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This post is for all tag synonyms and tag merges so that we don't end up filling the front page of meta with synonym and merge requests.

How to use this post

Post each requested tag synonym and tag merge as an answer below. Try to post one tag per answer, where "one tag" is one remaining tag after the merge/synonym has been actioned so that we can keep it nice, clean and obvious what is going on.

Post your answers as community wikis so that they can be maintained by anybody.

Upvote and downvote each answer to show your agreement or disagreement with the proposal, post your thoughts in comments against each answer. Delete completed merges and synonyms from the answer list so that it's obvious what is still outstanding.

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  • 1
    More or less related could be a guide to find tags that needs some action.
    – Braiam
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:48
  • Let's stop using this thread now that we're in public beta. If there are any outstanding tag issues that warrant discussion, start a separate thread.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 20, 2014 at 12:19
  • 1
    This question is about tag cleanups during the private beta and has now outlived its usefulness. For new tag-related issues, ask a new question.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:33

30 Answers 30

Reset to default
10

DONE (re-tagged by Braiam; synonym still needed)

We've got two tags for translation software:

We only need one, so I would recommend merging and creating a synonym from one to the other. I personally think this should be translation > translators.

2
  • Done...........
    – Braiam
    Feb 14, 2014 at 19:26
  • @Braiam partially :) Not yet synonymized (noone of us has the required powers yet). Still: shall we rather let translators die silently? Otherwise we had to ping a CM for synonym creation (until we have a mod ourselves).
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 15, 2014 at 21:13
5

We've got , and . While the first two are already dealt with in my other request: should either be merged into that other group as well, or we wait for . In the latter case, do we still need , or rather stick to the two client/server tags? I could imagine used in other contexts as well, e.g. some management or maintenance software with the strong requirement to notify by mail. Opinions? I'm open to all ends :)

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  • 1
    I think 'email' and 'email-client' should be synonyms. 'email-server', 'email-library' etc. are distinctive enough to not need an 'email' to it.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 10:19
  • There are no such tags (email with either library or server). But of course, we could simply use mail+server to indicate a request on email-servers.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 12:51
  • I prefer emails-client and email-server and ditch e/mail altogether.
    – Braiam
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:17
  • @Izzy NOOOOOOOOOOO! That is precisely what I said we shouldn't. Then we will get "server" tags alone which will not tell us anything.
    – Braiam
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:17
  • 1
    @Braiam Good point indeed! But would you prefer a few hundred abc-server and abc-client tags? I'm open to alternatives, of course!
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:40
  • @Izzy that is more sane. Also, there are a handful of servers-client programs.
    – Braiam
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:45
  • @Braiam how many fingers do your hands have? Lemme count: mail, web, ftp, ssh, vnc, rdp, ical, samba, nfs, x-windows, sap, database, dns, time, ldap, application, streaming, dlna, internet-radio, ip-tv, sip, ... wow, you've got really large hands, I see... ;) But as I wrote, open for alternatives ;)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:52
  • @Izzy I think you should focus on the protocols instead. Application is not a server-client stuff. I expect streaming covering internet-radio and ip-tv. There are other stuff like rpd/x-windows/vnc that goes into remote-desktop. Well, as you see I categorized them by usage
    – Braiam
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:57
  • 1
    But how would you cover "application-server"? Agreed on the grouping (streaming, remote-desktop). Still leaves a lot, even when going "by protocol" (unless you want to group dns, time, sip & co as "tcp/ip" :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 17:40
  • email-client = MUA, it's more specific than emails. Keep both.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:34
  • I need to remember phrasing my answers here in a way that makes it clear what up/downvotes stand for. Should I remove this one, and replace it with a more clear variant (including a summary of comments from here)?
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:41
  • @Izzy Leave it the way it is. Upvotes means "action needed" downvote means "No action needed" imo and thats quite clear. Also, as we currently only have "emails" and "email-client" and the amount of rep necessary to create new tags will go up soon I think this will even itself out.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 18, 2014 at 16:41
  • Partially agreed, with one small adjustment: on Meta, upvotes mean agreement, and downvotes disagreement. So the question remains: What action should be taken here concerning email-client? I's not a clear "synonym".
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 18, 2014 at 17:02
  • 1
    Please: "email" not "emails". Email is already a mass noun.
    – Ira Baxter
    Feb 20, 2014 at 11:44
  • @IraBaxter you probably wanted to comment on that answer? This one here deals with "email-client" ;)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 20, 2014 at 12:00
5

DONE (re-tagged; synonym needed?)

