Private documents

[Vlad!]

At the place where I work, when you print something, the printer automatically prints a cover sheet with your name on it so that people know whose printout is whose. This is generally useful, if perhaps slightly wasteful, but occasionally I've thought "I have to hurry to the printer so that people don't see that I printed a Dilbert cartoon / photoshopped picture of my boss / whatever" (this is especially true with the color printer, which I have to walk halfway across the floor to get to).

I guess to deal with this problem (or more likely to deal with the issue that sometimes people may print extremely sensitive corporate documents on a shared printer), there's an option to put a big "PRIVATE" notice on the cover sheet.

My question to you is, if you pulled someone's printout off the printer and you saw it had a PRIVATE notice on the cover sheet, would you be more, less, or equally likely to look at what the printout was?

[enemy anemone]

it might as well say READ ME on it.

but then I wouldn't read it.

or maybe I would.

[enemy anemone]

by the way, I clicked on this thread because I half-hoped that it contained private documents.

[Vlad!]

I thought to post this when I saw a "private" document for the first time the other day. I have never felt particularly inclined to peer at the printouts of others, but seeing "private" stamped on one incited my curiosity. Honestly, if you wanted to hide something, it would be better to stick it in the middle of some exceptionally boring PDF rather than blazoning "this is interesting and I don't want you reading it" on the front.

(The "private" document turned out to be the novella one of my co-workers wrote for National Novel Writing Month, and he marked it as private so it wouldn't be obvious that the company just paid for a whole wad o' paper and toner for something flagrantly non-work-related. I learned this by asking him, though, because I overcame my baser instincts and didn't pry.)

[enemy anemone]

just now I thought that if the cover sheet says "PRIVATES" I would avoid using that printer ever again.

[Vlad!]

just now I thought that if the cover sheet says "PRIVATES" I would avoid using that printer ever again.

Or at least not want to touch the glass on the copier part...