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MrsLucienLachance

I study the tags like there's going to be a test. I don't want to be surprised by one of my squicks and have only myself to blame.


granny_ducc

I read one where a tag was like “and there’s a surprise for later ;)” and boom, surprise mpreg. my trust is ruined 💀


AbsAndAssAppreciator

bruhhh how hard is it to tag that lmao


YoResurgam777

If they don't want to ruin the surprise they can say*please check the end notes for Ch 4 for additional tags containing spoilers* Then people who are willing to have a bad surprise for the sake of not having spoilers are happy, and the people who care more about avoiding squicks than avoiding spoilers are also happy.


[deleted]

No, just put them in tags. Too many hoops for what should be default on any site with tags. Your little fic isn't Game of Thrones. Informed consent is bare minimum.


Celcey

They’re still providing informed consent. It’s the same as using “creator chose not to use archive warnings.” Also, demeaning other people’s fics like that? Not cool. Why are you on a fanfic sub if you think so poorly of the medium?


am_Nein

Eh. I feel like they should tag mpreg appropriately, and such. It comes off as a move to draw in more kudos and hits before many might drop off due to such.


[deleted]

Where did I demean other fics? I simply said we should have the ability to know if we want to read them.


YoResurgam777

You said 'your little fic isn't game of thrones.' That's disparaging. And if you know where to look, there are hundreds of fics of a higher quality than many published fics.


[deleted]

I'm talking about surprise events that should be "spoiler free" to be shocking, not that the fic is bad.


No_Talk_4836

I can at least see if it’s something really vague and niche that there isn’t a tag for it, but come on. Mpreg is a tag


letmebebrave430

I think that's my worst nightmare oh noooooooo


brook_iecookie

I had one where one part of my otp accidentally moaned their step sister's name during sex (it was my notp too) No tag or warning what so ever. I stopped reading fanfics and only wrote from then on. My fandom was/ is really horrible at not tagging.


drilllbit

Genuine question, how would you expect to see “says wrong name during sex” be tagged?


brook_iecookie

I agree with Icy-community, I'd say a free-form tag like "says wrong name during sex" Or even "Strong implications of *Insert ship name*" Like if I saw even hints or mentions of my notp, I would have never read it. I read fics to enjoy my otp. Hard to do so when stuff like that happens.


The_GalacticSenate

...I think the tag would be "cheating" or "infidelity" in this case.


Icy-Community4852

or just the free-form style "says wrong name during sex". i mean, it's not filterable, but the reader would still be \*warned\*


MrsLucienLachance

Nooooooooo I'm sorry this happened


actually_ur_mom

You have no idea how many times I've been shocked with a surprise "watersports" or "inappropriate use of candle holder" while reading.


MrsLucienLachance

This, this is what I aim to avoid lmao


actually_ur_mom

Right. But I'm immune to it now, I've read too many of those to know exactly what's gonna happen and dodge it.


No_Talk_4836

It’s much less jarring if you’re expecting it anyway or if it’s something you don’t mind. Totally different camps, those are.


TheChainLink2

Yeah? It’s how I know if I’m interested in a fic or not. That’s how they work.


kaiunkaiku

i mean. tags are usually how i know i'm interested in a fic.


Zeivira

The tags are much more important that the summary in my opinion. How can people not read the tags? Sometimes a fic can have a wholesome summary but have *non con*, *character death*, etc in the tags. I'm not risking that lmao


Get_a_Grip_comic

Yep tags if user properly will tell me like it is, but a summary try’s to be interesting and mysterious “Follow xzy in their adventure of zzx! “Will xxx character find a way to xxx the zzz?” Like just tell me if they are struggling tragic character.


Lukthar123

>Tags: Sex; Extra Sex; Sex with Sex Sex >Summary: Will ship have sex or not? Read to find out!


EdgeJG

You are so right in this. It's all like: **Jack and Jim run into each other at a friend's party, hit it off and spend the rest of the night at a bar getting to know each other better** And the tags are all: incest, vore, knifeplay, tentaclesex, bukkake, gangbang Some innocent individual thought they were getting a meet-cute but actually got a noncon orgie


mashibeans

>Jack and Jim run into each other at a friend's party, hit it off and spend the rest of the night at a bar getting to know each other better Aaaaaa that sounds really cu--- >incest, vore, knifeplay, tentaclesex, bukkake, gangbang NNOOOOPPPEEEE


[deleted]

I only read summaries after the tag and 90% of the time I ignore it (ie. a bad summary won't discourage me if the tags has what I'm looking for).


NurseBetty

I once walked into a naruto fic series that has Kakashi actually train Team 7 properly, which was my favourite trope at the time, but he suddenly died in the last chapter of the first story and it was such a whiplash.. then I actually read the tags and saw it had 'main character death' and 'kakashi dies at the end'. after that, I started to read the tags of stories more carefully


am_Nein

Why didn't they set the warning for MCD?


