The tag alias #77647 looting -> stealing is pending approval.

Reason: The dictionary may appreciate the subtle differences between these two, but for the purposes of this site they seem to be used synonymously.

It's pretty easy to depict the two differently
The problem is I don't think 99% of users will know the diff

nin10dope said:
It's pretty easy to depict the two differently
The problem is I don't think 99% of users will know the diff

Moreover, on a practical level, one has to ask if any user will ever need or want to distinguish between the two.

beholding said:
Moreover, on a practical level, one has to ask if any user will ever need or want to distinguish between the two.

Oh definitely
Because Looting is a very hot topic ever since the BLM protests and riots (separate groups) and to this day as well
Current events and all that jazz
Maybe a rant drawing or something

nin10dope said:
Oh definitely
Because Looting is a very hot topic ever since the BLM protests and riots (separate groups) and to this day as well
Current events and all that jazz
Maybe a rant drawing or something

Surely that's better accomplished by blacklisting politics?

Looting can also just mean the collection of treasure more generally, particularly in fantasy or adventure settings. Stealing implies taking property that belongs to someone else, I don't think stuff like this would qualify as stealing in the sense that people think of it:
post #4244706 post #4576810
Even if you could argue on a technicality, it's worth distinguishing stuff like that from:
post #5297014 post #5602096
A disambiguation may be better, to more clearly distinguish the two meanings. Especially since a numbers of posts tagged looting don't actually show any stealing, but thieves that will be going to steal things:
post #5393209 post #5414332 (just as we don't tag sex for sex that isn't yet happening, we shouldn't tag stealing for theft that isn't yet happening)
or just plain old sex, I assume trying to assert that there was a failed attempt to steal something but it isn't visually apparent:
post #5270836 post #2735223

beholding said:
Surely that's better accomplished by blacklisting politics?

I mean that's just one example. I'm not talking about not wanting to see it, but the opposite
For the more fantastical scenarios, imagine people running away from a dragon attacking a village, and one or more guys take this chance to rob people and buildings

Just spitballing ideas
Because to make sure it's one tag and not the other, people would have to decide what's happening around the crime

watsit said:
Especially since a numbers of posts tagged looting don't actually show any stealing, but thieves that will be going to steal things:
post #5393209 post #5414332

I actually encountered both of those posts while cleaning up thief, and they're what spurred me to make this request.

watsit said:
Looting can also just mean the collection of treasure more generally, particularly in fantasy or adventure settings. Stealing implies taking property that belongs to someone else, I don't think stuff like this would qualify as stealing in the sense that people think of it:
post #4244706 post #4576810

Hm, I guess that's fair. It would definitely require an extensive cleanup, though, because many of the current uses are tagged frivolously or synonymously with stealing. And it would help if looting got a wiki description to make the distinction clear.

ETA: Just cleaned up the tag, resulting in reducing it to 6 uses. 6 uses doesn't necessarily mean the tag should be retired, but I'd recommend populating it if you care about the distinction.