Topic: I need help tagging

Posted under Tag/Wiki Projects and Questions

How exactly do tags work? I'm new to e621 (more specifically new to text-based formatting site like e621 because I'm not familiar with it and the things it can do) and tags aren't coming out as I want. I tried consulting the Wiki on how to tag things and it was somewhat helpful, but I need a deeper explanation to how tagging works for every aspect of the typical post (such as posts containing tags for artist name, characters, copyright owners, species, and general details). Thanks for your time!

Updated by Pup

Tagging has some deep nuances, but the gist of it is pretty easy to get and you'll pick up more as you go along. Either way though, good on you for starting out with helping with tagging and such - always good to have motivated people trying to help out, especially if they're willing to learn.

So, now, for some advice.

Aliases and Implications

The first thing that confuses a lot of new people is the "alias" and "implication" systems. Basically, when you try to tag a tag, sometimes that tag might be aliased to something else, or it might implicate something else.

So, for instance, if you try to tag a post with lesbian it will instead add the tag female/female. This is an "alias".

Implications are when you add a tag, and that tag automatically adds other tags. For instance, if female/female is added to a post, it will automatically add the female tag as well - because obviously you can't have female/female art without having females!

If you see that a post is getting tags you didn't intend to add, this is probably because of either an alias or implication. It would be best to check the tag's wiki and see what aliases and implications it has, to understand why this is happening.

Tag What You See

Another thing that's important to understand is that this site uses a "tag what you see" system, and is the backbone of our tagging system. Basically, with few exceptions, you should not tag any information that's not obvious from the image itself. For instance, you might "know" that a character is male, but if in a particular image they aren't displaying any traits indicating that they are male, they may be tagged as ambiguous_gender. Or, if they are displaying female traits, they might be tagged as female.

It is a bit odd at first, and can cause some very understandable upset for artist and character owners who feel their characters are being misgendered, but it allows for much more effective searching for the majority of users. It's not a perfect system, but no other system proposed has been as functional, so when tagging, you're expected to follow the TWYS rule.

So Many Tags!

Now, you might see that there are a ton of tags. If you like, you can click on my name to see my own tagging checklist on my page, which might give you some ideas for the sorts of things to tag. But, this can also be daunting, because of the sheer volume of the stuff that is available to tag.

Don't be discouraged! Even if you only add a few tags you're comfortable with to a post, you're still improving its searchability. And there are some tags which are much more important than others.

Things like artist tags, gender tags, form tags (anthro, feral, etc), species tags, etc., are generally much more important than things like whether or not a character has orange scales or whether they are inside or outside.

My advice is this: Get comfortable with some basic tags, and work on tagging them when they are not on an image. When you're comfortable with all the tags you're using, look up some other tags and try to get comfortable with those too. Over time you'll get used to a wide range of tags and will be able to tag images very effectively on your own, but until then, remember that tagging is a community project and any bit definitely helps.

Updated by anonymous

https://e621.net/wiki/show?title=howto%3Atagit

A cheat sheet to tagging (Click to expand)
How to add artist name
Adding To The Registry

If a tag you want to change is already on the website you must go here search the desired tag, and than change said tag type to artist.

The easiest way to do this is to copy the desired artist tag after uploading and putting it in the provided search engine or by going to (Tags) at the top of the page

Simple artist names should be prefixed with (artist) at the end of their names.
i.e. Kyle_(artist)

Where as more complex artist names wouldn't need this prefix
i.e. Dark-Ahroun-Friesian

If an Artist has made a character that shares the name they use for artwork, than their artist tag would be Artistname_(character) for example fek is an artists name, and their fursona is fek_(character)

Upon creating a new tag, it is possible to metatag a post. For example if the artist tag isn't yet on the site one can simply write-

artist:Kyle_(artist)

Which will add said artists name to the register without needing to do so manually via the tags page.

The Artist Wiki

If you are a new artist to e621, or you are adding posts from an artist that doesn't yet have artwork on e621 you can set up an artist wiki. By doing this it makes it possible to find the listed artists works via the Artists search option at the top of the screen, as well as provide notes of said artist (Don't abuse this) And group the known pages owned by the artist.

To do this, one can click on the ? on the left side of the artist name in the tags. Here is a quick link

Please note that before adding either an artist name or a character name to the registry it is important to first check in the search engine if that name is already being used, as it is a chance that the artist has already had works uploaded to e621 or the character might already have an existing tag.

How to add OC

To change a tag to a character in the registry one must go here and input the tag you wish to change the type of. Once on the tag page you can change the tag type.

Character names that are simple should have a prefix on the end that relate to he character owner.

i.e. if a character was named dave and the artist name was purplemoose the tag should look like
dave_(purplemoose)

Upon creating a new tag, it is possible to metatag a post. For example if the character tag isn't yet on the site one can simply write-

character:dave_(purplemoose)

Which will add said character name to the register without needing to do so manually via the tags page.

