Feed Subjects and Tags

RSSrch uses Zotero’s existing tag system to provide additional research context for feed items.

It does not maintain a separate RSSrch tag database.

RSSrch distinguishes three related rule fields:

RSSrch field	Meaning
Feed Subjects	Zotero automatic tags
Tags	All Zotero tags
Manual Tags	Zotero non-automatic tags

These distinctions are available throughout RSSrch in areas such as:

• Include and Exclude Rules
• Relevance Scoring
• Reader information
• rule diagnostics
• research exports

Feed Subjects

In RSSrch, Feed Subjects means the automatic Zotero tags attached to a feed item.

These tags can represent research classifications obtained from several sources.

They may include:

• subject or category information supplied by an RSS or Atom feed
• structured publisher metadata
• article keywords
• subject classifications discovered through Metadata Enrichment

For example, a feed item might have automatic subject tags such as:

Neuroscience
Motor Neuron Disease
Oxidative Stress
Mitochondria

RSSrch exposes those automatic tags through the Feed Subjects rule field.

Note

The name Feed Subjects describes how RSSrch uses these tags as research metadata. It does not mean every value necessarily came directly from the original RSS feed. Enrichment-derived article subjects can also appear there.

Tags

The Tags rule field contains all Zotero tags attached to the item.

Conceptually:

Tags
=
Automatic Tags
+
Non-Automatic Tags

So if an item contains:

Automatic:
Neuroscience
Ferroptosis
 
Non-Automatic:
priority
reviewed

the Tags field can expose all four values.

Use Tags when the distinction between automatic research metadata and intentionally assigned non-automatic tags does not matter for the rule.

Manual Tags

The Manual Tags rule field contains Zotero tags whose type is non-automatic.

These commonly include:

• tags created by the user
• tags added through RSSrch Actions
• other non-automatic Zotero tags

For example:

rssrch:priority
important
follow-up

can be evaluated independently of automatic Feed Subjects.

Important

In RSSrch’s implementation, Manual Tags means non-automatic Zotero tags. It should not be interpreted as proof that a particular tag was personally typed by the researcher.

This distinction is useful when intentional workflow tags should carry different meaning from publisher or enrichment metadata.

Where Feed Subjects come from

RSSrch can populate automatic subject tags from more than one metadata path.

Feed-provided subjects

RSS and Atom entries can contain category or subject information.

RSSrch captures available subject terms from the feed entry and preserves them as Zotero automatic tags when automatic tagging is enabled.

Depending on the feed format and provider, this may include information represented as:

• categories
• subjects
• structured feed classification fields

Feed quality varies considerably between publishers.

Some feeds provide useful article-level subjects, while others provide very little classification metadata.

Metadata enrichment

RSSrch can also obtain subject and keyword metadata during enrichment.

When accepted subject metadata is found, RSSrch can add those terms to the feed item as Zotero automatic tags.

This means an item that originally arrived with sparse feed metadata can later gain useful research subjects after enrichment.

For example:

Feed arrives
↓
Few or no useful subjects
↓
RSSrch metadata enrichment
↓
Publisher or article metadata resolved
↓
Accepted subject terms
↓
Zotero automatic tags

See Metadata Enrichment for how RSSrch resolves and applies additional metadata.

RSSrch respects Zotero’s automatic-tag setting

RSSrch does not bypass Zotero’s automatic-tag preference.

When Zotero automatic tags are enabled, RSSrch can add:

• feed-supplied subjects
• enrichment-derived subject tags

as automatic Zotero tags.

When Zotero automatic tags are disabled, RSSrch does not add these automatic subject tags.

Manual and other non-automatic tags remain separate from this setting.

Conceptually:

Zotero automatic tags enabled
↓
RSSrch may add accepted Feed Subjects
 
Zotero automatic tags disabled
↓
RSSrch does not add automatic Feed Subjects

RSSrch therefore follows Zotero’s tag model rather than implementing an independent automatic-tag system.

Feed refresh and subject tags

Feed metadata can change over time.

When Zotero refreshes a feed, RSSrch rebuilds native feed-supplied subject tags from the current feed entry.

This allows obsolete feed categories to disappear when a publisher no longer supplies them.

At the same time, RSSrch protects enrichment-derived automatic subject tags that represent article-level metadata discovered separately from the feed payload.

Conceptually:

Existing tags
↓
Preserve non-automatic tags
↓
Preserve protected enrichment subjects
↓
Rebuild native feed subjects from current feed metadata

This prevents stale feed categories from accumulating indefinitely while retaining useful article-level enrichment data.

Manual tags are preserved

RSSrch feed processing does not discard existing non-automatic tags.

For example, if a feed item contains:

Manual:
priority

and a later feed refresh supplies:

Automatic:
Neuroscience
Motor Neuron Disease

the resulting item can retain:

Manual:
priority
 
Automatic:
Neuroscience
Motor Neuron Disease

Feed refresh and subject enrichment are not intended to replace the user’s tagging workflow.

Manual tags take precedence over automatic duplicates

If an item already contains a non-automatic tag with the same name as an incoming automatic subject, RSSrch preserves the non-automatic form.

For example:

Existing non-automatic tag:
Ferroptosis
 
Incoming automatic subject:
Ferroptosis

RSSrch does not replace the existing tag with an automatic version.

The non-automatic tag wins.

The same principle applies when enrichment discovers a subject whose name already exists as a non-automatic tag.

The existing tag still satisfies the subject semantically without being converted into an automatic tag.

Subject cleanup

Metadata sources sometimes provide values that are technically present but useless as research subjects.

RSSrch rejects obvious placeholder values such as:

N/A
none
null
unknown
undefined
not available
no keywords
no subject

RSSrch also contains targeted cleanup for known provider-specific boilerplate when that material cannot be established as trustworthy article-level subject metadata.

