5

The tag has the following tag wiki:

Some questions later turn out to be based on wrong source. Often, these questions turn out not to be real questions, and ideally should be removed, but that does not necessarily happen. This tag is for marking such questions.

and I think that it is used consistently with this tag wiki. However, this is not what the English word “typo” means (it means “typographical error”). What is a better tag name?

Just in case, this meta post is not about whether we should keep the tag or remove it. If you would like to argue that this tag should be removed, please post a separate meta post for that.

4
  • Thanks for pointing that out. I had in mind that the name was not best, but had kept using it. I appreciate a better name.
    – user458
    Jun 12, 2012 at 14:38
  • By the way, is there a way to rename a tag when consensus is met about the new name? Or, are you with having two tags for different purposes?
    – user458
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:29
  • 1
    @sawa: Yes, there is a hack-ish way for moderators to rename a tag. If things have not changed, there is no official way to rename a tag, but they can use the following hacky way (which has been used on cstheory.stackexchange.com): a moderator first creates a dummy question with the new tag, then “merge” the old tag to the new tag, and delete the dummy question. The advantage of this to manually changing the tags is that merging does not bump the questions on the top page.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:55
  • Thanks. I don't exactly get that, but I believe it will work. I hope Dave◆ will find your comment.
    – user458
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:59

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

Tsuyoshi Ito's comment on the main site has just reminded me of a simpler and general term, which I now edit to a version suggested by atlantiza: source-error. I think that shall cover all cases.

I came up with another one: wrong, wrong-question, or incorrect.

11
  • 2
    [error] is better than [typo] (as long as the tag is used in the way it is used now). But I prefer a more specific name. For example, both [error] and [typo] could mean a question about common errors/typos made in Japanese.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:00
  • 1
    I also think that it should be more specific. Maybe something like source-error so that it's not assumed that the tag can apply to any sort of error in the question.
    – atlantiza
    Jun 13, 2012 at 0:20
  • @atlantiza That sounds good. Thanks. But do you mean the error in the source should be separated from the error that the OP makes?
    – user458
    Jun 13, 2012 at 0:21
  • 1
    Setting source errors aside, do we really need a tag for questions where the OP makes a mistake?
    – Troyen
    Jun 13, 2012 at 2:25
  • @Troyen I think so. Otherwise, they will give misleading or wrong information.
    – user458
    Jun 13, 2012 at 2:28
  • 1
    That seems like something that should go into an answer. Putting it in a tag just seems insulting to me. Especially since it doesn't explain what the error is, just that someone made an error.
    – Troyen
    Jun 13, 2012 at 2:51
  • Furthermore, if someone's entire question is just about some typo they made or some mistake they made and we don't think that question will be of any use to other people in the future, instead of tagging I think we should just close as "Too Localized" (and possibly delete later). After all, if there's no benefit in the question, why keep it around?
    – Troyen
    Jun 13, 2012 at 3:01
  • On further review of the questions currently tagged typo: If it was a typo from a public source (especially dictionaries), I left it alone. If it was a typo that I could see someone just starting off making (食べるいい), I also left it alone. However, I voted to close as "Too Localized" all of the questions regarding text messages or emails that contained typos in complex phrases, as I don't think those will really surface again.
    – Troyen
    Jun 13, 2012 at 3:27
  • @Troyen Voting to closing is fine. I also tried that in the past. But five votes are required, and as I wrote in the description of the tag, it usually does not get closed. The tag was a workaround for the problem. For this particular tag, it can be used to ignore the tagged questions rather than selecting them. Writing in an answer that the question has a typo is not easy to detect.
    – user458
    Jun 13, 2012 at 4:14
  • 1
    Tags [wrong] and [incorrect] look very harsh to me. [incorrect-question] is less bad, but still quite harsh. I do not want a tag which causes more trouble than benefit.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 13, 2012 at 12:34
  • 5
    [source-error] looks good. After waiting for a few more days, I will post a request to rename the tag on meta.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 13, 2012 at 12:47
0

false-premise? incorrect-assumption? misconception?

(should I hive these off into different answers for voting purposes?)

6
  • 1
    (1) I like [false-premise] and [incorrect-assumption] because the meaning is clearer. ([typo] could mean a question about common typos made in Japanese.)
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:02
  • (2) I personally do not think that we should decide the tag name by poll, but if that turns out to be the way to go, you might be asked to repost this answer as three separate answers.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:03
  • I think false-premise and incorrect-assumption are too complicated to type or perceive. I vote for misconception unless a better one appears.
    – user458
    Jun 12, 2012 at 15:28
  • 2
    I understand why you would think of all of these, but I think they are equally as misleading as "typo". If I saw one of your suggested tags, I would think that they would be applied to any question in which the asker had some incorrect assumption, even if this had nothing to do an incorrect source text.
    – atlantiza
    Jun 13, 2012 at 0:19
  • @atlantiza: After reading your comment, I agree, these tags are broader than what the tag wiki describes. (I do not agree that they are “as misleading as ‘typo,’” but this is a minor point.)
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jun 13, 2012 at 12:43
  • Yeah, I agree too, actually. I think I went too broad. I am also in favour of [source-error].
    – Hyperworm
    Jun 13, 2012 at 18:20
0

I'll put my idea in the ring--I think mistake might be a good one. Or mistaken-Japanese? Something along those lines.

You must log in to answer this question.

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