question or close candidate, the cleanup period is the last chance to save them with heroic edits: consolidate lists into canonical answers and flag duplicate answers for deletion and substantially improve the quality of the question. If an attempt to save a question has been made, flag the question and list it as a "saved question" on the cleanup notice

Step 4: cleanup aftermath

At the end of the two-week cleanup period:

• any questions marked saved will be reviewed and reopened if the edits have, in fact, substantially improved the question and addressed the original reasons why the question was closed
• any deletion candidates not saved will be deleted
• any merge candidates not saved will be merged
• any close candidates not saved will be reviewed by moderators and closed if found to be off-topic, not constructive, too localized, not real questions, or exact duplicates of other questions

Any questions closed during the cleanup will stick around for a month to give one final chance to save them. If they haven't been reopened after that, they'll be deleted.

Wrap up and feedback

This is pretty close to what we've been doing for other tag cleanups, just in a more structured manner that keeps everyone in the loop about what's going to happen at any specific time.

What do you think? What concerns do you have? Are there specific implementation details that need tweaking?

Answer 1

I like it, generally, but Step 1 might be refined.

Perhaps we could prioritize with a single question here on meta? Someone (you or another mod, I'd assume) posts a question asking for the bad tags. This question should be featured. Every answer consists of a single bad tag, a reason why it's bad, and a proposal to properly clean it up (remove it, suggestions for possible replacements, etc.). Comments on each answer can be used to discuss if the tag is actually bad, improvements to how to clean it up, and so on. Everyone votes on the answers/tags. At some point in time, the top voted tag (which would represent the most important tag to clean up) would be deleted and copied into its own question for questions, status, and clarification, and this question would also be featured.

In the comments, Yannis Rizos suggests not deleting the "answer" in the organization question until after the cleanup. This would help make sure that the reason for the clean up is captured in its original intent. Of course, the content of the discussion and key points should be captured and moved into the cleanup-specific question. Once the cleanup is done, that would be the point where you delete the question in the organization question.

This prevents a number of meta questions exclusively about "X tag is bad" and probably makes it much easier to prioritize tags to clean up. Steps 2-4 happen just as you described. When the clean-up is complete, the tag-specific question created in Step 1 gets closed for "archival" (I suppose is a good analogy).

Another advantage of having a per-tag question during the cleanup promotes discussing particular questions. In the event that there's an individual question that needs to be discussed, it can be posted as an answer, voted on, and discussed using comments to try to decide if and how to make it a good question or if it's not salvageable.

Answer 2

I've been looking through some of the questions, and a lot of them just have a bad tag, but aren't otherwise noteworthy. So why "heroic" edit?

I would prefer waiting a little longer before deleting the closed questions - if a "deleter" hits the questions before an "editor" gets there then there's nothing to edit.

Any worries about spamming the front page? Any guidance on that? (Note that throttling edits just gives the "deleters" an edge if there is a race).

Answer 3

some things that wouldn't hurt to add to this process.

1. tags selected for cleanup have their wiki edited to a do not use message.
2. create some additional incentive to participate in a cleanup, like a clean-up mvp medal for most heroic edits.
3. for tags with very large amounts of questions, designate a time where the front page will get destroyed for an hour or two.
4. questions below -1 can not be saved.