Before you read a Prosfic...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Somewhere along the way I've picked up the impression that Pros fans tend to be divided most strongly into either slash, gen or het (or various combinations thereof) readers, and that it is on this basis first that we decide whether or not to read a particular Prosfic story. Following an interesting discussion a few weeks ago about labels/categories/warnings etc on Prosfic, Circuit Archive is experimenting with including other information in their lj (and presumably other) updates, and this has got me thinking about it all again - in a rather needs-first-coffee-of-the-morning kind of way!

Basically, I know that I hate all warnings etc on a Prosfic story that I'm about to read, except that I'd like to know whether it's slash, gen or het, because I adore slash, I'll read gen if there's some reason to (or a chance of adding my own subtext!) and I don't want to touch het with a bargepole... a very long bargepole! During the discussion, I came across the idea that most people would view a label of slash, het or gen (or the story's pairings, which actually is a much smarter way of telling us whether it's slash, het or gen!) as the same kind of "spoiler" as, say a deathfic warning, which completely surprised me, took me aback, and got me thinking even more... *g*

And then I remembered that lj lets you do those poll-thingies, and wondered if I might try one of those... though I'd like to hear what people think as well as just seeing numbers, so please do comment as well! So - what kind of, if any, information do you look for before you read a Pros story? (And I'm not really going for the to-warn-about-deathfic/rape/non-consensual debate here, although I've included it in my question and I'm curious about numbers there too, it's more the broader sense of the question - and do we care about age ratings? Are there other things people consider that I've never even thought of?!) So, without further ado:

[Poll #1043269]
I've never tried doing a poll before, so here's hoping it works - do let me know if you have problems... Oh, it looks like you have to vote first, and hit submit, and then comment afterwards - you can't comment and vote at the same time (I just tried it...)! And non-lj members can't vote (says lj, not us), but you can still comment!

Comments

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

Basically the only warning I really want is major character death... or more to the point, a death story. Not because I don't like reading them but because there's times and places for such fics and sometimes I need to read them.

Actually, thinking about it, what I want is search terms. I want to be able to search for/ exclude specific things, rather than have warnings. So, for example, I could search for death fics but not be told it was BDSM and non-con.... or whatever.

*is kinda cloudy on the whole reality thing atm*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like the way you can search for something at Circuit, and at ProsLib and Hatstand to some extent, if you're in the mood for a particular kind of story, I think that's brill. (Yeay our archives!)

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Good on you that you can manage to be this coherent and interesting pre-morning-coffee. 'M very impressed..*g*

When I came over to Pros from S/H, I liked the fact that as a fandom it did not seem to be into labelling stories ad nauseum. ( I like that in the discoveredinalj challenges, most of us include the disclaimers, info, etc under the cut. I love that I have no idea what kind of story I am about to read there.)

I tend to go by author, rather than things like death fic/BDSM, etc. Rebel is a good example. The gal does the smuttiest slash lemons you can find, then writes a kind of het story (the Elvis fic crossover, for example, Postscript in S/H), and does gen ones, too. She even - god love her - writes brilliant kid fic! It's Rebel, so I'll read it all regardless.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like that about Pros as well, though I don't have any other fandoms to compare it to! So does S/H tend to warn for everything then?

I'll go by author as much as anything else too - except that I still don't want to read het! I can stand most of Rebel's gen so far (*g*) but I'm missing her Pros slash, cos it feels like ages since she's slashed Pros! Is she saving it all up for S/H then?! Come back RebelProsslash, I miss you! *g*

[grey853.livejournal.com]

To warn or not to warn, that's been a huge issue in a lot of fandoms and Pros is no different. Some want no warnings, some want every warning possible. Me, I absolutely need to know if it's a deathfic, because I avoid those completely. I'd also like to know if it's AU, bdsm or any other kink, het sex, and genderfuck. Other than that, I'm pretty good. Those warnings save me a lot of time. I like slash, but I can also read gen, so that part doesn't much matter to me.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I know, I did wonder how many older fans would roll their eyes at my question, and mutter about old lemons under their breath! But as someone who hasn't seen the debates in Pros I'm still quite interested - so thank you for bearing with me!

