<p>(This will sound like a bunch of rules but it's really just one.)</p>

<p>Tags should accurately reflect <em>both</em> the nature of the question <em>and</em> the answers and comments that accompany it (<em>i.e.,</em> tags need not describe only the question)</p>

<ul>
<li><p>... in such a way that each individual tag clearly discriminates the thread from other threads</p></li>
<li><p>... but so that the collection of tags almost uniquely identifies the particular thread to which it's associated</p></li>
<li><p>... without being too numerous.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>When this is not possible to do using current tags, either a new tag (or tags) need to be generated or--with due care not to upset older threads and their tags--existing tags could be modified.</p>
