*tiny impotent fist of rage*

[trinityofone]

OMG, if I see this:

New information about Sheppard's father!

(Cut for Season 3 spoilers)*

one more time, I may scream. (Quietly. Well, I'll glare at the screen.) That's a spoiler, people, for the love of tiny monkeys!**

I mean, I know I'm anal about this, but I really, really didn't want to know that--that that topic was even going to be addressed next season. I like my little bubble, and I like to be surprised. So please, err on the side of caution!

*goes back to contemplating AU academic porn*


*Totally fake spoiler
**TM siriaeve

Comments

[neery.livejournal.com]

It seems very polite to me, no one else in the thread has adressed it before, and it's a valid concern, so I don't think it will cause trouble.

But then, the last time I asked someone, very politely, I thought, to warn for a certain content of their post (not spoilers, though) I was called hypocritical, lazy and irresponsible, and advised that if I didn't want to encounter something like that in my reading, I could just have a friend skim everything for me and make sure it's okay beforehand, instead of whining to the author. So I am also very wary of criticizing such things at the moment.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

They wanted you to appoint a royal fic taster? Um...

I mean, everyone screws up about labeling things at one time or another--I know I've done it. So the right thing to do is to fix it immediately when someone asks, and be polite about it. It really doesn't hurt you, and it appeases them. Right?

[neery.livejournal.com]

They wanted you to appoint a royal fic taster?

Bwahaha, I wish I'd have thought of that, it would have sounded so much smarter than my helpless flailing response.

But, yeah. Maybe if I was freakishly rich, and could appoint someone to be available to fic-taste 24 hours a day, even when I get up at 6.30 am or stay up till 3am to read... okay, no, it would still be a stupid solution for a problem that could be solved with a simple warning.

I'm kind of starting to find it amusing that someone could consider that a viable solution. Now that I'm not so full of impotent rage anymore.

[abbylee]

I suspect that was me who suggested having a friend read stories before hand (since I know I've said it recently), and I stand by it.

Just like I think that people don't get to define what constitutes a spoiler for other people, I don't think that people should get to define what needs a warning. I think it's great when an author *does* put warnings on their stories, and I've helped a number of authors learn html workarounds so that they can place them as footnotes or in hidden divs, but I stand by the idea that in the end it's the readers responsibility.

Now that the topic of the spoiler has been hidden (which I absolutely agree with) how does someone figure out whether or not they want to read it? What if they don't mind being spoiled about character development, but they mind being spoiled about episode plots? They have to ask a friend who has already read those spoilers to see whether or not they want to read this post. To me, it's the same thing in fic. If you don't mind reading graphic sex scenes but mind reading violence, then sometimes you have to rely on someone other than the author.

Again, I think it's great and nice when an author puts warnings on their story. I wish more did. But warnings don't tell you how the author handles the situation, which is sometimes the most important part. (And personally, the main reason why I avoid spoilers.) And there are so many things that an author can warn for; there are always things that certain readers don't want to see in their stories. So in the end, I still think that just like it's our responsibility to decide whether or not to click on the spoiler link, it's our responsibility to decide whether or not to click on the story. We can't depend on fandom to choose what spoilers we each think are okay, and we can't depend on fandom to choose what topics we each think are okay.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Oh. No that makes sense--and it's a good idea, too.

I sense this may be that old internet tone problem: one person's "it might be helpful to you if you got a friend to read it first" becomes another's "well then why don't you just have a friend pre-read everything for you, huh?" Tricksy internet.

[neery.livejournal.com]

Well, in my case it was "Why don't you have a friend pre-read every story that has no warning for you, and unfortunately, that's ninety percent of them, so, still not viable.

Like I said in my original response, I'm perfectly willing to ask friends about every story where there is any indication that I might have a problem with it -- even if it's just "Author's notes at the end", or "caveat lector", or "spoilery information about my stories on a separate page", or, hell, just knowing that the author like to write dark fics, but if the author refuses to give me any chance to sense that her story might not be for me, well, I don't see the difference between that and a non-cut spoiler, in that it doesn't leave me any chance to avoid the topic without avoiding the whole fandom except for a few trusted friends, or having everything filtered first.

As for what to warn for -- my original answer was, "Everything that's bound to upset or annoy more than, say, 25 or 30 percent of fandom", because that's a lot of people getting their feelings hurt.

(Trinity, I'm sorry, I certainly didn't want to drag this debate into your LJ -- I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place.)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

*headdesk* Okay, now I see your point, too. That's the problem with this debate: both sides are right, in their own way.

I mean, I know that as a reader, there are certain things I want to be warned for. As a writer, I don't want to give away major plot points of my story. I wish there were an easier way for people to do what amireal and I are going to do for our upcoming epic: have a note that says, "Need more specific warnings? Click here" and then have a separate page that is warning-a-licious.

I still think everyone should use their best judgment when posting warnings, and then--if even one person has a problem--do the courteous thing and post a correction. (Well, unless that person's being crazy and asking for, say, a warning for cucumbers. But again, best judgment.) And...and we can all be polite and friendly and frolic through a field of tulips!

*sigh*

Anyway, yeah, I don't think this argument's ever going to end, but I'm sorry if either of you was hurt.