New Feature on Forums: Tags

[JessieS]

I'm told that we should be rolling out a new feature today on the boards, so here's a quick note about it before it goes live. We've implemented tags on the boards, which - trust me - is exceptionally good news.

This means that eventually if someone wants to read only posts about, say, Wales - they can go to the page of posts that have been tagged with "wales" and read to their heart's content. No more wading through posts about Paris and Rome in the Europe forum to get to Wales - one click and you're right there.

Once the switch has been flipped and this new feature is live, the only difference you'll see when you start a new post is a box underneath the post box where you can type up to 10 tags, separated by commas. Original posters can go back and edit their own tags, but no one else replying on that thread can add tags. There's a little help document linked there that will explain how it all works if you're still having trouble. And if you have any questions about it, please post a note in the Feedback Forum - that way if others have the same questions we can get to them all at once.

I'm extremely excited about this, and I hope you will be, too!

[Stoo]

quote:

Original posters can go back and edit their own tags, but no one else replying on that thread can add tags.

Does that mean we could add tags to old threads too? There are some real gems of wisdom about these forums...

[JessieS]

At the moment, I'm not actually sure about that, Stoo - I think the mods and I will be able to do that (go back and tag old posts), but I'm not sure about original posters re-checking their old posts. We'll need to test that theory when it goes live. Our intent is definitely to go back and tag old posts bit by bit, because you're right - there's lots of great information already here.

[RalphTheWonderLlama]

quote:

Originally posted by JessieS:
We'll need to test that theory when it goes live.

You know, we could make a professional geek of you yet

[JessieS]

Aww, well, anything I can do to make you proud, Ralph, makes me happy...

Just an update - you should be able to put tags on new posts now, and if you want to test whether you can add tags on your old posts, that'd be great. You can be my guinea pigs. Just let me know what you find out, or if you have any questions.

[AmeriKranian]

Awesome. It looks like they work.

[JessieS]

They mostly work. We're addressing a couple of bugs we've found so far (in the whopping 30 minutes this thing has been live!), so bear with us as we iron out details. And if you find anything that appears wonky, let us know.

[rawjer]

I tried to edit a couple of posts just after the tags went into affect, but after clicking on Post Now it did nothing for a long time so I eventually gave up. My editing had nothing to do with tags, by the way.

[JessieS]

And that's one of the bugs. The "Post Now" button seems to lose its mojo occasionally. Mika's working on it as we speak, so to speak...

[JessieS]

Okay, that bug's been fixed. Seems to be working now - anyone finds anything else, let us know!

[Stoo]

Super! I can even add tags to old posts. Think I'll got tag all my OPs with "Jester is allergic to maple leafs".

Seriously...I'll make an effort at some point to tag my more useful threads...should be a solid five or six threads!

[Stoo]

OK, tagged a thread or two. Initial feedback:

• I like how tags use up the dead space beneath the avatars.
  
• The tag section is all one font, and hence flows too much. it would be better if the standard 'This thread...' bit and the tags themselves had different fonts.
  
• The tag click-n-search functionality is sexy...impressive for v1
  

[Tammy Blue]

The tag feature doesn't seem to be working. Posted two new discussions and on each the tags did not work. Additionally, the edit feature seems to be disabled at this time. Thanks.

[Stoo]

Works for me, Tammy.

One problem that is unlikely to be fixed: to add tags to an existing poll one must clear the poll results.

Someone should chase down all the Christina-inspired Cheap & Free series posts and tag them.

[JessieS]

Stoo - Thanks for the feedback. Keep it comin'. I'll pass it on to Mika & the tech crew tomorrow.

Tammy - What specifically isn't working? If you could be really specific about what you're doing and what you're not seeing happen that you expect to happen, that'd be helpful.