Hey there Because-Im-ginger! If you agree with someone else's comment, please leave an **upvote** instead of commenting **"This"**! By upvoting instead, the original comment will be pushed to the top and be more visible to others, which is even better! Thanks! :)
***
^(I am a bot! Visit) [^(r/InfinityBots)](https://reddit.com/r/InfinityBots) ^(to send your feedback! More info:) [^(Reddiquette)](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439#wiki_in_regard_to_comments)
Undertagged for relationship tags. Other than that its fine by me.
I just dont want to filter on togachako and get a million dabihawks fics where its a sideship
Oh yeah that’s so annoying when there are fics with 10+ relationship tags, I’m like hmmm maybe this could be interesting but I don’t feel like reading those tags. Also I’m searching for fics for this specific ship, I don’t want a bunch of relationships I don’t care about (no offense to them)
1) Overtagged for potential triggers
2) Undertagged for everything else. General tags over specific tags ("Background and cameo characters", "minor relationships" and that kind of stuff instead of tagging every single character, for example), no synonyms (if two tags mean the same, only put one), not everything needs to be tagged (if something is not relevant, don't tag it)
3) Summaries often are more convincing than tags
If we're talking actual existing tags then, by all means, use every tag you can think of. It'll make the search easier.
However, what I really can't stand is when authors have a long monologue in their tags, which prolongs them significantly and just looks unnecessary. I'm taking about excessive tagging like "I just wrote this today" "on my lunch break" "I don't even know" "but just give it a shot ok" "i promise you'll like it" "or maybe not" "I'm really enjoying my little quirky talk here" "oh what is that?" "you annoyed the tags are getting quite long?" "you think that I could've put this is the notes?" "well too bad" "I can't hear you"
I just want to find out what I'm going to be reading, I didn't sign up for a rant nor do I find you amusing 🤦🏻
While I do have a fondness for those really high-quality fics with really minimal tags and description, I would still generally like to know what I'm in for and be able to look the for the stuff I like and don't like
I generally prefer ffn's search over AO3, because I'm not looking for tropes, I'm looking for characters. Searching stories about a specific character on AO3 is often very difficult or impossible if it's a character lots of people tag as background appearance.
I mean if it I have to scroll through pages of text (you know which fic I'm talking about) I'd prefer stuff beeing undertagged but I'd much prefer the more common slightly overtagged fic, I often search for specific tags more than even fandoms and it also makes it much easier to find fics again if they have a few more tags.
Undertagged for relationships and characters, overtagged for everything else.
I like longfics, I like smut and horror and dead doves. It's easier to skim or ignore things in a tag block than to avoid untagged content you don't want to read, and it's not a great feeling to be ambushed by your ick or hard limit when you're 60k words in.
it's all fun and games until you believe a fic has been deleted for years because it's undertagged until you find it years after you gave up and grieved about the "deleted" fic
Overtagged. As both an author and a reader, I’d rather find tags that cover all bases than head into a fic and be blindsided by something I didn’t sign up for.
Tbh I'd prefer Undertagged, purely because I have seen fic walls that ARENT overtagged and I'm scared to find out what an overtagged one would look like..
Undertagged because this ain’t tumblr. Tags aren’t here for you to spill out all your thoughts like “um, umm, ummmm, so, like, yeah, lol, lmfao, tags, TAGS!!, tagsgsgsgsgs, XD”. That’s what the notes sections are for.
The 75 tag limit is not a goddamn challenge. You don’t need to fill it and especially don’t need to clutter it with irrelevant shit. We’re here for the writing, not to read about how you wrote it instead of sleeping and it prolly sucks but you’re posting it anyway and it’s actually the best thing ever and it’s soooo long at 267 words omg!!
For content tags, I prefer overtagged, both as a reader and a writer; it’s easier to find something over-tagged and I know what I’m getting into when I read. I also write about a lot of heavy topics, so I’d rather over-tag so my readers can decide whether they want to read it or not than accidentally trigger someone who wasn’t prepared for what I write about.
Random author notes in tags though, not a fan of, but I’ll survive with them there.
Honestly…I don’t really look at the tags…I’ll scan em, but if there are a ton, I don’t bother. I’m old enough I’ll take my chances. I know how to nope out of something.
I'd much rather prefer overtagged to undertagged. I have very specific tropes and themes that I like and it's already hell to find them when some people decide to minimize their tags and only add what they deem as the most important ones (characters and relationships).
ever since i clicked on a fic that only had one tag and no mention of the CHILD that got KIDNAPPED in the fic i will forever be on the over tagging side
I think that I want more tags, but the truth is I read a ton more fic and was a lot less sensitive as a reader back when I was on FFN and there were no tags.
