What is your opinion on including disclaimers at the beginning of a story ?

[Bramblethorn]

I both use and find disclaimers useful.

There are certain things I'm just not into. A warning that the story may contain such items is a good way to let the reader know not to waste their time & risk an undeserved bad rating.

I think I made this point last time this discussion came around, but: one of the reasons you're less likely to see content notes in other publishing channels, e.g. in a bookstore or on Amazon, is that those channels have other ways to provide the same information. Cover art, long blurbs, reviews, bookseller recommendations, and so on - publishing makes extensive use of these to show readers what kind of story they're about to buy. On Literotica, there are fewer options, so it shouldn't be a surprise that authors here are more likely to spell it out within the story.

 

[kissedcherry]

Very few animals were killed during the production of this post

I think disclaimers are usually amusing. Only needed because we live at a moment in history where a bunch of college professors have brainwashed a whole generation about being politically correct. Give everyone a gold star. Don't hurt anyone's feelings. Create a safe space. Bla bla bla. Get real. Say what you think. If people can't handle the fact that other people have different views about sex or anything else then let them shove their heads back where it usually is so that they never need sunscreen.

 

[ThePlumTiger66]

What is your opinion on including disclaimers at the beginning of a story ?

I never read the front matter.

 

[Emirus]

I never read the front matter.

It’s fine with me if anyone doesn’t read the introduction as long as it doesn’t affect their enjoyment of the story or the number of stars they give it.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I often don't read the author's tags on a story before reading it. Perhaps if they were positioned directly under the title I would, but it's not something I habitually do. I also think I'm fairly open minded, even with material I don't find erotic such as incest. I'm happy to read stories and have come across things that I've felt icky about, but have never suddenly said, that's it, an instant 1 because I don't agree with the author!

That be9ng said, if you are publishing a story in non-con or BDSM which has fairly fluid boundaries as to content, people should not be complaining when it doesn't fit to their model of that mode.

Going to stop rambling now and go and pour a G&T!

 

[sirhugs]

I use them to deter brain dead comments about length, too much detail, the genre, etc. Doesn't work, but I dream on.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I find a warning for British English cuts down the abusive comments that the story 'sucks cos it dont use proper english' - yes, there is a 100% correlation between such complaints and inability to manage capitals, grammar and spelling!)

My stories often cross categories or are generally not what typical readers expect, so I think a sentence or two is helpful, and yes, I think of it like a back cover blurb.

My favourite one read:
"He's a gay virgin.
She's a filthy bisexual or a crap lesbian, depending on your point of view.
It's late, and she's out of milk.

This story contains bisexuals, British English, and lots of booze.'

The last sentence is pretty much my standard disclaimer. Seems to cut down both votes and low scores, so I guess it works.

 

[RetroFan]

Some more extreme fetish materials I would advise you issue a disclaimer, for example periods. I remember writing an Incest/Taboo story series and failed to mention in the introductions of the first two chapters that some scenes involved female characters using the toilet and having their periods. I thought that people who wanted to read stories about people who share DNA having sex with each other wouldn't have any issues about bodily functions or menstruation, but God was I ever wrong about that hypothesis.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've added introductory notes to my stories, to help set them up or provide some background for the reader. For example, I'll add a note at the beginning to explain that the story has been submitted for a contest. With my Penis Fish story I added a note that the story was inspired by a real event that happened on a California beach in 2019.

But I've never added a disclaimer or warning, as such. I've published 33 stories and haven't had significant problems with readers being surprised and offended. That may be, in part, because I choose story titles and taglines carefully to tip the reader off about what sort of story it is. On the few occasions where readers commented that they were unpleasantly surprised, such as the reader of a mom-son incest story who was offended when Mom touched her anus, I thought the reader was being ridiculous. There's no way I'm going to warn a reader about something like that.

I'm not wholly indifferent to the sensitivities of readers, and I can see how a disclaimer/content warning might be helpful in some cases, but in general, I think, based on my own reading sensibilities, that warnings partly deprive readers of one of the joys of reading -- surprise. I personally like being surprised. I think there are many readers who think the same way, and I'm biased in favor of writing for readers who think about reading the way I do.

I will use tags sometimes to flag elements in the story that readers may wish to gravitate to or to avoid. That way they can choose whether to see them or not before reading. The element of surprise is preserved for those who want it.

 

[SimonDoom]

For my latest story I considered a disclaimer like this:



In the end, I decided against it.

I think that's a good call.

With a disclaimer like that, you are tipping off the reader ahead of time to be predisposed against your characters, instead of letting the reader form an opinion of the characters through the development of the story.

 

[Handley_Page]

I find a warning for British English cuts down the abusive comments that the story 'sucks cos it dont use proper english' - yes, there is a 100% correlation between such complaints and inability to manage capitals, grammar and spelling!)