Hmmn, so looking at the poll your answer is really F), some other combination of the above... (I guess that's not a very clearly worded option, you're the second person already to answer two separately rather than the F)-combination option! Can't change it now though can I... ah well! I learn for another time!

I suppose what I'm interested in is how much warning people routinely want - how far do you go with warnings before they become spoilers... For example, although I hate to be warned about story content (opposite to you! *g*) I don't consider the slash/het/gen label a "warning" as such, and so I'd assumed that other people saw that a bit differently to other "labels" too.

Hmmn - I may just be repeating myself now - perhaps I'd better go look for more coffee this lunchtime after all!

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

I certainly want to know if the story is slash, gen or het, and whilst the vast majority of Pros stories are B/D, I also like this spelt out too, i.e. I want the pairing listed. And in these days when sadly the / sign is being used by some people for a Gen story i.e. you have Genre: Gen. Pairing: X/Y, or indeed the & is being used for slash stories *bangs head* I actually think that 'slash' 'gen' 'het' AND the pairing are necessary. I haven't seen this pop up yet in Pros, but as it's popping up in other fandoms (including older fandoms, like Pros) I think we have to accept that one day someone will come along and do it.

Otherwise I'm a 'want warning for certain things' gal, especially 'major character death'. I will read death stories, but I want to know that I'm going to before I read it. I would also like to be warned for major, heavy kinks, BDSM, blood-play, that kind of thing. But if I could only pick one warning it would be death.

Actually the really big thing I want warning for no one warns for *sigh* as it's the only thing that stops me cold and makes me leave the story never to return. Some things, if I don't like it, I can skip, this I can't. I have to stop reading, and it's not even a major thing, no pain is usually involved, but . . . And I've even stopped dead in a story written by my favourite Pros author when I came across the scene. It's food/sex play, i.e. taking chocolate sauce or whatever into the bedroom and smearing it over one another *shudders* But that's a 'Nikki-quirk' and I don't seriously expect people to warn for it. I would guess that a lot of fen have their own personal 'quirk'.

But death, definitely, for warnings.

Genre:
Pairing:
Warnings: e.g. death

And I've also seen people who say that labelling for 'slash' is the same as warning for 'death', i.e. knowing anything destroys the story.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes, I must admit that "pairing" rather than "just" slash/het/gen is something I find more useful too - I don't do B/C or D/C unless I'm feeling really... odd, and Murphy pairings not at all!

in these days when sadly the / sign is being used by some people for a Gen story i.e. you have Genre: Gen. Pairing: X/Y
What a bizarre thing to do! So the idea is that it's a gen story revolving around the characters with a slash between their name? I can see pointing it out with an "&", which is, I presume, the other side of your sentence there, but... I thought the "/" had integral meaning as m/m relationship! Is it younger/newer fans who started doing this then, or purely gen fandoms who don't slash in any case, or..? I'm so glad I don't do other fandoms - how do you cope with it all?!

And hee! for food/sex play! I'm not sure I've read any of those actually, but I suspect it'd have to be done in the right way to make me believe it... And yeah, I guess that's something that not even the search options can cover!

Hmmn - when you list "genre" there, are you meaning het/slash/gen rather than, say CI5 universe/science-fiction/American western etc I presume! Cos come to think of it, I do know people who say they won't read Pros sci-fi AUs, or ghost AUs too... So much to think about!

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth (and ETA I'm rambling more than I meant to):

Slash/het/gen - yes; I'm one of those who particularly wants to know if a story is het (i.e. ends up het - not a problem if there is some het in there, given the canon!) because although I'm sure there are probably some excellent het stories out there they are not for me.
Pairings can occasionally be confusing - there's a world of difference, obviously, between a story that goes from B/D to a het ending and one that goes from het or /OC to B/D. This is probably silly, but I'd almost like to see the end-pairing listed last or shown differently. Hmm, I think this makes me ridiculously picky .... but I suppose I want to put the time and emotional commitment into a story that will leave me feeling right (not necessarily candyfloss-happy - grit is welcome - but in the right universe if that makes sense).

