About warnings: consider yourself warned. · 7:37pm Dec 20th, 2017
So, as you all probably noticed, aside from links turning blue, we now have a set of brand new trigger warnings to choose from. As someone who always warns his readers about such dangers lurking in fanfics as high concentration of potatoes, peanuts, or even sodium levels not recommended by any dietetician, I couldn't miss an occasion to state my opinion on them.
Which is, screw those. I may use some of them, like Fetish or Self-harm (in fact, I used both in Stick a Pin in It), but most definitely I won't be using Death when it's a potential spoiler (which, as of now means that the only fic where I use this warning is My Roommate is a Murderer since this fic mentions a corpse right in the description so Death is pretty obvious here.
As for profanity, I consider it rather redundant, given that it could technically be expected in any fic with a T or M rating. Which means that I'd have to check forty-seven stories to determine whether they contain "a lot of well agreed upon profanity".
On a second thought, make it forty-four. Springtime for Shimmer.* definitely applies, but with clever enough interpretation this story could easily hit every single content warning bestowed upon us; Way to Go, Minuette, Way To Go!, as I once calculated, contains on average one swear per every 200 words, which means about 432.5 total, warranting the warning without question. Its sequel is a bit less vulgar, not to mention that it has "shit" right in the title, so if someone missed that, they'd most likely miss the warning as well.
So, to sum it up, Profanity warning shall be applied inconsistently. Deal with it.
A few other random thoughts:
Three genre tags aren't enough, period. Also, when I tried to add warnings to A Kingdom Divided, it turned out that I can't save it because it has too many genre tags (six). And that's despite the fact that it had four of them since 2013, with Drama and Thriller being added as they became available. Even if more tags aren't back, some kind of grandfather clause would be nice.
It's apparently not possible, but I could technically have an E-rated story with a Fetish warning. I mean, that's surely someone's fetish:
Generally, one could say that "Fetish" is kinda vague, for the exact same reason why TV Tropes doesn't list examples of Fetish Fuel (also, now I'm reminded of a story somebody once told me, about dragons and some Equestria Daily approver...).
* I probably never told you that, but a period in Springtime for Shimmer. is an integral part of the title. It's actually a reference to Clerks.
dating back to my first idea of coverart, which was supposed to be black and white, in style of Clerks' poster.
Don't think it refers to there being death in story since that is kinda spoilery and rather common. More like if death is the theme of the story? Who knows, bit unclear actually when you think about it.
I also had no idea alcohol is narcotics.
4754459
Hmm, if death is the theme of the story (hmm, Tricks and Traps would probably be such a fic, as far as mine are concerned), it'd probably be rather obvious even without the tag (Tricks and Traps is a good example here. Look at the cover without reading the description and guess what is it about). This being said, some people get pretty salty over killing off characters, believe it or not.
Same here, even though it fits the definition. That's why I put this one on Crystal Rose but not Berry Punch Takes Manehattan.
4754472
Yeah people hate killing off characters. But people hate everything anyway. There is hater for everything. Oh that reminds me, every story is a fetish. After all, pony is a fetish for some!
And I checked the narcotics thing. Like most oddities in the world it is because in US legal system it is narcotic while in chemistry sense it is far from it.
4754483
Yeah. Also, I'm pretty sure what's called "narkotyki" in Polish is covered under "drugs" in English, although drugs can also mean meds, hence "drugstore".
And then, apparently what's called "dopalacze" ("boosters") in Polish apparently is called "bath salts" or "designer drugs" in English (Russian also has Дизайнерские наркотики which makes me think of Rarity cooking meth).
4754527
She has a gem finding cutie mark. She is probably good at finding crystals too. Crystal Meth anyone?
...hey that's how she can afford opening stores in Canerlot and Manehatten.
4754535
Well, clothes are only one of their businesses. The real reason she wanted to get rid of raccoons in Manehattan store was because she needed that room for a meth lab.
Also, no wonder Mr. Stripes wanted his daughter to work with Rarity. Like, if Rarity started to sell meth in Manehattan without the approval of pony Russians, she'd end up in the river. So, she had to make a deal.
4754541
Well he did wear the Slavic mobster uniform. And heh, Rarity's business just happens to be under Vinyl pleasure studio. Heck, bet Vinyl is on the deal too.
4754553
One of Vinyl's rules is "keep your friends close and your dealer closer"...
What abount "Celestia's Day Out"? There is also the whole story begins with a corpse 💀
4761650
Well, it turns out to be alive...