Clarifying tags within blatantly off-topic questions

Question

A new user recently suggested a few edits that came up via the review queue. These edits were all to improve the choice of tags, often replacing a generic tag with several tags that more accurately cover the question.

The problem is, every single question had previously been closed. This leads me to wonder whether tag improvements where the question is blatantly off-topic (for example, old questions that have been closed as "getting started" or "asking where to start") actually offer any improvements to the question.

On one side, the edit does nothing to make the question more accessible. At the end of the day, the question is still off-topic, and will remain closed. On the other side, the tag change does help to clarify the scope of the question; at least, if one is browsing questions by tag.

Should these minor changes be approved, or rejected? Does it actually add value, improving the tag choice on off-topic questions?

Answer 1

Generally, I'd probably reject them.

I view closed/on-hold questions as having a higher bar for what constitutes an acceptable edit. I will reject edits that I do not feel are trying to actively and substantially improve the question relative to whatever caused the question to be placed on hold.

The major exception to this is when making tag edits to remove or adjust tags that have been blacklisted.