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In an answer related to why one would choose to be a vegan, I read the following (emphasis mine):

the main reasons my friends are becoming Vegan is because they saw videos of how animals are really breeded in intensive breeding farms, gosh, those videos are just disgusting ...

I'm not sure if this site policy allows to link those videos, in case please feel free to add them (warning require strong stomach).

I expect many regular users of this site are more passionate than average about treatment of animals on farms. However, that may not be true for all users (e.g. flexitarians, pescatarians), nor for random visitors who are coming here for the first time just to get more information about some aspect of a veg(etari)an lifestyle.

Does a picture/video of breeding or slaughter of farm animals provide value for answers (and by extension, the Veg.SE site) or should it be avoided?

(Citation of any broader StackExchange policy on this would also be welcome.)

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I'd say allow them, but require a warning and a textual link (i.e. linking the video in the format I'm using here)

  • It's entirely unoffensive to some people, but can be exceedly offensive to others. Now they can choose.

  • You don't have to see it if you don't click the link.

  • It's not as big as a spoiler, plus depending on the thumbnail hovering over accidentally could be bad.

  • And in the case of non-video graphic content (i.e. non-graphical graphic content ;) ) you can use a spoiler tag.

But they should be allowed overall, because they could be a perfectly valid answer or at least part of one.

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  • One could even include it in the question itself. "Was the way animals were treated in factories a grave concern for the arise of veganism [warning graphic content]?"
    – Charlotte SL
    Feb 6, 2017 at 23:54
  • Very interesting documentary you have linked
    – Downgoat
    Apr 19, 2017 at 2:14
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We could either use the spoiler tag, known from gaming, movies and puzzles, or only link to such pictures/videos.

I don't like avoiding such graphics images, because the could be very valid answers to "How are such and such animals treated?"

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  • Do note that questions of "how are such and such animals treated" could be off-topic... It would depend on the specific question.
    – Riker
    Feb 1, 2017 at 14:37
  • @EasterlyIrk That's probably a whole separate meta question, which may need to be answered before this one can be adequately considered...
    – Erica
    Feb 1, 2017 at 14:38
  • @Erica I completely agree. You can probably ask it on meta, but I'd wait until after one comes up naturally.
    – Riker
    Feb 1, 2017 at 14:38
  • I think using the term spoiler, which is usually meant to warn of a loss of ENTERTAINMENT VALUE, is extremely and despicably cynical when it comes to footage of real cruelty. Just my opinion as... let's say, if you need a worse or more cynical douche than me, you got to look for someone that eats animals.
    – rackandboneman
    Mar 14, 2017 at 12:03
  • I'm sure the technical function of hiding content unless you click on it, can be renamed to something else, if the need arises.
    – Christian
    Mar 14, 2017 at 12:14
  • @rackandboneman In this case, the StackExchange term for a quote that only shows up on mouseover is "spoiler" -- I agree that the word implies something you may enjoy seeing yourself and isn't really apt in this context, but it is the name for that markdown formatting on SE sites.
    – Erica
    Mar 14, 2017 at 14:42
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You can also tag the whole topic: the community should agree on and use a standard for the tag (for example "animals" or "cruelty" or "abuse" or something like that).

In that way, users can avoid the topic (that set of topics) entirely, by choosing that as a tag to "ignore", in the user preferences section of their profile. That (setting my profile to help me avoid those topics) is what I eventually did, with the 'sexual-abuse' tag on Skeptics.SE.

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  • 2
    While this works if a question is about (e.g.) typical farm animal conditions, it is possible that an answer may touch on such topics without the question explicitly requesting them. However, I generally like the idea of having a way for users to avoid the entire branch of discussion -- good use of tags.
    – Erica
    Mar 27, 2017 at 12:09

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