Tags are fantastic, and so essential to how we are notified and see G2G, etc. But, I consistently see people not knowing and understanding how to use Tags, and what they are for.
I think we do a great job letting people know that Tags are there to be used, but I think we need to probably give just a little more detail, to overcome some common problems.
Problem one. People are following Tags, that no one else follows. We need to have a brief description of some sort, that perhaps gives an examples of Tags to follow. SURNAMES are the ideal thing to start by following. That's great, that's easy. Cities aren't usually followed with Tags, but STATE_COUNTRY can be followed, if you want to help with a particular state of interest. I really would hope that single word Tags would be left to SURNAMES only, because following "England" in the hopes of hearing about genealogy hints in England, left me with a long list of people everyday, editing family members, with the Surname "England". Of course, this isn't always so problematic. New_South_Wales, isn't likely to be a surname, but Victoria could be a surname, and if you look down the list of people following Victoria, most think they are following the Australian state, but others think they are following a city in Canada, or Texas. There is a Tag for Victoria_Australia, which probably makes more sense.
Secondly, we see consistently, that new people struggle with understanding that Tags are added to questions for a very good reason, and it is often mentioned to people, that their questions would get better traction, if they had applied the correct Tags.
(I don't think that it is comprehended sometimes, that with some Surnames, you will be overwhelmed with notifications everyday, because the names are so common. In fact, this has helped me to reconsider. Most of us entered Tags in for Surnames, as if that was the way that we would be contacted about any changes in our tree. But this isn't the case at all. We specifically have Surnames on Tags, for projects. If someone is going to add to your tree, you will be notified, because you are either managing or on the trusted list of the people being changed. You don't need to follow the Surname of every Ancestor in your tree.)
Is there a way, that we could highlight the importance of Tags, explain how they are used, give examples of good Tags, and present it in such a way, that new people would grasp this early on.
I haven't even mentioned the importance of Tags for following projects, but then perhaps it is working well, that currently projects advertise on G2G, and in the Weekly Newsletter, and in the G2G thread, people are actively instructed about using a Tag to follow a project. This seems to work well.
Once again, any thoughts from other people. I do believe that this is an issue that could be improved, but do you agree, and or have you any ideas for improving this.
Thank you for your suggestions. (In advance).
