diff --git a/src/issue.rs b/src/issue.rs
index 03cca1d..e3bf9d3 100644
--- a/src/issue.rs
+++ b/src/issue.rs
@@ -137,7 +137,12 @@ impl Issue {
                 } else if file_name == "dependencies" && direntry.metadata()?.is_dir() {
                     dependencies = Self::read_dependencies(&direntry.path())?;
                 } else if file_name == "tags" {
-                    tags = Self::read_tags(&direntry)?;
+                    let contents = std::fs::read_to_string(direntry.path())?;
+                    tags = contents
+                        .lines()
+                        .filter(|s| s.len() > 0)
+                        .map(|tag| String::from(tag.trim()))
+                        .collect();
                 } else if file_name == "comments" && direntry.metadata()?.is_dir() {
                     Self::read_comments(&mut comments, &direntry.path())?;
                 } else {
@@ -212,23 +217,6 @@ impl Issue {
         Ok(dependencies)
     }
 
-    fn read_tags(tags_direntry: &std::fs::DirEntry) -> Result<Vec<String>, IssueError> {
-        if !tags_direntry.metadata()?.is_dir() {
-            eprintln!("issue has old-style tags file");
-            return Err(IssueError::StdIoError(std::io::Error::from(
-                std::io::ErrorKind::NotADirectory,
-            )));
-        }
-        let mut tags = Vec::<String>::new();
-        for direntry in tags_direntry.path().read_dir()? {
-            if let Ok(direntry) = direntry {
-                tags.push(String::from(direntry.file_name().to_string_lossy()));
-            }
-        }
-        tags.sort();
-        Ok(tags)
-    }
-
     /// Add a new Comment to the Issue.  Commits.
     pub fn add_comment(
         &mut self,
diff --git a/tools/update-tags-encoding b/tools/update-tags-encoding
deleted file mode 100755
index 87c5a5d..0000000
--- a/tools/update-tags-encoding
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# Check out the `entomologist-data` branch in a temporary worktree.
-# For each issue with a `tags` file:
-#     read
-
-set -e
-#set -x
-
-WORKTREE_DIR=$(mktemp --directory)
-git worktree add "${WORKTREE_DIR}" entomologist-data
-pushd "${WORKTREE_DIR}" > /dev/null
-
-for ISSUE_ID in $(find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -regextype posix-extended -regex '\./[0-9a-f]{32}'); do
-    if ! [[ -f "${ISSUE_ID}/tags" ]]; then
-        continue
-    fi
-
-    pushd "${ISSUE_ID}" > /dev/null
-
-    echo "${ISSUE_ID} has tags:"
-    TAGS=$(cat tags)
-    git rm tags
-    mkdir tags
-    for TAG in ${TAGS}; do
-        touch "tags/${TAG}"
-    done
-    git add tags
-    #git commit -m "issue ${ISSUE_ID}: update tags to new format"
-
-    popd > /dev/null
-done
-
-popd > /dev/null
-git worktree remove "${WORKTREE_DIR}"