<p>I do not view that tag as problematic. </p>

<p>I accept that it is a bit of a "<em>how long is a piece of string</em>" type of tag but I can see that some newcomers might find it helpful. Especially when browsing the site for old answers and threads this can be a helpful tag. The fact that people use it (you mention 200+ threads) adds to its perceived utility by some. As every tag it has its misuses where users clearly ask involved questions that would never fit in a basic Probability or Statistics class (eg. <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/44511/is-glmm-correct-for-data-with-several-binary-outcome-variables-per-subject">here</a>) but in some other cases it makes some sense (eg. <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/145444/fairness-of-a-coin">here</a>).</p>

<p>Let me point out that <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/basic-concepts" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;basic-concepts&#39;" rel="tag">basic-concepts</a> is different from <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/beginner" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;beginner&#39;" rel="tag">beginner</a>. A basic concept is something that is fundamental to Statistics and/or Probability. A question on Fiducial inference for example could very well be a basic concept that a beginner would find totally unapproachable. </p>
