The bulk update request #3675 is active.

remove alias squirrel (0) -> sciurid (39239)
remove alias sqiurrel (0) -> sciurid (39239)
remove implication squirrel_humanoid (0) -> sciurid_humanoid (1827)
remove alias humanoid_squirrel (0) -> squirrel_humanoid (0)
remove alias squirreltaur (0) -> sciurid_taur (21)
remove alias squirrel_taur (0) -> sciurid_taur (21)
remove alias weresquirrel (3) -> weresciurid (36)

Reason: For the sake of the topic having greater visibility, I'm splitting this into its own thread. Recently, some animal names went back to being simpler, and all was well with the world. There are still a few that I'd like to tackle, but one in particular might be more complicated than a simple swap. I'll just quote wat and Clawstripe from the previous thread:

wat8548 said:
sciurid is a hot mess of a tag, due to the site's insistence that ground_squirrels and tree_squirrels should both be included in it, despite nobody thinking of chipmunks when they write "squirrel". 99% of posts in sciurid -tree_squirrel -ground_squirrel are tree_squirrels, so this is a case where an attempt to enforce scientifically accurate terminology has significantly harmed the usefulness of the tags.

clawstripe said:
Yes, it is. Adding in tree_squirrel has been a (stalled) tagging project of mine. At this point, I think the best thing to do is to keep sciurid as an umbrella tag for the various types of squirrels (like canid is for dogs, foxes, and similar) and alias squirrel to tree_squirrel, because when someone tags the latter, they're referring specifically to tree squirrels rather than any other squirrel. Using squirrel_(species) won't work because users will think that refers to tree squirrels instead of all squirrels which only perpetuates the current headache of the sciurid scheme.

So, essentially, currently, all ground squirrels imply sciurid. My proposal is to extend this to all tree_squirrels implying sciurid. The tag squirrel is kept removed by aliasing it to tree_squirrel instead of sciurid. Ambiguity of squirrel removed.

I know very little about taxonomy, so I don't have a clear goal for what part 2 of the BUR would look like.* I would greatly appreciate the assistance of everyone in how to best structure the squirrel tag (wherever it may or may not be aliased to) and all of its implications.

*Since there was some confusion about this in the last thread: BURs cannot unalias and re-alias the same tags at the same time. Hence, all the unaliases and unimplications take place in a preliminary BUR (part 1), and after wards, any necessary aliases and implications are handled in a subsequent BUR (part 2). No, the squirrel tag won't just be floating on its own.

Edit: for posterity, this was the original BUR before it was modified per Clawstripe's suggestion:

EDIT: The bulk update request #3675 (forum #351758) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

I still maintain that keeping sciurid as it is now is best. The issue isn't that sciurid is a "big word", but that squirrel is typically used for tree squirrels even though it also refers to flying squirrels and all those ground squirrels from prairie dogs to chipmunks. Those are legitimately squirrels as much as foxes are legitimately canids. What about fictional squirrels like saber-toothed squirrels or pachirisus? Those shouldn't be tagged squirrel any more than pikachus should be tagged mouse. I know many just want to "de-big wordify" the taxonomy here, but there are times when we should keep the "big words".

With squirrel aliased to tree_squirrel, "tree" ends up being used as we would use a _(character) or _(artist) suffix, to differentiate these squirrels from other squirrels. It beats using a _disambiguation suffix and causes the least amount of work for the site and its users. Heck, users wouldn't even have to touch sciurid anymore than they would canid.

My preferred de-aliasing/re-aliasing scheme:

Edit the above BUR so it uses these unaliases/unimplications:

unalias squirrel -> sciurid
unalias sqiurrel -> sciurid
unimply squirrel_humanoid -> sciurid_humanoid
unalias humanoid_squirrel -> squirrel_humanoid
unalias squirreltaur -> sciurid_taur
unalias squirrel_taur -> sciurid_taur
unalias weresquirrel -> weresciurid

The rest of the lines are unnecessary, because there's no more need to get rid of sciurid than there is of canid or felid.