Deathfic - yes, warning please! Once upon a time long long ago (BP - Before Pros in my personal history) I found myself reading the death of my then favourite character and felt physically sick, then completely miserable for the rest of the day, and then kept flashing back to the awful death at random intervals for a long time afterwards. Am I borderline certifiable? Very probably. Deathfics scoop my innards out and mince them; sufficient unto RL is the evil thereof.

Age ratings - not bothered either way; not really relevant to my own preferences, though of course many people may like to have them.

Everything else, such as bdsm, non-con, the dreaded mpreg etc. - not bothered; these are aspects of a story that I can take or not depending on the writing, and for which I don't feel bad about dropping a story if it's going to places where I prefer not to venture (teddy-bears, talking mice, ye olde tymes .... everyone has their own personal no-go areas. And of course different writers can do very different things even with these).

I appreciate that many people prefer not to be spoiled/have their stories spoiled, so any set-up that allows readers to choose whether or not to see warnings or any labels is up there with sliced bread.

Many thanks for the hard work that brings us the stories! ::drinks health of archivist and writers:: (in healthy and refreshing mate tea, as it 'appens, it being a bit early in the day for anything stronger)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh yes, what about when it changes pairing within?! Hmmn... you know, to some extent I don't mind if it does that, and I don't think I even mind what it ends up as - I just want to know that the slash between B/D is there on some level, that it's a part of their life and their considerations and their reactions... yeah, if they/one of them ends up in a het relationship (and there are zines that I adore where this happens) then I don't feel quite the same about it, but I can still enjoy the getting there... It's knowing that there's slash in there at all for me!

Deathfic just doesn't get me like that - it can make me bleed for them, and make me feel deeply about a story etc, but when I'm bored with feeling sad I just pick up a different story to change my mood. And because I know there's always going to be a different story, then I know they haven't really died! And I don't like my Prosfic to be too un-real life either - too airy fairy happy endings all the time, because I stop believing in it after al while... better to be reminded of how glad I am that they're alive now and then! So if you're certifiable, I have my own twisty little brain working away! *g*

Yeah, age ratings strike me as odd - plus an excellent signpost to the under-age-rs of what to go and read that they theoretically shouldn't be! But then if I only want to read slash then it's all supposed to be over-18 anyway... Although none of it really makes sense anyway - presumably before m/m sex was legalised at 18, not all that long ago, we should presumably have been making sure that readers were over 21 or summat daft... I mean, please!

so any set-up that allows readers to choose whether or not to see warnings or any labels is up there with sliced bread.
Yes, I think so too... But my dilemma comes when I want to see whether a story is slash or not, but I don't want to be warned about what happens in it, such as whether it's a deathfic! I'm not sure there seems to be a way to simply work around that - except perhaps by reading exclusively at Hatstand! *hugs slash-oriented Hatstand* *puts Hatstand down and dusts off carefully*

And yes - general hurrah! for Proslib and Hatstand and Circuit archivists, all three!

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

I definitely want to know if it's slash, gen or het cause I won't touch het with a long bargepole either ;) I'd also like to have warning if it's either death fic or rape because I won't read either. Otherwise I like surprises and need no further warnings.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, so you're really F) as well then! There seems to be a preference for slash/gen/het and content warnings so far, which is probably what I expected actually... Mind you, it always surprises me when I hear that people want to know the end of a story, even if it's a sad end!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Well, I may have no time right now for anything (I hate this time of year)...but a poll? Well, yes, I can do a poll! I do like to know if it's slash/het/gen. But I suppose the one I really want to know is the pairing. B/C is a different fandom from B/D, as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't want anything more explicit than that. (I do think that it's the responsibility of the reader to figure out if she wants to read a story or not, and she should not rely on other people labeling stories for her particular anti-kinks.)