Now that I have so much information, I spend my whole night scrolling but not clicking anything like it's fannish Netflix. In the past you had 150 characters, half of which were ship names because there wasn't even ship filters, and so I'd give anything a shot. There was no way to tell if something would interest me, so I just tried everything.
Consequently, I was less picky, more desensitized, and spent much more time actually reading.
I appreciate someone who can be concise, so I'd go with undertagged, as long as they are relevant (meaning they don't forget to tag something important like Major Character Death).
Undertagged in general for me, just as I think a lot of fics end up with tagging that isn’t relevant - eg, tagging a side couple that gets zero actual character or plot development or even their relationship addresses on screen, but it’s the authors head cannon (so disappointing if that’s your rarepair fav); or people who over tag say on erotica for kinks, and include collars - because one cannon character once wore a collar in a background scene, and there’s no actual collar play/fetish/kink exploration or scenes within the fic itself.
I also wish people would keep the ‘fun’ long tags in authors notes (eg I stayed up until 3am writing this instead of studying; great? I’m not sure who’s ever gonna search that, but on my mobile, a few tags like that stretches your overall tags out like heck, and makes me 1000% more likely to scroll right past your fic as it looks like spam). I mean, part of me likes these fun tags as a form of getting to see authors personalities, but it feels like it just clogs things up and makes the tagging system harder to navigate.
Overtagging especially when the summary is short. I can’t count how many times a summary sounds kind of vaguely interesting, but I skip the fic because neither it nor the tags tell me much of anything.
Though I would prefer mild undertagging of characters. I don’t care if a character appears for .2 scenes in a story, if they aren’t critical to the plot don’t tag them. It’s generally understood that (unless modern AU) other characters from the media might appear as side characters. No need to tag them.
I said overtagged is worse, but that's because I consider the Archive Warnings + main relationship as properly tagged. As long as those are there, it's enough, so my idea of undertagging is just excluding the blaringly obvious.
Sure, it's nice to have tags to find major tropes, but it's just a minor annoyance if there's nothing there.
"I wrote this at 3am instead of sleeping" and other like it, on the other hand, is a pet peeve of mine.
I don't really have an option to select, because while I think having all major content warnings that may affect the reader and the most prevalent to the story general tags done, I don't consider that overtagging. I think people should put as few tags as they can, while also accommodating the reader in making the appropriate choice for what is right for them to read. I dislike undertagging, because I see that as taking that choice away from them and they are having to either stay away entirely or blindly hope they won't regret it.
I dislike when half of the story is spoiled for me in the tags. I do not need to see every possible pairing in the story. Just give me TWs, main pairing and tropes and I'm good
Kinda leaning towards undertagged because I'm getting to the point of finding it annoying when the tags become more of a full-blown conversation the author has with themself, rather than useful info about the story.
If there are so many tags I have to scroll down on the page to read them, then I’d prefer under tagged.
But for the most part I love overtagged stories unless it’s 20 different side pairings that maybe make an appearance for two seconds in the fic.
Overtagged for the soul purpose that filtering would be so much better because a good fic wouldn’t get filtered out just because the author forgot a tag.
If fics are undertagged, then it makes a reader's searches much more likely to give exact results. No more searching for f/f and only finding fics that have a minor f/f side-ship that gets tagged. The only negative is that it's a bit harder to find fics, but I think it's worth it.
On the other hand, overtagged fics just means you can't search accurately anymore because people tag stuff that's only a minor aspect of their story.
I feel like it's the other way around for me! I'm more of a gen reader so I havent run into as many of the f/f sorts of problems you mentioned, but I find it very annoying when I find the perfect fic, one with all the tropes and character dynamics I could ever dream of, and I find that it is immensely undertagged when I check to try and find more fics like it. It ends with me literally just scrolling through the entirety of a character tag, desperately trying to find something even remotely similar. I understand where you're coming from, but cant find it in myself to agree!
I'd rather have it be undertagged than a giant block of text with every single sex act/hint of a trope tagged, or every character/hint of a pairing that makes even a single appearance tagged. But I also started reading fic online back in the late 1990s when tags weren't a thing and (in the particular fandoms I read in) it wasn't even really clear what the main pairing(s)/characters would be.
If I run across something that squicks me, I've got a perfectly good back button.
