suggestion: censoring pet species

[Palimpsest]

Support, for all parties involved!
I know from experience in several creative communities that triggers can be a difficult topic for everybody involved, and I've experienced it both as a creator and as a consumer. There's a lot of emotions there, and it can intersect with past trauma for both sides.
If there can be any kind of spoiler / trigger warning system (borrowing terms from my time writing in discord communities that allow people to opt in or out of and be aware of possible triggers) where both creators and consumers are comfortable I highly support that.

I would also ask that if it's possible an awareness post on triggers is created somewhere that people can access? Is that something that people would find beneficial?
The specific issue that the original post brought up was about certain species / animals and that's important, but I'm also wondering if it would be helpful to make people aware of what a trigger is, what a trigger warning is, and what it means to implement them so that both creators and consumers can be safe on the site. This could be something very simple, like: a censoring system allows for users to opt in and out of the content they see so that they can protect their mental and physical health - for instance, avoiding eye horror or common phobias like snakes and spiders - so that everybody can enjoy CS (snakes and spider lovers included). If other folks think an informational post somewhere might be helpful then I think that should be included as part of addressing the safety of both parties. If that's not applicable here that's fine too, I'm not sure.

I also think if it's not feasible for a user to hide individual pets in a system, but it is feasible to have a censoring system for a species or a predetermined group of pets, then it's entirely possible to create "trigger" groups that will encompass a good amount of what people face, especially if given the opportunity for community feedback. I know the common reaction is "it's impossible to encompass every trigger" but I can tell you from experience that that's not a reason not to do it, and it hasn't stopped people from doing it in the past. It might not encompass everything, but something is always better than nothing, and in my experience it works really well. We're already curating a trigger list here - body horror, eye horror, snakes. If such a list were curated, it should be made clear throughout the process that it isn't a "I don't like this pet" list, but it also shouldn't invalidate anybody's trigger.

I'm worried about pointing to individual pets and saying "this is a problem." However, any trigger protection system in this circumstance would have to identify and categorize specific pets. Therefore, the idea of a user-choice censor system seems much better than a curated "pet trigger list" in my opinion. But if it is more feasible to create a censor system that can't be individually modified (as in having groups of pets that you can censor rather than being able to individually censor any pet) then I hope a trigger list can be on the table.

That's my two cents! Do with that what you will. In respect of my own boundaries, I've tried not to contribute until I've been sure that I can say something helpful and not make any problem worse, and I hope this post is helpful in that way and that my experience and love of trigger systems can be useful in implementing something to CS that makes the cite better for everybody involved.

[Oddity-Lad]

Support, for all parties involved!
I know from experience in several creative communities that triggers can be a difficult topic for everybody involved, and I've experienced it both as a creator and as a consumer. There's a lot of emotions there, and it can intersect with past trauma for both sides.
If there can be any kind of spoiler / trigger warning system (borrowing terms from my time writing in discord communities that allow people to opt in or out of and be aware of possible triggers) where both creators and consumers are comfortable I highly support that.

I'm worried about pointing to individual pets and saying "this is a problem." However, any trigger protection system in this circumstance would have to identify and categorize specific pets. Therefore, the idea of a user-choice censor system seems much better than a curated "pet trigger list" in my opinion. But if it is more feasible to create a censor system that can't be individually modified (as in having groups of pets that you can censor rather than being able to individually censor any pet) then I hope a trigger list can be on the table.

That's my two cents! Do with that what you will. In respect of my own boundaries, I've tried not to contribute until I've been sure that I can say something helpful and not make any problem worse, and I hope this post is helpful in that way and that my experience and love of trigger systems can be useful in implementing something to CS that makes the cite better for everybody involved.

Wholeheartedly agree. Obviously my cat caused body horror upset, despite me not using anything body horror as inspiration and falling within CS's definitions. I had no way of knowing it would have have been perceived as such and I would not have thought to include a trigger warning.

Perhaps a new reporting tool could be implemented into the system so people can report specific pets and include which trigger they feel it would fall under which is then reviewed and linked to the pet by staff to avoid people spam reporting pets for silly reasons like "Oh I just don't like the colour blue", or "I don't want to see anything by this artist"? Users of CS could have a checklist of Trigger warnings within their forum settings that they could mark if they do not wish to see pets that fall into marked categories?

I'm not sure if something like that would even be possible but it seems like an ideal situation where the userbase and the staff work together to create a system that works for everyone.

[×Seven of Nine×]

i think it should be up to the individual user to toggle what they want to see and not see, and they can just click things in the archive to not view them anymore via species or individual.

if that's possible ofc.

[Oddity-Lad]

i think it should be up to the individual user to toggle what they want to see and not see, and they can just click things in the archive to not view them anymore via species or individual.

if that's possible ofc.

