(Partially) fixing the tag system

[LurkingInTheDeceit]

So, complaints about the tag system are a recurring topic on QQ. This is sometimes just an issue of different site cultures, but other times it's non-controversially fixable.

Tags on QQ have a few uses, including setting expectations for the thread, aiding search, and making jokes. We don't want to sacrifice either of the other two (or any other unlisted uses) in service of optimising search results, nor do we want to implement any kind of enforced tagging (for reasons stated in detail over the years, in many threads). But the low-hanging fruit here are misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and duplicates.

There's only benefits to merging those into one Canonised tag, for authors and readers. The former have limited tag space, the latter likely doesn't want to have to put in a dozen variations of the same things, and finding all those variations through the normal user view is difficult or impossible anyway.

I'm not sure whether this would ever get done if I don't take the initiative, so that's what I'm doing. The basic guidelines for how this is going to work is as follows:

• Canonised tag suggestions, alongside potential Synonyms to be merged, will be posted in this thread first, pinned in the Suggestions & Bugs subforum, so the userbase has an opportunity (say, 48 hours) to give feedback and object to particular mergers.
• Only search relevant terms will be merged, not every tag that has duplicate meanings.
• Tags that could be interpreted to have distinct meanings will not be merged.
• Series tags will be the full name.
• Descriptor tags will be fully spelled out.
• Finalised Canonised tags will be added into the locked Suggested Tags threads (1, 2), which will be pinned in the Creative Writing and NSFW Creative Writing subforums.

I've already gathered 195 tags, that I think can be condensed into 35:

Spoiler

{worm - worm fic} worm

{heroic mc - heroic protagonist - hero - hero mc} heroic protagonist

{anti-hero - anti-hero protagonist - antihero} anti-hero protagonist

{my hero academia - my_hero_academia - boku no hero academia - my boku academia} my hero academia

{rise of the sheild hero - rising of the shield hero - shield hero} the rising of the shield hero

{superhero - super hero} superhero

{superheroes - superheros - super heroes} superheroes

{eventual harem - harem eventually - harem eventual - eventual obligatory harem - harem… eventually} harem eventually

{harem likely - harem (most likely) - harem probably - probable harem - probably a harem? - probably harem} harem likely

{harem possible - possible harem - potential harem - harem maybe - maybe harem? - harem? - will a harem be created?} harem possible

{harem - harem obviously - harem (obviously for anyone who knows my works) - harem (obviously its danmachi) - harem galore - harem mode activate! - harem get!} harem

{harem hero - harem protagonist} harem protagonist

{no harem - not a harem - #no harem - this is a no harem zone} no harem

{reversed harem - reverse harem} reverse harem

{small harem - slight harem - not that big of a harem - minor harem - eventual small harem} small harem

{large harem - big harem} large harem

{yuri harem - lesbian harem} lesbian harem

{mc is in a harem - mc is a harem member - in a harem} mc is a harem member

{asoiaf - a song of ice and fire - a song of ice & fire - song of ice and fire} a song of ice and fire

{futa - futanari} futanari

{futa protagonist - futa mc - futanari mc} futanari protagonist

{multi crossover - multi-crossover - multicross - lots of crossovers - many crossovers - massive multicross - mutlicross - massive multicross etc - multi-cross - multi-crossover (crossover) - multicross - multicrossover - multiple crossovers} multicross

{noncon - non-con} non-con

{cross-over - cross over - crossover} crossover

{mild crossover - minor crossover} minor crossover

{alternate au - au - au content warning - au for various reasons - au obviously - au(obviously) - #alternateworld - alt universe - alt verse - alternate - alternate universe - alternateuniverse- alternative universe} alternate universe

{extreme au - drastically au - heavy au - major au - massive au - au as fuck - au a lot of au - all the au - really quite a lot of au - super au - very au - very very au - wildly au} major au

{mild au - minor au - kinda au - kind of au - contains au elements - au-elements - au elements - au kinda - au in only very minor ways - slight au - slight au elements - slightly au - some au - somewhat au - somewhatau} minor au

{bi protagonist - bi-protagonist - bisexual protagonist - bi mc - bisexual main character - bisexual mc} bisexual protagonist

{kind of a self insert - kind of a self inser - kind off self insert - self insert (I guess?) - self-insert-kinda - sorta self insert - self(?) insert - semi si - semi-si - si is kinda oc - si sorta - si? - sort of si - sorta si thing - non self insert - insert not self - non-self insert - self insert oc - oc/si - oc-si - si oc - si-oc - si/oc - si is an oc - si is basically an oc - si is not an si} si/oc

{self inserts - self-inserts (plural) - multi-self-insert - lots of self inserts - mass self insert} multiple self-inserts

{Self-insert mc - selfinsert - si - si mc - si protagonist - self insert} self-insert

{dxd - highschool dxd - high-school dxd - high school dxd} high school dxd

{genderbend - genderbender - gender bender - genderbent - gender-bender - gender-bending - genderbending - genderbending galore} genderbending

{gender bender mc - gender bending protagonist - gender flipped protagonist - gender swapped protag - genderbent mc - genderbent protagonist - genderbent!mc} genderbending protagonist

People will have 48 hours to provide feedback or object to anything being merged in the above list, or what the Canonised tag will be, and then I'll go ahead and do the merge. I'm interested in being somewhat overly-cautious here, so if there's any pushback on a tag being merged (or I have second thoughts), I'll probably just not.

In addition to the feedback on listed mergers, it's easier for me to find duplicate tags through the moderation view, so if you can suggest tags you're interested in, I can use that as a starting point to find potential mergers, or to fill up the Suggested Tags threads (which are currently empty).