Heidi Li FeldmanA word about my decision not to use content warnings when I post about Kamala Harris and U.S. politics and law more generally: It is something I have given thought to, not a cavalier lapse. It seems to me the norms about CWs are in flux. I appreciate that not everybody is interested in these topics and that.... 1/
....not using CWs for U.S. politics and law related posts can seem, may even be, rather provincial of me. But, I believe democracy and rule of law in the U.S. are facing an existential crisis. Many of my posts are part of an effort to protect what democracy and rule of law we have and to rebuild and build to new heights. .... 2/
... Especially when fundraising for Kamala Harris, I feel we can't afford any friction in getting the word out, not even the small rub of having to go through a CW.
I hope things in the U.S. won't always be so dire. If and when we ever return to reasonable political, legal, and policy disagreements in a secular, pluralist, constitutional democracy, I may well add CWs to posts. ... 3/
I'm not prepared to debate the decision I have made. I am being careful not to use tags that put all my politics and law posts into the "explore stream". If you are specifically uninterested in the Mastodon community fundraising effort for Harris for President, I respectfully suggest you filter "Mastodon for Harris" and #MastodonForHarris." 4/4
Matt Blaze@heidilifeldman I find this idea, apparently common here, that a poster is required to anticipate and facilitate filtering for anything anyone anywhere might possibly find uninteresting, to be really weird.
@mattblaze That IS weird. But I understand that people on here not from or in the U.S. feel unduly inundated by U.S. users' posts during this election season. I just wanted to make it clear that I have thought about such matters, without casually disregarding others' experience of Mastodon.
@heidilifeldman Sure, but if I had zero interest in US politics, I very likely would not be following people like you (or me).
@heidilifeldman I think being made to feel you need to apologize for (or hesitate before) posting about things you're personally passionate about is really stifling.
@mattblaze It certainly can be!
Thomas Lee ✅ 
@mattblaze @heidilifeldman the very reason I follow you, Heidi, and others is BECAUSE of your passion.
@mattblaze I was more thinking of the boosts my posts get, especially when I''ve asked folks to boost the fundraising ones. Of course, the followers of people who boost are probably interested in U.S. politics.....
@heidilifeldman indeed, and I can see trying to be accommodating when it’s such a firehose. But I’m also often told that I use this thing wrong, so what do I know.
@mattblaze I think you use this thing wonderfully.
PappyI concur. I follow you here because you seem to be using this thing right, however that is.
Mayor of Nerdocrumbesia 🏡I treat this site (and all tools) like sidewalks - I use them as envisioned until it is no-longer convenient. Then I go the "desire path" route.
BenAveling@mattblaze This. If one normally posts kittens and sunshine, then a sudden pivot to politics might be unexpected and unwelcome to your followers. Or vice versa! But otherwise, go for it.
@mattblaze @heidilifeldman that is what makes their complaints so sad.
Alexander KarnPerhaps I’m not the target audience for this post, but I’m glad you post what you do, the way you do. It’s commendable that you take time here to explain your reasoning.
Appreciate all your insights and efforts.
Charles Herold@heidilifeldman @mattblaze I don't see the need for CWs, because Mastodon has such powerful filtering. I got sick of people talking about Wordle so I filter out wordle and I never see anyone's wordle's posts. If I didn't want to see posts on US politics I could easily filter those out (I saw a post recently on what words should belong in such a filter).
To be fair, if you've only got a handful of followers like me you don't really have anyone who's going to complain if you don't put in CWs.
Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ@cherold @heidilifeldman @mattblaze Most of my posts are about cats, astronomy or computer graphics. If you don't like those things, then don't follow me. But if you don't like my political posts, then treat them exactly the same way. The idea that I have to self-censor to keep you from... just hitting the unsubscribe?
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴I agree.
I have switched to tagging most posts. Having a diverse, polyglot followership requires tools to filter them unless you write only about one subject.
For instance, #USpol and #Elections2024 are quite useful #Hashtags.
Alaa, many people don't want to be bothered by #Politics.
Furthermore, it improves the search function when you look for a particular post of yours.