Screenshot (sukusho)

Overview

A screenshot (commonly shortened to sukusho in Japanese) is a feature that saves what's shown on a device's screen as an image file. On a smartphone you can take one by pressing the power button and a volume button at the same time, and on a PC with actions such as the PrintScreen key or Cmd+Shift+3 (Mac). In social media culture, screenshots are used every day for many purposes, such as keeping a record of conversations, sharing information, and preserving evidence.

The culture of sharing question box Q&A as screenshots

Screenshots are used as an easy way to share question box answers on social media. Just take a screenshot of the answer screen and post it on X or in Instagram Stories, and your followers can see the Q&A. It has more visual impact than a text-only post and tends to catch the eye on the timeline.

Screenshots have downsides too, though. Text inside an image is harder for search engines to read than text in the body of an HTML page. Also, image size and resolution differ from device to device, so the look isn't consistent. If you use the share link with an OGP image (the preview image shown with a link) that a question box service provides, you can share Q&A with a consistent design and can also expect visits to the linked page.

Screenshots and anonymity

In anonymous question services, screenshots raise an important issue related to anonymity. Even when a sender believes they sent a question anonymously, if the owner takes a screenshot of the dashboard, admin information such as the sender ID and filtering results may end up in the image.

In the design of a question box service, the information shown on the public page and on the dashboard is clearly separated. The public page shows questions and answers, and doesn't show the IP hash or the sender ID. Even if the owner shares an image of the public page, the sender information on the dashboard isn't included.

The limits of screenshots as evidence

If you receive harassing questions, saving screenshots as evidence is a useful first step. But images can be altered with editing software. If you go to court or talk to the police, it's a good idea to also record information other than the image, such as the URL, the date and time, and the page's source code, along with the screenshot.

To preserve evidence of a web page, you can also save the page to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine or use electronic notarization by a notary. If you're facing serious harassment, we recommend not relying on screenshots alone and securing evidence in several ways.