
Back to the Future Photo Project (NSFW) - DanielRibeiro
http://irinawerning.com/bttf2/back-to-the-future-2-2011/
======
rit
The amount of hyperbole and ranting on the NSFW angle to me on this thread
over the last day is rather disappointing.

One should not think of the NSFW tag as a comment on morality, puritanism or
anything else. It is simply a common part of netiquette which developed as a
courtesy.

"Hey, there is some stuff in this link such as nudity, questionable content,
etc which _may_ be an issue for you if you are at work, sitting in public or
somewhere else potentially sensitive. Just a heads up!"

All it is meant to do is let you know. Some people work in schools, libraries
or other places where this isn't OK. Not to mention that while many of us
don't have any issues with nudity, myself included, we might not want to
browse it at work.

Get over the whole "Oh my god $XYZ is so full of prudes, in my country this is
totally OK" and appreciate the fact that it's considered polite.

~~~
rickmb
I was going to agree with you _before_ I actually clicked the link.

Any place where this is NSFW has some serious issues. Sure, I know such places
exists, but you cannot expect submitters to constantly be aware of such
outliers any time they submit a link. Otherwise we would constantly have to
check a whole list of obscure cultural sensitivities around the planet.

You want an NSFW tag for this utterly harmless link, just ask politely. But
don't accuse people for whom it's genuinely hard to imagine why this would be
an issue of being impolite.

~~~
thom
I feel like a prude now, but you saw the boobs, right?

~~~
sliverstorm
And to preclude the "But it is art!" argument, the point of NSFW is what you
think about it being art has no bearing on what your boss thinks.

~~~
bretthoerner
And rickmb's point is that some people may not even realize that this would be
NSFW in some places. Not everyone is an American or knows how prudish people
are here.

~~~
lotharbot
rickmb said _"Sure, I know such places exists"_ \-- and anyone here who didn't
know has now been informed. "I didn't know" is no longer a valid excuse.

Once you understand that nudity is a big no-no in some workplaces, it's
_impolite_ to leave off the NSFW label.

~~~
bretthoerner
That's why I said "some people".

"but you cannot expect submitters to constantly be aware of such outliers any
time they submit a link. Otherwise we would constantly have to check a whole
list of obscure cultural sensitivities around the planet"

Of course _you_ know what's not allowed at your work. Do you keep tabs on
everything else? I hope so! There are thousands of different cultures out
there, better not miss any!

~~~
lotharbot
It's not a matter of keeping tabs on every possible cultural taboo. True
outliers aren't the issue here. Be aware of _common_ issues for _the audience
of the website you're posting on_ , and label appropriately. Given the
audience for HN, _nudity of any kind, sexual content (including text), and
profanity in audio/video_ are all issues for a large enough percentage of the
audience that they should have the NSFW label. (If you were not previously
aware of these taboos, you are now.)

My own "workplace" is home; I'm a full-time parent, and not at all worried
about being fired. But I recognize the issues that are common for others, and
label my posts appropriately. Please have the courtesy to do the same.

~~~
sliverstorm
The first clue on common issues being this site is in English. Not to take an
Anglo-centric point of view, but odds are the _overwhelming_ majority of HN
readers work somewhere with Western workplace values.

(Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the 'NSFW' tag is quite appropriate
in all the main English hubs- USA, UK, Canada, Australia, probably even
Singapore)

------
DanielN
So, I flagged this post as not relevant to HN, and normally that would be the
only action I would take. But I'm kind of curious as to why this is being up-
voted so much.

Is there some element of this site that is legitimately within the purview of
links appropriate for HN (<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>)?

It is getting enough votes that I am curious if there is some deeper element
that I'm missing other than just the ascetic interest of it.

~~~
melling
It's quite creative. As developers, entrepreneurs, etc., shouldn't we be
nurturing this very hard to qualify talent?

~~~
rmc
Nah, its just arty creative, not hacker creative.

~~~
MartinCron
Serious question: Do you really feel there's a material difference? There was
creativity in concept and extremely masterful technical execution. Feels
pretty "hackerly" to me.

------
sanderson1
Very well done. My favorite is the image of the kid chipping away at the
Berlin Wall and then having it gone when he's older. Things can drastically
change in a lifetime (or a quarter of a lifetime)

~~~
robflynn
I hate to simply chime in with an "I agree," but that specific image achieved
a verbal "Oh, Wow" from me.

Awesome.

~~~
dredmorbius
One, in my case, that was delayed a few moments while I tried to grok why the
second photo obviously wasn't taken in the same location as the first ... and
then ... oh, it was.

The lives that wall divided.

------
jxcole
Please change the title to include the string NSFW.

[EDIT: Thanks for updating. Nudity, no matter how innocent, should probably
have this warning.]

~~~
kleiba
Just out of curiosity: what is it that makes you think the pictures aren't
SFW? Is it the nudity? This a serious question, as I suppose you're saying
it's NSFW in the US, but I don't think there would be a problem in my country.

Thanks.

