The bulk update request #3826 is pending approval.

mass update mapache -> raccoon

Reason: Spanish -> english translation

Wouldn't an alias work better?

+1 for aliasing.

clawstripe said:
Wouldn't an alias work better?

scaliespe said:
+1 for aliasing.

We don't have any precedent for translating tags in other languages except in cases of character and copyright names which received official English localisations later, which obviously doesn't apply here. mapache could, at any moment, become required for something else - maybe even the name of a Spanish raccoon OC?

Tagging in languages other than English is already against the rules. The list of attempts to add this tag looks exactly like you think it does. The correct route for dealing with this is through reports, not making the problem worse by giving the mistaggers actual power over other users.

There actually is a character called Mapache, and I presume that's not the only one.

With that said,

wat8548 said:
Tagging in languages other than English is already against the rules. The list of attempts to add this tag looks exactly like you think it does. The correct route for dealing with this is through reports, not making the problem worse by giving the mistaggers actual power over other users.

If it would improve searchability and mistags (and wouldn't potentially cause mistags like here), I don't see why we shouldn't enter aliases for other languages.

wat8548 said:
We don't have any precedent for translating tags in other languages except in cases of character and copyright names which received official English localisations later, which obviously doesn't apply here.

There is some precedence. For mapache, it is being consistently used as the name of a species rather than a character name, even on many of the original Inkbunny posts (although, not always ).

Anyway, this would be similar to, for example, Pokémon (the creatures themselves) names originally being in Japanese and then being aliased to their English names, except it's real life animals instead of fictional creatures. Further, it's not a proposal to try futureproofing all sorts of foreign animal names to their English equivalents. In fact, this should be on a case-by-case basis. As we run across one that needs it, we can alias it away if it's for the best, but there's no need to preemptively nuke foreign names. The sheer amount of species out there coupled with number of languages would make that latter prohibitive. And you do have a point when it comes to people using foreign words for a species as a character name, just as they might use English species names as a character's last name (Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Mickey Mouse).

mapache could, at any moment, become required for something else - maybe even the name of a Spanish raccoon OC?

In this case, it would probably be best to add on suffixes for characters or artists, as we would for any English names in the same vein (eg. mapache_(yoshierniegp)).

clawstripe said:
Anyway, this would be similar to, for example, Pokémon (the creatures themselves) names originally being in Japanese and then being aliased to their English names, except it's real life animals instead of fictional creatures.

I must have missed the part where raccoons were designed in Spain and exported years later to North America as some sort of convoluted garbage-related plot to recolonise the continent.