I don't understand the point of making Tag lines that individuals put on books viewable by everyone.  Most of them say really dumb things or have no meaning to anyone other than the person who put them there.  We already know about the books by the blurb, the reviews and the title.  If we want more we can Google the book or the author.  Personal tags that only are visible to the person who put them there, ok, I can understand.  Someone might want to tag, "Uncle Bob loved this and thinks I might, too" or some such.  But why does everyone else on the list care that someone put a tag like, "cowboys and indians" under a Zane Grey novel, for example? 

Claudia

Done makes sense to me - it's someone's way of keeping track of what they've already read. 

What are they?

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 apply any number of tags to the same book.
• You can view all the items in the database bearing a particular tag by clicking on the hyperlinked tag wherever it appears on a book listing.
• Others can see your tags.
• When you view a book you will see ALL of the tags you have applied to it, as well as the most commonly-applied tags for the whole club.  Less-commonly applied tags will not necessarily show, especially if a book has had many different tags applied to it.

Why do I want to use them?

• You can tag books for yourself if you like: "ordered for aunt martha" or "I hated this author"
• You will see the tag when you view the book on your Bookshelf, in the database etc.
• We will soon have a way to view tags on the site so that you can use them as another way to "search" for books you might be interested in reading.

Will others be able to see my tags?

• Maybe.  Others will see your tag on a book listing if it is one of the top-15 tags applied to the book or if they have also applied that tag to the book; otherwise others will not see your tag.
• You will always see your tags in the tag list on a book, even if you are the only one who has tagged the book that way.

How do I use the Tags?

To add a tag to a book:

• Look for the button on the book listing (in a search result, on your bookshelf, Wish List, TBR PIle, BIR list, Reminder List, etc.)
• Click the button and type in your tag.
  • To apply multiple tags at once, you can type them all in at once, separated by commas. Example: funny book, good beach read! 

To remove a tag you have placed on a book:

• Just click the icon next to that tag name (on the Book Details page, your bookshelf, etc.)
• This will remove YOUR TAG from the book.  If others have tagged the book with that tag, it will NOT remove the tag entirely.
• A tag will disappear from a book only if there are 0 of those tags on the book, OR if there are many tags applied to the book and that tag is not among the most-commonly applied tags.

To see the tags that have been applied to a book:

• Look at the book on your bookshelf, on the Book Details page, etc.  The tags that have been applied will appear below the cover image of the book.
  • The tags with the beside them in a list are YOUR tags.
• Click on a tag to see all of the items in the system that have been tagged with that tag.  Example: If you see a tag "great bedtime book for children!" click that tag where it appears on the book listing to see all the items that have been tagged as great bedtime books for children.

Is there anything else I should know about the Tags?

Just a few things we can think of right now:

• Remember that when you view an item in the database (ie, after you search for a book), you will see many tags that have been applied to that item, by any member. 
  • Those tags may be completely irrelevant to the particular copy of the book YOU will be requesting if you click "Order This Book"
• If tags appear on the books on one of your private lists (eg, your TBR Pile), that does not mean that YOU tagged them. 
  • It means someone else did, if you didn't.
  • That does not mean that someone can see your TBR Pile.  It means that someone saw the book in the database (maybe on their own bookshelf, or on their own TBR Pile, or after doing a Search), and applied that tag.
• You can't remove other people's tags from an item in the database.  You can remove only your OWN tags.

Well someone else could click on that Cowboys and Indians tags and see what other books have that tag. They might find an author they've never heard of and decide to try them. Prompting them to order a book and spend a credit in the system. 

I totally get what LeeAnne is saying, I think that many people forget that tags are able to be seen by everyone.  The example of Cowboy makes sense to me - I can search by that and find new authors.  But, why on earth would I want to search by books that someone else has finished?

Why would I care if someone else is done with a book? Does it mean that book was a chore to read?  ;-)

I know it shouldn't be annoying, but it is.  A review, I could understand.  Something like, "This book has stolen the plot from Peter Pan"... ok, that's good to know.  But "done"?  "J2"?  "RLB"? 

What if we all just started posting our own random tags?  It makes no sense.

Claudia

But, why on earth would I want to search by books that someone else has finished?

You probably wouldn't.  But, it's a personal tag.  That person can click on that tag and instantly pull up a list of all the books they've read.  I have one going for books I've read so far in '08.  I want to keep track, and that's an easy way to do it. 

ETA:  personal tags get pushed to the bottom where you won't even see them....IF enough relevant to everyone tags are listed.  The only way this can happen is if more people start tagging books.

