I am interested in the way tags are and can be used.
Hopefully I have begun a debate - anyone can join in. But PLEASE restrict contributions to Tagging issues
So glad this has come up.
We were able to find the tags in the early days - don’t know how -
There are many of mine that should be made redundant, and then there are the typos that I can’t delete.
Currently I am adding date tags to link my observations for a particular trip and now something else (well many things) has/ve cropped up.
Duplicate posts - probably from The Dark Days - I need some advice - I know how to delete - but still thinking about this…
Dictionary name changes can mean that some posts are lost, but found this way.
May need to add more…
PS all of this is thanks to CV19 shielding.
I tend not to use tags except for markwilson’s one for his plant galls project, plus (from memory) isolation1 for early pandemic observations and the one we were advised to use when a scientific name isn’t in the dictionary.
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Galls may be unique because they are manifestations of very different and unrelated taxa and so impossible to gather into a project by any other means without bringing in non-gall-causers (as far as I know).
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Other than that, I’m not sure there is great value in tags.
Your mention is of Invitation Tags. I use a few of those to gather specific and useful Observations into projects. I leave a comment, (like Mark does for Galls and Plant Diseases), asking for the addition of a unique Tag. My seaweeds Project literally depends on them. https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/project/777036/the-seaweeds-invitation-gallery
Galls are not unique in the way you explained, as both Plant Diseases and Seaweeds are in different and unrelated taxa. One wouldn’t be, if we had Algae as a Group - they could all be collected using the Habitat and Group designations. Or if everyone who adds a seaweed used the Tag Marine Alga.
Of interest is that the Curator can and might add or remove tags by ‘reasonable and reasoned’ request.
We should all be aware of the potential usefulness of the Tags taxonomy1 and absent1 see Taxonomy issues PLEASE
there is GREAT value in tags. If everyone added the tag Beetle to all their beetle observations then we could list ALL the unidentified Beetles in iSpot. We (I) could make a project called iSpot’s unidentified Beetles - which would amount to several hundred lost beetles (I’ve just discovered)
As it is, we can do that with only Invertebrates.
Tags are very powerful but are not properly understood or valued here. There is NO mention of Tagging in Admin pages.
A very temporary project
My mistake. I thought for that sort of purpose one could create a project with Coleoptera - but if the beetle isn’t assigned to Coleoptera, it wouldn’t be picked up.