Wrangle Tangle

(Glossary)

So we've talked about how the database works and what powers wranglers have. Now let's talk process.

There are a lot of standards for wrangling, most of which are explained in the tagging guidelines. However, those are just the formats for tags themselves. Like all wizards, wranglers also have a structure in which they work.

Everything is organized at the fandom level. Wranglers claim fandoms they're familiar with and take responsibility for organizing them. One wrangler may work with dozens of fandoms, or they may handle just a few. Some wranglers only take on one enormous fandom, or only wrangle the mass bins.

Ah, the mass bins. Like raw magic, tags come pouring in daily. When they do, they appear in the mass bins first. Each type of tag has its own bin, so there are five total: fandoms, relationships, characters, freeforms, and bookmark-only tags. Tags sit in the mass bins until they're assigned to a fandom.

However! Wrangler x-ray vision allows a wrangler to see if there are tags in the bins that are attached to works in that wrangler's fandoms. So if you posted a work with the Clover in the fandom box, I can see if you added any new character, relationship, or freeform tags that aren't already on the archive because I wrangle Clover (at least at the moment).

Wranglers trade fandoms around whenever they feel like it. They also share fandoms when a fandom gets more than about 1000 works. Extremely large or fast-growing fandoms may have 3 or 4 wranglers (or even more in rare cases).

What about tags that don't belong to just one fandom, like Alternate Universe or Jenny? Those go in "No Fandom", which is set up just like a real fandom, just... not.

What about tags attached to original works, like named original characters or made up places or groups that don't come from a pre-existing canon? Those go in another fandom called "Original Work", which, again, acts just like a real fandom but isn't. (By the way, if you're creating an original work, you can use "Original Work" as the fandom.)

Last post in the series coming up: how does all this make Frigga a BAMF?

Freeform of the day: Did Our Duty For Archive And Fandom