A ban on Trigger Warnings [discussion]

[Shaggai]

I see no reason to ban them. If they're spammy, they're spammy and the OP can be warned for that. Still no need to ban them altogether unless spammish trigger warnings become extremely prevalent.

[Page]

Of course NS summer is real. Middle and high schoolers need some outlet for their sense of inadequacy when they don't have their peers to fuck with for two and half months.

[The Serbian Empire]

The problem with trigger warnings is that of culture. Tumblr is not a place of debate due to the trigger warnings. Here it might as well say... Please read this thread and it collapses into a thread about trigger warnings. It would be like for one of us to author a thread with special characters in the thread title as to make people notice it. A trigger warning is little more than a cry for attention on a forum where merely authoring a thread that is interesting tends to generate replies almost automatically.

So... people shouldn't use trigger warnings, because other people might be dipshits and threadjack?

Why not just discourage people from threadjacking, which, if I recall correctly, is already against the rules, by handing out warnings and bans for threadjacking?

I don't see how a trigger warning is any different from a movie or show being given a certain rating, with a short summary of why it's rated that way.

It's a tiny phrase at the top of a post. If none of the warnings are things that will be problems for you to read about, I don't see why you'd possibly care about them. Unless you just want other people to be unhappy, for no reason or benefit for yourself, which would kinda make you a shitty person.

We already have parenthetical labels on RP threads, all the time, saying whether it's an IC or OOC thread, whether it's PT, MT, FanT, PMT, or FT, or, if it's a Portal to the Multiverse RP, what universe it's set in.

I don't see how having trigger warning labels, if the author chooses to use them, is any more troublesome.

If a trigger warning at the top of a thread keeps you from debating, you probably suck at debating anyway.

It's easier to stop the trigger warning than the threadjack caused by the presence of a trigger warning.

[The Batorys]

That implies that the NSG Summer is a real thing. I've been here, on various accounts, for a long time. It isn't real.

Yeeeeah, I've been here for a really long time too, and seeing the actual enforcement end of things. "NS Summer" is a real thing, it just hadn't really reached the general public awareness until comparatively recently around the 2012 US presidential election cycle. "NS Winter" is also a thing, albeit far smaller in scale and intensity than the summertime upswing in rulebreaking behavior. A really bad summer season can see as much as a 50% increase in deletions/warnings issued compared to the non-summer period. What's now known as the "NS Summer" meme was originally known as variations of "summertime nazi trolls."

As for the subject of trigger warnings, given so far I've seen precisely one instance of such being used, so I sincerely think this is a solution looking for a problem rather than an actual problem in need of solving. If someone wants to use them, okay, just means they have that much less space in their thread title for actually useful information about the contents. If they don't wanna use them, also fine. Personally, if you're gonna put a trigger warning anywhere, I think the best place for such is at the start of the opening post; you can still put a full and useful title, you avoid looking like it's an attention ploy, and those who legitimately would benefit from any such warning will see it first thing in the post before they actually reach the potentially triggering material.

I agree with all of this, but especially the part I've bolded.

I think it makes most sense to put trigger warnings at the top of the post, not in the title, as then people can still make full use of the title, people who have reason to heed trigger warnings can see that the post is going to have content they might want to avoid, and people who don't care about warnings can just scroll past.

In RP posts, it's where I've always put content warnings, in posts where I have them (while I try to stay within NS' general rule to be basically PG-13, some RP posts, depending on the characters and story involved, contain violent or sexual situations, just as some PG-13 movies do).

[The Batorys]

So... people shouldn't use trigger warnings, because other people might be dipshits and threadjack?

Why not just discourage people from threadjacking, which, if I recall correctly, is already against the rules, by handing out warnings and bans for threadjacking?

I don't see how a trigger warning is any different from a movie or show being given a certain rating, with a short summary of why it's rated that way.

It's a tiny phrase at the top of a post. If none of the warnings are things that will be problems for you to read about, I don't see why you'd possibly care about them. Unless you just want other people to be unhappy, for no reason or benefit for yourself, which would kinda make you a shitty person.

We already have parenthetical labels on RP threads, all the time, saying whether it's an IC or OOC thread, whether it's PT, MT, FanT, PMT, or FT, or, if it's a Portal to the Multiverse RP, what universe it's set in.

I don't see how having trigger warning labels, if the author chooses to use them, is any more troublesome.

If a trigger warning at the top of a thread keeps you from debating, you probably suck at debating anyway.

It's easier to stop the trigger warning than the threadjack caused by the presence of a trigger warning.

Because people can't ignore a single sentence that doesn't apply to them at the top of a post?

Do you comment on every single thing you see on your facebook news feed, too, even when it doesn't remotely apply to you?

[The Batorys]

Of course NS summer is real. Middle and high schoolers need some outlet for their sense of inadequacy when they don't have their peers to fuck with for two and half months.

Why they they always decide to come on here and be nazis, though, I'll never quite understand.

Because that's what defines Nationstates Summer for me: the annual influx of nazis with terrible grammar.

Not that my grammar is great, by any means, but hopefully posts are somewhat close to coherent.

[Reploid Productions]

I almost wonder if I should start up a thread for general discussion of the "NS Summer" phenomenon, if only to get it outta this thread.

[The Batorys]

I almost wonder if I should start up a thread for general discussion of the "NS Summer" phenomenon, if only to get it outta this thread.

Sorry, didn't mean to clutter.

