Should questions use both tags when one is a subset of the other?

Question

Examples:

• All premillennialism questions are questions about eschatology. Should such questions have the eschatology tag?

• All bible-translation questions are also translation questions. Should such questions have both.

• All questions about the sermon-on-the-mount are also about the words-of-jesus and about the gospel-of-matthew. Should such questions have all three tags?

I'm sure there are many other examples I could use. The point is, how do we decide when to use multiple tags when the subject matter of one of the tags is entirely contained in the subject matter of another?

Answer 1

The purpose of a tag is to provide a useful set of questions to make it easier for (potential) question askers to find the info they need and/or make it easier for experts of a specific subject to find things to answer.

The general standard should be something along the line of "does the subtag refer to a specific subject that may generate questions of a different nature than the general tag." If so, the tag should exist if there are a significant number of such questions. Otherwise, they should be synonyms.

If both tags are useful (and there are many cases of this type), then the more specific one should always be used when it applies. The more general one can be used, but has a low priority Thus, if there are 5+ other tags that could apply to a given question, the more general one should fall out first.

On the specific examples:

• I doubt the number of non-Bible-text-to-English-translation questions are very common. As such, bible-translation should be merged with translation. If a distinction was really needed, it should be a complete split ala history vs church-history.

• premillennialism is a specific teaching that generates its own class of questions. It is OK if such questions are also tagged eschatology - people interested in eschatology in general will sometimes be interested in these questions, while other people may well be interested in only premillennialism questions.

• The last example is the most difficult. I tend to think of the sermon-on-the-mount as being distinct because of the moral teachings it offers, but would not be opposed to merging it with words-of-jesus. I would use sermon-on-the-mount for asking about the moral teaching/doctrinal issues type questions, and words-of-jesus for questions asking "what does Jesus mean by X". If the question impacts both, use both tags, but don't automatically use both. I would only use gospel-of-matthew if the question both quotes the text and asks an exegesis type question. (Although not mentioned in the OP, jesus could technically apply. I don't recommend using that tag when any more specific one applies unless the question is also asking about the nature/character/etc. of Jesus himself.)

Answer 2

I'd suggest a system of prioritization that attempts to ensure that both broad tags and specific tags are applied to every question, as per this answer on meta, and then adds appropriate mid-level tags. In the following order,

• Apply the very-broad tag most closely related to the question
• Apply a very-narrow tag, or at least a narrow tag, closely related to the question
• Apply a mixture of broad and narrow tags related to aspects of the question not covered in the first two tags

Example 1

When did the early church begin reciting the Lord's Prayer in corporate worship?

• Available very-broad tags related to this question are prayer and church-history. Either would work, but I think prayer is closer.
• The best very-narrow tag that already exists is lords-prayer, and it's very closely related, so that's a good option.
• For my third tag, I'll take something less broad than my first one, but in the same category as the one I rejected earlier: like early-church.
• Next, I'll add one for another topic that this question touches: liturgy.
• Finally, I could add a mid-level tag, such as sermon-on-the-mount or words-of-jesus. Either would be fine.

Example 2

How do Protestants respond to the JW interpretation of John 14:28?

• Available very-broad tags are protestantism and exegesis. Again, either would work, but I'll go with exegesis.
• Here, I can choose several narrow tags: jehovahs-witnesses, words-of-jesus, gospel-of-john. I'll pick jehovahs-witnesses.
• protestantism is still closely related, so I'll add that.
• Next, I'd add gospel-of-john. If I discovered that these words of Jesus are included in other gospels, I might add words-of-jesus instead, or in addition.

Example 3

What's the biblical basis for Dominionism?

• The only very-broad tag here is biblical-basis, so I'll go with that.
• The best narrow tag would be dominion-theology or dominionism. If it doesn't exist, I'd create it.
• Next I'd add a tangentially related tag, charismatic or pentecostal.
• Finally, I might add a tag like culture or theological-frameworks