.

A warning for English English ? - Oh very Yes.
Sadly several readers do not understand the term 'International' so it's a good idea.
I also think it necessary to insert the 'copyright' notice; yes, I know that it's not a lot of help in the USA, but if stated, that's IT.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I don't think it's about numbers or scores.

There are some things I myself like reading about; others not so much and I find it, well, not upsetting, but off-putting if a story I'm reading all of a sudden includes such. That other people may like it is fine by me, but I have my own tastes, ones equally valid.

Yes, yes, we're all big boys and girls here and should be able to deal with that. Fine, but let me give you an analogy. I like chocolate chip cookies. One day, I go to the store and buy some, but when I settle down with them and my glass of milk in front of the television, the cookies turn out to have cayenne in them, something I'm not fond of.

Now, I tell myself that I'm an adult and should be able to deal with such, but I still find myself a little miffed. True, I could have maybe found a magnifying glass beforehand and searched the ingredient list, but on the whole, if a box is marked 'chocolate chip cookies', I don't think I should have to hunt through tiny print for 'cayenne' or 'dill' or 'black pepper' before buying; it should be on the front where it will be easily seen.

I look on disclaimers in the same fashion. If I as a writer produce a story which clearly belongs in Romance, I know it's going to get read by people with certain preconceived notions, things they are looking for. They are going to want to see (in the broadest sense) hands being held, roses, walks on the beach, soft kisses, pledges of love. They're not usually looking for golden showers, forced feminization or brandings. Maybe some readers-of-Romance are OK with that sort of thing, but many would not be happy.

So, yes, I will on occasion include a disclaimer or warning up front, just as a courtesy, a polite warning if the 'average' reader of that sort of tale might find something not to their taste. As an example, I wouldn't use a disclaimer if I had a couple in a lesbian story using a strap-on; I would include one if it was a Romance story in the Valentine's Day contest and the heroine used it to peg her boyfriend.

Yes, I suppose there are tags and such, but most readers don't use them or even know that they're there. Lit tags are the fine-print ingredient list on the bottom of the package.

In the end, it has nothing to do with keeping my numbers up or such. It's simple courtesy, simple good manners and I won't be so arrogant as to demand that everybody buying my cookies is OK with unexpected cayenne pepper.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I do warn about length. As I have had plenty of comments about that.

I used to warn about other things, but stopped when I got comments about how terrible the story was and I could tell they didn't even read the damn thing. Plus they said the gave it a 1*. So I stopped that.

In most cases, I have never read a disclaimer. Only in a very few cases. I find that if I'm told what to expect, it kind of ruins the story for me.

ETA: In some of my stories there is no sex... I do warn them about those. They are mostly my Sci-Fi stuff.

 

[gunhilltrain]

As an author, I find them a necessary evil. I've got too many complaints to the tune of "you should have warned me this and that would happen!" Attaching disclaimers makes it harder to surprise and shock the reader. I was under the impression we're all self-aware adults on this site, but said complaints have thoroughly readjusted that notion. Now I'm treating my readers like precious snowflakes.

Not everyone on this site (and there are hundreds of thousands of them) - well, they may be chronologically adults, but that doesn't mean they all act like one!

Most professional authors don't have disclaimers in their works (there probably are exceptions if I look for them). Brett Easton Ellis didn't have one for American Psycho. I'm sure he gets one-stars and negative comments on Amazon or wherever, but that's part of reality.

Here's an irony about that book: "Feminist activist Gloria Steinem was among those opposed to Ellis' book because of its portrayal of violence toward women. Steinem is the stepmother of Christian Bale, who played Bateman in the film. This coincidence is mentioned in Ellis' mock memoir Lunar Park."

Ellis obviously got a good laugh out of that.

 

[AlexBailey]

... Fine, but let me give you an analogy. I like chocolate chip cookies. One day, I go to the store and buy some, but when I settle down with them and my glass of milk in front of the television, the cookies turn out to have cayenne in them, something I'm not fond of.

Now, I tell myself that I'm an adult and should be able to deal with such, but I still find myself a little miffed. True, I could have maybe found a magnifying glass beforehand and searched the ingredient list, but on the whole, if a box is marked 'chocolate chip cookies', I don't think I should have to hunt through tiny print for 'cayenne' or 'dill' or 'black pepper' before buying' it should be on the front where it will be easily seen.

That's a great analogy.

Lots of people never read the list of ingredients on a package, but others have allergies and need to make sure there are no nuts. Some people are vegan, and though the content won't kill them, they would rather avoid animal products. The list is there for people who care, others can just dig in.

 

[AlexBailey]

I would never have read your explanation because it’s just one long block of text containing a lot of information. I think you’re correct in saying, “I’m guessing they probably skipped over the disclaimer,” although not always for the reason I’ve given.

