Revision of Warnings in Use on the Archive--Poll and Public Comments
A few months ago, a discussion on our Yahoo! group about warning labels and slash inspired us to reconsider how we want to label stories containing sexual content on the archive. The SWG moderators discussed the issue on our forum, and we also opened the discussion to SWG members, asking them for ideas on how we might reconfigure our warning system to accurately label stories in a way comfortable and useful for both authors and readers.
The issue concerns the "slash" and "het" labels that we currently use on the archive. For those unfamiliar with how our archive works, all stories are required to be given a rating by their authors (General, Teens, Adult) that authors are strongly encouraged--or, in the case of Teens- or Adult-rated stories, required--to clarify with warnings. Authors may choose from a list of warnings (see the list here). Our rating/warning policy may be found in its entirety here.
However, this system--while it works well in most cases--has proven to be less-than-perfect when choosing how to label stories that mention the romantic or sexual pairings of the characters and do not include sexual content. For example, does a story that mentions a homosexual pairing or in which a character "just happens to be gay" need to be labeled as slash? Some authors have felt pressured to label such stories as slash when the authors feel that they are not. Likewise, in some circles within fandom, the labels "slash" and "het" imply a level of sexual content that simply isn't present in many of the stories that feel pressured to use these labels simply because they contain non-sexual mention of certain pairings. Authors have expressed concern that lumping this vast range of stories under labels that carry strong connotations for many in fandom isn't accurate, helpful, or fair.
And so we are trying to develop a better system, one that will continue to allow readers on our site to select the content they want to read while also allowing our authors to explore social convention and sexuality without feeling that they have to label their stories in a way that they find inaccurate. The moderators of the SWG have decided that the best way to do this is to allow our members and guests to decide which system they would find best. We appreciate our members and guests taking their time to complete this survey and share their thoughts with us.
Please note that we have not explored fully the technical feasibility of all of the ideas in the poll. We will do our best to implement whatever idea the group chooses as their favorite, but, in the instance that it is impossible to code safely into our software, we will choose the second favorite.
We are not collecting any identifying information on this poll unless you choose to provide it.
Please choose only one option!
The poll is closed! Thank you to all members who took their time to consider this issue and share their opinions with us. Please see the October 2008 newsletter for poll results.