Conversation started Feb 6, 2014 at 15:45.
Robert Cartaino
Robert Cartaino
Feb 6, 2014 15:45
@Undo This is a common problem and resolution (rejecting a lot of early tag wiki excerpts) on the opening days of a new site...
In the most general case, I would reject a tag excerpt that says something like "[Email] An electronic system used to send messages between users".
Unhelpful, right? That doesn't help explain when and why this tag should be used.
So on Software Recs, there are a lot of "specific products" that are used as tags. I thought about this a long time, but there wasn't really a good "when and why" explanation that would suit these very product-specific tags. Their use is basically self-evident.
But when it comes back to defining terminology (e.g. [html]) or even broader product categories (e.g. [windows]), we're back to the traditional means of writing tag excerpts. They there's no use in saying that [windows] is a proprietary operating system written by Microsoft in Cupertino California. They need to explain why the tag should be used.
Sorry about the confusion, rejections start going down fast as folks learn how to best write these things. But SoftwareRecs have added a few twists and new challenges.
Undo
Undo
@RobertCartaino Ok, so... would [Email] Questions about an electronic system used to send messages between users work?
Or does it need to be more in-depth?
3ventic
3ventic
Excerpt usage seems very different from community to community
On Arqade, most excerpts are "A [Release Year] [Genre], developed by [Developer] for [Platforms]. [Short Description]."
Mostly because the use is usually self-evident
Gilles
Gilles
sadly, it doesn't have a good text editor. They should make a vi plugin for it x) — MadTux 1 hour ago
sigh
why can't all communities be as mature as Unix & Linux? We had a Emacs vs Vim thread and it was all civilized and polite
jokerdino
jokerdino
I want to believe. That's virtually impossible in an emacs vs vim discussion.
Robert Cartaino
Robert Cartaino
@Undo No that wouldn't be instructive about why you would use this tag. You're just defining the "word", not how the tag would be used. Let's use a real tag like [windows].
Saying [windows] for questions about [windows] (isn't any more helpful that saying "for questions about the operating system written by microsoft"
User's aren't asking about "windows", the software. So Certainly there is a use case for having the tag. What is it?
For example... (I don't know this example to be accurate, so I am totally making this up)
[Windows] For software requests needing to be available on the Windows operating system specifically. For version-specific requirments, please specify the [windows-7] or [windows-xp] or [windows-vista] tags.
Undo
Undo
Feb 6, 2014 16:00
@RobertCartaino Ahh... so we want 'meta information' in the tag. That makes more sense now.
Gilles
Gilles
Example: on Unix & Linux, the tag wiki excerpt for [windows] is
> Use this tag for interoperability with Windows (dual boot, virtual machines, mixed networks, porting software, …)
Undo
Undo
So lemme try one - would "[html] For software requests needing to input or output in the HyperText Markup Language." be right?
Robert Cartaino
Robert Cartaino
Yes, essentially that's exactly what wiki excerpts are for. Meta for the tag. Not what the "word" means, but why and how it is being use here (the site).
 
Conversation ended Feb 6, 2014 at 16:01.