I don't get it. What's the point of "Original Doujin"s?
Since the word "doujin" means "fan work" in Japanese, they should be drawn (or composed, etc.) by fans of some other work. Therefore I believe the "oringinal" works, which aren't created with such motivations in the first place, should not be called "doujin". Perhaps a single "original" is much more suitable.

To the contrary, the term covers all self-published works in Japan. Some artists will even put an "Original Doujinshi" label somewhere on their original work to note that it is an independent production.

last edited at Sep 11, 2013 10:37AM

To the contrary, the term covers all self-published works in Japan. Some artists will even put an "Original Doujinshi" label somewhere on their original work to note that it is an independent production.

The heck w/ it.

last edited at Sep 11, 2013 8:35PM

I can't get much of a consistent feel out of this tag, its application seems almost random. Like one chapter of Kase-san, a handful of series and a list of one-shots, there's nothing in common here to speak of. And as a result, it's not an especially useful tag when it comes to finding things because users would have no idea what qualifies.

Could someone in charge of tags at least give some idea of what you're trying to accomplish here? Maybe a definition of what the tag is for?

Basically, it's "SelfPublished", but not "FanFiction".

The confusion comes from a lot of people thinking that "Doujinshi" = "Fan-fiction Manga". I actually thought that too, but it's a misconception. "Doujinshi" = "Self-published manga".

But, to be honest, I'm not sure why publisher even matters at all for Online Reader. I'd rather separate Original from Fan-Fiction than Self-Published from Officially-Published

last edited at Oct 1, 2014 11:39AM

I can sorta-kinda see that in the sense that it's a subgroup of doujinshi, but in practice it just ends up a bit of a dog's breakfast.

Could someone in charge of tags at least give some idea of what you're trying to accomplish here?

Well, the tag was there long before I was around, so I can't say exactly what the original motivation was, beyond - most likely - trying to be correct and accurate in a historical sense.
At this point, we're simply trying to maintain that accuracy. It's similar to how we categorize everything by magazine issue - certainly it doesn't matter who published what in where, nor does it make browsing particularly easy, it's just nice to have.

Maybe a definition of what the tag is for?

I'll add a definition for it sometime.

I would think making browsing particularly easy is the whole point to having tags. Perhaps some talk behind the scenes about how to organize things better?

This seems to be a bit of an issue in general on the site, tags aren't really implemented with an eye towards their main uses: 1) having some warning of what's inside (i.e. rape, futanari, lolicon) so you can decide whether to read it or not, and 2) being able to find stuff a month or a year down the road (i.e. I want to find stuff with marriage, so I go to the marriage tag).

I can sorta-kinda see that in the sense that it's a subgroup of doujinshi, but in practice it just ends up a bit of a dog's breakfast.

I don't see the issue really. This is similar to how sadpanda works. If you browse the doujinshi category it has special "parody" tag and if it isn't based on any existing work then it's not shown so you know it's original.

But I guess for people it doesn't matter where the thing came from.

I would think making browsing particularly easy is the whole point to having tags.

I would argue that accurately tagging something in the Original: Doujin section would kill the notion that they're somehow hidden on the site. I understand that general browsing won't lead someone uninterested in derivative works to that part of the site, but I fail to see how other tags and categorizations wouldn't capture all of them regardless. I'm still not seeing how that categorization is wholly different than the one-shots only categorized by their magazine issue.

Perhaps some talk behind the scenes about how to organize things better?

If you have any comprehensive suggestions, we're always willing to listen. Unfortunately we've had discussions about this very topic and the majority pretty much always lean toward accuracy rather than relevance.

This seems to be a bit of an issue in general on the site, tags aren't really implemented with an eye towards their main uses: 1) having some warning of what's inside (i.e. rape, futanari, lolicon) so you can decide whether to read it or not

I would argue that fervently. If anything, I've seen more comments complaining that an objectionable element was over-tagged for the sake of warning others' than said element not being tagged at all. Of course we miss things from time-to-time, but we do our best to warn people about that stuff, especially considering the blacklist function.

and 2) being able to find stuff a month or a year down the road (i.e. I want to find stuff with marriage, so I go to the marriage tag).

That may be the case - though we've already been over the marriage tag - but that is why we accept tag suggestions. Perhaps you'd rather there be more tags in general? That's kind of the feeling I'm getting....

last edited at Oct 1, 2014 1:46PM