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2:17 PM

@DavidRoberts This isn't really relevant here - the tag is small enough, bumping 13 questions isn't really a problem. Still, I will at least mention that as a moderator you have (to some extent) some possibilities how to remove tags without bumping.

Namely, I mean burnination, merging. And I'll mention tag-removed - although I dislike this option.

In any case, I am repeating stuff I have already mentioned a few times - for example, the "terminology" part at the end of this post: What to do with the synonyms for the deprecated tags?

And I have mentioned the same thing in this chatroom - for example, here: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/10243/conversation/…

Merging. A moderator can merge two tags. Merging tag1 into tag2 simply means that all occurrences of tag1 are replaced by tag2 - without bumping any questions.

This tool should be used carefully - it is not reversible. But it is a way how a tag1 could be removed without any bumping - if all questions fit into tag2.

For example, this is how ask-noam was removed here on MO:

FYI: I just merged ask-noam into nt.number-theory since it only had two questions and it was unlikely to be of much further use. — François G. Dorais Jan 23, 2015 at 1:11

Another example was merging straight-lines into geometry on Mathematics.

Oct 14, 2020 at 1:15, by Martin Sleziak

For example here: The straight-lines was merged into geometry. In that way, this tag was removed without bumping any questions.

105

Q: What are tag synonyms and merged tags? How do they work?

What are tag synonyms? How can tag synonyms be distinguished from "real" tags? How are new tag synonyms created? Who can create tag synonyms? How can I delete/reverse/undo bad tag synonyms? What are merged tags? Return to FAQ index

Burnination. This means simply removal of the tag from all questions - without bumping them.

Burnination cannot be done by mods - it has to be requested through a CM or on meta. As far as I can tell, the CMs are willing to do this only if this influences large number of questions. (If the number is below 50, the community is expected to do the retagging manually.)

I will add a link to a recent conversation in chat. It turns out that I was unaware of the 50+ questions condition for burninating. (Quoted from Meta Stack Exchange in this message.) — Martin Sleziak Aug 31, 2021 at 8:03

in MathOverflow, Aug 30, 2021 at 14:43, by Catija

We generally don't burninate stuff that the community can handle themselves. This tag has under 50 questions - the burnination process specifically states that removing the tags in that case is up to the users to do.

167

Q: What does it mean to "burninate" a tag?

There are requests to "burninate" tags all over the place! What does this really mean; what happens to a burninated tag? How is it different than removing a tag or black-listing a tag? Would it be useful to include this definition in the Stack Overflow Glossary?

support tags per-site-meta terminology burninate-system

Merging into tag-removed. As far as I can tell, the mods here on MO often removed tags simply by merging the tag to tag-removed. Essentially, this meant that all questions with the given tag were tagged by tag-removed after that. This happens without bumping - but with the tag tag-removed left there as an unwanted leftover.

A related question that I posted on Meta Stack Exchange: Burnination vs. merging into a specific tag

For example, it seems that calculus was merged into tag-removed at some point.

The question "Generalizations of "standard" calculus" was tagged (calculus) at some point - it is now tagged tag-removed.

You can see that the revision history of that question shows tag-removed from the beginning - although it was actually posted with calculus.

Q: Generalizations of "standard" calculus

We have the usual analogy between infinitesimal calculus (integrals and derivatives) and finite calculus (sums and forward differences), and also the generalization of infinitesimal calculus to fractional calculus (which allows for real and even complex powers of the differential operator). Have ...

tag-removed big-picture soft-question fa.functional-analysis

Blacklisting. If the main thing that is intended is that the tag cannot be added to new questions, blacklisting the tag is something that could be considered. (Again, this is an action that can be done by the Stack Exchange staff. Some related discussions can be found on meta under blacklisted-tags.)

Q: What is a blocked tag?

Following Implement a Tag Black List, I would like to know what exactly it means for a tag to be marked as blocked (formerly blacklisted) on a Stack Exchange site. Does it mean I can't use that tag on my question? What are the reasons for blocking a tag? Who can block tags? Why am I being prompt...