Question for readers ...

[hemrage]

I've finally put the rest of my plan for 'Desperate Times' down on paper, rather than letting it sit in my head. The process made me think that maybe, just maybe, you're going to want more warnings for future chapters. My problem is that I see these warnings as spoilers for the story and I, if I was in your position, wouldn't want them. But what do you think?

I'm asking you your opinion here. Will having warnings for specific events/situations spoil your enjoyment? I know that it's possible to 'white out' warnings, but I've been tripped up by this in the past as I've used the style=mine option on previous journals and have seen whited out warnings because my background was black...

Anyway - over to you ...

[Poll #1245126]

Comments

[mini-moue.livejournal.com]

Warnings are a funny thing - fair enough at the start of a story let folks know the flavour - ie MPREG (which I normally avoid like the plague but not this time!) but sometimes it's just too much information. I want to read the story to find out what's happens next. It's part of the fun of it - not knowing, second-guessing, and it takes away some of the shock-factor which a story like this one necessitates to have prior-warning. I want to be surprised, shocked and thrilled!

[kbpen.livejournal.com]

It's pretty clear that this is a dark universe. So, it follows that horrible things might happen. And we are all still hanging on your every word.

[rain-1975.livejournal.com]

Well, warings or not warnings i think *nothing* can't keep me away from this story at this stage of addiction.
I already know that things are gonna be pretty bad (like *REALLY* BAD).

but i understand that some poeple want to know what to expect, so maybe the withe out thing is the best option.

anyway, i'm sure you will decide for the best.

i'm glad you've planned out the steps, i guess it's easier having some sort of map to follow :)

thanks for being so caring!

[putu2sleep.livejournal.com]

I can ignore any warnings I don't want to read. This story is an addiction, so I will still be here whatever you decide.

[meluivan-indil.livejournal.com]

Don't really need or want them and as a matter of fact other than reading the heading on the first chapter, I very rarely even look at it anymore. I just skip strait to the good stuff.

I trust you to take the story where it needs to go even if it's very dark and horrible to see. I can do dark and horrible, I promise you. And I wouldn't stop reading it for anything in the world at this point.

[sweetsj.livejournal.com]

There are only really one thing I would want a warning on and thats if you going to kill one of J's... I personally can't read those type of stories. So maybe if thats the plan, you could maybe warn my in a message or something? Other than that I can live without warnings, sometimes they do spoil reading a story because you can already see where the story is going. But I can understand the need for them, somethings make people not want to read it and warning help with that.

[albeitslowly.livejournal.com]

You know there's an actual spoiler code that changes the text color to the background color and works no matter what color the background is. People have sent it to me in the past, but I can't remember it, lol. I'm sure you can find it in one of your html tutorials...?

Just saying. You can ignore me since I'm apparently the only sensitive reading this. LOL.

[eboniorchid.livejournal.com]

I much prefer warnings, because somethings can be serious triggers and I do adore this series, but I think warnings allow for informed consent in a way that leaving them out doesn't. If you're uncomfortable putting them under a white-out (which I've never had difficulty with even on my dark background), then maybe you could put them a few lines below the end of the fic and just tell us where they are so we can scroll down and read them before we start reading.

This is the white-out html that I've used in the past, which seems to work well on all backgrounds, just remove the asterisks(*): <*span style="color: #ffffff; background-color: #ffffff"*>Whited-Out Text<*/span*>

[hemrage.livejournal.com]

I'll give the coding a whirl - see if I can make it work without messing it up.

Thank you.

[fufaraw]

I think you know my feelings on this story and where it's gone so far, where it's likely to go from here. As well as my inclination to ...perhaps...over-identify with your characters. A simple warning, "Things are very dark in this chapter" or "Things get even more difficult for (character names)" would be enough, except in the case of the death of a major character. I include the two men confined with Jensen and Jared as major characters. They would merit a "character death" note, in my opinion.

You've promised us a somewhat positive, if not a happy, ending. If that changes, I would definitely appreciate knowing.

That said, you've navigated splendidly so far, and I'm happy to trust your instincts for the rest of the saga. I am curious. I understand WIP indicates some fluidity, but in your estimation at the moment, how far are we along the storyline you're planning to tell?

[hemrage.livejournal.com]

I think we're about halfway through the story. We're going to be following Jensen through his nine months... Oh - is that a spoiler?

[ahania.livejournal.com]

I'd rather not have specific chapter warnings because a lot of the strength of this story is the mystery and the vulnerable position Jensen is in. I think a general caveat lector anything can happen warning should be enough really. Or if people would prefer warnings, white them out, please! I want to be surprised :)

[meansprite.livejournal.com]

Umm well warnings no warnings, personally I'd rather not have them too descriptive and keep the 100% OMG factor when I'm reading. Cause nothing short of an EMP would stop me. :) But if the poll goes to hidden warnings then majority rules. And I'll try really really hard not to look at the warnings you give.

[almenara.livejournal.com]

I trust you, so do what you think is best. :)
(but I like to be surprised *g*)

[out-0f-habit.livejournal.com]

Can I be a huge pain in the ass? I don't want to be spoiled by the warnings, but I *need* to be warned if Jared or Jensen dies. So could you maybe message me or something if that is true, so I don't have to read the other warnings and spoil myself?

[9thof9.livejournal.com]

Dude!

Seriously, if your readers haven't figure out that this is a freaking dark story by what they've read so far, they have their heads up their asses and you shouldn't worry about them.

I'm actually pretty glad you haven't put a lot of warnings on this. Sure sometimes its been like a punch to the gut, but then I'm a little masochistic, so thats OK.