This is related to https://e621.net/forum/show/213106 , but it is its own topic because it's a different feature request.

Requested feature overview description.

A new metatag which will allow users to search for any arbitrary page index within a pool. This tag would look something like "poolindex:#"

Why would it be useful?

The most obvious usage would be to be able to list all pools by their cover pages using "poolindex:0".

In my experience, trying to casually browse pools on e621 is a frustrating experience. You can either do a search with inpool:true, which returns a collection of thumbnails with no indication of which belong to the same pool; or you can go to e621.net/pool/index , where you receive a 1-entry-per-pool listing, but with no thumnails. A new tag would alleviate that. Me, and forum users DragonFox69, savageorange, and Maxpizzle have all expressed interest in this feature in the link above.

Other uses are possible as well.

What part(s) of the site page(s) are affected?

Just the part of the site that fills in the other metatags, I would think.

+1 good idea

to search for everything but the cover pages

would be the equivalent of inpool:true

This would go sooo good on my e621 browsing experience right now.

This is a really good idea.

Actually even just a posts page with the pool covers (instead of titles) would be nice.

is the ultimate cover page finder

It even makes sense ssince zero will usually be the cover, 1 is page one, etc.

Question: Would searching "poolindex:0" by itself return the first image of every pool, or no images because you haven't specified a pool yet?

BlueDingo said:
Question: Would searching "poolindex:0" by itself return the first image of every pool, or no images because you haven't specified a pool yet?

It should return the first image of every pool.

This would also be useful for certain pools that contain multiple works (like the Mareholics or whatever it is comic promotion, or the Hoof Beat thing). Could use it to snip out segments in a specific grouping / by a specific artist.

Would also be useful for browsing pools - seeing one page of each pool, rather than seeing the entire thing, whether it has a cover page or not. As well as for comparing pools and finding broken pools (pools with only one image, for instance, though that would take some finagling).

Clawdragons said:
This would also be useful for certain pools that contain multiple works (like the Mareholics or whatever it is comic promotion, or the Hoof Beat thing). Could use it to snip out segments in a specific grouping / by a specific artist.

I could see this working for multi-chapter comics.

\Chapter 1
\Chapter 2
etc.

Bumping this feature request. See also: https://e621.net/forum/show/255779

Bumping again. This would be great for locating comic covers.

Pandemic Necro Bump

Also: https://e621.net/forum_topics/28340

There should also be a way to search in reverse.

For example, poolindex_last:0 matching the last post in a pool, poolindex_last:0..2 matching the last post, second to last post, and third to last post. poolindex_last:>2 matching everything except the last 3 posts, or nothing if there are 3 or less posts in the pool. The name is clunky but you get the idea.

Too bad this isn't getting much traction. Good idea!

This feature would be extremely useful since a lot of comics still haven't got the cover_page tag

Just adding my voice to the thread to say that I'd love this for this to be a feature

namenotfinal said:
This feature would be extremely useful since a lot of comics still haven't got the cover_page tag

Not all comics have a cover page, and some may have a cover page that's not the first in the pool, so it would still be a good idea to add the tag when you see it missing. (not to say this request is or isn't worth adding, but it won't be a silver bullet to finding cover pages that may or may not be tagged.)

This feature would be great for automation and I support it, but in the mean time for first pages of comics without cover pages, we have first_page. Sadly it's underutilized right now but that can change :)

cloudpie said:
This feature would be great for automation and I support it, but in the mean time for first pages of comics without cover pages, we have first_page. Sadly it's underutilized right now but that can change :)

Bumping this since it is the same functionality I just asked for