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Rules and safeguarding.

Meg24

I have a question about what the forum does about safeguarding in terms of trigger warnings specifically.

First of all I would like to clear up a common misconception about the psychological process that is 'triggering' - It is not simply taking offense or being made to feel slightly uncomfortable, being triggered means you suffer a psychological reliving of a past trauma which may include visual flashbacks, intense anxiety, panic or extreme distress. It may also take other forms but they are all serious harmful, and not to be taken lightly. There is nothing the person can do anything about at the time as the reaction is subconscious and instantaneous.

Ok, so what do the forum rules say about posting upsetting content that contain details of traumatic events that may not be safe for some people, including some people with severe mental health issues/disabilities?

I have been struggling to access the forum for a couple of days because this has been happening to me in response to a thread someone has started in a financial section of the forum where they have posted disturbing details of their life with no content warning. They have used a single word which I now know is meant literally, I was not expecting it, (being on a financial thread I thought it was being used figuratively)

Now I can avoid the thread, but that single word keeps being there in the 'recent discussions' headings and therefore the content of the post is there in my head and I can't ignore it.

If there is not a current rule about this can we please have one? This should be a safe place and it's not ok to just have really upsetting content unexpectedly thrown at us. Warnings and/or a seperate section in the forum for potentially harmful content please.

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Comments

Meg24

I see a mod has added a further topic in the heading but can we please change the original word aswell?! The word itself still shows in the thread menu. It's not a helpful trigger warning if uupsetting content is visible at the same time!

poppy123456

Have you flagged the thread/comment and wrote a brief comment in the box explaining your reasons for flagging? If you do this then a member of the scope team will see it.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @Meg24, thanks for bringing up this important issue about trigger warnings on the community. I fully appreciate that being triggered is a serious response, much more than just feeling uncomfortable or offended.

We want the community to be a safe and supportive place for everyone. However, it's very hard to add trigger warnings to all potentially upsetting content. The challenge is figuring out where to stop. Different people can be triggered by many different topics, which are often discussed in various parts of the forum. For example, financial stress, health issues, and personal relationships are common subjects that might trigger someone.

It's important to know that we might not be able to avoid all triggers because everyone has different triggers, but we will take your feedback on board and see if there's a workable solution.

Jeff_dse

I think it is impossible because psychology is very complicated. We all can be upset by something and most of the time, it is unconscious. As Sigmund Freud said: we all are sick. More or less.

We live in a hostile world and we have created defenses when we were a child. Just to come to this world is very traumatic. We were in a warm and safe place in the belly of our mom and when we were born, we went out in a colder place. The doctor spank our ass to make us cry. Welcome to the world 🤣