Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Label Conundrum


Does anyone else have difficulty deciding what label to use to categorize a post?

It’s like this for me: I write what I consider (might) be a humorous post BUT then I start thinking. What if no one finds it amusing? Should I (dare I?) label it as humorous?

Judging from the labels on my sidebar, I probably cop out 9 times out of 10. Take a gander at the number of posts under “mundane” or “miscellaneous.”

As for the # of posts categorized as personal? Dear God. That is so, “IT’S ALL ABOUT ME.” I’m embarrassed.

And does anyone ever check those sidebar labels? Perhaps I should do away with it altogether.

I think way too much. About every damn little thing.

That’s all I have for today.

And I’m categorizing this post as “mundane.”


FYI. I just went to Google images to find an picture to go along with this mundane post. Used the search words “post labels.” Holy sh*t. What have I missed about the meaning of those words??? What new naiveté has struck me now? (Not that I found it particularly onerous checking out some of those images…)

27 comments:

PG said...

I don't bother with labels on my regular blog. But I do use them and find them to be helpful on my food blog.

oreneta said...

I used labels for a while, but the system with blogger bugged me, and it was just one more thing to do...meh. Now I have to go and look at "post labels". You've peeked (hee hee) my curiosity.

oreneta said...

Hmmm, that was fine....but what it has to do with post labels I'll never know.

Anonymous said...

I don't use labels. Are they more for the blogger or for the reader anyway? Do you use them to keep yourself organized, or in case readers want to read certain categories?

Mrs. G. said...

It's funny you should bring this up, because last night I was noticing that I have close to 100 labels. It didn't occur to me that there was supposed to be any kind of theme-I'm going to abandon them because, once again, I didn't read the rules.

Anonymous said...

No labels for me...too much work.

Sornie said...

I was vehemently against labels until last August but then I began taking notice of tag clouds and just how cool they look even if nobody notices them. Maybe someday my blog willb e sportin' a tag cloud which would actually make use of the tags I've been using.

Nomad said...

OMG...

I can 't even imagine...

Wait I'll be right back 'm gonna google it too...

*pause*

Kay now I am really mystified...got nothing odd...

??

Charlotta-love said...

it's your blog...be as personal as you want. :o)

The hardest part for me is the Title!

Anonymous said...

It is your blog, so really, do whatever the hell you want.

But if you're agonizing over labels/categories...can't you make up your own? That's what I have done for some of my categories.

And personally, I would never use a label that was called 'It's All About Me'. My 'Slice Of Life' is good enough for my personal tidbits. Because, really, in the end, isn't a blog by me, 'all about me'?

Beth said...

psychgrad:
Labels on a food blog make perfect sense - and wouldn't be hard to figure out.

oreneta:
Glad you enjoyed the images! Also glad you have no idea what their connection is to the words "post labels" either...

rebecca:
Good question(s). I never thought they might be for me. Still wondering if readers actually use them.

mrs. g.:
Rules are so highly over-rated...

trish:
For me - too much thinking!

sornie:
Now I have to figure out what a tag cloud is. (I'll be watching for them on your blog.)

nomad:
I checked again (no trouble at all...).
Google.com - images - post labels.
I wouldn't call what Oreneta and I see "odd" - buff male bodies!

charlotta-love:
Titles - yes, yet another conundrum.

patricia:
I do make up my own labels! That's probably half my problem.
And you're right - a blog by me is all about me. But maybe I'll change my humour label to "perhaps amusing?"

Sherry said...

I did the label thing and then found it becomiing huge...but I still label things in case anyone else wants to "reference"...LOL!!! I just put a whole bunch of labels in things and hope they fit into the right category!!

Lynda said...

Hmm nice.. but post labels are a pain for me too - I just gave up - seems I had been doing it all wrong anyway.

Beth said...

sherry:
I find the # of my labels rather high, too. Always tempting to add another one - but I think I'll refrain. Too much thinking required when it comes time to categorizing...

lynda:
Now I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
And, yes, those images were rather nice.

Thomas said...

I do therefore I don't.

Beth said...

thomas:
Very succinct.

Patti said...