We've got and . No difference to me, should be merged. Optionally synonymized. Merged.

5
  • 1
    Do we need a synonym here (mail → emails)? If not, I'd delete this answer to keep things clean here.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 15:03
  • please, delete the answer if everything is doen.
    – Braiam
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:39
  • I take the vote on the first comment with the comment of Braiam as "no synonym needed"? Two (or more) votes on this comment, and I delete the answer (the voter breaking this threshold please leave a comment to ping me).
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:43
  • I agree that mail should be a synonym of emails
    – Flyk
    Feb 17, 2014 at 11:58
  • Please, upvote the first comment if you feel a need for this synonym. Upvote the second comment if you think it's not needed (and I should simply delete my answer).
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 17, 2014 at 12:36
4

is a little confusing, and maybe should be renamed to . Otherwise there might be confusion when it comes to graphics versus disk-images. Same could be said for (as one could edit e.g. an iso-image as well).

Sure, that could be made clear in the tag-wiki (and excerpt), as currently done by Angelo. But it might prove useful to have a separate tag for , thus when asking for them and starting to type "image", the correct tag pops up.

If agreed on that, we could simply check whether we have a corresponding question, and add that (not-yet-existing) tag to it – then editing the tag-wiki.

1
  • No images or pictures. Just narrow it down to some tags that has some proper meaning on their own.
    – Braiam
    Feb 15, 2014 at 21:22
4

Synonym needed (mod required to do this :)

Synonym into . They cover the same aspects.

4

DONE retagging. Synonym needed.

Synonym , and to . All programs addressing one will most likely also address the other.

(Edit after two upvotes) Should also include .

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  • 1
    Not always, and I think dvd is a bad tag as well, should probably synonym both of them to optical-media or something that actually clearly covers both instances
    – Flyk
    Feb 14, 2014 at 11:50
  • @Flyk Agreed...
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 11:54
  • A little hesitating, thinking of questions like "Video editor that can export to blueray" (not just dvd). But OTOH, that's better defined in the topic of the question if it's that important. So +1 from me, too.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:37
  • 1
    bluray is still optical media
    – Flyk
    Feb 15, 2014 at 16:00
  • I forced in synonyms dvd, cd-rom (SO), compact-disc (SU) and data-cd (U&L). I'm not sure about Blu-ray which may still be new enough to warrant its own tag, we'll see when it comes up.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:24
4

should be merged and synonymized into .

4
  • Which one to keep which one to go?
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 18, 2014 at 16:36
  • I'd say to keep antivirus as master (tag), as that also implies the cleanup-task. virus-scanner is just one aspect of that; but as people might tend to use this, I'd recommend making it a synonym.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 18, 2014 at 16:49
  • Stack Overflow, Super User, Ask Ubuntu, Android Enthusiasts and Ask Different all use either anti-virus or antivirus.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:53
  • @Gilles That's what I proposed as target. So "virus-scanner" should either become a synonym to "antivirus", or die with fire (after its questions have been merged into "antivirus" :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:55
3

is a feature tag that will only be used in conjunction with . I think this tag should be removed completely as it doesn't really add anything and this detail should be included in the question body as a requirement rather than as a tag.

3

DONE retagging. Synonym needs a mod.

Synonym into .

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  • 1
    Retagged the single [kids] question to [children].
    – leventov
    Feb 14, 2014 at 19:36
3

DONE retagging - Synonym needed.

Tags and should be merged and synonymized, making final tag.

