The migration to the new forum software has give users a few new toys to play with. My personal favorite new feature is the ability to add tags to any forum post. While often used as joke or to be silly, when used correctly they can make it easier for people to find information on any particular subject.
Tags? Where?
Tags are found between the new reply button and quick reply box. Alternately, look at the blue and white tag icon at the far right of the thread title in the thread list. If the thread has tags already and thus the icon, you can see which tags it has by hovering the mouse over the icon.
What are tags?
Tags are basically links that forum users can add to a post, that will bring up other posts that have the same tag when that tag word is chosen. The starter of a thread can add five, while other users can add two each. If you click on the word "tags" at the bottom of the thread page you are viewing, you'll see a Word Cloud, showing the 70 most used tags, weighted by usage. At the advanced search page you'll see a different word cloud showing the 70 most searched for tags. You can search for specific tags from either page. You can add, remove, or edit your own tags by going to the "edit tags" link at the far right of the bottom of the thread page. Tags must between 3 and 25 characters.
Are tags useful?
Yes and no, but mostly depends. Since anyone can add any tag anytime they feel like it (I assume the usual forum rules against crude language still apply), many people choose to add silly or unhelpful tags. They are anonymous; there is no way to tell who added any particular tag. Thus, they are a convenient way to leave a little jab at the starter of thread, without having any fear of reprisal (though if you violate forum rules with a particular tag I would guess that a Mod could conceivably banniate you for it). These tags aren't particularly useful, nor are they meant to be. My belief is that these tags don't do any harm, unless a particular post gathers so many of them that any useful tags get lost in the crowd.
Other tags can be very useful, however. Say you start a post about your new illusion radiation controller, then check back in a while to see if you've gotten any replies. You see a new ill/rad tag has been added by someone. If you click on that, you'll see a list of other posts on the same subject, some of which might give you better insights on how you might play or build your character. Or you might stumble across a useful post about slotting enhancements. If the thread has useful tags you can find posts in a similar vein, without having to hope you strike gold by using the search feature.
Tags are exactly as useful as the forum community chooses them to be.
So, are they useful?
There are plenty of people of there posting useless tags, and there always will be as long as this feature is present and unmoderated. There are others who make a point of systematically adding helpful tags. It's difficult to judge which group is making a bigger impact in the adding of tags, but certainly, some tags as being used right now are useful.
So, what makes a particular tag useful?
Simply, the likelihood that it will help people find other posts that have some connection to the post they are added too. You could come up with the best tag ever, but if it is only attached to one or two posts, then the chances of being particularly useful are slim. Vanity posts, where you use your or someone else's username might make you feel good, but aren't likely to get many clicks except for from your fans. Non sequitur tags might be funny, but aren't going to be useful in terms of organizing posts.
Useful tags are ones that can recognizably connect related posts, and that are in relatively wide use.
How do I make useful tags?
A very useful feature of the tag field is that when you type more then three characters, a list of all tags that also start with that string will float below your cursor. Adding characters will narrow the list, making it easier to see if the concept you are going for is already in use.
If the tag you want to use isn't already in use, go head and add it. What makes any particular tag is subjective, of course, but there a few things I try to keep in mind when I create tags.
When I'm adding a new tag I try to pick one that is descriptive without being too general or redundant. The tag "City of Heroes" isn't going to be enough to narrow down searches, while a tag like "question" or "guide" going to be very broad. I also try to keep the tags fairly neat. To me the tag "ill/rad" is just as useful as "ill/rad build", and the word "build" here doesn't seem to me to add much.
I also try to avoid using too many abbreviations. "DB/SR" might make perfect sense in the title of a post in the scrapper's forum, but it's meaning might not be immediately apparent to everyone reading, say, Player questions. I try to flesh out my tags to the point they can simply be read rather than deciphered. My tag for the example above is "dual blades/super reflex", which is just under the 25 character limit.
I truly do believe that the benefits from useful tags far outweigh any negatives from the use of the not so useful ones. I hope that this guide has helped to making this even more true.
Just a final thought on the subject; any post about tags is going to generate a boatload of them, mostly of the silly variety. Just because this guide is probably going to end up with many fluff tags doesn't change my opinion of the overall usefulness of this feature.
Enjoy and good tagging to all!
I'm Tealeaf, and I approve of this message.
See [URL="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2134817#post2134817"]Useful Tagging for the good of the Forum[/URL], my guide to tags.
