Should one imply the other? In which direction? Or should it be an alias instead? Or should we leave it as it is, but do a major cleanup of images tagged with "bound" but missing "bondage"?

Bondage already implies bound. Tag images of bound characters with bondage IF AND ONLY IF the bondage is consensual, as we have defined bondage to be a consensual act, whereas being bound may in fact not be consensual. These tags were redefined and reworked sometime last year. Check the wikis and https://www.e621.net/forum/show/17835 for the discussion on it.

So bound -bondage should only contain non-consensual binding, but it doesn't entirely appear that way.

My bad, must've derped when checking alias/implications

Valence said:
So bound -bondage should only contain non-consensual binding, but it doesn't entirely appear that way.

That's true. If that's not the case, then simply adjust the tags on the images. The reason these tags were separated and defined as such was to distinguish between consensual restraint and characters being restrained against their will. Beforehand, no clear difference existed. Wikis were updated to reflect this, but of course not everyone checks those and is aware of the distinction that we as e621 users are making between the words as tags, rather than what may be the true definition of the words.

How are we supposed to know if it's consentual or not? That's just going to create a whole lot of hassles what with our 'tag what you see' policy.

Furmillionaire said:
How are we supposed to know if it's consentual or not? That's just going to create a whole lot of hassles what with our 'tag what you see' policy.

The whole "tag what you see" policy will actually make the whole process much clearer. Most artists try to make it evident whether the characters are engaging in consensual or nonconsensual through the use of facial expressions, dialogue, and/or visual emotions, such as crying.

Besides, I'm not so sure why these tags were separated in the first place. Don't they have the same meaning? It's just confusing for users to use tags that have the same denotation, yet have different connotations. Plus, making one tag appropriate for both situations and the other tag for only one also adds to the perplexity.

Furry_Fanatic said:
The whole "tag what you see" policy will actually make the whole process much clearer. Most artists try to make it evident whether the characters are engaging in consensual or nonconsensual through the use of facial expressions, dialogue, and/or visual emtotions, such as crying.

Besides, I'm not so sure why these tags were separated in the first place. Don't they have the same meaning? It's just confusing for users to use tags that have the same denotation, yet have different connotations. Plus, making one tag appropriate for both situations and the other tag for only one also adds to the perplexity.

The first bit is exactly it. Fur, I know it can sometimes be difficult, but one does the best one can. How can you distinguish between rape and consensual sex? Context clues. Facial expressions, setting. If the bottom is displaying fear, it's probably not consensual.

The second paragraph there: because bondage is a kink. It is an act. It is the act of participating in willingly being bound, or the act of binding a willing participant. bound refers to a particular state of being, where a character is bound/restrained, whether willing or not. They are separate in order to have tags that distinguish between willing bondage or unwillingly being restrained. My emotional response to these two types of images is drastically different, and so I may not want to see characters who are restrained against their will when I search for bondage. The argument posed in the other thread was that the two words do not have the same meaning.

As for tags that are appropriate for two situations where another tag only fits for one, this isn't unusual here. It's like frenum_ladder and piercing. A frenum ladder is always a piercing, but a piercing is not always a frenum ladder. Bondage always involves being bound, while being bound does not always include bondage. All of this was said in https://www.e621.net/forum/show/17835