Topic: Tagging unnamed character with anonymous owner

I've noticed these posts featuring the same original character but without a character tag :

post #5590582 post #5590578 post #5757253 post #5761949 post #5590588 post #4984825 post #5045092

I haven't be able to find information about this character's name or owner, since these art pieces all have an anonymous commissioner.

After searching a bit on the forums about what to do, I thought about creating a character tag unnamed_goat_demon_(anonymous), but since I haven't been able to find the same case of an unnamed character character with an anonymous owner, I'm unsure if that sounds right?

I personally think that a set may be the best option here.

unnamed_character + goat_demon_(anonymous) would be my best attempt

kyiiel said:
unnamed_character + goat_demon_(anonymous) would be my best attempt

I think I'll do that, that seems good enough.

kyiiel said:
unnamed_character + goat_demon_(anonymous) would be my best attempt

unnamed_character I think is only used when the character otherwise doesn't have a tag but is otherwise identifiable across multiple posts. If there's a tag for the character, even if it's some placeholder for not knowing their real name, the unnamed_character tag is redundant since the character's tag should already indicate it's some kind of placeholder. Ideally, IMO, any character tagged unnamed_character should have it removed and replaced with a proper placeholder ASAP, as it will get confusing the more characters are tagged unnamed_character making it harder to reliably find more of a given unnamed character, and be pointless to search for if it remains tagged for characters that already have a placeholder character tag.

unnamed_goat_demon_(anonymous) I think is better since its more clearly indicating the character isn't named "Goat Demon".

watsit said:
unnamed_character I think is only used when the character otherwise doesn't have a tag but is otherwise identifiable across multiple posts.

That is not what the wiki says.

An unnamed character is identifiable [...] but happens to have no clear name or moniker given.

A character that will likely not receive a name, but is still clearly identifiable across multiple images (sometimes a descriptive moniker is best to create in this case).

goat_demon_(anonymous) is not a clear moniker, it's a descriptive one.

The character is still unnamed, having a descriptive moniker isn't mutually exclusive. unnamed_character to me isn't really a search tag, it's more like translation_request and tagme. If the character's name is eventually determined, all relevant posts can be corrected.

Ideally, IMO, any character tagged unnamed_character should have it removed and replaced with a proper placeholder ASAP,

This is the equivalent of removing translation_request because someone has identified the language of the text on a post without actually translating it. How are people supposed to find which characters lack a name/clear moniker, and correct them if we do that? Both have to stay tagged until the proper name is found, or there is a 'clear moniker'. Neither unnamed_goat_demon_(anonymous) or goat_demon are clear monikers.

Examples of a unnamed characters with clear monikers are dovahkiin, hero_(dragon_quest), the_courier_(fallout), the_doctor_(puss_in_boots) and villager_(animal_crossing).

Only unnamed characters with clear monikers that are presumed to forever intentionally be unnamed should have unnamed_character removed, as the tag serves no purpose for them.

kyiiel said:
goat_demon_(anonymous) is not a clear moniker, it's a descriptive one.

It is a clear moniker as it uniquely identifies the character. Whether or not it's also descriptive is inconsequential, so long as it uniquely corresponds to that specific character. Whether that moniker is something like unknown_goat_demon_(anonymous), guildmaster_wigglytuff, or master_tigress, it corresponds to a specific character and no other.

kyiiel said:
This is the equivalent of removing translation_request because someone has identified the language of the text on a post without actually translating it. How are people supposed to find which characters lack a name/clear moniker, and correct them if we do that?

How would someone find posts of a particular unnamed character using the unnamed_character tag, if it also includes every character that doesn't have a known name regardless if it has a unique tag already? If you find out the name of a particular character, you would use that character's placeholder tag and either make an alias/mass update request, or change them by hand if there's only a handful. The unnamed_character tag itself would be ineffective at finding more posts of that character since it would include every other post of every other unnamed character.

I wouldn't compare unnamed_character to translation_request, since text translation is a more generalized skill you can just do. You can search translation_request+<whatever>_text for languages you're skilled in, and translate 'til your heart's content. In comparison, determining who unnamed_characters are requires research into each specific character, you can't just look at the results for unnamed_character and use your skill to tag them with real names. It requires diving into a specific character, finding out where they come from, who owns them, etc, and it may not be possible to get a real name in instances where the character owner is gone/untraceable, or if they were never never given a name (and may or may not ever be given one). If you want to compare them, it'd be like leaving translation_request tagged on posts that are correctly translated but we don't know what the author may have intended the dialog to say, and on posts that are literally untranslatable.

If you're interested in getting the name of a particular character, you would use that character's placeholder tag to find their posts rather than unnamed_character itself. Removing unnamed_character from characters that already have a placeholder name makes it easier to find unorganized characters that lack a real or placeholder name.

kyiiel said:
Examples of a unnamed characters with clear monikers are dovahkiin, hero_(dragon_quest), the_courier_(fallout), the_doctor_(puss_in_boots) and villager_(animal_crossing).

Dovahkiin, The Courier, and Villager, at least, or more character concepts than specific characters (I'm not familiar with the doctor from Puss In Boots, or the lore behind the hero in Dragon Quest). They're more intended as a blank slate to insert your own ideas into, where you can have multiple very different depictions of them. In many ways, they're more like character titles indicating their role in a story or setting, rather than specific characters in and of themselves.