"Trigger Warning", "Don't Like, Don't Read" "# Comments or I Won't Update" - Comments

I agree with most of what you wrote here. However, I think "trigger warnings" are important for stories including material on eating disorders. I learned in my psych class, that those kind of stories really can cause somebody to relapse. In that class, we had to choose a book to read for a project and one of the books was about anorexia and my teacher made it a point to urge people not to read it if they've struggled in the past with in eating disorder, as this book could trigger it.

@ ptvjaime
I understand, but usually those who comment swap I'd think have the decency to be polite. (At least the blog comment swaps I mean, not the real one featured on Mibba). I understand that also, how their critiquing could be different because they don't usually read that kind of thing but at least it should be honest, yes ?

At least most people are more polite than those you've encountered in the past on other websites.

@ colour me perfect.
Sorry about just disappearing, I had a date with the beginning of "The Avengers" and the movie "Captain America". I saw The Avengers already and wondered if I should watch Captain America before re-watching it, but anyhow, to the point.

That's really understandable. I usually when I'm writing my stories, I kind of preview things that might be more prominent in the first few chapters. I don't want to hurl my readers straight into the topics I go at and I feel I should at least give them a chance to realize.

That's what I'm saying! (About the don't like don't read). They can just as easily backspace as they can leave a nasty comment, and it's just ridiculous.

I might post a blog about "slash" and "femmeslash". It's romance, it's love, it goes under one tag and yet we must warn readers it's in stories.
I've not once put a tag on my stories (in the summary) for that either but I do tag it as femmeslash or whatever it is but I find it so silly that I go and do this when writers of straight fiction or "normal" fiction relationships don't tag anything. /sighsighsigh

I feel like with the comments thing, it has to do with the author's presence. Even if they're the most eloquent writer ever, holding chapters hostage will give me a bad impression of them which in turn makes me have a bad impression on the story overall. It's just a negative thing that spreads to me, one affects the other and it's really annoying.

RANTS ARE OK, I APPROVE.

@ xMandiblesx
That's what I'm saying. If something offends you, please backspace and leave without another word on the matter. That being said, I've never received a bad comment like such people have mentioned on my stories but I would be upset about it and I would be annoyed to say the least.

I suppose that could be why trigger warnings are put in stories but no one should feel so afraid of getting bad feedback that they are forced to do so. Again, I've never gotten a comment like so but I'm not sure I've ever seen someone bad-talk anyone for not putting a trigger warning on a story.

I do feel as though it could be said more politely and I looked through a story page earlier and it was worded politely in a way that made me less likely to turn away from the story. I don't know, perhaps it's just me.

Right.

@ Liberi Noctis
Yeah, I've never read a story without a summary unless I had to for a swap.

Yeah. Honestly, I'd rather get no comments or little to no comments than not get comments because I said, "I'm going to stop updating unless you all comment". That's absolutely ridiculous, selfish and just immature.

What really annoys me is when people give no summary and description whatsoever and write 'just read it'.
That's really off putting for me, it's rude and not many people are going to read a story that they don't even know what it's about.
As for what you said, they are all annoying too. I've never put trigger warning, it doesn't really make that much of a difference so I see no point of putting it in.
'Don't like, don't read!' Doesn't bother me that much, but when it starts getting into 'don't like it then fuck off' that's really too far.
The comment thing is annoying. As a writer, it is frustrating when you get no comments, but when people refuse to update because of it then it's off putting.

I feel the need to warn people of what's in my stories because I get so fucking tired of people just reading it and then calling me disgusting or offensive. I've been told I'm sexist, sick and that one of my stories glorifies rape. It's funny that I should even feel the need to post warnings because people should be mature enough to stop reading a story if they find out it's going to offend them. Plus, all my stories are FICTION and rated NC 17. You'd figure people would know what that rating entails but sadly, some people choose to overlook ratings completely.

