The [science-fiction] tag is rarely used correctly. What should we do to address this issue?

Question

I have observed an issue with the usage of the science-fiction tag. Upon browsing through the 180+ questions tagged with science-fiction, I found that only a handful of questions seem to be using the tag as intended, according to its tag wiki description (written by a moderator; emphasis mine):

To be used on questions pertaining to the genre of science-fiction in general, not for questions about individual movies.

The majority of these questions incorrectly use the science-fiction tag for specific movies or TV shows that happen to be in the sci-fi genre, rather than addressing the genre itself.

One of the suggested edit rejection reasons states that "tags should describe what the question is about, not just what it contains." If these questions didn't have the science-fiction tag already, and an edit were suggested to add it, it should be rejected based on this reason.

The few exceptions (out of 180+) where the science-fiction tag appears to be used correctly are:

1. In science fiction films and anime, why do we see some planets are close in the sky?
2. Why do movies think the moons in alien skies are really large?
3. Can sci-fi gadgets be considered prior art?
4. Of all the movies and TV shows ever made, which of them is set furthest in the future?
5. What does Psychotronic (Series, Movies or TV Shows) mean?
6. Has there ever been a movie in which humanity found a "Golden Record" of another species?
7. First depiction of a quadruped robot-vehicle?
8. Explaining wormholes using a sheet of paper
9. Does David Lynch consider his own films to be science fiction / fantasy?

(Please note that I may have missed some questions about the sci-fi genre in general, so feel free to point them out so I could add them here.)

To address this issue, I suggest we take one of the following actions:

1. Review the usage of the science-fiction tag, and have moderators (who have the tools to mass-retag questions without bumping them) remove it from questions where it is being misused (all the questions not about the sci-fi genre in general).

2. Considering burninating (deleting) the tag entirely, as it is rarely being used correctly, and there are other tags that could be used instead. The questions I listed above already have other relevant tags, so even if the science-fiction tag were removed, they would still have appropriate tags.

Answer 1

I flagged one of the posts that incorrectly used the science-fiction tag. However, the moderator who reviewed the flag declined it with the following reason: "seems very much about time-travel sh*t" (expletive censored):

I respectfully disagree with this assessment. As outlined in my initial post, the presence of a science fiction element or even if a movie revolves around a science fiction concept does not warrant the use of the science-fiction tag, according to the tag's usage guidance written by a moderator.

The science-fiction tag should only be used for questions about the science fiction genre in general, not for individual movies that happen to fall within that genre. If we were to tag every science fiction movie with the science-fiction tag, it would follow that we should also tag action movies with [action], comedies with [comedy], and so on—an approach that goes against our established tagging conventions.

To address this issue, I will be retagging questions that incorrectly use the science-fiction tag, removing it from posts such as:

• Loop of Marties in Back to the Future 1

• How long is the crew "frozen" during the trip in Aliens

• What was the exact purpose of the device in Regan's ear?

These questions, while involving science fiction films, do not pertain to the genre itself and therefore should not have the science-fiction tag according to its intended usage.

To avoid flooding the question feed, I will limit myself to retagging 2-3 questions per day. Any assistance in this effort would be welcome as well. However, I reiterate my request from the original post for moderators to utilize their moderation tools for this task, as it would be much more efficient and would not bump the posts to the top of the feed.

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"the presence of a science fiction element or even if a movie revolves around a science fiction concept" - This isn't about the movie revolving around a science-fiction concept but the question doing so. And that does seem what the tag is about, even if you possibly outline something different in your initial post. As I explained to you, a question might be about an individual movie and about the science-fiction genre itself. Of course questions about scifi aspects in movies are kind of a grey area in between. But in those cases I'd opt for not messing with tags of ages old posts.

- Napoleon Wilson

This is in reply to the comment above by a moderator. You make a fair point that questions about specific science fiction aspects within a movie could potentially be considered as pertaining to the genre itself, even if the question is focused on an individual film. It's a bit of a gray area, as you mentioned.

At the same time, I think it's important to maintain consistency with how we approach tagging across different genres. For instance, we wouldn't typically use the [action] tag for a question solely about a specific action sequence in an action movie or the [comedy] tag for a question about a humorous scene in a comedy film. The tag guidance seems to suggest that the science-fiction tag should be reserved for questions about the genre itself rather than individual sci-fi aspects within a movie.

Perhaps we could revisit the science-fiction tag wiki at some point to provide more clarity on its intended scope and usage, but that's for another meta post.