Let's Talk About Warnings

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

First of all, we’d like to apologise for part of yesterday’s post with Kamerreon’s Advice on Writing. The post was copied in full (with permission from the original poster), including the suggestion that slash and femslash are things that should be warned for. We understand that this is offensive, and apologise whole-heartedly to those who were offended. We’d also like to offer this link to explain why, for those for whom it maybe hasn’t been an issue, and don’t understand why it should be.
+ Why warning for slash or femslash is offensive: "Normal stories" vs. slash

At the time of posting this, the original post is still in place. The mods are discussing whether to edit the post to remove issues of sexuality from the warnings section (which entails censoring someone’s work without discussing the changes with them, which we can’t do as she has left fandom and we have no way to contact her), and deleting the post in it’s entirety (which entails deleting the original discussion, as well as the parts of the post that were useful). This decision can’t be made straight away as there are quite a number of mods and we are in different timezones, which delays things, rather. But we want you to know that we are addressing it.


Comments in the post have raised some really good points about warnings, specifically about what to warn for and how. There are no hard and fast rules about this; warning for rape, chan, and character death tend to be standard for those who choose to warn, but not everyone does. We aren’t looking to set any specific guidelines here, but this seems like a really good opportunity to talk about it.

There are a whole lot of things to say about warnings. Here are a few thoughts to get you started:
Why warn? Some people dislike being warned at all, as it can spoil a really fantastic plot twist. Other people would really prefer not to be subjected to an entirely avoidable bout of PTSD.
+ Warnings - The Dead Tree Remix
+ In Defence of Author Control
+ Sexual Assault, Triggering, and Warnings: An Essay (Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.)
+ I'm no longer a victim, so don't thread me like one!
+ Sorry, but I have to decline

Is "Warning" the best way to describe what we’re doing? What are the alternatives? What are the pros and cons?
+ A shift in usage - Content tags instead of warnings?
+ Warnings vs Trigger Alerts


Here are a few questions to get you started: How do you use warnings? Trigger and/or squick avoidance, content tags, or some combination of the two? Which warnings do you look for and which ones do you expect? Are any of them mandatory or is “choose not to warn” an acceptable creative choice for you? Do you have any HP-specific warnings? Any ship-specific warnings? Are they the same for fic you’re writing as they are for fic you read? Do you have a warnings policy?

For anyone looking for further reading, Metafandom have a Warnings tag at Delicious, which is where some of these links have come from.

Please be aware that there may be triggery comments, both here and at the links.

Comments

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

You're right. I understand the argument for why people find it offensive that slash is warned in the same manner as those things that you mentioned, like bestiality. I should have been more clear when I replied. My take on the matter was that people should be alerted to the presence of slash, not warned for it, so they can choose whether or not they want to read. This can be done by making the slash pairing prominent in the summary or pairing tag, or by mentioning that slash will be present in the summary.

I don't think slash should be warned for; I just think that --as I would have wanted several years ago with surprise het-- people should be given the chance to decide what type of sex they want to read.

I hope that makes more sense? It's Sunday and I stay in inferi mode pretty much all day on Sundays.

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

I am totally in favour of people being able to make informed decisions about what they read! Yeah, it's just that negative connotation.

Completely makes sense! Sunday is made for inferi mode. :o)