If you feel you need to give all that information, and I don’t think you do, I would suggest if you’d split it up it would have made it more readable and understandable. So this is how I would have set it out to make sure the potential reader knew what was coming. But it is only my personal opinion and so I’m not necessarily correct.

**********

This is part one of a full length novel in four parts. It’s a gender fluid,‘what if everything fell into place,’ fantasy about self discovery, coming out and coming of age.

It explores pansecuality, cross dressing and several fetishes — especially for things like swimsuits and athletic wear. Some parts have bondage and D/s themes.

There are family dynamics and dysfunctions, social conflict and misconceived religious interventions. The enthusiasm and foolishness of youth is in play, and there is experimentation with drugs.

Some characters are hostile and bring a touch of violence and, of course, there is a lot of kinky sexual adventure, often gilded with living romance. All characters are 28+. Enjoy!

**********

It is only my personal opinion and others will no doubt disagree but, just as in an actual story, an introductory explanation should always be easy to read.

Thanks for that, Emirus.

You're right, it does make it easier to read. I had originally parsed it out more like that, but I thought it seemed more like part of the story. I decided to consolidate -- like a back cover blurb.

 

[jehoram]

At the beginning of my story "A Very Private Beach," I noted that it took place at Fort Bragg, California, on the Pacific coast That didn't stop somebody commenting on how there could be an ocean so close to Fort Bragg, which is miles and miles away from the Atlantic Ocean

I don't expect disclaimers to completely eliminate the idiocy of some readers, but I do what I can to reduce it.

 

[SamScribble]

That doesn't diminish their responsibility to do so if they are looking for guidance on whether to read something or have the vapors. This is an adult site. I don't believe in babysitting on an adult site. I believe in adults taking responsibility for their own reading. So, I don't do it. I don't read many stories here, but I don't think I'd bother to read further than than defensive babysitting proslug.

I wasn't letting the readers off the hook. I was just saying that, in my opinion, readers do not seem to take too much notice of the tags, especially when stories are first posted.

 

[ChasPHX]

Great thread, thanks for starting. Nice to see such a variety of opinions.

I’m pretty new to the site, and when I first joined, I didn’t much see the point of the content warnings (I prefer that phrase over “disclaimer” for the reasons that another poster mentioned, but I recognize disclaimer is a pretty convenient shorthand for what we’re talking about).

I always read them on other people’s stories, but I didn’t think I would ever use them. I certainly would never consider their mere presence a reason to vote a certain way, as OP mentioned. That seems downright silly.

I thought that title, short summary, and tags would be enough to indicate to readers what they could expect from the story. Well, it’s not enough, as I’ve learned.

For one thing, it’s clear that tags are not intended to serve as warnings for what’s in the story. It takes too much work to find them (not counting whatever design changes may be afoot). Their primary function is for searching.

Having said that, they could be used as a content warning. Here’s the author’s note I included with my Halloween contest entry:

Hi folks. File this cheery Halloween tale under Erotic Horror, with a capital "H" for Horror. Might want to have a look at the tags before diving in. Or, plow ahead and just see what happens! It's about 6,000 words. Got feedback? Love to hear it. Comments and direct messages always welcome. Good luck to all 2020 contest entrants and a happy Halloween to everyone. -- CPHX

I wanted to give readers the option to go to the tags to see what might be in store, OR just read on without doing that. This would maybe preserve an element of surprise for readers who wanted it. Now, even with that warning, site admins still felt like it wasn’t enough (perhaps fairly), and I got an editor’s note in addition to my author’s note. I had left noncon to the tag.

Editor's note: this submission contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sexual situations.

Then there’s this other story I wrote, where I had a pretty hot internal debate about whether to include this author’s note:

Heed my warning! (I'm the author, BTW.) This is a bait and switch! Depending on your preferences-slash-proclivities (see tags), you may feel betrayed! Like I've pulled a fast one on you! WTF?! But, if you do happen to find this story even just a teensy-weensy bit fun and hot, well, who am I to judge? ; ) - CPHX

The reason I struggled with this one so much is because, like another poster has mentioned, the element of surprise is a great pleasure of reading (and writing), and I don’t love that I feel a little handcuffed about what I’m “allowed” to surprise with. But the comparison to the cayenne pepper chocolate chips cookies is pretty darn good, and there’s certainly a difference between trying to surprise readers and being mis-leading or even betraying them.

As you can see from reading my author’s notes (and others who have posted their notes here), just because there’s a practical purpose to them—“front matter” as someone called it—that doesn’t mean they can’t be written with some personality.

And then there’s the first story I submitted (not the first one published), in which I did not include a content warning. When it was finally published after one round of edits, I saw that it had been given this editor’s note:

Editor's Note: this submission contains tropes and scenes common to horror movies.

