i used to be down, by the sea

I need more weapons

Hey there! Just a friendly reminder/PSA from your friendly neighborhood Pixiemage!

“Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” is too often (incorrectly) used as a cover-all tag, on fics ranging from Vaguely Uncomfortable to Serious Shit, as a replacement for any intense tags relating to the story. People will use it to say “Holy shit guys some INTENSE SHIT happens in this story” without actually saying what that Intense Shit™ is.

In actuality, the “Dead Dove” tag is meant to be used in addition to other warning tags. Pulled from a scene from the show Arrested Development (look it up on YouTube!), it means “Hi! Hey! I labeled this fic to warn you of what’s in it, so you might REALLY want to read those labels! This fic is exactly what it says on the tin! The tags are accurate! Don’t say I didn’t warn you, because this is me warning you! Read the tags!”

So before you accidentally use the “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” tag without context, here’s your preemptive lesson for next time. Please tag your fics accordingly! Ta!

It doesn’t always mean the fic is horrific, but it does mean you need to assume that the tags you see are Unapologetically In The Story Proper and not just skimmed or mentioned or used for backstory/world building. When something is tagged normally, it could go either way, and some writers just mention them as a minor courtesy. DD:DNE is a specifier and emphasizer 👍

“One should not expect problematic aspects to be examined or subverted” is the perfect phrasing for this, yes. Because it also means there’s a chance that something problematic will happen, and the characters will NOT have some kind of scene saying why the thing is bad, or that they think it’s bad, even if the author agrees that it is, in fact, bad. It’s supposed to allow people to understand that something is going to be the troubling or toxic version of an intense thing without breaking the scene to do it.