The MetaTalk taggr utility is lonely and needs some attention.

January 20, 2009 5:46 PM

The MetaTalk tagging, titling, and general archive-diving reminder.

Just a heads-up to all the participants out there: the project has stalled at a little over 30% complete.

Completion may or may not lead to animated gifs.

posted by CKmtl to MetaFilter-Related at 5:46 PM (40 comments total)

Is there somewhere I can sign up for this? I don't know how much I can do with NUBS spawn II about to make his arrival, but I'd like to help if I can.
posted by never used baby shoes at 6:02 PM on January 20, 2009

Yup, drop jessamyn a note with your usernumber and email address.
posted by CKmtl at 6:12 PM on January 20, 2009

Is there a link for more information?
posted by DU at 6:24 PM on January 20, 2009

What's this then?
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:08 PM on January 20, 2009

turgid dahlia: Titles and tags are being added to old threads, ones posted prior to those fields being on the MetaTalk posting page.

DU: Not as such. There are guidelines on the taggr page, but I don't think it's accessible unless your account has been set up for it (jessamyn's been handling it), and instructions are emailed to you when you're set up.
posted by CKmtl at 7:25 PM on January 20, 2009

Drop me a note via EMAIL not MeMail please with a link to your profile page URL. I'm home sick with a leaky roof so I may be a little pokey on the reply.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:27 PM on January 20, 2009

DU, Matt announced the MetaTalk backtagging project in this comment. A few of the guidelines are there.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:54 PM on January 20, 2009

I gave it a shot, but it's pretty hard and, honestly, not nearly as entertaining as the AskMeta tagging project was.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:35 PM on January 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Tag cloud is looking a lot more taggy than I remember it.
posted by Artw at 9:43 PM on January 20, 2009

I have been chugging along doing it for months now, but was very busy during winter break and then work got crazy busy. Sorry! I'll get back in the MeTa traces as soon as I can.
posted by Lynsey at 11:10 PM on January 20, 2009

Thanks for the reminder! I finally have 'weekend plans'! Sad, pathetic 'weekend plans', but 'weekend plans' nonetheless!

it's pretty hard and, honestly, not nearly as entertaining as the AskMeta tagging project was.

That is most certainly debatable.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:45 PM on January 20, 2009

Thanks for the reminder!
posted by desuetude at 7:25 AM on January 21, 2009

No flameout tag?
posted by horsemuth at 7:41 AM on January 21, 2009

My problem is not that it isn't entertaining but that it's so damned distracting. "What's this about then?" leads to "oh shit, I remember this" leads to "oh yeah, this was the thread that started it", and suddenly it's an hour later.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:54 AM on January 21, 2009

It's hard and kinda dull because you really have to read the threads. It's never clear when a post that starts off being about some snoozer of a format issue will turn into a flame war, or a flameout, or a full on weirdapalooza that produces a new injoke or new subsection or whatever.


You could easily miss this, for example, if you tag without reading.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:59 AM on January 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

I think part of it is that the guidelines were kind of long and scary. But things shouldn't be that complicated for a lot of the posts, like bug reports and such. It's just the posts with over 50 comments that are tricky and take a long time.
posted by smackfu at 8:24 AM on January 21, 2009

Oh, yeah, I have a question too. What tag to use for "can you find this old post/comment for me?"
posted by smackfu at 8:31 AM on January 21, 2009

RemindMe?
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:36 AM on January 21, 2009

Yeah I don't know if there's anything already being used. If not, remindme is fine. Nothng seems to have prominence in the tag cloud.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:39 AM on January 21, 2009

smackfu, I used "findthis."

horsemuth, tagging flameouts is against guidelines - I'd call that editorializing or goading.

