If the mods were to create and use tags, we users could start watching/tracking those tags. For instance, I’d really love a tag thats used for the updates so I can get a notification every time @Lesley or @ivan posts an update. I’ve not been a member of a forum that used tags before, but it seems like a useful feature.
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I love tags, makes it easier to search.
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Tag. You’re it.
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I must just be too oid school. Never figured out the point of tags or how to really use them.
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I don’t use them either lol
On that note…
@everyone What tag is preferred…’tv’ or ‘television’?
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I find them more useful when there is a standardised set of them to apply. When anyone can enter anything as a tag it tends to become very hit-or-miss and the utility is decreased. The democratic approach is nice in principle, but until a core set of tags are adopted by the users they are of limited value.
Hard call, but I’d lean toward “television” as that’s more explicit than an acronym and also provides a larger clicking target for the tag link.
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Hey figured I’d take just a real quick second of your time to add to my overall time(yes it does in fact work that way), and take the opportunity to give a simple explanation of tags.
Tags are an extremely useful tool of any online community, and extremely easy to use when given the option.
Why are tags handy?
Well if you’re in the mood to talk about something and don’t want to run the risk of creating yet another topic / thread and accidentally spam the boards or steal the attention from another users topic / thread, but don’t want to scroll endlessly through all topics / threads in a category you can use the search function for keywords of what you’re looking for like Games, History, or Mad Science for examples and all topics tagged with that will show up. Sometimes tags are only effective within the website you’re using however some tags allow even people using Google search for example to discover a topic / thread if it correlates with some of the words in their search.
How to tag:
When given the option to tag usually there is a button to click and then you just use any words or phrases(separated usually by commas, unless directed otherwise by the site) that you feel pertain to the core of the topics. So say if someone were to post a thread like Show Us Your Pets then some useful tags may be Pets, pictures, cats, dogs, and so and so fourth.
Hope this helps clear it up at least a little for those who aren’t used to tags: how to use them and what they do. Regardless I have more time now though so YIPPIE!!!
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“Joe! I’m in here! Come find me!”
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Just a heads up - apparently there’s a tag war going on in one of my threads. Folks adding joke tags, others changing them, another erasing them, etc.
Not a real big deal, I don’t mind someone adding tags, it’s just that I get a notification every time you do it, and y’all going back and forth on those tags is becoming, well, mildly annoying.
… why? Because, when I receive a notification, I look forward to seeing what was posted, only to be disappointed to discover that it’s only the tagging thing going on.
I don’t want to mute the thread, and I can’t find a way to only mute that particular notification, so I’m asking as kindly as I can… please, end the war.
If you must tag, tag wisely.
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television is no friend of mine.
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I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty of (ab)using tags as a joke or commentary on the thread itself — “riffing the forum,” as I’ve called it. But I can see how repeated notifications of mere tag changes would be tiresome. I’ll try to restrain myself going forward.
Still — I think the fundamental idea of meta-commentary on a forum about a show rife with metacommentary, i.e., “riffs,” on movies and shorts has merit. Does anyone know of some sort of Discourse overlay that would enable a function similar to reader comments on a document in a word processor, but could be turned on and off at will by the individual user? Or perhaps a way to alot two sets of tags to a thread or topic: one serious (that has a restricted set of “official” tags that also triggers a notification), and one silly (no restrictions other than normal forum restrictions on words, no notification of additions or changes, with the possibility of a “silly” tag being promoted by community leaders to “official” standing)?
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I hate to be a spoil sport, folks are just having fun, and the idea of it suits the spirit of the show.
I even get why I have to be notified, since my name is attached to it as topic starter. (Beware of trolls and all that)
But yeah, if there was a way to do that without getting me pulled into it as anything but spectator - then I could kick back on the porch in my chair, with a handkerchief on my head, “You kids have your fun, gramps is just going to sit here and swat at imaginary elves…”
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The notifications happen also if someone up and deletes all the tags you had put on their yourself.
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I went on a tag frenzy a couple of months ago. I put TV/TELEVISION and MOVIE/FILM so both tags would be searchable 
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These tags on my neck are yucky, though. My chintzy insurer and the yacht-riders who own it won’t pay for their removal, either. 
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Right there — that comment deserves adding a “not-on-the-neck” tag to the thread.
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Ironically, I started this thread and have all but forgotten about tags. Until I started getting notified about tag edits, anyway. I’d be nice if we had some control over edit notifications, same as likes. I switched those off and don’t miss them.
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