explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3167: Car Size

2025-11-21T01:23:57Z

2.98.65.8:

It is I, broseph. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 19:45, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:MY LETTERS ARE BIGGER THAN YOURS!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 20:15, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
tears of the kingdom be like [[Special:Contributions/128.135.204.243|128.135.204.243]] 20:49, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

Did someone say {{w|Not Just Bikes}}? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0intLFzLaudFG-xAvUEO-A --[[Special:Contributions/62.0.12.1|62.0.12.1]] 20:50, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

On the (current) closing paragraph of the Explanation, note that (at least where I am) it is illegal to ride a bike on the footway, unless specifically signed and permitted as a shared/split pavement area. As a cyclist, I really wouldn't even want to (or to increase fellow motorists' misconceptions that they exclusively own the road) when it's a perfectly good highway, but 'people on bikes' seem to do what they like and perpetuate such misunderstandings. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.30|82.132.244.30]] 21:41, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:It's illegal here too, and I've added a note to that effect. As a cyclist, I do sometimes ride on sidewalks where sharing a road with cars is just too dangerous, but I try to be extremely cautious in my interactions with pedestrians. They've got the right of way; I don't. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:06, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::On top of often ill-conceived official cycle/pedestrian paths, I have a mild dislike for "cycle lanes", personally, as a sort of official "we really would prefer you to not be on the road, but we don't know what else to do with you, and it looks good when we add up the amount of 'cycle friendly' routes we have" kind of thing. With awareness (so no plugging your ears with headphones playing your 'tunez') most roads that I might use ''ought'' to be safe to cycle without badly implemented off-road/side-of-road segregation, and an overwhelming amount don't have such provision (riding to a cafe forty-plus miles away and circling round a different way back home, there's surprisingly few no-motor-vehicles opportunities to take).
::Even worse, though, is walking by a road with a 'perfectly good' clearly marked cycle lane (not particularly bad, compared to some instances, clean gutter and no bad grates) and some idiot on a bike rushes past me on the ''pavement'' (i.e. sidewalk), these days it often being an electrically-assisted, near silent bike (courtesy of Deliveroo/whoever), except that he's (assuming 'he', but it's a good chance) zooming past me, slightly ''uphill'', without pedalling at all... Technically, he's riding an electric motorcycle, and going at normal traffic speeds (and wearing a motorcycle-style helmet, so probably no point shouting at him as his ears are covered, if he hasn't also got earbuds in!) and ''definitely'' shouldn't be sharing the pavement with me (on the verge of needing a registration plate and paying insurance/tax for his e-moped).
::Of course, he'll act just as badly when he transitions back on the road, ignoring other traffic rules and barely avoiding become the jam on an asphalt smogasbord, various drivers cursing him and wishing ''all cyclists'' were off the streets. (The same drivers might well sneak through lights themselves, though "if it's quiet and nobody else is there", plus happily exceed the 20/30/40/50/60/70 mph limits on roads whenever they can, and don't have me driving ''at the limit'' in front of them when it's awkward for them to pass...)
::Not saying I'm perfect, but there are idiots out there with everything from no wheels (just two legs) up to perhaps 18-ish or whatever their juggernaut has, engines of whatever type or none, but I hope that I do my bit by being more considerate than most (except when it comes to dealing with inconsideration itself, when I internalise any joy I get about stopping others breaking the law for a few short moments) whether I'm walking, riding or driving. Though always trying to be aware of what the inevitably ever-present idiots out there will be doing. (Well, I couldn't do a thing about the time that a car pulled out in front of the bus I was a passenger in. But neither could the bus-driver, really, from what I could work out. Bus. Small car. Not a battle that I'd want to fight, on inertia alone.)
::Darn... this was not intended to be a holier-than-though rant, when I started, but I still don't regret it starting to go that way one bit... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 23:56, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:::''Starting'' to go that way?! Bro, you went full Jeremy Vine caller. Might I suggest that you grow up and realise that the ones you see are 100% of the ones you see, but that doesn't mean they are 100% of the picture. There is nuance. There are rules that are worth avoiding because that allows cyclists to get out of the way quickly – crossing in a way that a pedestrian is allowed to do, at a speed that a pedestrian can't, for example. Co-exist. High horses are far less welcome than cyclists. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 17:55, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::::The marking of a 'red bit of asphalt' ahead of the line that cars are expected to stop at, to give cyclists that little extra space when the lights go green, is useless when motorists don't just drive into that space but seem to think the 'stop line' is where the ''driver'' should position themselves (long bonnet being well over that line, half way across the pedestrian crossing or even out into the road junction).
::::I blame bad driving for that (as a cyclist of decades experience, I have to ride defensively), but bad 'biking' doesn't help.
::::I'd much rather ride across a box-junction ''with'' traffic (when the lights allow) than do the slalom of hopping on and off the pavement 'at will' and either waiting for the pedestrian crossing (''ideally'' a proper Toucan, or even Pegasus, given that you normally should only walk your bike across a Zebra or Pelican/Puffin) or disobeying those lights too, at your own risk and giving inconvenience/annoyance to both wheeled and walking traffic.
::::I have a low opinion of the way 'helpful' cycle-infrastructure has been implemented, and a low (but understandable) opinion of how ignorant people are of the bicycle position in the Highway Code and all relevent laws (see Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835, and all successive legislation, which establishes a bicycle as a road vehicle, and I do not want either my rights or obligations to be eroded, either legally or through misconceptions and misunderstandings).
::::I also know that I can drive at 70mph on a motorway (where there's no lesser limit applied to it by gantry signs and/or contraflow-protection signage) and, though I may be going faster than all HGVs, and possibly someone else happy to tootle along at 60ish (which I'm happy to do, too, but not in an overtaking lane unless its due to all the lanes being congested), there'll be traffic passing me at 80, 90 or maybe more in the outside (or middle!) overtaking lane. The only time it seems motorists will ''not'' exceed the limit (not just for a particular road, having not realised the local limit, but for ''every'' UK road) is where there are Average Speed cameras. (Site-only speed-cameras just have them maybe touch the brakes then speed up again afterwards. I've even been parked by the side of a road, by a 30-sign, and seen the approaching traffic ''really'' slam the brakes on on thinking my car (red) is a speed-trap, then speed back up once the guilty reaction has worn out. Stand in the very same place, inconspicuously and without any car, and nobody does it anything like that (probably going 70+ in the 60-zone, easing off to ''eventually'' 35-40 in the 30-zone).)
::::With the widespread ignoring of such laws, I am of course not surprised that people who may-or-may-not have even passed a driving test (or cycling proficiency test) are riding bikes badly. But I don't have to like it. And (like the title-text's forcing of 'lesser vehicles' off the road), I'd rather not have it rebounding upon those of us who ''aren't'' troublemakers.
::::It ''almost'' wants me to change my mind over the ideas of having "taxed, insured and registration-plated" cycles. But that is what other people suggest, probably to 'restore' the car's supremacy of the road (short-sightedly and ignorant of road-history) by making supposed nuisance-cyclists be made accountable (while they'll be shocked if they're ever stopped from going 30 in a 20-zone, or 90 in a NSL-zone).
::::This is no kneejerk opinion. I've been a cyclist for the best part of five decades (only marginally less than I've been walking, though I was also apparently first taken out in a cycle-trailer as a week-old baby) and a motorist for well over three. I've seen cycling become diminished as an everyday past-time and 'biking' spring up as a more elitish one (MAMILs, etc). And the rise of "Kensington Tractors", in the UK, but luckily it's still not heading inexorably down the comic's story. And if I can do my bit to evangelise for general law-abiding consideration and prick the conscience of ''all'' road users (and pedestrians), without myself causing problems to others (I don't count blocking those who intend to drive faster than my on-the-limit speed, just wait until I'm going slower than that because I don't want to spin off an icy road!), I will do so without apology. It doesn't have to be like that (cycling in Belgium is a dream, better even than the Netherlands, with not too shabby experiences from other countries from Denmark through to France), and really shouldn't be like the US, where even ''walking'' often seems to be an inconvenient eccentricity that's barely tolerated.
::::Ok, more enough of that. Most people reading this will never share the roads with me, anyway, even if you might. And Jeremy Vine has nothing to do with it. (Nor any of the Jeremies 'Kyle', 'Clarkson' or 'Corbyn', in their own ways. "Jeremy Hillary Boob, Ph.D.", ''perhaps''...) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.231.193|82.132.231.193]] 19:41, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::::: Translation for Yanks-- "''in England, “Kensington Tractors” (referring to expensive 4WD Land Rovers in the city, and Kensington, a posh district in London.)."'' --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 21:50, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Pretty good comic [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])

