Discussion on tagging

[tko_ak]

I know it's turned into a running joke about how quick I am to nag people to properly tag their posts. A good many of you have seen my " Please remember to tag your posts. :)" nudge, and most people are good about fixing it, or remembering in the future

Comments

[paper_crystals]

I like the tags even though I am not great about actually tagging. However I assume there will be a shallow but upward learning curve eventually.

[tko_ak]

It takes people a little while to get the hang of them, whether they're new to LJ or just haven't ever tagged. I was the same way. But I do think the upside is worth the minor inconvenience.

[lemon_drop151]

I think it's good. I like the tag's so i can eaisly access many posts on the same issues, instead of having to troll the Internet.

On that note however, i think there are too many 'tags', and it needs to be condensed. Like 'gay gay gay' and one for 'marriage' and another for 'gay marriage', i don't think is necessary.

[tko_ak]

Well, "gay gay gay" is for...lighter posts, but you're right about "marriage" and "gay marriage". I also think there's "equality" and "equal rights" and the absurd/incredulous/wtf sort of stuff.

[emh4ever]

I personally don't use them, but they seem like a good thing to have for those who are doing research or whatever.

Looking at the tags, it seems some are a bit duplicated. Why is there "queer" and "gay" for example. There's also "ugh" "wtf" "absurd" "asinine" "ass hattery" which could be considered at least partially overlapping in some areas.

If your goal is to make it EASY to find things by tags, having so many duplicates could be hurting that ability.

[tko_ak]

That's very true. I've cleaned up quite a few redundancies in the past, but there are some that still remain that I need to fix.

It's the primary reason only mods can create new tags, because too many would be created otherwise (we tried it, for like a week).

[emh4ever]

Could also add a "housing" tag for issues involving housing discrimination. Possibly "Supreme Court" too for rules in states at least.

[emh4ever]

arg *rulings

[yep_i_am_dennis]

I think tagging is a good for the same reason you say. It's easier to find stuff when you have to look something up.

[nederlandergirl]

There are some tags missing, and some redunant, but I think that should be dealt with on an individual basis (as in, "Hey Jamie, you should delete the "X" tag, or separate "Y" and "Z" because...")

Otherwise, I believe that tagging should be religious (yes, even here) because I, for one, use the tags in going through old entries to find something I want. It's just more organized and the effort involved in tagging your entries is much less than the effort involved in going back through hundreds of entries to find what you want (especially if you're looking for a topic, not a specific entry.)

[tko_ak]

Indeed. And in a community with as many posts as here, we need a litany of tags (to an extent) to make sure categories don't become too big. On the other hand, we don't want to get so specific that there are too many tags to really navigate.