Disclaimers

[JennaMonroe]

I've noticed a lot of stories have disclaimers at the beginning, like this fiction, or contains non consent or incest or something else taboo or illegal... Is this really necessary? I mean they are categorized and tagged. If non consent bothers you, don't read something in that category or with that tag? Do readers complain? Or is this a better safe than sorry kind of thing?

 

[MindsMirror]

They are not required, but readers often vote based upon their expectations. Tags aren't shown until the last page of the story, so if there are any topics that the reader isn't expecting, you may get down votes and negative feedback.
-MM

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I've never found it necessary to mention a non-con story contains non-con, but if there was a disturbing surprise coming, I'd mention it. For example, in one story I had a guy raped anally by another guy; it was very intentionally non-erotic and very, very out of character for my stories. I gave explicit instructions om how to skim past it.

That was an unusual case. In general I think it's better to write unapologetically.

 

[SamScribble]

The world has gone mad, Jen. Everyone has the right to be offended. Of course, if it really worried them, they wouldn't be visiting a site like this in the first place. Oh, well.

 

[TamLin01]

I think disclaimers smother the atmosphere of a story before it even starts, probably aren't very effective at warding off disgruntlement, and usually sound extremely insecure.

That said, a lot of people seem to feel they have some utility, and it's their story.

 

[CyranoJ]

Or is this a better safe than sorry kind of thing?

It's an added courtesy to the reader. Usually if I'm doing one it's because there's content other than just the category that might create discomfort.

(Personally I've never understood the "disclaimers kill the story" school of thought; we read books and watch movies with preamble all the time that's easy enough to ignore if you're not the one who needs it. But of course it never hurts to be economical.)

 

[sr71plt]

I don't think I've ever read a book or seen a movie with the type of disclaimer used at Literotica. I see them as a sign of lack of conviction in your writing and a weak attempt to please as many people as possible so they'll vote your story up and make you feel adequate. If you start off by apologizing for what you write, I have no interest in your stories--or you as an author. I see it as a sign that you're not really adult enough to be posting on an adult story site and/or you're only writing stories to get worthless approval strokes. And I think even less of readers who are squeamish enough to need them or they'll melt in their iddybitty shoes and their eyeballs will be fried.

 

[SamScribble]

I don't think I've ever read a book or seen a movie with the type of disclaimer used at Literotica. I see them as a sign of lack of conviction in your writing and a weak attempt to please as many people as possible so they'll vote your story up and make you feel adequate. If you start off by apologizing for what you write, I have no interest in your stories--or you as an author. I see it as a sign that you're not really adult enough to be posting on an adult story site and/or you're only writing stories to get worthless approval strokes. And I think even less of readers who are squeamish enough to need them or they'll melt in their iddybitty shoes and their eyeballs will be fried.

What Pilot said.

 

[Handley_Page]

It strikes me that there are two parts to this:

1] a Warning of content.
There are those who complain about something "because we were not told". Telling the potential reader that "this story contains sex", etc., gets round that. The reader cannot complain if he/she has been warned.
(Personally, I fear this is "Health & Safety" gone mad)

2] Copyright notice.
There's been quite a lot of chat about how "So & So has pinched my story."
Redress of such a grievance is difficult and probably expensive.
But one cannot claim originality unless the author declares that the work is his (bearing in mind the complexities of the Berne Convention and US law against the UK Copyright law). The problem is not so easy as our work is generally of a 'non-commercial' nature, and not therefore subject to payment.

"The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 is a copyright act that came into force in the United States on March 1, 1989, making it a party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works."

UK
"The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, is the current UK copyright law. It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used."

PS. There's also the problem of non-USA language, spelling, grammar, etc..
It is sometimes important that the reader knows that it may not be quite as he/she thinks it should be.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Just yesterday I across a chapter of disclaimers in a book of short stories by Lawrence Block. The stories sucked, and the disclaimers were whines about the editors who rejected the stories for print. Block self publishes some of his early efforts. I deleted my copy, and I own plenty of his books, but he never mastered the short story.

 

[oggbashan]

My copyright notice asserts my rights under the Berne Convention (in practice the UK's Copyright Act). I don't NEED to state that. My rights are protected under UK law even if I haven't published, and for seventy years after my death whether the work was published or not.

But by stating that, it is obvious when my stories have been stolen because the thief or bot usually doesn't bother to strip off my notice.

As for other disclaimers? I had been subject to a sustained campaign by anonymous who claimed my story would lead to prosecution of one or more characters and/or divorce. Some other anons claimed that my story was unrealistic (in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category!) and couldn't happen. My disclaimers were an attempt to make such comments ridiculous but they continued so I had to turn off anonymous comments.

Disclaimers can be a response to attacks by readers.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't see any point in warning about stuff that's already covered by the category, but I will sometimes warn for stuff that readers couldn't be expected to anticipate.

For example, one of mine in Text With Audio has: "Consider [this story] an Erotic Horror piece, with all that implies." Because I don't want to startle people with graphic dismemberment who aren't looking for that kind of thing.