CunningLinguist, I was just reading the post & only going on to the comments if I had no idea what was up. I thought that was the norm, & the reason that there's currently no post with the "longboats" tag.
posted by Pronoiac at 8:44 AM on January 21, 2009

The Metatalk tag infodump would be useful for a comprehensive tag list, to provide more guidance *nudges cortex*. Without preview, I only used "findthis" at most *checks* three times, and I like "remindme" more than "findthis."
posted by Pronoiac at 8:54 AM on January 21, 2009

Oy, I had forgotten this in the depths of my bookmarks. I'll get back on the bandwagon.
posted by nkknkk at 9:10 AM on January 21, 2009

I volunteered back in the original thread. Too bad I can't get to my e-mail from this computer. Gah.
posted by Eideteker at 9:12 AM on January 21, 2009

(I also used YayUs for posts where people get all hyper about Metafilter being mentioned in a newspaper or blog).
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:12 AM on January 21, 2009

Crap I'm lazy. Thanks for the reminder.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:56 AM on January 21, 2009

I'm home sick with a leaky roof

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a house. A brick house, amirite, guys? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more...
posted by Crabby Appleton at 11:24 AM on January 21, 2009

A brick house, amirite, guys?

This means she can throw bricks, so watch it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:50 AM on January 21, 2009

"She's a brick house. She can ____ bricks."

How many people would fill in the blank with "throw?"
posted by Pronoiac at 12:11 PM on January 21, 2009

How many people would fill in the blank with "throw?"

anyone who knows me.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:31 PM on January 21, 2009

This means she can throw bricks, so watch it.

Well, she can do that in any case, but I don't think I have much to worry abou—

OW! <ducks> I'm SORRY, Jessamyn! OW! Stop it, I said I'm sorry!
Sorry, guys, gotta run!
posted by Crabby Appleton at 12:35 PM on January 21, 2009

Thanks for posting this, I was sorry I'd missed out on backtagging and now I'm knee-deep in it. Hopefully not doing more harm than good.

The history lessons are great, but the downside? Recognising the frequent MeTa-ers with a slight groan, I suspect.
posted by carbide at 1:11 PM on January 21, 2009

When you see it... you'll throw bricks!
posted by sveskemus at 1:12 PM on January 21, 2009

Bricks, really? The story I heard involved "troll," "banhammer," & "fine, pink mist."
posted by Pronoiac at 1:23 PM on January 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

By international law the .50 cal banhammer is only for use on vehicle borne trolls.
posted by Artw at 1:29 PM on January 21, 2009

Yeah I started strong on the MT backtagging, but reading all those threads to figure out the right tags just kicked my butt.

I'll try to get back into it, but it hurts so much...
posted by blue_beetle at 5:50 PM on January 21, 2009

Yeah, it's kind of a beast. i'll rededicate my attention, and I'm going to urge any one who dares to try meta tagging to please please please read the actual threads. I've come across a few that are tagged based on the text of the post, but the thread itself isn't really about that at all. Usually the best stuff is from the middle of the comments onward.

And a comprehensive tag list would be awesome. For example, I've been using "harbinger" for threads where Matt hints at Music or Jobs or some other such thing from the dim recesses of the early 2000's, but I'm sure I'm the only one since it was (probably jokingly) suggested by jessamyn over chat.
posted by donnagirl at 9:04 PM on January 21, 2009

A brick house, amirite, guys?

Well she is "mighty, mighty". The rest seems inappropriate to comment on though.

And now I'm gonna have that damn song stuck in my head all day. Curse you Commodores and your catchy hooks!
posted by quin at 8:19 AM on January 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

And a comprehensive tag list would be awesome.

This would be great.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:49 AM on January 22, 2009

I've come across a few that are tagged based on the text of the post, but the thread itself isn't really about that at all.

Although that brings up an interesting split, because new MetaTalk posts are invariably tagged based on the text of the post, because that's all that exists when the tags are created.

In theory the author could add or change the tags based on the comments but I've not seen that happening.

There's also the question of how much tagging devotion should be given to people fucking around at the end of a thread.
posted by smackfu at 9:04 AM on January 22, 2009

it hurts so much...

Would it help if cortex bleached his hair, dressed up like Tony Little and exclaimed "You can DOOO IT!!"?
posted by CKmtl at 9:08 AM on January 22, 2009