Tagging guidelines
Posts that discuss the activities of several organizations may be tagged with the corresponding tags if the discussion for each organization is substantive, in accordance with the general principle outlined above. For example, the organizations mentioned in Aaron Gertler'sthe monthly EA Organization Updates posts should typically be tagged.
As noted in the FAQ, most EA Wiki entries perform two separate functions: they are articles whose contents describe the topic of the entry, and tags which can be attached to posts related to that topic. This document is focused solely on the second of these functions. That is, it is intended to help contributors decide when an existing tag should be attached to a given article. It is currently in draft form and will be expanded and updated over time.
As noted in the FAQ, most EA Wiki entries perform two separate functions: they are articles whose contents describe the topic of the entry, and tags which can be attached to posts related to that topic. This document is focused solely on the second of these functions. That is, it is intended to help contributors decide when an existing tag should be attached to a given article. It is currently in draft form and will be expanded and updated over time.
If you feel that a tag you would like to add to a post does not currently exist:
Check that the tag you would like to create does not exist under a different name. You can see a list of all tagshere.Once you have confirmed that the tag does not exist, you can propose the taghereand receive feedback on it. We recommend this option for most new tags, since it gives experienced users the chance to make useful suggestions or point out other existing tags that might serve already a similar role to the proposed new tag.You can also create the tag without asking for feedback. This may be best if you think the tag is well-defined and obviously worth adding (e.g. a tag for GiveWell’s newest top charity). However, the tag may be removed if the admins decide that it fails to meet the criteria for a good tag.If you have a question not addressed by these guidelines, or would like to propose a revision or addition, feel free to leave a comment below.
The general tagging principle is that a tag should be added to a post when the postpost, including its comments thread, contains a substantive discussion of the tag's topic. As a very rough heuristic, to count as "substantive" a discussion has to be the primary focus of at least one paragraph or five sentences in the post.
This heuristic also suggests an upper bound forpost or the total number of tags you should add to a given article: an article that is e.g. 10 paragraphs in length should have at most ten tags. (We emphasize that this is an upper bound: the appropriate number of tags could be considerably smaller — and likely will be, unless every paragraph in the post has a different focus.)associated comments.
Note that tags are more useful when someonereaders who followsfollow a tag to your post can easily find where you have written about it. Try to use section headers and summaries to make this easier.the relevant content. For example, this post could be given a huge number of different tags, because the headers allow any reader to quickly skim for the topic of their choice (e.g. “economic growth”).
I think that that principle sounds good to me.
I do think for most posts (with exceptions for things like AMAs) I'd be less likely to add a tag if there's x amount of discussion of the topic in the comments than if there's x amount of discussion of the topic in the post itself. And I think I'd endorse this. Possible rationales include:
- Comments are on average less polished/substantive than posts
- People probably read the posts more often than the comments (though I don't know how strong this effect is, and I'm just guessing)
But I think that this doesn't matter a lot, and for simplicity it may be best to not get into that issue in the main guidelines page, since we're just presenting that as a rough heuristic anyway.
Maybe
The general tagging principle is that a tag should be added to a post when the post, including its comments thread, contains a substantive discussion of the tag's topic. As a very rough heuristic, to count as "substantive" a discussion has to be the primary focus of at least one paragraph or five sentences in the post or the associated comments.
This assumes we want to use the same heuristic for posts and comments, though your final bullet point seems to implicitly question this assumption.
(If we adopt this revision, other parts of the document may also need to be revised. For example, one can no longer infer an upper bound from the heuristic and the length of the post.)
The general tagging principle is that a tag should be added to a post when the post contains a substantive discussion of the tag's topic. As a very rough heuristic, to count as "substantive" a discussion has to be the primary focus of at least one paragraph or five sentences in the post.
I think it'd be good to either:
- note that for things like AMAs specifically this should be interpreted as about whether the comments contain a substantive discussion of the tag's topic
- note more broadly that substantive discussion of a tag's topic in the comments can qualify a post for that tag
- But I'm not sure precisely what we'd want that policy to look like
- Maybe we'd want at least 1 sentence in the post as well as at least 5 sentences altogether across the post + comments?
- But I'm not sure precisely what we'd want that policy to look like
Good to know. If you notice this again, could you please let me know so I can investigate? Thanks.
I'm almost certain there've been times when I used command+f to search something on that homepage, nothing came up, but then when I made the tag or searched for it it turned out it existed. But maybe this just used to be the case and isn't anymore, or something.
The auto-generated alphabetical list in the Wiki homepage (after the list organized thematically) should be exhaustive. Did you notice any missing entries from that list?
The gist of what I meant is just that the parent tag has to meet the same relevance standards as any other tag, and not be included merely because of its logical relation to its child. I didn't mean to suggest—though the passage you quote is worded in a way that seems to make that suggestion—that unless the post covers material specific to the child tag, its parent should not be tagged. I have revised the text to make this clearer (and fixed the link you mentioned in the other comment—thanks).
When a post is tagged with a tag which is a proper subset of another tag, you should add this broaderthe parent tag if, and only ifif, it is also sufficiently relevant. For example,In other words, the parent tag has to meet the same relevance standards as any other tag, and should not be included merely because it stands in a post tagged with neglectedness should also be tagged with importance, tractability and neglectedness framework if it also has sufficient discussion of the ITN framework as such, rather than just of neglectedness specifically.particular logical relation to another tag which does meet those standards.
When a post is tagged with a tag which is a proper subset of another tag, you should add this broader tag only if it is also sufficiently relevant. For example, a post tagged with neglectedness should also be tagged with importance, tractability and neglectedness framework if it also has sufficient discussion of the ITN framework as such, rather than just of neglectedness specifically.
I'm not sure I understand this, or maybe I'm not sure I understand what the problem these sentences are aiming to solve is. What about, for example, a post that's entirely about 1 aspect of AI alignment/governance for which we have a specific tag? I think it should also get the AI alignment/governance tag, even if every paragraph is about that 1 aspect, because it would be good for the post to be findable via those broader tags. It would be a bit odd for more focused posts to be excluded from those broader pages even in cases where they're great, have high karma, etc.?
(But mostly these guidelines look great, as we discussed earlier, and thanks for making them!)
- Check that the tag you would like to create does not exist under a different name. You can see a list of all tags here.
That link goes to the tagging dashboard. I imagine it's meant to go to the Wiki homepage (formerly the tag portal)? But I'm unsure, since I think the Wiki homepage often doesn't list all tags - there've been a few times I've tried to make a tag but then discovered either that one or a related one already existed, could've been found via the search bar, but weren't on the Wiki homepage. (But maybe that's changed now.)
So I think the link should be changed to the Wiki homepage + the phrasing should be something like "You can use the search bar to see if a tag with a given name exists, or see a list of all tags here (except possibly new tags that haven't yet been added there)." But I'm not sure.
- Check that the tag you would like to create does not exist under a different name. You can see a list of all tags here.
- Once you have confirmed that the tag does not exist, you can propose the tag here and receive feedback on it. We recommend this option for most new tags, since it gives experienced users the chance to make useful suggestions or point out other existing tags that might serve already a similar role to the
same role.proposed new tag. - You can also create the tag without asking for feedback. This may be best if you think the tag is well-defined and obviously worth adding (e.g. a tag for GiveWell’s newest top charity). However, the tag may be removed if the admins decide that it fails to meet the criteria for a good tag.
- If you have a question not addressed by these guidelines, or would like to propose a revision or addition, feel free to leave a comment below.
Posts that discuss the activities of several organizations may be tagged with the corresponding tags if the discussion for each organization is substantive, in accordance with the general principle outlined above. For reference,example, the organizations mentioned in Aaron Gertler's monthly EA Organization Updates posts should typically be tagged.
When a post is tagged with a tag which is a proper subset of another tag, you should add this broader tag only if it is also sufficiently relevant. For example, a post tagged with neglectedness should also be tagged with importance, tractability and neglectedness framework if it also has sufficient discussion of the ITN framework as such, rather than just withof neglectedness specifically.
As noted in the FAQ, most EA Wiki entries perform two separate functions: they are articles whose contents describe the topic of the entry, and tags which can be attached to posts related to that topic. This document is focused solely on the second of these functions. That is, it is intended to help contributors decide when an existing tag should be attached to a given article.
General guidelines
The general tagging principle is that a tag should be added to a post when the post contains a substantive discussion of the tag's topic. As a very rough heuristic, to count as "substantive" a discussion has to be the primary focus of at least one paragraph or five sentences in the post.
This heuristic also suggests an upper bound for the total number of tags you should add to a given article: an article that is e.g. 10 paragraphs in length should have at most ten tags. (We emphasize that this is an upper bound: the appropriate number of tags could be considerably smaller — and likely will be, unless every paragraph in the post has a different focus.)
Note that tags are more useful when someone who follows a tag to your post can easily find where you have written about it. Try to use section headers and summaries to make this easier. For example, this post could be given a huge number of different tags, because the headers allow any reader to quickly skim for the topic of their choice (e.g. “economic growth”).
Tags of organizations
Tags of organizations should be used for all posts by the organization and by employees of the organization writing in an official capacity, as well as all posts that include a substantive discussion of that organization or its activities.
Posts that discuss the activities of several organizations may be tagged with the corresponding tags if the discussion for each organization is substantive, in accordance with the general principle outlined above. For reference, the organizations mentioned in Aaron Gertler's monthly EA Organization Updates posts should typically be tagged.
Tags of individuals
Tags of individuals should be used sparingly, typically for books, concepts or organizations closely connected to the person.
Tag subsets
When a post is tagged with a tag which is a proper subset of another tag, you should add this broader tag only if it is also sufficiently relevant. For example, a post tagged with neglectedness should also be tagged with importance, tractability and neglectedness framework if it also has sufficient discussion of the ITN framework as such, rather than just with neglectedness specifically.
Getting started with tagging
If you would like to do some tagging but do not know where to start, take a look at tags flagged with the tag more posts flag....
I vaguely share your feeling that posts "count for more" than comments, though I can't think of a better heuristic than the one I proposed, so for simplicity I just used the text in my previous comment. Feel free to refine it.
I also removed the paragraph referring to the upper bound, and revised the paragraph that followed it, for unrelated reasons. (I think it's something someone added to the Google Doc I circulated, which I didn't initially read very carefully. As it was worded, the paragraph gave readers advice on how to write posts, rather than on how to tag those posts, which should be the focus of the Tagging Guidelines.)