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I'm sure this is a duplicate, but I couldn't find it.

Can we somehow stop users from creating stupid tags and then bumping tons of old questions so that they can add their tag?

For example, as of now, a user is going through all the tags and adding to them. This is just silly, it bumps old (usually closed) questions, as far as I can tell just to try and sound "cute".

This happens once in a while. Is there any suggestion to stop it or deal with it? As far as I can tell, the only thing to do is just grin and bear it.

I have rolled back all the edits to just add the silly tag, so the link above will appear empty. But in the homework link, any questions recently edited by me are the ones I fixed.

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17  
I thought the mmm-bacon tag was always appropriate? ;) –  Troggy Aug 14 '09 at 23:12
7  
Bacon is clearly the exception, because bacon is tasty and delicious. –  GManNickG Aug 14 '09 at 23:15
4  
I'll gladly follow someone and untag everything they are tagging stupidly. I have no life, might as well use it for good. –  Tyler Carter Aug 14 '09 at 23:20
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It is a stupid tag - meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10078/… –  random Aug 14 '09 at 23:43
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@GMan: Thank you for fixing those tags. The tags are there to help people search, not to be cute. No one is going to search for 'plzsendtehcodes'. In the future, feel free to flag for moderator attention on issues like this. We have tools for changing batches of tags all at once, making it a much faster operation. –  Bill the Lizard Aug 15 '09 at 1:10
    
Okay, thank you for the clarification. –  GManNickG Aug 15 '09 at 1:16
    
@Bill The Lizard: But it is fun to stalk someone! Especially when the questions slow down. –  Tyler Carter Aug 15 '09 at 2:19
    
@Chacha102: You're still allowed to retag stuff manually if you have the time. :) –  Bill the Lizard Aug 15 '09 at 3:05
4  
Bill, please don't officially sanction stalking. We're still fighting the first three restraining orders Chacha's ratcheted up. –  Eric Aug 15 '09 at 3:51
5  
that really is stupid - because the tag should be plzsendtehcodez –  Steven A. Lowe Sep 14 '09 at 14:47

4 Answers 4

up vote 17 down vote accepted

I really wish the moderators could create a list of tags that you just can't create. "plzsendmethecodez" (and all variants) is a prime example.

This isn't something that could really be voted on (to add or remove) but really can only work as a moderator action. The idea here isn't to create more work by creating and maintaining a huge list. In fact I think the list will be fairly small. We just need to save the work of removing such stupid tags when some plonker decides to go on a retag spree (and to stop the tags being created in the first place (again)).

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2  
+1 for plonker usage –  Rich Seller Sep 13 '09 at 22:14

How 'bout we change the definition of the Taxonomist badge from "Created a tag used by 50 questions" to "Created a tag used by 50 users." That would prevent a user from getting the badge by adding a "stupid" tag to 50 questions . Then, at least if we see this happen we know it's someone not just trying to earn the badge.

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1  
+1 to this! –  Ether Aug 15 '09 at 17:15
    
I'm promoting this a question: I think it deserves it's own feature-request. –  Joel Coehoorn Aug 17 '09 at 20:45
    
(@Joel, If you did do that, please add a link to that question) –  Jonik Sep 14 '09 at 5:09
    
    
Oo @Joel, how about a new "Stupid" badge - added stupid tags to 50 questions (according to the list created by @cletus)? –  AviD Nov 17 '10 at 1:32

I would like to say the mods have done a great job weeding/cleaning through tags and consolidating them. Meta is the place to mention specific tag abuse and they can address the concerns one by one. It has been discussed before, but be sure to mention the specific tags being abused in all future posts. And thank you for helping clean up posts.

Remember to use that retag-request tag on meta questions reguarding tag changes: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/retag-request

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3  
To be fair, most of the routine re-tagging is done by the regular SO population. –  Marc Gravell Aug 15 '09 at 10:30

How do you define "stupid" tags? If you see something you believe is abusive, just email team@stackoverflow.com or flag a post for moderator attention and let them deal with it with the tools they already have. We don't need things like this to try and prevent bad behavior.

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4  
Stupid is a tag like "plzsendtehcodes", which was cute the first time somebody said it. The tag is just an "add-on" to homework questions, and serves no purpose. But ok, thanks for the email. –  GManNickG Aug 14 '09 at 22:41
2  
Actually Gman, it does serve a purpose that I went through here: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10078/… We do need a tag for when someone decides they need the code (they aren't interested in doing any work) but it isn't homework. That's what that tag was originally meant for. For the number of 'friday fun' questions that slip through, why stop a tag that has a legitimate use? –  George Stocker Aug 14 '09 at 23:55
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The "tag" for someone that wants code is really just "homework" + closed. What purpose does the tag really have? We don't need to know where the failure questions are, they are closed for a reason. –  GManNickG Aug 15 '09 at 0:26
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If this tag actually serves a purpose, it should be named sensibly, e.g. "code-needed", not "plzsendtehcodes". –  Ether Aug 15 '09 at 17:16
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its not code-neded, in any case it would be code-wanted(bacause-i-m-too-lazy) –  perbert Aug 15 '09 at 18:48

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