The Mermaid's Tea Party had a man sexually violating a corpse in front of a child in it, and within the story this was actual, not metaphorical, not something happening at a remove, in someone's mind (or Behold, if you prefer). You really think Behold of the Eye was worse?
I really
had forgotten that story, though when you gave that description, it came back to me somewhat. (I had, actually, been confusing it with a previous mermaid story from a few - or more? - weeks earlier, which also, as I recall, had some adult themes.)
So, I thought I'd refresh my memory. I found the text
online and looked for the passage you mentioned. And in all honesty, I'm not entirely certain that, when I first listened to it, I figured out what the author was talking about. Maybe I did, but I'm pretty sure that I took the "milky-white streaks across her scales ... not unlike the white sap of the poisonous flower" to
be that sap, not what it turned out to be. (Duh, clever me. Not.)
I may even have wondered, at the end of the story, what the warning was all about. Which just goes to show.
So, yeah, I'd say that in terms of explicitness of description, "Behold" is more extreme. (I'm avoiding a value judgement of worse or better, just more or less meriting a rating or warning.) Having refreshed my memory, I think that, while the difference isn't nearly as great as I thought (mostly because I was remembering the wrong story), I think I still believe that I'd put a warning on "Behold of the Eye" sooner than "Mermaid's Tea Party". But only a touch sooner.
So far I've got: we don't warn often enough (wilson)
I didn't intend to imply that, and if I did so imply (or state), I apologize. I meant to refer only to "Behold of the Eye" itself and that I felt that it, specifically, merited a warning for descriptions of violence.
In general, I've been quite fine with the warnings that Anna and Dave (and Rachel before you) have had; this is the first story (that I recall at the moment, anyway) where I had a reaction of "Wow, this is pretty harsh!" without having some idea that I was going to have that reaction. (And as I said, not being warned didn't bother me, but I believe I thought something along the lines of
Some people are getting more than they bargained for.)
I've also gotten a lot of "but what about the kids?!" which I think is a BS complaint (and I think I've explained why), especially given in the theoretical abstract way it's been given here, as a what if.
Fair enough. When I used that example, I was deliberately theoretical and abstract, because I meant it as a possibility of something to use as a guide to determine if you might want to have a warning. In other words, if you consider a story from a parent-and-child point of view, (rather than that of, say, a seasoned Podcastle listener), what might a reasonable rating level be and is an audio warning merited? I truly didn't intend it as a
reason to have ratings or warnings and I apologize for not making that clear. (Also, note the word 'possibility' above - it wasn't (and isn't) a request, so much as an idea of something a hypothetical editor of a hypothetical fantasy podcast might use.
)