Let me get it out early. I loathe tag boards.
I hate them for the following reasons:
- they are useless. Ok, sure, they are useful for two things - asking people go to someone else’s blog or offering links exchange. Excuse me, I really need to throw up now.
- they are the perfect excuse for lazy visitors to not read your actual content. Assuming that you have content worth writing home about, wouldn’t you like it more if you more well-thought of comments as opposed to loads of dumaan lang (just passing by) and bloghop! messages that people seem to leave on your tagboard every
fuckingday?!
- the people who abuse your tag boards are usually the ones who don’t leave comments - if they do, they usually make the dumbest ones. Again, we all want good traffic, right? But blogging isn’t just about traffic, building a healthy and vibrant readership who would actually read your posts
and glance at your ads bodesfor a better long-term scenario. I’d rather have three loyal readers rather than a horde of mindless freaks who leave passed by and passed away (woah! I sure hope so!) messages ad nauseam. - because they’re mini-blogs by themselves. Though shorter, tag boards act like legitimate blogs. What’s the difference? For one, other people get to write most of the content, and two, you hardly have control of the content! Sure, you can edit it once an inflammatory comment from some flamer gets through, but what happens if you don’t check your site for days? Tag boards can only cause you stress and they could in fact lower the perceived standards that you’ve set for your own blog.
- most good blogs don’t have tagboards. I can only probably name less than ten good blogs that I usually visit that feature tag boards. If yours is a good blog, you wouldn’t need a tag board to reach out to your audience - your content would (and should) do that for you. Ok, before some idiot draws conclusions from faulty logic again, no, I don’t view the presence or absence tag of boards as a measure of a blog’s content.
Why am I writing about tag boards? Tag boards have always infuriated me and this new and very helpful article on increasing interactivity reminded me on how much I hated the tag boards. Keep in mind that the article was meant to be an informative write up to show you the multitude of options that a blogger has in interacting with his readers and visitors. If you want to learn more on the topic, read Ariel’s article. Don’t worry, the article is very comprehensive and he exhausted just about every option. If you don’t know yet, Blog Tutorials truly is a great site for blogging tips whether it may be simple plugin solutions, monetizing issues or layout/programing concerns. The writers’ pool definitely has it covered. I hope I see you all there.
There are always two sides to a argument and it’s up to the individual to figure which side he’ll ultimately pick. So I throw you the question - how do you feel about tag boards?
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To answer your quesion, I find tag boards a bit too tacky for my taste and that I personally won’t add one to any blog I own. But, like you, I also do not hold it against the blog owner if ever he or she puts one up on his or her blog. For all we know, he or she has different social-networking needs that a tagboard fulfills.
If, as you said, “I don’t view the presence or absence [of] tag boards as a measure of a blog’s content,” then why all the fuss of writing a lengthy rant about it? I think a one-paragraph statement of your displeasure would be enough and straighter-to-the-point. Because of the length of your post, it gives the impression, despite your disclaimer, that you would like to encourage other bloggers to avoid tagboards too.
I hate them. I used to have one, but I deleted it after realizing how useless it is and how it didn’t enhance my site’s functionality.
@ Eugene: In response to your question why Benj posted a long article about the disadvantages of tagboards, this article is actually what you call a link/comment bait. Good work, Benj.
i haven’t read that article yet maybe ill do so later.. but re tagboard, for me it’s useful when i need to just leave a message for that person e.g. ask someone to contact me. This is very useful for me especially if i do not know the blogger’s email address
Eugene: Hi. It’s because I didn’t want to stop at saying I hate them! and call it a day. I wanted it substantiated - much like everything I write about.
Ade: Maybe there’s some new-fangled reason why certain people use message boards. I don’t claim to know everything so hopefully they’ll respond. I sure hope I didn’t offend them by taking shot at their precious tag boards. *goes around tag boards to remind people to visit my site*
ems: Fair enough. I think that means your tag board visitors are more or less interested in you/ your site unlike the “linkex”/”blog hop” monsters.
The reason why i switched from blogger to wordpress is: to avoid myself from putting a tagboard.
“If yours is a good blog, you wouldn’t need a tag board to reach out to your audience - your content would (and should) do that for you”
Comments on my posts really fulfill me as a blogger. And comments give satisfaction because it really prove that you caught someone’s attention and that, you’ve written something perfectly good/terribly bad. haha. Tagboards usually hosts spam and provides unwittingly useless information. Ahahha
Kung social networking lang ang hanap mo sa blog, bakit hindi ka na lang magfriendster? Ahahaha. Wag ka nang magtagboard. I believe that blogs should serve its purpose: to inform? Ahahaha. I really don’t know blogs’ real purposes, but for what I know, social networking isn’t one of them.
Pero tama. Hindi naman sukatan ng magandang blog ang kawalan ng tagboard. Hehe.