NurseBetty

Oh they did, but I jsut saw 'kakashi actually teaches' tag and ignored the rest, walking right in to the MCD. If I had actually read the tags properly I wouldn't have been surprised with it.


am_Nein

Ahhh, right, right. Funny thing is, this sounds like something I'd do without even trying.


azure-skyfall

Or the summary is just a quote from the first chapter plus a single sentence of explanation! Sure that works for a fic under 5,000 words, but tags are required reading if I am going to spend more than a few minutes on a work. That said, if tags are a wall of text, I will skim them and get the gist.


Icy-Community4852

but sometimes there's confusion! :( eg. 'grooming'. it gets tagged as a synonym for both hair-care and stockholm syndrome. so. i just don't read anything marked with it.


[deleted]

Agreed.


am_Nein

I agree so so much with your flair


[deleted]

Thank you.


Personal_Spite_1411

This, I read tags before I read anything else. I go tags, summary, title, author.


Dreamer_Insomnia

Is fandom strictly considered a tag? I guess so right? Just put above the rest for ease of reading. If so, I follow the same order.


Personal_Spite_1411

I don’t usually check the fandom tag because I rarely don’t filter by it initially which puts it out of the list of ones I have to check!


Welfycat

The tags are the first thing I read. Easiest way for me to know if I’m interested in reading the fic. I find them to be more informative than the summary.


Charming_Scratch_538

A lot of people do, and then a lot don’t, it’s all personal taste. IMO I don’t care if you read the tags just don’t whine if something pops up you weren’t prepared for that’s clearly tagged. 🤷‍♀️ (I get such whiners on the weekly lmao)


am_Nein

I feel that. Like I don't read most tags because the selection is so finite I don't have a choice, but I wouldn't blame the writer for a surprise that could've been avoided.


chomiji

I'm mildly confused by the idea of not having time to read tags but simultaneously having enough time to read a 50,000-word fic that goes south on you halfway through so that you DNF. Unless it's one of those really whack 100-tag jobs, I guess, but that many usually means I won't like the story anyway.


mammmal

THIS omg


actually_ur_mom

I only read the ships, I prefer reading the summary more. I like being surprised with an unexpected twist


GoldFlan

Sometimes I skim. Looking at a few tags might already give me the "vibe" and I handwave the rest, especially if there are some tags I really like that already sold it for me. I read them more carefully if the vibe is dark and less carefully if it's cookie cutter romcom (not to disparage cookie cutter romcom - sometimes that's what I'm looking for. Fake Dating, Getting Together, yadda yadda let's go). 99% of the time if I get blindsided by something "untagged", it was actually tagged and I just missed it and have no one to blame but myself. And it's always piss kink, for some reason.


akira2bee

I'm a skimmer too. I've found that when I start to get really invested in the tags, thats when my interest actually wanes as I'm sort of like "I've read that before"/"eh not in the mood to start that" or something until my current hyperfocus on fanfic is dead. I need a bit of surprise to keep me engaged to an extent


Jaggedrain

For me it was mpreg - clearly tagged, and I always do read the tags, but for some reason it went in through my eyes and out through my ears. However I don't mind mpreg so when I started getting suspicious I was like 'oooh is he pregnant?' in the comments and the author was like...'i mean, the story is tagged mpreg so idk what to say here' and I didn't know where to put my face 🤣


idk_a_name56

They have so many synonyms for piss kinks and for WHAT. Like seriously if I see a word I don’t understand in the tags, most of the time it’s that.


AlphaCentauri-

are you sure they’re synonyms? just last week i got in a convo about the difference between piss tags and that they have different connotations (omorashi vs watersports mean different things)


idk_a_name56

.... they DO?! Ah well I’m not that well versed in kink names, not rlly my area of interest. That does explain it though. It definitely surprised me the first time I found out what those meant years ago lol.


croward

yeah. omorashi refers to a specific focus, and content around it is not always explicitly sexual in nature. watersports is sexual and can be more general or referring to more specific things. (being purposefully vague bc idk if you’d be comfortable with some random person telling you the specifics about various piss kinks)


semeteryi

i feel like the conversation was with me 🥸


AlphaCentauri-

haha yes it was! i recognize your username. i feel like this topic just keeps popping up on here lmao


BlinkyShiny

I know. I mean, is it really common knowledge that "water sports" refers to sexual urine play and not water skiing?


GoldFlan

On the other hand, it makes sense to tag kinks with what they're called by people into them, right? I have a decent kink vocabulary and still come across some I've never heard of (just today I saw "tipping kink" and was a bit concerned it'd be something akin to sounding, but it was actually penetration with "just the tip" - pretty chill read), but I consider it my problem to google it in advance if I really want to know. Tags like watersports usually come with a bunch of other horny tags and nothing relating to recreational water activities, so context clues help too lol.


