ebook tag: general???

Ted Friesen · 08-07-2020, 07:19 PM

What exactly does the ebook tag: general represent?

I've deleted it from all ebooks, but it still keeps cropping up. Fiction, non-fiction doesn't seem to matter.

hobnail · 08-07-2020, 08:17 PM

The only thing I have that starts with general is General Fiction. But then under G I also have girl, gladiator, god's, and going, as well as other odds and ends. No idea where it's getting "going" for the book that has that tag.

My library has 231 tags for 561 books. I've always ignored the tags since it seems like too much of a chore to keep them organized, relevant, etc.

ElspethB · 08-08-2020, 09:15 AM

I hate the "General" tag. I'm always deleting it from my new acquisitions. I can't think of anything more useless.

Apache · 08-08-2020, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElspethB

I hate the "General" tag. I'm always deleting it from my new acquisitions. I can't think of anything more useless.

This.
Apache

theducks · 08-08-2020, 10:57 AM

A Total waste of bytes.

'Fiction' (the bulk of my Library content) is another. specially when used at the same time as Science Fiction

I do use non-fiction.<topic> when there might be some confusion with a similar Fictional event.
Some of the tagging is a holdover from the days of card catalogs.
Others are simply search engine triggers

barryem · 08-08-2020, 07:16 PM

The only tags I ever use are Fiction, Nonfiction and Story. Actually I don't even use these. I apply them to ebooks but I'm not sure why. I've never used them for lookups or anything else.

Barry

maddz · 08-09-2020, 02:16 AM

I tag my catalogues in Calibre and LibraryThing, but my tags tend to be fairly broad for fiction. So I have genre-based collections, and within each collection, a fairly broad tag equating to the sub-genre. I tend not to go below that - I find hundreds of tags off-putting.

RPGs and non-fiction I tend to have more specific tags for. My next big project is finishing cataloguing my RPGs, and I will evolve a tag schema for them. At the moment, in LibraryThing, they're in the RPG collection, with system-based tags, and occasional wider tags where the ruleset is being used for a different game or there are multiple rulesets in the same setting.

shalym · 08-10-2020, 12:51 PM

The only time I usually pay any attention to tags in Calibre is if there are so many that they take up too much space in the Book Details panel in Calibre. When that happens, I clean them up...sometimes just deleting them all.

Description matters much more to me than any classification label that anyone may have come up with--the only thing that *may* be important is fiction vs. non-fiction, but if I read the description and there is still a question, I will edit the description.

I used to have a bunch of collections based on genre, author, etc. Now the only ones I use are the ones denoting which year I read a certain book.

Shari

hobnail · 08-10-2020, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryem

The only tags I ever use are Fiction, Nonfiction and Story. Actually I don't even use these. I apply them to ebooks but I'm not sure why. I've never used them for lookups or anything else.

Barry

Lol, my point exactly. After the query yesterday about deleting tags I discovered that I can reduce the "clutter" in that pane on the left that has Authors, Series, Formats, etc. and I hid a bunch of them, including Tags. The only thing I've ever used in that panel is Authors. Hmm, although just now I did notice that I had one more format than I'd have thought (azw3, epub, and mobi) which was ORIGINAL_EPUB so I was able to quickly and easily delete all of those.

Alex_Go · 08-12-2020, 11:06 AM

Ugh, the "General" tag infuriates me... Might as well have a tag "book"...

McGonigle · 08-16-2020, 04:29 AM

Shorthand for General Reference perhaps?

ElspethB · 08-17-2020, 01:22 PM

No because it turns up on novels as well as nonfiction.

DNSB · 08-17-2020, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGonigle

Shorthand for General Reference perhaps?

General interest? Most of the books I've seen with that tag did not fit into a genre such as science fiction, fantasy, werewolf-fae-hybrid-shifter-paranormal-romance (that was a tag on one of my wife's books

), etc.

theducks · 08-18-2020, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

General interest? Most of the books I've seen with that tag did not fit into a genre such as science fiction, fantasy, werewolf-fae-hybrid-shifter-paranormal-romance (that was a tag on one of my wife's books

), etc.

