Let me see if I can hit all of the reasons I said "other" or gave seemingly contradictory comments. :)
Advance warning for major character death -- to me that means a major character in the fandom. But to other authors that means a major character in the story. So, you know, Giles = major, but I read a fic in which Giles died in the first few paragraphs in a violent way, and there was no warning because he wasn't central to the fic. So that's dicey. That explains my "makes me more inclined" to read when there has been a warning, because I think if someone has warned me, I can prepare in advance for upsetting outcomes, and forge ahead. On the other hand, the writer might only warn for, say, Wesley dying in an Angel/Wes story because he's part of the main pairing, and say "major character death" but if I think they're likely to kill off Gunn as well just as part of the storyline I might hesitate.
Weirdly, I want to reward warnings. I appreciate the warnings. So I'm more inclined generally to take a chance on a fic that has them than not.
With a "dark" warning, I assume anything is fair game, and wouldn't be upset about not being warned for character deaths there in general. By the way, there's not enough dark fic (because when it ends happily, to my mind it's angst). Just sayin'.
Death warnings and the author's prerogative -- that's a tough one, because some archives require it, some archives refuse to even reveal pairing or anything other than a quick summary. So that may be beyond the author's control. But generally, no, I think it's a courtesy, but not something required. I appreciate the courtesy, but...yeah. Not a must-have.
I read an Angel/Xander once in which Xander died horribly! horribly at the end, just when he and Angel had worked things out! OH MY GOD! I still haven't recovered. Even though the fic wasn't that great, I remember it, because of the trauma.
Also, I love gen and slash, and definitely read het -- that seems like it should be a ticky box question instead of an omg, choose one! question. But that's my pov. :P
no subject
Advance warning for major character death -- to me that means a major character in the fandom. But to other authors that means a major character in the story. So, you know, Giles = major, but I read a fic in which Giles died in the first few paragraphs in a violent way, and there was no warning because he wasn't central to the fic. So that's dicey. That explains my "makes me more inclined" to read when there has been a warning, because I think if someone has warned me, I can prepare in advance for upsetting outcomes, and forge ahead. On the other hand, the writer might only warn for, say, Wesley dying in an Angel/Wes story because he's part of the main pairing, and say "major character death" but if I think they're likely to kill off Gunn as well just as part of the storyline I might hesitate.
Weirdly, I want to reward warnings. I appreciate the warnings. So I'm more inclined generally to take a chance on a fic that has them than not.
With a "dark" warning, I assume anything is fair game, and wouldn't be upset about not being warned for character deaths there in general. By the way, there's not enough dark fic (because when it ends happily, to my mind it's angst). Just sayin'.
Death warnings and the author's prerogative -- that's a tough one, because some archives require it, some archives refuse to even reveal pairing or anything other than a quick summary. So that may be beyond the author's control. But generally, no, I think it's a courtesy, but not something required. I appreciate the courtesy, but...yeah. Not a must-have.
I read an Angel/Xander once in which Xander died horribly! horribly at the end, just when he and Angel had worked things out! OH MY GOD! I still haven't recovered. Even though the fic wasn't that great, I remember it, because of the trauma.
Also, I love gen and slash, and definitely read het -- that seems like it should be a ticky box question instead of an omg, choose one! question. But that's my pov. :P