0631: "Anatomy Text"

[Evadman]

AAAH! NSFW. Damn you Randal!

[Norrell]

Seriously people, are Americans this shocked and sensitive over a drawing that you seriously think this comic could get you fired? As another reader pointed out, no IT-department I know of would report this, and if someone saw it over here no one would mind a drawn breast and a drawn AND slightly censored vagina...It's like fifth grade sex-ed again when the teacher said penis and half the class stares down in the tables and the other half can't stop snickering for the whole day.

I'd be more worried about being reported reading online comics instead of being reported for the graphic nature of this comic.

[Blackjack]

I'd just like to note that I'm particularly fond of the Vonnegut reference in Plate #16.

[silence9123]

Seriously people, are Americans this shocked and sensitive over a drawing that you seriously think this comic could get you fired? As another reader pointed out, no IT-department I know of would report this (...)

I'm not an American.
I am the IT departement.
And this is simply NSFW.

[diotimajsh]

I really don't get this one. Even reading others' explanations of it, it just doesn't seem at all funny to me.

[gamma-normids]

How is this NSFW?
Is a cartoon.... it's not that the vagina and breast are reals... they are drawn.

[Troy Martin]

Unfortunatly, until this strip is removed or modified, I will stop recommending this site.

Sorry for this but...
TITS OR GTFO!

Does this satisfy Rule 34 on xkcd?

You can't Rule 34 stick figures xkcd-style. It's unpossible!

On another note, I think "sudo make me a sandwich" deserves a TVtropes entry

[Steve the Pocket]

I've never been in favor of warning people when something is unsafe for work. They're not supposed to be slacking off on the Internet when they're on the clock in the first damn place! Granted, "NSFW" makes handy shorthand for "Possibly offensive content" without openly pandering to people who would be offended by it, but on the flip side of that coin I often wonder if some of the people who complain that they're viewing such-and-such a site at work are actually just offended and using work as their cover story.

Oh hey, what if Randall is planning on redesigning his site and this is his sneaky way of stopping people from viewing his site at work so he can drop IE6 support?

[pensive bosom]

We all need something to look at while our code is compiling.

[Michael of Lucan]

Sorry, the cartoon is NSFW. I am a huge fan of xkcd, and personally I found it very funny - if I was viewing it at home.

However, I work beside a young woman, and my screen is visible to her. The comic caused me a lot of embarrassment today - I am now marked down as someone who looks at dirty pictures on the net. That kind of thing can lead to sexual harassment allegations etc. and that gets you fired.

This caused me serious grief. It needs a scroll down so you don't open into it directly without warning.

[silence9123]

I've never been in favor of warning people when something is unsafe for work. They're not supposed to be slacking off on the Internet when they're on the clock in the first damn place!

You would understand if you were a developer and had code to compile.

[silence9123]

Sorry, the cartoon is NSFW. I am a huge fan of xkcd, and personally I found it very funny - if I was viewing it at home.

However, I work beside a young woman, and my screen is visible to her. The comic caused me a lot of embarrassment today - I am now marked down as someone who looks at dirty pictures on the net. That kind of thing can lead to sexual harassment allegations etc. and that gets you fired.

This caused me serious grief. It needs a scroll down so you don't open into it directly without warning.

In complete agreement, and the last line is exactly what I said in an earlier post.

[silence9123]

How is this NSFW?
Is a cartoon.... it's not that the vagina and breast are reals... they are drawn.

What about hentai ? It's drawn. It is suitable for work ?
Pardon me the expression but where do you draw the line between this and hentai ? When does it becomes offensive ?
I think this is still not offensive but it's unsuitable for work and for many more places. I once recommended this site to an much older friend. I hope he stopped visiting.

[Beacons!]

All this and I still don't understand the comic. I have never been to T.G.I.s. Plates? Cameras? WHAT IS GOING ON?!

[Sprocket]

Well, I'm turned on. Who wants to go to Denny's?

[Michael of Lucan]

I'd just like to note that I'm particularly fond of the Vonnegut reference in Plate #16.

I missed it * because I was not focusing as closely on the details as you were.

* See, I saw it.

[Wencher]

I can't believe how incredibly anal a lot of you are being, especially since you supposedly enjoy xkcd's humor to begin with. "Oh noes, yuo canot joek useing annatomies!"

Bloody murder drawings are funny and good, but a scientific-looking drawing of some pretty natural human anatomy is bad?

NSFW? You spend your day looking at comics and that's okay?

Get a grip.

[Mxermadman]

I'll still be checking XKCD, but definitely not at work anymore.


There's a distinct difference between slacking off at work by reading a webcomic and slacking off at work by reading a webcomic that features potentially offensive material.

Sure there have been some raunchy strips before, but nothing that was easily discernable from a distance. This is leaps and bounds above any other comic as far as potentially offending a passerby.

To be fair, the page has always said that it sometimes features adult humor. I just hadn't come to expect something like this from XKCD.

[Kin]

Thankyou Randall for being smart.

Plus, why the hell are people slacking off at work so much?

