#28: Amazon Tags

Best time, I think.

Why did you used to poo poo tags?

Stefan: cause I didn't think they really added much to my life. I never spoke out against them, but never really adopted them until recently.

Isn't the real problem with tags the fact that there is no control over them. They work fine within one Web site because the author will probably consistent tag things the same way. However as soon as you try to roll those tags up across Web sites the whole system breaks down. Your tag for softward might be "software"; mine might be "solutions"; our Chinese colleague might use "软件". On the flip side you and I could have different meanings of "software". So you can't tie things together

i'm a bit puzzled about wordpress.com ... i've signed up and entered email and now i wait like forever for them to get back with password ... can't find any support contacts on site as well ...
is this the normal procedure or do i have to be blogosphere celebrity to get their attention?

sorry to "steal the topic" :)

The "problem" with tags is that their values can mean different things across multiple domains. For example, the tag "Java" could mean the coffee, the island or the programming language. This is a problem if you like to classify all you data into strict hierarchies and relationships. However, this is a difficult task and something that most participants aren't willing to expend effort doing correctly.

The thing with tags is that they'll never be completely concise, unambigous or necessarily correct. The trick is to not worry about that and view them simply as hints for search engines that are far better at spotting patterns and relationships in vast sets of data than a million monkeys will ever be.

I guess the appropriate misquote is:

"Tag 'em all, and let Google sort 'em out"