I’m sure you know the feeling. You have found a really wonderful page. Maybe it is quirkily funny, or oddly serious, or something else. It is definitely not run of the mill. You finish digesting the page, eager to click on the thumbs-up button, then move directly to a review of the page. Then, up comes the window that tells you that you are the discoverer of that wonderful page.

At that point, I always feel a certain responsibility to help the page do well. I’m sure that you do, too. But besides that hopeful feeling, there is often a sinking feeling: “What the heck category do I put that into?” Especially with off-the-wall articles, that can be a difficult decision. You know that you are a dedicated (and addicted) stumbler when you do what I have done: used screen capture to get a list of all SU topics onto a few pages that you can use for reference.

You keep those pages on or near your desk, within easy reach, just for moments like this. I actually have mine in an Open Office Writer file on my desktop. After a quick scan of the topics pages, nothing seems quite right. Nor does it after a longer look through the available categories. Usually, I just pick whatever is seems closest, even though it is not quite right, and then try to make up the difference with tags. You have probably found yourself doing much the same thing.

There would appear to be a hard limit on the number of topics. I have designed enough databases and data warehouses to understand why that is the case. Cut the pie too few ways, and the available information is not quite enough to parse. Cut it too many ways, and you get buried in detail. Still, you have to wonder why some of the topics are there, and why some that we think should be there are missing.

Here are a few examples. Why is there a topic for Karaoke and none for SEO? I know that there are Karaoke fans out there, but it sometimes seems as if every other page that you stumble is an SEO page. Why do we have a Spas topic and not one for the Civil War? Well, that’s more than enough about what I think. What do you think?

What topics seem redundant to you, and could maybe be removed?

What topics should be added to the list?

Do tags seem to make up for missing topics?

Leave a comment with your thoughts. Once we have enough, we will catalog them and do a follow-up post. Thanks!