can we ban deceased animal posts please?
I get people post injured squirrels for help, but this is the third time this week I’ve seen someone post images of deceased squirrels or post graphically describing how they’ve killed a squirrel. it’s seriously upsetting seeing these types of posts in this subreddit, especially when they aren’t tagged as nsfw and show up randomly between cute squirrel photos.
mods, can we please find a way to limit and/or remove deceased animal photos so it’s a safer subreddit for squirrel fans to browse? and maybe let posters know when they’re writing up a post that graphic deceased animal content is not allowed (such as filtering specific words)? we can even recommend other subreddits that would be more fitting for their post if they truly need to share it somewhere (like bonecollecting and vultureculture are two I know off the top of my head that can host that).
there needs to be a way for us to report and/or remove these posts because there is nothing helpful or productive in posting deceased animals in THIS subreddit. there are other subreddits for that type of content. currently there’s no way to report a post like that, and to hide it from your feed you need to already have seen the post.
for a functioning example, here’s the rule from r/rabbits that keeps their community safe for all users:
“Limited appropriately marked NSFW allowed.
While posts discussing animal cruelty, animal abuse, or graphic health and care problems can be acceptable as long as they don't target a specific business or individual account or break another rule, please appropriately warn users of the content by marking it as an NSFW post and in the title. Not everyone is comfortable with viewing upsetting graphic content.
While we are sorry to hear of the loss, pictures of deceased rabbits (or similar ambiguous photos) will be removed.”
It properly tags+hides upsetting and graphic content while still allowing some to be posted. something like this would still allow users to get medical advice and help for injured squirrels and discuss death, while also helping others not see those things by putting it behind a nsfw + title that explains why it’s tagged nsfw (such as “nsfw animal death: need help processing squirrel accident”). this type of title and tag lets people know what it’s about without being graphic and allows anyone who wants to interact with the post to read it, while not being upsetting to those who read the title accidentally. and it also removes images of dead animals which can, again, be posted to and found on plenty of other subreddits.
Since there are currently no rules on this subreddit, it’s impossible to report posts to get them removed faster (other than official Reddit rules). I’m pretty sure there might already be unofficial rules, but there needs to be a clear stated rule as this subreddit is getting bigger and we can’t expect mods to always be online and refreshing the front page. a very clear rule like the above would make it easier to remove dead animal posts since the first person who sees it can report it, without waiting for a mod to see it first. and it would be clear to any posters what is an isn’t appropriate, which would avoid a lot of dead animal posts from being made in the first place. and if adding a ‘report for missing nsfw tag’ option, then mods will see reported untagged nsfw posts quicker and be able to apply the correct tag to them.
————————
edit; please stop creating a strawman here and intentionally reading my post in bad faith by assuming I’m advocating for a sweeping ban on ever mentioning death. I’m SPECIFICALLY referring to images of dead squirrels or posts that graphically describe animal death! obviously this is not about sick squirrels or discussion of squirrel life cycles or general discussion of death. use your heads and common sense please. this is a pg subreddit and no one should be worried they’ll see an uncensored deceased animal here or accidentally read a graphic depiction of an animal being killed.
I specifically made this post after I saw TWO posts back to back showing very close up dead squirrels, and in one post op said they thought it was ok to post here because someone else posted a dead squirrel first. one of which was uncensored and not tagged as nsfw. and also I’ve seen a text thread with an explicit title (which would still be shown even if it was tagged as nsfw) that was paragraphs graphically describing how op killed a squirrel. that is SPECIFICALLY what this thread is about. this is specifically about IMAGES OF DEAD ANIMALS and about text posts EXPLICITLY DESCRIBING KILLING ANIMALS. I don’t know how I can make this more clear for those who are intentionally missing the point and taking everything in bad faith.