#anyways this feature suggests mixes of emojis to go with whatever you write

[stormy-nights-are-best]

help what the fcck is this new feature

[epicstuckyficrecs]

How To Tag Stucky Fics Part 2: Rating, Warnings, Fandoms, Relationships & Characters

Preliminary comments

First thing you can do to understand the tagging system better is read the Tag FAQ on ao3! And while you’re at it, I would suggest you also read the Wrangling Guidelines. Understanding the work of tag wranglers might help you to tag your fics better!

My aim with this is to encourage you to better use AO3’s tagging system, which means using canonical tags (especially for Fandom, Relationship and Character tags), VS unfilterable tags, which is everything else that’s not “canonical”. But any tag is better than no tags! Long, rambly tags are better than no tags! That’s what we have tag wranglers for! But my opinion is: if there’s a canonical tag for something, why not use it?

Tagging is an art, not a science. There are pretty much no absolute rules, which means that ao3′s tagging system’s biggest advantage is also its biggest disadvantage: you can do whatever you want with it! You can tag as much or as little as you want.

Every fandom has its quirks and odds about tagging. I’m obviously focused on Stucky, and incidentally on the MCU, so what I say here might not necessarily apply to all ships/fandoms.

As such, my opinion is as good as anyone else’s. I’m not pretending to be the utmost authority on how to tag: I’m just trying make good use of my experience to give writers some recommendations! These are my personal recommendations and in no way are you forced to follow them.

Tagging 101

Tagging has two main purposes, so you should keep them in mind while filling out the New Work form:

Content: tagging the content of your fics, so that readers who want to read said content can find your fic!

Trigger warnings: tagging content in your fics that people might want to avoid.

Basic rules of tagging (to help facilitate the job of our amazing tag wranglers):

Separate your Fandom, Relationship and Character tags by commas! There should be only one item per tag.

Always Use The Characters’ Last Name. Here’s why. Basically, when you tag with “Cute Peter”, wranglers have no idea if you’re talking about Peter Parker or Peter Quill or any of the hundreds of Peter characters in the Archive!

Personally, I would avoid using emojis in tags.

Some of these recommendations (and more) can be found in this AO3 News post under the How To Make Tags Work For You header.

Just read this post if you have no idea how tag wranglers actually wrangle tags. It’s really informative. The TLDR is: your tags are seen with no context, mixed in with all the other tags of other works in the wrangling interface, which are sorted by alphabetical order. Wranglers don’t know which tags in their workload belong to the same fic. Rambly Tumblr-style tags are fine, but just remember: “each tag stands on its own in the filters. Think about the idea you’re expressing in each tag, not just in your tags as a whole conversation. (...) Don’t assume that sarcasm, hyperbole, etc. will come through during sorting.”

Without further ado, let’s get into the actual tagging! I’m gonna be following the same order as if you were posting a new fic on AO3 :)

RATING & ARCHIVE WARNINGS

You can click on the little interrogation point in the form if you don’t know exactly how to tag for rating and warnings or check out the Ratings and Warnings section of AO3’s Terms of Service and FAQ. The only thing I would advise you here is to be as truthful as possible.

One important thing to know would be the difference between “No archive warnings apply” and “Choose not to use archive warnings”. From ao3commentoftheday:

“No Archive Warnings Apply means that the fic has nothing in it that people need to be warned about.

Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings means that the fic very well might include things that people would like to be warned about, but the author has decided not to warn because that warning might spoil the story (or for some other reason)”.

If you decide to use Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings, here’s a few options so your readers can still make an informed decision about reading your fic:

Additional Tags: You could use the Additional Tags field to list any details about what might be triggering in your work. For example, if there is a Character Death, but you don’t want to tag with MCD because it’s not a Major character, or it’s only temporary… There are tags for that! There was a great discussion on this post re: warnings vs spoilers on ao3commentoftheday, if you wanna go have a look!

