soviet union vs soviet

BUR #2968 has been approved by @evazion.

create alias soviet_union -> soviet

The tags seem to overlap.

If the tag is supposed to be for locations, it's the wrong one, as "Soviet Union" means a lot of different countries.

EDIT: The bulk update request #2968 (forum #168891) has been approved by @evazion.

From what I can gather, looking at the two tags:

• soviet is intended more for the general usage of or reference to Soviet imagery, whether someone wearing a Soviet uniform, the depiction of Soviet coat of arms, art in the style of Soviet propaganda, etc.
• soviet union, meanwhile, is more substantial in that it is supposed to function as a combo of both 'location' (akin to country tags being used for images showing actual locations) and 'era' (ala the Japanese era tags, with period-accurate clothes, etc.); while the Soviet Union was far larger than just Russia, in the Western mindset, there is a common conception on how the USSR looked like, from architecture to attire, and it's not like most distinguished between the USSR and Russia anyway

Of course, the Wikis don't seem to necessarily reflect this, and there's both a lot of overlap (intentional or not) and mistagging because of that vagueness.

For simplicity's sake, it would probably be better to alias one to the other, and then elaborate further on these points in a new wiki. Perhaps also consider whether or not the tag should also apply to Warsaw Pact members or not, given that there will likely be folks who can't distinguish them from the USSR either.

Wouldn't Soviet mean the same thing in this context? And doesn't Soviet Union refer to the entire bloc, generally? i'd imagine the alias should be to Soviet_Union, since it is the more inclusive option.

A soviet is a citizen of the soviet union (or a russian worker collective, but I doubt anyone would tag that), so that tag looks quite odd to me.

Making a tag called "soviet era" or something could be a good idea. Or "soviet" style if we want something a bit more ambiguous.

ion288 said:

A soviet is a citizen of the soviet union (or a russian worker collective, but I doubt anyone would tag that), so that tag looks quite odd to me.

Making a tag called "soviet era" or something could be a good idea. Or "soviet" style if we want something a bit more ambiguous.

Well, soviet is just an attribute nowdays (soviet architecture, soviet union, soviet cars). If someone has a better name for the term though I'll take it.

Saladofstones said:

Wouldn't Soviet mean the same thing in this context? And doesn't Soviet Union refer to the entire bloc, generally? i'd imagine the alias should be to Soviet_Union, since it is the more inclusive option.

soviet union makes it sound like we're tagging the location, which isn't the case since people can just tag, for example, russia + soviet.

The bulk update request #2968 (forum #168891) has been approved by @evazion.

Considering the usage of soviet now as an attributive tag, we should probably figure out whether or not we should include the Warsaw Pact members into the tag as well (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, possibly Albania).

East Germany, out of all of those, is technically the only one who wouldn't need the tag, given it only existed because of the Soviets. Following behind is Czechoslovakia, which existed before the war too, but after communism would split in two.

But for the rest, there's a tangible association between the era of communism all those countries were under with the one who put them in that era in the first place, the Soviet Union. Whether it be in architecture, technology, and to some degree, even uniforms.

If we use NNT's example of 'russia + soviet', then it would make sense to do the same for the other countries, if applicable.

I would say it's probably appropriate to use if the setting indicates being "2nd world" or under the USSR's influence. I probably wouldn't use it for modern eastern European country situations in general though regardless of their cold war affiliation.

Shinjidude said:

I would say it's probably appropriate to use if the setting indicates being "2nd world" or under the USSR's influence. I probably wouldn't use it for modern eastern European country situations in general though regardless of their cold war affiliation.

Well, obviously it wouldn't make sense for the tag to be used for modern situations, just as it wouldn't make sense to use it for any posts that are indicated as being in modern Russia or something similar.