fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #562 ]

⌈ Secret Post #562 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 18 pages, 446 secrets from Secret Submission Post #081.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 4 5 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ], [ 1 - empty comment ], [ 1 - Walken ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, I'm not saying the mere mention of rape requires a warning. I don't think it does. That particular parenthetical comment was more to just add to the side comment on how fandom sometimes treats rape.

My main point was that I encountered numerous stories in which the rating and summary lead one to believe it's a happy, safe story -- or at lest doesn't contain any dark themes -- and then all of the sudden you have a graphic rape scene. It's not that you can't deduce the story from the summary, it's that the author posts a very misleading one.

And I would guess that the number of rape victims combined with the number of people who may not have been raped but are still very upset by it is much greater than the number of people who are squicked by eyes being damaged. That's a totally legitimate squick and I understand that, but while it's true that you can't expect everything to be catered to, it's not as hard to warn for something that's well-known to be not just a squick but a trigger to many people.

Still, generally you can tell where a fic is going several paragraphs before it actually gets there (unless it's a really, really bad fic), which seems to me would be plenty of time to hit the back button before you get to the really upsetting parts. Like I said, you don't get warnings on books, so I'm having a bit of trouble understanding why fic should be so different. Some people warn, some don't. It's really a personal choice, and I don't feel that an author should be forced into anything if they don't want to. Will they end up losing potential readers? Possibly, but again, that's their own choice.

If the rating is misleading, then I'd consider that to be worthy of complaint because I DO believe if you're going to employ the rating system as a courtesy to your readers that you should do it properly. Trying to sneak graphic stuff into a PG-13 fic isn't cool because a lot of readers rely on ratings to make decisions about what they read. But again, they're not really under any obligation to rate their fics either... just to rate it properly if they do choose to do so.

Not always. Sometimes it's "this could be that, but it could go either way" or it is just out of the blue. If summaries and preceding paragraphs could give the reader all the information they needed, I doubt there'd even be warnings. No one's forcing them to do so, but as I've said before, if someone chooses not to warn for graphic rape, and refuses to add any kind of warning even after being politely asked to do so, then they, of all people, don't need to get butthurt and offended when people do leave feedback telling them why it upset them.

Especially when there's so many different ways to warn that makes a win-win situation for everyone. I see absolutely no reason for someone to refuse to warn in any way, shape, or form, for triggering things like rape. It takes a few extra seconds, keeps people from getting upset, and potentially gains some readers. Wow, we can't do that.

I can't say I've ever seen a fic where there haven't been enough hints for me to be able to say "hmm, it looks like this might be going in a bad direction." And if it bothers you and you get to something that looks like it could potentially go in a direction you don't like, why keep reading it and risk upsetting yourself? I don't get it.

See, my point is, why should the author be forced to warn if they don't want to? Sure, it's the courteous thing to do, but it's their fic and if they don't want to warn for anything that's their own choice. People have the right be upset by it, but I don't think they should feel that they therefore have the right to dictate what an author does with his or her fic.

I'm not claiming to understand it, I just dislike the mindset that an author is somehow obligated to do anything with their own work.

Because you can't always see it coming. And even if you can, it'd be nice to know beforehand before you get 50%, 75%, 90% through a story and have to hit the back button because the author decided to pop a rape scene in.

No one's forcing them to warn. There is no law making the author warn. But the only legitimate reason I can really see to not do so is if the author doesn't want to "spoil" certain parts for other readers. However, there are ways to still warn for those who need it without spoiling others -- whiting it out, placing it on another page that you have to follow a link to get to, putting it at the bottom of the story with a spoiler space, etc. If you still refuse to do any of those, I can't see any other reason than just plain "I dun wanna! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" Which someone has every right to do, but I also have every right to criticize them for being inconsiderate.

Edited 2008-07-22 04:55 (UTC)

That's fair enough! And I'd actually never thought of those methods of warning before. I haven't written anything with really questionable content myself, but I know that I personally hate being spoiled for things so I tend to go with as few warnings as possible.

I haven't either. I think the worst thing I've (jokingly, obviously!) warned for is lawyers. :)

I've seen tons of people use the white spoiler space, but the other two are less common in my experience. I understand someone not wanting to spoil other readers, but it's when someone outright refuses other options, even when someone politely explains why it's upsetting without warnings and suggests alternative ways to warn, that really gets me. That, to me, is just being stubborn.

The one thing I hate warnings for the most is character death. It just... ruins the fic for me because I spend the entire time sitting there wondering who is going to die and when, and then when it happens it doesn't have as much emotional impact for me because I was expecting someone to kick the bucket. I'd much rather not see it coming and not have it constantly at the back of my mind.

[ SECRET POST #562 ]

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