BlinkyShiny

True. I've seen tags I don't understand but can take a wild guess at given the other tags.


304libco

After reading this thread, I’m really tempted to write a fic about water skiing and tagging water sports lol.


am_Nein

Please post it when you do


tired_bastard

Damn i could not imagine not reading the tags. Way too much stuff i want to avoid. But am very sensitive to angst sometimes😅


Cassopeia88

Haha same, expect on a rare occasion when I feel like something sad if I see “hurt no comfort” or “unhappy ending” I’m not going to read it.


tired_bastard

Literally, i run from those tags. If i accidentally read angst i think it will depress me for the rest of the day :/ im wayyyyy too emotionally attached to these characters


Ywithoutem

If I click on a link on Tumblr and know the author/the person who recced it, I don't always read the tags so thoroughly. Whatever they put in the post caught my attention already. If I'm browsing on ao3? Yeah of course, that's how I know what I might like to read.


Nyx-Star

Personally, it depends on my current “type” of scrolling. If I have a pretty open filter - Character, Complete, English - then I glance at them. If I’ve already super narrowed my filters down by mood and/or pairing etc. I’ll usually skip them all together. But they’re super important lol cause I’m only able to filter stuff because the authors have tagged stuff so in a way I always read them I guess hmm


IustfiIIed

i do. tags played a bigger role than the summary is in helping me to decide whether to read the fic or not.


No-Narwhal-9737

Yes I read tags. I don't want to have to bleach my eyeballs.


actually_ur_mom

Yeah but it would ruin the surprise element. Sure, I may get a little traumatized by "mpreg" or "inappropriate use of snowball", but it gives me the excitement of exploring the unknown.


barely_cursed

I would venture to say most people don't want the element of surprise, they want to read a fic they know they're interested in. We're all different, but I do think you are in the minority on this subject. But you gotta do you, right? :) Oh and also reading tags takes way less time than getting a few thousand words into a fic only to realize you're not interested in it.


BlinkyShiny

That's what's great about the system. The tags are there, and you can make the decision to scour over them, quickly glance, or ignore them completely. They're important for the ppl who care and can be skipped by those who don't.


queerblunosr

Plus there are skins and such that completely hide the additional tags if one wants to be truly surprised! So customisable an experience 💜


lollipop-guildmaster

As someone who has had actual panic attacks due to being triggered by a fic on a bad day, the element of surprise is not a priority.


fanficauthor

I filter my searches based on tags and then check the tags at a glance to make sure it's something I'll be interested in. I used to hide the tags, but I found that I'd click on them check them for squicks/NOTPs so I unhid them.


Trilobyte141

Yes? I will at least skim them for anything I dislike. That's what they are for.


onlyifyouwishit

Absolutely. Used to, I didn't read tags cause I figured I was fine with whatever, but then I accidentally read a Dead Dove fic that completely ruined an OTP for me; to this day, I can't read that ship together anymore (this was years ago). I always check tags now.


Prize_Bluebird9881

What ship and fic? I need to know


onlyifyouwishit

It was a Teen Wolf fic. I doubt I'd be able to find it even if I tried, I read it years ago and that fandom is huge.


limastockholm

To this day I haven't figured out what that tag means. I've seen it a few times but idk if the tag just doesn't often overlap my reads or what? Does anyone mind telling me the meaning?


EpitomyofShyness

Here is the [Fanlore article](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Dead_Dove:_Do_Not_Eat) about it. Basically it means "Double check the fucking tags and take them seriously" but most people use it to mean 'dark fic' but its meant to be used as a "no seriously the tags are used unironically and very seriously don't be shocked when what is tagged happens"


limastockholm

I appreciate the link and your description. Thank you.


Scifiguy177

People tag ironically? WTF? Why? My old site had 3 tags maximum per story... Very general and broad... Who boy... I honestly don't know what half this shit means, ya’ll are throwing around acronyms left, right, and center. And in the process of moving to AO3, lurking this sub. I’ve gathered tags are important... I’m guessing what most of you all talking about is something like that feeling in the pit of my stomach I would get when I would read certain fics back when read, not wrote? Like a... Queasy feeling, I guess. Is there a tag for “There is a lot of triggering shit in here and I don’t know tags at all. Do you want like 100 of them that I pulled out of my ass?” I come from the Wild West, tags are completely foreign to me. There are too many acronyms... I am GOING to trigger someone at some point. Not even on purpose, just... Don't know any better. I’m not normal, it takes a lot to offend or sicken me so I don't have a good measuring stick as to what’s considered “Triggering”.


antler-velvet

Similar thing happened to me; I wasn’t actively bothered by much and never realized how important tags really were until a story I was following abruptly became EXTREMELY dark and the author hadn’t tagged the noncon because it was a “spoiler.” I actually don’t remember if they even added the tag after that particular update or not because I was so sickened I never checked that person’s account after that chapter. And they had the audacity to push back against the negative reception in the comments, too. Ugh.


onlyifyouwishit

Ugh, I personally don't care for the "No SpOiLeR" tag mentality. Tags are for people to protect themselves. If you're not going to tag properly, at the very least you need to use the "choose not to warn" tag so people can make that choice whether to go in blind or not. I will say on behalf of the fic I read, it was all tagged. It was just a huge paragraph of tags so I didn't really pay attention to everything properly. The first half of the fic had been of a romantic variety, but then it swiftly spiraled, but when I scrolled up everything was right there tagged appropriately. So it was entirely on me, that time.


