In all honesty, it may be giving people problems because it seems too rigid. To take the example of a story of mine that's doing well over at Ellemeno, "What Americans Get Wrong About the South":

Your guidelines call for the kicker to deal with the topic it should be filed under. My story was about cultural stereotypes or distorted images of the South (especially in pop culture), and IMO the subtitle needed to say that and did. But it also needed to be tagged "culture," and it was.

Having to say "Culture" again in the kicker seemed like overkill (and dull) just because that was the category Ellemeno would file it under when I used "culture" in the subhead and a tag. I wanted to use the kicker BEYOND 'MOONBEAMS AND MAGNOLIAS,' which I still think would have been better: It's more interesting and vivid. Please consider allowing writers more flexibility there.