Nomination Guidelines for Tagset

[hurtcomfortexmod]

You can nominate up to
10 Fandoms
10 Pairings per fandom
20 Freeforms

Pairing nominations will indicate which character is hurt, or if both characters are hurt. For single characters use & None.

Character A/Character B (hurt Character A) or Character A/Character B (hurt Character B)
Character A & Character B (hurt Character A) or Character A & Character B (hurt Character B)
Character A/Character B (both hurt)
Character A & Character B (both hurt)
Character A & None (hurt Character A)
Character A & Any (hurt Character A)
Character A & Any (hurt Any) In this example "Any" refers to the creator's choice character, and does not mean "either".

For OT3+ instead of "both hurt" please use "all hurt"
Character A/Character B/Character C (all hurt)

For example for romantic fic with Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi where Obi-Wan is injured/sick/etc. the tag nomination would look like - "Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Vader (hurt Obi-Wan)"

For poly cases where multiple characters are attracted to one character, use parenthesis for the group.
(Obi-Wan & Padmé Amidala)/Anakin Skywalker (hurt Obi-Wan) for fic that is both Obi-Wan/Anakin and Padmé Amidala/Anakin but NOT Obi-Wan/Padmé Amidala.

Crossover pairings should go under Crossover Fandom with the character's fandom indicated. Luke Skywalker (SW)/James T. Kirk (ST)

"Hurt" is used to cover physical injury, illness, emotional distress, or other situational need for comfort covered by the freeforms and/or optional details.

Please keep in mind that the / is for romantic fic and the & is for genfic.

Crossover pairings should go under Crossover Fandom.

Please nominate MCU movies and shows under Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Please nominate Star Wars as either Star Wars - All Media Types for all current canon or Star Wars Legends - All Media Types for Legends material.

Please nominate the recent DC movies under DC Extended Universe, the Arrowverse shows under Arrowverse, Gotham on it's own.

If you have a question about how a fandom should be nominated, please contact us!

Original Works are allowed.

Creator's Choice of Fandom is allowed. Do not use DNWs to overly restrict the fandoms.


Nominations of Character &/Group are allowed, but when signing up any member(s) of the group will be considered to be fulfilling the exchange requirements.
For example, a request for Peter Parker & The Avengers (hurt Peter) can include any/all Avengers at the creator's discretion.

Character/&Any is allowed. Specific restrictions must be baked into the request such as Character/Any Male Character, DNWs can't be used to restrict the Any beyond what appears in the work itself. DNW Murder means no murder in the work itself, but a canon murderer can still be the Any as long as the DNW is respected.


RPF is allowed with the restriction that all individuals nominated must be 18+ at the time of nomination, and relatives/significant others are not allowed unless they are also public figures.


Freeforms must include some reference to hurting or comforting from an implied hurt, they cannot be too general in nature.

"Missing the bus" is an example of a too general freeform. Hurt is not seriously implied. Instead we're looking for more like -
"Emotional distress from missing the bus" Clear emotional hurt.
"Comforting someone who missed the bus" Comfort is clear, hurt is implied.

"Pining" is another example of a too general freeform that doesn't imply hurt/comfort.
We would prefer -
"Comforting someone who is pining for you"
"Pining causes physical/magical illness"
"Hanahaki Disease"

AUs may be built into a freeform, but cannot be the only part of the freeform.
"Soulmate AU" is too general, however we would accept -
"Soulmates feel the other's pain"
"Soulmates share scars"

Tags that imply no comfort at all are fine! "Hurt No Comfort" "Whump" "Character Suffers Alone" are all good tags.

Freeforms that are unclear will be rounded up in clarification posts where we welcome comments clarifying how the freeform has a clear hurt and/or comfort component, but the final decision will be made by the mods.

As of now we do not allow "Any" character nominations. Batman/Any Justice League Member (hurt Batman) is not allowed. Batman/Justice League (hurt Batman) is allowed under the Group rules above.

We do not allow Any or Either to appear in (hurt Character). The hurt Character(s) must be specified.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It won't accept "Arrowverse" as a fandom tag (it says it's already a freeform tag and all tags have to be unique?), so I used "DC's Arrowverse". I hope that's okay.

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, it says "Please nominate MCU movies and shows under Marvel Cinematic Universe." but Doctor Strange is listed as a stand alone, so I was just checking if that was a mistake before I nominate, sorry if I missed something!

