to wonder why people invest in threads titled 'sad. Sorry - long, or triggering'

[ElizabethHoover]

WHY would you want to post on a thread advertised already as SAD?
CHrist alive

I've never understood what "triggering" actually means.

Oh right. I am with Northern. Sorry the "piss take" went totally over my head

Why would you think it's funny that somebody is looking for support on an online forum?

Lucky you Charis.

Oh come on. Are we really going to do the whole "MH issues aren't real but grammar is the most important thing there is" spiel? Could we not?

I don't give a toss about grammar on MN.

Spelling or grammar doesn't bother me either or if it's a ranting non paragraph, there are some I avoid usually if I feel I can't invest time in it or can't relate.

I think YABU. You don't sound very nice or tolerant.

If you don't like the titles, ignore them. Bitching about them just makes you sound bitchy. Bitching about paragraphs or lack of them makes you sound narrow minded.

Why would you post a thread about a thread that you wouldn't post on anway?

I agree with Luis.

Threads talking about nice dads and childhoods can make me sad because I missed out. Threads that end up talking about serious health problems can trigger off anxiety and well lots of things have the potential to trigger something in someone.

So I see the warnings as pretty pointless. Hate it when MN add the warnings.

You're not being goady are you OP?

Surely not !

I agree U2, I think if you are at risk of being 'triggered' by reading about other people's happy/normal childhoods because yours was a bit crap, or at someone's description of a very shouty husband because you once had a shouty husband, or the discussion of any disease and illness because you have health anxiety then it's better to just step away from the internet. I find it hard to read threads about cancer. I am not exactly phobic about it, but I'd rather just bury my head in the sand for as long as possible on the matter. So if a thread title mentions cancer I can sidestep it if I am feeling a bit squeamish and pathetic.

People can't realistically be expected to anticipate every possible likelihood that someone might be unduly affected by their post, and some people are seemingly very easily affected by anything remotely sensitive.

Maybe there should be a separate topic where people can offload about their very traumatic experiences such as rape, sexual abuse, DV or child abuse and if people are prone to being 'triggered' they can just stay away from it. Simple.

and that was?

True

It's a parenting website

sometimes parents (and non parents) need to talk about stuff they need support with

get over it

I do wish people would say what KIND of sad it is in the title.

Is it about your mum, your kid, your dog, your attack or your cancer?

This is a snarky, goady thread.

You're so cynical OP I'm surprised you don't disappear up your own arse.

'Place marking' posts in threads make my teeth itch.

i think the hand holding thing was ok in the beginning when people were posting to say they were sitting outside their local ICU because their father had had a massive heart attack, or the one last night where a poster's DH went off in the car in a huff at dinner time without his wallet or phone in a strange country after a pretty minor row, and still hadn't returned by 4am….of course a metaphorical hand to hold is exactly what you need, and will get.

But when 'hand holding' became a 'thing' in the MN lexicon that everyone wanted to be a part of, threads started appearing about four times a day because some eight month old was teething, or someone had had a rough day at work or whatever, so naturally people did start to think 'FFS stop catastrophising and get a grip.'

I think the same thing is happening now with 'triggering' and 'abusive.' There has been a complete over-saturation of those two words on MN in the last year or so. If there was ever an important place for those phrases and an important meaning attached to them, sadly that has become diluted, over-used and misused. The slow creep has become a landslide and now those two words are like white noise to me.

?
what starts as a pleasing metaphor becomes a dull cliché
once a witty phrase
'who knew'?
now makes us cringe
These are not new processes but they appear to happen more quickly with online communities

I don't see the point in "triggering" in thread titles either. Unless the title makes it very obvious what the issue in the thread is, which is usually not the case, you have to read the post and risk it being your particular trigger issue anyway so what is the point?