SAME! I've been where you are! There are some fandoms that I just don't want to read AU in (Merlin being one of them). I remember starting one, thinking it was a "Immortal Merlin is working in an office" but no - Arthur and other characters were there. Just tag it! But then there are folks that will "get cutesy" with tags to be funny, and completely miss some.
As a side note, when I brought up my AO3 clone archive, I had 30+ legacy AU tags to deal with, and I struggled with what to do. Tags like "AU High School" and "AU Sentinel/Guide". In the end, I kept 5 of them as standalone (Sentinel/Guide, Magic, Were Animals, Fantasy, and Children) and then made the other 25+ subordinate children of the regular AU tag. It was a hard decision, because maybe you want to read that coffeeshop sometimes - and maybe you want to read a Sentinel/Guide fic, so they shouldn't be lumped together.
And now that I've revisited the tags again, I'm waffling all over again. :)
no subject
As a side note, when I brought up my AO3 clone archive, I had 30+ legacy AU tags to deal with, and I struggled with what to do. Tags like "AU High School" and "AU Sentinel/Guide". In the end, I kept 5 of them as standalone (Sentinel/Guide, Magic, Were Animals, Fantasy, and Children) and then made the other 25+ subordinate children of the regular AU tag. It was a hard decision, because maybe you want to read that coffeeshop sometimes - and maybe you want to read a Sentinel/Guide fic, so they shouldn't be lumped together.
And now that I've revisited the tags again, I'm waffling all over again. :)