Tagging is a great way to organize information on the web. By applying tags it allows us to group information together with other groups of information that it is somehow related to. In theory this seems to be an efficient system. Like all systems though it is only as good as the people behind it, the people doing the tagging that is. Well, like all systems there will always be some people who will cheat and try and “game” the system.

Tagging is especially important in the world of video. The only text involved in cataloging video on video sites are the tags, but what if the tags are misleading?

I was killing some time the other day, and like most guys on the web I figured I’d find out what’s the latest offerings in celebrity sex tapes. So I do a search for the tags “sextape” well I found the usual fare, but I also found Howard Lindzon’s and Fred Wilson’s Wallstrip show smack dab between an anal video and a bestiality video. Now that seemed a little strange to me so I did some investigating, and then I found out why. They are tagging their show with sex tags.

As you can see they have chosen to tag their show with

rim, parishilton, britney, sextape.

Interesting use of tags for a financial show. It’s stuff like this that throws the whole system out of whack. It’s also disrespectful to their host and guests. It’s very surprising considering that Mr. Wilson was an investor in de li cious a service that categorizes tags. I understand that everyone wants eyeballs, but tagging like this degrades the system and all involved. It also ruins the whole experience of porn, the most important thing on the web. When I’m looking for porn I want porn, not Wallstrip. Considering this video that seems to be going viral perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised though.

Originally posted on March 7, 2007 @ 7:51 pm