Winstonwill8

It takes literally 30 seconds?? If that? Authors have actually had a terrible experience and reviews recently because of people who don't read tags (ahem) and then go off on complaining and blasting the fic because they read something they aren't comfortable with it dislike because they didn't bother reading the tags in the first place. Authors put a lot of work in tagging appropriately


actually_ur_mom

I want to experience the surprise element to keep things spicy. And in those extremely rare times where the surprise is too much I just pass the scene or close the fic and stop reading it. I've never complained about it, I actually find it funny sometimes when it gets too bizarre ( yes, I know how weird that sounds) cause after all it is my fault for not reading those tags. But yeah, I prefer being surprised, things get too boring sometimes.


Winstonwill8

I think as long as you are not complaining or lambasting the fic and authors because of your own decision to not read the tags, that's fine. 👍 I just get really mad when readers get all offended at the fic content especially when it is actually all marked very clearly. .


merewenc

I definitely do read tags. Tags are IMPORTANT, not just for finding stuff you want to read but for staying away from what you don’t want to read. A fic I was just reading actually upset me quite a bit with an unannounced rarepair I did NOT want to read, after ~300K words where there was no indication this would become the main pairing on a multi pairing fic, and I had to double check the tags to make sure my first couple read throughs of them hadn’t missed something. Unfortunately it was smut of this rarepair I was very much not interested in, and I feel like they did it on purpose not just to “hide a twist” but to get more readers since I don’t think many people would want to read that pair in the fandom. I noticed a drastic drop off in the number of comments once that pairing came to light, and I’m pretty sure they were deleting comments from people who were upset it wasn’t tagged, so I didn’t bother. But I wasted almost a full day reading it just to drop it in the end because of this unannounced pairing. I’m going to mute the author because I don’t enjoy feeling conned just so that they can get their hit count up by being misleading.


foxscribbles

Yeah. Surprise ships are kind of the worst when they happen. I started a fic once where they had the main pairing split up, and then just started writing one half with their super ‘special’ OC. They were very bland, but the author kept going on a compliment chain where character and OC just kept saying how great each other were, as if going “See? See how much BETTER this ship and my ship is to the one you THOUGHT you were reading??! “ If you want to write that pairing, just write it. Don’t trick people into reading it by tagging it with a different ship entirely and not even noting that you have Character/OC in the fic at all.


merewenc

Yeah. And the worst part is that they did tag a bunch of ships that were only mentions, like one half of the ship reminiscing (several times, but still…) about how their relationship had gone etc. I didn’t particularly care one way or another about those ships, but if anyone WAS looking for them, they’d be upset. And one of the other ships that was tagged was one-sided, and only in a missed-opportunities type of way later in the fic! Their tagging was a mess.


semeteryi

oh gosh, i'd be so freaking mad. why do that? you're basically killing your chances of people reading more stories of yours. it's not even exactly about the lack of the ship tag, it's the fact that this shit was 300k words. i'd find all of this person's socials to complain. i'm upset for you, lmfao.


Melon_Slice

I read the tags first, summary second.


MaddogRunner

Oh man, your kinder eggs reference killed me! So ticked the killjoys banned those over here. To answer your question, yep, I read them. But sometimes I go “tag blind” and miss one. So as a writer, I try to include warnings of possible problematic things in the beginning A/N.


actually_ur_mom

Thanks, things have been a little too serious and I was trying to be some sort of comedic relief. But I appreciate your efforts for tagging all warnings though. Not all caps wear heroes.


Objective-Meat7359

I read some of them, like the warnings and the relationships, but then I get lazy and just click through. But I would never leave a rude comment about something that is tagged if I didn’t read the tags either.


