User:Shanes/Why tags are evil
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Most boxlike templates (commonly called "tags") that are placed at the top of articles in Wikipedia should be removed or made into small icons. The tags are self referential, distracting, off topic and ugly. They make the articles look less professional and weaken the impression of readers that they are reading an encyclopedia.
- This was written some years ago. It is outdated in its specific examples as some of the tags mentioned have changed or are gone now. But, sadly, the tagging of articles with big off topic and distracting boxes meant for editors, has not gone. It is more frequent than ever. Shanes (talk) 09:42, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
As with many things and customs on Wikipedia, the use of tags is contagious; they are now being added more frequently, and in places where they originally weren't intended to be used. We should reverse this trend.