As someone who lives in the UK, the title text comes across as a comment on the US attitude to jaywalking - where the "solution" to vulnerable road users (pedestrians) being put in danger by careless drivers is to make it illegal for the vulnerable group to using the road at all. US people, is it likely that Randall had something like that in mind?
(Unrelated, but when posting this I got a captcha asking me to identify bicycles...) [[Special:Contributions/87.115.222.218|87.115.222.218]] 00:29, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:I don't think so. I think he's just joking about not caring about peds at all. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 00:47, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

As a German, I take offense to this comic. ONLY CARS WILL SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE! [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:652A:12CB:761D:93F6|2A02:2455:1960:4000:652A:12CB:761D:93F6]] 08:45, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

The comic is a typical example of US-centric views. Car ownership in Europe was much lower 50 years ago than in the US. Most people were still stuck in the first panel.--[[Special:Contributions/2001:638:807:507:B425:E1E7:68BD:B213|2001:638:807:507:B425:E1E7:68BD:B213]] 10:08, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:...Because Randall is American? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:34, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:Europe has been catching up to the US. In 1995, SUV sales were only 2%, but they were 54% in 2024. This is just a little lower than the US 58%. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:17, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:the concept of people buying bigger cars is western-centric in general. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 01:32, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

For those of you who keep a eX-Twitter account, someone posted a similar take that was so hilariously self-unaware: https://x.com/jerimiahlee/status/1758883775642059265 that people started one-upping him with larger and larger vehicles in quote posts, sometimes veering in chains that ended up with fictional vehicles, but my personal favorite on one-upmanship was the one who posted an image of a Takraf strip mine excavator… https://x.com/carl___spackler/status/1759646389376852009 [[Special:Contributions/89.83.116.217|89.83.116.217]] 15:17, 13 November 2025 (UTC) Pierre Lebeaupin

I realize this is US-specific, but the comic completely ignores the fact that vehicle manufacturers are incentivized by the US Government to increase the size of the cars they design, since the CAFE standards are graduated based on vehicle size. Larger vehicles are allowed to get lower MPG, so the bigger the vehicle you design, the less you have to worry about making it efficient. In fact, it's difficult to find a small vehicle for sale in the US. [[Special:Contributions/136.226.7.177|136.226.7.177]] 04:19, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

Renault Twingo ? So I followed the link, and this is pretty obviously a gag video. Now I know I'm not hip and with it on all the best memes, but I don't see how this helps explain the comic, or is actually relevant or noteworthy. [[Special:Contributions/104.129.192.105|104.129.192.105]] 19:00, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
: I think you've answered your own question - it's there as a gag. And it is lampooning exactly the kind of sales talk that helps drive the trend in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:52, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:I second. I don't feel it helps explain the comic, or is actually relevant or noteworthy. [[User:OrwellFan|OrwellFan]] ([[User talk:OrwellFan|talk]]) 01:52, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