I use labels mostly so I can find stuff later.

contemporary themes said...

Hmmm. I'm having issues just coming up with posts, so the label thing isn't something I've considered much. I usually just put everything under daily stuff.

BTW, I often think your posts are humorous. I chuckle a lot when I reading your writing, so maybe I can just add in my comments to you, "Please place under the label, 'humorous.'"

Would that be helpful? :)

Beth said...

patti:
I was just at your blog. You are super organized! I am not. (Not even with these labels...)

la la:
That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me today.
(And not to take anything away from what you said, but I'm not having a good day. So it was extra nice to hear.)

contemporary themes said...

Sorry to hear you are having a bad day! Really. I know how much that sucks! I'm sending you lots of LOVE and hugs.

And, you are funny! I so enjoy you.

I've been absent from my blog lately because I feel like I don't have one damn thing to say that would be remotely interesting, and it depresses me because I don't think I used to feel that way. I need an attitude adjustment. Either that, or everyone around me DOES!

Hang in there!

BTW, our weather was nice today, but it HAS been raining a lot lately, and while I don't mind the rain if I can stay home, I don't like having to get out in it! That does affect my mood.

I'm so looking forward to daylight savings time changing back so we have more daylight hours!

Cipriano said...

Beth, I don't even label or categorize my blogs.
Most of mine sort of defy genre!
But you have piqued my interest. I am going to look into the blogger innards and see if they have a label called "Retarded"... which is where most of my blogs could be located!

robkroese said...

I'm now officially sexually confused.

Anonymous said...

I don't use the labels, now you have me wondering if I should. I think too much too, so thanks a lot Beth, now it will be bugging me all day, to label or not to label? Is that what good bloggers are suppose to do? Just kidding! I have always just ignored that feature, not sure why, guess cause my posts are so rambling and I'm not the most organized person......For the record, when in doubt about a funny post, put humor, because I promise you 90% of the times you would be correct.

I left something for you at my blog.

XOXOX

Angel said...

I don't use labels either....too lazy.

Now I gotta go check this out too! is it naughty? ;)

Shari said...

At first, I didn't know what to use for labels. Why label a post with a label? Why can't it be called "subject" or "topic" in the post? Labels make me think of sticky things. Are blogs stickable? See where I am going here?

My labels show up behind the scenes so I don't know why I bother with them. There are too many of them. I have to start narrowing them down (that'll be a tedious job) and delete some of them and put them into different categories. Now that sounds better....categories...instead of labels.

Gotta get this stuffy head to bed...

bjkeefe said...

Beth:

I sort of agree with you about post labels -- they can be a nuisance to assign, and taxonomy remains an unsolved problem in general, especially for someone as OCD as I.

However, I do sometimes find labels handy on other blogs, so I figure I should do my bit. I also even occasionally find them handy on my own, if I want to find something I've written in the past.

I wouldn't worry overmuch if a lot of your posts seem to you to be "misc;" if nothing else, it adds information to those that don't get this label. I wouldn't worry, either, about having too many labels. If the length of the list of them bugs on your sidebar bugs you, you can suppress that feature. And finally, there's no need to label every post if you don't want to. Or, equivalently, labeling everyone that seems hard to label as "misc." There are no rules and no punishments. The way to look at it is any label you add is a positive contribution to the Web of knowledge.

(These are all things I tell myself. Since doing so has been marginally effective at best, I figured, why not pass them along?)

Probably my favorite labeler of all-time is Doghouse Riley. I hesitate to urge you to check out his sidebar, because I noticed his right after I decided to start using labels on my own blog, and my reaction ever since has been, "I am not worthy." But you may find them inspirational, at least in the sense of not caring whether your labels meet the standards of the Dewey Decimal System.

Regarding image search: Wow. What slang term in the homoerotic community do I not know? I would say to Nomad: either you have "safe search" enabled in your Google options (it's the default) or your vocabulary is better than mine.

Princess Pointful said...

Post labels? Huh?
(I'm scared to google now)
I try to make mine tongue in cheek... so if I'm trying to be funny, I'll tag it with "I think I'm funny". Which implies that you may not!