A previous meta question didn't really go anywhere, so I thought I'd try a more targeted question now that our traffic numbers are starting to rise again.
What should we do with the meanings-definitions tag? Make a separate answer for each suggestion. Vote each answer up or down based on whether you agree with it or not.
The canonical tag should be meaning, with synonyms of meanings, definition, definitions, just like it is on English Language & Usage.
While meaning and definition aren't exactly the same, they're close enough to justify being categorized together in a single tag. Meaning is slightly more broad than definition, so it should be the main tag name.
I'm less committed to whether it should be meaning or meanings. The StackExchange recommendation (as far as I know) is that tag names should generally be plural, but I feel like I see meaning as more of a general concept than a distinct thing that there are many of, and I think meaning would be more natural (as in other cases like the existing translation, word-choice, greeting, gender, etc.).
Well I disagree, first that the previous question got anywhere (as we ended up with a new tag and dealt with the others) and second that this tag should be changed to only meanings with synonyms.
It's not that I am against synonyms but that I am for simplicity. meanings-definitions is quite clear, we don't really need to make separate tags to distinguish a word difference that in the end won't make a difference in the understanding of the question for it to be answered. A meaning and a definition are often closely related, and if it is the case that they are not, the answer will explain it. EL&U works differently, and I think it fairly complicated compared to how SL&U has been working for this time.
As you said, they are close enough to justify being categorized in a single tag. In the end this question is only of shortening the tag name. IMHO, I don't see the benefit or why should we bother. Instead of messing with synonyms etc..
meanings-definitions sounds awkward and unwieldy to me. Can you point to any other tag on any SE site that has two plural nouns joined together like that?
-and- between to join them. This seems purely down to taste/style though.
Feb 25, 2012 at 12:27