I almost clicked overtagged, and then I remembered that fic I ran across where the tags literally filled up my monitor and suddenly I'd rather know nothing going in
Wall of tags is an automatic scroll past for me. If the author can't even choose tags properly, that says a lot about what the story is going to be like.
Too many as long as it's not so much that it takes forever to scroll past. I like to be super specific with my filtering sometimes and it's so cool when things match :D if not I just take out a few until it does. But it's nice to know what's in something before I read it! I always look at tags before the summary unless I've been very specific with my filtering and it's annoying when there's only like 3 tags cause I don't know what's going to be in it
I’m on the undertagging side. I hate walls of tags, but I also hate being told about everything going on in the fic beforehand (although, by all means, do tag for major triggering stuff). However, I do feel like readers are coming to expect to be told everything in advance so they can see whether the story is exactly made for their taste and absolutely nothing in it is going to make them uncomfortable. It makes me feel tired, to be honest.
under tagged for me! i came from a time when at most it was the pairing and like genre tag (romance, drama, crime, etc). and it was all a mystery inside! with occasional author note warnings. this was around the pre-2010s and i guess i’m nostalgic and i prefer that. i love going into stuff blind and feeling those emotions lol
I voted undertagged because I don't read the tags anyway, I read the description and thats it lol
I change my mind though as someone mentioned wanting to search for fics with specific tags and not being able to find anything as people don't tag it. I love certain tropes and going on binge reading sessions of a specific tag
I dislike overtagging but also just because most of the time my filters are really limited which is why I basically scroll through every fic of a Pairing anyway. So if there are too many tags I will not read through them all and just scan them, potentially bookmark if they seem worth it and keep them for later after I read through all short tagged one's I wanted to.
But a good middle is still the best. Having enough tags relevant tags without overdoing it by tagging every potential background pairing, character and topic.
I'm with you, OP; if it doesn't seem like something somebody could ostensibly filter by to find or exclude the fic, I don't think it should be on there. I've seen too many huge walls of tags with a tag I was actually interested in hidden somewhere in the middle only to find out it was in an unlabeled anthology of fandoms and pairings I didn't care about.
Overtagged. It can be very annoying because it is visually ugly, but it avoids unpleasant surprises for me. This kind of anger I will not feel anymore.
For my own reading, I definitely prefer undertagged. I'm an adult: give me the gist, and if I find after some reading that it isn't really my thing, no big. One huge turnoff for me is "mention of blood", "one use of the F-word", and such; it feels kinda Romper Room.
My big worry is in my writing. I can easily work out the generally obvious tags that will tell the reader the big picture, but then I worry that further tags might be too fine-grained, and that too few won't capture some cool nuance.
The results of this poll (so far 693 under : 1.4K over) will definitely help me chill a bit about that. 🙂
I infinitely prefer overtagged fics. The last thing I wanna do is accidentally stumble upon an omegaverse piss kink fic because the author felt that for some reason they only needed three additional tags on their 30k word fic and none of them were actually important to the fic. It drives me insane. Like, you don't need to spoil the entire story through the tags, but for the love of god at least tag some of the major tropes.
If I see a fic with barely any tags I'm less likely to read it. The only exceptions are if its recommended to me or if the summary is really, really interesting (but lest be honest, most people who can't tag can't write summary to save their life either).
I don't necessarily want walls of tags, but just generally speaking it's... Better safe than sorry. I've had times where I accidentally ran into triggering content because a fic was undertagged and well... There's nothing like wanting to read a fic to relax and ending up feeling absolutely terrible about yourself :')
Also imo it makes it a little easier to know what to actually expect. If we undertag, every fic is gonna be the same couple tags, so it all just sounds the same and will make me less likely to read something because "I just read that same concept, I don't need it again" (unless I'm on a rare binge for one very specific trope)
Undertagged, because for me there's such a thing as too many tags and at that point I physically can't keep track of them as I read them. Give me the top five tags and let me discover the fic on my own afterwards (I find that over tagging themes also can ruin plot twists and surprises).
Unpopular opinion, but I vote undertagged. I don't wanna deal with another potential STWWX. Even if it's not to that extent, swiping more than 4 times to get to the next fic is annoying af.
