Proper tagging in the directory has two purposes - first, it lets people who aren't interested in your prompt blacklist it. Second, it lets people who would be interested in your prompt find you. Using variant tags or spelling things wrong hurts everybody, so be sure to use the correct tags.
Here are some general guidelines that we'll follow with an example or two.
General
Don't tag anything as "optional", "maybe", "possible", "past", or "mentioned" - tag it. In the case of the optional content, use the 'Some Content Optional (Check OOC Notes)' checkbox and note in the OOC notes what's optional. Don't use different terms from what everyone else uses to try and circumvent blacklists. Use the warning checkboxes. Additionally, if you place something as a warning and it moves to another section, it is because it is not supposed to be in warnings.
Don't write sentence tags - tags should be one or two words, three at max, and should be an easily explained concept. Please do not use conjunctions (and, but, or, etc) in any tags outside of fandoms that genuinely have these inclusions. If you need to add a conjunction, then the tag should be separated into individual tags.
Additionally, all fields should have at least one tag present. Failure to fill the Fandom and Character tags will automatically default to 'No fandom' and 'Original Character'.
Light and Heavy Warnings
As a general rule, Light Warnings are for content that could be in a theoretically SFW prompt without substantially changing its nature, while Heavy Warnings indicate more explicit or potentially triggering content.
For both types of warnings, no "ish", "maybe", "potential", "possible", "mentions of", "past", "themes of", or any variation of them should be used. These should be just tagged as the appropriate warning, as anyone wanting to avoid them likely doesn't want even the implication of them. Scenarios and AUs go in other tag sections, not as warnings.
If you need a Heavy Warning, your prompt should be considered equivalent to what was previously NSFWE content. For Light Warnings, these may appear in prompts of varying intensities, from what would have been SFW to more mature content.
For a breakdown of some of the standard warning tags:
Character Death – If someone dying is relevant to the post, it should be tagged with the death warning. If the death happens in the prompt, is planned to happen in the RP, or a major plot point which will be explored at length/in great depth, it should be tagged as a Heavy Warning.
Alcohol Use vs Alcohol Abuse – Regular alcohol consumption would be tagged with the Light Warning "Alcohol Use." Due to its highly triggering nature (and the interactions it has with consent), problematic alcohol use should be tagged with the Heavy Warning "Alcohol Abuse."
Abuse – Due to its highly triggering nature, abuse (whether emotional, verbal, physical, etc) is always a Heavy Warning. Please do not tag variations of abuse. For example, Emotional Abuse, Verbal Abuse, and Domestic Violence are not valid separate warnings and all fall under the Abuse checkbox and should be explained in the OOC.
Filth/Unsanitary Themes - this is required for kinks mostly, but it is so that people can filter out this content. Content under this umbrella includes: watersports, scat, emetophilia, musk, etc. However, individual/specific topics under this umbrella should be tagged in the Details section.
Additionally, if your prompt is going to handle serious mental illness it needs to be tagged. Also, if you are going to handle suicidal ideation/thoughts/attempts/etc, it all needs to be tagged under the general tag of 'Suicide' and expanded on OOC so that people who do not want to see that content can easily blacklist it.
Fandoms
Fandoms are tagged by their recognized western name. The tags we recognize are the title of the Wikipedia article regarding the work. Do not use acronyms or foreign language names (including Japanese). If there is no Wikipedia article, whatever it is titled on the largest source of fandom information, such as the dedicated wiki, is correct. If there is not a recognized (either localized or consensus-recognized) English name for a fandom, only then are you permitted to use its original-language name.
For cases in which no fandom is directly involved, such as a situation with original characters not made for a specific setting, the canonical tag is "No fandom". If your character is interacting with the setting in question, however, you can tag it with that fandom. Please note that time periods, 'original setting' and genres (i.e. sci-fi, fantasy, historical, etc) are not valid fandom tags.
