Jupiter Rowland1d ago
Eye contact is not limited to full facial portraits of people looking directly into the camera.

Eye contact is not even limited to looking directly into the camera at all.

Eye contact is whenever there is at least one eye anywhere in the image. No matter where it is. No matter how small the eye and how big the image is.

Ask autistic people, and they'll likely confirm. And they'll also likely confirm that it triggers them.

In fact, eye contact is even when you, as a neurotypical person, cannot even see the eye because it's less then a pixel.

Imagine an image of 20 megapixels. Now imagine there's a person somewhere in the image, only four pixels high and about one pixel wide. This means the head is half a pixel high and a third of a pixel wide.

Even if the person is looking directly at the camera, this still means that each individual eye is 1/15 of a pixel wide and maybe 1/30 of a pixel high. That's 1/450 or a bit over 0.2% of a pixel. That's about 1/9,000,000,000 or a bit over 0.000,000,01% of the whole image. If the person is looking directly at the camera.

Nonetheless, this may trigger some autistic people even if the person is not even looking into the general direction of the camera.

It doesn't even have to be a person. It may just as well be an animal or a fantasy creature or a robot or a sculpture or a stylised face or even only a single stylised eye.

I've actually had all this confirmed by @Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta ė‚Žėš”í•œðŸĶĢ who knows enough actually diagnosed autistic people to know.

So it doesn't matter how big or infinitely small the eye is. It doesn't matter where it's looking. If there's at least one eye in your image, it counts as eye contact.

If you, as the user who posts the image, know for certain that there is at least one eye in the image, you're obliged to
  • have the image automatically blanked or blurred
  • make sure that Mastodon will blank the image, too
  • add the content warning "CW: eye contact" to your post
  • add the hashtags #EyeContact and #CWEyeContact to your post, especially the former which some people out there may have filtered

You're only excused not to do so if you yourself honestly don't know that there is at least one eye in the image.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #Hashtag #Hashtags #HashtagMeta #CWHashtagMeta #EyeContactMeta #CWEyeContactMeta #Autism #Autistic #Neurodivergent #Neurodivergence #Inclusion #Inclusivity #A11y #Accessibility
Netzgemeinde/Hubzilla

Show threadTruth Collector23h ago

@jupiter_rowland Can I clarify what you mean because you're suggesting something that might have good reasoning but at the same time can ruin the whole point of the eye-contact (like art which include TRIGGERING people).

So I'd like to 'argue' for eye-contact as that's usually why someone posts it or includes it...

Show threadTruth Collector23h ago

@jupiter_rowland Perhaps first start with what happens to #autistic people that is so bad to consider doing otherwise... that helps, I don't think you mention really why more than "it triggers them" which is not really enough to understand as EVERYTHING triggers us, Trump, picture of a garden, #caturday pics, etc...

So let me know that and see I'm not triggering any hate around this subject - it's interesting. Thanks

Show threadJupiter Rowland
@Truth Collector It's really hard to explain to a neurotypical person who absolutely doesn't know this feeling, and who absolutely can't relate to it. It's even harder for me because I, personally, don't know this feeling from first-hand experience myself.

In addition, it isn't just "yes" or "no". Different people experience eye contact differently, and different people may feel uncomfortable about it in different ways.

I've read somewhere (I don't know where, and I don't have a link) that some neurodivergent people, upon seeing a picture with eye contact, feel like the person on that picture is looking through their eyes, right into their brain, their mind, their very soul. In this case, it feels intrusive to them. Even though it's "only" a picture.

But it isn't necessarily that and only that. Here's a quote-post from someone on Mastodon who actually is autistic, and who explains what images with eye contact feel like to them individually.

RE: https://mastodon.moule.world/@MOULE/112839238866393700

Also, there is this comment on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/18x1rdm/comment/kg75s54/.

I'm not diagnosed, but have always hated eye contact to the point where people on the cover of magazines would disturb me, specially those in the pile of magazines you'll find in the toilets, I would always turn them over to hide the faces. Now I wouldn't need a CW for that online, but depending on the context it does make me feel uneasy. I've been staying at my sister's over the holidays, she has pictures of family and friends on her fridge, I would sit with my back turned to it and feel like I was being stared at.

