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I noticed that the tag system has a synonyms function, shouldn't we use it instead of naming tags like praying-davening-tefila?

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I think that for non-English terms for which there's a concise English translation, it's valuable to have the primary tag in any synonym collection be a bilingual tag, to make it readily apparent to all users what the tag's about. Putting in a tag wiki summary that'll come ups as a tooltip helps with this, but isn't quite as user-friendly as just having the tag say what it is in English.

I agree that there's no longer any need for a single tag to include multiple synonyms or spellings in the same language.

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  • I agree with this. However, note a detrimental side effect of multilingual tags: when "StackJudaism" posts each question to Twitter, it also posts the question's (primary, I think) tag with a pound sign before it and with hyphens removed. Thus, e.g., "how to keep a talis from sliding from one's shoulders http://bit.ly/kUY9Lg #tallitprayershawl" which shows up at twitter.com/search?q=%23tallitprayershawl instead of at e.g. twitter.com/search?q=%23tallit.
    – msh210 Mod
    Jul 1, 2011 at 17:44
  • @msh210 Eh. StackJudaism has 4 followers.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jul 1, 2011 at 18:21
  • IsaacMoses, right, but: I don't use Twitter really, but I understand #terms are searched for also (independently of who posted them). If so, having #tallit might be better than having #tallisprayershawl.
    – msh210 Mod
    Jul 1, 2011 at 18:25
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    @msh210 I agree that that would be advantageous, but I think our primary consideration for how we tag should be usefulness to readers of Mi Yodeya, with usefulness to twitter users well below. We'll get many, many more searching walk-ins from Google than from Twitter, and I think that the hyphenated tags are probably just as good as plain ones for Google SEO.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jul 1, 2011 at 18:29
  • IsaacMoses, yes, that's why I prefaced my remark with "I agree with this. However, note a detrimental side effect".
    – msh210 Mod
    Jul 1, 2011 at 18:41
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Absolutely.
This was caused because the original site was on the SE1.0 engine, as opposed to the current SE2.x engine, which did not have support for synonyms.

The problem is that this is a lot of work, and at this point its mainly the moderators that can create arbitrary synonyms (as opposed to the usual process, of having a well used tag marked and voted as a synonym).
I hope this will be done, in time...?

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    Actually: Users with more than 1250 reputation and a total answer score of 5 or more on the tag, can suggest tag synonyms. Users with a total answer score (total upvotes minus total downvotes) of 5 or more, can vote for tag synonyms. Suggestions will be automatically approved when they reach a score of 4, and automatically deleted when they reach a score of -2. Would be glad to help...
    – yydl
    May 15, 2011 at 1:53
  • @yydl, apparently (I've tried) the users you describe can only suggest a synonym that's in use, not make one up.
    – msh210 Mod
    May 15, 2011 at 3:49
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    @msh210 Yes, I didn't notice that. I stand corrected
    – yydl
    May 15, 2011 at 4:18

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