I asked this question on meta, but i now realize that it may be more appropriate for the main site as it is a general question that would relate to any tagging based system (i am happy to close / delete one depending on where people think this question should go)
i have a similar system of tagged data and i am running into the same problem as SOF did where i have lots of tags that are really the same thing. I am trying to create a tag synonym page similar to SOF to support organizing this information.
A few questions around the relationships and "data model" of tag synonyms:
I assume that a master tag can have multiple synonym tags but a synonym tag can only be a synonym for one master tag. Is that correct?
Also, can a master tag also be a synonym tag? For example, lets say you have a tag called javascript and you had:
Master: js
Synonyms: java-script, js-web
can you also have:
Master: javascript
Synonyms: js
So in the example above, you would keep resolving to ultimately resolve js-web to javascript because the master tag: js is itself a synonym tag.
Also, that makes me think you could also run into a circular reference where you have a
Master: js
Synonyms: java-script
and
Master: javascript
Synonyms: js
How does the system deal with circular refernces?