Wrangling - Additional Tags (Freeforms) Guidelines
This refers to terms that Users may input into the ADDITIONAL TAGS field during work and bookmark creation. For more general information, please see the Wrangling Intro page.
- Sections
- Base Rules
- Metatags
- Fandom-Related Freeform Tag General Rules
- Specific Fandom Freeform Tag Cases
- No Fandom Freeform Tag General Rules
- Specific No Fandom Freeform Tag Cases
Base Rules
Capitalize all canonical Freeform Tags (except for communities and anything else using a web address, or something that is specifically uncapitalized).
Only canonize freeform tags that are or are likely to be used by multiple users; do not make a synonym unless the meanings are clearly identical. Most single-use freeform tags can and should be left unfilterable. (Remember, such tags will still bring up works; unfilterable does not mean unusable.) If you're not sure, use the basic rule-of-3 - if 3 or more users have tagged for the same concept, make a canonical for it. (This is true for works tag, bookmark tags, or combined. Basically, we canonize tag concepts used on at least three different works, assigned by three different users, regardless of whether those are author-assigned or bookmarker-assigned tags.)
Metatags
The short form: Do NOT make metatags hastily. Please see the Freeform Metatags section of the Metatags Guidelines for more information.
Fandom-Related Freeform Tag General Rules
If a freeform tag belongs to a specific fandom (e.g. an episode), wrangle it to that fandom. Do not make synonyms or canonize unless you are responsible for that fandom. If it is a tag for one of your fandoms, wrangle it following these guidelines.
Note: There is one exception: general-concept tags that include the fandom name (but not anything more specific) should not be assigned to that fandom or made into unique canonicals; instead make them a synonym to the appropriate No Fandom tag. (The fandom in these cases is superfluous; users can use the fandom tags to filter for the specific fandoms under these tags.)
- CANONICAL: Season/Series 01
- SYNONYMS: Buffy Season 1, Torchwood: S1
- CANONICAL: Crossover
- SYNONYMS: dcu crossover, HF0/SGA cross
- CANONICAL: Alternate Universe
- SYNONYMS: Teen Wolf AU, au sherlock
Do not make tags synonyms or canonicals just to reduce the number of unfilterable tags in your bins.
If it's a tag type described on this page (e.g. an episode or other type of canon tag, a community tag), canonize according to the guidelines and place it in your fandom unless otherwise instructed by the guideline.
As with other freeform tags, it is not necessary to canonize all such tags that appear; in general, only canonize those tags which show popular usage (either 3 users or more have used them/synnable variants; or you are aware they are a recurring trend in the fandom). The reason for this format is that the '!' means certain things to the search engine and can interfere with finding results.
Standard Format: DESCRIPTOR CHARACTER-NAME
- CANONICAL: Top John
- SYNONYM: top!John, John on top
- CANONICAL: Female Tony
- SYNONYMS: girl!tony, Fem Tony, always-a-girl!Tony
Note: In general, do not disambiguate character-related freeforms unless the users have already (e.g. do not add a family name onto a given-name-only tag; do not make "Top John" a synonym of "Top John Watson"). Specific full-name character tags can be made subtags, but such tags only need to be created/canonized if users specifically make disambiguated tags (wranglers do not need to prepopulate them).
- METATAG: Female Tony
- SUBTAGS: Female Tony DiNozzo, Female Tony Stark
Generic single-name tags (such as Female Tony, Top John) can be put in either No Fandom and/or the fandom the tag was originally made for.
