Is "NSFW" commonly understood?

[toicontien]

I'm in a ebate at work on whether we should use the term "NSFW" on one of our web sites with user generated content. Until my coworker explained that it stands for Not Safe For Work, I was totally clueless what he was talking about. I'd never heard of it.

He says NSFW is very commonly used on the Internet. A simple google search for nsfw shows a bunch of hits, but is it commonly used enough, and understood enough to use on our Web site? Us. The site owners. Use NSFW, and not just users in casual online conversation.

I don't like it. It's jargon and I have a bitter hatred for jargon. I like plain English. NSFW, if you don't know the meaning, is completely useless. I think it's OK to explain that something is "not safe for work", but to actually tag it as NSFW I'm not so keen on.

What does everyone think. Is NSFW commonly used and understood to the point that a commercial web site can use it in its official language and as a way to categorize content?

And to add on, people used to use "RSS" in the icons for RSS feeds. Now they use a stylized "broadcast-waves-of-energy" icon. The same should happen with NSFW. I like the concept, but hate the name. I think we need a symbol that says "the following content might not be suitable in a work environment or if you view it around other people." Attached to this post is my badly implemented idea.

[WebJoel]

I no whut u meen. 7ral pepl at mi last wurk place spel bad 'n' grammer not gr8 tu. :mad: It P.O. me off 2, -bigtyme.

[drhowarddrfine]

I never heard of it till just now.
Another one I've started noticing lately is 'wrt'. I thought they were just mistyping but finally figured out it means something. Anyone know?

[WebJoel]

Unless you heard or saw in it an AOL-kiddie/teen chatroom on a Friday or Saturday night, "with regards to" (maybe)?
If a pre-pubescent teenager used this, it means "Jimmy's mom is kinda hot", I think... :p

[drhowarddrfine]

That seems to fit.

[NogDog]

Never heard of NSFW myself.

[felgall]

It is a mis-spelling of NSEW isn't it? As in which direction do you want to go in.

[toicontien]

:D You see, this was my point exactly, although my coworker says they anyone who posts on a forum, or goes to NASCAR's web site, or ESPN's web site, or USA Today's website, and all the major car forums, know that NSFW means Not Safe For Work. My coworker also said that techies have never heard of it. I'm willing to bet 99% of the people out there haven't heard of it, and no offense to all of us working on the Web, but I've never looked to the WWW for meaningful labels and commonly understood language.

The word "blog" was brought up in our discussions, saying that blog is a commonly used term. Yes, it is. It's a WORD. Not an abbreviation. And when did the public first hear about "blogs"? During a presidential election wherein it was repeated incessantly by the news media.

<stab type="political/satire">I think that "blog" won the election, and since "blog" isn't a real person so George Bush won by default.</stab>

NSFW is used by forum users who represent about 1% of the car owning/enthusiast population.

[KDLA]

First, I've never heard of that, and part of my job is internet policy writing. Like Felgall, at first glance I thought this was a mistyped directional reference.

Secondly, why the heck are we labeling things "not safe for work"? Wouldn't that be dependent upon the type of work you do??? To me, "not safe for work" would mean something explicitly graphic - either gory or pornographic.

And, too, if you're relying on something to tell you whether or not you should look at the website, then you're pretty clueless as to your employer's expectations of how you use your work time. (Not only standing on a soapbox, but also on tippy-toe....) Seems to me "NSFW" is about as intellectually insulting as usage of "click here" buttons.

[Watts]

1. What she said.

2. What she said x 2.

3. If you absolutely needed something like that, then I'd do a skull & crossbones gif. I think that'd get the message across universally.

[toicontien]

KDLA, I couldn't agree with you more, but we have members on our site who really want this. Since our content is user-generated, we don't have immediate control over it. Besides, this is really going to be a "bikini filter" more or less. I'd even venture to say it's a "politeness filter." Either way, our members would like to turn on the equivalent of Google Safe Search when surfing our site, and a fair amount of the page views come during business hours.

We had a huge debate over terminology for this content filter, everything from "family filter" to "mature content filter" to "NSFW filter" to "not-safe-for-work filter" to "work filter". And I mean round and round and round and round about this too. Our criteria for flagging content was basically if the content would be against work policies, or you could get fired, or you wouldn't feel comfortable viewing it in front of your boss, then it should be flagged. And NSFW is literally all over the Web if you do a google search for it (prepare to be barraged by links to porn sites).

For some reason, "content filter" just wasn't good enough. I don't know. I just don't see the point in minutely explaining every detail of the content filter. It filters content that might not be appropriate for work. We don't need to plaster it all over the site. A simple "content filtered" graphic should suffice. We don't need an NSFW stamp on it.

[WebJoel]

It is a mis-spelling of NSEW isn't it? As in which direction do you want to go in.
Or territories west of Pennsylvania and to the northwest of the Ohio River (a.k.a. "Northwest Territories") in the late 1700's USA, -or a modern-day Canadian Province maybe.... Or is this just another shining example of our education system that now Johnny can't spell "NEWS" (because he's been fixatin' in Jimmy's mom again the lil' perve...) :p

....is about as intellectually insulting as usage of "click here" buttons. Thank you! I've had a rush of queries on why this should/should not be used. I'm going to stop telling that is is un-indexable as it is semantically meaningless to search 'bots due to it's non-relevance of the actual destination of the hyperlink (and not even to mention it's rampant over-use in decade+ past) I'm just going to start saying that it is "intellectually insulting" and let the client draw their own infernace as their rankngs go down in flames, -great line, that. ;)

[tracknut]

While I've heard of NSFW for years, I agree with your thesis - it's essentially a trendy internet abbreviation, no different from all the other goofy AOL/text message/g33k things. Most normal adult* web sites don't use these as if they were actual words.

