30 Day Fandom Meme Day 15

[leethet]

Day 15 – Warnings – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?
I don’t think it’s “important” to warn for anything. I’m too old to be invested in the game of babyproofing the world for strangers who are free to walk away. It’s internet fanfic, not a hostage situation. Since I write very vanilla fic anyway, I’ve never had to warn for anything, really, strange or otherwise. I even had a death in a fic that I forgot to warn for (I'm not against warning, I'm just not invested in fannish manipulation attempts like the egotistical fen who label kowtowing to their personal whims "courtesy" or "good manners"). But that was an oversight, and a fluke. I almost never kill a main character or do anything outre.

Comments

[frau-flora.livejournal.com]

I’m too old to be invested in the game of babyproofing the world for strangers who are free to walk away. It’s internet fanfic, not a hostage situation.

Thank you.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

This is a very unpopular position in fandom; I wonder how these people were raised that they genuinely expect random strangers to cater to their whims like this. They not only expect it, they demand it. The few people I've met like that in RL - well, they're called assholes.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I really like the AO3 option of "chooses not to warn" (though I never have anything to warn about either). I only started reading fan fiction a few years ago, and the extent of the warning culture surprised me, since I'd never seen it in commercial writing. I don't have anything against it either, but when people read random stories on the internet it's foolish to expect the author to always take responsibility for protecting them.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Yes. The verbal abuse writers take from fanfic readers - as if the writers put guns to people's heads - amazes me. Geez, it's just fanfic. If you're afraid of being triggered (and I'm not making fun of people whose experiences have left them with such concerns), don't read it. It's not like food, water, shelter, friendship, employment or all other forms of entertainment have been denied to these people, but you'd think their human rights were being violated the way they whine.

(Not that writers whining about how they don't get enough praise from readers is any less revolting!)