Now, since in the common vernacular squirrel is usually associated with tree squirrels, even though ground squirrels and flying squirrels are also squirrels despite not being tree squirrels, the next BUR would be:

alias squirrel -> tree_squirrel
alias sqiurrel -> tree_squirrel
alias squirrel_humanoid -> tree_squirrel_humanoid
alias humanoid_squirrel -> tree_squirrel_humanoid
imply tree_squirrel_humanoid -> sciurid_humanoid
alias squirreltaur -> tree_squirrel_taur
alias squirrel_taur -> tree_squirrel_taur
imply tree_squirrel_taur -> sciurid_taur

This one

alias weresquirrel -> weretree_squirrel

just seems awkward, though. Is it the tree that's a were or the squirrel? This one I'd be willing to leave alone simply because of its awkwardness. Otherwise, it too would get realiased. Better instead this:

imply weresquirrel -> weresciurid

_________________

Edit ~ Fixed the suggested BURs by removing a redundant line in each and adding in two implications.

I'm pretty sure the best that can be done without completely fucking up the trees would be to leave everything is as is and only move the squirrel / sqiurrel alias to tree_squirrel. This would mean it's made easier for people that can't be bothered to read up on any animal species, but also still leave the overarching functionality intact for people that have knowledge in the field.

Which would also massively simplify the above BUR because all that's needed is to remove excise squirrel / sqiurrel and move that to tree_squirrel instead.

The only problems would be the humanoid and taur tags, in which case injecting tree_squirrel_humanoid/*_taur into the tree similar to the regular species might be the cleanest option there, and keeps both identical for easier use.

I agree with Clawstripe and NotMeNotYou. The reason sciurid is overtagged is not because people are tagging it directly, but because the squirrel alias doesn't match the commonly understood meaning of that word.

I've modified the BUR per what Clawstripe suggested

This might also be a good moment to bring up the recent discussion over whether the were* tags serve a purpose that is visibly distinct from anthro and/or transformation.

Now that I've had a fresh look at what I wrote, I see that I accidentally screwed with Strikerman by duplicating

unimply squirrel_humanoid -> sciurid_humanoid

in both suggested BURs. Also, I forgot to supply the implications for tree_squirrel_humanoid/taur to sciurid_humanoid/taur. However, since Strikerman can only do the first BUR at the moment, only that one redundant line needs to be edited out of the BUR itself. Sorry about that.

wat8548 said:
This might also be a good moment to bring up the recent discussion over whether the were* tags serve a purpose that is visibly distinct from anthro and/or transformation.

Dunno. Removing the were- tags would solve the apparent anomaly of why weresquirrel isn't aliased to something like tree_weresquirrel or weretree_squirrel. I left that suggestion separate since I thought it could use a little more discussion than the other tags, anyway.

clawstripe said:
Now that I've had a fresh look at what I wrote, I see that I accidentally screwed with Strikerman by duplicating

unimply squirrel_humanoid -> sciurid_humanoid

in both suggested BURs. Also, I forgot to supply the implications for tree_squirrel_humanoid/taur to sciurid_humanoid/taur. However, since Strikerman can only do the first BUR at the moment, only that one redundant line needs to be edited out of the BUR itself. Sorry about that.

:(

The bulk update request #3675 (forum #351758) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #3700 is active.

create alias squirrel (0) -> tree_squirrel (24165)
create alias sqiurrel (0) -> tree_squirrel (24165)
create alias squirrel_humanoid (0) -> tree_squirrel_humanoid (1641)
create alias humanoid_squirrel (0) -> tree_squirrel_humanoid (1641)
create implication tree_squirrel_humanoid (1641) -> sciurid_humanoid (1827)
create alias squirreltaur (0) -> tree_squirrel_taur (19)
create alias squirrel_taur (0) -> tree_squirrel_taur (19)
create implication tree_squirrel_taur (19) -> sciurid_taur (21)
create implication weresquirrel (3) -> weresciurid (36)

Reason: Part 2, per Clawstripe

EDIT: The bulk update request #3700 (forum #352066) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #3700 (forum #352066) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

Thank you. :)

strikerman said:
:(

Again, sorry. :(