BSV Forum - General - The Bloodshedpub

Tag-list

Sep 14 2009 10:09 am   #1Diabola
Ok, you all seemed to like the idea of reader-made tags, now we need to put together a list of tags to be made available for that. The readers will of course still be able to suggest further tags later on, but the more comprehensive the list is right from the start, the better.

This is what I came up with so far:

Vamp!Buffy
Non-Slayer!Buffy
Time Travel
Episode X -- several tags
Spike (Non Canon)
Buffy (Non Canon)
Pining!Buffy
Pining!Spike
Claiming
Mating
Souled!Spike
Human!Spike
Slayer!Spike
Evil!CharX -- several tags
CharX (Bashing) -- several tags
Road Trip
Raped!Buffy
Raped!Spike
Character Death (minor)
Character Death (major)
Back from the Dead
Tortured!Spike
Tortured!Buffy
Depressed!Spike
Depressed!Buffy
Sex under a spell
Chip malfunction
Forced to work together
Children (B/S)
Children (B/other)
Children (other)
Established Relationship
Domesticity
First Time
First Kiss
Running away
CoW trouble

Your suggestions don't have to be in short-form like the ones above, just make sure to get across the general idea behind it, I can always change the phrasing to make it fit in better with the rest.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 14 2009 08:48 pm   #2e33l 
I understood most of the tag titles right away, but I didn't understand: Established Relationship; Children (other); Domesticity: and Spike (non canon) Buffy (non canon).  Also, it looks like some of the tags could apply to far too many stories, like Depressed!Buffy or Pining!Spike. And does Back from the Dead refer only to Buffy, and does it not include the Master? Does it include her getting vamped? What doesn't count in Forced to Work Together? And how is Claiming separate from Mating?

I really like the idea of having tags and I'm not trying to discourage the idea, I just think clarifying as we figure it out is good.
Sep 14 2009 09:14 pm   #3Diabola
Huh, well, I guess there is a bit of one's own interpretation involved there. Maybe I can add short explanations to the more ambigious ones? That is, if more of you have trouble with them.

As for the specific questions: ER would be a fic that starts out with B/S already in a relationship - yes, I've seen those. Children (other) makes sense in contrast to the other Children () tags, they would be fics that have kids in them of which neither Buffy nor Spike are a parent. Domesticity would be fics that deal with the day to day live in a relationship, not just the slaying stuff. CharacterX (non canon) would be fics where they have been given a non canon background without being OOC - for example all those fics written pre-S5 where Spike is over two-hundred years old and was some street-thug before Angelus turned him. "Back from the Dead" means A character came back from the dead. Actually, I wouldn't use it for Buffy's canon resurrection at all, just like a fic involving her death at the end of S5 doesn't really need a "Character Death" warning. BftD is mainly thought to be used in combination with CD - so the reader knows it's not permanent.

And yes, some of those can be used for many fics, but not for all of them, and that's the point. Maybe someone really likes the stories where Buffy feels like crap, the tags will help them sort out which ones offer that. -- Besides, As with CD for the end of S5, I don't think the normal canon levels of Depression or Pining should be what people jump at when giving out tags.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 14 2009 09:40 pm   #4Diabola
Some more:

Threesome/Moresome
Phrophecy
Drunk!CharX
Original Character
Barely known Character -- i.e. Hank Summers
Crossover (AtS)
Crossover (other)

There should also be tags for PWPs, like:

Toys
Blowjob
Anal
... -- give me some more here please

Oh, and something I forgot in my response above: In most fics, mating refers to some kind of mutual claiming. Neither is canon anyway, so I guess those are very much open to interpretation.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 14 2009 10:25 pm   #5goldenusagi
I think there could also be a Prophecy Sex tag.  There are quite a few fics where Buffy and Spike must have sex because of a prophecy, that are different from just a fic involving a Prophecy, or Sex Under A Spell.
Sep 14 2009 11:29 pm   #6Sensei
While not technically "spuffy", I've seen several really nice Spike-Dawn friendship stories on this site, but I've never had a way to go back and locate them to reread.  Would a Spike-Dawn friendship tag be appropriate?

