Spoiler-censoring update
It's been (almost) one week since episode 3x01 of Veronica Mars aired on the CW, so if you haven't seen 3x01 and don't want to be spoiled, you may want to take veronicamarsfic off your reading list. Don't worry - we won't be approving any fic headers that contain spoilers until after the episode airs on the West Coast tonight, but we won't be posting a warning beforehand. So consider this your warning. :) At this point, we've stopped rejecting fanfics that violate the "no spoilers in the header" rule, and we will just leave any such posts pending until the spoiler ban (on 3x01) has been lifted.
Most of you guys have been fantastic about being careful about spoilers, and we think that a lot of the confusion that occured was due to a lack of details and specificity on our part. So behind the cut, we have some more specific examples of what is and is not okay.
Just to preface this all, I will be giving made up examples in the text that follows as well as examples specifically from 3x01. However, all examples from 3x01 will be spoiler-tagged like this so that you need to actively work to see the spoilers. (thanks to beppergirl for the coding!)
There are a few specific areas of the header that seem to be causing some problems (and some areas that I can see being a potential issue in the future), so I'm just going to run through the required header components, one by one, and address any issues I've seen. Of course, if you have any questions or want additional clarification, feel free to comment here or email sarah_p or herowlness at livejournal.com
TITLE
Usually not too many issues here, at least none that I can think of, but I'm sure that if you really tried, you could come up with a spoilery title. Just .... don't. Please?
AUTHOR
Your username shouldn't be spoilery, so we should be safe here, as well. :)
PAIRING/CHARACTER
Pairings aren't usually spoilery (although if there's a sudden surge in the amount of Mac/Wallace fanfic that's being written, that might indicate something happened between them), and we won't require you to censor your pairings in response to a given episode. (with the example given above, we won't ask you to *not* list Mac/Wallace if they make out or whatever in an upcoming episode)
However, characters can be spoilery. We will not be making any tags for new characters until one week has passed since they first appeared on screen. Whether they are minor characters (like whoever Veronica is saving this week) or more major characters who may appear in more than one episode (such as Parker, Piz, Professor Landry, or Lucky Tim the TA), these characters should not be listed in any part of the header (not the here or in the summary section) until one week has passed from the initial episode airdate.
Let's say that Wallace gets a new girlfriend named Mary in a given episode. You'll probably want your header to indicate that Wallace is in a relationship (or whatever) for your fanfic, so you might want to write something like Wallace/3x02 character or, of course, you have the option to put that entire line behind a cut.
WORD COUNT
Probably not spoilery. Unless we get some more Lost numbers or something and you manipulate your fanfic so that it is the exact same number of words, and, and .... right. ;)
RATING
Also not spoilery. But, as a reminder to everyone, if your fic is rated R or NC-17, you need to include a warnings section within your header, indicating what aspects of your fic make it more adult that something that would be rated PG-13. This can be as specific as "Lamb and Veronica have sex" or as general as "adult situations, language, sexual situations, nudity, etc."
SUMMARY
This is the other main place where people have been running into trouble. I understand that you want people to know where your fic fits into the story (if you are writing a missing scene or extended scene) fic, or which aspect of the episode it focuses on, but if you want to be detailed, please use an additional LJ-cut.
Also, as a reminder, you cannot list new characters here - be it the theoretical new girlfriend of Wallace's that I made up above or Piz or Parker or whomever else. Again, this is where the whole "After making out with the new girl, Wallace has deep thoughts" or where the whole "After seeing Veronica flirt with the new guy, Logan fights to keep her." sorts of summaries are better alternatives.
SPOILERS
This doesn't seem like it could be overly spoilery (and it isn't, unless you give details about what part of a given episode you spoil for), but this is just incredibly important, in terms of accuracy and helping people sift through the spoilery and non-spoilery fics. Worst case scenario, say "through all aired episodes, to be safe."
WARNINGS
Again, this depends on how detailed you are. Saying "Weevil/Veronica sex" or "dark themes" or "character death" are fine. This is definitely a case where less is more. (example: "Cassidy's dead" would not have been okayed until a week had passed since the finale aired)
USER ICONS
Just a friendly reminder that these also must be spoilerfree. Yes, you may be able to sneak a still of Logan or Veronica or Keith doing something totally nonspecific, but if we recognize that a given icon is from the most recent episode, we will reject the post - even if the icon is totally nonspecific with absolutely no text. Otherwise, we have to figure out where we're going to draw the line, and we would eventually run into the issue of just splitting hairs and making sure that we're both moderating in the same way. To minimize these sorts of issues, no icons from the most recently aired episode will be allowed until one week has passed since the episode airdate.