I think the reason for the note makes sense (in hindsight). This is a somewhat extreme horror story in the Celebrities & Fan Fiction category, which from what I’ve read there, tends toward lighter, breezier stories, and people who frequent that category might not appreciate going into my story cold.

Anyway, to sum up, I expect to continue to use author’s notes in as casual a tone as I can to provide the information I think is fair to readers. And if I don't get it right, we'll that's what the review process is for.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Welcome to Lit and the AH, ChasPHX.

I agree with everything you say and am totally onboard with tags being more for searching than screening. That said, I think warnings can be overdone.

I wrote the story Dianne with the protagonist being a sub who deeply loved her dom. I put it in Romance, which seemed very much the appropriate spot. Even though it had no whippings, no spankings, no bondage, etc, it still had a strong BDSM element and, knowing it might upset roses-and-picnic Romance readers, I included a warning. Had I gone the other way and filed it in BDSM, I would most certainly not have.

Two guys having fun in a Gay Male story needs no warning. The same scene, same two guys - in most other areas, a warning would probably be appropriate. Context is everything.

My point is that an erotic horror story filed in EH probably doesn’t need much of a warning, even as part of an open Halloween contest. You’re the author and it’s your call, but to my mind it’s well covered by its category.

Anyway, welcome again. Have fun.

 

[AlinaX]

I prefer content warnings to be short and sweet, e.g.:
Content Warning: Incest, Non-con

I've argued during submission about character age a few times. For one series I went for:
Author's Note: All characters are adults, which in this context means they are at least twenty-one years of age.

On stories inspired from discussions in the forum, I add a short credit note at the start.

As a reader, it irritates me if there's more than a brief paragraph of authorial preamble.

 

[AlexBailey]

WARNING:
The author of this story has provided a disclaimer which may annoy some readers. If you are such a reader, please skip over this message and go right to the content which may or may not align with the category in which it has been pigeonholed.

 

[Bramblethorn]

In the end, it has nothing to do with keeping my numbers up or such. It's simple courtesy, simple good manners and I won't be so arrogant as to demand that everybody buying my cookies is OK with unexpected cayenne pepper.

Exactly this. It's not that my readers are children who will whine and throw a tantrum if they encounter something they weren't expecting; it's that they're adults who treat me courteously and who I'm inclined to show courtesy in return.

There are some areas where I balk at giving a content warning, though. If I wouldn't warn for the presence of straight characters, I'm not going to warn for queer characters; if I wouldn't warn for a Christian character, I'm not going to warn for a Muslim character; and similarly, I'm not going to warn for the presence of non-white or trans characters. Those fall into the "you can deal with it" pile.

Most professional authors don't have disclaimers in their works (there probably are exceptions if I look for them). Brett Easton Ellis didn't have one for American Psycho.

An excerpt from the back-cover blurb for American Psycho:

"Patrick Bateman is twenty-six, handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. He works on Wall Street by day earning a fortune. At night he spends it in ways we cannot begin to understand... a black comedy, a disturbing portrait of a madman, a subtle send-up of the blatant behaviour of the '80s - and a grotesque nightmare of murder and insanity." With a quote from Norman Mailer: "He has forced me to look at intolerable material..."

It's not labelled as a "disclaimer" or "content warning", but it serves the same purpose: text that readers encounter before they start on the main story, that lets them know to expect something violent and disturbing. In many editions, the cover art is also a warning. This is the version I'm most familiar with:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1184/9194/products/american-psycho-by-brett-eaton-ellis-poster-48134-p_9fdb6a0d-e210-48c0-abf3-49fbec39c887_1200x.jpeg

A variant on this, more overtly skull-like, was used in Europe. Some other editions show blood, or Christian Bale wielding a large knife.

(And if you buy it in Australia, it comes shrink-wrapped with an "R" rating, which is a very rare thing to do for books here.)

This is what I was talking about above: stories on Literotica don't have front-cover art or back-cover blurbs, so an author who wants to give readers the same kind of warning that American Psycho gave has to do it by means of content notes instead.

(Or tagging, but historically tags on Literotica have been all but useless for this kind of purpose.)

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

Bad Editing

I think the extent of my disclaimers have been to notify the reader that I am a crappy copy-editor and that no matter how many times I go through the work, I always leave a word out or a typo in.

Hey, it's an important thing to highlight, right?

 

[ChasPHX]

I prefer content warnings to be short and sweet, e.g.:
Content Warning: Incest, Non-con

I contemplated a variation on this. It's basically just taking your actual tag list and sticking it on the front of the story. Instead of "Content Warning" it's just:

TAGS: [tag1], [tag2], [tag3]

I see more of this kind of formatting on Deviantart and Reddit.

Just for the sake of it, I noticed in your example you used incest and non-con. I understand that combining those is a big no-no for Lit readers. Did you pick those on purpose, or just whatever popped in your head to use as examples?