Sep 14 2009 11:38 pm   #7BreathesStory
I'd like to put my vote in for tags from episode titles.  There are a surprising number of fics based/inspired by specific episodes:

Becoming I/II
Halloween
Something Blue
Pangs
Tabula Rasa
The Puppet Show
The Pack
School hard
Lie to Me
Fool For Love
Beer Bad
This Year's Girl/Who Are You
Wrecked
Etc.

These are just a few of the episodes that come to mind as having inspired multiple stories  --and that is one of the main ways I remember a fic.

I also think "alternate dimension,"  "wish-verse," and "post-apocalyptic" would be a good tags.  There's a slew of them as well.

Oh yeah... and perhaps some "bashing" tags for those of us who enjoy or hate a particular bash.
It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself.
Sep 15 2009 12:53 am   #8slaymesoftly
Wow! Going to be a lengthy list. I think we need to be careful that it doesn't get sooo specific that there's a tag for every fic in the archive.  I do like the idea of episode titles - whether a twist on an episode, or using it as a take-off point for a Spuffy fic.(What? No Dead Things???? LOL)
Ditto for Spike-Dawn friendship. (How about a place for non-pairing, ie: friendship fics? They can be Spuffy by implication, but about Buffy or Spike's friendship with other characters.)
Are we going to have multiple tags for fics? A long fic might fit into many categories and be so much more that a "claiming" or "sex under a spell" or "depressed Buffy" or... I'd hate to see good stories overlooked because they had the wrong or not enough tags attached.
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 15 2009 01:56 am   #9BreathesStory
I'm hoping for multiple tags myself.  That way when I'm searching for a half-remembered fic, I can hopefully narrow down the search somewhat. I'm wondering though, if only a limited amount of tags are allowed per fic, how would they be assigned?  If for instance, there only five tags allowed per story and those five spots are filled up with tags that really aren't the most useful... What happens if I think I have a better idea for a tag?  Can new tags ever trump old tags?  And if so, how would that come about?

Because I think we can all agree that the purpose of the tags is to help readers find new fics that they might be interested in and to also help readers navigate the archives in their searches for fondly, although partially ~_^, remembered older fics.  I'm just wondering, what will help facilitate those functions best?  And will there be a sort of "beta" period where we get to try it out and offer our opinions for fine tuning it?  Because something this cool won't be perfect right out of the gate - nothing innovative ever is.
It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself.
Sep 15 2009 02:03 am   #10LisFayte
What about mix and match tags? Such as Vamp! then choose from different characters
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.--- e e cummings

Come to challengespuffy  post Spuffy fic challenges or find something to write about
Sep 15 2009 02:32 am   #11Diabola
*blinks* Of course you can attach multiple tags to a fic. That the whole point, to give the people looking for something to read as much information as possible!

The episode titles are what "Episode X" on my list stands for, I just didn't feel like writing them all down for this. Same with everything else that comes with an X (CharX), the X is a standin.

Mix'n'match would be possible, but I've not yet decided which would be easier script wise, mix'n'mach, or giving you a list with all possible combinations.

Like the "Friendsship" tag idea. Some of the others are great too, will add them to the list. More please :)
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 15 2009 02:45 am   #12goldenusagi
There are lots of Spuffy fics for episodes like The Puppet Show and The Pack?
Sep 15 2009 03:41 am   #13BreathesStory
I can think of three distinct fics that I've read off the top of my head for each of those episodes - just don't ask me what they are called or who wrote them.  ~_^ Hence my desire for episode tags in the searches.  I really need to get myself something like those spreadsheet tables all the organized readers seem to have.  My memory for titles and authors sucks.  But maybe when there are tags it won't matter anymore... here's hopin'.
It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself.
Sep 15 2009 03:50 am   #14Spikez_tart
Could we just let the author assign say five special one word tags? 

Also - Robots

If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Sep 15 2009 04:10 am   #15goldenusagi
I can think of three distinct fics that I've read off the top of my head for each of those episodes

Yeah, but there aren't a ton of fics like there are for Something Blue, School Hard, etc.  I mean, any episode can have a Spuffy twist, but there are a handful of eps that just spawn fic after fic.
Sep 15 2009 05:00 am   #16BreathesStory
But I think the point is:  If I'm looking for a fic based on an episode, even if it's the only fic ever written inspired that episode, and I'm going crazy trying to find it... it sure would be nice if I could find it easily with the episode tag.  I've spent waaay too much time combing archives, trying to find a story just by looking through titles and summaries.
It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself.
Sep 15 2009 10:22 am   #17Diabola
Ok, one: The post where I asked you to discuss the tag feature has been up for over a week, and mostly I just got comments on it being a good idea and a discussion of a possible CC (which was completely off topic, but I let it go anyway because it seemed like no one had much else to say about the tag feature). This post is NOT for discussion of the feature, I just want to collect ideas on what to put on the tag-list.

