Not safe for work (NSFW) is
Internet slang
Internet slang (also called Internet shorthand, cyber-slang, netspeak, digispeak or chatspeak) is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the Internet to communicate to one another. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" m ...
or
shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
used to mark links to content, videos, or website pages the viewer may not wish to be seen looking at in a public, formal or controlled environment. The marked content may contain
nudity
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to ...
,
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, ,
political incorrectness
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
,
profanity
Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...
,
slurs,
graphic violence
Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as film, television, and video games. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated.
Intended limitedly for mature ...
or other potentially disturbing subject matter. Environments that may be problematic include
workplace
A workplace is a location where someone works, for their employer or themselves, a place of employment. Such a place can range from a home office to a large office building or factory. For industrialized societies, the workplace is one of th ...
s,
school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
s, and
family settings. NSFW has particular relevance for people trying to make personal use of the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
at workplaces or schools which have policies prohibiting access to sexual and graphic subject matter. Conversely, safe for work (SFW) is used for links that do not contain such material, but where the title might otherwise lead people to think that content is NSFW.
The similar expression not safe for life (NSFL) is also used, referring to content which is so nauseating or disturbing that it might be
emotionally scarring to view. Links marked NSFL may contain
fetish pornography
Sexual fetishism or erotic fetishism is a sexual fixation (psychology), fixation on a nonliving object or nongenital body part. The object of interest is called the fetish; the person who has ''a fetish'' for that object is a fetishist. A sexua ...
,
gore
Gore may refer to:
Places Australia
* Gore, Queensland
* Gore Creek (New South Wales)
* Gore Island (Queensland)
Canada
* Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community
* Gore, Quebec, a township municipality
* Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...
or
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
. Additionally, there is a distinction made to distinguish the content. Not safe for work violence (NSFWV) or Not safe for life violence (NSFLV) for violence to murder encompassing content, respectively Not safe for work eroticism (NSFWE) or Not safe for life eroticism (NSFLE), referring to fetishism and pornography; their usage is uncommon.
Some websites, such as
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
and
OnlyFans
OnlyFans is an internet content subscription service based in London, United Kingdom. The service is used primarily by sex workers who produce pornography, but it also hosts the work of other content creators, such as physical fitness experts ...
give users the option to designate their content as NSFW in order to warn others of its inappropriate nature.
See also
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Internet filter
An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Content-control software det ...
– software used to restrict access to unsuitable content.
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References
External links
Internet censorship
Internet culture
Internet slang
Internet terminology
Internet trolling
Media content ratings systems
Pornography
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