FimFiction Tutorial: Tags · 6:40pm Jun 24th, 2016
I've noticed a lot of misconceptions about tags on this site. This blog is my attempt to clear this up.
First, tags are not content. By this, I mean tags are not meant to list everything the story contains. Tags are meant to convey the genre or focus of the story.
Let's look at a nonexistent fic as an example. This fic follows the main character, Mane Character, in his daily life as he looks for love after moving to Ponyville. Mane Character is a typical pony that likes to use humor to mask his fear and nervousness, but tends to be more serious in most situations
Now, what tags are going to be used? The first is simple; slice of life. The second is pretty easy, too, as he's looking for love; Romance.
Now, this is where many people make their mistake. Despite the fact that I said he sometimes uses humor when nervous this is not a comedy. His use of humor is a minor trait that doesn't play a major roll in the overall narrative.
Another example, in chapters 44-49, out of the 100 chapters, Mane goes through the mirror to the EQG world to help fight off some monster that crossed over. Despite having six chapters of humans and adventure, neither of these tags should be used, as those chapters are the only ones with those elements and are only a very minor sub-plot.
These two rules also apply to character tags. If a character is only in it occasionally, or is only present for a few chapters, they shouldn't be tagged.
Finally, the most misunderstood tag; alternate universe. AU is reserved for fics in which the differences are significant. For example, if Mane works for Queen Nightmare Moon, ruler of the world, it's AU. If the only difference is that the changeling invasion never happened, this is a minor change, as the invasion only really affected those episodes and is not AU.
The one difference to these rules are the sex and gore tags, as these are meant as warning for people that might be put off by these. If a story has even one brief moment of sex or gore, those tags do need to be added.
In the end, our fictional story would be tagged as a slice of life, romance, despite having some comedy and a few chapters of humans and adventure. However, it's still considered polite to include a note in the description that tells people that there are elements of comedy, adventure, and humans.
This also applies to other questionable things that there aren't tags for. For example if at one point one of Mane's friends is sexually assaulted, even if "off screen", add a warning that it touches on the subject. The same applies for any kind of fetishes for an erotic story. While this may not be a rule enforced by the mods, it is common courtesy and neglecting this is a good way to earn down votes
I hope this clears up the confusion about tags. If you find this helped you, please share it with others.
I WILL find a way to up vote blog posts and there's not a thing anyone can do to stop me MUAHAHAHA*Gagh* *cough*
4128057 Sharing the link would be just as good, and hopefully help educate people on this very topic.
The problem with the tag system is that there are two sets of tags.
Like you said one set are genre labels and the other set is warnings.
So if my story has some humans in it but not in Equestria, I still need the tag?
I'm not sure if the tag meant, "This story is about humans" or "There are humans in the story."
Thanks for the info.
4830169
Yeah, a lot of people think if there is even one scene with one human, it needs the human tag. That's one of the reasons I made this, in fact, along with the misused 'Alternate Universe' tag.