Why an Entry Gets Rejected (and How to Fix It)

Why entries get rejected

A moderator rejects a submission when its data would make the catalog worse rather than better — a wrong value, a missing required field, or a structure that breaks how the site groups and finds titles. Rejection is not a penalty; it is a request to fix a specific thing. When your submission is turned down you receive the exact reason(s) below, each linked back here so you can correct it and resubmit.

These are the five most common reasons, in the order they come up most often.

1. Improper tagging (kebab-case)

The single most common reason. Tags must be dash-separated full phrases — weak-to-strong, classroom-reincarnation, based-on-a-light-novel — never spaced (weak to strong) and never reduced to a single genre-shaped word (strong, school). Spaces break keyword matching; single words duplicate what the Genre and Theme fields already cover.

Fix: rewrite each tag as one lowercase, dash-separated token that describes the title's feel, structure, or specific tropes. See Writing Proper Tags for the full rules and examples.

2. Combining seasons into one listing

If a show has multiple seasons, each season is its own catalog entry — not one merged listing covering all of them. Separate entries are what let the site track per-season release dates, counts, ongoing status, and where each season is legally available. A single blob entry for "all seasons" loses all of that.

Fix: split the submission into one entry per season, and use the Series field (and Season number) to relate them. Non-numeric labels like OVA, Special, or Movie are valid season values.

3. Improper title or alias

The primary title, alternate titles, or aliases are wrong, mislabeled, or in the wrong field — for example a native-script title typed into the romanized field, a fan nickname promoted to the primary title, or an alias that actually belongs to a different title. Titles are how everything else finds and de-duplicates this entry, so an error here has outsized cost.

Fix: put the official primary title in Title, the official romanized and native titles in their respective Alt Title fields, and only genuine alternate release names in Aliases. Cross-check against a second source — see Completing a Full Catalog Entry.

4. Missing author or artist

Author (the writer) and artist (the illustrator) credits are required — author from Bronze, artist from Silver (see How the Bounty System Works). A submission missing them can't clear those tiers, and a blank credit forces the next contributor to research it.

Fix: fill in both. For reading titles they are usually different people; use surname-first for Asian names (e.g. "Isayama Hajime"). Where to source them: Completing a Full Catalog Entry.

5. Missing studio or producer

Studio and producer credits are missing. Producer is a Platinum requirement, and studio is core identifying data for watch titles.

Fix: add the production studio(s) and the producer(s). These are separate from author/artist and are found on the same database and official-platform sources as the rest of the credits.

Before you resubmit

• Tags are dash-separated phrases, not spaced words or bare genres.
• One entry per season, related through the Series field.
• Titles and aliases are in the correct fields and match an authoritative source.
• Author and artist are both filled.
• Studio and producer are both filled.

Getting these right the first time is also what earns the higher bounty tiers — the same fields a moderator checks on rejection are the ones each tier requires. See How the Bounty System Works.