Polygamy Tag

People would argue that polygamy requires marriage... It's a stupid tag trying to expand the harem genre but is only useful in niche circumstances. Trashing that tag for Polyamory/Polyamorous would fit the whole situation better.

 

Agreed.

 

was about to point this out since polygamy is marrying a lot of people. I agree with ya!

 

Now... Who do I bug to ask about this?

 

Since the thread got moved, I'm expecting one of our gods will get to see it. Whether they'll do anything about it tho... haha. I'm probably being too whiny and demanding trivialities. Honestly, I can suck it up and read the novels regardless of prior info or not. But most often I pick a novel to read depending on my mood that day, and while I don't exclude harem novels, I want to know certain things in advance... To me, harem is like the Japanese one - a lot of women are interested in the MC. But if the MC ends up eating all of them as they come, I want to know before I start.

 

Hmmmm... Adding Polygamy for novels that don't involve marriage of multiple partners is a no AFAIK.

But essentially, you want a tag that tells you that the protagonist is not loyal to the love interest in a non-harem novel... That's about it?

I don't think we have any tag that covers this niche atm.

While everyone that is involved on the cleaning up of tags is in general, against the creation of new tags, that doesn't mean it's impossible for a new tag to be created, as long as it's useful and there is no other tag that can fill that same spot.

While one could argue that this could fit into the Harem Genre, I think it's specific enough to not be covered well by it... Wait for the opinion of a mod on the matter though.

 

You see what happens in the harem right? The scary thing is they joined force against me..

 

My solution would cover Polygamy's defintion too, so it wouldn't be niche. Then, it would also end the whole "true harem" tag people ask about from time to time.

 

Unsure, I think the people that want their novel to have Polygamy might not want it to simply be a Polyamarous relationship. I think they need to be different tags.

 

My condolences.

 

Not exactly, cause sometimes they're just sex partners, which doesn't involve disloyalty. Or he's loyal to many love interests. Basically, MC sleeps around. I know polygamy is used for multiple spouses, but I can pretty much take it in its second meaning, though it refers to animals (2. Zoology. the habit or system of mating with more than one individual,either simultaneously or successively.) Until a better tag arrives. 'Polyamory' would suit me fine tbh. Or 'casual sex', or 'protagonist sleeps around'. Something that can make it clear for me before I start reading the novel.

 

You might want the special snow flake tag: "Snu Snu Master" ... or "FWB" ..... or "non-monogamy" ... we could even add "polyamorous" for further catering needs.

By the way - polygamy practised by men is called polygyny.

And a harem is most often used to describe the women/wives of a polygamous man - so you'll still have poly ...

Maybe ask for "Blue Balls Harem" tag, "Beta Male Harem" tag, "G, PG or PG-13 Harem" tags and/or "Snu Snu Harem" tag

How about asking in the spoiler section about possible offensive acts committed by the MC for novels you plan to read? This might be the easiest way to solve your request, instead of opening the door for 43 additional tags ...

 

Did I offend you or something? Well, if you needed to vent, you're welcome, I can take it.

I don't really need special snowflake tags, or 43 additional tags. Just one would suffice. Honestly, polygamy is enough for me, but polyamory, which would be more technically correct, would be fine too. Not all harem novels end up with a true harem, as I'm sure you're aware. MC sleeping around is hardly an offensive action to me, I'm a grown up. But sometimes, I'm not in the mood for such a read. A tag would be helpful. And yes, I'm aware there's polygyny and polyandry to make things specific, but it doesn't really matters to me whether it's a polygamy or polygyny tag in a male MC novel - either one would give me the info I want. And yeah, I want to differentiate between an actual harem and a fake harem, as both of them are put under the harem genre.

Am I really offending people by asking for a tag? I never realized people would react so much over it.

 

Yeah this really needs its own tag.

 

Honestly the problem lies with the etymology of the the harem genre to begin with. It started out as a Japanese term, and the word "harem" doesn't have any other meaning in Japanese. The problem is that it's used to describe situations which wouldn't be called harems in English or just about any other language.

The original meaning is a Middle Eastern term that refers to a place in a residence that's reserved for the women in the household. Take the meaning a little loosely, and it becomes both the place and the wives of a particular man (i.e. the Chinese Imperial Harem) or a polygamous marriage in general. However, the Japanese term just means a story where the male protagonist is in close proximity to three or more female love interests with no regard to their actual relationships.

