Tag systemology

There are three metaphysical stages of progression for any statement ever uttered on Earth or elsewhere:

1. Question (What's going on?)
   
2. Conjecture (I suspect that's X.)
   
3. Answer (Nope, that's Y.)
   

In between Conjecture and Answer lies the Scientific Method. I wish I could draw a diagram, but I can't. You hear, blogger! I can't! So let's throw in a couple more numbers:

1. Desire (I want X)
2. Request (Would please maybe think about considering offering me a possibility to begin obtaining X?)
   
3. Command (Give me X)
   

So wonderful. But does command always experess one's desire? Hmm... Anyway, moving onwards and stepping gently, there are various states of affairs derived from the above, most pertinent of which are:

1. Broken (X can and did at some point work how I want it to but not anymore)
   
2. Fixed (X can and did at some point work how I want it to, then it didn't, and now it does again)
   
3. C'est la vie (X cannot and does not work how I want it to, not now, not ever in the past, and it's not likely it will ever work in the future)

Here's one: Can something be called broken when we know it can work and it doesn't work, but we don't know if it ever worked in the past or know it never worked in the past?

More to follow. Things like
Question and Request: Separated at Birth

Also, question is not just a question. Questions can be active (how do I do X?) and passive (what does X mean? where is X from? why is X here? how does X work?). By "active question," I mean a question about action. An answer to such a question is an algorithm. Any other question is a passive question.

And surely, sometimes you merely wish to inform. You've discovered something without a prior question or conjecture and you are burning to share with the world? What should that be, when not a howto? A tip, perhaps? What's the difference between the two?

There should also be an explanation to get everybody onto the proverbial playing field. Naturally, hyperlinks, especially those linking to wikipedia, are a godsent for the "what is" part of the explanation. But what about the "why is" part? Why care? That's where the keyboard cable needs to last a little longer.

It also makes sense to list any relevant inventories so that we know what we have to work with.