Explain how to use Categories

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Explain how to use Categories

150 points posted to IdeaStorm by mistern 05/19/07 **IMPLEMENTED**

The article "Paypal Payment option!" is in the following categories: "Broadband, Education, IdeaStorm, New Product Ideas, Desktops, Printers and Ink, Social Media, Other, Software, Servers and Storage, Notebooks, Linux, Desktops and Notebooks, Gaming, Dell, Dell Web Site, Environment, Healthcare, Monitors and Displays, Operating Systems, Service and Support, Small Business."

Show a disclaimer or anything to show how to use categories.
Check out the definitions of the categories here.

dino 05/19/07	That would require people to show reading skills and common sense. So it is way too difficult to expect this so I must demote. ;)
cosh 05/20/07	It's not that they don't know how to use categories, they just like to abuse them. And who can blame them with the difficulty in getting anything noticed in this kerfuffle?
mistern 05/20/07	This is why we need things like your categorizer. Abuse makes the problem worse.
cosh 05/20/07	That's open to even more abuse. It's open for everyone to edit. Actually, there's nothing in there at the moment to stop ideas being assigned to no categories to drop them out of visibility entirely (though I shouldn't say that).
mistern 05/20/07	Well, it's like a Wiki, abuse can be reverted.
dell_admin10 10/01/07	Changed status to UNDER REVIEW.
cosh 10/01/07	All you really need is a simple limit - about 7-ish categories is the most any idea could legitimately be in, I think. So anybody who decides, "I'll add it to all the categories" is going to hit the limit when they're clicking the category names and be forced to rethink.
dell_admin1 10/01/07	Good idea - right now, we can limit to one, or we can not allow the use of categories, and the moderator can go back and categorize. I think I like the idea of allowing more than one category, but limiting the number. Will wait to see what the rest of the community thinks.
badblood 10/01/07	Three. I think you should be allowed to apply a maximum of three categories. Categories are meant to make things easier to find and if there are too many cross references the system becomes convoluted and somewhat redundant. Imagine if a book in a library was cataloged in 10 or more locations. That would be crazy. Simplify the system. Make it three. And just as an aside, three is also a magical number that promotes prosperity.
dell_admin1 10/30/07	Changed status to IMPLEMENTED.
dell_admin1 10/30/07	Update: please see today's post on the new Moderator's blog on Direct2Dell for more information on the categories.
cosh 12/20/07	I wouldn't say this is implemented. Not according to the idea. There's still no link to it or note about it on the post an idea page, which is what is really needed. It won't get read where it is.
dell_admin1 12/23/07	@cosh - I like your idea of adding a link to the category explanation from the 'post an idea' page, as a reminder for new people. As long as it doesn't complicate the page, we'd be willing to do that. I'll ask the design team to add this to the long list of small changes we have pending. By the way, the way the idea is written, I would say this is implemented. Thanks.

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