lukeprog comments on Which subreddits should we create on Less Wrong?

[lukeprog]

Replacing Main with Best of LW might work, though it would require more programming work.

The trouble with tags is that it’s hard to make sure people use them properly and consistently.

[Lumifer]

The trouble with tags is that it’s hard to make sure people use them properly and consistently.

That’s why you don’t let users invent tags of their own but enforce a unified premade dictionary.

Also I know at least one website which lets people with sufficiently high karma retag posts of others—that should be helpful with fixing problems.

[KnaveOfAllTrades]

That’s why you don’t let users invent tags of their own but enforce a unified premade dictionary.

Then it’s still hard to make sure people use them properly and consistently; even with admin-specified tags, those tags can be applied inconsistently by post authors such as to deflate the specificity of the tags or shift their meaning.

Also I know at least one website which lets people with sufficiently high karma retag posts of others—that should be helpful with fixing problems.

I think maybe the reason Luke is specifically suggesting changing the subreddit partition is because this requires a one-off, upfront, unusually small (compared to other LW improvements) investment of time. High-karma folk (re)tagging is riskier because it puts an ongoing burden on a small number of people, introduces more opportunity for drama and disruptive disagreement, and very probably introduces other issues.

[Peter Wildeford]

it’s still hard to make sure people use them properly and consistently

Isn’t that risk equally present with subreddits (i.e., people choosing the wrong subreddit)?