The bulk update request #4169 is pending approval.
remove alias panther (0) -> pantherine (207086)
remove alias black_panther (0) -> pantherine (207086)
remove alias panthress (0) -> pantherine (207086)
Reason: Behold, the stated rationale for this alias, in its entirety:
Doing this
Here's a long thread of users complaining about the alias: topic #25662
Here's a shorter thread of users complaining about the alias: topic #23225
For reference, here's a set of every post that used to be tagged "panther" before the alias: set:blackestpanthers
And here's a thread of admins arguing among themselves about whether it should be aliased at all: topic #22231
I particularly recommend SnowWolf's post from that last thread (formatting fuckup notwithstanding).
At this point, I think it's safe to say that the dream of a biologically accurate tagging system is dead. Starting with topic #36246, we've made progress towards reverting some of the more anal species aliases. As I pointed out in the precursor to that thread:
wat8548 said:
The problem with scientific taxonomy is that we're not tagging scientific illustrations, we're tagging idealised fantasy depictions of animals drawn by other furries based on little more than a vague pop culture understanding of those species' key traits.
It is an objective fact that "panther" as a distinct species exists in the popular furry imagination, regardless of whether it does in real life. melanistic pantherine will never be an adequate substitute for what the tag used to be, and black_body pantherine is even more useless due to black spots and stripes being eligible for the former tag.
For most posts that users want to tag "panther", there isn't enough information available in the image to decide on a more specific species. It is unlikely, especially when making allowances for anthrofication of the design, that an artist will draw any visible difference between an all-black jaguar and an all-black leopard. Consider this guy, who is only the most recent example I came across:
post #3870154
What do you reckon his "real" species is? For a good illustration of the ongoing nature of this problem, the search set:blackestpanthers leopard still has only a seventh of the total posts in the set after three years, and more than a few of those are just regular leopards appearing in the same post.
Even if the alias stays, the reason for aliasing it to pantherine instead of melanistic is even stupider. Allegedly, some people refer to any big cat as a "panther". a) Citation needed and b) in popular usage that word overwhelmingly refers to black-furred big cats, to such a degree that even somebody who has grown up calling cougars "panthers" could not possibly be unaware that they are in a minority. dragon isn't a real species either, and the creatures in that tag still have less in common with each other than the various panthers do.