the secret life of tags

[kaigou]

I use tags for more than just content. Tags will also signal when I'm taking a different approach, and this list might help anyone who's a little confused as to how/what sort of reply a post may warrant. (Not all tags are in here; I didn't see reason to list the ones that are concrete or probably obvious.)

tags for approach:

• analysis is my chocolate cake
  indicates debate, conjecture, and halfway to conclusions but even those subject to change if comments present evidence-supported arguments for alternate conclusions. attempts to minimize personal opinion, or at least to recognize personal biases and adjust for them (if they can't be nullified).


• calling on the internet brain
  questions to folks who are more informed on a topic than I; also used to indicate poll in post


• education mode on
  reportage of interesting facts/information. may be explanations of something I do know well, but can also be of knowledge new to me when I'm the one being educated


• reviews & critiques
  signals a focus on a specific published/broadcast story; most often a mix of analysis and personal perspective.


• thinking at top volume
  personal mid-stream contemplation, tempered with logic/analysis where possible; conclusions not necessarily set in stone but highly likely to be personal all the same. alternate opinions/feelings are welcome but kept at a distance, to keep external influences to a minimum while still processing; argumentative replies are likely to be counter-productive, as the personal aspect makes direct criticism feel like a personal attack. persuasion in such posts are more often directed inwards, that is, talking myself into/out of a position as part of processing.


• voices in my head / taking stock
  deeply personal perspective. usually an attempt to convey weltanshuuang. almost always with nil interest in whether this perspective is "wrong" (or right) by an external standard; focus is on just making sure the perspective is simply understood. the second tag is more likely if the post is also strongly self-analytical as well as reflective. (frequently leads into, or runs parallel to, analytical posts on broader related topics.)

tags for attitude:

• all kinds of wrong / we are quite amused
  humor about something external to me (what someone else said, did, wrote). tags alternate on whim. indicates amusement, although the former tag contains a note of snark.


• rant rannity rant
  just what it says: a full-on rant. my temper takes a long time to hit high heat, but it burns out fast once it does, and a rant gets it all out in one go. some hyperbole may be likely, just for the humor of a well-turned phrase.


• snark if i want to
  a semi-rant, but with a great deal more hyperbole, a heaping of sarcasm, and sometimes a leavening of self-deprecation at the same time.


• tongue say hello to cheek
  a little hyperbole but no snark or sarcasm; mostly amusement at my own ridiculous sense of the world.

tags for content:

• an idee formin in mah heed
  somewhere in the post is a story idea.


• be not sheep be llama
  post contains a meme.


• behold the eyecandy
  post contains embedded video, or more than 80K of images.


• funk sandwich weekends / five hundred miles
  travelling tags, used when out-of-town; the first is congoing reportage and the second is business trip reportage.


• horde o' fuzzy pants / not mr rogers' neighborhood / this is my castle damn it / work is hell
  comments/reports on daily life: animals, neighborhood, renovations, career


• lingua al dente
  reference, discussion, or questions in re non-English language/linguistics


• monochrome nostalgia
  personal or family story (not a recent event)


• quickly! to the internetmobile! / someone else's brilliance / who voted for these guys?
  all three indicate off-journal links, but the second implies obvious emotional reaction and the third indicates links (and/or commentary) are political in nature.


• someone set us up the rough draft
  may be actual rough draft of work in progress, or meta of a work.


• technology's bastard
  usually snark, often self-depracating, reportage on tech stuff; most often making myself look like a complete fool in the relaying. humor is the best defense against an incomprehensible phone menu. also frequently used when discussing web development, site design, or coding questions.

tags for context (or: markers for a facet of the post but not necessarily the primary content)

• at play in the fields of genre / life in the sff genre / the genre of luuuurve / pop goes the animanga
  the first is an all-purpose tag when a post references multiple genres, or just genres for which I don't already have tags. the second tag is (obviously) science fiction & fantasy; the third tag is for romance (including subgenres like M/M, GL, and BL, etc); the fourth tag is for specifically manga, manhwa, manhua, and animated films/television.


• culture smash!
  US-meets-non-US, or west-meets-east, or any other bit of socio-cultural shock, confusion, or contrast.


• half-asleep at the fandom wheel
  references to fanfiction. (also used if the post itself is a fanfic posting.)


• words style & voice
  reference or discussion of literary trend/style.

tags for audience (or: who I figure is most likely to give a hoot about the post's content)

• anti-gluegun federation
  con-going cosplayers, almost always animanga-related.


• league of insane fan-things
  fellow fans, not just in shared fandoms


• oh those crazy minions
  old tag, mostly used to indicate a fandom shared with a chunk of the flist

In general, when a post is analytical in method or content, my objective is to try and do the best analysis given the information I have, so new information in comments may shift any conclusions accordingly. When a post is opinion or personal perspective, I put less weight on whether anyone agrees, and am far more focused on whether I've adequately expressed myself.

That's why disagreeing with or debating an opinion post won't get much more than a shrug unless I get the sense that the disagreement is based on misinterpreting whatever I was trying to express. If so, then I'll edit/rephrase the post to express myself more clearly. Such revision doesn't mean a change in perspective, only a clarification of (and hopefully, an improvement in) how that same perspective is communicated. In other words, if the approach-tag implies opinion, then "you're wrong for thinking/feeling that" more often just shuts down communication, but "do you really mean what I'm reading you to mean" can be an opening for constructive and informative discussions.

Just some things to keep in mind, if you're ever unsure how to gauge a post's unfamiliar tone or my reactions to comments.

Also, if my writing style ever confuses you, this post might help. Or at least, it tries.

Comments

[hokuton_punch]

*chinhands* I deeply admire your excellent tag system. ♥

[kaigou]

Hah, it wasn't like I planned it. Just sort of ended up working out that way!

[maire]

That doesn't make it not admirable.

[annotated_em]

*wishes she could be this systematic about tagging stuff*

[kaigou]

Believe me, I'm not nearly that systematic. I only really notice any systems after they've been put in place, usually unintentionally.

[maire]

I'd love it if you made this a sticky post.