The discussion revolves around the concept of a rule-based virtual category in Discourse, which would allow topics to be assigned to multiple categories based on tags or groups of tags. volanar proposes this feature to solve the limitation of assigning a single topic to only one category, drawing parallels from e-commerce where products can belong to multiple categories. This would be configured in category settings, with a checkbox to designate a category as virtual and options to select relevant tags. For instance, a category about cats could have a subcategory for a specific breed like Maine Coon, automatically populated with topics tagged as such. Jagster questions the necessity of this feature, as tags already serve a similar purpose, and raises concerns about the rules governing topics in virtual categories, especially when topics with the same tag come from different categories with varying rules. volanar clarifies that this is not a replacement for tags but a way to use one topic in several categories, emphasizing that tags are used as rules for linking topics to categories. Jagster explains that categories and tags are different taxonomies, with categories being hierarchical and tags being non-hierarchical.
This revolutionary feature can solve the problem of a single topic being assigned to multiple categories.
This also partially solves the problem of low category nesting to create a convenient community structure.
This feature is used in e-commerce to create summary categories based on rules (such as product attributes). This allows you to have one product in multiple categories.
In discourse, a virtual category can be created (or added to an existing one) based on tags or a group of tags.
It is necessary to make a new setting in the category settings.
When you select the “virtual category” checkbox, a window opens with a selection of tags or a group of tags, based on which topics with such a tag are automatically added to this category.
For example, we have a category about cats. We want to put one breed of cats in a separate category, but we want to leave the topics in the old category. We create a new category and based on the tag, for example, Maine Coon, the category will automatically be filled with topics with the Maine Coon tag, there can be a large number of them. This is one example of use, in reality there are many more.
As I see this you want to show same listing for a tag, what a tag already gives.
What rules should those tag based topics follow in that virtual category, from original or would a virtual category has its own? And if original, what would happen when topics using same tag come from different categories with different rules?
Otherwise… Discourse is a wonderful tool for discussions, and e-commerce apps and platforms are the best option for selling things.
You misunderstood me. This is not a replacement for tags, this is the only way to use one topic in several categories. If a topic equally belongs to several categories, then now it is impossible to do this, you can only select one category. Thus, you can create a new category based on the rules, using 2-10, etc. tags. Or add rules to the old category. Once again, tags are used as rules for linking topics to a category. Half of my topics need to be linked to several categories, but I can only link a topic to one category
Except that isn’t how tags are used. Both are taxonomies. Categories are hierarchical and work vertically. Tags are (mostly) non-hierarchical and act horizontally.