Posted under Tags
Currently we have most utaite tagged under niconico unless they're part of a group, but this isn't something we do for other platforms (eg, we don't use twitch.tv as a copytag for twitch streamers) + it doesn't work for utaite like dear: or dtto., who are based off YouTube but aren't vtubers.
I've been tagging characters like the two mentioned earlier as original but maybe it's time to come up with a tag for cases like these, something like indie utaite?
There's a tag like this for vtubers: Indie Virtual Youtuber. I think something like this for utaite would be reasonable as well.
I feel like the most conservative option, if we don't want to make any new tags, would just be to tag original if the utaite in question are typically known through their online personas, or real life if they're known by their actual appearance. That's the option that was taken in response to suggestions to turn YouTube into a copyright tag, topic #19904 (which, it ironically has since then), since there wasn't a unique character or mascot specific to YouTube like Bilibili or Niconico (unless you count, like, the monkeys; post #4844531).
However, in that same topic, kittey pitched the idea of making an indie streamer tag to resolve an issue of tagging regular personas and avatars as an alternative to original, and no one seemed opposed to it, so logically something like indie utaite or even solo utaite (so we don't accidentally have to make copytags for whatever companies they end up working with, i.e. spontaneously making Sony Music Entertainment for Sakou Tomohisa) would logically make sense. Really, the only reason why a tag such as that would be opposed would be to avoid the proliferation of more indie_* copytags for stuff that was previously just in original or real life with no issue; Indie Virtual YouTuber was at least created to resolve an issue, culling all the unnecessary copytags that were made for each and every non-group/corporate VTuber. For all intents and purposes, I could even imagine someone waltzing into this talk and suggesting to just turn Utaite (singer) into a copytag for those not in groups, and turn the currently present list on its wiki into list_of_utaite or something of the sort (which would be a pretty sloppy solution).
Whatever solution is taken, I hope the opportunity is used to standardize the qualifiers used. One utaite, Amatsuki (Nico Nico Douga), still uses the old spelling for the Niconico tag for its qualifier (and isn't the only tag to have this issue), and a bunch of other utaite have (niconico), when they may not be exclusive to just there (a similar issue to the use of (youtube)/(youtuber) sans Lofi Girl and at least one (twitch.tv) case).
Necroing an old thread to say that I agree that there should be a tag for utaite akin to Indie Virtual Youtuber. There's currently some discussion about aliasing the gentag that currently holds them in topic #24181, but I feel like an alias to remove an awkward qualifier isn't as much of an issue as inconsistently tagging them under various copyrights, either original or Niconico or YouTube or whatever other platform one might upload to. The biggest problem I have is with using original as a copytag for utaite. Original is specifically meant to be used for art which isn't fanart, according to its wiki. Yet utaite art is fanart. Unless we consider utaite personas original characters, which would mean indie vtubers are also original characters, meaning logically they should be tagged under original, a problem which was already dealt with. Fanart under original might as well be using it as a placeholder for lack of an actual copytag, which is what's going on here.
I think the utaite gentag still has value in the sense that it's a mirror of the virtual youtuber tag, since in some ways modern utaite do resemble vtubers, and it can be used to more broadly categorize both indie and company/circle-affiliated utaite. An indie utaite copytag would just provide a copyright for the unaffiliated ones.
Consider this post a +1 in favor of an indie utaite copytag. I think something should be done about this, even if it's not what I'm suggesting here.
Chiming in to say that I agree with @Hankpropaniac57 in that a copytag would be useful, and that the gentag is lower priority, so a +1 from me too.
It seems that, for those that care at least, making a indie_utaite/solo_utaite is a solid go then. Someone's going to have to go through the utaite (singer) tag, everything linked in its wiki, and everything linking to it in the wikis, to comb through everything and figure out who'll end up in the tag. Anyone doing so should also take the opportunity to standardize the qualifiers to (utaite) like I suggested a year ago.
@CharleyDodger As the person who created the utaite_(singer) tag, what are your thoughts on this? Is it worth creating an indie utaite copytag or should we continue to tag under platforms?
About a month has passed since, and the creation of indie utaite has gone smoothly. The new tag has taken a substantial bite out of niconico, as it should, but now comes an important question to deal with: what to do with Mafumafu and Soraru?
At the point I'm posting, the bulk of utaites tagged under niconico now consists mainly of these two, but we have two options for them. They could either both be tagged under Indie Utaite, or After the Rain, their group, can be expanded to encompass all posts featuring the two as a copytag. What would be preferred from these two options?
