This is a popular sentiment, so this response is both to you, and everyone else that shared their thoughts. Yes, we are. Posts like this probably look like moments of doubt. I don't suspect you see them that way by now, but I get the impression that me rethinking following might throw some for a loop. I am a fan of questioning the fundamentals, and the criticism tacocat raised is valid and has been raised before. You were right about tags back when we just had one, and you were right when Saydrah unintentionally convinced me that they were subreddits in sheep's clothing and we removed following. (Sorry Saydrah, that was uncalled for. I hope you are well.) Saydrah actually proposed what you have pushed for in the same comment: It's pretty clear at this point that following people works. It works very well. But, as a means of discovery and categorization, it has limits. Also, following users carries social baggage. Hubski tags are not useless, but they are still not very useful. Tags have the benefit of categorization, and they are free from social baggage. As thenewgreen mentioned, forwardslash has been working on a search app that searches our data indexed in a real database. This will enable things like real time tag suggestions, and meaningful tag relationships, which can give us useful categorization. I won't blame the current functionality on our software, but we are going to have more options for the y-axis. We can stand to develop that axis quite a bit more without sacrificing the benefits of following users. Hopefully, doing so will counteract some of the downsides.Are we finally to the point where Team Hubski acknowledges that search and taxonomy need to be built out in order to support future growth?
First I'm seeing that comment, first I'm seeing this comment. Saydrah has been wrong about a lot of stuff. Tags will never have anything in common with Subreddits because Tags do not have moderation. You tried that tag.owner thing, which kind of had a little hint of moderation in that the .owner had total control over the tag... but even then, tags ain't subreddits. The amount of hand-work necessary to keep a subreddit running would likely seem overwhelming to you once you get up into big numbers. An example: We've got a 200-line Automoderator codex just for /r/Realestate, which only has like 40,000 members. Automod pulls about 40 spam posts an hour. Those are the ones Reddit missed. You say "social baggage." I say "useful friction." The Internet is a strange and wonderful place that has few of the same shops and customs as your home - bloody well bring a toothbrush, a change of clothes, a towel and the Hitch Hiker's Guide. Baggage is good. It's what is allowing your little social experiment here to not break down.
mk, forwardslash. I clicked the hubwheel for the above comment from KB and check out what happened. Either this is some new functionality that I'm unaware of or a #bugski.