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Red Mass Group is growing at a strong clip and it needs to improve as our readership increases. With the 2010 campaign already underway there will be periodic reviews of certain posting standards for front page stories and side column posts. This post will address the practice of tagging.
Tags are an important part of any blog because they allow for an easy method of tracking topics and in some cases assist in recording which topics are popular at a given time. One of the great advantages we have as a SoapBlox powered blog is the ability for users to freely tag stories. You can tag individuals like "Scott Brown" or "Deval Patrick" and it will add your post to all the other posts with that specific tag.
If you're a wiseass you can insert snarky comments on a story about a tax increase. If you have a specific method of tracking certain topics you write about you can create it and we generally don't care.
The user has the power when it comes to tagging but one of the problems this creates is that blogs eventually end up with many different tags for the same topic. With so many races (five ballot questions, nearly every congressional district, potentially five constitutional offices, and several state legislative seats) ongoing we will have to spend time editing posts and tags in a manner that will make the races easier to follow for our readers.
To make the workload easier on us we're setting some standards for tagging the marque races:
The writing in bold is the tag you should use when it pertains to your story.
2010 Gubernatorial Election (MA) - 2010 Gubernatorial Election (MA)
2010 Special Election (MA) - 2010 Special Election (MA)
2010 Auditor (MA) - Auditor 2010 Election
2010 Treasurer (MA) - Treasurer 2010 Election
2010 Sec. State (MA) - Secretary of State 2010 Election
2010 AG (MA) - Attorney General 2010 Election
2010 Congressional Race (MA-##) - Congressional races
Q# (2010) - Question # - Ballot Questions
2010 ## Blah District Race (Sen) - Senate Seats
2010 ## Blah District Race (Rep) - House seats
When writing names please use the first and last name of the person. DO NOT USE ONLY LAST NAMES because it will result in cluttering of the Hot Tags section and provide us with extra work maintaining the site. There is no need for multiple entries of Charlie Baker AND Baker. Plus, if you just tag Baker it could lead to a confusing reference to the legendary B movie actor Joe Don Baker.
Here are some examples. Again, please use the boldface.
Charlie Baker - Baker, Charlie, Charlie Baker
Christy Mihos - Mihos, Christy, Christy Mihos
Tim Cahill - Cahill, Tim, Cahill
Deval Patrick - Governor Patrick, Deval, Patrick, Useless
Scott Brown - Brown, Scott, Scott Brown
If you have any questions please post a comment below.
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