Can you explain this a little more? In what way does tagging discourage discovery?...many of the things I have found interesting would never have been found if they had be tagged in any specific way...
I think something that has happened around here more than once is that users mistake the lack of encouragement that a feature may provide for discouragement. It's a subtle different, but present. For instance, the tag system does not necessarily make it easy to find all easily-grouped content under a given header right now. However, I do not believe it discourages discovery. It just does not provide complete discovery nor does it encourage discovery of additional, potentially related tags. I feel that the concern of improper tagging is alleviated by a) the editable community tag (although 2 of those might be cool) and b) the follow/share structure, as long as you have confidence in who you follow. I often feel "stuck" on tags. Sometimes I can't come up with one and sometimes I come up with four. While it's not ideal, and for instance "tag suggestions" that pop up might be nice, I don't think it's "broken." I don't like the idea of set categories that must be used, I do enjoy the flexibility of tags as they are currently.
I feel that the concern of improper tagging is alleviated by a) the editable community tag (although 2 of those might be cool)
The editable community tag is a good feature but it is still limited to the list of tags that are currently out there now. You could create a new tag just for one post but the chances are that you will prevent people from ever seeing it rather than creating a new and useful category.and b) the follow/share structure, as long as you have confidence in who you follow.
Right and thats probably the most important factor in the limitations of tags right now, because they have less power to filter for things you find interesting (we have generic buckets like #thehumancondition rather than targetted tags) you need to rely on the people you follow which causes its own problems (Users with the most followers decide the content for everyone else). I know hubski is intended to be a person follow based site but tags (could/should?) provide a balancing force against that power struggle. I often feel "stuck" on tags. Sometimes I can't come up with one and sometimes I come up with four. While it's not ideal, and for instance "tag suggestions" that pop up might be nice, I don't think it's "broken."
Yep, I feel stuck so I lump it into "something" in most cases. Tag suggestions are needed I think. "broken" is debatable, I don't think they are as powerful or as useful as they should be.
Tagging can help you if you set out to find something related to a specific topic. Or at least it would if our tags were more focused. For example #civilwar. But thats not 'discovery' in the way I meant. On the other hand it can work against you by hiding interesting topics that have been squeezed into an ill fitting tag which you do not follow. Right now I tend to ignore tags and instead go fishing in global, ranking by mid to high votes.