How can we improve upon the wood-identification tag?

Question

We've decided to prohibit wood-identification questions, but we're using the wood-identification to help people identify an appropriate type of wood given some desired application or properties.

I think it makes sense to make broader use of wood-selection instead for this purpose, and after further discussion I'm leaning toward adding wood-species, as well. What we do with wood-identification is up in the air, but here are a few options:

1. Make wood-identification a synonym of wood-selection
2. Create wood-species and make wood-identification a synonym of wood-species
3. Rename wood-identification to wood-species and ban the use of wood-identification

My thought with wood-species is that it can be used in the same way we currently use wood-identification, but the name will not imply that "What kind of wood is in this picture?" questions are allowed. Meanwhile, wood-selection will be a slightly more specific tag.

What does everyone else think about the two new proposed tags, and what should we do with wood-identification?

Answer 1

No.

Both tags should remain and should be used appropriately.

Wood selection is a different function from wood identification.

Wood selection should be the tag when the question of what wood should be used.

Wood identification is when the question deals with telling what kind of wood a sample might be which is a topic that is explicitly discouraged by this site.

Somehow, the description of wood identification includes wood selection - to me an obvious mistake. It seems to me that it would best be corrected by moderators.

Answer 2

Raise the bar instead of banning.

The problems with wood identification questions are:

• it's hard to definitively identify a wood species based on the information that's usually provided (such as a photo)
• it's hard to search for similar questions
• such questions tend to help only one person

These are the same kinds of problems that are exhibited by low-quality debugging questions on StackOverflow. Rather than banning debugging questions, though, StackOverflow wisely set requirements for debugging questions that solve most of the problems.

We should do the same for wood-identification. Allow wood identification questions, but set criteria for what makes an acceptable one. Questions that don't meet the standard will still be closed just as quickly, but good questions would be encouraged.

Answer 3

Yes

This was bothering me for a while but wasn't sure what to do about it. I have only been using the tag out of habit. I am 100% for switching these tags to remove that ambiguity.

We are truly treating it as a wood-selection anyways.

Continued

I see the question has changed a bit. wood-selection needs to exist. It is how the current wood-identification questions are being treated. I agree with AST Pace in that the tag wiki is misleading for its purpose.

I'm not very hot about wood-species and that is mostly because I'm not sure what the wiki would read like. How would you write the excerpt for that?

Either way wood-identification need to cease existing. A ban might be appropriate but its not like we have had to close a lot of questions regarding this yet.