I do appreciate the archive system, very much.
I was reading an NCIS fic last year sometime. I liked the pairing of the couple - not an obvious one, but I liked it nonetheless and hetero which is the norm here but not always elsewhere [which I know even though I'm not active in any other fandom and rarely seek out other fic] - but it was rated PG13. Okay. No biggie. I can do PG13, but this one was as explicit as anything I'd ever see [well, expect to I guess] on the nfic boards/archive, and then some. And the curse words thrown about... Sheesh! Every other word half the time. We're talking 'f bombs' etc which I found to be totally out of character anyway, besides being offensive. It made me truly appreciate our archive.
There was an occasional 'mild' swear word on L/C but not much. I think that may have been what that A/N was referring to, alcyone. Whether it was in character or not, given the situation. I can 'hear' any of the characters saying 'mild' swear words occasionally, though I think they all have different thresholds where they would. Clark, for instance, I think would usually have to be much more upset than Lois [who might have a thing or two to say about traffic that's not even particularly bad if her farmboy partner scooped her on Superman again]. Clark maybe would swear when he couldn't get there in time and a bunch of people died or Lois was being very careless and got herself in trouble and almost died while she knew he was off fighting a typhoon or something. Perry perhaps for emphasis in a lecture or something. Etc. When I first joined the fandom I was beta'ing for an author and I called her on Jonathan saying 'damn' in a pilot rewrite then found out it was a direct quote so... [at least I think that was how it happened but it's been a while].
Anyway - I really do appreciate the ratings system very much and understand completely why the rule is the way it is.
Carol
