Temporary Discussion Post (Was Post for Authors)

[trigger_fence]

Big Giant Note: new topic-specific discussion posts have been added

Temporarily, this is a post where authors can leave a comment to state that they do not warn for triggers in fanfiction headings, nor do they intend to. whether or not they use warnings and content labels for common triggers, and any relevant details about their policies.

Note:

Comments

[racric]

btw, anonymous, I also warn for violence, which you should add next to my name on your blacklist.

[trigger_fence]

Thanks, I've edited the reference to reflect that! It's not a blacklist, though.

[racric]

You might not want to call it a blacklist, but everyone in my fandoms who is talking about it, whether they warn or don't warn, or think people should or don't have to, all consider it, and refer to it as, a blacklist.

[racric]

blacklist |ˈblakˌlist|
noun
a list of people or products viewed with suspicion or disapproval.
verb [ trans. ] (often be blacklisted)
put (a person or product) on such a list : workers were blacklisted after being quoted in the newspaper.

A blacklist (or black list) is a list or register of persons who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle. Conversely, a whitelist is a list or compilation identifying persons or organizations that are accepted, recognized, or privileged.

Your list is the dictionary definition of a blacklist. You are in severe denial.

[trigger_fence]

I'm not sure which particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition the authors are being denied. It is intended as a reference list for assault survivors to know where they might be accidentally triggered.

[racric]

You first definition is quite correct: your fics are a product that I regard with suspicion, because they do not come with a content/warning label.

[racric]

How in God's name can you say "graphic sex and violence" is not a content label?

All my stories that contain graphic sex and violence have that label.

If you need more than that, then there is something wrong with you, not with me.

[racric]

There is a difference between "graphic sex" and "nonconsensual sex." There is a difference between "violence" and "sexual violence."

[racric]

If you are someone who can't deal with specific types of content, then the label "graphic sex and violence" should be all you need to warn you to stay away. I don't understand why there is this incredible insistence on labeling for every single possible one of the main triggers. Graphic sex and violence covers every possible range of sexual or violent content. I'm starting to wonder what is going on. Are we now just arguing semantics? If so, it's pointless.

Look, I rarely even post my stories to LJ. The ones I have posted are very short and have no graphic content of any kind. Unles you go looking for my stories, you won't find them. I post to my own website. I've ALWAYS USED WARNINGS. I write for one fandom only. I follow the "rules" and "practices" in my fandom. I follow rules of comms I belong to. I give warnings for graphic sex and violence. Am I supposed to give you my firstborn son as well?

What the hell do you people want?
Jeesh.

[racric]

What the hell do you people want?

Warnings for specific triggers.

[racric]

Nothing else I've said makes any difference. I don't get it. You don't get it. Just walk on by. I warn. If my warnings aren't specific enough, it's very very simple: don't read the story. No harm done to either of us.

[racric]

That is exactly my point: "graphic sex and violence" covers such a range that it can mean "explicitly described, consensual sex and someone getting punched in the face in two entirely different scenes" or "explicitly described violent rape." If you do not warn for rape, "graphic sex" could easily mean "graphically described consensual sex" or "rape", and to me, this is not just semantics but an actual difference in dictionary definition. Thus, the contents of your fic are suspicious to me. I do not trust them, and I will choose not to read them if I know you do not warn for rape; however, I can only know that if I know that by "graphic sex" you might actually mean rape. This is what this list is about.

[racric]

Then why can't you just choose to walk on by? It seems incredibly nitpicky to me. I don't like to read about violence toward animals. No one warns for that. If I think there might be content that I don't want to read, I don't read. I don't make the writer tell me every possible thing I might not like. This just seems like it's going much too far. You want warnings, I give warnings. They aren't specific enough for you? Walk on by.

[racric]

That's what this list is helping readers with triggers do.

[racric]

This list explicitly about letting people with triggers know whose fics they should just walk on by. Some people do give specific warnings. Some people do warn for graphic sex and actually mean graphic sex rather than rape. As a reader, I have no way of differentiating between those fics and your fics. This list lets me know that you do not warn for rape, and therefore by "graphic sex" you might mean rape, and therefore I should just walk on by, while still allowing me to read fic by people who are more exact in their terminology. And all this at no cost to you, except the cost of being listed as someone who does not warn for rape, which you have already repeatedly stated in public.

[trigger_fence]

I'm freezing this thread. If you want to talk about whether or not warnings are necessary, please do it in your own journal.