I got to create a tag on AO3

[igenlode]

I got to create a tag on AO3 -- and have it canonicalised ;-)
Which is not necessarily a given, since none of my character/relationship tags for the Yellow Poppy fics ever showed up; they have just been marked as "This tag has not been marked common and can't be filtered on (yet)", even when used across three different stories. [Edit: Even my Raoul & Gustave tag was never adopted...]

But my semi-serious tag of "Athos & Everyone" to describe the relationships in "If I Should Die" on AO3 has now been solemnly canonicalised by some tag-wrangler as "Athos | Comte de la Fère & Everyone" in the "d'Artagnan Romances (Three Musketeers Series)" Fandom Category and all other fandom categories in which an Athos appears, despite there being precisely one story in existence which uses it, namely mine :-D

(Yes, I'm easily amused sometimes.)

Comments

[pedanther]

From what I remember, character and relationship tags don't have to be "common" to be canonicalised (that's more a requirement for additional tags), as long as all the characters involved appear in the source text.

So a rare tag in a popular fandom can get canonicalised quickly, while a tag in a more obscure fandom like The Yellow Poppy can sit and wait until the characters have been confirmed by a tag wrangler who's either familiar with the source text or interested enough to do the research.

I'm a bit more surprised that a Phantom tag would have languished, but I suppose if there's a neglected corner of the Phandom, Love Never Dies would be it.

[igenlode]

"The Yellow Poppy" might as well be my own original work so far as AO3 goes, I think; the tag exists as a canonical fandom and has been correctly filed under Books & Literature, but none of the relationship tags (despite what the tag page says) and none of the characters have been assigned that fandom as a parent.
https://archiveofourown.org/tags/The%20Yellow%20Poppy%20-%20D*d*%20K*d*%20Broster

It would be easy enough to confirm the characters' existence, since the text is now available for free online (and I actually linked it in the Notes for "The Remorse of Others") -- but since I'm the only person who has posted any fic for that particular novel, so far as AO3 is concerned it is effectively my private playground. And realistically speaking no-one is likely to be searching/filtering for the characters in it...

The Phantom of the Opera fandom is definitely a lot more active than the Three Musketeers one, to judge by the relative numbers of page hits on stories posted to each in relatively quick succession; Gustave, who is a character specific to Love Never Dies, has had various tags wrangled for him, but for some reason none of the various non-sexual ones, e.g. "Christine Daae & Gustave", "Christine Daae & Gustave (Love Never Dies)", "Erik | Phantom of the Opera & Gustave", "Erik | Phantom of the Opera & Gustave (Love Never Dies)", "Gustave Daae & Raoul de Chagny" etc. are included, even though the single underage sex tag has been canonicalised.
https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Erik%20%7C%20Phantom%20of%20the%20Opera*s*Gustave%20(Love%20Never%20Dies)/works

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Gustave%20(Love%20Never%20Dies

I'm guessing that's maybe a different department, because there are arguably quite a lot of Gustave relationship tags that have none of them been wrangled, but the only ones that *have* are the sex/romance ones of Erik/Gustave and Gustave/Original Female Character.