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Currently there are tags for , , and .

Are these tags needed, or should this information be noted in the question body instead?

3 Answers 3

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They do seem to be meta tags.

Would the questions be OK if these were the only tags?

Do the questions still make sense if this tag is removed?

If the answers are "no" and "yes" then they can be safely removed.

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    It's not totally clear to me that the answer to the second question is "yes". There are a nontrivial number of questions where the answer depends on the asker's country. If someone in the UK is searching an electrical issue, it could be very helpful to use a tag to limit the scope of their search. Country tags would also help improve the "related" question selection so that they're actually questions relating to the same country, and therefore the same baseline assumptions and standards.
    – Brad Mace
    Apr 13, 2013 at 5:12
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    Though if we were to have such tags, they should only be used/allowed on questions where the location is significant. If you're building a chair no one cares what country you're in.
    – Brad Mace
    Apr 13, 2013 at 5:15
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I am not sure I agree with the accepted answer. I have actually missed this thread and posted a new question, but here are my arguments in favour of regional tags in context of this thread:

  • They provide context, thus not being meta-tags.
  • It may not be obvious for the OP that the regional variations may be relevant, and adding a tag is a quick and sufficient fix.
  • More experienced users can adjust tags, making a question better findable.
  • To oppose the accepted answer, I am also not sure what the difference between these tags and all other tags could be. Take "electrical". If I remove it, does a question still make sense? Sure, any tag is a meta-information. Then take "USA". Does it make sense if it is the only tag? Yes, in the DIY site it tells me that the question is related to DIY in USA, so, if I am interested in regional aspects, I'll read it, and if I know nothing about American standards and traditions I will probably avoid answering.

So I see a critical difference between the regional/locality tags and the so-called meta-tags, and would like to re-propose introducing them. Please read the related question too, to see examples and answer that one.

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    I think it's more useful to post regional information in the body of the question. I'm not sure anybody would ever want to look at all the questions from the uk (which apparently exists). They may, however, want to see all the electrical questions.
    – Tester101
    May 3, 2016 at 14:34
  • The tags for a region, if they are the only tags on the question, do not effectively categorize the question. They are only useful when combined with other tags, like electrical. That falls directly into the definition of a meta tag. If the site receives a lot of electrical questions from the UK, and it makes sense to separate those from US based questions, then creating an electricial-uk may make sense, similar to how we created thermostat-c-wire despite already having thermostat and hvac.
    – BMitch Mod
    May 3, 2016 at 14:42
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For me, the solution would be to require a country/state/province in the profile in order to post a question. But, it's a one-off for DIY, so I doubt it's practical

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