linking and tagging

[CMcG]

There is a tremendous wealth of information on this site but sometimes it can be difficult to access by searching alone. I have two suggestions for ameliorating the ease of kilt data retrieval.

1) Use tags. When people use the tag function to assign meaningful keywords to a post, it really improves searches by eliminating unrelated use of those same words in another post. Doing a tag search then becomes more effective than a general search. It doesn't have to be the OP, anyone can do it

2) Use links. When a thread comes up that has been covered before and someone writes: "this has already been covered" or "something similar was covered elsewhere" it is very helpful for them to provide a link. This creates another layer of connections between various discussions that is beyond the vBulletin generated "related threads" at the bottom of a thread.

I doubt that there is any way to enforce this through vBulletin but I hope the rabble will participate voluntarily. Little things like this make the resources here on Xmarks more user friendly!

[Bugbear]

Hmmm, I didn't realize you could tag other people's threads.

I removed most of my indexes of links from my posts because I'm not sure the people making the posts had in mind having all their threads on a subject collected together in that way. Just didn't seem right after I thought about it.

[CMcG]

Hmmm, I didn't realize you could tag other people's threads.

Yes sir! At the bottom of a thread, on the right hand side, just under the page # jump links, there is a link that says "edit tags."

[Bugbear]

I see. It says I can add two tags.

If someone tags your thread with something silly or not so nice, who may remove the tag?

[CMcG]

I see. It says I can add two tags.

If someone tags your thread with something silly or not so nice, who may remove the tag?

It appears that one is able to remove their own tags, regardless of who the OP is. I'm not sure if the OP can remove tags from other people or not... I bet the Moderators can remove tags at will but not sure there either.

Any vBulletin experts care to weigh in on this?

Or we could do an experiment... Ted would care to tag this thread with something ridiculous and I'll try an OP removal?

[Bugbear]

All right, I have added the electric graffiti.

[CMcG]

All right, I have added the electric graffiti.

And I, the OP, cannot remove it...

[Bugbear]

Interesting... Hope that doesn't become a problem now that we all know...

Somewhere in the FAQ, it says that a member's post will not be edited, by a Mod, without that member's permission.

Does that extend to the tags?

[morrison]

Seems to me that "electric graffiti" is appropriate. After all this is electrically driven and a tag is a form of graffiti.

[SteveB]

I know the tag thing works, but have never gotten the kinky linky thingy to work. I have enough grief getting the occasional photo thing to work. I am not an I.T. geek. Texting in my family still involves an envelope and a postage sticker.

Slainte