The bulk update request #5473 is active.

remove implication didelphid (65) -> marsupial (46187)
remove alias didelphimorphia (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove alias didelphimorph (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove alias opossum (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove alias opposum (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove alias didelphidae (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication bushy-tailed_opossum (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication marmosa (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication marmosops (0) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication monodelphis (28) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication virginia_opossum (5206) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication water_opossum (21) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication didelphid_humanoid (3) -> didelphid (65)
remove implication didelphid_humanoid (3) -> marsupial_humanoid (60)
remove alias opossum_humanoid (0) -> didelphid_humanoid (3)

Reason: There are American opossums, often called possums, and Australian possums, often called possums. As you may guess, this is confusing. My goal is to finally resolve the tag names here to stop mistags and avoid any more confusion, because nobody knows what a didelphid is and possum is getting a lot of opossums in the list.

This first BUR just concerns the American variant, with the goal of redirecting the tags to american_opossum. As always, these kinds of BURs need to be done in two parts.

EDIT: The bulk update request #5473 (forum #375270) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5474 is active.

remove alias phalangeriformes (0) -> possum (0)
remove alias australian_possum (493) -> possum (0)
remove alias phalangeriform (0) -> possum (0)
remove alias phalangeriforme (0) -> possum (0)
remove implication possum (0) -> marsupial (46187)
remove implication pygmy_possum (4) -> possum (0)
remove implication honey_possum (0) -> possum (0)
remove implication acrobatid (0) -> possum (0)
remove implication possum_humanoid (21) -> possum (0)
remove implication cuscus (1) -> possum (0)
remove implication petaurid (408) -> possum (0)
remove implication pseudocheirid (10) -> possum (0)
remove implication brushtail_possum (49) -> possum (0)
remove alias phalangeriform_humanoid (0) -> possum_humanoid (21)
remove implication possum_humanoid (21) -> marsupial_humanoid (60)
remove implication sugar_glider_humanoid (8) -> possum_humanoid (21)

Reason: This BUR is about the Australian possums, as described above. As always, these BURs need to be done in two parts.

My only uncertainty at the moment is with the possum tag itself; if we just alias it to australian_possum, it's still possible for mistags to occur from people who don't know any better. I'm tempted to make it a disambiguation, but I'm aware that these aren't always the cleanest solution.

EDIT: The bulk update request #5474 (forum #375271) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5473 (forum #375270) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5474 (forum #375271) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5475 is active.

Reason: Part 2 of the above BUR for american opossums.

EDIT: The bulk update request #5475 (forum #375287) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5476 is active.

Reason: Part 2 of the BUR for australian possums (with the possum tag reaching a consensus internally)

EDIT: The bulk update request #5476 (forum #375288) has failed: Error: Alias would modify other aliases or implications through transitive relationships. (create alias possum_humanoid -> american_opossum_humanoid)

EDIT: The bulk update request #5476 (forum #375288) has failed: Error: Alias would modify other aliases or implications through transitive relationships. (create alias possum_humanoid -> american_opossum_humanoid)

EDIT: The bulk update request #5476 (forum #375288) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5475 (forum #375287) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5476 (forum #375288) has failed: Error: Alias would modify other aliases or implications through transitive relationships. (create alias possum_humanoid -> american_opossum_humanoid)

The bulk update request #5476 (forum #375288) has failed: Error: Alias would modify other aliases or implications through transitive relationships. (create alias possum_humanoid -> american_opossum_humanoid)

The bulk update request #5476 (forum #375288) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

THANK FUCKING GOD!

As a super possum lover, this was driving me nuts for my sets.

The bulk update request #5493 is active.

remove alias possum (0) -> american_opossum (11238)

Reason: Apologies for busting in on this like a gatecrashing jerk, but a tweak ought to be made. Possum should be aimed at Virginia_opossum rather than American_opossum since it's commonly used for that particular species rather than the 136 other opossums south of the border.

Follow-up BUR:

alias possum -> virginia_opossum

EDIT: The bulk update request #5493 (forum #375542) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The tag alias didelphid -> american_opossum (forum #367506) has been rejected by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5493 (forum #375542) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

The bulk update request #5497 is active.

create alias possum (0) -> virginia_opossum (5206)

Reason: follow up bur sniping the gatecrasher

EDIT: The bulk update request #5497 (forum #375609) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

snpthecat said:
The bulk update request #5497 is active.

create alias possum (0) -> virginia_opossum (5206)

Reason: follow up bur sniping the gatecrasher

Thank you. It's appreciated.

