tags

What is a tag, and why are they boosting Larry Kissell?
Tags are key words that are used to organize blog posts into collections based on subject. The tag "NAFTA" should link to stories about the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the tag "Larry Kissell" should link to stories about the Eighth District's next Congressman.

Why are we talking about this?
Better tags will help us win elections and influence legislation.

How?
Many people, particularly undecideds, rely on Google and other search engines to research the candidates (or issues). What they learn from the search may well influence their vote.

Please to see that as part of the spiffying up of the General Assembly's Web site, they've added a set of RSS feeds. There is no reason all state agencies can't follow suit and many plan to. It may not seem like a large leap, but in terms of expanding the civic space online it is.

Adding category tags to posts has been a cumbersome process around here. First someone (like, say, me) had to set up this intricate hierarchical array of terms. Then, a blogger had to scroll through this giant list and ctrl-select the terms she wanted. If the terms she wanted weren't there, she either had to go add them (making posting that blog entry she just wrote a giant pain in the ass) or ask someone with admin privileges to do it for her (again, pain down in the sitter.)

Well no more, dear bloggers! As of today, you can just type in the tags you want when you're creating a new blog post. If they don't exist, they'll be added automagically.