AO3 👏 TAGS 👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 SPOILERS 👏
i’m so tired of authors not tagging correctly because they don’t want to “spoil the fic”
correctly tagging your fic allows readers who DON’T want to read things like major character death, gore, mpreg or whatever may be their squick to filter your fic out from the main ship/fandom tag. not including the correct tags on your fic is harmful to readers and i’m tired of pretending it’s not.
“don’t like don’t read” great! i won’t! tag your fic correctly next time ffs
100% yes. And - two additional points:
Correctly tagging your work means that the people who DO want mpreg or gore or mahor character death are able to find your fic. Because if they are wanting those story beats, then they will include the tags in their search. So, accurately tagging means people who don’t want that can filter it out, and those who do want it can filter it in. It’s to your benefit too, dear writer, to include accurate tags, because it means people who want to read your type of story will ve able to find it.
Two: there IS actually a way to refrain from using tags if you want to keep the contents of your story a total mystery. “Author Chose Not To Use Content Warnings.” Which can also be used alongside something informal like “other tags apply but have been excluded” or “reader discretion is advised” or etc.
In summary: tags your fic. And even when you choose not to, in that case, tag your fic saying tha content may catch some people off guard.
Tag. Your. Fics. Properly.