What do you all think of allowing readers to write tags to stories? This would be an opt-in for authors to allow or not and readers would have to spend buttons to be able to write tags, maybe. I'm just thinking out loud sort of but I found a neat module someone has already written. We'd also need a couple of three "tagerators" to keep the new tags coherent and appropriate. Perhaps authors could moderate tags on their own stories?
Hugs,
Erin
Comments
Reader Tags?
Reader Tags sounds like a good idea.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Not sure I know...
What you mean by tags? *sigh* 11+ years disabled and out of the business and I'm starting to lose touch with the modern lingo of tech :(
Categories?
Like the themes and genres and elements that authors tags their stories with now.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Ohhh THOSE tags :)
I thought we were talking about some new internet thingy LOL
It would have to be policed closely. What some consider Forced Fem for instance isn't the same for others. I would prefer that authors have the option to turn it on or off for their own stories. Or if possible have the option to accept or reject any changes to tags.
{{Hugs}}
I agree with this.
Though I do think it would be neat if readers could set personal tags for stories, or even tag blockers up. I've gone back through the archives more than once and started re-reading stories I recalled stopping reading without remembering why, so being able to tag a story with something only I could see would help with that. Or for the blocking, being able to limit the stories I see on the front page to either not list stories with certain tags, or do like the "ignore user" option does, and allow them to be minimized unless clicked on to expand.
Then again, if we're talking about user-created content for stories that could be opted-into with "spending buttons," I think something along the lines of user summaries or reviews could be neat for replacing the blurbs that pop up at the head of a story. Of course, it would have to be author-approved, with no buttons being lost until it was so, with maybe a randomizer to allow more than one to cycle as the page is refreshed...
But then I'm talking about a massive amount of work that not a lot of people would probably use, so *meh.*
Melanie E.
Limited yes...
The ability to add tags should be limited to allowing readers to add (or remove?) a preset list of tags, keeping the list to the simple ones.
Being able to add "Final Chapter" is ok. Creating "I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE ARE SO MANY CLIFFHANGERS" (as an example) as a tag to a story should be right out.
I don't know the functionality of the module you found, but if you could "vote" to remove tags, and after a certain number of "votes" it's removed, you might allow that also. I'd hesitate otherwise, as removing tags may be more damaging than adding them.
Moderation
User-tagging could be a good idea, but with a few caveats. I don't know if it can only work with reactive moderation (i.e. the tags are auto-published then only removed if someone complains), but if possible, something like this would be ideal:
Firstly, everyone (except site admins, for obvious reasons!) starts off in pre-pub approval mode - i.e. someone (site admin / editor / author) has to approve the tag before it's published.
Once someone's had a set number of tags approved (and very few if any disapproved), they may move to auto-pub and their tags are subject to reactive moderation.
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Ambivalent
I'm ambivalent about it. I heavily rely on tags when deciding to try a new story as through personal choice there are several types of stories I just won't read. That being said as an author I spend a lot of time thinking about the tags I assign to a story (age rating being one of the hardest but then that's true with the film classification boards as well) and the idea of readers assigning tags sounds a bit like unasked for editing.
My personal view would be as long as the author could decide whether to enable it or not for a story and it was from a defined list (thereby avoiding spoilers, trolling, etc.) then I guess that it might have uses.
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
I don't see the point of
I don't see the point of this. People could put major spoilers into custom tags. I think a moderated review function would be better. Especially since some stories have no blurbs and only a title and some random tags.
My thoughts exactly
When I saw the post the first thing I though was, "someone's going to crap all over my carefully selected tags!"
The problem is that anyone might come along and add tags which give the whole game away. It's hardly a surprise when you already know what the major plot device is, is it?
I'm aware that some readers choose or ignore stories depending on the tag settings, and for the most part I respect that. I try to find a balance between telling people what kind of story it is and giving away the thing around which the whole story revolves.
