What to do with the [marvel-cinematic-universe]?

Question

The usage of the marvel-cinematic-universe tag seems quite a bit inconsistent at the moment. While it is clear that it should be used for any question pertaining to the general cross-movie intricacies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems largely unclear if it should also be used for individual movies. There are many questions with that tag that are not about the MCU in general but simply about the story of individual movies. Likewise are there many questions about individual movie that don't have the tag. So how should this tag be used?

We already have some larger movie series tags which are (supposed to be) used for each and every question about a movie of that series, in addition to individual movie tags (if necessary), like star-wars, lord-of-the-rings, pirates-of-the-caribbean, harry-potter, ...

However, the individual movies there seem to have a slightly more tight relation and similarity. They are much more "movie series" than "movie franchises" (if there even is a difference between the two terms). This is especially notable in their titles, which more often than not include the series as part of the title (of the form Series: Movie). This makes using the series tag also a practical matter of avoiding overly long tag names. This isn't the case for the MCU, likewise don't we have tags for each and every remotely connected movie franchise (let alone tag each and every question with those). Neither are we supposed to use too much tags to describe the movie the question is about, since tags are supposed to describe what the actual question is about. In the same way we don't tag questions about individual movies with genre or director tags if the questions are not about the genre or director specifically.

On a merely practical note, using it for each and every MCU movie would of course mean we'd have to retag each and every existing question that doesn't have it yet, and there are quite a few of them. But even more so, we would have to enforce its usage on each and every question about an MCU movie that comes up in the future. That is something new users are much less likely to do correctly if the series name is not an obvious part of the movie title and they might not even be aware of the existence of a broader franchise those movies are part of.

So the primary question here is, is the Marvel Cinematic Universe contained and connected enough that questions about its individual movies have the obligation to be tagged with marvel-cinematic-universe and would be incomplete without it, or if it is not a sufficiently tight movie series to warrant polluting the limited 5 tag slots with what amounts to just a classification of the movie and not the actual question itself.

_{(This discussion of course also would have the potential for setting a precedent for other less tightly coupled movie franchises to warrant tags that are used on each and every question. Something to bear in mind.)}

Answer 1

The question you ACTUALLY are asking is:

"Should all the movies/films/videos/shows of a given franchise be tagged with the associated franchise tag, regardless of question scope?"

To that question, and ultimately to the question asked in the OP, I say "YES!", for the reasons of (1) consistency, (2) search-ability and (3) because they are related, potentially in ways that have not yet been revealed, and especially since the Marvel-Cinematic-Universe (M-C-U) franchise prompting this question is under continued development.

The arguments against doing so, followed by counter-points, are:

1. "We'd have to re-tag all the questions!" Counter-point: this is a one-time problem; people will cope with questions re-sorting to the top for a short time-frame.
2. "We'd have to enforce it!" Counter-point: this is an occasional problem, and this site is moderated well-enough that this is not a real issue; plus you're already doing it for all the other franchises. This is the reason why you get paid with reputation for editing.
3. "We eat one of the 5 tag slots!" Counter-point: you need to ask how many Movies.SE questions use 4+ tags currently, and whether a question with 5 tags and no franchise tag really needs all 5 non-franchise tags.
4. "The current tag "marvel-cinematic-universe" is long and unwieldy!" Counter-point: this concern is outside the scope of this question/answer; providing a solution here would degrade this answer. If necessary, ask a separate question about renaming it.
5. "Enforcement can only be conducted at current activity rates." Counter-point: this requires an analysis of how many M-C-U questions are asked on a daily/weekly basis, and community participation. If this is seemingly enforceable "now" due to a low activity level, consider that a higher activity level inherently brings with it more enforcers. Users are alerted when their questions are edited; more aware users will realize that franchise tagging exists; also, there is no true penalty for re-tagging, only the "reward" of reputation through enforcement.
6. "Joe Public won't recognize the tag name as a franchise." Counter-point: this argument is specific to the less-recognizable tag "M-C-U"; again it speaks to enforcement of rules through rewarded editing, but it also can be solved through creation and application of multiple synonyms to "M-C-U" (e.g. "marvel-franchise") to avoid the accidental creation of false franchise tags.

With the arguments addressed, there's no reason not to say "yes", unless further arguments are brought forth to counter.

Answer 2

I would prefer that we only use the marvel-cinematic-universe for broader questions about the universe rather than using it as a shortcut to all questions that happen to involve a film in that universe.

In short:

If it's a question about an Iron Man or Thor or Captain America film, let it be a question about iron-man or thor or captain-america.

If it's a question about the relationship of one of those characters within the grander scheme of the MCU then it's a question about the marvel-cinematic-universe.

This is (I think) pretty clearly explained in the MCU Tag Wiki:

Use this tag for questions specifically about the fictional universe in which all films and TV shows independently produced by Marvel Studios take place.

For questions about individual entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, use the correct tag for that work.

What this is saying is that "Marvel Cinematic Universe" isn't actually a subcategory of film that can be added along with the film title, it's a topic that can be discussed on its own. Despite having only tenuous ties between some of the titles, there's clearly a larger concept here that is worth discussing, even without making specific films the topic of the question.

For example, this question:

Why was Ronan/Thanos not interested in the other Infinity Stone in possession of The Collector?

While it does mention specific films, it's really a bigger question about the MCU as an entity and, for that reason, the tags relating to the specific films were removed because the question isn't actually about the films.

If we expand this tag to use as a catch-all for every question involving every film (and TV show) in the MCU, these questions (though there are very few of them at this point) will lose what little real estate they have and the tag they have becomes practically meaningless.

Use this tag for all questions that relate to any of the film or television franchises within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It should be possible to ask a question that relates to the Marvel Cinematic Universe without necessarily having a specific film tag and without worrying about the question getting lost in questions that apply to 28 different titles (and counting) that already have a good defining tag - the film title.

Now, if we want to make a new tag to pop all MCU questions into for easy access, that is a different issue. This tag isn't the solution, though.

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I would love to be able to add subcategories to tags. I've even championed it over on SE.Meta. When (hopeful thinking) this becomes possible, I will go bonkers adding subcategories that will make search so easy, everyone will hate it... and it wouldn't mess up the front page because all of the work would be done in redefining the tags, not in retagging the questions.

Answer 3

My argument for tagging all questions about films and TV series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe using the marvel-cinematic-universe tag is based on the fact that people primarily use tags in order to locate questions that they are interested in or may be able to answer.

As per the Help Centre page on tags;

A tag is a word or phrase that describes the topic of the question. Tags are a means of connecting experts with questions they will be able to answer by sorting questions into specific, well-defined categories.

Tags can also be used to help you identify questions that are interesting or relevant to you.

Clicking on a tag below a question brings you to a page that shows all questions within that tag.

And from the site tour;

Tags make it easy to find interesting questions

Personally, when I click on the marvel-cinematic-universe tag, I want to be able to see any questions related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including questions about the individual films and TV series that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not just questions relating to the intricacies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The same is true of DC Cinematic Universe that started with Man of Steel, and in my opinion should be consistent for all future cinematic universes - that we treat them as a series of films and TV shows, in the same way that we do the star-wars, lord-of-the-rings, pirates-of-the-caribbean and harry-potter tags.