Character-related tags can optionally be added as subtags to a related general concept freeform:
- METATAG: Merpeople
- SUBTAG: Merman John
- Female CHARNAME
- Top CHARNAME
- Bottom CHARNAME
- POV CHARNAME
- Virgin CHARNAME
- Awesome CHARNAME (especially for female characters, in which case subtag under "Women Being Awesome")
Common character-related freeform canonicals include:
Guideline updated 10 Feb 2013
Like characters, freeforms of relationships with modifiers that provide more specific information about relationships should be canonized, provided they meet the rule-of-three. Unmodified relationships in the freeforms (including 'ship names and portmanteaus like "Spuffy" that do not impart any extra information beyond the characters in the relationship) should not be canonized, and can optionally be marked unwrangleable. Relationship-related freeforms with only one or two uses do not need to be canonized. Relationship-related freeform tags may use either full names or single names, depending on usage patterns and trends within a specific fandom. If users have only tagged for single-name relationships in the freeforms (e.g. "Pre-John/Karkat"), wranglers may canonize whichever form they feel is most appropriate. The following examples show some common types of relationship-related freeform tags, and acceptable canonicals. This list is not exhaustive (there are many other possible relationship-related freeforms) and are intended as suggestions, not absolute forms. Certain fandoms may have specific ways of referring to certain variations on standard relationships, and these terms may be canonized if they get enough uses (or, if the usage is specific only to certain parts of the fandom, they may be canonized as a subtag to a more general freeform, e.g. "X & Y Bromance", if it and its variants had enough uses, could be canonized separately and subtagged under "X & Y Friendship".)
Guideline updated 30 Mar 2013
Sometimes users tag works that assume characters portrayed by a single actress or actor in different canons are the same character. After 3 or more uses, we can canonize these in the following format, with the characters in alphabetical order by family name: These tags are shared between the relevant fandoms. If more than one tag of this type appears for a single actress/actor, or if users create a generic tag using the actress/actor's name, wranglers in the affected fandoms may agree to create a metatag and place it in No Fandom. Tags that refer to these characters as relatives can also be added as subtags to this metatag.
Guideline posted 02 Apr 2013
Fandom-specific AUs can be canonized. Canonical AUs (those that appear in the source canon, e.g. Fringe's Red Verse, SGA's Mensa Verse) can be canonized in whatever form makes sense for the fandom (at the wrangler's discretion) and subtagged under the tag "Canonical Alternate Universe". Fandom AUs should only be canonized if they are shared universes (tagged for by 3 or more different users) or otherwise AU concepts popular in a particular fandom; canonize whatever form of the name has the most uses. Note: The rule only applies to specific AUs such as those in the examples below; tags that are simply "Fandom-name AU" (e.g. "X-men AU" or "au sherlock" should not be put in the specific fandom, but rather put in No Fandom only and synned to the general "Alternate Universe" tag, as explained above. Do not canonize tags that are duplicating another format of tag (a character name, a pairing name, a fandom name) unless it provides additional filtering capability. (E.G. do not canonize a freeform tag "Dean Winchester". However, the freeform tag "Dean Winchester in high school" might be made a canonical freeform.) With such tags wrangle into the appropriate fandom, but do not make them a canonical or synonym. Other sorts of fandom-specific freeform (e.g. "Red Kryptonite") may or may not be canonized. We canonize tag concepts that are likely to be repeated. So an "Ascended Daniel Jackson" tag is a likely candidate for canonization; a "Were-Rabbit Eames" is probably not (unless that’s a recurring trope in the fandom). For tags that are specific concepts unlikely to be repeated, leave them in the fandom but uncanonized and unlinked. As a general rule of thumb, if a specific tag concept has been used by 3 or more different users, it is a candidate for canonization. Note: When in doubt, leave miscellaneous freeforms as-is. A fandom-specific freeform with one use almost never needs to be canonized, unless you are corralling several synonymous single-use tags (e.g., “troll ancestor,” “troll ancestors,” and “troll ancestor fic”), or unless it is an episode or community/challenge. Do not make tags synonyms that refer to a particular character or relationship to a general tag. Linking "Werewolf Dean Winchester" to "Werewolves" loses a layer of meaning: users filtering the "Supernatural" fandom for "Dean Winchester" and "Werewolves" would get works with Dean fighting werewolves as well as those with him being one, but not have a way to specifically get stories about Dean as a werewolf. Such tags should be assigned to the fandom they belong, and either left unfilterable (if they have few uses) or made into canonicals, if they are popular/recurring concepts in the fandom. Canonicals may be subtagged under an appropriate No Fandom freeform, but they should not be made synonyms. Please follow these guidelines when wrangling freeform tags: Note: Many communities, challenges, etc already are canonized; please check to make sure a canon tag doesn't already exist! Communities and challenges that only apply to one or two fandoms or meta-fandoms should be put under those fandoms; those that include any fandom or a broad range of fandoms (e.g. Science Fiction Big Bang or Yuletide) should be put in No Fandom. Communities (livejournal, dreamwidth, etc.): Use a modifier at the beginning of these tags: Community: URLNAME. Capitalize "Community" but leave the account name in whatever case it appears in the html address (lowercase for lj-comms). Treat Twitter, Tumblr, etc the same as lj communities: Ficathons/fests/exchanges/memes (provided that they are not also a community, in which case see Communities, above) - make the name the canonical. When there are challenges/fests that run multiple years, make the first canonical the version with no year attached (e.g., "Ardor in August"). If tags for the same challenge with different years are added, make each different year a canonical subtag under the general challenge canonical: Challenges: for challenges that are like prompts (e.g. flashfic challenges), either use format "X Challenge" or for generic prompts, synonymize with pre-existing tags: Numerical-only tags to indicate episodes, series, serials (e.g. "4x17" or "Episode 3") should not be canonized; put in No Fandom and leave unfilterable. Specific episodes/serials/etc with names can be canonized as follows: STANDARD FORMAT: Episode: s##e## EPISODENAME Note: Suggested resources: boxed sets of the series, epguides.com, tv.com, imbd.com, wikipedia.com. (If sources conflict, defer to the boxed set, then use your best judgment.) Tags such as Pre-[Episode], Post-[Episode], or Spoilers for [Episode] should not be made synonyms of episode tags; they can be canonized separately if they are a common fandom trope (e.g. a turning-point ep in a series) and/or if they have 3 or more uses on the Archive. Format can be fandom specific; generally the episode number is not necessary and the title alone can suffice, e.g. "[Episode Title] Spoilers, Post [Episode Title] Post season tags can be made synonyms of the No Fandom tag "Post Season 1" (2/3/etc). Season spoiler tags can be similarly linked to the No Fandom tag "Season 1(2/etc) Spoilers" For multipart episodes use the STANDARD CANONICAL FORMAT: Tags only need to be created on a case-by-case basis, depending on what users have tagged for. In cases where users have used both tags, the tag for the single part may be subtagged to the tag for the multi-part tag. List the full published name. Many freeform tags apply to many/all fandoms (such as Fantasy, First Kiss, Humor) - these should be wrangled into "No Fandom". Any wrangler is permitted to wrangle no fandom freeforms, but please first read the following guidelines. No-fandom freeforms are some of the most ill-defined tags we have on the Archive; they overlap in multiple ways, often have conflicting usages (reflecting fan behavior), cover a huge variety of topics, and don't have any real limits. Paradoxically, this means that wranglers need to be especially conservative in handling them - as of September 2012, less than one in ten Freeform tags are filterable, and that's including the fandom-specific ones that are slightly easier to deal with. No-fandom freeforms should be handled with a light touch: canonize only when useful for filtering; create synonyms only when no meaning is lost; make metatag relationships sparingly. As wranglers, we value diversity in fannish language and usage, and we support users expressing exactly what they feel is important about works. The rules here are fairly strictly worded because some No Fandom freeforms have a high chance of troubling users if improperly wrangled; some of the more problematic wrangling-related Support requests involve No Fandom freeforms, so while we don't want to discourage anyone from wrangling them (please do feel welcome to plunge in!) we have to be careful in handling them. IN SHORT: synonymize tags only when they are definitely synonymous. “Close enough” isn’t. Please take great care when making freeform synonyms and metatags. Do not simply link a tag because it shares a word in common with a canonical tag, or is possibly associated; only make tags