Good morning, 

I hope today has treated you well. 

Rubs hands together

Suggestion time! 

-It has come to my attention that a content warning would be sweet! As you all know this is an 18+ game, and as 18+ years old mobsters do, we enjoy sex, causing mayhem, drugs, and the casual kill or two or ten, but whose counting. 

There should be the ability to choose a content warning if your post has excessive blood, poop, gruesomeness, and/or sex or anything that could be classified as “too much”. Healthy moderation is fun!

if the, “Street Sweeper” role was or is active it could have that added ability to label a post as such to allow readers and role players the ability to choose not read those posts. 

The content warning could be placed at the beginning of the title or at the end in bold: Moderate, Severe, or any other descriptor that the MR team can come up with to alert players of the content by the poster/street sweeper

-please excuse any typos or brevity I am typing from my phone ♥️

+1

+1

Awesome suggestion

While a great idea, wouldn't this kind of qualify for a lot of that?

6. No pornographic, racist, or otherwise discriminatory threads or posts in public forums.

Gruesomeness and sex shouldn't be in a public forum anyway, via the site rules. That should be contained to private mails, or back alley.

Baldr - per the rules: 

1. No pornographic, racist, or otherwise discriminatory threads or posts in public forums.

while that does state that, there are many ways to get around that. Let me give you an example of rated R content. 

“The steets proved to be too much for her feet. She turned left to a house that she had once lived in, and discovered that the sonofabitch had left his door open.

She walks in as though she owns the place, and slips the shoulder length dress off her shoulders while hardly paying any attention to the man laying on the floor.  She stretches across the living room couch naked, leans over and whispers directly into his ear, “Are you awake?” 

Theres nothing pornographic about that,  as it does not use pornographic wordage, but also it implies some form of sexual activity. Some people do not wish to read such material. 

Please excuse in typos or brevity. I am typing from my phone. 

I don't really personally agree with this. As you said " this is an 18+ game, and as 18+ years old mobsters do, we enjoy sex, causing mayhem, drugs, and the casual kill or two." Why, then, do we need content warnings at all? 

As I said, that's my personal attitude. However, if I personally disagree with something and wouldn't use it, but it would help someone else without hurting me, I think I'd be an asshole to not at least consider it. 

A few clarifying questions:

1) Where would this content warning go? How obtrusive/conspicuous would it be? Personally, I'd say the smaller, the better and on the individual thread page rather than the streets forum itself. 

2) Would anyone writing a thread for the streets or business district be required to do this now? Or would this be a courtesy that a writer could elect to extend? If it is required, who decides what's "too much" and what's "healthy moderation"? Or what is "Moderate" and what is "Severe"? If this is a new required thing, what clear policies will ensure that the admins are acting uniformly and not just "I know it when I see it" in punishing those who choose not to?

3) Let's say I have a business with a couple hundred replies and no content warning- then someone comes into my business and writes something graphic. Does the whole business now have this content warning? Or just the individual post? Similarly, in the streets, let's say  there's a thread where two hitmen are discussing their dating lives and foot massages, then proceed to go inside and kill people. Is the whole thread now a content warning? Or just the ending? 

From a story perspective, sometimes it's nice to surprise a reader.

Again, I'm open to considering this idea if it will help others, particularly if it's a voluntary thing that people can choose to do or disregard, but I'm concerned about effective/fair implementation of this if it's going to be strictly regulated. However, if we're talking about a very small line of text that people would have to be looking for to find and it's totally voluntary to do or disregard, I think that's a different story. (No pun intended.)

 As you said " this is an 18+ game, and as 18+ years old mobsters do, we enjoy sex, causing mayhem, drugs, and the casual kill or two." Why, then, do we need content warnings at all? 

 

We need to address this, because its a respect issue. Everyone here is playacting a role, but unfortunately the game does not apply to real life. The streets, business districts, and other forums is where we go to write, and play. Unfortunately, not everyone plays the same. So, its more or less just a simple caution sign for people that would much rather read something of lesser warning.

To answer your questions OrianaMontini

Suggestion at the beginning of the title, something like this perhaps: Content Warning: Red The Mighty Ducks

No, there is no requirement, but it would be rather decent of someone to do so. Who decides what is too much, why the MR Gods do or those that they have placed in roles to be able to do so. As far as the admins acting uniformly, I trust that the admins who have gone out of there way through out the years to ensure impartiality over the years and will be able to continue to do so.

Whatever post that has the content should have a tick next to it indicating that it is CW

I am speaking about a long story filled with things that are just shy of indecent. Not small little petty texts.

As I said, I'm opening to considering the idea if it helps others.

I don't know if 'respect issue' is the right phrase. Perhaps a courtesy issue, but "respect" and "need" seems too strong to me. I don't recall any prior suggestions about trigger warnings or content issues; I'm curious to see how many people actually wind up being interested in this. 

