I'm currently going through the shirtless tag to see where it's mistagged for characters who are actually topless. However, I am uncertain about some posts where characters are shirtless, but wearing neckwear such as scarfs or neckties. shirtless is officially defined as characters who are wearing topwear but no shirt; these clothing items are not officially designated topwear, but I'm not sure whether or not they should count for this purpose.

Is there an official stance on this?

beholding said:
I'm currently going through the shirtless tag to see where it's mistagged for characters who are actually topless. However, I am uncertain about some posts where characters are shirtless, but wearing neckwear such as scarfs or neckties. shirtless is officially defined as characters who are wearing topwear but no shirt; these clothing items are not officially designated topwear, but I'm not sure whether or not they should count for this purpose.

Is there an official stance on this?

Nope. Doesn't even imply clothed (like topless), have aliases, or have implications to it, so it hasn't really been scrutinised that heavily either

Related question: does underwear_only supercede other clothed tags, or can we tag it in conjunction with pantsless and topless/shirtless?

beholding said:
Related question: does underwear_only supercede other clothed tags, or can we tag it in conjunction with pantsless and topless/shirtless?

underwear only does directly not imply topless because bras are considered underwear (I have many a bone to pick with that, but I digress)
a character wearing only underwear (that is not a bra) would be topless, see: boxers only, shorts only, diaper only, etc

if underwear only applies pantsless cannot apply due to it both requiring some kind of bottomwear and "normal" topwear (notice the note on the wiki that it's different from bottomless)

I've got a question about that, actually. If the character is wearing a bikini top but has it pushed down to expose her nipples: is it still topwear?

indigohowl said:
I've got a question about that, actually. If the character is wearing a bikini top but has it pushed down to expose her nipples: is it still topwear?

If you have a shirt on the ground the shirt is still topwear.

The problem is bikini top doesn't imply topwear

beholding said:
However, I am uncertain about some posts where characters are shirtless, but wearing neckwear such as scarfs or neckties.

I'd like to get clarification on this point specifically. Is neckwear topwear (thus this would be shirtless) or accessory (thus this would be topless)?

neckwear doesn't imply clothing. Take of that what you will

I feel like it should, honestly. I'll request an implication.

Does bondage gear such as ropes, harnesses, etc. make a character shirtless instead of topless?