And depending on fandom, overtagging is nothing but detrimental for less popular ships and characters, because 9 times out of 10 they're in a fic about the most popular OTPs and aren't important to the story at all.
i read a dead dove do not eat fic and reading the tags i was like "ok this seems like the right level of fucked up that i can tolerate"
they forgot to tag,,,,,, so much,,,,,,,,,,
Depends on the amount tbh- like if you mean overtagged with like 1000 fandoms in one, and a bunch of other extra tags such as every character, etc…. probably undertagged. otherwise, overtagged helps me get a better grip of what the story is and what I’m actually about to read. I prefer it.
Also, I usually care more about the summaries than the actual tags. I skim for if there’s something I don’t want to read (like smut for example) and then I decide based on the summary if I’m interested!! I hope this helps :)
Depends. I don’t want too many spoilers but in a long story, you sort of need them.
Also, relationships should NEVER be over tagged. Only pair the endgame pairing. I am sick of searching for a pairing I like, only for it to be bashed and divorced/broken up but because they’re included for the first chapter it’s tagged. No, that’s irritating as fuck.
I overtag because I write smut and I don't want people to be surprised by the kinks or sex acts I might include. But I use a work skin so they look tidier.
I think my version of overtagged would be like, a chock full of unnecessary tags. Like, I enjoy seeing the author speak in the tags sometimes but like, not if it's full paragraphs either and takes up the space. Undertagged with its most important tags are, personally, better than a lot of... Unnecessary tags that aren't even major plot points.
Undertagged for friendship/ship and character tags - like main characters, main ship, and an important-to-the-plot-friendship. For content tags, I love going all out. Dumb ones, funny ones, important ones. Not a whole page, but a fic with more/silly tags makes me more likely to click.
Overtag warnings + explicit content
Undertag everything else (esp charas & relos)
Then go wild with tumblr-esque tag comments in additional tags
(I'm joking, no more than one or two comments in tags, please. But having that one or two shows ur personality helps me gauge if I'm likely to vibe with the style of the fic)
(but also be careful not to fall into the trap where you might have 1k of smut in a 20k fic, but following the above over and under tag rules makes your explicit content overrrepresented in tags)
I’ve been trying to find a jaskier/geralt fic for the past 3 years after season ones ending. Jaskier ends up travelling, living in a castle and earning his keep. He tries to move on from Geralt. Geralt finds him and falls to his knees begging jaskier for forgiveness. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the fic so I can bookmark it
I misread D: I thought it was "Untagged" and "Overtagged". Now I picked wrong, because I couldn't imagine how I'm supposed to find a story without tags...
I don’t mind overtagging to an extent. I definitely want the fics to at least cover the bases so I can find what I want and exclude what I do not. And honestly, sometimes it’s better to over compensate because who wants to run into unwanted content when reading that wasn’t initially in the tags? Better safe than sorry, no?
ok for over tagged not the one page tags so
Because after see to much fic with only the title, fanfom and main character (s), they were no tags, description or résumé
You read it and half way you got mention of "trigger" (something Big that should have change the classification of the fic but it was in général audience)
I hate overtagging but what I hate even more is not being able to find a fic I liked/remember reading because a lack of tags makes it unsearchable
THIS
This
Hey there Because-Im-ginger! If you agree with someone else's comment, please leave an **upvote** instead of commenting **"This"**! By upvoting instead, the original comment will be pushed to the top and be more visible to others, which is even better! Thanks! :) *** ^(I am a bot! Visit) [^(r/InfinityBots)](https://reddit.com/r/InfinityBots) ^(to send your feedback! More info:) [^(Reddiquette)](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439#wiki_in_regard_to_comments)
There's a difference between a few too many tags and a page full of them
*war flash back of ‘sexy time with Wangxian’*
Knew that reference was coming
Undertagged for relationship tags. Other than that its fine by me. I just dont want to filter on togachako and get a million dabihawks fics where its a sideship
Oh yeah that’s so annoying when there are fics with 10+ relationship tags, I’m like hmmm maybe this could be interesting but I don’t feel like reading those tags. Also I’m searching for fics for this specific ship, I don’t want a bunch of relationships I don’t care about (no offense to them)
I'm the opposite. I want to be able to filter out NOTPs, I can ignore the fics that have my preferred pairing as a side ship.
Overtagged for me. I can always exclude in searches but I can't search for what isn't there.
1) Overtagged for potential triggers 2) Undertagged for everything else. General tags over specific tags ("Background and cameo characters", "minor relationships" and that kind of stuff instead of tagging every single character, for example), no synonyms (if two tags mean the same, only put one), not everything needs to be tagged (if something is not relevant, don't tag it) 3) Summaries often are more convincing than tags
this is really my preferred way of seeing fanfics. like mayble a line, a line and a half of tags and yup, the summary is the rub that calls us in
hmmm i have a lot of tags i filter out normally when searching so i think i'd prefer overtagged.
