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When someone posts a beautifully composed picture standing in front of a waterfall and the sunlight just so with the caption “I love spending time in the woods”

When someone posts a beautifully composed picture standing in front of a waterfall and the sunlight just so with the caption “I love spending time in the woods” I generally assume that she does not love spending time in the woods. The evidence rather suggests that she loves posing for and sharing photographs. Likewise when someone writes a lot of long essays about how much he loves spending time in the woods and he can’t understand why no one goes hiking in the woods anymore I draw my conclusions from his actions, not words.

Ar-Curunir 4y ago
People can like multiple things at once.
- rocket_surgeron 4y ago
  Not only can people like multiple things at once it is apparently incomprehensible to large swaths of Hacker News that people can like things that others do not.
marklubi 4y ago
> When someone posts a beautifully composed picture standing in front of a waterfall and the sunlight just so ... The evidence rather suggests that she loves posing for and sharing photographs My last girlfriend was a great example of that. It was both confusing and infuriating because there was no way to know when she was being genuine about anything
- aliqot 4y ago
  May I ask if that was ever discussed or resolved? How did that end up working out?
  - BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago
    A beautifully composed photo with the caption “Having an argument with my S.O., but relationships are worth it. #communication”
  - reaperducer 4y ago
    I think that can be inferred by the use of the word "last," meaning "previous" and "no longer" his girlfriend.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - dylan604 4y ago
    "My last girlfriend" suggests not a current girlfriend. Sounds like that's how it worked out.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mastax 4y ago
I'm not sure exactly what you're arguing. Do you mean that writing about how you love spending time in the woods is evidence that you do not love spending time in woods? I guess John Muir's Wikipedia article needs a substantial rewrite, then.
- akritrime 4y ago
  Quite a few poets also need to re-examine their works. Robert Frost especially comes to mind.
- bradleyjg 4y ago
  My basic point is go do your thing. Enjoy it! I’m happy for you. Why does everyone need to convince me how great his thing is and that I should be out there doing it. The genre rings hollow and I suspect that the real enjoyable thing is trying to control other people. If you don’t want to look on your phone, don’t look on your phone. Maybe other people will notice how happy you are. Or maybe they won’t.
balfirevic 4y ago
> When someone posts a beautifully composed picture standing in front of a waterfall and the sunlight just so with the caption “I love spending time in the woods” I generally assume that she does not love spending time in the woods. The evidence rather suggests that she loves posing for and sharing photographs. Could they... love both?
- dylan604 4y ago
  >Could they... love both? I have yet to meet this unicorn.
  - flycaliguy 4y ago
    It’s 2022, the entire planet is online now. The “no girls here” meme is dead.
  - yakubin 4y ago
    I can see how it may be unlikely for a person posing for Instagram photos to be a person enjoying spending time in the woods. However I don't see why it would be unlikely for a person enjoying spending time in the woods to pose for photos.
  - akerl_ 4y ago
    Really? I enjoy spending time in the woods and also sharing photos on social media. Congratulations on meeting me, I expect you to treasure this rare experience forever.
    - olyjohn 4y ago
      Right? I spend 4 days in the woods adventuring and exploring... How dare I take a few pictures along the way that only take a few minutes!
biztos 4y ago
And yet, the woods are teeming with hikers and campers, at least in California. I often wonder whether the opportunity to stage your “life” in a beautiful place for social media is a part of why so many more people head into the woods than did ten or 20 years ago. I mean, the woods were there the whole time, and arguably the weather was better.
- gw99 4y ago
  Sort of. I encounter many miserable looking poorly equipped people constantly asking me to take selfies of them posing with a fake smile. I was stopped 7 times on a 50km hike recently. People want to be seen to do it. They don’t appear to be enjoying it though. Edit: ironically considering the article I tend to wear AirPods now because people don’t ask me to do it.
  - mercutio2 4y ago
    Pedantic nitpick that doesn’t diminish your point (you don’t like people doing photography and especially involving you in it, in the woods): If they’re asking someone who is not themself to take a photo, the photo in question is, by definition, not a selfie.
    - gw99 4y ago
      One of my hobbies is outdoor photography. I don’t mind people taking actual photos of the outside. The objection is having 75% of the frame taken up by someone repetitively taking photos of the same pose (the good side of their face) while doing an impression of a fish and/or wearing something completely in appropriate that is going to land them in hospital one day from hypothermia. As for the selfie, I’m on the fence on your semantic definition. I consider myself to be a meat flavoured selfie stick when asked. I’m merely a tool that happened to be walking past that is good for pointing their device at a bulbous ass obscuring the scenery.
    - zimpenfish 4y ago
      I think the generally accepted meaning of "selfie" has drifted far enough into including "photos of my(self) taken with my phone at my request" that nitpicking about it has similarly drifted into the "WELL ACHURLY, literally doesn't mean that" school of prescriptivist nonsense.
gw99 4y ago
I have learned that someone who excessively stands between an interesting subject and a camera rather than stands behind the camera should not be a part of my life. This includes my ex wife. Instagram is also full of that. One of the cesspools of humanity. However this appears to be roughly the usual “modern clipart” image selection for the headline image for the article.
- akerl_ 4y ago
  This comment page seems to have a curious number of people who are projecting a bad experience with an ex-partner as emblematic of a broken society.
  - kyleee 4y ago
    lots of people have been radicalized by narcissists, I suppose
    - gw99 4y ago
      That’s a fair assessment of the situation.
    - akerl_ 4y ago
      You’re probably right. Just seems like an unpleasant way to live. There’s assholes out there, but generally speaking I try to not let them live rent-free in my head.
      - kyleee 4y ago
        I tend to agree but then again I have never been significantly harmed by this class of behavior
    - Bakary 4y ago
      There's a meta effect where commiseration around narcissism and being a victim of it is its own form of self-indulgent thinking
akerl_ 4y ago
It seems wild to make assumptions about what other people love, based directly contrary to what they say they love. Why do you feel justified in that?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

