Tags - all please read!

please help me to understand the point in tags then. if it was simply a matter of helping to narrow down a search then wouldn't the basic search function be just as useful?

But until the whole funny tag thing started, I didn't even see anyone using the tag function. Yeah a few people have abused it, but it's not like people were using it for the original intended purposes anyways.

I think this is a bit ridiculous if you ask me.

lilacs87 said:

But until the whole funny tag thing started, I didn't even see anyone using the tag function. Yeah a few people have abused it, but it's not like people were using it for the original intended purposes anyways.

I think this is a bit ridiculous if you ask me.

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QFT. And we aren't attacking you Nilla, we are just not pleased with the decision that has happened. Besides, this is just as much our site as everyone else's. CF would be nothing if the people who use it didn't choose to use it. I think our opinions should take weight in this issue. Besides, like Lilac and others have probably said, no one put tags on threads before we did this anyway, so a tag search was useless. Perhaps having the webmaster alter the CF tag abilities so it merely able to be used for in-site searching and humor would be better.

^ Agreed

I am not surprised by this. I understand taking care of the abusive type tags but to warn against any fun and harmless uses is just sad.

Honestly this is the type of thing that makes me leave for periods of time. As people have said the tags were barely used before, someone finds a way to make the site more fun and get people more involved and the powers that be determine it to be bad for the site so decide to enforce a rule that will just hurt the users enjoyability of the place. Great way to treat your members.

I have some words for those that support this but no matter how nicely I put them I'd just end up being warned or something in this overly sensitive place. All I will say is I just lost a lot of respect for those people.

AuburnMeg said:

I don't see what the big deal is. If you want to be technical, rep comments were never intended to send little messages to one another either (that was a HUGE debate a couple of years ago), but yet that's being included as an acceptable avenue.

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Rep comments are private though. It has no impact on how searches are conducted. But hey, I agree. For the longest time, I've thought that reputation points were completely useless (I still do, actually). However, it is nice to be able to have private "conversations" with people, in addition to giving a "thumbs-up" to their post. Some people, like myself, are notorious for having full e-mail boxes so private messaging in that fashion becomes difficult. This is when I'm actually thankful for the rep comment capabilities.

Nakor said:

I am not surprised by this. I understand taking care of the abusive type tags but to warn against any fun and harmless uses is just sad.

Honestly this is the type of thing that makes me leave for periods of time. As people have said the tags were barely used before, someone finds a way to make the site more fun and get people more involved and the powers that be determine it to be bad for the site so decide to enforce a rule that will just hurt the users enjoyability of the place. Great way to treat your members.

I have some words for those that support this but no matter how nicely I put them I'd just end up being warned or something in this overly sensitive place. All I will say is I just lost a lot of respect for those people.

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Hmm. It would be fine by me to tell me what you think because I can take it. If you lost a lot of respect for me because I have a different opinion than you do (and over something like this), I don't know what to say. I would have to question that respect you had for me to begin with.

I don't lose respect for people who have different opinions. I lose respect for people who don't have formulated reasons for that opinion. In the past, I've repped people I didn't agree with simply because their thoughts and opinions were well-formulated.





When it comes to this whole tagging thing, I am not the only person who noticed the offensive ones. And I'm glad I wasn't. Some things that have been said were ridiculously immature and offensive, specifically for targeted posters which was really uncalled for. I wanted moderation to look into this at the very least and I applaud them for actually doing so. So far, I've reported one tag and that was recently because I wanted them to first see what was going on. I, personally, felt that if people simply cannot handle having this function available, perhaps take it away altogether. That was a suggestion I had. I wouldn't have a problem with that. Most recently, I had tried conducting a search using the Advanced Search function and came up with a ton of threads that had little to nothing to do with what I was looking for. Tags were not even used for those; it was more word searches within the posts themselves. Quite uselesss.

In my years here, I hadn't even noticed the tagging capability. I don't think it was used in the past or even available. Clearly, it can be done away with without batting an eyelash, but again... that's just my opinion. When it boils down to it, it is simply making it difficult for moderators who volunteer their personal time to be here and helping to keep things in-line. They're the ones who have to look through these threads, posts and tags. People can try to be funny, but really... there are so many other ways to be cute or funny and give shout-outs to people.



Long story short, people can do what they want here. It's clear that people by-pass the filters all the time and don't have problems flaming others in blatant ways. If people think it's funny to have random, non-sensical tags on the bottom of a post that's on them. But, flaming others is inappropriate and clearly against site rules. People's senses of humor can be different. For example, I'm probably one of the few who has yet to see a really funny tag. But, I get that. I know people are all different.

I feel like I've just had my hand slapped and been told to go stand in the corner. Bad Ashlee, BAD!

I totally respect others opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own. This has nothing to do with differing opinions.

