Those Useful Tags! / myLot

Cambridge, England

September 1, 2015 10:59am CST

Tagging discussions (and responses and comments) is an often neglected feature which can be really useful, if you use it intelligently. When used properly, it allows you and others to find discussions on a particular subject and the tags you have used in the past decide what you see in the ‘Explore - Interesting’ list. It is also the tags you use which determine what appears in the “You Might Also Like” box next to your discussion. Since it is lively and interactive discussions which are the driving force of MyLot (and of our earnings), it makes a lot of sense to use relevant, short tags to help others to see your discussions. By doing so, you increase your chances of getting responses from people interested in what you post. How to Tag Effectively * You can add tags to your discussions, responses and comments. It isn’t really necessary to tag responses and comments unless they mention something new which is not in the discussion topic. * Your tags should be short words (or phrases of no more than three words) which are relevant to the subject(s) of your discussion. * Individual tags must be separated by commas. * You should try to use only nouns, verbs or adjectives and leave out unnecessary words, like ‘the’, ‘your’, ‘and’ &c wherever possible. * Five tags is quite enough to describe any discussion to begin with. Once you have written your discussion, take a moment to think of up to five important words which define it. For example, if your discussion is about cleaning floors, you might tag it with: housework, domestic, cleaning, floors I suggest that you try this the next time you’re writing a discussion. Before you press that button to send your discussion out, read through what you’ve written and think: “If someone asked me to give them five words which describe my topic, what would I say?” Put those five words (or fewer - it doesn’t have to be five) into the tag box (don’t forget the commas!) and THEN press ‘Start Discussion’. How do you use tags? How useful have you found them and what, if anything, have I missed out? There's a lot of useful information from GoAskAlice on how to use tags here:

Let's talk tags.

www.mylot.com

Tags have always been a part of Mylot and have been a way for members to find posts. Now, they are not only a way of finding posts, they are essential to...

36 people like this

29 responses

Yuki

@yukimori (10145)

• United States

1 Sep 15

Have I ever told you how much I love it when you post helpful guides like this?

If I haven't, I sincerely apologize. You always do such a great job of summing things up in a concise and easy-to-understand way. I honestly can't think of anything to add to what you've said here, although if I do I'll be sure to let you know. I'd love to see a link to this discussion added to the official help documentation.

9 people like this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

1 Sep 15

Thank you for your kind approbation, Yuki! I've seen many posts from you of which I ought to have said the same (but probably haven't). I'd like to see some articles 'pinned' in some way, too. Especially those by GAA and some others. The problem with that is that sometimes some of the information goes out of date with new guidelines or updates to the system, and, in any case, it is quite painful for native English speakers - let alone those who have difficulty with the language - to have to scroll through a discussion for the information they need. I'm hoping to add an edited version of this and some other discussions to my 'blog' but the headache is to find a suitable format (which is available in Blogger) so that the information is easy to find! I'm fast coming to the conclusion that I shall have to move it all to Wordpress

5 people like this

sishy7

@sishy7 (27167)

• Australia

2 Sep 15

@Yukimori I've been impressed by @owlwings helpful, concise, yet comprehensive guides ever since the old myLot. I had so much questions as a new member as I had never been on any other social media sites before then, and invariably I could always count on his valuable answers.

6 people like this

Beatburn

@Beatburn (4286)

• Philippines

2 Sep 15

I agree. @owlwings is the myLot master!

Thanks for the advice. Will now be an intelligent tagger.

5 people like this

@rosekiss (30414)

• Eugene, Oregon

1 Sep 15

I only use tags when I start my own discussions, and most of the time it is less than five words. I usually use a two word phrase. I have never searched by using tags,but I am certain it would make other people's search much easier.

5 people like this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

1 Sep 15

My feeling is that single words are more effective for the purpose of getting your discussion seen than phrases (or 'long-tail' keywords) would be. I'd rather like to see a drop-down of suggested tags (something equivalent to the way categories used to be in the old version, but with the options of selecting more than one and of adding one's own tags as well). This would allow some standardisation as well as the flexibility of the tag system. Maybe @mylotbugs already has this in mind.

4 people like this

Karen Waterson

@rosekiss (30414)

• Eugene, Oregon

1 Sep 15

@owlwings I never thought about that, but you are right. I find it hard to even come up with signicant tags so as not to confuse others.

4 people like this

firecracker

@sacmom (14192)

• United States

2 Sep 15

If I can't think of any, I read through my discussion in order to find some tags that relate it.

3 people like this

kiran8

@kiran8 (15348)

• Mangalore, India

2 Sep 15

Very useful information and I am guilty of not using tag words in many of my posts here at mylot, will try and include them as far as possible including here ..

3 people like this

@dpk262006 (58676)

• Delhi, India

2 Sep 15

you should not fail to tag your own discussions at least.

3 people like this

usefulness of tags

kiran8

@kiran8 (15348)

• Mangalore, India

2 Sep 15

@dpk262006 That I definitely do but not my comments,most of the time I forget..

