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Comments on Should we be able to tag answers?

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Should we be able to tag answers?

+15
−0

On some of our communities, it would be helpful to be able to label answers systematically:

  • On Code Golf, by language.

  • On Software Development, Power Users, or Linux Systems, by specific version/platform/library -- for example, if the answer to a C++ question is different for C++11 than C++14, or a browser answer is different for Firefox and Chrome, or a front-end question is different for pure Javascript or jQuery.

In some cases perhaps the question should be more specific, but it seems like in some cases it'd be better to have the answers all together. And, of course, on Code Golf, varied answer languages are expected.

It's sometimes useful to be able to just tell at a glance what an answer applies to. There are probably people still using (or maintaining code in) Java 7, so you don't want to nuke those answers, but you want the person who's looking for a current solution to a Java problem to be able to tell at a glance that this answer is for an older version.

Would it make sense to be able to add tags to answers, in addition to the tags on the question?

In addition to making answer scoping more visible, answer tags could support sorting. I'm imagining another sort option at the top of the answers alongside "Score" and Activity", and maybe also showing answer tags in the table of contents. I'm also imagining that this would be something communities would opt into, since it doesn't make sense on every community.

I think tag hierarchies are orthogonal; while (if they exist, which I haven't checked) C++11 and C++14 should be children of C++, a challenge on Code Golf doesn't have any question-level language tags at all.

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+1
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It sounds like a feature of very limited use. I agree that it would be neat for Code Golf, where different answers are per definition of "different kinds". I don't really see any use for it on any other of the existing sites though.


Regarding the specific example of C++ on Software Development, the tag policy is this:

Unless the question explicitly mentions which version of the C++ standard that is uses, the current active version of ISO 14882 is assumed (C++17).

And very same "latest version unless you said anything else" policy can likely be assumed to apply for other languages too. This policy comes from SO where there was a very broad consensus in favour for it.

This means that:

  • If a question is tagged C++ you are assumed to give an answer which will at least work in C++17 (even though it might not be optimal). In particular, it shouldn't use obsolete/withdrawn language features.
  • If the question is tagged C++ and C++11, you are required to give an answer that works in C++11. Giving one that only works in C++98 or C++17 etc would be off-topic.

One might need to prompt the OP for details in case it matters. Generally, a good question is specific and unambiguous enough that there can't be multiple types of answers.


I am particularly concerned for such an answer tag encouraging off-topic posts. Suppose you have a Q&A tagged C++. Then someone pops up out of the blue and posts "this is how you would do it in Java" and puts on a Java tag on their blatantly off-topic answer. We know from experience that this occasionally happens even without such a tag feature.

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General comments (7 comments)
General comments
Monica Cellio‭ wrote over 3 years ago

A "latest version" policy when answering makes sense at the time. Now fast-forward a few years when C++17 isn't the latest version any more, or imagine that the community existed back when C++11 was current. Now you have a bunch of answers and only dates can guide you. Would it help to be able to go back and tag those answers? Or is it sufficient to edit in "this applies to C++11" (or whatever) at the top of such answers?

Lundin‭ wrote over 3 years ago

@Monica Cellio‭ That's a rather different scenario. I remember some other meta discussion about some way to mark posts as outdated, dangerous etc here. Though in general, everything that is software quickly decays and turns outdated, it is kind of specific to the tech communities. I don't think editing old posts to mark them in a certain way is too meaningful, especially not if it involves "bumping".

Lundin‭ wrote over 3 years ago

It might be of interest to us to peek at SO's "Outdated Answers project" and see how that experiment turns out. Not quite sure what happened to it.

celtschk‭ wrote over 3 years ago

With the restriction to child tags of the question tags, your offtopic scenario couldn't happen, as surely the Java tag isn't a child tag of the C++ tag.

Lundin‭ wrote over 3 years ago

@celtschk‭ But they could post a C++98 answer to a question tagged C++ and C++17.

celtschk‭ wrote over 3 years ago

@Lundin: You still can write a C++98 answer to a C++17 question without answer tags. The only difference is that it is not quite as obvious without that tag. Anyway, if the question is only tagged with C++17 (which implies C++ anyway), then an answer cannot use the C++-98 tag (because that one obviously shouldn't be a child of the C++-17 tag). A policy to avoid using parent tags of other used tags on a post would be a good idea anyway IMHO, to avoid redundancy.

Lundin‭ wrote over 3 years ago

@celtschk‭ My point is that the answer tags might encourage people to write off-topic answers. "Btw this is how you do it in C++17" kind of answers.