Few things in modern fandom baffle me more than people reading smut about a character-who-is-underage-by-American-standards and then clutching their pearls that there was sex featuring a character-who-is-underage-by-American-standards.
No, I do not think that authors owe you an "Underage Sex" tag for that.
You went into a ship tag featuring an underage by American standards character that is tagged for being explicit and even features additional tags for the explicit content.
The standard for smut is not "we are aging all teenagers up to 18+ so they are ~legal~uwu". The standard for probably the majority of fics is to take place within canon.
Yes, there are post-canon fics. Many college AUs. There is a brief period of time within canon that the character turned 18. And you can seek those out, specifically, if you want to or if that makes you feel more comfortable. That's your option and your choice.
But the people who write about that character having sex at any random point within canon don't owe you a giant neon-sign that that's happening. Because you're the one seeking out smut about a character who spent the majority, if not all, of canon being under eighteen years old. So if that under eighteen year old character having sex bothers you, maybe you shouldn't be seeking out smut for them in the first place.
Not to mention the hypocrisy because these sixteen and seventeen year olds are having plenty of "underage sex" in canon. Did it bother you there too? Did you blush and cover your eyes for the duration of it?
If you are iffy about that sixteen year old having sex in the fic tagged for explicit sexual content and tagged for that character in the main ship, then consider what the "Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" might mean.
"The author chose not to warn for content, or Archive Warnings could apply, but the author has chosen not to specify them."
Because, above all else, it means that I do not owe you an "Underage Sex" tag. It's right there. And I provided you with literally all of the context clues in the ship tag, additional tags and rating. I do not owe you anything more.
As a fandom, we're going to have to rethink our tagging system so s3 enjoyers and s3 haters can curate their reading time without being triggered or constantly put down by tags. I even heard some people saying they won't read anything published after the 12th of May, which breaks my heart for all the new writers who are coming to the fandom after the movie!
I personally don't want to think that any of my canons fics ends up with the movie so I'm going to tag them with "so sad s3 was cancelled" (technically we didn't have a full season). Nevertheless, if you people comes up with ideas on how to tag that sentiment in a way that's both funny and not disrespectful to anyone, I would love to hear them! 😁
Let's all make lemonade even if we don't agree on the quality of the lemons!
A handbook for fanfiction writers on Ao3 regarding effective use of meta text, including good tagging practices. Very useful!
ErinPtah's A Users' Guide to AO3 Tagging
On the AO3, you're allowed to tag your works in any way you want.
But if what you want is the tags that are most standard, most searchable, and/or most wrangler-friendly, here's a short guide on how to do it.
Originally written in 2013. Rewritten in March 2025, to be accurate about current tags/guidelines. (If that was a long time ago for you, reader, it might be out-of-date again.)
JustSomeAO3Tips's Staring into the Tag Vortex: AO3 tagging demystified
[CW: Tag Vortex may stare back.]
Tagging! How many tags does your story need? How can you tell which ones will be useful? As a reader, how can you use them to find what you want, what you really really want? When you keysmash in the forest, does it make a sound?
AO3's beautiful and ridiculously wrangled tags do more than most people expect. Behold the mysteries, rejoice in the synonyms, and optimize your search results. Welcome to the tag vortex.
All exceptionally useful! There is, obviously, some overlap in information between them, but they all also have different information, so I recommend reading all of them.
my hot take of the week (that absolutely no one asked for) is that there’s a crap ton of ao3 “etiquette” touted on here that’s actually 100% optional.
really. if it’s not in the TOS and it’s not required by the tagging system, there is no right or wrong “etiquette.”
yes, people sometimes use that flexibility to be dicks, but most of the time I see “etiquette” being enforced on authors who 1) used the tagging system correctly and 2) have inadvertently done something that readers don’t “like.”
examples of this I’ve seen: using the “creator chose not to warn” tag and then not tagging MCD, underage, etc. i.e., things that are absolutely allowed to not be tagged under that broader tag.
another example: writing a fic with a sad ending and not tagging the sad ending ahead of time. absolutely permissible, but if you do this people get pissed.
and another example: using archive warnings and zero additional tags.
all of these are examples of 100% valid and compliant usage of the ao3 tag system. and yet, we tend to penalize fics that follow this tagging style. I’ve seen people rate them, rec them with poorly concealed disgust, or even suggest that they should be reported.
“etiquette” is highly subjective and fandom-dependent. if you ask 10 different ao3 users, you’ll get different answers. pressuring newbie writers to follow your etiquette can make the whole process overwhelming when it doesn’t need to be.
now. there’s complying with ao3 TOS, there’s “etiquette,” and there’s marketing. the reason fics that follow general “etiquette” tend to do better is because they’re easier to find, easier to predict, and easier to filter in/out depending on certain tags and events. easier to sell, essentially.
users who choose not to warn, or use auxiliary tags, tend to see a hit in readership. it’s a known risk. but if the author is making that choice knowingly, that’s the end of the discussion.
etiquette is expected or implied conduct, but it is not required. as a writer, you get to weigh the pros and cons of following fandom “etiquette.” some find it beneficial, others stifling. sometimes it changes fic to fic.
I am wary of a lot of anti-shipping and fandom purity that is starting to masquerade as “etiquette” on here. we need to check ourselves, and remember how highly subjective our wants and desires for content can be sometimes.
Ao3 is a unique website, with a unique tagging system. Users can utilise this system to search for specific tags and block them from their search results. In this post, I will explain the best way to tag the most important tags (pairing and fandom), and why it is necessary to do so correctly*. Long post incoming
1. The RPF affair
Before we get into the actual tagging, it's best to take the time to talk about rpf (real person fiction) and not-rpf.
In the Thai QL sphere the lines between rpf and non-rpf often become blurred. The actors being pair branded and fans following their careers as a couple are just some of the reasons for this.
There is confusion, then: when you are writing fic for a show that your actors are starring in, do you tag the actors too? If you are writing for your actor ship, do you tag their shows? Will you reach a greater audience by doing so?
No.
On ao3, keep your rpf tags and show tags separate UNLESS you are writing a crossover involving both. When you include both tags, you are communicating that this work contains content relevant to BOTH rpf and show canon.
The filtering capabilities on ao3 are very robust, and people will use them to exclude topics not relevant to their current search. If a person wants to read about a show's characters, they may exclude the rpf tag. If they're looking for rpf, they may exclude the show's tag. By posting in both of these tags, an author can accidentally make their work disappear for their audience.
-
An example of when you SHOULD use both tags:
A fic where khaotung wakes up in the body of a cat and finds himself being cared for by lynx (the character khaotung plays in cat for cash).
This fic contains rpf (khaotung) and show canon (cat for cash setting, lynx).
In most other cases, one will do.
Specifically for rpf, there is a big general tag, Thai Actor RPF, and then show or actor specific tags inside that. You may tag your post with Thai Actor RPF and then cat for cash rpf, and this will be considered as one fandom, as cat for cash rpf is part of the Thai Actor RPF.
2. Fandom
Tag ONLY the fandom you are writing in.
Correct:
Incorrect:
The first example is a fic for me and thee. When you open it, it is about me and thee.
The second example communicates that this work is about We Are, We Are rpf, Me and Thee, Me and Thee rpf, and Thai actor rpf all at the same time. A reader cannot know what to expect from looking at these tags.
As mentioned above, there are options for filtering out results. Here is one of them.
This will exclude any fic that has results for two unrelated fandoms. Eg Me and Thee (TV) and Me and Thee RPF.
The only times you should be using multiple fandom tags is if you are writing a crossover between these two fandoms.
3. Shipping
Tag ONLY the pairing you are writing for.
Correct:
Incorrect:
The first screenshot communicates that this is a fic shipping the actors Joong and Dunk.
The second screenshot indicates that this is a fic shipping Fadel and Style, Bison and Kant AND Joong and Dunk.
Your audience may do this
If you have cross tagged your work with both the show pairing and the actor pairing, there's a good chance your work has been completely filtered out and will not be seen at all by people looking for either pairing.
Conclusion
Only tag the fandom you are writing in. Only tag the ship(s) you are writing for.
Ao3s filtering is very good, but can only be utilised if authors tag correctly. I hope people see this post, adjust their tagging practices, and then see more people reading their works, as others can easily find them.
Best of luck, authors! Thank you for writing, you are very appreciated.
* all of this and I didn't mention that it's against the terms of service on ao3 to post an unrelated fic in a tag. This is mostly because it's the least useful bit of information. Very important, though
When writing fics on AO3 (I'm looking at The Pitt), please for the love of all that is good and holy
don't just "Character/You", tag READER or READER-INSERT
youre not tagging your shit correctly and theres too many of them to report/i dont want to comment if im not reading that shit. if i wanted to i would.
Tagging is a huge part and mandatory for AO3, correctly tag things please
F/F category is for F/F centric, if you want hucklerobby focus, and garsantos background, use Multi please
I might not be a writer but i have common sense
out of all garcia/santos, from 1,000-30,000, english only. from 1,972, only 310 of them are more than 30,000 words.
of that 1,662, 546 are some form of abbot/robby/dennis or only a pair
if i did F/F added to my search, the number of "abbot/robby/dennis (or pair)" went down to 239
with OTP:true added onto that garsantos comes out to 509 fics between 1,000-30,000
Garsantos: English only, min: 1,000 is a total of 1,809
if you add OTP: True it becomes 531
granted, using the command also gets rid of the platonic "&"
I might do actual true research on all this but thats only on request and it might not be as good as some of my other academic bs.
Garsantos is the 6th most popular tag when you search by relationships, its the only canon one btw.
I dont like using all of the exclude options because im pretty open to what i read. HOWEVER, if i am searching for something specific (like my toxic lesbians), i want what i am searching for. not a surprise x reader that i cant exclude because i dont know all the parings that have /you (because You is not an actual character tag yet), and not a hucklerobby + abbot bombsite with a crumb of garsantos (but somehow still important enough to tag?)
please debate/converse with me, tag your shit properly im fucking tired
