ADMIN: Subject Tags

I think it is time for a gentle nudge, but I would appreciate it if 
everyone would use the standard iris-talk subject tags, as described in 
the welcome message, to preface the subject lines of the messages you 
send to the list. For the people who use filters to sort their mail the 
subject tags are critical.

Remember, the format is the tag in ALL CAPS followed by a colon (:), 
followed by your subject. (no space between the subject tag and the 
colon)

[Subject tag]:[your subject description]

The colon is a very important part of the tag. The standard tags are 
below. You might want to print this for reference.

Thanks included the list of subject tags below for your reference

Also try to remember to change the subject tag when the subject of your 
post is a totally different subject.

John

  TAG    Used For
----   --------

  TB:    tall bearded irises
  MED:   median and dwarf bearded irises
  AR:    arilbred and aril irises
  SIB:   Siberian irises
  LA:    Louisiana irises
  JI:    Japanese irises
  SPU:   spuria irises
  PCN:   Pacific coast native irises
  BULB:  bulb irises (Dutch, reticulatas, Junos)
  SPEC:  iris species (particularly those not covered in another 
category)

  REB:   reblooming irises
  SA:    space-age irises
  HIST:  historic irises and history of iris development

  CULT:  culture
  HYB:   hybridizing
  REF:   references (books and society publications)
  SHOW:  iris shows and related topics
  IRC:   IRC chat sessions (currently Friday nights)
  AIS:   American Iris Society business and issues
  PHOTO: iris photography
  COMP:  iris-related computer topics (record keeping, photo digitizing, 
etc.)
  CAT:   iris catalogs and discussion of commercial nurseries
  AD:    iris-related advertisement (ads not related to irises are *not*
  welcome!)
TRADE: Posts to the list offering trades or looking for a particular 
iris. Replies to these posts should be made off-list privately to the 
original sender.

  OT-PLANTS: other garden plants (not irises)
  OT-ART:    iris-motif art and craftwork
  OT-HUMOR:  iris-related humor
  OT-CHAT:   personal messages and conversation (consider taking it 
off-list!)
  OT-BIO:    introduction from a new subscriber (please follow with your 
name)


  ADMIN:    Reserved for list owner

This long post is for New Members and any other persons who have been  
confused about HOW to use Subject Tags. Other people have already 
spoken to WHY to use Subject Tags. I just thought I might be able to 
help a little.

First, the Subject line of a post consists of a Tag and then your 
title. The Tag is an abbreviation that puts the post into a broad 
category. The title then introduces the content of the post. The goal 
of both is to get people to open up your post and read what it is you 
are trying to communicate. In the subject line at the top of my post 
the OT-CHAT is the Tag. The rest is the title.

When a post is written it should be assigned a Subject Tag. Almost 
every post will fit into one of the Tag Categories. Many will fit into 
several. Tags may be combined, but all you really need is one good one. 
Tags may not be invented. Everyone will not assign tags in exactly the 
same way. That is okay.

Let us meet the tags, then we will see how to use or link them as 
necessary.

First, All posts are either ON Topic, or OFF Topic. The Topic of the 
list is IRISES.

On Topic posts carry the following Subject Tags.

*KINDS OF IRISES* (These follow the divisions of the American Iris 
Society.)
TB, MED, AR, SIB, LA, JI, SPU, PCN, BULB, SPEC.
Discussions of Tall Bearded irises get assigned a TB. Discussions of 
Siberian Irises may be assigned a SIB. Discussions of Species irises 
may be assigned a
SPEC, and so forth.

*SPECIAL KINDS OF IRISES* (Subgroups with passionate followers).
REB: Assigned to Reblooming irises, or rebloom reports or REB issues in 
general.
SA: Assigned to Space Age irises, or the issues surrounding them.
HIST: Assigned to Historic Irises, or the issues surrounding them.

*HORTICULTURAL TAGS* (Garden stuff)
CULT: Issues concerned with how to grow irises, how to care for them, 
how to fight pests, how to keep the beds tidy and so forth. This 
category covers a broad range of issues, and issues of broad appeal.
HYB: This is for issues relating to hybridizing, which includes 
genetics and practicalities.

*SOCIETY ISSUES* ( American Iris Society Issues)
AIS: Which is for posts dealing with AIS issues and AIS Business
SHOW: Which is for topics associated with Iris Shows, and show reports.

*SUPPORT ISSUES*
REF: For discussions of books, publications and other reference 
resources
CAT: For posts related to catalogs and commercial nurseries.
COMP: For computer related discussions: databases and the like.
PHOTO: For camera and photography issues and questions.
AD: A tag by which a list member can advertise Iris related goods or 
services.
TRADE: Posts to the list offering trades or looking for a particular 
iris. Replies to these posts should be made off-list privately to the 
original sender.

