Singular or plural: Cards

I'm really not sure why I'm wavering over this one, but I am. From forum #14788

T5J8F8 said: cards -> card

Is there any reason not to do so? I think the only reason I have not done it already is because both tags have quite a lot of posts and reversing it would be a bitch.

Thoughts?

Personally I prefer plural. The tag seems to indicate generally game cards and such, that typically come from a deck. Any kind of card game cards, playing cards, tarot cards, etc, naturally come in a deck. These aren't like business cards where a single one would be the norm.

Despite that though, I kind of feel that they shouldn't be merged. One thing of note is that there are images where the whole image is a single card, such as pactio cards (post #31191), clow cards (post #420262), playing cards (post #274552), and a variety of game and other cards (post #334446). So while I prefer plural, I do think we need a tag at least for these card single images. They're distinctly different from a card object in an image.

Yeah I was thinking pretty much the same thing. Card_face for things like the pactio perhaps?

It's against my typical stance, but I like plural here too. Perhaps "natural set" is a good extension of the "natural pair" rule?

Things like Clow cards, pactio cards, and the major arcana of the tarot would fall under the heading of "trumps". Since trump is currently unused, you could use that for them, although I don't see a need for it.

I had figured plural to singular in the other thread because, even from a deck, single cards may be held aloft, or be a focus, which would break it from the "natural set" sort of thing. Maybe related to the wristband thing: despite many images having both, having one is established enough to negate the "natural pair".

Would card_deck or deck_of_cards be too out-there?

I think we tend to perceive cards as a mass noun. If there is one card, we're taken to assume there are more close at hand.

Alright, reviving this since it stalled. I think I do prefer plural, so I probably won't alias it to card, but if we are keeping the two separate something needs to happen with the card wiki, because it includes: "Posts indicating this tag show either charcters playing a card game, an illustration of several playing cards, or a card image itself."

...and that would be incorrect if we're using separate tags.

sgcdonmai said:
Things like Clow cards, pactio cards, and the major arcana of the tarot would fall under the heading of "trumps". Since trump is currently unused, you could use that for them, although I don't see a need for it.

Could you explain your reasoning better? I'm not familiar with this use of the word. You left out normal playing cards and game cards, I don't think I'd want to use that unless they're included. I'd go for a tag that would encompass things like post #154328 and post #130832 as well.

I think I'd favor using tags similar to that of photo and photo_(object). Images that are cards (or composed of cards) would use the card tag, and cards in images would use a cards_(object) (or card_(object), however support may go) with an alias of cards -> cards_(object).

I would find it easier to remember card as being held by characters in the picture, while card_face for the pictures that are cards. A card's face is the term for the picture on the card, but since it can be confused with face cards like the Jack and Queen it might be more confusing for everyone else.