Announcement New Tag System

[mrchibbs]

In an effort to improve the quality of the experience here on RPF, and after discussions with @charlie it has been decided to open up tag use for all users. This forum has become a goldmine of information and the idea is that with this tag system, it will be easier to catalog and and find this information.

As I’m sure many of you have noticed over the weekend, you now have the possibility of adding tags to a thread. This is useful because oftentimes threads take on a life of their own, and the topic of discussion can veer off the original subject.

In this case, anybody can add a new tag to the thread, which can then make it easier for people to find that thread in the future, by searching for that specific tag, with the advanced search function. You cannot remove tags added by another user, but you can add your own. It goes without saying, but it would be frowned upon for someone to add a ridiculous amount of pointless tags, so let’s be intelligent here.

Let’s say for instance there is a thread on zinc, and at the some point the discussion pivots to a related, but separate topic, like progesterone. You can then add “progesterone” as a tag for the thread, or any relevant keyword. It’s good practice for OPs to add a few choice keywords as tags when they start a new thread.

Hopefully this makes RPF a little bit better for all of us.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I like. Thank you. Thank you @charlie

 

[mrchibbs]

I like. Thank you. Thank you @charlie

Same. Without @charlie none of this would be possible.

 

[charlie]

Great work @mrchibbs! Sincerely appreciate your help in helping to make RPF a better place!

 

[yerrag]

It's a nice feature.

It's dependent on members consciously putting a tag on a thread.

And if members do that, it will be helpful.
Let's hope it doesn't turn out to become an unused feature.

Users have to put a tag on every thread of the past and the present as a collective. There is no intelligent software doing this nor a librarian.

And users have to remember to use the advanced search feature and be able to get relevant search results. However, in the beginning it won't be useful because no thread has a tag. So there this lag time before using this feature in search will yield meaningful search results.

Let's hope we can all start assigning tags to new threads, and keep on assigning tags to old threads that we come across.

Good thinking.

I also hope we can discuss how we can further help members get to pertinent useful information without having to swallow and digest entire threads that are basically 90% irrelevant as far as useful search results go.

How do we mine the valuable stuff without expending so much time on it.

I suggested something like a 'like' button, but Charlie says that has. been tried before and it became a mess and became controversial and had to be pulled out.

But right now, for example if I wanted to find helpful user experiences using one of haidut's product threads, I shudder at. the thought because it's got ever-growing pages I don't want to even begin thinking about how to go through that process.

Maybe the best thing is to open up a. new thread asking users their thoughts on that product - again. Well,. good idea except that it will balkanize further a topic into many more threads.

More intelligent design by careful and thoughtful refinement would be key. Nothing is perfect and static, so always hoping we could keep making this site useful in finding solutions shared by posters.

 

[mrchibbs]

Great work @mrchibbs! Sincerely appreciate your help in helping to make RPF a better place!

No problem @charlie , hopefully we can keep improving and getting better as a community. I've personally found this forum to be a great help in my recovery. It's quite therapeutic to have warm, knowledgeable people to interact, and learn with.

 

[mrchibbs]

It's a nice feature.

It's dependent on members consciously putting a tag on a thread.

And if members do that, it will be helpful.
Let's hope it doesn't turn out to become an unused feature.

Users have to put a tag on every thread of the past and the present as a collective. There is no intelligent software doing this nor a librarian.

And users have to remember to use the advanced search feature and be able to get relevant search results. However, in the beginning it won't be useful because no thread has a tag. So there this lag time before using this feature in search will yield meaningful search results.

Let's hope we can all start assigning tags to new threads, and keep on assigning tags to old threads that we come across.

Good thinking.

I also hope we can discuss how we can further help members get to pertinent useful information without having to swallow and digest entire threads that are basically 90% useless alphabet chit-chat.

How do we mine the valuable stuff without expending so much time on it.

I suggested something like a 'like' button, but Charlie says that has. been tried before and it became a mess and became controversial and had to be pulled out.

But right now, for example if I wanted to find helpful user experiences using one of haidut's product threads, I shudder at. the thought because it's got ever-growing pages I don't want to even begin thinking about how to go through that process.

Maybe the best thing is to open up a. new thread asking users their thoughts on that product - again. Well,. good idea except that it will balkanize further a topic into many more threads.

More intelligent design by careful and thoughtful refinement would be key. Nothing is perfect and static, so always hoping we could keep making this site useful in finding solutions shared by posters.

You make some very good points. I don't think tags will become an unused feature, at least not while I am around lol. Tags were used before, they just weren't visible for the general pop so to speak. So many of the main threads, already have tags.

It obviously requires members to actively participate and tag threads. It's a community effort. I've personally already started, and every thread I like I add tags so I can quickly reference the threads. I really do enjoy the tag search function. Maybe it should be easier to access than it is (maybe a visible link on the front page) Who knows?

The thread format is dated, going back to the 90s. The main shortcomings are that people often don't look at the previous pages so the discussion can go around in circles. It would be nice to be able to access the "key information" without going through entire threads, but that is not really possible. At the very least it would require a fundamental change of design. Personally, I've gone through 40+ pages of information on some idealabs products, and I think it's well worth the half hour investment, because you learn a lot.