If the personal tags are bothering you that much, start making useful tags to push them to the back. Personally I don't even notice the tags anymore except for the ones I've made. That red x catches my attention but the tag itself usually just blends in with the rest of the info.  I've tagged my RL books. I've found it really helpful while looking at deals in Book Bazaar.  I'll peruse their offer and see that I can get 2 or 3 of my RL books for a credit.  I can't remember them all.  I've started tagging my TBR books too since I can't remember which I own already.  I make a lot of useful tags to help offset my personal ones. 

See that's just it, is that there should be two sets of tags - personal that only you see, and then for the entire PBS. It could be a good system, but because there are personal tags in there, it becomes clutter, in my opinion.

Ok, then, I'm thinking about this.  What if I name books after my pets. 

Bubba = old but sweet, a little overweight.  (14 year old coon hound) -this would be for books that are comfortable

Daisy = wild but loving (a rescue) - this would be for really good, can't-put-it-down reads.

Patsy = Stinker (she's a basset, very loving, but I CANNOT get rid of that smell.) - This is for STINKERS!

Tiger = a very fat cat who sleeps all the time - this is for books that are SLOW

Momma-kitty = bad hip, cross-eyed - this would be for books about damaged people (I seem to read a lot of those)

Frankie = wild cat about town - this would be for things like Stephanie Plum books

Henny-Penny = this is a practical chicken, a good layer - this would be for non-fiction books

Dovey = beautiful small, pearlescent gray banty, dreamy - this would be for books that speculate about reality (I seem to read a lot of these, too.)

It makes about as much sense as the other tags.

Personally I don't even notice the tags anymore except for the ones I've made. That red x catches my attention but the tag itself usually just blends in with the rest of the info. 

That's exactly it, because so many are personal, I don't notice them at all - I just consider them part of the "clutter" about the book (like how long it is)

Isn't it easier to use your "Books I've Read" list?

In theory, probably.  But, when I first joined I posted a whole lot of books that automatically went onto my books I've read list (cause I forgot to tell it not to).  I hadn't actually read all those books and at that point it was too hard to go back and figure out which I did and which I didn't. 

Keep in mind..tags are NOT for you..they are for them (the poster).

It's like putting your books into file folders.

Tags are pretty useless here, even for your own use.  Unless you can sort by your own tag system and search for them, they have very little use (to me).  I've been cataloging my books over at LibraryThing for just this purpose.  If I could do it here, I wouldn't have to use other sites.

The tagging system is still new here. As more and more people add useful tags the personal ones will become less noticeable.  They aren't going to put the tagging system.  So instead of complaining about them, start making useful tags.  Then the personal ones will only show up to the person who made them.  You don't have to come up with new tags. Just retag with the more commone one that's already there. That'll bring that tag up to the forefront. 

I want to know what the tag "done" means.

Maybe they couldn't stand it any more and put it in the oven and baked it until the meat thermometer read "Well Done"?

But if you tagged books that way Claudia it would make PERFECT sense to you!  And that is what part of this is intended for.   If it doesn't make sense to me - then I would skip it.    I know others are of a different opinion, but there are other parts of PBS I don't use.  What is clutter to some is helpful to others.

I'm assuming Done is someone's version of "read".  They're tagging the books they've read so they don't accidentally order it again.  I've bought books that look good at the UBS and then realized I've read it already after I've gotten it home.  

I have NO idea what the tag "DONE" means but there are 7,109 books marked DONE - so it must mean a lot to a lot of people.   I DO wish they'd clue us in.  lol

I was just reading this thread and have a question.  If I start tagging the books I read as "Read in 2008", and someone else uses the same tag for their 2008 books, will I get only my books when I search on that tag?  Or will I get the books of everyone who used that tag? 

You'll get the books everyone tagged. But yours will have a little red X. Like that Done tag that's been used like 7,000 times.  I know 1 person didn't read 7,000 books. Although I supposed it's possible.  I think people mostly use those for when their browsing peoples shelves they can see that they've read that book already.  Handy for people like me who read a lot and have a habit of rebuying books and then realizing they've read it already. 

If you want the "Read in 2008" to be for just your books, then put "Read in 2008 RM" so that only yours will come up. Tho personally, I use all 3 of my initials so that it is less likely to be used by someone else. Robin Masters or such could as easily be doing the same thing to his books, and you two would get confused, but if your middle initial was L, and his was W and you both used all 3, then your books would be distinctly marked as "Read in 2008 RLM" and "Read in 2008 RWM"