 

[oggbashan]

I don't see any point in warning about stuff that's already covered by the category, but I will sometimes warn for stuff that readers couldn't be expected to anticipate.

...

I also didn't see any point until I had a whole series of long comments complaining, despite the category, that my story didn't fit and was unrealistic. They were stated to be constructive criticism but they were attacking the whole concept of the category and rejecting the whole concept of fiction. Everything in each of my stories had to be 'real' and to be able to withstand a test against 'real life' legal issues in the US.

 

[SimonDoom]

I also didn't see any point until I had a whole series of long comments complaining, despite the category, that my story didn't fit and was unrealistic. They were stated to be constructive criticism but they were attacking the whole concept of the category and rejecting the whole concept of fiction. Everything in each of my stories had to be 'real' and to be able to withstand a test against 'real life' legal issues in the US.

I cannot understand a reader who comes to an erotic story website and complains that the stories are unrealistic. But oh well.

Do you find that disclaimers reduce the problem? My guess would be that trolls will be trolls and disclaimers won't keep them away. Is that not true?

 

[oggbashan]

I cannot understand a reader who comes to an erotic story website and complains that the stories are unrealistic. But oh well.

Do you find that disclaimers reduce the problem? My guess would be that trolls will be trolls and disclaimers won't keep them away. Is that not true?

It's true but it tends to stop other comments agreeing with the troll.

 

[Nezhul]

I've written a tentacle story once. A lot of people loved it but some wrote they were repulsed and found it misogynistic and too cruel. Even though I included tags like "pain", "tears", "long suffering" and so on.
And really, misogynistic? it's tentacle porn! What did they expect, that it will make women watch as tentacles are playing with kittens? Of course it fucks the girl raw.
Funny thing though, those complainers seemed to have read it to the end before complaining =D

I just prefer to warn my readers out front if the story has controversial content.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I also didn't see any point until I had a whole series of long comments complaining, despite the category, that my story didn't fit and was unrealistic. They were stated to be constructive criticism but they were attacking the whole concept of the category and rejecting the whole concept of fiction. Everything in each of my stories had to be 'real' and to be able to withstand a test against 'real life' legal issues in the US.

Between that and some of the other things you've mentioned, you seem to have a knack for drawing the weird readers!

 

[oggbashan]

Between that and some of the other things you've mentioned, you seem to have a knack for drawing the weird readers!

That's because I write weird stories.

 

[jsmiam]

I like them as a tool if a story crosses categories, or somehow needs an explanation, but I admit being annoyed by long and/or apologetic ones.

One sentence max, with a polite undertone of "If this is going to bother you, don't go away mad. Just go away." Books have covers, forewords, author bios, and back covers. To me, a short and poignant disclaimer is helping the reader.

 

[CeasarBoobage]

But of course it never hurts to be economical.)

LMFAO, that's awesome. I think this one is also pretty good. It's not mind, but it covers everything else that CyranoJ's doesn't.

Back on topic, I have put a few disclaimers up, but I'm not consistent about it. I don't think it does anything to the value of the story, but I believe it does help narrow down the folks who will want to read it. If you see a story in LW start out like Notice: If you don't want to read about a cheating wife, please hit the back button now., then the cuck fetish people will dig in happily, and the monomagomy fetish people go away without wasting their time.

 

[sr71plt]

How about "If you curl up into a fetal position at finding sex of this category and with these tags in this story, what the hell are you doing reading here?"

 

[lovecraft68]

I think a disclaimer helps if you're putting something in a category that normally does not see it.

Example saying this contains non con in the non con category is redundant. If they're there, that's what they want

But if you write a romance or erotic couplings or incest story that has non con you may want to call it out or you end up getting flamed by people who would rather not read it.

The advantage of categories is people can seek what they like, avoid what they don't.

The disadvantage is people then feel they're avoiding something by staying out of that category, but when they get it anyway getting pissed off.

It doesn't hurt to have one, but only if its something worth calling out.

 

[ChloeTzang]

How about "If you curl up into a fetal position at finding sex of this category and with these tags in this story, what the hell are you doing reading here?"

LOL. I used "please to be plucking eyeballs out if offended."

 

[PervOtaku]

The only one you absolutely must have is "all characters engaging in sexual activity are over the age of 18" if there is enough ambiguity to suspect they might be under 18.

As for the rest, use your judgement. If there is content that comes out of left field (i.e. not obviously indicated given the title, story description, and/or tags) and is likely to cause squick with a lot of people, then it might be prudent to have a disclaimer, yes.

Though I find many such disclaimers to be written in an overly patronizing way, so maybe keep it simple if you do.

 

[GforGraham]

Not all stories contain only the category style. A story might contain any number of combinations of the types of sex possible. Into which area should it be put? The author lists it under what is considered the main theme as you can only list in one category.
Tags are almost useless as they are at the end of the story, and if you take the time to look for them find that they may not be used or are incomplete.

I think it is only polite to list what can be expected at the beginning of the story.
I stop reading when the bits I really don't like occur in sufficient quantity, and move on to another story.