Yes, I’m guilty of tag abuse. When I first started using del.icio.us several years ago I found myself giddy at the prospect of tagging links with any term I could think of which might apply. In addition to my own tags, I would click all the recommended tags as well, to make sure I’d be able to locate the link when needed. Years later, my tag cloud is more of a smog cloud, polluted with unnecessary and redundant tag variations.
In many ways tags eliminate the inherent problems a hierarchical structure poses to personal information management. This allows for quicker access to the stuff you want, but only if you set up some clear tagging policies for yourself. For example, tagging something open-source, opensource, and open_source will lead to confusion, as will using both plural and singular tags. Also, tagging something as programming and coding is redundant and problematic.
The problem is that you will inevitably waste time looking for a link under the singular tag, when you put it under the plural tag. I know what you’re thinking. You will cover your ass by tagging it as both. I tried that and believe me, you will forget here and there, and most likely on that most important link you need immediately. As your bookmark collection grows over the years, you quickly realize that indiscriminate tagging practices are unsustainable.
So, if you’re a recovering tag addict like me, it’s time to get your life and links in order. Thankfully, del.icio.us offers a 2-step program for re-organizing those spurious tags. The first step is to rename all the redundant tags to one standard, and stick to that standard. The second step is to bundle your tags so there’s some level of a loose hierarchy. I really like the fact that the interface shows you the tags which have already been bundled elsewhere, so you can focus on organizing the unbundled tags.
Both of these can be acheived through the Tags section of your settings page.
(https://secure.del.icio.us/settings/[yourdeliciousname]/)
Atomshy tipped me off to another form of tag abuse, of which much more experienced users are guilty. Geobloggers, like Dan Catt, have been “triple-tagging” Flickr photos with essentially name/value pairs for use in API feeds to external applications. Catt uses the following example in another post on his blog:
geotagged
geo:lat=53.1234
geo:long=-2.5678
Of course, you don’t have to be a geoblogger to use triple tagging. For example, if you’re testing out different cameras and want to tag your photos with different lighting conditions, f-stop settings, shutter speeds, etc, then triple-tagging can come in handy. Of course, it pollutes your tag cloud because these tags are not really meant for human consumption. Catt mentions that Flickr has taken steps to alleviate this problem by allowing users to use “Machine Tags”. Hopefully, other social networking sites will follow suit and help keep the “environment” clean without sacrificing progress!