Context

This discussion is about the usage of three tags: sticker, telegram_sticker and sticker_pack

sticker, according to its wiki page, is for artwork that depicts stickers in the scene and NOT digital sticker images such as telegram_sticker (Example: post #2609622)

sticker_pack doesn't have a wiki page, however its generally used for images featuring a collection of digital stickers used in messaging apps like Telegram (Example: post #3284057)

telegram_sticker also lacks a wiki page, however its generally used for images featuring one or more digital stickers used in messaging apps (Single sticker example: post #3107836)

There are two main categories of images which get these tags: images depicting physical scenes which include a sticker, and images with a digital stickers as the image itself.

Critiques

Consider the following types of images:
1. Images depicting a physical sticker in the scene, like post #2609622. This is what a generically named sticker tag should be used for.
2. Images depicting a digital sticker in the scene, but not within telegram, such as a character drawing a sticker on a tablet. I think a new tag like sticker_(digital) would work well in this case.
3. Images depicting a digital sticker in a messaging app other than telegram. A new tag like reaction_sticker would be best, but reusing telegram_sticker generically seems fine too as this situation seems fairly uncommon.
4. Images depicting a digital sticker in the telegram app within a scene, like post #2441480. telegram_sticker is perfect in this case.
5. Images depicting a digital sticker as the image itself, like post #3107836. telegram_sticker is platform specific. sticker_pack is for multiple stickers. reaction_sticker is for stickers in a scene. I think a new tag like sticker_(artwork) would be best.
6. Images depicting a collection of digital stickers as the image itself, like post #3284057. sticker_pack is a good tag here, and the single sticker tag, like sticker_(artwork), should be used as well.

Proposed Tags and Definitions

• sticker for physical stickers depicted in a physical scene
• sticker_(digital) for digital stickers depicted in a physical scene
• reaction_sticker for digital stickers shown inside a messaging app
• telegram_sticker for digital stickers shown inside telegram
• sticker_(artwork) for digital stickers displayed a outside physical scene, either as the image itself or as a collection of stickers.
• sticker_pack for digital stickers displayed in a collection outside a physical scene.

Other Concerns

Another issue is distinguishing stickers from emotes when tagging images. I can see an argument that emotes (like twitch/discord emotes) and stickers should be tagged similarly if not the same. I'm not stating any opinions on this matter.

sanguinederg said:

• sticker_(digital) for digital stickers depicted in a physical scene
• reaction_sticker for digital stickers shown inside a messaging app
• sticker_(artwork) for digital stickers displayed a outside physical scene, either as the image itself or as a collection of stickers.

What's the difference between a single regular sticker image, and a regular bust or headshot? Or for a reaction sticker, the difference from a reaction_image?

sanguinederg said:

• telegram_sticker for digital stickers shown inside telegram

I don't think we need to make such an app-specific tag. Identical-looking stickers can be used in other apps.

IMO, we only need sticker_pack for when the image consists of multiple images (usually of the same character with different expressions) used for displaying a reaction or emotion in a chat app. No need to have tags for a single image (which is otherwise indistinguishable from a normal bust/headshot) or for app-specific sticker tags.

watsit said:
No need to have tags for a single image (which is otherwise indistinguishable from a normal bust/headshot) or for app-specific sticker tags.

I would like to search for sticker artists and sticker ideas on e621. Many artists upload their telegram stickers as individual images. Although these images may resemble generic artwork, they were designed specifically as stickers for messaging apps. These images should be searchable. Perhaps a lore or meta tag would be best here as the knowledge that the image was created as a sticker comes from outside the image itself.

watsit said:
What's the difference between a single regular sticker image, and a regular bust or headshot? Or for a reaction sticker, the difference from a reaction_image?

Aside from the point made above, many telegram stickers feature elements which give them a sticker-specific appearance, such as a 1:1 aspect ratio, white border or shadow around the artwork, such as post #3104764 which features all three. reaction_image on the other hand have generally have a different appearance.

Also the wiki for reaction_image implies the tag should be used to identify images that work well for reactions in e621 comments, which goes against TWYS. At best reaction_image is a subjective tag.

reaction_sticker is pretty meaningless. I only added it as a app-independent tag matching telegram_sticker. However it would be objective with the definition I provided: "reaction_sticker for digital stickers shown inside a messaging app"

watsit said:
I don't think we need to make such an app-specific tag. Identical-looking stickers can be used in other apps.

I'm fine with dropping telegram_sticker, as long as there is some single sticker tag replacement. sticker and sticker_(digital) work for stickers depicted in scenes. However telegram_sticker mostly fills the role of a sticker_(artwork) tag right now and it would be wasteful not to track those images with some tag.

sanguinederg said:
I would like to search for sticker artists and sticker ideas on e621. Many artists upload their telegram stickers as individual images. Although these images may resemble generic artwork, they were designed specifically as stickers for messaging apps. These images should be searchable.

What images were made for isn't really relevant for tagging, and can become vague. It can also change on a whim (e.g. a series of busts that were designed as reaction images, and later made into stickers; or some images that were intended to be stickers, but never actually made into a pack). Or if it's a commission or request, the artist may not intend for it to be a pack, but the person getting it may. Similarly, a set of images never intended to be used as stickers, made into a pack by someone else (with or without permission). On top of that, there's no way to handle it if an artist or commissioner or someone doesn't say it's a sticker; if it's not explicitly stated, it can't be tagged no matter how apparent it may look. These issues would heavily limit searchability.

sanguinederg said:
Aside from the point made above, many telegram stickers feature elements which give them a sticker-specific appearance, such as a 1:1 aspect ratio, white border or shadow around the artwork, such as post #3104764 which features all three.

Are non-telegram stickers not capable of looking the same? Is it impossible for stickers to ever be different now or in the future? How to deal with images that fit all those points, and look no different than a sticker image, but isn't said to be one?

sanguinederg said:
I'm fine with dropping telegram_sticker, as long as there is some single sticker tag replacement.

A single sticker is too ambiguous to properly tag, IMO. A sticker pack can be tagged due to them having a layout relatively unique to sticker packs (even if it wasn't meant to be one, it looks like one so can be tagged), but single sticker images would be practically impossible to properly tag in a meaningful way.

+1 for your proposition sanguinederg. We have wallpaper for images that would work well as and/or were made to be a desktop or phone wallpaper, and I'd love to be able to browse images that were made to be and/or would work well as stickers (so sticker_(artwork)). It would be a useful tag. Meta tags don't necessarily have to follow TWYS, like year tags.