Poll: Rethinking tags

[Breck_Carter]

The current thinking on tags is that they should be used to classify questions, NOT to provide search keywords... Google can do searching just fine without tags.

There have also been suggestions to put tag-like prefixes in the Titles themselves:

Product Suggestion: ...

Vendor Announcement: ...

Poll: ...

I'm thinking that tags are sufficient in some cases; e.g., you don't need to be told it's a "Product Suggestion:" in the title, tagging it "product-suggestion" is probably sufficient.

At the other end, the "Poll:" prefix might be a good idea, along with the "poll" tag, to make sure folks notice the question.

The "Vendor Announcement:" prefix is open for debate. Is the "vendor-announcement" tag sufficient?

Maybe when we actually get some vendor announcements from/about companies other than Sybase/iAnywhere, we can decide.

[Chris_Kleisath · Accepted solution]

I agree with Breck. The tags should be to classify the question, and NOT to provide search terms for Google.

I also like the idea that certain types of questions have a prefix, such as "Vendor Announcement:" or "Poll:". This should generally be a limited number of question types though, because they aren't really questions.

[VolkerBarth · Accepted solution]

@Chris, w.r.t. "Product Suggestion": Is there an "official standpoint" that these suggestions get recognized by your company? - That would be a worthwile statement IMHO. That would make post those suggestions here just as "official" as stating them in the product futures newsgroup where such a statement is given AFAIK.

[VolkerBarth]

I agree with your ideas of tagging vs. "title prefixes".

But shouldn't your title and tag list include the "poll" tag?

[Breck_Carter]

Ha, ha, very funny, ya GOT me!!!! At first I didn't know what you were talking about, the question text DID list poll as a title prefix and tag... but not in the question's title itself, or in the question's own tag list. Zingggg! I've been faq'd! 🙂

[VolkerBarth]

Well, don't I get a special badge for that:)