explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

User talk:TheusafBOT

2024-11-29T20:34:27Z

172.71.126.94: /* Offensive numbers in byte count */

== Bot ==

{{notice|Know that thou art a bot most splendid.}}

{{User talk:DgbrtBOT}}

== Hi ==

Hi

== I thought it might autorevert 'wrongly' again. ==

See the sequence encompassed by [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=404:_Not_Found&curid=3587&diff=336235&oldid=322800 this current situation]. IMO, it reverted back past a valid rewrite (I can imagine why, though seemingly it was happy with the pre-vandalism rewrite until the vandalism occured). FYI, ready for perhaps your manual fixing. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.101|141.101.99.101]] 02:05, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, it's definitely acting up. It also removed the Soviet flags that I contributed. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.160|172.71.150.160]] 02:19, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
::THATS BECAUSE YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO ADD SOVIET FLAGS EVERYWHERE THATS VANDALISM, DUMBASS [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:37, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::This is a wiki, which means anyone can edit it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.79|172.71.147.79]] 00:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::ON THE GODDAMN MAIN PAGE, IT SAYS THAT YOU SHOULDNT BE A JERK-I THINK THIS CONSTITUTES AS BREAKING THAT RULE [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:50, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::There are fools out there (above IP being one), and there are rational ones (me, you, many others). To paraphrase the old saying, idiots will prevail only if the sensible do nothing. And we're not only dealing with such idiocracy (disrupters, dishonest actors, etc), but also keep on improving and adding things as we'd do anyway. Which is a net success, however you look at it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.46|141.101.99.46]] 15:21, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::Bruh. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.200|172.69.33.200]] 23:16, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
:I'll look into allowing that change. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 04:44, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

==User/Discussion Pages==
Hi Theusaf(BOT), I have found a problem with your bot. If someone deletes everything on a user/discussion page and substitutes it with text, then auto-revert doesn’t work. Is there anyway to fix this? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:20, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
:Not wishing to pre-empt Theusaf but, if you're asking about what I think you are, probably it's not working because it hasn't been triggered to work, in those examples. This is down to what the 'bot is told to monitor (and consider needs reverting), and it's not intelligent enough to work that all out on its own.
:The question probably is whether theusaf can be asked to add a handler for the current issue (maybe a bit more general, without generating overreach that reverts genuine changes). Similar things have been done (are probably still active against what was happening then), but it'll need some hands-on work to add/extend this.
:But only responding in case Theusaf can't get back to you with a more precise answer (and/or solution?) fairly quickly. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.14|172.69.194.14]] 15:42, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
== Thank you ==
I would really like to thank you for preventing the annoying guy from getting on top of the leaderboard. Please ban [[User:ConscriptGlossary]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.2|172.70.162.2]] 12:35, 27 October 2024 (UTC)

:It's too late. [[User:ConscriptGlossary]] is already on top of the leaderboard. He will stay there until the bot makes one more edit. [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 19:27, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

== Offensive numbers in byte count ==
I just came back and found that spam has occurred in my talk page. The six-digit and seven-digit byte count in those edits are really offending. Can an administrator hide the byte count in those edits? [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 19:27, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:I think I can answer this one easily enough: No.
:Hiding byte counts indiscriminately (which needs in-depth reconfiguring) is not useful, and arguably detrimental. Hiding byte counts that are ''only certain values'' would take even more effort. Determining which byte-values are undesirable (by whichever criteria... 13s? 8s? 911?s That number sometimes associated with marijuana use, whichever that 9ne is? Whatever other reasoning you identify, by whatever numerological method has specific or localised cultural meaning to you?) would not be a reasonable amount of effort.
:On top of this, it is not TheusafBOT's place to do anything about it (even if it could), nor Theusaf themself.
:I don't know what you think is wrong (or even meant?) by the byte-counts involved, but I don't think there is any conceivable reason to censor mere numbers. What are you going to do? Tweak the value of Pi so that it doesn't feature these strings in it? ...there's surely far more problems in disliking a random number than in having the number itself. Convince me (and everyone else) otherwise. Or at least explain yourself better. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.126.94|172.71.126.94]] 20:34, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3006: Demons

