The bulk update request #1085 is active.

remove alias catshark (32) -> hybrid (163093)
remove alias cat_shark (0) -> hybrid (163093)

Reason: https://e621.net/tag_aliases/46614
https://e621.net/forum_topics/26798

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catshark

Okay, so I can't view the actual justification used here, but I'm going to assume somebody got all mixed up and didn't seem to realise that catsharks are a thing because it was being misused for furry hybrids. If we're going to alias it to anything, it really should not be "hybrid".

I'm gonna need a little help, I admit, figuring out what in the blue blazes happened here, why it happened, and what changes to make. Getting rid of that alias is a first step in the right direction, though.
Should we change the alias to Scyliorhinidae or something similar and build off of that, or just leave it as it's own tag implied to shark and bap anyone that tries using it in a "hybrid" context for mistagging?

It also appears that the dogfish tag probably needs to be disambiguated to the various different families of sharks (and one fish) that particular name applies to before somebody decides alias it to hybrid as well. That's going to be it's own pain in the arse to think on, however.

EDIT: The bulk update request #1085 (forum #312987) has been approved by @slyroon.

I agree. I'd go with disambiguating them both — catshark_(disambiguation) and dogfish_(disambiguation). Obviously, we have the pun hybrids and the Scyliorhinids for the catsharks, and pun hybrids, the Squalids/dogfish_sharks, and the Sharkdog character from "Eek! The Cat". For both the scyliorhinid and squalid/dogfish_shark tags, they'd need to be implicated to squaliform.

votp said:

https://e621.net/tag_aliases/46614
https://e621.net/forum_topics/26798

Why is the alias thread hidden?? Hiding alias/implication threads doesn't seem ideal.
(Unless this is another one of those quirks from the site update?)

magnuseffect said:
Why is the alias thread hidden?? Hiding alias/implication threads doesn't seem ideal.
(Unless this is another one of those quirks from the site update?)

Definitely not, topic #26797 was posted in July 2020.

The only thing we know for sure about that thread is that OP was NotMeNotYou, which makes it look doubly suspicious.

As for the unalias, this seems an obvious case where a catshark_(disambiguation) tag would be appropriate.

wat8548 said:
Definitely not, topic #26797 was posted in July 2020.

The only thing we know for sure about that thread is that OP was NotMeNotYou, which makes it look doubly suspicious.

As for the unalias, this seems an obvious case where a catshark_(disambiguation) tag would be appropriate.

Yeah, that's what caught me off-guard, especially since I seem to remember the tag actually being used properly at some point.

For right now, I'm just going to see about getting that hybrid alias removed, given if you try to do too much in a BUR the bot has a stroke. Anyone else mind digging through hybrid to see if anything else is aliased to it that really never should have been at any point?

votp said:
https://e621.net/forum_topics/26798
...
Okay, so I can't view the actual justification used here, but I'm going to assume somebody got all mixed up and didn't seem to realise that catsharks are a thing because it was being misused for furry hybrids. If we're going to alias it to anything, it really should not be "hybrid".

I'm gonna need a little help, I admit, figuring out what in the blue blazes happened here, why it happened, and what changes to make. Getting rid of that alias is a first step in the right direction, though.

magnuseffect said:
Why is the alias thread hidden?? Hiding alias/implication threads doesn't seem ideal.
(Unless this is another one of those quirks from the site update?)

That's weird. Poking about the aliases reveals several hybrid tags were aliased away. Unfortunately, a couple valid tags were also lost in the process, including a loss that I've complained about before myself — bird_dragon . I did wonder how that one got done.

From what I can tell, the aliases include:

mearns_squirrel -> mearns's_squirrel — (#46008)
mearns'_squirrel -> mearns's_squirrel — (#46009)
bearwolf -> hybrid — (#46010)
bird_dragon -> hybrid — (#46011) ——— Improper alias
buncat -> hybrid — (#46012)
cat_shark -> hybrid — (#46013) ——— Improper alias
catshark -> hybrid — (#46014) ——— Improper alias
cheefox -> hybrid — (#46015)
coyogon -> hybrid — (#46016)
deercat -> hybrid — (#46017)
dingofox -> hybrid — (#46018)
draard -> hybrid — (#46019)
dracorat_(species) -> hybrid — (#46020)
dracubus -> hybrid — (#46021)
dragadillo -> hybrid — (#46022)
dragon_turtle -> hybrid — (#46023)
dragonboy -> dragon_humanoid — (#46024)
dragoncat -> hybrid — (#46025)
dragonchu -> hybrid — (#46026)
dragonicorn -> hybrid — (#46027)
doesn't exist — (#46028)
dusky -> hybrid — (#46029)
eeldragon -> hybrid — (#46030)
fenfolf -> hybrid — (#46031)
fennecat -> hybrid — (#46032)
forgi -> hybrid — (#46033)
fougar -> hybrid — (#46034)
foxcoon_(species) -> hybrid — (#46035)
foxhog -> hybrid — (#46036)
foxoon -> hybrid — (#46037)
foxote -> hybrid — (#46038)
fraccoon -> hybrid — (#46039)
froslosion -> hybrid — (#46040)
fruitbatcat -> hybrid — (#46041)
huskena -> hybrid — (#46042)
luskandox -> hybrid — (#46043)
moth_dragon -> hybrid — (#46044)
orcdragon -> hybrid — (#46045)
otteritty -> hybrid — (#46046)
ottershark -> hybrid — (#46047)
rabbit-dragon -> hybrid — (#46048)
raccat -> hybrid — (#46049)
ratcat -> hybrid — (#46050)
ratdragon_(species) -> hybrid — (#46051)
shark_pony -> hybrid — (#46052)
snail_cat -> hybrid — (#46053)
snake_dragon -> hybrid — (#46054)
squirrel_dragon -> hybrid — (#46055)
tiger-striped_skunk -> hybrid — (#46056)
tiger_girl -> tiger_humanoid — (#46057)
tigerfox -> hybrid — (#46058)
tigron -> tigon (#46059)