Anyway, trigger warnings.

If someone uses them, I don't why it's a big deal to anyone but those who might appreciate said warnings. In the same way, I don't get angry about food packaging including a disclosure of said food having been processed on equipment that also processes peanuts, or dairy, or whatever, since I do not have food allergies, or any other reason to avoid eating those things.

That's what people getting angry about trigger warnings is like, to me. It's like getting mad about food being labelled as containing dairy if you have no reason not to consume dairy. Obviously if you have no reason not to consume dairy, then you can simply ignore the label, so why get mad about it?

[Farnhamia]

I almost wonder if I should start up a thread for general discussion of the "NS Summer" phenomenon, if only to get it outta this thread.

Sorry, didn't mean to clutter.

Anyway, trigger warnings.

If someone uses them, I don't why it's a big deal to anyone but those who might appreciate said warnings. In the same way, I don't get angry about food packaging including a disclosure of said food having been processed on equipment that also processes peanuts, or dairy, or whatever, since I do not have food allergies, or any other reason to avoid eating those things.

That's what people getting angry about trigger warnings is like, to me. It's like getting mad about food being labelled as containing dairy if you have no reason not to consume dairy. Obviously if you have no reason not to consume dairy, then you can simply ignore the label, so why get mad about it?

Some people feed off the life energy of anger ... no, wait, that's some video game ... I agree. We're not going to forbid trigger warnings. T'ain't gonna happen. And I do like the idea of a "NS Summer Megathread" thread.

[Forsher]

I almost wonder if I should start up a thread for general discussion of the "NS Summer" phenomenon, if only to get it outta this thread.

Is this going to go ahead because I don't really have anything more to say with regards to trigger warnings but NS Summer...

That's what people getting angry about trigger warnings is like, to me. It's like getting mad about food being labelled as containing dairy if you have no reason not to consume dairy. Obviously if you have no reason not to consume dairy, then you can simply ignore the label, so why get mad about it?

They're essentially pointless when titles are as explanatory as they are here (by which I mean NSG). Of course a thread that is called "security guard beats student in wheelchair" is potentially going to be triggering. This is both more visible and less needed than "may contain dairy" warnings on food labels. In the current NSG environment a thread called something like "My problem with feminism" would likely start discussing rape, so that would be different (although my answer wouldn't change because I am reflexively opposed to trigger warnings because I view them as an insult to my intellectual ability to predict what sort of things will be discussed in a thread).

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

If I may ask: is this really a thing? Are some posters really putting [Trigger Warning] on their threads? I haven't seen this yet (at least not in NSG which is the place I frequent the most) so I'm curious.

[Alyakia]

If I may ask: is this really a thing? Are some posters really putting [Trigger Warning] on their threads? I haven't seen this yet (at least not in NSG which is the place I frequent the most) so I'm curious.

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[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

If I may ask: is this really a thing? Are some posters really putting [Trigger Warning] on their threads? I haven't seen this yet (at least not in NSG which is the place I frequent the most) so I'm curious.

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So it's not really a thing. It was just this one instant. Or am I wrong?

[Reploid Productions]

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So it's not really a thing. It was just this one instant. Or am I wrong?

Near as I can tell, just the one instance.

[Forsher]

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So it's not really a thing. It was just this one instant. Or am I wrong?

Exactly, all the more reason to have an NS Summer thread: it's actually a Thing (let alone an issue that needs fixing).

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

So it's not really a thing. It was just this one instant. Or am I wrong?

Near as I can tell, just the one instance.

So an issue's been made out of... nothing? Ok.

[Euroslavia]

Near as I can tell, just the one instance.

So an issue's been made out of... nothing? Ok.

Nationstates 101.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

So an issue's been made out of... nothing? Ok.

Nationstates 101.

What's my forum grade, Professor Euro?

[Galloism]

Meanwhile, can we ban users from utilizing military satellite technology to snoop on other users' houses?

I mean, if we're going to ban things, lets get them all.

[Euroslavia]

Nationstates 101.

What's my forum grade, Professor Euro?

I give you an...


A

For effort!

[Blazedtown]

Near as I can tell, just the one instance.

So an issue's been made out of... nothing? Ok.

Its a preemptive strike to prevent tumblur infiltration.

[Transnapastain]

So an issue's been made out of... nothing? Ok.

Its a preemptive strike to prevent tumblur infiltration.

This will be a valid concern when http://www.nationstates.net redirects to https://www.tumblr.com/

[The Serbian Empire]

It's easier to stop the trigger warning than the threadjack caused by the presence of a trigger warning.

Because people can't ignore a single sentence that doesn't apply to them at the top of a post?

Do you comment on every single thing you see on your facebook news feed, too, even when it doesn't remotely apply to you?

No I don't but then that's because I don't have the time in the day to do that.

[Sciongrad]

I, along a few others have expressed our displeasure with a certain user trying to import the idiotic idea of posting "trigger warnings" on a thread, implying that people are so weak that the mere mention of anything slightly discomforting could send people into a panic attack. I for one, would not like to see this place turn into Tumblr.

So what say you, great folks of NS?

Sorry, but this reeks of intolerance. Why do you care as to whether or not triggers for touchy subjects are used if it doesn't affect you?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

So an issue's been made out of... nothing? Ok.

Its a preemptive strike to prevent tumblur infiltration.

It's just making an issue out of, well, nothing. That's what is is.