Queer as Folksonomy

The problems inherent in a 'folk-sonomy' (redundancies, inaccuracies, mispellings) are legion, but lacking a controlled vocabulary results in a balkanization of terms and a limited social (and intellectual) conversation. As we engage in narrower and narrower (virtual) social spaces, our vocabulary, necessarily, will be more precise. But also proprietary--we'll use language in a way that will be familiar and comprehensible to those around us, but not to an outsider. A discourse mafia emerges. Even David Sifry of Technorati refers to certain blogs (the "Magic Middle") as 'authoratative.' So much for the power of the people. Wiki's, folk-tags and other social networks may be more democratic, but in the end they may be as exclusionary as L'Académie.