I actually have the same reason as ems… It’s basically for keeping in touch. I put it up and even placed a reminder that it is for things unrelated to my posts. Dati kasi I get a lot of “dumaan lang..” or “musta ka na sis?” comments. Kaya napilitan ako maglagay… Nakakainis kasi haba-haba ng post ko pero yung comment, “Oi nice naman sis!” XD WTF moments… Buti nga ngayon I get useful comments na. I got rid of those people na rin kasi… haha…
ick. parang blog post ang comment ko. haha.
pampasikip ng blog site yun e
totomai: Kick ass! I can see your new flag! hehe
They are the perfect excuse for lazy visitors to not read your actual content.
Yes-su!
Like Light, I find my tag board useful for keeping off-topic comments away from my blog entries. And I don’t mind a little idle conversation once in a while, so tag boards are OK for me.
You know what I really hate? Twitter. Gah.
Aside from the fact that it makes stalking someone
easyeasier, I think its ok if sits quietly in one corner. I don’t see myself putting my own Twitter feed on this site though.Well it is really true that tagboards are the perfect excuse for lazy visitors to not read the blog entries and leaving a mark saying “i dropped by”, as if he/she really spend time reading the entries. However, I don’t care, I have one and no plans of removing it coz I want those lazy visitors to get in touch with me. What a lame explanation. Wahehehe! Eniwei, oks na sya na nandun, at least I can get back to those droppping by my site, and thank then kahit di nagbasa, mapadaan lang sa site ko, masaya na ako…
Hahahaha. i soo agree.
Basically those who spam tagboards are those who extend their pfffty Friendsterizing into blogging. Or their blogging itself. I can’t help but to nod more. Those tagboard spammers are ‘THE ONES WHO POST PRETENTIOUS NICETIES AND ASK FOR A STUPID LINK-EX’. Most people use tagboards to ping blog authors that they, err, ‘hopped’.
Ayt. Friendsterizing in blogs. Pfffft.
You really loathe stupid comments, no?
^ Bakit ikaw, hindi? Mas nanggagalaiti ka nga dyan eh. haha. Friendsterizing… nice term. hehe
Hi Benj,
Just bloghopping and I wanted to leave a note or two which is unrelated to the content of your blog posts but nevertheless, i wanted to say hi or hello or whatever greeting is apt for someone like you and will try to be back again to let you know what i thought of your posts.
Apologies if this is sort of a ‘cross-posting’ or an ‘basic courtesy’ or a monitoring mechanism to let you know that ‘VT’ is here and was here but in case you change your mind, I’d rather leave my ‘hi’, ‘hello’ ‘attendance check’ or ‘cross-post’ in your tagboard but its absence made me realize that your comment box will just be fine.
Village Tickler
PS: I hate tagboards, some spammers and bloghoppers feast on it.
VT
Ah, totoo. I just don’t find the reason to need it. ~_~
may tagboard ako… hehe….
pero di ko na din tanggalin yun, kasi kapag may ibang topic bukod sa post eh pwede makapagusap…
angas nung site na yun ah.. kakatuwa.. hehe… thanks man!
I dont like tagboards since that would make the comment section useless. And I think the purpose of a tagboard in a blog is redundant!
That’s right, why have a tagboard when you can post comments? I used to have a tagboard in a static website I owned to enable communication within the community, but putting that on a dynamic blog is quite redundant.
i used to have one in my blogger, it was spammed so i deleted it. i’m not considering adding one on my new site for aesthetic purposes (naks hehe)
I do have a tag-board and I have been constantly reminded how “baduy” it is (ehem. hehe). But like what others have mentioned, I need it for non-post-related comments or shout-outs. In my case, I only update once a week since video blogs take a lot of time to finish. I need to at least keep in touch with the visitors and constantly update them with the video’s progress while their waiting for the next upload.
It’s like I’m “entertaining” them while the dinner’s not ready. Hehe. Wala nang maisip na analogy.
The main disadvantage for me though is when visitors leave post-related comments in there. So minsan, gusto ko nang alisin. hehe.
That’s a very compelling argument, Coy. To a certain extent, your blog can be considered “semi-static” considering that updates are not done often. But you gotta admit, tag boards tend to be abused to death. Hehe
well i do agree with most of the anti-tagboard comments. the reactions were quite overwhelming (i actually didn’t think you’d link back my article. lol), but yeah i get it why they hate the tagboard.
well ‘hate’ is such a big word, i’d rather use “do not like”. anyway, i have my reasons why i put a tagboard in my blog, and like what one comment said, it’s for those stuff that is unrelated to any of my posts. about spam, well i haven’t had spam in my current tagboard (even in my previous ones). my tagboard was actually created by some fellow from our forum and he currently updates me if he had made some changes to the tagboard.
