I'm going to jump in with both feet (even tho I'm a newbie still trying to get caught up with the previous discussions) because I may very well be a rarity when it comes to warnings. I hate them. I don't want them and I don't use them. This is one reason I rarely post to comms or archives. Most require warnings and since I'm not going to use them I post only to my own lj. It's a personal preference which I realize is not shared by many. The reason I don't like warnings is that I like to take the journey as the author presents it. Knowing key plot points in advance takes some of the fun out of it for me.

I'm just tugging your leg, e_c. I know your a good chick. And yes!!!!!!!! I can't stand fics that are all. 'Chase said Slowly, "What the hell, mate?" and then blah blah (A/N: I can't remember continutity so I'm just shoving this in there, k?)' Good god! A story, IMHO, shouldn't have notes in the middle and should have very few to begin with. Maybe one as a warning or explaining a plot; but I don't want to see notes that go on longer than the actual chapter. The reason I don't like warnings is that I like to take the journey as the author presents it. Knowing key plot points in advance takes some of the fun out of it for me. Here Here

Quote: it does annoy me if there's an AN in the middle of the chapter. Dear lord, yes :bashes head on desk: why do people do this?? YES, that annoys the piss out of me. That ranks right up there with not spelling out God or curses. If you are going to use a word spell it out or don't use it. If you post on a journal that doesn't allow curses fine, but change it when you get to one that does. I understand the God G-d issue is one of a persons personal religious beliefs, I still don't feel it belongs in a story. Stories have no religious beliefs per say.

I you look at a ff story like a movie - they tell you MA, Adult themes, etc, but they don't say death. I've been on tenderhooks during some movies going 'nooo - you can't kill so and so off'. I suppose the problem with House ff is that there are (at the moment) only seven main characters and anything happening to anyone of them will have an impact. So, like movies, I think ratings are important, but not specific warnings such as rape or character death because it does give away the story and if you see a MA 17+ story you know it isn't going to be happy and you'd probably be better off watching Finding Nemo. Of course movies have the luxury of reviews, where you can get an idea when said movie reviewer says 'now for the more squeamish of you...', but on some sites you can check through the reviews. And that's an interesting question. I am an unashamed Pit Of Voles lover and I like to check out the reviews of a story. Do many others do that?

Troop- Yes, I agree about censorship comment. Religious reasons I kind of understand, but when you do it with swear words....*shakes head* either grow some balls and just say it or don't even bring it up. DIY I love reading reviews! And your first sentence about how you view ratings puts it very elequently. That's a great way to describe it.

I am an unashamed Pit Of Voles lover and I like to check out the reviews of a story. Do many others do that? I constantly do that, although I certainly don't take review number as any indicator of quality. Actually, the reviews themselves are often the biggest clue as to quality of story. In one instance, I noted a story that had a really large number of reviews per chapter, but when I clicked on it, the writing was...subpar, to say the least. Nor was it a House/Cam fic (the most popular pairing in the Pit.) The funny thing was that most of the faithful reviewers were people I'd never seen review any other House fic before. So after a few minutes snooping into reviewer profiles and "join dates", I realized that the majority of the reviewers were sockpuppets. Author, Review Thyself--and make the reviews positive, dammit! :P Either really cute (if the author was young) or somewhat pathetic, but fun to see, anyway. Anyway, for me, the reviews that will make me click on a fic are generally more than one line long, are articulate (written by a person who can use basic grammar), and usually cite something specific in the chapter that they enjoyed. Which, in return, makes me abjectly grateful if someone is generous enough to leave that type of review for my fic.

Author's notes in the middle of a chapter? I've never seen this before and, boy, I'm glad of it. I can only imagine how distracting it would be. Regarding warnings, I can completely understand how some warnings - character death, extreme violence, etc. - would be seen as a courtesy, but I wholeheartedly agree with DIY Sheep's sentiments on the subject. Personally, if I see a specific warning it, I feel like it takes something away from the fic. I like to see the story unravel and I don't mind being shocked by an event. If Rowling, for instance, had written a character death warning at the beginning of chapters that contained one, it would have sucked all the suspense and excitement out of it for me.

I love reading comments, but I have found comments like blurbs have a tendency to give things away so I have to be careful to make sure I read comments for chapters I have already read. In regards to the spoiler discussion, may I suggest this for new fics and WIPs that need to be updated Title- XYZ Story Author- Chucklenuts Blurb- House faces a difficult decision in life Warnings character death Pairings- Gen but H/Cam later etc etc etc This way people who want to know about stuff like Character death or pairing could see it and people who perfer to be unspoiled would then remain spoiler-free I see warnings like spoilers, if I click on the link, then I want to know, but I think I should have the right to choose to click on that link or not IMHO YMMV WTF BBQ (Insert other words here)

okay, so how do you spoiler bar on this forumn?

Use the white font colour to block the text from view and put a spoiler warning beforehand. For example - SPOILER=> House/Wilson forever! <= END SPOILER Select the text to see the whited out words,

At the present moment, we have a very open fic recommendation policy here. From the Lunch Menu: Special Orders: Fic Recs - While this applies more to the Fan-Fic Recommendation thread, it's nice to state here as well. That thread should be reserved more for specific links, synopsis, and warnings for the story in question. A few stray comments here and there are okay, but that's more for that large table in the corner with the Sheep sitting and writing. They'll be glad to discuss anything fan-fic with you there. If any of you would like to start the trend of the fic recs shifting to a different format, then it is perfectly acceptable to start reccing that way. We wish for this to be a place of open discussion and freedom of speech. It is not our job as moderators to censor any of you, just make sure things are running with respect for each other, which is why we have left the policy pretty open, as it is stated above.

Thanks Renee

If I may diffuse any tension that my discussion question may have caused-- Dudes. I never intended to censor anyone's recs or demand that we all adhere to some arbitrary set of rules when reccing. Even when I think some of the recs are--gasp!--bad. I have a scroll bar and I know it. What I hoped people would think about was their own personal standards, whatever those might be, and whether maybe they would be interested in sharing with others what those standards were. Perhaps the question might've even encouraged folk to raise their personal bar. Or, hell, lower it. I don't know. Anyhow. Discussion question--not coup d'etat.

What does coup d'etat mean? OK, how many people like doing prompt challenges more than doing their own thing?