Deprecate science

BUR #37921 has been rejected.

deprecate science

Yet another wastebucket tag. This tag seems to cover anything that looks "science-related", such as people in lab coat or holding test tube, therefore it should have been deprecated.

On the contrary, I believe this is one of those tags that we can consider high information. Generally no one is going to have a clue about all these intricate science-related tags under the "related tags" heading but if someone, or rather if personal experience is needed then I, want to find science-related content then I'd like to be able to see them under a single tag, which science does pretty well if you consider it as a genre tag (which we need more of, in my opinion).

If science is a "wastebucket" tag then you need to describe what the alternative(s) would be for people who want to find either wholly scientific or science-adjacent content on the site and it should be able to be done with at minimum a reasonable-sounding one-tag search, but science itself is so broad and unique in the anime space that it doesn't make sense to me to rid of it.

Science is one of those big-by-design tags that can do well as long as people don't pick out the most miniscule part of an image to determine that it applies in those cases (e.g. like applying science when only a single flask is present) and it also has a considerably memorable and generic name that anyone can put this into their search bar and get exactly what they expect to find, which to me makes it valuable to keep.

When considering the above, I can't support a deprecation. I'd much rather these kinds of tags be gardened by hand instead of jumping straight to deprecation - the latter should only be considered as a last-ditch effort when the tag is polluted beyond repair, much like catholic was (forum #332328).

WRS said:

[snip]

I agree, But
I think we need some general definition of what is and isn't science, even a vague one.
Is someone doing alchemy science? How can we tell whether someone is studying alchemy or chemistry? Is post #8852368 science?
I don't think it's a bad idea to leave it as a "vibes" tag ("oh this guy is wearing a labcoat and holding a flask, then it's science")
However we are bound to have some people looking at the technicalities more than the full picture.

I think that example post already has a fitting genre tag: steampunk. Though, knowing Danbooru taggers, it would definitely do a world of good to actually figure out a threshold for science and then go from there on figuring out if it's sufficient or not. Genre tagging already tends to heavily fall into vibes territory beyond a simple set of guidelines (see slice of life) so I don't think that's an entirely avoidable problem.

I mentioned elsewhere that I personally believe at the minimum that certain disciplines can imply science. Someone simply wearing a lab coat or having laboratory materials shouldn't qualify - maybe at least the act or heavy relation of the overall scene to it. Performing or studying alchemy or chemistry should fall under science because those are things I want to see when I search for science.

The bulk update request #37921 (forum #339119) has been rejected by @nonamethanks.