drama!

drama!

i need to rant about #ContentWarning creep

i posted once of a Ukrainian reporter whose corpse was abused by Russia. i got calls for #CW. no pictures, no text details, just a link to a story

i suspect some CW calls are a manipulation to hide fascist abuse

certainly some are sincere

but they aren't serving a valid goal. an extreme level of sensitivity is absurd and unactionable

gore? absolutely CW

but some calls serve #fascism by hiding abuse. abuse we rightfully need to broadcast

@mastodonmigration @crow

yeah

busy body controlling types ruin mastodon

they don't understand how toxic they are and how much they work against true community, exactly as they use the lying conceit of "concern for community" to gatekeep, gatekeep, gatekeep

1. unfollow

2. mute

3. block

4. report

in that order

that's the solution

@benroyce @crow

The simple response is to block them. If someone tries to tell you how to use Mastodon just block them.

@mastodonmigration @crow

can i argue with them? please?

@benroyce I think there is nuance here around where we go for news. Some people come to fedi just to play with their friends, they receive their news from other places and share links with friends and family via signal. Sharing something without a content warning because "everyone needs to see this" implies that everyone isn't already reading the news in other places, putting us a savior/beacon for distributing news that is readily available everywhere. We are aware of the horrors, very very very aware, we are building momentum of revolution. And sometimes we just need a breather from the horrors because the horrors invade every single point of our lives. I do post about #uspol because I want to be a part of the conversations and I want to find other people who align in the revolution. Fighting over how we disseminate information is not going to bring more people to greater awareness. We also need spaces of softness and whimsy to keep us grounded in the tender possibilities of what CAN be built when we aren't lost in the madness of it all.

@benroyce @crow

You can do anything you want as long as it doesn't violate your server's rules.

@crow

there's more CW topics than just gore and porn

strobe effects are not good for people with certain seizure conditions for example

do we censor a picture of a creepy spider?

and if some people want to content warn *their* posts on levels of sensitivity you and i might consider absurd: that's ok, it's their post, their choice

where i step in and speak out though is when people gatekeep other posters on content that is not straight gore or porn or the other serious niche topics

@mastodonmigration @crow

don't tell me what to do!

(i'm sorry, i'm agreeing with you completely and feeling the need to joke lamely)

@benroyce @crow i think there is a significant and unjustified shifting of blame going on when people say that normal posts have 'caused' panic attacks, nightmares, and so on.

non-extreme posts are not the primary cause of mental health tailspins. a picture of a sandwich does not 'cause' someone to spiral into an eating disorder relapse. if something so innocuous sets that person off, they were already on the brink, and it's unfair to blame the sandwich poster for severe mental health issues that were actually caused by something else.

@benroyce @crow

The simple response is to block them. If someone tries to tell you how to use Mastodon just block them.

@ignova @crow

exactly. there is a range of normal posts and what people consider that to be obviously has large grey areas

but then there are also some demands for care and concern that are so absurd and extreme it is not possible for anyone well intentioned and sincere to even remotely adhere to them

some people just want a giant CW on every single post in existence apparently

or rather, they are controlling busybodies who get off on gatekeeping

@mastodonmigration @benroyce @crow

OK sure. But new folks who join the platform - especially when they come from wild west sites like twitter - need to be socialized to the mores here. And without a gentle comment, how are they supposed to learn those rules? Blocking without comment doesn't help anyone.

@benroyce @ignova @crow Because I can't guess everything some random person might find troubling or offensive, I just put the full text of every post in a content warning so folks can decide for themselves whether to open and read it.

@mastodonmigration @benroyce @crow

OK sure. But new folks who join the platform - especially when they come from wild west sites like twitter - need to be socialized to the mores here. And without a gentle comment, how are they supposed to learn those rules? Blocking without comment doesn't help anyone.

@benroyce we have the freedom to post exactly as we want to AND we have the freedom to block posters that don't bring value (value defined beyond money) into our worlds.

I got into an internet fight with an economics journalist because he was antagonizing people about content warnings and how no one would see his posts if he used content warnings. Which makes me wonder how good a journalist is if he can't write a headline on a CW that would create appropriate engagement. A CW header doesn't just have to list all of the triggering items, it can be used just like a headline.

@ignova @crow

exactly. there is a range of normal posts and what people consider that to be obviously has large grey areas

but then there are also some demands for care and concern that are so absurd and extreme it is not possible for anyone well intentioned and sincere to even remotely adhere to them

some people just want a giant CW on every single post in existence apparently

or rather, they are controlling busybodies who get off on gatekeeping

@benroyce @ignova @crow Mastodon will literally add CWs for you based on keywords. It's not a perfect system, but no-one is entitled to move through life insulated from every little thing they personally don't want to encounter - and making it up to other people to pander to all your idiosyncratic aversions and phobias is unreasonable.

I've no time for the HOA gatekeepers who can't take some adult responsibility for what they see online.

@benroyce @ignova @crow Mastodon will literally add CWs for you based on keywords. It's not a perfect system, but no-one is entitled to move through life insulated from every little thing they personally don't want to encounter - and making it up to other people to pander to all your idiosyncratic aversions and phobias is unreasonable.

I've no time for the HOA gatekeepers who can't take some adult responsibility for what they see online.

@ApostateEnglishman @benroyce @ignova @crow

This is something I've always remarked on Mastodon.

Each one of us has the power to curate our own timelines to our needs. I've had extensive muted word lists in the past when I was feeling particularly sensitive.

Only thing I didn't like was when people skirted around words, so the muting didn't work (example: saying "Orange Turd" instead of "Donald Trump", or not clarifying anywhere).

I still didn't go around telling people what to post.

drama!

i need to rant about #ContentWarning creep

i posted once of a Ukrainian reporter whose corpse was abused by Russia. i got calls for #CW. no pictures, no text details, just a link to a story

i suspect some CW calls are a manipulation to hide fascist abuse

certainly some are sincere

but they aren't serving a valid goal. an extreme level of sensitivity is absurd and unactionable

gore? absolutely CW

but some calls serve #fascism by hiding abuse. abuse we rightfully need to broadcast