Thanks Bryan. I liked your emoji idea and have started to implement in my own PKM system. One problem I noticed is that if you use YAML format for the metadata the emojis are not recognized. So it seems that you have to choose between Emojis and YAML - you can’t have both. On that note, do you think using the YAML format for metadata really matters? I am not a programmer but from what I understand YAML headers might be a good idea for future proofing and portability of my notes…
UPDATE: SOLVED: The format for tags in the YAML header does NOT include the ‘#’. For example:
-–
tags: readstatus/started
-–
NOT
-–
tags: #readstatus/started
-–
I am not a programmer so all of this syntax can be 
but its worth it in the end…