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We have two tags that appear to me to be synonyms, and both have been around for a while:

  • × 37 questions†
    (created Apr 23, 2014)

    Status effects are game keywords which affect a creature's status, e.g. unconscious, weakened, on fire, poisoned.

  • × 61 questions†
    (created Oct 1, 2014)

    A condition suffered by a creature, typically negative and as a result of an enemy's actions during combat.

(† As of March 2, 2017)

Is there any reason to not make one a synonym of the other? If we don't need both, which should we keep?

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    \$\begingroup\$ While I think those are usually interchangeable, how would you describe which is the "master" tag and which is just a synonym of that "master"? (Or am I misunderstanding how these work?) \$\endgroup\$
    – Bloodcinder
    Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 12:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Bloodcinder Sounds like you're understanding correctly. One tag will stick around, the other will become a synonym of it — any attempted use of the synonym will be converted into a use of the one that's sticking around. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 15:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ In that case, my question is which one would get canonized as the master tag, and who would make that decision. Yeah, "condition" is used in the most popularly asked-about game on RPG.SE, but "status effect" seems to me to be an older and more established term. So even though both would still be supported, which one gets treated as the standard. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bloodcinder
    Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 15:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Bloodcinder Normally an answer that says we don't need both would make a case for which to keep. I'll make that explicit in the question. (Aside, “status effect” is just the D&D 4e term, so it's older yes, but not necessarily more general.) \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie Mod
    Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 15:42

1 Answer 1

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This merge has been done now.

I don't think we need both tags — they mean precisely the same thing, so they're perfect to be made synonyms.

I think "condition" is the more general, less jargon-sounding word, while still being specific enough to be an effective tag, so I think should be made the master tag.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Good merge. 👍👍 \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 20:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ I agree, given that "status effect" pretty much literally just means "condition," and the latter is a word that already exists in English that means exactly what it says on the box. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bloodcinder
    Commented Mar 17, 2017 at 2:38

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