It just comes down to Japanese people using a foreign term without caring about how that term is used in other countries. You can see this by looking at how the Japanese use terms like "feminist" or "heroine". In other words, we should be more judicious in using foreign terms that only serve to confuse people who aren't explicitly familiar with what it means.

By the way, I'm opposed to separating "Harem" and "False Harem" because you'd have to put most of the Japanese stories that the term was designed for into the "False Harem" category. If we are to continue using the term, we should at least find a way to include those stories into it otherwise people are just going to be confused.

 

Well, I agree with all that you said. Really, that's the reason I don't really trust the harem genre. Going by what is intended, one should expect that the MC gets to bang the harem. But I've gotten novels where the MC has a bunch of girls interested in him, but he chooses one to end up with. Or it remains open-ended and he gets with no one (the most frustrating scenario if you ask me). And separating tru and false harem will prove time-consuming and annoying. There's also the case where the MC doesn't actually form a harem (getting married to the girls), but he's simply sexually active - takes whatever beauty comes his way, they bang, then move on. Which really can't be classified under harem (and I've seen novels without the harem genre that have this kinda sexually active MC, though the genre might have been added later on). A polyamory tag really would solve a lot of issues. There are already tags that let you know what kind of MC you're getting - cold, dense, smart, strong, etc. Why not add one more tag to let you know he gets to bang girls, even when it's not a R18 novel. I don't get why people are so against that? I mean, I get it if they want to stay technical with the polygamy tag, but why not add one more tag for clarity, especially when that tag would eliminate the need for 3 tags - polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry.

 

Yeah, I get you. The limited range of relationships in so many Japanese stories can get pretty frustrating. I used to be a bit upset that so many writers insisted that their female characters had to be virginal beginning to end, and that male characters should be scared of sexual activity too.

Maybe a tag like "Sexual Activity - lead character has sex (may or may not be depicted)" would work. I like the idea. A "Marriage - protagonist either starts married or gets married within the course of the story" tag would make sense as well.

The "R-18" tag (and "R-15") can also be problematic. It just means that the book has an "R-18" rating in Japan and non-Japanese books are excluded regardless of what content they have.

 

Uu, someone smarter than me will have to figure this out. I'm just suggesting polyamory, since people can't accept the technically inaccurate polygamy, and it will eliminate 3 tags, while keep the intended meaning. But really, I'll be okay with any tag that will make it clear to me what kind of MC to expect. And I've seen a novel with the 'protagonist loyal to love interest' and 'polygamy' tags together, I was so damn confused...

However, I'm naturally non-confrontational, so if people tell me to 'deal with it', I'll just deal with it and move on from this topic. If I see a Chinese novel with harem genre, I'll expect a sexually active MC. As for the other cases... meh. After seeing so many comments against further specification, I've given up, honestly. I don't feel like forcing people to accept my viewpoint. I'll just adapt.

 

Well, the problem is that sexual intercourse is different from marriage so it doesn't quite eliminate those tags. The idea is not a bad one though.

Yeah, I know what you mean. The funny thing is that a lot of Chinese novels would count as "Harem" novels under the Japanese sense. Then a book came out that showed off how to break the rules, and most of the modern books with a polygamous protagonist who marry their love interests can date their descent from it.

 

Hmmmmmm... I have a hard time thinking of a name for this tag as well... In general, a name like "protagonist sleeps around" is not something we want for the tag, as some people might get offended by a novel them like having this kind of tag on it.

Casual Sex is too vague too, so it doesn't work...

Sexually Active Protagonist is the best I can think of, but it would need a good definition with it... And it doesn't quite fit... I think.

I don't understand why people are getting worked up over it as well tbh, the request seems to make plenty of sense to me. I'm just unsure on what would be a good implementation.

We don't have a Polygyny tag, we simply use Polygamy if the one with multiple spouses is a man, and Polyandry if the one with multiple spouses is a woman.

And well, it wouldn't remove the other tags, as they cater for people that want novels with married couples.

My advice would be to not be bothered with anyone that seems to be somewhat insulting towards you, just wait until a mod gives their word on it.

You can also discuss with the mod about it if you disagree with their decision btw, mods can also change their decision. As long as you remain polite, it's pretty much fair game.