3 people like this

comments

forget

Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (44998)

• Preston, England

5 Sep 15

I'm navigating Mylot quite a bit by tags, and they do work well on this site. A few are frustrating. I like finding stuff on my home city, Manchester but the tag is hijacked by fans of the two football teams Manchester City and United. Hopefully, my own use of it will help take my city back.

3 people like this

manchester

hijacked

navigating

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

5 Sep 15

That's always a problem with the popularity of football! Pity we can't use advanced filters like '-football' or something!

1 person likes this

Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (44998)

• Preston, England

5 Sep 15

@owlwings Yes if we could have Manchester, but exclude words like football / United it would be fantastic.

1 person likes this

manchester

sishy7

@sishy7 (27167)

• Australia

1 Sep 15

I pretty much use them as you suggested. I notice we can tag our images too. Any useful function for doing that as well?

4 people like this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

1 Sep 15

I think that what I've said here also applies to tagging images, though I'm not sure how useful that is in 'promoting' your discussion (which is what my main argument is here).

2 people like this

sishy7

@sishy7 (27167)

• Australia

2 Sep 15

@owlwings I understand. On the old myLot layout the images were given more 'opportunity' to be shared with others on their own or without being attached to a discussion. That was probably why they were tagged so people could find them. I don't see a need for that on the new layout.

2 people like this

AnjaP

@Rollo1 (16679)

• Boston, Massachusetts

2 Sep 15

Sometimes I will add tags to another person's discussion if they haven't done so. I figure it helps them a little bit. Or I will tag my response. Since tags help discussions get seen, I know that a discussion with no tags might get lost in the shuffle.

2 people like this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

3 Sep 15

I also add tags to discussions quite a lot. Often my motive may be partly selfish (so that I might be able to find the discussion again - I don't know whether it will work or not when I DO want to) but mostly it's because I like cataloguing things!

2 people like this

Always smiling

@allknowing (136085)

• India

2 Sep 15

I use tags only in the post. I hope everyone reads this post as I have seen some 'atrocious' tags if I might use that word - ags that have absolutely no relevance to the topic. Admin has set a rule to use relevant tags. I wonder whether such tags could be reported.

2 people like this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

2 Sep 15

Irrelevant or abusive tags can (and should) be reported, though you have to use the standard report button and hope that @goaskalice understands what is being reported.

1 person likes this

Always smiling

@allknowing (136085)

• India

2 Sep 15

@owlwings In this post itself in comments there are tags such as 'include' 'post' !!! I think it should be the privilege of the OP alone to add tags.

1 person likes this

rebel_woman06

@SIMPLYD (90722)

• Philippines

2 Sep 15

Thank you for reminding me . I forgot to tag my just recently submitted post .

1 person likes this

dpk262006

@dpk262006 (58676)

• Delhi, India

2 Sep 15

You are forgetting many things now a days.

changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (16758)

• China

19 Sep 15

Thank you for showing us the ropes about using the tag.Take "cleaning floors "for example ,before now ,I never tag housework, domestic,because I think the words I tag have to exsist in my post that I will start .

2 people like this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

19 Sep 15

No, they don't have to be words that are in the discussion (though it's quite likely that they may be). If I were talking about cameras or the art of taking photographs, I might not actually use the words 'photography' or 'art' in my discussion but it would be appropriate to use them as tags. Think of tags as the way you might want to look for anything on that subject - the words you might type into a search engine or the section you might go to in a library.

2 people like this

changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (16758)

• China

20 Sep 15

@owlwings Thank you for telling me so much !You shed some light on it .

2 people like this

Marlina

@marlina (154131)

• Canada

25 Sep 15

Thanks for the good advice here and the link.

1 person likes this

advice

link

GreatMartin

@GreatMartin (23672)

• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

2 Sep 15

IF I have no discussions to respond to or 'suggestions' to read I will search for 2-3 different tags but I very seldom use them otherwise. I believe the first tag is the important one.

1 person likes this

Just an Ordinary Owl?

@owlwings (43910)

• Cambridge, England

2 Sep 15

Although tags don't appear in alphabetical order (they used to do so), they appear to be selected in alphabetical order for the "You Might Also Like" sidebar. The "Interesting" selection under "Explore" matches the tags YOU have used most frequently to other discussions with the same tags.

The Horse

@TheHorse (218548)

• Walnut Creek, California

16 Oct 15

I may pay a bit more attention to tags. I use them, but not with that much care. Thanks for the suggestion.

1 person likes this

Morley Hunt

@Morleyhunt (21744)

• Canada

18 Jan 16

I try to add tags to every discussion. I have never added a tag to a response or comment.

1 person likes this

theSids

@thesids (22180)

• Bhubaneswar, India

2 Sep 15

Something I have carried forward into the new edition of MyLot. However, I prefer keeping them at the top of the discussion (I mean, right at the OP and not on my responses). I should be using them on the responses too!

1 person likes this