Clear Standards for Costume Tags?

*This discussion excludes VTubers tags.

Recent discussions (forum #390638, forum #390757) show that unclear costume tag standards are causing confusion. Maybe we can establish clear standards to resolve past disputes and guide future requests.

The unwritten rule—prioritizing game costumes—perhaps stems from topic #15938, which focused on officially named In-Game Costume tags for game characters.

Current practice has expanded beyond this. Numerous Non-Game Costume tags now exist for collaborations, goods, events, or even a single official artwork—with very few images.

This double standard is clear: One Piece and Naruto also have their own gacha games—should we then tag every costume from their original comics or anime? Furthermore, if we allow tags for non-game costumes, then there's no reason to limit them to game characters.

Since neither removing all such tags nor allowing them universally is practical, I propose a compromise:

1.Keep all existing in-game costume tags.

2.Establish a universal standard for all non-game costumes.

3.Require a minimum post count (e.g., 20-30 images) for Non-Game costume tags.

We can discuss the specifics, I'm open to any better proposals.

To be clear, when I was creating the Sonic alts I was going off which costumes were highlighted on the Sonic wiki. I'm not entirely opposed to removing some of the few-use Sonic Channel costume tags like the one you linked. I probably will write a BUR of my own to get rid of some of them today.

Confetto said:

To be clear, when I was creating the Sonic alts I was going off which costumes were highlighted on the Sonic wiki. I'm not entirely opposed to removing some of the few-use Sonic Channel costume tags like the one you linked. I probably will write a BUR of my own to get rid of some of them today.

First, thank you so much for creating tags for all Sonic game skins (e.g.,post #6950587). Based on what I've seen, game costumes don't seem to have any image quantity limit (even just 1 post). For costumes from other sources, I'm currently trying to create tags only for those at least 5~10 pics.

A costume tag is as worthless as gentagging if taggers aren't adding it to posts.

A tag created for random anime character's one popular costume that happened to pass an arbitrary threshold isn't as likely to get added to posts. Sora's systematically got tags for every world-themed outfit, but a skim of recent posts show they're only tagged 50% of the time.

Meanwhile the copyrights like gachas that are tagging in-game skins: it's part of the tagging process so costume tags are rarely missed, and there's a community of taggers instinctively checking when they are. Furthermore, when you're expecting to tag skins on most posts anyway, tagging minor outfits is hardly an imposition.

Anyway, the reason outfit tags are needed is because of scale. Searching through a hundred posts of a character to find posts of a specific outfit isn't a problem. Searching through multiple thousands is. So characters need to be divided some way, and sub-copyright doesn't always cut it (like gachas).

But deciding to limit which outfit tags to make based on post count, having an official name, or its origin is half-arsed. If a costume is official and there's fanart of it, why make users search thousand-post tags or play gentag roulette to find it? Official costumes are a perfectly taggable thing. To recognise an outfit but to just tag it official alternate costume is saying "we know exactly what this is, but you can go find it yourself".

Take Tifa and her 13k posts. I couldn't tell you how few posts her white dress (post #6972516) has, but if you wanted to see art of it you probably won't be finding post #6429642 which is the dress but doesn't qualify for white dress.

In short:
-If it's not handled on a copyright basis and the rules are based on something arbitrary like post count, then taggers are less likely to know those tags exist and be alert to tagging them.
-I think any copyright where characters have thousands of posts that can't be neatly divided by sub-copyright need costume tags. Just BUR it and make a case first. Though expect opposition from people more concerned with slippery slopes than utility.
-But if we are tagging costumes on a copyright, I think it's better to just tag every official outfit. The origin of an outfit doesn't change the difficulty in finding posts of it.

Spatula22 said:

A costume tag is as worthless as gentagging if taggers aren't adding it to posts.

A tag created for random anime character's one popular costume that happened to pass an arbitrary threshold isn't as likely to get added to posts. Sora's systematically got tags for every world-themed outfit, but a skim of recent posts show they're only tagged 50% of the time. [...]