I'm not interested in something that would appear in the title; I think that's too obtrusive. If people want to look for content warnings, there could be something small near the "Started by X on Sep 28 '19 12:07" or whatever timestamp.

I agree with your point that this shouldn't be required; if it's purely optional as to whether or not someone chooses to use a tag, there's no need to the MR Gods to judge anything, so those questions are moot. (I'd also disagree that "ensuring impartiality" in gameplay is a totally different animal than weighing between "severe" and "moderate" violence, but since writers aren't forced to put up the tags and it won't be regulated, that shouldn't be an issue. Same goes for your comments about things being indecent, etc.)

If this is a purely voluntary thing for people to choose to do, I'm all for it.

However, as it just occurs to me, if this is a purely voluntary thing to do, can't people write a small warning already at the start of their post? Why would this need to be coded in? If someone is writing a gruesome torture scene can't they just do a quick (Content Warning: Torture, Violence) at the start of their post if that's something they're worried about?

I will only reply to your last text as the rest of that is a matter of opinion.

Anyway, do you see people doing that now? If I saw it then this would be a moot point. I do not see it, so it is a clear indication that it is necessary. As far as coding goes, this one would be a rather easy one to code.

I think there are times that this would be hard because not every thread starts in the streets with the intention of having explicit or even triggering content.  Sometimes that comes up as the story goes along (some people plot their stories beforehand, while others write as inspiration strikes if that makes sense?)

I'd be open to an exception to the "no ooc in the streets" rule if it applied to putting a notice at the top of any post which said something like what you suggested Aislin.  

I think most writers are a pretty reasonable bunch and no one wants to make anyone feel bad/uncomfortable/triggered ... I think most folks would (as a courtesy) happily include some sort of warning at the top of their post which tells what a reader might find disturbing in the post.  Meanwhile putting it in the title might be problematic because you can't edit titles and sometimes you just don't know what turn a story may take (or someone might walk into your rp and just randomly post stuff you didn't discuss beforehand when titling the thread.)

I absolutely do not think it's necessary at all. I would have to disagree with any of it being a "need".

Sure, I can see this idea coming in handy for people that do have forms of PTSD or trauma that could be "triggered" from reading something. However, while decency could be something we all work toward, as stated previously: this is an 18+, mob-based, rpgame/site. If you think for one second that there is not going to be a little blood, violence, mayhem, allusion to sex, or other things, you're severely mistaken.

I don't recall where, if I read it in a forum or just in passing on lounge, but I swear it was said that "Rated R, not Rated X" was the way to go. Also...

Let me give you an example of rated R content. 

“The steets proved to be too much for her feet. She turned left to a house that she had once lived in, and discovered that the sonofabitch had left his door open.

She walks in as though she owns the place, and slips the shoulder length dress off her shoulders while hardly paying any attention to the man laying on the floor.  She stretches across the living room couch naked, leans over and whispers directly into his ear, “Are you awake?” 

By most standards in the VIDEO world, this is PG-13 for "mild-nudity and suggestive themes" at best. Because the director angle makes all the difference in the world.

In writing standard? Absolutely nothing about that is rated-R. Hardly even Young Adult. Go into detail about her body or what happened AFTER she whispered in his ear, then -maybe- you have have broached the rated R content line. More than anything, the above story implementation is trespassing. That would cause a higher rating issue than the dress slipping off and lying naked on a couch.

Anyway, I digress. If the suggestion is not for a "required" tag? Then what would be the point of it? It all just goes right back to being a decency and courtesy issue. Bottom line? Don't want to read about something, you're an adult. Don't read it. Sure, sometimes story elements come out of left field and blindside you... But what happens when watching a TV-show or reading a book. Get to a part that is absolutely to much for you to handle? Put it down, turn it off, skip a page, fast forward. Whatever the case may be, you are an adult that can make an informed decision about what is, and is not, too much for you.

Suppose someone with an absolutely weak stomach writes: "I punched a guy in the face". But because that feels so TERRIBLE for them, they mark it as "gratuitous violence". Suppose it's a great story and one you would have enjoyed, but because of the mislabeling, you don't even bother to read it for worry of some seriously bloody post that never happens?

Personally, I agree with Oriana.

However, as it just occurs to me, if this is a purely voluntary thing to do, can't people write a small warning already at the start of their post? Why would this need to be coded in? If someone is writing a gruesome torture scene can't they just do a quick (Content Warning: Torture, Violence) at the start of their post if that's something they're worried about?

If it's voluntary, then this is the same. It's voluntary decency and courtesy. And perhaps I will begin to offer a ((TRIGGER WARNING: insert key words here)) tag at the beginning of a post that I am going to write some seriously disturbing or questionable things in... Or perhaps not if I don't think about it.

To me, this suggestion is not something needed. We already know it's 18+, mob-related. That is your rating system. Not to mention the rules. If you follow those, then none of this really matters aside from personal reflection about what a person can or can not take, and then taking the appropriate course for themselves to ensure their own positive sanity and self preservation.