New tag suggestion method

December 2, 2005 6:44 AM

What's the best way to suggest a new tag for an existing post? E-mailing or IMing jessamyn? The original poster? Or should I just not worry about it? I can just keep a mark of it in my own del.icio.us, but that doesn't help anyone else who wants to search the same thing.
posted by grouse to etiquette/policy at 6:44 AM (33 comments total)

This time, I was thinking that this post should be tagged toothbrush, although I have noted other missing relevant tags before.

I guess a real pony would be if there was some way in the web interface of suggesting a new tag.
posted by grouse at 6:46 AM on December 2, 2005

You can also leave a comment in the thread suggesting the tag. Any of these ways seems fine to me.
posted by caddis at 6:56 AM on December 2, 2005

I really think tags would be more effective if we could all tag all posts. Have three sets of tags: poster's tags, your tags, and everybody else's tags.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:03 AM on December 2, 2005

monju_bosatsu, that's actually a pretty nice idea.
posted by keijo at 7:05 AM on December 2, 2005

For example for the sake of simplicity, "original tags" and "added tags".
posted by keijo at 7:07 AM on December 2, 2005

Original tags: bush iraq taxes
Added tags: fuckwad loser lame flagged omgwtfbbq fucku
posted by fire&wings at 7:26 AM on December 2, 2005

Oh yeah, lets allow everyone tag things. We're known for our self-restraint. Within an hour, every post on metafilter since day one would acquire the tag "quonsar."

Effing brilliant.
posted by crunchland at 7:42 AM on December 2, 2005

crunchland: and what's the harm, exactly?
posted by odinsdream at 7:46 AM on December 2, 2005

Crunchland, I think the idea is that with user added tags, only the user sees them. Only tags added by the poster or the admins would be seen by everybody.
posted by caddis at 7:49 AM on December 2, 2005

Better yet, everyone should be allowed to add tags to everything, but the effective tags would be the ones that were applied most frequently to that post. Kinda like the list you get when you use the del.icio.us bookmarklet (or Fx extension). This way, you get the wisdom of the crowd, but hopefully the noise would usually get drowned out.
posted by Plutor at 7:53 AM on December 2, 2005

Wasn't there an idea floating about at one time to allow people on your contacts list to add tags to your posts?
posted by If I Had An Anus at 7:55 AM on December 2, 2005

This way, you get the wisdom of the crowd

Bwa ha ha ha!
::wipes tears::
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:55 AM on December 2, 2005

I was thinking that this post should be tagged toothbrush.
posted by eddydamascene at 7:57 AM on December 2, 2005

SeizeTheDay: "Bwa ha ha ha!"

*looks around suspiciously*
posted by Plutor at 8:01 AM on December 2, 2005

I'm up on the 2001 line, the 2002 line, the 2003 line, the meta 2003 line, the askme 2005 line. I threw up 2 full-thread flamers on the 2001 mefi line, and I've got one planned for mefi 2006 (just need to go steal some bandwidth from the hardware store).
I'll be all-website before you know it.
posted by carsonb at 8:02 AM on December 2, 2005

quonsar
posted by quonsar at 8:37 AM on December 2, 2005

what monju_bosatsu said.
posted by grouse at 9:02 AM on December 2, 2005

I second (or third, or fourth, or whatever) monju_bosatsu's idea.
posted by Godbert at 9:16 AM on December 2, 2005

Crunchland is right. There are way, way too many stupid children on MetaFilter to allow public tagging. It would be moronic to even suggest that, except that mathowie isn't neat dumb enough to ever implement it. So it's a dumb idea...but no harm, no foul.

I agree: MeFi tags could be, should be better. Not to toot my own horn, but: Anyone remember this thread? Check those tags; the problem's still there. And the reason is simple: A bunch of _____ feel that an admin adding or altering tags on "their" posts constitutes censorship, and neither mathowie nor jessamyn feels the problem warrants stepping on those delicate toes. I disagree...but hey, it ain't my website.
posted by cribcage at 9:41 AM on December 2, 2005

I disagree slightly, cribcage, since there are so many silly children on MeFi that's why we would have separate categories for "original tags" and "added tags".

Someone might just ignore the "added tags" but, oh well, as you rightly put, it ain't my website either.
posted by keijo at 10:09 AM on December 2, 2005

crunchland: and what's the harm, exactly?
posted by odinsdream at 7:46 AM PST on December 2 [!]

Well, for one, I got banned that day.
posted by grateful at 10:43 AM on December 2, 2005

QUONSAR
posted by loquacious at 11:03 AM on December 2, 2005

quonsar is why we can't have nice things.
posted by crunchland at 11:51 AM on December 2, 2005

free_quonsar
posted by mathowie at 11:53 AM on December 2, 2005

I am achieving quonsarsm.
posted by loquacious at 12:02 PM on December 2, 2005

Not you too Matt...How'd they convince you to join the snark side?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 12:17 PM on December 2, 2005

Public tags wouldn't be a problem as long as you had: TAG (added by dios). That way anyone abusing the tag system would quickly find a timeout or something.
posted by dios at 12:28 PM on December 2, 2005

Not you too Matt...How'd they convince you to join the snark side?

Hos are attracted to men (and women!) with a sense of humor.
posted by Ryvar at 12:38 PM on December 2, 2005

I'm tagging this as unimplemented_good_idea.

and quonsar
posted by graventy at 7:30 PM on December 2, 2005

If this idea ever gets implemented, the option of hiding non-poster's tags would be ideal.
posted by Rothko at 10:09 PM on December 2, 2005

My question was never really answered—people really got sidetracked by the pony request.
posted by grouse at 2:27 AM on December 3, 2005

I suggest you find something else to keep you busy if you're really distraught about the lack of tags on someone else's posts, like washing your hands, or coming up with rituals having to do with light switches. But emailing one of the admins would probably be the way to go.
posted by crunchland at 4:19 AM on December 3, 2005

You know, I just realized I haven't washed my hands in minutes.
posted by grouse at 6:16 AM on December 3, 2005