New forum feature: Tags

[Doctor Q]

Now that we've upgraded the forum software (see announcement), users may now search for threads by tags that are assigned by thread-starters.

Searching tags

The Search drop-down in the toolbar now has a link for a Tag Search, which will offer you a tag cloud of the most recent/popular tags. Click on a tag to search for threads with that tag, or type in the text box to look for other tags.

Defining tags

When you start a thread, you can define a tag by filling in the "Tags" box under the message box. Tags can be one word or a short phrase. To enter multiple tags separate them with commas.

You can edit the tags after the fact for any thread that you have started, including threads from before we upgraded the forums.

Tags are always shown in lowercase.

Choosing tags

What words should you use as tags? That's up to the community. This differs from thread prefixes, which let users select from predefined choices.

If having a list of suggested tags or guidelines for picking tags would help people find tagged threads more easily, your suggestions are welcome. It's a community effort, like the Mac Guides.

If you happen to notice that other threads have used a certain tag that would reasonably apply to your thread, re-using that tag will make it more useful for finding both threads.

Rules

Yeah, there have to be a few rules. Tags need to comply with forum rules, so no tags that insult other users, no tags for promotion/advertising that would not be allowed in a post, no political statements outside the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. Kinda what you'd expect.

Tags should not be misleading. The basic rule is that the tags you assign should be meaningful for the thread and of potential use to users searching for tags.

If you see an inappropriate use of tags, report the thread to let the moderators know, but for the most part we'd like to take a hands-off approach. Common sense is the key.

Feedback

Tags are new for MacRumors and if there are bugs, glitches, or problems with tags, please let us know and be patient while we try to smooth things out.

Your comments and suggestions about tags can help everyone make the best use of this forum feature.

 

[iBookG4user]

Thought that looked like a new feature. Should be very handy in the future if people start using it (correctly)

 

[stridemat]

If it's used correctly I can see this being very useful at finding relevant threads.

 

[robbieduncan]

So there's no way to tag a reply? I only ask as sometimes the poster won't know all of the tags but someone replying might. In fact I suspect this will be common as the poster is asking a question so won't know all the facts at that point...

 

[Doctor Q]

So there's no way to tag a reply?

We didn't set it up for that because we weren't sure it would work well. Many threads involve only cooperative users, such as the case you point out, but where users don't agree it could be a problem, so we gave the benefit of the doubt to the original poster. Other users can of course suggest tags to the O.P.

 

[iBlue]

^ It's probably for the best it's set that way. Having it open for anyone to tag it can lead to some really unfortunate tags. I've seen it where a few users couldn't stop tagging each others threads with semi-insults. It was meant in good fun but I could see something like that being an unwanted problem at MR.

 

[Don't panic]

^ It's probably for the best it's set that way. Having it open for anyone to tag it can lead to some really unfortunate tags. I've seen it where a few users couldn't stop tagging each others threads with semi-insults. It was meant in good fun but I could see something like that being an unwanted problem at MR.

but it IS set up so that anyone can edit the tags.
i just did in this thread (as a proof of principle, fell free to eliminate)

 

[-aggie-]

Thought that looked like a new feature. Should be very handy in the future if people start using it (correctly)

Probability of this happening? 0.005.

 

[redwarrior]

Why would someone specify a user name as a thread tag?

Yeah, sorry to say it, but I think this will be about as useful as ratings.

 

[robbieduncan]

Why would someone specify a user name as a thread tag?

Yeah, sorry to say it, but I think this will be about as useful as ratings.

Oh, I can think of a couple of usernames that are very descriptive.

 

[iBlue]

but it IS set up so that anyone can edit the tags.
i just did in this thread (as a proof of principle, fell free to eliminate)

Is it? I can't seem to edit tags.

 

[Doctor Q]

Don't panic and iBlue: It was temporarily set incorrectly; should be correct now.

 

[skunk]

Personally. I find the tagging utterly ridiculous. It is widely misused and not in the least helpful. I would scrap it, at least in PRSI.

 

[dukebound85]

Personally. I find the tagging utterly ridiculous. It is widely misused and not in the least helpful. I would scrap it, at least in PRSI.

I agree for the most part

What I have noticed in some threads, it gets tagged along the lines of "flamebait" or "fanboism" by those who disagree that result in not being the least bit helpful in their intended cause

 

[Blue Velvet]

I would scrap it, at least in PRSI.

Agreed. If tweakable with that level of granularity, I would go further and restrict it solely to news threads and select forums, and if it's possible, only allow the OP and staff to add or edit tags if they see something useful. I have a hunch that the team would prefer not to waste time dealing with petty disputes over unsuitable tags.

 

[WildCowboy]

My understanding is that only the thread starter should be able to add tags, but clearly that's not what's happening. We'll have to have a poke through the vBulletin settings to figure out where things are going wrong.

Cleanup of the existing tags could be a fair bit of work, but we'll see what we can do.

 

[skunk]

Can't you just clear the lot and start over?

 

[WildCowboy]

I think I successfully cleaned out all of the tags from PRSI that weren't added by thread starters.

And I hopefully fixed the issue that was allowing non thread starters to tag threads, at least in PRSI. Let me know if I haven't.

I still need to do a sweep through to make sure permissions are set correctly in all forums, but PRSI was the biggest problem and should be fixed now.

vBulletin permissions are like onions and ogres...they have layers upon layers. And making sure they're all combining to give you the behavior you want, well, stinks.

 

[stridemat]

vBulletin permissions are like onions and ogres...they have layers upon layers. And making sure they're all combining to give you the behavior you want, well, stinks.

and makes you cry?

 

[Blue Velvet]

This idea needs a little more work. From one of today's news threads:

 

[localoid]

I never realized how much tags and lawn darts have in common until I read this thread.

 

[WildCowboy]

This idea needs a little more work. From one of today's news threads:

stridemat was right...vBulletin permissions do make me cry.

I've tweaked them again, so hopefully we won't see any more of that.

Still need to give things a thorough going-over with a fine-toothed comb, but at least I hope we're closing the holes one-by-one as we find them.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Over at DailyKos, for instance, they use Scoop and only what they call trusted users are able to edit tags on people's diaries/stories etc. How a 'trusted user' can be defined in terms of MR is something perhaps worth giving thought to, which I'm sure has already taken place, but thought I'd throw that into the mix.

Even wikipedia had to give up on wide-open editing access in the end.

 

[WildCowboy]

Even wikipedia had to give up on wide-open editing access in the end.

We're trying to give up on wide-open tag adding and limit it to posters tagging their own threads, which has been our intention all along. In practice, every time we close one access door, it seems that vBulletin has left another one open. We're getting there though.

 

[Blue Velvet]

We're getting there though.

Fight the good fight. I'm going to have a beer.

I'm not sure how eventually useful the feature might become, but it's worth keeping, I guess. Any way to generate a tag cloud from vBulletin? And if so, would it be worth making that a feature somewhere?