Wednesday, January 24, 2007

and... tagged

i just spent an ungodly amount of time individually labeling each of the 369 posts on this blog. i refuse to divulge just how long i spent, but for any of you out there seeking to take on such an endeavor i have a few suggestions:

1) avoid labels that will apply to nearly ALL of your posts (see: "frustration" or DUH, "about me")

2) steer away from those labels that don't tell your reader much of anything (see: "frustration" or "about me")

3) try to have as many labels chosen BEFORE you begin as possible; this will save you a lot of time going back over posts you have tagged to add something new.

4) it's easier, when you have a fairly specific label, to use the "search" function and get a bunch of posts at once. unless of course, you are anal and need to see every single one individually to make sure you haven't forgotten one. (see: "chicago")

5) try not to kick yourself for having posted about things vaguely without using proper names, therefore making it extremely difficult to employ suggestion #4.

6) at the end of this excruciatingly tedious exercise, do your best NOT to be tempted to switch your blog to another provider, where you will likely have to go through this process ALL OVER AGAIN.


good luck. and if you have any suggestions, questions or comments about labels on this blog, please don't hesitate to share. yes, i realize how the label counts make me appear to be a self-centered, whiny bitch. and yes, i realize that i am one.

thank you and good day.

12 comments:

ML said...

I've always been such a coward about labeling my posts. That is, until I started reviewing books and tracking what I read...that was an easy label: Books...now my brain can rest :)

Way to go taking on such a huge job of labeling your posts!

jiji said...

i've been avoiding this for a while now. it's kinda like organizing your closet and who wants to do that? do you have to go thru all your posts in order to label them? i wish they had a book called blogger for dummies.

highcontrast said...

you have a label called 'blog'? shouldn't that count be at 369?
and given the fact that you have blogged about labels, shouldnt you have a label called 'label'?

Unknown said...

hmm.... mine fell neatly into 5,6 categories - but i do have a one track mind... (ok, 5-6 track mind but thats it i guess)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

How about a lable called 'Misc.'?

Jon said...

I possess neither the discipline or the desire to go back through all of my posts, but I may start adding tags to my new ones. I just started with my last post. I had been debating using them for the last couple, but I’m hesitant to change my winning strategies. And yes, this comment is completely senseless.

Bill C said...

cadiz12 = self-centered etc. = scwb = scooby? Nah...

And what are the differences between labels, tags and categories? I have no clue. Regardless, your labels seem reasonably differentiated, your posts nicely distributed. You've got rhythm (dance), you've got music, you've got your man; who could ask for anything more?

Syar said...

I have never loved you more than at this very moment, Cadiz.

I undertook the same labelling challenge early this January and while I have less posts than you, (less than half actually) labelling was still a major pain the ass. But I knew if I didn't do it I'd drive myself crazy and would just procrastinate long enough to add more posts to be labelled.

I agree with all your steps. I even typed out all my labels in advance in a Notepad document, then went through my archived blog posts in a Word Document and applied the labels individually to each dated post so when I got to a computer all I had to do (scoffs violently) was cut and paste or click the boxes and label in one fell swoop.

Didn't quite work out that way, but its done. I kinda regret not blogging about it but I'm so glad you did.

And I too have generis, non-descriptive labels. It embarasses me how many of my posts are labelled Rant and The Blog.

The Stormin Mormon said...

This is one of the many reasons that I have not switched to the new blogger.

omar said...

My two most-used categories are "Omar" and "Nonsense." Fitting.

I'm all about spending ungodly amounts of time on blog edits though, so high-five!

cadiz12 said...

i'm just glad it's done with for now. and while i'm not always one to embrace change with a bear hug (probably why i'm still nocturnal this long after the last day of dungeon duty) i may be sprucing up the place a bit in the months to come. we'll see.

syar, you take the cake for label preparedness. i wish i had thought that far ahead. at least it's done, right? and dem, remember it's not about quantity and cut yourself some slack.

Beenzzz said...

I haven't been labeling. I guess I should start. Or maybe I'll wait.......