[Tagdb] Tags and data storage

[Joshua Lippiner]

General questions about storing of tags -
 
I am working on a movie cataloging and swapping application that allows
users to tag the various films.  I have been going back and forth regarding
the storage of the tags in the database.  Del.icio.us only allows the user
to enter single words separated by spaces and (I would imagine) stores each
tag in a separate dB row.  Other sites allow for phrases and separate them
by commas but again, store each tag in a separate row.
 
I can understand from an ease of search POV why you would do this, but if
your table is denormalized, like mine, I am afraid the table size will grow
very very large very quickly.  
 
Does anyone have any recommendations/thoughts on tag storage?  Are you
better off storing an entire list of tags associated with one item into a
single field and then dealing with searching issues later or, in the end, do
the benefits outweight the size issue by storing each tag as a new dB row?
 
Thanks,
 
Josh
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