Character

character is another essential namespace on PTR, and one of the first tags added to most images. You already know what this means, but if a character doesn't have a tag already, how should you write it, and when should you avoid making one? Additionally, how should you format the more confusing and granular character tags? That's what this article is here to discuss.

Character tags by origin

Mainstream Characters

Suppose a popular series just introduced a new character, and you want to tag something that includes said character. If the character already has a tag on danbooru, default to that. Danbooru usually has sane tags. 

Supposing the character isn't on danbooru, the question then comes down to how unique the character's name is. See below for information on formatting new character tags. 

Original Characters (OCs)

Original characters sometimes receive a unique tag, and other times they do not. A general litmus test for whether or not an OC deserves a unique tag on PTR is to see if the character in question has received gift art (art created by someone other than the character's author, who created the piece for free). If the OC has received gift art, and has at least a small collection of works they're included in, it is generally safe to create a tag for them. Otherwise, it's advised to keep the tag local and off of PTR.

Tag Uniqueness

Every character tag should refer to exactly one character and no more. For characters with longer names, this usually isn't an issue. However, for those with shorter names, those without a canonical last name, or those with common names, care should be taken to ensure their tag is both unique and intuitive.

The old solution to this was to utilize titles to distinguish between characters, such as character:zeus, god of lightning, however this fell out of favor due to not being intuitive for searching. The currently favorable solution is to instead append a character's name with the series they are from, such as character:excalibur (warframe).

In the case of original characters, don't append the series, but always append the OC's creator. For example, if I were to make a Sonic OC, and he met the above recommendations for OC tagging, I might write the tag as character:edgy mcbloodstain (var). Again, even if there is no other "Edgy McBloodstain", I should append my creator tag.

Character Variations

Say that a character has different variations, it can be included in the character tag. For example, if a character has both a male and a female variation, such as Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. In this case, the variation can be included in parentheses after the name, and before the series or creator information, if it's included (see Tag Uniqueness). In this example, male Byleth might be tagged as character:byleth (male) (fire emblem). 

I don't believe that this rule applies to alternate costumes or character skins, but I'll edit this page once I get a consensus from the Jannies.

Nicknames, codenames, and titles

If a character is called by a codename in their series in place of their name, it will often be included in the tag, such as character:lena "tracer" oxton.

This rule is used for characters who are often referred to by the audience by their title. For example, the Fate franchise is not subject to this rule, as fans of the series often refer to characters by their names, such as character:astolfo (fate), and not character:astolfo "rider of black" (fate).