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Deletion vs. Merging
Whenever possible, merge tags rather than deleting them. When you delete a tag (by hitting the trash can button in the tags editor), the tag is "deactivated" but it is still in the system. To make a tag truly disappear from the system, merge it with a better tag.
Tag IDs
A tag's ID number (tag_id) can be used to approximate when a tag was created. The smaller the number, the older it is, and vice versa. For reference, tag_id 99444 was created in January 2015.
Relevance of Tag IDs:
If a tag has been used many times and was created a long time ago, this could indicate it is well established. The "age" if a tag is not the be all and end all but it gives the tag some context.
If you look at the all tags query, you will notice gaps in the tag IDs. These gaps occur as a result of merges. When you merge Tag A to match Tag B, Tag A's ID will no longer exist in our system.
Helpful Hints on Content and Formatting
Tag Families
When possible, it is desirable to create "families of tags." Tags that share a key word or phrase are useful because they increase the browsability of our tags. For example when discussing issues related to the LGBTQ community, we use LGBTQ- to start off related tags.
Additional info in Tags
avocados vs avocado-industry
These are separate tags because the former refers to the plant. The second refers to the cultivation of avocados and business practices associated with it. This separation is not always necessary. To decide if it is, think about how both of these tags could be used. when in doubt, look at how they have been used. It is slightly preferable to just have one tag if only to keep the overall number of tags down.
Spacing and Hyphens
auto-immune-diseases vs autoimmune-diseases
It's autoimmune diseases. Be careful with compound words.
Correct tags: anti[noun], anti-[propernoun]
Armed-Forces and United-States-Armed-Forces are now both US-Armed-Forces
It's Thomas-Perez not Tom-Perez (there's no nickname for him in our database).
Abbreviations
ATT vs. AT&T
the former refers to the Arms-Trade-Treaty. Make no assumptions about what things stand for when editing tags. Furthermore, ATT is a terrible tag because it is not used frequently enough that people make the association with the Arms Trade Treaty automatically.
The plural of Attorney-General is Attorneys-General
Countries
When two countries are listed in a tag, they should always be in alphabetical order. Ukraine-US-relations and Russia-Ukraine-relations are both good tags.
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- 2015-11-24 09:06:51
- Owner: EmilyF
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