mh – mental health
ph – physical healh
pos (or +) – positive
neg (or -) – negative
~ (sometimes ?) – unsure if it’s positive or negative, or somewhere in-between
ment – mention
pol – politics
uspol/ilpol/ukpos/eupol etcetera – politics, but region specific, the first two letters are an indicator (uspol – united states politics, eupol – european politics, and so forth
oh – overheard
ooc – out of context
nsfw – not safe for work
tmi – too much information
sa – sexual assault
csa – child sexual abuse
sh – self harm
sui – suicide
sfw – safe for work
cw – content warning
cn – content note, haven’t seen this one personally, but used for context rather than warnings
alt – referring to alt-text, which are media descriptions for the visually or aurally impaired
ec – eye contact, usually an image of someone or something looking directly at the camera
what – commonly it’s used for “hotdogs are tacos” type deals, stuff that seems silly that’s meant for messing with people
??? – confusing or nonsensical
veg – usually vegan, sometimes vegetarian
exp – experience
qt – quote toot/tweet
rt – re(toot/tweet)
qn – quote note
rn – renote
qp – quote post
rp – oddly, usually roleplay, but it could be repost too
lb – last boost
ref – reference

– tone indicators –
/lh (or just lh) – lighthearted
/j (or just j) – joking
/s (or just s) – sarcasm
/srs (or just srs) – serious
/sx, /x (or just sx or x) – sexual
/nx, nsx (or just nsx or nx) – non-sexual/not sexual
/ly (or just ly) – lyrics
/r – romance
/gen (or just gen) – genuine

– queer community abbreviations –
enby/nb – a non-binary individual, someone who is neither boy nor girl
terf – trans exclusitory radical feminist, someone attempting to fight for women’s rights while only fighting for some of them
fart – fascist aligned radical transphobe, used for the same group as terf
transmed – someone who believes trans people can only be boy or girl, must medically transition, and must have dyshporia in order to be trans (i.e. a malevolent wilfull ignoramus)
lgbtqia+ – lesbian gay bisexual trans queer intersex asexual etc., used as a general term for the queer community
alphabet mafia – a slang term for the queer community making fun of the lgbtqia+ acronym
grsm – gender romantic and sexual minorities, a more inclusive umbrella acronym for the queer community
hrt – hormone replacement therapy, a medical process using supplements to artificially increase or decrease the hormone levels of an individual, resulting in gender affirming physical changes
ts – trans
saph/sapphic – in reference to the historical lesbian poet Sappho, who was a significant face of early lesbian communities, sometimes used in place of the term lesbian

Feel free to reply with more and I’ll edit them in
Link to this list on my website for longevity

@alfredohno my question is why abbreviate it at all, that just makes it harder for my brain to process it and think "ok i probably shouldnt click on this" and i end up seeing things i didnt want to because my muscle memory opens hidden posts by default
@stella Well, why is rather simple, convenience, but I agree it isn’t terribly accessible. That’s also part of why I made this reference, though, because I have no power over other people to make them stop using these abbreviations, so the next best thing is to help with their understanding
@alfredohno @stella I always assumed it was because of the need to still preserve space relatively given that stock masto instances are limited to 500 characters and CW text is included in that.
@fen @alfredohno oh wow never noticed it was included in the character limit. still tho, most posts ive seen with abbreviated cw dont come close to any character limits
@stella @alfredohno I'm firmly in the "spell it out" camp (a) because the abbreviations are unnecessarily obtuse, but also (b) so people's filters will work properly
@sjolsen @stella Understood, but the reference list is useful regardless as trying to convince people not to abbreviate has been a losing battle as old as time itself, surely we can make the personal decision not to abbreviate (at least obtusely), but as I am unable to control other people’s use of them, a reference is still highly useful for understanding
@alfredohno @stella don't worry, my criticism isn't aimed at you, I think this list is helpful
@alfredohno I've increasingly seen "lewd" used in preference to "nsfw" as a way of decentering the idea of work.
@xgranade Oh, that’s pleasant, though not an abbreviation so I’ll probably omit it here

