Okay look, different folks have different experiences and we all enjoy reading us some fan fiction sometimes but fan fiction should not cause harm or distress to the reader.
If you are using content that is traumatic for the recipient as a plot device, like torture, sexual violence, child abuse, animal abuse, slavery, or whatever, you should pre-warn people so they can not read your thread and revisit possible real life trauma. It’s unfair to make trauma victims relive their trauma.
The last thing most of us want to do is hurt our readership. The best way to keep them safe is to not include that gross fetish stuff at all, barring that, a warning is a good idea.
Edit: The purpose of this thread is a plea for basic human decency. It’s not asking for your opinion on trigger warnings, nor is it intended to be a debate on the subject. You can take it upon yourself to warn people, or you can not.
At the very least posts that contain harsher or more unsettling content should absolutely be flagged. The new dropdown boxes may prove to be useful with such things as they will allow the author to hide the harsher bits for selective reading while keeping the main story intact. It would require more format effort this way, but would produce a more polished result.
As for harsh material(for lack of a better term currently), there is a time and a place for it. If it’s critical to shaping the story there are ways to tastefully do this without breaking the ToS for the forums. As a general rule though it’s best to avoid posting explicit or overly graphic material on public forums.
Because - and I know it’s not popular opinion - creators shouldn’t have to be held accountable for readers’ experiences and they shouldn’t have to mindfully address every single thing that could remotely be a trigger. In a more harsh way of saying it, readers should be able to remove themselves from the situation and find ways to work on their trauma without having someone do it for them.
If a reader wants to put a warning in their title, they may, but it shouldn’t be a necessity.
No one is holding them accountable and no one is saying to remove the sections. What we are saying is that books, games, and movies give warning for people who suffer, and we just ask that it be similar here.
All you have to do is this at the top:
TW
This story contains themes of sexual trauma and torture. Reader discretion is advised.
Imagine is DDLC didn’t have that warning at the start? “Not suitable for CHILDREN”
Children, teens, people of all walks visit these forums, show some courtesy. It should very well be necessary as WoW is rated T, not M or AO, but T. If you aren’t going to abide by rating, at least put a warning. I know esrb says online interaction not rateable, but seriously.
If I can’t block someone who constantly posts junk that has trigger sections, and I don’t know who is who anymore on the forums, then my only recourse is to never read new fiction.
Ive spent the past 10 years working psych, trigger warnings cause more harm than you’d think. It robs patients of valuable opportunities for exposure therapy and basically trains them for re admission for acute care settings. Even in acute care it is discouraged because identification of triggers is important so the patient can begin developing an action plan for each one in the short term. And life doesnt provide trigger warnings, so without natural confrontation of stress inducing stimulus patients cant reach the next level of convincing their body that they are safe and that the traumatic stress reaction is no longer needed.
I honestly have no PTSD or reasons for triggers, but I do have an obsessive mind that can trap me in a panic attack loop from reading, seeing, experiencing anything that can cause me high stress. Trying exposure therapy made me suicidal as a teen. So no thank you.
I don’t want to have to have my partner preread or investigate stories just because I am curious and want to read them. It literally takes 5s to throw a “warning” under a hidden tag at the start.
I have to deal with my mind on a day to day basis, the forums as usually a place to escape. But I see that is a problem with some, so other escape means will need to be found before I lose my ability to cope.
I would like to go on record giving my full support to trigger warnings. They are not mandatory–rather they are a useful tool for the author to use for formatting and labeling for their audience if they so choose. Not everyone wants to read graphic material and that’s perfectly fine.
And now is the part where everyone proceeds to muddy the waters and villify everyone who doesnt agree with every detail they say. Benign neglect is the plan today. Goodbye.
I agree with this,warnings and disclaimers would be ideal if Blizzard can’t let you ignore people. Especially in times where people are hellbent on being offensive for the sake of being offensive and edgy. There’s just some content that doesnt belong on this forum especially content containing non consenting acts,racism,sexism,debaucherous acts involving minors [because eww gross somebody call Chris Hansen] and homophobia. These are things that should not be on this forum and no it isnt “SJW” nonsense,it’s common sense and following the ToS guidelines. At least if there are warnings,people know to avoid the occasional garbage that gets posted with said content.
Even if this is true, which I will not judge because I lack the expertise, it is no one’s place – not yours, not mine, and not anyone else’s on this forum – to decide that unknown strangers are going to partake in exposure therapy today.
Whether someone could benefit from exposure therapy or not, it is for them to decide whether to pursue it and when. Maybe they’re not ready right now. Maybe that’s not the right option for them. Maybe it is in fact something they’re doing, but they weren’t planning to confront anything during their relaxation time on the WoW forums when they really just needed to unwind for a second.
There is also the fact that some people don’t really want to be presented with unexpected descriptions of non-con or torture, whether it’s an actual trigger for them or not.
Refusing to place a brief warning that one’s work contains potentially offensive or upsetting material strikes me as ‘It’s my right to do what I want and your obligation to deal with it,’ and not much else.
There’s one study on “trigger warnings” and that they may not be helpful published on psych today. The article discusses a specific delivery, all caps “TRIGGER WARNING” with a warning about the content. It was done in a very specific setting that is not reading crappy fan fiction online. The study was done on neurotypicals, not people with PTSD or CPTSD.
I’m not sure if the publication is peer reviewed but I’m suspicious of it due to some weird things going on in society today. I’m wondering who funded it and what their true intentions were.
I’m looking at getting a master’s degree and going cross discipline for my PhD, maybe I’ll do an academic study of some sort with people who actually have trauma issues.
I think it’s more that you took the time to make the claim that you’re an expert on this and that the counterargument has no argument, and yet provided no proof that your own claims are true.
I can just as easily say I’m a practicing psychiatrist of 20 years and that you’re incorrect, and when pressed for details, say I don’t like sharing personal information.
My statement would therefore be worthless, as is yours with nothing to back it up.
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