It takes all of about 0.3 seconds to identify an image of tubgirl on a computer screen and 0.2 seconds after that to scroll passed. Amounting to a total viewable time of 0.5 seconds in which tubgirl or similar gaping anus, shit, Hentai picture will be visible to said employer. The probabilities of your boss looking over your shoulder at that exact moment are low, even lower if you know you shouldn't be stealing company bandwidth and quickly alt-tab the browser whenever your boss comes near. Thus severley limiting the possibility of tubgirl being witnessed by said employer. I know, as that's about how long it takes me to do at work myself, which I have done on many occasions.
Vault Dweller said:
That's exactly my thoughts on this matter: it's not clever, not cool, and idiotic.
How is that relevant to this discussion though? Half of what people write on this forum is not clever, not cool and definately idiotic to quite some degree. Will we start editing and banning those people's posts too? Will we begin to judge everything on the forum and will anything that is "not clever, not cool and idiotic" be removed? Actually, that would get rid of Volourn once and for all... Probably a few other annoying posters too. But what about that "O RLY" picture spree a while back? That's not exactly "unsafe for work" but some people saw it as annoying and totally "uncool".
Vault Dweller said:
Even an occasionally posted picture can do the damage we are trying to prevent
What damage is that, exactly? How many people are we scaring off with our images as opposed to the sheer amount that are scared off by the crap we post? I'd argue the latter is more prevalent than the former as I recall some people commenting about "our attitude" being what keeps them away, as opposed to the odd picture of tubgirl specifically.
Vault Dweller said:
What's "in moderation". How much is too much? Is once a week ok? Once a day? Once a month?
That's an issue moderators deal with on a daily basis. At what point do we move a thread into Retardo Land? At what point does someone get the dumfuck tag? At what point does Volourn's "OMG u stop stalking me" start to get annoying? A moderator who can't make those judgements shouldn't be a moderator because that's what moderates do, they
moderate.
Vault Dweller said:
And why do we need this shit at all? Because it's so witty, and great, and awesome to look at?
Again, completely irrelevant to the argument you're trying to make. We're either removing these because it's about poor defenseless people at work who have rights or it's because we think tubgirl is "uncool" and "old". If it's the latter, I'm strongly against it because "who made that decision"? Sure tubgirl and goatse are old. That's partly the point. But what about all the other jokes, images and shenanigans that very quickly get "old"?
Your other argument on "NSFW" has more merit but again, there are an awful lot of chances for a boss to fire someone and what about that poor sod who does get tricked by that hidden link and does get fired? Is it really his fault he clicked on an "Interview with Tim Cain" and went off to answer the phone only to come back and find tubgirl glaring at him from his PC screen and his boss standing over it?
If we're going to go ahead and ban all NSFW pics, then I'd also like a definition on what those images are because so far, again, you've said judegemental words like "uncool" and "idiotic" and not specifics like "porn" or "contains faeces". When I was in the South Australian Government, viewing anything game-related was "NSFW". That has meant me being awfully careful about even looking at screenshots of computer games while at work. Is it just going to be things remotely pornographic, are harlequin fetuses included and what about that hentai thread? Are such threads going to be banned on the Codex now?
With that said, I don't think the Codex should become a "free-for-all" but there is the odd occasion when tricking someone to click on tubgirl or posting it openly just for the hell of it is humourus to some degree (as in that NSFW thread previously which ended with the comment "I'm not going to look at this thread again because it's going to be full of NSFW images"). There are also some links which should be edited out like those ones that crash your computer with a hundred-thousand never-ending pop-ups.
... but we don't need specific blanket forum rules. We don't need a "Rules for teh forums lawlz" sticky thread in GD. Blanket rules have always been completely daft and unenforceable. Particularly ones made on such personally judgemental issues because an image is deemed "old" and "no longer funny" by one or two of the moderators.
What the Codex does need is good solid moderation on an ongoing basis like we have historically had. Even then it's only to grab the things that get out of control like Volourn's posts in site feedback or moving some of the more stupid "Will my PC run Oblivion" copycat threads into Retardo Land. That's why Retardo Land was created and it's also why we don't moderate everything to death. Almost everything is acceptable
in moderation. It was at the core of why the Codex forums were set up to be so "liberal" in the first place.