FAQ Update: Tagging

[sanguinity]

Because the tag project is dragging on (in the fantasy world in my head, we would have been done by now!), and because I can't tell how long it's ultimately going to take, I've updated the FAQ to reflect the current situation.

Where are the tags for authors / editors / illustrators? Are these really all the posts on the community for (insert popular author here)?

Author / editor / illustrator tags are now kept on Delicious. The bulk of the tags have already been transferred; any lingering author tags you see here on LJ will probably only have very recent posts attached to them.

Who tags the posts? How do I tag posts?

The community is transitioning from keeping all tags on LiveJournal, to keeping some tags on LiveJournal and some tags on Delicious (with certain tags duplicated on both sites). We're still working out how the process is going to work in full; please bear with us. For the (extended) moment, however...

Currently, we are moving all author/editor/illustrator tags to Delicious. (LiveJournal has a tag limit that simply does not accommodate the number of authors, editors, and illustrators reviewed on this comm.) We are also working out the tag scheme for nationality, ethnicity, etc., so that those tags can be regularized and duplicated on both sites. When we finalize that tag scheme, we'll be locking down new tag creation and creating a process whereby people can tell us when a new tag needs to be created.

For now, please tag each book by

• genre
• subject
• author nationality/ethnicity
• protagonist or location nationality/ethnicity (if different from that of the author)

Have a look at existing tags whenever possible to try to minimize tag duplication. (Yes, we know there are already a scad of duplicates in there. Do the best you can; as we said, we're working on getting that sorted out.)

Additionally, please duplicate those tags in the body of the post, especially the finer-grained tags such as tribal affiliations. (Again, there is not enough space on LiveJournal to have all possible tags; if you duplicate your tags in the body of the post, that info can't get lost if we need to purge the least-used tags).

One last caveat: do NOT use the "(delicious)" tag unless you have been instructed to do so. That tag is reserved exclusively for people doing the transition work.

I do apologize for not having updated it earlier. If you catch something else that needs updating, let me know.

As far as where we are in the tag project...

• The bulk of the author tags have been moved. We haven't yet decided how to make sure that all new posts get indexed over there. One possibility we threw out was to ask for monthly volunteers: people willing to take all the new posts made in a month and add them to the delicious account. (Or we could do less than a month, if a month seems unreasonable or if we get a traffic surge like we did during RaceFail09. Basically, we do not wish to break our volunteers!) What do y'all think? Other suggestions?
  
  
• oyceter is doing behind-the-scenes work right now on Phase Two, where we take on the nationality, ethnicity, geography, and related tags. (Some of the previous discussions about that: here, here, and here. And yes, we've been plodding away at this for a long while now. Even with y'all pitching in and doing the bulk of the labor, we've been having trouble getting the planning and administrative side of it done.) I'll leave oyceter to explain more about that once she's a little farther along with it.

...and that's what I've got. If you've got suggestions for doing maintenance on Delicious (or want to volunteer for a month's shift!), or otherwise have comments, suggestions, corrections, or questions, let us know. :-)

Comments

[pauraque]

I volunteer! Just let me know how and when I can help.

[sanguinity]

Thanks! All I need is an email address (you can send it via private message, if you prefer), and I can send you the info! :-)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to do some tagging again.

I think having someone do each month as it ends is a good way to do it.

[sanguinity]

Yay, thanks! Can you take November?

I'm hoping that a month is low-key enough that we can get a steady run of volunteers for it. And I'm not seeing any alternate suggestions yet...

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Sure, sounds good. I should still have the delicious log-in info in my gmail somewhere.

And I don't mind doing it fairly often if you don't get a lot of volunteers. It goes pretty fast and I like this sort of mindless work because it gives me something to do that's a way to procrastinate on other work, yet productive itself. XD

[sanguinity]

I've resent the info, but it should also be in your Google Docs history. ("Shared with me" or "Opened by me".)

And I'll keep you in mind for pinch hitting! If at any point that changes, make sure to let me know. :-)

ETA: Or maybe Google doesn't keep that document-editing history for you. Because I was editing Dark_Agenda's spreadsheet the other day, and that doesn't seem to be anywhere in my history list...

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

I'd be glad to volunteer to do tagging for a month. (As it is, I haven't been sure if I should tag my new posts even though I could because I worried it might confuse someone who's trying to tag all the posts for a month)

The delicious tagging has already been so useful to me. I love being able to look up all the reviews I've made! I love being able to say "This person has similar taste to me. Let's check what else they've read!"

[sanguinity]

If you use the (delicious) tag here on LJ, it should be okay to index your new posts to delicious -- there's already stuff in the directions about how some posts may have already been indexed, and how to recognize that. And I certainly haven't heard any confusion about it from people who have been doing the work.

Oh, hurrah! I am glad that you're getting some use out of the delicious listings. My fear was that having them offsite would just remove them view, and thus also remove them from use. And I'm sure that'll happen at least some anyway, because that's the way user-interfaces are. But what I hoped was that the functionality (having as many tags as we could want to use! being able to mash-up tags!) would be at least a partial offset to the inconvenience of having it offsite.

[sanguinity]

Oh, and I meant to say: could you take December?

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

Be glad to!

[tala-tale.livejournal.com]

I'd love to volunteer, but I'm completely unfamiliar with Delicous, so I don't know if I'm useful or not. If someone's willing/able to explain to me what to do and how to do it, I'll gladly pitch in!

[sanguinity]

Luckily, I have written out directions! :-D

All I need is an email (drop it to me by , if you prefer), and I'll send you the info.

[tamsin]

I'd be glad to take a month.

[sanguinity]

Thank you! All I need is an email address (you can send it by private message, if you prefer), and I can send you the info!

[tamsin]

You're welcome. Just send the mail to tamsin.willoughby at gmail.com