Aliasing ear_fluff → ear_tuft
Link to alias

Reason:

Two tags for the same thing, both with lots of posts (though tuft still has over twice the amount fluff has).

Actually that's a huge tag mess between fluff growing from the inside of the ears vs tufts coming off the tips of the ears. They are distinct enough that it would make sense to clean it up rather than alias them.

I mean, compare:

post #531796 post #443947 post #283861 post #257592

vs

post #444046 post #430823 post #365281 post #304770

I really don't think they're the same thing at all, so I don't think they should be aliased together. But it does need a massive cleanup. I cleaned both of them up and made sure both wikis are clear. They should look a lot more distinct from each other now.

Well, what do you know. I didn't even notice there being a difference to begin with. That must've been because of all the (quite understandable) mistagging going on. Thanks for the clean-up though!

Hopefully those updated wiki pages will keep future crossovers to a minimum, though honestly, I doubt it. They're very same-y tags, and which one to use when doesn't immediately become clear from the name either (fluff just doesn't sound like it's exclusive to the inner ear, same goes for tuft in reverse). And since the crowd generally shows little propensity to visit the wiki section in the first place... yeah. I don't think we're going to keep it from happening.

But oh well, at least it's all sorted again for the time being!

Yeah, it's not exactly the most obvious difference. What about renaming ear fluff inner_ear_fluff? Makes the intent much more obvious, but also makes the tag longer which may lessen it's use.

Alias suggestion deleted. Both tags better kept for separate things.

Notes: I do like the idea of "inner_ear_fluff" that was suggested here as a possible rename of ear_fluff. However, I'm not sure we actually need it. In the almost-two-months it's been since this discussion, I've noticed that ear_fluff has actually stayed pretty clean in tag usage. Very rarely do I find an image mistagged under there. ear_tuft had a little more trouble at first of being used for both, but a lot less this month (barely a handful of ones that needed fixed). And that's actually pretty good for two tags that had been mixed up with each other for so long. So I'm hesitant to rename a tag if it doesn't seem to need it. But if people still think it needs that for clarity, we can do that.

furrypickle said:
Alias suggestion deleted. Both tags better kept for separate things.

Notes: I do like the idea of "inner_ear_fluff" that was suggested here as a possible rename of ear_fluff. However, I'm not sure we actually need it. In the almost-two-months it's been since this discussion, I've noticed that ear_fluff has actually stayed pretty clean in tag usage. Very rarely do I find an image mistagged under there. ear_tuft had a little more trouble at first of being used for both, but a lot less this month (barely a handful of ones that needed fixed). And that's actually pretty good for two tags that had been mixed up with each other for so long. So I'm hesitant to rename a tag if it doesn't seem to need it. But if people still think it needs that for clarity, we can do that.

I like the sound of inner_ear_fluff. I always get those mixed up in my head and never end up using them. That's just me though.

Seems pretty clean, I don't think it really needs to be change. A bit of tag maintenance isn't that big a deal

Alright, it doesn't seem to need it to prevent misuse. But if they're too similar and that's discouraging people from using them, then that is a more invisible yet just as important type of problem. I can definitely see how their similar names might trip some people up. I'm thinking it might make it easier for non-native speakers of english as well. So if it does still serve a purpose to clarify the name then we might as well. Approving an alias for ear_fluff to --> inner_ear_fluff for the additional clarity, and this way "ear_fluff" is becomes the shorthand version of it so that functionally the tag isn't any longer than before. It seems like the maximum of benefits for the widest amount of users.