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Update! I crossed the 150 rep mark, so I AM creating the tag and adding it to my own questions. I hope a few others also choose to use it!

Podcasts have some unique writing challenges, and I'd love to be able to tag "podcast" when I ask questions about them

The question I'm asking now, I'm using just the "script" and "non-fiction" tags (because this particular one is for an educational podcast I'm planning).

Is this a viable tag? I know y'all are trying to consolidate tags and boost participation in existing ones, but I think this is an option that could be added. (Of course any questions about the technical particulars would be redirected elsewhere.) But I think this would be the right place for people to ask about the writing/planning parts. Thanks!

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    Welcome to meta and thanks for bringing your question here! My upvote signifies "I agree we should talk about this". I've never done a (scripted) podcast; am I correct in suspecting that it differs from both speechwriting and scriptwriting?
    – Monica Cellio
    Feb 21, 2019 at 23:38
  • I had a question I was going to post in "script", but I was within 40 minutes of this post, and I had to leave. I left my computer on "lock" overnight so I could post it when I came in today, but the machines rebooted overnight, so I lost it. (It was about recurring intros/end-credits)
    – April Salutes Monica C.
    Feb 22, 2019 at 14:17
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    Losing work stinks. I like to cut and paste into an (unsent) email, because my computer always saves unsent emails (sent to yourself works too). I'm sure we all feel your pain. You know about the contest right? We'd love to see you join it.
    – Cyn
    Feb 22, 2019 at 15:08
  • @April argh. I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you're able to reconstruct your question.
    – Monica Cellio
    Feb 22, 2019 at 15:17
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    It wasn't really that important -- it was mostly because I wanted to ask a question (not just answer them), and also see what other podcast queries people had. (Not the 2-guys-no-research just chatting about pop culture, but the various degrees of scripted ones: from fully produced ones like those by Gimlet & Wondery, to a clearly written out & complete script like many history ones (Revolutions & Fall of Rome), to ones that are more chatty, but still following a clear outline/plan each time, like ones by Chipperish Media.)
    – April Salutes Monica C.
    Feb 22, 2019 at 15:38
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    Wow -- my browser saved it! So I was able to post it. Also, I just realized i'm only a few rep-points away from being able to create that tag by myself. I still feel that it makes more sense for it to be something that others also agree is needed.
    – April Salutes Monica C.
    Feb 22, 2019 at 17:17

3 Answers 3

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Another niche I have been trying to figure out how to represent on WritersSE is YouTube essays – which I think have some crossover with podcasting, especially in the way they are structured (or not structured).

I'm all for podcasting as a tag, but I also try to see if there is a communication style or structure that fits a broader category, so our questions can point back to the "writing", as opposed to the medium.

Whatever the decision, I would like some more detail between script and screenplay, but there are tinges of journalism(?) and essay. (tags are combined, so I'm not saying 1-tag to rule them all, just brainstorming how they might be useful)

We also have nothing that represents persuasive writing (that I have found) like for speeches, which also might come into play in a podcast or youtube essay. We have 100 tags for fiction, but were lacking in a lot of non-fiction areas...

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    I agree that our nonfiction tags could use some beefing up. We have a fair bit for tech writing and a couple other specialty genres but not much else. I really hate having to use [essay] when it's a magazine [article]. We have [article] but I don't use it because it's not defined yet and I think has one Q. Let's think about this...maybe make a new meta Q.
    – Cyn
    Feb 22, 2019 at 15:35
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Hmmm...good question.

should fit here and I'm not sure we need a separate tag for podcasting.

Questions regarding writing scripts and screenplays, for movies, TV, videogames and similar media.

I don't understand why we also have . Can someone speak to this? We have no wiki guidance at all for it, yet it has 43 questions. Compare that to only 30 questions for .

We also have which is not a sub for something about the script, but can go along with it.

This tag should be used for questions that are related to social media, for example questions about representing social media in your own fictional world or using social media as a marketing channel to help you widen your audience and get more readers to interact with you and your work.

Looking at podcast directly...there are 9 questions that use the term. The tags all 9 questions used are all over the map. If we had a tag, about half those questions would fit it.

I also notice we don't have . I wonder if the solution might be an audio script tag. We have but that's not the same thing.

Would like to hear what others think.

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    I do like 'audio script' as an option -- I eventually do want to do radio-play style podcasting as well. Is there a synonym-redirect power in the tags - if someone starts to type "fict" then 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' are proposed, which is simple pattern matching -- but it would be nice if someone types "podc" and it redirects to 'audio scripts' or 'new media' or whatever y'all choose.
    – April Salutes Monica C.
    Feb 22, 2019 at 14:16
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    @April Tag synonyms are also eligible for matching against typed characters in the tags field. For example, you could try with verse which is a synonym of poetry, which have no significant overlap in their names.
    – user
    Feb 22, 2019 at 21:27
  • Cool! Do I have rights to make synonyms yet?
    – April Salutes Monica C.
    Feb 22, 2019 at 22:00
  • @April why do you need to make a synonym? And no, you can't just make it. You can propose it and then it gets voted on, though no one will see it. Please discuss them here first.
    – Cyn
    Feb 22, 2019 at 22:01
  • @aCVn I tried that and it did not come up properly. How can we make it work? I've seen it before on SE but can't remember the example.
    – Cyn
    Feb 22, 2019 at 22:03
  • @Cyn Works for me, even when logged out. Just try typing verse into the tags field of a new question; you should see poetry, with a note "also: verse " at the bottom. If you still can't get it to work, post a separate question about that. Please include a screenshot if you do.
    – user
    Feb 25, 2019 at 8:13
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    @aCVn Oh, that's it. It only works when putting it in to a question. I was hoping for a way to see it when searching the tags page. When I retag posts I use the tags page because the popup when editing a question only shows 5-6 entries for your search. I find it easier to use the tags page to get a better sense of what the options are. I do this when writing my own questions too. Sometimes I already know what tags I'm going for, but often I am not sure.
    – Cyn
    Feb 25, 2019 at 15:11
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I am very much in favour of having a tag. Having a tag about a thing is a way of telling the world that we answer questions about this thing, which in turn encourages more questions and answers and activity within the sphere of this thing. (Same logic would apply to speeches, and any other tag that seems reasonable).

With regards to what to name the tag, "podcast" seems the most intuitive to me - more intuitive than "audio-script". Which would make it easier to find, and help it get more use. I suppose we can have "radio" and "podcast" as synonyms of "audio-script", so the system would help a user find what's relevant.

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