Why should possum be aliased to virginia_opossum when the term can also refer to a number of different species?

vulpes_artifex said:
Why should possum be aliased to virginia_opossum when the term can also refer to a number of different species?

Because in every continent over than Australia possum refers to the Virginia_opossum

satanicwolfluna said:
Because in every continent over than Australia possum refers to the Virginia_opossum

There are also opossums in South America that are sometimes called possums, and even if there weren't, it's still ambiguous.

The bulk update request #5497 (forum #375609) has been approved by @Rainbow_Dash.

vulpes_artifex said:
There are also opossums in South America that are sometimes called possums, and even if there weren't, it's still ambiguous.

It's really not ambiguous and I'm tired of the tag being cluttered. 99% of the use case is the o-possum.

rainbow_dash said:
It's really not ambiguous and I'm tired of the tag being cluttered. 99% of the use case is the o-possum.

There are literally multiple distinct animals called "possums". How is that not ambiguous?

vulpes_artifex said:
There are literally multiple distinct animals called "possums". How is that not ambiguous?

And bats can refer to the sports object, and bears are also a gay subculture, but at some point our tags should be catered to the most obvious answer rather than being restricted by every single possibility.

strikerman said:
And bats can refer to the sports object, and bears are also a gay subculture, but at some point our tags should be catered to the most obvious answer rather than being restricted by every single possibility.

The difference is that "possum" is only a slang term for the Virginia opossum, whereas it's the normal name for the Australian marsupials.

vulpes_artifex said:
The difference is that "possum" is only a slang term for the Virginia opossum, whereas it's the normal name for the Australian marsupials.

Australian marsupials are already tag implicated for Australian_possum and in that situation Possum is just one common name for Phalangeriformes including gliders and cuscus

vulpes_artifex said:
The difference is that "possum" is only a slang term for the Virginia opossum, whereas it's the normal name for the Australian marsupials.

Again, like 99% of the actual usage of the tag possum refers specifically to the Virginia opossum. We’ve had it the other way around for years, where the possum tag pointed to Australian possums, but it was a constant mess and it didn’t work. And disambiguation would also be a constant mess that would not work. Even aliasing to American opossum would require people to constantly go through the tag and tag virginia_opossum where it’s missing, which will be frequent. This is the only sensible solution.

Like it or not, all the other possums and opossums are comparatively fairly rare on this site. Anyone tagging one of the others will likely know to use a more specific tag than the generic possum. Not so with the overabundance of people uploading Virginia opossums and not having a thought more complex than “IT’S A POSSUM!”

scaliespe said:
Again, like 99% of the actual usage of the tag possum refers specifically to the Virginia opossum. We’ve had it the other way around for years, where the possum tag pointed to Australian possums, but it was a constant mess and it didn’t work.

To further your point, when I said "every other continent" I meant I used a VPN and a fresh incognito window and searched "possum" in Brazil, England, South Africa, Taiwan and Australia, Australia was the only country that didn't bring up the Virginia Opossum

vulpes_artifex said:
The difference is that "possum" is only a slang term for the Virginia opossum, whereas it's the normal name for the Australian marsupials.

I know. That's why I advocated for the possum/opossum tag rearrangement. :p The alias to Virginia_opossum wasn't made willy-nilly, because you are correct. Possum is frequently used as an alternate name for opossums (especially the Virginia opossum of North America) which was then applied to the distantly related possums of Indonesia and Australia (we use Australian_possum for simplicity's sake). As scaliespie points out above, under the original version of the Dice-Ratte species taxonomy scheme (which, honestly, was not really completed due to the authors burning out and quitting e621), possum was aliased to phalangiform (ie. the Australian possums), but just about everyone who tagged it were doing so for the Virginia opossum, which makes up the vast majority of opossums on the site. Strikerman's revision is to basically translate didelphid and phalangiform as well remove an ambiguity that's causing so much mistagging by following user tagging habits. If it turns out aliasing possum to Virginia_opossum was a mistake, we'll just have to correct it in the future.