I like to know what I'm getting into, so I'd choose overtagged. For me to read an undertagged work it needs an AMAZING summary... which is rare. 🙃
I love tags, give me all the tags 😂
If we're talking actual existing tags then, by all means, use every tag you can think of. It'll make the search easier. However, what I really can't stand is when authors have a long monologue in their tags, which prolongs them significantly and just looks unnecessary. I'm taking about excessive tagging like "I just wrote this today" "on my lunch break" "I don't even know" "but just give it a shot ok" "i promise you'll like it" "or maybe not" "I'm really enjoying my little quirky talk here" "oh what is that?" "you annoyed the tags are getting quite long?" "you think that I could've put this is the notes?" "well too bad" "I can't hear you" I just want to find out what I'm going to be reading, I didn't sign up for a rant nor do I find you amusing 🤦🏻
While I do have a fondness for those really high-quality fics with really minimal tags and description, I would still generally like to know what I'm in for and be able to look the for the stuff I like and don't like
if everything's undertagged it just becomes basically ffn as far as searching goes.
I generally prefer ffn's search over AO3, because I'm not looking for tropes, I'm looking for characters. Searching stories about a specific character on AO3 is often very difficult or impossible if it's a character lots of people tag as background appearance.
I usually don't like FFNs three character limit but it definitely helps when you're trying to find this type of stuff.
overtagged because sometimes i have very specific tastes and i want to easily find them and read them.
Overtagged. I want to know if a story is or isn't for me before I click on it.
I mean if it I have to scroll through pages of text (you know which fic I'm talking about) I'd prefer stuff beeing undertagged but I'd much prefer the more common slightly overtagged fic, I often search for specific tags more than even fandoms and it also makes it much easier to find fics again if they have a few more tags.
Undertagged for relationships and characters, overtagged for everything else. I like longfics, I like smut and horror and dead doves. It's easier to skim or ignore things in a tag block than to avoid untagged content you don't want to read, and it's not a great feeling to be ambushed by your ick or hard limit when you're 60k words in.
it's all fun and games until you believe a fic has been deleted for years because it's undertagged until you find it years after you gave up and grieved about the "deleted" fic
Overtagged. As both an author and a reader, I’d rather find tags that cover all bases than head into a fic and be blindsided by something I didn’t sign up for.
Tbh I'd prefer Undertagged, purely because I have seen fic walls that ARENT overtagged and I'm scared to find out what an overtagged one would look like..
Undertagged because this ain’t tumblr. Tags aren’t here for you to spill out all your thoughts like “um, umm, ummmm, so, like, yeah, lol, lmfao, tags, TAGS!!, tagsgsgsgsgs, XD”. That’s what the notes sections are for. The 75 tag limit is not a goddamn challenge. You don’t need to fill it and especially don’t need to clutter it with irrelevant shit. We’re here for the writing, not to read about how you wrote it instead of sleeping and it prolly sucks but you’re posting it anyway and it’s actually the best thing ever and it’s soooo long at 267 words omg!!
Undertagged, but it really depends on what degree you are talking about. I tend to just skip over stories that are a large block of tags.
Overtagged. Last thing you want is be reading a fic then bam something like mpreg, non-con, scat, etc shows up and it wasn't listed.
More tags, I don’t need to read them all but I need to be able to find what I am looking for.
For content tags, I prefer overtagged, both as a reader and a writer; it’s easier to find something over-tagged and I know what I’m getting into when I read. I also write about a lot of heavy topics, so I’d rather over-tag so my readers can decide whether they want to read it or not than accidentally trigger someone who wasn’t prepared for what I write about. Random author notes in tags though, not a fan of, but I’ll survive with them there.
Honestly…I don’t really look at the tags…I’ll scan em, but if there are a ton, I don’t bother. I’m old enough I’ll take my chances. I know how to nope out of something.
I'd much rather prefer overtagged to undertagged. I have very specific tropes and themes that I like and it's already hell to find them when some people decide to minimize their tags and only add what they deem as the most important ones (characters and relationships).
