I had my whole TBR listed under a tag.  The whole list is gone.  I also had a tag of books that I'd either sent, or planned to send to a certain Buddy.   My tags are gone!     Any insights?

obviously several someones didn't see them as appropriate (not understanding that by the rules personal Tags are allowed) or they saw them as redundant and voted to have them removed...

I contacted TPTB and after many hours and several emails mine were returned....I changed all of them...

Can't use the tags.  Check for the info under a thread about it with my name.  Can't remember the thread title now.  something about "all my tags are gone".  I ended up printing out the books I have on WL which were what I had in the tags - where I was in line -  and have to keep check that way.  You could use the notes place on your TBR list or BIR list (the notes are indicated by a yellow diamond that turns red when there is something there).  No one ever sees those.  The tags are now public or PBS domain and personal ones can't be used.  I ignore them when they pop up but it bothers some people and they want them removed.  I'd like it if they'd keep the ones that indicate which books are what place in a series, though.  That can be information that is hard to get sometimes.

Ruth

ETA- Here's the original thread with Len's post about it.  It's on about page 4 now.

New Format, WL, andTags

08-14-08

Why bother having tags, if someone else can decide to get rid of them.    And a courtesy PM that my tags were inappropriate or redundant, woulda been nice. 

Thanks for responding. 

Betsy

Ruth...actually you are incorrect in your statement...there is still the option of using personal tags...the error has been in the mis-education of folks and they have been going around deleting  or voting to delete tags.

Information per the Help Center:

What kind of words should I use as tags?

You can make Personal Tags or Club-Useful tags.

• A Club-Useful tag uses words and phrases that describe the content of the book. See examples of Club-Useful tags below.
  • When coming up with a Useful tag, ask yourself "What words will other members search for to find books like this?"

• A Personal tag has meaning only for the tagger.  See examples of Personal tags.
  • Members can use these, but there is almost always a better way to do what you're trying to accomplish.

• An Inappropriate tag is one that describes a particular copy of a book, or that is scatalogical (these are never appropriate!), or that actually impedes other members' use of the club.  See examples of Inappropriate tags.

    Examples of Useful Tags:

Historical Fiction, Newbery Medal Winner, Nobel prize-winning author, Set in Spain, Catholicism, Baseball History

    Examples of Personal Tags:

pjfb, 11/13 on 0708,  15 36, hmmm, 11/13, etc.

These have meaning only for the tagger.  They will not be useful to the other members of the club.

Done, Wish List, TBR, RL, BIR, JohnRL, MarysTBR, Traded, My TBR, John-bookshelf, Sent, etc.

        Note that many of these tags are redundant.  The On My:  section of search listings and My Lists serve the purpose of most of them. 

    Examples of Inappropriate Tags:

cover has small tear, No Dust Jacket, some yellowed pages, autographed, etc.

       These tags apply do not apply to EVERY copy of the book, only one.  

Do not order

     Put yourself in the shoes of a new member who finds a book she'd like to order bearing this tag!      

Posted for John S. only - all other requests will be canceled!

       Egregious inappropriate use of tags (and of the site)! This tag appears to apply to every copy of the book, so no one will request it. A tag like this will also likely get your account suspended for Terms of Use violations.

If you have created any inappropriate tags, you should delete them. Otherwise, they will start to disappear without warning as other members report them as inappropriate! See below for more information about reporting tags as inappropriate.

Elisabeth, I would send in Feedback as Christy did and ask what, exactly, was inappropriate about your tags.  I admit, I've been pretty vocal about how terrible an idea I think this new tag "feature"  is.  If people were only deleting tags which were *truly* inappropriate (swearing, reviews, book conditions....) it would be one thing, but they aren't, they are removing anything they think is "redundant" or "annoying".   Just because it means nothing to you (generic) doesn't mean that it means nothing! 

I wish everyone whose tags were personal, but allowable, and have disappeared would send in Feedback to the PBS Team. 

personal ones can't be used.

Well, according to the Help Center, yes, they still can be used!  I think the people that get overzealous about this are ignoring that  fact.  The HC does point out that some tags like TBR and BIR are redundant and why, but redundant doesn't equal inappropriate. Also, it does specifically say that cans *can* be used for personal reasons.