Labels, after all--even the basic ones we're talking here--are not fullproof in any way. How do you label a story, for instance, that starts with B&D together but ends with Bodie marrying a woman? B/D; B/original character; slash and het? What would be the natural assumption of Pros fen, seeing that label? Probably that it would end with B/D together. So there would be wails of discontent. *g* What's a label-maker supposed to do?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

*g* I will try not to ask you any questions here - but since I will probably slip up, I give you leave to ignore them!

Know totally what you mean about B/D being a totally different fandom from B/C... I have to be in the right mood to read B/C or B/D, though I have read some good ones - except that one of them is really B/D disguised as B/C!

I agree with you about it being the responsibility of the reader to figure out whether a story is worth reading too - but then why don't I extend that to include whether it's slash or not? Hmmn - maybe because I absolutely hate not finishing stories that I've started reading, but a het story is a complete waste of my time - like reading a cereal box, I know what's on there, I've seen it often enough that I'm bored by it, and would rather stare out the window and watch the rain!

But where does that cross over with the "other fandom" thing I wonder... I wonder if I could have phrased my poll in a better way to find out?! Maybe "what information do you insist on knowing, if you can, before you read a story...

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Interesting question. I would like to know if a fic is a death fic (I will read them, but I need to be in the particular mood). And I guess I'd like to know the pairing (because, while I enjoy gen, I have no interest in het or B/Cowley, B/Murphy, etc.). But that's it. I don't really want to know more than that. Like Callisto, all rules go out the window for me with certain writers.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I guess I quite like being put in a mood by a story, come to think of it... I don't necessarily want it to be an extension of my current mood at all, otherwise I'd just keep doing what I was doing! Ooh, never thought about that before - isn't fandom fab for making you consider different things... *g*

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, also like to know the pairing as I definitely do not need Cowley having sex with anybody *shudder* Sorry but *uck* I do like the man - as long as he keeps his clothes on.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - same for me, but of course some people say it the other way around!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I submitted my answer (b) and then thought "but..." *g*
There are times I want to search for certain types of stories, for bdsm or Bodie/Doyle/Murphy for example. When this happens, what I'm looking for is simply information, not "warnings" - luckily the Circuit Archive has that search option, although I have found some odd things in the search results from time to time!

I'm with you on not wanting to know in advance if a story is a death fic. I'll read anything, pretty much, including het (although I then have to read some slash afterwards, just to get the vibe back). So I suppose no warnings would be my preference. Happy for them to be hidden somewhere for other people, though.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heee! Think-y games for a wet Wednesday... *g* (Or a sunny Thursday, is that where you're up to?!)

I like being able to search very much - and you can do that at all three Pros archives very nicely! But like you say, it's when I'm in the mood for certain types of stories, rather than wanting to read Pros just for the joy (tragic or fluffy) of it!

So you don't mind being waylaid by a het story then... interesting..! That's actually what I was wondering most of all, but not many people have talked about that, they've mostly gone down the scary-deathfic route! I knew I should have deleted that question! Still, tis all interesting!

[etain-antrim.livejournal.com]

While I'd like to know up front if the story is slash, het or gen, I'd also like to know if it is a major character death fic or if there is heavy BDSM. While an occasional death story certainly has a place on my reading list, I'd like to choose when I read it. I strongly dislike heavy BDSM -- it just doesn't fit with my view of the lads and leaves a slimy residue in my brain. Often I know when to be careful through experience with the author, but with all the wonderful new folks now writing, I'd like some warning if I'm about to hit something distressing.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, lots of people are choosing F) - combination of B) and D), even more than I'd have thought! We were talking somewhere - maybe joshlanyon's lj? - about comfort zones while reading, and why people read at all... It's all interesting!

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

The only warnings I care about are whether it is a death fic (which I avoid depending on who dies - and I will peek at the ending to find out!) and the pairing i.e. B/OFC or B/OMC automatically tells me enough to avoid the story. I am only interested in if the fic ends up with B/D. If there is no pairing then I would assume it's gen. Does that make sense?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Totally makes sense - and I'm with you about the pairings, if not about the deathfic warnings! I assume that "no pairing" is "gen" as well - but then again, what do either of those things mean in the end?! How far does "gen" go - and what else would "no pairing" mean, apart from "gen"?