My problem is when you have acted differently in those threads than you are in this one. When I made the "love for the dove" one you reacted like this:

Original Post Link

Yeeeeeeh!


You are way cool, too, Nakor!

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Your reaction to a tag about you is obviously favorable. Yet in this thread you act like they are all bad. If you had replied to me with something more like "Thanks but I would rather you not use my name in a tag" I would of removed it and still respected you after this thread. But you are not seeming very consistent to me, kinda hard to respect someone that acts like this.

Also I am totally for moderating the bad ones, I just don't feel the harmless ones are as bad as you are making them out to be. My loss of respect is more about consistency for some and overall just trying to take away something fun from the majority that with a little moderation is harmless.

I know what it takes to moderate sites, I've had the job at a few forums that were far more active than CF, sure the job is somewhat time consuming for a volunteer job but thats what you are volunteering for. I'm not mad at Nilla or any mod/admin personally. For me it's just the way the site as a whole deals with its members that upsets me.

Anyways I don't want to drag the thread into a debate. I come here to not deal with these type of things, for happy encouraging time. So take this post however you want, believe me or not but I am not trying to attack or anything anyone. Just voicing my thoughts and replying. I will bow out of the thread and go find a happy one now.

I admit I put shout outs to some people in tags. I participated in this, so my comment here might not sound relevant. However, I did not enjoy reading some of the immature tags. But, that is me, and honestly, I won't report things, unless it is completely disrespectful. People have strong opinions, even if it differs then mine, I am not going to report someone. Again, unless it is extremely disrespectful.

If its meant to be used for search purposes, then lets use it that way. If you want to give a shout out to someone, make a thread, send a PM, write a rep comment, comment on their profile, etc.

I think arguing about this is somewhat redundant, and pointless honestly. There are rules, so lets respect it and follow it. We might not like it, but that is the rule. I say this to my kids: You can do whatever you want at home, this is my classroom, my rules. Learn to respect it, and maybe we can change the rules a little to fit each others needs, but if you can't follow the rules, then they get harder. I don't think they like that very much, so they follow the rules.


My two cents.

It's NOT a rule though.

Oh. I thought it became one now/or was one.

This shows my time here. I need to read the rules again.


Edit: Either way, we are now asked not use it for that purpose. So, lets use it for what it is meant for.

Nilla said:

We won't go delete tags out of spite and send you a warning.

All I'm asking here is that the tags is used in a way that they are supposed to be used.

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But it's not enforceable if the tag is not hurtful or rude, it seems. Is that correct?

white dove said:

Rep comments are private though. It has no impact on how searches are conducted. But hey, I agree. For the longest time, I've thought that reputation points were completely useless (I still do, actually). However, it is nice to be able to have private "conversations" with people, in addition to giving a "thumbs-up" to their post. Some people, like myself, are notorious for having full e-mail boxes so private messaging in that fashion becomes difficult. This is when I'm actually thankful for the rep comment capabilities.

When it comes to this whole tagging thing, I am not the only person who noticed the offensive ones. And I'm glad I wasn't. Some things that have been said were ridiculously immature and offensive, specifically for targeted posters which was really uncalled for. I wanted moderation to look into this at the very least and I applaud them for actually doing so. So far, I've reported one tag and that was recently because I wanted them to first see what was going on. I, personally, felt that if people simply cannot handle having this function available, perhaps take it away altogether. That was a suggestion I had. I wouldn't have a problem with that. Most recently, I had tried conducting a search using the Advanced Search function and came up with a ton of threads that had little to nothing to do with what I was looking for. Tags were not even used for those; it was more word searches within the posts themselves. Quite uselesss.

In my years here, I hadn't even noticed the tagging capability. I don't think it was used in the past or even available. Clearly, it can be done away with without batting an eyelash, but again... that's just my opinion. When it boils down to it, it is simply making it difficult for moderators who volunteer their personal time to be here and helping to keep things in-line. They're the ones who have to look through these threads, posts and tags. People can try to be funny, but really... there are so many other ways to be cute or funny and give shout-outs to people.



Long story short, people can do what they want here. It's clear that people by-pass the filters all the time and don't have problems flaming others in blatant ways. If people think it's funny to have random, non-sensical tags on the bottom of a post that's on them. But, flaming others is inappropriate and clearly against site rules. People's senses of humor can be different. For example, I'm probably one of the few who has yet to see a really funny tag. But, I get that. I know people are all different.

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I see part of your point, and I would agree with you that tags shouldn't be used to by-pass filters or flame people.

I never even noticed that such a feature existed either until funny tags (because I DO find many of them funny) started popping up. Since it seems that the majority never used them to begin with, I don't see how the argument saying that they need to be used "properly" for people to be able to easier search threads is relevant.