Book Tags  (from the HC)  It lists this feature as "improved" on August 2008, but you can't prove it by me. :-p

 I've just turned off the Tag feature and quit doing any tagging.  I would mostly add the book # for series, other names authors use, things like that, but I just don't bother at all anymore. 

LOL, I worked on my message too long (got interupted by the kids)  Christy is absolutely correct...Personal tags *are* allowable and appropriate (well, as long as their wording IS appropriate, lol)...someone just needs to inform the masses that have taken this matter into their own hands.

Okay this is my second try at this.

I am frequently wrong about all sorts of things - especially things related to computers.  But I posted about losing the personal tags on my WL and this is the reply back from Len S. who is on the PBS team:

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           We have added the "On My " line when you're browsing other members' bookshelves.  For those not familiar, the "On My " line lists each of your personal lists that the book you're looking at is already on.

This replaces the need for personal tags of the nature being discussed here.   (Christy H. -- no need to re-tag those books!)   {  Christy H. wrote about the reminder she put on books that she had read as tags that had disappeared}

John S. and Ruth F. --  We did try to implement separate personal and public tags during this past development cycle, as this was the way to keep the most members happy.  Unfortunately, this placed way too heavy a load on the servers ... more or less doubling the amount of server work for any page containing tags.

Ellen F. -- There is a Notes feature (a little yellow diamond next to the Write Review button) on your TBR pile.  You can use this to remind yourself of which books are unpostable.  When you've added a note, the diamond turns red.  If you use Notes for only one specific purpose like unpostables, you'll know easily by looking at the color of thediamond for that book.  Unlike Tags, Notes are private and can only be seen by you.

Please understand that ANY tag that describes the condition of a book will be quickly voted off.  Even "my copy not postable" could easily confuse a new member not familiar with how tags work.

LEN

The PBS Team"

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So it looks to me that most private use of tags won't be appropriate and will at some point be removed.  If this has changed then I'd like to be told about it.  I'm easiy confused with this topic and it's becoming annoying.  Guess I won't be using tags since I printed off my WL and it's full to capacity.  That only leaves the  new changes - yet to come - when the WL and RL are to be combined.  Then I'll definitely be confused and wonder how to do what I want to do!

Ruth

ETA - now what have I done to this post that it goes out of the frame?

ETA(2) - tried to fix it - can't.  sorry about the having to scroll over to read.

Ruthy, Len said tags indicating that the book is on your TBR or BIR is no longer NECESSARY, he did not say they are not ALLOWED.

And if I had to guess what is making your post so wide, I'd guess it to be the lines of commas. Unbreakable lines of characters often do this to sites using the software that PBS does. Could be wrong this time, but I've seen it happen lots of times.

Thank you, Sherry.

On to my next dilemma!

Ruth

So it looks to me that most private use of tags won't be appropriate and will at some point be removed.

Ruthy, I"m sorry this topic has confused and, I suspect, frustrated you.  I know you are not alone on that point!   Persona/Private tags are *not* inappropriate.  As Len said, and Sherry clarified, some of them are unnecessary or, that oft bandied word, redundant.  This *does not* make them "Inappropriate"!   I think this is where a lot of people are either mis-informed or, frankly, taking liberties about what should be removed. 

The HC tells us that personal tags ARE still allowed and they should NOT be being removed!  The HC also tells us what makes a tag inappropriate and "TBR" or "BRbox10"  (just an example, lol) are NOT on the list.  A lot of tags are disappearing that shouldn't be, it's as simple as that.

That's fine.  I understand.  It only takes a few hard knocks, I guess.  But due to the "misunderstanding" on both sides...I'm not putting up tags so they'll disappear again.  I really don't want to annoy anyone.  The one thing I would love to see is information on (particularly) the books in series - and which is which number in the series.  Not all books are easily identified by their number in a series unlike Robert Jordan or others like him.  I really like that kind of information.

I'm also glad to see some return of the "similar" books on a book's page. That is one feature that I used a lot. 

Everyone knock on my head again when it's safe for a computer idiot to come out!  ;D

Ruth