keywords field #79

New Issue

cmccabe · 2020-01-16T14:31:09Z

cmccabe commented

2020-01-16 14:31:09 +00:00

Judging by in-the-wild use of Linkulator2, the lack of keywords for a link post may cause problems. It may cause people to create extra-specific categories for their post, which results in way too many categories.

cmccabe added the

enhancement

label 2020-01-16 14:31:10 +00:00

sloum commented

2020-01-16 16:57:27 +00:00

I am inclined to chalk that up to server community culture. As things take shape the obscure categories will get pushed down and the more general ones should rise to the top. Assuming we are ordering the category list by either newness or number of posts... which now that I think about it I am not sure we are. Doing so would create a natural tendency toward more general categories.

cmccabe commented

2020-01-16 18:10:17 +00:00

I think we might be ordering by newness, but not number of posts in a category. Ranking by number of posts, with additional priority to new posts, would be a good idea.

sloum commented

2020-01-16 18:34:13 +00:00

I think that would resolve some of the issue, while still letting users freely add categories. Then leaving it up to each system to self-enforce what is good etiquette?

cmccabe commented

2020-01-16 18:36:54 +00:00

Sounds good to me. The other mechanism communities will likely use is for people to leave link replies saying "can you change the category to xyz?". :)

sloum commented

2020-01-16 18:40:20 +00:00

True. Is changing a category a doable thing? The category has an id associated with it... so in theory the name should be programmatically meaningless for the most part (aside from sorting posts once all the data is gathered). If someone wanted to change:

linux wms to window managers and both already existed, what would need to be done? Is it something just the user can handle in their own files? Does the category id need to change, just the text, what about posts that were posted under it?

True. Is changing a category a doable thing? The category has an id associated with it... so in theory the name should be programmatically meaningless for the most part (aside from sorting posts once all the data is gathered). If someone wanted to change: `linux wms` to `window managers` and both already existed, what would need to be done? Is it something just the user can handle in their own files? Does the category id need to change, just the text, what about posts that were posted under it?

cmccabe commented

2020-01-16 21:01:01 +00:00

Yup, they can just change it in their linkulator.data file. I already tested this by asking someone else to change one on tilde.team and it worked great. The category changed, and replies associated with the link pre-change were still associated with it after the change.

asdf commented

2020-01-16 23:31:54 +00:00

The Category ID is only used by the menu system. The actual identifier is the category name itself, stored in the linkulator data file. As mentioned, changing it in the data file sees the change in the application.

I think I'd prefer improving categories instead of adding keywords. Also, categories and keywords seem somewhat mutually exclusive.

Perhaps some default categories could be added. On the systems where linkulator was already used, perhaps the existing links could be imported within this category scheme. Or an "administrative override" to allow the host user to remap categories that have issues.

The Category ID is only used by the menu system. The actual identifier is the category name itself, stored in the linkulator data file. As mentioned, changing it in the data file sees the change in the application. I think I'd prefer improving categories instead of adding keywords. Also, categories and keywords seem somewhat mutually exclusive. Perhaps some default categories could be added. On the systems where linkulator was already used, perhaps the existing links could be imported within this category scheme. Or an "administrative override" to allow the host user to remap categories that have issues.

sloum commented

2020-01-17 00:25:23 +00:00

I like the idea of an administrative config. If could be something as simple as checking if a linkulator folder exists in /usr/share somewhere and to look for a category list there. Administrators can put a list of starter or default categories there and linkulator will always look in that location.

I like the idea of an administrative config. If could be something as simple as checking if a linkulator folder exists in `/usr/share` somewhere and to look for a category list there. Administrators can put a list of starter or default categories there and linkulator will always look in that location.

cmccabe commented

2020-01-17 03:10:20 +00:00

How would starter categories work? Do you mean they would appear in the initial menu even before there were links under those categories? Or do you mean that linkulator starts with some pre-packaged links that carry the default categories with them?

I'm a little uneasy about an admin override simply because it would go against the idea that each user owns their own data. And the only ways I can think of implementing an admin override are fairly complex. But on the other hand, if category names proliferate in huge numbers, an admin override may be the only way to keep it tidy.

I do agree that mechanisms to prevent category problems are better than the addition of keywords.

How would starter categories work? Do you mean they would appear in the initial menu even before there were links under those categories? Or do you mean that linkulator starts with some pre-packaged links that carry the default categories with them? I'm a little uneasy about an admin override simply because it would go against the idea that each user owns their own data. And the only ways I can think of implementing an admin override are fairly complex. But on the other hand, if category names proliferate in huge numbers, an admin override may be the only way to keep it tidy. I do agree that mechanisms to prevent category problems are better than the addition of keywords.

sloum commented

2020-01-17 16:38:27 +00:00

My thought was that an administrative categories file would seed the program with categories with no links in them. It would not overwrite or override any existing data, but would simply give some shape and direction to the initial state of the program.

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