Let's Talk About Warnings
Apr. 2nd, 2011 04:05 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
thisgirl-is.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
hd_writersFirst 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.
+ 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.
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-02 05:18 pm (UTC)While it has never bothered me, I get that there are a surprising (to me) number of people who feel they absolutely need to be warned for bottom/top positions. I don't personally feel the position someone takes sexually has anything at all to do with their personality.
But.
I've taken to using a Warnings/Contains line in my fic header. Because I've long-since realised that what might scare one person away might very well entice another (for instance, I wrote for a fest where non-con was a common theme, and often required by the prompts). After the discussion with my beta, where I listed "bottoming from the top" in the same warnings/contains line as who was actually the top and bottom, we had a bit of a debate as to what qualified for that field.
I eventually took out the 'bottoming from the top' mention, and stated 'no real warnings (but bottom!character, if you're concerned with that sort of thing)'. I do know one person (not in this fandom) who does mind the BftT scenario, but I suppose it's not a common squick.
TL;DR
Basically, I'm torn. I'm not triggered by anything (that I'm aware of), and my list of squicks at this point is fairly small and constantly shrinking. But I have close friends who are triggered by things, some of which I write about, so I try to include. But on the other hand... What to do about things that are potentially triggery, but are also plot twists and such?
Honestly, I think I might just scrap "warnings/contains" for "contains" from this point on. But... not slash/het/femmeslash, because that should be in the pairings line (which is also in my post title), and I in no way think any of those should be "warned" for. Exception being on my masterlist, which is multi-fandom--so far, femmeslash is mentioned, but only because one of the characters has a name that is not immediately clear as to gender of the character).