README not arachnophobia-compatible about salticid

[bitemyapp]

Sup son.

[aphyr]

Have you or anyone you know suffered a panic attack from viewing this readme?

[bitemyapp]

Also the jumping spider in the README is adorable.

[homeworkprod]

@aphyr: I know people who would.

[aphyr]

Spiders scare the bejeezus out of me, but I think the one in the readme is cute. Things I'm balancing here:

• I really like the picture, and other people do too
• There is no evidence of experienced harm
• The project is clearly named after the clade; in order to apply this standard uniformly, we might need to censor some 65,000 web pages regarding salticidae, plus, presumably, 300K lycosidae web pages, 630,000 pages about archaeidae, and so on.
• What do we do about the images of snakes?
• What do we do about images of open farmland?
• Should I delete issue 13? Issue 4?
• What do we do about the real world?
• No really, seeing these little guys is practically a daily occurrence where I'm from. Am I ethically obligated to kill as many as possible?

It may actually be impossible to design a world free of phobia-triggering experiences. To what extent are we ethically obligated to create that world? Since phobias are by definition a disproportionate anxiety response, which do we socially consider "OK"? Given the contact hypothesis and a reasonably well-established body of research on phobia amelioration, would removing images of spiders be more likely to help or to hurt arachnophobic people?

With this in mind, I'm leaning towards preserving the image, but could be persuaded either way.

[bitemyapp]

I get scared by spiders if they get too close to me in real life, but I still think the jumping spider in the README is cute. I don't know if that makes me arachnophobic or not.

[homeworkprod]

@aphyr: Neither are those "little guys" common in my place of the world nor do people associate them with the project name (or vice versa) because they've never heard of that scientific term.

I have no problem with the project name's association. I'm just suggesting to not shove it into unexpecting users' faces with a big picture as the first thing they'll see.

The mean spider density in Europe varies from 0.62 to over 900 per square meter (Turnbull 1973). Many of salticidae are holarctic, and often, as in Salticus Scenicus, prevalent in houses. You've probably got some nearby! http://arthropodecology.com/2012/03/20/salticus-scenicus-a-fashionable-urban-spider/

[homeworkprod]

While I do respect forty-year-old data, I think this discussion is heading in the wrong direction.

Anyway, I think I made my point.

[mwhooker]

the onus should be on the arachnophobe to protect themselves and not a content creator.

[bitemyapp]

@mwhooker I smell a Google Chrome plugin.

Or is that the fine hairs of a spider tickling my nose?