There’s a problem with this approach. Metadata tags don’t show us why we linked two notes.If you only connect notes via a metadata tag, then you didn’t capture WHY you think that connection exists.
When connecting via metadata tags only, you rely on future-you to make the same connection but out of context of how present-you made it. Future-you might not remember the intricacies of WHY present-you thought that link was a good idea. They might be forced to try and think through the ideas again.
If the tag was clearly stated in the notes, I linked to that instead. For example, if I found “Software Architecture” in context, I changed it to “Software Architecture”
Adding Context
If the tag didn’t exist in context I looked to see where it made sense to add it. Sometimes this was a done by adding a note indicating that tag. Sometimes I added a summary of the notes and included it there.
Missing Context
I realized some tags didn’t make sense anymore.Some of the things I had added as tags weren’t really prominent in the notes I was reviewing. I’m not sure if this is because I got tag happy and was just adding things (best case scenario) or if the reason I originally added the tag was now lost forever because the mental connection didn’t resurface (worst case scenario). Either way, I removed tags that weren’t obvious.