SO: , →
SU: , →
AU: , and exist
U&L: →
Apple:
Android:

Going for as the main tag.

2
  • Which direction? Would the final tag be log or log-analyzer?
    – Flyk
    Feb 17, 2014 at 11:57
  • 1
    log should be final tag, Updated
    – danijelc
    Feb 17, 2014 at 11:59
2

Remove . Too narrow for software.

3
  • Agreed. If needed, this should be part of the title (and/or the question itself).
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:44
  • In this instance, removing this tag would leave a question with just an operating system tag on it
    – Flyk
    Feb 18, 2014 at 23:18
  • 1
    @Flyk So be it. Maybe it can gain better tags. But this doesn't improve the quality of this tag.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 19, 2014 at 0:11
2

Synonym into .

The single standalone question has been retagged, but I think this tag will come up again.

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  • 1
    I've retagged the single [standalone] question to [desktop-client].
    – leventov
    Feb 14, 2014 at 19:32
2

remove . I think it is too narrow. Done.

2

Remove (and blacklist) . It should be stated more precise what kind of viewer is requested.

2
  • Agreed. Too broad.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:44
  • I agree with blacklisting it as well
    – Flyk
    Feb 17, 2014 at 11:59
2

Rename to .

2

For the mods: Please merge+synonymize, as we cannot do so :)

Synonym and merge and to . The distinction is too narrow and if one (but not the other) is needed it should be stated in the question.

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  • 2
    Maybe we need a common denominator here. What about "short-messaging", and synonym "mms" and "sms" to it?
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:38
  • "mobile-messaging" would include things like WhatsApp, Skype, and even mails. Too ambiguous IMHO.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:57
  • @Izzy Okay, I added both. Lets hope the "processing mod" doesn't mind doing the decision. I can live with short-messaging just as good.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 17:10
  • 1
    Just placed the "summary". Re-tagging alone makes no sense here: as long as it's not synonymized, the "empty tag" will be used sooner or later.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 17:27
  • mms is more specific than sms. Nobody uses short-messaging. I see nothing to be done here.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:44
  • @Gilles don't you think mms is too narrow?
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 21, 2014 at 21:32
  • @AngeloNeuschitzer No, why? In any case, it doesn't hurt: the worst thing that can happen is that nobody uses it. Narrow tags are less of a problem than ambiguous tag.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 21:40
1

DONE retagging. Synonym needed.

synonym to as it is a common abbreviation.

5
  • OSM could be a completely different abbreviation. Just stick to the unabbreviated name. Generally speaking, don't use abbreviations in tag names.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:39
  • @Gilles there are lots of abbreviation tags on SO. (java-ee, gcc, rdmbs, asp, ...) So, while I agree that the unabbreviated is better we should syn such common ones.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 17, 2014 at 10:26
  • These aren't abbreviations, these are proper names (which happen to be built from the first letters of some words — or sometimes they're backronyms).
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 17, 2014 at 18:59
  • @Gilles GCC has over 40 possible meanings and that only on wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gcc ASP has about 20. YES this is an abbreviation.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 17, 2014 at 19:21
  • @Gilles Also "osm" is a synonym tag to "openstreetmap" even on SO so, I guess that counts as "proper name"
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 17, 2014 at 19:22
1

DONE re-tagging. Do we really need a synonym here?

Remove . Too narrow. should be sufficient (and the former a synonym to the latter)

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  • 2
    Not really a synonym. CoffeeScript is a programming language that transcompiles to JavaScript. I agree to the re-tag nevertheless (too narrow). Not sure whether it requires a synonym, though.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:41
  • I don't insist on the synonym. Just feels like it will reduce the number of future Qs we have to retag because of this.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:46
  • 1
    OK, leaving that part as "open question" then. In case the "processing mod" makes a decision on it, so be it :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:49
1

(SO, Apple), (U&L) → (SU, AU)

5
  • display > screen IMO. Screen is too close to screenshot problematic.
    – Fractaliste
    Feb 14, 2014 at 11:36
  • 1
    @Fractaliste No. They are used incoherently. (screen is a unix command line tool, display can be virtual or physical. But screen resolution addresses that of a physical display. Also display is used synonym to to show sth.) YMMV but thats the point as there is no consistent separation of one to the other.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 11:44
  • Retagged the single [display] question to [screen].
    – leventov
    Feb 14, 2014 at 19:43
  • We should probably use display as the main tag, to be compatible with Super User.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:41
  • @Gilles or be compatible to SO where there is no display tag (but a screen tag)
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 17, 2014 at 10:31
0

Synonym into .

