(i'm going to say this right now, the example i use is not the only, just the predominant one)

Alternate Universes, and tagging them / their characters. the question: how?

for those who don't know, Alternate Universes are based off a multiverse concept where things can be completely different, because of one action that happened to the "original" universe, even if before it was created. this being said here, entities and worlds, to how things play out, are different when viewed outside, but the "same" when viewed as a universe among all the others.

to throw the example out now, Undertale. many Alternate Universes (hence now called AUs) exist, many characters that are named, look, or act the same, and many times where, in a view point, it's not the same, but different.

to point out my first character: Sans. the original is lazy, lethargic at points, etc, but then there is "underswap sans", whom is LITERALLY different; incredibly energetic, over-eccentric (in a good and nice way) and fairly compassionate. this is not the "same" sans, but it is also a sans. another one is "papyrus", very energetic and loves puzzles, but couldn't kill a fly; instead there is one where Papyrus is Asgore, whom wants to actually and legitimately kill the protagonist, from the AU "switchtale"

my point: these aren't the same characters from our standpoint, but they are the same characters if you only went from Undertale, and ignored the AUs as what they are, Alternate Universes. some of them, though, are being tagged as "*name here*_(undertale), despite being different.

and thus, my statement: i believe we should be tagging them as "*name here*_((AU's name)". then, we'd use "*AU's name"*, the tag to be created "AU", to stand for Alternate Universe, and, as they still ARE from undertale, the "undertale" tag. this would give people the ability to blacklist AUs from the "AU" tag, blacklist the specific from the "AU's name" tag, or the specific character with "*name here*_(AU's name)", instead of being unable specifically blacklist to because they are being listed as "*name here*_(undertale), or are missing the specific AU's tag. mind you, the "AU's name" tag is being used (as far as i've seen), but i believe it should also convert the characters so it can be more organized for tagging and searching purposes.

doing this would give people the ability to search or blacklist without having to mass-search/blacklist AUs, and can organize images when (like say, as i'm posting CPAU now) they have multiple AUs or would otherwise require multple AU tags. this doesn't also apply to Undertale, but Homestuck and other games/webcomics that have AUs haven't been posted as far as i've noticed, so there is no tag implimented for AUs.

this is it all: should we be tagging AUs with it's general tag, their specific name, and make their character tags also become specific to the AU. yaye or nae?

Put the AUs into pools or public sets, just tag them as Undertale.

Furrin_Gok said:
Put the AUs into pools or public sets, just tag them as Undertale.

Why should Undertale stuff be somehow treated separately from MLP stuff, which has several AUs tagged.

Circeus said:
Why should Undertale stuff be somehow treated separately from MLP stuff, which has several AUs tagged.

Unless they're canon, like IDW's universe, they shouldn't be.

Furrin_Gok said:
Unless they're canon, like IDW's universe, they shouldn't be.

Agree. We don't have time to keep up with every little fanon universe some guy on tumblr thinks up.

The_Diggler said:
Agree. We don't have time to keep up with every little fanon universe some guy on tumblr thinks up.

"You guys" don't have the time, but other people have been using the AU's name before, and the immediate community, in which i normally tag-fix / source-fix) and instead have the time, Too Damn Filthy actively posts most all AU stuff off tumblr and is finding new ones, and Paradyce notices (and fangirls, you didn't hear that from me) the AUs, bringing attention to them. And people have been using seperate names for the characters already, the problem is not everyone is doing, so we need someone who can clean them up.

Or, in short shorthand 'cause that's a lot more words than I thought: you guys don't have to if you don't want to, I can do it if needed; Too Damn is bringing new AUs that aren't tagged on this site, but have an AU name outside the site; Para is noticing the AUs, and sometimes makes comments about the possible different things about the other characters in the AU, which brought this to attention; the posters are all over the place about tagging.

If MLP got the AU treatment, then I say we should make seperate characters.

Siral_Exan said:
"You guys" don't have the time, but other people have been using the AU's name before, and the immediate community, in which i normally tag-fix / source-fix) and instead have the time, Too Damn Filthy actively posts most all AU stuff off tumblr and is finding new ones, and Paradyce notices (and fangirls, you didn't hear that from me) the AUs, bringing attention to them. And people have been using seperate names for the characters already, the problem is not everyone is doing, so we need someone who can clean them up.

