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Rating systems have teeth, yes. But the "some viewers may find the following images disturbing"-type warnings, to which trigger warnings are equivalent, don't have teeth. They're voluntary guidance. Think also of epilepsy warnings.

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I think plenty of people would alter their content to avoid warnings, regardless of context. But, I only have data for the MPAA and also maybe recordings with explicit lyrics. I don't necessarily think warnings are bad, I just think that in general, if you're going to label people's work in a negative way, some people would rather change their work so that it doesn't get labelled like that. I mean, I try to be polite on HN so that it doesn't get downvoted and greyed out, but this isn't really that bad of a thing.

I can see where you're coming from. Removing content because you'd have to warn viewers about it makes sense, I suppose.

Though trigger warnings don't mean the work is "bad", just it might cause problems for a small fraction of viewers.

Yeah, I think we basically agree. I was just nitpicking.

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