[KR155E]

I have just built a simple tagging system for the forum. You can now find the tags box on the top right of each topic page. It’s basically a list of buzzwords that describe the topic content. For example, a discussion about hidden button cheats in Blox 2 could have the tags “Homebrew, Blox 2, Cheats, Button Cheats” or similar.

The tags box works independently from posting in a topic and every registered user can add new tags to any topic or edit/extend existing tags. Just type the comma-separated tags right to the little tags symbol and hit enter to save them. It’s that easy.

The benefit of all this will eventually be a new meta information layer that will allow us to connect different forum topics by discussion topics if they have the same tag(s), better connect forum posts to games and so on. While I don’t plan to implement any of these advanced features just yet, they’ll be a fundamental feature of the new version of Planet VB, which I have been working on for a long time already (still far from finished, though). So you could see this as a preparation for the future of this forum. The benefit right would be being able to see what a topic is about right on top, summed up by a few keywords.

You’re all invited, guys, to help tagging topics new and old. When you’re reading through old topics, please take a second to add some tags to them. Eventually this information will be VERY useful. Thanks! 🙂

• This topic was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by KR155E.

Attachments:

1. 

   tags.png
   

Update: On the forum view, little tag icons next to the topic titles now show you which topics have tags.

Attachments:

1. 

   tagged.png
   

By the way, thinking about introducing a “tagger” badge for a certain number of tagged topics.

Are there any guidelines for what tags should be given to topics?

How does this work with forum sections? For example, shouldn’t all topics in the development section be given the “Homebrew” tag? Are tags going to replace sections completely?

Are there any guidelines for what tags should be given to topics?

Not really. The only guideline is to find a few keywords that describe a topic’s content, that’s all. 🙂

How does this work with forum sections? For example, shouldn’t all topics in the development section be given the “Homebrew” tag? Are tags going to replace sections completely?

All topic that talk about development or a certain homebrew title should get a “Development” and/or “Homebrew” tag, yes. That would be most of the topics in the development forum, but not all.

Sections will stay, they’re great for a rudimentary categorization and grouping of topics. Tags are just an additional layer of information, they can refine categorization and describe a topic more exactly. They can be of use to find similar topics, even across the borders of forum categories, or offer new ways of browsing a forum. For example you could show all topics that talk about the Mosaic Box Demo VB. These are the things I meant with “advanced functionality”, which will be available on PVB 4.