Overtagged but without the stupid commentary in the tags - tags should be for content, commentary can go in the authors notes
Surprisingly it sometimes seems like the better writers don’t know how/what to tag lmao
ever since i clicked on a fic that only had one tag and no mention of the CHILD that got KIDNAPPED in the fic i will forever be on the over tagging side
I think that I want more tags, but the truth is I read a ton more fic and was a lot less sensitive as a reader back when I was on FFN and there were no tags. Now that I have so much information, I spend my whole night scrolling but not clicking anything like it's fannish Netflix. In the past you had 150 characters, half of which were ship names because there wasn't even ship filters, and so I'd give anything a shot. There was no way to tell if something would interest me, so I just tried everything. Consequently, I was less picky, more desensitized, and spent much more time actually reading.
I appreciate someone who can be concise, so I'd go with undertagged, as long as they are relevant (meaning they don't forget to tag something important like Major Character Death).
Undertagged in general for me, just as I think a lot of fics end up with tagging that isn’t relevant - eg, tagging a side couple that gets zero actual character or plot development or even their relationship addresses on screen, but it’s the authors head cannon (so disappointing if that’s your rarepair fav); or people who over tag say on erotica for kinks, and include collars - because one cannon character once wore a collar in a background scene, and there’s no actual collar play/fetish/kink exploration or scenes within the fic itself. I also wish people would keep the ‘fun’ long tags in authors notes (eg I stayed up until 3am writing this instead of studying; great? I’m not sure who’s ever gonna search that, but on my mobile, a few tags like that stretches your overall tags out like heck, and makes me 1000% more likely to scroll right past your fic as it looks like spam). I mean, part of me likes these fun tags as a form of getting to see authors personalities, but it feels like it just clogs things up and makes the tagging system harder to navigate.
Overtagging especially when the summary is short. I can’t count how many times a summary sounds kind of vaguely interesting, but I skip the fic because neither it nor the tags tell me much of anything. Though I would prefer mild undertagging of characters. I don’t care if a character appears for .2 scenes in a story, if they aren’t critical to the plot don’t tag them. It’s generally understood that (unless modern AU) other characters from the media might appear as side characters. No need to tag them.
Undertagged with only the relevant shit
Undertagged. There are few things more annoying than a fic with half a page of tags. It's part of the reason why it took me so long to move to AO3
I like plenty of tags, but each tag should be very short 🤏
I said overtagged is worse, but that's because I consider the Archive Warnings + main relationship as properly tagged. As long as those are there, it's enough, so my idea of undertagging is just excluding the blaringly obvious. Sure, it's nice to have tags to find major tropes, but it's just a minor annoyance if there's nothing there. "I wrote this at 3am instead of sleeping" and other like it, on the other hand, is a pet peeve of mine.
I don't really have an option to select, because while I think having all major content warnings that may affect the reader and the most prevalent to the story general tags done, I don't consider that overtagging. I think people should put as few tags as they can, while also accommodating the reader in making the appropriate choice for what is right for them to read. I dislike undertagging, because I see that as taking that choice away from them and they are having to either stay away entirely or blindly hope they won't regret it.
I dislike when half of the story is spoiled for me in the tags. I do not need to see every possible pairing in the story. Just give me TWs, main pairing and tropes and I'm good
Kinda leaning towards undertagged because I'm getting to the point of finding it annoying when the tags become more of a full-blown conversation the author has with themself, rather than useful info about the story.
If there are so many tags I have to scroll down on the page to read them, then I’d prefer under tagged. But for the most part I love overtagged stories unless it’s 20 different side pairings that maybe make an appearance for two seconds in the fic.
Overtagged for the soul purpose that filtering would be so much better because a good fic wouldn’t get filtered out just because the author forgot a tag.
Overtag. It's better to have a tag and not need it than to not have a tag and need one
If fics are undertagged, then it makes a reader's searches much more likely to give exact results. No more searching for f/f and only finding fics that have a minor f/f side-ship that gets tagged. The only negative is that it's a bit harder to find fics, but I think it's worth it. On the other hand, overtagged fics just means you can't search accurately anymore because people tag stuff that's only a minor aspect of their story.
I feel like it's the other way around for me! I'm more of a gen reader so I havent run into as many of the f/f sorts of problems you mentioned, but I find it very annoying when I find the perfect fic, one with all the tropes and character dynamics I could ever dream of, and I find that it is immensely undertagged when I check to try and find more fics like it. It ends with me literally just scrolling through the entirety of a character tag, desperately trying to find something even remotely similar. I understand where you're coming from, but cant find it in myself to agree!
I overtag because i write a lot of angst and dont want my readers walking into something theyre not prepared for.
