The Dead Dove: Do Not Eat tag is one that has a lot of confusion from Wattpad users migrating to AO3.
It originated from a joke in Arrested Development where a character sees a brown paper bag in the fridge labeled "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat". He takes it out, sets it on the counter, sees there is indeed a dead dove in the bag, and remarks, "I don't know what I expected."
A lot of darkfic writers use it as another warning along with other tags that mention dark content: gore, dark sexual themes, violence, abuse, incest, underage sex, etc. It reinforces the tags that are already there as a warning.
Essentially, it means "you knew what you were getting into with the summary and tags. Do not complain when you clicked on the link and read the fic knowing full well there might be triggering or squicky content".
You were warned; it's on you if you did not heed the tags and got upset by expecting something else.
A lot of darkfic writers use this tag, but it is not exclusive to darkfic. The synonymous tag in MCU fandom is "HYDRA Trash Party".
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A Wattpad User's Guide to AO3
AcakTutorial/Guide for Wattpad users who are migrating to AO3, have never used it before, and/or are unfamiliar with the culture/etiquette on AO3. Written by a Fandom Old who has been using the Archive of Our Own since 2011.
