Tags - yay or nay?

[Jon]

I've thought about implementing some type of tagging system, but at the same time I have a reluctance. It stems from making the forum look too busy, or clutter if you like. Anyway, conceptually I like the idea if not visually. So I am just throwing this into the mix for discussion and consideration.

Take a look at this site: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/forums/product-creation-inventing-importing-sourcing.81/

They tag GOLD if they think the post is particularly valuable. Well, you can get a feel for it if you go there. My idea was not to have a sticky GOLD at the top that would make people scroll for the fresh content. Instead, I considered a separate tab, maybe to the right of the Forums tab, something like that. It would only contain the GOLD threads.

 

[Gasman]

Wow, every post there is very deep, mainly due to the member stats being vertical?

 

[Jon]

Yes I agree. The site is very add-heavy, and the scrolling is a bit ridiculous. You have to scroll for ages just to get past the stickies!

 

[NauticalGent]

I'll go with a yay on this one. We all like shiney objects here. I miss the little green dots...purely ego driven, but it did lend a certain credence to your efforts.

 

[Grumm]

I don't really like what they did with all the tags on that forum. Ugly and doesn't match the rest of the design...
Not exactly what your idea is. But as long as it doesn't add 80's style rectangles I am fine with it

 

[The_Doc_Man]

On the old software you could tag the topic with an emoji. Would this be a replacement for that feature or a supplement?

 

[AccessBlaster]

I prefer simple over cluttered and heavy.

 

[Jon]

Everybody remember to vote so I can aggregate opinion.

 

[Jon]

@The_Doc_Man Where did the emoji appear?

 

[Grumm]

@The_Doc_Man Where did the emoji appear?

Didn't those emoji appear before the title of the topic ?
I do have a yay for tags but not that kind of tags

 

[sonic8]

I've thought about implementing some type of tagging system, [....]

What sort of tags have you got in mind? And who would apply tags?
- I'm on the fence until further notice...

The tags on the FastLaneForum are pretty useless because they are too generic.
Also, it appears that there can be only one tag per thread. - That is ridiculous! The advantage of tags (at least as they work in my mind) would be that there can be multiple tags applied to one thread.

GOLD - What? - The GOLD tag should be only applied to threads that *I* find interesting, otherwise this tag is useless. - Who could apply a GOLD tag for me? - I myself only. Even if I would do that, the tag would be mostly useless to anybody else.

Other options? Topic based tags! That would make much more sense. Everybody could monitor the topics (=tags) he is interested in.
In the end, it would be a versatile addition to the topic based (sub-)forums. That's something I would like very very much!
(And this does not rule out a generic GOLD tag, I would just ignore it for the more relevant topic based tags.)

But...
Who would apply the tags? At least initially the person starting the thread. Would this work with beginners? Not sure. Maybe it could work even better than the traditional (sub-)forum approach. Who would be able to add or remove tags? Everybody? Moderators only?

Would tags be applied to thread or to individual posts? Maybe they could be applied to a post and would be inherited by followups, unless the poster of the followup removes them?

I never though about tags in a forum before this post.

My conclusion for now: If done right, tags can be huge benefit!

 

[Jon]

Did you vote yet?

 

[sonic8]

Did you vote yet?

-> on the fence

 

[isladogs]

As well as the old RPs which applied to members not threads, the old software had a Rate Thread feature (1-5 stars) that could be used to vote on how useful a thread is.
IIRC several people needed to rate a thread before any stars were shown. I thought that worked well without being obtrusive like the fast lane site.

I voted against

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

WordPress has two systems, tagging and categories. I have an ms-access orientated website on WordPress and I have anguished over where a particular post should be placed, which tag should be applied, which category should it go in!

It's a nightmare a headache, and it quickly becomes disjointed.

Here we have forum sections, forms, macros, modules, reports and to me this is the best way way of sorting and categorising things.

KISS

Just for you Colin!

 

[sonic8]

Here we have forum sections, forms, macros, modules, reports and to me this is the best way way of sorting and categorising things.

I totally ignore those sections when reading and replying. They are useless to me!.

Where would you put a thread about issues in a form that is bound to a function in a module creating a recordset from a query to a SQL-Server UDF?
Forms?
Modules?
Queries?
SQL-Server?

I mostly rely on the subject to judge whether I'm interested in a thread or not. - But there are so many poorly written subjects.
However, I'm unsure if persons who write poor subjects would be better at choosing appropriate tags for their post.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

I'm unsure if persons who write poor subjects would be better at choosing appropriate tags for their post.

On my own website about MS Access, I, who designed the website, create the posts, I have great difficulty in organising it with the tools provided by WordPress.

That's the main point really, who's going to do the organisation? As per your comment you can't expect the poster to do it because half the time they haven't a clue where it should go.

The only way I can see this sort of organisation working is if there's an automatic tool that goes through and sort things into categories. I think we have that already, as I have seen at the bottom of threads, sets of related links. Although I'm not sure if they come from an automatic system or are entered by people?

Secondly, and to compliment the above, there needs to be a quick and easy way for anyone to flag a post with a tag, possibly hashtags?

But really, my instinct is it will very quickly become a complete mess, unworkable and unusable, unless of course someone takes control of it and that's a lot of work!