14
$\begingroup$

The was recently created. But it's a horrible tag. There are different notions of basis in mathematics, and they are not entirely the same at all.

  1. Hamel basis
  2. Hilbert basis.
  3. Schauder basis.
  4. Topological basis.

The tag is used as a free for all. And if it continues to exists, it will be used wrong, requiring constant handling.

I believe it should be deleted or blacklisted. But it is currently getting too large for a very quick deletion by a single user on a single run. So I prefer to get some community input first, and possibly help in deleting this tag entirely.

$\endgroup$
1

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8
$\begingroup$

The tag is (soon to be) dead. Currently there are no questions in the tag, so if we keep it that way the automatic script will delete it in a number of hours. I believe Martin Sleziak took care of the last couple stragglers.

To try to prevent its use in the meantime, I have edited the tag-excerpt to read

This tag is in the process of being removed from the system; please do not add to any questions. See meta.math.SE for more details.

The tag-wiki has also been edited to include the following preamble

This tag is in the process of being removed from the system; please do not add to any questions. See Can we delete the [basis] tag? for more details.

I am not requesting the CMs blacklist the tag at this time. Should the tag re-appear multiple times it should be pretty easy to get a blacklist added, largely due to the existence of this very thread.

To answer the question in the title: Yes, we can!

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ I was hoping someone would answer the question in the title like that! $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 16:34
1
$\begingroup$

I will point out that I have taken liberty of creating tag-info which specifies that this tag is for the meaning of the word basis used in linear algebra. I have also mentioned in the tag excerpt the tags and .

If the users will follow the usage suggested in the tag-wiki and tag-excerpt (which more experienced users tend to do), then this should deal with ambiguity of the tag name. And if the tag stays, we can add a new template to the comment templates for tags that are often used incorrectly.

If you consider the tag ambiguous even despite the above suggestions, we can still create a new tag with more explicit name, for example , and create a synonym with the better named tag as a master tag.

I do not have any strong preference, whether the tag should be removed or whether it should stay. But my preferred solution if the tag should be removed would be make it synonym of (linear-algebra) (with linear-algebra as a master tag). This prevents users from creating the tag with the same name again and retagging the questions currently tagged would not be needed - with the exception of the few questions where this tag is used for basis of a topological space. (BTW I have already started retagging those questions.)

At the moment there are two suggested synonyms for linear-algebra, namely and . The latter was previously discussed here.

$\endgroup$
10
  • $\begingroup$ Just because there are guidelines in the excerpt doesn't mean they get followed. Unfortunately. You know this as well as I do. I'm not against a synonym, though. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 26, 2015 at 8:12
  • $\begingroup$ That's why I added: "which more experienced users tend to do". And using comment templates can help making users aware of correct tag usage. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jul 26, 2015 at 8:14
  • $\begingroup$ I have to admit that of all the menial clean up tasks of this site, tagging is the most annoying one to me... $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 26, 2015 at 8:19
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ The problem with the suggested synonym is if someone asks a question about bases for topological space and attempts to add the basis tag, if they aren't careful they won't see that the question will actually be tagged linear-algebra. $\endgroup$
    – user642796 Mod
    Commented Jul 26, 2015 at 10:05
  • $\begingroup$ @Arthur: At 7-zip, with only -1 on this answer, is there going to be any moderator action about this soon? $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 26, 2015 at 21:23
  • $\begingroup$ @Asaf: There's not too many questions with the tag. It's probably best to go through them one-by-one, as most could use some fixing apart from the tag, and a sprinkling of close-votes here and there probably wouldn't hurt, either. I've gone through a few so far today, and intend to slowly continue until there's nothing left in the tag. $\endgroup$
    – user642796 Mod
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 5:58
  • $\begingroup$ @Asaf: I should add that if this tag comes back again and again after it's been removed, I will request a blacklist. Even the larger contradiction tag hasn't returned (to my knowledge) after being burninated but not blacklisted. $\endgroup$
    – user642796 Mod
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 6:14
  • $\begingroup$ @Arthur: Thanks, sounds like a plan. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 6:17
  • $\begingroup$ @ArthurFischer If the plan is to remove or even blacklist (basis) if it reappears, maybe a moderator could remove the suggested synonyms. (I suppose moderator votes are binding there, too.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 9:13
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Mod votes aren't exactly binding there, but mods can unilaterally remove a (proposed) tag synonym. Which I have done. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. $\endgroup$
    – user642796 Mod
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 10:35

You must log in to answer this question.

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