In an era where content moderation often feels like a blunt instrument—either everything is visible or nothing is—Dead Dove offers a nuanced alternative. Rather than imposing one-size-fits-all restrictions, this website plugin empowers both creators and viewers to define their own comfort levels through a sophisticated tagging and warning system.
Name: Dead Dove
Dates: January 2025 - Current
Description: A tag-based content warning plugin for WordPress
Contact: Jeremy Malcolm
Contact Details: [email protected]
Website: https://wordpress.org/plugins/dead-dove/
Type: Sponsored Project
Priority Area: Safer Hosting
Today we’re excited to announce the release of Dead Dove version 2.0, marking a significant milestone as our first public release with full integration for a popular WordPress-based social network system called BuddyBoss. We’re using BuddyBoss as the foundation for our own Fan Refuge project, but Dead Dove is open source software, that can be freely used by all on any other BuddyBoss or WordPress-based website.
This update represents our commitment to providing content creators and communities with powerful tools that respect individual autonomy while maintaining safe online spaces. By providing clear information about content before it’s viewed, we enable you to make informed decisions about your media consumption—a better alternative than entrusting do-gooders from governments or banks to make those decisions for you.
How It Works
Rather than simply explaining how it works, you can try it out below: click the blurred image to see why it has been blurred, and then you can choose either to reveal it, or to leave it concealed. (We’re all about informed consent!)
Note that because the COSL website doesn’t have user accounts, the “Modify your content warning settings” link is non-functional in this demo, but here’s what it looks like on the Fan Refuge website (which we are currently alpha testing):
The administrator of a website using Dead Dove pre-defines a safe set of defaults, so when you first go into your settings you will likely find all of the checkboxes selected. But you can to choose to unselect them, which will override the defaults and reveal content in those categories for you specifically. This returns power to you as the user, rather than assuming that the site administrator knows best for everyone.
Adding a content warning when you post your own content is also simple, and doesn’t require any help from the administrator. Here’s what that looks like on Fan Refuge:
It’s not just graphical content that you can apply a content warning to, either. Although not all of these features are yet available to BuddyBoss users, administrators can apply content warnings to an entire post or page, to a block such as a paragraph, or even
This approach recognizes that sensitivity to content is deeply personal. What might be distressing to one person could be educational or therapeutic to another. By putting control in the hands of both creators and consumers, Dead Dove facilitates more nuanced, respectful online interactions.
What’s New in Version 2.0
Full BuddyBoss Integration
The standout feature of this release is comprehensive BuddyBoss support, bringing content warnings to:
- Activity Feeds: Users can now apply content warnings when posting to community activity streams
- Forum Posts: Both topics and replies in BuddyBoss forums can include content warning tags
- Archive Pages: Content will also be automatically blurred on image, video, and blog archive pages
Enhanced User Experience
- Accordion-Style Tag Selection: Clean, organized interface for selecting multiple content warning tags
- User Settings: A dedicated “Content Warning Settings” tab in user profiles allows easy customization
- Improved Accessibility: Better keyboard navigation and screen reader support
Looking Ahead: Geographic Compliance and Advocacy
While we celebrate this milestone, we’re already looking toward future innovations that will make Dead Dove even more powerful and compliant with rapidly-changing rules around age verification. Legal requirements around content vary dramatically across the globe. What’s considered protected speech in one country might be restricted or illegal in another. Currently, platforms handle this through either over-broad censorship (blocking content globally to satisfy the most restrictive laws) or under-protection (ignoring local regulations and putting users at risk).
The next version of Dead Dove will offer a better solution, empowering administrators to enable geolocation-based content filtering. If some of your users are located in states where certain content is illegal or requires age verification, you will be able to hide that content from them by default, rather than blocking them from your entire website.
Instead of a “Reveal this content” button, we’re even planning a “Take action!” button that will provide more information about the censorship laws that they are being affected by, and an opportunities to fight for their repeal. This creates opportunities for informed civic engagement without putting users at risk.
Conclusion
Dead Dove 2.0 represents more than just a plugin update—it’s a step toward a more nuanced, respectful Internet where user agency is preserved while communities remain safe and welcoming.
If you run a WordPress website yourself, we invite you to try Dead Dove by downloading it from the WordPress plugin page or installing directly from your admin panel. If you’re a developer, pitch in to help improve it! Dead Dove is open source software licensed under GPL 2.0. If you’re less interested in the nuts and bolts of this tool but would still like to play with it in a live environment, join as an alpha tester of Fan Refuge, the fandom community for which it was developed.
The future of content moderation doesn’t have to be a choice between censorship and chaos. With tools like Dead Dove, we can build online spaces that respect both individual autonomy and community safety.
Donate to support development
Every donation helps run and maintain projects that fall under the Supporting Fans priority area, including Dead Dove. Thank you for your support!