3
$\begingroup$

I've seen the tag around, and I haven't quite worked out what it adds to the puzzle.

At least to me, it only indicates if the puzzle is in the format of the rhyme - and that makes it seem like a meta-tag.

Given the criteria for when to burninate on main meta, it doesn't score very well in my opinion:

  1. Does it describe the contents of the questions to which it is applied? and is it unambiguous?

    • It is unambiguous, but it doesn't inform me about what the puzzle is about

  2. Is the concept described even on-topic for the site?

    • Kind of

  3. Does the tag add any meaningful information to the post?

    • No, most people can work out whether something is a rhyme themselves

  4. Does it mean the same thing in all common contexts?

    • Yes

Now, there are over 500 questions tagged , so I'm not suggesting we get rid of it, at least not right away. But given that just over 90% of s are also s, and precisely one puzzle has just the tag alone, I'm just curious as to why we have the tag in the first place.

$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ It clearly isn't a meta tag since it does describe the content of the question. Of course that's an entirely different question from whether it's a useful tag. My personal first criterion is: can I imagine a reasonable person using the tag when doing a search? And I think I can. "I remember seeing a neat riddle about X. I'm pretty sure it rhymed." $\endgroup$ – Gareth McCaughan♦ Sep 8 '17 at 22:29
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I should add that this criterion would allow a bunch of tags to exist that have in fact been burninated. My personal inclinations are a bit more liberal than those of the community at large. $\endgroup$ – Gareth McCaughan♦ Sep 8 '17 at 22:30
  • $\begingroup$ @Gareth Thank you for your comments. I see that I have been a bit narrow-minded - why don't you post an answer? $\endgroup$ – boboquack Sep 8 '17 at 22:45
  • $\begingroup$ Well, I'm not entirely sure I have an answer, as opposed to a collection of prejudices. But I guess I might as well. $\endgroup$ – Gareth McCaughan♦ Sep 8 '17 at 22:57
  • $\begingroup$ Now I'm going to go crazy. I can just sort of remember a puzzle that had a rhyme tag... and there was no rhyme. Solving the first stage of the puzzle produced the rhyme which was the second stage of the puzzle. It also occurs to me that you could make good use of the rhyme tag in cryptography puzzles which can otherwise be pointlessly hard to solve. $\endgroup$ – Hugh Meyers Sep 20 '17 at 7:12
4
$\begingroup$

I do not know what the point of the tag is -- I suppose that would be a question for every person who has seen it and decided not to try to make it disappear -- but the first question I ask myself about any tag is: Can I imagine a reasonable person using it in a search?.

In the case of the tag, I can easily imagine that: "There was a neat riddle someone posted, something to do with salmon. I'm pretty sure it rhymed." So off they go and search for salmon [rhyme] and maybe they find what they are looking for.

This criterion, at least if taken on its own, is (I think) more permissive than the overall community consensus. Random example: there used to be a tag; its existence was questioned and at some point it got zapped. It's certainly a meta tag (i.e., one that doesn't describe the content of the question but some other feature like where it comes from). But it's very easy to imagine someone thinking "there was a puzzle about X that I remember reading in a Martin Gardner book/column; I wonder if it's on Puzzling?" and searching accordingly. So (assuming that what I wrote above hasn't suddenly changed everyone's mind) the fact that a tag passes my test isn't necessarily reason for it to exist. But it's why I, for one, would not be inclined to burninate .

$\endgroup$
4
$\begingroup$

For quite a while I felt that tags like were far too meta.
They just described the puzzle style and didn't make them better.
But PSE is not just here for those who wish to solve.
Indeed one of it's purposes is to help the puzzle-setter.
If you need to craft a puzzle-rhyme and want a good example -
The rhyme tag in your search box will ensure you track down ample.

$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ Kudos for this comeback $\endgroup$ – Rubio♦ Sep 14 '17 at 13:47
  • $\begingroup$ It really makes me smile $\endgroup$ – Rubio♦ Sep 14 '17 at 13:47
  • $\begingroup$ To see you answer boboquack $\endgroup$ – Rubio♦ Sep 14 '17 at 13:48
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ With such panache and style. $\endgroup$ – Rubio♦ Sep 14 '17 at 13:48
2
$\begingroup$

Disclaimer: I may be biased.

It's not descriptive of a type of puzzle, or a type of solution method, but it is still descriptive.

Knowing that a puzzle is tagged doesn't tell us exactly what kind of puzzle it is or what techniques we're likely to need to solve it (although almost all puzzles are s), but it does tell us something about the presentation of the puzzle - namely that it's in rhyme. In this sense it's similar to tags like or . OK, the feature it describes is purely stylistic ... but when it comes to riddles, stylistic features are often very important. Riddles cluing the same thing in the same way can vary widely in their aesthetic properties and be voted accordingly.

it doesn't inform me about what the puzzle is about

Well, depends what you mean by "about", I guess. It tells you something about the puzzle. It's a distinctive feature of a certain class of puzzles, which people might want to search for.

most people can work out whether something is a rhyme themselves

Sure, but most people can work out whether something is a maths puzzle or a riddle or a chess puzzle by themselves too. Lots of tags - probably even most of them - are technically redundant given the question body. That's not a reason to burninate them.

$\endgroup$
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ With apologies for not writing this answer in rhyming verse ... $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Sep 14 '17 at 10:36

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .