Readers should be able to give novels tags/vote on tags

[Reisinling]

I think this is the way it works on steam currently- users can create tags, and try to add them to games, the most voted tags are shown.

While it's nice to be able to tag the work as an author (especially at the beginning), at some point I think it's the readers impression of what the novel is that is important. Like, I might think I'm writing a horror story, but if most people reading it think it's a comedy then author is dead etc.

 

[LinXueLian]

I'm... not sure how to feel about the idea of users adding tags to a story they didn't write - at any rate that bit sounds a bit invasive? It'll open doors for trolling where folk might add all sorts of unrelated/hateful tags to the story and searches would be affected.

But I do like the idea of being able to vote on the relevance of the existing tags in a story as a reader. It's useful to the author too, to know which tag the readers are resonating with.

If readers feel a horror story we've written is funny, they can point it out in the comments or reviews.

It's a fifty-fifty for me; neutral here - no votes from me!

... Wow I feel like I'm in a congress Debating and voting

 

[sereminar]

I think perhaps it would be easier just to comment on the story and ask the author to add a tag if it seems appropriate? A lot of stories forget some of the more basic tags like "female lead" but usually authors will respond to requests like that if they are made aware that the tag exists. And if other readers agree they can respond to the comment showing support.

 

[Flashwolf96]

I... can't bring myself to agree to this idea. I once received a 1-star rating for my story and - after asking the one who did it for an explanation - was able to learn that they thought my Overpowered Protagonist tag was "fake" simply because my protagonist was not overpowered at the point they read the story (despite the fact that it's also tagged Weak to Strong). I didn't bother correcting the misunderstanding on the advice of others and because it's currently impossible to remove ratings anyway, but I can only imagine how much further they would have gone if they were allowed to add/vote on tags.

Also, I'm on the possessive side when it comes to my stories, so I would hate the idea of others being able to "edit" it, even if it's just adding tags that I didn't intend to be there. At the very least, I think the author should be notified if someone wants to add a tag, and should be given the choice of whether to add or reject it. But of course that becomes redundant when this sort of exchange could just happen through a comment and reply, as said in the message above.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

I think this is the way it works on steam currently- users can create tags, and try to add them to games, the most voted tags are shown.

While it's nice to be able to tag the work as an author (especially at the beginning), at some point I think it's the readers impression of what the novel is that is important. Like, I might think I'm writing a horror story, but if most people reading it think it's a comedy then author is dead etc.

No. I think there are flaws to that.

If it was authors making their own tags to and adding it the story they're writing, then I can agree with that. Authors know their own work, its up to them to tag it correctly and put it in the correct genre in order for people to notice the type of story they are trying to write. Sometimes the tags available doesn't feel relatable to an author's writing, since its more geared to popular story tropes on here so I can understand if some authors feel limited by currently available tags and want to create their own tags.

However, I don't agree with Users adding tags to a story. If a user doesn't like the story/like the story, they can add tags that are not even related to the story. Users may troll authors in doing this. What if a user dropped it half way or at the beginning? They might not know the full story so how can they tag the story correctly?

 

[Reisinling]

No. I think there are flaws to that.

If it was authors making their own tags to and adding it the story they're writing, then I can agree with that. Authors know their own work, its up to them to tag it correctly and put it in the correct genre in order for people to notice the type of story they are trying to write. Sometimes the tags available doesn't feel relatable to an author's writing, since its more geared to popular story tropes on here so I can understand if some authors feel limited by currently available tags and want to create their own tags.

However, I don't agree with Users adding tags to a story. If a user doesn't like the story/like the story, they can add tags that are not even related to the story. Users may troll authors in doing this. What if a user dropped it half way or at the beginning? They might not know the full story so how can they tag the story correctly?

Tags could be implemented relative to total votes, and/or a notable member of community would have to approve.

The reason why I was suggesting this to happen, is that one of the best ways for newer novels to be discovered is by using tags on a novel they already like. But the most popular authors don't really need tags, so I'm starting to see some of the most popular novels having only few most popular tags (see blue core, tree of aeons), even though more of them would be applicable.

Also, sometimes we as authors are just wrong which tags should apply.

 

[Flashwolf96]

Also, sometimes we as authors are just wrong which tags should apply.

Sometimes, yes, but not often enough that it should be left in the hands of those who aren't even writing the story in the first place.

The concern of popular novels not having more applicable tags is legitimate, but that still doesn't really justify granting others the power to add tags to me. Control of a novel should always be in the hands of the author and the author alone, unless it violates a rule of some kind.

If someone tags their story as horror, but ends up writing more of a comedy, there are many ways readers can make this clear to both the author and other readers who are expecting to read a horror story, but without forcibly altering their tags. Reviews, comments, and profile posts are easy examples. But if the author still refuses to change the tags after that, then can we really say it's anyone's fault but theirs if they miss out on the chance to draw in more people looking for comedy stories?

I also agree with @LinXueLian, in that the relevance of a tag seems much more appropriate to vote on and less invasive to the author, while still being important enough for the author and readers alike to take notice of. There's still the potential issue of trolling, but because of that and the fact that you brought up an interesting point worth considering, I'm also not going to vote either way.

What about you @Reisinling? Do you still favor the idea of voting on the implementation of tags, or just the relevance of tags added by the author?

 

[Reisinling]

Sometimes, yes, but not often enough that it should be left in the hands of those who aren't even writing the story in the first place.

The concern of popular novels not having more applicable tags is legitimate, but that still doesn't really justify granting others the power to add tags to me. Control of a novel should always be in the hands of the author and the author alone, unless it violates a rule of some kind.

If someone tags their story as horror, but ends up writing more of a comedy, there are many ways readers can make this clear to both the author and other readers who are expecting to read a horror story, but without forcibly altering their tags. Reviews, comments, and profile posts are easy examples. But if the author still refuses to change the tags after that, then can we really say it's anyone's fault but theirs if they miss out on the chance to draw in more people looking for comedy stories?

I also agree with @LinXueLian, in that the relevance of a tag seems much more appropriate to vote on and less invasive to the author, while still being important enough for the author and readers alike to take notice of. There's still the potential issue of trolling, but because of that and the fact that you brought up an interesting point worth considering, I'm also not going to vote either way.

What about you @Reisinling? Do you still favor the idea of voting on the implementation of tags, or just the relevance of tags added by the author?

I think that's a nice middle ground, and does indeed seem useful (would encourage authors to remove least voted in tags). If we don't want users to force tags, It would be nice if it also included some form of suggest-a-tag, so that when authors remove least voted tags, they could replace them with something new (especially since there are so many its easy to miss an applicable one)

 

[Ai-chan]

I think this is the way it works on steam currently- users can create tags, and try to add them to games, the most voted tags are shown.

While it's nice to be able to tag the work as an author (especially at the beginning), at some point I think it's the readers impression of what the novel is that is important. Like, I might think I'm writing a horror story, but if most people reading it think it's a comedy then author is dead etc.

Ai-chan disagrees. In most cases, the tags are elements of what the author wants their stories to have.

Following this suggestion, if the author puts the tag 'spaceship', but there's no spaceship yet in the story, the readers can simply remove the tag. And people who do search for a story with 'spaceship' will not see this title. The tags are in other words the author's promise that those elements would have those things in the story.

Similarly, if readers can just decide what tags to add, you will really trouble the author. There are only 25 tags possible in one story. By letting readers add their own tags, authors will keep having to check their novels and remove tags because readers keep adding them. Don't make the act of writing even harder! We don't have managers to manage our pages.

And if we assume that these tags will be a different set of reader tags, you will see a lot of trolling. Yes, there are trolls on the net. They may think they're funny, but they're actually not. This suggestion will call a lot of those trolls and toxic people in droves to this site. They don't care about authors or the story, they just want to fap to their pranks.

This would make it extremely hard for moderators (there are only 4 of them, and they're not paid full-time workers) to do their jobs and will most likely force them to adopt a heavier form of censorship. Why censorship? Because these trolls have no tact, and Tony still need advertising income. If the trolling becomes too much, he will be forced to enact stricter censorship, even despite hating censorship. That's just how things are. In a democracy, censorship is not authoritative, it's reactive. Things happen that force censorship to happen. This feature will force censorship to happen.

What's wrong with just leaving a review instead? If you think that the story doesn't fit the tags, just say something along the lines of, "Lol, the author say this is a horror, but it's actually a weeb romance isekai." or "This story has all the makings of a romance, except the romance itself."

Authors like reviews. Don't change the tags. Leave reviews. If you want people to know what you think about the story, leave reviews. That's way more effective than changing the tags.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

If readers started having a choice to put tags on author stories, then it opens up to trolls and people who are disgruntled about the story just putting whatever tag they want to the story, regardless if the story is actually like that.

It sorta make it sound like the reader is taking control of the story and deciding what it should be labeled as when it should be the author's right and responsibility to tag their story properly.

I still prefer just the authors putting tags to their story.

I agree with the others, leave a review instead so other readers will know and the author can get the hint that their story is not tagged properly.

 

[CadmarLegend]

I think this is the way it works on steam currently- users can create tags, and try to add them to games, the most voted tags are shown.

While it's nice to be able to tag the work as an author (especially at the beginning), at some point I think it's the readers impression of what the novel is that is important. Like, I might think I'm writing a horror story, but if most people reading it think it's a comedy then author is dead etc.

Some trolls would then start doing their things, and you'd have a bad tagging system in place.....