Calculating fanfic

[loligo]

I like equations. I especially like it when the messy complications of humanity can be distilled down to equations. I like to think about the posting of controversial fanfic this way: one hopes that someone who posts a story on a controversial or taboo subject has done at least a smidge of thinking about possible consquences before making their

Comments

[hesychasm]

the extremity of a possible consequence, and its likelihood, and I don't think people always appreciate how different our estimates of *those* factors can be.

Oooh, that's an excellent point. And yes, it's why I have a hard time knowing how to respond when people bring up extreme examples, because for me it's a balancing of what groups need protection, what groups are more likely to need protection, etc. And everyone weighs those differently.

[cofax7]

Yup! Risk analysis looks at possibility and intensity of damage. I don't think we're ever going to get an answer that meets all concerns, but ...

It's sort of like the Great Warning Debate, in a sense. When I choose to post a story, I go through the following calculation:

1. Is something in this story going to upset/trigger/piss off people?
2. How much damage is that likely to cost to them, or to me (in terms of flaming or losing a future reader)?
3. What benefit do I gain from not putting warnings on the story? (In terms of maximizing impact, etc.)
4. Does 3 outweigh 2? If not, and I choose to post without warnings anyway, do I accept the consequences? Or is there something else I can do to resolve the conflict (like post warnings separately)?

[therealjae]

For the first time, I'm posting my latest pieces with no headers at all, sort of as an experiment. I'm doing so because putting labels on a series that's simultaneously slash, het, and gen seems rather pointless, but also because they're short enough that going through the whole header rigamarole would spoil the whole thing! It's so far, so good, but I haven't reached anything yet that might be triggering to people, either. The next one will be a bit more of a test case, and there are a couple down the line that will be even tougher. We'll see.

-J