Tag solution by voting (tag merge, rename or remove): [terminology] vs. [vocabulary] vs. [technical]

Question

I believe there is ambiguity (and confusion) regarding the meaning and the usage of these tags; and a considerable overlap as well: terminology, vocabulary, technical.

Current tag infos:

terminology tag excerpt:
This tag is for questions seeking or discussing a term (or terms) belonging or peculiar to a science, art, or specialized subject (e.g. linguistics, mathematics, physics, biology, finance, theatre, medical, nautical etc.) Consider adding [single-word-requests] and [phrase-requests] tags also if relevant.
_{Note: I've recently updated the terminology tag to make it more clear.}

vocabulary tag excerpt:
The vocabulary tag should be used for questions discussing a multitude of words in a certain field. E.g., the vocabulary concerning money or the vocabulary concerning leatherworking.
_{Note: I didn't update the vocabulary tag. Please see the details below.}

technical tag excerpt and info:
This tag is for questions related to the use of technical language. Consider [terminology] tag for seeking or discussing a term (or terms) belonging a specialized subject.

Technical language refers to written or oral communication in a technical field that has specialized content. It is characterized by discussing technical or specialized topics, communicating through technology or technical terms, or providing instructions on solving technical problems.
_{Note: I've recently updated the technical tag to make it more clear.}

Thoughts and possible solutions on the tags:

• terminology tag:

I believe the terminology tag is fine as is and I've updated the tag info recently to make it as clear as possible.

• technical tag:

I've updated the technical tag info recently to make it as clear as possible. Although, it is still an ambiguous term. It can mean technical language or technical terms; where technical terms overlap with terminology. However, I've tried to make that distinction in the description.

Possible solutions:

1. Rename technical tag to technical-english, as we have literary-english tag also.
   
2. Clarify the tag info further.

• vocabulary tag:

This is one of the most complicated and ambiguous tags in my opinion, and I couldn't even come up with a good update on the tag info. It appears to have an ambiguous and/or outdated info.

Vocabulary is an ambiguous term itself without a context also. Wiktionary provides the succinct definitions below of the different senses of vocabulary:

1. A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
   
2. The collection of words a person knows and uses.
   
3. The stock of words used in a particular field.
   
4. The words of a language collectively; lexis.
   
5. (by extension) A range of artistic or stylistic forms or techniques.

The tag info appears to use the third sense, which overlaps with terminology tag. Although, vocabulary tag appears to be used for many different things if you check the questions tagged with this tag (and we have other specific tags for the items below, possibly except the first one):

• list questions (even the tag info provides examples of list questions also)
• questions about a particular word
• questions about multiple words or terms
• questions about a meaning of a word
• questions about the differences between words

Possible solutions:

1. Get rid of the vocabulary tag (which might not be easy as there are many questions with this tag)
   
2. Merge the vocabulary tag into terminology tag (although the tags didn't always overlap in all questions tagged with vocabulary)
3. Re-define what vocabulary tag is for. It might need to focus on just one area with a clear tag info. It can be only for questions asking for a list of words within a particular criteria/topic/field or linguistic feature (which was the original intention, and it can be possibly renamed to vocabulary-list or word-list). I believe list questions are not explicitly off-topic if they are useful and within the usage of English language. An example of a well-received list question (although asked with the intention/wording "are there any?"): Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"

The tag info has this also:

A few sample questions that are a good fit for this tag:

Terms for collections of animals
Informal terms for money amounts
Words for different types of leatherworking

Expectations from this Meta post:

• You can share your thoughts and discuss, and clarify the meaning and the usage of the tags
• Answers with solutions can be upvoted or downvoted
• Mods or other authorized users can adopt the solution(s) if they deem fit or based on the discussion

Update: I've decided to post the solutions as a community wiki answer so the community can upvote or downvote; and a solution can be implemented based on the results. You can also post other solutions regarding these tags as a community wiki answer; or clarify the posted solutions without changing too much.

Answer 1

Remove vocabulary tag.

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Upvote: Yes
Downvote: No

Answer 2

Tags should, as far as possible, be self-explanatory, i.e. it should generally be possible to get a reasonably good idea of what the tag is for just by looking at it, without having to read its official definition. None of the three tags under discussion here satisfies that condition. Technical leaves one wondering: technical what? Terminology similarly makes one wonder: what kind of terminology? Vocabulary, as has already been pointed out in a comment, tends to be understood in a sense that is much broader than intended, and then applied so widely as to be useless.

Now, if one does take the trouble to read the official definitions, one finds it difficult to see what is supposed to be the difference among them: all three are about the terminology that is used within some specialised field (but not generally outside it). The OP's saying that there is 'a considerable overlap' among them seems to be an understatement.

Unless somebody can, in a further contribution to this page, give a clear account of what the differences among the three tags are supposed to be, and why it is important to keep them distinct, all three should be merged together under the name specialised terminology.

(In making this proposal, I am assuming that the software allows the moderators to change the tags on the already posted questions in one simple transaction; I wouldn't want them to bear the burden of retagging the questions one by one.)

Answer 3

Merge vocabulary tag into terminology tag

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Upvote: Yes
Downvote: No

Answer 4

Rename technical tag to technical-english

Note: The tag info can be clarified as well.

One of the reasons would be that we have literary-english tag also.

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Upvote: Yes
Downvote: No

Answer 5

Rename vocabulary tag to vocabulary-list or word-list

Note: This makes it more clear that it is about the original intention: only for questions asking for a list of words within a particular criteria/topic/field or linguistic feature. "Vocabulary" itself is an ambiguous word also and it is probably one of the reasons why it is misused frequently. The tag info can be clarified as well.

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Upvote: Yes
Downvote: No