♡ Common Trigger Warnings & How Tumblr's Content Filtering Works ♡
♡ TLDR
• Trigger warnings are more important on Tumblr now because of the for you page. Tumblr will sometimes push posts of yours onto someone’s for you page without them having seen your blog, bio, or pinned post to know that your content may be triggering.
• When you filter a tag Tumblr will only block the exact tag you filter. For example if you filter just “ed”, posts tagged with “tw ed”, “cw ed”, “ed mention”, “ed implied”, or “ed related” will still be shown. This is why simple and easy to understand trigger warnings are important.
• Stating what the trigger warning is for is also important. If you just say “tw” we don’t know what the trigger is. It could be something we’re okay with or something that will trigger us, we have no way of knowing unless you say what it’s for.
• Trigger warnings that are designed to avoid filtration such as “tw sl3f h4rn” are not helpful. It’s very difficult to read and it is hard to filter. At that point you may as well have not put a trigger warning at all.
• You will not get banned for using the hashtags tw sh, tw sa, tw ed, tw ana, tw suicide, tw cut, or tw rape among others. It’s okay and desirable to use simple and to the point trigger tags.
• Below the read more I go into more detail about all this. I have compiled common trigger warnings by going through the tags and copying common ones I saw, I have also listed them out for easier copy and pasting if you want to filter them. I also show you how to access tumblr’s filtering page on desktop and mobile, as well as detailing exactly how the filtering system works.
♡ Why are trigger warnings important?
Trigger warnings help people avoid content that will trigger them, pretty straightforward. This helps everyone stay safe and prevents unwanted triggers from appearing on someone's dashboard unexpectedly. Overall, basic things don't really need trigger warnings, but photos or more graphic or detailed vents about topics such as sexual assault, self-harm, drug use, abuse, or disordered eating are helpful to have trigger warnings on, especially in communities based around mental health.
Stating what the trigger warning is for is also important! Most of the time people just want to avoid a few topics for their mental health. If you just put “tw” then we don’t know what the triggering topic is. It could be something we’re okay with, or it might not be. It’s like if I handed you an empty box and said “hey there is something in this box”, you would have no idea what is in there or if you want to open it or not. Not super helpful.
Back in the hay days of Tumblr before pinned posts or the for your page, a lot of us just put common trigger warnings for our blogs in our bios and left it at that because people typically had to look at your profile to follow you before they would see any triggering posts. If we were using public tags (like community tags such as #jiraiblr, or tags for media such as #dokidokiteratureclub) we would usually put a trigger warning on that as well since it widens the audience that would see it.
The introduction of Tumblr's For You Page has made trigger warnings more important on typical posts because any post you make can show up on someone's For You Page without them having seen your bio or pinned post. You can put trigger warnings in a pinned post, but sometimes Tumblr will show random posts of yours on other people's for you pages without them having seen anything about your blog before or knowing that your blog is triggering.
This is especially an issue in mental health-based communities. It is not uncommon for people to like one too many coquette aesthetic photos and then have pro-ed things show up on their for you page with no warning. This is why lately there has been a bigger push for proper trigger tagging on this website if you have a public account.
Tumblr also will only filter out the exact tag you filter. This means if you filter only "sh", posts tagged with "tw sh", "cw sh", "sh mention", or "sh implied" will still be shown in full. This is part of why people get frustrated when you use trigger warnings that are designed to avoid filtration. Sure if you put "tw 4n0r3x!4" on a post, you have technically provided a trigger warning, but it is difficult to read and difficult to filter, so people who need a trigger warning for discussions around anorexia may end up seeing and getting halfway through a post before even realizing it has that content.
There are some commonly accepted trigger warning short-hands or alternatives people use. I went through some of these tags and copied trigger warnings I saw used below, but I encourage people to try and keep it simple and easy to understand when you put trigger warnings on your posts.
Typically "tw sh" for self harm topics, "tw ed" or "tw ana" for discussions surrounding eating disordered eating or anorexia, "tw suicide". “tw sui” or "tw suicidial ideation" for topics surrounding suicide or suicidal ideation, and "tw sa" for discussions about sexual assault are okay. You don't need to censor those on this website. Tumblr will not delete your blog for using those tags I promise (I've used all of those trigger warnings multiple times on this blog).
♡ Common Trigger Warnings
I went through the tags and copied trigger warnings I saw being used, I also listed out ones to filter so you can copy and paste them to make it a little easier. For the most part, you should not have to filter all of these, but you might want to go at least 5 or 10 down the list to make sure anything is filtered because I saw a few posts where the only trigger tag was like "tw @n@m!@" which... I just actually sighed typing that out please just put tw ana or tw ed next time T-T it's much easier to type and also much more effective.