I just think a lot of people have the mindset that unless they put triggers, people are going to attack their stories and bitch the author out because it 's happened several times in the past. People feel attacked and get ridiculed for just writing what's in their imagination. It doesn't help when there is blog after blog of people stating what they hate in stories. I'm not saying people shouldn't have opinions, but SOME people nearly bash some things in stories that a lot of people feel relates to the stories they write. I guess with all the negativity floating around on here people just feel the need to be on the defense and that's why I think some of us put triggers in our stories. As for "Don't like it, don't read." I can see how that seems a little rude but I think what a lot of users mean by that is really, " Don 't read this if you're just going to hate on it in a rude way and insult me as an author. No one is forcing you." I'll admit there probably is a nicer way to word it.

That's just what I think. I think if a lot of readers just gave constructive criticism on stories instead of calling authors bad names or judging them as horrible for what they write, then maybe we all wouldn't feel the need to alert people of what controversial things may appear in our stories.

I think the only time I've really used a trigger warning was for my story Colour Blind, and I basically just said 'this story contains themes of racism and homophobia' because I didn't want people who were particularly offended by those topics to become upset by my story. I never trigger warn for drugs or sex, but I appreciate it when people mention things like self harm or anorexia because I know that those topics can upset me personally a bit. I also like them mentioning when rape's involved too, even if it's just at the start of a chapter, because I don't know about anyone else but I find that pretty upsetting at times.

The 'Don't like it? Don't read!' thing is SO OVERUSED. What's the point? If they read a chapter and they don't like it, they'll press the back button. I also hate when people do it for slash stories. I don't know, I get pretty passionate about that stuff because I don't think that stories involving homosexual relationships should be considered 'slash' instead of just romance, or even just a story of friendship. I understand why the term's there but it's a bit overused by now.

THE COMMENT THING OMG. I hate that! I'm exactly the same as you; if they write it at the end of a chapter, no matter how much I like it I won't comment. I comment on stories where the author seems to care about the plot enough themselves and aren't just in it for the comments. I also get a little annoyed too, and (this is bad) it almost makes me dislike the story a little more. I don't even know why.

WOW THIS TURNED INTO A RANT BUT YEAH.

Luckily those messages came on FF.Net, where ALL the bashing and flaming rules are broken and the staff do nothing to stop it! So I was nasty right back. And on your earlier Comment Swap note, I'd hesitate to turn to anyone who didn't seek out the subject matter and enjoy it. Getting someone to critique your romance when they don't read romance can be hard. Every genre has its nuances. I don't always know what will happen either, but I write romance. So I know when slash and sex will happen. Mpreg is up in the air, but I like it enough that it happens plenty. EVERYONE HAS BABIES. "Men can't have babies! That's disgusting! You're a freak!" "And apparently the line between fiction and reality is as lost on you as the location of your Back button."

@ Nova.
Oh goodness, sorry.
Lol I see. I feel it's not only to warn readers but to help the writers themselves, if like you say, they're just trying to avoid a repeat of a certain situation.

@ Airi.
I just figured trigger warnings were used for drugs because they are harming to people and addictive as I've heard self harm is, therefore could trigger someone to want to indulge again.

I don't think that they help, is all. People will read what they will and if they're interested enough they'll go on and read regardless of the warning. My argument will always just come back to the fact that there aren't trigger warnings throughout life. I realize maybe that reading about something that had ailed them could hurt them but I can't really make myself feel responsible for something I didn't even know of ex. someone becoming triggered because they read my story. Plus no one has ever said anything at all because I haven't tagged my story with a trigger warning but if I did, I'd have to put them on all my stories (if you consider drugs/addiction and things like that triggering). Maybe that's just my fault, that I don't think they're necessary.

@ ptvjaime
Rofl, I get it now. Well that kind of thing hasn't happened to me, and perhaps if it did my views on it would change. I usually don't say what's in my story in the summary because I might not even know, and it could change at any time.

