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A recent question, Challenging Talkers in SIFRP, uses a large number of tags in the question. I wonder if this is proper (it can be), but also makes it hard to read the question detail.

Inline tags appear as graphics and when clicked do not produce additional context for the reader, but more questions about the tag subject. This could lead potential answerers astray from the original question.

As noted, I think that the use of inline tags can be effective, but probably with limitations. Do the moderators have guidelines for the community, especially regular editors considering review of inline tags in a question. Do other SEs have guidelines we can adopt or refer too.

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You have permission to edit any question or answer to make it look subjectively better (to you). Always. For so long as you aren't a jerk about it.

That's the guideline for editing.

Specific to this question, yeah, I personally think the tags are a little distracting in this single case, but I don't think it's a huge issue.

At this point I don't have enough information to really be interested in trying to come up with the dos and don'ts of using tags in questions, other than: "Be awesome." I'm also somewhat skeptical as to other SE sites having developed specific guidelines on this matter... The tag tags seem fairly underutilized outside of Meta.

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I assume the question you're talking about is Challenging Talkers in SIFRP.

I don't really see any reason to mess with it. Fits under the category of "Oh Lord someone does something different than I would have."

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  • \$\begingroup\$ No, it doesn't fit the cited category. My thought is that when reading the referenced question--and your assumption here was correct--the use of tags becomes more like a link, e.g., "hey wfrp is a great game, but I'm having trouble finding warpstone." If I click the tag, I get all the questions tagged WFRP. What use is that in context? Going to the original context for example realm provides no useful formatting IMHO that just "Realm" would have provided in context. \$\endgroup\$ – javafueled Mar 2 '12 at 14:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Then tell that to the poster and see if they'll change it, or submit and edit and see if they revert it, or both. Meta is not here to legitimize every edit or change people want to make to a specific question by making it seem like "A Site Rule!" \$\endgroup\$ – mxyzplk Mar 2 '12 at 16:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ Is meta a place to otherwise have a dialogue about this kind of thing? \$\endgroup\$ – javafueled Mar 2 '12 at 16:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @javafueled It depends on what you mean by "dialogue" and "this kind of thing." Your odds of catching Gomad's eye, specifically, with a meta post are low. So this isn't a way to have a dialog with him. For that, you would try chat or the comments on his post (or just jump in and make the edit). This is a way to have a dialog with the meta community (and the mods in specific)... The question is, what are you trying to gain from such a dialog? \$\endgroup\$ – AceCalhoon Mar 2 '12 at 18:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ The "dialogue" I'm trying to have is with the moderators. I suspect that the use of tags in context of a question is confusing. I was going to edit them without comment (other than what is required). However, I also suspected that there might be some "meta" discussion to be had about tag use like this. @mxyzplk seems to think I was looking for a "Site Rule," an editorial hammer to pummel wayward posters. That's incorrect. If I was trying to gain anything, an outcome to the meta question: it would be a "Site Guideline" for editors and/or edits. \$\endgroup\$ – javafueled Mar 2 '12 at 19:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ The moderator position is "different strokes for different folks." \$\endgroup\$ – mxyzplk Mar 2 '12 at 19:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ I find myself agreeing with @mxyzplk on this and several issues lately. \$\endgroup\$ – Pat Ludwig Mar 4 '12 at 3:57

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