I dunno, tradition maybe? my tag-board’s been there since 04 and I’m too lazy to remove it.
now this post - great.
for one, hindi na ko gumamit ng tagboards once i switched to wordpress for formality’s sake. wordpress - for me - seems like it’s built for professionals and not for teenagers like me.
uhh, next would be….
i feel irritated (not that i hate them) with people who’d be posting “nice blog! exchange links?” in your tagboard, and after the link exchange - poof. wala na. inamag na sa links mo, hindi man lang dumadalaaaaw.
that’s why i got strict with my links - so strict na talagang 3/4 ng link ko - nabura. :p
on the positive side: siguro to keep in touch in an easier way. kesa naman pumindot ka pa sa haloscan or mag-type ng word verification ng blogger para lang makapagcomment.. at magsabing hi - sa tagboard na lang!
but still, i am…. irritated with tagboards.
that, is my opinion. 
now i know… i guess i should be removing mine so that i’ll know who’s really reading my blogs and be stopped by those annoying “pa-link ex” remarks.
I don’t really hate the tagboard but you have a point up there. Another reason why I’m not using tagboard (other than it’s for lazy visitors as you’ve mentioned) is because I want a single place for visitors feedbacks and I assume that the post’s comments page is the right place.
Like what everyone who has a tagboard says here.. we use it for those non-post related comments from the visitors. It’s irritating to see a “Padaan. Link ex?” message in your comments. Yeah, I saw one in.. Kevin’s blog I think.
I’ve got a tagboard and I find it useful because I can let all the spammers and the lazy blog readers play with it. Hehehe. I do remember that time when I posted something about an actor’s daughter overdosing herself with “diet pills” somebody flamed my tagboard. The person did not even leave a single comment on the comments page. So what was that? That just gave me the impression that the person doing that was just stupid not to know how to use the comments page. Also, I noted that the person didn’t even read the whole article and just went yakking about me not stating the “true” facts, etcetera. Sheesh.
I’ve got Twitter and I just use it to let everybody know what I’m doing. I’m a vain person. Hahaha. But in time, I guess, I’ll get tired of it.
I don’t mind that you loathe tagboards, Benj. You leave good comments in my site.
Naks! Did you notice that you’re the top commenter in my blog?
Uhm, wait. There’s something I forgot to mention in my first comment.
I don’t mind the “link ex?” or “bloghop!” messages, as long as it’s posted in my tagboard and not in my comments page. I’ve found many good blogs through these “link exchanges”. So I don’t really mind. These are opportunities for stumbling into a blog which I may want to visit again and again.
Good points! I had a tag board for about 3 hours several months ago, until I realized that they were just spam entry points… and never had a repeat of tag board incident ever again.
I like tag boards on OTHER sites, just not on my own, lol. I prefer to centralize the communication around my entries and contact form.
Hmmm… I never find much use for it personally that’s why I don’t add them. Aside from the seem to clutter your space as well. Hehe
You have a good point here.
To be honest, there are times wherein i am irritated when I read my tag board then puro “padaan” or “link ex?” ang message. I only add those who are actually giving their comments in my posts unless na nga lang kung bigating blogger talaga.
I’m thinking of removing mine too.. hmmmm…
Thanks Benj (ur layout is screwed up here in the laptop grrr i dunno why)
I don’t put a tag board at my site because I know that it would just be infested with messages like “Hi! Napadaan lang! I hope you’ll visit my site.” or “Link ex?” These messages are irritating! Yes, tag boards are for those people who are lazy to read.
i’m thinking of removing my tag-board myself. but then again, i don’t want stupet comments on my comment box telling me my blog is nice. it’s just better out in my tagboard which i rarely pay attention to anyway.
I’ve never use tag boards, and Im surprised that theyre still around (shouldnt they have been phased out or lost it’s necessity the same way as guestbooks have? :P). But I think they’re okay, as long as they serve a certain purpose. For example, this blog I freuqent has a tagboard; the owner doesnt update on a daily or weekly basis. So instead of posting an irrelevant comment in one of her entries, visitors can just use the tag board.
USED. Gaddemit.
Ok, I just created a monster! hahaha. I’m sorry tag board lovers! hehe
Stupid brownout grrrr. My gaaad, what did I say again? That was long.
Anyway, I don’t like tagboards because…well, but I still use them whenever I’m on a so-called hiatus for people to have somewhere they can leave their “Shari I miss you” messages on, haha.
But the Blog Tutorials article is right. It increases interactivity…just NOT the sensible and focused one….
I think tagboards are useful for your site visitors who have a slow intenet connection. Mas mabilis kasi magload ang tagboards instead of clicking view comments, post a comment, publish.
Pero ayoko din nung mga exchange links na tag. Most of the bloggers who do that are also the ones who write in text lingo. *headache*
I never really saw the use for tagboards; that’s why there’s a contact form so that visitors could get a hold on the blog author if they want to leave a message completely irrelevant from the posts.
Tag Boards suck. Unless you disabled comments on your blog, I find tagboards very useless.