Non-poster seeing "add tag" on MeFi posts?

December 28, 2007 7:35 PM

Non-poster seeing "add tag" on MeFi posts?

User "Nick Fisher" is seeing an "Add Tag" option on a blue post written by a different user. (me!) He sent me a screenshot, so he's definitely logged in as himself and not as me.

I'm not sure if this is a bug, or if it's something I just wasn't aware of, but I know neither he nor I see that option on any other FPPs at the moment.

posted by John Kenneth Fisher to Bugs at 7:35 PM (20 comments total)

If you are a co-contact with someone, you can tag their posts. He is not, by chance, related to you is he?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:38 PM on December 28, 2007

It's a feature! Nick and you are mutal contacts. About four months ago we added the ability for mutal contacts to add tags to their friends' posts.

For the longest time, we only talked about the add tags feature as being just the poster allowed or any member of mefi allowed to add tags, but then we realized there was an easy middle ground where your contacts could add tags without opening the floodgates of everyone describing everyone else's posts.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:38 PM on December 28, 2007

ALERT THE POLICE THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!
posted by SassHat at 7:39 PM on December 28, 2007 [6 favorites]

Ah, very cool. I figured it might well be be a feature I missed, which is why I put it here instead of asking via the contact form. :-)

Well, now I'm off to sabotage everything he's ever done by adding tags implying how much less cool he is than his brother. Thanks :-)
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 7:42 PM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

A feature?!? I don't want my friends adding tags to my posts after they stumble home drunk and think to themselves "hehehe, let's add offensive tags to amyms' posts!"... Oh wait, those friends aren't Mefites... Carry on!
posted by amyms at 7:47 PM on December 28, 2007

*adds amyms as a contact*
posted by dhammond at 7:54 PM on December 28, 2007

Whoah. I missed that in the discussion that the new Contact Activity sidebar spurred... my takeaway from that was that "contacts are people who you want to watch, who tend to post cool stuff." I don't think it was made clear enough (at least, not to me and the brothers Fisher) that contacts are also people whom you trust with your tags.

Then again, as a participant in the retro-tagging effort I'm always itching to re-tag everything I see that has sucky tags. I suppose that makes me a proponant of "any member should be allowed to tag anyone else's stuff," but I can see how that might be a potential source of vandalism. Huh.
posted by mumkin at 9:08 PM on December 28, 2007

Wait, wait...we can tag mutual contact's posts? And you thought this was a good idea?

*downs more bourbon, goes digging through gomichild's history*
posted by middleclasstool at 10:00 PM on December 28, 2007

Hmmm... contact or not, I don't think this is the greatest idea. I see more potential for harm than good in having people other than the OP tag a post.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:35 PM on December 28, 2007

More potential, or just some potential?
posted by carsonb at 10:48 PM on December 28, 2007

Some.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:06 PM on December 28, 2007

Let me just check my potentiometer, though, to be sure.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:08 PM on December 28, 2007

Make sure it's plugged into the likelihood dynamo.
posted by carsonb at 12:19 AM on December 29, 2007

Dammit middleclasstool!
posted by gomichild at 4:35 AM on December 29, 2007

I don't think it was made clear enough ... that contacts are also people whom you trust with your tags.

I can't imagine taking my tags seriously enough to worry about something like that. If someone wants to add a tag you hadn't thought of, so what? Even if they get drunk and add "batshitinsane" to all your posts, so what? I fail to see the potential for disaster here.
posted by languagehat at 6:30 AM on December 29, 2007 [2 favorites]

I don't think it was made clear enough ... that contacts are also people whom you trust with your tags.

We mentioned it when it happened in MeTa but really it's been this way for months and I think it's mostly gone fine. Remeber you have to be bi-directional contacts for this to happen, and admins can always remove tags if you think someone's being sketchy.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:49 AM on December 29, 2007

I can't imagine taking my tags seriously enough to worry about something like that.

Well, sir! You may not take your tags seriously, sir, but I can assure you sir, I do, sir! ... Sir! ... Sir! ...Sir! ...Sir! ... Sir! ... Sir!

*wanders down the street, waving cane in the air, saying "sir! sir!" until walking into lamp postl and falling down*
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:01 AM on December 29, 2007

I don't think this is the greatest idea.

So you're saying you think we should...FREEZE TAGS?
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:27 AM on December 29, 2007 [1 favorite]

*mind immediately flashes to James Brown, singing: "freeze, freeze... free-ee-eeze freeze!"*
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:30 AM on December 29, 2007

Clearly the solution to this problem must involve laser tag in some way.
posted by DMan at 1:05 PM on December 29, 2007