The tag alias #56752 whip_marks -> whip_mark has been approved.

Reason: Reason: They're the same thing.

whip_mark currently has 8 instances, while whip_marks has 613.

I originally proposed this alias the other way around ( singular to plural , alias request 56738 ), but the majority of the feedback so far has been that it should go this way (plural to singular).

Thanks!

EDIT: The tag alias whip_marks -> whip_mark (forum #328851) has been approved by @bitWolfy.

Yeah idk why it would go to singular? You said it yourself..."whip_mark currently has 8 instances, while whip_marks has 613." meaning it seems like people prefer the plural form by a LARGE margin.

Is this part of some sort of greater (and misguided) push to make all tags singular? Seems weird. I think it should be on a case by case basis. Some things usually come in pairs or multiples so to me it just doesn't make sense to use the singular form of those words. whip_marks is definitely one cause you're *usually* going to have more than one.

dickshoe said:
Yeah idk why it would go to singular? You said it yourself..."whip_mark currently has 8 instances, while whip_marks has 613." meaning it seems like people prefer the plural form by a LARGE margin.

That's the beauty of aliases, people can use whichever form they prefer and the system will automatically substitute the appropriate form.

dickshoe said:
Is this part of some sort of greater (and misguided) push to make all tags singular? Seems weird.

Not all, but most. The idea is to prefer singular because, if you can have more than one of something, you generally can have just one of it too. And if there's just one in an image, tagging it plural doesn't make sense. And having two separate tags for the same thing makes managing the tags a bit more difficult. There are exceptions, but that's the general principle.

dickshoe said:
I think it should be on a case by case basis. Some things usually come in pairs or multiples so to me it just doesn't make sense to use the singular form of those words.

It generally is done case-by-case. Eye colors (blue eyes, green eyes, etc) and claws, for example, stick with the plural form even if technically a character can have just one eye of a particular color (in the case of a cyclops or heterochromia) or just one claw, because it's more common and more natural to think of them in multiple.

Shouldn't have made a second thread. If the admins decided that it needed to be reversed, they could reverse it themselves.

Also whip marks are something that usually shows up in plural, so it should go to plural anyways.

watsit said:
That's the beauty of aliases, people can use whichever form they prefer and the system will automatically substitute the appropriate form.

The beauty? I call that the ugliness of the aliasing system...cramming down a certain name for a tag the vast majority of people find unnatural and don't want. The form people prefer should be the appropriate form most of the time. Tags should mimic natural speech whenever possible.

watsit said:
And if there's just one in an image, tagging it plural doesn't make sense.

True...but how often are you going to see a singular whip mark in an image? Almost never. So basically we're deciding between the weirdness of seeing a single whip mark tagged as whip_marks once in a blue moon, or seeing the awkward tag "whip_mark" much more often. I would prefer the former.

dickshoe said:
The beauty? I call that the ugliness of the aliasing system...cramming down a certain name for a tag the vast majority of people find unnatural and don't want.

Being able to continue to use the tag you want isn't "cramming down a certain name for a tag" on people. With an alias, people can continue to use whichever they want, rather than having to be forced to use whip_mark and whip_marks and whipping_marks to get all posts with one or more whip mark (while waiting for someone to decide to start using whipping_mark too). That would be "ugly".

dickshoe said:
Is this part of some sort of greater (and misguided) push to make all tags singular?

Not on my part.

I uploaded an image with whip marks in it, and when I went to tag it, I noticed that both whip_mark and whip_marks were in use. I checked and they weren't connected by an alias or implication. I first proposed the mark -> marks version, and most of the feedback said it should go the other way, so I proposed it here as marks -> mark.

The tag alias whip_marks -> whip_mark (forum #328851) has been approved by @bitWolfy.