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

The only thing I really need/want to know is it's slash or not, above or below NC17 *G*
I do read Gen (and consider it different from Het, basically in that Het inplies graphic het sex, whereas Gen fades to black) and Het, however. For Pros, that's all I really want, anything else is a damn spoiler in my eyes, and that's why I love the Roses & Lavender zines, because they have the spoilers, I mean, headers and warnings in the back and upside-down.

:)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting - so how far can gen go before it becomes either het or slash then? Are slash/het fics those which contain "NC-17" sex (by the way, what is that - how explicit is explicit?) I was under the impression, too, that gen writers are often adamantly against any romantic/sexually oriented relationship between the lads - but your definition might mean that the lads could do some fairly heavy snogging and groping (*g*) but it could fade to black before actual sex and so still be called gen, for you?

And yeah, I love the Roses and Lavender zines for that too! And the fab stories... *g*

[magenta-blue.livejournal.com]

I guess I assume that the fiction at the Circuit Archive will be either slash or pre-slash. There is a separate archive for het stories isn’t there (batcave something – heh, you can see how often I’m there eh?), so I didn’t think I would find het stories at the Circuit. But I did stumble onto one a while back, which confused the heck out of me! And the Hatstand is pure slash – isn’t it? At least, that is how I tend to divide the archives in my head… But if the Circuit also has het stories, then yes, perhaps that would be useful to know. Maybe only if they are pure het stories, I mean, there are plenty of slash ones where either B or D has a girl and then slowly realises where their true affections lie… These (to me) don’t need a het label.

As for in general, the only ‘warnings’ (I put it like that, as I don’t use them as ‘warnings’, more to decide the flavour of fic to read!) I use are NC17 etc, and these tell me roughly the content.

I would go with putting all other detail tucked away, with a ‘click here for warnings’ type comment, and then that can have BDSM, Death etc in it. Like if you search via the Full Search on Circuit, you can tick what to avoid. As although Death stories can be harsh as hell, for me, I might always avoid them if they are always warned against, and in that case I wouldn’t have read some heart-breakingly good fic. But am not too fussed, I know most people would prefer to know that stuff up front.

What I would probably like is impossible, but I always thought it would be great if there was a way to put in some search terms such as childhood, sea, ship, Africa, artist etc for when you know you have read something, but cannot for the life of you remember the author or title, only sketchy bits of the story.

[justacat.livejournal.com]

To clarify: the Circuit Archive accepts - and always has, since its inception in the mid-90s - all Pros fanfic, not just slash or pre-slash (this is stated explicitly on the homepage, in the submission guidelines, etc.).

In practice, the vast majority of the stories are slash, but there is a not-insignificant number of gen stories (categorized with pairing "none"), and a few (very few) het stories, as well (of course, the line between gen and pre-slash is often in the eye of the beholder - sometimes the author makes it quite clear in her story notes, but other times I have to make my best guess when deciding whether to put a pairing of "none" or "B/D" on the story). But the archive will take any Pros or Pros-related fanfic that is submitted to it. Pairings are listed on each story, and they appear in any search you do (they're not tucked away, as warnings and categories and ratings are - those require you to specifically request "full" search results), but that's as far as I'm going to go - ascribing labels of "slash," "gen," or "het" isn't a business I want to get into!

As for full-text search...I've toyed with ways to implement this, but the architecture of the Circuit Archive simply doesn't permit it easily; to make it practicable, and keep it from being incredibly resource-intensive (in terms of drain on server resources), the archive really would have to be entirely restructured. Nonetheless, I know it's something many people would appreciate, and I haven't given up - I'll continue to think about whether there's any realistic way to do it.

