( No Title )
➡️ Content warnings on fiction are a courtesy.
➡️ Not every medium of fiction and storytelling has or is expected to have content warnings or extensive tagging.
➡️ Print novels do not traditionally warn for content in any way.
➡️ Until AO3 came along, fanfiction did not traditionally warn for content in any significant way.
➡️ An author is only obligated to warn for content to the degree mandated by the format they publish their fiction on.
➡️ Content warnings beyond the minimum are a courtesy, not an obligation.
➡️ ‘Creator chose not to warn’ is a valid tag that authors are allowed to use on AO3. It means there could be anything in there and you have accepted the risk. ‘May contain peanuts!’
➡️ Writers are allowed to use ‘Creator chose not to warn’ for any reason, including to maintain surprise and avoid spoilers.
➡️ ‘Creator chose not to warn’ is not the same thing as ‘no archive warnings apply’.
➡️ It is your responsibility to protect yourself and close a book, or hit the back button if you find something in fiction that you’re reading that upsets you.
➡️ You are responsible for protecting yourself from fiction that causes you discomfort.
Just because that’s how it was done doesn’t mean it’s how it should be done going forward.
Isn’t the goal of…literally anything to improve?
And isn’t providing your readers with content and potential trigger warnings just…like the moral thing to do? Would you want someone to start reading your fic, hit a trauma trigger, and have issues because of it?
No, not if you’re not an asshole.
Put warnings on your fic.
Warnings are not spoilers.
You can warn without giving away plot.
I don’t know how people expect anyone to be able to police their own content if you refuse to HELP them do that by tagging properly.
Do you have to? No.
But you also don’t have to not shit in someone’s living room. It’s just the not-asshole thing to do.
Fanfic is a community, let’s start treating it like one.
You can do that.
You can also sit out on fics that don’t.
I use archive warnings if they apply, but I will not go and tag every last thing that might maybe, probably trigger someone.
“Sorry, but you had a scene in a hospital and medical stuff really triggers me” – Wow, that sucks, I’m sorry for you. And yet I will not go and tag every mention of a doctor, nurse or hospital in the future.
I don’t have to take people by the hand and walk them through every last thing that they might find upsetting about a story beforehand and I won’t.
You can do that.
And you can chose to avoid writers who don’t.
For me, personally this expectation to get an alphabetised list of problematic shit goes hand in hand with the growing call for removal of “problematic content” and this isn’t “1984” so…
I make sure to mark the appropriate age group for my stories, because kids have no business fucking with my stuff.
Other than that I have no obligation to curate other ppl’s online experience, this isn’t my day job.
You can do that.
And you can chose to avoid the people who don’t.
It’s more about straight up not tagging beyond pairings.
I see nothing wrong with using “Author chose not to use warnings” as a warning in and of itself. I’ve used that tag before myself.
But I don’t think it’s doing fandom any favours to not try to help people have a better experience and make it more inclusive.
Like, you don’t have to give away plot points to help people avoid triggers.
As long as you know your content has potential triggers and tag it accordingly or even use “chose not to warn”, you’re doing your job.
People who don’t do this aren’t helping people curate their experience. You can’t avoid a flight with allergens on it if the airline doesn’t warn you it’s a pet-friendly flight. And you can’t avoid panic attack triggers if people just “no warnings apply” and refuse to tag.
You don’t HAVE to tag every mention of a doctor or nurse. You can tag “medical” or “chose not to warn”. And that’s sufficient.
I’m not advocating for over-tagging. Just basic common courtesy tagging that some people refuse to do.
I just don’t see how it’s possible to curate your own fandom experience when people are stubbornly refusing to help you do that. And I don’t think “we didn’t do it 20 years ago” is a valid reason.
No, i mean, that’s just strictly not accurate though.
“no archive warnings apply” means, there’s no major character death, graphic violence, rape, or underage. That’s all it means.
You can absolutely hit “no archive warnings apply” and leave it at that if your fic (which you correctly rated as explicit), has piss, or medical play, or blood kink in it.
You don’t have to hit “chose not to warn” for that.
You don’t have to warn for anything beyond the major archive warnings.
Anything else is a courtesy.
Discussion ¬