First off, if you've created new tags in the Archive - THANK YOU! And secondly, please note that this is a guide/suggestion only. People can, will, and should continue to use the Archive the way that they want to without undue burden.

I wanted to do a small post about relationship tags. As many people know, relationship tags are pretty much just the characters involved plus the fandom(s) attached to. However, we're taking a different tack with how relationship tags work within SquidgeWorld Archive, and you're part of that journey.

Everyone knows that a tag that's "Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes" is going to be a romantic tag for those two characters. This is usually fine, but when you're wanting to read a fic that's primarily for those two characters, sometimes you have to wade through other stories because your favorite relationship tag has been thrown in as a background character or such. Or maybe you're expecting a relationship, when the story ends with them figuring out they like each other - more of a "Pre" type relationship. Well that's where SquidgeWorld's relationship tags are different. And, with your help, will continue to grow.

There will be four different types of relationships, all dealt with in the Relationship-type tag.

• The main relationship - e.g. a primary relationship like the example, "Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes"


• A "pre" relationship. This is where someone tags a story where Steve and Bucky are going to get together, but it's just not in this story


• A "background" relationship. This is where Steve and Bucky are in a relationship, but it's secondary to another pairing. Or maybe it's a Gen story, but Steve and Bucky are an item - just not the focus of the story.


• A "past" relationship. This is where Steve and Bucky were in a relationship at one time, but have since broken up

If you click on the main "Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes" tag, you'll be able to see all of the stories - main, pre, background, and past. But if you only wanted to read a story where they're in the background, you would click on the "background Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes" and be presented only with those particular stories. Doing this will enable people to search for and find the stories they truly want to read, and sort out the ones that they otherwise might not read.

In order to do this, we'll need your help if you choose to do so; otherwise, please disregard.

• First off, stop using the "Freeform" tags to indicate pre, background, or past type relationships. Any "Freeform" tags that currently exist will be converted to relationship tags and stacked underneath the main relationship tag.


• To indicate a pre relationship, please use the prefix "pre" - all lower case, no punctuation, e.g. "pre Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes"


• To indicate a background relationship, please use the prefix "background" - not "bkgd" or such. Just "background", e.g. "background Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes".  Additionally, please use "background" instead of using "minor" or similar terms.


• To indicate a past relationship, please use the prefix "past" - all lower case, no punctuation, e.g. "past Steve Rogers/James 'Bucky' Barnes"


• While these types of relationships don't lend themselves as well to QPR ( ~ ) or Friendship ( & ) relationships, they can still be used as such. So maybe The Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness were formerly in a QPR, you could use "past The Doctor ~ Jack Harkness". Or maybe you're writing a "Friends to enemies" stories, you could use the tag "past Blair Sandburg & Simon Banks".

And above all, if you have questions, please let us know!