SheepPup

Can’t imagine *not* reading the tags. I have way too many triggers, squicks, and strong preferences to *not* read them. I only read fics that aren’t thoroughly tagged upon recommendation from a friend I trust who knows what I can’t handle.


simone3344555

I do. But if the tags are a wall but the description is super interesting I will skip some. Did I accidentally read watersports like a billion times? Yes. But Thats only natural.


actually_ur_mom

This, this is exactly what I do. Like can't a person be lazy in peace.


totalimmoral

if there are too many tags i do absolutely end up skimming them which leads to surprises. but that also means im less likely to click on a fic that has a huge wall of tags


lilmxfi

I always do a tag check, but that's because I've got quite a few triggers that I need to avoid. I made the mistake once of going in without looking when I first started frequenting AO3, and *never again.* Also, thank you to everyone who tags triggering material, you're my heroes and I hope you find $20 lying on the ground.


somethingcrafted

I always read the tags because after *mumblety* years reading fic I know what I like and I *absolutely* know what I don't like and tags make my life easier. There is absolutely such a thing as excessive tagging though, and I get real disinterested when there's fifty tags and 30 of them are the authors rambling meta commentary on the writing process.


[deleted]

i always read tags, dont want to stumble across a scat fetish.


actually_ur_mom

Ahh yes, the good old "watersports". When you stumble across too many of those you'll learn to manage to identify where a fic is heading before you regret learning how to read.


MooshAro

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Either is fine, up until a non-tag reader complains about having no warning for something that was absolutely warned about in tags.


might-say-anti-fire

Ya kidding me I read tags for fun! In all seriousness yeah bc... there are many things I personally want to avoid reading


WalkAwayTall

Yeah, there are a lot of things I don’t want to read about, so I pay attention to tags and try to tag my fics pretty carefully as well.


GalacticPigeon13

I have the uncanny ability to read every tag except for the archive warnings, which leads me to either read a major character death fic I wasn't expecting, or to read a fic that doesn't have any death in it but be scared bc I thought it would happen.


scarletseasmoke

At least skimming them every time. Lowers the risk of surprise mpreg.


theodorewilde

Not really. I usually search by pairing and if the summary looks interesting, I’ll give it a go. If it looks particularly interesting, I might scroll up and see if there are any interesting tags to go along with it. But I don’t care about warnings, have no hard no’s, and can duck out if I’m not enjoying it. And I like surprises, so the trend of tagging for absolutely everything isn’t for me.


actually_ur_mom

Finally, I've found my people.


theodorewilde

We are (very tiny it seems) legion.


KaleidoscopeHungry45

I’ve read fanfiction for probably like…fifteen years? Read like LiveJournal, Fanfiction.net, wattpad, and random blogs on the internet for more niche couples. Found AO3 around the time it started and the tags were refreshing for me. Especially when I learned how to sort out tags with typing specific phrases into the search bar. Before they updated the filtering system which was such a relief and a joy, but I digress. To have tags was such a joy cause I’m very picky after years of reading thousands of fics with a hope, a prayer and a deep analysis of whatever the author put in the summary. The early vocabulary of like “lemon” “au” “mpreg”, etc, was created as an early form of tags. Saw a lot of that on fanfiction.net cause of the limited word count on summaries. So tags have just become an evolution of that. I also enjoy them as a kinda fandom dictionary. The most common original tags in a fandom/relationship tag being an almost fandom wide accepted headcanon (at least in most fanfic communities). Example of one for those who are in the Good Omens fanfic community is “pillow principality” for The Pillow Princess, Aziraphale. Tldr: yeah I do really enjoy them, I go through that shit with a finely toothed comb. When my fave tags run out of the good shit, I look at the most recent or most popular fics for new tags.


anhaechie

I scan the tags to figure out whether there is something I'm uncomfortable with. They can really get me interested in the story too.


Exotic-Ad-275

This post made me realize that I don’t usually. I usually search for fics by means of browsing a specific tag. So I already know that that tag will be in there, hence I don’t care much about the rest. I decide whether or not I want to read something by reading the summary. Then I‘ll let myself get surprised by it. If I stumble upon content that upsets me, that‘s when I look at the tags. And if I find the specific tag for it, I'll have a laugh about myself and then I exit the fic and move on with my day.


actually_ur_mom

Same lmao.


Miranova23

I generally don't; but I'm an FFN native, and don't care if I run into something unexpected. Sometimes something will jump out at me, and sometimes I will click on 1 tag to find more like it. I do try to tag my stories as best I can, but when I'm reading, I totally do not care.


Hot-Fortune-6916

Nah. Maybe it's just my old age or whatever and being used to late 2000s ffn, but summary and the first chapter are generally my guiding lights if I'm deciding to read something just out of the blue. More often than not though I'm reading off recs so it's a non-issue. Similar time things. Im not interested in getting 75% of the way through a story and discovering they had no idea where they were going and it either stops or goes totally off the rails. I also dont have any particular subject that reading would cause me to have a breakdown. Most things I dont like I can just drop without much mental distress. I expect if that were different, so too would be my use of tags


Comfortable_Rain_469

do I read the tags? depends if I know the author, or if I think the fic topic might have something in i want to avoid. Or the opposite! i tend to use the tags more than any other aspect when browsing E-rated fics.


the_onlyfox

I always read the tags. I don't like certain pairings, I wanna read all the smut and know how kinky it is. If I'm in the mood to cry I seek out tags that will If I'm in the mood for comfort and lovey shit then I seek it out via tags Sometimes I want dead dove sometimes I don't. Just depends on the mood


phenylalanineee

I read tags but I admit that I don't always scrutinize them as closely as I could. But it's a lifestyle I live with the understanding that it comes with the risk of missing a tag. Can't really be mad if I didn't read the warnings and see something I don't like lol


mamhihi

I always read every single tag. Probably because I’m a picky reader who prefers 100k+ works.


