“The Old Men With Good Eyes”

The title of this article comes from a Hacker News comment by user ChrisMarshallNY. I quote the pertinent part of the comment below:

I worked for a storied Japanese imaging corporation. The final stage of their Image Quality QC was always ‘The Old Men With Good Eyes.’ There were some employees that were professional “eyballers.” They had full veto power.

ChrisMarshallNY on Hacker News

It is not entirely clear whether the commenter was in favor of the practice, but I enjoyed the phrasing. “The Old Men With Good Eyes.” The anecdote was refreshingly humane in a discussion about whether people can discern minor differences in image quality between different digital formats. This “storied Japanese imaging corporation” but important decisions in the hands of employees who had spent their entire careers looking closely at images. In light of the fact that the commenter strongly implied this is a world-renowned company, I suppose it was (and perhaps still is) doing something right.