#ill reblog/edit with a tldr tomorrow maybe

[weirdbrainweirdbody]

Long discord blacklists are inaccessible and unethical

(note: all examples are either my own previous triggers unless stated otherwise)

Following a conversation in a discord I'm in, I wanted to make this post. This isn't mocking the concept of hyperspecific triggers, not is it saying that the concept of blacklists is inherently bad. However I think that making a long blacklist of peoples hyperspecific triggers, then insisting that people not only remember them but also either spoiler them or not mention them at all, is inaccessible and unethical.

I understand how they come about. You start with a general blacklist, of intense topics things like suicide or self harm or rape, and maybe a couple discourse topics you're sick of hearing about. Then someone asks if you can add a trigger on- a relatively common one. So you do. And then someone else asks, and someone else, and before you know it your blacklist is half a mile long and you can't mention marshmallows without a trigger warning and spoiler.

This is inaccessible.

If there's a long list, it'd likely be difficult to remember for anyone. Especially if people have memory issues- something that's very common with multiple disabilities, and ironically, many of the same disabilities or mental illnesses that cause these triggers in the first place. If you have a space full of people with disabilities or mental illnesses that cause memory issues, it's not particularly possible to expect that blacklist to be kept to. But if you do, and you warn or even ban people who don't adhere to the blacklist, you create a space that's hostile to disabled people.

Additionally, I've seen or been made aware of servers that don't seem to have any reasonable kind of limit for the blacklist. Servers that allow you to add prosthetic limbs to the blacklist. Limb differences. Mention of chronic pain. Facial differences. Servers that make disabled people trigger warn their own existence. That's not okay.

It's also unethical. Telling people that their triggers are on a list, so they'll be safe from them in that server, creates a false sense of security. Then if someone does accidentally forget that they're not meant to mention deodorant without a trigger warning? That false sense of security shatters. They thought they were safe in that server, but they aren't. They're not actually fully safe from their triggers anywhere really- it's impossible to guarantee that they won't be able to come into contact with their triggers.

I've had it happen in real life. Teachers told me they'd made everyone stop spraying deodorant in the PE changing rooms. I thought I was safe there. But people forgot and still sprayed, and it was worse than if I'd have know it was a risk. It meant my paranoia and feelings of not being safe anywhere got worse.

And yet these servers try and claim that the blacklist will keep them safe.

A blacklist that's gotten so long, it's almost impossible to remember.

A blacklist that has everything on it from photos of marshmallows to people's names (oh, and if that's your name? You have to go by an alias in that server) to F4 racing.

A blacklist that doesn't keep anyone safe.

It's not accessible and it's not ethical.