with identical meanings synonyms, or meanings so close that there's no appreciable difference. If you're not sure, don't synonymize them. When making an unwrangled tag into a No Fandom canonical, remember to add "No Fandom" to the Fandom field. (Without a fandom it will stay in the unwrangled bin even if it's a canonical.) Familiarize yourself with the existing canonical No Fandom freeform tags on the Archive, especially those in the tag cloud - those are the most commonly used tags, and many are metatags. Before canonizing a tag, do a search to make sure an appropriate canonical does not already exist. Capitalize any tag you canonize (unless the tag calls for otherwise). The canonical name should be in a form that the most users are likely to recognize. "No fandom" freeform tags do not generally use "!" or other such optional indicators - it messes with the Advanced Search. Make the plural form the canonical, the singular form the synonym, as the plural is more inclusive. Variant tags with ambiguous/non-specific superlatives may be made synonyms of the primary form in certain cases. Do NOT synonymize tags with descriptive modifiers. "crack!AU" should NOT be linked to either Crack or Alternate Universe; nor should "depressing crack" be linked to either Depressing or Crack. Leave these tags unfilterable. If a concept is popular enough, it may be made into a canonical that can be subtagged under any related concepts, but in most cases such tags are unique and can be left alone. In general, do not link bookmark tags that are reviewing or expressing an opinion about a work, e.g. do NOT make "very good" or "pretty good!" synonyms of "Good" - it's better to leave such tags unfilterable than to try to guess a user's intentions for various gradations of opinion. The below tag types should be in No Fandom. Standard Format: CANONICAL tag is the long form, while the abbreviation itself is a SYNONYM Standard Format: CANONICAL tag is "Alternate Universe -" followed by type of alternate universe (regency, academic, high school, prostitute, pirate, etc.). Make Canonical name that which you think the end users are more likely to recognise. Make this subtag of general metatag Alternate Universe, or an appropriate subtag. (For fandom-specific AUs, see above under Fandom-Related Freeform Tag guidelines.) Author Names, gift recipient names: These should not be canonical tags. Wrangle to "No Fandom"; DO NOT make canonical or synonyms. These should be wrangled into the "No Fandom" category. Please check with the staff for guidance on which usage should be canonical. Make a subtag of metatag Holiday In addition to the setting when posting a work to indicate the
overall language of a piece, some creators use the freeforms space to
indicate secondary or other languages within a work; hence the
category duplication. Canonize to the Romanized spelling listed at the Archive
Languages page; if it's not listed there, consult the ISO 639-1 code
or check with Staff. The name of religion is the canonical, and make a subtag under Metatag "Religion". Specific warnings can be made synonyms to the related concept (e.g. "Warning for Alcoholism" can be linked to "Alcoholism"), or else left unwrangled. Note: If a single tag references two or more different concepts (e.g. "Warning for graphic sex and explicit language"), leave the tag unlinked and unfilterable. General warnings (e.g. "caveat lector", "see notes for more detailed warnings") tags can be made synonyms to the No Fandom freeform "Additional Warnings Apply" Do not canonize any more word count tags; leave them unlinked and unfilterable. The existing word count tags are legacy from before we had the word count feature. The wordcount feature under advanced search serves this function; tags are unnecessary. Do not canonize date tags; put them under No Fandom and ignore them. Individual years are not being made canonical tags (with the exception of key historical dates, e.g. "1812"); put them into "No Fandom" but do not canonize them. Decades and centuries may be canonized. There are a number of historical metatags for historical periods; make the canonical subtag under the appropriate Historical canonical.Relationship-Related Freeforms
Characters Played by the Same Actress/Actor
Fandom-specific Alternate Universes
Freeforms that Duplicate Existing Tags
Fandom-specific Concepts
Synonymizing Specific Tags to General Ones
Specific Fandom Freeform Tag Cases
Communities, Challenges, Fests, etc.
Episodes
Multi-part Episodes
Books in a Series
No Fandom Freeform Tag General Rules
The Dos and Don’ts of No-Fandom Freeform Wrangling
Canonicals
Synonyms
Last Words
General No Fandom Freeform Rules
Specific No Fandom Freeform Tag Cases
Abbreviations
Alternate Universe
Author names, etc
Holidays
Languages
Religions
Warnings and triggers
Word Counts
Dates
Years/Decades/Centuries/Eras
Other Guideline Pages