Talk:Finger/Archive 1

The photo

Is the photo really necessary? I mean, is there anyone who comes to this page and doesn't know what a finger looks like? It just made me laugh as it was so redundant - I had a few examples to hand --Huffers 20:32, 29 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I see no harm in having a photo, but the current photo(s) are pretty useless -- they show an entire hand, without identifying which bits are the fingers. chrismear 21:09, 4 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is odd the lead photo shows a ring on the finger. Would be more appropriate if the hand was bare. Oh Snap (talk) 04:40, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I second this. The issue is about effective communication and also identification. In terms of effective communication, the ring on the left ring finger conveys symbolic information to the reader that is extraneous and distracting. In Western cultures, a ring worn on the left hand's ring finger is a symbol that says the wearer is married or engaged to be married. Readers also expect to be able to identify with the depiction of things they are already familiar. A picture of a married Caucasian hand offends this expectation of identity. The main picture ought to be one that an overwhelming majority of people can identify with. The idea is that the main picture should be uninteresting. Because most readers know what a finger is, the photo's primary purpose is to provide visual completeness to the article. It ought not attract any more attention or thought from the average reader than a glance and the subconscious "yep, that's a finger." They should not be thinking (consciously or not) things like "why is there a ring there?" or "that finger looks nothing like that of most people I know." The point is that the main picture for an article is one of the major components that influence the reader's perception of the entire article because it is what they see first. If the picture conveys information that is not relevant to the bulk of the article or if it causes the reader to become sidetracked or if it alienates the reader to some extent, it negatively impacts the article's ability to convey information on a specific topic, which is an article's primary purpose. SidShakal (talk) 22:15, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]