Yes; it seems to be a quite intriguing feature of fandom that we're so much more keen on warnings than anywhere else. Maybe it's got something to do with the already defined parameters? When starting to read something in RL we have no preconceptions, no wish to find something beyond that basic genre and summary and cover art and author--but in fandom we care about the text in different ways, and divide ourselves into smaller factions, and want to Know if it matches the opinions we've already formed on it. Or maybe it's a matter of the community.
I often find having to list pairings irritating--sometimes they're such a small fraction of what the story's actually about it's pointless, sometimes they're canon or have heaps of canon support anyway, sometimes there's character development or love polygons that don't need spoiling.
Warnings are for things like non-con and violence and explicit sex and violence, and genres don't give so much information, and it seems to me that we have further classifications--het and slash and femslash because 'warning' isn't an appropriate term to use to alert someone to the presence of teh ghei, characters involved, pregnancyfic, dark 'n disturbing, all that.
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Here from metafandom
Date: 2007-03-29 07:08 am (UTC)I often find having to list pairings irritating--sometimes they're such a small fraction of what the story's actually about it's pointless, sometimes they're canon or have heaps of canon support anyway, sometimes there's character development or love polygons that don't need spoiling.
Warnings are for things like non-con and violence and explicit sex and violence, and genres don't give so much information, and it seems to me that we have further classifications--het and slash and femslash because 'warning' isn't an appropriate term to use to alert someone to the presence of teh ghei, characters involved, pregnancyfic, dark 'n disturbing, all that.