I have some extra time today, so I've been adding tag wikis for tags that simply don't have any. All of them have been approved overall, but one received a reject vote: word-hero excerpt. The rejection message is "This edit does not follow any of our tag wiki guidelines and is unlikely to help instruct future visitors in the appropriate use of the tag." The excerpt is "[WordHero] is a word puzzle game for Android."

I went to the link mentioned and I find five guidelines which I've supposedly violated, but I don't see it.

  1. Keep it short! My excerpt does not attempt to do anything other than identify the relevant game. It's well under the 500 character limit. It's probably less than 50 characters.

  2. "Avoid generically defining the concept behind a tag, unless it is highly specialized." This is a game title of a game obscure enough to only have a few questions in it. If that's not highly specialized, what is? I also contrast that with tag wiki excerpts like that for Diablo 3, which defines that much more popular game far more generically. Is there really anyone who does not realize that Diablo 3 is a sequel to Diablo 2? Or is that tag wiki excerpt wrong too?

  3. "Concentrate on what a tag means to your community." It identifies the particular game. What more is there to say?

  4. "Provide basic guidance on when to use the tag." What more is needed than a description of the game? Again, compare it to the Diablo 3 excerpt. Isn't it implicit that you should use the tag on questions about the game and should not use it on questions not about the game? Do we really need to spell that out in every excerpt? That seems far more relevant on tags about platforms or the audio tag. People don't need to know what an Xbox is -- they need to know that they only need that tag if their question regards something that is true in the Xbox version but not the PS3 version.

  5. "Some tags are common knowledge." Sure, but this one isn't. Like #2, this guideline seems irrelevant to this particular tag.

It's not clear to me how I violated any of these guidelines, much less all of them. That excerpt says that the tag is for a particular game and provides a little description of the game (it's not the first person shooter [WordHero]). Am I missing something?

  • Ah! Found it! The accepted answer to this question does a good job of showing what should be in tag wiki stuff! The question is completely different, but the answer applies, I think. – Niro Aug 12 '13 at 13:33

I agree that a short line on what the game is would be much better then a blank tag.

Some general guidelines for wiki excerpts could be having the platform and maybe the genre. If I see a tag I do not recognize, I would like to just see the excerpt and notice it is for a platform I do not own so I can ignore that tag. The same logic can go for the genre, so that could be good to include as well.

Some things to leave out are opinions and speculations, though I'm sure there are more.

In the actual tag wiki (not the excerpt), I try to include a link to the game's wiki page (if exists) and links to the game page (on steam, app store, android market, etc.)

This way, the tag for games becomes useful in helping users answer questions. I put in my game tag and notice the wiki link for it, which makes it easy for me to do research before asking.

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    Just for the record, Tag wiki excerpts can not contain links. – user98085 Aug 13 '13 at 18:38
  • @FEichinger true, but you can easily click the tag and get to it. Debatable if this is easier than using a search engine, but still seems like a useful way to use tags. – Batophobia Aug 13 '13 at 19:27
  • @Batophobia - I think the confusion stems from the fact that this question is about the tag wiki excerpt, not the tag wiki itself – Robotnik Aug 14 '13 at 1:18
  • @Robotnik Ah, well that makes it clearer. I've edited my answer to hopefully fit that better. – Batophobia Aug 14 '13 at 4:07

I rejected it because I personally felt the excerpt wasn't helpful.

Simply saying "X is a word puzzle game for Android" doesn't instruct people on the proper use of the tag. It's an extremely generic description. Is it the only word puzzle game on Android? Try and explain a little bit about the game, a little more than just saying what type of game it is.

Would a tag wiki excerpt for Portal be helpful if all it said was "A puzzle platforming game for [system]"?

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    Err...that's essentially what the excerpt for portal does say: "a single-player puzzle-platformer developed by Valve Corporation." Should I have mentioned Sven Studios and said that it was multi-player? I didn't mention Sven Studios because that's their only game. It certainly doesn't help the tag at the moment -- no one who doesn't already know [WordHero] would know who they were. – Brythan Aug 10 '13 at 14:35
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    For what it's worth, I would've rejected that one too, had I seen it. – Niro Aug 10 '13 at 15:15
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    I am curious why you consider an empty tag to be better than a not-specific-enough-for-your-tastes tag? Are you worried about people farming rep 2 points at a time with less-than-perfect tag wikis, or do you feel empty is actually better? – Sterno Aug 10 '13 at 15:38
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    Also, I find the argument that the tag wiki needs to help a user use the tag properly a bit silly on Arqade. 95% of the time, the only criteria for if you are using the tag right is "does the tag match the title of the game I'm talking about?" Being really descriptive about what portal is doesnt "instruct people on the proper use of the tag" any more than the current tag does. What's an example (for a game name tag) of what you'd like to see and how it instructs people to use the tag? – Sterno Aug 10 '13 at 15:43
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    Honestly, I doesn't matter to me if the excerpt was approved. I acted based on how I felt about it. It's a non-issue since it was approved anyway. He asked why I rejected it, I answered it. – Niro Aug 10 '13 at 17:57
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    I think "X is a word puzzle game for Android" can in fact be useful - if there are similar sounding games, it'd be helpful to know that you're tagging the right one. In this case, I don't know of any Word Hero PS4 FPS :p, but if one comes up people won't tag its questions with the Android game :-) – Alok Aug 19 '13 at 17:25

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