A Builder created it, so there was apparently enough demand. I'd contemplated doing so, myself. But tags for stuff like this don't gain traction unless created by staff.
In my experience it's less about who created it and more about how thoroughly it's applied. Create a valid tag and put the effort into putting it on the proper posts and more people will start adding it as they learn it exists.
I don't want to be a stick in the mud and say people can't have fun on the site...
But, in my opinion at least, as far as the functions of tagging goes this isn't exactly a useful tag. If we are going to allow the creation of specific fan variations of characters created by individual artists then we're opening a can of worms in favor of creating a lot of unhelpful tags.
I'd say different if Catchouli was a meme, like snail Mutsu, or was simply original. But this particular character doesn't really have any scope outside of this artist, and a character tag already exists for Patchouli.
I'm not an authority on the matter, and I don't want to step on people's fun, but there's something to think about here.
I don't want to be a stick in the mud and say people can't have fun on the site...
But, in my opinion at least, as far as the functions of tagging goes this isn't exactly a useful tag. If we are going to allow the creation of specific fan variations of characters created by individual artists then we're opening a can of worms in favor of creating a lot of unhelpful tags.
There was indeed demand for this particular tag, even off-site.
There are style parodies of Catchouli by other artists on Pixiv, using the ă«ăăĄă ăăŒ tag, but most of them aren't by very good artists, and the Pixiv tag has gotten polluted as well, so it's less useful.
I'd say different if Catchouli was a meme, like snail Mutsu, or was simply original. But this particular character doesn't really have any scope outside of this artist, and a character tag already exists for Patchouli.
I'm not an authority on the matter, and I don't want to step on people's fun, but there's something to think about here.
Catchouli is considered a meme because of how popular it became to link to Danbooru pictures of this particular characterization of cat-eared Patchouli, back when this artist was constantly cranking out new pictures of it. This characterization is well-known as Catchouli off-site and on, and when I posted the first Catchouli image people had seen in a long time, I saw people celebrate that "Catchouli's back!" almost immediately, and back then, there was no tag for it. Catchouli even has its own meme entry on TVtropes. There are people who at one point came to Danbooru solely to find Catchouli images. I figured it was only right to throw them a bone.
Think of how tags are meant to be used: they're to help people find specific images. A person might come here to find this image or ones like it that they saw years ago, and they might not know who the artist is, but they know who Catchouli is, and it's this.
I wasn't thinking about things external to the site. If you insist, then I suppose that's true.
I would still point out that searching the artist tag and patchouli gives a nearly identical result to the catchouli tag. That's the only thing that really made me question the tag.