I learned from How to delete a tag? that
If the tag has 0 questions associated with it, do not submit a tag deletion request. Tags with no questions under them are automatically deleted by the system within 24 hours and no action on the moderator's part is required.
Though I could be wrong, it appears that this is happening to certain tags on our site. Since tag deletions don't have to be publicly requested or announced, for instance on meta, users won't necessarily know what happened until a tag we had previously seen here no longer exists.
I'd like to know whether or not we can ever re-create a tag with that same name. For instance, someone can choose to remove the hiking tag from all existing questions. (This is not likely to happen since it's currently our most-used tag!) Within 24 hours, and with no action on the part of a moderator or any other official, the tag would be gone.
If someone with enough reputation to create tags thought the hiking tag had merit, and attempted to create it, would the system allow it? (Obviously the tag would not come with any description, so it would be like a clean slate.)
