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This may seem similar to the previous question I asked about the [dota] tag, but it's still something that I've pondered about.

I see quite a few questions around Arqade that relate to Steam tagged with [steam], and most of these relate to techincal issues with either Steam itself, or a game on the service that experiences an issue relating to the service or has certain Steam-exclusive features that are being mentioned in the question.

Now that's all fine and dandy. But sometimes, I see posts relating to a game on Steam tagged so... just because the game is on Steam. Even when there isn't any issue there relating to Steam nor is there any reason to tag it so since the problem has nothing to do with Steam.

Should doing so as mentioned be avoided?

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    In general, irrelevant tags shouldn't be used -- whether [steam] or otherwise.
    – Matthew Read
    Aug 3, 2015 at 23:00

1 Answer 1

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In my opinion, there are only two cases that should be present:

  1. If the question is about Steam itself, such as Search steam store by full audio language
  2. The question is about a Steam-specific issue with a game, such as When do Steam Workshop mods download/sync? (which is a Skyrim question)
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    I agree. We don't put platform tags on a question unless the question has something to do with platform-specific features of a game. Steam is almost a platform in itself; Tagging Portal 2 along with the Steam tag is the same as Halo with the XBOX tag.
    – angussidney
    Jul 28, 2015 at 6:42
  • @AngusAtkinson Well, Halo 1 and 2 were released on PC though.
    – Ealhad
    Aug 3, 2015 at 13:08
  • @Ealhad you get the point.
    – angussidney
    Aug 4, 2015 at 6:19
  • @AngusAtkinson Sure ^^
    – Ealhad
    Aug 4, 2015 at 6:23
  • @AngusAtkinson For the first question about a particular game, you need at least some tag just to post it. Answers to this question and this question recommend using platform tags. Are you saying windows or steam-os ought to be used instead of steam?
    – Damian Yerrick
    Aug 5, 2015 at 18:49
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    @tepples Users with 300 or more reputation can create tags... and 300 isn't a high goal.
    – Powerlord
    Aug 5, 2015 at 19:58
  • @Powerlord Are you implying that a new user should ask and answer questions only about games that already happen to have a tag, even if they are games that the user does not play, just to get to 300?
    – Damian Yerrick
    Aug 5, 2015 at 20:10
  • @tepples No. It means that they may already have shown some sort of commitment before asking about a game it wasn't been asked before on arqade (each time a new game goes out, almost instantly Gaming.SE established users start asking questions, creating the tags).
    – Braiam
    Aug 7, 2015 at 15:04
  • @Braiam Then what "sort of commitment" ought one to show? Must one instead suggest formatting and grammar edits to 150 different questions or answers? And do even more obscure games get a tag "almost instantly"?
    – Damian Yerrick
    Aug 7, 2015 at 15:43
  • @tepples already asking/answering questions also works. Is very weird that you play the latest of the latest games and you sort of have a question about that game that someone on Arqade hasn't played and asked about.
    – Braiam
    Aug 7, 2015 at 15:49
  • @tapples If a new user asks a question about a game that doesn't have a tag yet, a user with the necessary permissions will invariably come along fairly quickly and add the tag.
    – TZHX
    Aug 7, 2015 at 20:28
  • There is actually untagged for questions that need tags.
    – Powerlord
    Aug 7, 2015 at 20:37
  • You can't tag a question with "untagged", so the platform tags are usually the next best thing as they're at least somewhat related to the question, even if unnecessary and to-be-removed when the game tag is added by someone with the appropriate rep.
    – 3ventic
    Aug 9, 2015 at 0:03
  • @Braiam 300 isn't a high goal, but I don't think we want to reject good questions simply because the asker didn't have enough rep to create a tag, especially when it's so trivial for anyone with 2k+ to fix.
    – 3ventic
    Aug 9, 2015 at 0:06
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    @3ventic I'm not sure why you think we are rejecting someone question...
    – Braiam
    Aug 9, 2015 at 0:13

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