2024-11-06T14:43:33Z

172.71.126.94: /* New category: Infernal Strips */ Response: supernatural

Instead of an iron pitchfork, he probably uses a silver hammer! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.54|172.71.26.54]] 16:34, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

🤓☝ moment [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]])
20:03, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:Why are his hands backwards??? What did you do to him?! [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:36, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

Note that while boiling souls in oil or casting them into flame pit is traditional, multiple authors already made the observation that it's not really that effective and that modern devils would likely go for psychological torture instead. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:15, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
:That's what I thought... it's a beautiful meta-comment that the comic makes this transition to modern torture coincide with the transition to modern physics, as it is embodied by Maxwell, who explained "large-scale effects" and "distant effects" microscopically resp. infinitesimally. [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 03:06, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
:As discussed in Pratchett's {{w|Eric (novel)|<s>Faust</s> Eric}}, both damned ''and'' demons might actually prefer traditional physical punishment to a more tedious psychological regime. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.36|172.70.162.36]] 03:28, 2 November 2024 (UTC)

The evolution of life (entropy-reversing agents) disproves the second law of thermodynamics, which is rooted in short-term statistics of large systems rather than systems where the duration of time greatly exceeds the number of particles. Maxwell’s Demon could be seen as a simplification of this —- that taking action to counter probability does indeed do so, and is indeed probable eventually. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.96|172.68.3.96]] 14:10, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
:Note that life doesn't disprove 2LD at all. The law applies to the whole interacting thermodynamic system, not just the a subset of the system. Life-altered entropy is entirely possible at the 'expense' of a wider rebalancing within 'whole' system. The Earth's biosphere is (mostly) 'fed' by (some of) the heat of the Sun, which in turn is provided by the gradual (but greater) entropy-obeying transition of the star into its various future forms. Life just hitches a ride on this. (It's an interesting question where the 'spare' entropy-change would go if the life wasn't here, actually, except that 2LD doesn't force a given magnitude of change, merely that it not be as if time-reversed.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.5|172.70.58.5]] 16:54, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

Honestly, not necessarily a bad torture method depending on how it was implemented. You start out with people not knowing anything, and wandering around, but then they gradually flow through the door. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, it slowly becomes more and more crowded as people drift into a limited space. As time goes on it only gets worse as more and more people enter the room and it becomes denser and denser. Eventually, you have everyone is crushed together in what is then basically a box stuffed to the brim with bodies, and even then they know it will only get worse and that had they only stayed outside they would have been fine. Combine this with a large enough group of people and an eternity of time, and it probably would work pretty well. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.191|172.68.22.191]] 05:27, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
: Let's compute the human equivalent temperature...T=mv^2/2/k...something around 10^23 K. Hot as hell :-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.3|172.69.109.3]] 09:35, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

I wonder how they'd get along with daemons from computing. [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 20:25, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

"All of the other demons used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Maxwell's demon join in any demon games. Then one hot night in Hell, Satan came to say: "Maxwell's demon with your love of violating entropy, won't you cool down hell tonight?" Then all the demons loved him, as they shouted out with glee: "Maxwell the entropy demon, you'll go down in history!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.11|172.68.55.11]] 19:17, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, that is '''wonderful'''. Truly a work of art. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:29, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:: nice new signature! + the phrase "[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiw2M-Y4MSJAxWIUKQEHZ2YF2sQwqsBegQIDRAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGutK6q2lgMU&usg=AOvVaw1OkrfCuZiqckImXY2uSC-p&opi=89978449 truly a work of art]" forever haunts me [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:33, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

