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Comment by patates | Hacker News Reader

As a reply to this comment:

> Interesting you say the Dev isn't a great person, because I had a hunch when I saw the use of the Lena photo on the front page

You say:

> you guys are ruthless (...) You people are gross.

I'm not saying you don't have a point. I didn't know enough to be sensitive on the Lena topic once either, and could have been the target of the above comment. So I think, perhaps, those could have been formulated more constructively.

However, I must say the same for your comment too. Can't we all be friends here? :)

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> I didn't know enough to be sensitive on the Lena topic once either

It's reactionary nonsense, there's nothing to be sensitive about. The subject of the photograph merely went along with it.

There are legitimate arguments against using it as a technical benchmark in this day and age but that isn't what people get outraged over.

My personal view is that the correct response to strangers trying to score social points by policing other's conduct is to defiantly do the opposite.

I agree that calling someone a bad person for using one of the most common test images is excessive. However, regarding this:

> The subject of the photograph merely went along with it.

The subject of the photograph did ask for it to no longer be used. Here's a quote from her:

> I retired from modeling a long time ago. It’s time I retired from tech, too.

> to defiantly do the opposite.

If the policing comes from third party for virtue signalling, this is fair game. Here, I'd just suggest that respecting her wish is just common courtesy and consider someone who defiantly doesn't as a somewhat rude person.

[0] https://interestingengineering.com/culture/bye-lenna-iconic-...

Yes, I'm aware of her statement. My view is that she merely went along with what I see as reactionary nonsense as opposed to actually caring about the use of her likeness. We all have a civic duty to actively push back against the spread of polarizing reactionary movements.

Even if I believed her request to be genuine I can't bring myself to view reproducing a commercial image of a professional model that's in widespread circulation as being unethical under any circumstances. Neither would I ever agree to stop distributing a well known book if one day many years later the author woke up suddenly wanting to undo its publication. If you find my viewpoint confusing or seemingly unreasonable, for reference I view projects such as Anna's Archive in a positive light.

While I strongly disagree with what I perceive to be the intent behind the image being banned by many journals, I nonetheless agree with the outcome. It's an objectively poor test image for demonstrating the technical capabilities of the vast majority of modern applications. We don't benchmark modern video codecs by encoding VHS rips of classic Disney movies and we shouldn't do the equivalent for still images.

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