A good and useful thing.
This is very smart. (via copper_on_mars)
I've long stopped reading whenever anything like "M/M [insert evol here]" or "slash" show up in the warnings header of a story. I've quite a few very smart people on my flist, and I'm sure it isn't exactly new or even remotely surprising to any of them to know that that sort of warning is insulting.
But maybe it does help to be explicit about it, so: no, I won't read fic with that kind of "warning" in it. I also won't read gen that feels the need to warn for background or incidental homosexuality without doing the same for heterosexuality in the same story. It's just... such bad form, and so annoying, and yes, I'm very judgmental over it.
Just saying.
ETA: It's been pointed out to me accidentally and indirectly that I have actually read stories with M/M warnings on them. I really love some of them, too, but these are from authors I already know. I think it's a matter of trust - if I don't know the author and I'm tempted to look at the header to see what's what, that's when that kind of warning jumps out at me. I just thought I'd clarify, since that makes the above incorrect.
ETA2: I feel a larger issue coming up for me, in terms of writing down my thoughts about warnings in general. It's not something I can put together overnight, however, or even in the next week or two due to holidays, but it is something I feel pretty strongly about so maybe I ought to. I realize this is an oft-treaded topic in metafandom, but that's never reason enough to avoid engaging, so.
I've long stopped reading whenever anything like "M/M [insert evol here]" or "slash" show up in the warnings header of a story. I've quite a few very smart people on my flist, and I'm sure it isn't exactly new or even remotely surprising to any of them to know that that sort of warning is insulting.
But maybe it does help to be explicit about it, so: no, I won't read fic with that kind of "warning" in it. I also won't read gen that feels the need to warn for background or incidental homosexuality without doing the same for heterosexuality in the same story. It's just... such bad form, and so annoying, and yes, I'm very judgmental over it.
Just saying.
ETA: It's been pointed out to me accidentally and indirectly that I have actually read stories with M/M warnings on them. I really love some of them, too, but these are from authors I already know. I think it's a matter of trust - if I don't know the author and I'm tempted to look at the header to see what's what, that's when that kind of warning jumps out at me. I just thought I'd clarify, since that makes the above incorrect.
ETA2: I feel a larger issue coming up for me, in terms of writing down my thoughts about warnings in general. It's not something I can put together overnight, however, or even in the next week or two due to holidays, but it is something I feel pretty strongly about so maybe I ought to. I realize this is an oft-treaded topic in metafandom, but that's never reason enough to avoid engaging, so.