[justacat.livejournal.com]

This is interesting - I asked questions like these when I was overhauling the archive, but that was years ago now, and now there are different people responding, so it's helpful to see these results. They're also making me rethink how I'm going to post the Circuit Archive announcements, because I realize, again, that there's no way to satisfy everyone...the one thing that never changes is that everyone wants something a little different, at least in their ideal world, and everyone sees things a little differently (e.g., to some people gen/het/slash doesn't matter while "death" matters a whole bunch; to others slash vs. het is everything - that sort of thing).

Anyway, I'm not going to respond to the poll myself - just going to observe as archivist *g* - but I do have one point I want to make, which is that there is a reason for including "ratings" that has nothing to do with the child safety/warnings-type rationale. Ratings, at least on the Circuit Archive, are intended to be a rough indication of the level of explicitness of any sex in the story (that's the only purpose I've chosen to use them for). Some readers might prefer to avoid the explicit stuff, and the ratings enable them to do so. But just as important, sometimes people specifically want to read more explicit stories - I know I sometimes do! Sometimes I don't want to read fade-to-black - sometimes I'm in the mood to read stories that take me all the way behind the bedroom doors - and I imagine I'm not the only one! *g* This is a way for readers looking for this type of story to narrow down their choices.

So ratings aren't really meant to be warnings (and aren't analagous to the main warning on the front page of the archive) - instead they're another piece of information about story content that readers can use (if they want - the ratings only appear on a "full" search) to help them decide which stories are most likely to appeal to them (or not), or just to know what they're getting into.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Was it in ProsLit that you asked the questions? It'd be ever so interesting to go back and see what people said back then, and how it compares with ideas etc today...

Of course it'll never be possible to suit everyone, so I wouldn't get too wound up along that path if I were you! I think you've made a good compromise over what information to show at Circuit and what not to (except for the slash/het/gen/pairings thing, of course *g*)

Ratings - yes, I do use them like that myself, on occasion, although again I generally don't want to know up front - it spoils the will-they/won't-they part of a story! I suppose the "NC-17" term is defined in terms of the protection of children, which always throws me when I'm in slash-world, and when I wrote the poll I wasn't thinking of the signpost-for-readers aspect! I'm sure there's been much debate about this in various parts of fandom over the years, but I'd like to see some other ratings system used, maybe a fandom-specific one, since it's used for a different purpose in alot of fandom (esp slash fandoms)!

I am still curious about how you determine what rating to give to what stories though - do you have an automated function on your software that searches for particular words, or do you actually read every story yourself and make a personal decision?

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

Excellent poll and discussion - very thought provoking. I've been bumping up against this question a little while posting fic for the Pros Newsletter, and it's made me very aware of my own lack of answers.

Is it okay to ask a question? I should probably head off into metafandom and do research, but asking here first - when deciding if something is slash, gen, or het, what are the criteria? Do the labels indicate a physical relationship, an emotional relationship, or how is it defined - in your minds? Or at the Circuit - I've always thought that if there is a pairing listed that it refers to a physical pairing, not an emotional one? :is obviously confused!:

I personally love being able to exercise options. I like to be able to pick and chose whether or not to know. I usually search for the category of slash, or b/d, as the primary category, and then carve it down from there. I love being able to utilize the search features at the Circuit - to be able to find *only* nc-17, for example - or the excellent categorization lists at the Hatstand - to be able to find a listing of stories based on episodes, or stories in a series, etc.

Other "labels" which I personally really value as options are "AU" and "cross-over" - both of which I think are essential in finding what you want or don't want to read.

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I personally love being able to exercise options. I like to be able to pick and chose whether or not to know. which is why I love that 'Random' button at the Circuit Archive. You just click it and a story pops up, sans descriptors, etc. I've stumbled across a few fics I might not have given a chance to otherwise, especially AUs.