*OFF TOPIC DISCUSSIONS*
OT-BIO: The tag for a a new member introducing himself, and others 
welcoming her.
OT-HUMOR: The tag for the story or clean joke you cannot resist sharing.
OT-CHAT:   personal messages and conversation (consider taking it 
off-list!)
OT-PLANTS: For questions or brief discussion of non-iris plants and 
their culture.
OT-ART: For arts and crafts issues, noncommercial, see AD above.

And there is ADMIN, which is restricted to use fo the List Owner.
--------------------
Okay, so now let's practice.

Say you want to make a post asking where to find a list of the official 
AIS iris size categories like Tall Bearded and Median. Use AIS: REF. 
Moving fast? Use: REF.

You want to know whether to cut back your foliage in September? CULT 
will do it. You want to make sure the SIB folks don't assume your post 
is about bearded foliage when you are asking about Siberians? SIB: 
CULT:

You want to ask about the Historic Spuria MRS. TAIT and whether it is 
really true that Bertrand Farr of all people introduced it? A good tag 
here would be a combined one HIST: SPUR: That will catch the eye of 
both the people interested in historics and in spurias.

You want to ask a question about germinating the species Iris 
stolonifera? Here you would want the aril specialists to read your 
post, so AR: CULT would be good, but AR alone would probably do the 
trick since there are not that many posts in the category. You could 
also use AR: SPEC: CULT, but do you really need to?

You want to know whether your TB BATHESHEBA COMES can be expected to 
rebloom in Calgary? Use the tag TB: REB.

You want to hear more about your harebrained idea of hybridizing 
reticulatas that will rebloom in Texas? HYB: BULB: REB:

You want to know about a good book on irises of the 'forties? Try REF, 
or better yet REF: HIST. You will get an answer. HIST: REF: would also 
be okay. Most of the time it does not matter which of a pair of tags 
comes first.

You want to ask about what was decided about the AIS Library at a 
recent AIS Board Meeting? Use AIS. Just because books are involved 
doesn't mean you need REF, too.

You want to know whether the latest issue of the Medianite is being 
received? Well, there are not that many hot choices here, but MED would 
work. REF might but I'd use MED. It is a quick judgement call. Not an 
issue of fine points of distinction that must be anguished over.

You want advice about your Space Age Median HAGAR'S HELMET which is 
being devoured by borers? You could use SA, you could use MED, but the 
one you should use is CULT, because the real issue is a Cultural 
Problem: Borers. That the iris they are eating is a horned median is 
irrelevant unless that is the only one in the yard they are interested 
in and you think that may be significant and want to emphasize that.

You want to know about photographing your Juno species and getting the 
photos loaded up and linked to your personal collection database? Use 
PHOTO: COMP and the techies will come out of the woodwork. You probably 
don't need BULB or SPEC since the kind of iris involved is not the 
point.

You want to ask about corn poppies as companion plants? Use CULT since 
irises are the plants being companioned and thus it is an Iris Culture 
Question. You need to ask about something ghastly that has gone wrong 
with your pet hosta and it needs immediate attention and you don't know 
who else to ask. That is an OT-PLANTS.

As I said, often any of several different tags will work. If picking 
tags is hard for you, keep it real simple. Most of the tags are rarely 
used by anyone, but the following tags are used a lot since they cover 
a lot of territory or represent popular areas of discussion.

CULT, TB, SIB, REB, HIST, HYB, CAT, AIS, SA, SPEC, JI.

Use your OT tags. They very important since those are posts that many 
will want to pass over.

Every post does not have to carry every subject tag that could 
conceivably be seen as appropriate. If I write a post talking about a 
possibly faulty description of an historic 1935 JI in a catalog that 
was published in 1960 and later remarked upon ambiguously by an AIS  
Board Member in an AIS Bulletin, it is not necessary to string out 
"HIST: JI: CAT: AIS: REF: Bum Description of ISHGABBIBLE?" HIST: JI is 
all you need.

In short, the trick is to pick a tag that will catch the eye of those 
who will be interested in your post, or will have the answer you need. 
Pin down the main point of your question, and tag that, or one might 
say, FLAG IT for special attention.



John                | "There be dragons here"
                          |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                          |  to indicate the edge of the known world.

List owner iris@hort.net and iris-photos@yahoogroups.com
________________________________________________
USDA zone 8/9 (coastal, bay)
Fremont, California, USA
Director, American Iris Society
Chairman, AIS Committee for Electronic Member Services

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