I know I can remove flags from individual posts (given enough rep) but I mean to flag the tag itself. For example, there is a tag called evil for which I can't imagine any useful cohesion between various tagged posts as with, say, the c++ tag (and indeed, the three tagged posts do not have anything in common really).
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2 Answers
If you find a tag that you think doesn't belong on the site, bring it to meta, as you've done. This will allow the community to discuss the tag and determine why it is used and if it has value.
With that said, I see no value in such a tag. A better tag might be ethics, since it's more general and applies to a specific segment of software development.
ethics has 92 questions in it. Clearly, it's the closer tag people think of when they post questions about moral or ethical right or wrongs in programming.
However, evil only has 3 questions in it, so it would be really easy to retag those 3 or remove the unwanted tag. Since only 500 reputation is needed to retag a question, this is something that you could do yourself. :)
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2one thing to add to this answer would be that if you find a bad tag with more questions in the future don't go on a re-tag spree. Keep editing to a handful at a time so the front page isn't overwhelmed.– RyathalAug 1, 2012 at 12:32
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Good point, although that's something that the SE software should handle; for example don't show too many posts that would be shown because of actions from the same user. Aug 1, 2012 at 14:18
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1@fish The purpose of that mechanism, from my understanding, is to bring edits to the front page so people can see them. If they are bad edits, vandalism, or other destructive actions, they won't be hidden from the community. Instead, someone will notice the actions and flag them. It makes tag clean ups a bit painful, but the system has it's purpose.– Thomas Owens ModAug 1, 2012 at 15:48
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1Yeah I guess there is more to it than I would have thought at first. I'll keep that in mind if I were to encounter a similar situation. Aug 1, 2012 at 23:20
In addition, you can flag the question itself and point out the errant tag. The flag will automatically get moderator attention whereas posting in meta requires a moderator to see the question thread. Both work, a meta question isn't quite as direct.
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I disagree. Tagging is actionable by community members with just 500 rep. It's not really a moderator task. Also, bringing the topic to meta allows discussion. Bring it to the moderator's attention after the community has agreed there is a problem with the tag and it would disrupt the home page to try and remove them all at once, like if there are hundreds of posts with that tag. In that case, a mod can get official support to remove the tag.– jmort253Aug 2, 2012 at 1:05