Does A Song of Ice and Fire need individual book tags?

Question

Looking through some tags I came across

• a-clash-of-kings - 1 question
• a-storm-of-swords - 16 questions

but did not see

• a-game-of-thrones
• a-feast-for-crows
• a-dance-with-dragons
• the-winds-of-winter
• a-dream-of-spring

Also, I have noticed that some series (Star Wars is the prime example) will get tags for each installation in the series while other (Harry Potter comes to mind) do not.

This question is directly related to A Song of Ice and Fire... do we need/want tags for each book?

Judging by the inconstant and low usage of the current two tags, my opinion would be that: No, we do not need them. The tag a-song-of-ice-and-fire should be able to cover the series.

We also have the issue of the TV show (and tag to accompany it) game-of-thrones to cause endless confusion.

However, I do ask the question because I have seen this type of editing done. Whether it was out necessity, trying to bring old questions to the surface again, or an attempt to get one of our many coveted badges is not known to me.

In addition, I would be willing to undertake the grunt work either way to adding/removing tags if a consensus could be made.

Answer 1

No, we don't need tags for each book.

I say this for purely pragmatic reasons: out of the 675 a-song-of-ice-and-fire questions, 662 of them are not tagged with any book in the series. For the most part, people on the site have managed just fine without tags for these books.

If we want tags for each book, then to make our tagging consistent, someone would have to review all 662 of those questions to see if any of them should have a book tag. On the other hand, if a mod merges the two existing book tags into a-song-of-ice-and-fire, our tagging will be consistent, with no edits required for any question.

I suggest merging the existing book tags into the series tag.

Answer 2

Yes, I would think that each book needs a tag of its own.

• While there is an overall plot, each book does in fact have special things that happen in it that need clarification.

• General tags are confusing because like with Game of Thrones, TV show questions get thrown in with novel-based questions and the mix is a muddle.

Just my five cents worth. But I like having a place to put things that are organized :)

Answer 3

Yes

A tag for a specific book in the series makes clear that the question is not only about that book, but also likely to be based on the knowledge contained within that book — or the books up until to and including that book.

It helps people who are in the process of reading the series avoid spoilers, and it helps them to find questions they can answer.