Forums / Maintenance / Suggest Ideas

Since untagged images seem to be a big problem on the site, it might be a good idea to set it up so that you have to include at least one tag on an image before you can upload it. Not only will that mean that every subsequent image will have a tag, but it will also force users to pay attention to a field that they have up to this point ignored. A few people might be prompted to start thinking about tags and tagging, and so go and place numerous tags instead of just one.

Another benefit is that it will slow down the uploading process, and so impede spamming. It will also mess with adbots.

What do you guys think.

You're correct, but what bugs me even more is tags that are the same as the entry name. And it's the only tag.

It seems like it'd be easy to include a function to delete any tags that match the entry name, thus forcing the poster to go back and add a new one.

I really like this idea, it sounds like it'd be pretty helpful.

Agreed; that would be sub-par. Still, if that tag is being used by images that are not in the entry, then it might still serve a purpose.

And, really, this would be more of a "at least it's better than nothing" solution. It's not going to save the world.

Thing is, it's the only tag. I just think uploaders need to tag more.

Agreed.

Though I also don't think that we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

A downside I always believe present in this idea is that it will lower the amount of fresh images on the site. Forcing users into labor, even the most simplest labor such as asking to add one tag, might demotivate them into uploading fewer images. We don't wish to hurt our image stream.

A second worry is that people will get lazy and add bullshit tags, but because we forced them to add one tag, the image will remain hidden from the untagged radar in the admin area. This will then make it more difficult for us to then find untagged images on the site and properly tag them.

On that note, is there a way to make the untagged images radar accessible for Scrapbookers? That sounds like it'd be useful for everyone wanting to tag images.

Isn't it accessible for you? I believed it was.

What happens when you click that link I posted.

@ Fewer images

This is true. Though if we get an image that, because un-tagged, gets lost in image gallery oblivion, that's almost as bad as not having it at all. Properly tagged images are more valuable because they are more searchable. Also, perhaps we could try testing the change for, say, a week, and then see if it results in a notable drop in image upload rates – at least then we would have some data to go on.

@ Untagged radar

Well, there would still be a whole host of un-tagged images from before the change, and we could also have it include images with only one tag in them.

Snickerway wrote:

It seems like it’d be easy to include a function to delete any tags that match the entry name, thus forcing the poster to go back and add a new

As I explained in this post I think having tags of the entry name, in addition to other useful tags, is good. It makes fining images really easy if the tags are present. Unless we can fix the issue that I adressed in that post, I'm against deleting tags of the entry. If we can do something about images that only have the entry's name though, then I think I'm more for doing something.

RandomMan wrote:

Forcing users into labor, even the most simplest labor such as asking to add one tag, might demotivate them into uploading fewer images. We don’t wish to hurt our image stream.

If they literally can't make the slightest effort to be useful in this regard, I'm fine with them being discouraged away. Honestly, as an image mod, I would prefer it (probably the reason I'm just an image mod.)

RandomMan wrote:

A second worry is that people will get lazy and add bullshit tags, but because we forced them to add one tag, the image will remain hidden from the untagged radar in the admin area.

Didn't we agree that this is one of the hard rules we can enforce? Especially since mods can now see the history of the image (to see who added junk tags) I think we can actually do something to deal with it. I guess this might be something a little difficult to find to begin with.

I'm still of the opinion that users who have received multiple notifications about tagging and still precede to make no effort to tag anything ever should face some real consequences. The don't have the excuse they "just didn't know" and some users have made it clear they simply won't tag because "you can't make me".

Platus wrote:

Another benefit is that it will slow down the uploading process, and so impede spamming. It will also mess with adbots.

Actually Platus, some of the most extensive meta data in images I've seen was from adbots. You know the issue of metadate is in a sad state when uploads about new sinks are easier to find with the search engine than legitimate images uploaded by legitimate users.

Reposting from this thread, seems to be relevant.

This makes me think, and hear me out, maybe it might be better to get rid of the gallery system entirely, and replace it with just tags. All images in whatever gallery they are now would be automatically tagged with the gallery’s entry name, as would subsequent images added to that entry. The gallery page and the section at the bottom of the entry would be basically turned into a glorified search page that displays all images tagged with that entry name, so that way images could be posted in multiple “galleries”. Perhaps in the uploader there could be automatic tag suggestions based on what tends to be put (so e.g. if there’s lots images tagged “reaction face” and also, IDK, “batman”, then “batman” would appear in the list of suggestions and you could click it to automatically add it to your tag list). This would also fit the “trending tags” idea.

I've never understood the argument about how "enforcing tags will stop users from uploading." Considering the type of site we are, we shouldn't want untagged images at all, so if some users would never post if they had to tag, that's just too bad, but it would crop out all of the most problem users. Also, personally, I think forcing two tags would be more beneficial than forcing just one.

It's an interesting idea. And one side effect is that it would make enforcing the "one tag" rule pretty much necessary.

I mean, could you imagine what would happen if we had this many untagged images without the entry system to organize them? It would pretty much break the site.

Also, I like the tag suggestion idea. We should probably implement a system like that regardless of what else we do.

Yeah, my thought is that when you add an image to an entry it'd add the name of that entry to the tags automatically, and you wouldn't be able to remove it. That way there'd be at least some classification, at least as much as we have now.

Additionally, if galleries were replaced with just all images that are tagged with the entry's name, and there were trending tags instead of trending galleries, that'd give people an incentive to tag their images more thoroughly because their uploads would then appear on more galleries and thus get more views. I think part of the problem is expecting people to tag things when they don't personally get much out of it other than "this is what you should be doing".

Mandatory Tagging? Do it.

Also, if there's a way to make it so that you can tag images in a specific Image Gallery, or if you can even place the same tags on multiple images, that would be great.