Twiddle tags, with names like “~tag”, are visible only to their creators. Tags with two twiddles, such as “~~tag”, are visible only to PC chairs. All other tags are visible to the entire PC.

• Avoid discussing low-ranked submissions at the PC meeting. Mark low-ranked submissions with tag “nodiscuss”, then ask the PC to search for “tag:nodiscuss”. PC members can easily check the list for controversial papers they'd like to discuss despite their ranking. They can email the chairs about such papers, or, even easier, add a “discussanyway” tag. (You might make the “nodiscuss” tag chair-only so an evil PC member couldn't add it to a high-ranked paper, but it's usually better to trust the PC.)
• Mark controversial papers that would benefit from additional review. PC members could add the “controversy” tag when the current reviewers disagree. A search shows where the PC thinks more review is needed.
• Mark PC-authored papers for extra scrutiny. First, search for PC members' last names in author fields. Check for accidental matches and select the papers with PC members as authors, then use the action area below the search list to add the tag “pcpaper”. A search shows papers without PC authors. (Since PC members can see whether a paper is tagged “pcpaper”, you may want to delay defining the tag until just before the meeting.)
• Vote for papers. The chair can define special voting tags. Each PC member is assigned an allotment of votes to distribute among papers. For instance, if “v” were a voting tag with an allotment of 10, then a PC member could assign 5 votes to a paper by adding the twiddle tag “~v#5”. The system automatically sums PC members' votes into the public “v” tag. To search for papers by vote count, search for “rorder:v”. (Learn more)
• Rank papers. Each PC member can set tags indicating their preference ranking for papers. For instance, a PC member's favorite paper would get tag “~rank#1”, the next favorite “~rank#2”, and so forth. The chair can then combine these rankings into a global preference order using a Condorcet method. (Learn more)
• Define a discussion order for the PC meeting. Publishing the order lets PC members prepare to discuss upcoming papers. Define an ordered tag such as “discuss” (see below for how), then ask the PC to search for “order:discuss”. The PC can now see the order and use quick links to go from paper to paper.
• Mark tentative decisions during the PC meeting either using decision selectors or, perhaps, “accept” and “reject” tags.

Tags are only shown to PC members and administrators. Additionally, twiddle tags, which have names like “~tag”, are visible only to their creators; each PC member has an independent set.

To tag multiple papers at once, find the papers in a search, select their checkboxes, and add tags using the action area.

Add adds tags to the selected papers, Remove removes existing tags from the selected papers, and Define adds the tag to all selected papers and removes it from all non-selected papers. The chair-only Clear twiddle action removes a tag and all users' matching twiddle tags.

Although any PC member can view or search most tags, only PC chairs can change certain tags.

It's common to assign increasing tag values to a set of papers. Do this using the search screen. Search for the papers you want, sort them into the right order, select their checkboxes, and choose Define order in the tag action area. If no sort gives what you want, search for the desired paper numbers in order—for instance, you might search for “4 1 12 19”—then Select all and Define order. To add new papers at the end of an existing discussion order, use Add to order. To insert papers into an existing order, use Add to order with a tag value; for example, to insert starting at value 5, use Add to order with “tag#5”. The rest of the order is renumbered to accomodate the insertion.

Define order might assign values “tag#1”, “tag#3”, “tag#6”, and “tag#7” to adjacent papers. The gaps make it harder to infer conflicted papers' positions. (Any given gap might or might not hold a conflicted paper.) In contrast, the Define gapless order action assigns strictly sequential values, like “tag#1”, “tag#2”, “tag#3”, “tag#4”. Define order is better for most purposes.