Is there a tag Directory with a description of each tag?
I think this would be of some help. If you could see all of the tags that every user has created it would cause less confusion and excessive creation of new tags. For instance say I wanted to post something with a tag of #ocean and someone else posted something with the tag of #pacificocean. I think that if this tag database was made, then there would be less of that. I'm not sure how you view it. I would think it would be a good thing, but I can see how it would be bad as well. Limiting users posts for instance.
I suppose one could write a program that finds and alphabetizes the names of all the extant tags. Then on a voluntary basis, posters could add a one-sentence description. It is a wonderful idea in many ways. On the darker side, if a program spit out the names of every tag so far created, this would bring to light anti-social tags that, if they exist, currently lie buried. Some people might believe tags that encourage hatred have a right to exist here. We discussed one in an earlier post, mk, which you said you discouraged. Does anyone monitor tags and discourage them?
There doesn't seem to be much of a methodology to discouragement beyond the written word, which I personally prefer though it took a moment for me to break the "Where's the downvote button?" reaction. People should encourage and discourage via attention, whether it be to ignore assmunches or to lift up the brilliant. The worry becomes when the assmunches band together and lift one anther up. To which I say, then is the time to literarily slap them. As for a database, I see two sides of that coin and one scares me. Having no database and written rule as to what each # may entail discourages evolution of topics. For example, I like #ing my musings on introspection and insightful thoughts with #philosophy. I see now that most of the things currently in #philosophy are traditional philosophical issues and not simply people thinking deeply about the world around them, but I for the life of me cannot think of a more appropriate #. Were there a directory, and assuming I were a good little user and looked for an appropriate place for my musings before writing them, in all honesty, I would find no appropriate place, deem myself obviously uninteresting and never would have posted in the first place those thoughts that in the end turned out to be incredibly interesting topic to many on hubski.
If we're sticking with tags I think a directory would be handy. That said, I worry about the emergence of meta-tags, a la "philosophy", "real philosophy", "academic philosophy", etc. But I suppose that's a hazard associated with tags rather than with tag directories. Did that even make sense?