The bizarre world of DNIs
Virtue signalling meets oversharing and protection against unwanted critics
As someone formerly invested in the world of fandom and weeb-ery, one thing that mystified me- and continues to- is the wonderful thing known as a Carrd and the accompanying Do Not Interacts (DNIs).
For those of you not in the know-how, Carrd is a website building platform whose speciality is creating one-page, interactive click websites. The website gained popularity among…a…very particular group of people online who repurposed this website’s specialities into a place to describe themselves to people online.
A DNI, meanwhile, refers to a set of criteria in which a person should not be interacting with another user for various reasons. The criteria ranges from the realm of understandable (eg a person who shares explicit content asking people under 18 to not see their content), to absolutely crazy (eg someone asking someone who supports a certain pairing in a show to not interact with them because it interferes with another ship).
Here is an example of what I’m talking about.
This is certainly on the milder side in terms of the kinds of the kind of carrds you find online. Here is a slightly crazier one.
Typically, these carrds will be displayed in a person’s profile online on a website like Twitter or Instagram. More often than not, people are asked to read the individual’s Carrd before they decide to follow them.
You might be wondering: why has this culture come about? Why are teenagers (or possibly older people) proudly listing that you shouldn’t interact with them if you are a “racist” or “ship Reylo” on a website usually meant for professionals to make portfolios for employers?
It would be a good place for me to start with the how rather than the why of DNIs. Like many other things, it all started on Tumblr. During the website’s heyday, people would list their DNIs, either on their profiles or in certain posts.
The DNIs served various functions: firstly, it was a way for these Tumblr users to protect themselves from interacting with potential critics of their ideas, especially if they discussed what were considered fresh and controversial issues back then, like the concept of third genders, the definition of “lesbian” beyond “homosexual female” or the validity of self-diagnosing mental illness. It was also a way for people to virtue-signal their politics because they wouldn’t want to interact with a “problematic group” like racists or “fatphobic” people. And lastly, it was a way for them to connect with others and filter out their potential friend bubble by only interacting with people who likely had similar bios as themselves and listed similar DNIs.
After Tumblr got purged thanks to the ban on NSFW content, DNI culture continued to exist outside the platform. Notably this was done through website platforms like Listography and Pronoun-y for those who used those functions.
However Carrd quickly emerged as the one stop shop for people to describe themselves in a single website, likely due to the greater customisability of the website compared to competitors, as well as how it was often mobile-friendly. Of course there are now competitors like Linktree and people simply using on-site functions like “About Me” Twitter threads or Instagram stories, but Carrd is still definitely popular and in use by those in online fandoms to briefly describe themselves and what they expect of you. While obviously a different format, the DNIs still have the same function: protection against potential critics, a way of virtue signalling your politics, and a way of filtering out your friend bubble.
Now are these DNIs effective? Well, yes and no.
“Yes” in the sense that more often than not, people who aren’t plugged into the scene or outside the progressive bubble would likely ignore these people; and not really so much because they know they are a racist and like Swiper from Dora the Explorer, they back off because the person said “RACIST! DO NOT INTERACT!”
However, undoubtedly a lot of these people would eventually stumble across one of their political enemies at some point, or with a troll who saw their DNIs and decided it would be funny to send harassment messages with their DNI topics included.
The fundamental flaw of DNIs is the fact that it assumes that by openly advertising people what not to talk to them about, it serves like a boundary in a relationship and a way for supposed healthy interaction. However, unlike boundaries where it’s often personal and just between the individuals in that relationship, this is publicly displayed information. It is essentially low-hanging bait for a troll to take advantage of. Plus, as a benefit for the troll, the trolling will be effective considering that most of these people are encouraged to engage in emotionally fragile behaviours and will likely react to their nasty DMs.
The other big flaw is how most people with DNIs seem to assume that others who have similar profiles to them are being truthful in the information they display on their profiles. There are certainly individuals out there who believe that the more information they share through their carrd or profile, the more they believe they can trust them.
If you grew up around the early 2000s or earlier, this would probably raise major alarm bells because we were encouraged to do the opposite and to never trust information given by strangers online, or to be at least very skeptical. It’s odd how in today’s age, these kids seem to get the opposite message and believe that the more a stranger gives information about themselves online, the more they can put their trust in them. And they believe every word that these people say too! It almost never occurs to these people that it’s possible for 15 year old she/they/bun “Hecate” who ships Cloud Strife and Sephiroth might actually be 40 year old Jeff the pedophile. They are seemingly so impressionable or naive to believe that it’s possible for a person to lie about their personal identity online (unless it’s their political enemies, which is fair game in that case).
Out of all the things I could have chosen to write about for my first post, I chose DNIs due to my fascination with them as a phenomenon.
They are almost the perfect storm in terms of what’s wrong with the online youth culture of today: dogmatic positions in progressive politics, emotional fragility, obsession with identity, unhealthy attachments to media, oversharing on the Internet and youths in general losing their sense of skepticism online in an effort to find a place to belong.
It is a very odd social practice to say the least, considering that anyone who proudly wears a badge that states they will refuse to interact with a “fatphobe” IRL will be thoroughly mocked by normal society. It is essentially a way for people to shelter themselves from interacting with “undesirable” people and hearing criticisms under the guise of “bigotry”, but to also share a lot of alleged personal information without even showing one’s face. While DNIs are ultimately small potatoes compared to wider issues in fandom culture or the “culture war” at large, they are certainly a clear symptom of the many problems the world experiences today, one that can only be fostered through the Internet and Web 3.0.