Though that would be ideal, what would something like that look like? Would every single pet in the archive need to receive a "I don't want to see this pet" button? Or would it be similar to the adblock method of just popping an image into a new page, or a menu within the CS settings and no longer having to see it? Or maybe a "censor mode" within the archives where a person can open it, and then scroll through the archives like normal, except that now you can check off the pets you don't want to see, and then submit it, which takes you back to the primary archive minus the pets you chose to block?

The system knows the IDs of every pet on CS so if there were a way to block a pet not by image but by ID I suspect that it could block pets with items on and submitted dressups as well? And given the pets are already sorted into the archives by lineart tags I feel like it would be a pretty easy jump to add Content warning tags to pets, which would allow people to choose if they want to see something, instead of making them see it to block it. That way pets could be peer reviewed, utilizing the CS user made list of content warning tags, and be tagged appropriately before they're even released??

I'm curious if pets maintain their IDs in dressup scenes once they're published however, as they are applied to scenes as the pet itself and not a generic version, but are inaccessible via the scene once the scene is published...

[×Seven of Nine×]

i think it should be up to the individual user to toggle what they want to see and not see, and they can just click things in the archive to not view them anymore via species or individual.

if that's possible ofc.

Though that would be ideal, what would something like that look like? Would every single pet in the archive need to receive a "I don't want to see this pet" button? Or would it be similar to the adblock method of just popping an image into a new page, or a menu within the CS settings and no longer having to see it? Or maybe a "censor mode" within the archives where a person can open it, and then scroll through the archives like normal, except that now you can check off the pets you don't want to see, and then submit it, which takes you back to the primary archive minus the pets you chose to block?

The system knows the IDs of every pet on CS so if there were a way to block a pet not by image but by ID I suspect that it could block pets with items on and submitted dressups as well? And given the pets are already sorted into the archives by lineart tags I feel like it would be a pretty easy jump to add Content warning tags to pets, which would allow people to choose if they want to see something, instead of making them see it to block it. That way pets could be peer reviewed, utilizing the CS user made list of content warning tags, and be tagged appropriately before they're even released??

I'm curious if pets maintain their IDs in dressup scenes once they're published however, as they are applied to scenes as the pet itself and not a generic version, but are inaccessible via the scene once the scene is published...

interesting thoughts (gen
i do not possess such brainpower to provide a good response but you bring up great points

[Palimpsest]

i think it should be up to the individual user to toggle what they want to see and not see, and they can just click things in the archive to not view them anymore via species or individual.

if that's possible ofc.

Though that would be ideal, what would something like that look like? Would every single pet in the archive need to receive a "I don't want to see this pet" button? Or would it be similar to the adblock method of just popping an image into a new page, or a menu within the CS settings and no longer having to see it? Or maybe a "censor mode" within the archives where a person can open it, and then scroll through the archives like normal, except that now you can check off the pets you don't want to see, and then submit it, which takes you back to the primary archive minus the pets you chose to block?

The system knows the IDs of every pet on CS so if there were a way to block a pet not by image but by ID I suspect that it could block pets with items on and submitted dressups as well? And given the pets are already sorted into the archives by lineart tags I feel like it would be a pretty easy jump to add Content warning tags to pets, which would allow people to choose if they want to see something, instead of making them see it to block it. That way pets could be peer reviewed, utilizing the CS user made list of content warning tags, and be tagged appropriately before they're even released??

I'm curious if pets maintain their IDs in dressup scenes once they're published however, as they are applied to scenes as the pet itself and not a generic version, but are inaccessible via the scene once the scene is published...

If dressup scenes don't maintain their ID but there is a content warning list, then dressup creators could choose to "spoiler" their dressup or add a content warning based on the content warning list? An available content warning list could also help people who are posting links to archive images or something that might not be caught using a pet ID system. According to the Site Suggestions Directory, a "spoiler" system like some people use in discord has been vetoed as non-functional for CS

Add a "spoiler" BBCode option: this would lead to spam and hidden posting of inappropriate content.

Which makes sense given the resource limits on moderation. However, folks could choose to add in their own content warnings before showing images of pets that might require them, and a trigger or content warning list made available in like forum rules could help? The list could identity each trigger and one or two pets that might fall under that trigger as examples, or link to what pets fall under each tag if there was a tagging system in place.

A user-initiated content warning system could cover the gaps of a site-supported censoring/spoilering system, so that CS can focus on making the most feasible / possible solution with the cite's current infrastructure.

Editing to add:

Obviously my cat caused body horror upset, despite me not using anything body horror as inspiration and falling within CS's definitions. I had no way of knowing it would have have been perceived as such and I would not have thought to include a trigger warning.