Thank you for the detailed response. Your points about the necessity of systematic tagging practices and the importance of tag usage are well-reasoned.

Your example with Sora highlights a core issue: even when costume tags exist, inconsistent application limits their utility. This seems to be a significant hurdle for non-gacha characters where such a process isn't yet established.

Building on your observation, would improving character wikis be a viable first step? If the wiki clearly lists and names all official costumes, it could serve as a central reference. This might help taggers become more aware of the options and improve consistency, without immediately facing the resistance that comes with mass tag creation.

Currently, we are in a difficult position. Requests for 1-2 key costumes for a non-game character are often approved, but requesting a full set for the same character is usually rejected over "slippery slope" concerns.

Your proposed solution of systematically tagging all outfits for high-post-count copyrights is the ideal outcome. Given the current community climate, how do you think we can pragmatically move in that direction? I am interested in your thoughts on what a feasible first step might look like.

I'm of the mind that generally there isn't a hard line when costume tags become appropriate, but the criteria I tend to judge based on are:

• The costume is a playable or unlockable skin
• If not the above, the costume is popular within fanart, or is parodied with other copyrights
• The copyright emphasizes varied costumes in some way, by giving them names and heavily featuring them, along with having a large number of them that cannot be searched for easily (e.g. Kinomoto Sakura's costumes)
• A sub-copyright has several unique costumes that cannot be searched for using just the copyright tag (so no The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog chartags, yes Sonic Forces: Speed Battle chartags)
• A costume represents an alternate persona or a notable difference in character representation in some way

In general it just comes down to specifics regarding the copyright in a lot of cases. Like, take for example Minecraft YouTube - many of the creators use several different skins, but I wouldn't make costume tags for most of those... But a copyright like Hermitcraft is exceptional in that regard due to the costumes being common in fanart and the series being very long-running with seasonal "resets". But even there, not every skin used gets a chartag, it's limited to major outfits. (GoodTimesWithScar courtesy example)

I would personally consider myself to be a middle-grounder when it comes to costume tagging. And there's a great point mentioned above about these tags needing people to actually use them to make them worth having - the copyrights that end up with costume tags almost always have at least one person who is dedicated to their upkeep.

I also second that character wikis should more of a resource to document costumes properly, I've been trying to do more of that lately (Amy Rose, Mizushiro Celica for examples). If not visually, a wiki should ideally at least have a list of costumes somewhere.

Confetto said:

I'm of the mind that generally there isn't a hard line when costume tags become appropriate, but the criteria I tend to judge based on are:

• The costume is a playable or unlockable skin
• If not the above, the costume is popular within fanart, or is parodied with other copyrights
• The copyright emphasizes varied costumes in some way, by giving them names and heavily featuring them, along with having a large number of them that cannot be searched for easily (e.g. Kinomoto Sakura's costumes)
• A sub-copyright has several unique costumes that cannot be searched for using just the copyright tag (so no The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog chartags, yes Sonic Forces: Speed Battle chartags)
• A costume represents an alternate persona or a notable difference in character representation in some way [...]

Thanks, this is super helpful. The "playable skins" criterion is a great filter—it clarifies why the Sonic game tags are essential, while the Sonic Channel single-artwork ones are less consistent.

Looking at the thread now, the discussion has moved past the initial "game vs non-game" debate into more practical territory. Between your Sonic examples, the earlier point about Sora 's tagging consistency, and the Tifa dress example, a clear set of priorities has naturally emerged:

• Focus on solving actual search problems, which mostly applies to characters with thousands of posts.

• Prioritize outfits that have clear significance—like playable skins and major transformations—before considering other official designs that are less recognized.

• Tags rely on community use to be effective; if people don't use them, they don't help anyone.

This really helps clarify how to think about future requests. I'll be referring to these points when working on wikis or tagging.