The forum categories as they’re set up are pretty broad, so it’s still fairly easy for a post to get lost. Luckily, hashtags are here to help posts get found!
Hashtags start with a hash or pound sign ( # ), and can be any combination of letters, numbers and the underscore ( _ ) character. Adding relevant hashtags to your posts can make it easier for folks to find the information they are looking for. They can be added anywhere in your post, and become hyperlinks that people can follow to find other posts with the same tag.
Because hashtags can be pretty much anything you want, it can help to have some conventions in place to make things a little easier to find. Below are some suggestions:
• Use underscores to replace punctuation. CA, US becomes #ca_us.
• Ignore spaces. Credit union, becomes #creditunion
• Use singulars (e.g. #producer instead of #producers).
• Capitalization doesn’t matter, so #CreditUnion and #creditunion will both show up in either search.
• Try to avoid unofficial/non-mainstream abbreviations or acronyms.
One caveat: the cooperative principles can be abbreviated to “#p” plus the principle number (e.g. #p6)
• Additionally, here are some suggestions for some hashtags which could be helpful:
• Type of cooperative (e.g. #producer, #consumer, #worker, or #non-profit)
• Industry (e.g. #electric, #grocery, #housing, or #ag)
• Geography (e.g. #ca_us, #ab_ca, #PNW)
• Subtopics in a category (e.g. #board, #HR, #financial, #feasibility)
• Other topics in the post (e.g. #dei, #rural, #BIPOC, #low_income)
• Relevant cooperative principles (e.g. #p1, #p6)
