What IS Gen? Or, How to Rec for This Community
The defining mission of this comm is GEN LOVE. It's right there in the url and everything. Mmmm, gen. We love gen. Gen gen gen! Give us some more, it's good stuff.
The difficulty in this is that the definition of what gen is differs from group to group and even from person to person. It's like a sliding Kinsey scale thing or something, and it's complicated, yo. The membership in this comm spans across a wide spectrum of views, and we, your friendly SPN Gen Love mods, want everyone to be happy here and able to love on their gen with minimal hardship.
Basically, the closer it is to the show, the better. But you should also use your own discretion. You wouldn't be here if you didn't love gen, too, so you must have your own ideas about how this works.
There is a lot of trust being placed on you, the heroic reccer, to not only point the way to awesome fanwork, but also protect us and love us and keep us safe in our happy gen place. See, we have this line in the rec info called "reccer's caveats." Know it. Love it. And we'll love you, too.
So let's play a little game of "Is it gen?" Take a look at what's in the stuff you're reccing and give it some thought.
...
There's no romance in it whatsoever.
Then you're golden. Rec away! And thank you so much for playing. ::love::
There's a mention of canon-compliant John/Mary or Sam/Jess or Dean/any pretty girl.
Still okay! Just mention it in the caveat field so those who like their gen totally pure can look the other way. ::love::
Dean has sex with a random girl, but it's off-screen and not explicit.
Umm, still okay! But make sure you mention it in the caveat field. ::love::
The romance is canon-compliant, but there's explicit descriptions of sex or sexual acts.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. Thanks for playing, though! ::love::
There's maybe a little bit of canon-compliant kissing?
Um, HOW MUCH IS THERE??? O.O No, really, use your discretion. If it's mild, it's probably okay. We don't wanna hear about no heavy petting, though. And use the caveat field. ::love::
There are mentions of non-canon romance, such as John/Bobby or Dean/any pretty man.
The majority of folks here prefer their gen to mesh with canon. But we also know that there are lots of really lovely gen fics out there that don't match that description. Please use your discretion. How big a part of the fic is it? A casual mention that John and Bobby hooked up once a long time ago in the middle of the boys learning more about their father's past is probably okay. Dean flirting with men the way he flirts with women is probably okay, too. And AUs can break all sorts of rules. But USE THE CAVEAT LINE. Thank you so much. ::love::
There's a romantic sub-plot that takes up about a third of the fic, but the main story is about hunting a monster or something.
BRRZAP. That's not gen, at least not in this comm. Thanks so much for playing, though. ::love::
The fic is marked as Dean/Castiel pre-slash, but reads as gen to me, without them actually thinking about getting into each other's pants or doing anything about it.
That's okay! Mention it in the caveat line, though. ::love::
The fic is marked as Sam/Dean, but it's low-rated and implied rather than explicit. They don't do anything that they don't do on the show.
That's...probably okay. But DEFINITELY mention it in the caveat line. ::love::
The story is almost completely gen, except at one point Dean has a brief fantasy about having sex with Sam.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. Thanks for playing! ::love::
The story is a long multi-chapter fic, gen almost all the way through, except that a couple of chapters from the end there's some sudden romance going on.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. Thanks for playing! ::love::
The story is marked as gen, but there are some pretty clear romantic "vibes" throughout.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. And thank you for noticing and NOT reccing that here. ::love::
The story has non-canon romance in the background, since it's about Sam and Dean's adopted child, but it's not the focus of the fic and there's no mention of sex or anything.
CAVEAT THE HECK OUT OF THAT MOTHER. But some people here will like it. Thanks for playing! ::love::
There's some mentions of OMC/OMC or OFC/OFC in the fic, but everything else is gen.
That's perfectly fine. OCs are laws unto themselves. Just mention it in the caveat, please. ::love::
...
So there it is. Anything I missed, my lovely friends? I'm perfectly willing to edit this thing until it's clear as Cristal.
Oh, two more FAQ questions:
Y'all are a bunch of homophobes/pussies/bitches/fag hags.
BRRZAP. Please direct all future flames to mmtoasty@dontcare.com. Thanks for playing! ::love::
I wish to register a complaint.
If you disagree with the use and definition of gen as laid out here, feel free to express yourself at this discussion post or vote in the poll. We want to know how the community as a whole feels about our policies, even if we won't change them because, yeah, maybe we are a little bitchy deep down. These two posts are locked to the comm.
If you see something problematic around the community such as bashing, flaming, or a rec that doesn't follow the guidelines (especially if it doesn't use the caveat line as intended to warn for possible stumbling blocks in the recced fanwork), please leave a note at the mod hotline, and it will be dealt with ASAP. The mod hotline is open to the public.
