Is a tag enough or should you really put a warning?

[ShelbyDawn57]

It was, and tagged LESBIAN!

You slacker. You're obviously not doing enough. You should be ashamed of yourself. Um, uh, some would say we should all be ashamed of ourselves, but, I mean really... LOL

 

[designatedvictim]

Opinions vary, as with all things on Lit

Because of the way story tags are displayed, I think many people never see them or think to check them.

Personally, I put an Ingredients List at the top of my stories. I make them a little silly, but I also include the sexual combinations involved, plus any acts or situations that I think might be polarizing to some readers. E.g.:

Ingredients list (Spoilers!):
2 cups unprofessional conference behavior
1 cup cis-female/non-binary sex
1 cup M/NB/F/F group sex
1/4 cup cis-male/non-binary sex
1/2 cup fear of cheating, jealousy
(only) 1 bed

I've gotten largely positive comments about them, and it makes me feel good to include them, so I do!

I wish I could write an ingredients list that smooth. I first encountered this with the story this came from and loved it.

As I said in my earlier post that I'd added a warning and tag list on yesterday's story release. Some people don't appreciate slow-burns.

They don't appreciate a guy sticking a finger into a girl's ass.

I added in the note that anyone searching on or attracted by the title phrase 'figure study' would be sorely disappointed if they wanted some hot model action.

I also added tags (as a warning, no so much to pick up search results) due to some light ass play/anal play, because someone didn't appreciate seeing it in my first story without a heads-up.

You can't please everyone.

Only two comments, so far. After 10K reads, no one has suggested that the tags were a bait-and-switch.

It will happen, though.

 

[Katie_Mae]

Fair enough, but we weren't talking about content warnings, i.e. explicit violence or rape or torture. The OP referenced specifically M/M sexual contact...

I know you're not talking to me as such, but because I did post earlier in this thread about content warnings, to clarify, when I'm talking about content warnings, this is exactly what I'm talking about.

All the "warning" stuff in my earlier post was aimed at things you'd actually want to warn against (which is why I mentioned that sometimes things you want to warn about can't be tagged, because those tags are banned, eg death, rape, torture etc).

Not stuff like M/M. This is an international website in 2026, M/M content isn't a "warning."

Eg my latest story was the third chapter in a series. It's featured M/F and F/M sex only so far (and variants of it, like MMMMM/F) but there's been no M/M action. In chapter 3, there was one moment of M/M action. Did I warn against it? No. there's nothing to warn against.

Did I tag it? (I just had to check because I couldn't remember) Also, no, because a) I ran out of tags and b) it was such a small moment. One sex act in 25k words didn't seem to warrant it. If I had more tags I might have included it. If I wrote adorable little ingredients lists like Penny, I probably would have included it as a pinch or sprinkle or something.

 

[theMasterBaiter]

Oh yeah. I forgot there is a limit to the number of tags you can... um... tag... your story with. Another good reason to add @TarnishedPenny 's (c) recipe or kink warning of some sort at the start. We can be nice. It's not required, but it is... Nice. Nice is missing these days.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Oh yeah. I forgot there is a limit to the number of tags you can... um... tag... your story with. Another good reason to add @TarnishedPenny 's (c) recipe or kink warning of some sort at the start. We can be nice. It's not required, but it is... Nice. Nice is missing these days.

Except every time I read one of her, @TarnishedPenny, stories, I get huingry...

 

[theMasterBaiter]

Except every time I read one of her, @TarnishedPenny, stories, I get huingry...

Anytime I read any of her, your, or Tanya stories, I get sexually hungry. In the nicest possible way. Thank you!

 

[anthrodisiac]

I don’t think you should worry. You traffic in NonHuman, which I understand is a diverse category with a motley of largely distinct themes/kinks/whatchagonnacallits, so readers who seek those are presumably conditioned to check the tags.

Motley is actually the collective noun for Non-Human writers and readers. "The motley sat together and discussed the merits of werewolving knotting kinks."

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Motley is actually the collective noun for Non-Human writers and readers. "The motley sat together and discussed the merits of werewolving knotting kinks."

It’s also an adjective indicating diversity and the name of the garment a ‘fool’ wears. I guess you could say, “The motley motley sat together in their motleys discussing the merits of werewolving knotting kinks, while listening to Motley Crue.”

 

[anthrodisiac]

It’s also an adjective indicating diversity and the name of the garment a ‘fool’ wears. I guess you could say, “The motley motley sat together in their motleys discussing the merits of werewolving knotting kinks, while listening to Motley Crue.”

I'm fairly certain they stole "motley" from the Literotica NonHuman collective noun group, went back in time, and tried to gaslight everyone that it's been a thing this whole time. I've spent decades trying to prove this.

They, of course, being Motley Crue.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Not if they're unaware that tags exist. Why can't people understand not everyone knows what they know?

It's not your responsibility to think for somebody else. If they aren't aware of all the stuff on the site, but you've used those things, that's on them, not you. You're the author. You took your time and effort to write the story. They don't have to do anything but click and read. I don't think it's too much to expect for them to use the tools on the site to ensure they are looking for the things they want to look for.

 

[darkquasar]

The latest comment I got for the story in question.
Its in the T/I category.
I bet the readers of the GM category would just love a story about a man having sex with his mom being in the GM category lol

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

/sigh

 

[THBGato]

For example, will they find the wholesome story of two lesbian farm girls who adopted a black boy with ADHD who later became a veterinarian?

I really like the sound of that. Does it exist?

