NationStates Jolt Archive

The following text was typed by Frisbeeteria as part of his response to the official IC thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=417338) for all Feline Catfish actions: "Also, please stop using the *Tag* posts to mark your interest. Subscribe to the thread using Jolt's Subscribe feature instead. *Tag* is considered spam since the move to Jolt." His comment is in this post (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8826203#post8826203).

While I realise the Subscribe feature is a tool that allows people to follow specific threads they are interested in, I disagree with the decision to consider the act of posting "tag" as spam. Mainly, unless I've specifically asked people not to tag a thread, I consider it a way of letting the thread starter know that you're interested in at least following his or her thread, if not directly participating in it.

I think it would be highly unfortunate if users who otherwise have excellent records (no warnings or such) would get an Official Warning, a forum ban or a deat because they used "tag" too many times for threads they thought were worth reading.

Yes, I realise Fris didn't use his signature to denote it as official Moderator policy, but the tone of the entire message intimates that is has the force of Moderator law.

From The One-Stop Rules Shop (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8784641&postcount=3) sticky:
*Tag*ing: Creating a post whose sole content was *tag* was a useful search tool on the old forums. No more. Now that we have Jolt's robust "thread subscription" feature (it's in your Profile and a menu option on every thread), there is no further need for *tag* posts. Excessive use of Tags is considered spam.
I don't have the link to it, but this ruling was made (IIRC) by Reploid Productions back in July or August of 2004, shortly after we moved to Jolt.

Yes, I realise Fris didn't use his signature to denote it as official Moderator policy, but the tone of the entire message intimates that is has the force of Moderator law.
Actually, that's exactly what I meant when I signed in my official capacity. It is a rule, though I doubt any of us is likely to give out official warning unless someone uses it to spam or harass people. I've seen *tag* used that way on a few occasions, and wanted to be sure that it was included in the Rules sticky accordingly.

~ Fris ~

If I recall right, it's considered spam, but not really anything actionable. If the thread owner requests people not to tag and clutter the thread, then a moderator may be asked to clean out any such tags.

Basically we'd like to discourage tags and encourage use of the subscribe feature, but nobody's going to get official warnings or anything over it.

Here's the thread I was looking for: On tags and bumps: (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=342130) ('Twas Siri and not Reppy)
No need to use 'em any more, folks.

Jolt has full keyword searching, unlike the author-only searching on the old forums, and you can also subscribe to threads. To do this, click on thread tools and then choose 'Subscribe to thread'.

The threads you have subscribed to will appear in a nice tidy list in your account profile, and you can refer to them at any time at your convenience.

So, in short, tags are obsolete, and also somewhat rude, as they spam up threads for no discernible gain. So are bumps. You can easily search for threads and even ensure you never have to search for them. So, try to kick the habit, kids.
There was also this post:
Tags are still useful [since the egosearch is better, rawr], bumps less so but still worthwhile. Neither are banned, either.
GMC's post is a bit more lenient that what I posted earlier, but it doesn't invalidate the statement, "Excessive use of Tags is considered spam." Excessive posting of anything can be considered spam, and will be dealt with accordingly when the need arises.

Thanks for the clarifications. It's nice to know that people can disagree with moderators and do so in a way that it doesn't cause enmity.

I consider excessive bumps to be a lot more rude than tags unless someone doesn't want tags.