1. Yes. I search by tag under the following circumstances: a. I'm surprised that the tag exists and want to know who used it and why. b. I want to read fics of that specific type. c. I want to get a feel for how popular the tag is and whether any of its fics are any good.
2. I haven't run into this problem. I assume you don't mean spoilery for the canon. I suppose It Got Worse can be spoilery. I guess if a fic's summary were "X is poisoned and Y is racing against time to find the antidote before it's too late" then I wouldn't want to see Major Character Death in the tags.
3. Rating; I won't read if it's rated E for Explicit because of porn. Pairings; I don't want to read Harry Potter/Voldemort, and I don't even want to read Clint/Coulson because no one ever considers the effect of power dynamics and the fact that they work together. It's even worse than the usual office romance. No, thanks! (I could find my mind changed if a fic actually dealt with that.) I do want to know the story's premise. Is it an AU? If so, what's the point of divergence? Is it about a new villain showing up post-canon? Great, tell me that!
Those things go in summaries, though. For tags... I guess characters. I want to know if your fic is going to involve Sleipnir, I want to know if it will be fluffy or angsty or dark or actiony, I want to know if it will be gen or romance, and I want to get a feel for what kind of platonic relationships are important in the fic. Oh! And I want to be able to search by fandom. I recently had some issues doing an archive search for fics based on Norse myth, because too many Marvel fics include Norse Religion & Lore as a fandom tag when all they do is throw in a reference to Loki being Sleipnir's parent. If your fic is all about Marvel!Loki and Marvel!Thor and takes place after Loki tries to take over the earth, it's not what I'm looking for if I do a search for Norse Religion & Lore, thank you. It might be a great fic! Really! Of course, crossovers should tag both fandoms, and I suppose I would have to accept that a fic that goes into detail about multiple stories from the myths that aren't usually adapted into MCU fics is totally allowed to tag NR&L, but I wish they'd stop tagging it just for drawing a couple of things from the myths.
5. No, but... it's not like some tags are spoilers and some aren't. It all depends on the fic, just not this way. For instance, if the fic opens with a character dying or is about a war where lots of characters die, then tagging Major Character Death isn't a spoiler for me. Basically, it's a spoiler if it resolves the fic's central question. "Character X and Character Y are forced to champion opposite sides in trial by combat. Despite being lovers, they must fight to the death. No Archive Warnings Apply" = spoiler. "Characters A through G do battle against character H through M. Major Character Death" = not a spoiler.
no subject
a. I'm surprised that the tag exists and want to know who used it and why.
b. I want to read fics of that specific type.
c. I want to get a feel for how popular the tag is and whether any of its fics are any good.
2. I haven't run into this problem. I assume you don't mean spoilery for the canon. I suppose It Got Worse can be spoilery. I guess if a fic's summary were "X is poisoned and Y is racing against time to find the antidote before it's too late" then I wouldn't want to see Major Character Death in the tags.
3. Rating; I won't read if it's rated E for Explicit because of porn. Pairings; I don't want to read Harry Potter/Voldemort, and I don't even want to read Clint/Coulson because no one ever considers the effect of power dynamics and the fact that they work together. It's even worse than the usual office romance. No, thanks! (I could find my mind changed if a fic actually dealt with that.) I do want to know the story's premise. Is it an AU? If so, what's the point of divergence? Is it about a new villain showing up post-canon? Great, tell me that!
Those things go in summaries, though. For tags... I guess characters. I want to know if your fic is going to involve Sleipnir, I want to know if it will be fluffy or angsty or dark or actiony, I want to know if it will be gen or romance, and I want to get a feel for what kind of platonic relationships are important in the fic. Oh! And I want to be able to search by fandom. I recently had some issues doing an archive search for fics based on Norse myth, because too many Marvel fics include Norse Religion & Lore as a fandom tag when all they do is throw in a reference to Loki being Sleipnir's parent. If your fic is all about Marvel!Loki and Marvel!Thor and takes place after Loki tries to take over the earth, it's not what I'm looking for if I do a search for Norse Religion & Lore, thank you. It might be a great fic! Really! Of course, crossovers should tag both fandoms, and I suppose I would have to accept that a fic that goes into detail about multiple stories from the myths that aren't usually adapted into MCU fics is totally allowed to tag NR&L, but I wish they'd stop tagging it just for drawing a couple of things from the myths.
5. No, but... it's not like some tags are spoilers and some aren't. It all depends on the fic, just not this way. For instance, if the fic opens with a character dying or is about a war where lots of characters die, then tagging Major Character Death isn't a spoiler for me. Basically, it's a spoiler if it resolves the fic's central question. "Character X and Character Y are forced to champion opposite sides in trial by combat. Despite being lovers, they must fight to the death. No Archive Warnings Apply" = spoiler. "Characters A through G do battle against character H through M. Major Character Death" = not a spoiler.