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I have a question but I am unclear about which tags to use.

I want to ensure that my question is categorized so the people with the most expertise/interest related to my issue are most likely to see it.

I also want to be a good Stack Exchange Netizen and so want to avoid "meta tags" (whatever those are).

I have read How To Ask Android Questions The Smart Way but that specifically does not cover question tags.

How do I choose the right tags for my question?

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Please omit the device and Android version tag if you are sure that the question is not specific to a particular device or Android version.

I am aware of Matthews answer, and I agree that those tags shouldn't be used if the question isn't specific to the tag. But it's difficult to tell if a problem is really device/version specific. It's hard to tell for the asker and it's hard for the user who wants to retag the question. That's why I think that we should go with an "in doubt go with the device/version tag" policy.

I even think that it's hard to educate the users otherwise.

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  • I'd say this is valid for all tags: if you're sure they don't apply, don't apply them to your question. Device-tags is the one thing (doesn't hurt to mention the device in the question, though) -- Android-Version is the same thing (e.g. when asking for how-to-do this/that on Android, a version tag makes not much sense). – Izzy♦ Jan 9 '13 at 15:41
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Tags should describe the content of the question. They should cover the specific problem area to be addressed. Having a problem with a particular app? Use the tag for that app. (Examples: , .) Having a problem with a particular function? Use the appropriate tag(s). (Examples: , , .)

Tags should not describe your device. That is, tags for

  • the model
  • the manufacturer
  • the version of the operating system
  • the mobile carrier

should (probably) not be used.

While this information is important and should be included in the question post, most of the time the issue is not specific to the device or the OS version. Only when the issue is clearly tied to the environment should a tag of that nature be used. (For example, for quite some time AT&T disabled the ability to install apps from "unknown sources" and was the only carrier to do that. A question regarding how to get around this restriction would be correctly tagged with .)

And, of course, avoid meta-tags.

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Where possible, it should be tagged with:

  • Device Model (e.g. samsung-galaxy-s-2)
  • Android Version (e.g. 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich)
  • Related apps (e.g. chrome-for-android)
  • Issues / Topics (e.g. keyboard)
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  • Sure this information should be mentioned in the question. But not always it is useful to use the corresponding tags. To give a simple example with your data: "How can I create bookmarks with Chrome?" is surely not depending on device and Android version (as for the tags) -- except you know there's a special Chrome version for that combination. However, it cannot hurt to include with your question text that you use a SGS2 running ICS, even in this case. – Izzy♦ Jan 9 '13 at 9:52
  • Same applies to "related apps" in cases where that's not really applyable. Example for this: "How do I root my SGS2?". In this case, device model and Android version are required tags, as is the topic ("root" in this case). But there are no related apps for the tag (as the questioner does not know the rooting-app to be used, or the question would not be asked ;) Sure, in this case it falls into the category "not possible", so it's not the best example -- but you get the idea. -- One still could argue "use all possible, and let the experienced remove unneeded ones"... – Izzy♦ Jan 9 '13 at 9:56
  • @Izzy Good points, which is why I said "Where possible.." or "Where applicable..". I guess the keywords or main topics of the question should be considered when tagging. Then again, not everybody is familiar on its proper usage (the same with twitter hashtags) or what the tag for the topics are. So, I suppose it's up to the Community to correct the tags. – geffchang Jan 9 '13 at 10:01
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    Careful about encouraging people to always put a device tag on their question, previous consensus was not to do it unless the question was definitely specific to that one device model: meta.android.stackexchange.com/questions/260/… – GAThrawn Jan 9 '13 at 11:35
  • Indeed. The reason I posted this question is so that we can discuss and come to an agreement on a rational tagging strategy/policy. – ale Jan 9 '13 at 13:54

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