List of the trigger warnings above: sh, tw sh, cw sh, $h, tw $h, cw $h, sh related, tw sh related, cw sh related, self harm, tw self harm, cw self harm, $elf harm, tw $elf harm, cw $elf harm, s3lf harm, tw s3lf harm, cw s3lf harm, self h@rm, tw self h@rm, cw self h@rm, self h4rm, tw self h4rm, cw self h4rm, self harn, tw self harn, cw self harn, slef harm, tw slef harm, cw slef harm, cut, tw cut, cw cut, cuts, tw cuts, cw cuts, cvt, tw cvt, cw cvt, cvts, tw cvts, cw cvts, cvtblr, tw cvtblr, cw cvtblr, cutblr, tw cutblr, cw cutblr, shblr, tw shblr, cw shblr, $hblr, tw $hblr, cw $hblr, shblur, tw shblur, cw shblur, self mutilation, tw self mutilation, cw self mutilation, slef mutilation, tw slef mutilation, cw slef mutilation, self mut1lati0n, tw self mut1lati0n, cw self mut1lati0n, shtblr, tw shtblr, cw shtblr, shblr, tw shblr, cw shblr, shtwt, tw shtwt, cw shtwt, 988blr, tw 988blr, cw 988blr, styro, tw styro, cw styro, cvtting, tw cvtting, cw cvtting, cvtt!ng, tw cvtt!ng, cw cvtt!ng, cvtting is silly, styroblr, tw styroblr, cw styroblr, styr0blr, tw styr0blr, cw styr0blr, cat scratches, tw cat scratches, cw cat scratches, beans, tw beans, cw beans, b3ans, tw b3ans, cw b3ans, be@ns, tw be@ns, cw be@ns, cvtspo, i love cvtting. sui, tw sui, cw sui, su1, tw su1, cw su1, sewercide, tw sewercide, cw sewercide, sewer slide, tw sewer slide, cw sewer slide, sewerslidal, tw sewerslidal, cw sewerslidal, suic1de, tw suic1de, cw suic1de, $uicide, tw $uicide, cw $uicide, sui implied, tw sui implied, cw sui implied, sui ideation, tw sui ideation, cw sui ideation.
For self-harm topics, I recommend filtering: sh tw sh cw sh sh tw $h tw $h $h tw cw $h cut tw cut cw cut cvt tw cvt cw cvt cuts tw cuts cw cuts cvts tw cvts cw cvts cvtblr cutblr shblr shedblr That should filter out most of the content. Spaced out for easier copy / pasting.
For suicidal ideation, I recommend triggering: sui tw sui sui tw cw sui suicide tw suicide cw suicide suicide tw sui ideation tw sui ideation cw sui ideation sui mention tw sui mention cw sui mention sui mention tw $ui tw $ui cw $ui $ui tw su1cide tw su1cide cw su1cide su1cide tw. That should filter out most of the content. Spaced out for easier copy / pasting.
List of the trigger warnings above: ed, tw ed, cw ed, ed tw, 3d, tw 3d, cw 3d, 3d tw, edblr, tw edblr, cw edblr, edblr tw, ed not sheeran, 3d not sheeran, shedblr, tw shedblr, cw shedblr, shedblr tw, restriction, tw restriction, cw restriction, restriction tw, r3striction, tw r3striction, cw r3striction, r3striction tw, ed blog, tw ed blog, cw ed blog, ed blog tw, 3d blog, tw 3d blog, cw 3d blog, 3d blog tw, ed bl0g, tw ed bl0g, cw ed bl0g, 3d bl0g tw, skinii, tw skinii, cw skinii, skinni, tw skinni, cw skinni, ana, tw ana, cw ana, ana tw, anamia, tw anamia, cw anamia, anamia tw, @.na, tw @.na, cw @.na, @.na tw, @.n@, tw @.n@, cw @.n@, ana diet, tw ana diet, cw ana diet, @.na diet, tw @.na diet, cw @.na diet, ana di3t, tw ana di3t, cw ana di3t, ana d13t, di3ting, tw di3ting, cw di3ting, 4na, tw 4na, cw 4na, 4n4, tw 4n4, cw 4n4, 4nor3xia, tw 4nor3xia, f@st, tw f@st, cw f@st, f@sting, tw f@sting, cw f@sting, proana, tw proana, cw proana, pr0ana, tw pr0ana, cw pr0ana, pro@na, tw pro@na, cw pro@na, pro@n@, tw pro@n@, cw pro@n@, mia, tw mia, cw mia, mia tw, mi@, tw mi@, cw mi@, m!a, tw m!a, cw m!a, m!a tw, m!@, tw m!@, cw m!@, m!@ tw, m1a, tw m1a, cw m1a, 34t1ng d1s0rd3r, tw 34t1ng d1s0rd3r, 34t1ng d1s0rd3r tw, anablr, tw anablr, cw anablr, @.nablr, tw @.nablr, @.n@blr, tw @.n@blr, cw @.n@blr, ana y mia, ana boot camp, th1n, ⭐️ving, tw ⭐️ving, ⭐️vation, tw ⭐️vation, ⭐️ve, tw ⭐️ve, light as a feather, thinspo, thinspiration, thinspro, thinsp0, th1nsp0, th1nspo, thinspro, th1nspro, th1nspr0, thin$po, th1n$po, th1n$p0, thinspø, skinandbones, skin and bones, rexie, r3x13, r3xie, rex13, th1nblr.