Specific kinds of graphics ( etc.) already have their own tags that should be used instead of . If a game related question wants to address the visuals of it this should be noted in the question and not by tag.

Edit after two upvotes: Izzy raised concerns the tag could be confused with disk-images, so maybe would be a better term here. However, this would cause inconsistencies when it comes to (unless we speak about disk-images here as well) etc.

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  • 1
    Making the "emptied tag" at least a synonym then, this should be fine: images are graphics, and graphics can be said to be images (even graphs could, technically). How you call it rather depends on the "area of intention" (a graph or diagram I'd rather call a graphic than an image), so when starting to type the "wrong" tag-name, the "correct" one should appear ;) // Full ack on the "specialized tags" included :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 14:21
  • 1
    @Izzy Agreed on synonyms. Fixed it in the answer.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 14:25
  • 1
    Additional comment from the recent review-queue: is images really the correct term? Shouldn't that be pictures, to not confuse it with disk-images?
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:03
  • @Izzy pictures would in deed be better.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:04
  • See my other "answer" on that. Trouble with pictures is: would we want to rename image-editing to picture-editing then? This consequence makes no sense to me. Hence I suggested to pick a matching Q (if we have one), and simply adding a (new) disk-images tag to it.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:10
  • @Izzy hmm... I'm uncertain on this.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:41
  • Let's wait for more input then, I'm also a little "undecided". // PS: And I didn't suggest synonymizing, as you put it into the question – I was just rising concerns on possible confusion.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:49
  • As this is undecided, please open a new thread.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:25
0

Remove for the same reasons there is no os tag.

0

Rename (and synonymy) into . Add as synonym to it as well so we have one tag to handle physical harddrives. If a specific one is necessary it can be stated better in the title.

5
0

DONE re-tagging. Synonym needed?

Synonym to

7
  • I just retagged the only "cloud-application" question to "cloud-service"
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 15, 2014 at 14:14
  • So do we need a synonym here? Basically, a cloud-application is using a cloud-service, so they are related (not really synonyms). I tend to not make a synonym. If agreed, please remove this answer as "completed".
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:40
  • @Izzy Here I think a synonym is needed.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:48
  • Marked it accordingly. Hopefully others leave opinions. I'm undecided on this (concerning "synonym needed").
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:51
  • No! These mean different things.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 16, 2014 at 21:39
  • @Gilles Okay. Would you write the tag-wiki to make that difference clear?
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 17, 2014 at 10:27
  • @AngeloNeuschitzer We're still arguing about cloud-XXX vs web-XXX in another thread.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 17, 2014 at 18:59
0

DONE retagging - Synonym needed.

Rename to and add synonym.

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  • 1
    optionally synonymize, so typing "nls" (ya know, "lazy programmers are the best") turns up the correct one? Otherwise we might soon end up with a duplicate tag. Alternatively, we could wait for exactly that, and if it happens we can still synonymize?
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:30
  • @Izzy synonym is okay. (Although I understood "nlp" as "neuro linguistic programming" and thought: WTF?)
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:38
  • I'm not proficient in this area. If it's not clear (and "nlp" is used for multiple things), this might need discussion. Oh, it does: There's also "Nonlinear programming" (see Wilipedia on "NLP"). So we need to decide where it should point to.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:48
  • @Izzy I would say "Natural Language Processing" will have the most use in the domain of software.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:51
  • The only nlp question was deleted, but for future reference, natural has to be there. The abbreviation NLP is very often used in the field. The full name natural-language-processing is too long for Stack Exchange tags. Stack Overflow calls it nlp; Computer Science calls it natural-lang-processing (after much hesitation).
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 20:48
  • @Gilles Okay, so should we leave it with "nlp" in case it shows up again?
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 21, 2014 at 21:31
  • These tags don't exist anymore. There is no question to put them on.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 21:40
0

What about file format tags like , , , , and ? (those I found, but many other will be created when the beta'll be opened to the public...)

