#'hello yes i know the original joke but hrmph i don't wike it'

[ranseur]

Hiya! Thanks for responding to my poll about Dead Dove Do Not Eat tags! I have a follow up question for you, because your angle is one I knew was common, but I haven’t seen laid out in the responses to my poll (except for you!!! Thank you!!!). Are you aware of the origins of the phrase? (From an episode of Arrested Development.) Again, thanks so much for replying, and in such detail!! I really appreciate your contribution to Science. (Aka, my dumbass curiosity.)

Hellooo @aurorasulphur! Thanks very much for facilitating this very scholarly and scientific survey. Also thanks for reading my response. I'm glad my take isn't so uncommon! I'm sorry in advance for subjecting you to read another wall of text where I explain my silly thoughts. (Obligatory Disclaimer: These are only my personal preferences that I'll try to put in words. Anyone may feel free to disagree. I primarily want to explain why I think it's important to have a tag that means 'dark fic in general'.)

Yes, I'm aware of the origins! (Arrested Development is such a funny show.) I debated mentioning in my tags that I knew it, but they were already so long;;; And I had thoughts related to it.

From what I understand, the punchline in the original gag was 'this is exactly what the label (on the tin) says; what did you expect.’ Which is the popular definition from the poll, and again maybe I’m picky about the wording but it’s not the definition I prefer. We already use a tag to emphasize the provided tags ('READ THE TAGS') and a tag to strongly advise viewer discretion ('Don't Like Don't Read). Personally, I broadly define Dead Dove: Do Not Eat (DD:DNE) as 'Dark/Horror Fic- that may or may not criticize itself or be specified', because I’ve only seen DD:DNE used on AO3 to tag dark fic. So in effect, the tag itself is the ‘label on the tin’. Also I think- regardless of what the tag is- readers forfeit their right to complain when tropes that they dislike are properly tagged but they choose to read the fic anyway. I think it's a readers responsibility to check tags. And if writers forget to tag some warnings, DD:DNE could be a useful catch-all, fail-safe tag to have for dark fic in general. (An aside, I also think the symbolism of a dead dove is apt for dark themes, and DD:DNE intuitively reads as a warning, like, 'Don't Dead: Open Inside' from TWD.)

I’ll be the first to point out that my 'dark fic' definition has a flaw, right, because the fics that people tag as DD:DNE will vary depending on where they personally draw the line on what is dark or problematic. I think defining the moral lines of ‘what is problematic’ is a bigger discussion that can’t be fixed by defining one tag; but I still think the vagueness of DD:DNE can be a feature, not a bug. In order to be as clear as possible, many writers tag additional warnings. And even though DD:DNE is almost always accompanied by tags affiliated with dark fic, I think DD:DNE by itself can indicate dark tone more universally than other content warning tags. I think DD:DNE establishes the genre of the story rather than emphasizing the accuracy of tags, on the grounds that sometimes problematic or ‘content warning’ tags can be accurate and true without being dead doves.

For example, a common problematic tag like 'kidnapping'. This tag might mean the fic is a saucy bodice ripper, in which the kidnappee is never really harmed or in danger because they're supposed to melt the heart of the villain. Even though the scenario is an indulgent romantic fantasy, it's still kidnapping, so the tag is accurate. But if a fic is tagged 'kidnapping, DD:DNE’ then, to me, that has an entirely different implication; it means the holodeck safey protocols are turned off (ie, within the fictional story- the setting is no longer a romanticized fantasy; the kidnapper will be cruel, the kidnappee will be in pain, etc.) In this example, tagging ‘DD:DNE’ doesn't emphasize the latter story to be 'more kidnap-y' than the former, but rather it sets the tone; it's going to be a dark story while the former is raunchy romance. Also, if tagged, people who want to read the former fic can safely filter out DD:DNE without filtering out ‘kidnapping’.

Another example- some media properties, like horror films/games, are already loaded with problematic or dark tropes that are canon and expected in the fan content (eg, zombie media with body horror and gore and cannibalism). Readers might be accustomed to seeing canon-typical dark/horror tropes in that fandom. And if some tags, that are usually affiliated with dark fics, fail to express how the tone of a dark setting will be even more dark, then DD:DNE might be used to say ‘this is on another level’.

All said- the definition of DD:DNE that I prefer is useful as an umbrella term to warn readers of dark content. I'm sure there are a dozen ways to tag my above examples differently and still achieve the same results; I just think one tag is easy to filter. Also, the tag really doesn't have to be DD:DNE anyway; theoretically in an alternate timeline where Arrested Development never made the 'dead dove' gag, people still would have found a way to tag dark fic warnings. I think writers who don't know the DD:DNE tag, or choose not to use it, have flagged their fics with tags like 'Bad Ending' or 'Not Safe Not Sane' or just 'Dark'.

So, in my humble opinion, the DD:DNE definition based on the original context of the Arrested Development gag ('i tagged X: believe it!') is technically correct, but misses the point for me. My focus is on the context of AO3 tags and gaps in writer/reader communication. I prefer DD:DNE used as a broad term for genre of very dark or horror centered fic, because I believe reliable tags help us to curate our online experiences. By having clear expectations, we can keep our online sandboxes safer for everyone.