EXAMPLE: A person wants to play their OC interacting with characters from Homestuck. Their character is not native to the Homestuck setting, nor are they being put there. For Fandom, they would tag "No fandom", and for Fandom Wanted, they would tag "Homestuck" as the characters they are looking for are native to that series.
EXAMPLE: As above, but the OC is playing a game of Sburb and thus meets John Egbert. They would tag Fandom as "Homestuck", in this instance.
Additionally, for blacklisting and search purposes, you must tag parent franchises when making a prompt for a work that is part of a franchise. This follows the same naming conventions as the above regarding localization and titles.
EXAMPLE: A person is writing a prompt for Breath of the Wild. They would use two fandom tags – "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" as the game tag, and "The Legend of Zelda" as the parent tag (since that is the Wikipedia article for the series as a whole). This would be put in both "Fandom" and "Fandom Wanted".
If you are willing to accept any fandom, the appropriate tag is "Any Fandom", and if you are looking for crossovers between multiple fandoms, tag the involved fandoms in the Fandom field and "Crossover" in the theme section.
Character Tags
Characters are tagged by, as with fandoms, their recognized western name. The same rules apply for determining what is their "recognized western name". Additionally, character names are always written in western order – personal name followed by family name. An important note is that any sort of "Series Qualifiers" on Wikipedia articles are ignored, since that is what the fandom tags are for.
When a character has both a specific name (such as a full birth name) and a more generic name or title that might apply to multiple characters across different franchises, use the more specific name. For example, tag "Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes" rather than "Alucard", "Barry Allen" rather than "The Flash", and "Dick Grayson" rather than "Robin". However, unique character names like "Tracer" can be used as tags if there's no potential confusion with other characters.
If a character does not have a singular canonical name which can be referenced, then their moniker or "Protagonist (Series)" should be used, such as with Persona Protagonists. When deciding between a full name and a nickname, use whichever is most commonly used in the source media.
When there is no information regarding canonical names or titles of a character, such as in the case of characters that the player names who have no recognized in-universe title, they are tagged as "Protagonist (Fandom)".
Character modifiers, traits, and genders do not go in here.
Do not use any sort of nicknaming system or way to describe aliases such as pipe notation.
The canonical tag for original characters is "Original Character". Do not tag the name of your original character.
If you will accept any character, tag "Any Character". For specific slices of character by gender, simply tag the correct genders – we do not accept, for example, "Any Girl" as a valid tag. Instead, you should tag Any Character and then tick the cis female, trans female, and feminine fantasy morphology boxes. Any other subsets should be specified within the OOC, such as "I will only accept Trolls!" or via characteristics by tagging Trolls. If you want only canon characters only, still use the "Any Character" tag but make sure to utilize the character preference checkbox 'Canon Characters Accepted'.
EXAMPLE: A person wants to play the Persona 5 protagonist meeting with the Persona 3 protagonist. They would tag, respectively, "Joker (Persona 5)" and "Protagonist (Persona 3)" (since he lacks a canonical name and is titled by wikipedia "Protagonist"). All Persona protagonists have nonstandard tags - Protagonist (Persona 3), Female Protagonist (Persona 3 Portable), Protagonist (Persona 4), Joker (Persona 5), and Violet (Persona 5 Royal) are their respective tags.
EXAMPLE: A person wants to play Tracer from Overwatch. They tag "Tracer", despite the character's name being Lena Oxton.
EXAMPLE: A person wants to play Deku from My Hero Academia. A quick search to Wikipedia's character page on the series lists him as "Izuku Midoriya", so they tag that.
Gender Tags
At least one gender tag is to be used when posting. If you are willing to accept any gender, then please check all gender boxes. If you are playing a canonically male character as a female genderbend, then you would tag 'Genderbend' and 'Cis Female'. Additionally, if you are roleplaying a genderbend, tag the character's canon name. Fan genderbend names are not acceptable tags.