Two: I KNOW I'm using English here, so why are you discussing whether Episode titles should be on the list, and if yes, which ones? I already explained that the "Episode X" entry in my "what I have so far" tag-list is shorthand for ALL Episode titles. I repeat, all Episode titles will be on the tag-list, you'll be able to assign whichever one you feel is appropriate. Could we please move on to suggestions for the list now?

Robots, good one, will add it.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 15 2009 11:06 am   #18Always_jbj
I'm sure I'll think of more, but for now...

Dimension travel
Shanshu Spike
William
Bondage
Slash
Hurt/comfort



Aim from the heart
Some will love and some will curse you, baby
You can go to war
But only if you have to 


Fanfic ~*~ Artwork ~*~ Live Journal
Sep 15 2009 12:00 pm   #19goldenusagi
I KNOW I'm using English here, so why are you discussing whether Episode titles should be on the list, and if yes, which ones?

Okay.  Sorry.  I guess I misunderstood your tag list.  On the list you put "Episode X -- several tags."   'Several' didn't make me think of 'all episodes.'  

Suggestions:  "Buffy captured by Initiative."  "Amnesia fic."
Sep 17 2009 03:02 am   #20Eowyn315
CharacterX (non canon) would be fics where they have been given a non canon background without being OOC - for example all those fics written pre-S5 where Spike is over two-hundred years old and was some street-thug before Angelus turned him.

Could be just me, but I don't find this intuitive. When I think "non canon," I think of "I ignored canon on purpose," not "It was fine when I wrote it, then Joss came along and screwed me!" I would suggest perhaps "Jossed" as the term instead, since that's usually what's used in fandom to describe that occurrence. That said, it would probably also be helpful to have a "non canon" tag for any fics that don't follow canon on purpose.

Barely known Character -- i.e. Hank Summers

Is this meant for fics that feature the "barely known" character (i.e. Buffy and Spike are in it, but Hank Summers is the main character) or just any fic that has Hank Summers appearing, even if it's only for one scene? I'd also suggest a better name for it than "barely known" - perhaps "rare characters" or "minor characters"?

One other general question - several of the tag suggestions (like time travel, h/c, and crossover) are already options for the author to select when they post the fic, and thus, already searchable. Isn't it redundant to be creating tags for them as well?
Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Sep 17 2009 03:10 am   #21slaymesoftly
*nods* The non-canon threw me at first too.  My first thought was - are we going to be taking all human stuff? lol Then I kind of caught on. But, I agree. Maybe something like "canon up through season II" or something? I don't know. Non-canon is an important distinction to make for some readers, although everything except "between the scenes" stories are non-canon at some point. Maybe find a way to say it is completely non-canon? AU or something?
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 17 2009 03:37 am   #22Spikez_tart
What about:

Character Death, but you won't care?  (Like if you're going to kill off Riley and who gives a damn about that, but you don't want to scare off readers by saying there will be character death. To distinquish from Buffy or Spike or somebody that people really love dying.) 

Magic/Spells
Witches/Warlocks/Covens/Wiccas
Initiative/military/government/army
Body/soul switching
Dimension travel
High School
College
There could be Outfits/There Could be Oil of Some Kind
Bondage Fun
Jealous Vampire Crap
Guest Stars (as one of my reviewers called the new characters)
Shapeshifting/Transformation
Geeks
Evil Adults/Baby Boomers

Does "First Time" mean the first time the character has sex?



If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Sep 17 2009 04:01 am   #23Eowyn315
Magic/Spells

Uh... I think this would end up being about 99% of BtVS fics, lol. That's almost like tagging fics "vampires." Or are you thinking something more specific, like "a spell made them do it" sex (which I think was already covered up there somewhere)?

Does "First Time" mean the first time the character has sex?


