Don't leave a voicemail, seriously.

So the first big meltdown of the summer is over headers on fic. Whoa, talk about the dark horse winning the race.

It's not surprising to see this going down: folks who think people should be better people at variance w/ folks who think that people have the right to do whatever they like. This is a primary disagreement with people in the world, so it will extend to fandom, the internet, and space. Don't know what I'm talking about? You are not on metafandom! (And therefore, probably a much happier person than I am.) *insert one of those emoticon sad face things*

Round up.


Quite honestly, I do think that warning for rape is probs best practices. I mean, that does seem to be a good thing to do. There seems to be some breakdown here over whether the author thinks the fic contains rape, and that's a philosophical question. I mean, it's one that makes Dollhouse suck so hard, right? Some people don't see the world like you do, this will keep happening, either try to convince them to agree with you or move on.

I think my opinions on this warning debate are kind of like a man's opinion on abortion: pointless, because it doesn't apply to me. In this case not so much because I refuse to use headers AT ALL (which is true and one of the many ways I am a self-indulgent asshole, one of very, very many), but because I don't write fic where people get raped (I mean, WTF?) or die anymore. (I was in Buffy and Angel fandoms, after all, you don't write vampire stories unless someone's being killed/sexually violated...right?)

OH WAIT! Ok, so I do have an opinion--if it's a vampire story, isn't it only logical to assume people are going to die? Or is this a "check your higher thought at the door" situation? I mean, we do tend to baby-proof the electrical outlets in fandom for the sake of being "understanding" a lot. Aren't there entire genres where people should walk in the door realizing that death and various other bad behaviors are likely? Isn't that the point of a horror story?

This isn't an either/or scenario. Sure, people can come to a consensus on S&P on what should get a warning--however this DOES NOT currently exist. If you thought it did, you were wrong on the internet. It really doesn't exist. Yes, I think most people are in agreement that certain things are probably best warned for <----------- this is not an absolute, it's contingent on this: what the author chooses to do. Do you want people to absolutely warn for X thing? You can agitate for this line in the Fandom FAQ, but you can't force everyone to conform to your standards. Even if you call them mean girls or claim they are Very Bad People.

You've staked out the Moral High Ground, warning fans, but there are no Laws here. There are only people like you who probably are as clueless about things as you can also be.

Also, part of having something really bad happen to you is the aftermath, sometimes you'll have shitty days. If I could knit a giant blanket to wrap up everyone in the world, I would. I would get under it myself as I have my own past awful experiences, too, but I can't ask the world to accommodate this, just hope they would choose to out of the kindness of their hearts. Most people have grinch hearts, sucks, yet, them's the breaks.

eta: I will rephrase--please don't link on metafandom.