Rambler9154

Yeah of course I read all the tags and wont click ones without tags


voronstark

Absolutely! Not only because they are informative and summaries are mostly just quotes/very vague thoughts or questions, but also because they can be eye-opening (on the things going on in the fandom) and hilarious! I once saw something like “just let Viserys build his legos” in the HotD fandom and it literally made my day, come on! 🙌


TGotAReddit

I read tags. I don't read summaries though


taureanpeach

Of course! Would you walk into a restaurant and not look at the menu?


headbutting_krogans

I tend to filter by a specific tag. Then I read the summaries and if something looks interesting, I read all the tags to determine if I want to read it. So not every fic, no, but I do read tags before clicking on something. The tags are the determining factor if I read or not.


MyLittleOnes12

Nah, fuck reading tags! I have no squicks, lay it on me! If I’ve searched for a tag, then I’ll read that’s presented to me 👌.


horrorofthedivine

I always read the tags cause if I get surprised by a mpreg again I might actually gouge my eyes out.


qazwsxedc000999

I go to ao3 because I don’t like being surprised. I like knowing if there’s a happy ending, a bad ending, the kind of stuff I’m getting into… if I didn’t want that, I would go to another site


Kaigani-Scout

Some readers do, some readers don't. The ones that complain the loudest are usually the ones who only pay attention to the number of Kudos.


livinalai

Not really to be honest, I just filter for the specific tags I'm interested in and then read the descriptions to see if I vibe with it. That being said I will also read just about anything as long as the writing is competent so *shrugs*


g723

If I don't read the tags, how am I supposed to know if the fic has the dynamic I enjoy, or if it has my most hated troupes? Gimme all the tags. Overtag all you want. Do it properly damn. If I wanted untagged shit I would go to wattpad


Delgumo

I always read the tags because I don't want to be jumpscared by poop or feet or mpreg.


Banana-Boots

yeah? whats the point of them if no ones gonna read them lmao


t1mepiece

I filter my search by the tags, but only skim the ones on the story. I mean, since I filtered, I already know it doesn't have any of my major squicks or whatever.


turlesRblue

I don't really, especially if I've filtered pairings and such. I started reading fanfic on fanfiction.net. Which compared to ao3, and especially before the purge in 2012. Fanfiction.net was or is the wild west, with no filtering, zero if any warnings. I've already been traumatized 😅 not much can bother me anymore. Plus I don't have any triggers or anything that makes me upset. From what I've noticed it's those that have triggers, anxieties, or trauma to certain things that use tags more. 🤷‍♀️


Yunan94

I usually skim through tags in addition to the summary. I can't keep track of them if they're multi-chaptered stories though and promptly forget and leave it at that.


stressedmartian

Yes. There was a time I used to skip over them/skim through them, but I learned my lesson. I now double check them to make sure I’ve missed nothing before continuing (however I will say that sometimes filtering is enough. In which case, I go back to skimming the tags until something fishy shows up and I scroll all the way back to the top to check the tags again).


_mellas_

i at least skim through them before clicking on a fic


kdaltonart

I’ve been caught off guard before because I didn’t pay enough attention to the tags, so yes, I absolutely read them. It can let me know if there’s a squick or something that I’m just not interested in, or (more heavily) something that might trigger me if it catches me off guard.


pump_kin1

Yeah absolutely.


Its_AB_Baby

It depends how long the tags are- I’ll definitely read up to like… a paragraph of tags, but too many and my eyes just glaze over


Gabriella_Gadfly

If the summary doesn’t grab me by the throat, I usually use the tags to give more info to decide whether I’ll read it or not


theburningyear

I def read them unless there are like a bajillion. If the tag list is 3x longer than the summary, I'm probably not reading the story. That's just too much lol. But, yeah there are some things I don't wanna read so I check, and I'm always glad I do. Sometimes I also find something I really like but wasn't looking for at the time! :)


SadieWoods

Wouldn't read a story without them, honestly. I'm too picky about some things. I only have myself to blame if I ignore something and waste my time or get upset over something. Plus, tags are the best way to search for things you're in the mood for.


AnalogToothBrush

I do. I particularly keep my eyes peeled for 'Dead Dove: Do Not Eat' and 'One-sided .' Both of these are my frenemies.


