User:AcesFullOfKings/draft

Can you add a segment category for X?

Although new categories do get added occasionally, going forwards further new categories are unlikely to be added because the current categories cover all common cases. New category suggestions may be considered, but must account for the following:

Considerations

Necessity

Does your suggested category address a widespread need? It’s not enough for just a few users to want it - there should be substantial demand. For a category to be useful, enough people must be willing to create segments for it across a broad range of videos.

Commonly-occurring

The segment type should appear frequently in a significant number of videos. One-off or extremely rare occurrences are unlikely to justify a new category.

Well-defined

Categories must have a strict and objective definition. The boundaries of the category should be clear, specifying what the category does and does not include. Consider edge cases and whether disagreements could arise about whether a partucular segment should be marked.

Not protecting a user's mental or physical health

SponsorBlock is not intended to protect users' health. Categories aimed at skipping content which may cause distress or discomfort will be rejected as out of scope. The reason is that SponsorBlock relies on user-submitted segments, which may be incomplete or inaccurate, so should not be relied upon for health or wellbeing.

A user who believes that SponsorBlock will protect their health may watch videos which are not (correctly) marked, so will inevitably be exposed to triggering content. It is ultimately the responsibility of content creators to consider their audience’s health and wellbeing needs, and the responsibility of viewers to not expose themselves to potentially triggering content.

Use of Chapters

Consider whether a chapter could be used instead - labelling a rare or overly-specific segment with a concise chapter name is preferred as it allows users to decide whether to skip it without the need for a new category.

Use of Filler

Consider whether a filler segment could be used instead - filler is for tangential scenes which are added only for filler or humour and are not required to understand the main content of the video. This is a broad and slightly subjective category, but should not be used simply for scenes that you aren't personally interested in. This category could be used in situations where people who have enabled filler may want to skip an irrelevant section of video.

Rejected suggestions

Below are examples of frequently-suggested categories and the reasons they are not implemented:

Epilepsy

• Suggestion: Mark segments with flashing lights that may trigger epileptic seizures.
• Reason: although this is an appealing idea, as above this comes under protecting a user's health so is rejected as out of scope. As this could never be relied upon, it would be worse than nothing since it may create a false sense of security for an epileptic who believes they can safely watch videos and would then be exposed to unmarked flashing lights. It's up to creators to be mindful of epileptics in their audience.

Fear/Phobia

• Suggestion: skip content which some viewers may find uncomfortable, such as spiders for viewers with arachnophobia.

• Reason: this category is too subjective and broad to be practical, as each user will have different fears and phobias. Attempting to categorise specific fears, such as arachnophobia, would result in far too many categories to be useful. If a user has arachnophobia then they should avoid videos which may contain spiders. It's up to the creator to be mindful of their audience's viewing preferences.
• This also comes under protecting a user's mental wellbeing, which as above is out of scope due to the inherently incomplete/inaccurate database

NSFW content / profanity

• Suggestion: skip content that may not be suitable for work, such as sexually suggestive material or profanity.
• Reason: This category is subjective and depends heavily on individual preferences. It is ultimately up to users to avoid potentially inappropriate content in a professional environment. And, as above, we wouldn't want anyone to rely on this category and then encounter unmarked NSFW content.

Jumpscares

• Suggestion: Skip/mute jumpscares or sudden loud sounds
• Reason: this is out of scope as it could fall under protecting users' health - again, SponsorBlock should not be relied upon to save a user from jumpscares as many would remain unmarked. It's also not really that common because creators who include jumpscares generally get a lot of negative feedback. Consider leaving a dislike and avoiding creators who use unpleasant jumpscares. Again, it's up to the user to not watch videos of horror games or movies etc if they don't want to see jumpscares.

AI-generated Video

• Suggestion: Apply a full-video label to AI-generated videos, or allow skipping or labelling of AI-generated segments.
• Reason: this may be difficult to moderate, is not easy to define, and is arguably not necessary. AI-generated content is sometimes obvious but can be deceptively realistic, so identifying it may be difficult. In addition, there's a potential blurry line between skillful video editing by a competent human, vs low-effort generative AI. SponsorBlock is not intended to make a subjectve statement about whether content is "good"/worth watching: it's up to the user to not watch channels which publish low-quality content, and to block the channel from their recommendations.