[ SECRET POST #4057 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4057 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 38 secrets from Secret Submission Post #581.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't make this secret, but it is essentially my opinion that someone nabbed from the general comments thread a while back, so I'll respond as though I were the OP.

To clarify, what I'm talking about is fics where there's major character death, or a main character gets raped, and the only warning is the "chose not to warn" tag. In that situation, yes, I acknowledge that the author has covered their ass by using the "chose not to warn" tag. But because 19 out of 20 times I encounter that tag there's basically nothing to warn for, it's impossible to know when that tag is actually being used for good reason. So every so often I end up reading a fic with main character death or main character rape and getting completely blindsided because the author "chose not to warn." Which is why I would love it if, in cases where there is something major to warn for but the author doesn't want to spoil it, they would just add some kind of additional author's note or something that would ping people's radar. Just an additional tag that says "I picked the chose not to warn tag for a reason" or "I don't want to spoil anybody but there's some dark shit in here" or whatever.

I'm not saying I expect people to do this. I'm just wishing they would.

[(Anonymous)]

I... kind of understand what you're saying, I think? Basically, you have your own idea of how the "choose not to warn" label should be applied - one that doesn't really match with how many people use it. I can see how that'd be frustrating but the problem is that you've lulled yourself into a false sense of security. I'm not sure it's the authors or fics that are blindsiding you, you're kind of doing it to yourself.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not really "my own idea" though, so much as what that tag was originally intended for. How it's currently used - at least in my fandom - is as a catch all. A huge percentage of fic authors use that tag, whether there's anything to warn for or not. They use it just in case someone feels there's something they should warn for.

I understand why authors use it that way, but it messes up the system. Because then people who are using it the way it was designed to be used - when there IS something that needs to be warned for but the author doesn't want to tag it for whatever reason - are indistinguishable from times when it's a meaningless tag.

Literally the ONLY way I could keep from accidentally getting blindsided by main character rape and death in my fandom is if I sent a PM every single time I came across a fic using the "chose not to warn" tag. Which would often mean sending several PMs per day. And I do send PMs, pretty regularly, in cases where there's something in the general tags that suggests the "chose not to warn" tag was actually used for a reason. But sending a PM to an author every. single. time. I come across a fic that uses that tag is...not impossible, but impractical to the point of being unfeasible. I'd be spending half my fic-reading time sending PMs.

[(Anonymous)]

Literally the ONLY way I could keep from accidentally getting blindsided by main character rape and death in my fandom is if I sent a PM every single time I came across a fic using the "chose not to warn" tag. Which would often mean sending several PMs per day.

That's not strictly true, though? You could regard every fic that's labeled "choose not to warn" as potentially having something serious like character death, rape, etc. Because it does, given that's the way your fandom writers label things. I realize it's not ideal, but you wouldn't be blindsided. It's the whole "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" adage.

[(Anonymous)]

Ok, I just realized there's some confusion over what I mean by blindsided. You are (rightly) taking blindsided to mean "Completely out of nowhere" whereas I was using it to mean, "I didn't know it was going to hit me until it hit me."

You are right, one can go through every single fic that uses the "chose not to warn" tag with the awareness that maybe, at some point, X/Y/Z might happen. And I generally do try to have that awareness. But being aware that there's a small chance X/Y/Z might occur has never kept me from being caught off guard when X/Y/Z does occur. Which is why I used the word "blindsided," though I can see why you disagreed with my word choice.

[(Anonymous)]

I... see. I think. But to me this sounds like a quirk that's specific to you and your expectations, and not a problem of fic authors needing to cater to people who know that there's a chance they're going to read something disturbing, read on anyway, then get disturbed. I get how that could be tedious and frustrating over time, but I don't think it's the author's responsibility to warn you twice because you didn't prepare after the first warning.

[(Anonymous)]

This is why I love AO3.

It's not set up to protect you, the reader. It's set up to protect us, the writers. And we can use that system as it best benefits and protects us, regardless of how you feel it should be used.

The tag "choose not to warn" is used exactly as it was intended - as a warning itself. Partly because the idea of whether or not "there's anything to warn for" is highly subjective.

[(Anonymous)]

Just because ITT I'm addressing one of the issues some fic readers have, doesn't mean that's my only hat. I also write fic. I was even prevailed upon to add a tag to one of my fics, once, and while I didn't wholly agree with the reader's assessment at the time, I added the tag anyway, because why not? The tag didn't harm my fic, and it stood the possibility of providing a better experience for readers, so I added it.

And honestly? I would say I love AO3 more as a reader than as a writer, so I'm not sure where you'e coming from.

Secondly, I recall quite a few conversations that happened on LJ, back in the days shortly before AO3 got up and running, about the functionality of warning tags. It may not have been universally agreed upon that "Chose not to warn" was a necessary middle ground between explicit warnings and no warnings, but it was a very popular way of understanding, and later, using the tag.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure where you'e coming from

You're complaining about your reading experience.

It may not have been universally agreed upon that "Chose not to warn" was a necessary middle ground between explicit warnings and no warnings

How could anyone agree it was a middle ground? "Choose not to warn" literally means "no warnings are being given." That is its literal meaning.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my god. I have- you don't- nope. Nope. I have explained this like six times in this comments thread already. I'm done with this one. Cheers.

[(Anonymous)]

DA

So your argument is that "diluting" the alleged implicit meaning of CNTW by using it on totally inoffensive fics is bad because it makes it harder for readers to distinguish between unlabeled fics that may contain actually objectionable content and unlabeled fics that are completely benign, yet you add tags to your fic that you feel misrepresent your fic just because a reader pestered you into it.

[tabaqui]

All of this.