The goal is to retain research-relevant classifications rather than filling Zotero’s Tag Selector with metadata placeholders or source boilerplate.

Feed Subjects in rules

Feed Subjects can be used anywhere RSSrch conditions are supported.

For example:

Field:
Feed Subjects
 
Operator:
contains whole word
 
Term:
Ferroptosis

A scoring concept could use:

Concept:
Ferroptosis subject classification
 
Weight:
+4
 
Condition:
Feed Subjects contains whole word
Ferroptosis

Or an Admission rule might combine Feed Subjects with other metadata:

ALL conditions
 
Feed Subjects contains
Neuroscience
 
Abstract / Summary contains
motor neuron

Because Feed Subjects can come from both native feed metadata and enrichment, they can provide structured context beyond title and abstract text.

See Include and Exclude Rules for condition behavior and Relevance Scoring for weighted scoring concepts.

Manual Tags in rules

The Manual Tags field can be useful for intentional research workflow states.

For example, an RSSrch Action might add:

rssrch:priority

A later rule can evaluate:

Manual Tags
contains
rssrch:priority

This keeps intentional workflow tags distinguishable from automatic subject metadata.

Remember that Actions do not chain during the same new-item processing pass. A tag created by one Action does not cause another Action to become newly matched during that same pass.

Folder-scoped tags

RSSrch Feed Folders do not own tags.

There is no separate collection of:

Folder tags

stored on an RSSrch folder.

Instead, RSSrch extends the scope of Zotero’s existing Tag Selector when an RSSrch folder is selected.

Suppose the folder structure is:

Neurology
├── ALS Research
│   ├── Feed A
│   └── Feed B
└── Ferroptosis
    └── Feed C

Selecting:

Neurology

allows Zotero’s Tag Selector to represent tags from:

Feed A
+
Feed B
+
Feed C

Selecting:

ALS Research

limits that scope to:

Feed A
+
Feed B

RSSrch determines the descendant feed libraries represented by the selected folder and supplies those feed-library scopes to Zotero’s Tag Selector.

The Tag Selector itself remains Zotero’s native tag interface.

Top-level Feeds tag scope

RSSrch also extends tag support for Zotero’s synthetic top-level:

Feeds

row.

Zotero does not normally provide a complete tag union for that synthetic aggregate row.

RSSrch supplies the aggregate feed-item scope so Zotero’s Tag Selector can expose tags across the current feed libraries.

Conceptually:

Feeds
↓
all current Zotero feed libraries
↓
Zotero Tag Selector
↓
combined available tags

RSSrch uses Zotero’s own feed search results and Tags API for this behavior rather than maintaining a parallel tag index.

Folder selection does not copy tags

Selecting an RSSrch folder does not:

• copy tags between feed items
• add tags to the folder
• create new Zotero tags
• merge the feed libraries
• change the underlying subscriptions

It only changes which feed libraries are represented by the Tag Selector scope.

This makes folder tag browsing a discovery feature rather than a metadata mutation.

See Feed Folders for the complete folder model.

Backfill Feed Subject Tags

RSSrch provides a maintenance command for completing or repairing automatic subject metadata.

Open:

Tools → RSSrch → Enrichment → Backfill Feed Subject Tags…

Metadata enrichment must be enabled before the backfill can run.

RSSrch explains that the operation will:

• clean rejected placeholder subject tags
• finish incomplete subject-tag enrichment
• give still-untagged eligible items a bounded publisher or DOI subject fallback pass
• save accepted high-confidence subject terms as Zotero automatic tags

Manual tags are never removed or converted by this operation.

What the backfill examines

The backfill scans Zotero feed items and identifies those whose subject-tag enrichment is incomplete or eligible for a bounded fallback attempt.

An item may be selected when RSSrch determines that:

• subject enrichment remains incomplete
• accepted cached subject data needs completion
• no accepted enrichment subjects are available
• sufficient article identity is available through a URL or DOI for a bounded fallback attempt

RSSrch prioritizes eligible items and processes them through the normal paced enrichment system.

For a large feed library, the operation can take time because resolving article-level subject metadata may require network requests.

Placeholder cleanup during backfill

Before resolving new subjects, the backfill also cleans rejected automatic placeholder assignments and corresponding cached enrichment values.

For example, an automatic tag such as:

Unknown

may be removed when it represents rejected placeholder metadata.

This cleanup applies to automatic subject metadata.

Non-automatic tags are protected.

Backfill is not required for normal use

Normal RSSrch processing already captures and enriches subject metadata as new feed items are processed.

Backfill Feed Subject Tags is primarily useful when:

• RSSrch subject-tag behavior has been improved
• older feed items predate the current subject-tag enrichment system
• a library contains incomplete subject metadata
• rejected placeholder tags need cleanup
• existing items need one bounded attempt to obtain better subject classifications

It does not need to be run routinely after every feed refresh.

Using tags for research discovery

Tags are most useful when their source and meaning are kept clear.

A practical model is:

Feed Subjects
→ automatic research classification
 
Manual Tags
→ intentional workflow state
 
Tags
→ either type when distinction is unnecessary

RSSrch Feed Folders then provide a way to explore those tags across a larger research domain without changing the underlying metadata.

For example:

Folder:
Neurodegeneration
 
Tag Selector:
Ferroptosis
Mitochondria
Oxidative Stress
Motor Neuron Disease
Microglia

can reveal recurring terminology across several feeds represented by that folder.

This makes Zotero’s tag system useful not only for individual-paper organization but also for exploring the vocabulary of an incoming research stream.

Next

Some Feed Subjects are available directly from RSS or publisher metadata, while others are discovered through RSSrch’s enrichment pipeline.

➡️ Continue to Metadata Enrichment