Please make sure you take a look at the forum rules page for a complete list of the rules and what is expected here. I thought I'd just take this thread as an opportunity to explain a few things that are specifically relevant to the DID forum.
About Trigger Warnings
Triggers are things that may suddenly cause strong unpleasant feelings in people such as sudden anger, saddness, flashbacks, panic, or urges to self harm etc Try to be aware of what you are feeling in order to determine what topics you find triggering, as you may notice feelings other than those listed. There are a variety of different things that can trigger people and everyone can be a bit different in what may be triggering to them. Although everyone can be a bit different in what triggers them, there are some topics that are likely to trigger members of the forum and we want to try to warn other member and readers about these in order for them to be able to skip reading things that may trigger them personally so they are able to keep safe and look after their well-being.
Some potential triggers that need a trigger warning here include: abuse, sexual abuse, explicit abuse (meaning here detailed), religious, sexuality, self-harm, harm of others/thoughts of such things, defined roles (which you can read about here ), substance abuse and extremely heavy language use. So things that are inherently abusive or harmful in nature would deserve a trigger warning.
In order to write our trigger warning, it should be presented in the following format:
***Trigger warning - (insert detail about what type of trigger here eg abuse)***
Triggering content goes here.
***End trigger warning***
Structuring the warning in the above format makes it really clear to people where and what the triggering content is and hence can help them skip it if they need to. It is really important to write your trigger warnings with the full words "trigger warning" as opposed to abbreviating it to "TW" as new readers here won't know what "TW" stands for and hence aren't as safe reading as if you give them the warning in the full words.
If you are really unsure of if your writing needs a trigger warning, feel free to ask a moderator or to even pose the question in your post and you will get some feedback on what may or may not need a warning. You will start to get a feel of what needs a warning here as you read more people's posts and post more of your own. Moderators can edit your post to include a trigger warning if it turns out you needed one so please contact one of us by PM in order to add one if needed. Try to give it your best go to work out if you need a trigger warning from the above information provided. Please also contact a moderator if you see a post that you believe may need a trigger warning and one hasn't been provided.