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

I need to know that it's Bodie and Doyle I'm reading about, and I do love a good summary. Other than that I'm very happy with minimal information.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh, it'd have to be a not-too-revealing summary for me, but they can be quite good on occasion! And I do like them in recs and reviews... *g*

[smirra.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded when I was reading "Heat Trace" a story I absolutely adore. But when I came to the part in which Bodie is responsible for the death of Murphy, I was suddenly hyperventilating a bit und I didn't continue to read until I knew Bodie wasn't a serial killer (what was not totally unlikely at that point). There I really wished there had been some sort of warning about that. Not necessarily an exact information about the plot but some sort of warning like "disturbing content" or something like that. I would rate the Heat Trace plot as major character death, other people probably wouldn't.
I do love dark and dramatic contend in fiction extremely (here and with crime fiction, too) but there's probably a thin line, were it could be too strong for my sensitive little nature. :) If there's a warning of sorts, I don't stumble into something too strong unprepared. As is said before there are times and places for certain types of fiction.
Also I think that gene/slash, AU or pairing information, hints about death fics and also ratings are a good and necessary thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that I avoid a certain type of fiction, I'm more faithful to an author than to anything else; if I like her writing, I often read everything that's on the market. Even within these information there's enough room for the story to surprise and I adore authors who do a wide range of different moods as myrebelcat. You'll never know what you'll get next.

[smirra.livejournal.com]

As I've just checked there is a warning in the pdf file of Heat Trace but not on the html file, therefore I missed it.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I come from a heavily warned fandom (The Sentinel), where everything is warned. If a writer doesn't put "proper" warnings on an archived story, they will hear it many times over. So... I warn in Sentinel about everything. In Pros, I do what I do with a zine, where there are almost no warnings: I read the last page. I know many people find that horrible, but for me, unless it's a 'B/D alive and happy ending', I don't want to read it. And it needs to be slash for me. So I don't "need" warnings, but I appreciate them. I'm a darned good skimmer.

What writers have taken to doing in Sentinel, since the warning "I can't warn or it will give away the plot" didn't go over very well, is to put any relevant warnings, including major death, torture, etc, after The End. Then a reader has the choice to go to the end and read the warnings, or to start from "It was a dark and stormy night..." and enjoy the story with being spoiled.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Oh, and let me add a B/D indication is definitely a plus. I was reading a zine last night and it started out Cowley/Bodie. I ran away and cried. LOL! Not really, just grimaced and bailed on the story very quickly.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

*waves wooden spoon alongside you*

Totally with you about reading het and gen - although I can go with gen if I can make it pre-slash in my head. If I can't then I'm just left feeling... empty inside! There're good writers out there in Pros gen and het, but their stories just aren't for me either... That's why the only information I want up front about a story is whether it's slash/het/gen - I hate having my time wasted with het!

Jenny? Who's this Jenny chick? *eyes sound of her cover being blown* Nothing to do with me her, this lj-thingie, nope, not at all...

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

And just to add, to me, a warning for 'character death' equals to saying that it was the butler *G*

In other fandoms (SPN, for example ;) I got used to it, and I can see the need as well, because of a slightly bigger cast, a different approach, what have you...but for Pros...I love having a new story in my hands, and being taken away with it, to discover it all. Perhaps it's a question of having been mentored in Pros, instead of browsing on my own. Possibly.

:)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

a warning for 'character death' equals to saying that it was the butler
Yes! That's it exactly! It's spoilers for HP! (which I still don't know yet, btw, I'd better get on with reading that, eh..?!)

Hmmn - I'm definitely a browsed-on-my-own fan though, and I feel the same way about wanting to be vanished into a story, into the glorious risk of a story! If you already know what's going to happen, then it's not the same experience at all...

Mind you, sometimes I am in the mood for a particular experience - and that's when I go back and re-read stories that I know will make me feel one way or another... but that's when I don't want the risk, and it's a whole different kind of reading to me... sounds like that's the kind of reading that most people want all the time though... This must be just a fandom thing though, surely... (Got room on yer Phd course for a little un? *g*)

[birggitt.livejournal.com]

The only thing I want to know about a story is whether it is slash, gen or het as I don't read het. Actually, I run like hell when I see het =D
Death stories, dark, angs... all the rest is fair play, and I don't want to be spoilered.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Completely, totally, exactly how I feel! *g*