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I noticed we have a tag. As it is, it has limited use, and no usage guideline1.

I could only see two reasons why such a tag would be used:

  • In regards to questions asking for help in finding or identifying a particular blog, or blogs that match particular requirements.
  • In regards to questions asking for help in creating a blog.

In the first instance, such questions are effectively asking for resource referrals. We automatically consider these questions off-topic. This also seems to be the only current usage for the tag, with requests for:

In the second instance, I fail to see how the context is on topic for game development, regardless. Even if the subject of said blog was game developing, I would think you would not ask a game developer for professional opinion; you would ask a writer.

Do we really need the tag?

1 As is common, in a lot of "usage guidelines" I see on here, there is a usage excerpt that tells me what a blog is; but nothing to tell me how the actual tag should be legitimately used.

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We don't really need that tag.

In Where can I find current information on Valve's Source SDK? and Where can I read about techniques used in NES-era games?, [blog] is being used as a meta tag. They're looking for certain information and think the answer might be a blog, but tags aren't for what we think the answers are about; they're for describing the content of the question, which is about old school techniques and Valve's Source SDK.

That leaves us with two questions where it seems pretty legit: Game development Blogs, which is closed, and Who kept a blog for a year with a new game idea every day, and where is it?, which is the only open, topical use of the tag.

Over on RPG Stack Exchange we have a more generic tag for questions asking about online resources. That tag doesn't care whether the resource in question is a blog, a wiki, a google doc, a set of forum posts, or anything else — I think that'd be more appropriate and workable here.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The problem is, asking for online resources is considered off-topic, here \$\endgroup\$
    – Gnemlock
    Jun 13, 2017 at 10:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Gnemlock Is that based on the second bullet point in the On Topic help, or some other meta post? I actually think that idea-a-day blog post seems OK, but I'm not familiar with the current state of moderation on this site. It's not asking for recommendations of online resources, it's asking for an identification of a known specific resource, which seems like a topical thing. (Like "Where do I find the documentation for [obscure library]?" might be on topic, I imagine.) \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jun 13, 2017 at 10:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ That's one reason I did not flag that particular question, but if you look at past closures, recommendation questions are closed under the "starting out" close reason. This reason specifically mentions "software recommendation", but this has been loosely interpreted to include "all recommendations", given the issue of seeking discussion still remains. I would argue that, even if you are seeking a very specific resource, it is still a recommendation; your still asking for a "recommendation", given a far more narrow scope. I also interpret these questions to ask for a "source" recommendation. \$\endgroup\$
    – Gnemlock
    Jun 13, 2017 at 10:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm sure I did read meta, but tbh, I'll have to look for it, later. \$\endgroup\$
    – Gnemlock
    Jun 13, 2017 at 10:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ Gotcha. I draw a personal distinction between identification requests ("I know this exact specific thing exists, where is it?") and recommendation requests, but I don't know how that's reflected in GDSE policy. On Role-playing Games we ban recommendations and allow identification of products and game content and requests for where documentation is located, but that's just our stack's policy. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jun 13, 2017 at 10:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ Potentially related, requests for the identification of product features are also generally off-topic / discouraged. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pikalek
    Jun 13, 2017 at 14:34

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