NEW: Event Tagging (Use It)

by Joel Hollingsworth on Aug 27, 2008 6:26 AM EDT

Totally stolen from Peter, because, well, motive, opportunity, and all that.

While some of the features of BON 2.0 might be considered 'take it or leave it,' depending on your preferences, one of the new site functionalities we'd really love to see everyone take advantage of is Event Tagging.

When composing a Fan Post or Fan Shot for RTT, authors will always have the option to tag the story using the various mechanisms on the right side of the posting page (shaded in blue). Note that one such mechanism is labeled "Events"; with it, an author can tag his story to a specific game/event in the site database. The beauty of the system is that all content tagged to any given event will appear on that game's event page.

For example, I've now tagged several stories to the Tennessee-UCLA game. By clicking on the "COMPLETE COVERAGE" button at the bottom of the "Upcoming Game" box in the left sidebar of RTT's main page, a reader will be taken to the contest's game page.

Of all the tagging tools available on this site (there are many, they all are wonderful), this is by far the most useful. This site is driven in no small part by community-generated content; if all of you start event tagging when posting an item relating to a specific game, we'll all be the better for it by being able to browse pre-sorted game-relevant content in one tidy page.

And now, in case you struggle with basic drop down menus, some pictures. Hooray.

The only possible confusion might arise from that top right menu, which you'll need to change to 'Upcoming' for a game not yet played. If, however, you're writing on a Monday about the past Saturday's game, you'll leave the menu in the 'Completed' slot and choose the appropriate game before clicking 'add'.

It's that simple. Thanks in advance.

FanPosts are most often submitted by users. The views and opinions expressed in FanPosts do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by the editorial staff of Rocky Top Talk or SB Nation.

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I’ve been using this for a while…

"Florida didnt win their first SEC title until 1991 and now they think they invented football."
-Ron Zook

by rustytanton on Aug 27, 2008 4:18 PM EDT reply actions

You beat me to it then. :)

by David Hooper on Aug 27, 2008 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Hooper, I'm going to go ahead and swallow my pride and admit my ignorance

I’m usually just a blogger during an event and I don’t put out too many fan post(s) or fan shot(s) but I do want to understand how I can help you by streamlining content.

So, I’ll just start w/the basic question. What is Event Tagging?

Thanks,
Lou

"Phenomenological ontology? The Dude abides."

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Sep 2, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Ok, I'll see if I can do a text walkthrough.

(Once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it’s pretty easy to use, so don’t worry.)

If you look at this post, I’ll use it as a reference. (It’ll open in a new window so you can easily flip back and forth.)

- Between the post itself and the comment thread, there is a section titled “READ RELATED”. That’s where all the different tags go. Tags are like search terms on Google; if you click on a tag word, it’ll bring up a list of posts from all of the SBNation sites that have that tag word associated with it. (Try clicking on the word “sbn 2.0” in the READ RELATED section of this very post and you’ll see what I mean.)

- Event tags are the same thing, with one twist. The SBNation servers keep track of all the sporting events across the country. You can use a specific event as a tag. In the post I link to above, the Tennessee-UCLA game is tagged. You’ll see a little calendar symbol next to it to tell you that’s an event tag. If you click that, it brings up all posts tagged with that game.

- Again, tags are like Google searching the SBNation sites for a specific term, but you don’t have to type the term into a search bar; just click it and go.

Ok, now here’s one for you to try. Start a new FanPost. (You don’t have to actually submit it if you don’t want, so don’t worry. We’ll just go through the motions.)

- On the right hand side of the FanPost page, you’ll notice a button title “Attach Event”. It should look like what Joel highlighted in Picture (1) above. Click it.

- Find a sporting event by searching with the dropdown menus at the top of the popup window. Pick any event you want and click “add”.

- There you go. If you actually submit the FanPost, that’ll include your Post in the search everytime somebody’s looking for something on whatever event you selected.

Happy to help out. Anything else?

by David Hooper on Sep 2, 2008 7:20 PM EDT up reply actions