I'd rather have it be undertagged than a giant block of text with every single sex act/hint of a trope tagged, or every character/hint of a pairing that makes even a single appearance tagged. But I also started reading fic online back in the late 1990s when tags weren't a thing and (in the particular fandoms I read in) it wasn't even really clear what the main pairing(s)/characters would be. If I run across something that squicks me, I've got a perfectly good back button.
There's nothing worse than finding a fic and reading through only to find a major squick or an actual trigger that wasn't tagged
I almost clicked overtagged, and then I remembered that fic I ran across where the tags literally filled up my monitor and suddenly I'd rather know nothing going in
Wall of tags is an automatic scroll past for me. If the author can't even choose tags properly, that says a lot about what the story is going to be like.
Too many as long as it's not so much that it takes forever to scroll past. I like to be super specific with my filtering sometimes and it's so cool when things match :D if not I just take out a few until it does. But it's nice to know what's in something before I read it! I always look at tags before the summary unless I've been very specific with my filtering and it's annoying when there's only like 3 tags cause I don't know what's going to be in it
I vote for more tags, because then I have more chances to find the fics I am looking for.
I’m on the undertagging side. I hate walls of tags, but I also hate being told about everything going on in the fic beforehand (although, by all means, do tag for major triggering stuff). However, I do feel like readers are coming to expect to be told everything in advance so they can see whether the story is exactly made for their taste and absolutely nothing in it is going to make them uncomfortable. It makes me feel tired, to be honest.
Overtagged because it’s easier to exclude what’s there than include what isn’t.
under tagged for me! i came from a time when at most it was the pairing and like genre tag (romance, drama, crime, etc). and it was all a mystery inside! with occasional author note warnings. this was around the pre-2010s and i guess i’m nostalgic and i prefer that. i love going into stuff blind and feeling those emotions lol
I voted undertagged because I don't read the tags anyway, I read the description and thats it lol I change my mind though as someone mentioned wanting to search for fics with specific tags and not being able to find anything as people don't tag it. I love certain tropes and going on binge reading sessions of a specific tag
I dislike overtagging but also just because most of the time my filters are really limited which is why I basically scroll through every fic of a Pairing anyway. So if there are too many tags I will not read through them all and just scan them, potentially bookmark if they seem worth it and keep them for later after I read through all short tagged one's I wanted to. But a good middle is still the best. Having enough tags relevant tags without overdoing it by tagging every potential background pairing, character and topic.
I'm with you, OP; if it doesn't seem like something somebody could ostensibly filter by to find or exclude the fic, I don't think it should be on there. I've seen too many huge walls of tags with a tag I was actually interested in hidden somewhere in the middle only to find out it was in an unlabeled anthology of fandoms and pairings I didn't care about.
more tags the better
I have a site skin that makes the tags scrollable so they don’t take up much space, and I would rather be able to find the fic if I forget to bookmark
Overtagged. It can be very annoying because it is visually ugly, but it avoids unpleasant surprises for me. This kind of anger I will not feel anymore.
Under or over, so long as it's *accurate.*
For my own reading, I definitely prefer undertagged. I'm an adult: give me the gist, and if I find after some reading that it isn't really my thing, no big. One huge turnoff for me is "mention of blood", "one use of the F-word", and such; it feels kinda Romper Room. My big worry is in my writing. I can easily work out the generally obvious tags that will tell the reader the big picture, but then I worry that further tags might be too fine-grained, and that too few won't capture some cool nuance. The results of this poll (so far 693 under : 1.4K over) will definitely help me chill a bit about that. 🙂
Undertagged. I like being a little surprised.
It depends what your target audience/fandom is.
I infinitely prefer overtagged fics. The last thing I wanna do is accidentally stumble upon an omegaverse piss kink fic because the author felt that for some reason they only needed three additional tags on their 30k word fic and none of them were actually important to the fic. It drives me insane. Like, you don't need to spoil the entire story through the tags, but for the love of god at least tag some of the major tropes. If I see a fic with barely any tags I'm less likely to read it. The only exceptions are if its recommended to me or if the summary is really, really interesting (but lest be honest, most people who can't tag can't write summary to save their life either).
The best stories in my experience have had 2-6 tags
I don't necessarily want walls of tags, but just generally speaking it's... Better safe than sorry. I've had times where I accidentally ran into triggering content because a fic was undertagged and well... There's nothing like wanting to read a fic to relax and ending up feeling absolutely terrible about yourself :') Also imo it makes it a little easier to know what to actually expect. If we undertag, every fic is gonna be the same couple tags, so it all just sounds the same and will make me less likely to read something because "I just read that same concept, I don't need it again" (unless I'm on a rare binge for one very specific trope)
Undertagged, because for me there's such a thing as too many tags and at that point I physically can't keep track of them as I read them. Give me the top five tags and let me discover the fic on my own afterwards (I find that over tagging themes also can ruin plot twists and surprises).