It seems to me that this entire ordeal is more a battle of personal preference than it is anything else. A few people don't like the tags. Several found them to be quite entertaining. I don't like the fact that so many serious threads turn into debates around the Singles forum (and that is the opinion of others I've talked to as well), but I don't see a sticky thread telling everyone to only start light-hearted threads. And yes. I find the two situations to be comparable.

My point is that as long as the tags aren't harmful to anyone, it really shouldn't even be an issue.

Is this really a battle worth fighting? If the admins make a decision that tags must be appropriate to a thread topic to aid in searches, just abide by the request. It really is that simple. There are several rules/requests around here that I don't see the point of having, but to be a productive member of this community, I follow them.

Before anyone starts going on about free speech, it doesn't exist on this site anyways. Whether we like it or not, the owner of this site has the right to censor what we say

This tag issue is just a small part of a problem becoming more and more prevalent here of making snide little attacks at people we don't agree with. Whether it be trough use of tags, videos, pictures, etc... It is also just another distraction not needed. I'm getting tired of seeing all the derailing of threads around here when people are asking questions or seeking serious answers. Natural progression of a thread is one thing, intentionally derailing and ruining someone's thread is just wrong.

Coach

It all started with lemmings. I should be a celebrity by now. Someone named Rachel truly deserves the credit because i saw it on another site and just went with it here.

Nakor said:

I totally respect others opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own. This has nothing to do with differing opinions.

My problem is when you have acted differently in those threads than you are in this one. When I made the "love for the dove" one you reacted like this:

Original Post Link



Your reaction to a tag about you is obviously favorable. Yet in this thread you act like they are all bad. If you had replied to me with something more like "Thanks but I would rather you not use my name in a tag" I would of removed it and still respected you after this thread. But you are not seeming very consistent to me, kinda hard to respect someone that acts like this.

Also I am totally for moderating the bad ones, I just don't feel the harmless ones are as bad as you are making them out to be. My loss of respect is more about consistency for some and overall just trying to take away something fun from the majority that with a little moderation is harmless.

I know what it takes to moderate sites, I've had the job at a few forums that were far more active than CF, sure the job is somewhat time consuming for a volunteer job but thats what you are volunteering for. I'm not mad at Nilla or any mod/admin personally. For me it's just the way the site as a whole deals with its members that upsets me.

Anyways I don't want to drag the thread into a debate. I come here to not deal with these type of things, for happy encouraging time. So take this post however you want, believe me or not but I am not trying to attack or anything anyone. Just voicing my thoughts and replying. I will bow out of the thread and go find a happy one now.

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It's a shame you're bowing out before I have a chance to respond, but that's fine. If you do come back, this is my response:


In retrospect, perhaps I should have taken you aside and told you to take it down immediately. But, for the most part, people here know that I am generally uncomfortable with that kind of "horn tooting." I'm here to lift other people up, not to lift myself up (nor to have others do the same). I'm here to discuss things, not to debate. I'm here to learn, not to be shut-off.

Having said that, I noticed your tag was here one day, gone the next. I don't even think it lasted a week because when I went back to that thread, it was already gone. I discovered that you either need to be a moderator or the tag originator in order to delete a tag, so I just figured you'd deleted it yourself. No harm, no foul. There wasn't a replacement tag for me, so, why would I confront you? Again, that's just my thoughts on it.



The original reason I came to staff regarding this was for the inappropriate/blatantly-disrespectful and immature tags. Sure, I see all the others as pointless and/or silly/immature as well (especially the ones in this thread), but again, mmeh.

I just want to say this may be my fault. I reported several tags that were insulting/offensive/flaming/etc. I didn't mean for us to be told not to use the tag feature for fun; I just wanted the bad ones to be removed.

AuburnMeg said:

I see part of your point, and I would agree with you that tags shouldn't be used to by-pass filters or flame people.

I never even noticed that such a feature existed either until funny tags (because I DO find many of them funny) started popping up. Since it seems that the majority never used them to begin with, I don't see how the argument saying that they need to be used "properly" for people to be able to easier search threads is relevant.

It seems to me that this entire ordeal is more a battle of personal preference than it is anything else. A few people don't like the tags. Several found them to be quite entertaining. I don't like the fact that so many serious threads turn into debates around the Singles forum (and that is the opinion of others I've talked to as well), but I don't see a sticky thread telling everyone to only start light-hearted threads. And yes. I find the two situations to be comparable.

My point is that as long as the tags aren't harmful to anyone, it really shouldn't even be an issue.

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Hmm. You have a point. However, have you noticed the number of tags in certain threads? It seems to be getting out of hand or that it will soon become that way. I'm not a moderator, but I have known several over the years and each has told me they have more than enough on their plates as it is. They have to be reported to in order to see things (which is beyond-me because they are still here, but again, I'm not a moderator so whatever). Placing so many obscure/random/ridiculous/hurtful tags does not really help them in their jobs, either.