"Transformation" (as an e621 tag and more generally as a fetish) has grown more popular over the years. As awareness of TF has grown, other, related niches have assimilated into it (such as alternate forms, expansion, dronification, and latex/goo).

Perhaps I'm just being old and grouchy, but I feel like some of the things that have found their way under the TF umbrella shouldn't be there. A prime example are pieces where an artist draws their character as a different species than usual (but nothing about the piece itself implies transformation). Sometimes these posts are tagged with transformation, but if I understand [url=https://e621.net/wiki_pages/1718]the wiki on transformation[/url] correctly, these types of posts would be considered alternate_form, which is a related but different tag. I would just use "-alternate_form" in my search, except that these kinds of posts are often missing that tag. (This is what I mean by "tf umbrella" -- the "transformation" tag has in some ways become a catch-all.)

Another example are pieces like https://e621.net/posts/4224428, where it's not very clear that [size_]transformation is occurring. I don't believe this should be tagged with TF.

I have no idea how one might improve the community's use of the TF tag. I wish I had something more actionable to present. Maybe I'm just complaining :P

There's an after_transformation tag which might be contributing to your confusion; the tag is often used for sequences or just lore contexts where the character has been transformed but that information isn't made clear in the post itself. Given that the site operates on TWYS, I'd say the tag's being misused.

arben_sear said:
Perhaps I'm just being old and grouchy, but I feel like some of the things that have found their way under the TF umbrella shouldn't be there. A prime example are pieces where an artist draws their character as a different species than usual (but nothing about the piece itself implies transformation). Sometimes these posts are tagged with transformation, but if I understand [url=https://e621.net/wiki_pages/1718]the wiki on transformation[/url] correctly, these types of posts would be considered alternate_form, which is a related but different tag. I would just use "-alternate_form" in my search, except that these kinds of posts are often missing that tag. (This is what I mean by "tf umbrella" -- the "transformation" tag has in some ways become a catch-all.)

Should be alternate_species, not alternate_form

arben_sear said:
"Transformation" (as an e621 tag and more generally as a fetish) has grown more popular over the years. As awareness of TF has grown, other, related niches have assimilated into it (such as alternate forms, expansion, dronification, and latex/goo).

Perhaps I'm just being old and grouchy, but I feel like some of the things that have found their way under the TF umbrella shouldn't be there. A prime example are pieces where an artist draws their character as a different species than usual (but nothing about the piece itself implies transformation). Sometimes these posts are tagged with transformation, but if I understand [url=https://e621.net/wiki_pages/1718]the wiki on transformation[/url] correctly, these types of posts would be considered alternate_form, which is a related but different tag. I would just use "-alternate_form" in my search, except that these kinds of posts are often missing that tag. (This is what I mean by "tf umbrella" -- the "transformation" tag has in some ways become a catch-all.)

Another example are pieces like https://e621.net/posts/4224428, where it's not very clear that [size_]transformation is occurring. I don't believe this should be tagged with TF.

I have no idea how one might improve the community's use of the TF tag. I wish I had something more actionable to present. Maybe I'm just complaining :P

There's this whole ongoing argument across the forum about the validity of implied_* tags, but guys see how instead of using transformation, these posts could use implied_transformation. Thankfully there are people who took note of that tag and there are over 2000 posts under it.

cloudpie said:
Should be alternate_species, not alternate_form

The problem is when an artist likes transformation and has a character with that as an ability then it would be impossible to tag because the character has rarely a base species to use from. Boutin2009 is a perfect example.

strikerman said:
There's an after_transformation tag which might be contributing to your confusion; the tag is often used for sequences or just lore contexts where the character has been transformed but that information isn't made clear in the post itself. Given that the site operates on TWYS, I'd say the tag's being misused.

In those instances, yes. after_transformation and implied_transformation need context in the image, such as having ill-fitting clothes with a look of confusion, something that can reasonably be inferred to be transformation even if the transformation itself isn't shown. A character simply being depicted as a different species or gender shouldn't be tagged transformation (and also, transformation should not be tagged alternate_species/crossgender, which I've started seeing recently).