WRT = "with respect to".. and that's been around longer than the internet, I'd guess.

Dave

* whoops. YKWIM

[WebJoel]

.. and that's been around longer than the internet, I'd guess.
So have I. -We really should thank Bob Dole for creating the internet... remember his foopah a few years ago when he said that he was responsible for creating the internet...? About as laughable as a South Carolina's beauty contestant's recent responce to the question about school students whom cannot find The United States of America on a world map and she gave a dissertation on the peoples of South Africa... :o
I like that question that was placed on High School exams a decade ago 'for extra credit' basically, asking the students 'What is the name of the country that is between The U.S. and Canada' and by golly a surprising number of students actually had an answer for that! :eek:

[drhowarddrfine]

The word "blog" was brought up in our discussions, saying that blog is a commonly used term. Yes, it is. It's a WORD. Not an abbreviation.Actually, it's short for weblog from when people would 'log' their activities on the web. I first heard that term from a caller on NPR just three or four years ago.

[tracknut]

We really should thank Bob Dole for creating the internet...
Bob Dole? I thought that was Al Gore. Or maybe he invented global warming. I can't remember...

Dave

[WebJoel]

Bob Dole? I thought that was Al Gore. Or maybe he invented global warming. I can't remember...

Dave You're correct! Al Gore! (sheez!). -Was having over-the-shoulder conversation in 'round-a-bout way about Dole (the Viagara ad... -could you imagine that old man on a Viagara I.V.-drip?? Yikes!), and typed what I was saying, not what I meant to post (& not changing my post with my super-mod editing powers).
thx! :D

[toicontien]

Actually, it's short for weblog from when people would 'log' their activities on the web. I first heard that term from a caller on NPR just three or four years ago.
Correct. I should have explained it differently. You can say "blog" as a word. You have to enunciate all the letters in the term NSFW. Easier to say means easier to understand.

[David Harrison]

As far as I was aware, everyone on the entire planet knew what NSFW meant, or at least those who work in office environments and like to surf the net when bored.

[LiLcRaZyFuZzY]

Being active on photography forums, i do also know what NSFW means,
I guess it's used as acronym because it's mostly placed in thread titles

for example:
David Harrison the pool boy (NSFW)

[felgall]

Can someone please explain what "Not Safe For Work" means as I have never come across that term before. I assume it is a very specialised term and so would only be actually known to those people involved in the small area where the term gets used.

NSFW is not an acronym because it cannot be said as if it were a word.

[David Harrison]

Not Safe For Work means exactly what it sounds like it means, I don't see where any confusion comes in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSFW

[toicontien]

The general consensus I've gotten so far is that people who work in an office and post regularly on forums know what NSFW means. I'm still not sure if a Web site needs that scrawled all over itself. I think if your boss walked by and saw "NSFW" on the screen, they'd assume you're trying to look for porn. That's why a simple "filtered content" graphic or label is perfect. It's filtered and there's no indication as to how severe the content is.

[gizmo]

There's a whole big world out there besides the USA and I doubt if any of them have heard of the expression.

[KDLA]

There's a whole big world out there besides the USA and I doubt if any of them have heard of the expression.

Well, there are some of us from rural areas of the USA, too, that haven't heard of the expression. :p

[felgall]

So does "not safe for work" have something to do with workplace safety laws then - such as the microwave in the office kitchen having to be inspected every two years so as to be tagged to indicate that it is safe? (I think all the computers are supposed to be inspected and tagged every two years too).

[drhowarddrfine]

I assume it means if your boss catches you looking at it, you could get in trouble.

[toicontien]

Yup. That sums it up drhowarddrfine.

[rhsunderground]

what kind of content is this? when i get emails that say NSFW, some mean they're funny videos that happen to have offensive language. others because they have other content that is not work-appropriate (luckily those emails are becoming few and far between). if it's an image site, such as photography, and users submit nude photos, then there are obviously places that these pictures should and should not be seen. if it's videos, then you should consider whether or not you would want to have this content in the first place.

[felgall]

I assume it means if your boss catches you looking at it, you could get in trouble.

That would be any web site that you are not supposed to be visiting in order to do your job and so which sites it would be would depend on what sort of work you do. 99.999% of web sites would be not safe for work by that definition for most jobs and with many jobs it would be 100% of sites.

[LiLcRaZyFuZzY]

That would be any web site that you are not supposed to be visiting in order to do your job and so which sites it would be would depend on what sort of work you do. 99.999% of web sites would be not safe for work by that definition for most jobs and with many jobs it would be 100% of sites.


It's simply a sort of warning placed next to a link to prevent any..troubles to the visitor, it's mostly used on sites that have mixed content (for example, some lanscape and some artistic nudes photos), but not on entirely glamour/nude photo sites (as the whole site is already NSFW)

[wamboid]

Sounds like it would be even less safe for home, at least if my wife were in the room!

[toicontien]

That was another point brought up in our discussions at work too, wamboid.

[Stephen Philbin]

I'd never heard of NSFW before, but then I am a jobless bum. I'd never have guessed it mean "Not Safe For Work". I still wasn't really sure what "Not Safe For Work" was supposed to mean either. It being a rather vague collection of words, it could mean all kinds of things. I mean Foot and Mouth disease is "Not Safe For Work" if you're a farmer. It would ruin your business. Though, a woman exposing her lady-bits to your cattle would have little (if any) impact on how well your business was running.

[BlazeFalcon]

You'd be surprised how much damage it could do to your business...dun dun dun...but I've known what NSFW meant for quite a while, its generally put on something that you might not want to click if you are at work but then again it varies because maybe you have a good searching for stuff that would normally be NSFW.