WPHYS: Tell me about trigger warnings on AFF

Someone recently brought to my attention an issue with trigger warnings on AFF. Evidently, if a mod sees fit, they can change the status of your fic to member/subscribers only, friends only, or unlisted, and mark it as trigger warnings. If parents complain, then your fic can be removed completely? I don't know much about this, so I want to know if anyone has any experience with this or just knows more about it. Is this real, has it been exaggerated, is it worse?

If this is real, then I have a lot to say on it for the next chapter of WPHYS (shameless advertising). It will also mean I have to do even more additional edits for the previous chapter. Basically, I am doing research about how trigger warnings work on AFF. I know how it works on livejournal, but not here because I only post WPHYS here.

Here's an example. I've been working on a oneshot for about a year now, just in my spare time, but when I post it, the fic will need trigger warnings in the community. I'll to put !warning, child abuse, bullying, animal abuse, mental disabilities, and death. Something like that.

On AFF I would simply mark it as [M] and put the warning in the foreword. Would that not be enough? I'd really appreciate if you guys could help me out.

Comments

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goldxntrbl #1 Apr 12, 2016 23:41:31

I think something as big as abuse and disabilities should be something underneath the tw issue, but i dont know how detailed explicit it really is. It would depend on those categories, but as long as you warn your viewers before hand i'm sure that should be okay? im not sure.
I recently wrote a fic and had to put it under trigger warning since it wasnt something i want my readers to be triggered by since it was pretty detailed upon such touchy topics. AFF immediately placed it under subscribers only and also member's only. I dont know anything about the parents taking it down or anything like that so i cant really talk about that.
idk if i even answered your question properly lol, but yes, it would be great if you can atleast put a warning beforehand

the_con #2 Apr 12, 2016 23:36:15

From what I know, it all depends on how explicit things are (if it's references/relatively non-explicit scenes, then you probably don't need it) and what you're writing (non-con, extreme violence, extreme kinks, etc... would need the tw). Depending on how explicit the child/animal abuse is and possibly the bullying as well, you may need a tw for it, but if you aren't writing anything too extreme for it, then you could probably get away without the tw setting just put a tw list in the foreword to warn readers. Fics that are usually removed are fics that usually violate rules within the tou/content guidelines. If your fic is reported for needing a tw and you feel like it doesn't need it, you can state your case (you can reply to your report and a mod can see what your reply) and the mod will go through your fic and see if it's truly needed or not.

The tw setting just makes sure your fic is rated M, is subscriber-only (essentially, if people are subscribing to a tw marked story, they have an idea on what they're getting into and have accepted the warning for what it is), and is unlisted to non-members that visit the site.