It should be noted that some electric scooters can reach speeds in excess of 80 km/h, which makes them a really serious threat to pedestrians or bicycles. (but less so than to the rider, obviously) {{unsigned ip|176.138.186.7|18:02, 14 November 2025 (UTC)}}

"This would almost certainly never happen in real life"... have you never seen spiked lug nuts? (Technically, spiked lug nut *covers*.) They seem to be standard on long haul trucks around here. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1700:9DA3:8040:684C:E1EE:D1AD:89AD|2600:1700:9DA3:8040:684C:E1EE:D1AD:89AD]] 22:07, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:Again, I second. [[User:OrwellFan|OrwellFan]] ([[User talk:OrwellFan|talk]]) 01:52, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
:I have thought about adding spikes (fake and/or soft) to my car to keep other drivers from getting too close. Especially if they are following too close and I decide to slam my brakes. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 04:50, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
Does randal reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation with the alttext? ---- {{unsigned ip|2a00:fbc:f303:76a5::2|18:49, 17 November 2025}}

Usually Randall’s comics are well-researched, but the historical examples in this one seem ludicrous. Can anyone confirm whether this is accurate at all? [[Special:Contributions/76.131.222.161|76.131.222.161]] 21:32, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
:Well, the '100 years ago' car is a bit ancient-looking. Less like any of the {{w|Category:Cars introduced in 1925}} entries than a 1910s or earlier one (could be artisitic licence on "early last century"). The bicycle is probably not very on-era either, though that style of step-through frame had appeared pre-1900 ''and'' can be seen in more contemporary versions of "ladies' bike". (The handlebars are a certain old-style, the saddle has an 'old-style' look (though tends to be reinvented for less 'racy' bikes) as far as one can tell from a few lines.
:''...'''added later''': after much searching, [https://www.bonhams.com/auction/22719/lot/101/1925-mercedes-type-8-ladies-bicycle-chassis-no-23006/ this bike] seems to be closest by both date and form...''
:The '50 years ago' image looks to feature a mid-1980s small-car, rather than a 1975 one. (There's so many more actual models to check, though I'm thinking maybe something like a Datsun, or similar exported Japanee brand?) The larger car... well, apart from perhaps being a Rolls Royce (or otherwise featuring a prominent hood-ornament like that) it's the kind of luxury-sedan style shape that is ''almost'' contemporary up to the present day.
:For 'Today', you're going for basic "SUV", in both cases, just one with less SuperMini-like wheels (probably alloys) and plenty of add-on details. Features that clearly get an upgrade in the more visible 'Soon' car (the other one might be even bigger, the way its 'club-rotor' seems to be sat higher up, as well as having larger spiked-clubs). [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:55, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

3155: Physics Paths

2025-11-21T00:09:01Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3155
| date = October 15, 2025
| title = Physics Paths
| image = physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 433x663px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If nothing else, that reasoning definitely overturns syllogisms.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] wishes to prove his value as a person. To do this, he turns to {{w|Albert Einstein}} as a role model, and attempts to replicate his success by making a revolutionary scientific discovery. After an indeterminate amount of time passes, Cueball laments that he has failed. At this point, the comic diverges into two timelines: one in which Cueball takes a healthy outlook on his failure, and one in which he falls into a self-destructive mode of thinking.

The first path (the "healthy path") has Cueball muse that perhaps this was a poorly-thought-out test of his value. The healthy path establishes that Cueball doesn't need a physics-overturning insight to have value. On the other hand, the "path of ruin" has Cueball angrily yell that the establishment must be stopping his insight from overturning physics. The path of ruin has Cueball take the idea that to have value, you must have a critical insight as constant. Thus, since he has value, he must have an insight that overturns physics, and thus the establishment must be suppressing it — in other words, Cueball has succumbed to certain conspiracy theories. This is similar to [[2113: Physics Suppression]]. The point is that the idea that "the establishment" is suppressing his theories is almost certainly untrue — far more likely is that Cueball's theory is simply wrong, and therefore useless.

The title text mentions {{w|syllogisms}}, logical deductions from two propositions. An example of a syllogism is "All scientists that overturn physics are valuable. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, Einstein was a person of value." Since Cueball, invalidly, gets it the other way around ("Einstein was a person of value. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, all people with value overturn physics."), one could say he quite literally overturned the syllogism by inverting the logical path.

This comic continues with a theme from the prior comic, [[3154: Physics Insight]].

==Transcript==
:[Panel 1, Cueball has one hand out, below his shoulder, palm facing up and is straight:]

:Cueball: Einstein had an insight that overturned physics, thus proving his value.

:[Panel 2, Cueball has one hand on his chin:]

:Cueball: I hope '''''I''''' have value. I'll try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check.

:[arrow pointing down with the caption below in between:]

:Time passes

:[arrow pointing down to Panel 3, which has Cueball with both of his hands out and up:]

:Cueball: On no! My insight didn't overturn physics! But I don't think I'm worthless...

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the left labeled "Healthy path" points to a panel with Cueball with his hands on his chin:]

:Cueball: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value.

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the right labeled "Path of ruin" points to another panel with Cueball with his finger out and pointing up:]

:Cueball: The establishment must be '''''suppressing''''' my insight!

