Tags for posts

[Dave2002]

Is it only possible to put tags in posts when a thread is first created?

Maybe nobody cares about tags anyway, but I noticed this just now.

[Pulcinella]

Is it only possible to put tags in posts when a thread is first created?

Maybe nobody cares about tags anyway, but I noticed this just now.

In my case, it's not knowing that has resulted in not caring!
What do they do, and why would anyone use them?
Hope I'm not the only ignorant forumite around here.

[Dave2002]

In my case, it's not knowing that has resulted in not caring!
What do they do, and why would anyone use them?
Hope I'm not the only ignorant forumite around here.

Seems fine to me. Maybe ignorance is bliss. Sorry if I disturbed the equilibrium.

Oh yes - I did deliberately create two almost identical threads - with the intention of deleting the earlier one. That may also be something I as a mere user cannot do.

[french frank]

Oh yes - I did deliberately create two almost identical threads - with the intention of deleting the earlier one. That may also be something I as a mere user cannot do.

I think that's correct. Otherwise a user could delete a thread which many people had contributed to, just because they thought they would. Like knocking all the chess pieces off the board when you're losing?

I'm not sure why tags are useful here. I put loads on my blogs because they may get picked up by search engines and found by surfers who have a slight interest in any one of them. Doesn't do much good in my case because only my brother looks at it

[Dave2002]

I think that's correct. Otherwise a user could delete a thread which many people had contributed to, just because they thought they would. Like knocking all the chess pieces off the board when you're losing?

Indeed - but I created a thread which I then wanted to improve on, and my first post was the only one, so I wanted to delete it. Ah well .....

Still not sure about the tags in the software here - either they should always be accessible, or not at all - seems odd that there looks like a one time chance to put some in.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Indeed - but I created a thread which I then wanted to improve on, and my first post was the only one, so I wanted to delete it. Ah well .....

Ah - that was my fault; apologies. The two messages looked very similar, and so I deleted the Thread that didn't have a reply.

Still not sure about the tags in the software here - either they should always be accessible, or not at all - seems odd that there looks like a one time chance to put some in.

Like Pulcie, I don't really know what Tags do, so I can't comment ...

[Dave2002]

Ah - that was my fault; apologies. The two messages looked very similar, and so I deleted the Thread that didn't have a reply.

I'll forgive you! There was a slight difference, but now I can't remember what it was - no matter.

Like Pulcie, I don't really know what Tags do, so I can't comment ...

I don't think there's a lot of point on this board, as nobody seems to be using them - or if they are, there are only a few. Tags should enable search - and if you look at the Advanced Search feature you'll see that you should be able to search for a tag. However, since nobody (or hardly anyone) has created any tags, searching for items by tag will probably lead to an "invalid tag" message.

If we were to use them, which seems unlikely, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin could be given "composer" tags, while Chopin could be given a "pianist" tag, and Toscanini and Klemperer could be given "conductor" tags.

In other contexts tags seem to have practical, but limited, uses. One problem is that if many people use the same system, there may need to be agreement about which tags to use.

Tags are a feature in macos - but perhaps of limited use there too.

[Nick Armstrong]

In my case, it's not knowing that has resulted in not caring!
What do they do, and why would anyone use them?
Hope I'm not the only ignorant forumite around here.

First I'm hearing about them too!

[Sir Velo]

So having started a thread on the benefits of using tags, the OP has apparently concluded there are no benefits to using them.

Perhaps, however, we should tag this thread as pointless so that it can save us reading pointless threads.

[Dave2002]

So having started a thread on the benefits of using tags, the OP has apparently concluded there are no benefits to using them.

Perhaps, however, we should tag this thread as pointless so that it can save us reading pointless threads.

That kind of argument was applied in the early stages to the London Underground. I haven't concluded that tags are always useless, and it's hardly my fault if people don't want to use them.

[french frank]

That kind of argument was applied in the early stages to the London Underground. I haven't concluded that tags are always useless, and it's hardly my fault if people don't want to use them.

The tag cloud 'for the 31 most used thread tags' shows:

192kbps 1988 bbc 3 drama beirach breakfast children chingford contemporary cut drummers elgar emails essential classics festival france musique handel holst ian skelly iceland ic jazz kurt rosenwinkel liebman listener suggestions lyrics organ concerto perfect fool suzy klein talking about music truncated tweets vocals

Are they useful?

[Quarky]

Tags are probably not very useful, unless each poster takes great care in selecting and attaching tags to a thread. This isn't going to happen!!



What are tags?

Tags are a useful way to search for threads with similar subject matter and content. This complements the normal search system, which searches only for certain words or phrases and/or posts by specific users.

To use tags, you add words or phrases to threads to help describe the content. For instance, if the subject matter is 'photography' then you can add the tag 'photography' to the tag list. But you could also add tags like 'digital image', and 'camera' (depending, of course, on the nature of the thread).

This will categorize this thread with all other threads that have matching tags, whether or not they have the word 'photography' in them.

Who adds the tags?

Tags are initially added to threads by the user who started the thread. Other users may also be able to add and remove tags.

How do I use tags?

Tags are displayed in a box near the bottom of a thread page. Clicking on a tag will allow you to view other threads that have the same tag - and which may be related. Clicking on the word 'Tags' in the top of the box will take you to an overview page with a 'tag cloud.'

This cloud allows you to see which tags are the most popular - the larger the word, the more times it has been used on threads within the board. There is also another tag cloud on the advanced search page that shows you the tags that have been searched for (or clicked on) the most.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Tags are probably not very useful, unless each poster takes great care in selecting and attaching tags to a thread. This isn't going to happen!!



What are tags?

Tags are a useful way to search for threads with similar subject matter and content. This complements the normal search system, which searches only for certain words or phrases and/or posts by specific users.

To use tags, you add words or phrases to threads to help describe the content. For instance, if the subject matter is 'photography' then you can add the tag 'photography' to the tag list. But you could also add tags like 'digital image', and 'camera' (depending, of course, on the nature of the thread).

This will categorize this thread with all other threads that have matching tags, whether or not they have the word 'photography' in them.

Who adds the tags?

Tags are initially added to threads by the user who started the thread. Other users may also be able to add and remove tags.

How do I use tags?

Tags are displayed in a box near the bottom of a thread page. Clicking on a tag will allow you to view other threads that have the same tag - and which may be related. Clicking on the word 'Tags' in the top of the box will take you to an overview page with a 'tag cloud.'

This cloud allows you to see which tags are the most popular - the larger the word, the more times it has been used on threads within the board. There is also another tag cloud on the advanced search page that shows you the tags that have been searched for (or clicked on) the most.

Very useful and informative, Vespare - many thanks.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I've been oblivious to Tags on this (or any) messageboard.

I have seen the panel at the bottom of the search page and it seems, having linked to some of them, that tags are hardly used by posters. (I'd assumed it was some automatic software collation of terms intended to snag the unwary, which I ignored).

However, I find the Advanced (or any) search facility on this board pretty poor. For example it seemed flummoxed by searching for Beethoven in the last 2 days! Invariably I guess which threads might contain the information and scroll through what might be the correct pages.

Today, I was interested to know exactly which iteration of Karajan and the Beethoven Symphonies Bryn is delighted with - the Search function helped not at all. With other boards I use Google search to better effect but on FoR3 it seems Google is blocked from searching the threads.

[french frank]

but on FoR3 it seems Google is blocked from searching the threads.

This isn't intentional. We used to be able to see which search engines were crawling the site; now it seems none do, but why that is, I've no idea. Andrew might know. Something to do with a robots.txt file(?) but how that works is beyond my understanding.