Are Tags enabled?

[Avi Ziv]

I read in the user doc that tags can be assigned to threads and then searched on (in the Advanced Search) but I have not seen any tags around yet.

Is this feature enabled for the users?

I'll try to tag this thread ("test") and see if it works.

The doc also implied that other users can add tags to a thread. Maybe we can test that too?

Thanks,
Avi

[Avi Ziv]

Aha! Something is working. I can see a little tag icon in the form , next to this thread

Very cool feature. This can be useful

Avi

[Mandolin Cafe]

Tags are currently enabled so that only the thread starter can add them to their own thread. This feature is still being evaluated.

[Avi Ziv]

Tags can be useful for finding related items where keyword-search alone would not always bring enough good hits. For example - people mention concerts and cd's that they've been to in various ways. They can talk about shows, concerts, cd's, recordings, albums, reviews, gigs, releases, festivals, or even leave out all of the above and just mention the artist by name. A common tag of , say, "musicReview" could aggregate these in a convenient way. This can be privately done by the author alone but multiple tags can (in theory) be assigned by multiple people. We use that concept at work every day to tag computer files and collections of them. Exactly how the feature is used is a matter of methodology.

Some people like to use is very openly where anyone can put any tag on an item

I am active on one music forum where tags are used but where the administrators created a limited managed list of allowed tags. That has it's pros and cons too but it's being used.

Something to think about.

Avi

[Scott Tichenor]

I'm leaning towards opening it up to everyone, with the caveat that more doesn't always mean better. But it is an interesting use of community input that is worth consideration.

[Scott Tichenor]

Avi, you talked me into it. I've opened it up. I think it's sort of an experiment of sorts. I'll keep an eye on it--you can help if you'd like--and we'll what happens with it.

[rgray]

I had to search to see just what tags are used for. Can't say that I have much use and find them annoying in one respect which caused my search. A current thread with two pages of posts has some tags assigned. When I search for new posts and see this thread, I cannot click on the second page because the little tag icon obscures the page 2 link. I have to click on the first page and then go to the second page from there. Minor annoyance.

[Scott Tichenor]

Haven't forgotten this. Trying to get around to a fairly major coding upgrade next week that I hope will remedy this.