 

[Britva415]

It’s also an adjective indicating diversity and the name of the garment a ‘fool’ wears. I guess you could say, “The motley motley sat together in their motleys discussing the merits of werewolving knotting kinks, while listening to Motley Crue.”

All that's missing is a verb sense.

Motley motleys Motley motleys motley, motley Motley motleys.

 

[Ianus4]

I really like the sound of that. Does it exist?

Since I came up with it as an example at the time, it probably doesn't exist. But even if it does, the author must have tagged it incompletely, since it doesn't give any lesbian results for "farmgirl" or "farm girl".
In any case, the idea is free to use, and if anyone writes it, I'll definitely read it.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The latest comment I got for the story in question.
Its in the T/I category.
I bet the readers of the GM category would just love a story about a man having sex with his mom being in the GM category lol

I had one series approaching that, but it never got submitted. I even started a thread here asking about and got mixed advice.

Triplets, two sisters began converting their brother and dressing him up as a third sister. LOTS of sibling/sibling/sibling, mother/son, mother/daughter, father/daughter. But the father taking interest in his third 'daughter' was becoming a problem I wasn't sure how to address.

Some insisted that chapter stay in T/I, others suggested moving it.

 

[darkquasar]

Here is the story that lead to this post. https://www.literotica.com/s/mom-s-birthday-wish

If it were a single chapter in an ongoing story about sex between the MC and his dad, I could see that chapter belonging in GM, but its 7% of the story. Roughly 650 words out of 8640 have to do with Tom cleaning his sons cock and one quick blowjob scene.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

This is a problem when you're dealing with stories, especially serials, that transcend categories.

My three books could easily fit in Novels/Novellas, Taboo/Incest, Gay Male, Interracial, Erotic Coupling, Anal, Group Sex, Loving Wives, Exhibitionist/Voyeur, Romance and Transgender given all of the scenes that have happened over the course of the books. And I think bouncing between categories for a longer story is good way to confuse people, so I stuck with interracial, which was the overarching narrative and one of the things that wove throughout all of the stories.

The idea that the second there's incest, it has to go there, or the second there's a gay scene it has to go there just doesn't reflect the reality of some of the stories folks tell on the site. The categories are there to help guide people where they want to go, but it's just odd to think that some stories won't cross the lines.

One gay scene in a story overwhelmingly about straight sex HAS to be in Gay Male is just nuts to me.

 

[LegendInMyOwnMind]

Just curious, for those of you who read stories here without checking the tags: are there certain things, i.e. a kink or a lifestyle, that if you came across in a story it would put you off to the point of dropping a negative comment?

I don't pore over ingredients lists before I buy a bag of chips. But if I had a food allergy I was concerned about... I might.

I'm open to anything except non-con. I use categories and tags to look for things I particularly like.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm of the mind that this site is for literate adults

Which site are you talking about here? Can you post a link?

 

[OddLove]

I've been kind of experimenting with the idea of warnings. In my main ongoing series I only use tags. In my new series I'm adding warnings that spoil what kinds of kinks and fetishes are involved in the entire series. So on episode one I literally warn people it will eventually have that weird stuff like mommydom, daipers, piss, gay sex, etc.

Nobody has complained about 'spoilers' with it, and unlike my main ongoing series, nobody has expressed disappointment about the sexuality and kinks of the characters.

I wanted to try it out because I genuinely felt bad for wasting readers time by getting them invested into a femdom story that eventually led to bisexual acts and involved subtle cuckoldry. It was probably pretty frustrating for everyone who was hoping for a strictly hetero and monogamous story.

But at the same time, part of me is still like "fuck those entitled whiny little bitches" so that's why I'm trying it both ways.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Oh yeah. I forgot there is a limit to the number of tags you can... um... tag... your story with. Another good reason to add @TarnishedPenny 's (c) recipe or kink warning of some sort at the start. We can be nice. It's not required, but it is... Nice. Nice is missing these days.

Being "nice" is using the limited number of tags (ten is not a lot) to promote the kinky sexy fun things in my stories, to say to readers, "If you like this stuff, here it is, come and enjoy."

It's not my job to second guess everyone else's squicks and dislikes, and I'm certainly not going to waste tags as "warnings". This whole notion of, "Ooo, you must tell me what I mightn't like in your stories," is a joke, frankly. If people can't manage their own reactions to content on an adult oriented website, I have to wonder if they're actually old enough to be here.

Having said that, I write fairly vanilla content, so maybe my frame of reference is all wrong...

 

[Fluftixxx]

I would actually probably go the opposite way in this case and not tag the story as bisexual. I think a content warning that says "hey there is a short part with bisexual males in this story, but the rest of the story is purely f-m" is less likely to turn people away. Because if I see a tag for bisexual male, i assume that's a main theme of the story.

 

[TheLobster]

It's not my job to second guess everyone else's squicks and dislikes

You don't have to second-guess anything: the common squicks are well-known and kinda obvious. Incest, non-consent, scat and sexual contact between males; if your story features any of these and its metadata doesn't signal them, putting a forewarning is simple courtesy.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You don't have to second-guess anything: the common squicks are well-known and kinda obvious. Incest, non-consent, scat and sexual contact between males; if your story features any of these and its metadata doesn't signal them, putting a forewarning is simple courtesy.

Why are they kind of obvious, when you've just listed two of the largest categories on Lit, offended a good portion of the population, and put a bunch of Russian women out of work?

Setting your homophobia aside, those elements, if they were in a story, would either be self-evident by category or would be tagged as a positive kink.

But again, why is it my job to anticipate all the things you don't like and announce them, if there are more than ten thematic elements in a story?