Something that works for me is seeing a warning like "this fic is dark. more specific warnings would be spoilers -- email me if you want the details." That gives me a general heads-up so I can skip it if I'm in a fluff mood, or if I don't want to take the gamble that the content is something that really bothers me. Seeing "the author chose not to use warnings for this fic" would tell me much the same -- that there's warn-able content. This lets readers make a slightly more informed decision to read without giving too much away ahead of time. Sure, if I skip all fics with that warning to make sure I don't read any torture, which bothers me, it means I might be missing out on great fics that contain other violence, which doesn't, but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.
So my vote is for a nonspecific warning/notice that warnings would have been applicable had the author chosen to use them.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-06-25 01:12 am (UTC)So my vote is for a nonspecific warning/notice that warnings would have been applicable had the author chosen to use them.