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I noticed that several very different questions were tagged and noticed how feces was a synonym of it. So I believed that was merely about the outcome, i. e. the feces, not the action. Silly me - I should have dug deeper into... In fact, bowel-movement is also a synonym of . To add to my embarrassment, I already created (but we can do something about it later, if necessary).

But going back to the original problem, I wondered if it did make sense to differentiate between the action and the result, instead of subsuming it under a "wastebasket" tag like .

Take Toddler pooping to get out of quiet time for example, wherein the stool itself is not the problem, but the action (bowel-movement).

However, Is it wrong to wash cloth diapers in a shared washing machine? solely concerns the stool, not the action.

The only prior discussion I found is What's a good tag for poop? and this is just about poop and doesn't address the difference between feces and bowel-movement.

So my question boils down to:

Should we differentiate between the stool itself and bowel-movement?

If so, the following tags might make sense (we could still decide to go for something different than ):

<- pooping
<- bowel-movement

<- feces
<- poop

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I don't believe two tags are needed to differentiate between the act and the outcome.

In the example question Is it wrong to wash cloth diapers in a shared washing machine?, I believe the and aren't really the focus of the question. The question is about and, more specifically, .

I believe and should be made synonyms of a tag describing the act, rather than the outcome.

Additionally, I might suggest combining both solid and liquid waste processes into one (open for suggestions for a better description) tag, with and made into synonyms of it.

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    I suggest [excretion] instead of [elimination]. I wondered about the usefulness of a stool / feces tag myself, since it seemed to me most useful in questions directly concerning it (consistency, color etc.) and then it's hard to think of an example that would not be off topic (asking for medical advice).
    – Anne Daunted GoFundMonica
    Aug 22, 2018 at 13:57
  • @AnneDaunted - Medically, excretion is different than elimination. The nose excretes mucus, infected eyes excrete a mucopurulent discharge. We don't excrete stool or urine (we 'pass' them, or eliminate.) Nitpicky, I know, but it would strike me as... unknowing?... on a parenting site. Eliminating unnecessary tags is great, but replacing them with erroneous ones a bit less so. (Oh, BM - bowel movement - is used for both the action and the product, e.g. "BM: bloody" or "nl BMs.") Very nitpicky. Do with this info whatever you please.
    – anongoodnurse Mod
    Aug 22, 2018 at 16:59
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    It's amusing to see "New contributor" under your name. But "New contributor/Fresh start/Awaiting merger/whatever, it's a joy to see you back!
    – anongoodnurse Mod
    Aug 22, 2018 at 17:03
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    @anongoodnurse Thanks for the info! I see your point and agree that excretion may not be a good choice. Elimination is probbly more precise but also has many different meanings, so someone might use it when wanting to expel their child(ren) from home. For sure, I'm open for better suggestions.
    – Anne Daunted GoFundMonica
    Aug 22, 2018 at 17:41
  • I question whether we even need a tag for this. I say we just burninate all outliers. So far, the three moved to [elimination] are categorized enough under [health], [potty-training], and [behavior] in my opinion.
    – SomeShinyObject
    Aug 28, 2018 at 22:34

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