Or, in short shorthand 'cause that's a lot more words than I thought: you guys don't have to if you don't want to, I can do it if needed; Too Damn is bringing new AUs that aren't tagged on this site, but have an AU name outside the site; Para is noticing the AUs, and sometimes makes comments about the possible different things about the other characters in the AU, which brought this to attention; the posters are all over the place about tagging.

If MLP got the AU treatment, then I say we should make seperate characters.

I still say put them back where they belong and just use pools & sets instead. The genderswap tags can have their uses--Often times the characters are changed to represent their new gender rather than just being a pure genderswap (ie, images of Rainbow Dash with a cock are just genderswap, not Rainbow Blitz).

Furrin_Gok said:

The problem is we're not dealing with Genderswaps or OCs, or singular characters from UT that only one artist drew and will draw, in the way they want to: we're dealing with AUs that multiple artists know. Artists can draw an fanmade AU, create their version of any character they want, but choose to label the characters therein as the Undertale counterpart, despite not looking or being the original. After all, it is *Character*, and it is from Undertale. Best part is, another artist can choose to use that AU, or just make a new one. That is the flaw of our current tagging system for AUs right now.

While we could use the "fan character" tag, and blanket-post ALL AUs as fan-made, I don't believe it to be specific enough in the long run; using their AU's name and tagging AU would have a better effect for tagging than using OC/FC tags. AUs should require specific attention, and stuff like MLP/Homestuck should also get such attention for tagging.

Siral_Exan said:
The problem is we're not dealing with Genderswaps or OCs, or singular characters from UT that only one artist drew and will draw, in the way they want to: we're dealing with AUs that multiple artists know. Artists can draw an fanmade AU, create their version of any character they want, but choose to label the characters therein as the Undertale counterpart, despite not looking or being the original. After all, it is *Character*, and it is from Undertale. Best part is, another artist can choose to use that AU, or just make a new one. That is the flaw of our current tagging system for AUs right now.

While we could use the "fan character" tag, and blanket-post ALL AUs as fan-made, I don't believe it to be specific enough in the long run; using their AU's name and tagging AU would have a better effect for tagging than using OC/FC tags. AUs should require specific attention, and stuff like MLP/Homestuck should also get such attention for tagging.

I have seen that "oc" of Pinkie Pie still called Pinkie Pie, but with a different cutie mark and stuff: that is still an oc.

Furrin_Gok said:

I reiterate: we're not dealing with just one, we're dealing with an entire game's worth of now original characters; we're not dealing with one alternate universe or multiverse, we're dealing a continually-growing number of them. Each one original and each one potentially getting a story behind them. Each one that only shares the theme Undertale, and "cherry-picked" what they wanted from it, and changing it at whim for their reasons.

You are adamant in saying to pool them or put them in sets, but what is the benefit of doing that? You haven't explained how/why yours would work.

Siral_Exan said:
I reiterate: we're not dealing with just one, we're dealing with an entire game's worth of now original characters; we're not dealing with one alternate universe or multiverse, we're dealing a continually-growing number of them. Each one original and each one potentially getting a story behind them. Each one that only shares the theme Undertale, and "cherry-picked" what they wanted from it, and changing it at whim for their reasons.

You are adamant in saying to pool them or put them in sets, but what is the benefit of doing that? You haven't explained how/why yours would work.

Unless there's some grand difference, there's no point in tagging them. All of those new tags end up cluttering up the database more(?) than just pooling or sets, and more implications will also slow things down.

Furrin_Gok said:

So then, we should be at a standstill: neither of us would want to change each other's opinion, we both think we'd we right...

But instead, we could just take the middle ground, and make this a rule for future tagging: keep the AU's name as a tag; change all NON-NAMED characters to their UT counterpart. and, if you'd favor it, we could add AU as a tag, in which all AUs, regardless of origin, are tagged so people can choose to blacklist or otherwise.

Putting them in sets won't help, we pretty much have that as the AU name. If this would happen, all I'd have to do is find, and change, any non-named characters back. It'd be irritating, but simple...

Characters who are sufficiently unique should get a new tag (Sans_(underswap) for exmaple), yes, maybe imply the vanilla one, but any character that isn't very different (Outertale) shouldn't get new tags.

Furrin_Gok said:

So then, the ultimatum for judging would be look and act differently, or within good reason for "act". The reverse'd be true for implied characters: we don't need the Asgore-Papyrus one being tagged as a caprine just because he acted as him, Paps was still an animated skeleton in it.

Any final, parting statements on this then?