1
$\begingroup$

Not many casual biologists (and certainly very few non-biologists) know what the field of refers to. As such, I would think that a number of questions that would appropriately receive the tag have not (and do not) receive the tag. (e.g., a search for "lake" brings up 82 results that otherwise have no limnological tag associated with them).

So I proposed two tag synonyms for

  • aquatic-biology
  • freshwater-biology

My reasoning was to allow someone searching for tags referencing two well known terms ("freshwater" and/or "aquatic") to get to the appropriate tag.

I was assuming that suggesting these tag synonyms was the appropriate way to do this. However, I had to create these two new tags in order to actually suggest them as synonyms. Is there a different way to propose "synonyms" for improving the ability to search for appropriate tags without having to create new tags? In other words, can a non-existent tag synonym just be added directly to an existing tag?

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ anybody have thoughts about this?? $\endgroup$
    – theforestecologist Mod
    Commented Feb 24, 2017 at 16:53
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I think it's a bit problematic because limnology need not be specific to freshwater, and aquatic-biology need not be specific to limnology but I am sympathetic to what you hope to achieve. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 17:57

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4
$\begingroup$

I see the point of joining and , since they are so close to each other (as @BryanKrause points out, limnology is a bit broader though). However, is sort of the parallel to the existing (and useful) tag (so maybe should be the "main" tag?). Placing as a synonym isn't really appropriate though, since it is much broader than limnology (can cover to both limnology, marine biology and freshwater biology).

All in all, I think making a synonym is a good idea - people can still search for and use that tag (in relation to ), but it will be reclassified as limnology.

$\endgroup$
1
2
$\begingroup$

Suggested Solution:

As discussed in this Q&A's comments and in fileunderwater's post, I think the best thing to do moving forward is:

  1. should be made the main tag (i.e., the "master") and be made a synonym.

  2. I think an tag would be ok to keep in instances where water in general (i.e., irrespective of marine vs fresh) is the focus.

Approach:

I suggested these tag edits over a month ago, but only 1 other member seems to have high enough rep in to vote on the pending tag suggestion. However, a few members discussed these suggestion here in meta, and we seem to be in agreement about how to move forward with these tags.

Can I ask one of the current mods (@Chris, @WYSIWYG, @MadScientist) to make these changes?

I'm very certain that the tag could be assigned to numerous existing questions and would be very useful to new users (especially since few people know what limnology is).

  • I think we should "clean this up" sooner than later to help us better assign water-related posts the appropriate tags.
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe tomorrow you can make these changes ;) $\endgroup$
    – canadianer
    Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 20:31
  • $\begingroup$ @canadianer nope, guess not :p ha! $\endgroup$
    – theforestecologist Mod
    Commented Apr 10, 2017 at 19:52

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .