u/PiccoloEducation1160

This is a small ridiculously long guide for contributors who are not familiar with the relation feature.

Why it exists

Creators usually have an account on multiple platforms. They may also have abandoned a previous account for various reasons (lost credentials, suspension, content revamp, policy changes...) making formerly archived content harder to retrieve.

Who it's intended for

Everyone, including creators themselves if they are contributors.

How it works

We will use Patreon and Fanbox (for obvious reasons) in this example and cover a few cases, with letters and numbers to keep it simple.

Basic situation: Creator A is on both platforms, once, with the same vanity/username.

Another common situation: Creator B is on the same platform with multiple accounts (and different usernames; however, the display name can be the same as unlike IDs and usernames, it is not unique; this may be used by scammers to lure people into all kinds of ill-intended schemes, so please remain vigilant - Fanbox has experienced this firsthand with scammers commenting as Fanbox and using the Fanbox logo to trick both creators and their subscribers into giving their credentials for security reasons (protip: no one will ever ask for this; if they do, you know what you are dealing with).

More complex cases: Creator C is on both platforms, with different accounts on either or both, and they also changed what they create.

Linking the accounts

Accounts must exist in the database (this includes Kitsune instances with basic details transferred over). Even if the creator has not been synced, if they have been indexed before, you should add a relation. This is not possible if they are not indexed on any instance yet, and no longer possible if accounts are also gone from platforms.

1. Navigate to one of the creator's accounts you want to add a relation for. A relation works both ways, so if you ask for A2 to be bound to A1, A1 will also be bound to A2. You only need to do it once for each candidate.
2. Click/tap Linked Accounts (current amount of linked accounts, with a checkmark ☑️ if there is already one or more) then Link another account. Here, you can either search by last known username (may no longer match the current one, we'll get there) and filter by service if needed. DO NOT use the reason field for anything else than overly complex cases and keep it concise. NO REQUESTS THERE.
3. Once you have one or more candidates, review and open one in a new tab/window to make sure this is the proper one to make a relation with.
4. Switch to the tab/window, select the candidate (it will become highlighted) and click the Request link button after double-checking once more. Emphasis on link. This only requests a relation between existing profiles.
5. Finalize your query by navigating back to the profile (or just refresh); a window will inform you that the relation request has been submitted to the site owner and will be added if and when approved. If you've been linking several profiles (keep it one-way!) for cases B and C in one go, one window will display for each submission.

Handling each case

Case A: Easy. Copy and paste the username (A1) in the name field and you'll get exactly one result (A2) for them on the other platform. Select, link, done. Don't worry about A1 not showing up, this just prevents you from accidentally linking an account to itself and saves time on searches.

Case B: Still easy. Review candidates, select applicable ones (B2, B3, etc) one after another, click link for each one.

Case C: Can be harder. If you are a creator and can't remember what your vanity/username was (or if you even archived it at all), try a search, remember to use your UID as well in the address bar to see if you get a match - use any creator and replace the UID with yours; if you get redirected to the front page, the UID is wrong or there is no database match. If you do know but you've changed names and/or UIDs, use the UID unless you've already synced the profile (so the new username shows up). Once you've found one of your profiles, if the content is completely different, just include a way to check the change without any personal or sensitive information in the reason field. If unsure, leave it blank.

That's a long ass guide for just one click.

Yes, but people still do not understand how this works and what it does (and why it's important) after 6 years and a half.

Who processes the relation queries?

The site owner is the only one who can access the backend. Take a guess. Have patience. Could take weeks, months, years or just not happen especially if people link the wrong way or abuse it (in which case the owner should just disable it).

Why no janitors?

We're just redditors and have nothing to do with the site (unless contributing counts then most of us here are in). Site owner's decision, entrusting access to the wrong kind of people causes great damage to the community and site development that far outweighs the benefits.

What do I get from spending time on this?

You get eternal gratitude from other contributors and creators (and even help yourself too) by making it easier to process archived content and help further archive it (if you're still active on the linked accounts and allow for subscriptions).

Can I use a Kitsune instance to help with linking?

Yes, you can and you should if that instance already has relations in place to make things easier. Kitsune instances that haven't had an initial sync (profile indexing) will not work, though; the profile must exist on the site, even if it's just as a "preview" (basic info from db, thumbs...)

Is Kitsune decentralized?

Each instance operates on its own without any ties; it is not a network. As the sidebar states, the site focuses on archival of content.

Anything else I should know before taking aspirins and cursing you for making me read all of this crap?

The cake is a lie. Also, you're welcome!

Edit: Reordered Megathread and announcements manually, no reordering on mobile, many apologies for the inconvenience on behalf of Reddit being dogshit (always has been™️).