Tag + Author’s note: Another thing you could do is use the “Additional Warnings In Author’s Note” tag and, as the tag says, give more details to your readers about triggers or warnings in your author’s note.

Author’s note (at the beginning) + End note (at the end): You could also write down a small summary of the triggering parts of your chapter in the end notes, and direct your readers to it in an Author’s Note at the beginning of the chapter.

FANDOMS

As I said above, please use the canonical Fandom tags!

MCU

I would really recommend you read this post on how to tag in the MCU! But basically, you should mainly be tagging your fic with Captain America (Movies) (or whatever movie is the focus of your story!). No need to use more general tags like Marvel (Movies) or Marvel Cinematic Universe ON TOP of your movie tag, it’ll show up there anyway! (If you’re writing RPF, use the Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF tag)

Always remember that if you’re tagging more than one fandom, you need to separate them with a comma! Don’t use a slash / or “and” (like “Captain America/Game of Thrones” or “Captain America and Game of Thrones”), or else it will create a single new tag that will be impossible to wrangle.

If your fic prominently features events or characters from other MCU movies (like The Avengers, Black Panther, etc.) or TV shows (like Agents of SHIELD or the Defenders), you could even add those fandom tags! But I wouldn’t if it’s not a major part of the plot though. For example: if Scott Lang is Bucky’s roommate, I would probably not tag with the “Ant-Man (Movies)” fandom tag. Ask yourself: would someone looking for Ant-Man fic want to find mine?

In fact, you can mostly apply this strategy to the whole tagging process. Ask yourself: would someone looking for xyz want to find my fic?

Also note that tagging multiple fandoms in the MCU will not make your work a Crossover according to AO3’s search engine, since they are under the same Metatag (aka Marvel Cinematic Universe). But if you tag another fandom in the bigger Marvel Metatag (for example, “Winter Soldier (Comics)”), then it will be considered a Crossover. (according to AO3: “Crossovers are defined here as works with at least two unrelated fandom tags, as determined by how tags are wrangled.”).

Alternate Universe

If your fic is an AU taking place in a non-MCU fandom (for example, Harry Potter), it’s up to you to decide how you want to tag.

Fandoms: You could add the Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling tag to the Fandoms field. Be aware that your fic will be considered a Crossover according to AO3’s search engine.

Additional Tags: there’s a few different ways to tag for AUs.

Alternate Universe - “...” : for example Alternate Universe - Hogwarts

Alternate Universe - “...” Setting: for example Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting

Alternate Universe - “...” Fusion (or just Alternate Universe - Fusion): for example Alternate Universe -The Little Mermaid Fusion, because there wasn’t a HP fusion tag in this case lol (according to Fanlore: “A fusion is a type of fanwork which merges two or more fandoms by incorporating characters from one fandom into the setting of another as if they had always been there.”) (emphasis mine)

In any case, you could also add the Crossover tag to the Additional Tags field (according to Fanlore: “A crossover is a fanfic in which two or more fandoms are combined in some way.”)

You could do all or neither of those things! As always, there are pretty much no absolute rules when it comes to tagging. But again, the more accurate you are, the better it is for your readers! :)

Now, I’ve used Harry Potter as an example, but there are a ton of Alternate Universe tags (under the Sub Tags section) for a great number of fandoms!

RELATIONSHIPS

From AO3’s FAQ: “The significant character interactions in the work, including romantic and/or sexual relationships and pairings (indicated in the Archive's canonical tags by a '/', e.g., James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers) and platonic relationships such as friendship, family, teammates, etc. (indicated in canonical tags by a '&', e.g., Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanoff). You can use whatever notation you like. Separate different relationships with commas.” (emphasis mine, and I changed the pairings for MCU ones)

So basically:

romantic or sexual = use the slash  /

platonic = use the ampersand &

I would recommend:

To only tag the one (1) main relationship in your fic (whether romantic or platonic), unless your story really focuses on more than one sexual/platonic relationship or contains a graphic scene depicting the second couple.