==Trivia==
Einstein had more than one major insight. His "{{w|Annus mirabilis papers|''annus mirabilis'' (miraculous year) papers}}", all published in 1905, covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence. The fourth of these is a consequence of the third (though still a major development in its own right), but the first three are about essentially-unrelated areas of physics, and represent significant new understanding of them. The photoelectric effect, the only discovery mentioned in Einstein's Nobel Prize citation, was a foundational concept of what was later called quantum mechanics. The third, titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", is the one that can be said to have 'overturned' physics as it introduced the concept of {{w|special relativity}}. Special relativity made unnecessary the concept of {{w|luminiferous aether}} for the propagation of light, a substance which had been disproven by the {{w|Michelson–Morley experiment}} but which had left the previous system of classical physics unable to explain why light behaved as it did. The theory of special relativity was also one of the great {{w|unification of theories in physics}}. The first unification was by Isaac Newton, whose law of universal gravitation unified physics (gravity as observed on Earth) with astronomy (the motion of planets) at a time when the two subjects were considered different fields. The second unification was by James Clerk Maxwell, who produced equations unifying the behavior of electricity and magnetism. With the paper on special relativity, Einstein unified space and time, showing that gravity was actually a result of spacetime bending, and not a force solely dependent on the mass of two objects, as classical physics assumed. Incredibly, less than two months after publishing the third great unification, Einstein's fourth paper, titled "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", produced the fourth great unification, when it introduced the equation ''E''=''mc''2 and unified mass and energy. Einstein later (1915) discovered {{w|general relativity}}, another revolutionary physical concept. This unparalleled achievement of several fundamental breakthroughs in physics is why Einstein is held in such high regard to this day, to the point that his last name as a {{w|mononym}} is synonymous with intelligence, insight, and greatness. Indeed Einstein's papers remain a large part of the foundation of modern physics.

The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic [https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html Crackpot Index]. xkcd has mocked the idea of the physics community suppressing new ideas before, such as in [[675: Revolutionary]], [[2113: Physics Suppression]], or the "science thought police" in [[955: Neutrinos]]. This is also the second consecutive comic about Einstein in some way after [[3154: Physics Insight]].

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Albert Einstein]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

Talk:3170: Service Outage

2025-11-21T00:04:08Z

2.98.65.8:

F1R5T! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:53, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

On the contrary, almost all the fanfiction I write is set in Legends, so my productivity takes a major hit there. (I don't care what disney says, they can take the old republic from my cold dead hands) [[Special:Contributions/108.254.161.83|108.254.161.83]] 02:09, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

damn aws has been a month old already? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 02:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
:But [https://blog.cloudflare.com/18-november-2025-outage/ the Cloudflare outage] seems like only yesterday. [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 04:52, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

The second paragraph is all 1 sentence. Somebody should probably fix that. [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 02:36, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

At my most active on this site, an outage might have increased my productivity :-p But now I did not even notice this outage yesterday :-D --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:32, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

I think the capital letter is significant. A Canon wiki would be about the Japanese company that makes fine optical equipment, something that would be a legitimate business-related destination.[[User:Muttley|Muttley]] ([[User talk:Muttley|talk]]) 09:57, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

Someone has put in "like Google" as an example. Should this site be extending the internet myth that Google is essential for internet use? In reality, it's just one of many search engines. If Google went down, people would get a less skewed result from something like DuckDuckGo. But they think Google IS the internet. And this wiki shouldn't ecoueage the myth. {{unsigned ip|86.45.82.77|10:22, 20 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:Is that better? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 12:27, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
:Finally, somebody remembered that DuckDuckGo exists. Duck player is genuinely a lifesaver. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 14:00, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

The 'doesn't rely on' curve is wrong - it should initially plummet as the person repeatedly refreshes the Star Wars Legends wiki, while cursing it for (still) not working. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:46, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
:I thought the same for people who rely on it. There should be a big spike down, while people keep refreshing and debugging things, then it gradually goes up again, often to almost the same level as before, as people focus on tasks that they can do without that service or find workarounds. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 00:03, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

I feel [[903:_Extended_Mind]] might be relevant as well? {{unsigned ip|173.70.43.163|17:07, 20 November 2025}}

Talk:3167: Car Size

2025-11-20T23:55:02Z

2.98.65.8:

It is I, broseph. [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 19:45, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:MY LETTERS ARE BIGGER THAN YOURS!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 20:15, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
tears of the kingdom be like [[Special:Contributions/128.135.204.243|128.135.204.243]] 20:49, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

Did someone say {{w|Not Just Bikes}}? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0intLFzLaudFG-xAvUEO-A --[[Special:Contributions/62.0.12.1|62.0.12.1]] 20:50, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

