BUR #57474 is pending approval.
mass update clark_kent -superman -> char:clark_kent_(civilian)
create implication clark_kent_(civilian) -> clark_kent
create implication superman -> clark_kent
mass update bruce_wayne -batman -> char:bruce_wayne_(civilian)
create implication bruce_wayne_(civilian) -> bruce_wayne
create implication batman -> bruce_wayne
mass update spider-man spider-man_(miles_morales) -> -spider-man_(miles_morales)
mass update peter_parker -spider-man -> char:peter_parker_(civilian)
create alias spider-man -> spider-man_(peter_parker)
create implication spider-man_(peter_parker) -> peter_parker
create implication peter_parker_(civilian) -> peter_parker
It's time to deal with this once and for all.
See topic #34656 and topic #35279 for some recent context.
Basically, our superhero tags are a mess: historically we've kept civilian and superhero identity separate, but there's many problems with the current approach:
- some characters are known by fans by their first name, and they don't care about our distinction because it intuitively makes sense to them: miguel_o'hara spider-man_(2099)
- some characters share the same superhero identity: we had Spider-Man originally, but then Spider-Man (Miles Morales) appeared, so now Spider-Man is half a umbrella tag for all of Peter Parker's suits, half a bunch of other random spider-men
- some characters have been multiple superheroes: Ms. Marvel (not Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)) is Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel (Marvel) (not Mar-Vell)
- some characters don't wear masks or wear removable masks, and when they do remove them, the face of the original character is right there (spider-man being the most popular example)
- the western comic industry is just a mess, with monthly reboots to boost sales, so this was always a system held together with hopes and dreams, and it just doesn't scale
- the resurgence of anime-influenced capeshit with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and Marvel Rivals was the final nail in the coffin
My proposal is to just pull the tooth out, and switch to umbrella tags based on the person, to align these to the rest of our character tags.
I propose we have an umbrella tag for the person, and subtags for all the different superheroes they were known as, and an additional chartag for the civilian identity (when necessary, since some characters don't have separate civilian identities).
You'd think the cases I'm using like Batman are an exception, but there's actually been multiple batmen too: see post #10525116 for example. See Val-Zod for a random alternate Superman example.
Whether we should rename batman to batman (bruce wayne) and superman to superman (bruce wayne) is debatable, because people will always and naturally be searching for the most popular version first, and this would be a bit weird, but I think even the fact that batman would show up as a chartag in the sidebar under bruce wayne would at least give some tagger pause and let them think about what they're doing, if they are uploading a different character with the same name.
There are some edge cases like Dr. Manhattan like Jon Osterman, but just as I was thinking about how to deal with these I discovered someone had already created the civilian tag and added it to a normal-ass dr manhattan post where the civilian identity was not even present: a further proof of just how broken the current system is for normal users.
As usual, feel free to propose counterBURs to fix this problem.
Obviously, these BURs need work, but the tags are a mess already anyway, so consider voting on this as voting on the policy rather than the syntax of the BUR. Some major cleanup will be needed regardless of what we do.
Updated by nonamethanks
