Fimfiction's Tagging System (And Why It Should Be Improved) · 11:29pm Mar 28th, 2015
I know this has been brought up before by other people, and this is hardly a new topic, but fimfiction's tagging system could be improved. I understand the need for simplicity, and I like the array of tags that are available. They do a good job encompassing most of the stories that get posted on this site. The biggest issue I have with it is the conflicting tags thing. Do people seriously think that comedy and sadness can't exist in the same story? Or that an adventure story can't be told in an episodic, slice-of-life format? If they do, they're wrong. I've had multiple stories where I either can't tag them with the current options (usually because there isn't a Drama or Bittersweet tag, both of which should really exist). Since I tend to mix serious themes with comedy, I feel like I'm shortchanged when I have to pick sad or comedy as a tag. Tags are important. They inform you whether you might have interest in a particular story based on your tastes, and if the tags aren't an accurate representation of the story, then you'll end up missing things you might otherwise have liked or end up reading something you didn't like because it was mis-tagged.
What I think fimfiction should do is follow the model that some image-hosting sites use (e621.net is the only example I can think of off the top of my head): custom tags. You can create a tag that you think describes the story. And those tags can be moderated upon story release like the description and short description are. But maybe that's just my crazy delusion.
So yeah, that's my rant for the day. If anybody feels like weighing in on this, please do. I'd love to hear some other opinions on this.
A different, better tagging model has been on the to-do list for some time, but because of the complexity it'll likely only be implemented as part of a larger, more comprehensive site overhaul that'll vastly improve site functionality and inevitably be hated by everyone.
It also requires a lot of thought and design planning, because booru tagging systems are honestly pretty terrible. A middle ground between that and what we've got now needs to be worked out in detail before any changes can be made.
2919605
Very true. I'm posting my opinion as someone who has no knowledge of web design, or running a website at all, so what I say is idealistic at best. What I would like and what I think can actually be done are completely separate, and I respect that. A lot of the problems I brought up had more to do with my tastes than issues that everybody else is having (mostly the conflicting tags thing. That's the biggest issue I have with the tagging system), so they can't really be applied to the whole site.
Those are really fucking terrible.
There are hundreds of pointless tags that mean the same thing as other tags on those sites.
The only one that makes it work is Rule34 and they keep tags to artists, what the media is from, and the characters in it.
Just add the story to certain groups instead of tagging it as a certain thing.
2920026
They're terrible because they're not moderated. If they were moderated, they could be more easily reigned in. It was just an idea anyway. The only problem with groups is that not everybody uses them. You get much more exposure on any given story from front page/hot stories/featured box time.