On the (current) closing paragraph of the Explanation, note that (at least where I am) it is illegal to ride a bike on the footway, unless specifically signed and permitted as a shared/split pavement area. As a cyclist, I really wouldn't even want to (or to increase fellow motorists' misconceptions that they exclusively own the road) when it's a perfectly good highway, but 'people on bikes' seem to do what they like and perpetuate such misunderstandings. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.30|82.132.244.30]] 21:41, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:It's illegal here too, and I've added a note to that effect. As a cyclist, I do sometimes ride on sidewalks where sharing a road with cars is just too dangerous, but I try to be extremely cautious in my interactions with pedestrians. They've got the right of way; I don't. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:06, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::On top of often ill-conceived official cycle/pedestrian paths, I have a mild dislike for "cycle lanes", personally, as a sort of official "we really would prefer you to not be on the road, but we don't know what else to do with you, and it looks good when we add up the amount of 'cycle friendly' routes we have" kind of thing. With awareness (so no plugging your ears with headphones playing your 'tunez') most roads that I might use ''ought'' to be safe to cycle without badly implemented off-road/side-of-road segregation, and an overwhelming amount don't have such provision (riding to a cafe forty-plus miles away and circling round a different way back home, there's surprisingly few no-motor-vehicles opportunities to take).
::Even worse, though, is walking by a road with a 'perfectly good' clearly marked cycle lane (not particularly bad, compared to some instances, clean gutter and no bad grates) and some idiot on a bike rushes past me on the ''pavement'' (i.e. sidewalk), these days it often being an electrically-assisted, near silent bike (courtesy of Deliveroo/whoever), except that he's (assuming 'he', but it's a good chance) zooming past me, slightly ''uphill'', without pedalling at all... Technically, he's riding an electric motorcycle, and going at normal traffic speeds (and wearing a motorcycle-style helmet, so probably no point shouting at him as his ears are covered, if he hasn't also got earbuds in!) and ''definitely'' shouldn't be sharing the pavement with me (on the verge of needing a registration plate and paying insurance/tax for his e-moped).
::Of course, he'll act just as badly when he transitions back on the road, ignoring other traffic rules and barely avoiding become the jam on an asphalt smogasbord, various drivers cursing him and wishing ''all cyclists'' were off the streets. (The same drivers might well sneak through lights themselves, though "if it's quiet and nobody else is there", plus happily exceed the 20/30/40/50/60/70 mph limits on roads whenever they can, and don't have me driving ''at the limit'' in front of them when it's awkward for them to pass...)
::Not saying I'm perfect, but there are idiots out there with everything from no wheels (just two legs) up to perhaps 18-ish or whatever their juggernaut has, engines of whatever type or none, but I hope that I do my bit by being more considerate than most (except when it comes to dealing with inconsideration itself, when I internalise any joy I get about stopping others breaking the law for a few short moments) whether I'm walking, riding or driving. Though always trying to be aware of what the inevitably ever-present idiots out there will be doing. (Well, I couldn't do a thing about the time that a car pulled out in front of the bus I was a passenger in. But neither could the bus-driver, really, from what I could work out. Bus. Small car. Not a battle that I'd want to fight, on inertia alone.)
::Darn... this was not intended to be a holier-than-though rant, when I started, but I still don't regret it starting to go that way one bit... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 23:56, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:::''Starting'' to go that way?! Bro, you went full Jeremy Vine caller. Might I suggest that you grow up and realise that the ones you see are 100% of the ones you see, but that doesn't mean they are 100% of the picture. There is nuance. There are rules that are worth avoiding because that allows cyclists to get out of the way quickly – crossing in a way that a pedestrian is allowed to do, at a speed that a pedestrian can't, for example. Co-exist. High horses are far less welcome than cyclists. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 17:55, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::::The marking of a 'red bit of asphalt' ahead of the line that cars are expected to stop at, to give cyclists that little extra space when the lights go green, is useless when motorists don't just drive into that space but seem to think the 'stop line' is where the ''driver'' should position themselves (long bonnet being well over that line, half way across the pedestrian crossing or even out into the road junction).
::::I blame bad driving for that (as a cyclist of decades experience, I have to ride defensively), but bad 'biking' doesn't help.
::::I'd much rather ride across a box-junction ''with'' traffic (when the lights allow) than do the slalom of hopping on and off the pavement 'at will' and either waiting for the pedestrian crossing (''ideally'' a proper Toucan, or even Pegasus, given that you normally should only walk your bike across a Zebra or Pelican/Puffin) or disobeying those lights too, at your own risk and giving inconvenience/annoyance to both wheeled and walking traffic.
::::I have a low opinion of the way 'helpful' cycle-infrastructure has been implemented, and a low (but understandable) opinion of how ignorant people are of the bicycle position in the Highway Code and all relevent laws (see Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835, and all successive legislation, which establishes a bicycle as a road vehicle, and I do not want either my rights or obligations to be eroded, either legally or through misconceptions and misunderstandings).
::::I also know that I can drive at 70mph on a motorway (where there's no lesser limit applied to it by gantry signs and/or contraflow-protection signage) and, though I may be going faster than all HGVs, and possibly someone else happy to tootle along at 60ish (which I'm happy to do, too, but not in an overtaking lane unless its due to all the lanes being congested), there'll be traffic passing me at 80, 90 or maybe more in the outside (or middle!) overtaking lane. The only time it seems motorists will ''not'' exceed the limit (not just for a particular road, having not realised the local limit, but for ''every'' UK road) is where there are Average Speed cameras. (Site-only speed-cameras just have them maybe touch the brakes then speed up again afterwards. I've even been parked by the side of a road, by a 30-sign, and seen the approaching traffic ''really'' slam the brakes on on thinking my car (red) is a speed-trap, then speed back up once the guilty reaction has worn out. Stand in the very same place, inconspicuously and without any car, and nobody does it anything like that (probably going 70+ in the 60-zone, easing off to ''eventually'' 35-40 in the 30-zone).)
::::With the widespread ignoring of such laws, I am of course not surprised that people who may-or-may-not have even passed a driving test (or cycling proficiency test) are riding bikes badly. But I don't have to like it. And (like the title-text's forcing of 'lesser vehicles' off the road), I'd rather not have it rebounding upon those of us who ''aren't'' troublemakers.
::::It ''almost'' wants me to change my mind over the ideas of having "taxed, insured and registration-plated" cycles. But that is what other people suggest, probably to 'restore' the car's supremacy of the road (short-sightedly and ignorant of road-history) by making supposed nuisance-cyclists be made accountable (while they'll be shocked if they're ever stopped from going 30 in a 20-zone, or 90 in a NSL-zone).
::::This is no kneejerk opinion. I've been a cyclist for the best part of five decades (only marginally less than I've been walking, though I was also apparently first taken out in a cycle-trailer as a week-old baby) and a motorist for well over three. I've seen cycling become diminished as an everyday past-time and 'biking' spring up as a more elitish one (MAMILs, etc). And the rise of "Kensington Tractors", in the UK, but luckily it's still not heading inexorably down the comic's story. And if I can do my bit to evangelise for general law-abiding consideration and prick the conscience of ''all'' road users (and pedestrians), without myself causing problems to others (I don't count blocking those who intend to drive faster than my on-the-limit speed, just wait until I'm going slower than that because I don't want to spin off an icy road!), I will do so without apology. It doesn't have to be like that (cycling in Belgium is a dream, better even than the Netherlands, with not too shabby experiences from other countries from Denmark through to France), and really shouldn't be like the US, where even ''walking'' often seems to be an inconvenient eccentricity that's barely tolerated.
::::Ok, more enough of that. Most people reading this will never share the roads with me, anyway, even if you might. And Jeremy Vine has nothing to do with it. (Nor any of the Jeremies 'Kyle', 'Clarkson' or 'Corbyn', in their own ways. "Jeremy Hillary Boob, Ph.D.", ''perhaps''...) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.231.193|82.132.231.193]] 19:41, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::::: Translation for Yanks-- "''in England, “Kensington Tractors” (referring to expensive 4WD Land Rovers in the city, and Kensington, a posh district in London.)."'' --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 21:50, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Pretty good comic [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])

