When tagging a quantity of something, is it more preferable to use a digit to express a number of something or just to use the name of the quantity instead?

For example, should we use three_toes or 3_toes?

I prefer using the quantity spelled out, as it looks more professional that way. But certain users Seirya for one have been changing them to the digit version.

I know that ippiki, responsible for the alias of "2_toes" to two_toes about a month ago, would agree with me. What about the rest of you? Discuss.

I like "3_toes" better. Easier to tag

Anything below about ten I prefer to see spelled out.

TheHuskyK9 said:
I like "3_toes" better. Easier to tag

But if we just alias all of the digit versions to the word versions, then you could tag "3_toes" and it would still come out as the much more proper "three_toes". Searching for "3_toes" would then turn up all of the same images as "three_toes" would. Yay, aliasing!

FatherOfGray said:
But if we just alias all of the digit versions to the word versions, then you could tag "3_toes" and it would still come out as the much more proper "three_toes". Searching for "3_toes" would then turn up all of the same images as "three_toes" would. Yay, aliasing!

Meh, imo I find the digit more visually appealing but meh

Personally, I think it would be better to use numerals for arbitrary counting numbers, like 3_toes, and spelled out numbers for specific words and names like threesome and the_three_caballeros. It would help to distinguish the specific (three characters having sex) from the general (something with 3 toes).

DrHorse said:
Personally, I think it would be better to use numerals for arbitrary counting numbers, like 3_toes, and spelled out numbers for specific words and names like threesome and the_three_caballeros. It would help to distinguish the specific (three characters having sex) from the general (something with 3 toes).

...How does that make sense?

As a writer, and English literary, I prefer seeing numbers spelled out. The numerals should only be used when in comparison to other numbers.

That's just my opinion, though.

Wyvrn said:
Anything below about ten I prefer to see spelled out.

Indeed how I remember proper english was that anything below ten is spelt out, and I think we should apply the same here

EDFDarkAngel1 said:
As a writer, and English literary, I prefer seeing numbers spelled out. The numerals should only be used when in comparison to other numbers.

That's just my opinion, though.

Rainbow_Dash said:
Indeed how I remember proper english was that anything below ten is spelt out, and I think we should apply the same here

Agreed.

Rainbow_Dash said:
Indeed how I remember proper english was that anything below ten is spelt out, and I think we should apply the same here

I agree. Shall we then start aliasing common terms, like 3_toes to three_toes as mentioned above?

Seems like a good idea.

Here's a list of common number tags:
2_fingers
3_fingers
4_fingers (four_fingers is aliased to this)
5_fingers
3_toes
4_toes
5_toes (only toe tag that's implicated to toes)
3_heads (implicated to multi_head)
6_breasts (implicated to multi_breast, or so it says. Seems broken?)

I would just like to point out that these tags are going to be used for (potentially very long) alphabetical lists, not English prose. We already have many tags that begin with t and f. Taking the 2*, 3*, 4*, and 5* tags and putting them in with the t* and f* tags isn't going to improve readability.

Why in the world do we have have 5-fingers and 5-toes?

EDFDarkAngel1 said:
Why in the world do we have have 5-fingers and 5-toes?

So we can tag how many fingers and toes your avatar has?

EDFDarkAngel1 said:
Why in the world do we have have 5-fingers and 5-toes?

There's a fetish for that

EDFDarkAngel1 said:
Why in the world do we have have 5-fingers and 5-toes?

So you can pick up things of course

Alright that list looks pretty decent and I will begin the aliases tomorrow if no one has any disagreements

Rainbow_Dash said:
So you can pick up things of course

+1

EDFDarkAngel1 said:
Why in the world do we have have 5-fingers and 5-toes?

It's like... Simpsons, the only person with four fingers and a thumb is the Professor (Gloiven!), and it's noteworthy to tag. Furries tend to vary as well, from paw hands to raptor claws to humanoid hands and beyond.

Rainbow_Dash said:
Alright that list looks pretty decent and I will begin the aliases tomorrow if no one has any disagreements

I like the digit better but majority rules over minority I guess..

TheHuskyK9 said:
I like the digit better but majority rules over minority I guess..

