Community Suggestion: Timelines: Filter includes events by tag, instead of excluding them
Timelines: Filter includes events by tag, instead of excluding them
Feature Upgrade · Timelines · Created by Those2Nerds
closed
timeline event tag filter
What functionality is missing? What is unsatisfying with the current situation?
Let's say you made a timeline of world history. You have events tagged with "North-Kingdom" and "South-Country" as is relevant. The war between these two nations is tagged with both. Now you'd like to filter to "North-Kingdom" events, but when you do, you don't see that war. Tag filters usually include results that contain a tag even if it's one of several tags. WA Timelines, however, function as an exclusion filter. In order to filter to "North-Kingdom", you need to exclude "South-Country" and all other tags. The results end up limited to events with only "North-Kingdom" and no other tag. This is not only contrary to most tag & filtering systems, including here on WA, but it makes it so we can't give events multiple tags and still have the filter be useful.How does this feature request address the current situation?
Changing timelines to an inclusion-based tag filter will make the feature more useful and easier to use. It will work the way we'd expect it to, lowering the learning curve for the more advanced use. We could then use tags to show complex events in all of its many contexts, making timelines more helpful and versatile.What are other uses for this feature request?
I used a typical history-based timeline as an example, but this would help with nearly any kind of timeline:- Timeline of novel scenes? Tag events with characters in the scene and its setting to filter to them as needed.
- Timeline of evolutionary paths? Tag events with relevant taxonomic branches and you can filter to various levels of the hierarchy.
- Timeline of trade routes? Tag events with nations and treaties to filter to the one you want to track.
(This was previously suggested in September of 2024 but closed due to lack of interest. I'm hoping 18 months & more explanation might attract more interest and possibly get this on the radar for the next timelines update.)
The Team's Response
Thanks for the suggestion! We're currently reviewing this, as we're not sure if this is a bug or if it was originally designed to work as it's currently working. So we'll investigate; if it's a bug that's just gone unnoticed, we'll fix it. If it was planned to work like it does now, we'll discuss and update this feature suggestion. Update: This wasn't working as originally planned, so it was considered a bug and has been fixed!
Current score
29/300 Votes · +8501 points
Votes Cast
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+300
by SixPathsSage
on 2026-05-02 20:52 -
+300
by ISpeakDragonese
on 2026-04-30 21:47 -
+300
by Jupiter Melichios
on 2026-04-24 20:02 -
+300
by WeStanNikolai
on 2026-04-24 14:30 -
+300
by BurningGod
on 2026-04-21 00:07 -
+300
by Jacob-W
on 2026-04-20 07:34 -
+100
by LittleRaider
on 2026-04-13 21:36 -
+300
by loupon
on 2026-04-12 08:49 -
+300
by Tillerz
on 2026-04-11 11:34 -
+1
by Mahdi Avendesora
on 2026-04-10 16:31 -
+300
by 0uthouse
on 2026-04-10 11:20This would add a huge amount of flexibility to that way worldbuilders can organise and display timelines. Even better if you can include tags as argument in article timeline shortcuts. With tags for specific people, places, events etc, you could effectively produce a custom timeline on-the-fly.
-
+300
by Lonnie makes mayhem
on 2026-04-07 20:47 -
+300
-
+300
by HunterChristmas1247
on 2026-04-03 19:25 -
+300
by Comic Book Lady
on 2026-04-01 17:41 -
+300
by eberg
on 2026-04-01 17:08 -
+300
by ss2020
on 2026-04-01 15:17 -
+300
by PhntmDrgn
on 2026-03-31 20:48 -
+300
by Michael Chandra
on 2026-03-31 12:23 -
+300
by kaixabu
on 2026-03-31 11:43 -
+300
by FictionFan1995
on 2026-03-31 09:40 -
+300
by bphilippe
on 2026-03-31 06:45 -
+300
by Ratha
on 2026-03-30 20:14 -
+300
by A Lusty Kobold
on 2026-03-30 19:53 -
+300
by Graylion
on 2026-03-30 19:03 -
+300
by Mochimanoban
on 2026-03-30 18:20 -
+300
by Nulcheck
on 2026-03-30 17:52 -
+300
by JoellaKay
on 2026-03-30 17:46 -
+300
by nnie
on 2026-03-30 17:09 -
+300
by Those2Nerds
on 2026-03-30 16:31
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