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When writing this question:

I realized we miss the tag for Weird Fiction. While it would be a really specific tag, as it is a fairly niche genre, I guess that since it's a recognized genre it should have the same dignity as more broad ones (like horror, fantasy etc).

Yet, as far as Wikipedia definition go {Weird Fiction,New Weird}, Weird Fiction is used mostly for novels written between late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird Fiction nowadays is called "New Weird" (sigh) to signify that it's, well, new.

So, we have those chances:

  • We add both
  • We add both, one as a synonym of the other
  • We add only one of them
  • We don't add any

I'm personally against the last option, but I'm really not sure about the others.

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    Not that this means much but I hadn't even heard of these genres until your question. I'm reluctant to add tags without some evidence that they'll be useful and get used. Are there any other posts you'd retag?
    – Cyn
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 14:33
  • @Cyn Posts about lovercraftian horrors, abominations and so on would apply. Namely I've counted up to five at a quick glance, so not many.
    – Liquid
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 15:17
  • So Lovecraft fan fiction... (not exclusively I mean)
    – Cyn
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 15:18
  • Not only, thought.
    – Liquid
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 15:19
  • Sorry I edited my comment after you wrote yours. I meant that the FF would qualify, not that it was everything in the genre.
    – Cyn
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 15:20
  • Allright, no harm done!
    – Liquid
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 15:20
  • We do not even have a tag for noir as a genre...
    – NofP
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 22:39
  • "Lovecraftian" would probably be more popular than "Weird".
    – wetcircuit
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 9:50
  • "Lovecraftian" can refer to fanfic (which includes numerous professionally published novels) but also to a fictional scenario refined by him and peers such as Arthur Machen, in which humans confront entities which are either evil or amoral but which exist at a level of power which is outside of our ability to conceive them properly, leading to a nihilistic world view (this can also be done humorously, so it isn't necessarily dour). I agree that "Lovecraftian" is popular enough that it'd probably be more useful than the ill-defined "Weird."
    – El Cadejo
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 14:50

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Niche tags are fine. If the tag would help people interested in that specific genre find questions about it, it's worth considering even if we currently only have a handful of questions about it.

On the other hand, we want to avoid unnecessary fragmentation because it makes it harder for people to find all the interesting questions. So, for example, if "weird" and "new weird" are similar enough that somebody looking for one would probably want to see questions from the other, we shouldn't create both. That'd be like having tags for both "elves" and "dwarves" instead of a "fantasy" tag.

I suggest creating one tag, with a good wiki that mentions both variants, unless we1 think they really are different.

1 By "we" I mean "people who actually know enough to have an informed opinion, which doesn't include me.

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  • +1 perhaps some informed soul could suggest the more general of the two tags
    – NofP
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 22:35
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It was asked some time ago:

do we need a tag for every genre?

Galastel's answer started with:

I don't think we need tags that are that specific.

and also said (and I agree):

But I cannot imagine a question that's so specific to a particular sub-sub-genre that it would be irrelevant to the broader genre.

I think that easily sums up the no-tag position.

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  • What's the broader genre in this case?
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 0:35
  • @MonicaCellio I don't want to detract from a genre that I did not know existed (despite being an avid reader of Lovecraft), but fantasy or horror seem to be mentioned in most of the descriptions I read.
    – NofP
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 6:28
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Gothic? I just checked and there's no Gothic tag in the alphabetical Tag list. IIRC that encompasses Lovecraftian material as well as other related genres, even steam. "Horror" is so very broad, while Gothic implies certain anachronistic elements that cause it to hover on the SF/F borderline with a serious dose of "uncanny."

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    I think it could work, writing a good and encompassing description.
    – Liquid
    Commented Jun 15, 2019 at 7:04

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