If an Artist has made a character that shares the name they use for artwork, than their artist tag would be Artistname_(character) for example fek is an artists name, and their fursona is fek_(character)

Please note that before adding either an artist name or a character name to the registry it is important to first check in the search engine if that name is already being used, as it is a chance that the artist has already had works uploaded to e621 or the character might already have an existing tag.

Including a source

Sources to a secondary location to view an artists works such as deviantart or furaffinity is always smart to provide if the artist has secondary sources so people can view artwork the artist has that may not be seen or appropriate on e621

What does your post look like
Does your character have:

Fur - What color is it? black_fur, white_fur, spotted_fur ect.
Skin - This needs to be clarified, for only writing skin is an invalid_tag. black_skin, brown_skin, purple_skin ect.
Scales - striped_scales, purple_scales, two_tone_scales ect.
Feathers - blue_feathers, red_feathers, feathered_wings ect.
Body_color - If you don't know what covers the character this is a fall back, or if the character is a Goo_creature

Your characters form:

Anthro - An animalistic creature that walks on two legs, like a biped
Feral - A creature drawn in its natural form usually a quadruped
Humanoid - A mostly human looking creature with animal or alien features (this tag has sub categories dog_humanoid, cat_humanoid ect)
Human - The character is human
Taur - The lower half is that of feral creature such as a horse, with the upper half of a humanoid or anthromorphic creature
Lamia - A creature that looks human or anthro with a snakes lower half
Naga - A completely snake looking creature with the torso of a bipedal creature (arms, breasts, abs ect.)
Goo_creature - The character is Goo, generally able to change form and usually a wet and shiny texture

How many creatures are in the image?
Solo = there is one
Duo = there is two
Group = three or more

The Karma Sutra for furries (Note that any position not include in the tags isn't applicable)
The Gender Tagging guideline of e621

Fixing Tags

The most basic rule of tagging is a 4 tag minimum upon uploading, repeated offences face the wrath of staff

When uploading copy pasting tags from other websites is ill advised as e621 has created a cataloguing system for proper tags that relate to the image in detail while parent sites are opinion based.

If you upload a post and a general tag or species tag only shows a very low number of posts tagged with the same tag, chances are that tag doesn't apply to e621 or is miss spelled.

If a tag says (disambiguation) at the end, it means the tag you chose is to general and needs to be clarified, by clicking on the question mark to the left of said tag there is a glossary of possible tags that you could of ment to choose from.

If after you tag your post says invalid_tag it means that one or more tags added have been deemed inapplicable to e621 by the admins and will either be automatically removed from the post, or be switched to invalid_tag

If after you tag your post says invalid_color it is because simply writing a color as a tag like yellow doesn't clarify what is yellow, you need to write *yellow_fur* or *yellow_background*

Rating

Explicit: Anything to do with genitals, be it vaginal, testical, penile, anus.

This also includes anything that looks like a sexual act, you don't need to see genitals if it looks like sex or so forth.

Questionable: Anything to do with Sexually provocative clothing, Bulges, Camel toe, suggestive dialogue ext.

Safe: If this isn't self explanatory than please read the bellow tagging checklist link

Pools and Sets

Pools -
To Create a pool you start by going to the top of the screen to the Pools button, next you press New
Here is a quick link to creating a pool

Moderators Insist not to use pools for images you simply like, as pools are public and ment to be used for specific purposes. Such as a comic set or ask blog.

Sets-
Creating a set starts by going to the top of the screen, and clicking the Sets button, followed by clicking New
here is a quick link to making a set

Sets operate much in the same ways as pools, the difference being sets are for private pools of images meaning you can create a group of images to your personal taste rather than to a purpose. You can choose to make said sets public which allows people to view them from the sets page, or for your personal viewing

A Note from the poster

Take note that if this is shared to your upload it isn't intended as an insult but rather an informative to expand on common uploader issues and to provide quick tutorials in correcting them.

The author of this is in no way an expert of tags, and is also learning everyday and constantly editing this sheet to improve it's quality for ease of those viewing it.

A better tagged post, is a better e621. Well tagged posts contribute to artist notoriety, The more likely someone is able to find your post via the search engine the better off the artist of that post. If your a fan it is a courtesy to tag said artists works well. And of course if your the artist, it does you all the justice listed above and we are glad to have you here sharing your works with us! artist are the blood in our veins!

Here is a link to the upload guidelines
Here is a link to the tagging checklist
Here is a link to the wiki AKA Everything
Here is the link to the e621 glossary, essentially the true front page
Here is the official e621 cheat sheet
Saucenao quick link, is a good site for checking if an image is on the website

Updated by anonymous

Pup

Privileged

I thought I'd add, as quite a few people seem to miss it, you can click the text that says "related tags" and scroll down for a list of tags that often get posted alongside the ones already on the post. You can click them to add them to a post and click again to remove them.

It helps me a lot with not forgetting common ones.

Updated by anonymous

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