Thunderbird/Support/GetSatisfaction/TaggingConventions

What is a tag?

A tag is a keyword or a keyword phrase used to identify what a Get Satisfaction support topic is about. It's great for search engine optimization and quickly finding other support topics of interest that have the same tag. e.g. say you wanted to find tag x, then you would go to: http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/tags/x e.g. if x = "Cannot send email" then the tag URL would be http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/tags/cannot_send_email (Get Satisfaction replaces spaces in tags with underscores)

How to Tag

In the left (as of Spring 2011 GS redesign it's on the left; used to be on the right) sidebar of a Get Satisfaction topic (example topic), click "Add a Tag". Tags are separated by commas and can have spaces e.g. cannot send email, cannot receive email, gmail, hotmail, etc.

Goals and Guidelines

• intuitive
• organic "pave the cowpath" i.e. use the tags that people are already using
• to make it compatible with future systems, consider shorter tags without spaces
• DO NOT use software code names i.e. Thunderbird or Mozilla module names unless you know the topic is specifically about them
• DO NOT use Tags like "help", "email", "Thunderbird", "My Thunderbird has fallen and I can't get up", etc. They are too generic to be useful. Instead select the Product "Thunderbird" and from the product the support community will know it's about Thunderbird and email and help is required.
• DO use names that are in the user interface e.g. "message filters" AND names that are in common use by users e.g. "filters"
• try to use 3 word or shorter tags, tags longer than 3 words are hard to use and remember
• DO use multiple tags if that make sense e.g. "Thunderbird 3 Beta 4" and "cannot send email"

Tagging Conventions

• singular forms NOT plural, i.e. use "crash" NOT "crashes", unless the UI has the plural form
• "add to SuMoMo" if topic content needs to be added to the SuMoMo knowledge base; remove this tag when done and add "documented on SuMoMo"
• "docs required" if topic content needs to be added to MDC, Help text or anything else that isn't SuMoMo, remove this tag when done and add "documented on xxx" when done e.g. "documented on MDC"
• if the topic is a FAQ, tag it "faq"
• if the topic is one of the following common faq areas then tag it
  • "default email client" - for making Thunderbird the default email client
  • "default browser" - for making Firefox the default browser
  • "dataloss" - for emails deleted
  • "address book" - for address book issue
  • "cannot receive email" - when you can't receive emails
  • "cannot send email" - when you can't send emails
  • "password" - problems with Thunderbird passwords in general
  • "master password" - problem with Tb's master password
  • "filters", "message filters" how to set up filters, question on filters
  • "account setup", "accounts" for setting up account problem
  • "upgrade" - upgrade problems, perhaps have tags for TB2 to TB3 e.g. "TB2 to TB3 upgrade"
  • "news groups" - usenet issue
  • "line breaks" - line break issue
  • "phantom messages" - messages not being marked as read or not displayed
  • "firefox does not launch" - firefox doesn't launch when clicked on from Thunderbird
  • tag with email client for import and send/receive issues e.g. "hotmail", "outlook express"
  • "email import" - email import issue
  • operating system - if operating system tag whatever makes sense, e.g. "Windows Vista", "Windows XP", "Windows 7", "Windows Vista", "Linux" for generic linux stuff otherwise specific variant e.g. "Ubuntu"
  • Thunderbird version, e.g. "Thunderbird 2", "Thunderbird 3.0" for Thunderbird 3.0 final, "Thunderbird 3 Beta 3", "Thunderbird 2.0.0.23"
  • tag with bug number e.g. "bug 541892" if there's a bug in bugzilla referenced
  • mail provider e.g. "Comcast", "gmail"
• if the topic is user experience related then tag it with the appropriate ux-keyword i.e. one or more of "ux-feedback", "ux-implementation-level", "ux-jargon", "ux-discovery", etc (full ux keyword list in a spreadsheet with explanations, bugzilla implementation, blog post, thunderbird context)