'No Archive Warnings Apply' does not mean 'Rated E for Everyone! Nothing that anyone could possibly find objectionable is contained herein!'
'Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings' does not mean 'Contains One Or More Of The Archive Warnings, something in here Will upset you!'
There are currently four Archive warnings. They are for Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, and Underage.
I can write (I have written) psychological horror, or fics about abusive relationships, or other dark subject matter, or, hell, explicit porn, that hit none of these Archive warnings. They are all (correctly) marked 'No Archive Warnings Apply'. Because none of the content that the Archive warnings apply to is contained in them.
Does that mean they're G-rated family-friendly Disney fluff? Fuck no! And if someone's been misled to think that 'No Archive Warnings Apply' means 'Inoffensive To Everyone, You Can Show This To Any Given Five-Year-Old', they are going to have wildly incorrect expectations going into those fics, and may not be prepared for what they find. Which isn't fair to them as a reader or me as a writer.
'Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings' just means literally exactly what it says on the tin. The author chose not to use the Archive warnings. It might contain content that they'd have to warn for. It might not. Some authors are personally opposed to the whole concept of trigger tags and warnings, and simply refuse to use them even in their most G-rated inoffensive fic ('Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings' was, IIRC, partly a compromise for these authors when the Archive was being designed). Fics that get imported from other sites en masse for preservation are also automatically slapped with this label, because nobody has time to go through each and every fic to see if they contain content that would fall under the Archive warnings, and the authors aren't always available to do it themselves. (Sometimes the authors have moved on, or are uncontactable. Sometimes the authors are literally dead.)
'Chose Not To Use Content Warnings' is the 'No Lifeguard On Duty: Swim At Own Risk' of the AO3. It doesn't mean there's a ripcurrent out there that will drown you if you set foot in the water. It means you have to judge your own strength as a swimmer, what the shoreline looks like, and what risks you're willing to take.
Unlike the 'Gen/Teen/Mature/Explicit' rating system, which has some overlap and some significant wiggle room for interpretation, the Archive warnings are incredibly clear about what they cover and what they don't cover. Please don't read into them any farther than what they say on the tin. Providing that kind of context is what the ratings and additional tags are for!
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I kinda get why people in the fandom tend to have strong negative feelings about the Quenya ban because forbidding languages is not typically a good look, but for what it's worth, as a member of a nation that has had to deal with cultural genocide time and time again, I don't think it's really the same thing as the typical language policies of colonial empires.
I don't know how to explain this exactly, but... there is no other attempt at suppressing culture, the Noldor did do them wrong and Thingol is within his rights to feel betrayed... Yes, it was a badly thought out act of wrath, but it's not really comparable to the actions of real-life governments, and as someone whose nationality by necessity makes one conscious of the existence of such, it kind of puts me off when that is invoked. And I'm not saying that you cannot feel otherwise about it, because it is a thorny subject. But it's just not how I understand it.
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sanguine
bo sinclair x afab!reader
rating: explicit
word count: 9.5k
In them, you see yourself. Another girl who wandered off the path, leaving your trail of breadcrumbs dribbling out of your basket so that you could find your way back later. But the breadcrumbs are food for hungry birds, and your trail disappears. You end up here, in the heart of the forest.
You’re alive, for now.
Packed to the brim with illusions to fairytales. A cautionary tale that never really ends.
Please mind the tags on AO3! This fic is extremely miserable and icky. He’s very vile.
VERY WEIRD and abstract prose, heavily focusing on the deteriorating state of the reader’s psyche and derealization. Features: orgasm denial, a heavy lean on horror elements/imagery, emotional manipulation, and SO much pain and misery! He’s canonically such a piece of shit and we are putting a piece of paper under him and the poor reader and trapping them under a cup. To study them.
read it here
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