Hi all, I've been tooting/boosting a lot over the past few days about CW use, and expecting people to use it according to community norms. While I still stand behind that, there's something important I want to clarify.

I've learned that there are people misusing the "use CWs" as a hammer towards marginalized folks, particularly BIPOC, who are just talking about their own lived experience and whose lives are politicized through no choice of their own.

I'd recommend reading this toot for more details: https://wandering.shop/@jessmahler/109309085776752316

This is obviously not acceptable, and not the point of "use CWs". I wasn't aware of this happening, likely because of this instance's strict moderation, so I failed to mention this nuance before - sorry for that.

So, to summarize:
- Yes, CWs are important. You should use them, even if you personally wouldn't need them. They help others control *when* they see something that may be difficult for them to process.
- *But* you should not feel pressured to CW your own lived experiences. I recommend the policy in (the replies to) the linked post: Always CW other people's experiences and causes, but only do so for your own if you feel able to. It's a kindness, not a requirement.
- No, CWs will not "reduce engagement". If anything, it will make it *more* likely that people will interact with you, because they can do so on their own terms. This works very differently here than on other platforms, take some time to get used to it!
- Anyone who uses this as a hammer towards marginalized folks talking about the things they themselves experience, is highly suspect. The usual guideline of "punch up, not down" applies here.
- *Particularly* think carefully about this when interacting with BIPOC. This behaviour apparently played a big role in them being run off fedi before, from what I understand. That's one of the darker sides of fedi history, that absolutely needs more consideration.

Thanks all.