The tag wiki for backstory mentions:
It could be that this tag ultimately should just be folded into history but it does seem like there's a distinct kind of history, and some people who have a taste for that.
I think this might be a good time to review whether we need both tags.
Here are the arguments in favour of merging and keeping them separate, as I see it:
Reasons to merge:
Questions tagged (backstory) are a proper subset of questions tagged (history). The distinction is between specific and general questions pertaining to musical history, and the scope of the (history) tag could easily be broadened to include both.
The (history) tag is one of the most popular tags on this site, with 144 questions. The (backstory) tag is languishing with just 9 questions so far. Thus, questions tagged (backstory) might not get the visibility that questions tagged (history) do. Merging will get these questions better visibility.
Reasons to keep them separate:
There is a clear difference between broad questions on musical history and questions about specific events. So, keeping the tags separate allows more minute filtration.
Since (backstory) is a proper subset of (history), one could mandate that the tag (backstory) should always be accompanied with (history), rather than merging the tags together.
Should we decide to keep the tags separate, it might be a good idea to review whether any of the questions tagged (history) need retagging. In my preliminary search, I found these questions tagged (history) that might be a better fit for the (backstory) tag:
- “Love Beach” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer: considered as serious release?
- Origins of the acoustic guitar in Portishead's "The Rip" from the album "Third"
- The story behind TISM on Hey Hey! It's Saturday?
- "Going Back to Houston" from where?
We should also update the tag wiki for (backstory) to remove the disclaimer, should we choose to retain both tags.
