[swores]

> "The difference is that if a file isn't sorted in a file system, it just sits on your Desktop or Download folder and is still easily visible. If you use tags and your file doesn't get tagged properly it just is lost in the pile and impossible to retrieve."

Wouldn't a shortcut to a view of un-tagged files sorted by recent basically serve the same role as an unsorted Downloads/whatever folder?

[NBJack]

Anecdotally, my short answer to this is 'no'. At least a Downloads folder has a loosely defined purpose. I have often gone back to try and find something I downloaded that's no longer available (or too big to download again), and it's tricky at best to find something already.

Now, imagine how many files are being shifted around on a regular basis. Temp files, cached downloads, automatic installs of software updates, all sorts of crap your IT department may remotely put on your work laptop, etc. Sorting by date isn't all that useful. At least with folders, we have an 'enforced' blast radius if random junk shows up; my temp files stay in my temp folders, install files stay where they should, system files stay with my OS, etc.

And don't get me started on how things can end up in odd places on mobile devices OSs.

[grumbel]

The lost file might not be recent and it might not even be untagged, it might just be tagged incorrectly (e.g. `vacation-2019` vs `vaccination2019`).

The nice thing with a hierarchical directory structure is that every file has a place, even if a file is misplaced or misnamed, there is a good chance it will be near where it needs to be.

With tagging you don't really have that, it's just a pile and you have to hope that you can remember a query to make the file show up again.

The biggest problem however is that I don't see how you can actually work within a tagged system. How do you extract a `.zip`? How do you copy a file? How do you deal with removable media (DVD, USB)? Finding a file and handing it over to an app is not the only way we deal with files.

Your local file system is a work environment, where you are the one creating and modifying files. Tagging seems to works best when it comes to exploring around other peoples content, but that kind of exploration is not something I do on my local machine with my own files, since I already know where I put them.