When you click on a story in a category of your choice, do you read the tags first in order to give you a better idea of what that story contains to be sure the sex/style of the story is to your personal tastes?
Some people aren't into certain sex acts and may even find them 'unerotic'. Tags will often tip you off as to what you can expect and can prevent the negative shock value mid-way through a story that potentially may affect the way you score something.
Do you check the Tags to filter your reading material or is it totally an after-thought in most cases?
I always check the tags. If it contains a subject that I am not really into I may not read it. But usually if the story is by an author whose work I really like, I will give it a try anyway. But I find the tags very helpful.
Sometimes though, I have found that the tags arent always accurate. For me that isnt really a problem, if I come across something I dont like Ill just stop reading. But I know that some people find certain subjects or sex acts very offensive so this could be a problem for them.
Somebody stapled a tag to my butt while I was asleep! Was that you WMM? You butt tagger!
I think story tags are important. Authors should put some real thought into them as they are a tool to sell your story to potential readers.
I do read the tags.. they make reading a story better :-)
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
― Helen Keller
The Tags. . .are very important. They give us insight into a story before reading it.
I ALWAYS check tags. Just because a story is in a certain category does not mean that it does not contain something I find off-putting.
"There's only three tempos: slow, medium and fast. When you get between in the cracks, ain't nuthin' happenin'." Ben Webster
I find the story tags very useful.
I never pay attention to the tags. I got catagory only.
I don't pay attention to tags too much when I read. I do believe that tags can tell a reader important details of a story, but authors sometimes have a different meaning on some tags. For example, my story, Midnight Date, has tags that are fairly self-explanatory (first-time, straight-sex) and a tag that can mean different things (I've read stories where an exhibitionism tag means walking around in public nude, and stories where it means having sex in public.)
I've been basing my reading selections on the blurb that comes up for the story more than anything else. Although, I have to admit that I don't really venture outside a couple of different categories.
I often forget to check tags before I start reading and then, maybe about half-way through, my "mod eyes" will kick into action and I'll flick back to check.
I think they are very important in stories with many elements and several scenes. With some stories I write, I use the tags to indicate the other categories the story might have ended up in. However, I'm also cautious of giving too much away (the same is true of category). Like, sometimes I might want to put something in Love Stories but don't because it makes the ending even more predictable.
I believe I've only ever written one story containing any sexual acts that readers might find "off-putting" and the tags were quite clear in that—they knew what they were in for.
In general yes, I find the tags informative and useful, though certainly not the only consideration. They can be useful as search terms, so maybe someone will find your story after it's moved off the front page if they're looking for something specific. I also appreciate when an author has fun with the tags. Frank Lee has some choice ones -- bumpin', humpin', cranking, yanking, spanking. Doesn't add anything to the classification, but lets me know he's got a sense of humor at the outset.
Tags can be helpful, so you know if the story is to your interests or not. On the other hand, tags cannot tell you about the quality of the story. I often read the first few sentences to get a feel for the style and the way the story grabs your attention.
I always read tags ....make sure the story is really what im looking for.
The tags help a lot. Usually, if a story can catch my eye in the opening paragraph, I'll probably read through. There are certain things I'm not a fan of, but I know not everyone will like what I write either.
To me tags are very useful. Not just for deciding if a particular story is "for me", but also because my stories tend to contain different elements. Having to log something under a vague category heading, forcing me to choose between several different elements, would really make my head explode.
I always check the tags to see what I should expect from the tags. I think they're important to the reader to see if they want to read it or not.
You seem sweet, mind if I lick you to make sure?
