Hey, I just wanted to say something about the last ask you answered: Yes, there is a tag for general triggering stuff without specifying, but that doesn't mean it's deceiving or forcing anyone to be triggered. It's for writers who want their work to be surprising, and yet want to respect people with triggers by informing them that this fic might not be safe.
I can understand why you might not be okay with this, especially if you have triggers yourself, but it's there so that the writer can make fanfics with twists and turns without hurting the audience. It's not malicious. Nobody is forced to see those fics if they don't want to.
Oh, you mean that “Choose Not To Warn” tag on AO3? I saw a post and I thought I reblogged it before, or I would have linked it from my blog.
I think it’s disingenuous! The need to “surprise” a reader does not outweigh the responsibility of triggering a reader. Impact > Intent.
A better option would to have a “spoiler” area for the tags, so the tags can be hidden and revealed through the click of a button. So then when you filter the tags, those tags still get caught and people who want to avoid the fanfic never see it. If you don’t need to filter that tag, you never see it unless you want to know! Then authors can keep tags they want to show outside of the spoiler area, and the tags they want to “surprise” readers with in the spoiler area.
There’s no ethical reason to keep readers in the dark on what they’re getting themselves into, so giving things an extra step is a great middle ground.