Unfortunately, there are no peer-reviewed scientific papers or reports about this. All there is about neurodivergence and eye contact is about how neurodivergent people don't make and maintain eye contact in conversations. And these tend to immediately and only go into the direction of "they don't do that because they can't recognise faces". Neuroscientists seem to only have understood this phenomenon that far (probably also because literally every last neuroscientist is as bog-standard neurotypical as they ever come, so there are none who can analyse their own experiences).

This may also be because this entire phenomenon is so very obscure. It's only an issue in a few select online spaces. It probably originated on pre-Yahoo! Tumblr which was chock-full of neurodivergent young people up and down and and back and forth across the whole spectrum. I guess one reason why they used Tumblr was that it had a dedicated content warning field, much like the one on Mastodon, only that it was invented from scratch for this purpose and not, like on Mastodon, a re-purposed text field that originally had a wholly different use (true story).

But this whole phenomenon only existed on Tumblr and nowhere else on the Web, much less in real life.

When Yahoo! took over Tumblr, they changed the rules in such way that entire communities were driven away, including many neurodivergent users. They often found a new home on Twitter. But Twitter doesn't have a dedicated content warning field, so the entire concept of CW-ing topics that may trigger people or make them feel unbearably uncomfortable lay dormant there.

It only came back when many of those who had been chased away from Tumblr to Twitter when Yahoo! took over Tumblr were chased away from Twitter to Mastodon when Elon Musk toook over Twitter. And Mastodon does have a CW field. So this entire concept was revived.

Unlike Tumblr, however, the greater Fediverse is not a place where enclosed and totally secluded bubbles can exist, at least not at the same degree as on Tumblr. Especially not if Mastodon is involved. So you have young neurodivergent people whom a whole lot of things may turn into quivering nervous wrecks for reasons that even their shrinks would fail to understand if they had any. They demand just about everything be CW'd. And they inevitably encounter much more mentally stable, bog-standard neurotypical people who are like, "Can't relate, don't understand, not gonna comply."

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #EyeContactMeta #CWEyeContactMeta #Autism #Autistic #Neurodivergent #Neurodivergence #Inclusion #Inclusivity #A11y #Accessibility
5:54amWeb
Show threadTruth Collector6h ago

@jupiter_rowland It feels like what you're doing is important, even if I can't / don't know how to call it, it makes sense there are more sensitive out there.

Your saying it is helping and working my side as I can already see it's worthy and working. even though I might not know remedy other than #CW.

How is it you came to doing this explaining / education awareness - what would you like to see beyond maybe CW eye-contact fields on platforms, #Mastodon / #Fediverse etc?

#CW #ContentWarning

Show threadJupiter Rowland2h ago
@Truth Collector Partially, it's because I've learned lots of things about the Fediverse that most others didn't. Things that might be useful.

Partially, I'm waiting for someone to challenge what I've said and e.g. say that eye contact only counts as such when a) the eyes are actually clearly visible as eyes, and b) they look directly at the camera. Or even only when it's a full facial portrait (= it isn't eye contact when some random stranger somewhere in the background of the image happens to look at the camera).

Still, if it were for me, Mastodon wouldn't even have its CW field. Mastodon and its community would rely on the poster forcing the exact same CWs upon everyone, regardless of whether or not they need these CWs.

If it were for me, Mastodon would have had the "Hide with warning" filter setting which it introduced in October, 2022 from its very beginning in early 2016 on. And it would be set in stone in Mastodon's community and Mastodon's culture that this setting generates CWs.

Basically, this is what Friendica (created in 2010, connected to Mastodon for as long as Mastodon has existed) and Hubzilla (created in 2015, connected to Mastodon for as long as Mastodon has existed; I'm on Hubzilla, by the way) have been doing it for much longer than Mastodon has even been around.

The idea is like this: If you want certain content hidden behind a button, set up a filter with a keyword that hides any content with that keyword behind a button, automatically, and most importantly, only for you individually. (Friendica, Hubzilla: Add that keyword to the "NSFW" filter list. It does the same.)

If you want to post something sensitive or potentially triggering, you add that keyword to your post, either as part of the actual post text or as a hashtag at the end of the post.

Everyone who has that keyword automatically filtered the usual way won't see your post at all. Everyone who has that keyword automatically filtered as described above will get your post, but hidden behind a button. Everyone who doesn't have that keyword filtered will get your post in plain sight, conveniently unhidden.