For eating disorder content I recommend filtering: tw ed ed cw ed ed tw ana tw ana cw ana ana tw edblr shedblr ed but not sheeran tw ed but not sheeran ed not sheeran thinspo th1nsp0 ana y mia 3d tw 3d cw 3d 3d tw meanspo thinspro 3dblr anamia proana pro ana That should filter out most of the content. Spaced out for easier copy / pasting.
(NOTE: the trigger warnings listed here that begin with @ symbols I had to put periods in to avoid tagging random accounts. The tags will NOT have those periods you will need to remove those if you filter them I am very sorry for the inconvenience.)
List of the trigger warnings above: sa, tw sa, cw sa, sa tw, s@, tw s@, cw s@, s@ tw, $a, tw $a, cw $a, $a tw, s4, tw s4, cw s4, s4 tw, csa, tw csa, cw csa, csa tw, c$a, tw c$a, cw c$a, c$a tw, ca4, tw cs4, cw cs4, cs4 tw, c$4, tw c$4, cw c$4, c$4 tw, hypersexual, hypers3xual, rape, tw rape, cw rape, rape tw, rape mention, tw rape mention, cw rape mention, r@pe, tw r@pe, cw r@pe, r@pe tw, rap3, tw rap3, cw rap3, rap3 tw, r@p3, tw r@p3, cw r@p3, r@p3 tw, csem, tw csem, cw csem, csem tw, cs3m, tw cs3m, cw cs3m, cs3m tw, c$3m, tw c$3m, cw c$3m, c$3m tw, suggestive, tw suggestive, cw suggestive, suggestive tw, sugg3stive, tw sugg3stive, cw sugg3stive, sugg3stive tw, sugg3st1ve, sugg3s!ve, incest, tw incest, cw incest, incest tw, inc3st, tw inc3st, cw inc3st, inc3st tw, ince$t, tw ince$t, cw ince$t, ince$t tw, inc3$t, tw inc3$t, cw inc3$t, inc3$t tw.
For sexual assault content, I recommend filtering: sa tw sa sa tw cw sa $a tw $a $a tw $@ tw $@ cw $@ $@ tw csa tw csa cw csa csa tw c$a tw c$a cw c$a c$a tw c$@ tw c$@ c$@ tw csem cs3m tw csem tw cs3m rape tw rape cw rape rape tw rape mention tw rape mention cw rape mention sa implied tw sa implied sa mention tw sa mention That should filter out most of the content. Spaced out for easier copy / pasting.
For a lot of the sexual theme content trigger warnings, there aren't too many alternatives I saw people using. Most people tagged the posts with exactly what was going on, so you should be able to just filter out specific things you don't want to see without too much hassle.
♡ How does filtering content on Tumblr work?
When you filter content on Tumblr you have two options: filtering tags, or filtering content.
♡ Filtering Tags.
When you filter a tag, any post tagged with tag you filter will be blocked, and Tumblr will show what tag is blocking the post from being shown. It will look something like this:
If the post has multiple tags that you have blocked, it will not list all the blocked tags; it will just pick one blocked tag to show you. Additionally, it will only filter the exact tag you filter. So if you have tw sh filtered but the post is only tagged with sh, it will not filter that.
♡ Filtering Content.
When you filter content, any post tagged with the words you filtered will be blocked, and Tumblr will show what words are blocking the post. It will look something like this:
If there are multiple words or phrases it will just pick one to show you. I recommend filtering tags over filtering content, since the content will only be filtered if someone says the thing that you filtered in that post.
♡ How to add filters
♡ On mobile:
Click on the "account" icon
Click on the little settings gear in the top right corner
Click on "General Settings"
Click on "Filtering"
You can now add any tags or content you want to filter!
♡ On desktop:
On the left-hand side of the screen click on "settings"
Scroll down until you see the "Content You See" section. Here you can add any tags or content you want to filter.
Alright! That's about it, hopefully all of that made sense and was helpful in some way!
In short: tag things with simple and easy to understand tags especially if you’re using community tags, you can filter tags or content you don't want to see, and we all have to work together to make this a safe space for everyone!
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ I hope this was helpful! Stay safe guys, love you!!
