Numeric version tags considered ... OK

Question

As a followup to

Version tags considered harmful

TL;DR -- my main point in that post:

The danger of version tags is that they become de-facto requirements -- crutches to avoid thinking about what tags are actually useful on a question. Left unchecked, version tags will poison your tagging system rendering it useless. Don't get me wrong: version tags can exist, but should only be used on posts that are truly specific to a particular version.

With that in mind, I think we have a compromise that is workable.

Instead of

sharepoint-2010

Henceforth, version tags for the core product discussed on a site entirely dedicated to that product will be numbers only, such as

2010

This solves a bunch of problems:

• It reduces the redundant repetition of "Sharepoint" in tags on a website that is already entirely dedicated to Sharepoint.

• It avoids "autocomplete syndrome" where new users type the first thing that comes to mind in the tags field, Sharepoint, and are forced into this rigid and dangerous "oh, I must specify a version" mindset from the get-go.

• When users do begin typing a number in the tags field, they will get the version, which is probably what they wanted at that point so we are guessing their intentions better.

• The number tags are clean and simple; when you see 2010 on a Sharepoint site, it is IMO quite obvious what that tag is for.

Bottom line, it allows the version tags to exist -- which as I have always said is fine -- while keeping their use under control, so they can be applied only to questions that are truly version specific as originally intended.

Answer 1

I think this is a good solution. I think we all accept that some questions are version-specific, but that we need to discourage people from abusing these version tags.

The only thing I would add is that we might also discourage the version tag for the current version, i.e. 2010, since as far as we know at present, everything that applies to this version will apply to the next also. When 15 comes out we would then need to start tagging 2010. What if an SP2007 user posts a question and tags it 2007, and the answers are along the lines of "you need to do blah, same as in 2010"? Well then remove the 2007 tag.

I think this is the best solution we are going to get within the current system. Let's agree on this and move on.

Answer 2

With respect, this still won't work.

Consider that release cycles average every three years. SharePoint 2010 was released towards the end of 2009. We get 2010 tags over the course of the subsequent three years that cover it for questions that, at the time they are written, are truly version specific and only apply to that release.

... Now, fast forward and SharePoint 2012 is released. We have three years worth of thousands of questions tagged with 2010. Oh but hang on, most of those now apply to 2012 as well!!

We don't have the resources to review all of those 2010 questions, and even if we did what would we tag them with? They are still version specific, just to two versions now instead of one!

The version tags do not and cannot work.

Answer 3

I'm going to go off on a tangent, and point out that the reason this is such an issue is that the SE question-only tagging system is fundamentally flawed when it comes to the sludgy mixed up world of SharePoint; and indeed many similar subjects.

Consider this question: sharepoint webpart javascript - 'null' is null or not an object

The only tag that's actually relevant there is JavaScript, and that may not even be where the problem actually lies [missing elements, archaic browser, PEBKAC]. Why are the tags so wrong? Because the questioner isn't prescient: they don't know where the problem is.

It would be better to have the answerers tag their answers with the relevant information (such as whether it's version specific), and for the accepted answer to override the question's tags.

This could then be expanded to allow certain tag types (such as version) to only be used in questions or only in answers. This would also fit well with Meta, allowing only questioners to use tags like [support] and answerers to use tags like [status-completed].