My suggestion is to use something that fits more with the Markdown syntax that Diaspora already uses. Since we have name, why not just use [Tag Link] by itself. It is fairly easily to parse. Though, if you want the hash, I’d be more inclined to say [#Tag Phrase].
Can someone explain why we even need tags with whitespace?
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“5. Hashtags themselves don’t allow whitespace in them which is caused by the syntax restrictions and results in awkward unreadable notations like “#areallylonghashtagyoucanbreakyoureyeson”, or people trying to come up with workarounds (like using underscore or camel notation, which proliferates incompatible tags and defeats the purpose of searching by them).”
I think that the proliferation of alternate syntaxes is a great problem.
I think that the proliferation of alternate syntaxes is a great problem.
That’s the point - making one standard in diaspora* will reduce usage of other makeshift methods like described. And will increase readability.
@jonnehass :
Can someone explain why we even need tags with whitespace?
It’s explained quite clearly in problem #5 in the proposal. So let me repeat it:
Hashtags themselves don’t allow whitespace in them which is caused by the syntax restrictions and results in awkward unreadable notations like “#areallylonghashtagyoucanbreakyoureyeson”, or people trying to come up with workarounds (like using underscore or camel notation, which proliferates incompatible tags and defeats the purpose of searching by them).
I think caml casing is common enough and works fine, I’d even consider removing support for _ in tags. We already downcase for comparison, so #fooBar, #FooBar and #foobar are all the same tag.
Can someone explain why we even need tags with whitespace?
No idea. I gues it’s because of a misunderstanding about the usage of hashtags, but it’s only suppositions.
I think this all needs a serious police investigation. please call the experts ! 
What if dashes were automatically deleted? That way, for example, #GNU-Linux and #GNULinux would all end up at #gnulinux. Also, if the curly-bracket thing is implemented, #{GNU Linux} would also go to the same place.
Right off, I can tell this would be inconvenient/insensitive when talking about someone with a hyphenated name. I’m just spit-balling.
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All of this is not a question why we need multiword hashtags. They are already used and in all kind of incompatible ways. This proposal is about making a clean syntax rather than leaving this chaotic.
#FooBar is bad (not readable for long tags). #foo_bar or #foo-bar are not compatible with #FooBar and etc. But all of them are used to convey the same idea. All of those problems are described in #5. Whitespace in tags would provide one standard way and would make them actually human readable (which is important!).
I’d even consider removing support for _ in tags.
I think it would be good to allow users to create tags containing underscores and hyphens, but to ‘strip’ these characters from the linked tag, so a search for #foobar also returns results from #foo_bar and #foo-bar.
I see no benefit in coding for tags with spaces in - that seems to me something which is just going to create all sorts of situations in which users create tags when they don’t mean to, and so on.
I’d prefer not to strip anything from tags and use them as the user intended. Otherwise it will only increase the confusion.
I thought this topic was somehow related to the approach to realize groups through a hashtag. That would seem like a nice idea to me although I would prefer to realize groups with something else.
But concerning readability: we might get a conflict between readability and writability. Let’s imagine the hashtags #merrychristmas and #{merry christmas}. Which one would you use in your postings AND which one are you expecting that other users are using in their postings? In fact I expect curly brackets to be so hard to type that only the super-hardcore-nerds would ever use them.
What if dashes were automatically deleted? That way, for example, #GNU-Linux and #GNULinux would all end up at #gnulinux. Also, if the curly-bracket thing is implemented, #{GNU Linux} would also go to the same place.
To me, implement another syntax is just visual pollution. For long tags, you just have camel case. I have never understood the nedd for doing sentences with hashtags…
They are juste used to sort posts in subject, not write these posts.
super-hardcore-nerds
No, something only super-hardcore-nerds would use would be merry christmas.
And it’s not like we’re dealing with tildas ( ~ ) or pipes ( | ) or anything. I think curly-brackets are fairly understandable. Maybe straight brackets ( [ ] ) would would be preferred, just so you don’t have to hit the Shift key quite so much.
I don’t think it’s any more difficult than embedding an image with Markdown.
To me, implement another syntax is just visual pollution. For long tags, you just have camel case.
Which is unreadable - I simply never waste my time on breaking eyes on such hahstags.
Our syntax, with spaces, is not just another syntax, it’s our natural syntax. The maddening proliferation of four different syntaxes (CamelCase, hyphens, no space, hashtags on each word) only results from our initial inability to emulate it. Obviously the natural syntax will catch on everywhere if only we give it a chance and D* is a good place to start.
#“natural syntax”
But concerning readability: we might get a conflict between readability and writability.
Let’s clarify. The result can be displayed in the post without brackets at all. Brackets are needed only for editing the post.
Which is unreadable - I simply never waste my time on breaking eyes on such hahstags.
Tags are not intended to write sentences, yet. I really don’t see the need for writing super-long hashes. #ConsiderImWritingMyPostsEntirelyWithTags #IsItUsefull ?
Really, tags are just a way to mark a post as concerning a subject. Nothing else…
Sentences are off-topic. We’re dealing with terms.
“Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings—these may deviate from the meanings the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language.”
Really, tags are just a way to mark a post as concerning a subject. Nothing else….
Yet they are often used inside posts. So we can either ignore current lack of readability, or we can improve it. I’m for the second option.