**Edit**: so far, the top two leading answers suggests replacing (or reducing use of) [arcgis-desktop](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcgis-desktop "show questions tagged 'arcgis-desktop'") with more specific tags. 

Therefore, I suggest narrowing the discussion about doing something (or not) based on the follow up post [Re-tagging to de-emphasize ArcGIS Desktop product in favour of its applications?](https://gis.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4898/re-tagging-to-de-emphasize-arcgis-desktop-product-in-favour-of-its-applications).

---

Original question:

From [Tagging ArcGIS questions?](https://gis.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3131/tagging-arcgis-questions) there are four applications directly related to [arcgis-desktop](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcgis-desktop "show questions tagged 'arcgis-desktop'") (17110 questions): 

* [arcmap](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcmap "show questions tagged 'arcmap'") (4325).
* [arccatalog](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arccatalog "show questions tagged 'arccatalog'") (222).
* [arcscene](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcscene "show questions tagged 'arcscene'") (199).
* [arcglobe](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcglobe "show questions tagged 'arcglobe'") (34).

Regarding [arcmap](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcmap "show questions tagged 'arcmap'") it seems a lot of questions (~3k) are about it, but only tagged [arcgis-desktop](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcgis-desktop "show questions tagged 'arcgis-desktop'")(see [here](https://gis.stackexchange.com/search?q=%5Barcgis-desktop%5D+-%5Barcmap%5D+arcmap+is%3Aquestion))\*.

I think this is a problem, because it helps splitting content across duplicate questions; for example, one uses only [arcgis-desktop](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcgis-desktop "show questions tagged 'arcgis-desktop'"), the other only [arcmap](https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcmap "show questions tagged 'arcmap'"). 

So, how should both tags be used and live together in GIS SE? It was discussed before that they should not be synonyms ([Should arcmap tag be a synonym of arcgis-desktop](https://gis.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4482/should-arcmap-tag-be-a-synonym-of-arcgis-desktop)). Is there something we could do to improve their use?

\*This also happens with the other applications (for example, [arcglobe](https://gis.stackexchange.com/search?q=%5Barcgis-desktop%5D+-%5Barcglobe%5D+arcglobe+is%3Aquestion)), but a big difference is the number of questions missing the application tag is much smaller than [arcmap]. In these cases, it would be achievable reviewing such posts and apply the tags (if necessary).