Disclaimers & Whatnot - Comments

@ Join the Masquerade
Huh, I never thought about that (the thing with the colors). That's a neat idea.

I put disclaimers on another site (a band forum) when I post fics because people related to/connected to the band members do actually go on the forum from time to time, and we don't want them to think anything we write has a grain of truth to it.
And I use warnings for certain things. One I remember including once was for when I was killing a child in a story, because I can imagine that being a nasty surprise for anyone that may have lost a child. I colour them the same colour as the background though so those that aren't affected by such things don't get any spoilers and those that are can highlight to view.

@ indigo umbrella
That makes sense :)

@ kaz brekker
I'm glad you said that, because I think upsetting people is what I am mainly worried about

It's not that big of a deal, I don't think. I don't expect people to do it. I do it because I can understand how some things that appear in my writing can make people uncomfortable. I know that books don't give you this, which is fine, but this is also why I read a lot of reviews before I pick up a book. There are books I've avoided entirely because reviews will tell me what's in it, such as sexual content/rape/drugs/other things. By giving a warning, I feel I'm doing the same thing for readers that might be uncomfortable with the things that come up. Like I said, though, I don't expect other people to do it and I think it's fine if you don't. If something comes up in a story that I'm not comfortable with, I'm not going to get angry at the author for not warning me. It's personal preference, I suppose.

I only use disclaimers when I'm using something that isn't mine. Not the fanfiction aspect. But I mean, like if I use a quote or a song lyric or if the idea was inspired by something else but isn't a fan fiction. If that makes any sense.

@ balani
Yeah, I was just curious about it because I've seen it a lot. I don't really think I'll have the content to warrant a disclaimer anyway

It's not really a big issue. The ratings speak for itself and unless you have triggering content because if some users might feel uncomfortable reading your story, you should put one. Granted, the ratings are there to explain everything and the fanfiction label also explains a lot. Ultimately, it's your choice. Just follow the Mibba Story Guidelines found in the Knowledge Base. We have an article about all the ratings and their definitions and what they represent.

What Mr. Darcy said was true. Forget what I said above. Don't put it if you don't want to. It's really your choice.

@ domi823
No, I think it's okay to feel that way. I mean, if it were that big of an issue, Mibba would require us to include them

The only disclaimers I've ever written were "chapter titles are from this song".

As for warnings, I think I wrote one maybe once and it was to let the reader know a character isn't too fond of religion and she was going to bad mouth it. That's about it. I don't like putting them because I try to make sure my rating and summary drop a few hints. I also have the mindset that if a book isn't going to give you a warning before reading it, then I probably won't either. Not sure if this is a good mindset to have lol.

@ Mogar
Yeah, that does seem like a spoiler. Instead of saying 'character death' they could say something cryptic like 'there is no happy ending' or something that lets them know that the story will be a downer.

I often use songs as inspiration for my stories and sometimes I use lyrics to a song as the title or something, so I put a disclaimer in the description to explain where it's from. That's all I really use disclaimers for, and warnings maybe if there's some controversial stuff mentioned in the story. I don't think a disclaimer or warnings are really necessary otherwise. If you don't have that stuff in your story you can keep the description short.
A warning I've never really understood was the minor or major character death warning, because I feel like it spoils the story a bit. I get it if you want to maybe warn someone who's sensitive about that stuff, but I don't know. Personally, I wouldn't include that warning :/

@ Mr. Darcy
Thanks, this was really interesting. You make a very good point and I think I won't do it just because any content like that in my story will have warnings in the story itself. And I will most likely never write a rape scene because I'm not comfortable doing so.

@ Sassenach
I forgot about domestic violence being a trigger. There's a lot of messed up stuff in the world today, isn't there. :/

There is no rule on here for warnings and using should implies that there's a more accepted way on this site, when there definitely isn't. I've come across plenty of stories that use trigger warnings and I've come across an equal amount, probably a lot more, of stories that don't. I don't use warnings and will never as long as it doesn't become a rule. It's down to you as the author on whether you want to include them or not. If you truly think that you need to warn about stuff, do it, but if you only think that because you see other people doing it, then you're using someone else's personal preference to influence your own preference that had previous been okay to you. Don't do it because people tell you to and alternatively don't not do it because people tell you not to do it, do it based on what you want yourself. With no influence.

I have a story that includes domestic violence so I have that as a warning to the readers. It's just nice to do I think.

@ pavi largo
Okay, that makes sense. I might do that for my Bert McCracken story, since it involves some pretty intense self-destructive habits.

@ Phoebe Buffay
I get that. If you have had bad experiences, you don't want to have to read them in your free time...or at all, really.

I mean, if you write stories that feature rape, self-harm, abuse, etc then it might be a good idea to put down a trigger warning. There are people out there that have suffered through the things listed above and they don't want to read stories that have that kind of content in them, or they at least want a warning instead of going in blindly. Of course, I don't speak for everyone, as some people don't care, but that's how I personally feel about it.

Basically if theres anything in my story that's abuse, or anything violent then I will let them know what they are getting into. It's just incase they don't want to read a story like that.

@ Phoebe Buffay
So by triggers you mean like sexual abuse or possibly drug content?

@ pavi largo
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about the bandfiction thing. I didn't think about the triggers thing.

I only put down trigger warnings in my summaries because some people like the idea of having that warning. I don't want to surprise them with something they might not want to read.

I rarely include disclaimers on things like band fiction, because obviously I don't own the band. I do, however, think putting potential triggers down is a good idea. You don't have to, as it isn't a rule, but it's a nice gesture. You never know who might be reading your story and what their past involved.