Ar-Curunir 4y ago

People can like multiple things at once.

rocket_surgeron 4y ago
Not only can people like multiple things at once it is apparently incomprehensible to large swaths of Hacker News that people can like things that others do not.

marklubi 4y ago

> When someone posts a beautifully composed picture standing in front of a waterfall and the sunlight just so ... The evidence rather suggests that she loves posing for and sharing photographs My last girlfriend was a great example of that. It was both confusing and infuriating because there was no way to know when she was being genuine about anything

aliqot 4y ago
May I ask if that was ever discussed or resolved? How did that end up working out?
- BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago
  A beautifully composed photo with the caption “Having an argument with my S.O., but relationships are worth it. #communication”
- reaperducer 4y ago
  I think that can be inferred by the use of the word "last," meaning "previous" and "no longer" his girlfriend.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- dylan604 4y ago
  "My last girlfriend" suggests not a current girlfriend. Sounds like that's how it worked out.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mastax 4y ago

I'm not sure exactly what you're arguing. Do you mean that writing about how you love spending time in the woods is evidence that you do not love spending time in woods? I guess John Muir's Wikipedia article needs a substantial rewrite, then.

akritrime 4y ago
Quite a few poets also need to re-examine their works. Robert Frost especially comes to mind.
bradleyjg 4y ago
My basic point is go do your thing. Enjoy it! I’m happy for you. Why does everyone need to convince me how great his thing is and that I should be out there doing it. The genre rings hollow and I suspect that the real enjoyable thing is trying to control other people. If you don’t want to look on your phone, don’t look on your phone. Maybe other people will notice how happy you are. Or maybe they won’t.

balfirevic 4y ago

> When someone posts a beautifully composed picture standing in front of a waterfall and the sunlight just so with the caption “I love spending time in the woods” I generally assume that she does not love spending time in the woods. The evidence rather suggests that she loves posing for and sharing photographs. Could they... love both?

dylan604 4y ago
>Could they... love both? I have yet to meet this unicorn.
- flycaliguy 4y ago
  It’s 2022, the entire planet is online now. The “no girls here” meme is dead.
- yakubin 4y ago
  I can see how it may be unlikely for a person posing for Instagram photos to be a person enjoying spending time in the woods. However I don't see why it would be unlikely for a person enjoying spending time in the woods to pose for photos.
- akerl_ 4y ago
  Really? I enjoy spending time in the woods and also sharing photos on social media. Congratulations on meeting me, I expect you to treasure this rare experience forever.
  - olyjohn 4y ago
    Right? I spend 4 days in the woods adventuring and exploring... How dare I take a few pictures along the way that only take a few minutes!

biztos 4y ago

And yet, the woods are teeming with hikers and campers, at least in California. I often wonder whether the opportunity to stage your “life” in a beautiful place for social media is a part of why so many more people head into the woods than did ten or 20 years ago. I mean, the woods were there the whole time, and arguably the weather was better.

gw99 4y ago
Sort of. I encounter many miserable looking poorly equipped people constantly asking me to take selfies of them posing with a fake smile. I was stopped 7 times on a 50km hike recently. People want to be seen to do it. They don’t appear to be enjoying it though. Edit: ironically considering the article I tend to wear AirPods now because people don’t ask me to do it.
- mercutio2 4y ago
  Pedantic nitpick that doesn’t diminish your point (you don’t like people doing photography and especially involving you in it, in the woods): If they’re asking someone who is not themself to take a photo, the photo in question is, by definition, not a selfie.
  - gw99 4y ago
    One of my hobbies is outdoor photography. I don’t mind people taking actual photos of the outside. The objection is having 75% of the frame taken up by someone repetitively taking photos of the same pose (the good side of their face) while doing an impression of a fish and/or wearing something completely in appropriate that is going to land them in hospital one day from hypothermia. As for the selfie, I’m on the fence on your semantic definition. I consider myself to be a meat flavoured selfie stick when asked. I’m merely a tool that happened to be walking past that is good for pointing their device at a bulbous ass obscuring the scenery.
  - zimpenfish 4y ago
    I think the generally accepted meaning of "selfie" has drifted far enough into including "photos of my(self) taken with my phone at my request" that nitpicking about it has similarly drifted into the "WELL ACHURLY, literally doesn't mean that" school of prescriptivist nonsense.

gw99 4y ago

I have learned that someone who excessively stands between an interesting subject and a camera rather than stands behind the camera should not be a part of my life. This includes my ex wife. Instagram is also full of that. One of the cesspools of humanity. However this appears to be roughly the usual “modern clipart” image selection for the headline image for the article.

akerl_ 4y ago
This comment page seems to have a curious number of people who are projecting a bad experience with an ex-partner as emblematic of a broken society.
- kyleee 4y ago
  lots of people have been radicalized by narcissists, I suppose
  - gw99 4y ago
    That’s a fair assessment of the situation.
  - akerl_ 4y ago
    You’re probably right. Just seems like an unpleasant way to live. There’s assholes out there, but generally speaking I try to not let them live rent-free in my head.
    - kyleee 4y ago
      I tend to agree but then again I have never been significantly harmed by this class of behavior
  - Bakary 4y ago
    There's a meta effect where commiseration around narcissism and being a victim of it is its own form of self-indulgent thinking

akerl_ 4y ago

It seems wild to make assumptions about what other people love, based directly contrary to what they say they love. Why do you feel justified in that?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]