Wired on MeFi

February 1, 2005 5:52 AM

MeFi tags on Wired; article here.
posted by tr33hggr to MetaFilter-Related at 5:52 AM (25 comments total)

MetaFilter crops up not a little on Wired.
I think Matt's just pally with the author; judging by the Wired search, Daniel Terdiman is always the one talking about the MeFi ubermensch.
posted by NinjaPirate at 6:07 AM on February 1, 2005

I am devastated that my brrr tag is not getting the attention it deserves. Or maybe it does.
posted by sebas at 6:09 AM on February 1, 2005

we need more soundeffect tags--ooooo, rowrrr, brrr, eek, noooooo....(and those fake Batman noises as tags too)
posted by amberglow at 6:40 AM on February 1, 2005

As far as I'm concerned, "folksonomy" is the new F-word.
posted by brownpau at 6:42 AM on February 1, 2005

We jumped on this bandwagon just in time!
posted by mek at 7:32 AM on February 1, 2005

what the folksonomy? That's an awful name!
posted by crunchland at 7:44 AM on February 1, 2005

folksonomy, parents of iconomy
posted by mr.marx at 7:55 AM on February 1, 2005

I'd never heard the folksonomy 'folksonomy' before, but now that folksonomies are becoming so popular I hear folksonomy all the folksonomy.
posted by driveler at 8:17 AM on February 1, 2005

Why does it sound like a Volkswagon?

Low key voice-over
And now...
cue cool indie music
the new Folksonomy....more fun for the road.
Montage of urban twenty-somethings doing zany things with their car. While wearing very cool clothes. But going barefoot. With hats.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:32 AM on February 1, 2005

Folksonomy is the new podcasting.
posted by shawnj at 8:34 AM on February 1, 2005

tags are the new permalink.
posted by quonsar at 9:08 AM on February 1, 2005

Tag: we're it!
posted by Lynsey at 9:12 AM on February 1, 2005

Isn't one of the Wired writers a Mefi member?
posted by drezdn at 9:15 AM on February 1, 2005

My tag's breath smells like folksonomy.
posted by eddydamascene at 9:39 AM on February 1, 2005

mr.marx wins!
posted by rushmc at 9:40 AM on February 1, 2005

I say it's a tie between mr.marx and eddydamascene. Two great tastes that smell great together.
posted by taz at 9:51 AM on February 1, 2005

Man I don't know about this whole folksonomy thing.
posted by Hildago at 11:00 AM on February 1, 2005

I'd folksonomy it.
posted by zpousman at 11:06 AM on February 1, 2005

We jumped on this bandwagon just in time!

heh
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:07 AM on February 1, 2005

Folksonomy is an ugly Frankenstein's monster of a word.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:18 AM on February 1, 2005

Can anyone point to a link that explains a technically correct way to implement a tagging system to a website?

I know Matt wrote his own system to integrate into the existing backend, but I'd be interested in seeing a generalized description for those of use who are not database/tagging/folksonomics gurus.
posted by achmorrison at 3:17 PM on February 1, 2005

What would or would not be "technically correct?"
posted by cortex at 3:24 PM on February 1, 2005

I mean that all the articles I've seen that discuss the idea of tagging, usually citing flickr, del.icio.us and technorati as examples.

What I want is a description of the code that drives the tagging engine on the backend.

Example: del.icio.us works by keeping a database of urls and tags where each url has a number of tags associated with it. The tags can be polled to show x, y, z...

But I really want to see an example of the elegant ways that it is implemented. Something that would result in something akin to the metafilter style urls:

http://www.mytagsite.com/tags/humor

instead of:

http://www.mytagsite.com/pollscript.php?tags=humor

Also, how should the database be constructed to allow for maximum efficiency? I'm just sort of amazed that I can't find a single article discussing the code that drives these sites.
posted by achmorrison at 3:57 PM on February 1, 2005

achmorrison, as far as databases go tags are nothing new--some blog software, for instance, that allow posts to belong to more than one category have been around for a while and that's the same "challenge" to program. IOW, you have a many to many relationship (many posts, each of which can have many tags and the tags are not unique to the post). This is resolved, as a practical matter, through Third Normal Form, a term that goes back to the seminal work of EF Codd and Chris Date and is explained in any book teaching databases. Basically, three tables must be created in the database: the list of tags, the list of entries, and a list of tag+entry; then you write a SQL statement that joins them and filters on whichever key is needed, tag or post. For the pretty URLs, one can simply use Apache's mod_rewrite or a similar approach and this is also something well-explained in programming books on the topic. Hopefully this answer doesn't sound too condescending but as it's almost dinner here it will have to do.
posted by billsaysthis at 5:56 PM on February 1, 2005

Thank you for the brief description! That was just what I was looking for. I'm no sql expert, and have never heard of Third Normal Form. But, I can almost guarantee that none of the articles on the "tagging" trend include that term, either.

As for mod_rewrite....I should have known better.

Thanks! (I'm glad I didn't create new AskMe post for this.)
posted by achmorrison at 6:17 PM on February 1, 2005