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    1. How malleable are personality traits, if at all?

      Under the right inputs opinions and worldviews can be changed relatively easily, but what about the more subtle stuff underneath? Can a workaholic with a strong drive later in life become...

      Under the right inputs opinions and worldviews can be changed relatively easily, but what about the more subtle stuff underneath? Can a workaholic with a strong drive later in life become lethargic? Can an innately introverted person later in life become innately extroverted?

      Those aren't the best examples, but that said my intuition would be that these tendencies are too deep rooted to be significantly altered and can only be superficially mitigated against one way or another.

      If this is to a degree incorrect I'd love to hear some anecdotes.

      10 votes
    2. Defining triggers

      There was a discussion yesterday about if adding "Trigger warnings" was something we should do on Tildes. One of the things that I noted is that we don't have a general consensus on what actually...

      There was a discussion yesterday about if adding "Trigger warnings" was something we should do on Tildes. One of the things that I noted is that we don't have a general consensus on what actually constitutes a trigger. I thought it might be a good idea to have some discussions on what triggers are, so that we can have an effective discussion on the matter.

      I'm attempting to refrain from editorializing, and I'm open to revising how this is presented to meet that goal. I will editorialize in the comments, though.

      Accepted Psychological Definition. From Psychcentral.com, a generally accepted psychological definition of a trigger. The article I linked is a quick read, and I recommend you check it out, but if it's too lengthy:

      A trigger is something that sets off a memory tape or flashback transporting the person back to the event of her/his original trauma.

      Tumblr Definition. Some people are using a softer version of what a "trigger" is, and the definition is something more like this one, from mashable, discussing Tumblr

      ... a trigger is defined as content that could make someone upset, uncomfortable, or forced to remember or relive a past trauma.

      Another definition direct from Trigger Warning Guide on Tumblr:

      trigger or content warning, or TW and CW for short, is used to warn people of content that might illicit a strong or potentially harmful emotional response.

      Meme Definition. Other people didn't even understand that "trigger" actually has a real, psychology definition; they seemed to be more in line with an Urban Dictionary-esque definition (this is unpleasant, but important):

      A word used often by idiots on Tumblr to justify their bitchy attitudes, most of whom don't know what a real traumatic experience is.

      18 votes
    3. How will Tildes work with bans?

      Basically, with groups being admin controlled rather than the reddit system of mods, will all bans be site wide or should group bans be possible? Let's say somebody is harassing or being an...

      Basically, with groups being admin controlled rather than the reddit system of mods, will all bans be site wide or should group bans be possible? Let's say somebody is harassing or being an asshole on ~LGBT, should they be banned from ~LGBT or from the website?

      21 votes
    4. Thoughts on restricting tags?

      Often when I go to post, I have to check first what the most commonly used tag is for the thing I want to post. There is quite a bit of tag duplication/proliferation. Granted, this could also be...

      Often when I go to post, I have to check first what the most commonly used tag is for the thing I want to post. There is quite a bit of tag duplication/proliferation. Granted, this could also be dealt with in part by suggesting tags as the user types, but:

      What do you think about having a specific set of tags to choose from, and when there are a handful of posts about a specific topic, new tags are added by administrators? This is essentially the way Lobsters works, and I think it works pretty well.

      On one hand, this could reduce tag proliferation, but on the other hand, it could also corral people into only posting about certain topics that are sufficiently similar to existing tags.

      8 votes
    5. What are some of the best free MOOC classes you have taken just for fun instead of career advancement?

      I enjoy taking free MOOC online classes. What are some of the best ones you have taken recently purely for fun instead of career advancement? I really enjoyed taking this one on electronic...

      I enjoy taking free MOOC online classes. What are some of the best ones you have taken recently purely for fun instead of career advancement? I really enjoyed taking this one on electronic literature: https://www.edx.org/course/electronic-literature-davidsonx-d004x

      I also greatly enjoyed one on superheroes and pop culture: https://www.edx.org/course/rise-superheroes-impact-pop-culture-smithsonianx-popx1-5x

      13 votes