Any side pairings/friendships can go in the Additional Tags field (for example: Minor Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov or Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes Friendship).

Ask yourself: would someone looking for xyz want to find my fic? Or as ao3commentoftheday put it: “Only tag the ship if someone who ships it would be satisfied with the amount of content (or ‘screen time’) that ship gets.”

Here’s a good post on what not to do when tagging Relationships. Namely:

Using portmanteau ship names like “Stucky”, or

Tagging multiple variations of the way you can refer to one ship, like: “Steve/Bucky”, “Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes”, “Steven Grant Rogers/James Buchanan Barnes”.

It’s not a huuuuge deal since they’ll just get synned to the James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers tag, but there’s no need to use all of those when you have a perfectly good canon tag!

Again, there are no rules on how you need to tag your works. I would only recommend that you use canon tags as much as possible and that you choose the tag(s) that accurately represent your story.

CHARACTERS

Use canonical tags! I was incredibly surprised when I searched for the character “Steve Roger” in the Tag Search and ended up with almost 600 tags. The Characters field is not the place for “Mention of Steve Rogers”, “Pre-Serum Steve Rogers”, “Alpha Steve Rogers”, etc. Those should go in the Additional Tags, or else any modifier you’ve put before “Steve Rogers” will be useless, since it’ll just get synned to the Steve Rogers character tag.

Also sounds obvious but… don’t tag Relationships in the Characters field. And vice-versa.

Only tag the main characters! Try to keep it to a minimum. Don’t tag every single character that appears in your fic! (especially if there are a lot of them  and most only make a short appearance)

If you’re not sure who to tag, ask yourself: if someone reads my fic, in a year’s time, who would they remember being in there?

In any case, if you want to mention a character without putting it in the Characters field, you can use the Additional Tags!

Stay tuned for Part 3 where I’ll be tackling the Additional Tags! :D

See Part 1: A Comprehensive List of Stucky Tags here.

See Part 3: Additional Tags here! 

You can also access a handy bullet-point checklist that summarizes these posts on Google Docs here! 

[irongate-rpg]

RULES

CLIQUES: “a small group of people with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them.” Cliqueness has appeared more in roleplay in the past year than most have ever seen. We feel as if “Activity” no longer belongs at the top of the rules, but this does. If you for any reason refuse to acknowledge other members of the group (leaving messages unread for a large amount of time but posting in the stream), this will resolve with a warning. There is no room in Iron Gate for anyone to be left out. If this continues to be a problem after the first warning, you will be removed from the group. We cannot have an active group when members only want to talk to their friends and no one else. If you feel like you don’t belong, re-evaluate and double check to make sure you’re including yourself in the blast or group activities. If people are ignoring you or leaving you on “read” for more than a week please reach out to the owners and we will resolve it. 

DRAMA/BULLYING:  “seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable).” There is a zero tolerance for out of character drama or bullying. If you are having issues with another member, work it out between the two of you. There is no need to take it beyond your conversation. We have seen many friendships die over friend A arguing with friend B, but ultimately friend B won your heart with a sob story. If you can’t resolve the issue, then feel free to bring it to The Cult Council on Discord or send a message to the page(you can bring it there anyway, they will help) and it will be resolved. If the issue isn’t resolved and it begins to spread around the group, the two original parties will be removed from the group with potential chances to regain membership. If at any point you plan to do something to intentionally make someone else feel uncomfortable, you will be gone and you will not be able to come back to the group. The Cult Council will screen very carefully. We are all just here to have fun, let’s not be children. [NOTE: If there is someone you do not get along with, and you cannot move on from past experiences, it will NOT be required that you speak to each other. We do ask that you are civil in the blast and that you do not spread drama because of it!] 

