Tagging System

[Dazz]

Ok guys, so while the Icon Renovation project is still rolling, Petie and I want to begin the planning stages of a tag system for the site.

The concept is that users can contribute tags to sheets and games, which will then allow people to find things based on a common theme - not necessarily the sheet or game's name.

We're planning to allow tags on both sheets and games, allowing us to do some pretty interesting things. However, we're trying to think of ways of making this better, and I figure the best method of doing so is getting suggestions from you.

I'll lay out a basic set of bullet points on what we plan:
Confirmed Features:

• Tags can be applied to games & sheets.
  
• Multiple tags can but submit at once to a game or sheet, sheets and games can have multiple tags applied to them.
  
• Anyone can suggest tags for any sheet - not submitter based.
  
• Tags will be displayed under a game and under a sheet - not in the information box at the top.
  
• Tags will be displayed as buttons, allowing users to click them to find other items with the same tags.
  
• On the tag submission page we will include common tags, maybe receive some suggestions from you guys?
  

Possible Features:

• Cross filter two tags.
  
• Filter by a sheet's tag and a game's tag.
  

One concern that I have is that common tags will become completely useless eventually. If somebody check the tag for "Protagonist" they will receive several thousand results. Perhaps we should have some kind of cross filter system if we can work out how to code one?

I'd like to suggest that one of the best uses for games with tags would be to include some core details. Simple things like companies that worked on the game (Nintendo, SEGA, etc. (JUST LIKE OLD TIMES!)) and release years.

We're happy to experiment a bit with the system to see what works and what doesn't, so any suggestions that you think might be a bit bombastic are more than welcome, but be prepared for us to say that it won't work or that it isn't really something we want to include.

One thing that Petie and I are unsure of is how to search for tags. If we include in the search bar at the top, should we list the sheets that match that tag in the page of results (possibly displaying WAY too much content) or should we list tags that match the search result? Would this only really ever result in 1 tag anyway? Should we make a second bar? Make it a link instead to a new page which lists all available tags? Maybe 2 drop downs so you can list only things that have 2 tags, like Pre-Rendered & Nintendo?

This could be a very, very strong system. However I want to make sure that we have everything set out from the start to prevent any irreversible decisions later.

Cheers,
Dazz

[Gors]

if you can attach more than 1 tag, it will still be effective

For example, [PROTAGONIST] and [NINTENDO] would yield Mario, Link, etc.

[Petie]

Yeah, I wouldn't be overly worried about returning thousands of results. If someone really wants to search for just protagonist, so be it - they'll sift through the sheets. Being able to do "and" based searches (and I don't plan to limit it to just two at a time) should make this a very versatile system. Something like "Genesis Sonic Enemies", for instance, could be used to pull up enemies from all Sonic games on the Genesis.

The more I think about this, the more excited I am about getting this system put in. It's just going to be a massive project to get all existing content tagged.

[Dazz]

I believe that, unlike the Icons project, this will be a project that might be slower to process through everything, but everyone is capable of getting involved... and I know 1 particular man who will be VERY eager to get working on this.

[Ton]

and I know 1 particular man who will be VERY eager to get working on this.

Is it me?

I'm so thrilled by this. It's something I've wanted for a long time. I can't wait to help.

My thought was always that something like this could have tags, aside from the title "Bosses," the names of the bosses (Gilgamesh, Cabunkle, Antlion, etc.), alternate translation names for them (Sehkmet, Sacred, etc.), and maybe even broader things like "Minotaur" and "dragon" and "ninja." That way, if people are looking for references for their own custom work, or a specific boss, they can find them.

This could work on a Mario sheet as well. For Mario RPG, we could have "hammer" and "umbrella" to tag those items.
We can even fix things like Peach/Princess Toadstool and Robotnik/Eggman by using both names in the tags.

[TomGuycott]

I actually suggested this a long while back, I'm really excited to hear this is doable!

I don't know how accessible it would be, but I feel like tags could be used to represent parts of a sheet that are otherwise not telegraphed by the title. For example, a sheet for a specific character might have amazing fire effects, so having a tag saying Fire might be good.

Not sure how far we'll be going with this, but it sounds awesome.

[Dazz]

Of course it's you Ton

Also, in regards to what constitutes a "tag" - it's generally just an additional set of phrases to represent what is in the content. For example, if we're looking at, let's say, this sheet of bowser we could use:
King Koopa, Fire, Flame, Shell, Run, Boss, Enemy, Antagonist

Now, the only thing I'd question doing is including alternate translations - I'd love to though. However, we're going to have a billion different translations if we do that. Perhaps while including tags, we should also consider a secondary part in including different regional names? I know for sure that we have a LOT of Japanese traffic coming in lately. I feel like we'd have a significant volume more if we catered to the Japanese language. I'm sure several of them are searching for Kanji, and not finding us as a result.

I'd need to discuss this with Pete as it obviously adds additional work to everything, but I think that if we are ever going to do it, the earlier the better. I know that we have a number of German users who would also perhaps like this feature?
My only concern would be how we implement it. Perhaps we only support certain languages, and just make it so they're listed on the page and work with the search function? I don't believe we can have a trigger to display these names on the site instead of the English counter part when 90% won't include a Spanish translation, for example.

[Ton]

I'm not sure if doing something like "antagonist" will be ultimately helpful. You'll end up with hundreds of sheets when you do the search, and what happens to things like Bowser in Bowser's Inside Story where he's the protagonist?

[Dazz]

You'd label him as protagonist in that game - its for cross tagging. Nintendo & Antagonist, for example. If you want to find Bowser specifically though you'd look for... Bowser?

[Ton]

I suppose. I just figured the tags would just include what is physically in the sheet. For example, Mario World Bowser would have: Bowser, Fire, Fireball, Koopa Clown Car, Clown, Cannonball, Big Steelie, Mechakoopa, Peach, Princess Toadstool (or something to that effect).

I just think people are more inclined to say "oh I need a Bowser sprite" than "Oh, I need a Mario antagonist." People generally know who they're looking for. In theory.
But hey, let's give it a shot. I could be totally wrong. Maybe we can see how people are searching once we implement it and trim the fat, if necessary.

[Dazz]

The thing is that there is absolutely no limit, so why not? You're simply thinking on the level of obvious characters - Mario characters. It's possible that people will want Protagonists from RPGs for the SNES. As a result, best means of finding those would be with tags.

[Ton]

Or the sections they're in. :p

[Shade]

Yesss, extremely excited about this. It'll be really handy when searching around. I'd love to help out in any way I can manage.

[TomGuycott]

I'd be really excited to help with this as well. Because of various reasons with my laptop, doing the icons for the renovation became increasingly impractical and difficult for me, so I'd really love to help out with this if I could.

[puggsoy]

One issue I can think of is, if the tags are just submitted/suggested as text, that could have issues with consistency; typos, spelling differences (e.g. color vs colour), plurals vs singulars, etc. Even if they're moderated, that isn't full-proof.
I think it would be good if we make a large list of tags that we can use, and then people just choose from that. I don't expect the list to be unmanageably gigantic, the tags shouldn't be too specific anyway (since that kinda defeats the point).
Of course, people should also be able to suggest new tags in a sort of thread. If they and/or others can find enough sheets that fit the tag to warrant it it can be added to the list.

Just an idea though, you guys might already have this covered. In any case this would be awesome to have, I'd also be glad to help whenever I have the time (especially for games I submitted that other people might be unsure about).