As someone who lives in the UK, the title text comes across as a comment on the US attitude to jaywalking - where the "solution" to vulnerable road users (pedestrians) being put in danger by careless drivers is to make it illegal for the vulnerable group to using the road at all. US people, is it likely that Randall had something like that in mind?
(Unrelated, but when posting this I got a captcha asking me to identify bicycles...) [[Special:Contributions/87.115.222.218|87.115.222.218]] 00:29, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:I don't think so. I think he's just joking about not caring about peds at all. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 00:47, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

As a German, I take offense to this comic. ONLY CARS WILL SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE! [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:652A:12CB:761D:93F6|2A02:2455:1960:4000:652A:12CB:761D:93F6]] 08:45, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

The comic is a typical example of US-centric views. Car ownership in Europe was much lower 50 years ago than in the US. Most people were still stuck in the first panel.--[[Special:Contributions/2001:638:807:507:B425:E1E7:68BD:B213|2001:638:807:507:B425:E1E7:68BD:B213]] 10:08, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:...Because Randall is American? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:34, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:Europe has been catching up to the US. In 1995, SUV sales were only 2%, but they were 54% in 2024. This is just a little lower than the US 58%. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:17, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:the concept of people buying bigger cars is western-centric in general. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 01:32, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

For those of you who keep a eX-Twitter account, someone posted a similar take that was so hilariously self-unaware: https://x.com/jerimiahlee/status/1758883775642059265 that people started one-upping him with larger and larger vehicles in quote posts, sometimes veering in chains that ended up with fictional vehicles, but my personal favorite on one-upmanship was the one who posted an image of a Takraf strip mine excavator… https://x.com/carl___spackler/status/1759646389376852009 [[Special:Contributions/89.83.116.217|89.83.116.217]] 15:17, 13 November 2025 (UTC) Pierre Lebeaupin

I realize this is US-specific, but the comic completely ignores the fact that vehicle manufacturers are incentivized by the US Government to increase the size of the cars they design, since the CAFE standards are graduated based on vehicle size. Larger vehicles are allowed to get lower MPG, so the bigger the vehicle you design, the less you have to worry about making it efficient. In fact, it's difficult to find a small vehicle for sale in the US. [[Special:Contributions/136.226.7.177|136.226.7.177]] 04:19, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

Renault Twingo ? So I followed the link, and this is pretty obviously a gag video. Now I know I'm not hip and with it on all the best memes, but I don't see how this helps explain the comic, or is actually relevant or noteworthy. [[Special:Contributions/104.129.192.105|104.129.192.105]] 19:00, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
: I think you've answered your own question - it's there as a gag. And it is lampooning exactly the kind of sales talk that helps drive the trend in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:52, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:I second. I don't feel it helps explain the comic, or is actually relevant or noteworthy. [[User:OrwellFan|OrwellFan]] ([[User talk:OrwellFan|talk]]) 01:52, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

It should be noted that some electric scooters can reach speeds in excess of 80 km/h, which makes them a really serious threat to pedestrians or bicycles. (but less so than to the rider, obviously) {{unsigned ip|176.138.186.7|18:02, 14 November 2025 (UTC)}}

"This would almost certainly never happen in real life"... have you never seen spiked lug nuts? (Technically, spiked lug nut *covers*.) They seem to be standard on long haul trucks around here. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1700:9DA3:8040:684C:E1EE:D1AD:89AD|2600:1700:9DA3:8040:684C:E1EE:D1AD:89AD]] 22:07, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:Again, I second. [[User:OrwellFan|OrwellFan]] ([[User talk:OrwellFan|talk]]) 01:52, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
:I have thought about adding spikes (fake and/or soft) to my car to keep other drivers from getting too close. Especially if they are following too close and I decide to slam my brakes. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 04:50, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
Does randal reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation with the alttext? ---- {{unsigned ip|2a00:fbc:f303:76a5::2|18:49, 17 November 2025}}

