Quick answer about tags vs topics:

(Also, yes, read all Shannon’s stuff! She’s amazing!)

Tags are the things we pick each time we publish (we can become Top Writers in some of them).

Topics are the things we can get curated in. Readers choose which topics to follow, and each topic has a webpage, containing all the recently curated pieces for that topic.

Like, I’m a Top Writer for the tag LGBTQ, and here’s the webpage for the topic LGBTQIA.