Time to revisit the [make]/[model] tagging methodology?

Question

So there's this question about tagging model-specific questions when the site was still in its infancy:

Tagging for Make/Model/Year specific questions?

Back then the community made a decision to keep make and model separate, but I don't see why we should not be combining the two into one tag: make-model.

Here's a proposal:

• Reserve make tags like ford, honda for questions that aren't model-specific.

• Vehicle-specific tags would look like ford-mondeo or honda-prelude.

The benefits:

• frees up a tag. I've struggled to retag certain questions in the past because of the SE-wide limit of 5 tags.

• make-model tags give more context than standalone model tags. I put together a few examples:

  • vw-polo vs polo
  • nissan-leaf vs leaf
  • skoda-yeti vs yeti
  • kia-soul vs soul
  • bmw-335i vs 335i
  • mazda-626 vs 626
  • mercedes-c300 vs c300

Thoughts?

Answer 1

I do agree with both the above answers, but I do also see some very rare cases where a dual-tag would be useful.

That said, above what’s already been stated, there are a couple issues I see:

1. Even model-specific issues are also generation specific in most cases.
2. That would create a HUGE number of extra tags, and I think many people may end up mistagging something. They may tag something (for example) as “Chevy-corvette” when really it’s common to all LS platforms.

So I’d personally lean away from that. That’s my opinion.

Answer 2

I don't agree with this personally, for the simple reason that often similar things are done across a range - so for example a question about a VW Polo might be equally applicable to a Golf - and seaching for vw would find it in either case, wheras vw-polo wouldn't help the Golf owner.

(of course this still doesn't help the owner of the Seat Leon with the same problem, but we can't have everything!)

Answer 3

As @NickC wrote, there are going to be discrepancies (ie: seat-leon) which will have tags spelled out like this. Other than that, I don't agree with us trying to retag everything with dual tags as you've listed. It doesn't make sense to go through and retag everything, especially when the precedence has been to keep them separate.

There are very few times I've seen where we could use more tags than the five tag allotment we're given. Most times we can easily get rid of something which really doesn't work very well for the question or which there might be a better tag to put in its place. If this was more of an issue, I could see moving in the direction your stating, but as it is, we aren't there. I think we are confusing users of the site as well as creating more work than is needed. It seems very arbitrary, and therefore not needed IMHO.