Tags in FanFare
February 21, 2015 6:45 PM - Subscribe

I've been thinking about tags on FanFare posts, and if there was any general concurrence on what people like to use and see. Broadly, I've seen tags being the individual actors, themes, and some use for character names. What do people like?
posted by filthy light thief (9 comments total)
 
I pay no attention to tags most of the time and never in FF. I find them most useful in Ask. What's the point in FF? It's not a wiki. I add them when posting in FF to shut people up before they complain to me.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 8:30 PM on February 21, 2015


All of FanFare is divided into three parts: TV shows, movies, and podcasts.

For tv shows, I use the show name and the actors and writer/producer name, if notable

For movies, I use the director, notable writers or producers, or other staff, and actors

For podcast(s), I use themes and key words or phrases.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:03 PM on February 21, 2015


I just try to hit the high points - director, title, major actors, and a nod to not-so-major actors who are nonetheless important to the show/movie.

I've posted a few podcasts and have veered off-course, over-tagging, I think, based on themes discussed during the podcast; I don't think that's particularly helpful, on reflecting. But - it can be a fun excuse to use some unusual tags.

Does there need to be a consensus? I mean, it's worth talking about but I from the main page I thought tags were more of a "yeah, use some obvious ones like names and institutions mentioned in your link, but don't go nuts." (Confession: I regularly go nuts.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:11 PM on February 21, 2015


(At least with posts on the blue.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:12 PM on February 21, 2015


I'm in the "never pay attention to tags" camp, which probably marks me as a dinosaur. I'm constantly getting the "You forgot tags" error when I post a new show. I'm always at a loss as to what tags to use, so I usually just copy some of the tags from previous episodes.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:36 AM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


I don't find FanFare tags at all useful for searching or navigation. If I'm searching FanFare, I'm looking for a particular movie, show, or episode -- and that's all metadata which is already explicit in FanFare. For anything else -- director, writer, actor etc -- I'll search IMDB and then come back to FanFare to see if there are posts for any of the things I found.

The man of twists and turns' guidelines above seem good to me; although I thing FanFare tags are never going to be particularly useful unless tags are applied consistently and rigorously to both new and old posts.

(I tend to tag TV posts with show-name then either with themes or quotations from the episode, often in "going nuts" style. In retrospect I think I could do better: for example tagging episodes where Madrigal is mentioned, or where Badger and Skinny Pete appear, and so on. But again, FanFare is a discussion, not a comprehensive database: that information already exists in far better form at the Breaking Bad wikia. Ho hum.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:52 AM on February 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


[Yes, I have to say tagging is kind of a silly pleasure that I assumed only I noticed - or a very few people notice.]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 1:26 PM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


I try to use show name, hosts (for podcasts), and some for themes or high points. Some podcasts have tags on their show pages (like 99% Invisible) that I sometimes go in and harvest, but I try to curate them back.

I tag posts because I don't want to be yelled at, and I have to make an effort to go back to previous episodes to make sure my tagging is consistent, but once tagged I never use them again.
posted by jazon at 3:08 PM on February 22, 2015


Tag early and tag often! I have a love/hate relationship with tags. They're a pain in the ass, and always feel kinda like a gotcha at the end of what you might think is a superlative post (what, I gotta write more???), but then I feel like it's fun to reduce a thing to keywords, like a free association game, so once I commit, it gets easier to add more tags, and I'm always glad I did.

Actually, joseph conrad is fully awesome has it right (in my head, at least); tags are there for the kinda people (like me) who sit through ALL the end credits. Or pay attention to bylines.

Director, actors, themes, sure, but don't ever forget the writer!

I feel like a post with, for instance, only two tags looks kinda naked, too. Or lazy. But that's just me!
posted by valkane at 6:05 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


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