Thanks for chiming in on this! I regret that I didn't notice before now - I need to add this comm to my reading page, because as is I've just been checking it every week or two and therefore I miss things.
I like 'SFW' and 'NSFW' because it's what everyone else on the internet uses, it's a pretty universal standard and it reflects the fact that our reading choices are just that, open and situational choices made by people of all ages, rather than being some kind of rite of passage process for teens. I've never read fanfic while at work (...written, yes) but I've read fic in libraries, in cafes, at friendly/family gatherings, etc.
Just offhand I don't think that the MPAA system makes it any easier to sort fluff from angst than SFW/NSFW would, as either fluff or angst could be of any MPAA rating. I think genre is a separate category of information from that which is generally communicated by ratings.
And thanks, I was never sure of why FFN stopped using the MPAA system, although I had heard about the MPAA issuing takedowns against individual fan sites regarding ratings. I must have missed the outcry! Kinda funny that in a roundabout way that's what brought the porn back - they mass-deleted the NC17 category in 2002 and issued upload bans to people who posted porn for a while after that (which seemed to be a significant driver behind fic fandom moving over to LJ), but since adding the Mature category it's been anything-goes again.
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Date: 2011-12-24 04:58 am (UTC)I like 'SFW' and 'NSFW' because it's what everyone else on the internet uses, it's a pretty universal standard and it reflects the fact that our reading choices are just that, open and situational choices made by people of all ages, rather than being some kind of rite of passage process for teens. I've never read fanfic while at work (...written, yes) but I've read fic in libraries, in cafes, at friendly/family gatherings, etc.
Just offhand I don't think that the MPAA system makes it any easier to sort fluff from angst than SFW/NSFW would, as either fluff or angst could be of any MPAA rating. I think genre is a separate category of information from that which is generally communicated by ratings.
And thanks, I was never sure of why FFN stopped using the MPAA system, although I had heard about the MPAA issuing takedowns against individual fan sites regarding ratings. I must have missed the outcry! Kinda funny that in a roundabout way that's what brought the porn back - they mass-deleted the NC17 category in 2002 and issued upload bans to people who posted porn for a while after that (which seemed to be a significant driver behind fic fandom moving over to LJ), but since adding the Mature category it's been anything-goes again.