Qualifiers are those things in parentheses you see at the end of some tags. They serve to make the exact meaning of the tag clear such that there is no confusion with other tags.

There are several types of qualifiers.

General qualifiers

General tags sometimes use qualifiers for words with multiple meanings:

• star (symbol) vs. star (sky) - abstract symbol and a celestial body.
• shrug (clothing) vs. shrugging - clothing item and gesture.
• photo (medium) vs. photo (object) - composition of a work, object present in the frame.

Or to disambiguate the meaning of a tag such that it's used properly:

• toon (style) - refers to a particular visual style, not the origin of a character.
• manga (object) - physical object, as opposed to a comic.

Or to ease the searching of a multifaceted single concept:

• Alternate breast size (larger) / (smaller)
• Crossdressing (MtF) / (FtM)

Artist qualifiers

Many artists go by a short name that can be shared by other artists or characters. These artists' tags are qualified using another relevant name or identifier to resolve ambiguities. Such a qualifier may include:

• The artist's website or blog name,
• Their circle name,
• Their username, if it's different from their display name,
• Their nickname

Examples: shimo_(depthbomb) / aile_(crossroads) / alphonse_(white_datura)

See help:artists for more info.

Series Qualifiers

Used when the name of a character is generic enough to appear across multiple copyrights. For copyrights with long titles, an abbreviation of the title may be used, such as with Angel (Evangelion).

Examples: yamada_maya_(infinite_stratos) / knight_(ragnarok_online) / araya_(nakaimo) / angel_(evangelion)

Cosplay Qualifier

hatsune_miku_(cosplay) automatically adds both hatsune_miku and cosplay to a post. (see help:autotags)

Meme Qualifier

longcat_(meme) automatically adds meme to a post. (see help:autotags)

Distinguishing copyrights from characters or objects

metroid: The game series
metroid_(creature): The alien creatures from the series

claymore_(series): The manga and anime series
claymore_(sword): A type of sword, which the manga was named after

Alternate forms, costumes of characters

Prominent alternate costumes and forms of characters are tagged with qualifiers for easy searching.

Examples:

• Saigyouji Yuyuko vs. Saigyouji Yuyuko (Living)
• Shirakami Fubuki vs. Shirakami Fubuki (1st Costume)
• Kiss-Shot (Young) vs. Kiss-Shot (Young Adult)

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