The bulk update request #5796 has been rejected.

remove alias starter_pokemon (0) -> pokemon (516295)
remove alias starter_pokémon (0) -> pokemon (516295)

Reason: As it stands, starter_pokemon is aliased to pokemon. This has been the case, to my knowledge, for basically as long as the site's been up. The only resource I've been able to find on why this is is this ten-year-old thread (topic #6001) in which people rally against it. the problem is that this thread seems to be extremely outdated.The people in the thread argue against tags like eeveelution and legendary_pokemon, both of which have stood the test of time and one guy even suggests putting all the starter pokemon posts into a pool. One of the better arguments in the thread is that the species in the tag would not be similar enough, but tags like generation_1_pokemon have since undermined this argument. Honestly it's kind of interesting to read the thread and see what stuck and what didn't, but I digress.

The point of any tag, of course is to be useful. I believe that having a tag as shorthand for the franchises (arguably) most popular characters (or most over-represented characters if you prefer to blacklist them) would be useful at least as much as many of the other tags on this site. Personally, I sometimes want to see some these pokemon without much care for the specifics, so for me, at least, this would be a useful tag. I doubt I'm alone in this. I know at least this would be easier than typing "~Bulbasaur ~Charmander ~Squirtle ~Chikorita ~Cyndaquil ~Totodile ~Treecko ~Torchic ~Mudkip ~Turtwig ~Chimchar ~Piplup ~Snivy ~Tepig ~Oshawott ~Chespin ~Fennekin ~Froakie ~Rowlet ~Litten ~Popplio ~Grookey ~Scorbunny ~Sobble ~Sprigatito ~Fuecoco ~Quaxly" into the search bar, not to mention the fact that more are inevitably going to be added eventually.

We have tags for damn near every category of pokemon -- legendary_pokemon, fossil_pokemon, future pokemon, paradox_pokemon, ancient_pokemon, gigantimax_pokemon, shiny_pokemon, tags for every single generation of pokemon, regional_form_(pokemon)... and I don't even think that's all of them -- It seems ridiculous to draw the line here and now. Are you really going to tell me that every single one of these tags is more viable and is used more often than a tag encompassing many of the series most popular and recognizable designs would be?

We even already have other tags like evolutionary_family and starter_trio which are not only somewhat similar to the proposed tag, but are also fairly well-used.

It's time to admit defeat. there is no longer any valid argument against the use of this tag that isn't undermined by some facet of the website as it stands today. You can't argue it would bloat the tags when we already have tags for everything under the sun. You can maybe argue it wouldn't be useful, but I'd certainly use it - And would it really be less useful than many of the other tags on the site? This is long overdue. It's time to implement the starter_pokemon tag.

P.S kept getting Error: Consequent tag must not be aliased to another tag and it's too late for this. I'll just paste the implications here and someone else can figure it out.
implicate bulbasaur -> starter_pokemon
implicate charmander -> starter_pokemon
implicate squirtle -> starter_pokemon
implicate chikorita -> starter_pokemon
implicate cyndaquil -> starter_pokemon
implicate totodile -> starter_pokemon
implicate treecko -> starter_pokemon
implicate torchic -> starter_pokemon
implicate mudkip -> starter_pokemon
implicate turtwig -> starter_pokemon
implicate chimchar -> starter_pokemon
implicate piplup -> starter_pokemon
implicate snivy -> starter_pokemon
implicate tepig -> starter_pokemon
implicate oshawott -> starter_pokemon
implicate chespin -> starter_pokemon
implicate fennekin -> starter_pokemon
implicate froakie -> starter_pokemon
implicate rowlet -> starter_pokemon
implicate litten -> starter_pokemon
implicate popplio -> starter_pokemon
implicate grookey -> starter_pokemon
implicate scorbunny -> starter_pokemon
implicate sobble -> starter_pokemon
implicate sprigatito -> starter_pokemon
implicate fuecoco-> starter_pokemon
implicate quaxly-> starter_pokemon

P.P.S There's an argument to be made for Pikachu and Eevee, as well as evolutions. I'm not touching any of that with a ten-foot pole. You guys fight about that later.

EDIT: The bulk update request #5796 (forum #380849) has been rejected by @slyroon.

ehh... I'm not sure that there's really a very big reason to make this tag a thing, I don't really see what kind of utility this tag would provide.

also "starter" is kind of a relative term. starter pokémon are only starters for their respective games, beyond that they're just pokémon. I mean, usually they're rare, maybe they're only available through an NPC trade, but they're no longer starters. stuff like legendary pokémon are legendary regardless of what game you're playing. if we're going to add any descriptor for pokémon species it has to be something static.

Starter pokemon are game-specific, so a starter in one game isn't a starter in other games. Some games may have unexpected starters; Pikachu is a starter pokemon in Pokemon Yellow, along with Pikachu and Eevee in the Let's Go games. There's also the spin-off games that have starters too. It just makes it arbitrary and vague, not worth using it as a tag, IMO.

pepperjelly said:
We have tags for damn near every category of pokemon -- legendary_pokemon, fossil_pokemon, future pokemon, paradox_pokemon, ancient_pokemon, gigantimax_pokemon, shiny_pokemon, tags for every single generation of pokemon, regional_form_(pokemon)... and I don't even think that's all of them -- It seems ridiculous to draw the line here and now. Are you really going to tell me that every single one of these tags is more viable and is used more often than a tag encompassing many of the series most popular and recognizable designs would be?

As a proud holdout against at least half of the tags listed, I object to adding any more pointless tags to the list.

The generational tags were reportedly added because having over a thousand tags directly imply the same tag was causing technical problems. I don't see how making them imply even more tags could have fixed that, but I'm not a database programmer.

You might be looking for the starter_trio tag, which actually adds information to the post rather than bloating the tag list.

The bulk update request #5796 (forum #380849) has been rejected by @slyroon.