"This Page Intentionally Left Blank"

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Pete

Guest
In a document at work.
Do you seethe when you get to said page?
Especially when you've just printed out x copies of said document?
Talk about tree-slaying!
Why, oh, why, do people do this? After all we have IT now. We have Word documents. We have PDF files. We have automatic pagination.
Discuss.
 

Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
We get it at work as well. Pehaps it is the companies way of excusing themselves for wasting paper?
 

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
I first saw it many years ago on American written NATO documents. I think it was supposed to serve two purposes:

a. Document checking. Some of the higher classified documents have to be page counted at checking time and so the empty i.e. unclassified pages were accounted for.

b. Probably to leave a bit of space for additions in later editions for things they had forgotten in the first one.

Both seemed barmy and typically yank to me.
 

simoncc

New Member
Remember the paperless office that computers were going to bring about? Since then we've been buried in paper. As everyone now has a machine on their desk with which to write tedious, irrelevant, over long and self-indulgent 'reports' and a printer on which to produce multiple copies of them this was bound to happen.
 

purpleR

Guru
Location
Glasgow
You sometimes get that in music, so you don't have to turn the page in the middle of a fast twiddly bit. Don't know why it would appear in a business document though!
 

domtyler

Über Member
That's just what they want you to think. Everyone knows that those pages are really covered in secret nano transmitting devices that can alter the way you think and feel and, more crucially, invite you to watch certain tv channels or even bend reality itself in order to extract more money from your account.
 

SamNichols

New Member
Location
Colne, Lancs
There always used to be said pages at the back of exam question booklets too - it is a strange tradition that always strikes me as both wasteful and odd.
 

mr_hippo

Living Legend & Old Fart
Have you ever examined a hard back book? Are the pages individual and stuck to the spine? Look carefully at the top (or bottom) of the spine and you will see that the book is made up in sections. Take 2 pieces of paper - same size - place together and fold in half and number the pages 1-8 - top centre. Flip through and you will see 1, 2, 3 ......8. Take out the centre piece and on one side you will see pages 4 & 5, what's on the other one? 1 & 8 and 2 & 7. Write 'A' on page 1, 'B' on page 2 .....'G' on 7 and page 8 leave blank. If you have a long arm stapler, staple the pages together - if not - tie a piece of cotton across the fold. You should now have an 8 page 'book' with letters A to G on 7 pages and a blank page. Now we don't need a blank page, do we? OK, rip it out. Ooops, not only have you taken page 8 out, you've taken page 7 out as well and your book has fallen apart but we already knew this and what has this got to do with 'This Page Intentionally Left Blank'? Andy mentioned NATO docs - think of a 2 page chart, do you want me to print half if it on page 33 and the other half on 34 or would you like to look at the whole chart on 34 & 35? That chart marks the end of section one of the manual, now what do you want me to do next - start section 2 on page 33 or page 36? "Well, Hippo, the chart is part of section 1 so we will start '2' on 36 but then someone make think that page 33 has not been printed." "OK, I'll print on 33 'This Page Intentionally Left Blank' and that will keep everyone happy! "Why does this happen on some computer generated docs? Blame Bill Gates and MS Publisher - if you have the printed version of a document, there may be an empty page on it and it will be the same on the computer version.
Do you remember when MacDonald's, I think, starting printing 'Caution Hot' on coffee cups to stop people suing them. Another reason for 'This Page Intentionally Left Blank' is to stop people going back to the book shop and whinging "There's an empty page!"
 

asterix

Comrade Member
Location
Limoges or York
Pete said:
In a document at work.
Do you seethe when you get to said page?
Especially when you've just printed out x copies of said document?
Talk about tree-slaying!
Why, oh, why, do people do this? After all we have IT now. We have Word documents. We have PDF files. We have automatic pagination.
Discuss.


The answer is obvious. If the page did not have 'This Page Intentionally Left Blank' on it then you might be alarmed and think that text was missing. It's when you see 'This Page UNintentionally Left Blank' that you should be concerned.
 

zimzum42

Legendary Member
This tool is vital in examination booklets, if they didn't have this system, students would be freaking out thinking there were questions missing......

It's a shame about the trees, but it won't make much difference.......
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
the simple (and boring) answer is that all printed pagination must be a multiple of four (unless wiro bound etc). hence if your book is 38 pages long you'll have 2 empty pages. some books call them "notes" pages.
 
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