[hurtcomfortexmod]

That was a mistake and all the Doctor Strange tags have been moved under MCU now, please nominate under the MCU.

[(Anonymous)]

On a similar note, I think Wandavision is it's own fandom tag and should also be in the MCU section?

[calenlily]

Hey, it looks like Buffy noms are being accepted under Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). May I suggest that the fandom heading be changed to Buffyverse, to simplify things in the event that anyone has Angel: the Series noms and be more in line with how other shared universe franchises are being handled?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Absolutely. We want to go with what's most useful to participants.

[lirazel]

I'm new, so I'm not clear: if we request one where both characters are hurt, would that require our writer to write fic where both are hurt? Or could they choose one or the other to be hurt?

To put it another way, I would read fic where either Character A or Character B is hurt--I'm not picky! But I don't really need both characters to be hurt in the same fic. So would I request both Character A/Character B (hurt Character A) and Character A/Character B (hurt Character B)?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

If you would be happy with either A or B hurt you need to request both Character A/Character B (hurt Character A) and Character A/Character B (hurt Character B).

Both does indeed mean requiring both characters hurt in the same fic.

We can't have either as an option because of how Ao3 matching works. If you request (either A or B) and someone offers (hurt A) then ao3 doesn't know to match them to you. It can only match exact requests. That's also why we try to catch duplicate freeforms, because if you request "fractured bones" and someone offers "broken bones" then ao3 won't know they're the same.

[lirazel]

I totally understand! I just wanted to make sure I did it correctly. Thanks for clarifying!

[(Anonymous)]

Under Final Fantasy XV, I noticed what seems to be possibly two tags accidentally merged together?

Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia (hurt Ignis)Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia (hurt Ignis)

[hurtcomfortexmod]

We'll get that fixed!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! Is the correct format for nominating a single character "Character & None (hurt Character)"?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, sorry, I just saw this is already answered! I don't think it was in the rules when I read them before, and I kept meaning to ask about it. I should have read the post again before asking!

[(Anonymous)]

two questions-

first, are fandom-specific freeforms allowed? i think i saw a rule about this but i haven't been able to find it again.

second, can we nominate queerplatonic relationships with the "character a + character b" format?

thank you!

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Fandom specific ones are fine as long as they follow the rules about being h/c and aren't redundant to the information already built into the tag. "Hurt Character A" or "Character B comforts Character A" are useful tags when posting fic, but are already covered. Freeforms like "Exposed to poison that only hurts Jedi" or "Geostigma" and other such tags are absolutely allowed.

We would prefer to keep the nomination format unchanged this round, but we can revisit adding in + in the future. You are welcome to request that the characters be queerplatonic in your optional details.

[(Anonymous)]

thank you! :)

[noalarms]

Are "Creator's Choice of Fandom" and/or "Creator's Choice of Previously Requested Fandom" acceptable nominations for this?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

No, we're not doing that at this time.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm spotting a lot of Mandalorian characters/pairings nominated under the TV series, but think they should be under SW - AMT instead? AO3 isn't letting me nominate them under the latter because of this

[hurtcomfortexmod]

They have been moved to their proper spot.

[(Anonymous)]

Fantastic, thanks! :)

[firstroad]

Hello! A quick question: If we're nominating a group (like A & B & C) and we want only part of that group hurt, should it be nominated as A & B & C (hurt A & B), or nominated as (hurt A) and (hurt B) separately?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

If you want a work with A & B & C with both A and B hurt it would be A & B & C (hurt A & B).

[firstroad]

Thank you!

[silverwill]

Hi, I have a quick question about how 'Character A & None' works

Does it effectively function the same as 'Character A & Any' and 'Character A/Any'? Or should we nominate that separately?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

No, it means the character is not being comforted by anyone else. We do not have an Any option, only groups. So "Luffy & Straw Hat Crew (hurt Luffy)" could mean any/all Straw Hats, but "Luffy & None (hurt Luffy)" means only Luffy and no one else is there or no one else offers comfort.

[silverwill]

I see! Thank you for explaining!

[silverwill]

Sorry one more question, do we need to disambiguate the fandom in our character nominations?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Only if it's a crossover or otherwise useful to avoid confusion, the (hurt character) makes them non-canonical and generally prevents ao3 from sorting them under the wrong fandom in the tagset.