Yes, that's what I took it to mean.
Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Sep 17 2009 05:01 am   #24LisFayte
I like fics that have Spike and Xander end up as friends, and I like fics that have a good or semi good Dru, I also like fics where everyone ends up evil, so how about:
Friendship -insert characters
Good -insert characters
Evil- insert characters
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.--- e e cummings

Come to challengespuffy  post Spuffy fic challenges or find something to write about
Sep 17 2009 10:01 am   #25Diabola
I agree that the CharX (non canon) won't work without an explanation. (Jossed) is great for the example I gave, but that still leaves fics with a made up backstory for a character that are neither canon nor jossed. Maybe CharX (made up backstory) would work for that? I.e. I have an unfinished fic around here somewhere, where I took the "Dracula owes Spike money" line and made up a pretty elaborate story surrounding that, that strongly influences the characters behaviors. That backstory doesn't contradict canon, but it isn't canon either; and I'd like a tag that would cover stuff like that. The (Jossed) thing could be a separate tag though, it's such a well known phenomena, I guess it deserves its own tag.

I also agree about the Barely known character thing, that's a kinda stupid term. I didn't want to use "minor character" because that's open to interpretation, some may consider Joyce a minor character, some not; and the tag was meant for characters that just barely avoid being original characters - we know they exist and have some small tidbits of information on them, but anyone who wants them to play a bigger role in their story will pretty much have to make up most or the characterization. Right now it's on my list as "very minor character", think that will work.

And yes, some of the tags seem redundant with regards to the author tags, but if we want people to be able to search by them, they'll have to be. Would suck if they had to select part of the tags they want to search for in one section, and the rest in the other.

"First Time", what Eowyn said. IS that one really that confusing? Could use "First Time Sex" I guess, though I was gonna use sub-sections on the form to make it easier to use, and "First Time" would fall under the Sex or Relationship categories, so that should clear it up.

We already have Evil!CharX and Friendship (CharX/CharY), so good idea about the Good!CharX - I'll restrict the possible characters for this one to ones that are canonically evil though. Could be confusing otherwise.

And while I certainly wouldn't care if you kill off Riley, others might, so "CD (you won't care)" is maybe a bit much. I honestly can't think of a way to split this one up more than the (minor) (main) thing, character names are too spoilery even for me - and that says something. Everything of the "you won't care" or "unliked character" is way to subjective, never mind that the story itself can temporarily change whether you care about a character or not - and that too is subjective. So if you want the CD tag to be more detailed, you'll have to tell me how, I'm stuck. :)
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 18 2009 01:30 am   #26Eowyn315
That backstory doesn't contradict canon, but it isn't canon either; and I'd like a tag that would cover stuff like that.

What if you just did CharX (backstory) as a tag? That way it could apply to both situations - a made up backstory not contradicting canon and a Jossed backstory. You'd be able to tell which type it is by whether or not it also has a Jossed tag.

That would also be helpful because "Jossed" could apply to a lot more than just backstory - for example, if someone wrote a FITB S3 fic where Buffy somehow finds out about Xander's lie in "Becoming" but then got Jossed by "Selfless" when they actually talk about it in canon.
Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Sep 18 2009 09:17 pm   #27Spikez_tart
Magic/Spells  - Uh... I think this would end up being about 99% of BtVS fics,  very true, but I was thinking for stories where magic or a spell is a major component - like Something Blue where the whole episode is driven by the stupid spell Willow performs or the shows where Willow goes on a magic rampage.

Character Death you wont mind - I guess you could say all that in the intro.  It's probably too much for a tag to carry.  I'd just hate to have someone reject a story because of character death that isn't particularly upsetting.  And, Buffy is all about death. 

Not canon and not Jossed - Between the Lines? like the radio program where the stories occur betwen two events in the show and don't change the narrative.

First Time - could be first love, not necessariy first sex.

Barely known - Undeveloped character?


If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Sep 19 2009 08:19 am   #28Abby
Public Sex
"Truth or Dare" or something that relates to that sort of game - I've seen a number of stories where the characters play truth or dare or drinking games or similar things.
Episode Stealer - hijacks an episode and takes it in a totally different direction
Shanshu - would be covered under "prophecy" but people might like stories dealing with this specific subject.
Did someone already say "Fill in the Blanks" or "Between the Lines/Scenes"?
Roll-Playing (sex games)
Round-Robin or Multiple Author
Pre-series
Post-series (BtVS or AtS)
Comics (stories that reference or utilize story lines, characters, etc, from the comics)
Caught! (doing naughty things of course)



Sep 19 2009 12:24 pm   #29BloodyHell
Those tags are great! But the search thingy where we can type them in, is not yet online, or is it?
Out. For. A. Walk...Bitch.

