Re: Tagging

For it to work in this kind of community, it must be transparent.  The minute somebody suspects they're being labelled "NSFW" or "Potentially Offensive" behind their back trust is broken and cannot be regained.  Thus, if tags exist they should be visible.  Or, at least, user-configurable to BE visible if desired.  Those that think they're noisy can turn displayed tags off.

The tagging system itself should be flexible, with more than just "NSFW".  I would like to see a simple text-entry box below the subject line for a new post.  The author may type any number of space-delimited keywords into this tag-box, and upon posting, the forum software parses the list and stores the tags in a table (along with pointers to the message, author, and date).  ALSO, the processed tags are stored in the message header itself, so that the regular search function can find tags.

The tag table would be very useful.  Fun things like tag clouds could be generated, or statistics about who posts the most hardware-related stuff, or lolcats, or whatever.

Now, this may be more controversial, but hear me out...

I think each reply should also have the tag-box too.  That way a user can make a rude remark or post a naughty link or whatever and tag the reply so it doesn't corrupt an otherwise clean thread.  Better yet, if the topic veers madly off course (that never happens around here) one could tag a reply with new keywords so relevance is maintained.

It would be voluntary, unobtrusive, and take no additional steps or keystrokes than today if somebody thinks tags are dumb.  If you DO want to tag something, it's only a few additional keystrokes.

I'm sure lots more could be done with tags, but that's the basics of what I imagined.

It was an ambush and it was mean.  I was terribly disappointed, as I have said.

Having clicked on the link, you learned something.  So don't do it again.  Renegade's humor is not for you, that much is clear.  Were you expecting happyjoyjoy funtime?  That's not R's style.

And blaming ANY of this on mouser or the mods here doesn't impress.  I find the assumption that I am an adult and capable of filtering what I perceive a blessing, not a burden.

If we're considering implemention of a tagging system, then why is "censorship" relevant any more?

If we were talking about deleting posts, sure.  But nobody's suggested that.

FWIW, I am what many consider to be an extreme left-wing, progressive, libertarian, freedom of speech proponent.  I don't consider it my duty to protect the tender eyeballs and brains of anyone; if they've made the decision to venture out their front door they will See Things in the real world.  Expecting somebody else to protect them from unsavory images or ideas is infantile.

Having said that, I also respect the values of others who do not share my viewpoint.  I think a voluntary tagging system -- nothing like censorship -- is the way to go.