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Lately there seem to be a few questions that are erroneously tagged as instead of . Is there anything we can do about this? We can't make a synonym of , in case we start getting questions tagged as instead of , but banning will probably have some other unforeseen consequences.

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    $\begingroup$ Could you tell me what unforeseen consequences of eliminating the (algebraic) tag you foresee? Well, strictly speaking you certainly can't, but you know what I mean. $\endgroup$ Oct 1, 2013 at 18:38
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    $\begingroup$ One scenario I imagine is that we start getting questions tagged as just geometry instead of algebraic-geometry... $\endgroup$
    – Zhen Lin
    Oct 1, 2013 at 18:39
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    $\begingroup$ @ZhenLin: Do you mean »... instead of (algebraic) (geometry)...«? $\endgroup$
    – user642796
    Oct 1, 2013 at 19:14

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Usually this happens when one user makes a mistake of typing algebraic geometry instead of algebraic-geometry into the tag field, all the while ignoring the automatically popped up suggestions.

Once the tag is created, it can be included in the pop-up suggestion for future users, who then use that tag instead of the correct ones.

The best course of action, when you see something like this, is to flag for moderator attention:

  1. If there are a number of questions mistagged in the same way, the moderators can perform a tag merge to avoid bumping them all up.

  2. Tag mergers have the additional benefit that the tag is "destroyed" for the time being. So other users will no longer see it being suggested when they start typing algebrai. (If you just remove the tag by hand, the tag will only be removed from the system at the end of the day when the clean-up script is run.)


If we were to go down the route of black listing certain adjectives, a few other ones that have caused similar problems are

  • differential
  • analytic
  • real
  • complex
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