What's up with the frugal tag?

Question

Scanning through the tags today, I noticed that there was a tag: frugal.

There are 7 questions using the tag:

• How bad is it to use colour newsprint for paper pots?

• Do homemade paper pots for seedlings really work well?

• Source for cheap large plastic tubs?

• Composting Bins - DIY vs Bought

• What is a good source for free or inexpensive nursery pots?

• What should I do to a homemade paper pot before planting it?

• What are inexpensive materials for homemade tomato cages?

Some of these Q&As are good, and some of them are not so good, but in my opinion the tag itself is pretty bad.

None of the questions that are using the tag scream "frugal" to me. I don't think the tag adds any value to the good Q&As (like the first one linked), and the tag seems to attract poll questions (e.g. where can I find X?).

Could/should we remove this tag? If we want to keep it, is there something we can do to improve it so that it's used properly?

Answer 1

I think the frugal tag can be removed. This word is a little uncommon in the English language and it's meaning is not likely to be clear to a lot of users.

From Merriam Webster

: careful about spending money or using things when you do not need to : using money or supplies in a very careful way

: simple and plain

Answer 2

I like the frugal tag.

But then I hate spending money on my garden. Just this week I have been trying to rig up some kind of home watering system without spending money on an overpriced kit.

So it's an aspect of gardening I'm interested in. The tag groups together questions which deal with that side of gardening.

But this is a community site and I'm happy to be outvoted. It would be good to see some more voices/votes in this thread before culling the tag.

Answer 3

I left a comment a while ago, but decided to expand it into an answer. I agree with those who think the frugal tag's unnecessary. In addition to what's been said:

• My examination of the existing questions indicates that all of them are worded, or could be with a small amount of editing, in such a way as to render the tag unnecessary.

• The most recent of those questions is March of 2013, so eliminating it now would prevent it from being used on new questions, at which point it would become more difficult.

• I'll leave the real queries to those of you who know how to do them, but my cursory searches of questions with various forms of the words "inexpensive,""cheap," and "reuse," produced many more than just those few with the frugal tag, so that's a viable alternative way to find that type of information. Those questions also support the idea that the frugal tag isn't necessary, as they get plenty of attention without it.

I love tags! They're my favorite way of searching, both for information and for duplicates, so I think @Tea Drinker makes a good point. We also recommend tag-searches to new users. In this case, though, I don't think frugal's a helpful tag.

Answer 4

I think the frugal tag would considered be a meta-tag. That is, a tag which doesn't work by itself. All the frugal tag is ever likely to mean is that the user is looking to solve their problem cheaply. By itself it means nothing. It merely exists to modify the conditions of the question, which would be better done by simply saying so in the question.

I say the frugal tag is unnecessary.