Topic: #consolidation

The bulk update request #12334 is pending approval.

create alias octothorp (0) -> number_sign (151)
create alias octothorpe (0) -> number_sign (151)
create alias hash_sign (0) -> number_sign (151)
create alias hash_symbol (0) -> number_sign (151)
create alias hash_tag (0) -> hashtag (784)
create implication hashtag (784) -> number_sign (151)

Reason: According to wikipedia the name chosen by the unicode consortium is "number sign", so that seems like a good enough of a name for us to use
While octothorpe is the technical name no one's going to know what that is, and I will explode if we keep it as hashtag

We also can't alias pound sign because it's used for the currency (is that worth a disambiguation?)

is "hashtag" just the character or does it refer to the entire string prefixed with the hash? I mean, in current use here it's almost always just used to tag a use of the number sign, but should it?

I've honestly never seen it called number sign, but that might just be me.
I always called it the Hash symbol, so might as well throw that also into the alias mix.

dba_afish said:
is "hashtag" just the character or does it refer to the entire string prefixed with the hash? I mean, in current use here it's almost always just used to tag a use of the number sign, but should it?

It's used interchangeably, and I'm unconvinced the cleanup effort would be worth it for the distinction

I think hash_(symbol) is the most purpose neutral name for it. calling it number_sign when it's often not used to represent/denote a number seems odd to me.

donovan_dmc said:
It's used interchangeably, and I'm unconvinced the distinction would be worth it

I mean, to me a hashtag always contains a hash but every usage of a hash does not denote a hashtag. ignoring this usage, to me, would be like not having the url tag.

in relation to phones it's known as the "pound" sign

We should definitely keep the "hashtag" tag to denote stuff that has a proper social media hashtag on it, because there are plenty of pictures that do. But I'd also keep "number_sign" around so we have a "use this, not that" rule to stop people from mistagging stuff that uses a # to denote numbers (as someone has done to a buttload of Pokemon pictures I am currently in the process of fixing).

To clarify, for those too young to remember before Twitter existed: "#NotAllTyphlosions" is a hashtag. "#" is a hash sign, aka number sign or pound sign depending on how it's being used. The confusion, I think, comes from people saying "hashtag" out loud, as in "hashtag not all typhlosions," which makes it sound like they're describing the symbol itself.

I agree that number_sign is a more intuitive name than octothorpe.

But I definitely think that the hashtag tag should not be aliased away. I think it's good to keep it available for images that include a full social media hashtag, not just the "#" character alone.

Admittedly, that's partly for the selfish reason that a few years ago I added that tag to a lot of the pictures in furboz hashtag that display #MinervaMonday and #FifiFriday, and I don't want that effort to go to waste. :P

errorist said:
(some things, along with changing a bunch of posts)

You know, taking it upon yourself to move around posts before a community decision is made is generally a bad idea

fliphook said:
in relation to phones it's known as the "pound" sign

That's already in use by the currency, and it really has not be misused enough to warrant being disambiguated

donovan_dmc said:
You know, taking it upon yourself to move around posts before a community decision is made is generally a bad idea

they've got a name to live up to

donovan_dmc said:
You know, taking it upon yourself to move around posts before a community decision is made is generally a bad idea

I didn't see this thread when I started, and just because someone has proposed a change to the tags shouldn't mean everyone on the whole site has to drop what they're doing and wait to see how it pans out. Besides which, the changes I made were consistent with what your BUR was going to do in its original form (I think? It's definitely been edited and I can't see the history but I think you were just going to alias everything to number_sign), and are still necessary if the BUR in its current form goes through.

donovan_dmc said:
While octothorpe is the technical name no one's going to know what that is...

Well, call me Mister No One. :p But, yes, I agree that number sign is the best target. It's also the sharp in musical notation, but we don't have that as a tag as far as I can see, so shouldn't be a concern.

donovan_dmc said:
While octothorpe is the technical name no one's going to know what that is

from what I'm reading on the Wikipedia page, octothorpe was the name given to the symbol by the team that created the 12-key touchtone keypad and no one really ended up using that name for it. "pound" and "number sign" are both older names for the symbol since it evolved from "℔" (an l and b joined with an upper bar) which was used to denote the weight measurement.

errorist said:
I didn't see this thread when I started

Topic created at 2025-10-04T12:07:00.459-05:00
You created forum #468448 at 2025-10-04T12:44:19.125-05:00
You started editing at 2025-10-04T12:46:31.901-05:00
You replied here at 2025-10-04T13:13:26.313-05:00
You stopped editing at 2025-10-04T13:37:18.835-05:00

So you didn't look at any other topic when you were on the forum 2 minutes before editing any post? Did you have that topic bookmarked and you opened it specicically? You also managed to come to the same tag conclusion as me (number sign) despite it previously having one post and not being linked on any wiki page?
And how did you get to hashtag? I have a specific path I followed to get to hashtag and start this, and it would be extremely coincidental if you followed the same path half an hour after me

errorist said:
and just because someone has proposed a change to the tags shouldn't mean everyone on the whole site has to drop what they're doing and wait to see how it pans out.

I never said that, seeing a topic on the forums and taking it upon yourself to move around those posts is a problem, at best it can be wasted time

donovan_dmc said:

I have a specific path I followed to get to hashtag and start this, and it would be extremely coincidental if you followed the same path half an hour after me

Huh, what path did you take?

donovan_dmc said:
So you didn't look at any other topic when you were on the forum 2 minutes before editing any post? Did you have that topic bookmarked and you opened it specicically? You also managed to come to the same tag conclusion as me (number sign) despite it previously having one post and not being linked on any wiki page?
And how did you get to hashtag? I have a specific path I followed to get to hashtag and start this, and it would be extremely coincidental if you followed the same path half an hour after me

If I recall correctly, I had spotted the "andoid_21" typo and clicked through to the wiki for it, got distracted by the "pound_sign" in the recent edits, followed that a few clicks to the mistagged Pokemon stuff, started working on that, realized I had gotten distracted and popped back into the forums to post my BUR for that, spotted this thread (which had just been bumped to the top and looked relevant to what I was just doing) and got distracted again, finally posted the BUR after posting here. Went back to editing, stopped because I hit the hourly limit.

I have six tabs open for this site alone right now. Everything I click on shows me a bunch more things that need doing. It's like trying to clean up a room.