Icon by  xheartrockx
Sep 19 2009 12:47 pm   #30slaymesoftly
Not yet. Dia wants to have the list as comprehensive and non-repetitive as it can be before it goes live. Patience!
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 19 2009 02:42 pm   #31Diabola
@ Eowyn: Thank you! Simply using "backstory" is perfect, I think I was confusing myself there since clearly ANY backstory is going to be either jossed or invented - if it simply repeats what canon already told us it wouldn't be worth mentioning in the tags.

@ Abby: Those are great, thanks.

@ BloodyHell: Nope, neither the search feature nor the form to add tags to fics are up yet. I'd like to have a somewhat comprehensive list first so I don't have to constantly edit it right away. Plus, my inet is completely unreliable at the moment, so I don't want to risk working on the code. If I were to change something and it turns out that it doesn't work, cause problems elsewhere on the site, then we'd be pretty screwed if my inet crapped out right afterward rendering me unable to fix it for what could be hours. The actual changes will come once I either have some free time at work to do it from there, or once my inet provider gets his act together and fixes my DSL.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Sep 19 2009 09:59 pm   #32Abby
I had another thought ...
I don't know if it's possible to code something like this, or if it would be too complicated, but to make it so that authors don't have to enter certain things twice, is there a way to make tags that also appear as categories (season 2, for example, or hurt/comfort and the like) automatically show up as both category and tag?
Sep 20 2009 02:50 am   #33e33l 
Can we search for fics which have both of two tags, or three, or four? If we can only search one tag at a time, leaving the tags and search categories separate makes sense.

But if the point of the tags is to find certain types of fics more easily, how do we make sure every fic isn't loaded down with tags that don't quite fit or don't apply at all? A twenty chapter fic might have one scene of Spike comforting Buffy, but does that make it a hurt/comfort fic? We don't want every fic to be loaded down with tags because readers all thought different pieces were important to the story, so when we do a search, half the fics in the archive show up!
Sep 20 2009 03:38 am   #34Eowyn315
*hoping Dia won't hit me, since this is the tag-list thread and not the tag feature discussion thread*

A twenty chapter fic might have one scene of Spike comforting Buffy, but does that make it a hurt/comfort fic?

Hmm, I would say no, but that seems like a question where the answer is going to vary depending on the fic and the interpretation of the person reading it. It might be helpful to have some sort of explanation of the terms posted (once we decide on all of them), so that readers know what it means to label a fic "hurt/comfort" or whatever, and so that searchers know what to expect when they look for a specific term.

Of course, that's still not going to prevent people from tagging things inappropriately, if their mileage varies. I suppose ultimately it comes down to the author - Dia said that the author will have the option to reject tags, so if they don't feel their fic is hurt/comfort, they can take that tag off.
Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Sep 20 2009 11:53 pm   #35slaymesoftly
I suspect the burden will end up being on the author to check his/her fics to be sure they aren't mislabeled. Gee, that shouldn't take me long, should it? ;)
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 21 2009 01:17 am   #36Cas 
I suspect the burden will end up being on the author to check his/her fics to be sure they aren't mislabeled. Gee, that shouldn't take me long, should it? ;)

Are you suggesting that YOU would have to come up with all these labels for each fic?  If nothing else, ask the authors to do their own fics, and then after a time, begin working on those stories where no one responded.  If you ask your general readers, you'd probably get some help too.  Many hands make work light, just like many of the suggestions above.
Sep 21 2009 01:34 am   #37Eowyn315
Cas, I think Slaymesoftly was referring to the fact that she has a bajillion fics on this archive, so it would take her a long time to check just her own stories. :)

The plan is to have readers do the tagging - which means authors can tag their own fics as well - not for the mods to do it all themselves, God help them.
Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Sep 21 2009 02:18 am   #38slaymesoftly
Thank you, E. :) And yes, I was just whining about having to check all my fics to make sure they weren't tagged in some way that had nothing to actually do with the story.
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 21 2009 03:41 am   #39Spikez_tart
Barely known - sleeper character?