Maybe threads should be archived after say 2 years? A page limit may be helpful too. For instance the Vitamin A Toxicity thread is insanely long, and unfortunately a lot of the information is lost and it becomes too daunting for most people to go through.

 

[Giraffe]

And users have to remember to use the advanced search feature and be able to get relevant search results. However, in the beginning it won't be useful because no thread has a tag. So there this lag time before using this feature in search will yield meaningful search results.

Actually the majority of threads are tagged. The threads in forum "Ask for Help or Advice" aren't, because they are about the personal situation of a specific user, but in most forums most threads are tagged.

Check the links below:

covid-19 | Ray Peat Forum
pregnenolone | Ray Peat Forum
cortisol | Ray Peat Forum

 

[Tarmander]

Anyway to see which users are adding the tags?

 

[mrchibbs]

Anyway to see which users are adding the tags?

No, why?

 

[mrchibbs]

Another really nice aspect of tags I've just discovered, is that if you just click on a tag, it instantly returns a list of all the forum posts with that specific tag.

Very, very, very convenient. I may be repeating myself but I really want to reiterate how powerful this can be as a referencing/search tool.

 

[yerrag]

You make some very good points. I don't think tags will become an unused feature, at least not while I am around lol. Tags were used before, they just weren't visible for the general pop so to speak. So many of the main threads, already have tags.

It obviously requires members to actively participate and tag threads. It's a community effort. I've personally already started, and every thread I like I add tags so I can quickly reference the threads. I really do enjoy the tag search function. Maybe it should be easier to access than it is (maybe a visible link on the front page) Who knows?

I should try using the tag search feature and see how it works for my search.

The thread format is dated, going back to the 90s. The main shortcomings are that people often don't look at the previous pages so the discussion can go around in circles. It would be nice to be able to access the "key information" without going through entire threads, but that is not really possible. At the very least it would require a fundamental change of design.

What is a forum design that is more modern like that is an improvement over one that uses threads? Could you point to some forums? I've been to Curezone and I get lost there, and vow never to go back. This site is way better.

Personally, I've gone through 40+ pages of information on some idealabs products, and I think it's well worth the half hour investment, because you learn a lot.

Usually, I'd go to the first page only just to get product info and the links. The links are very general though for the most part, and I needed to see user feedback, which I hope succeeding pages would show. But meaningful and useful feedback, from my perspective at least, are just hard to find combing through those pages. Some kind of "alert - this is real good and useful feedback" button would be nice to have.

Actually the majority of threads are tagged. The threads in forum "Ask for Help or Advice" aren't, because they are about the personal situation of a specific user, but in most forums most threads are tagged.

Check the links below:

covid-19 | Ray Peat Forum
pregnenolone | Ray Peat Forum
cortisol | Ray Peat Forum

Thanks. I should use this feature more.

 

[mrchibbs]

What is a forum design that is more modern like that is an improvement over one that uses threads? Could you point to some forums?

No idea. It would probably be some type of ingenious/novel concept like a discord server (not discord specifically, but within that realm of ideas). Maybe some members can chime in if they're more knowledgeable than us. There has to be new and interesting forum designs.

 

[MatheusPN]

Wow, thanks! Charlie and Mr. Chibbs!
It brings more hope and fun to the forum! Now we more responsibility in his use, having more power.
I prefer people to be able to know what tags I added for transparency and know if I have a reasonable method, IDK if a new thread for this purpose would be practical...

We have to be aware of trolls, maybe Charlie already has some defense against it

Good points @yerrag and I also think the likes function is very controversial

 

[mrchibbs]

Wow, thanks! Charlie and Mr. Chibbs!
It brings more hope and fun to the forum! Now we more responsibility in his use, having more power.
I prefer people to be able to know what tags I added for transparency and know if I have a reasonable method, IDK if a new thread for this purpose would be practical...

We have to be aware of trolls, maybe Charlie already has some defense against it

Good points @yerrag and I also think the likes function is very controversial

It does increase the fun of the forum! You're right about trolls, hopefully we can have a way to root them out. I was discussing with Charlie about making these tag privileges available only to members with 50 posts or more or something like that. And of course the OP in any thread can still remove useless tags.

 

[Tarmander]

It does increase the fun of the forum! You're right about trolls, hopefully we can have a way to root them out. I was discussing with Charlie about making these tag privileges available only to members with 50 posts or more or something like that. And of course the OP in any thread can still remove useless tags.

No, why?

There may be unscrupulous people on the internet who would abuse the tag system

 

[mrchibbs]

There may be unscrupulous people on the internet who would abuse the tag system

That's one of my worries at well. At least non-members can't modify tags. Maybe @charlie can find a way to restrict tag use permissions for very recent/non-active members, to prevent bots or trolls from messing about.

 

[mrchibbs]

I'm already noticing many recent threads with appropriate tags. Thank you to everyone who are contributing to making this site better.

 

[mrchibbs]

Just a reminder to add tags to threads if you feel people may benefit from the information discussed.
There's constantly new members, and tags make it easy to search for relevant post in a specific topic, like Alzheimer's

alzheimer's | Ray Peat Forum

The more people tag, the easier it is to find the information later on.

To search tags, just click on the tags icon in the menu at the top of the site.