Guidelines for Effective AO3 Tagging

[phoenixacid]

Need help with AO3 tagging? Look no further, this is a guide to help you figure out how you can tag with maximum effectiveness.

Disclaimer: Before we begin, I would to stress that AO3 does not impose any rules for tagging; users can tag however and whatever they like [1]. You are not in any way required to follow the guidelines in Part I.

Part I

Comments

[amorette]

Ha! This is really cool, and intense, and insane :D Thanks for putting it together. It's really interesting to me because I never tag all these things.... and do people search by all these tags? Like when people search for Harry/Draco fic, don't they just search

[Relationship Bar]
"Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter"

???

Eta -- What I mean to say is, I never type in: "Endgame Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter". But maybe I should be doing that? Do others do that? Hmmmm.

[phoenixacid]

Hi! Some people do search by these things. Mostly because there are so many fics out there and some people might only like to read certain things or filter out certain things. There are also people who do not discriminate and read all the pairings or fandoms, and only want certain kinks or tropes perhaps. HP is a popular crossover/fusion fandom too so plenty of other fandoms like Sherlock would use tags like Hogwarts or Slytherin

[kitty_fic]

This looks awesome! I haven't read through it in depth yet but I'm looking forward to it! Thanks for writing this all up! Tagging can be so tough and this looks like a great resource!

[phoenixacid]

Yay! I hope you'll find it helpful! :))))

[vaysh]

Again, thank you so much for putting this together, Huey. And "putting it together" has to be an euphemism because seriously: so much input. I agree with Amorette: cool, intense, and INSANE. You are the best.

[phoenixacid]

Thanks, L! I hope it'll be useful to some people! I'm now the insane person who post random stuff once every 6 months. LOL.

[cassie_black12]

This is awesome - you're such a star! Tagging on AO3 is a huge bugbear of mine.

Does it include the rule that: if you have more tags than you do words in your fic, YOU HAVE TOO DAMN MANY!!

I totally blame tumblr for the messy tagging on there now :(

[phoenixacid]

LOL!

Yeah, I'm staying away from rules that are about aesthetic and/or reader's preferences because those are subjective and people may not agree. xD

But yes, if your tag section is looking like a big wall of text, even if you tagged the non-chatty way, it is terrifying!

[nia_kantorka]

This is brillant. Bookmarked it for further, thorough use. Thank you very much! <3

[phoenixacid]

Whooot! Thank you! <3