When tagging posts, we often focus on TWYS (tag what you see). However, when it comes to family members and relatives, how can you be absolutely certain that the characters are related just by looking at the artwork? Of course an artist may draw some characters similar to one another or include dialogue that suggests they are related, but how can you be certain that it’s a parent, grandparent, sibling, uncle/aunt, nephew/niece, cousin, an in-law, or just unrelated characters?
In short, it’s practically not possible to assume that certain characters are related just via TWYS. We somehow have to rely on what an artist says or what the canon is.
E621 has a set of tags known as ‘lore’ tags. In general, they don’t necessarily comply with TWYS, but depend more on what the original canon is. For example, a character may look young, but they are canonically speaking an adult (see adult_(lore)).
In conclusion, it would probably make more sense if all family-related tags are categorized as ‘lore’ tags, since TWYS alone can’t define if certain characters are related.
What are your thoughts on this?
Updated