I have a question about a scenario surrounding BVATS tag:

If an artist has a higher resolution/better quality file available only to patreons via the patreon site, DNP here as paid content, should the piece on e6 still get the BVATS tag?

I have found it sometimes does, which while potentially good for loyal fans of the artist, it is also annoying for uploaders trying to tidy the BVATS tag.

No, BVAS is supposed to be public sources only, from the artist. BVAS are not supposed to stay on a post (unless it needed to be scaled down to fit res limit), it's to alert that the post should be replaced, so it'd be a two year worthless tag for people actively BVASing. They also wouldn't have the source unless they have access to the pay site, leading to BVAS getting removed because it's "wrong".

Siral_Exan said:
... They also wouldn't have the source unless they have access to the pay site, leading to BVAS getting removed because it's "wrong".

Not only for patreon, as I can imagine this happening with sites that have a preview image, with the 'premium content' behind a paywall, still rendering content DNP.

I also do not think the tag should stay in such instances, yet my brain tells me it has stumbled across this in the past, debated removing the BVATS tag, then decided to just skip it as to not start a fuss with a user or janitor.

Like siral said, that specific tag is used for content that's available publicly and should be replaced with that said version.

However if I'm reading blips and we are talking about hattonslayden works, there's also another tag called cropped. Again, this is tag that in ideal situation wouldn't have any posts, but we are living real life. So with posts where it's 100% certain that artist is only sharing cropped versions publicly, you can tag that so it's much easier to search those. You can also always put patreon urls in source, even if they require pledging.