Usually Randall’s comics are well-researched, but the historical examples in this one seem ludicrous. Can anyone confirm whether this is accurate at all? [[Special:Contributions/76.131.222.161|76.131.222.161]] 21:32, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
:Well, the '100 years ago' car is a bit ancient-looking. Less like any of the {{w|Category:Cars introduced in 1925}} entries than a 1910s or earlier one (could be artisitic licence on "early last century"). The bicycle is probably not very on-era either, though that style of step-through frame had appeared pre-1900 ''and'' can be seen in more contemporary versions of "ladies' bike". (The handlebars are a certain old-style, the saddle has an 'old-style' look (though tends to be reinvented for less 'racy' bikes) as far as one can tell from a few lines.
:The '50 years ago' image looks to feature a mid-1980s small-car, rather than a 1975 one. (There's so many more actual models to check, though I'm thinking maybe something like a Datsun, or similar exported Japanee brand?) The larger car... well, apart from perhaps being a Rolls Royce (or otherwise featuring a prominent hood-ornament like that) it's the kind of luxury-sedan style shape that is ''almost'' contemporary up to the present day.
:For 'Today', you're going for basic "SUV", in both cases, just one with less SuperMini-like wheels (probably alloys) and plenty of add-on details. Features that clearly get an upgrade in the more visible 'Soon' car (the other one might be even bigger, the way its 'club-rotor' seems to be sat higher up, as well as having larger spiked-clubs). [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:55, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous

2025-11-20T23:20:33Z

2.98.65.8: /* I need to find this specific comic or I will explode */

<noinclude>{{Community links}}

{|-
|valign="top" width="100%"|[[File:Internet-group-chat.svg|left|120px]] <big><big>Miscellaneous</big></big>

This is a place for general chit-chat about virtually anything that doesn't fit anywhere else. {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Miscellaneous|Text=(+post)}}
|}</noinclude>

__TOC__
==ARCHIVED DISCUSSIONS==
<div class="plainlinks" style="background:#edf6ff; border:1px solid #a7d7f9; margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:100%; font-size: 120%; padding: 0.5ex; text-align: center;">The discussion of the now-deleted page "Advertise here" has been archived. The archive is available at '''[[explain xkcd talk:Community portal/Miscellaneous]]'''.</div>

== The Community Portal's design ==

{{tl|Community portal}} looks too Wikipedia-ish (because that's where I got it). Someone who can design things should probably fix that. It isn't protected for the time being, though it probably will be in the future (high-visibility template). --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:54, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Common mistake ==

This affects all pages that ever say "alt text" in reference to the TITLE text on xkcd images. "Alt text" is incorrect; Alt text refers to the text that is shown as an alternative when images are not displayed. Title text is what xkcd uses and is shown as a tool tip-like bubble when images are hovered over.

I would correct this myself but I saw no way to edit the main page. --[[User:Jillysky|Jillysky]] ([[User talk:Jillysky|talk]]) 14:21, 6 August 2012‎ (UTC)

:You actually don't need to edit the main page to fix it, as what's there is just a mirror (transclusion) of the actual content from the comic page, at [[Curiosity]], which is open for editing by anyone. Then again, the "alt-text" in that case is generated by a template, {{tl|comic}}, so that's where we should fix this. The template's code, however, is currently a terrible mess (sorry!), so I went ahead and took care of it. Thanks for catching that! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:Ah? So it's wrong, for instance, on http://m.xkcd.com? because of that I took it for granted that we could call it the alt-text... - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 17:38, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:: Yes. If you look at the page's html source, you'll see:
<nowiki><img
id="comic"
src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/curiosity.png"
title="As of this writing the NASA/JPL websites are still overloaded. Trying CURIOSITY-REAR-CAM_[256px_x_256px].torrent.SwEsUb.DVDRip.XviD-aXXo.jpg instead."
alt="Curiosity"></nowiki>
::(line breaks added for clarity) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 23:54, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:::That was my error in the template. I knew "image text" that has been commonly used by Jeff was not techically correct, but I didn't actually go back and confirm it was alt text before I included that tag in the template. That's to Waldir (I believe?) for correcting the template. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:14, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

== When the "official" transcript is wrong? ==
I did [[903: Extended Mind]]. Interestingly, the transcript on xkcd.com is missing the bottom line "When Wikipedia has a server outage, my apparent IQ drops by 30 points." I assume we want a complete transcript, rather than whatever xkcd.com says it is...? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 04:10, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

:We're focusing on the actual transcript of the comic, not the xkcd.com transcript. The official transcript is usually right, but even Randall makes mistakes sometimes. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 04:24, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

== Milestone: half the comics explained!! ==

Hi all! I'm pleased to announce that we have just broke the 50% mark for xkcd explanations! The page that balanced the count (568 explained, 568 to go, at the time) was [[877: Beauty]], created 01:31 UTC, 21 November 2012 by [[User:Davidy22]]. Congratulations!! :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:10, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:The caterer's been called! The punch will be arriving soon! Go [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:53, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

::[[File:freedom.png]] Punch is served! [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:11, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

But the Main page says 407 explanations, 731 to go! What's up with that? --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:00, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

== Reverse? ==

Why in the Archive why are all the thing up until "Heatmap" in Reverse? Can someone please answer? [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:Archive? Can you provide a link or screenshot? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

http://xkcd.com/archive/ [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

::Ah, that's because the comic right after that, rtl, has a right-to-left character in it that flips all the proceeding text. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:13, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Ah, ok, i see that now. When I 1st saw that RTL I just thought that it was random letters, thankyou for explaining it for me. [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

It also depends on what browser you are on because on Google Chrome it was normal. [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 09:08, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Do you think this question was asked by one of the xkcd people? ==

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090301060752AAtYugc [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:38, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Matthew Reilly ==