Posted
Any excuse to make use of silly tags is good for me. *adds some*
The migration to the new forum software has give users a few new toys to play with. My personal favorite new feature is the ability to add tags to any forum post. While often used as joke or to be silly, when used correctly they can make it easier for people to find information on any particular subject.
Tags? Where?
Tags are found between the new reply button and quick reply box. Alternately, look at the blue and white tag icon at the far right of the thread title in the thread list. If the thread has tags already and thus the icon, you can see which tags it has by hovering the mouse over the icon.
What are tags?
Tags are basically links that forum users can add to a post, that will bring up other posts that have the same tag when that tag word is chosen. The starter of a thread can add five, while other users can add two each. If you click on the word "tags" at the bottom of the thread page you are viewing, you'll see a Word Cloud, showing the 70 most used tags, weighted by usage. At the advanced search page you'll see a different word cloud showing the 70 most searched for tags. You can search for specific tags from either page. You can add, remove, or edit your own tags by going to the "edit tags" link at the far right of the bottom of the thread page. Tags must between 3 and 25 characters.
Are tags useful?
Yes and no, but mostly depends. Since anyone can add any tag anytime they feel like it (I assume the usual forum rules against crude language still apply), many people choose to add silly or unhelpful tags. They are anonymous; there is no way to tell who added any particular tag. Thus, they are a convenient way to leave a little jab at the starter of thread, without having any fear of reprisal (though if you violate forum rules with a particular tag I would guess that a Mod could conceivably banniate you for it). These tags aren't particularly useful, nor are they meant to be. My belief is that these tags don't do any harm, unless a particular post gathers so many of them that any useful tags get lost in the crowd.
Other tags can be very useful, however. Say you start a post about your new illusion radiation controller, then check back in a while to see if you've gotten any replies. You see a new ill/rad tag has been added by someone. If you click on that, you'll see a list of other posts on the same subject, some of which might give you better insights on how you might play or build your character. Or you might stumble across a useful post about slotting enhancements. If the thread has useful tags you can find posts in a similar vein, without having to hope you strike gold by using the search feature.
Tags are exactly as useful as the forum community chooses them to be.
So, are they useful?
There are plenty of people of there posting useless tags, and there always will be as long as this feature is present and unmoderated. There are others who make a point of systematically adding helpful tags. It's difficult to judge which group is making a bigger impact in the adding of tags, but certainly, some tags as being used right now are useful.
So, what makes a particular tag useful?
Simply, the likelihood that it will help people find other posts that have some connection to the post they are added too. You could come up with the best tag ever, but if it is only attached to one or two posts, then the chances of being particularly useful are slim. Vanity posts, where you use your or someone else's username might make you feel good, but aren't likely to get many clicks except for from your fans. Non sequitur tags might be funny, but aren't going to be useful in terms of organizing posts.
Useful tags are ones that can recognizably connect related posts, and that are in relatively wide use.
How do I make useful tags?
A very useful feature of the tag field is that when you type more then three characters, a list of all tags that also start with that string will float below your cursor. Adding characters will narrow the list, making it easier to see if the concept you are going for is already in use.
If the tag you want to use isn't already in use, go head and add it. What makes any particular tag is subjective, of course, but there a few things I try to keep in mind when I create tags.
When I'm adding a new tag I try to pick one that is descriptive without being too general or redundant. The tag "City of Heroes" isn't going to be enough to narrow down searches, while a tag like "question" or "guide" going to be very broad. I also try to keep the tags fairly neat. To me the tag "ill/rad" is just as useful as "ill/rad build", and the word "build" here doesn't seem to me to add much.
I also try to avoid using too many abbreviations. "DB/SR" might make perfect sense in the title of a post in the scrapper's forum, but it's meaning might not be immediately apparent to everyone reading, say, Player questions. I try to flesh out my tags to the point they can simply be read rather than deciphered. My tag for the example above is "dual blades/super reflex", which is just under the 25 character limit.
I truly do believe that the benefits from useful tags far outweigh any negatives from the use of the not so useful ones. I hope that this guide has helped to making this even more true.
Just a final thought on the subject; any post about tags is going to generate a boatload of them, mostly of the silly variety. Just because this guide is probably going to end up with many fluff tags doesn't change my opinion of the overall usefulness of this feature.
Enjoy and good tagging to all!
I'm Tealeaf, and I approve of this message.
See [URL="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2134817#post2134817"]Useful Tagging for the good of the Forum[/URL], my guide to tags.