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The Life tag does not currently have any wiki entry. Same with Anatomy. Should these perhaps be consolidated with "biology"?

When I was looking at what to consolidate it with, I noticed that biology and biochemistry are basically identical:

  • "For questions regarding the chemistry of living organisms."
  • "For questions about living things. Does not exclude aliens, but additional information is usually necessary."

I'll let you guess which is which. :-)

I believe all four of these should be consolidated to a single tag (and made synonyms of each other).

Thoughts?

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I agree with Zxyrra except in the case of <->. Those two certainly seem very similar. There are also ongoing problems with that are more complicated than this, for example .

See It's back, the [Life] tag for further discussion.

I think it might be time to revisit the decision not to blacklist .

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There are important differences, so probably not.

While there are definitely cases where multiple tags apply, there are clear instances where they have completely different meanings. Consolidating them for an all-purpose "biological" tag would remove their ability to describe different circumstances.

and :

  • How much energy does it take for my dragons to fly? fits biology, but biochemistry is not appropriate. A search for "biochemistry" should not lead to this question because it doesn't have to do with biochemistry - only biology.

and :

  • Why are seven tentacles evolutionarily advantageous? is totally about biology, but life is a very broad word to apply to this situation and so is not appropriate.
  • Can panspermia occur during the protoplanet stage? fits life, and addresses how it develops, but biology seems rather inappropriate here. We aren't really talking about specific organisms, or even species, but the concept of life in general.

and :

  • What climate would my Leviathans prefer, given these behaviors? absolutely has to do with biology, but it doesn't have to do with the creatures' specific organs.

and :

  • How can my symbiotic species re-evolve the ability digest cellulose? has to do with chemistry, not life or living things as a whole

and :

  • Are creatures developing in a Jovian atmosphere likely to employ propellers? completely has to do with the physical characteristics of some species, but has nothing to do with their internal chemical reactions.

and :

  • Does aqua regia make an efficient stomach acid if my dragons want to metabolize the gold they plunder? is about the chemistry behind dragons, not the idea of life as a whole; life is very broad, and probably doesn't apply to a lot of circumstances.

and

  • Can abiogenesis occur in the hydrocarboniferous subsurface ocean of Enceladus despite low reaction temperatures? ... is about the formation of life, but not about its physical characteristics. Although the title was fun to come up with.
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    $\begingroup$ I can buy many of your arguments, but not the separation of "life" and "biology" ... your argument makes my opinion STRONGER that these are the same thing by different names. "bio" = "life"... the "ology" is just "the study of." Your "seven tentacles" example should have the "anatomy" tag. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 30, 2017 at 5:49
  • $\begingroup$ @SRM See the second example under "biology" and "life" for an instance where they could be separate. Also note that the "seven tentacles" question would include anatomy, yes, but I'm not arguing that it can't - just that life is not appropriate there. $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Jan 30, 2017 at 5:51
  • $\begingroup$ I'm saying "Biology" and "Life" are both inappropriate for the seven tentacles answer. And that both "biology" and "life" are equally applicable to the panspermia. You've convinced me that all the other tags should remain separate, but I'm now more convinced for equating life with biology. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 30, 2017 at 18:55
  • $\begingroup$ The main problem with your examples, is that many of them are wrongly tagged. This illustrates misuse of tags is itself a problem. One additional reason to separate "life" and "biology" is that there is the hypothetical possibility of inorganic life -- machine life and non-biological plasma-based lifeforms. The different circumstances and different meanings makes good sense. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Feb 8, 2017 at 4:29
  • $\begingroup$ @a4android I agree that my life / biology example is poor, and others have pointed that out as well. Of course, the life tag is probably on its way out anyways :) as for other wrong tags I am happy to edit / revise, where would you suggest I start? $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Feb 8, 2017 at 4:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Zxyrra No. It's not that your examples are poor. Actually they're a good illustration of problems with how people use tags. They're good examples of how mismatched "life", "biology", & "anatomy" are to their questions. From my viewpoint they're good examples. The problem is bad tagging, not bad tags. Most of them could do with retagging with more appropriate tags. Happy to make suggestions if I can. You're making progress enough with tag editing. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Feb 8, 2017 at 4:55

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