Tagging guidelines

As noted in the FAQ, most EA Wiki entries perform two separate functions: they are articles whose contents describe the topic of the entry, and tags which can be attached to posts related to that topic. This document is focused solely on the second of these functions. That is, it is intended to help contributors decide when an existing tag should be attached to a given article.

General guidelines

The general tagging principle is that a tag should be added to a post when the post contains a substantive discussion of the tag's topic. As a very rough heuristic, to count as "substantive" a discussion has to be the primary focus of at least one paragraph or five sentences in the post.

This heuristic also suggests an upper bound for the total number of tags you should add to a given article: an article that is e.g. 10 paragraphs in length should have at most ten tags. (We emphasize that this is an upper bound: the appropriate number of tags could be considerably smaller — and likely will be, unless every paragraph in the post has a different focus.)

Note that tags are more useful when someone who follows a tag to your post can easily find where you have written about it. Try to use section headers and summaries to make this easier. For example, this post could be given a huge number of different tags, because the headers allow any reader to quickly skim for the topic of their choice (e.g. “economic growth”).

Tags of organizations

Tags of organizations should be used for all posts by the organization and by employees of the organization writing in an official capacity, as well as all posts that include a substantive discussion of that organization or its activities.

Posts that discuss the activities of several organizations may be tagged with the corresponding tags if the discussion for each organization is substantive, in accordance with the general principle outlined above. For example, the organizations mentioned in Aaron Gertler's monthly EA Organization Updates posts should typically be tagged.

Tags of individuals

Tags of individuals should be used sparingly, typically for books, concepts or organizations closely connected to the person.

Tag subsets

When a post is tagged with a tag which is a proper subset of another tag, you should add the parent tag if, and only if, it is also sufficiently relevant. In other words, the parent tag has to meet the same relevance standards as any other tag, and should not be included merely because it stands in a particular logical relation to another tag which does meet those standards.

Getting started with tagging

If you would like to do some tagging but do not know where to start, take a look at tags flagged with the tag more posts flag. Conversely, if you come across a tag associated with few or no posts, feel free to flag it accordingly. Please note that the flags have been introduced very recently and that most existing tags have not yet been flagged.

If you feel that a tag you would like to add to a post does not currently exist:

• Check that the tag you would like to create does not exist under a different name. You can see a list of all tags here.
• Once you have confirmed that the tag does not exist, you can propose the tag here and receive feedback on it. We recommend this option for most new tags, since it gives experienced users the chance to make useful suggestions or point out other existing tags that might serve already a similar role to the proposed new tag.
• You can also create the tag without asking for feedback. This may be best if you think the tag is well-defined and obviously worth adding (e.g. a tag for GiveWell’s newest top charity). However, the tag may be removed if the admins decide that it fails to meet the criteria for a good tag.
• If you have a question not addressed by these guidelines, or would like to propose a revision or addition, feel free to leave a comment below.