That last kind of tag is why I wanted a tag splitter tool in Calibre.
(Ducks has never typed well and now has vision issues that make precise keyboard harder)

08-07-2020, 07:19 PM	#1
Ted Friesen Nameless Being	ebook tag: general??? What exactly does the ebook tag: general represent? I've deleted it from all ebooks, but it still keeps cropping up. Fiction, non-fiction doesn't seem to matter.

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08-07-2020, 08:17 PM	#2
hobnail Running with scissors Posts: 1,592 Karma: 14328510 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	The only thing I have that starts with general is General Fiction. But then under G I also have girl, gladiator, god's, and going, as well as other odds and ends. No idea where it's getting "going" for the book that has that tag. My library has 231 tags for 561 books. I've always ignored the tags since it seems like too much of a chore to keep them organized, relevant, etc.

08-08-2020, 09:15 AM	#3
ElspethB Passionate Reader Posts: 276 Karma: 1829152 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Central Jersey, USA Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, Kobo Clara HD, Fire HD 8, Voyage, Oasis 3, PW5	I hate the "General" tag. I'm always deleting it from my new acquisitions. I can't think of anything more useless.

08-08-2020, 10:57 AM	#5
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,249 Karma: 61360164 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	A Total waste of bytes. 'Fiction' (the bulk of my Library content) is another. specially when used at the same time as Science Fiction I do use non-fiction.<topic> when there might be some confusion with a similar Fictional event. Some of the tagging is a holdover from the days of card catalogs. Others are simply search engine triggers

08-08-2020, 07:16 PM	#6
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	The only tags I ever use are Fiction, Nonfiction and Story. Actually I don't even use these. I apply them to ebooks but I'm not sure why. I've never used them for lookups or anything else. Barry

08-09-2020, 02:16 AM	#7
maddz Wizard Posts: 1,417 Karma: 30039536 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Device: Kobo Forma, Icarus, iPad Mini 2, Kobo Touch, Google Nexus 7	I tag my catalogues in Calibre and LibraryThing, but my tags tend to be fairly broad for fiction. So I have genre-based collections, and within each collection, a fairly broad tag equating to the sub-genre. I tend not to go below that - I find hundreds of tags off-putting. RPGs and non-fiction I tend to have more specific tags for. My next big project is finishing cataloguing my RPGs, and I will evolve a tag schema for them. At the moment, in LibraryThing, they're in the RPG collection, with system-based tags, and occasional wider tags where the ruleset is being used for a different game or there are multiple rulesets in the same setting.

08-10-2020, 12:51 PM	#8
shalym Wizard Posts: 3,068 Karma: 54671821 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: New England Device: PW 1, 2, 3, Voyage, Oasis 2 & 3, Fires, Aura HD, iPad	The only time I usually pay any attention to tags in Calibre is if there are so many that they take up too much space in the Book Details panel in Calibre. When that happens, I clean them up...sometimes just deleting them all. Description matters much more to me than any classification label that anyone may have come up with--the only thing that may be important is fiction vs. non-fiction, but if I read the description and there is still a question, I will edit the description. I used to have a bunch of collections based on genre, author, etc. Now the only ones I use are the ones denoting which year I read a certain book. Shari

08-12-2020, 11:06 AM	#10
Alex_Go Member Posts: 19 Karma: 173922 Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Canada Device: Pocketbook Color, Sony PRS-T2	Ugh, the "General" tag infuriates me... Might as well have a tag "book"...

08-16-2020, 04:29 AM	#11
McGonigle Zealot Posts: 102 Karma: 1529376 Join Date: Jul 2014 Device: Kobo Libra Colour, Kobo Aura One, iPad 2018,	Shorthand for General Reference perhaps?

08-17-2020, 01:22 PM	#12
ElspethB Passionate Reader Posts: 276 Karma: 1829152 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Central Jersey, USA Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, Kobo Clara HD, Fire HD 8, Voyage, Oasis 3, PW5	No because it turns up on novels as well as nonfiction.