If you are willing to play a character as different possible gender identities - i.e. Trans Man and Cis Male - then tag both and clarify OOC.
The Fantasy Morphology tags are for unrealistic or oversexualized/exaggerated physiology which is not naturally occurring.
Example: So say you have a character that is sentient and identifies as female but maybe doesn't actually have any actual genitalia - like a doll - that would fall under Fantasy Morphology (Feminine). If they identified as male it would be Fantasy Morphology (Masculine).
Note: Trolls with Nook + Bulge combo fall under Fantasy Morphology.
In regards to futanari - Futanari is to be denoted with the Fantasy Morphology (Feminine) tag with a characteristic tag of Futanari in conjunction. It is under absolutely no circumstances to be tagged as Trans Female. Additionally, much like warnings - since this is something that many people actively want to blacklist, there should be no "ish", "maybe", "potential", "possible", or "optional" variations of the characteristic tag to allow people to blacklist the content properly.
Characteristics
This field is for all your modifiers and traits such as Alpha / Omega / Beta for A/B/O Dynamics, age, race/species, etc.
Remember that characteristic tags should follow the general outline of tagging - tags should be one or two words, three at max, and should be an easily explained concept. Please do not use conjunctions (and, but, or, etc) in any tags outside of fandoms that genuinely have these inclusions. If you need to add a conjunction, then it should be separate tags.
Just as an idea, a list of tags that would be acceptable for characteristics are:
Demon, Tiefling, 18, Tall, Busty, Exotic Genitalia, Furry, Anthro, Top, Bottom, Versatile, Submissive, Dominant, Switch, Feral, Hybrid, Caregiver, Wife, Son, Father, Lusus, Nook, Bulge, Crossdresser, etc.
As you can see, there are plenty of uses for the characteristics tag, but it should be something easily relayed to your audience.
Setting, Theme, and Detail Tags
These three tag categories replace the former "Misc Tags" section to provide more specific organization.
Setting: This category is for tagging the when and where of your prompt, as well as how closely it's tied to canon. Use checkboxes for "Canon," "Canon-Divergent," "Alternate Universe," or "Original Setting" to establish the relationship to source material. Then use the text field to add specific settings like "Cyberpunk," "Science Fiction," "Space Opera," "Medieval," etc.
Theme: This is for broad themes and sub-genres of your RP, such as "Enemies to Lovers," "Political Intrigue," "Coming of Age," "Found Family," etc. These tags help categorize the emotional or narrative focus of your roleplay.
Detail: This is where more specific elements, including kinks, particular scenarios, and other noteworthy aspects belong. This is the appropriate place to tag content like "Xenophilia," "Fighting," "Mind Control," etc. that were previously in misc tags.
RP Preferences
The RP Preferences section contains checkboxes for your OOC preferences, including:
- Post Length: Options for "Short Paragraph," "2-3 paragraphs," and "4+ paragraphs"
- RP Length: Options for "Short-Term," "Medium-Term," and "Long-Term"
- Character Preferences: Options for "Original Characters Accepted," "Canon Characters Accepted," and "Willing to play as multiple characters"
- Plotness: Options for describing the narrative style including "No Plot," "Minimal Plot," "Plot-Driven," "Episodic Story," and "Continuous Story"
Other
There should be no use of tags as identifiers for blocking - i.e. Blacklist Tags / Block Tags. Now that blocking individual prompts has been put in place, these are no longer valid.
Reminder: Mods can and will wrangle or outright modify unnecessary/invalid tags either to a fitting tag or to a 'nullify tag' which will remove the tag from use. Additionally, there is no tolerance for the use of slurs as a tag and these will be nullified and your account will be noted for further infractions.
If you think that a tag has been incorrectly wrangled, please bring it to one of the mods' attention to discuss the matter. If you see wrong tags, then report the prompt to a mod, which is most easily done by DMing a mod on discord.
