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We have two tags, and on the main site, in the context of Space Exploration both describing same range of symptoms known as space adaptation syndrome a.k.a. space motion sickness.

Any objections to making these two tag synonyms? I felt I had to reject one suggested edit including the other tag on top of the first one, and would like your input, if my rejection was warranted and the suggested edit was needlessly duplicating two of the same (i.e. we can merge two tags as synonyms), or do I need to apologize to the editor for failing to see some major difference in definition of the two tags in question? What is the suggested course of action when two or more tags are possible synonyms (thus this question), and an edit is suggesting to include more than a single one of them?

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  • $\begingroup$ Space-sickness, sickness in space, motion sickness, sickness from the training facilities? are they on topic / worth splitting? $\endgroup$
    – user106
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:33
  • $\begingroup$ @RhysW - That's the gist of my question, yes. I personally don't see any reason not to merge them as synonyms. But since I might be missing something (experience makes you somewhat more humble LOL), I've posted this question. ;) $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:35
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    $\begingroup$ @RhysW: Physiologically, they are the same phenomena. In Packing for Mars (see my comment on the answer), the author pointed out that trout can get (for lack of a better word) seasick. It's all the same thing. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Ericson StaffMod
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ FYI: I approved the edit (the editor had the right idea) and will approve a synonym. I just don't know which way it should go. ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Jon Ericson StaffMod
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:39
  • $\begingroup$ @JonEricson See my answer below - I'd say we need motion-sickness merged into space-sickness. No one is going to be able to propose it, though... $\endgroup$
    – user12
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:40

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I was the one who added tag, I felt it's necessary to separate from . Since the question where I used seems to be a duplicate, and not sure that anyone will use it again, the might be merged together.

However, I don't know what's the difference between them in space context. If there's no difference, merging is the obvious solution.

OFF: I wasn't informed that my edit was rejected. Are there any way to notify me if an edit is either approved, edited or rejected?

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  • $\begingroup$ You should ask the latter as a seperate meta question. $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 22:11
  • $\begingroup$ @gerrit I think it's a global SE problem, not occures only on Space.SE; consequently, I have no idea where to post it. Maybe of MetaSO? $\endgroup$
    – Zoltán Schmidt
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 22:12
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    $\begingroup$ So ask it on meta Stack Overflow if it's not already there $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 22:13
  • $\begingroup$ @ZoltánSchmidt - Your edit wasn't rejected. I didn't agree with it because I felt we need to decide on the fate of those two tags first, but it takes two reviewers to agree and, well, two disagreed with me instead. Your edit was approved. :) You're also merely 8 reputation points away from having access to the review queue, when you'll be able to open this link and see who approved it, and the reason for my rejection. If it was rejected, you would be able to see the reason for it through your main site profile page (activity tab). $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 5:47
  • $\begingroup$ @TildalWave The matter is that I didn't get the comment itself that posted to it. I wouldn't mind if it would have been rejected. =) $\endgroup$
    – Zoltán Schmidt
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 12:39
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I would say that should be merged into - I can see motion sickness being a subset of space sickness, but not necessarily the other way around.

I don't have the requirements to make the change, and I don't think anyone really does on , so we'll need some, uh, moderational assistance :)

Comments? Suggestions?

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  • $\begingroup$ I'll set you up whichever way y'all choose. But I don't think set theory is the best way to think about tags. How will experts expect these questions to be categorized? (And for that, I don't know.) $\endgroup$
    – Jon Ericson StaffMod
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:41
  • $\begingroup$ Well, how about we let people vote on it? $\endgroup$
    – user12
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:41
  • $\begingroup$ I wrote the opposite opinion in another question. May the best choice win! $\endgroup$
    – Jon Ericson StaffMod
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:50
  • $\begingroup$ @JonEricson - I'm not sure I can decide? Which is a problem, because others might have similar troubles. Ie. space-sickness is in general terms a "subset" of motion-sickness (so merge space-sickness -> motion-sickness?), but due to the nature of our website, space-sickness is more relevant (so merge motion-sickness -> space-sickness?). Which directives should we follow, our own specific scope first, or the generally accepted definitions first, no matter how well they apply to our use case? $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:55
  • $\begingroup$ @TildalWave Probably our own scope, right? $\endgroup$
    – user12
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:56
  • $\begingroup$ @TildalWave: the beauty of a synonym is that when someone tries the wrong one, they will get the canonical tag. Mostly, you need to be concerned with how people will find your information. If you make the wrong call today, you can always reverse the synonym without harm later. Personally, I'm ever so cautious about tags with "space" in their name. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Ericson StaffMod
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 20:02
  • $\begingroup$ That's suggested by the democratic nature of defining our own scope, yes. The problem is this discussion went into the realm of favoring one over another, which was not my intention. $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 20:04
  • $\begingroup$ @TildalWave Sooo complicated. Anyway, we'll see what the population says in the voting on the two answers :) $\endgroup$
    – user12
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 20:05
  • $\begingroup$ @Undo - Well I upvoted yours. Maybe I feel a bit rebellious at the moment? Or I'm just a bit lazy to reverse my vote? Or maybe I just threw a dice? You'll never know... because I'm not telling! :P $\endgroup$
    – TildalWave
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 20:07
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I'll throw in the other option:

They shouldn't be synonyms

Argument: and both refer to two different phenomena, and one is sometimes the subset of the other. This isn't enough to justify making them synonyms.

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  • $\begingroup$ Note I don't necessarily think we should go this way, just throwing it out there to be trampled by voters. $\endgroup$
    – user12
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 20:07
  • $\begingroup$ I agree, motion sickness can be in training on Earth. $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 22:12
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should be the canonical tag, as space-sickness is ultimately motion sickness in almost all cases. Merge into .

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  • $\begingroup$ (I'm not strongly tied to this direction. Feel free to edit this answer to make as strong a case as possible.) $\endgroup$
    – Jon Ericson StaffMod
    Commented Aug 13, 2013 at 19:51

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