tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Should MO have a 'homework' tag?)

quid comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21661)

quid — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:53:18 -0700

@bsteinberg: since you removed the only actual usage it it will be automatically deleted (within a day or so) except it gets reused in the intervening time.

However, the user that created it (Rodrigo A. Pérez), was -- I am virtually certain -- the same that created it the last time. And, could recreate it any number of times, as he tags other peoples questions with it. To avoid a misconception this is IMO done with good intentions. Still it could be a good idea to let him know this should not be used, otherwise it might reappear every other day.

(I could do so myself via a comment somewhere, but I'd think it is better somebody other than me does this.)

bsteinberg comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21660)

bsteinberg — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:34:43 -0700

It seems the homework tag is back and needs moderator deletion

DavidRoberts comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21618)

DavidRoberts — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 23:53:29 -0700

[trivial-exercise]

Bill Johnson comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21617)

Bill Johnson — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:03:30 -0700

Maybe also we should have an easy-homework tag.

bsteinberg comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21616)

bsteinberg — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:01:47 -0700

The homework tag was recreated.

Will Jagy comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21482)

Will Jagy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:29:05 -0800

We could have a mendicant tag.

François G. Dorais comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21479)

François G. Dorais — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:06:32 -0800

No, but we're looking forward to that feature.

Asaf Karagila comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21476)

Asaf Karagila — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:11:01 -0800

Francois, in SE 2 it is possible (although only for admins) to blacklist tags. Perhaps it is possible on this platform as well?

Ryan Budney comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21475)

Ryan Budney — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:13:45 -0800

As I imagine several of you noticed, I tagged it with "homework", because the corresponding thread on math.stackexchange.com had been tagged (by the author) with "homework". I was trying to draw attention to the trend in this author's posts, earlier with this meta thread which hadn't garnered much attention until the homework tag was created, strangely enough.

http://tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/1539/not-sure-what-to-make-of-all-these-posts/

I admit I maybe strayed too far towards ends rather than means. I'm glad this appears resolved.

grp comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21473)

grp — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:02:01 -0800

Sorry Yemon. Bill Engvall (http://amog.com/entertainment/bill-engvall/ , among others) is all over that with his "Here's Your Sign". Maybe he could do a MathOverflow routine?

Gerhard "Could Also Throw Something Together" Paseman, 2013.02.25

François G. Dorais comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21472)

François G. Dorais — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:53:45 -0800

I removed the tag, please don't add it back.

Yemon Choi comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21470)

Yemon Choi — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:33:57 -0800

In some cases, I think that a "mendicant" badge, stuck to the user's forehead, would be even better...

Bill Johnson comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21468)

Bill Johnson — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:21:24 -0800

I think that a homework tag would be great if the software could be tweaked to display "This is not a site for asking questions about homework".

bsteinberg comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21467)

bsteinberg — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:04:11 -0800

I agree with quid that the homework tag is a bad idea. I also think it is not a good idea to add that tag to someone else's question. It may sometimes be the case somebody has a question that is of too low level for the site but it was an honest question rather than homework. To tag it as homework could be seen as rude. I realize the situation is different for the post at hand because the MSE version had a homework tag but I still think it sets an unwise precedent.

Andrew Stacey comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21466)

Andrew Stacey — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:46:17 -0800

Question in question: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/122847/is-the-space-countably-compact-closed. Note that it has now been closed.

quid comments on "Should MO have a 'homework' tag?" (21465)

quid — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:44:54 -0800

Recently the tag 'homework' was created.

In my opinion to have a homework-tag on MO is rather potentially harmful as it is likely to give the wrong impression that homwork-questions are on-topic (why else should such a tag exist, could be an IMO reasonable line of reasoning of a new user).

Indeed, that is why I suggested the deletion of a then existant tag of the same name some time ago (which happened). It now was recretated, by a very experienced user. So I did not just want to remove it but rather thought to start this thread.

Added: for reference this is what I said on the respective sticky thread Dec 4th 2011 (towards top of page 5) [To avoid a misconception, the user using it then and now are different.]

I just noticed that there is a (recent?) 'homework' tag and somebody (not OPs) tagging things with this. For several reasons I think having this tag is a bad idea. One is that it can suggest homework is on-topic.