Discussion post: headers and tags.

[fiercelydreamed]

My apologies for the unexpected radio silence. I've been out of town for a bit, and while I had an eye on the comm during my trip, I didn't manage to find time to post, or get it together to recruit some help before I left. I just shot off emails or messages to three of you who'd expressed interest in helping out here, and if you wanted to pitch in but didn't hear from me, please feel free to drop me a note and remind me. 

I'm hoping to get to the actual posting of works within the next few weeks. Based on the input I've gotten so far, I'm thinking we'll likely kick things off with a short prompt-based fest (and maybe a recs post), then open things up to let the community serve as a noticeboard with periodic fests or challenges. Before we get off the ground, though, I want to make sure that we've got a clear set of guidelines and policies based on the input you've all given so far, and I'd like my co-mod(s) to be able to help me craft those.

One of the last major things I think we need to talk about is what kinds of header and tag systems would work best. When you answer, keep in mind what kinds of content you personally would want to be able to find, as well as what kinds of content you personally would want to avoid. As people have had a variety of different views on what constitutes "gen," it seems like the best way is to set the guidelines inclusively but create ways for people to find the works that meet their personal preferences. 


Headers. I'm personally a fan of clean, simple header systems and standard post subject formats; I think they make it easier to navigate separate posts. As a starting place, here are the fields I might include:

(Subject line): Foodfight, with Incidental Accompaniment [Original art by Fiercelydreamed]

Title: Foodfight, with Incidental Accompaniment
Creator: <user name=fiercelydreamed>
Universe: Original
Type of work: Art (pen and ink illustration, digital collage)
Warnings or sensitive content: Mild nudity but no sexual content. 
Summary and notes: The Wenatche Gay Men's Acapella Choir has an annual family summer barbecue. Every year, they purchase six dozen assorted pies, eight packs of balloons, a crate of whipped cream, and an entire flat of paper towels. This is why. Big thanks to K. for the concrit and to M., he knows why. 

Anything I missed that should be there? Any alternate wording? (I'm not wild about "sensitive content.") In case you're wondering, I'm leaning deliberately away from asking for ratings -- I think they're very subjective and can lead people to skip works that might be exactly what they're looking for because they think they won't enjoy something G/R/whatever. I'm hoping that requiring people to warn for and name certain kinds of content will serve the same function, only in a more informative way. However, I'm definitely open to other opinions.


Tags. I think that tags are going to be instrumental in helping people sift through the very broad array of content this community welcomes to find what they're looking for (though I'm also hoping that people will branch out, too!). I plan to establish the tag categories and many of the tags in advance, so that they're there already for creators to use when they go to post. Here are some categories that I think we should have, and examples of the tags they might contain:

Type of work: art, fic, poetry, podcast, vid. Any other types of work to include?
Universe: fandom: full name, original. Does this work? Any problems?
Warnings or sensitive content: This one is challenging me. I'd essentially like there to be tags for the absence of certain kinds of content, so that someone wishing to avoid sexual content, romantic content, or potentially triggering content can do so. It seems like we also need a tag indicating that the work contains no content requiring a warning. Clearly these kinds of content are judged subjectively, and the best we can do is offer guidelines, request that people comply, and have a clear policy regarding how moderators will handle complaints or requests that creator add warnings. So, accepting those limitations as given, what kinds of content might someone want to filter out? How should we phrase these tags? Can you think of a reason you'd want to search for these kinds of content on a community for gen works?
 

Any other tags or tag categories you'd like to see that I didn't include here?


Again, thank you all for your patience with the slow start and for your thoughtful input so far.