I like the digit better too :c

perhaps we can just say three_digits (to refer to fingers and toes) and not differentiate between the two?

Rainbow_Dash said:
perhaps we can just say three_digits (to refer to fingers and toes) and not differentiate between the two?

I'm not too sure many people are gonna like that. It's an important distinction to some people.

FatherOfGray said:
I'm not too sure many people are gonna like that. It's an important distinction to some people.

Pretty much this.

FatherOfGray said:
I'm not too sure many people are gonna like that. It's an important distinction to some people.

This indeed. Though I don't see any reason not to metatag them to a "(number)_digits" tag as appropriate. :3 Then we can also count and tag the phalanges.... After that should be the fingerprint whorls...

Just keep it the way it is now, you generally want tags to be as short as possible.

ceti said:
Just keep it the way it is now, you generally want tags to be as short as possible.

"The way it is now" is a mess of constant inconsistencies between the digit and word version of number tags. Some images are tagged "#_object" while others are tagged "number_object". We need to pick one or the other and alias accordingly. This thread is about deciding which direction to alias: # -> number or number -> #. I'm assuming you are more in favor of the latter while I am more in favor of the former.

DrHorse said:
Personally, I think it would be better to use numerals for arbitrary counting numbers, like 3_toes, and spelled out numbers for specific words and names like threesome and the_three_caballeros. It would help to distinguish the specific (three characters having sex) from the general (something with 3 toes).

I prefer this method the most. I like the #_[object] tags because they are easily referenced in tag lists. Easy to find, read, and ignore in my case. While I do agree that numbers ten and lower should traditionally be spelled out, that is a style rule for writing sentences. Tags are not sentences, and they are not used like sentences. So what if it's informal? Tags don't usually appear in sentence form. I would argue that tagging is too far removed from traditional textual communication to necessitate the same style rules.

For nouns, pronouns, and other distinct words or phrases, tag with their most commonly used or correct forms. Threesome should remain threesome, obviously. But you wouldn't use eight-bit; instead, you would use 8-bit. I don't attribute any special value to five toes as a concept (except for human normalcy). The number is interchangeable. It's not a set idea with additional meaning or context. Something like a two-way radio is a set idea with a specific meaning. Not the most relevant example for this site, but still... Moreover, nothing on the above tag list for aliasing carries any special meaning. In other words, all of those tags are only the sum of their parts.

Anyways, that's my preference, if I am to express it.

abadbird said:
I prefer this method the most. I like the #_[object] tags because they are easily referenced in tag lists. Easy to find, read, and ignore in my case. While I do agree that numbers ten and lower should traditionally be spelled out, that is a style rule for writing sentences. Tags are not sentences, and they are not used like sentences. So what if it's informal? Tags don't usually appear in sentence form. I would argue that tagging is too far removed from traditional textual communication to necessitate the same style rules.

For nouns, pronouns, and other distinct words or phrases, tag with their most commonly used or correct forms. Threesome should remain threesome, obviously. But you wouldn't use eight-bit; instead, you would use 8-bit. I don't attribute any special value to five toes as a concept (except for human normalcy). The number is interchangeable. It's not a set idea with additional meaning or context. Something like a two-way radio is a set idea with a specific meaning. Not the most relevant example for this site, but still... Moreover, nothing on the above tag list for aliasing carries any special meaning. In other words, all of those tags are only the sum of their parts.

Anyways, that's my preference, if I am to express it.

It's not just a style rule for writing out sentences, though. It's a grammatical consistancy for its usage of the English language as a whole. The only time you should be using the numerals rather than the number is when you are repeating the number within the same context in a paragraph, or when actually doing mathematics. Ordinal numbers are affected by this as well, as an example of a non-sentence usage of the number but not the numeral; you don't say 1st love, but first love.

To address your other example, though, that actually fits in with what I am saying, tough not that many people actually understand why; we use 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit et al., because they are actually mathematical integers, being a specific unit of data (datum) in computer science.

ceti said:
Just keep it the way it is now, you generally want tags to be as short as possible.

Agreed

Going to alias case by case in the future and go by the general rule of under 10 becomes numerals, over ten becomes letters, 8-bit, etc stay how they are, and nouns being kept spelt out

Everyone good with this?