I'm a little uneasy about having readers tag stories.  I sometimes get reviews that don't seem to have any relation to the story I wrote. 
If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Sep 21 2009 03:48 pm   #40Eowyn315
That's why you, as the author, would have the ability to remove any tags you thought were inappropriate.
Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Sep 21 2009 11:02 pm   #41nmcil
I wonder if one way to get success with the tags and goal is to ask the readers how the search for work.  In the end, ease and effective story search for the readers is the goal. 

For instance when I search for works, I never search for details, I always go to the major category first:  Seasons, Series & Sagas, Canon, Alternative Reality, Time Travel and All Human/Fantasy.  Sometimes I want to read work from a particular season, other times I want to read cross-overs or Time Travel - I almost never read all human/fantasy so having not to have them part of my search is a huge convenience.  If writers really want to be more detailed about their descriptions you can always have limited sub-categories under the prime categories.  And of course the adult content and general ratings have always to be included  - I think that writers  know when their works require a special warning notice and they are usually given.  This is one part of the descriptions that are important, especially in a "limited - character and work centeric" site like a Spuffy site. 



” Recent evolutionary models have demonstrated what politicians have long known: the best way to get people to collaborate and to think like a group is to identify an enemy and charge that “they” threaten “us.”

Michael Tomasello is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Sep 22 2009 03:54 am   #42Abby
More tags ideas...

crack!fic or parody
Holiday (X) - Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc
Buffy's Birthday

Sep 22 2009 01:59 pm   #43slaymesoftly
Ah, holidays! excellent idea. All good ideas, actually. :)
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 24 2009 12:31 am   #44Rebcake
All this talk of minor/undeveloped character makes me think that maybe we should just have a tag for all possible significant characters: Dru, Dawn, Trio, Halfrek, etc. Hopefully people wouldn't just list every single person that shows up to borrow a cup of sugar, but limit it to characters that have an extensive role in a particular fic.

Ensemble is a nice one.

Also:

wedding
spanking
illness (natural or super-)
Mystic critters (werewolves, succubi, centaurs)
Mystic objects (jewelry, paintings, suntan oil)

I'll try to think up more.



Sep 24 2009 05:46 am   #45LisFayte
I'm sorry if this is slighty off topic, but I've been thinking about the problem of having hundreds of tags on a story. There are some people who, for whatever reason, can't or don't check on their stories anymore, so they wouldn't be able to moniter their stories, and there are people like Slaymesoftly who have a bajillion stories to go through. you may want do one or more of these things.
Have a moniter with the sole job of monitering the tags
(don't know if this is possible) when a fic gets a certain number of tags, it notifies the mods then you could have the moniter go through them
let the author and or mods tag the fics instead of the readers

I am a reader, not a writer, but I'm not sure I would trust some of the readers to tag them well, trolls could come in and mess with the tags, then there would be a big mess to clean up.
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.--- e e cummings

Come to challengespuffy  post Spuffy fic challenges or find something to write about
Sep 24 2009 12:19 pm   #46slaymesoftly
*nods* Good points, LisFayte.  I think there's going to have to be some sort of limit to the tags - if for no other reason than that older authors who've moved on to other fandoms won't be checking their fics.  As you've pointed out, they could get over whelmed by trolls or just dumb people who want to tag every little incident in the story.

I think the tags need to be limited to major story themes. If we allow them to carry tags for every little kink or scene that struck a reader's fancy, it could get ridiculous.  Besides, knowing every single little thing that is going to occur in a fic could/would spoil the story. As an author, I don't want a reader going in knowing everything that's going to happen before it happens.
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Sep 25 2009 02:55 am   #47Spikez_tart
I thought about the reader tag idea and it would mean the author would have to constantly be monitoring the tags on old stories, which could be a nuisance.  A limit of five to seven tags might be good, too.  That way you'd only be able to get the important points. 

Since one of the reasons for the tag is so the reader can find the story again, maybe you could have an "add to my favorite's list" button at the bottom of each chapter? 
If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Oct 03 2009 09:17 pm   #48Sensei
Wow, can you say "overwhelming"?  I bet you had no idea when you suggested this that it would get so complicated!  And it looks like a major job incorporating it all onto this site.  I still love the idea and hope it will come about, but if you decide you'd rather not try to tackle it, or even just narrow the scope,  I would certainly understand.  Just wanted to say that so you won't feel pressured! :-)