Perhaps a new reporting tool could be implemented into the system so people can report specific pets and include which trigger they feel it would fall under which is then reviewed and linked to the pet by staff to avoid people spam reporting pets for silly reasons like "Oh I just don't like the colour blue", or "I don't want to see anything by this artist"? Users of CS could have a checklist of Trigger warnings within their forum settings that they could mark if they do not wish to see pets that fall into marked categories?

If such a list were to exist, it would likely need to be created through a system like Oddity-Lad outlines here. As Oddity-Lad states, and as I've experienced, it's not always possible to know yourself what can be triggering to other people or what can fall under specific content warnings. Being able to voluntarily add content warnings to a post or dressup requires support, good faith, and a communication / feedback system between those who need it and those who are posting.

[Rainyli]

Support! I love this idea!
Especially for people who recently lost a pet or other loved one, the roadkill/ghost/zombie designs could be really triggering. I think everyone would feel a lot safer with this feature on the site.

I'd like to see this with items too. The syringes really bother me.

I also had another idea - what if there was a way to block only images from another user, instead of blocking them entirely? So if their signature has a triggering image in it but you want to keep interacting, you could just do that.

[nickjr]

Support, for all parties involved!
I know from experience in several creative communities that triggers can be a difficult topic for everybody involved, and I've experienced it both as a creator and as a consumer. There's a lot of emotions there, and it can intersect with past trauma for both sides.
If there can be any kind of spoiler / trigger warning system (borrowing terms from my time writing in discord communities that allow people to opt in or out of and be aware of possible triggers) where both creators and consumers are comfortable I highly support that.

I would also ask that if it's possible an awareness post on triggers is created somewhere that people can access? Is that something that people would find beneficial?
The specific issue that the original post brought up was about certain species / animals and that's important, but I'm also wondering if it would be helpful to make people aware of what a trigger is, what a trigger warning is, and what it means to implement them so that both creators and consumers can be safe on the site. This could be something very simple, like: a censoring system allows for users to opt in and out of the content they see so that they can protect their mental and physical health - for instance, avoiding eye horror or common phobias like snakes and spiders - so that everybody can enjoy CS (snakes and spider lovers included). If other folks think an informational post somewhere might be helpful then I think that should be included as part of addressing the safety of both parties. If that's not applicable here that's fine too, I'm not sure.

I also think if it's not feasible for a user to hide individual pets in a system, but it is feasible to have a censoring system for a species or a predetermined group of pets, then it's entirely possible to create "trigger" groups that will encompass a good amount of what people face, especially if given the opportunity for community feedback. I know the common reaction is "it's impossible to encompass every trigger" but I can tell you from experience that that's not a reason not to do it, and it hasn't stopped people from doing it in the past. It might not encompass everything, but something is always better than nothing, and in my experience it works really well. We're already curating a trigger list here - body horror, eye horror, snakes. If such a list were curated, it should be made clear throughout the process that it isn't a "I don't like this pet" list, but it also shouldn't invalidate anybody's trigger.

I'm worried about pointing to individual pets and saying "this is a problem." However, any trigger protection system in this circumstance would have to identify and categorize specific pets. Therefore, the idea of a user-choice censor system seems much better than a curated "pet trigger list" in my opinion. But if it is more feasible to create a censor system that can't be individually modified (as in having groups of pets that you can censor rather than being able to individually censor any pet) then I hope a trigger list can be on the table.

That's my two cents! Do with that what you will. In respect of my own boundaries, I've tried not to contribute until I've been sure that I can say something helpful and not make any problem worse, and I hope this post is helpful in that way and that my experience and love of trigger systems can be useful in implementing something to CS that makes the cite better for everybody involved.

I like this post a lot! You said everything really well, and I've been wanting to say something similar but I had no idea how to articulate it well. <3

[Rainyli]

Ideas on how this would work (feel free to quote my post and add more!):

- "block this pet" button in the archive, similar to the "add this pet to your wishlist" button

- artists and other staff can add pets to groups of common triggers such as "body horror", "eyestrain", and "insects". Then you can block an entire category.

- the option to block an entire species and/or lineart, or even a specific artist (one artist in particular is extremely talented but their edits and general art style make me a bit uncomfortable)

- if you come across a triggering pet while trading with someone or viewing their/your collection, maybe there could be a tiny button that lets you block it (or even add it to your wishlist)

[Dawn.]

Add-on to this suggestion:
If I had to make a guess, this would likely be best if the mods ever were to implement it, to implement it into the archive. That way, a person can choose to spoil a pet/species/linework that is a cw for them. That way, any time it shows up in trades, it would automatically put an overlay image to block it from being seen? I have a sibling who does coding, so most of what i am learning is likely from what he showed me. Not very much knowledge, but a vague idea~