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Today I saw three examples (below) of old questions edited for the reason "Removed arcgis-9.2 tag because it is a Retired version". In each example, the ArcGIS 9.2 tag was germane to the question; the author identified that version in the question or follow-up comments.

  1. Performance issues after upgrading from 9.2 to ArcGIS Mobile release 10
  2. https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/9846/how-to-loop-through-identify-dialog-fields
  3. Connect overlapping lines?

This situation is sure to occur in the future. As ArcGIS, QGIS, and other software (with version-specific tags on GIS SE) continue to release new versions, there will still be questions related to those old versions. Should the tags for these old question be revised?

I think this is similar to the meta discussion in Should old questions be updated to reflect details of later questions that were closed as duplicate?

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    Some users are using older software through no fault of their own but the corporate IT process.
    – Mapperz Mod
    Apr 26, 2013 at 18:43

1 Answer 1

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I don't think the tags should be revised, unless there is proof that the question isn't version-specific. That is, if the question or problem has since proven to be related to multiple versions of software, the version-specific tag should be replaced by a more general tag (e.g. instead of ).

I have rolled back the changes on the three examples in my question, and edited one to include a tag that was added when the version-specific one was removed. I'm happy to undo these rollbacks if the general consensus is that the version-specific tags should be removed.

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    I agree with you. Removing tags in that manner reflects a misunderstanding of their purpose and function, which includes adding semantic capabilities to searches. Those capabilities are reduced when otherwise valid descriptive tags are removed. Thanks for catching this. However, the apparent motivation behind the removal is good: should questions about old deprecated software somehow be flagged or retired? After all, "too localized" [in space or time] is one of the standard reasons for closing questions. This is an issue to research on the main meta site because it affects all SE.
    – whuber
    Apr 25, 2013 at 12:49
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    I agree that the motivation was good, and think the issue you raise is a great one for discussion on SE.
    – user3461
    Apr 25, 2013 at 12:53
  • @whuber You've understood my motivation and closure was my alternative thought. I'll research the issue options too.
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Apr 25, 2013 at 13:02
  • @GeoKevin I'm happy with the actions that you have taken on these. I think we can get more value from tags than we currently do, but it was a mistake for me to test the waters this way first. My SO research into deprecated/retired version tags has not led anywhere this evening so I will try to write up my thoughts as an SE-GIS/SO Meta discussion.
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Apr 26, 2013 at 9:03
  • I've made a new Meta posting related to this one that I would be keen to hear your thoughts on.
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Apr 27, 2013 at 0:40

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