Not Safe for Work/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Why is anything on this site considered safe for work? Shouldn't you be working instead of reading TV Tropes?
    • Agreed. The term has generally bugged me. Shouldn't anything not work-related be labled NSFW?
    • Because you won't get fired for looking at TV Tropes, but you will if you look at porn?
    • It's also referring to the kind of things that many firewalls and monitoring softwares and other such net-surveilance tools that can be found in workplaces and schools and the like keep an eye on and flag if they get discovered. Most 'SFW' things like TV Tropes fly under this radar, since as noted above while you probably shouldn't be surfing the wiki during work hours no one really cares that much about it as long as you're otherwise doing what you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be, and assuming you're not repeatedly caught in the act of slacking off, the most punishment you'll get is an informal warning to stop goofing off and get back on to what you're supposed to be doing. Furthermore, depending on the workplace you may have to access to TV Tropes for some reason, say, if you're a researcher or something (granted, unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility; it's a resource many people use, after all). These monitors frequently do block and track access to pornographic websites and the like, so it sends up an alarm, since there's no real reason you should be downloading porn when you're at work.
  • Why is Cluster F-Bomb considered NSFW while Tastes Like Diabetes is not? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
    • ...What?
      • Try it yourself during worktime.
      • I have. Again, what?
      • Second'd, please elaborate! From all I can see you're just using nonsensical Insane Troll Logic!
      • I think he means that getting caught viewing something that Tastes Like Diabetes at work would be just as embarrassing/damaging as something obscene, and therefore, in the strictest sense, would be NSFW.
      • Embarassing, yes. Could you get fired if you get caught watching porn on company time? Definitely. Looking at glurgy-cute pics of your new niece will not.
        • Porn =/= Cluster F-Bomb. And it depends on your job? At my office it Cluster F-Bomb is pretty much expected and common (just not when you're meeting a client for the first time; after that, it depends, but because it's often like that at their offices too, it's usually fine).
        • Looking at exceptionally cute pictures of underage women, on the other hand, could get you branded a Lolicon and in turn fired, based on the image itself. Of course, this is an exceptionally open-ended idea refrenecing only one possible meaning of Tastes Like Diabetes, and Cluster F-Bomb is generally NSFW anyway, so the point is moot.
    • Well, try to watch some of the more notable examples of this trope during your worktime. If others watch you like WTF, it's NSFW.
  • Does NSFW count if your job is just as dirty? I'm sorry, but I doubt an escort service would care if one of it's employees used the internet for it's intended purpose.
    • People who work as professional escorts usually don't work in an office.
    • The implication is that the content is NSFW for the vast majority of occupations which offer their employees internet access, and that the content is something that most employers would have a problem for one reason or another with their employees accessing during work hours (not just sex, but graphic violence and disturbing content is often flagged with this as well). Regarding sexual content, there's kind of an expectation that the sex industry by it's very nature is responsible for producing most of the NSFW content that most people would be accessing online, hence it's kind of common-sense that they wouldn't have to warn people that the content is Not Safe For Work Unless You Happen To Work In The Sex Industry In Which Case It's Probably Okay.