larger view

Today, bloggers will notice some changes when they go to write a blogpost.  Under the "title" field, you will see a "topics" field.  Here, you are asked to "change the category of only this post" via a pull-down menu with 18 top-level category choices.  Below that, replacing the old topic tag field that used to appear below the composition box, is a prompt to enter "keywords," a.k.a. topic tags.

What's this "change the category" thing, you ask?  This is the first public step of our interest group and blog categorization project, and we need your help testing it out.  We're calling this a public beta test--while the blogpost categorization tool is live and visible to anyone who posts a blogpost, the links I'm giving you right now, to our Interest Group Directory and the Interest Groups FAQ, are not pubicly linked elsewhere on the site yet (though you can get to them via the interest group links on categorized blogposts, like the link to the "Technology" interest group on this post).

You've heard me promise, over the last year-and-a-half, that a blog categorization scheme was coming that would allow you to browse blogs and blogposts by category.  Well, it's finally here, but we need your feedback to make it really work.  Right now, when you go to compose a blogpost, you will be prompted to choose one category for your blogpost from a list of 18 top-level categories.  This is optional.  When you view a post that has been categorized, you will see "Posted in the _____ interest group" below the text and above the "posted by _____ on _____" stamp.  That interest group tag links to that particular interest group's page.  For example, a colleague of mine posted this morning and categorized his post as belonging to the Travel interest group.

If you go to the Travel interest group, you will see a few new things.  First, at the top, you'll see "Travel Talk."  The Talk section on every Interest Group page is like a message board.  While we are working on implemented threaded discussions, right now, this first version is like our profile guestbook, with no threading, with the latest comments at the top.  If you want to talk about something travel related, maybe ask a question but not write a whole blogpost, you can do that here.  When you go to post something in Talk for the first time, you'll be prompted to become a "member" of this interest group first.  This is a required step (and violations of our usual Terms of Use can result in your removal from an interest group) to participate in Talk.  You can choose to have your group membership displayed on your profile, or not.  You can also choose to be a member of a group without posting to Talk, in the Members section at the bottom of the page.

Content in the appropriate interest group category will surface between these two sections, so that, if you go to the Travel page, you'll see the latest blogposts submitted in that group, as well as the comments on those posts.  Eventually, you'll be able to switch a toggle to see content in that category from across our network of sites.

Now, we need your feedback.  What works, and what doesn't, for you?  What's self-explanatory and what's too confusing, and how can we fix it?  Right now, it is optional to categorize individual blogposts.  We have not made live the feature that allows you to categorize your entire blog.  Do you want that?  If we go that route, we could allow you to choose more than one category.  As well, the reason the categorization language reads "change the category of only this post" is because you can recategorize individual posts if necessary.  Say you write mostly about politics, and so you categorize your blog as a Politics blog.  All your posts will appear on that interest group page.  Now, what if you write a post about travel on that blog?  You can mark it as travel so it will appear on the correct interest group page and not the wrong one.  Now, should everyone have to categorize their blogs (that's entire blogs, not individual posts)?  What would you call a catch-all, miscellaneous, "I write about life and/or all kinds of stuff" category?

You can go into your archives and categorize old posts to see how this looks and works, and of course you can start categorizing your new posts.  But the idea, of course, is that this is supposed to make it easier for you to find content by your peers about the things you're looking for, by going to the appropriate interest group page.  Our 18 top-level categories are just a start.  We made them broad on purpose.  What are we missing?  What's there that shouldn't be?  Do you want nested subcategories?  (Right now, that exists only for the neighborhoods interest group.)

Please, check out this new feature at the links I embedded above, read over the FAQ, and write your comments, questions, criticisms and suggestions in the comment thread here--or join the Technology group and start chatting about it in Technology Talk.  And of course, you can email me directly.  Thanks in advance for your help in making this a better community.