I want to discuss a better means of organizing tags for websites that use a generic tagging system. I propose a tag hierarchy.
Basically, if I search for #dog, I should find posts with #puppy, #pug, #baby_pugs, #cute_dogs, etc.
But, if I search for #pug, I should only get posts with #pug, or other tags like #baby_pugs, #cute_pugs, etc.
This would make adding 50+ similar tags to a post irrelevant and allow for normal people to put a single obscure tag and still gain visibility.
I want to bring this idea up to more people. Where should I discuss this? You can suggest any website, community, or Lemmy instance where I could possibly develop this further.
I’m happy to discuss this here as well.
[Edit for clarity]: I am not just talking about tags for the federation and Mastodon. I am talking about improving any and all websites with a generic tagging system. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. etc.
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If you don’t know about it, check out https://wordnet.princeton.edu/
It’s a great starting point for any English word hierarchy.
I didn’t know about it, thank you for showing me this.
Structurally the idea has some merit. I think the challenge that you will encounter especially in a federated environment is gaining agreement on how to fill that structure and the hierarchy that you’re implying and demonstrating. Using the pug example, you’ll likely find very little argument on a good hierarchy, but using a more contentious example, let’s say gender, how will you gain agreement across instances on what the hierarchy within the data should represent?
That is more of an argument involving the implementation of tags in general within the federation. But to answer your question:
Let’s say a group of people were to make a post on Mastodon with the tag #girls_night. How will all instances agree on the tag being correct?
The simple answer is they won’t. If a tag is contentious, it will be like any other drama between instances.
It’s the same for implementing tag hierarchy. Let’s say there is a default setup. Then if a tag or a tree of tags is contentious, each instance can include or exclude as they see fit.
Ok I got ya. Doesn’t that then limit the effective use of the hierarchy to the instance you’re on and the hierarchy you’re familiar with? In that the further removed you are from your home instance’s hierarchy the less likely things will match up. So ultimately searches loose effectiveness I think?
Anyhow like someone else said, not trying to disparage the idea - it’s interesting and I’m enjoying the various input and thoughts folks are bringing.
Two new tables for “tags” would be required. One for instance wide tags and one for community tags.
a curated list of tags users can attach to their posts. The list of tags can be maintained by both admins and moderators allowing for each community to tailor tags to their specific needs.
It’s not what I was suggesting, but this should definitely be implemented for Lemmy.
I’m talking about how some tags should directly relate to one another, and how this should not always be the case in vice-versa. The system I’m suggesting is less useful when you limit the scope of tags (as the RFC does), but you can’t really do that for user-centric websites like Mastodon.
I think I’ll make an edit to clarify this in post.
I don’t have an actual answer to your question, but imma use the opportunity to let my age show.
Seeing as we’re not on instagram or twitter, and seeing as this space is somewhat more techy than the average platform, could we please do tagging without precomiler instructions (or perl inline comments if that’s more your thing)?
“#” deserves better than being referred to as “the hash tag sign”.
This place is more techy, but please don’t assume. I have no idea what you’re arguing for.
How does my point relate to HTML tag metadata?