There are an infinite variety of file format, so I think they should be removed, except those which have an other meaning (like some programming language name like which can help people to find a php tools, ...).

2
  • Removing alone does not help here, as they's re-appear as long as not blacklisted or turned into synonyms. Agreed that we shouldn't have a separate tag for each file format (too much clutter).
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 18, 2014 at 17:05
  • Having separate tags per file format makes perfect sense. Having to read or write a specific file format is an easy-to-search-for objective requirement.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Feb 21, 2014 at 21:03
0

What is a ? Is it an app or an app working with GoogleDrive, Gmail, GoogleKeep, GoogleGlasses, ... ?

1
-1

Remove as it is too narrow. The part of the file system a questioner wants to address should be stated in the title.

3
-1

[REVOKED: See comments] (I can't delete it today as my quota is used up, I delete it tomorrow)

Rename to . I think "partition" is too narrow for a tag.

6
  • 1
    Object. Think of people wanting to manipulate their disk partitioning (Partition Magic etc.). I wouldn't tag such a question file-system, feels wrong.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 16:32
  • @Izzy So you think 'partition' is not too narrow? If you think it is too narrow but 'file-system' is no good for it - would you recommend an alternative?
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:37
  • I think the two are no synonyms. Feels a bit like putting "bottles" into "liquids", just because the latter ships in the former :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:45
  • @Izzy So you agree that 'partition' is too narrow and should be removed?
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:46
  • I didn't say either. I just said the two are no synonyms, and thus the renaming would be incorrect. What should happen with the partition tag, is something completely different.
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:56
  • Very well. Have a look: meta.softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/423/…
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 14, 2014 at 18:59
-1

is ambiguous. Currently used for "Linux distributions", it could also refer to any other kind of software distribution (repositories, downloads, web documents, whatever) – even to shipment of other wares.

I suggest we keep it as-is, but make that clear in the tag-wiki. Who agrees, please upvote – who disagrees, please downvote this answer :)

EDIT: To make it clear, please "upvote" to keep or "downvote" to delete this tag. Though in 80%+ used in the meaning "Linux distro", I don't feel it's strongly required.

8
  • remove distribution.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:49
  • The tag – or my answer? If the former: should it be "renamed", or simply removed altogether?
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:52
  • The tag. It should be removed. linux says it all.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 16:56
  • Not sure if the "linux" tag alone says the search is for a distribution. The "linux" tag IMHO stands for software that runs on linux. If a question is tagged "windows", it's unlikely the questioner wants to know whether to use Vista or Win8 :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 17:10
  • I think that both uses fit nicely into linux. Even more so as there is no equivalent in other OSes. Nobody would tag a "Which Windows Version to use" as distribution.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 20:12
  • Exactly. But a tool to distribute files might be tempting. Or one to distribute some other information in special ways. That's why I wrote "ambiguous". "To distribute" means as much as "to spread", "to share" (don't say "too broad" now :)
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 20:38
  • You have convinced me. Too broad. Its unclear. Cleanse it WITH FIRE.
    – Angelo Fuchs
    Feb 16, 2014 at 20:44
  • 1
    @AngeloNeuschitzer Yuck that back-fired. The word "distribution" is (in our context) in 80%+ applied meaning "Linux distro". My intention hence was not to remove it, but make it clear in the tag wiki (if we all agree to use it that way). But of course I'm open for "cleansing" as well, as I don't feel it's really strongly required. But I'd like some more people voting that first (downvote for delete, upvote for keep).
    – Izzy Mod
    Feb 16, 2014 at 20:55

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