So ... about that shiny new [fetish] tag? · 7:55am Dec 28th, 2017
I’m not quite sure what to do with it.
No, I’m not a complete moron. I know what the tag is supposed to be, more or less. There are some things that definitely require a [fetish] tag, and many of my stories are already tagged that way; there are also a few things that are definitely not fetishes, though when you think about it, perhaps fewer than you’d think.
Because, first of all, every single one of my stories is My Little Pony porn, which is kind of a fetish itself. But even if you don’t count that, a fetish is technically anything other than straight procreative sex that’s used for titillation. Sure, tying ponies up is obviously a fetish, and so is a fantasy world where sub/dom relationships are the norm. But is futa a fetish? Ponies wearing clothing? Cock worship? Teasing? The lines get blurry, and I’m really unclear about the edge cases. Fimfic’s built-in help menu for the tags is very unhelpful: “Stories that contain fetish content.”
That’s not even getting into the other questions I have: Does the story need to be centered around a fetish in order to have the [fetish] tag, or does any slight mention of any fetish mean it needs the tag? If the only fetish is something else that has it’s own warning tag, such as [non-con], does it also need the [fetish] tag? (Is it possible to have a story with the [non-con] tag, but not the [fetish] tag?) Do multiple, lightly-touched-on fetishes add up cumulatively to require the [fetish] tag when they wouldn’t if they were used individually?
Viewed strictly, almost all of my stories might require a [fetish] tag ... but then, if every [porn]-tagged story also has the [fetish] tag, then the [fetish] tag becomes completely meaningless, just clutter. So in order for the tags to make sense, there must be some [porn] stories that are not [fetish].
So ... where’s the line?
That’s where you guys come in. I thought about putting in a support ticket, or asking the site mods, or asking around on groups... But when it comes down to it, you are the people my tagging habits matter to: my readers. That’s why I’m asking you how you think this tag should be applied. I’ll do my best to follow the guidelines you guys give me in the comments here (unless the Fimfic mods order me to do otherwise). So let me know: what kind of stories need the [fetish] tag, and which ones don’t?
I'd slap it on anything that isn't "for the sole purpose of procreation" or one shots that are porn focussed.
The vague wording makes me think it could apply to 50 percent of all stories.
You're right and that's stupid.
They probably did mean to use fetish for scenes, which are potentially unpleasant for someone. But with how stupid people are, absolutely everything will be triggering.
My best guess is that it just means that a story has trigger warnings that aren't covered in other tags? Like, hey, this story might have something that a lot of people don't enjoy reading, please the description for further warnings?
For example, just show-porn between a pony and non-pony (which many people can consider bestiality) is covered by 'mlp' and 'porn', while rape isn't as much ('dark' and 'sex/porn' can mean a lot of things if not specified.)
Of course, if you only use the fetish tag without explaining why in the description, which though may allow for some surprising readings, generally won't be liked as much than if you did explain why.
I've explained my viewpoint on this in a couple of places already, so you're not alone on being unsure of the new tags. Here are my views on the use of the [Fetish] & [Porn] tags.
The [Porn] tag is for use on stories where there is no real plot to speak of and titillation is its sole purpose. The trappings of the story are barely or non-existent and any drama or cohesion is there simply to give an excuse for the characters to fuck. Most of us have watched porn at some point, you know what I'm talking about. This feels like an easy one to overuse, but the Mature rating & Sex tags are already there to warn people that there's sexy content ahead, no need for more clutter.
The [Fetish] tag is for stories that heavily feature a fetish that isn't already covered by the other warning tags. I view it as a way to alert readers that there is likely going to be a trigger warnings section in the story description, so they shouldn't just skip over it. I don't think that it should be used for a story that only lightly has a fetish unless that is a specific fetish that tends to turn away a lot of readers (e.g. WS/Scat, Diapers, BDSM, etc.). Most others are covered by specific warning tags. Once again, this feels like an easy tag to overuse, so I'd say use it sparingly to keep it from losing its meaning. Personally I think that they wanted to create a BDSM tag without actually saying BDSM, but this is what they've given us so this is what we have to work with.
You can absolutely have [Porn] tagged stories that don't require the [Fetish] tag and vice versa.
tl;dr: [Porn] is for Porn, [Fetish] is an alert that there's a trigger warnings section in the description.
4761045
I'd say that Porn is for Porn Logic, in which the story and the world in general's sole purpose is to make characters fuck. I.E. don't expect things to make any sense, we're not here for that.
Fetish I would say is to cover things that aren't covered by other tags. Things you put in those black spoiler boxes.
What qualifies for a fetish is vague and subjective, for sure. But I think the Fetish tag exists for not just clop porn, but stories that could be tagged Teen, without Mature or Sex, due to not being explicit.
An example that comes to mind would be a foot/hoof fetish, that doesn't require anything explicit (strictly speaking), so it can get away with a Teen rating, but it still has a fetish-y nature to it to those that would be inclined to that sort of thing, even without any sex, so one would use the Fetish tag instead.
4761056
So pretty much what I said, but more succinct.
4761068
That's a really good one, I hadn't thought of that case.