Rainbow_Dash said:
Under 10 becomes numerals, over ten becomes letters

That's the exact opposite of what makes sense. Grammar conventions call for numbers under 10 to be spelt out and numbers equal to or exceeding 10 being expressed with digits, with the exception of terms like "8-bit" obviously. Imagine spelling out 638,163,491.

FatherOfGray said:
That's the exact opposite of what makes sense. Grammar conventions call for numbers under 10 to be spelt out and numbers equal to or exceeding 10 being expressed with digits, with the exception of terms like "8-bit" obviously. Imagine spelling out 638,163,491.

Why wouldn't you like six hundred and thirty-eight million, one hundred sixty-three thousand, four hundred and ninety-one written out?

Just to compare, in german that same number would look like "sechshundertachtunddreißig Millionen einhundertdreiundsechzigtausendvierhunderteinundneunzig".
Which is a clusterfuck compared to english, not only has that number only two spaces but it's also three-and-seventy instead of seventy-three.

But yeah, I think an alias for number and digit version would be good and then simply displaying digits in the tag list, that basically ensures all numerical tags show up together at the top (and sorted!!) and not somewhere random in the list, making it a bit tidier and likely easier to spot/edit.

Rainbow_Dash said:
Going to alias case by case in the future and go by the general rule of under 10 becomes numerals, over ten becomes letters, 8-bit, etc stay how they are, and nouns being kept spelt out

Everyone good with this?

under 10 should be written out, over 10 should be digits, except in cases where the term is itself a mathematical exression as in 8-bit, as noted.

basically,

FatherOfGray said:
That's the exact opposite of what makes sense. Grammar conventions call for numbers under 10 to be spelt out and numbers equal to or exceeding 10 being expressed with digits, with the exception of terms like "8-bit" obviously. Imagine spelling out 638,163,491.

er sorry I meant that the other way around

Necroposting because this is still relevant. Something reminded me that this issue has yet to be resolved, but after digging though old threads I created and laughimg my ass off, I cannot recall what.

The point is, I really want to alias all of the fingers and toes tags to either all be represented as digits or entirely spelled out. I did some personal background checking and as Genjar and I pointed out (and summing up what has gone on with these tags)...

A) 2_toes has been aliased to two_toes by ippiki_ookami

B) four_fingers has been aliased to 4_fingers as suggested by a user named "Lamiaaa"

C) The tags 3_toes, 4_toes, and 5_toes are the only tags implicated to toes

D) No tags have beem implicated to fingers as of yet.

With all of this information as well as all of the arguments presented in this 6 month old thread thus far, shall we alias all tags with digits to formal numbers (ex: 3_toes -> three_toes) or vice-versa? (ex: three_toes -> 3_toes)

I will begin to make the alias suggestions as soon as it seems we have reached a verdict, though one way or another we will have to reverse one of the aliases mentioned in either A or B above for consistency.

It should be noted that my opinion has changed since I started this thread. While I still think having numbers be formally spelled out is more professional, it would not be quite as useful for the site for two reasons. First of all, using digits is indeed easier for users. Secondly, by using digits, they will be conveniently listed at the top of the general tags and in numerical order.

Discuss!

I agree with digits. This whole site works with digits anyway.

I agree with using digits, for many reasons which have already been talked about on this thread. I also think we should bring heads, arms, and legs into the discussion, and make sure that all of those things follow the same guidelines for consistancy's sake.

Tokaido said:
I agree with using digits, for many reasons which have already been talked about on this thread. I also think we should bring heads, arms, and legs into the discussion, and make sure that all of those things follow the same guidelines for consistancy's sake.

I concur.
Multi_head in particular is a mess. 3_heads is implicated to it, but two_heads is aliased. If three heads warrants having a separate tag, then why not two...

I think all those two_heads/two-headed/etc tags should be unaliased from multi_head, and aliased to 2_heads instead.

