And we’re back, after a massive overload. I feel loved. The issues ongoing re: server load are being dealt with, but suffice it to say people really, really like their Atari.
While I am discussing site issues, one more thing I wanted to generally consult with my readership on: tags. I like tags, but there are essentially two ways to use them. One is a smaller set of general tags and a tag-list in the sidebar. The other is the set of general tags plus an enormous set of descriptive tags (like, say, “Dr. Doom Loves My Little Pony” or “The Bigwig And The Three Junior Executives”) and no sidebar tag-list because it’s too unmanageable to bother with. Does anybody have a marked preference one way or the other? I’m considering ditching the sidebar for more descriptive tag sets, but I’m concerned about navigability of the site; of course, if nobody uses the tag sidebar, then it’s not an issue.
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21 users responded in this post
My two cents: I’ve used the tag-sidebar a few times, and I’ve found it to be perfectly usable and helpful. But if you want to give the tag-cloud a try, I think we’re all up for a try.
Thank god you’re back. I tried to visit the site yesterday and got an “account suspended” message, and all I could think was OH SHIT NOT AGAIN.
I visit every day, so I rarely use the tags, but I doubt I’d ever be able to find a specific post from the past without a lot of random tag clicking until I got lucky. Stuff like “I Should Write The Legion” is an easy one, but some of the political stuff or just random goofy posts are sometimes a mystery (does that go under Law or Law Skool? etc.). I think if you went with even more tags and no sidebar, I would literally NEVER us the tags, because I wouldn’t be able to find anything.
I’m a lazy bastard though, and I tend to check your site first thing in the morning before my brain has switched on entirely, so take that with a grain of salt.
I would prefer a smaller set of general tags, because I’ve hit the taglist before to get a themed archive (primarily for ISWLSH, of course). A similar tag for comic redubs, or the bigwig/three executives, would see similar use.
If you would prefer the one-off tags, then you should do that. But I would still suggest that the sidebar have a list of the most popular/largest archive tags.
I don’t really care one way or the other. If I’m looking for a post, I just IM you and ask for the link. I’m lazy like that, though.
I like tags, but I prefer them to just be listed in the post metadata, and linked to a query that returns all similarly-tagged posts. I think tag lists/clouds are fun, but not all that useful.
I looooooooooove crazy-descriptive tags. Looooooooooove.
That said, I think it would be nice to keep the sidebar with its general set of tags and not add anything to it, but *also* have crazy-descriptive ones. Because, hey, sometimes I just want to trawl through all your photoshopping, and sometimes I *really need to look at just the adventures of Doom and My Little Pony*.
Hey Chris,
I’m not sure which version of WordPress you’re running, but > 2.3 it’s very easy to add a tag cloud if you want to go the crazy descriptive route (generally they’re over / mis-used – but I can actually see how they’d help in a site like yours). Plus it’s really simple to limit them to a certain number (say the 20 most popular) so they don’t take over the site.
Then there’s nothing stopping you from just hand-writing “the big board” limited to the major “master” categories you want to keep – and you could probably squeeze both approaches into the same amount of space that the current ungainly “big board” takes up now.
Sidebar? What sidebar?
Like karellan above, I visit every day and seldom (if ever) even glance at the sidebar. As a matter of fact, sometimes (like now), the sidebar is placed at the bottom of everything else and I don’t see it at all (something to do with not maximizing the IE window, I suppose)
Ooooor you can have both. Go crazy with the tags, but also use a little, common set for the sidebar.
Anyway, if we must choose, I find the sidebar quite helpful.
In other news, has anybody else told you about the Legion panel at NY Comic-Con? Here’s the quote that stood out for me, from Keith Giffen, as relayed by Newsarama:
“There’s nobody lining up to draw or write the Legion,” Giffen added, talking about all the worlds and space aliens an artist would have to invent for such a comic. “There’s no point of reference you have to make it up as you go along.”
I like the “smaller set of general tags and a tag-list in the sidebar”. Its just way easier to use, in my opinion.
There are two Iron Laws of tag use:
1. Every tag must be used on at least two posts.
2. No one tag should be on every post.
Seriously, have you seen the blogs at campaign for America’s future? Every post has the “conservative failure” tag and no others.
I use the tag list pretty often in order to find back posts (and then share them with folks who haven’t yet seen them), as I can never remember the approximate date range nor the post title.
Staying as is, or just adding a few more descriptive categories, or using additional descriptive tags (and retrospectively tagging all existing posts for which the new tags would be relevant) and just listing the “best of” tags on the side bar with a link to an exhaustive list would probably meet my information-seeking needs.
Either way–but especially if you add a lot more categories–you should consider adding a FAQ to explain the usage of some of the more… esoterically named categories. (E.g. “David Suzuki Says You’re Bad”)
I never use tags at all, and don’t really understand what kind of function they are supposed to have. But I guess I also always figured if I was looking for something, I’d just hit “back” until I found it and/or just be all “HEY BIRD WHERE’S THAT THINGY WHOT YOU POSTED?”
So you think the server overloaded from people liking their atari 2600’s? Naw, you got link Fark’ed.
I’m a kiss-ass, I prefer whatever is easier for you, and whill therefore result in more entries for me to read whilst getting paid for it. God bless unrestricted work internet access!
I’d rather see specific tags – best example, I’ve wanted to go back to each of the Thursday Who’s Who features, but there’s no one tag I can hit to bring them all up together (at least not without a lot of other features).
I don’t use the tags much, but I’d rather you keep the system you have now rather than the system the jacktards over at, say, scans_daily use. It’s darned near impossible to find anything because even though they’ve got all of those tags, nobody seems to like using them right.
I’ll be honest – I like the sidebar a lot. It help me re-learn where all the stuff I loved was. I’d say keep it – its a definite aid to site navigation.
There’s a list on the side? I guess you can tell how important I find it if I had to move the scroll bars around before I went ‘oh yeah, there IS a list!’
Descriptive tags can often be funny, but they’re generally not useful, unless you can fit one of those bizarre tags on more than one thing.