If you want to know how I got all of these, I simply took the tag alias link VotP provided and changed the alias numbers forward and backwards in the url until I figured out which aliases I think are the first and last ones for this block. There's several empty alias numbers on either side of these.

wat8548 said:
The only thing we know for sure about that thread is that OP was NotMeNotYou, which makes it look doubly suspicious.

I admit that I know little of how e621's forums and aliases work, but I don't think there's anything underhanded or sneaky going on here. I'm thinking that the reason the thread is "Access Denied" is because no actual thread was created in the first place, so there's actually no opening post to link to. I'm guessing it's nothing more than a wastebasket forum thread NotMeNotYou used to submit his aliases. After all, he is an administrator and can submit them without need of a public thread (although, in this case, he really should have used a public BUR for much of one of the same reasons the rest of us do, so others can check over the list and provide necessary feedback).

Overall, though, the majority of these aliases look to be a good idea, so I think bird_dragon and catshark got lumped in because they do look like tags used for hybrids.

... Why is it every time I see the hybrid tag pop up I get a little bit more annoyed by it? Thanks for the deep dive, Claw.

votp said:
... Why is it every time I see the hybrid tag pop up I get a little bit more annoyed by it? Thanks for the deep dive, Claw.

You're welcome. You might as well add

remove alias cat_shark -> hybrid

to the BUR. If catshark is to be disambiguated, then cat_shark should also be pointed to the same disambiguation.

clawstripe said:
You're welcome. You might as well add
to the BUR. If catshark is to be disambiguated, then cat_shark should also be pointed to the same disambiguation.

I fear I don't know quite how to do that, is it as simple as editing it in to the post, or should I head to the pending page?

votp said:
I fear I don't know quite how to do that, is it as simple as editing it in to the post, or should I head to the pending page?

You'll need to go to the BUR's page and then hit "Edit" on the bottom, which will let you edit the BUR.

Done. I'll leave the bird dragon thing up to you as I don't know enough about that topic to have input.

votp said:
Done. I'll leave the bird dragon thing up to you as I don't know enough about that topic to have input.

That's for the best, actually. Since my bird_dragon BUR is still active, it would only cause problems with your BUR if you added it in.

clawstripe said:
That's for the best, actually. Since my bird_dragon BUR is still active, it would only cause problems with your BUR if you added it in.

I'm not sure if I want to dig deeper into any of the "garbage bin" tags that everything gets aliased to in the meantime to see what other horrors await, but I suppose we'll have to crack open that can of worms eventually. Hybrid is the most infamous one, do you know of any other tags that have a ton of completely irrelevant tags aliased to it that might benefit from a look-over to make sure this sort of thing isn't going on with them, too?

votp said:
I'm not sure if I want to dig deeper into any of the "garbage bin" tags that everything gets aliased to in the meantime to see what other horrors await, but I suppose we'll have to crack open that can of worms eventually. Hybrid is the most infamous one, do you know of any other tags that have a ton of completely irrelevant tags aliased to it that might benefit from a look-over to make sure this sort of thing isn't going on with them, too?

I don't think we have any other than hybrid. Though I'm sure one of those folks with homebrew analysis tools could draw up a list of Top 10 Alias Targets or whatever.

wat8548 said:
I don't think we have any other than hybrid. Though I'm sure one of those folks with homebrew analysis tools could draw up a list of Top 10 Alias Targets or whatever.

Only other one that comes to mind atm is invalid_tag.

strikerman said:
Only other one that comes to mind atm is invalid_tag.

Well, yes, I've already made my feelings on that one well known.

The bulk update request #1085 (forum #312987) has been approved by @slyroon.

The bulk update request #6757 is pending approval.

create alias catshark (32) -> catshark_(disambiguation) (0)
create alias cat_shark (0) -> catshark_(disambiguation) (0)
change category catshark_(disambiguation) (0) -> invalid

Reason: Followup.

Should the species tag be catshark_(species)?

snpthecat said:
The bulk update request #6757 is pending approval.

create alias catshark (32) -> catshark_(disambiguation) (0)
create alias cat_shark (0) -> catshark_(disambiguation) (0)
change category catshark_(disambiguation) (0) -> invalid

Reason: Followup.

Should the species tag be catshark_(species)?

It's a family, so it's a bit less... exact than a species, to memory it's actually the single largest family-tier organisation of sharks. Do we have comparable family-level tags to go off of in similar circumstances?

votp said:
It's a family, so it's a bit less... exact than a species, to memory it's actually the single largest family-tier organisation of sharks. Do we have comparable family-level tags to go off of in similar circumstances?

Does deer count?