It all comes down to personal taste. If it works, and I get feedback, I'm happy. And yeah, it would be really nice if they just stopped reading. But enough harassing comments and messages, and now I flat out tell everyone. "Hey, this is gay sex. A guy gets pregnant. There's sex with an alien. Lesbian sex. BDSM happens here. There's an orgy. Because people in the past have not been thoughtful enough to just hit the back button and go home but have decided to be judgmental and condescending, I am telling you: If you do not like this, you should not read it." If I get any more comments or messages criticizing what I wrote based on the fact I wrote it, i.e. Male pregnancy and slash are gross, I'm going to lose it. It's like YouTube, where everyone feels the need to call a music video disgusting or nasty when they could just leave the page.

The thing is though, trigger warnings weren't meant to be used for small and simple things like drugs and sex. Those subjects aren't considered triggers and aren't covered under the trigger warnings. I don't really understand why people started thinking they'd be included in the first place. Those fit more under a content warning than a trigger warning, but that's a different subject. Trigger warnings are meant to be used only for strong subjects like anorexia, self-harm, suicide, etc.. Subjects that can be psychologically damaging and cause a relapse. If someone is still recovering, even simply reading about the subject and force them into a relapse. And that's what trigger warnings try to prevent.

It's true that trigger warnings aren't necessary, but it would just be nice to use one. In my opinion, it should be considered common courtesy to use one. I mean, they literally only take a few seconds to type out. By sparing those few seconds to type out even just a small warning, you could be helping prevent recovering people from relapsing. It honestly makes me kind of sad to see so many people opposed to trigger warnings.

On that note, people don't need to finish reading something to be triggered. In most cases, the person who is triggered does stop reading/watching whatever has triggered them. However, that doesn't erase what they already saw/read. It doesn't take away the triggers they already unknowingly came upon. If there was a trigger warning, they would have never had to see/read any of it in the first place.

It's a simple action that could help a lot of people. I guess I'll just never understand why people are so against it.

Agreed
However I feel obliged to put trigger warnings on certain stories of mine (none have been posted yet) I know I don't have to but the story involves a lot mental illness and self harm and I just don't want to be the reason someone might be triggered. Also last time I wrote about some pretty dark stuff a lot of people got pissed with me but that annoyed me, it was labeled under tragedy so why get angry when someone dies. Id just like to avoid that drama in the future though.

@ Tholomew Plague
Indeed, I appreciate the comments I get though. Because nowadays they're never asked for and completely random, I don't have to say I'd appreciate a comment to get one.

Yeah, your right, but Im still trying to live in hope. I get some comments, not alot, but one is better than nothing :D

@ ptvjaime
I understand the trigger warnings and why people put them there but I don't why it's really necessary. I'm never going to unless Mibba begins to require it.

Lol well they should stop reading when they're getting uncomfortable, nobody's forcing them to finish the story.

Simply comment swap or something to that affect. I realize that it won't be people going to your writing because they're into that topic but still, feedback is feedback and if people really like your works, perhaps they'll comment. I believe that the feedback I receive from swaps and things like such are better because it requires the person usually to type more about what they think on the writing and it's fresh eyes, people that may not usually read that type of fiction and therefore think something others wouldn't.

@ Tholomew Plague
Rofl. I stopped even putting comments are appreciated nowadays. I stop expecting things from this site.

I hate that comments or I wont update bullshit. I usually just write "lemme know what you think" or "opinions and comments appreciated" No point holding it up to ransom, to me it seems like putting a gun to your head and blowing out all the work you've done. But thats just me >.>

I don't typically do trigger warnings, but I understand why people do. I don't see the issue. However, I do understand and use don't like, don't read. Only because I've had people bitch at me on other sites because I write slash and mpreg. At that point, what else can you think? "If you didn't like the subject matter, why did you read the story and commense your statements that male pregnancy and slash are gross?" And honestly, I use the last one too. I use this website for feedback. I feel like, if my readers can't be bothered to even say they like it, I don't really have a reason to post the next chapter. Especially when I really want feedback. I need feedback to improve as a writer. Oh, so I have subscribers and readers and recs? That doesn't tell me anything other than people are reading it. I don't know why. I don't know if it's so good they like it or so bad they're reading it as a joke. Or maybe it's a new subject and I want to know if it's making sense or coming out okay. Silent readers don't help.