The tags are really starting to bother me. I know some people are using them the way they were intended, but I really have a problem with the people who are using them to promote their political views. You can't find many books left in the system now by politicians or about politics or religion that haven't been tagged as liberal BS, conservative BS, lies, one person is actually using the word bullsh*t! I think these are a misuse of tags and shouldn't be allowed. If they were only visible to the person using them, fine, but the rest of us shouldn't have to see them.

Book Tags allow you to mark books any way you like. 

• You can tag a book as "great" or "why would anyone read this?"

• You can tag books for yourself if you like: "ordered for aunt martha" or "I hated this author"

Tags are set up to be very personal.  Both positive and negative tags are allowed according to the Help Section on tags.  Since politics and religion are often hotly debated topics,  books on them naturally will invite some very strong opinions and elicit some strong reactions from readers.   The good thing about this system is, you can also 'tag along' and add your own opposing views with your own tags.  There's equal opportunity to balance things out a bit if you wish.    

Examples: 

"evil spew"      "logical and balanced view"

"ignorance"    "enlightening"

"bullsh**   "great read"

I have to agree w/ Bren. I do not think profanity should be allowed for use of public tags.  My son gets on here and searches for books; he's 12! He doesn't need to see that.

Profane tags should be reported.  There are plenty of ways to say a book isn't good without using profanity.

Put a note with a link to the book  under "susupicious item" in the red sticky thread.

I don't have a problem with people tagging books so they are personalized for them--what I have a problem with is everyone else having to look at all those tags! Can we not (please, please!!) have the option of turning them off totally, or at least be able to turn off everyone's tags but our own? I mean, if they are only meaningful to us, why should everyone else have to look at them?

Cheryl

Hear, hear!!  Tags were, perhaps, I good idea in  theory, but aren't working out too well in practice. They really should be kept private.

What about people who tag books as "have" or "do not have"?  It will be useful for them, but why do I need to see it.  I really don't understand how tags benefit us.

I understand people's frustration with the tags.  I think, though, that if we took a few minutes each to apply appropriate tags to our books, then eventually the top 15 will be useful things like "Cozy", "Historical", "5th of Series", etc.  Maybe it will turn out that 15 is too many and R & R will consider cutting it back to 10 or so.  I have seen that suggestion tossed about already.  Or perhaps we'll have the option of making the private, that suggestion has been made as well.  I just think it's too soon to know how useful a tool they might be.  

That being said, I hope that profanity in the tags is not going to be considered acceptable.

Another point I'd like to add is that 12 year olds should not be using this site at all, and at a minimum, should do so with full supervision of an adult over age 18.  This is an adult website with lots of adult-oriented literature and language (bestiality, erotica, commonly accepted adult profanity sprinkled throughout book descriptions and book titles).  Just type in "bullshit" as search term and you'll see them. (Advanced Search - bullshit as keyword - 42 listings - first title "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir.  Book Description terms this author's language "bold, dazzling prose")

The rules are pretty clear that this site is for adults over 18, and minors wanting to trade and use the site should do so through their adult members.   They are good rules designed to avoid the very situation of a 12 yr old stumbling on BS used in tags, book titles, book descriptions, forum discussions, etc.  (Help Center - Club Basics - Who Can Join - Who Can Join PBS - PBS Underage Policy).

But what about adults who are offended by strong adult language?  Personally, I do not like to see BS popping up in tags either, and agree wholeheartedly that resorting to profanity is sometimes (not always) a crude and vulgar way of expressing one's political views and there definitely are better ways to state one's opinions without resorting to profanity.  Having said that, I am also aware that there are adults who have very strong opinions about politics and religion and may not want to tone it down for 12 year olds or may not want to be censored in vocalizing their political views on books they hate.   Remember certain authors who used profanity and vulagrity in their literary works and how they were banned by the status quo (government, post office) in the name of profanity, vulgarity, and strong language?  I try not to venture down that path of wanting to kick out strong political expressions by criticizing it on basis of profanity and vulgarity.  It is a little too close to the stances used to justify book banning for my comfort level.   

If I stumble on someone's BS tags, I view them as their way of "talking to themselves" about books and ideologies  they hate, just like the way I talk to myself when I tag some of my books as "great bedtime story".  Maybe someday R&R can implement the option of turning off tags to protect our sensibilities.  Until then, it's a free and open system for a vocal adult group.

Very well stated Lana! 

Thank you Coz!  Sorry if it was a long post.  I tend to lose myself when I get on a roll   LOL 

Another point I'd like to add is that 12 year olds should not be using this site at all, and at a minimum, should do so with full supervision of an adult over age 18. The rules are pretty clear that this site is for adults over 18, and minors wanting to trade and use the site should do so through their adult members.   They are good rules designed to avoid the very situation of a 12 yr old stumbling on BS used in tags, book titles, book descriptions, forum discussions, etc.  (Help Center - Club Basics - Who Can Join - Who Can Join PBS - PBS Underage Policy).

Lana, I never said my 12yr old has an account! Of course, he uses the searchs through my 'adult member' account, which you clearly state is ok in your post. However, having him search using my account doesn't prevent him from 'stumbling on BS used in tags, etc.'  Trouble is, there is currently no way to prevent anyone from using profanity in their tags on any books, adult oriented or otherwise.

These tags will eventually be much more useful, as I'm under the impression that eventually the tags will be searchable, much the same way a Key Word is searchable.

Heather,

I don't think that "through their adult member" is the same thing as "through their adult member's account" - one indicates that the adult member is doing the searching (or at least that you're searching together!) and one indicates that he's searching on his own.  The second situation is clearly not allowable by PBS rules.

Denise

You know, everyone keeps saying "kids, kids, kids".  What about the adults?  Are we really incapable of expressing ourselves without profanity?  So you "can', say BS, etc, great, terrific, does that mean you *should*??  Really, I find it hard to believe those comments will be taken very seriously, so you aren't actually helping anyone make a decision.

With some regularity there are posts about "Can't these people READ??", since this is a site for readers and we'd like to think that means they can read the Guidelines, RC, ISBNs, etc, etc.  Well, so, can't we think of something a little better to say about a book than BS?!  You hated it?  Terrific, say THAT, or Totally biased view, Author was clueless, Very poorly written, evil spew (thank Lana ;-), whatever.  Just say *something* because, really, BS, and similar comments, amount to nothing.

Edited for clarification

just take five minutes and tag books appropiately. Very soon you won't see those random tags.

Am not totally sure how to use tags.............

you can search by tags - if you click on a tag - all the items with the same tag will appear in a list. (May only currently apply to the tags you make yourself.)

The search feature you mention applies to all tags.  I think what we can't do (yet!) is generate a search of tags from scratch.  We have to find an already-tagged book and then click on the tag name to find other similar books.

I think once people start tagging it could become a very useful feature, especially if you're regularly looking for certain types of books.  I've tagged a few of my books using tags that I'd like to search in the future (eg, Golden Age mystery), and I've found that when you're tagging you can choose a tag that's already been created by someone else.  So hopefully others will begin tagging their Golden Age mysteries, too, and then I can find some great new books.