FYI, someone just asked me, "Could you please put a CW on those US politics posts?"
I said no sorry,, just mute me.
I don't understand CWing political posts. And that doesn't mean you need to @ me explaining why. I know THEIR reasons, I just disagree with them and won't do it.
I respect CWs for other things, but not politics. Politics is news and people need to be aware of what's happening. It's not gory or violent, it's politics.
@GottaLaff I can understand why some people don’t want to see political stuff (can be very exhausting, especially with how polarizing things are nowadays). But politics drives everything. Ignoring it is how you get presidents like Trump and lose your otherwise taken-for-granted democratic republic. And your (and everyone else’s) entire world. Everything rides on politics, so you have to pay attention to it, lest you lose everything. You’ve got to vote, and you’ve got to make informed votes.
You don't have to love the candidate you vote for.
Politics is public transportation.
If you don't vote, you are allowing those who DO vote to choose where you are going."
And if you don't pay attention to politics, you'll have no idea where the bus is going or where it can go. You're just letting those who do pay attention and vote control where your life goes.
@timecraft Exactly the things I said to a dear friend who has little brain capacity right now before hysterical angry emotion sets in. I get it. Feeling overwhelmed and simultaneously POWERLESS is hard. But I keep talking and keep pointing out exactly this. We've spoiled ourselves by coasting, as a nation, on our dem. rep. but there is no room for coasting when people like Putin and the orange pustule exist and have power.
@GottaLaff I could say the same thing to someone who posts "everything religion", but I don't. Religion and politics are baked into our lives. We still have the ability to scroll past posts we prefer to not read.
There's something about Mastodon that makes a lot of people respond differently, and I'm not sure I understand it.
People on other platforms make all kinds of crazy statements and we just ignore them or tell them to fuck off, but here a lot people feel like they need to take it seriously.
There's this feeling like this is a private bulletin board, which couldn't be further from the truth. Twitter is a private bulletin board, all of them are. This is the internet.
As you probably know, I diligently read your threads (esp. on the trump legal proceedings); sometimes in real time, others after they’ve occurred (like now I’m catching up on yesterday & ran across this follower’s nitpick).
It’d be a tremendous asspain to have to open a content warning for each post, and especially when I must catch up reading your posts in order. I’d be continually losing my place & probably just give up & rely on unreliable msm narrative.
If I were into conspiracy theories, I’d say this demand for CW was an attempt to deter us from reading the actual trial proceedings that you so thoroughly cover!
It’s your page and your posts and there’s nothing offensive, except the fact of trump’s disgusting existence. Good on you for saying no way!
@GottaLaff Content warning: This post contains information about the state of human existence. Avoid if you wish your bubble of ignorance to remain intact.
@GottaLaff Absolutely right. You're fighting for our right to breathe. Tone policing that when there is a mute button right there is shortsighted at best and sealioning at worst.
@GottaLaff There is no algorithm here. If something is in your feed you don't like, you have complete control over whether it shows up again. It's silly to expect everyone in an online space to conform to every person's idea of what might be triggering, particularly when all the control over the feed is in every reader's hands.
The whole CW thing is out of control. I've seen them on a variety of completely innocuous* posts. I got so irritated that I changed my settings to ignore CWs. Because I'm careful about who I follow, I rarely get anything personally offensive.
When you use a fancy word, sometimes you have to modify the post because you screwed up the spelling.
@GottaLaff thanks for clarifying! I think everyone's entitled to their own approach to this. I agree that if someone does it differently than you, it can be unreasonable for them to be angry about your choice. I also get the exhaustion, and why people (especially outside the US) want to see less of this. Personally, I use a filter to hide (and sometimes completely remove) political content that stresses me out; I think most people would like this solution too if they knew how to fine-tune it.
@GottaLaff You can go all Miss Manners on them: "Instead of asking the world to regulate what it might allow you to see, you might try regulating yourself so that when you see something 'distasteful,' you can approach it with calm and maturity."
@GottaLaff If people in general want cws on political posts they may as well as put cws on every blasted post they see! Good grief! Someone may as well as create a platform for cws only! For crying out loud! Cheese Luweese! Get a grip!
@GottaLaff Well, it can be gory and violent, but there is a wonderful thing called "Mute conversation" for when you enjoy someone overall but would prefer not to see a conversation that brings you angst.
@GottaLaff@nicolesandler We all have thumbs (well, almost all of us—my cousin had a child born without them) and can scroll right past anything that disturbs or bores us. Why anyone would want you of all ppl to CW your posts is downright ridiculous.
@GottaLaff OMG. Just catching wind of this now. Unreal. If someone doesn't want to follow politics, why are they following @GottaLaff? Amazing, #oppositeworld
That's the one thing about Mastodon that I have some trouble with: CWs seem to be used differently by different people. If they don't like political posts, either unfollow (they weren't following me), mute, block, or filter it out.
These types of comments were very common back during the big Twitter migration in late 2022 early 2023, and had a very chilling effect on new people's enthusiasm for Mastodon. Over time a sort of consensus has emerged that there are no hard and fast rules about how someone should use Mastodon other than those spelled out in your instances privacy policy, and that these tools are available to you, but not by any means required.
@mastodonmigration@GottaLaff@nicolesandler It turned a lot of folk off the platform. It comes to what are the rules on your instance, not what any individuals prefer. I follow someone who was yelled at for not putting a photo of a mountain behind a CW. I got yelled at for posting a photo I took at a zoo. Way too many triggers. Folk are very unfamiliar with the very robust filters on Mastodon and expect other people to be responsible for their feeds, when they had the power all along. ;)
@GottaLaff@nicolesandler you could perhaps be more specific about you CW, eg politics trump trial number 2 .
Obviously it's up to you but I don't like what i see as an aggressive post on this issue that's been put into my TL. This is the twitter way where big accounts start to dictate how this society works. Anyway just a couple of thoughts, I'd already unfollowed you as it was just too distressing, but still here we are
@GottaLaff@peterainbow@nicolesandler filtering is excellent on Mastodon. Politics can be triggering, but I don't feel there is general consensus it should be CW. Also each instance and user abide their own rules :)
It is entirely appropriate for you to express your opinion about CWs. However, many here value the work Laffy does and like it just the way it is. You have made your point, and to continue to press it during a live coverage session amounts to hijacking this thread which certainly is not what you intend. Suggest you take this matter "off line" and write your own post about what you feel the appropriate use of CWs relating to politics are. But please be aware others may disgree.
@GottaLaff Agree so much on this. Have had conversations with others who say CW should be used for political posts and agree with you. If you don't like it, move on, although consider maybe it's not a bad thing to see what others are thinking. If it's too much, I can understand that -- so mute.
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