4 ms·

I kind of disagree with this. Tags are dual use in AO3, specifically they serve as a way to find specific stories with specific thematic or plot elements, but t

I kind of disagree with this. Tags are dual use in AO3, specifically they serve as a way to find specific stories with specific thematic or plot elements, but they additionally serve as a free expression of the author because its the author who chooses which if any tags they want to use to describe their piece. When an author gets to decide the categories of a work, the categorization also becomes an expression. Consider the flavor of "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat" tag, which serves both as an author's expression of warning the reader and also a category of fanfic that is expected to have transgressive elements. Just tagging, idk, "child endangerment" completely misses the point of "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat" comparatively.

at_a_remove 4y ago
I will paraphrase this to avoid a callout, but "no regenerating limbs those arms are toast sorry QA despises them" is not a useful tag. (This is a mild example, I've seen far worse) First, it is a single-use tag. Tags are for categories, not solo entries. Solo entries explode the tagspace to no good end. Second, that expression belongs in the summation of the work, or just about anywhere else. Tags are for other people to use to find similar works or for readers to look for things based on their interests. Metadata is not for artistic expression, unless you're one of those people who believes that artists ought to be able to choose their own Library of Congress call numbers and such, people who want to include "elephant" in the metadata despite the work having nothing to do with elephants.
- PuppyTailWags 4y ago
  I think you're missing the point that, in AO3 specifically, tags are not solely metadata. Tags are also artistic expression in the context of AO3. That's the thing. AO3 doesn't function like the Library of Congress, and there are no librarians that are independently assigning categories to fanfic. An author can choose to opt out of tags entirely, and people cannot put tags on other people's fanfic even if it's relevant and would benefit that work's findability. The simple mechanism of the author having sole control of what tags they want to apply to the work causes the act of tagging to also serve the purpose of artistic expression-- this results in spontaneous tags going from single-use to culturally known, such as "no beta we die like men", and therefore I think arguably useful but only in the context of AO3.
  - at_a_remove 4y ago
    Then tags in AO3 are just more of the text and not much of a finding aid. You can't have both.
    - PuppyTailWags 4y ago
      Tags end up being an excellent finding aid due to the strength of the community's tag linking, you see. So they serve both purposes.
      - at_a_remove 4y ago
        "no regenerating limbs those arms are toast sorry QA despises them" just isn't useful if I want to locate a particular text, other than "I'm liable to get a Tumblr-stink off of this crap." And your defense of this is really ... internal, as in, this all looks like a lot of in-jokes to an outsider who is new to AO3, or even new to a particular fandom. If someone doesn't know the slang, the in-joke reference, it's still unhelpful.
        PuppyTailWags 4y ago
        > "no regenerating limbs those arms are toast sorry QA despises them" just isn't useful if I want to locate a particular text, other than "I'm liable to get a Tumblr-stink off of this crap." Yeah, but you're not looking for that tag, and that tag wouldn't affect your search in any way. That's the thing. You're approaching tags like they can only only ever be used one way, and yes they can be that, and also other things that don't affect your personal use. So when you search for your specific tag, all synonymous tags will also appear, and all superfluous tags don't affect your search. A one-off tag doesn't affect your ability to search for multi-use tags. EDIT: Additionally, the fact the tag exists has also helpfully indicated to you that this is a fic you probably don't want to read because of the author's cultural hinting through their use of tags. You're proving my point here-- the one-off tag doesn't affect your ability to search for your specific fandom or tropes, but also it allows you to pick flavors of fanfic you want from that search because of your dislike of one-off tags.

at_a_remove 4y ago

I will paraphrase this to avoid a callout, but "no regenerating limbs those arms are toast sorry QA despises them" is not a useful tag. (This is a mild example, I've seen far worse) First, it is a single-use tag. Tags are for categories, not solo entries. Solo entries explode the tagspace to no good end. Second, that expression belongs in the summation of the work, or just about anywhere else. Tags are for other people to use to find similar works or for readers to look for things based on their interests. Metadata is not for artistic expression, unless you're one of those people who believes that artists ought to be able to choose their own Library of Congress call numbers and such, people who want to include "elephant" in the metadata despite the work having nothing to do with elephants.

PuppyTailWags 4y ago
I think you're missing the point that, in AO3 specifically, tags are not solely metadata. Tags are also artistic expression in the context of AO3. That's the thing. AO3 doesn't function like the Library of Congress, and there are no librarians that are independently assigning categories to fanfic. An author can choose to opt out of tags entirely, and people cannot put tags on other people's fanfic even if it's relevant and would benefit that work's findability. The simple mechanism of the author having sole control of what tags they want to apply to the work causes the act of tagging to also serve the purpose of artistic expression-- this results in spontaneous tags going from single-use to culturally known, such as "no beta we die like men", and therefore I think arguably useful but only in the context of AO3.
- at_a_remove 4y ago
  Then tags in AO3 are just more of the text and not much of a finding aid. You can't have both.
  - PuppyTailWags 4y ago
    Tags end up being an excellent finding aid due to the strength of the community's tag linking, you see. So they serve both purposes.
    - at_a_remove 4y ago
      "no regenerating limbs those arms are toast sorry QA despises them" just isn't useful if I want to locate a particular text, other than "I'm liable to get a Tumblr-stink off of this crap." And your defense of this is really ... internal, as in, this all looks like a lot of in-jokes to an outsider who is new to AO3, or even new to a particular fandom. If someone doesn't know the slang, the in-joke reference, it's still unhelpful.
      - PuppyTailWags 4y ago
        > "no regenerating limbs those arms are toast sorry QA despises them" just isn't useful if I want to locate a particular text, other than "I'm liable to get a Tumblr-stink off of this crap." Yeah, but you're not looking for that tag, and that tag wouldn't affect your search in any way. That's the thing. You're approaching tags like they can only only ever be used one way, and yes they can be that, and also other things that don't affect your personal use. So when you search for your specific tag, all synonymous tags will also appear, and all superfluous tags don't affect your search. A one-off tag doesn't affect your ability to search for multi-use tags. EDIT: Additionally, the fact the tag exists has also helpfully indicated to you that this is a fic you probably don't want to read because of the author's cultural hinting through their use of tags. You're proving my point here-- the one-off tag doesn't affect your ability to search for your specific fandom or tropes, but also it allows you to pick flavors of fanfic you want from that search because of your dislike of one-off tags.