The advantage is that only those who need something hidden behind a CW will have it hidden behind a CW. Those who don't won't.

Alas, while the technology is there (on Friendica since 2010, on Hubzilla since 2015, on Mastodon since 2022), at least on Mastodon nobody will ever use it. It came too late to become part of Mastodon's culture.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #EyeContactMeta #CWEyeContactMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Friendica #Hubzilla
Netzgemeinde/Hubzilla

Show threadTruth Collector1h ago

@jupiter_rowland ✅ Ok that sounds like a good #list I could keep for #reference:

a) eyes don't need to be clearly visible or directly at the camera to be a trigger for some people.

b) eye contact also counts when some random stranger in the background of the image happens to be looking at the camera.

✅ A design that forces CW or has customised keywords sounds good for a variety of mixed reasons.

Show threadTruth Collector1h ago

@jupiter_rowland

✅ And part of the above was a great idea:

"...add that keyword to your post, either as part of the actual post text or as a hashtag at the end of the post."

"Everyone who has that keyword automatically filtered as described above will get your post, but hidden behind a button."

🏁 I feel like we don't know how many this effects (even we don't want to measure like that) but interesting if 10 replied today it would be clearer, but it's prob kinda new to most people, not sure.)

Show threadJupiter Rowland2h ago
@Truth Collector Partially, it's because I've learned lots of things about the Fediverse that most others didn't. Things that might be useful.

Partially, I'm waiting for someone to challenge what I've said and e.g. say that eye contact only counts as such when a) the eyes are actually clearly visible as eyes, and b) they look directly at the camera. Or even only when it's a full facial portrait (= it isn't eye contact when some random stranger somewhere in the background of the image happens to look at the camera).

Still, if it were for me, Mastodon wouldn't even have its CW field. Mastodon and its community would rely on the poster forcing the exact same CWs upon everyone, regardless of whether or not they need these CWs.

If it were for me, Mastodon would have had the "Hide with warning" filter setting which it introduced in October, 2022 from its very beginning in early 2016 on. And it would be set in stone in Mastodon's community and Mastodon's culture that this setting generates CWs.

Basically, this is what Friendica (created in 2010, connected to Mastodon for as long as Mastodon has existed) and Hubzilla (created in 2015, connected to Mastodon for as long as Mastodon has existed; I'm on Hubzilla, by the way) have been doing it for much longer than Mastodon has even been around.

The idea is like this: If you want certain content hidden behind a button, set up a filter with a keyword that hides any content with that keyword behind a button, automatically, and most importantly, only for you individually. (Friendica, Hubzilla: Add that keyword to the "NSFW" filter list. It does the same.)

If you want to post something sensitive or potentially triggering, you add that keyword to your post, either as part of the actual post text or as a hashtag at the end of the post.

Everyone who has that keyword automatically filtered the usual way won't see your post at all. Everyone who has that keyword automatically filtered as described above will get your post, but hidden behind a button. Everyone who doesn't have that keyword filtered will get your post in plain sight, conveniently unhidden.

The advantage is that only those who need something hidden behind a CW will have it hidden behind a CW. Those who don't won't.

Alas, while the technology is there (on Friendica since 2010, on Hubzilla since 2015, on Mastodon since 2022), at least on Mastodon nobody will ever use it. It came too late to become part of Mastodon's culture.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #CW #CWs #CWMeta #ContentWarning #ContentWarnings #ContentWarningMeta #EyeContactMeta #CWEyeContactMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Friendica #Hubzilla
Netzgemeinde/Hubzilla

Show threadTruth Collector1h ago

@jupiter_rowland I think Fediverse needs more people who can write a long post...

Do you know more like that so I can put them immediate notifications.

Many have write "it's too long" without doing some reading and I can see they are on the Trump posts right after (with long writing or many small). I think it's uncaring / #shallow to that level.

Show threadTruth Collector1h ago

@jupiter_rowland

"Long" writing means people are not really interested in #freedom, #caring, having a bigger #relationship with the world) even with their own topics involved. Na.

People seem to just go for #short #depth which unfortunately becomes #fascism practically (black / white, this or that answer) and simply leaves the world worse as time goes by without people's deeper #participation / #practise of better #expression or #acknowledgement of others...

Like "be the change" alone!