Tags

Jan 17 2008   7:35PM GMT

Tags are an important ingredient for success

Posted by: Brent Sheets
Tags, ITKE, Tips

Tags are an important factor in whether or not you get a quick reply to your IT question. Why? Because your question lives for only a short time on the main page and is then deposited in the categories of the tags you use. Here’s a helpful tip about this essential feature.

I’ve previously detailed how to increase your chances of getting an answer but I’m seeing quite a few tags that look more like run-on sentences or a series of keywords than a actual tag.

For example, this is not a tag – it’s a question:
what cisco certification is best or should i go for mcse?

Nor is a series of keywords a proper tag:
Certifications Cisco certifications CCNA MCSE

Instead, you should break these terms into individual tags, like this:
Certifications, Cisco certifications, CCNA, MCSE

This will ensure that your question appears in the proper categories so that members browsing those categories will see it. Just be sure that the tags you use are applicable to your question. You should never use a tag that is not related to your question.

Community Manager

Dec 18 2007   3:59PM GMT

Developers, developers, developers, developers!

Posted by: Brent Sheets
Development, Tags, IT humor, ITKE

No, that’s not an image of Jabba the Hutt. If you were a developer, you would have known that. It’s Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, and he’s just wild about developers. So are we and to prove it, we recently added a top-level tag just for Development.

So when you have a burning developer-related question, be sure to visit our new Development tag and ask for a helping hand. And if you possess the developer mojo, then please stop by and share your developer expertise with fellow members. This is what makes IT Knowledge Exchange a great place. You may need to ask for help in one area but provide help to others in another.

While I love developers as much as the next guy, admittedly, I cannot ‘bust a move’ like Steve Ballmer. So without further ado, here is a music video of Steve that you may enjoy. No developers were harmed in the making of this film.

Those of you involved in Microsoft development are probably familiar with SearchWinDevelopment.com (formerly SearchVB.com). If you’re not, then be sure to drop by the site today and see what Brian Eastwood and his team have to offer Windows developers. And be sure to visit our ITKE member blogs by fellow developers: Windows Presentation Foundation and Custom Application Development.

Community Manager

Dec 6 2007   5:42PM GMT

Want IT answers? Think before you type

Posted by: Brent Sheets
Tags, ITKE, Tips

You want answers to your IT questions, right? Of course you do and it’s our job on IT Knowledge Exchange to help you get those answers. Here are a few simple steps you can take to increase your chances of getting a helpful IT answer from fellow members.

Step 1: Think!
Stop, take a deep breath and think before posting your question. This isn’t a speed contest. You want an answer quickly but posting a poorly worded question will result in decreasing your chances of getting an answer. Think and word your question carefully.

Step 2: The Question Title
The title you use is important. You want your title to be clear and concise so that other members will click to read your full question. Using HELP!!! or I need an answer is not helpful for the members searching or browsing for questions to answer. Please do not use all caps or excessive exclamation points.

Step 3: The Question
Some questions can be written in a sentence or two while others may require more details. For example, someone attempting to answer your question may need to know the operating system you’re using, the software version, etc. Provide enough details so other members can help you. And remember, a well-written question using proper grammar is much easier to read. ITKE isn’t a cell phone; so feel free to spell out the entire word.

Step 4: The Tags
Tags are the backbone of IT Knowledge Exchange. The tags place your question in specific categories. So using a tag of “Exchange 2003″ will put your question in that category. Other members wishing to answer questions about Exchange 2003 would visit that tag. But using a tag of “Help me” or other meaningless phrase, would not put your question where other members can find it. Think – and use common sense when tagging your questions.

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Bad Example
Title: HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Question: my users using usb drives and i want it to stop.
Tags: plz halp, stopping users, 431, beer

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Good Example
Title: How to block access to USB drives using Active Directory?
Question: We have a 50-user network running Windows Server 2003. I would like to use Active Directory to block all USB drive access permissions for a specific group of users. Would someone please explain how to define the group policy for this? Thanks.
Tags: Active Directory, Group Policy, Windows Server 2003

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I hope these tips are helpful to you. Feel free to post a comment if you have any questions. Thanks.
Community Manager

Nov 16 2007   9:53PM GMT

The mother of all Tag Clouds

Posted by: Brent Sheets
Tags, ITKE, Tips, Site Features

If you like big tag clouds (and I do mean big) then you’re going to love the whopper we just added to IT Knowledge Exchange. We’ve super-sized our tag cloud and gave it a page of it’s very own.

See that new tab in the navigation bar? The one labeled Tags? That’s the tab to click whenever you wish to browse this much larger cloud.

As you know, tag clouds are just a list of keywords that are weighed based on their popularity. Sean has already covered why it’s important to properly tag your questions on IT Knowledge Exchange. The bottom line is to think carefully and use tags that best categorize your question so that others can find your question easily.

And now, back to that big ol’ tag cloud. This honker can be sorted in a couple of ways. The default view is …Cloud View. Duh. But you can also sort by List View if you prefer a simple list format to the tag cloud format. And lastly, you can also sort using Alphabetical or Most Popular.

That’s about the long and short of it. So if you’ve been pining away for a big honking Tag Cloud to browse, your wish has come true. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Community Manager

Oct 23 2007   1:40PM GMT

Tags, Tags and more Tags

Posted by: Sean Brooks
Tags, ITKE

Tagging plays an important part in the IT Knowledge Exchange community. When asking questions members are asked to add tags to their questions so they can appear in the related areas of the site with other questions on the same topics. This allows users browsing the site to simply click on a tag and see all content that has that tag.

Tags can best be described as 1 or 2 keyword descriptors that best reflect the topic or topics of the question you are asking. Keep in mind you should add as many tags as you feel are needed for your question(We suggest 3 tags). The better you tag the question the easier it is for people to find and the sooner it may get answered.

To help with your tag selection we have pre populated the auto suggest feature with over 8,000 tags. So when you begin typing in your tag you will notice that suggestions will appear below the text box. You can either continue typing what you want or choose one that is being suggested.

Most importantly you tag you content what you want to be tagged with.

 Keep tagging!

Sean