If I shouldn't be using the tag, why am I allowed to?

It seems like really bad design. An interface shouldn't permit you to do things that you're not supposed to do, especially when you're explicitly told not to.

The tag should say 'THIS TAG CANNOT BE USED' and not be selectable.

It reminds me of those doors that say 'This door is neither an entrance, nor an exit.'.

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If a big red button has a label "Do not press!" but can still physically be pressed - is it the fault of the label? Sorry for the rather crude comparison - but if it says do not use - then don't use it. If people are not following instructions - that is a different issue. –  Lix Jun 27 '12 at 10:34
 
Sorry but what exactly are you talking about? Care to explain with an example? –  Shadow Wizard Jun 27 '12 at 10:35
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@sha - the tags marked from the cleanup effort had their wiki changed to "DO NOT USE"... but users can still use them in posts.. –  Lix Jun 27 '12 at 10:35
 
@Lix thanks, didn't remember that. –  Shadow Wizard Jun 27 '12 at 10:36
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@Lix: It's not the fault of the label, it's the fault of the button. Why would you have a button you shouldn't use? What's the point of it? Especially, as psychologically, people tend to have a desire to do things they're told not to! –  nicodemus13 Jun 27 '12 at 10:46
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Clearly, someone now has to develop a mainstream coding framework called "Do Not Use", just for the irony. –  dash Jun 27 '12 at 12:00
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1 Answer

up vote 11 down vote accepted

The "DO NOT USE" is purely a convention from the community to mark tags that are supposed to be removed. Those are not supposed to exist for long, only until the tag is eliminated and replaced by better tags. There never was a feature that would prevent those tags from being used.

There is a feature to blacklist tags, but that is developer-only and used very rarely. It is also generally not used on existing tags, but the tag is removed completely and then blacklisted, to avoid any confusion.

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Ok, thanks, that's a sort-of answer, though it seems more like 'AVOID USING', than do not use. –  nicodemus13 Jun 27 '12 at 10:47
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The issue is that some of the tags which are DO NOT USE have 1000s of questions are will take a long time for the tags to be edited away –  Mark Jun 27 '12 at 12:54
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