Mastodawn

Many thanks to folks using the content warning (CW) feature on posts as needed (especially violent photos or videos). Thanks also for adding hashtags, helpful for filtering / searching / following ❤️

FYI, a CW does not hide information, it adds information. It only takes one click to reveal the body of the post. It gives folks with PTSD or other issues a chance to prepare.

Anyone who finds CWs annoying can set an option to expand all CW posts - see attached image.

#CW #FediTips #ContentWarning

Pete's Mom 🍉 🇺🇦 ☮️6d ago

@ahimsa_pdx
Thanks for the headsup on the way to expand - did not know that! And CWs are critical for a lot of people so y'all keep on using them please!
#PTSD
#CWs

maybe...

"... We found no evidence that trigger warnings were helpful for trauma survivors, for participants who self-reported a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis, or for participants who qualified for probable PTSD, even when survivors’ trauma matched the passages’ content. We found substantial evidence that trigger warnings countertherapeutically reinforce survivors’ view of their trauma as central to their identity. Regarding replication hypotheses, the evidence was either ambiguous or substantially favored the hypothesis that trigger warnings have no effect. In summary, we found that trigger warnings are not helpful for trauma survivors.

Helping or Harming? The Effect of Trigger Warnings on Individuals With Trauma Histories"

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2167702620921341

@joriki
I am not here to debate or argue. I realize that many folks on social media love to debate but I don't have energy or cognitive ability for that.

Please post on your own timeline if you'd like a debate about whether CWs are useful. Thanks!

iam-py-test 6d ago

@joriki @ahimsa_pdx Even if that is true, there are a lot of other reasons why someone might want a warning before having a video depicting violence pop up on their feed.
I don't have PTSD but would prefer a content warning on posts with graphic depictions of violence.

I think there are cases where content warnings maybe aren't necessary, but the nature of the Fediverse means it is easy to encounter things you didn't intend to find just because someone you follow happened to post or boost it. A lot of the people I follow have been posting stuff relating to alleged violence by ICE, including people who don't normally post about politics.

always tired 6d ago

IIRC such studies are methodologically flawed.

They usually only test "you have to look at/read something with warning before" against "you have to look at/read something without warning before".

But not "you get a content note and have the free decision if/when to read/look".

always tired 6d ago

And however "reinforce survivors’ view of their trauma as central to their identity" was defined and operationalized (and also how this outcome was defined as negative) eludes me.

@ahimsa_pdx
Thanks for this info. I noticed the CWs only today. While I see the need for some, personally, my PTSD is triggered more by NOT knowing than knowing these days. 😒 😉 😎

ity [unit X-69] - VIOLENT FUCK 6d ago

@ahimsa_pdx really wish others would CW more, and perhaps I should also CW more

I have pretty weird PTSD triggers so it's hard to ask plz CW anything to do with ARM or plz CW anything to do with Nintendo or plz CW anything to do with NVIDIA or plz CW anything to do with Apple or plz CW anything to do with XR (AR)

Kinky Kobolds 6d ago

I was referring to the wrong setting in this. Please disregard.

Quick correction: that option only decides whether media set as sensitive content will automatically appear or not. It doesn't affect whether content warnings are automatically expanded or not. Some variations of Mastodon do have a setting for auto-opening CWs, but it's not in the default version.

@KinkyKobolds @ahimsa_pdx It's true! I've got my settings set to auto-expand everything, but I won't boost sensitive stuff without a CW. More information is always better. 🙂

@KinkyKobolds
FYI, I'm using the web interface (see screenshot in my original post) with a browser, not an app.

I don't use any of the Mastodon apps so I can't help with those options.

Anyway, using the web interface, I just turned on "always expand posts marked with contant warnings" to test it and it worked fine for me.

I'm not sure why this option is not working for you. Maybe it's a different Mastodon version? Or your admin has configured your server differently? Sorry I can't help.

Kinky Kobolds 5d ago

@ahimsa_pdx
No, I was just a dummy and thought you were referring to the first setting in your screenshot, not the last. Sorry for the misinformation and confusion. You're absolutely right.

@KinkyKobolds No worries! It's usually me who is confused 😊

In hindsight I probably should have highlighted that last checkbox option with a big red circle or something.

Iris Young (he/they/she) (PhD)5d ago

@ahimsa_pdx I think more than "a chance to prepare" it's "a chance to selectively view" -- meaning, people who would otherwise have only the options to see everything you post or none of it (unfollow, mute, block) instead have the option to avoid specific content only. There was a paper that misinterpreted the purpose of CWs and concluded that they weren't useful because people who saw the CW and then viewed the content were not less upset by the content... but that was never the point. The point was to let people decide whether to view it at all, and restore to them the freedom to engage with more of the world, because the only alternative is to preemptively avoid so much more.

@iris Thanks for the longer explanation ❤️

I didn't quite know how to explain how these CWs help, and I didn't want to get it wrong, so I tried to keep it brief (also due to character limits). Hope it was not too misleading.