[drupal-devel] what do you call a rose?

[Steve Dondley]

Right, they are both equally useless except one uses real english
words and one doesn't.  But the one that uses real english words is
far preferable because it doesn't cause people's stomach's to tie up
in knots.  Once you explain the term to them once, they much more
likely to go "Oh, I get it."  With folksonomy, they are more likely to
go "What is that again?"

On 10/3/05, Larry Garfield <larry at garfieldtech.com> wrote:
> For what it's worth, as of this post I have no forking idea what "folksonomy"
> means OR what "free tagging" means.  Really, neither name tells me what it
> actually does to the level that I'd be interested in.
>
> My initial gut reactions to both names:
>
> "folksonomy": Um, OK, geeky stupid name for something that has to do with
> people ("folks").  Um, the study of people, maybe?  Whoever came up with this
> name must think that recursive acronyms are cool.  What a nerd.
>
> "free tagging": OK, it involves tagging something freely.  What's tagging?
> HTML tag?  Tag like a label, like on clothing?  Tag like a flag on something?
> I assume they don't mean free beer, and Drupal's already free speech, so they
> must mean "disorganized".  OK, so why the fork would I want to have
> disorganized labels???
>
> So I don't really like either one. :-)  Free tagging feels more descriptive
> while folksonomy is far too "kitch" for me to take seriously, so that's
> better, but I still don't know what we're talking about. :-)
>
> Hopefully that will offer some useful insight.
>
> On Monday 03 October 2005 04:39 pm, Charlie Lowe wrote:
> > Bèr wrote:
> >
> > "So, the original question was: should 'free tagging' rather be called
> > 'folksonomy' because more people will be attracted to that term, or
> > should we choose the more appropriate, yet less known term 'free tagging'."
> >
> > Or do you choose the term that is most usable? This is different than
> > whether a term is more appropriate or more widely used (widely depends
> > on audience, who is using it). So let's complicate things:
> >
> > "Folksonomy" may indeed be more popular in terms of Google hits because
> > of social software types talking about it on the web. Consider that the
> > majority of people that talk about folksonomy on the web may know what
> > "free tagging" means, too.
> >
> > Also, given that someone may not know what either term means, "free
> > tagging" is more likely to suggest what the use of the module is or at
> > least will more quickly make sense. I also suspect that "free tagging"
> > will catch on as a term because it's not as jargon or technical sounding
> > as "folksonomy." "Free tagging" describes the action of doing something.
> > "Folksonomy" is an abstract concept.
> >
> > Charlie
>
> --
> Larry Garfield                  AIM: LOLG42
> larry at garfieldtech.com          ICQ: 6817012
>
> "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of
> exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea,
> which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to
> himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession
> of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas
> Jefferson
>


--
Dondley Communications
http://www.dondleycommunications.com

Communicate or Die: American Labor Unions and the Internet
http://www.communicateordie.com