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I created a tag called apprentice to flag questions that suggest the asker is less experienced in the particular subject matter they are asking about.

This is related to my question on creating a category for students. The main drivers are:

  1. Create an easy to use tag that categorizes a body of knowledge for less than experienced project managers or allows responders to flag a topic as fundamental to project management. By clicking on the tag, anybody can find a ready-made list of fundamentals.

  2. Allow people to ask questions without feeling that it is "too stupid" for this forum. By creating a category for this level of question I would hope it encourages more questions, from a broader audience. This forum can be intimidating to the non-specialist. Hopefully this tag creates space for more people.

  3. Help people post answers that are most relevant to the asker from an experience level.

What do you think of the tag?

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4 Answers

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we are all students

what value does the "apprentice" tag add?

how insulted would you be if one of your questions was tagged with it?

something like "fundamentals" or "best practices" would be more appropriate, and less insulting, IMHO

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Fundamentals sounds good to me as well. – Mark Phillips Feb 22 at 17:47
+1 Clear and to the point. – Steven Kass♦ Feb 22 at 22:01
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Hi Mark,

I definitely agree to encourage users posting more questions, including "newbies" questions. Newbie questions often trigger very interesting discussions. It's always good to question the fundamentals.

Though I am torn on the 'apprentice' tag.

I would like to avoid tagging users' questions as 'apprentice' if they do not state clearly that they are apprentice. What if an experienced project manager post publicly a question that gets tagged 'apprentice'? Would that not have the opposite effect: people will not ask newbie questions...?

Also, I am not sure that 'apprentice' and 'body of knowledge' always match.

Regarding your point 3), I think the question should stand by itself. We should try to answer the question in the most helpful way, no matter who is asking the question or their experience. Several people from different backgrounds can ask the same question. Somebody might google the question and land on the page. The answers should help anyone.

Perhaps it makes sense to have a 'body of knowledge' tag to differentiate generic knowledge and specific real-life cases kind of questions...?

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I absolutely agree. As I stated in the related discussion I would not want to reduce the quality of a question by labeling it "Newbie" or anything at all. The tags are there for clustering questions - not labeling them superior or inferior. Those not interested can quickly skip those question they don't want. – Marcus Konitzny Feb 22 at 13:29
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I don't see a need for either tag (Student or Apprentice). The merit of a question is the discussion it spawns; the level of experience of the person asking it is irrelevant. The tags are useful ways to categorize the subject matter.

I think the built in features of the site help users interpret and weigh the value of questions and answers.

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Even I am not comfortable with the word "apprentice", people who are posting a particular fundamental question might be an expert in their respective field.

As we already have a "Student" tag, why cann't we assign the same tag for this type of questions as well. We may need to add more description to "Student" tag.

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What do you think the tag should be called? There is actually no "Student" tag yet. It is still in the suggestion box. – Mark Phillips Feb 22 at 15:45
Mark there is a Student tag in the badges. I am even being accredited with this tag some timeback – Ram Feb 23 at 20:26

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