==New category: Infernal Strips==
What do you think about a new Infernal category for strips with demons or in hell? There are quite a few. [[501]], [[533]]... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.10|172.70.47.10]] 17:56, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:I agree. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:04, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:: I just tagged a half-dozen strips, but a site admin will have to create the category page itself. It turns out there was some overlap with a "Religion" category, whodathunkit. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.243|172.70.46.243]] 19:01, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:::They were tagged inconsistently (at least two different forms of the category). And as they were all redlinked I undid them all anyway.
:::The proper process is more like:
:::# Say something like ''Hey, I think we need a "Category:<Foo>"'',
:::#* To justify it, identify a handful of comics (or all of them, if you're being thorough). Unless perhaps the comic is called "SOMETHING SOMETHING NUMBER 1" and it very much looks like it's going to be the start of a series, although still might be best to wait for "SOMETHING SOMETHING NUMBER 2".
:::# Get comments (e.g. ''Yes, a good general idea, but it should probably be "Category:<Bar>" to be consistent/accurate/properly-inclusive/etc'') and additions (''Yeah, and comic in #1234 would fit too!'')
:::# When someone who can (e.g. 42, there) decides it's been successfully argued to an agreement (YMMV), they use the final list (and the agreed upon name) to create the category and at least start the process of adding the category memberships.
:::To be honest, though I agree about the relevence of the created [[:Category:Rockets]], as just done, I also think that one was done far too quickly. I'd at least wait a few days after the last "Good idea!", just in case someone who checks in regularly but not frequently (e.g. once a week) has any wise words to add. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 22:14, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:I agree it would be nice with a list of possible comics, and maybe a better title. Is it to do with demons of hell. Could religion be used, just added that here as the other demons are typical Christian like demons. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:44, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
:Names for this category: Category:Demons, Category:Infernal, Category:Hell. Did I miss any? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:11, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
Me again. Sorry about the IP address. Thanks for the suggestions. Does this wiki maybe have a page where we could discuss projects, or do we have to do all of the discussions in various strip entries? I'd love to have a page about Thought Experiments where we could list the various strips and all of the relevant experiments. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.178|172.70.46.178]] 23:08, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, there is [[explain xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals]]. Should I move this conversation there? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 23:59, 2 November 2024 (UTC)
:Update: I have added Category:Demons. If y’all want a name change, I can move the page once enough support has been shown. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:59, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Me again. Awesome, thanks! I'm looking through a few of the other category suggestions, It looks like there is also a proposal for a "ghost" sub-category. I guess infernal/demons, celestial/angels, ghosts, and religion could all be subcategories of "supernatural". Are there any other supernatural entities we could include? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.126.94|172.71.126.94]] 14:43, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

==New category: Classical Thought Experiments==
While I'm at it, I'd also suggest a new category for Classical Thought Experiments, everything from Maxwell's Demon to Schroedinger's Cat to the Trolley Problem. Readers may be familiar with some, but not all of the classical references, and it would be nice to have them all accessible from the same page. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.243|172.70.46.243]] 19:01, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:I can see something like this being useful. Not ''entirely'' sure of the name, but maybe, and I'm not sure what a better one would be. (To start off the discussion, as described above.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.21|172.70.58.21]] 22:17, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:Second that, for whatever it's worth [[User:Yamaplos|Yamaplos]] ([[User talk:Yamaplos|talk]]) 00:54, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
:Third. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:51, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
:Fourthed [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.71|172.69.71.71]] 13:14, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

There's some [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_(thought_experiment) other demons] made famous by thought experiments. I wonder how Maxwell's Demon would get along with the Evil Demon that tricks people into thinking they're 17th century philosophers. And I'm sure Laplace's Demon already knows how they'd get along. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 23:36, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
: Ah bother, ninjaed. Laplaces Demon was the first that came to my mind after reading the strip. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.115|172.71.160.115]]+
These demons are the nerds of hell [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.71|172.69.71.71]] 13:14, 4 November 2024 (UTC)