Allowing readers to set their own tags blows that idea away. However, as someone above pointed out, allowing someone to set tags only they could see might be worth doing.
Penny
I don't see the upside
... and I'd like to know a little more about this module.
Does it notify authors when a tag is applied to their stuff?
If not, yuck! But if so, where would the notification appear?
In private messages? On the tracking page?
And what happens if the author dislikes the tag?
Can they remove it? Or will they have to ask you to do so?
Tags...
...but no tags.
Don't see the point of it, loads of negatives, and as people can make comments or pm the author over disagreements, it's somewhat irrelevant.
I'm not happy that people other than the author, administrators or editors could do this.I'm all in favour of democracy and participation - but kudos, comments and pms allow that.
Angharad.
(a known reactionary dinosaur).
Angharad
Uhm...No.
I think people would be unfriendly, it'd be troll-bait for sure and that would lead to flames and drama and policing work for the admins.
Plus...I honestly want only comments attached to my work, not a modification to the intent of my work. They are not me and don't feel what I've written as I do.
Bailey.
Bailey Summers
Not sure
I think that I would be happy to receive suggestions form readers regarding tags, but I would like prior approval from authors before they were published. There is always a balance to be had with tags as most authors do not like to give spoilers.
Reader generated tags without any form of monitoring could mean that the story is spoilt because any sort of twist might be possiby be hinted at or revealed.
Hugs
Sue
Thoughts from a Minimalist
I for one add the barest of tags, only those I feel are needed to give the reader some idea what the story is about. Instead of a cavalcade of tags that cover every conceivable aspect of the story, I have come to rely on name familiarity. Most returning readers to this site already know how I craft a story and their nature, so the name, ‘Nancy Cole’ tells them far more than all the tags in the world could.
The idea some of the one handed keyboarders here would have the ability to add something to my story, even if it were nothing more than a tag is chilling. Therefore I say no, no, a hundred times no.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Possibly..
The comments about spoilers are good ones though. Perhaps writer veto power?
Before I read everyone elses comments I had not opinion. Now I have one, but it is not very strong either way. Fact is, when I go through the tag process, I don't spend a lot of time agonizing over it.
"spend buttons"? guess I
"spend buttons"? guess I missed something. What are buttons?
CaroL
Mixed feelings...
Some folks have suggested that I "under tag" my attempts at fiction (making them harder to find if folks can't remember my name). So, from that point of view, allowing readers to "suggest" tags would be nice.
BUT, (you knew there had to be one) I'd want the option to accept/reject suggested tags... I really do NOT like others making unsolicited changes to my stuff. (Even less do I like changes made I don't know about.) If I won't be able to accept/reject (before they appear) tags, I'd prefer that things stay as they are.
Annette
Perhaps...
This is a three dimensional perhaps.
First dimension, perhaps we can have such a function.
Second dimension, perhaps it would be nice for an option to be there to outright disable any user suggested tags and make it the default.
Third dimension, perhaps for those who do enable the functionality, they would have to moderate any suggestions before they are officially added to the story.
I for one would likely wish to permit them, but will definitely want to have control over what actually gets added or not. I can understand many authors not wanting to be hassled like that, especially ones as prolific as Angharad, thus I feel the default should be to disable it. Actually, take it even further and that even if enabled, any suggested tags not approved within a certain time period would be automatically rejected.
Abigail Drew.
Personal tags, maybe, but NOT visible by everyone
By personal, I mean, visible only by the person placing them, to help them find stories. I'd love the chance to tag stories I've read and enjoyed, to help find them later.
But don't push off onto authors the responsibility to police the tags on their own stories.
If you do set this up, I will turn off the capability on any stories I post.
I think it is just a way to allow malicious readers the chance to screw things up.
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
In a way...
In a way, you can do the first bit today - by adding a story to your favorites.
Annette
maybe if you had a header
maybe if you had a header that told readers who made the tags, like "reader tags", only allowing for additions, and not changing the writer tags, and make it poll based, with the author as a moderator.