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I just asked a question which was partly about the list of figures. I typed listof into the tag-input and both and appeared as suggestions. I selected both of them. However, after I posted the question the tags were gone and the unrelated tag had emerged out of thin air.

Is this intended behavior?

It seems like both of these tags are synonyms of which makes little sense on its own IMHO but nevertheless I don't understand why synonymized tags would be suggested at all.

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This is not a bug, but a feature. As you mention, and are both synonyms of , and each synonym is replaced by their target when posting. That explains the change after posting.

The reason why the synonyms are suggested during tagging is because initial tags stem from a personal association; you (or whomever writes the question) would not necessarily know about these synonym associations, and would therefore not think that the question should be tagged rather than or . Providing these suggestions is a way of covering a larger selection of tags that the poster may associate with the post.

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  • Makes sense. I still think these synonyms are not legitimate. The list of figures will not even show up in the table of contents by default!!
    – leonheess
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 7:51
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    @leonheess: For listoffigures to be a synonym for table-of-contents doesn't imply that the LoF is/should be showing in the ToC. It means that these two constructions are very similar in nature - they list internal document elements. And of these, a ToC is most commonly used. Sure, there might be cases where LoF issues are specific to the LoF, but usually solutions to the one have a comparable solution when considering the other (hence them being synonyms)...
    – Werner Mod
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 15:43
  • @leonheess: ... Moreover, the float package allows the creation of your own \listof... and it could be concluded that there should be a need for listofalgorithms (created by the algorithm package, using float), or listofwhatever for whatever \listof... is created (like in ToC like list of definitions (using theorem environments)). It's better to use table-of-contents and add other appropriate tags that might be relevant.
    – Werner Mod
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:11
  • Your explanation makes sense to me. However, then it would make more sense to call the tag [list-elements] or similar. The way it is set up rn it is like having a tag called [apple] which is used for all fruits.
    – leonheess
    Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 8:44
  • @leonheess: Sure. You could also argue that table-of-contents is like apple as listoffigures is like apple-fuji, listoftables is like apple-gala, and listofalgorithms is like apple-ambrosia, ... different varieties of the same fruit.
    – Werner Mod
    Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 19:51
  • Well, if list-of-figures is a type of table-of-content it all makes sense. I did not know that.
    – leonheess
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 12:38

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