On Using Labels.

Sure, a pig in pearls is nice,
but imagine if she had
a nice label!

One of the biggest complaints I get is about finding shit. "I can't find your posts about tenure," or "Where the hell are the posts about knocking boots with students?" That sort of thing.

When I post stuff that comes in through the mail, I always try to remember to select a few relevant "labels." These are categories, markers, that allow easier finding of stuff on the site. We're nearing 5000 posts and Google / Blogger has never indexed blog postings very well or thoroughly. But labels help.

After you enter your text and before you PUBLISH IT, go to the right sidebar and click on the link for "labels." It's right under POST SETTINGS. Type words that might be apropos to your text: margaritas, Beaker Ben is sexy, snowflakes, adminiflakes, etc. After the first couple of letters our team of monkeys in Orange City will SUGGEST labels that you might be looking for.

I always try to err toward the most general of labels. If you see "job search" come up but also "job search is biting my ass this year," choose the former. (Oh, I can't make you. Just by saying it I know that things will go the opposite way.)

You'll thank me the next time you're looking for a super special article from the archives that you only half remember and which you want to take exception with, years after the fact, in order to prove a point. Seriously. This is why labels are used.

The RGM