tag what you see (locked)

Regardless of what you know from outside sources, only tag what you can see in the image.

Also, make sure you check out e621:Tag What You See (Explained) for the reasoning behind the TWYS policy.

In general, and this is the primary rule for tagging on e6AI, you should tag what you can see in the file uploaded. Obviously applies directly to objects and actions visible in the picture as well as if it has sound or music. Song names are usually not tagged.

In other words, tags should be directly verifiable from the picture itself wherever possible: that way there will be fewer disagreements. The only outside information that can be used to tag a post is the year the art was made and the artist or obvious character's name.

The special exception below to TWYS is ONLY for tagging character NAMES. YOU CAN NOT USE EXTERNAL INFORMATION TO TAG GENDER, SPECIES, OR VIRTUALLY ANYTHING ELSE.

Exception for character names only:
You may use an OFFICIAL external source of information (the artist, commissioner, or character owner's gallery/website) when tagging a character name ONLY under the following conditions:

  • 1) The external source of information is the artist, commissioner, or character owner's own words on their own gallery or website.
  • 2) The post must have at least SOME evidence of the claimed character and can not have any evidence that CONFLICTS with what the external source is saying (e.g. a post can't be tagged "Character A" just because the external source says so, when the post does not actually contain any evidence of "Character A", or in fact looks more like "Character B" instead.) Again, there must be at least SOME evidence that the character is who it's claimed to be, but it does not have to be definitive proof.

There will be times when it's still not clear what tags should be applied to an image. A moderator or administrator should be contacted to help resolve such cases.

Leeway may be given to hybrid characters, as the components of the species by which they are comprised are not always obvious.

Note: tag_what_you_see is not a tag to be used.

If it's on anything, please remove it.

See also