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I was trying to collate some tags about randomization and noted that seemed to be the parent-tag of preference. As I searched tags for instances of "random" I noted some hits for . I was about to propose the tag as a synonym, but noted that it was already merged into . When I navigate to the questions tagged as such, the excerpt, wiki, and related questions are all those of .

So it prompts the question: why do tag synonyms show up in a search?

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    $\begingroup$ That tag has been approved as synonym & they have been merged. I think it might just be a ghost in the machine. It doesn't show up as a suggestion when you are entering tags on a question, eg. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica Mod
    Commented May 25, 2018 at 18:09
  • $\begingroup$ @gung Hmm, I don't think this is a duplicate. I think it's expected behaviour that merged synonyms such as e.g. [randomized-experiment] show up on stats.stackexchange.com/tags if one searches for them. Which I think is what AdamO is asking about. They should appear without any wiki excerpt and with no question count displayed. $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented May 25, 2018 at 19:42
  • $\begingroup$ @gung By the way, can we create [randomization-test] as synonym to [permutation-test]? I just eliminated [randomization] that was recently created and had 3 threads. $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented May 25, 2018 at 19:48
  • $\begingroup$ I don't know that we should make them synonyms. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b Mod
    Commented May 26, 2018 at 0:09
  • $\begingroup$ @Glen_b Do you mean that "randomization test" and "permutation test" are two sufficiently different things? I thought it's the same thing; what is the difference? $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented May 26, 2018 at 21:00
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    $\begingroup$ The definition of randomization test varies across authors. Under some definitions they're identical. But see, for example, this question, which explains distinctions drawn by authors like Good and Edgington. In my own student days the term "randomization test" was used differently again, to refer to the case where you sampled the permutation distribution with replacement (vs the exact distribution in a permutation test); this difference is briefly hinted at in Greg Snow's answer. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b Mod
    Commented May 27, 2018 at 1:01
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    $\begingroup$ @Glen_b Well, yes: that's exactly why I think that we should NOT have two different tags [permutation-test] and [randomization-test]. Do you agree? Currently we only have [permutation-test], meaning that if somebody tries to search for "randomization test" among tags, they won't find anything. There is a danger that they would create this tag (as already happened: [randomization] was created). Hence my suggestion to create this tag as a synonym for [permutation-test]. I don't understand why you disagree. What's your preferred arrangement? $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented May 27, 2018 at 14:28
  • $\begingroup$ That one term has more than one meaning doesn't clearly indicate to me that it should be treated as a synonym of another. If we were to explain the various meanings of randomization-test in the extended tag wiki, perhaps it might make some sense to combine them. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b Mod
    Commented May 28, 2018 at 2:18
  • $\begingroup$ @gung See the small discussion above; what do you think? $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented May 28, 2018 at 6:05
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    $\begingroup$ The distinction seem awfully subtle to me (& I think I understand what it is). I'm not confident it will be understood & used correctly by the typical person asking a question on PT/RT here. I see the point of tags as primarily to help organize the material on the site. Tags for a distinction so subtle most people will miss it strike me as likely to be misused & lead to less well organized content. I think we'd be best off making them synonyms & having the excerpt & wiki include the distinction, @Glen_b. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica Mod
    Commented May 28, 2018 at 15:25
  • $\begingroup$ We can also ask a new meta Q to discuss it, @amoeba. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica Mod
    Commented May 28, 2018 at 15:25
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    $\begingroup$ AdamO, did my answer clarify the issue for you? If yes, then consider marking it as accepted. If not, feel free to ask for clarifications. $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ @amoeba yes, SE could stand to use some intuitive formatting about tag ghosts, like shading the text box differently, or something along those lines... that's just my griping. Browsing tags is a useful way to better participate in the site: I'm no jack-of-all-trades, but have some familiar topics that I like to see. $\endgroup$
    – AdamO
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 19:55

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This is .

Merged synonyms such as e.g. show up on http://stats.stackexchange.com/tags if one searches for them. They appear there without any wiki excerpt and without question count displayed. (Unless one does mouse-over; then one can see the question count and the wiki excerpt of the master tag, in this case ).

(Unmerged synonyms, on the contrary, appear on that page with their own wiki excerpt and their own question count.)

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