Any questions, points of clarification, or concerns? Bring it on.
However, as a note, any repsonse is likely to be delayed until after 3x02 airs since I have a viewing party to get to. :)
Thanks to all of you, for your awesomeness!
Most of you guys have been fantastic about being careful about spoilers, and we think that a lot of the confusion that occured was due to a lack of details and specificity on our part. So behind the cut, we have some more specific examples of what is and is not okay.
Just to preface this all, I will be giving made up examples in the text that follows as well as examples specifically from 3x01. However, all examples from 3x01 will be spoiler-tagged like this so that you need to actively work to see the spoilers. (thanks to beppergirl for the coding!)
There are a few specific areas of the header that seem to be causing some problems (and some areas that I can see being a potential issue in the future), so I'm just going to run through the required header components, one by one, and address any issues I've seen. Of course, if you have any questions or want additional clarification, feel free to comment here or email sarah_p or herowlness at livejournal.com
TITLE
Usually not too many issues here, at least none that I can think of, but I'm sure that if you really tried, you could come up with a spoilery title. Just .... don't. Please?
AUTHOR
Your username shouldn't be spoilery, so we should be safe here, as well. :)
PAIRING/CHARACTER
Pairings aren't usually spoilery (although if there's a sudden surge in the amount of Mac/Wallace fanfic that's being written, that might indicate something happened between them), and we won't require you to censor your pairings in response to a given episode. (with the example given above, we won't ask you to *not* list Mac/Wallace if they make out or whatever in an upcoming episode)
However, characters can be spoilery. We will not be making any tags for new characters until one week has passed since they first appeared on screen. Whether they are minor characters (like whoever Veronica is saving this week) or more major characters who may appear in more than one episode (such as Parker, Piz, Professor Landry, or Lucky Tim the TA), these characters should not be listed in any part of the header (not the here or in the summary section) until one week has passed from the initial episode airdate.
Let's say that Wallace gets a new girlfriend named Mary in a given episode. You'll probably want your header to indicate that Wallace is in a relationship (or whatever) for your fanfic, so you might want to write something like Wallace/3x02 character or, of course, you have the option to put that entire line behind a cut.
WORD COUNT
Probably not spoilery. Unless we get some more Lost numbers or something and you manipulate your fanfic so that it is the exact same number of words, and, and .... right. ;)
RATING
Also not spoilery. But, as a reminder to everyone, if your fic is rated R or NC-17, you need to include a warnings section within your header, indicating what aspects of your fic make it more adult that something that would be rated PG-13. This can be as specific as "Lamb and Veronica have sex" or as general as "adult situations, language, sexual situations, nudity, etc."
SUMMARY
This is the other main place where people have been running into trouble. I understand that you want people to know where your fic fits into the story (if you are writing a missing scene or extended scene) fic, or which aspect of the episode it focuses on, but if you want to be detailed, please use an additional LJ-cut.
Also, as a reminder, you cannot list new characters here - be it the theoretical new girlfriend of Wallace's that I made up above or Piz or Parker or whomever else. Again, this is where the whole "After making out with the new girl, Wallace has deep thoughts" or where the whole "After seeing Veronica flirt with the new guy, Logan fights to keep her." sorts of summaries are better alternatives.
SPOILERS
This doesn't seem like it could be overly spoilery (and it isn't, unless you give details about what part of a given episode you spoil for), but this is just incredibly important, in terms of accuracy and helping people sift through the spoilery and non-spoilery fics. Worst case scenario, say "through all aired episodes, to be safe."
WARNINGS
Again, this depends on how detailed you are. Saying "Weevil/Veronica sex" or "dark themes" or "character death" are fine. This is definitely a case where less is more. (example: "Cassidy's dead" would not have been okayed until a week had passed since the finale aired)
USER ICONS
Just a friendly reminder that these also must be spoilerfree. Yes, you may be able to sneak a still of Logan or Veronica or Keith doing something totally nonspecific, but if we recognize that a given icon is from the most recent episode, we will reject the post - even if the icon is totally nonspecific with absolutely no text. Otherwise, we have to figure out where we're going to draw the line, and we would eventually run into the issue of just splitting hairs and making sure that we're both moderating in the same way. To minimize these sorts of issues, no icons from the most recently aired episode will be allowed until one week has passed since the episode airdate.
Any questions, points of clarification, or concerns? Bring it on.
However, as a note, any repsonse is likely to be delayed until after 3x02 airs since I have a viewing party to get to. :)
Thanks to all of you, for your awesomeness!