(Functionally) Nuke Elf

BUR #7986 has been rejected.

create alias elf -> pointy_ears
remove implication dark_elf -> elf
remove implication night_elf -> elf
remove implication elvaan -> elf
remove implication elezen -> elf

Many years ago we aliased elf ears to pointy ears. Later, we implicated elf to pointy ears. However, given that the only clearly discernable trait of elves is the ears we should take it a step further and just axe the tag. "great finesse and lithe frame" are not a definition we can follow as one is ephemeral to images and the other is flat out not obeyed. Plenty of muscular elf pics out there.

The alias, rather than a nuke, is to prevent future mistags.

Previous topic #17226

As of right now, there are several other tags—dark_elf, night_elf, elvaan, and elezen—that implicate elf, so these implications would have to be addressed as well.

Also, I'd prefer a straight nuke over an alias to prevent posts like post #4081222 or post #4879597 being tagged pointy_ears in the future. Periodically checking elf to make sure nobody repopulates it is a lot easier than constantly scrutinizing pointy_ears to make sure posts without visible ears don't find their way in.

Given that in many cases it's a canon tag, the risk of repopulation is all but guaranteed. I had considered a nuke at first, but that bit of info made me go with an alias.

I'll add a series of deimplications to the BUR to handle the existing ones.

So how would I be supposed to search for elves then? "pointy_ears -horns" to filter out succubi? "pointy_ears -horns -green_skin" to also filter out pointy-eared orcs? Oh, and "-monster_girl", too, have to remember those. How many more "-" tags would suffice to get same results as using just "elf" now?
I say leave elves as is or remove implication to pointy_ears for cases when those are not visible on pictures in question. Aliasing seems to create more problems than it could possibly solve.

No.

WTF

beleriand said:

So how would I be supposed to search for elves then? "pointy_ears -horns" to filter out succubi? "pointy_ears -horns -green_skin" to also filter out pointy-eared orcs? Oh, and "-monster_girl", too, have to remember those. How many more "-" tags would suffice to get same results as using just "elf" now?
I say leave elves as is or remove implication to pointy_ears for cases when those are not visible on pictures in question. Aliasing seems to create more problems than it could possibly solve.

Agreed, as much as elf is a canon tag the amount of things that have pointy ears but aren't elves makes it so that we need a tag to filter out non-elf results

what actually are elves then? how is it possible to say definitively whether or not a character is an elf or not? parsee is mistagged as an elf on nhentai all the time, since they dont have a general pointy ears tag

there needs to be some way to say objectively whether or not a given character is an elf

if possible, how can you say post #4934312 is an elf when post #4840050 isnt
how can you say post #4933221 is an elf when post #4872219 isnt

Everyone has their own idea of what an elf really is, and long blonde hair/bow & arrow/standing in the forest are always optional in terms of anime pinups, but it's undeniable that losing this tag would effectively rob us of the ability to search for things that most users would agree are elves.

Take a look at the results for pointy_ears vs elf and you'll immediately notice the difference. The first has many things that nobody would ever call "elf", like post #4933559, post #4933284 and post #4934308. pointy_ears demon_girl alone has 12k results. Such a loss of search functionality over what amounts to a technicality would be absurd.

The bulk update request #7986 (forum #200443) has been rejected by @nonamethanks.

thelieutenant said:

post #4872219

There are a few dozen posts tagged link elf and I'm surprised there aren't more by now. Surely he meets almost everyone's standards for what an elf should be: beardless, fair-skinned, straight-haired, slender yet toned, proficient with sword and bow, and of course the ears. Of course we all know he's technically Hylian, but all that really matters is that he looks like an elf. Unless we were tagging based on what's canonically an elf, but tagging that way is wrong and none of us would ever do that, right?

Anyway, now that elf is apparently here to stay, can we institute a policy of not tagging it on any posts where the ears aren't visible? Or at least get rid of the pointy_ears implication, because the current state of tagging canonical elves with ears you can't even see is ridiculous.

so elf is going to roughly be a canon tag? im not opposed to that, i just want to be clear on what is and isnt an elf, since there are a lot of characters that skirt the line or can be tagged elf in a convoluted way (ie possibly tagging both post #4872160 and post #2617518 as elf)

user_781002 said:

No.

WTF

You're surprisingly active for a "deleted account".

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I don't really think elf being just a canon tag is particularly helpful either. They can vary wildly in appearance. "lithe frame" rarely applies and "great finesse" is somewhat difficult to tag.

If there's a tag that should be nuked, it should be dark elf imo. This tag lost its purpose and is now synonymous of dark-skinned elf. It became really redundant for a lot of these posts to have elf, dark elf and dark-skinned female at the same time.