I just uploaded a piece where one character is called "Sakura". I'll have more art of him in the future so I tagged it "character:sakura".

Now I look at it and apparently the regular "sakura" tag has been converted into a character tag, instead of creating a new character tag... O-o

What's going on?

is not part of the tag. We only have one sakura tag, and all sakura are sakura regardless of what category the sakura tag has been thrown under. Other sites handle tag typing artificially by keeping that prefix, but we actually change its type for real.

If you have a different type that has the same name, use a suffix, such as sakura_(<artist_name>), sakura_<last_name>, or sakura_<series_name>).

Furrin_Gok said:
we actually change its type for real.

Oh... OK I see now. That's very unusual and counter-intuitive to be honest.

Thanks for explaining, now I know how to get it right next time. And someone already edited it apparently, thanks for that (was it you?).

Storm-Engineer said:
Oh... OK I see now. That's very unusual and counter-intuitive to be honest.

Thanks for explaining, now I know how to get it right next time. And someone already edited it apparently, thanks for that (was it you?).

Not sure who it was, and there unfortunately isn't any tag type history to check who did.

Storm-Engineer said:
Oh... OK I see now. That's very unusual and counter-intuitive to be honest.

Thanks for explaining, now I know how to get it right next time. And someone already edited it apparently, thanks for that (was it you?).

You get used to it :)

What we do around here is.. well.. Sakura is a lot of things-- it's the name of a lot of characters, a type of tree.. etc etc :)

So, we try to encourage naming specifically in such cases: Sakura_(SnowWolf) or Sakura_(Cardcaptors) or sakura_haruno or what have you. That way, when someone wants more art of a particular sakura, they don't have to filter though all of the others.

See?

SnowWolf said:
Sakura is a lot of things-- it's the name of a lot of characters, a type of tree.. etc etc :)

I actually tried to search for "sakura" and did not get any character results so I assumed there is no such character yet.* But indeed the suffix system makes more sense so there is no problem with character names being "already used".

*This is an issue however. If searching for "sakura" does not bring up any of such named characters, then how is anyone supposed to find art of a character with that name if they are not familiar with advanced search? Or should I just also add the regular "sakura" tag so that people can find the piece without advanced search?

Edit: Actually, searching for "sakura*" brings up several character tags but only 1/4 of what I see in the tag listing. It doesn't bring up mine either. Why?

P.s.: Thanks everyone for all the explanation. I do my best to look up stuff in the help but this site still confuses me a lot. :)

Storm-Engineer said:
P.s.: Thanks everyone for all the explanation. I do my best to look up stuff in the help but this site still confuses me a lot. :)

This site can be pretty confusing to get used to-- but it's not too hard. WE're a pretty friendly group, so don't be afraid to ask any questions :)

I actually tried to search for "sakura" and did not get any character results so I assumed there is no such character yet.* But indeed the suffix system makes more sense so there is no problem with character names being "already used".

It's especially troublesome with some more common names like Fang, Spike, Thor, Ash... etc :) We generally do our best to use the character's name as completly as we can.

That said, i'ts not a big deal to make mistakes, it just makes it harder to find more of a particular character. :)

*This is an issue however. If searching for "sakura" does not bring up any of such named characters, then how is anyone supposed to find art of a character with that name if they are not familiar with advanced search?

Well... People need to become familiar with the advanced search. *shrugs* It's a bit of a cold answer but it's true:

Because, there's, like, 5 options:

1. Assume every search is for exactly what was typed in - red will only turn up red
2. Assume every search is the START of a search (that is to say: red*) - red will turn up red_eyes, red_hair, red_fur, red_panda, red_skins, red_scales....
3. Assume every search is the END of a search (that is to say, *red) - red will turn up looking_pleasured, censored, colored, scared, uncensored, cum_covered....
4. Assume that every search is in the MIDDLE of the search ( *red* ) - red will turn up feathered_wings, red_eyes, multicolored_hair...
5. All of the above.

I think it's safe to say that it's best to ask people to use wildcards like that :)

Or should I just also add the regular "sakura" tag so that people can find the piece without advanced search?

Most people will find it via searching for the acts going on in the picture. males, horses, sheaths, cuddling, whatever they're searching for. The tags then allow you to say "oh, I like these two, I want to see more..." and click on you, the artist, or the character names etc.

Tagging Sakura, which is a general tag, will put it in with about 50 other images, with other types of sakura--not helpful to anyone, really. :)

Edit: Actually, searching for "sakura*" brings up several character tags but only 1/4 of what I see in the tag listing. It doesn't bring up mine either. Why?

if you search posts for sakura*, you'll get all of the pictures containing sakura*. the 'trending tags' on the side are basically indicators of what the most tagged images in your search are. It's helpful if you're, say, searching for horses and want to remove my little pony, as you can click the little - to the left of the text to add -my_little_pony to your search. Or if you want to be more specific. +female, for example.

((edit: apparently there's something odd with searching sakura* versus Sakura_* and I don't know what's up with that. o_o)

So, the list of tags on the left there is basically 'most common other tags in this search,' while the tag listing is a listing of *all* the tags.