The difficulty in this is that the definition of what gen is differs from group to group and even from person to person. It's like a sliding Kinsey scale thing or something, and it's complicated, yo. The membership in this comm spans across a wide spectrum of views, and we, your friendly SPN Gen Love mods, want everyone to be happy here and able to love on their gen with minimal hardship.
Basically, the closer it is to the show, the better. But you should also use your own discretion. You wouldn't be here if you didn't love gen, too, so you must have your own ideas about how this works.
There is a lot of trust being placed on you, the heroic reccer, to not only point the way to awesome fanwork, but also protect us and love us and keep us safe in our happy gen place. See, we have this line in the rec info called "reccer's caveats." Know it. Love it. And we'll love you, too.
So let's play a little game of "Is it gen?" Take a look at what's in the stuff you're reccing and give it some thought.
...
There's no romance in it whatsoever.
Then you're golden. Rec away! And thank you so much for playing. ::love::
There's a mention of canon-compliant John/Mary or Sam/Jess or Dean/any pretty girl.
Still okay! Just mention it in the caveat field so those who like their gen totally pure can look the other way. ::love::
Dean has sex with a random girl, but it's off-screen and not explicit.
Umm, still okay! But make sure you mention it in the caveat field. ::love::
The romance is canon-compliant, but there's explicit descriptions of sex or sexual acts.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. Thanks for playing, though! ::love::
There's maybe a little bit of canon-compliant kissing?
Um, HOW MUCH IS THERE??? O.O No, really, use your discretion. If it's mild, it's probably okay. We don't wanna hear about no heavy petting, though. And use the caveat field. ::love::
There are mentions of non-canon romance, such as John/Bobby or Dean/any pretty man.
The majority of folks here prefer their gen to mesh with canon. But we also know that there are lots of really lovely gen fics out there that don't match that description. Please use your discretion. How big a part of the fic is it? A casual mention that John and Bobby hooked up once a long time ago in the middle of the boys learning more about their father's past is probably okay. Dean flirting with men the way he flirts with women is probably okay, too. And AUs can break all sorts of rules. But USE THE CAVEAT LINE. Thank you so much. ::love::
There's a romantic sub-plot that takes up about a third of the fic, but the main story is about hunting a monster or something.
BRRZAP. That's not gen, at least not in this comm. Thanks so much for playing, though. ::love::
The fic is marked as Dean/Castiel pre-slash, but reads as gen to me, without them actually thinking about getting into each other's pants or doing anything about it.
That's okay! Mention it in the caveat line, though. ::love::
The fic is marked as Sam/Dean, but it's low-rated and implied rather than explicit. They don't do anything that they don't do on the show.
That's...probably okay. But DEFINITELY mention it in the caveat line. ::love::
The story is almost completely gen, except at one point Dean has a brief fantasy about having sex with Sam.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. Thanks for playing! ::love::
The story is a long multi-chapter fic, gen almost all the way through, except that a couple of chapters from the end there's some sudden romance going on.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. Thanks for playing! ::love::
The story is marked as gen, but there are some pretty clear romantic "vibes" throughout.
BRRZAP. That's not gen. And thank you for noticing and NOT reccing that here. ::love::
The story has non-canon romance in the background, since it's about Sam and Dean's adopted child, but it's not the focus of the fic and there's no mention of sex or anything.
CAVEAT THE HECK OUT OF THAT MOTHER. But some people here will like it. Thanks for playing! ::love::
There's some mentions of OMC/OMC or OFC/OFC in the fic, but everything else is gen.
That's perfectly fine. OCs are laws unto themselves. Just mention it in the caveat, please. ::love::
...
So there it is. Anything I missed, my lovely friends? I'm perfectly willing to edit this thing until it's clear as Cristal.
Oh, two more FAQ questions:
Y'all are a bunch of homophobes/pussies/bitches/fag hags.
BRRZAP. Please direct all future flames to mmtoasty@dontcare.com. Thanks for playing! ::love::
I wish to register a complaint.
If you disagree with the use and definition of gen as laid out here, feel free to express yourself at this discussion post or vote in the poll. We want to know how the community as a whole feels about our policies, even if we won't change them because, yeah, maybe we are a little bitchy deep down. These two posts are locked to the comm.
If you see something problematic around the community such as bashing, flaming, or a rec that doesn't follow the guidelines (especially if it doesn't use the caveat line as intended to warn for possible stumbling blocks in the recced fanwork), please leave a note at the mod hotline, and it will be dealt with ASAP. The mod hotline is open to the public.