I'd been having problems for a while with the statement that the tags you see on a book listing will be "ALL of the tags you have applied to it, as well as the most commonly-applied tags for the whole club."  I found that statement ambiguous, and, judging by some posts I have seen, I'm not the only one.  Today, however, I have the definitive answer from The Team (my words, not theirs, from my question):

The ranking used to get the top 15 tags is the use of tags for a specific book, so when two people use the same tag for the same book, it ranks higher than a tag applied to that book by a single person, even though that may be the highest ranked tag in the system.

They also clarified the Help Center explanation.  (Thanks, guys!)

When this feature becomes more used, I could see a listing being cluttered up with tags that say things like "done" and "WL", and no one could see the tag that said "knitting".  Then, a few people come along and decide to tag this book as "knitting", and vóila, the  "knitting" tag is back.  So the moral to this story is that if you find a tag you really like and don't want it get shoved down the popularity list, apply it yourself so that there will be another vote for the tag.

I'm on a personal tag mission.  I try to tag every book I finish with at least 3 tags.  This can be difficult for some books, and easy for others.  But the most important part of this mission is that I always click on the book first to see what tags it already has.  Then in "reinforce" those tags that I think are important.  Sometimes, I don't even have to think about my 3 tags, because there are 7 or 8 that I end up reinforcing.

This is why the tag missions that some one is posting are kinda important.

Kerry

So, in other words, to assume that because the book is already tagged "knitting" doesn't mean I shouldn't tag it "knitting" also. I should actually tag it so that "knitting" for THAT book gets more hits and will come up for THAT BOOK. I hadn't thought of it that way. I've not tagged anybook that already had a public tag such as the sub-genre or character or whatever. But, we should retag them ourselves to reinforce the point value for THAT tag on THAT book. Do I have it right, Linda?

interesting.  I also have NOT been re-tagging if I already see my tag on the book.

Um...I have been completely out of the loop I think because I have never tagged a book. I have no idea how to do it or how to search by tags either.

Yes, everyone has it correct.  If you don't want a tag to drop off that "Top 15 tags" list, then as Kerry says you can "reinforce" it, or as I think of it, you put in your vote for the tags that you think are important.  I have asked R&R to put in a button on each of the tags to make the voting easier, but I don't know whether that will be done.  

Christina:  there is no way yet to search by tags.  The only thing you can do right now is add, remove your own, and click on tags.  If you click on a tag, it will bring up a list of all the other books with the same tag.  If you hover your cursor over a tag, it will show you how many times that tag has been used.  If you click on the Tag button on the side of a book listing, it will bring up a pop-up that will allow you to add a tag.  As you start typing in your tag, it will try to "guess" what you want by bringing up all the current tags with those same first letters.

ETA:  They took three stabs at explaining the "top 15" in the Help Center:

• Others can see your tags--if they are among the 15 most-commonly applied tags to that book listing.
• When you view a book you will see ALL of the tags you have applied to it, as well as the 15 tags that have been most commonly applied to that book.  Less-commonly applied tags will not necessarily show, especially if a book has had many different tags applied to it.
• Others will see your tag on a book listing if it is one of the top-15 tags applied to that listing, or if they have also applied that tag to the book; otherwise others will not see your tag.

Ok, I never would have seen it in that light. Thanks, Linda for clarifying this!

So, it will only be the 'top 15 voted for tags' for each book that shows to everybody. ALL of yours will show always to you, but then the 'top 15 voted for tags' will also show.

I had a total different conception, which I'm not going to share, since it might confuse the issue. This is very clear for me now. If I want the tag to show, I need to reinforce the tag so that it remains in the top 15 for that listing.

Thanks  again, Linda!

I just added a tag to one of my books and saw that someone used the tag to give a review of the book. That's not what it's supposed to be for is it? 

No it isn't. There is a seperate way to give a review for a book.

It is supposed to be for ANYTHING anyone wants to use it for.      That's my understand from what R&R have said.

Thank you for clearing this up!  It's really helpful.

While it really shouldn't be used for a review, generally those should be kept in the proper place, there's technically nothing against the rules. I'm guessing, the best we can do is get 15 tags ahead of that tag, AND get them all reinforced enough times to make sure the "review" tag will never appear! So, maybe we need to start a "tag" reinforcement team!?!?! hahahaha JUST KIDDING!

Oh, and Cozi, in the newletter this month, R&R did specify ONE thing that the tags cannot be used for -- they cannot be used to describe the condition of the book, since that would be like the reviews and follow all copies of the book. :)

Aha, would never have thought of that before...thanks for the info