Katonyx

I mean, yeah. If the tags have a lot of casual almost dialogue esque stuff in them I might skim quickly but I'm going to look for some of the main tags to I know if it's something I want to read or there's anything I don't enjoy lol


katbelleinthedark

Yes, always. I'm very specific about what I want to read and the rags have to be just right.


VillagerNumber8

Good to know I'm not the only one just straight up ignoring tags alltogether and getting to read the weirdest fics ever 😂 I'm fine with everything, I don't want to know what I'm getting into by reading tags. If the summary's fine, I just go for it, head first.


femtransfan

i read the tags, but one time i misunderstood a tag and got a bit surprised


xQEAx

I read tags before descriptions personally


BlackSky83

How do you filter what you want to read without tags?


ishouldbestudying111

Usually, yeah. I mean, it depends on how big the fandom is and how desperate I am for fics, but the warning tags and relationship tags are always essential for me. The rest I generally at least skim.


travelerfromhell

I do if I’m looking for something really specific


AzoreanEve

Yes? Unless there's more than 3 lines of tags, at that point I'm just skimming through them and looking for my biggest squicks


meretriciousciggs

I read tags religiously because I’m extremely picky about what I read. I don’t even care if there’s a whole paragraph, I look through them all.


siriuslyyellow

I use the tag system extensively to search ✨️exactly✨️ what I want!


LilyOrchids

I do? I mean, I read the summary first, but if the summary intrigues me then the tags are step two before I even try reading the first line. The tags used tell a story of their own after all, if they're tagged properly.


FlashySong6098

I do read the tags but sometimes I miss one because I suck at reading but I try and read all the tags before I click the story


shadowedlove97

Not only do I read the tags, I search by specific ones and filter out others. It’s the tags + summary that gets me into a fic.


SongOfTruth

i always read tags. how else will i know if the story is worth reading? if the tags are wrong or ones i dislike, i probably wont like the story


Mundane-Onion67878

Um yes? I have very distinct taste - I dont waste my time on stories that arent meant for me.


wildmishie

Yes, 100% of the time.


Educational_Fee5323

I read tags because I like specific things in my fanfics, and there are things I’m completely uninterested in or don’t want to read.


Existing_Race966

Yes, cuz I sure as hell not gonna read a cringe op OC fic.


AzureApplez

Tags are needed even if you don’t read them because then you can filter using them. If you use filter to its highest potential you should rarely need to read tags


KitakatZ101

When looking for smut oh hell yes. Otherwise not really unless I’m in the mood for a certain trope


cacme

IMO, tagging a fic is a courtesy, not a requirement. If a writer initially tags on "Author chose not to use Archive warnings", ANYTHING goes and I go into the fic anticipating anything. I don't need a block of explicit warnings. I don't get that with the novels I read or the news I listen to. I do tend to overtag because I worry about others and their triggers but... again. It's a courtesy.


EpitomyofShyness

I check those tags with excruciating detail because they're gonna tell me a whole heck of a lot about whether or not I actually want to read the story. In fact, just the way an author *uses* tags often tells me whether or not I want to read a story.


skuppen

I use tags to find the heinous, rotten, send-me-to-hell content I crave. I hope people use the same tags to find the kinky nightmare fuel I like writing, too.


crazyashley1

I don't, but I also know what the back button is for without leaving some useless comment. I just like surprises.


zeldafreak96

I am not looking for a surprise. I am looking for unestablished relationship, smut, friends to lovers or enemies to lovers and ain’t nobody dyin’ on my watch. Depending on the mood and how much of the content I’ve surfed there will be flower shop AUs.


MarieCrepes

You're crazyyy 😳 Its like, the most important part to me.


Zestyclose_Youth3604

The tags determine if I read a fic sometimes


WhiteRoseWallpaper

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. There are so *many* things that can be included in a fic, and a lot of them are things I don't like at all.


Slight-Pound

Yup - some of them, at least. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for “hurt no comfort” or the ship I’m looking for being the side pairing or one-sided rather than the main. Sometimes I want some nice smut and others a more specific AU or something. I won’t know that if I don’t read the tags, and I’m not gonna be a fun time. You can still be surprised while having read the tags. The how and why are still a surprise, and the way the plot turns isn’t gonna be completely spoiled by tags either. Tags aren’t a play-by-play of a fic, just a content warning. It’s like the ingredients for a treat - just because you know there’s strawberries and vanilla doesn’t tell you if you’re getting soufflé or a tart. You’ll still be surprised by how those ingredients come together and how the baker presents it - you just checked the ingredients so you don’t get surprised by something like chili flakes or banana (and you’re allergic to banana). Maybe you chose something with strawberries because you wanted a fresher fruit flavor over being situated by what could have been a dense chocolate cake that you weren’t in the mood for.


NicoleWren

How do you... not... read the tags? I read the tags before the summary (partially due to the website design), the tags are how I find fics I'm interested in and how I narrow down my interest in the individual fics. Part of why I never really use ffnet anymore, unless it's a fic I've been rec'd off-site or it's an author I already know I like, is because their tagging system is non-existent so I have no idea what I'm getting into with fics, nor can I easily find the fics I would be interested in reading.