@alfredohno I'm very happy that my "what" cw got in there

Im not entirely sure if I started it, but I definitely used it lots to people around me 

@alfredohno I use "????" to be something more of a "this is meant to be incomprehensible or not understandable", whereas "what" is meant to be understandable but more of a "why did you send this in my timeline" combined with "why do I understand this"

Should be noted that in mh/ph and all that, "?" means to be unsure about the feeling, and "~" is meant to be "so-so", and all 

@alfredohno Wait, what’s that about “what”?
@CoolerPseudonym Yeah, sorry, I’ll give it a better explanation.
Commonly it’s used for “hotdogs are tacos” type deals, stuff that seems silly that’s meant for messing with people

@alfredohno

I sometimes put CN for "content note", if it's more like metadata than like an actual "warning".

@alfredohno sa - sexual assault
csa - child sexual abuse
ed - eating disorder
sh - self harm
sui - suicide
@alienskyler Yeah, those definitely make sense to have, thanks
@alfredohno thank you I was a little confused about what some of them mean, but now I know

@alfredohno /gen for genuine

could be useful to include, personally I keep thinking it means "general" when I see it and I know I’m not alone

@alfredohno You're missing "enby" which is short for non-binary (I think!).

I've been seeing this used a lot.

@FalconMarkSix Fair, technically a general term, but worth including common queer ones as well
@alfredohno thank you!!! I had no idea what half of them were, this is so helpful 💜
@[email protected] Thanks for compiling that list!
It sucks that such a list is even needed. I don't get why people can't just write a few more characters and make things clear for everyone - not just for people, who've been on here long enough.
@alfredohno thx for this! Most of these feel expected but some just don't land with people, like personally never got the oh one till now
@wishful Yeah, I only learned that one recently as well
@alfredohno nb also stands for "non-black/not black". It's an abbreviation that predates nb being used for nonbinary, but most nonblack enbies are unaware of it or the ask for us to use "enby" instead 💔

@alfredohno
alphabet mafia – a slang term for the queer community making fun of the lgbtqia+ acronym

never heard that one before.
i love it.
😻

@alfredohno Thank You so much for doing this!!!

I think this is a great guide to terminology that doesn't really have an analog out there!

Is there a plan to post this somewhere less ephemeral than fedi, say on a website that can be linked to or archived? I would very much like to share this with people, but worry about eventual migration/data loss/access control/etc.

@yewscion Oh, uh, well there isn’t at the moment, but I might stick it up on my website for archival purposes, that seems wise
@alfredohno Awesome, I'll be on the lookout for the link! 😀 Thanks again for gathering all of this data in one place!
@alfredohno /sx = non sexual , could be a useful one
@emilia You uh, you mean nx, right?
@alfredohno huh , i’ve always seen it as /nsx . interesting . including both could be good mayb , most circles im in use /nsx
@emilia Oh I, there wasn’t an n in the first one
@alfredohno OHH thats my bad classic emi typo momenty KAJSHGFJSGDH sori
@alfredohno not an abbreviation but ‘rancid’ is a term being used in a way that isn’t being used to describe the taste or smell of rotting food, and i dont understand it.
@shroomie Well, while typically associated with aforementioned foodstuffs, it’s still perfectly acceptable as a synonym for repugnant, repulsive, offensive, etc*
Word of the Day: Rancid

Rancid and putrid and fetid—oh my! All three words are used to describe unpleasant smells and tastes, and each traces its roots to a 'stinky' Latin word: rancid can be traced back to rancēre; the root

@alfredohno yeah i could guess that, but people are using it in a way to reference things that are almost.. sexual?
@shroomie Well, I guess because it would be viewed in the public eye as “unpleasant or distasteful”? The way you would use dirty, racy, scandalous, etc
@[email protected] thank you I was a little confused about what some of them mean, but now I know
@alfredohno @hazelnoot helpful list ☺️ regarding hrt: definitely also mental changes