I get the crazy feeling that it's not quite done anymore to have fairly specific tastes in fic, or to not like something due to those tastes
Durrr? I should hope not. I'll keep saying it: someone's kink is someone's squick and vice versa. There's nothing wrong with either of them. But both are, as you say, not terribly voluntary.
the warnings debates had a side issue wandering through in a few ljs that seemed to emphasize the fact that if you have an issue with a particular kind of fic, you have a serious problem
Whoa fandom, that's... dumb.
My only sticking point is that a lot of broad expressions of taste don't just say "___ makes me feel ___" ... they tend to blanket statements of "___ is FREAKISH! No decent person likes them!"
Which happens to offend a lot of decent people.
Relatedly, it also gets my back up to label an entire genre based on a sample of badly written fics. Not "___ makes me feel ___" but "All ____ is a horrible waste of breath." Which unfortunately can sometimes encompass the majority of fandom. People end up saying things like okay, only writers X and Z and K's takes on the subject are palatable to me, except I happen to know that writers X and Z and K were the *minority* in another fandom where nearly *everyone* churned out good quality fics on the same subject. It freaks out writers who are trying something new when that's the prevailing wind -- it's all too easy to shame them into hiding or dumbing down a certain type of fic because the greater part of fandom is vocal about how nuts it is.
That to me is not a squick. That's a *personal* reading filter. I've watched a lot of rants talk up those filters to the detriment of the people who write those types of fics, the people who enjoy them, and the people who are truly squicked by them. It's not hard to add "I think" to a general statement, sheesh.
In short, I guarantee you that whatever list of fiction squicks you get out of here, it will be identical to a list of fiction kinks. Just with different people.
no subject
Durrr? I should hope not. I'll keep saying it: someone's kink is someone's squick and vice versa. There's nothing wrong with either of them. But both are, as you say, not terribly voluntary.
the warnings debates had a side issue wandering through in a few ljs that seemed to emphasize the fact that if you have an issue with a particular kind of fic, you have a serious problem
Whoa fandom, that's... dumb.
My only sticking point is that a lot of broad expressions of taste don't just say "___ makes me feel ___" ... they tend to blanket statements of "___ is FREAKISH! No decent person likes them!"
Which happens to offend a lot of decent people.
Relatedly, it also gets my back up to label an entire genre based on a sample of badly written fics. Not "___ makes me feel ___" but "All ____ is a horrible waste of breath." Which unfortunately can sometimes encompass the majority of fandom. People end up saying things like okay, only writers X and Z and K's takes on the subject are palatable to me, except I happen to know that writers X and Z and K were the *minority* in another fandom where nearly *everyone* churned out good quality fics on the same subject. It freaks out writers who are trying something new when that's the prevailing wind -- it's all too easy to shame them into hiding or dumbing down a certain type of fic because the greater part of fandom is vocal about how nuts it is.
That to me is not a squick. That's a *personal* reading filter. I've watched a lot of rants talk up those filters to the detriment of the people who write those types of fics, the people who enjoy them, and the people who are truly squicked by them. It's not hard to add "I think" to a general statement, sheesh.
In short, I guarantee you that whatever list of fiction squicks you get out of here, it will be identical to a list of fiction kinks. Just with different people.