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Comment by mgkimsal | Hacker News Reader

None of your examples contradict

"Professional photographers know they need to backup their photos."

A homemaker or techie moonlighting for extra income aren't really 'professional photographers'. They may take photographs that look professional, but it's not the same thing.

One might say that professional developers use version control, then have counter examples of "well, this web design student doesn't ever uer version control, but she's the only person working on the code, so it doesn't matter". This is not a professional developer, even if she is capable of producing results that look like they were done by a professional.

A professional, imo, is defined as much by their habits and practices as by the output.

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I was a professional photographer for a couple of years (as in, paid most of my rent with it until web dev became a more lucrative venture) and assisted some VERY big and experienced photographers.

Everyone I know backed up on-site, using manual methods as and when they remembered. I did actually set up a good automated backup solution for one of them, but there's definitely a limit to their interest. Remember they're making pretty much all their money off commissions, and are only keeping backups out of some sense of pride/responsibility.

Another blow is that, at least here in the UK, we're only starting to get the kind of upstream bandwidth necessary to make this level of data transfer feasible.

So, it's a brilliant idea and, as long as confidence in cloud storage grows, as time goes on the market will grow and grow. I'm just not sure it's quite there yet.

> doesn't ever use version control, but she's the only person working on the code, so it doesn't matter

As a web developer who works on a lot of solo projects, this sentence hurts me.

Do you use version control? If you do, that sentence doesn't even apply to you.

Your definition is not what defines the market.

Does a homemaker moonlighting as a photographer really pass herself off as a 'professional'?

Absolutely. The advances in digital photography has opened it up to almost everyone. They're not doing Disney's next add campaign, but they are doing several family sessions per week, and they are bringing in money.

A friend of mine had her wedding photographer lose 6 months of data in a hard drive crash. She should have known better, and may have, but she didn't do proper backups.

Yes, my wife's done this for almost a decade. She gets paid well, provides professional service, and works under an LLC

What else would you call it, if not professional?

That said, I have to harass her about backups.

I smell a no true Scotsman fallacy.

No, this is "an American of no Scottish descent who has never visited Scotland is not a Scotsman merely because he owns a plaid shirt."

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