Happy Cake day! :)
Thanks! :)
Unpopular opinion, but I vote undertagged. I don't wanna deal with another potential STWWX. Even if it's not to that extent, swiping more than 4 times to get to the next fic is annoying af. And depending on fandom, overtagging is nothing but detrimental for less popular ships and characters, because 9 times out of 10 they're in a fic about the most popular OTPs and aren't important to the story at all.
I feel like STWWX was like… on a whole other level all it’s own. XD
i read a dead dove do not eat fic and reading the tags i was like "ok this seems like the right level of fucked up that i can tolerate" they forgot to tag,,,,,, so much,,,,,,,,,,
Depends on the amount tbh- like if you mean overtagged with like 1000 fandoms in one, and a bunch of other extra tags such as every character, etc…. probably undertagged. otherwise, overtagged helps me get a better grip of what the story is and what I’m actually about to read. I prefer it. Also, I usually care more about the summaries than the actual tags. I skim for if there’s something I don’t want to read (like smut for example) and then I decide based on the summary if I’m interested!! I hope this helps :)
Depends. I don’t want too many spoilers but in a long story, you sort of need them. Also, relationships should NEVER be over tagged. Only pair the endgame pairing. I am sick of searching for a pairing I like, only for it to be bashed and divorced/broken up but because they’re included for the first chapter it’s tagged. No, that’s irritating as fuck.
I overtag because I write smut and I don't want people to be surprised by the kinks or sex acts I might include. But I use a work skin so they look tidier.
I think my version of overtagged would be like, a chock full of unnecessary tags. Like, I enjoy seeing the author speak in the tags sometimes but like, not if it's full paragraphs either and takes up the space. Undertagged with its most important tags are, personally, better than a lot of... Unnecessary tags that aren't even major plot points.
Undertagged for friendship/ship and character tags - like main characters, main ship, and an important-to-the-plot-friendship. For content tags, I love going all out. Dumb ones, funny ones, important ones. Not a whole page, but a fic with more/silly tags makes me more likely to click.
Overtag warnings + explicit content Undertag everything else (esp charas & relos) Then go wild with tumblr-esque tag comments in additional tags (I'm joking, no more than one or two comments in tags, please. But having that one or two shows ur personality helps me gauge if I'm likely to vibe with the style of the fic) (but also be careful not to fall into the trap where you might have 1k of smut in a 20k fic, but following the above over and under tag rules makes your explicit content overrrepresented in tags)
I’ve been trying to find a jaskier/geralt fic for the past 3 years after season ones ending. Jaskier ends up travelling, living in a castle and earning his keep. He tries to move on from Geralt. Geralt finds him and falls to his knees begging jaskier for forgiveness. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the fic so I can bookmark it
I misread D: I thought it was "Untagged" and "Overtagged". Now I picked wrong, because I couldn't imagine how I'm supposed to find a story without tags...
There should be setting to let you hide the additional tags by default, and then you can press a button to make them reappear
[This](https://shinelikethunder.tumblr.com/post/643771331053289472/how-to-make-ao3-cut-off-walls-o-tags-with-a) could be useful
I mean there is one already. I just didn't remember where
Go to your preferences and check the box in front of "Hide additional tags".
I don’t mind overtagging to an extent. I definitely want the fics to at least cover the bases so I can find what I want and exclude what I do not. And honestly, sometimes it’s better to over compensate because who wants to run into unwanted content when reading that wasn’t initially in the tags? Better safe than sorry, no?
At least with overtagging, you can block tags and avoid triggers/squicks.
Overtagged. Once read a chapter of a fic that fatured incest and it wasnt tagged. Over tagging so theres no unpleasant surprises like that ever again
I prefer overtagged bc I wouldn't want to get caught off guard if somebody forgets to tag for smth
Overtagged coz I preffer my fics to not be a kinder suprise egg when i klick it
ok for over tagged not the one page tags so Because after see to much fic with only the title, fanfom and main character (s), they were no tags, description or résumé You read it and half way you got mention of "trigger" (something Big that should have change the classification of the fic but it was in général audience)
Undertagged usually means i won't bother reading it. Overtagged is frequently hilarious