Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

Tag used as a warning for extremely disturbing content in a work, often fanwork.

A phrase meaning "read at your own risk," originating from the TV show Arrested Development. A man takes a paper bag out of the fridge that has a note saying "dead dove, do not eat," which he opens to discover a dead dove and exclaims "I don't know what I expected."
The tag is popular in fanfiction because it allows the author to warn the reader that they're probably not going to like what's inside, and now the guilt is out of their hands.

Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, or read dove for short, is a tag often used on the popular fanfiction site Archive of our own (Ao3) to mark stories that have sensitive or disturbing content listed in the other tags.

A fanfic tag that warns you to take the other tags seriously. For example, if one tag says 'non-con', expect non-con. Don't think, 'ah, it's probably just dub-con.' If the tags say 'organ harvesting', expect literal organ harvesting. Don't take it as a joke or exaggeration. You were warned.

Very commonly misunderstood as a general warning of bad things to come, because it's so often used beside more serious tags, when really it's a specific warning not to take the other tags lightly.

(Originally comes from the TV show Arrested Development, referencing a scene in which the character Michael Bluth finds a bag in the fridge that says DEAD DOVE, DO NOT EAT. He opens the bag anyway, before wincing, and saying, 'well, I don't know what I expected..')

Dead dove: Do not eat is a tag (or label) put on fandiction works on Archive of Our Own (AO3) to tell the reader that the content contains sensitive or graphic topics.