Clean up the list of special tags

Created on 21 June 2025, 2 days ago

Documentation location/URL

https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/issues/fields-and-other-parts-of-an-... โ†’

Problem/Motivation

The list of special issue tags provides tooltips in the issue queue and is a community reference. It also has not been updated since 2020 and contains any number of outdated tags, including:

  • References to Drupal versions that have been EOL for over 15 years
  • Basically every PHP version except the ones that are currently supported
  • Long-ended core initiatives
  • Slang and semi-rude terms we probably should not use

Proposed resolution

Audit and clean up the list of tags.

Remaining tasks

  • Go over the list.
  • For each tag, consult the domain owners, if any, and find out whether the tag can be removed.
  • Prefer removing the tag if possible since a shorter list of tags is better for contributor UX.

I'm not just doing this unilaterally because this should probably go through some sort of governance or process.

๐Ÿ“Œ Task
Status

Active

Component

Other documentation issues

Created by

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

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Comments & Activities

  • Issue created by @xjm
  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    Questions regarding the PHP versions:

    1. Do we need them at all?
    2. Can we remove the tags for EOL PHP versions?
    3. Can we at least remove the tags for really, really EOL PHP versions?

    Similarly, while we can debate whether to keep around tags pertaining to D7, we definitely should remove the ones pertaining to D6 and earlier. All they do is make the page harder to read and clutter up the autocomplete. The historical issue data will still be there.

  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    I guess there are two questions: Whether to remove the tags from the list (easy), and whether to actually delete the old tags (harder, but still a case to be made, because string references will still exist on the issues). We can keep the scope of this issue to the first, but the second might become relevant in the GitLab issue migration.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น
  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

    (I apologize: I read the issue as removing the issue tags, not removing them from the documentation guide.)

  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    @avpaderno, yes, I caught myself creeping the scope in the same direction and had to make sure to limit it as per #3. :)

  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    Note that it is a "magic" documentation page that gets parsed by d.o, which is part of why it's not just something anyone can or should edit by themselves.

  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    Although, apparently the page is now actually generated as a view, not parsed anymore. So I think this is the correct queue.

    I do have access to administer the tags myself, but again, I don't think I should make unilateral decisions about them.

  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    Clarify IS that this is about removing from the list of "special" tags (with descriptions), not deleting them entirely (which would be a possible followup)

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

    Views are imported as features.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

    The view is defined in the features/drupalorg_documentation/drupalorg_documentation.views_default.inc file.

    Deleting issue tags seems simpler than filtering them out from that view's output. If there are semi-rude terms, should not those be edited or deleted directly?

  • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUnited States xjm

    @avpaderno, I don't think the list of tags is hard-coded; it's just based on what has a description AFAIK. I'm not proposing altering the view; just changing the specific tags we list.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

    I know the tags are not hard-coded, but if you want to avoid showing some tags from that view, without editing them, that is only possible by changing the view.
    If editing the issue tags to remove the description is fine, then editing the view is not necessary.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

    (The view shows only issue tags whose description is more than five characters.)

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

    harder, but still a case to be made, because string references will still exist on the issues

    When an issue tag is deleted, the view listing all the issues using it will show no issues. The issues will still see a comment showing the issue tag has been added, but that comment will not link back to the issue tag. That should not be worse than keeping the issue tag and have a view showing all the issues using it.

  • ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นItaly apaderno Brescia, ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น
  • ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟNew Zealand quietone

    As I understand it then, a special tag can be removed from the view simply by removing the description. But, are there tags where the description is historically useful but is no longer needed in the view?

    I suggest that the PHPX.Y and the 'Needs backport to X' are self explanatory and the description can be removed. Are there 'domain owners' for the these tags?

  • ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บHungary Gรกbor Hojtsy Hungary

    Is there a list of tags that is proposed to be changed?

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