Metadata Strategy

If tagging a note takes longer than writing it, my system is fighting me.

Key Concept

• Tags, categories, dates, aliases - metadata should help me find notes, not become a second job.
• Level 1: Tags and dates should help you find a note fast - like labels on boxes in the attic, not a second full-time job sorting every scrap.
• Level 2: Metadata earns its keep when search takes ten seconds - light tags beat taxonomy you never maintain.
• Level 3: Tags, categories, dates, and aliases exist to find notes - when tagging takes longer than writing, the system fights you.
• Level 4: Cap active tags at five you would actually pick - frontmatter is publish metadata; the body is the writing.
• Level 5: PARA Method buckets plus light aliases beat Building a Personal API complexity - YAML breaks the build, Markdown typos rarely do.
• Metadata earns its keep when I can find the note in ten seconds.
• Light tags and aliases beat taxonomy hell inside PARA buckets.
• Frontmatter is publish metadata; the body is the writing - YAML breaks the build, Markdown typos rarely do.

Examples

• I tagged every note with twelve labels and used none on search - cut to five I would actually pick.
• The team wiki had forty categories; new hires filed everything under Misc within a week.

Note Relationships