*_(oc)

Should the tag stays on a post or should it be removed?

From post #509353

The _(oc) is fairly appropriate for original characters with a name that matches either another character, or a common word, i.e. Robin, or Franklin or some such.

The better option is to add a artist/owner name in the _(*) part of the tag.

either this goes or the original_character tag goes

Halite said:
The _(oc) is fairly appropriate for original characters with a name that matches either another character, or a common word, i.e. Robin, or Franklin or some such.

The better option is to add a artist/owner name in the _(*) part of the tag.

But what if the artist has the same name as the character? That's typically when I start using the _(character) suffix. Is that okay or should it be standardized that you should use _(oc) in such cases?

I've seen:
_(oc)
_(character)
_([owner's name])
_(fursona)

That's just to name a few. Even though some standardization could be nice, I think it'll have to be by prioritized preference of "do ___ as first choice, but if already taken then do ___" and so on. Because sometimes you have a good ten or so characters running around with the same name. Some names are common names or just really popular.

The best, I think, is to use [character name]_(owner's name). More informative, more accurate and quickly makes a unique tag that's different from the other twelve with the same character name. And as an added bonus, it resolves issues about crediting the character's owner without having an extra owner/commissioner's-name-as-a-random-tag sitting as a general (or worse, an "artist" tag) and causing confusion. Which I see occasionally happen.

But sometimes the character's name IS the same as the artist's name, so in that case _(fursona) or _(character) are useful to differentiate the artist from the character. Otherwise we end up with the artist tag on pictures they didn't actually draw, just because their same-name-fursona is in it and that's just a mess.

An example where both of those ended up being needed is falvie who's an artist, then falvie_(character) their same-name-character, and then lulu_(falvie) which is another character of their's apparently.

The tag suffix _(character) can also be useful if the owner's name isn't known. It's not the first choice since there's obviously a limited number of times you can use a generic _(character) before it's already taken. But sometimes when you just don't know anything else about the character, and there's several pictures of them that need a label other than just the basic name which has become a tag mess. (Like when you're sorting out a character tag mess like lily).

Other notable character tag options include: if the character has a fuller version of their name, like a last name. For example, "amy" of sonic fame has the tag amy_rose.

Or if it's an official character from a series, then that can also be used in the _(*) part of the tag for differentiation, sometimes abbreviated. That's what was done with the official my_little_pony character tags all getting _(mlp) after their names.

_(oc) is most useful when it's in the style of a recognizable series, but not actually an official character. I suppose it could eventually replace the separate original_character tag, but it'd take a lot of tagging work to retag everything under it. And what happens where there's more than one "tom_(oc)"? Do we start handing out numbers? I think it's just easier to keep the original_character tag separate. It gives more flexibility when adapting character tags with their owner's names, differentiating characters with the same name, etc.

Mandating an _(oc) suffix for those cases would severely limit character tagging options. And suffixes usually don't carry as much significance as the original_character tag needs, so as a suffix alone the full meaning of it is likely to go unnoticed. original_character just carries more weight, is a lot more visible being a separate tag, and has the advantage of being a way to link the wiki article which explains the tagging policy of original vs official characters. I'm sure that wiki being linked right there next to original character's tag names, has saved us a boatload of headaches every month since it was written. Keeping that wiki article right at hand would be well worth it just for that reason alone.