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We currently have 120 questions tagged and 34 tagged .

Is there any reason to keep these as separate tags? I'm inclined to think that [repair] should be turned into a synonym of [maintenance]. While the words have slightly different meanings, they're used interchangeably and I don't see a benefit to keeping them separate.

Thoughts on this, anybody?

Update:

The community has spoken. I'll start retagging questions, and anyone with the rep, please feel free to chip in. I'd like to have this done before the site launches early this coming week.

At the moment, as per this page, we're maintaining the tags separately. If the merge suggestion ever becomes more popular, we can merge the tags at that point. (I personally would prefer that since, even though it is a less precise tag, it'd be easier to maintain.)

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These are 2 different issues.

  • If my chain breaks, it's a . So, the question is "How to repair a broken chain?"
  • If my chain is dirty, needs lube, etc, _ it's a question. So, there are two or more questions around this.

Maintenance is what one does on a regular basis. Repair is what one does only when needed. There is a distinction. So, there is a logical reason for maintaining 2 separate tags.

****The idea of the chain is purely an example.

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    I agree, but the question is how are they currently being used? We should probably retag some of these questions to better align with the proper tag meanings.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 22:40
  • @ jeff - I agree. So, how do tags get affiliated into the right spot?
    – user313
    Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 23:02
  • Keep in mind that mass-retagging questions will bump them all to the top, kind of a pain when there are more than a few of them. Even if we did retag all of them, we'd have to enforce proper usage.
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 23:04
  • @neil I edited both posts to use proper tag reference syntax so it is easier to see the questions.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 23:08
  • Sorry dudes, I wasn't really thinking about the admin issues. ;~) However, maintenance and repair are definitely different.
    – user313
    Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 23:09
  • @neil I don't think that many would need retagging, we're talking about 150 questions total. I'd guess 10% - 20%?
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 5:19
  • 120 under one maintenance and 34 under repair. I don't particularly want to go through each one and decide which is more applicable.
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 5:39
  • @jeff +1 for pointing out that they're misused.
    – raabidfun
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 20:43
  • @neil this is a community, so those of us with the privilege to retag should correct them as we come across them. This doesn't have to be one of us doing all the retagging. We'll just make a note of why it was retagged. Also, (if I'm right) those would be bumped to the top for active questions, not new questions, so I don't think that's a big issue.
    – raabidfun
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 20:50
  • @thajigisup - You're correct, no single person should do all that tagging, but we can all be on the same page when we have a page like this. Since this is potentially confusing, I started this thread hoping for some guidance for all. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. This answer, while quite correct, has nothing to do with how people are actually using the tag, just about the difference in what the words mean. That's why I think we should merge the tags or at least make them synonyms.
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 20:55
  • Why not migrate the tag(s) to "maintenance/repair" or vice versa? Instead of one or the other?
    – user313
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 22:34
  • @wdy sure propose that in an answer.. whatever works!
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jul 29, 2011 at 0:37
  • Have used some of your text explaining the differences between the two in their tag wikis.
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 30, 2011 at 17:43
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Yesterday, @wdypdx22 said:

Why not migrate the tag(s) to "maintenance/repair" or vice versa? Instead of one or the other? – wdypdx22

I think that's a great idea. Let's do that.

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  • I've marked this community wiki, so I won't get rep for upvotes, as I understand it. This was not my idea.
    – zenbike
    Commented Jul 30, 2011 at 14:51
  • Okay. (You don't get rep on meta in any case, but nice touch.)
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 30, 2011 at 16:18
  • Wasn't sure. Just want the credit to go where it belongs.
    – zenbike
    Commented Jul 30, 2011 at 16:27

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