[eqиs]

I wish people would stop whining about how inappropriate this is because 'people could have seen it in my workplace.' Hey, hey, hey listen, listen, over here, hey listen: Maybe you should go to work, and I'm just spitballing here, NOT CRUISE THE INTERNET?!

[Wencher]

There's a distinct difference between slacking off at work by reading a webcomic and slacking off at work by reading a webcomic that features potentially offensive material.

Sure there have been some raunchy strips before, but nothing that was easily discernable from a distance. This is leaps and bounds above any other comic as far as potentially offending a passerby.

Oh god, no, we wouldn't want to offend anyone by having them see a scientific drawing of genitalia. Perhaps you and your associates are too sensitive. I'm thinking natural selection just isn't doing its job any longer.

[Dobblesworth]

3 pages of discussion, and 95% is "zomg it's nsfw" whining.

Point 1: http://xkcd.com/487/ It's been done before. http://xkcd.com/7/ and before that as well. Possibly several other times in that intervening 480, and the following 140-150. Get a grip.

Point 2: "I check this webcomic at work"; well then, fail less at browsing and/or slack harder. Take your web browser, and shrink the window down quite significantly; I'm talking 1/3 screen width, 1/4 screen height or less. I slacked tonnes in my work placement on xkcd fora and kept suspicion well away from me. Just make sure you have something weighty and work-looking maximised as a background, or two even. You're only gonna get caught looking at 'naughty stick figure pr0n' if you have it maximised across a pair of widescreen monitors on a dual screen setup.

Point 3: Get back to work perhaps?

[Michael of Lucan]

There's a distinct difference between slacking off at work by reading a webcomic and slacking off at work by reading a webcomic that features potentially offensive material.

Sure there have been some raunchy strips before, but nothing that was easily discernable from a distance. This is leaps and bounds above any other comic as far as potentially offending a passerby.

Oh god, no, we wouldn't want to offend anyone by having them see a scientific drawing of genitalia. Perhaps you and your associates are too sensitive. Natural selection just isn't doing its job any longer.

You and others are missing the point. We are not offended at all by the cartoon. I thought it was one of the best yet. The presentation caused us problems, not the content.

Our problem is that we use PCs in places where offence may be caused to OTHER people. These other people may be our families if we are at home, or work mates if we are at work. Whatever we think personally, these people can cause serious aggravation for us, if they think we are deliberately viewing "obscene pictures".

I often scoot around the net at my lunch break, and I normally hit xkcd at some point. I can actually be fired for viewing "pornographic images" at work, or for sexual harassment by exposing a female workmate to what she views as obscene.

That is the norm in the modern workplace. If you are not aware of it, I suggest you find a full-time job or, if you have one, read the office manual or ask your HR people about internet use and sexual harassment.

We expect that a web site like xkcd will not suddenly expose us to NSFW images, without warning us. The difficulty here was that the images were large, and readily visible from a distance - unlike earlier ones that people have referred to.

[sweet_concorde]

I once wanted to show XKCD to my dad. The comic that day was kind of embarrassing. I clicked Random, and got another one that was pretty awkward. (Er, sorry, its... uh.. a funny comic... really. Oh bother).

For those of you who are shocked in a surprised and outraged manner (I read this at work! Others can see my screen!): This is not the first XKCD comic that isn't work-appropriate. There are many of these that you probably don't want to read with your coworker/father/etc. looking over your shoulder. I hope we have all learned a valuable lesson here.

eta: there have been stick figures being eaten out, for chrissake.

[Wencher]

You and others are missing the point. We are not offended at all by the cartoon. I thought it was one of the best yet. The presentation caused us problems, not the content.

Our problem is that we use PCs in places where offence may be caused to OTHER people. These other people may be our families if we are at home, or work mates if we are at work. Whatever we think personally, these people can cause serious aggravation for us, if they think we are deliberately viewing "obscene pictures".

I often scoot around the net at my lunch break, and I normally hit xkcd at some point. I can actually be fired for viewing "pornographic images" at work, or for sexual harassment by exposing a female workmate to what she views as obscene.

That is the norm in the modern workplace. If you are not aware of it, I suggest you find a full-time job or, if you have one, read the office manual or ask your HR people about internet use and sexual harassment.

We expect that a web site like xkcd will not suddenly expose us to NSFW images, without warning us. The difficulty here was that the images were large, and readily visible from a distance - unlike earlier ones that people have referred to.

Perhaps you're missing the point - I work full-time and discreetly view comics in my spare time. If your screen is visible to everyone and you aren't competent enough to point out that it's a comic site for anyone who might be absurd enough to be offended... then do only work related material on your work system.

[Earlz]

I thought it was pretty funny. a Scroll down would have been nice, say for school or something. But at work I don't think you should be looking at comics anyway. (and I am a coder with code to compile. my code compiles in a maximum of 1 minute(though a full build in big projects I'm aware can take hours. but who does full builds?)... you guys should be reworking your build system to be competent if its taking that long with modern machines, rather than looking at comics in your free time)

Don't get so anal(lol) about this. xkcd will never be modified, or at least I hope not.. though this joke is a little... raunchy.. so a warning or something would have been nice. Everything funny makes sexual jokes, but I've yet to see something like this so up in your face about it...

and forumites.. in this forum you are allowed to say fuck. That for one says this is not a professional community.. go to Dilbert's site if you want something like that.