EDIT: Okay, from the comments so far I now understand it's not so much that
there's nudity in some of the pictures, but that some of them contain
children. Even though it's still nuts I think (not all pictures containing
nudity are pornographic, and none of the ones here are even close to
pornography), I get the idea now. Thanks again.

~~~
rmc
Photos of topless women are usually not suitable in most western workplaces.

~~~
tjogin
The one in this specific example is likely ok in most western workplaces,
outside of the US. Europeans don't freak out nearly as much over this kind of
stuff as Americans do. It isn't porn, as anyone with a pair of eyes can
clearly see.

~~~
teach
True, but in America the the 'before' photo is especially problematic. Though
it clearly isn't pornographic, a topless (presumably) under-aged girl is
potentially job-hazardous.

For example, I'm a public high-school teacher; I'm quite glad I waiting until
I was home from work to check out the link. Having that image in my work
browser cache is a risk I'd prefer not to take.

~~~
cobrausn
Also, we are very litigation happy over here. If I were a workplace, I'd be
worried about a lawsuit over a 'hostile work environment' to be honest.

------
kleiba
This is awesome! The German Wall pictures are among my favorites.

In case you'd like to send your praise to the artist: irinawerning@yahoo.com

------
dogshoes
Just as a warning for those reading the comments before the linked article: at
least one of the photos is NSFW.

~~~
VladRussian
agree, missing Berlin Wall photos may be offending to your conservative co-
workers as an "in-your-face" reminder that the human race progress can't be
stopped.

~~~
randallsquared
It's entertaining that you picked a subject that can be used perfectly both
ways. ;)

~~~
VladRussian
the difference between Communist Party bosses back in the USSR/Germany and
right wing conservatives in the US today is only superficial. So, i'm not sure
how you can have it both ways.

------
DanBC
_"Maartje 1990 & 2011 Amsterdam"_ is going to be really tricky for people in
England. The sexual offences act makes that kind of photo pretty much illegal
for anyone, with narrow exceptions for law enforcement doing their job.

Maybe context would provide some kind of defence - but still the disruption to
a person's life (computers seized; suspended from work; possible court cases;
etc etc) are still significant.

To post such content without an NSFW[1] warning is stupid.

~~~
rplnt
Let's say it's an art. See dozens of movies where you can see naked teens or
even children, movies which are still publicly available and no ones computers
are being seized. Also millions of family photo albums contain this kind of
imagery.

~~~
DanBC
> _no ones computers are being seized._

Yes they are.

> _Also millions of family photo albums contain this kind of imagery_

and people taking these kind of photos today[1] are being reported to the
police.

[1] at least, a few years ago when people were using film.

------
soamv
Part 1: <http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/>

~~~
jeroen
Part 1 is NSFW in exactly the same way as part 2. See
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3253422>

------
Zimahl
While not professionally done (and some done much better than others), this is
quite similar to 'Young me, Now me':

<http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme/>

~~~
noblethrasher
Neat. An interesting alternative title is 'Old me, New me'.

------
scottyallen
Wow, this is really phenomenal. It's amazing to see how little some people
change versus how much others do.

------
chrismealy
FYI, that's Billy Bragg in the Riff Raff photo

------
nomdeplume
I found the link interesting and am glad it was posted on here. If not the
content itself, then certainly the ensuing conversation is relevant to HN. The
fact that sexuality is so taboo in our culture yet motivates humans at the
most basic level is fascinating. Others question why this link and not others
get so much attention, which is another HN relevant issue. Maybe more people
saw it at the same time and the sudden influx of upvotes sent it on its way.

------
dudurocha
This is fricking awesome. For some reason, I really love 'back to the future'
'before and after' photographs.

One thing I noticed its how good the Argentinians age.

------
aw3c2
This is weird, the sidebar says "All Photographs © Irina Werning" but it seems
obvious that the old photos were not taken by her.

~~~
cjbprime
Not having taken the photos doesn't mean that she doesn't currently hold the
copyright to them. It would be easy for her to have a copyright transfer from
the original photographer be a condition for inclusion in her project.

(Also, I expect that there would be a separate copyrightable work for the
combination of the old and new pictures, and the compilation of the series as
a whole.)

------
danbmil99
someone is pretty serious about color matching

~~~
Adaptive
(You might already be aware of this, but it's relevant to the post and others
might be curious.)

I'm sure that more effort than this was put into the color matching, but the
Photoshop color match function allows for statistical sampling of an
image/layer and applies those values to an existing image.

It can produce the same results and is one of the hidden gems of Photoshop
that few users take advantage of. Not a filter, it's one of the adjustments.

------
mef
Life truism: you will get saggier.

------
Revisor
Being labeled as NSFW on HN is for me the more interesting part of the link.

Don't you dare visit the page. There is at least one underage girl in
underwear and a pair of developed female breasts.

Also a naked toddler!

Is it SFW if you know the girl in underwear is from Amsterdam?

------
thinkbohemian
NSFW

------
xbryanx
nsfw fyi

------
aMoniker
The first image is currently being used in an anti-smoking ad which I saw
yesterday in the London Underground.

------
gautams
Wow!

------
genieyclo
This is not hacker news.

~~~
gbog
Agreed, the number of wow-answers seem to correlate, maybe wow should be
counted as downvote?

