Re - think keyword (tags) approach

[chrumu]

 

 

3 of my posts in this thread have received red arrows. Yes they're not showing right now as a kind person has cancelled them (thank you). Also no response from who I was helping by providing facts.

 

It's frustrating to spend a long time answering questions, looking stuff up for someone else, proving myself when I shouldn't need to, then getting red arrows for it. 

 

Geoff.

 

 

I assume you meant me when complaining about no response for your "help" and "providing facts". I'm sorry, but you were not helping, and in my opinion you were not providing facts, just general claims like "Experience and a lot of time testing". When I explained how I understand the quote from Alamy differently than you, you ignored it and started talking about multi-word tags, which made absolutely no sense to me, since neither Alamy nor me was mentioning multi-word tags. At this point I decided that continuing that discussion was pointless and stopped replying. But since you apparently longed for a reply, here it is.

 

 

This will most likely be my last statement in this thread.

 

 

I explained everything very clearly more than once, and you clearly haven't understood, which is your own issue any no reflection of my clear, precise and helpful explanations. When you said that you understood that one quote differently, I went into more details to clarify the meaning, rather than ignoring it as you claim. The point of multi-word tags was that it's the best way to do it to preserve the order. I was trying to help, and despite it clearly not helping you but actually getting a rude ungrateful response, I'm sure it's helped others. There were several quotes in that thread that you apparently weren't able to find yourself, so kindly took time to find them for you. Nice of me, don't you think? You're very welcome. 

 

Feel free to do your own testing and come to your own conclusions in future.

 

Oh and don't mention it, I'm always happy to help others who need help in understanding the basics. 

 

Geoff.

 

 

 

 

Claiming that others don't understand the basics just because they have a different opinion doesn't really make your statements more credible or helpful, but they give the impression that you have issues accepting that others have different opinions.

 

 

English is not my native language, but am I really the only one here who thinks "proximity" and "order" are not synonyms? For me, "proximity" is "closeness in distance", whereas "order" is "arrangement in a particular sequence".

[Phil Robinson]

I think someone here is deliberately trying to misunderstand.

Or maybe it's just the words being used.

'Proximity' in the English language usually refers only to things being close together. 

In the Alamy context there is also an element of order. i.e. 'New', 'York' will have a different effect on results from 'York', 'New'.

But if an image has been given 50 tags, whether the 'New' and 'York' are first and second in the list or 49th and 50th doesn't make a difference.

I agree the advice from Alamy is not complete - it should read "next to each other within the tags in the right order"

Maybe they assumed people would do that anyway.....

[Betty LaRue]

I go to great lengths to use order first, then proximity. The two are kissing cousins. And order is very important. When I tagged my apple pie, I got different results from apple pie slice and slice apple pie. I used both as phrases because they might be searched either way.

 

These are tests I performed personally just like Geoff, and they are fact. So I try to keep my important tags and phrases using order AND proximity.

 

Alamy has given us some guidelines. But they are sketchy in some areas, 50 shades of gray once in awhile and we have been left to figure out what works best on our own in many areas.

I've done some testing, Geoff has done way more. He really is trying to be helpful, as am I. I am very greatful when someone shares a tip that helps me, because where you land in a search is very important.

Betty

[argggh]

Thank you Geoff for the very helpful posts which clearly took you time and effort to explain for the benefit of newbies like me. I really learnt something new from it today.

 

Chrumu, from reading your posts, even though English may not be your native language, it is quite clear that you have a native level of knowledge in this language, and I enjoyed reading your different interpretation of the same statement, which I would not say is wrong, just that it is different.

 

English is often cited as an imprecise language which is ill suited for clear, concise scientific discussions, hence keeping an army of lawyers in their jobs. Which is pretty ironic considering how we have chosen English as the international language of science - although, of course, this statement is subjective and I am some will disagree with me soon enough.

 

Take this recent news article I read which brought a chuckle. (P.S. Too bad they chose to go with Getty instead of Alamy on this article)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39300432

 

I actually had to read the article twice to understand what the issue with the contract was. If a well-paid professional lawyer who drafted the contract is unable to make such a simple statement closed to interpretation, what chance has the rest of us got.

 

At the end of the day, as a newbie I find it great that there is this very active, very passionate community in Alamy, and I can only learn more about Alamy and the World of stock photography from these spirited discussions.

 

Thank you guys.

[Betty LaRue]

You're welcome argggh....and a good constructive post you've written too. 

 

Geoff.

I got a hearty giggle (are giggles hearty?) out of your post, Geoff. I expected somewhere a mention of a parrot, a bottle of rum, and the word, matey.

[argggh]

Haha. Unfortunately I do not know any parrots personally, but I am partial to a bottle of rum from time to time...

[Betty LaRue]

Haha. Unfortunately I do not know any parrots personally, but I am partial to a bottle of rum from time to time...

I could loan you one of my African Grays, but pirates always seem to own McCaws. Those big beaks are probably why the pirates wear a patch on one eye. PLUCK!

Coming from one who spent New Year's Eve in the ER a couple of years ago, getting my hand stitched from a Gray bite.

Betty