17 votes

Suggestion: Show number of times a tag has been used

Roughly knowing how many times each tag has been used would provide users actionable information if they would like to search or filter by tags.

It might improve UX when applying tags, but might have undesirable side effects in user behavior.

I can think of three places this might be implemented, and I don't know which, if any, we want:

When filtering topics by tags:

  • informs users how large or small their scope is
  • this view should probably be kept somewhat up to date

When looking at a topic's tags:

  • informs users where to start searching/filtering
  • passively builds a frame of reference for how tags are used?
  • this view could be allowed to become outdated and stale without issue

When applying tags

  • a more common tag might be less accurate, but it might be more helpful?
  • in the auto fill issue weight by frequency was proposed, which is somewhat similar but more opaque
  • this should probably use pretty recent counts as well

9 comments

  1. Carighan
    Link
    If this can be done without much strain on the backend that'd be great. I agree in particular that the benefits would be: Easier to figure out which tag you might want to filter by. Ensures you...

    If this can be done without much strain on the backend that'd be great.

    I agree in particular that the benefits would be:

    • Easier to figure out which tag you might want to filter by.
    • Ensures you don't run into the "Oh maybe someone else spelled this differently than I did" when applying tags.
    4 votes
  2. skybrian
    Link
    For anyone new who's interested in tags, you might not see them in topic listings unless you turn it on. There's a checkbox on the settings page: "Show topic tags in listing pages (home page,...

    For anyone new who's interested in tags, you might not see them in topic listings unless you turn it on. There's a checkbox on the settings page: "Show topic tags in listing pages (home page, groups, etc.)"

    Also, a workaround for understanding how a tag is used is to search on the tag and see what comes up. For example, to search on "history" the URL format is:

    https://tildes.net/?tag=history

    This will give you a page of results from which you can judge whether it's a good tag to use.

    2 votes
  3. [6]
    Carighan
    Link
    If this can be done without much strain on the backend that'd be great. I agree in particular that the benefits would be: Easier to figure out which tag you might want to filter by. Ensures you...

    If this can be done without much strain on the backend that'd be great.

    I agree in particular that the benefits would be:

    • Easier to figure out which tag you might want to filter by.
    • Ensures you don't run into the "Oh maybe someone else spelled this differently than I did" when applying tags.
    1. [5]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      How did you manage to double post the same comment several hours apart? Not mad, just curious... and somehow a little impressed, too! :P

      How did you manage to double post the same comment several hours apart? Not mad, just curious... and somehow a little impressed, too! :P

      1. [4]
        Carighan
        Link Parent
        Oh! Apologies. I did notice yesterday that when I opened Firefox again I had some unsaved reply still typed in the comment box. Figured I must have forgotten to save it earlier, hit reply, but...

        Oh! Apologies.

        I did notice yesterday that when I opened Firefox again I had some unsaved reply still typed in the comment box. Figured I must have forgotten to save it earlier, hit reply, but then never checked for duplicate.

        1 vote
        1. [3]
          cfabbro
          Link Parent
          No need to apologize. And that's an interesting one. Never heard of that happening before. And now I wonder what caused it. I might try to replicated it just for fun. Was it on Firefox mobile or...

          No need to apologize. And that's an interesting one. Never heard of that happening before. And now I wonder what caused it. I might try to replicated it just for fun. Was it on Firefox mobile or Desktop?

          1. [2]
            Carighan
            Link Parent
            Mobile. I am fairly certain the app reloaded the tab when I re-opened it in the evening, so it might be related to how Firefox Android tries to persist text box content when reloading tabs?

            Mobile. I am fairly certain the app reloaded the tab when I re-opened it in the evening, so it might be related to how Firefox Android tries to persist text box content when reloading tabs?

            1 vote
            1. cfabbro
              Link Parent
              Yeah, I figured it would be that, or something to do with Firefox Sync. I will have to play around with it to see if I can replicate it. :)

              Yeah, I figured it would be that, or something to do with Firefox Sync. I will have to play around with it to see if I can replicate it. :)

              1 vote