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I just noticed that we have both an tag and a tag.

  • There are 36 questions tagged , only twelve of which are not also tagged story-ID. Of those twelve, most seem to be either about apocalypses in specific works of fiction, or general questions about the post-apocalyptic genre. One is about a specific character called Apocalypse; one should be a story-ID question but isn't tagged properly; and a few of the older ones are about particular post-apocalyptic works but not specifically about the apocalypses therein.

  • There are 134 questions tagged , only twelve of which are not also tagged story-ID. Of those twelve, two are actually story-ID questions but not tagged properly, two are specifically about the apocalypses in particular post-apocalyptic works, and the rest seem to be generic questions which are about post-apocalyptic works but not specifically about apocalypses.

Should we merge these tags - and if so, which way?

Normally I'd say is a better name for the tag - it describes a genre of speculative fiction, rather than just a type of event featured in such works. But the evidence above, gleaned from looking at the actual questions, suggests that is actually used marginally more sensibly. Ignoring story-ID, I think 7 questions and only 2 questions should have the tag. Or should we say this is one of those tags which isn't really useful except on ID questions?

Note that merging the two tags wouldn't require any bumping of questions to the front page, and editing the few badly tagged questions only requires a small amount.

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    Naturally, the apocalypse tag should describe questions related to the character Apocalypse. ;)
    – Adamant
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 2:04
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    Hmm, most of the non-story id questions have other tag issues, too. In my mind, post-apocalypse is the term for a genre and we should use it wherever we use genre tags. Not sure on apocalypse by itself. There's a couple specifically asking about apocalyptic events but is that something we tag across all genres, mediums, publishers? Also, throwing this out there, but I think it's reasonable to also have a zombie-apocalypse genre tag and fix all those questions tagged with both, and maybe a few others. Hoping for feedback before I write up an answer.
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 8:27
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    Just going from a straight word-meaning perspective, books about the apocalypse (world-ending disaster happening) are different from post-apocalypse (people trying to survive in a world after the disaster).
    – FuzzyBoots
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 11:48
  • @CreationEdge "wherever we use genre tags" - i.e. on ID questions and general history-of questions about the genre?
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 13:40
  • Mostly, and similar questions about the genre as a whole.
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 13:41
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    I think we should start by renaming "apocalypse" to "apocalyptic", leave "post-apocalyptic".
    – Möoz
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 22:31

2 Answers 2

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No

Because both tags have different meanings. If a story doesn't show the aftermath of a big disaster, why should it have post-apocalypse tag?

Also, past questions shouldn't decide fate of a tag which has clear meaning. If a tag is being misused, as you said, we can put better tag guidelines.

Here's the guideline I am suggesting:

  • Apocalypse: If a story's main focus is on the process of a catastrophic disaster or life during a catastrophic disaster or life before eminent catastrophic disaster, this tag is good for it. Such stories may not display the life post-disaster (the story may end with just victory). Example Works: The 5th Wave books, 2012 movie

  • Post-apocalypse: If a story's main focus is aftermath of a disaster, this tag is good for it. Such stories may not even mention the nature of disaster. Example Work: City of Ember book/ movie

  • Both tags: If a story shows both catastrophic disaster and the aftermath in detail, both tags can be used.

Note: Replace story with question if it's not story-id or genre question. I chose to use story word so that I could give clear examples which could clarify the meaning of tags.

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  • Past questions are at least useful information to take into consideration when deciding the fate of a tag. E.g. if a particular tag has been consistently misused in the past, that might be an indication that it's not a good tag.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 17:51
  • Also, what usage guidance would you suggest for the apocalypse and post-apocalyptic tags? Because it's not very clear from the existing questions how they should be used.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 17:51
  • @Randal'Thor Updated the answer.
    – Doctor Doom
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 18:09
  • It sounds like you're suggesting using these tags for any questions about works in the respective genres. But we don't generally use genre tags in that way - they tend to be used only on ID questions and/or questions about the genre.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 18:13
  • @Randal'Thor Updated again.
    – Doctor Doom
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 18:17
  • OK, now this answer is better. I haven't voted on it yet, but it's a reasonable solution at least. We may have to do some editing of existing questions to achieve this, but that's likely to be unavoidable anyway (and in fact has already started).
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 18:20
  • Whether the Apocalypse tag applies to the marvel character or not, I definitely think we should be using the standard genre tag of "disaster" for movies about disasters, not "apocalypse".
    – DCShannon
    Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 17:17
  • @DCShannon Maybe, "catastrophic-disaster".. Or, "apocalyptic"... The marvel character can then go with "apocalypse"..
    – Doctor Doom
    Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 22:29
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I think we should have three tags:

  • Apocalypse: the Marvel character
  • Post-Apocalyptic: genre tag for stories that occur after an apocalypse
  • Disaster: genre tag for stories about a large-scale disaster, including apocalyptic events

We don't currently have a 'disaster' tag.

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    I don't agree that Apocalypse should be applied to the Marvel character; I think there would be more posts that qualify as apocalypse as a disaster scenario than there would be about Apocalypse the Marvel character. Plus, a disaster is not even remotely on the same level as an apocalypse. A disaster is a flash flood or a tornado ... an apocalypse is, like, Deep Impact. I think the two terms have to remain separate, as well as remain available for tagging works that are apopcalyptic and post-apopcalyptic in the traditional sense. They are already genre tags. My $0.02. :)
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 11:50
  • @Slytherincess I hadn't even looked at this since I posted it. Kinda surprised by the votes. Deep Impact would be one of the first movies I mentioned if I was asked for examples of disaster movies.The wikipedia article on Disaster Film lists it as an example in one of the first paragraphs.
    – DCShannon
    Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 17:15
  • A disaster is not always apocalyptic.
    – Möoz
    Commented Apr 10, 2017 at 23:25
  • cataclysm, catastrophe; catachresis.
    – can-ned_food
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 3:42

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