ACTIVITY: “the condition in which things are happening or being done.” So the group does not get slow, we have to keep up activity and keep interest going. You are free to use any of the resources that will be presented to you in any way you’d like. We do ask that you post on the stream ON THE SITE at least three times a week. We understand that people have jobs, school, and lives out of roleplay. However, we opted to use three days a week instead of four or five because we feel it would be easiest. You do NOT have to include a photo in all of your stream posts but you are more than welcome to! Posting on the DISCORD stream channel is also welcomed as much as your heart desires. We know that DISCORD stream is also a lot easier for other people. Just don’t forget to do site posts! We are also asking that members have at least 4 storylines at all times. If one of your storylines leaves or gets cut, we will give you two weeks to refill that spot without consequences. While we will not force you, we also ask that anyone you may not be able to build a solid storyline with, you have a connection with. You have three weeks to reply to any writing you are doing with another person. However, you are required to write with at least TWO of your storylines on the site. Writing MUST be at least 3 paragraphs. 

LAYOUTS: A complicated layout is not required. However, you do need one with at least your biography accessible. We also ask that you have a link to an owes list on your page. You have three weeks from the day you are accepted to have a layout up with your owes list, links completed and biography. If you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out to The Cult Council and they will help you! 

FACE CHANGES/CHARACTER CHANGES: It is important to pick a character that you love. We know that sometimes a character’s story dies out a little, but this group is focused on character driven activity to further dive into your character. We ask that you pick a face and a background that you think you could use for a lengthy amount of time. In the event that you would like a face change or character change request, we will direct you to the form where you can submit to The Cult Council’s page in a message. You get ONE free face change and ONE free character change. At either request after your free changes, we will then send you a survey to fill out for your character. If you need help with ideas, etc. you can also ask The Cult Council. If you can’t come up with anything, they will work with you from there! This is a character development type group. If that sounds like a hassle this group may not be for you. 

MARRIAGES/KIDS: Can you have these? Of course. We ask that if you are newly engaged, that you wait one month real time before your characters get married. Instead of complaining about the wait, you and your significant other could plan your wedding, and create a vision board for the group page to share! This is optional, however it’s just a suggested option. With pregnancies, we ask that you also wait a month in real time for your character to actually have the baby. Just because your character is pregnant does not mean your character has to HAVE the baby. Take that as you will. If you are entering with children already attached to your character, there will be a special welcoming prompt for you! 

SOCIAL MEDIA: Our preferred method is DISCORD, therefore, this is the social media that will be required for the group. You are allowed to have a multi-muse account, but if it all possible, we’d like your icon to be a picture of the character you have within Iron Gate. Your stream posts can be whatever social media you desire, however, real social media pages are not necessary unless it’s something you decide to do on your own. 

ACTIVITY CHECKS: There will be activity checks mostly related to furthering character development. Though they do get tiring, they’re a great way to dig deep. If you can get past that, you’ll be thoroughly excited when we mix in some activity checks that showcase your writing and creativity! These will most likely only be done twice a month, just because we understand that real life comes first. 

HIATUS: THERE WILL BE A HIATUS LIST TO LET EVERY MEMBER KNOW WHO IS NOT ACTIVE AT THE MOMENT. Hiatuses are given for up to 3 weeks with good reason. If you need anytime after that, it will be discussed with The Cult Council! 

BLAST: Last but not least, we will have a blast channel for the members to interact in. This channel is to be IN CHARACTER at ALL TIMES. No emojis or text talk, however, you are allowed to action. In fact, it is strongly encouraged! This is where we’re counting on you to include everyone who is in the blast. If you are purposely not including someone, we will personally reach out to you to see if there is an issue. 

THE CULT COUNCIL: If you’ve read this far, you have seen The Cult Council mentioned. The Cult Council are your owners. We have decided to try something new, and give the owners an unbiased MEMBER council so that you as members will feel more comfortable bringing any issues to The Cult Council. It will also help to know if the owner is doing something that people do not like, so they can re-evaluate how they do things. This is also an effort at deterring drama. The Cult Council will have not only a site page (the member’s page), but a Discord as well that a member can message at any time with any issues you may have. Iron Gate has a strict retaliation rule for the owner. Anything that you bring to the council about the owner, the owner cannot use against you.