Difference between studs and spikes

We have spikes (19k) and studs (72). These numbers aren't too meaningful because many spiked_* and studded_* items are missing implications, but in general the spiked_* variant has more posts.

Is there a reason to keep those separate? I think in most cases they are the same concept and just get arbitrarily tagged as one or the other.
I was about to propose merging spiked_jacket and studded_jacket but then I noticed there are more such cases:

I think these should be merged. Not all studs are spikes but I don't see enough of a difference and there are lots of mistags, for example most studded collars have spikes and many spiked belts have blunt studs.
Should we alias all in one direction or depending on most posts or post content? If all in one direction, we should also alias spikes and studs, and add implications where missing (spiked_* -spikes : 29713, studded_* -studs : 3684).
Please post your opinions.

Yes, I agree. The alternative would be to launch a herculean cleaning effort and have someone willing to maintain constant vigil. Its unfortunate as people are going to complain that their blunt studs arent spikes but they do almost always fill the same funktion/aesthetic.

As far as i know, studs are spikes with a flat top instead of it being completely conical.
That said, i don't know about keeping spiked and studded separate, because as ion said above, they both fill the same aesthetic. Either make an umbrella tag or make spiked_* imply studded_*, and a studded_* -spiked_* search can be done to find non-spike studs.

So should we imply spiked_* -> studded_* or alias? Personally I would go for alias, since even now many studded_* posts are actually spiked_* and vice versa so I think the distinction only hurts searchability.
And what do we do about spikes and studs? Of the tags mentioned above, spiked bracelet, spiked collar and spiked choker imply spikes while the others don't. There are no implications for studs and with only 78 posts I think the tag is useless.

I checked the first 100 posts of studded bracelet and only found three spiked bracelets. I did the same with the first 100 posts of spiked bracelet and didn't find any mistag there.

What makes you think these tags are being misused? From a quick look people seem to have a good idea of how they should be used.

Nameless_Contributor said:

I think these should be merged. Not all studs are spikes but I don't see enough of a difference and there are lots of mistags, for example most studded collars have spikes and many spiked belts have blunt studs.

On the other hand, I think they have very different aesthetics. A studded collar is for goths, a spiked collar suggests animal-like traits. The smaller tags need some clean-up, but the big ones are pretty well kept.

I don't know how anyone could mistake studs for spikes as clothing ornaments, unless they're not english speakers and have never seen studs before.

Just on the first five pages of studded_collar I found post #4288637, post #4273536, post #4236161, post #4384476, post #4435185 and post #4589610. Then there are edge cases where it depends on the tagger if they would consider them pointy enough for spikes.

spiked_belt includes post #3411613, post #3345643, post #3399093, post #3596832, post #3564725, post #3681802, post #4078582 and post #4519463. Again there are edge cases, for example are the classic pyramid-shaped studs like post #4435722 spikes or not?

The smaller tags need some clean-up, but the big ones are pretty well kept.

That seems to be the case. So we can clean up the smaller tags. Still even if the tags were perfectly gardened, I think an implication from spiked_* -> studded_* would make sense. Would someone searching for studded_belt not want to see post #4733399, post #4627415 and such included?