[silverwill]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

we welcome comments clarifying how the freeform has a clear hurt and/or comfort component

As this says hurt and/or comfort, does that mean that as well as being able to nominate freeforms that are hurt only with no comfort, we can also nominate freeforms that are comfort with no hurt?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

It is the sort of thing that's hard to pin down but there tends to be an implied element of hurt in the comfort. Comfort improves the situation.

"Fixing tea for someone" would be an unclear freeform, is it intended to be hurt because you're forced to do a chore? Is it intended to be comforting them? Is it just neutral and no hurt or comfort and just a task?

"Punished by having to fix tea for someone" has a clear hurt
"Fixing tea for someone on a cold and rainy day" has clear comfort because the rainy day is the hurt that needs comforting.
"Fixing tea as a comfort" is also good, the hurt that can be improved by the tea isn't important to state.

So it depends on how you're defining comfort with no hurt? If you have some examples you'd like to ask about privately you can always e-mail us.

[lacommunarde]

What if the tea fixing is supposed to be ambiguous? A character in one canon is made to fix his torturer tea as a child and again as an adult. A character in another is probably hyoersensitive to being asked tea or coffee, as it is code for a certain amount of time in the drama for what side of a civil war do you lean towards (and in a couple other dramas set around that time period). Both these characters ultimately decide on the same side, even while working in the government of the other side. I want these two to meet. One would have been sent to find out the political affiliations of the other, by both his parties. The other knows that he is working for one of the parties, but doesn't really like either of them. How do I request the complicated relationship with tea?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Unfortunately we do need to keep the tags H/C focused. I would think that would be a good thing for optional details, or think of specific scenarios you want. Overcoming Trauma About Teamaking? Comforting Someone Triggered By Making Tea? Making Tea Triggers Character's PTSD?

Law & Order Franchise Crossover Relationships

[(Anonymous)]

I'd like to nominate some relationships from the Law & Order franchise that cross over multiple sub-series, namely L&O Special Victims Unit and L&O Organized Crime.

I'm looking to nominate some relationships between a character primarily from SVU with one primarily from OC.

If the character from OC has appeared in at least one crossover episode of SVU, can I nominate all these relationships under SVU for simplicity's sake? Should I use Crossover Fandom? Should I nominate all L&O franchise tags under an invented meta tag?

Thanks for the help and please let me know if you require any additional info.

Re: Law & Order Franchise Crossover Relationships

[anr]

I second this request for a "Law & Order Franchise"-style way to nominate/request.

Re: Law & Order Franchise Crossover Relationships

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Sounds good, please nominate them that way.

[anr]

What would be the best way to nominate "Walking Dead" characters that are in the original show and in spin-off's? Do we need to nominate the shows individually? I would assume "The Walking Dead - All Media Types" includes the graphic novels, and not just the TV shows.

[hurtcomfortexmod]

If you wish to exclude the graphic novel, I would nominate both shows.

[(Anonymous)]

Freeforms that seem to be analogous:

Character being extremely protective over ill and exhausted partner
Character being extremely protective over ill/exhausted partner

Character works through pain/illness/injury until they can no longer bear it and collapse
Character pushing through an illness/injury hits a wall & shuts down; can no longer keep going

Character Who Expected To Die But Didn't Is Unsure How To Live
Character resigned to their death survives; doesn't know how to cope

Deity loses powers
Deity loses their powers

Comforting Cuddle Piles
Comforting cuddling and snuggling

Touch-starved character gets cuddles
Touch-Starved character being cuddled

Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms - Alcohol
Drinking to Cope

Forced mutual noncon by another but nonetheless tries to comfort the other
Comforting each other during forced mutual noncon by bad guys

Rape Aftermath
aftermath of rape

I'm also wondering if "Kidnapped Derek Hale" and "Kidnapped Stiles Stilinski" need to be in the tag set? Would that not be covered by "Kidnapping" (with the understanding that the hurt character named in the tag is the one who was kidnapped)?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Hi, there are usually a number of duplicates to clean up between tagset closing and sign-ups opening. We appreciate you finding them and we'll be removing duplicates then.

[(Anonymous)]

Another analogous freeform:

Sharing a bed after a nightmare
Sharing a Bed For Comfort After a Nightmare