Drupal Version Tags (= DVT ) are the tags such as , , . If you haven't heard about the guidance from the moderators about using Drupal version tags in questions, read what's written in the question "Version Tags in 2017 and onward".

What can the DA Community do, to try to have the DA moderators change their DVT guidance? And so that we will Save the DVT !

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    In addition to my answer, I invite anyone who has concerns about the moderation team to contact the CMs via the contact form in the footer. It generally helps to include a brief summary of the background. – Jon Ericson Mar 3 '17 at 21:25

As much as I agreed with this in the beginning I disagree with it now. I changed my mind. I was blinded somehow by the maybe drastic wording that introduced the "changes".

Discouragement sounds like a drastic word, I think. "The use of version tags is discouraged." Ay ay ay. But in the end - if I understand it right now - all this is about is that we are asked to use version tags more carefully.

There's no need to save anything. Because, actually, we still will have version tags. It's just, that they are not always needed.

There are already some examples in the other posts which show that there are really a lot of questions that don't need a version tag at all. Version tags should instead highlight noticeable differences in certain aspects of different Drupal versions.

If we would go on with version-tagging every single post on Drupal.SE we will end up with a lot of nearly duplicate questions. All that would make them different is a version tag and some few characters marking a minor code difference. Does that sound like a powerful collection of really relevant answers? I don't think so.

One of the biggest powers of this community is to foster this infinitely growing collection of questions and answers. One of the most useful actions in the internet in general - I think - is curating content. So I vote to follow the initiative to use version tags only when they are really necessary to highlight a major difference between Drupal versions.


The moderators brought this question to my attention. While I don't think the action proposed in the question is productive, I do think it's worth talking about openly.

If I'm reading you correctly, you are concerned that the moderators are overriding the will of the people by ignoring the score on meta answers. As it happens, I had a similar concern several years ago when I was a moderator pro tempore. One particular response seems apt here:

Sometimes folks propose strategies that would break the entire site if followed... And they end up ranked highly because a lot of folks don't particularly like the site they're on, and wish it was the sort of site that gave away more free ice cream and less disemboweling criticism.

One of the reasons version tags are suspect is that they have the ability to break a site. To take the specific example of Drupal, it sounds as if Drupal 8 differs from Drupal 7 in myriad ways. There are currently 24,356 Drupal 7 questions. If, let's say, half of the answers to those questions are still valid with Drupal 8, that would mean the tag very misleading. People arriving at the site via a Google search, might be mislead into thinking that the answer to their question isn't on the site at all.

On the other hand, if most of the questions are properly tagged, there's an impending problem with . What happens when Drupal 9 comes out? Will there need to be a retagging of old questions? It probably makes more sense to assume all questions apply to the latest version unless proven otherwise. In other words, is premature.

I won't pretend to have all the answers; I have never used any version of Drupal, afterall. But I do know (from several years as a community manager and several years before that as a moderator) that this sort of community policy requires a bit of nuance and a lot of time. As far as I can tell, the policy proposed by the moderators is careful, conservative and constructive. They aren't suggesting Drupal Version Tags be eliminated. Instead, they are proposing a compromise: use the tags when necessary and edit them out when not. What's needed now is a bit of time to try it out and find what, if any, problems occur.

  • What do you think of this edit (just one of many similar ones I see happening recently on Drupal.SE) in the context of what you wrote in your answer? – Pierre.Vriens Apr 11 '17 at 13:59
  • Seems like a reasonable edit to me, @Pierre.Vriens. I tend to think Drupal 8 should be assumed on new questions. I presume it's obvious to Drupal 7 users that this question doesn't apply to them? – Jon Ericson Apr 11 '17 at 17:38
  • With all respect for you Jon (I do know/remember what you wrote somewhere about your Drupal background). But what you wrote about "assume" is, IMO, wrong (depends who you ask). And your "presume" was NOT needed in the original version of the question. At its core, I think the poster of a question should be allowed to indicate for which release of Drupal (s)he would like to have answers about. If any author then wants to post an answer for some other release, fine for me, I can accept to ignore that (as long as I know what the question was about). PS: why does all this not seem to apply on SO? – Pierre.Vriens Apr 11 '17 at 18:09
  • @Pierre.Vriens Nobody is saying the OP is not free to say which Drupal version is using. It's just that that information should not be given in tags, if that is not strictly relevant for that version. As far as we don't have all questions with titles containing Drupal X and the version tags are used only when really necessary, the OP is free to say which Drupal version he is using. At the same time, we should not give to any future user the wrong impression the question is only valid for a specific Drupal version when it is not so. – kiamlaluno Apr 11 '17 at 19:11

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