Fictional-fans discusses tags & warnings on fanfic

[firecat]

This is a fascinating discussion, quite respectful and nuanced so far, on what people want out of tags in fanfic, and especially on reasons people might use the "Choose Not to Warn" AO3 option.

https://fictional-fans.dreamwidth.org/68137.html

Lesson learned: What people want out of tags: completely contradictory things, so my goal of perfectly tagging a fic is doooomed.

Comments

[sabotabby]

https://classroom.google.com/c/NzAwMDc5ODA5NFpa/p/MTA0MDY0NjQwNzYz/details

It is impossible. Though I think as long as you warn for actual common trauma triggers, the harm done is non-existent and at worst you've wasted a few minutes of someone's time.

[firecat]

The classroom link doesn't seem to be working. Thanks for your take on tagging!

[sabotabby]

Hah, it was meant to be a quote.

What people want out of tags: completely contradictory things, so my goal of perfectly tagging a fic is doooomed.

This is what I get for attempting to work while also engaging in fannish stuff. Messing up in reverse is worse. :)

[firecat]

Fannish stuff does tend to eat one's brain at times!

[alexcat]

I found the discussion interesting... I came from old school sites.. with no tags. LJ was the first place I saw tags... and you only warned of BDSM or rape back then. And maybe incest.

I do read tags - mostly for above stated stuff and I don't always avoid that. I don't think I have any triggers - I even hate the word. I do have thigns I don't like - ABO, soulmates and /reader fics.

I am a little confused with warning for meat eating and refuse to take my tags quite that far.

[firecat]

It never occurred to me to warn for meat-eating.

I like searching on tags if I'm in the mood for a certain kind of story or theme or kink, so I try to tag for others who might do this. I also like tags used to gently poke fun at one's own story (e.g., I added "over-the-top orgasm metaphors" to one of mine).

[jesse_the_k]

The gently-poking-fun function was born from Tumblr’s terrible search ability. It’s enlightening to compare tags in 2010 fic with those in 2020, with the newer ones have three times as many. I do enjoy the meta-criticism, though.

My attitude to content notes was forever changed when I heard a presentation by someone who experienced the kind of Frank trauma everyone recognizes (house fire killed her partner, disabled her). Her triggers are very banal items, nothing that would be on my horizon.

I do use tags to avoid certain topics which make for lousy sleeping or lousy waking like. I appreciate the info A LOT!

[firecat]

I knew tag humor came from Tumblr but I didn't know why or how! I have no idea how it is supposed to help Tumblr's terrible search ability, but I really like it.

And yes, I wrote an AO3 fic in 2010 and it has very few tags.

And I do try to tag stuff that I know might turn some people off. (It's efficient that a lot of them are things that might turn some people on, heh.) But of course there's no way to know everyone's sensitive spots.

[silveradept]

A perfectly tagged fic would only work for that one person. There would have to be magic involved to retag everything as each person looked at the tags, or to deliver a perfectly personalized set of tags.

[firecat]

Wouldn't that be cool!

[spoondrift]

That was a fascinating discussion. And as you said - everyone wants something different! I personally love talkative chatty-style tags, and use them myself. I scan the tags and summary but not much actually puts me off - I figure if I don't like it I can just stop reading.

[firecat]

Thanks for your comment and datapoint! Hey, if everyone wants different things, that means I get to do my tags the way I want.

[spoondrift]

Exactly - you can't please everyone so better to do them your way!