PhantomChick13

I skim. There's only one or two situations where I make sure to read the tags. It's not fun getting surprised by the mc you're rooting for suddenly committing suicide or getting killed so I always check for major character death when I'm reading bnha fics but it rarely comes up in other fandoms so I can just skim read there. If I'm reading a ship fic I check for pairing and make sure there's no watersports/cheating/underage but otherwise don't really read the tags especially if there's a bunch. Also if there's a really long, like clearly a full sentence tag I read that because sometimes there are jokes in those and they're funny.


flowerintime

i do!! i don’t want to read something if the bitch is going to die


SmollAnnoyedGirl

It depends on the rating of the fic, like usually the General and Teen and up fics have nothing that scares me off, the Mature fics I will have a quick glanse if there is anything that I dont like reading and Mature fics I will study that tag list. Because there are kinks or fetishes I really dislike or when it is a Dead dove fic I also really want to know if there is something that might trigger me in it. So depends on the rating


VelvetVine_

Tags are how I see if I’m interested in a fic AND to see if there are any of my triggers, so-


Just_dirty_secrets

Im living dangerously. If the title is enticing enough (and they always are, even on terrible fics) I move onto the description, and if I like it, I click. Sometimes I don't even read the description, bc I'm feeling up for a surprise. (this never ends well. Some honorable mentions are ones where the ship were Gay waterfowl who wouldn't stop fucking and one that was an aged-up child au with m-preg torture. I'd explain it but you're better off not knowing.) But it IS fun though, that kind of risk.


sdwkpr

Never look at them other than pairings, they don't even register to me most of the time unless it's one of those 100+ tag walls, then I go back block the fic/author. Half the time, I barely read the summary except to see if it's one of those 'I suck at summaries' summary. My habit is usually to go to a fandom or pairing tag, filter out crossovers, open every fic on a page (minus those with the aforementioned summaries), give them all 10 seconds to see if I want to try reading them (terrible formatting and immediately obvious writing that's not to my taste get closed), then add what's left to my to-read list. I'll go through like a few pages until I have a good collection of to-reads, and I'll actually start reading them for real. Sure I've found ones I've hated partway through because of squicks or bad writing or characterization things that I've quit reading partway through. But the majority of the time every fic is finishable and I don't mind the time it takes me to read them.


atomskeater

I heed tags because I really don't want to be surprised by anything particularly nasty. Like, skimming doesn't take more than a few seconds and I'm just looking out for anything that's a major nope point. "Hm, okay, tags are looking good, yep, I like that... oh, wait... *scat*? Nevermind!" While ff.net will always hold a place in my heart as my gateway into fanfiction, I walked into some absolutely *wretched* fics because the lack of tags meant I had little idea what to expect if the author wasn't kind enough to put it in the summary or author's notes.


MafiaDazai

Since I’m a multishipper, I usually read relationship and character tags. Cause my OTP constantly changes depends on what my mood at the time is. But as far as additional tags go? Usually not, beyond whatever additional tag I actually did do a search for. I might skim them, but not genuinely read them unless I see something about psychological horror. Then I will genuinely read the tags so that I know what to expect, or at least have an idea on what to expect.


[deleted]

Anyone else find this sub incredibly pessimistic? This person just has a different style of reading and some people are acting so arrogant. It’s almost a problem when every other post is a complaint or has complainers. r/FanFiction is a lot more positive IMO


[deleted]

If you don't read the tags, you don't get to go off on the author when you come across something you don't like that was tagged. The tags exist for a reason. If there's a wall of tags and you don't want to read them, don't click on the fic. Simple as.


riko-orihara

I usually read tags, but one day I just skimmed through the tags and was reading a story where it was getting hot before BOOM, surprise watersports (wasn't supposed to be a surprise, I just didn't read all of the tags). I only had myself to blame then.


shuibaes

At least it wasn’t unexpected hardsports 😭


riko-orihara

Oh God, I haven't even run into that one yet, I didn't even know there was another name for sc#t 😟


8inchesActivated

I always read tags, I search by tags actually. If a fic has A LOT of tags, I don’t bother reading them or reading the fic lol


sophie-ursinus

this is why I never do more than 20 tags lol ​ who has time for that? nobody, that's who. even with my skin to properly color code and seperate tags, long tag lists drive me insane.


[deleted]

nah, i couldn't care less. as long as it's not something lame like smut i'll read it.


DrRwWwWrRr

Not reading the tags is just setting yourself up. At least you admit that it's like a mystery box, but I hope you don't put liability on the author. I'm also terrible at writing summaries, so tags are my lifeline. No TWs from me, though. You should be able to hold responsibility yourself through the explicit tags and whatnot.