So this happened… (Important petition for the Ghost fandom!!)
AO3 now includes fics where lead guitar ghoul’s character is called “Sodo” in searches for fics where they’re called “Dewdrop”.
For fans that call the character “Dewdrop”, this now means the “Sodo” fics are unavoidable. For those that call the character “Sodo”, this now means the “Dewdrop” fics are unavoidable.
To be honest, grouping the tags is just uncomfortable and clumsy for everyone. You ever search for a fic and the results show fics where a character you know by one name goes by another name, and you can’t easily just filter those out? And when you try to read them, the flow of reading is disturbed if you’re not used to it? AO3’s tagging system is revolutionary and very widely used by most users on the platform. By combining these tags, it renders the tagging of this character useless for those who are looking for a specific name.
For those that feel uncomfortable hearing the character called “Sodo”, these fics aren’t only annoying to see, they’re disturbing. A good number of ghesties feel uncomfortable calling the character they write/read about (often in intimate settings) a name the person playing them goes by in their personal life. They feel this breaks the widely accepted ghestie code of keeping the nameless ghoul characters and their headcanons separate from the people who perform onstage.
Personally, I am uncomfortable. For one, the idea of having to scroll past a bunch of fics that are too clumsy for me to read is a stressful thought. And, more importantly to me, I am a person who finds it uncomfortable when a ghoul character is referred to by their performer’s real name. I personally do not want these tags to be grouped, and I know I am definitely not the only ghestie who wants them to be separate tags.
Here is a poll petition. I am going to make an appeal to AO3 get these tags separated. The people who keep AO3 running for us are busy, and we understand that there are more pressing matters that must be dealt with. Our request may take a minute to get to, and we are okay with staying patient; but we do want our request to be taken seriously. One person writing to AO3 making the request is not going to be taken as seriously in this case. We need proof that the ghestie community as a whole wants this change for the management of our fandom’s fics. Please vote in the poll to show AO3 that the Ghost (Sweden Band) fandom wants the character tags “Dewdrop|Fire Ghoul” and “Sodo|Fire Ghoul” and any congruent tags to be separated from what is currently “Dewdrop|Sodo” to their original separate tags of “Dewdrop|Fire Ghoul” and “Sodo|Fire Ghoul”. By voting for either of the two options, you are signing a petition to enact the request bolded above. The poll ends in one week, but if we can get a good couple hundred votes before then, it will be sent earlier. Please spread this post as far as the internet can reach. We need the Ghost fandom to speak on this matter. We need everyone to work together to make change.
Formally written request:
The Ghost (Sweden Band) fandom wants the character tags “Dewdrop|Fire Ghoul” and “Sodo|Fire Ghoul” and any congruent tags to be separated from what is currently “Dewdrop|Sodo” to their original separate tags of “Dewdrop|Fire Ghoul” and “Sodo|Fire Ghoul”.
The tumblr post made by user @genderful-ghoul tiled “So this happened… (Important petition for the Ghost fandom!!)” details the current AO3 conditions which prompted the fandom to make this request, as well as an explanation of why the fandom wants this change.
A transcript of the email request I will send to AO3 will be posted here the day it is sent for full transparency to the fandom. Everything is so fancily worded because it is a formal business request, and AO3 needs to be able to fully understand the situation from an outside-of-the-fandom perspective, as well as be able to accurately locate the tags we want changed out of the millions of tags on the platform and accurately understand the specific changes we’re asking for so that they can get it right for us. I hope we all collectively agree that there are bigger problems in the world that need their petitions to thrive so that they can make change. Even AO3 has bigger problems than our tagging issues right now, so let’s be polite and understanding to AO3. This is a frustrating matter, but I guarantee that the reason the two character tags were combined was because someone outside of the fandom recognized that the two separate names were being used to refer to the same character, and assumed there was no significant difference between the two tags and believed that combining them would only make tag organization more efficient.
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