The bulk update request #1680 is active.

remove alias oc (0) -> fan_character (129384)
remove alias ocs (0) -> fan_character (129384)
remove alias oc_only (0) -> fan_character (129384)
remove alias originalcharacter (0) -> fan_character (129384)
remove alias custom_character (0) -> fan_character (129384)
remove alias original_character (18) -> fan_character (129384)

Reason: Original Character, or OC, is effectively a contronym. It can refer to a character that's an original creation of an author, or it can refer to a character that's a fan creation for another's work. That is, it can refer to an original character, or an unoriginal character. It being aliased to fan_character has caused numerous posts with real original characters to be mistagged "fan_character" when they don't have a fan character: fan_character copytags:0 has dozens of pages of results, and while some of them may legitimately be fan characters, many are not.

Along side the OC tags above being aliased away, I have discovered a tag variation that has not been: original_characters. But it doesn't seem right to alias that to fan_character and cause inevitable mistags.

Given that the majority of characters here can be considered original, a tag for original characters is about as useful as a tag for furry, but these aliases are causing mistags. So my plan is to alias all these non-series-specific OC tags to original_character, which will itself be moved to the Invalid category. The wiki can then be updated to say no tag is necessary for truly original characters, whereas "OCs" designed for someone else's world or franchise should use fan_character.

Second part of the BUR:

alias oc -> original_character
alias ocs -> original_character
alias oc_only -> original_character
alias originalcharacter -> original_character
alias orignal_character -> original_character
alias custom_character -> original_character
alias original_characters -> original_character
alias pokemon_oc -> original_character
category original_character -> invalid

EDIT: The bulk update request #1680 (forum #322259) has been approved by @slyroon.

original_characters is now up to 601 posts and I've been spotting it with increasing frequency out in the wild. It seems word has spread and people are now deliberately exploiting the loophole in the aliases. The wiki page has been locked to a version stating that the tag should not be used.

I love when I see year-old BURs and I think "where's the vote buttons?" then I realise I already voted...

This explains why I always see fan_character on posts when there's no copyright that they could be a fan character for

Also, add orignal_character to that list.

I've actually been thinking perhaps these OC tags should be aliased to invalid_tag. I worry that aliasing them to original_character and just putting that in the Invalid category will still allow people to use the tag, and people will have trouble keeping up with cleaning it (which some people can try to add back because it's their special ohcee donut steel). Aliasing to invalid_tag will ensure it can't be used that way, and make it easier to clean since invalid_tag is essentially remove-on-sight (whereas other Invalid-category tags should be checked).

watsit said:
I've actually been thinking perhaps these OC tags should be aliased to invalid_tag. I worry that aliasing them to original_character and just putting that in the Invalid category will still allow people to use the tag, and people will have trouble keeping up with cleaning it (which some people can try to add back because it's their special ohcee donut steel). Aliasing to invalid_tag will ensure it can't be used that way, and make it easier to clean since invalid_tag is essentially remove-on-sight (whereas other Invalid-category tags should be checked).

The problem with this, as usual with aliasing to invalid_tag, is that it will prevent good-faith users from finding the fan_character tag since nothing directs them to it. There was a reason this alias was originally made - indeed, as far as I can tell, it was the popular fandom meaning of "original character" that shifted around it.

Most of your suggestions to alias things to invalid_tag are things that would be better dealt with by actually forcing users to remove invalid tags upon upload in the first place, with accompanying explanations for each one.

Welp, RIP original_characters, I guess. Hilariously, scrolling back reveals this isn't the first time Alien Fluff (the author of the locked wiki) has nuked that tag.

Sure would be nice if we could actually invalidate it.

I thought it was bad practice in general to delete tags before changes were approved, just in case it was to be undone in the future.

On Pixiv, people seem to actually use OC tag correctly. Yes, some irony that Pixiv has a better-used tag for once.

They're not fan characters, but entirely separate things on there. Not based on existing series.

The bulk update request #1680 (forum #322259) has been approved by @slyroon.

The bulk update request #6532 is active.

create alias oc (0) -> original_character (18)
create alias ocs (0) -> original_character (18)
create alias oc_only (0) -> original_character (18)
create alias originalcharacter (0) -> original_character (18)
create alias orignal_character (10) -> original_character (18)
create alias custom_character (0) -> original_character (18)
create alias original_characters (13) -> original_character (18)
create alias pokemon_oc (0) -> original_character (18)
change category original_character (18) -> invalid

Reason: Part 2

EDIT: The bulk update request #6532 (forum #390676) has been approved by @slyroon.

Pokemon_oc should alias to fan_character but otherwise +1

cloudpie said:
Pokemon_oc should alias to fan_character but otherwise +1

Unless it's someone's human/trainer OC in a Pokemon setting, which I wouldn't necessarily call a fan character. Fan character itself is probably worth invalidating too, given how widely applied it can be and how messy it can get, but I'm leaving that separate.

The bulk update request #6532 (forum #390676) has been approved by @slyroon.