During the Pastry Question Challenge, it came to our attention that different people have different ideas about what qualifies as a "pastry". Normally, one would look to the tag wiki for pastry to see what the guidelines for its use on this site are, but alas, there was none.
Despite several people pointing this out, no one filled out the tag wiki.
That's not good.
So here's my proposal: Over the next week, think about your favorite cooking topics. Think of tags related to that topic, and see if they have a tag wiki yet. If they don't, spend a few minutes creating one. Anyone can do this; it will be placed in a queue for approval by a moderator or anyone with over 5000 reputation.
The tag wiki doesn't have to be long. Just a sentence or two or three to get it started, to help shape the way tags are used on this site.
Remember: Tag wikis are not just definitions or excerpts from Wikipedia; they tell the user how the tag should be applied specifically on this site. Tell us what types of questions should have this tag applied, aspects of the definition that are unique to this site, etc. The equipment tag is a great example of focusing on how the tag is to be used on this site, rather than just defining what "equipment" means.
If you find a tag wiki that you completely disagree with, ask a question about it here on meta, and you can hash it out with other users until we reach a common understanding.
If each of our regular users completes one tag wiki per day over the next week, we can make a big dent in the empty tags with very little work from any one individual; I know that filling out tag wikis is daunting, but if you know you're not alone, that makes it a little better, right?
Don't know where to start? Check out the list of suggested tags for the weekly topic challenge.
Tag wikis help make the site great by providing lasting guidelines for new and old users alike; they are helpful for the weekly topic challenge contests, but those are not essential to this site's success. Having great questions and great answers, classified in a clear and standardized way, is.
So what do you think? Will you help? :)
If you have no clue what a tag wiki is, or how to use/write one, check out the following posts:
What is the purpose of tags? How do I use them appropriately?
What are the guidelines for a good tag wiki?
Blog post: "Improved tagging"