LJ tags

[cjsmith]

I can mark an entry with a tag, but I can't do a thing with it once it's there, huh?

Let's see. I could
- convert to S2
- go back and index everything I've written
- not mind that I can only see the last hundred of something

Alternatively, I could stick with the existing memories system.

Gee. Toughie.

Comments

[bride.livejournal.com]

Heya, I saw your post in my FriendsFriends (through magicwoman =)

I'd wait a while before doing anything with tags. There's talk of making a tool to convert Memories to tags. I've been a long time Memories user as well. =)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Hi! :-)

I sure am hoping they don't decide to do away with Memories after tags are in widespread use. That was my first thought when I heard of tags, and it'd be in character.

[bride.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I don't ever remember them taking away all support for a certain feature and leaving people completely high and dry. They added S2, but they didn't take away S1... What things are you thinking of that make it "in character"?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Older browsers. I not only got a "we won't support that any more", but attitude. Implementing new features (tags) that only work with their newer styles is another hint. Keep up with LJ's innovation or, eventually, be abandoned. *shrug* They're allowed, but this Luddite doesn't have to love it. :-)

[bride.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I do hope Memories stick around. I love 'em. I was overjoyed when LJ added the "Add this post to your memories" option on the "you have successfully posted" page. What wonderful organizational goodness for a finicky indexer like me! :)

[anmorata.livejournal.com]

Agreed.. I still like S1 and have no desire to change. I changed once, for less than a week. My friends page views kept getting screwed up by some glitch in the code, so I went back to S1. I rather like it this way, too.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I do seem to hear of quite a few bugs seen only by S2 folk.

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

I'm on S2. Lots of bugs. If I had known, I never would have converted, but now it'd be too painful for me to convert back. Grrrrr.

I really hate how the tags show up looking all stupid and stuff, although I have thought of using them in a passive aggressive way.

"Joe Schmo did a good job calling C1 tonight."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't like the fact that they show up either. If it's an indexing system it should have access control on it (at least the amount memories have, although ideally the same controls you have for posts).

[lcohen]

as i just said in another friend's journal, i remain an S1 luddite.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ayep. Interesting that they implemented a big new feature like this and didn't choose to adapt it to work with S1 (or adapt S1 to support it, behind the UI). I don't know the technological details, or whether they considered it; maybe it truly wasn't feasible to make tags work for everyone. But it's interesting.

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

I'm just oblivious. I've never had a bug problem on S2. Once I switched, I never looked back.

I don't think it makes sense to get rid of Memories. Memories do something that tags don't -- they let you track posts and comments that you did not make and cannot edit.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I thought of that yesterday when I added someone else's post to my Memories. In addition, Memories go back indefinitely while (as far as I can tell) there's no way to see more than a hundred items with a given Tag. So yeah, I prefer Memories for what I'm trying to do with 'em.

I suspect, particularly given that 100-item limit, that Tags aren't meant as a full indexing system but instead as a way for a writer to help readers catch up on things they may have missed. "Wait, you guys are moving?" "When's that baby due again?" This seems like a nifty way to use the Tags feature, anyway. :-)

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that implementing the Tags system was fraught with difficulty. The 100-item limit doesn't make sense to me as a design feature unless something was forcing that decision.

This makes me hope that they'll eventually be able to change the design so that Tags will pull up as many messages as a user requests.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Could be. I suspect technical difficulty is why they didn't toss it in for S1 as well.

[eichin.livejournal.com]

Given that tags is mostly copying, not innovating, I'd expect it to go the way of tags elsewhere, and add things like rss-feed by-tag, tag-foreign-posting, and drop the 100-item bug... and since ACLing is one of LJ's actually distinctive features, tying them into that somehow (which *would* be innovative, something like allowing search-by-friends-tags or something.)

[rampling.livejournal.com]

I customized my S1 friends page long ago (with different background colors for different privacy levels and pretty bargraph bars to indicate numbers of comments), and I still am fond of it. I'm annoyed at the idea of switching to S2, 'cause I'd have to learn a whole new system and put in much effort just to get back to something that I'd like. Annoying. Though I'll admit to some curiosity as to what new functionality I might be able to get.... *sigh*

I agree that memories contain functionality that tags don't -- specifically being able to mark entries made by other people.