Like so:
- Unalias two_heads from multi_head
- Unalias two-headed from multi_head
- Unalias two_headed from multi_head
- Alias two_heads to 2_heads
- Alias two-headed to 2_heads
- Alias two_headed to 2_heads
- Alias three_heads to 3_heads
- Implicate 2_heads to multi_head

And same for toes:
- Unalias 2_toes from two_toes
- Alias two_toes to 2_toes
- Alias three_toes to 3_toes
- Alias four_toes to 4_toes
- Alias five_toes to 5_toes
- Implicate 2_toes to toes

Genjar said:
I concur.
Multi_head in particular is a mess. 3_heads is implicated to it, but two_heads is aliased. If three heads warrants having a separate tag, then why not two...

I think all those two_heads/two-headed/etc tags should be unaliased from multi_head, and aliased to 2_heads instead.

Like so:
- Unalias two_heads from multi_head
- Unalias two-headed from multi_head
- Unalias two_headed from multi_head
- Alias two_heads to 2_heads
- Alias two-headed to 2_heads
- Alias two_headed to 2_heads
- Alias three_heads to 3_heads
- Implicate 2_heads to multi_head

And same for toes:
- Unalias 2_toes from two_toes
- Alias two_toes to 2_toes
- Alias three_toes to 3_toes
- Alias four_toes to 4_toes
- Alias five_toes to 5_toes
- Implicate 2_toes to toes

Full agreement here.

And I also prefer we go with digits for these type of tags, for mainly two reasons:

• 1, Digits are conveniently organized at the top of the tag list, so it's easier to check if a picture has that tagged or not yet instead of having to scan through all of the other worded tags to find them.
• 2, Using digits reduces confusion with other worded tags that are using numbering words for other and different uses, like two_tone_hair, threesome, etc. Not to mention there's an actual character named "Four Arms" which is a lot easier to get confused with four_arms than if we used the digits and went with 4_arms instead. The guy usually gets only one of them tagged, probably because it looks redundant in the tag list when he's tagged with both. Going with 4_arms would reduce this problem.

Using digits just keeps it distinctly organized and separate from other uses. Losing those advantages to go with worded forms doesn't seem to offer any benefits in exchange, at least not on a practical level.

----------

ETA: as of Dec 11th, 2014, these have all finally been done. =)

Genjar said:
I concur.
Multi_head in particular is a mess. 3_heads is implicated to it, but two_heads is aliased. If three heads warrants having a separate tag, then why not two...

I think all those two_heads/two-headed/etc tags should be unaliased from multi_head, and aliased to 2_heads instead.

Like so:
- Unalias two_heads from multi_head
- Unalias two-headed from multi_head
- Unalias two_headed from multi_head
- Alias two_heads to 2_heads
- Alias two-headed to 2_heads
- Alias two_headed to 2_heads
- Alias three_heads to 3_heads
- Implicate 2_heads to multi_head

And same for toes:
- Unalias 2_toes from two_toes
- Alias two_toes to 2_toes
- Alias three_toes to 3_toes
- Alias four_toes to 4_toes
- Alias five_toes to 5_toes
- Implicate 2_toes to toes

100% agreement.

I think we should do the same with arms, two_arms -> 2_arms, four_arms -> 4_arms, etc.

We COULD so the same with legs I suppose, as it may be useful, but characters with 4 legs almost always fall into either the feral or 'taur category already, and more than that is unusual (spider characters notwithstanding) until you get to "too many legs to count" so I feel like that might not be worth the effort

Alright, I let this sit here for a day and everyone who has discussed this seems to be in agreement of digits > words.

Shall I start suggesting the proposed aliases and implications above en masse or would one of the admins here rather take care of it themselves as not to flood the forums with tag threads?

FatherOfGray said:
Alright, I let this sit here for a day and everyone who has discussed this seems to be in agreement of digits > words.

Shall I start suggesting the proposed aliases and implications above en masse or would one of the admins here rather take care of it themselves as not to flood the forums with tag threads?

You can propose all the implications and aliases, copy them into one thread and hide all the other threads. I did it in forum #134318 and it went well.

FatherOfGray said:
Alright, I let this sit here for a day and everyone who has discussed this seems to be in agreement of digits > words.

Shall I start suggesting the proposed aliases and implications above en masse or would one of the admins here rather take care of it themselves as not to flood the forums with tag threads?

Make a single thread with all of your proposed changes. Please no forum spam! :)