And I've never been one to think hentai would be safe for work or school...

[Maximus_Light]

Perhaps this is just because I liked to study a lot of anatomy/physiology as part of my Bio minor, but those pictures had to come from somewhere even the drawing, I mean you don't think people just make this stuff up do you. /rhetorical
So you know, go figure eh?

_{I suppose being a person who draws and appreciates the human body in a non-perverted sense helps to.}

[Doritos]

And I still didn't get the joke on this one.
Or at leas, I did not found this as funny os others claim to be.

[lordlicorice]

And wanted to hang a lampshade on it.

No oh god NO
Literally my browser now

[Saint Cad]

This comic has confirmed what we all suspected: Megan believes in the "scorched earth" policy of personal grooming.



Either that or it's all been worn off

[tfk]

I don't understand the comic, and am accessing xkcd via http://xkcd.com/435/ for the day to avoid casual observers getting the wrong impression.
It is perhaps bad that I am so easily embarrassed, but I am pretty sure that most people accessing the site from a public terminal (or from work) feel the same way.

[Eugo]

I'll still be checking XKCD, but definitely not at work anymore.

I will. But then, I'm a telecommunist.

To be fair, the page has always said that it sometimes features adult humor. I just hadn't come to expect something like this from XKCD.

What is all this, folks? I'd understand if it were about Disney showing a dick, the company which was insanely puritan since about 2.43 forevers already, that'd really be an about-face. But I don't remember xkcd ever giving a vow of celibacy or any such thing.

As if you never expected your parents to fuck. C'mon, you're born, guys. There's about just one way for that to happen (and in case of other ways, this one is tried first).

I simply can't believe this. A population of geeks and nerds (that I assume are the main audience here) is all of a sudden all working for priests? Anathema te for just flashing a drawn tit on your monitor? What has this country come to... and nobody gets fired for looking at gory images from CSI, which show human anatomy in far more detail? Sheesh...

[Wulf Reigns]

I'm not sure if it's been said already, but I find it funny that in the fourth panel, there's a speech balloon ("RUN!") 'censoring' Megan, considering the first two panels...

[tfk]

I'm not sure if it's been said already, but I find it funny that in the fourth panel, there's a speech balloon ("RUN!") 'censoring' Megan, considering the first two panels...

It would have been more subtle without the first two panels, and I might have remained on the page long enough to think about it and chuckle.

[umop ap!sdn]

Funny comic cause it's true!
Ok... maybe not at a place as classy as a Friday's. But I've been to a Denny's where I'm sure there were some elicit things going on in the booth behind me. Sprocket, wasn't you by chance?!?

Also the font used to label each item was a nice touch.

I once wanted to show XKCD to my dad. The comic that day was kind of embarrassing. I clicked Random, and got another one that was pretty awkward. (Er, sorry, its... uh.. a funny comic... really. Oh bother).

Not to be crude.. but your dad knows about bras (if not apologize to your mom for me). I'm sure he's struggled with them as much as the rest of us. He might find the comic clever and funny.

And to all those who are all bent out of shape over some educational style drawings of body parts... "Lighten up Francis!"
It's not porn. Would it have been nice for a NSFW notice? Sure if you work for nazi's. Which if you are... why are you slacking in the first place?

And to all those who will never recommend XKCD to anyone evar!!!!!!!1!!! I say again "Lighten up Francis!" You don't make the comics, so what if they see a boob on the on a web comic you recommended... maybe they will think the comic is funny and want to be your BFF because they realize you share a similar sense of humor? What a happy ending that would be!

[Chfan]

I don't like the comic because the joke REALLY ISN'T FUNNY AT ALL- it's just mainly "lol look boobies."

[Kimmeh]

Hmm. Am I detecting a "Holier then Thou" vibe? I'm at work, making this comic more inappropriate than if read at home. It's still the same comic. Anyways, once you saw that the comic was NSFW, did you close it out or did you continue reading to see what Randall provided for us today? Personally if I saw it at school I would have quickly switched tabs. I'd probably mention to the few people at school who read xkcd, that today's comic wasn't safe to check at school. Hell, I'd probably stop by the IT office and let him know, as he reads it as well. But that still wouldn't get blocked nor would I be in trouble.

And in case you missed it, Randall made a good point. You don't know the context behind the picture. How many of you have thought "Oh, I don't have anything to do right now, so I'm going to take a picture of my anatomy to post on wikipedia"? For all you know, it could be a picture someone was going to send to their Significant Other or post somewhere most definitely NSFW.

So seriously, take a deep breath and chill.

[Xutar]

Just a quit warning to people hoping to check this. The top two results for "human genitals" on wikipedia are "Genital modification and mutilation" and "Genital Cutting".

[Ekeda]

WTF?

WTF?

[Eugo]

Just a quit warning to people hoping to check this. The top two results for "human genitals" on wikipedia are "Genital modification and mutilation" and "Genital Cutting".

Human anatomy is nice. Mutilation and cutting is definitely ugly.