Nominations Guidelines 2025

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This post is about nominations for tags that will be used in the fandom and relationship slots of your requests/tags. For opt-in medium nominations go to this post (link).

Before nominating, read the "Nominations Guidelines" section of this post, even if you also read it last year. After you nominate, keep an eye on the comm in case we need clarification from you before accepting a nomination.

How To Nominate

There are two methods of relationship nominations!

1) Google form

If you're new to nominating or nervous about getting your nomination formatting wrong, we encourage you to use the form. The form is the more forgiving way to nominate, because it's much easier for us to correct, process, and query large volumes of tags via form than it is on AO3.

To nominate via form:

• Read the "Nominations Guidelines" section of this post–there are nominations rules there which we haven't squeezed into the instructions on the form.
• Open the google form link and follow the instructions provided to submit your nominations for one fandom.
• Fill the form out as many times as you want for additional fandoms.
• Keep an eye on the comm for Nomination Clarification posts about your nominations. Most nominations via form wind up in the tagset without comment from us, but sometimes we need more information from the nominator! We usually can't accept a queried tag without an answer from the nominator, so replying to us is important.

The google doc is anonymous, just like AO3 nominations. Unlike AO3 nominations, you can't see any kind of record of what you've nominated after you submit the form. We suggest you keep notes about what you've submitted if you think you're likely to forget.

Nomination Google Form: https://forms.gle/m9cxg6P2cKemY8RV7

2) AO3 tagset nomination

If you're confident that you understand how to format your tags, you can nominate using the AO3 tagset. There are several benefits to nominating via AO3: you can nominate multiple fandoms at a time; you can see what tags you've nominated; and you can see whether they've been accepted or rejected. However, we will reject AO3 nominations that don't follow the "Nominations Guidelines" section of this post.

To nominate via AO3:

• Read the "Nominations Guidelines" section of this post.
• Open the tagset link below and click the "Nominate" button in the top righthand corner.
• Fill out the fandom and relationships field and click "Submit". You can nominate 10 fandoms with 10 relationships each. Remember that crossover tags must go under Crossover Fandom! We can't remove the note saying crossovers can go under either fandom, but we will reject crossovers nominated in the wrong place without comment.
• You can edit your nominations while your tags are unprocessed. As soon as a tag is approved or rejected, you can no longer edit it. You can add new nominations at any time during the Nominations period.
• Accepted tags will show up under their associated fandom in the tagset. You may see them hanging out in the Unassociated Characters & Relationships section for a while, but don't worry, we'll clean that up!
• We will reject both incorrect tags and tags in need of clarification. Tags in need of clarification will be listed in the next Nominations Clarification post on this comm. If a tag is rejected and doesn't get queried, it was an incorrect nomination in some manner covered in the Nominations Guidelines below. You can send us a link to your nominations page if you can't figure out what you did wrong; we're happy to explain!
• Keep an eye on the comm for Nomination Clarification posts about your nominations. Once we resolve a query, we'll add the tag into the tagset manually.

Tagset: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/24036

Nomination Guidelines

Please read all guidelines below before nominating and continue to check back on the comm to read all the Nomination Clarification posts that will be posted. If there's a problem with one or more of your nominations, we will need your input to resolve it.

Reminder: Incorrectly formatted AO3 tagset nominations will be rejected. You are welcome to re-nominate via the google form.

Fandoms

There are no specific rarity or media restrictions on fandoms. If you're nominating a new-to-the-Archive fandom, either format the fandom tag based on AO3's wrangling guidelines (link) or comment on this post asking for help.

Umbrella Fandoms ("- All Media Types" and "& Related Fandoms")

This section applies to all fandom tags that cover multiple subfandoms, multiple medium types, multiple series, etc. Where possible, we prefer specific, clear fandoms that cover a concrete canon or section of canon because this both makes it easier to mod and makes it easier to offer/pinch hit.

If your fandom already has subfandoms nominated, contact us before nominating an umbrella fandom.

Expect your nominations to be queried if you nominate an umbrella fandom without talking to us first.

FAQ: Everyone in my fandom posts their work under an umbrella fandom, why can't I nominate it for this exchange?

The way we use fandom tags for posting works on AO3 and the way we use fandom tags for signing up to exchanges is very different because they have very different functions!

Out in the wilds of the Archive, creators tag their works with relevant fandoms so they can be found and people read the work metadata (tags, summary) to determine if it's relevant to their interests in that fandom. If they think it is based on metadata and then click into the work to find that it's actually about something they don't care for, they backbutton and continue scrolling.

In an exchange, the fandom tag is part of what we are promising to participants–that they will get specifically the fandom they requested as a gift, which we hope they will enjoy. If the work technically meets the requirements of the fandom but ends up being about something the recip doesn't care for, that's a bad gift that unfortunately can't be replaced. We want to reduce the chances of that happening, so asking people to be specific is for the best.

For example, you might enjoy browsing fics in the Batman - All Media Types fandom tag…but have you ever looked at what's listed under subtags for that fandom? (link) Requesting this AMT tag in an exchange would open you up to various live action movies, cartoons, live action TV shows, video games, Elseworlds, LEGO Batman, tie-in novels, podcasts, a webcomic, a manga, and also any Batman media too rare or too unofficial to be listed.

FAQ: What if I want an umbrella fandom tag because I really don't care what specific fandom I get? What if getting something based on a tie-in novel I've never heard of sounds great?

Most participants aren't so excited about potential fandom wildcards, so we will probably stick to this rule. You can add a note in your optional details that you encourage creators to pull from related fandoms or that you don't care much about specific fandom continuities. This method has a big benefit: if you love most of the related fandoms but can't stand one in particular, you can DNW the one you hate since you aren't requesting it like you would be under an umbrella tag!

We do sometimes make exceptions for fandoms where there truly is no better tag so you're welcome to ask us about your specific umbrella tag in a comment on this post, but we can't make any promises. We are more likely to accept an umbrella tag if the number of things possibly included under that tag is finite (so, Batman - All Media Types would be a hard sell, but an AMT tag that just includes a manga, an anime, and some light novels would maybe be fine.)

Other notes:

• RPF: All nominated characters must be famous in their own right and over the age of 18. We will reject RPF nominations for current political figures, serial killers active after 1900, controversial figures, and possibly others on a case-by-case basis if we feel they might be detrimental to maintaining the exchange's positive environment.
• Crossovers: Should be nominated under Crossover Fandom
• Original Works: Should be nominated under Original Work
• Megafandoms, franchises, etc: See next section
• Recursive fandoms: If the fandom was nominated last round, you can nominate again under the same fandom tag. Otherwise, these requirements apply:
• You must provide a link to the creator's public permission statement. This permission statement must include permission for fic, art, and podfic. The permission statement may not exclude any mediums or require that people talk to the creator before making recursive works.
• If the work does not have an established fandom, you'll need at least two people who intend to request and/or offer it.
• For recursive fandoms that were nominated in previous rounds and either A) had 3+ people requesting/offering or B) for which at least one work was created, we'll consider that proof of an "established fandom" and you don't need proof other people plan to request/offer it.
• Creator's Choice of Fandom will not be accepted in this exchange.

Nomination info for specific fandoms

As a general rule, if your fandom/subfandom is already in last year's tagset (link) then nominate in the fandom as it appears there unless we have marked the fandom as updated in the Changed Fandom List (link).

• Assassin's Creed: Nominate Assassin's Creed under "Assassin's Creed - All Media Types"
• Baldur's Gate: Nominate under "Baldur's Gate (Video Games)"
• Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series will both be nominated together under “Buffyverse (TV).”
• Buffy comics: Nominate this separately from the TV shows.
• Critical Role: Nominate all Exandria campaigns under "Critical Role (Web Series)", all Candela Obscura campaigns under "Candela Obscura (Critical Role Web Series)", and any other campaigns separately. The Legend of Vox Machina should be nominated under "The Legend of Vox Machina (Cartoon)"
• Danganronpa: Nominate under the canonical Dangan Ronpa Series
• DC's Arrowverse: Nominate characters from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Superman & Lois, and Black Lightning (plus the webseries tie-ins) under "DC's Arrowverse".
• DC Comics: All DC Comics nominations can go under that fandom, but please disambiguate which version of the character you want in parenthesis after each character if that information matters to you. You can nominate specific comics runs if you'd like.
• DC Extended Universe: All DCEU movies should be nominated under "DC Extended Universe"
• Dimension 20: Nominate all campaigns under "Dimension 20 (Web Series)"
• Dragon Age: Nominate all video games under "Dragon Age (Video Games)" including Last Court. For comics, books, and tabletop RPG, use "Dragon Age (Comics)", "Dragon Age - Various Authors", and "Dragon Age (Tabletop RPG)" respectively. For all other media types, nominate each series separately.
• Empires SMP: Nominate seasons separately as "Empires Season 1" and "Empires Season 2"
• Friends at the Table: Nominate under the canonical "Friends at the Table (Podcast)"
• Final Fantasy VII: The original game and the remake should be nominated separately. Nominate Remake and Rebirth under "Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth (Video Games 2020-2024)"
• Harry Potter, Rigel Black Chronicles, and Revolutionary Arc should be nominated separately. Nominate Rigel Black Chronicles as "Rigel Black Chronicles - murkybluebatter (Exchange Disambiguation)", and nominate Revolutionary Arc as "Revolutionary Arc - kitsunerei88 (Fanfic Disambiguation)".
• Historical RPF: Split these into subfandoms that indicate what time period the nominated people are in. If there may be confusion about the identity of a nominated person, be as specific as is reasonable.
• Legend of Zelda: Each series or standalone game should be nominated separately, for example, "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" or "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom". Make sure your disambiguation is unique to each fandom–don't disambiguate with just "(LoZ)"
• Marvel Movies and Shows:
• Marvel Cinematic Universe movies nominations may be nominated under the appropriate movie subfranchise or in "The Avengers (Marvel Movies)". If nominating in a subfranchise (for example, "Thor (Movies)"), all characters in the nom should have appeared in a movie from that subfranchise.
• We will be sticking with "Captain America (Movies)" – do not nominate under the current canonical fandom tags.
• The Marvel Netflix shows should be nommed together under "The Defenders (Marvel TV)".
• In all other cases, each Marvel live action television show (Agents of Shield, Wandavision, Legion, Cloak & Dagger, etc) should be nominated separately.
• Marvel comics may be nominated by title or under the name of the appropriate Marvel universe (Marvel 616, Marvel Ultimates, etc). Nominations for “Marvel (Comics)” will not be accepted.
• Naruto (Anime & Manga), Boruto (Anime & Manga), and Dreaming of Sunshine should be nominated separately. Nominate Dreaming of Sunshine as "Dreaming of Sunshine - SilverQueen (DFE)". Relationship nominations that involve one or more DoS character and one or more Naruto/Boruto character should be nominated under the fandom "Crossover Fandom".
• Omniscient Reader: Nominate separately by medium using "Omniscient Reader - singNsong & UMI & Sleepy-C (Webtoon)" and "전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong (Novel)"
• Nominations for the webtoon should use the disambiguation "(ORV W)" and the webtoon's character names (eg. Yu Junghyeok, Demonic Judge of Fire, Han Suyeong)
• Nominations for the novel should use "(ORV N)"
• Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe: Nominate together under "Stargate - Live Action"
• Star Trek is divided by show and the Alternate Original Series should be nominated separately. Movie characters from the Original Series or Next Gen movies may be nominated under the respective shows.
• Star Wars:
• Star Wars movies & TV shows may be nominated under the appropriate movie, trilogy, TV show, etc (eg, Rogue One, Sequel Trilogy). "Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types" is allowed.
• Star Wars books may be nominated under "Star Wars: Legends Books" (Old EU) or "Star Wars: Extended Universe Books" (new/current books)
• Star Wars comics, video games, etc not covered above may be nominated either according to what's normal in the fandom or by individual title. Comment below if you need help deciding what to do.
• Star Wars crossovers between different parts of the Star Wars universe should be nominated under “Star Wars - All Media Types.” You can nominate WB: tags in SW - AMT without additional disambiguation.
• The Witcher: Nominate these in their individual fandoms/by media, not AMT
• X-Men Movies: Nominate OTM and ATM under "X-Men (Movieverse)(OTM)" and "X-Men (Movieverse)(ATM)". The other X-Men movies should be nominated under their own series/movie title.

Relationships Field

Because of how AO3's matching system works, we have to put relationships, characters, and worldbuilding tags all in the same field in the sign up form. This section explains what kind of tags you can nominate, as well as specific guidelines for certain types of tags.

These tag formats can be nominated:

• / tags, such as Character A/Character B (Fandom), which indicate a relationship that is sexual and/or romantic.
• & tags, such as Character A & Character B (Fandom), which indicate a relationship that is platonic.
• Solo: tags, such as Solo: Character A (Fandom), for single characters and groups.
• WB: tags, such as WB: Types of Magic (Fandom), which are for non-ship/character/group worldbuilding concepts.
• You may also nominate tags in the format Character A/Character B & Character C for a request about two characters in a romantic/sexual relationship having a platonic interaction with a third character. Put the / ship first, then add on any & additions.
• Crossover Fandom only: The format Solo: Character A (Fandom 1) in Fandom 2 can be nominated if you want a character from Fandom 1 to interact with Fandom 2 but do not want any specific Fandom 2 characters.
• Crossover Fandom only: The format Character A/Character B (Fandom 1) in Fandom 2 (also works with & ships) can be nominated if you want relationship-focused work where the listed characters from Fandom 1 interact with Fandom 2 but do not want any specific Fandom 2 characters.

Tag formats that are not allowed:

• Character A & Character B/Character C – order must be A/B & C
• Character A/Character B & Character C/Character D – only one / ship per tag is allowed.

Tag examples:

• Elmo/Big Bird (Sesame Street) — these characters will be dating, having sex, etc.and the fanwork you receive will be primarily about that relationship.
• Elmo & Big Bird (Sesame Street) — these characters will be friends, neighbors, family, acquaintances, enemies, strangers, etc.and the fanwork you receive will be primarily about that relationship.
• Elmo/Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street) — Elmo and Big Bird will be romantically or sexually involved; they will both have a platonic relationship with Oscar the Grouch. The fanwork you receive will be about the relationship between all three characters. This is basically the same as requesting Elmo & Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street), except that Elmo and Big Bird's relationship isn't platonic.
• Solo: Elmo (Sesame Street) — you will receive a work about/centered around Elmo, but other characters can appear.
• Solo: Muppets (Sesame Street) — you will receive a work about/centered around one of literally any Muppet, but potentially more than one.
• Solo: Elmo (Sesame Street) in Home Alone (Movies) – you will receive a crossover work about/centered around Elmo visiting or already existing in the setting of any of the Home Alone movies.
• Elmo (Sesame Street) & The Wet Bandits (Home Alone Movies) – you will receive a crossover work in which Elmo and one or more of the Wet Bandits meet or have some kind of pre-existing platonic relationship.
• WB: Sesame Street City Planning & Zoning Ordinances (Sesame Street) — you will receive a work about city planning and zoning on Sesame Street, which could include any or no characters

Guidelines for characters in /, &, and Solo: tags:

• Properly capitalize all of your tags. Improperly capitalized tags on AO3 will be rejected.
• Correct capitalization: Firstname Lastname/Original Female Ship Technician (A Space Fandom)
• Correct capitalization: WB: Worldbuilding Subject (Fandom) OR WB: Worldbuilding subject (Fandom)
• Incorrect capitalization: firstname lastname/original female ship technician (a space fandom)
• Incorrect capitalization: wb: worldbuilding subject (fandom)
• One character version per fandom: Nominated characters may not be modified to specify a part of canon unless the two tags are distinct versions of the character which exist in canon and are treated as separate people.
• If nominating selfcest with a character who does not have distinct canon versions, nominate it as "Blorbo/Blorbo (Disambig)"
• Example: "Darth Vader" and "Anakin Skywalker" are the same character.
• Example: "Spock" and "Mirror Spock" are different characters.
• What counts as a character? We will not accept inanimate objects, inanimate locations, vague concepts, or platonic ideals as characters. Animals, canonically thinking/feeling objects, and canonically thinking/feeling locations are fine!
• Six characters per tag. Relationship tags may have up to six characters. All characters should have their full name included, although if the name is very long or has excessive pipes it's fine to cut it down as long as it won't be confusing—our friend Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III can be "Percy De Rolo III" and "Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian" can be "Wei Wuxian" as it's still clear which character is being referred to.
• Groups: We will accept groups of characters; see the "Group tags" section below.
• Original characters: We'll accept OCs in any fandom. See "Original Work Characters" and "Original Characters In Other Fandoms" below.
• Tags with "(s)": We do not accept nominations with "(s)" in them–for example "Big Bird/Original Character(s)"–because getting one or several original characters at the creator's discretion is already built into the tag "Big Bird/Original Characters"!

FAQ: Wait, what if I really need Big Bird to have a sexual or romantic relationship with multiple original characters?

You can list several original characters in a row, like "Big Bird/Original Character/Original Character (Sesame Street)"!

Per other nominations rules, you can list up to 6 characters in a relationship tag.

If Big Bird and five other characters isn't a big enough orgy/polycule for you, you can A) list the last character as the plural "Original Characters" to leave yourself open to more than 5 OCs, or B) use your optional details to opt into more OCs at your creator's discretion. (We suggest you do this in the AO3 optional details box so it's easy for us to find, rather than buried in a letter.)

(For canon characters: You can request "Big Bird/Elmo/Oscar the Grouch/Bert/Ernie/Creator's Choice of Additional Canon Characters (Sesame Street)" or you could request a tag with six canon character and use your optional details to say that additional canon characters are welcome. You can also do this with & ships.)

Disambiguation

Participants who nominate via the google form don't need to disambiguate non-crossover nominations, but people who nominate directly to the tagset on AO3 do need to include a disambiguation with all relationship field tags.

"Disambiguation" generally means marking or changing two similar things to clarify their differences so you can tell them apart; it's a removal of ambiguity. In casual conversation, for example, one might need to disambiguate between seeing a bear (animal) or a bear (gay man).

Tags in tagsets need to be disambiguated with their fandom(s) for a number of very boring technical reasons that basically boil down to "so that all the tags stay where we put them and don't confuse anyone and don't mess up matching."

Your nominations should look like one of the following in most fandoms:

• Character A/Character B (Fandom)
• Character A & Character B (Fandom)
• Character A/Character B & Character C (Fandom)
• Solo: Character A (Fandom)
• WB: Worldbuilding Topic (Fandom)

In Crossover Fandom, your nominations should look like one of these:

• Character A (Fandom 1)/Character B (Fandom 2)
• Character A (Fandom 1) & Character B (Fandom 2)
• Solo: Character A (Fandom 1) in Fandom 2
• Character A/Character B (Fandom 1) in Fandom 2
• Character A & Character B (Fandom 1) in Fandom 2

You can abbreviate the fandom name, although you should think about alternate versions of your canon and make sure the abbreviation is distinct. For example, it wouldn't be helpful if both The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings (Movies) abbreviated their disambiguations to "(LotR)"! Instead, the book should be "(LotR - Tolkien)" and the movies "(LotR Movies)"

Group tags and "Any" or "Creator's Choice" guidelines

Just to reiterate above, Solo: Group tags mean one or more of this group whether or not they have "Any" or "Creator's Choice of" in front of them.

• Ill-defined groups: If you request a group with uncertain membership (eg: "Solo: The [Fandom] Ensemble" or "Solo: The Avengers") we will assume that any possible member or combination of members of that group fulfill that request.
• Any [Canon character type]: You may request "Any" of a character type. For example, "Mikhaila Ilyushin/Any Female Talos I Employee".
• Make sure any important information is within the Any character tag
• You can't just request a tag with "Any Talos I Employee" and then DNW the male ones. You have to put Female in your tag.

Where there is ambiguity created by a nomination, we will likely side with the creator. If you want to be sure that you'll get specific characters, nominate them by name.

Original Work Characters

Original Work is a fandom for fanworks not based on preexisting canon, so of course there aren't any canon characters to nominate. Instead, OW characters are descriptions of original characters. Here are a few examples from past rounds:

• Assassin/Rival Assassin/Long-Suffering Murder Cleanup Person (OW)
• Disposable Supervillain Grunt Squad & Squad Leader Trying To Keep Them Alive (OW)
• Loyal But Disillusioned Knight Who Was Betrayed By Last Liege/His Trustworthy New Liege (OW)
• Solo: Dragon (OW)
• Solo: Garbage Tier Magical Item (OW)
• Swan Maiden/Crane Wife (OW)
• Wizard's Apprentice/Rival Apprentice To Same Wizard (F/F) (OW)

You can be as detailed or as brief in your description as you'd like, although there is a 150 character limit to AO3 tags. Also keep in mind:

• You need to include any additional details you see as essential for the ship in your tag. If the gender of the characters is important to you, for example, include it in the character tags. For gender specifically, you can bake the gender into your description or put your preferred configuration in parenthesis as in the last example above.
• What counts as a character? We will assume any usually inanimate objects/locations are thinking/feeling for the purposes of OW nominations, since there's no canon to say otherwise.
• Capitalization: We prefer Original Work and Original Characters be submitted in title case (Example: Really Hot Vampire/Wizard) but will accept sentence case (Example: Really hot wizard/Vampire). Do not use lapslock. (Example, but you shouldn't do this: really hot vampire/wizard)

Where there is ambiguity created by a nomination, we will likely side with the creator. If you want to be sure that you'll get something specific, bake it into your tag.

Original Characters In Other Fandoms

We'll accept Original Characters in any fandom! The characters should be a type of character that could exist in the canon you're nominating in and, unlike with Original Work tags, they should be reasonably generic. You can specify their gender, their profession, and other details that relate to their general place in the canon world, but not personality traits or prompts.

Yes:

• Jason Todd & Any Henchman In Another Villain's Employ (DC Comics)
• Zuko & Fire Nation Citizens (ATLA)
• Georgi Popovich/Original Male Character (YoI)
• Solo: Original Yokohama Resident (Bungou Stray Dogs)
• Doric/Original Female Elf (D&D: HAT)

(Note: the first two examples might also get canon character fills, since they don't specifically bar canon characters; DC and ATLA might have canon characters who fit those descriptions.)

No:

• Jason Todd & Any Idiotic Henchman In Another Villain's Employ (DC Comics)
• Zuko & Fire Nation Citizens Who Don't Know Who He Is (ATLA)
• Georgi Popovich/Original Male Character With Traumatic Backstory (YoI)
• Solo: Original Yokohama Resident With Blue Hair (Bungou Stray Dogs)
• Doric/Original Female Elf Who's Really Into Hot Yoga (D&D: HAT)

Crossovers

For crossovers, disambiguate each character and nominate them within Crossover Fandom.

• For example: "Varric Tethras (Dragon Age)/Nick Valentine (Fallout 4)"
• If you have several characters from the same canon, you can just disambiguate the whole group once. For example: "Toph & Zuko (ATLA) & Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill (SG1)"

Also:

• Canons with adaptations: If there's more than one version of the canon and you care about which version you receive, specify that version in parentheses.
• For example "Solo: Shang Qinghua (SVSSS) in Lord of the Rings (Movies)"
• Worldbuilding: You may nominate crossover WB: tags.
• The worldbuilding topics must all be things that would qualify in their own fandoms under the worldbuilding guidelines and the tag should be as open to worldbuilding options as possible.
• For example, we would prefer "WB: Connection Between The Lazarus Pits (Batman Comics) And Ectoplasm (Danny Phantom)" over "WB: The Lazarus Pits (Batman Comics) Are Some Kind of Ectoplasm (Danny Phantom)"
• We know the actual AO3 nom page says you can put crossover tags in either fandom but please don't!

Guidelines for WB: tags

Worldbuilding is the process of fleshing out a fictional world with details that make it a coherent setting. In Fic In A Box, participants may request works focused on worldbuilding (rather than a specific character or relationship) by using the format “WB: Worldbuilding Topic (Fandom Name)” or by requesting “WB: Any (Fandom Name)”

Do not nominate WB: Any. We will add WB: Any to all fandoms before sign ups open. If WB: Any is the only tag you want in a fandom, comment on this post letting us know the fandom and we will manually add it to the tagset. (Don't nominate via AO3 because it will get mixed up with all the fandoms in which people nominated things incorrectly and got their tags rejected.)

WB: tags should meet these criteria:

• based on or easily extrapolated from canon.
• about something fictional.
• reasonably broad, not phrased as a prompt, and not easily covered under a relationship, character, or group nomination.

We will not accept WB: tags for RPF fandoms.

based on or easily extrapolated from canon.

Worldbuilding tags are meant to request exploration of concrete facets of the requested canon. We wouldn’t accept “WB: Magic” in a hard sci-fi fandom. We also won’t accept tropes, plots/conflicts, moods/vague concepts/“vibes” or prompts.

We would accept something like “WB: Trans Healthcare” even if the fandom made no specific mention of healthcare or transitioning, because both of those things probably exist anywhere there are people.

We may accept popular fanon on a case-by-case basis, but we will usually ask that the WB: tag be phrased to focus on the canon aspect of whatever the fanon is about.

For example, if it were popular fanon that Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street) is blackmailing the local garbage collectors and that’s why he never gets accidentally thrown away despite living in a garbage can:

• we wouldn’t accept “WB: Contents of Oscar’s Blackmail Against Sanitation Workers (Sesame Street)”
• we would accept “WB: Garbage Collection on Sesame Street (Sesame Street)” and ask that the nominator include their preference for the blackmail fanon in their optional details

about something fictional.

Worldbuilding involves making stuff up to explain why stuff is the way it is, so we want WB: tags that require creativity rather than straight research.

We also want worldbuilding tags to refer only to in-universe things, with in-universe phrasing, wherever possible.

• For example, if you're seeking worldbuilding about the way people gain skills and abilities in a video game where skill points are traded for in-game objects (say, books) which have a lore reason for giving new skills, we would prefer a tag like "WB: Magic Books of Esoteric Knowledge Imparting" (or whatever the lore calls them in-game) over a tag like "WB: Skill Point Books"

For secondary world canons (canons that don’t take place on Earth in the real world) everything counts as fictional. You can nominate something like “WB: Apples & Apple Orchards (The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien)” and we will happily approve that so you can find out what’s up with apples on Middle Earth.

For canons that take place on Earth in anything like the present time or a real historical time period, WB: topics must be something fictional in that setting. We want worldbuilding topics that require creativity over research, even if research might be necessary/helpful to truly flesh out the topic.

If one were brainstorming WB: tags for the fandom Home Alone (Movies):

• we wouldn’t accept “WB: New York City (Home Alone)” because there’s not much to worldbuild about there that couldn’t be accomplished by researching the real New York City.
• we would accept a tag like “WB: Law Enforcement Efforts to Arrest the Wet Bandits (Home Alone)” because the Wet Bandits are fictitious. Anyone filling this tag might need or want to do research on real-life law enforcement or burglaries, but they will also have to invent a lot of specific information about the Wet Bandits and their various crimes.

You may nominate WB: tags about things that exist in the real world but which are very different in your canon. For example, “WB: New York City (The Avengers Movies)” would be accepted, as New York City in the MCU has been invaded by aliens and has a bunch of superheroes.

If it isn’t obvious to us that something about the WB: topic is different from the real world we may ask you to provide clarification.

reasonably broad and not easily covered under a relationship, character, or group nomination.

What exactly "reasonably broad" means will vary somewhat by canon and worldbuilding topic, but in general worldbuilding tags should be applicable or related to more than one character, and shouldn’t be or be phrased as prompts.

Character backstories/origins

We will not approve these. If the reason you want worldbuilding for a character’s backstory is because they were in a particularly interesting location or lived in a particularly interesting culture or something and that’s what you want worldbuilding about, then instead of a tag like “WB: Blorbo’s Time At [Backstory Location] (Fandom)” you should instead nominate “WB: [Backstory Location] (Fandom)” and mention Blorbo in your optional details. If getting a gift focused on Blorbo is more important to you than the worldbuilding, then nominate the character as a Solo: tag and prompt for backstory exploration in your optional details instead.

Scenarios, plots, worldbuilding phrased as questions

We will not approve WB: tags that name a specific scenario or plot, as that’s what optional details are for, and we find questions too ambiguous. You should phrase your WB: tag around the thing you actually want worldbuilding about.

For example, if you’re interested in a story where a Naruto character joins the Akatsuki, instead of nominating “WB: Character A joins Akatsuki (Naruto)” you should instead nominate either something like “WB: Akatsuki Recruitment (Naruto)” or, if it’s important to you to specify which character(s) are involved in your gift, a non-WB tag with a prompt in your optional details.

Instead of “WB: How Many Types Of Magic Are There?” or “WB: What Happened During The Noodle War” we would prefer “WB: Types of Magic” and “WB: The Noodle War”, respectively.

Mentions of specific characters

If your WB: tag needs to mention a specific character, consider posting a quick clarification below letting us know why and mentioning how the WB tag is or could be relevant to other characters, original or canon.

This might look something like: Just nominated WB: Blorbo’s Ship (Fandom)! The ship doesn’t have a canonical name. Only Blorbo pilots it, but there are unnamed spaceship techs on base and other characters spend a lot of time near the ship.

Or maybe: Just nominated WB: Blorbo’s Sex Toy Collection (Fandom) which is a common, canonical subject of discussion among Blorbo’s friends and enemies in several episodes.

Groups, organizations, teams, clubs, superhero teams, religious orders, etc

There's often a lot of very interesting potential worldbuilding topics to explore around groups/organizations/etc, but we would like you to specify what worldbuilding topic(s) you'd be interested in, so as to avoid situations where we have something like "Solo: Council of Mages" and "WB: Council of Mages" both in the tagset.

Suggested additions to your WB tag (not a comprehensive list!): History of [Group], Rumors and Public Opinion About [Group], Daily Life in [Group], [Group] Internal Politics

Nominations evidence/explanations

In addition to this post functioning as documentation to explain our nominations rules, it's also a place where you can preemptively ask questions about our guidelines, explain edge cases you would like to nominate, or give clarification on confusing or hard-to-google subjects.

Fandoms

Most fandom tags don't need evidence/explanation posts.

You should post evidence or explanations below if…

• You are nominating a fandom with "- All Media Types" or "& Related Fandoms" in it and need to explain why you can't use/don't want a more specific tag.
• You are nominating a fanwork as a fandom and need to link us to a permission statement as well as have other people indicate their interest in the fandom.
• You are nominating a fandom that has a weird or ambiguous canon source, especially if it doesn't yet have a tag on the Archive and you need help formatting your tag.

&, /, and Solo: tags

Most &, /, and Solo: tags don't need evidence/explanation posts.

You should post evidence or explanations below if you're nominating a relationships field tag…

• that involves a character who might be mistaken for an inanimate object, location, platonic ideal of a virtue, etc. (Examples: a sentient weapon named something like "Greg's Sword"; a character named "Justice" who we might have problems googling)
• that involves a canonical alternate version of a character that we might have trouble confirming is actually canonical.
• that involves a character or characters that might confuse us for some other reason. (eg, if two characters canonically have the same or almost exact same name.)

WB: tags

Explanations for WB: tags are REALLY helpful and you are encouraged to post a short explanation of all of your WB: tags telling us what each one is so that we don't have to google them, as it will save us time on the mod end and potentially save you from having to answer a clarification query.

You should post evidence or explanations below if you're nominating a WB: tag…

• that you're not 100% sure we can easily google
• that's about something that exists in real life, and you need to explain why your canon's version of it is different from the real-life version.
• that might seem like it only applies to a few characters (especially if it names a specific character) and you'd like to explain why it's actually general enough to be approved.
• that you think otherwise might be an edge case for one of the above WB: guidelines.

You're also welcome to post here if you need help formulating a WB: tag that will fit in the 150 character tag limit and abide by our rules.

Comments

[blurhawaii]

Thanks! That would be perfect.