Any TU can change tags in situ. That change from a common tag to one that is more specific is valued. Vague tags are a big problem that can only be fixed one diary at a time. Start with fresh diaries?
Tag Librarians can also edit and link tags. The most common fix and, as it is harmless and leads either to gratifying success or easily remediable failure I suggest that new Tag Librarians start by fixing lowercase tags. oook!
One way of finding tags that need fixing is to see them in a diary. A common problem is to find an ugly tag that would work as two or more tags if properly comma separated. Edit tags, add commas as needed, submit and reload the page. The horrible mashup will still be in the Tag database and if the mistake had not been made before it will appear with zero uses. So what. You don't need any privilege above TU to make this kind of improvement.
Tag Librarians have a specific privilege elfling can grant. For this demonstration I will show how I fixed the tags in this diary:
Rush Limbaugh didn't write his children's book
This is what it looked like when I opened the diary. Note that 'Rush' is already a different color. I've looked at that tag and found it to be too vague to fix
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Here is an example of my workflow. I found a diary with multiple tag issues. If tags are fixed one at a time most of the time is spent waiting for updates. I work from tab to tab making one change, submit it, and move to the next tab. In this case I start by seeing four tags with issues. MS default with a three button mouse in a browser is to open the link in a new tab with the middle button. I did it four times opening the four tags I'm interested in fixing. If there had only been one I would have clicked it, opening the tag page and closing the diary page. By the time I have opened the four tag pages the first is usually ready for the next step.
As you can see in the URL I am still in normal space. The first green circle is evidence that I have the permission from elfling I mentioned above. The second is a missing button I would really, really appreciate. More about that later. I select edit tag and move through the next three in rapid succession and by then the first tag is ready for the next step.
Welcome to L-Space. https in the URL.
'generation text' needs two words uppercased and my workflow looks like this: My mousing skills are not perfect. I place the cursor on the t. If it lands after the t I Backspace and then key T. If the cursor lands ahead of the t I key T followed by Delete. In either case Home is next to put the cursor in front of the g, key G followed by Delete and then Enter. As it happens I am not sure that the diarist picked a useful tag. Sometimes I ask through either a comment or by kosMail before making a correction.
An example of synonym linking.
illegai alien is nearly certain to be a typo and it is nearly certain that a corrected spelling will match a current tag.
I tried it anyway. A better workflow would automatically offer synonym match by correcting it from the tag box rather than this next process:
There are four choices for Status: pending, sit, synonym, and disallow. I have no idea what distinguishes between Pending and Sit. So far I haven't had a problem with either. For the love of mercy please don't ever select disallow. So far it is led only to unrecoverable errors.
I select Synonym and start typing. As I'm looking for a preexisting tag it does not matter whether I uppercase. As I type the database spits out lists of current tags and they change after every letter sometimes. In situations where many choices are possible I have seen the list resort three times after a single keystroke. It has been a frustration several times that I selected an item only to find that the list resorted synchronously with my selection and I am stuck with the wrong choice. In that case the solution is to delete a few letters and start again. Sometimes it pays to wait a few seconds while the list resorts it self.
As a general rule it is best to select the tag which has been used most often. There are exceptions. I dislike CamelCase except when it is obviously the right choice. eKos, for example, is the right choice. I've looked at most of the DKos community specific tags and made my choices already. I eschew hyphens if I can. The English language is moving beneath our feet and hyphenated words tend to be transitional forms. When the direction is clear I choose the new form.
DKos does not have an approved Style Guide. As a consequence I find myself stymied at times and have chosen this method: Check teh Google.
If the Wikipedia has settled on something I accept it. In the case of a tag with two or more words I am judicious about whether to uppercase more than one word. I come from a newspaper tradition and try to enunciate the headline style.
I don't like any of the synonym choices for illegai alien. illegal aliens is the most common but it is lower case and illegal alien has more than eleven uses and will also get fixed. At this time I choose an option, click on it, scroll down, and select Update Tag. When correcting case it is enough to select Enter. Not so when creating a synonym link. This is the result:
Here I fix the capitalization of the result. Start with Edit Tags and fix in the usual way.
Next up is plagiarist. It is obviously in need of upper case and I do it. This one is only one word long. I put the cursor to the left of it which is easy, uppercase P, Delete to get rid of the lowercase p, and hit enter. For a faster workflow I don't wait for the page to reload but move on to the next tab. undocumented Democrat gets uppercased in the same way.
There is nothing to fix about the Rush tag. There are too many choices. I've been there before and noted that there are at least three things it could mean.
Now I go back and take a look at the results. Generation Text looks good and I close the tab. Illegal Aliens also looks good. Plagiarist is not common enough to warrant more attention. It has only been used four times.
I find that one of my common errors when fixing case issues is that I have edited the dictionary sort box rather than the one that matters. Only Mother believes that I am still perfect.
It can take up to about fifteen minutes for changes to percolate through the server farm to the diary. When I clicked on illegai alien I got to the corrected Illegal Aliens page.