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There have been a few puzzles lately that have intentionally omitted tags because the existence of the tag would spoil the puzzle. It makes me curious as to whether the tag system works for this site.

For puzzles which do NOT omit these tags, by nature it means that you can eliminate some potential answers by process of elimination. And when someone does mention "I omitted a tag for a reason" then it narrows down the search for clues significantly.

People who like cryptogram puzzles should be able to search the cryptogram tag and find all of them. Intentionally hiding the tag seems to be counterproductive, because you're cutting off some of your audience.

But I don't want to get into a debate about whether or not that approach is right because that's going to be a matter of opinion and we shouldn't chase anyone out of the community for simply doing things a different way.

Instead I want to consider a better approach to this.

Perhaps we can set it up to where we can have a "hidden tag" puzzle, where when someone finds out that it's a cryptogram and posts the correct solution, and that solution is accepted, the tag becomes revealed? I'm not certain how complicated this would be on the back end. But it seems like a great way to give tag-hiders what they want while still preserving the usefulness of tags for the community.

for example, there might be a puzzle labeled in which finding out the tags is part of the puzzle, but when the puzzle is solved and a solution is posted, the tags automatically change into .

If we do this well enough, could well become a favorite tag among people who come to the site, especially if they like most forms of puzzles and like the sensation of figuring out what kind of puzzle it is.

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  • $\begingroup$ hidden tags might be counted in some places but not others. For example, someone might see that there are 3 puzzles labeled leagueoflegends, but they are all hidden tags, so when they search for leagueoflegends tags, they only see one of the three puzzles, which has been solved and so the tag is visible. $\endgroup$
    – Kingrames
    Sep 3, 2015 at 16:24
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    $\begingroup$ Alternatively, if [hidden-tags] becomes a thing, you can just edit the tags when you accept an answer. This doesn't need to be a hide/reveal done by the system. $\endgroup$
    – Set Big O
    Sep 3, 2015 at 16:31
  • $\begingroup$ The problem is no matter how you implement/hide the hidden tags, they must stay in the editing history, therefore not so hidden at all. $\endgroup$
    – Rohcana
    Sep 4, 2015 at 7:16

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I don't think this requires a feature request. Just make a new tag called . Add that to the puzzle when it is created. When you accept an answer, edit out the tag, and add in whatever you were wanting to keep hidden.

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    $\begingroup$ That would be a terrible tag. Why would we want to categorize puzzles as "hidden tags"? For all we know, they may be completely unrelated, and I doubt people will want to search specially for questions with hidden tags. $\endgroup$
    – Illyasviel
    Sep 7, 2015 at 0:32
  • $\begingroup$ I can see the use in it. I've personally questioned adding tags after the solution has been found as I am now aware of tags that fit the puzzle. I have asked a couple times in the past but it would be annoying to ask every time whether the creator minds. I like the concept of a hidden-tags tag so that the creator can go back and edit later or, if they forget, editors may. $\endgroup$ Jun 8, 2016 at 20:03

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