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Looking through the tags on a new question, I noticed that we have both a "money" and a "currency" tag:

: 64 39 28 questions

: 42 46 49 questions

The usage information does not outline a difference in usage and even suggests that questions tagged with one should be tagged with the other.

Is there any reason to keep both tags and not make on a synonym of the other?

2 Answers 2

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The tag should be used for such questions as:

  • Politics of placing an image on currency, or

  • Revaluation of currency (exchange rates), or

  • The use of a particular currency for international trade.

The tag should be used for such questions as:

  • Budgets, or

  • Campaign limits, or

  • In general, where the question is not specific to currency.

The only time the two tags should appear together would be for a question concerning the cost of changing or the revaluation of currency.

When viewed this way, they are not synonyms; though, I think the tag info for the tag could be improved to highlight the distinction.

From Personal Finance & Money SE,

What is the difference between money and currency?

Is currency a subset of money?

Accepted answer

You can talk about money without referencing notes or coins, but you can't talk about currency without referencing them.

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  • I don’t think this distinction is clear enough to be useful. These definitions are not clear from the names of the tags and if people don’t know to use them correctly, they don’t sever any good. Besides, we already have a budget and campaign-finance for your two examples for “money”.
    – divibisan
    Mar 27, 2021 at 1:42
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    I could see “currency” being a better synonym target, with the examples you give for “money” being retagged to “budget” and “campaign-finance” as needed
    – divibisan
    Mar 27, 2021 at 1:43
  • If the two tags have distinct uses as your answer suggests the tag wikis should not refer to each other like they currently do as it makes them seem like they are the same tag in regards to how they should be used.
    – Joe W
    Mar 27, 2021 at 5:49
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    What about renaming [money] to a less confusing [monetary-policy] then?
    – Machavity
    Apr 5, 2021 at 13:20
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    @Machavity - Questions are supposed to be tagged for "sorting questions into specific, well-defined categories". The problem, I see, is that [money] is "non-specific"; that is, it is how the money is raised or spent that need be "specific." As such, I see the questions using the [money] tag needing to be re-tagged to reflect how money is related to the question. This could eliminate the [money] tag completely. I have not yet surveyed all the existing questions, though the oldest (2012) could be re-tagged [campaign-finance].
    – Rick Smith
    Apr 5, 2021 at 16:42
  • @RickSmith Thanks for all your work on this tag. What do you think the end game is? Your answer seems to leave a place for [money], but from the retagging, it seems like we're largely getting rid of [money].
    – divibisan
    Apr 21, 2021 at 17:00
  • @divibisan - I'm thinking "burninate". When he vetoed the "Internal Improvements Bill," James Madison wrote, "... cases which are to be provided for by the expenditure of money would still leave within the legislative power of Congress all the great and most important measures of Government, money being the ordinary and necessary means of carrying them into execution."
    – Rick Smith
    Apr 21, 2021 at 17:28
  • @divibisan - Nothing happens in government or politics without money. I am hesitant to go "all in" on burninate. Just because I can't think of a "pure" money question, doesn't mean others can't.
    – Rick Smith
    Apr 21, 2021 at 17:28
  • @RickSmith I'm sure there could be a pure money question, but looking through the questions that use it, I don't think we could ever make that distinction clear enough to make the tag useful.
    – divibisan
    Apr 21, 2021 at 17:56
  • If we do burninate, I favor making it a synonym, because otherwise I worry that it will just get recreated
    – divibisan
    Apr 21, 2021 at 17:56
  • @divibisan - The tag information could read, "DO NOT USE! If the question names a currency, consider [currency] as an alternative. If a tag implies money, the [money] tag is unnecessary or redundant." I have seen similar "Do Not Use" tags on SO. They are so general as to be of no use or misused often.
    – Rick Smith
    Apr 21, 2021 at 18:32
  • @divibisan - Of what could money be a synonym, if money is implicated in most, or all, of government and politics?
    – Rick Smith
    Apr 21, 2021 at 18:32
  • @RickSmith I'd say [currency], since most uses of [money] should properly be tagged as [currency]. I don't see a functional difference between making [money] DO NOT USE and stopping people form using it my making it a synonym of [currency]
    – divibisan
    Apr 21, 2021 at 18:40
  • @divibisan - I am not aware of any restriction against tag information in synonyms. Perhaps, "This tag defaults to [currency]. If a tag implies money, the resulting [currency] tag is unnecessary or redundant and may be removed." It informs, not when to use the tag; but rather, what happens if used and advises against its use. Specifically, the occurrence of something like the tags, [taxes][currency], should never appear together, and that applies to more than [taxes].
    – Rick Smith
    Apr 21, 2021 at 19:47
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My suggestion is that the two tags are too similar and should be made a synonym of

It should be noted that the wiki information for both tags refer to each other.

Currency: Questions about a system of money in general use in a particular country. Also consider the tag [money].

Money: Questions related to the political aspect of money. Also consider the tag [currency].

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    It looks like they even refer to each other in the tag wiki which seems even more likely that this should happen.
    – Joe W
    Mar 25, 2021 at 17:26
  • At best, "Also consider" is ambiguous because it doesn't say why the other tag should be considered. It could be "in addition to" or "as an alternative to". Which sense to apply is subject to interpretation.
    – Rick Smith
    Mar 27, 2021 at 20:24

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