Tagging and You

[Term]

Hello Everyone!

The staff of Weasyl have heard some of your concerns about the tagging system and what that means for the users, so we are here to provide an introductory guide to the Weasyl tagging system. This guide is for those that have never used a tag system before, or anyone that wants to better understand tagging on Weasyl and how users can help to make the site a more enjoyable experience for the whole community.

WHAT IS TAGGING?

Tagging your work means to input key phrases to define the content you're uploading to the site which allows it to be highlighted when someone performs a search. Tagging is done by typing those phrases into the "Tag Box" when submitting or when viewing submissions. As with other sites, we strive to be as specific as possible with tags to ensure efficient and relevant results when searching for content.

WHY IS TAGGING IMPORTANT?

Tagging helps with searching and filtering content. By accurately tagging your submission, other users can discover your work when they search for relevant terms. Weasyl caters to artists from all walks of life with discriminating tastes in styles, genres, and mediums. As such, there will be certain things that members of our community may want to specifically browse for or eliminate from their searches. Helping people find your work is just as important to the community as it is helping people to find other people's work without being cluttered with irrelevant submissions. This can only happen if we all do our part to tag our work.

HOW DO I TAG MY WORK?

A quick reference guide on how to tag your work in the most effective way possible can be found by going to https://www.weasyl.com/help/tagging. Please review this helpful guide and call upon it for any questions you may have on how to tag your work.

WHAT IF I TAG SOMETHING INCORRECTLY OR AM NOT SURE HOW TO TAG A SUBMISSION I UPLOADED?

That's okay! If something is tagged incorrectly that you as the artist notice, you can edit or add to the tags yourself at any time. If you're unsure of whether or not a tag is relevant to a submission, make sure to leave your tagging settings open for members of the community to help you with relevant terms or refer to the tagging guide for help.

WHAT IF I ONLY USE ONE TAG TO SUBMIT MY WORK?

If a submission is found to not be tagged significantly, staff may contact you about your submission and ask why it wasn't tagged. Staff may also take it upon themselves to tag your submission with what they feel is appropriate, but please do not rely on staff to do your tagging for you. Weasyl is striving to make this a welcome community for all artists and appreciators of art. By not tagging your work effectively with at least three tags, you potentially hurt another user's experience. We all should do our part to ensure that we can all enjoy the site for what we want it to be to us.

WHAT IF I FIND A USER HASN'T TAGGED THEIR WORK CORRECTLY?

If a user hasn't tagged their work and doesn't give the community permission to edit their tags, please report the submission so that staff may handle the issue. Do not attempt to contact the user about the tagging system. Allow staff to contact the user to explain the tagging policies. Please remember, if you are able to edit tags, attempt to add the relevant tags yourself. Only contact staff if you are unable to add or edit the relevant tags.

I OPENED MY SUBMISSIONS UP FOR TAGGING BY THE COMMUNITY BUT SOMEONE IS TAGGING MY WORK INAPPROPRIATELY. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Report the submission or one of the submissions in question and let us know about the issue. Remember you can always edit the tags on your own work, but if this becomes a habitual problem we the staff will take appropriate action to resolve the issue.

WHAT ABOUT JOKE TAGS? ARE THEY OKAY?

The purpose of the tagging system is to help filter work and put to the forefront the most relevant content for any given submission. "Joke Tags" or tags which are statements to viewers or generally aren't descriptive of the work but made to convey humor are almost never relevant as other users will likely not search for your work based on such tags. While not against the rules, we ask that you please consider this before posting "Joke Tags".

If you have any further questions about the tagging system, please feel free to post on our Forums. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the Tagging System!

Thank you!

- The Weasyl Team.

[Teahound]

I'm still not a fan of others - even staff - being able to tag my stuff. Contact me to have me do it, sure, but just doing it for me? Feels a little intrusive. *shrug* Just my $0.02.

[Temrin]

@Teahound a lot of people dont want to be noted about it and just want people to do it. So there are mixed views on this.

Perhaps as a suggestion to mods, being able to choose a notice on your art that will display above the tags section? Like "Dont add any tags please" or "Feel free to add extra tags!" because some people want it, and some people dont. : ) At least then people will know what the artist wants instead of people getting into arguments n stuff about it.

[Teahound]

@Temrin I actually REALLY like that idea. Like a checkbox saying 'allow tags to be added'?

[Temrin]

Well, having more options for it have been suggested before. People have asked for more options like being able to choose if people can add or not, etc. The only current option in the settings is " Prevent other users from removing tags I place on my content " which i don't think is enough, but the thing is, the tag system wont function properly if everyone prevents others from fixing missing tags, etc right? So i dont know which way it should go.

I just meant to have the option to put in a message that will appear above the tag section to dictate what the artist wants to happen. Like i dont mind people adding tags to mine as long as i get notification (which has been suggested as well, to get a notification in your inbox when someone adds a tag). The ability to approve or deny tag additions would be fantastic too! I do hope it get elaborated somehow, just having more options i think will satisfy the masses : )

[Cybercat]

I don't feel comfortable with letting anyone but staff or myself adding tags. There's too much potential for abuse there I think. Maybe a 'suggestion for tags' rather than letting it be automatically added.

[RX-149Dragonite]

I like this

This is nice

[Taw]

I don't feel comfortable with letting anyone but staff or myself adding tags. There's too much potential for abuse there I think. Maybe a 'suggestion for tags' rather than letting it be automatically added.

If people abuse the ability to tag others work we can revoke their tagging permissions. We're definitely looking into ideas for how to improve, and if it hasn't been suggested already (We have a common suggestions list available here: http://forums.weasyl.com/vbulletin/s...ggestions-List ) feel free to bring post it there!

[Swanda]

If people abuse the ability to tag others work we can revoke their tagging permissions. We're definitely looking into ideas for how to improve, and if it hasn't been suggested already (We have a common suggestions list available here: http://forums.weasyl.com/vbulletin/s...ggestions-List ) feel free to bring post it there!

But how will we know that someone is putting the wrong or maybe even mean tags on our art, if we are not noted about tags being added.. Especially if you have 50+ submissions?
I wouldn't have the time to check through all my art all the time for bad tags.

I think that getting a notification about a tag being added would be best, and the ability to deny or accept it form your inbox, would be a nice addition.
Of cause this would mean quite a few tag notifications in the inbox of people who tag poorly, but maybe that would help them understand what tags are needed for different types of art?

Dunno, I love the idea of others being able to add tags for me when I haven't done it right myself, but I would like to have some sort of control over it. As the submitter I like to be in control of what happens on my submissions.

[Eskiworks]

I am also personally not comfortable with other members tagging my images for me. The potential for abuse is HUGE, and it seems like it opens up a moderating nightmare for staff, and for people who are trying to maintain the tags in their gallery. I went ahead and posted it in the common suggestions list per Taw's recommendation! =3