“So “Tags” are it are they, OK then I think I’ll start tagging all my posts, I’m taging this one with “thing”, the next with “yellow”, then one with “and’ then one with “but”…etc etc infinitum. Until of course we have a folksonomy that covers every word in the language and what will we have made? – Huh – language as a descriptor for content….which it already is no? – Thus tags = possible giant waste of time…”
Heh, I think that you should have tagged that post, um, with something to do with Tags, oh yes, you did, what a surprise you used language to describe what you were writing about!!! ;D
Hey! I totally discovered tags on Technorati just this morning – and then I see that insub is writing about it. It seemed like a cool thing, but I was a bit weirded out by the fact that “Random Thoughts” was a popular tag. How is that supposed to help people understand what you’re writing about? File this comment under “vaguely interesting response”.
Hoho :) howabout under, “totally discovered tags on Technorati just this morning – and then I see that insub is writing about it. It seemed like a cool thing, but I was a bit weirded out by the fact that “Random Thoughts” was a popular tag. How is that supposed to help people understand what you’re writing about? File this comment under “vaguely interesting response””… that’s what Google does, doesn’t it!
Tags are interesting but as applied by Technorati are a waste of time. The reason is that too many people contribute tags. Hence, in order for a tag to be seen at all (eg., in a ‘top tags’ list) it must be very general, but if it’s very general it does not create a useful resource category. tags that create useful categories are never seen, and hence, the community effect of folksonomy cannot get off the ground.
Applied by a smaller number of people in a limited context, tags can be useful.
Gotta agree with you and Stephen. I was ignoring tags because I couldn’t see much practical sense in them. In Drupal I have a six word taxonomy, and it works for me. From what I read on technorati, I would have to add their tags to each of my posts. Too much much work; much too little value.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions.
It’s a pleasure, always happy to bitch unconstructively about latest trends… now get me back to learning objects ;o)