I would just like to tell everyone that I asked Matthew Reilly (the author) if he is ever scared that a velociraptor is going to attack him, and he said NO! He clearly needs to start worrying about them! [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 10:45, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== What can we learn section ==
First of all I love your work. I believe deeper understanding of each XKCD can make a world a better place and I thank you sincerely for starting this webpage. I wanted to ask what you think about "What can we learn?" section I've been adding to some of the pages. Thank you - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:27, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:This site is actually the work of multiple editors working slowly and steadily to fill in explanations for all the old comics. Some of the xkcd comics are incredibly deep - comic [[956]] is such a poignant comic that digs into the DRM issue on so many levels. Your reflections on many of the comics are very much warranted and you're helping us create talk pages with high-quality opening posts, which is great for future discussion on this wiki. It'd be nice if you could refrain from putting headers in talk pages, technical limitations of the wiki make long explanation pages choke when headings are in the discussion page. Other than that, keep up the good work! '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:42, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::I've put in my 2 cents to comic [[956]], and thank you for teaching me how to comment and link to other comics - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::: FYI, you can always make pseudo-headings using a horizontal rule and a bold "header", but honestly I think a simple standard opening sentence would suffice. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:14, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

:Oh, and the guy who draws xkcd is called {{w|Randall Munroe}}. So many glowing things to be said about him. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:44, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::Yes, I can't thank him enough for simplifying complex issues to funny stories, I think it's exactly what our generation needs - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:I'm in favor of a Mr. Rogers style of 'what lesson can be learned' on the talk page, but make sure your comments don't come across as sanctimonious and holier-than-thou as that can be really off-putting. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:06, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:: You are absolutely correct, I have not thought of that, please trust me I did not do it on purpose. Thank you Mr. Lcarsos - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 19:55, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Thank you David, and I apologize that I've not made it clear that by your work, I do mean your collective work (the wiki is only as good as all the people behind it). I was trying to put the headers to allow others to find the section easier in case they start looking for it, perhaps I could make a suggestion to make it a standalone section so that others would be encouraged to contribute their own understanding of lessons they have noticed from each comic. I know the lessons I've seen, but I would love to learn from others as much as I hope they can learn from me and Mr. XKCD, thank you. - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:48, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

== DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD ==

Hello fellow editors. Do you remember the last time we were hit by a surge of automated spam? Neither do I. ConfirmEdit has really done a number on the volume of spam that we're eating - one spam account has been created since we finished configuring confirmEdit, and zero anon edits have been spam. Zero. Can you say happiness? Can you say party? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:41, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:Hehe, I'm glad! Thanks for being so relentless on the spam-fighting all this time! Maybe we should make up a new reason to make Jeff remove the /wiki/ in the URL? ;) –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 18:11, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:: Awesome news! Finally the patrolling feature will be usable: [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideanons=1&hidepatrolled=1&from=20121204025000&days=365&limit=1000}} Unpatrolled changes by registered users] / [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideliu=1&hidepatrolled=1&from=20121204025000&days=365&limit=1000}} Unpatrolled changes by anonymous users] :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:27, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

== 1000th comic explanation!! ==

Hi all! It apparently went unnoticed that '''we have recently surpassed the mark of 1000 comic explanations!''' Some calculations based on [[:Category:Comics]] and [[Special:NewPages]] led me to the conclusion that the 1000th explanation was [[681: Gravity Wells]], created by [[User:AlexRNL]] just yesterday! Yay! This calls for a celebration, no? Congrats to [[Special:ContributionScores|everyone]] who made this happen! I'll edit [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice]] with a congratulatory message. Way to go, guys! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:04, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
:ps - I also took the opportunity to flesh out our [[explain xkcd|about/history page]]. Please take a look and fix/add any details I might have missed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:06, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

== Style guide ==
Is there a style guide for this wiki? --[[User:PeterMortensen|PeterMortensen]] ([[User talk:PeterMortensen|talk]]) 20:14, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
:Oh, sorry, I did forget to answer here. A guide on this is not easy, many individual comics do need special layouts because they have content never can match to a style guide. But I will give a try [[Help:Style Guide]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:18, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

== Adblock ==

I've whitelisted the site in adblock, but the ads are still blocked.
Anyone know what' going on here and how I can fix it?--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 04:34, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
:Huh. I was wondering why our impression counts weren't rising. I thought it was just because this site had high turnover. I've changed the webpage that the word whitelisting links to, try the instructions there instead. Project wonderful is our ad provider, and they've been pretty good to us so far. Also, thanks for helping to support the site! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:40, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
::Great! I don't really mid ads as long as they aren't intrusive. Works now, Hope everyone else does it as well.--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 05:16, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
::I saw you wrote "the webpage that the word whitelisting links to" so I went to the search box and typed whitelisting. My search didn't yield anything useful: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=whitelisting&go=Go&title=Special%3ASearch]. I don't know how to create the missing page but there oughta be a link for someone like me who searches for whitelist or whitelisting, to take them to the instructions you refer to. [[User:SaxTeacher|SaxTeacher]] ([[User talk:SaxTeacher|talk]]) 10:59, 17 May 2014 (UTC)
:::We already have this linked somewhere, but [https://www.projectwonderful.com/adblock.php this] is the link you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:41, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

I normally access this site through the android app "xkcd browser". That app only links to the content part of the site and doesn't show the side bar, so the adds aren't shown either. Might be worth discussing it with the author. [[Special:Contributions/109.158.126.139|109.158.126.139]] 08:06, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

:We support those avenues completely, you don't need to feel bad if you use an app to browse this site. We're only really concerned when we put up ads and our impressions are less than half our page hits, because that essentially means more than half our readers aren't contributing to server costs. That's really hard to deal with. We have enough daily page hits to qualify as web publishers at very big ad agencies, but we've had to settle for relatively low rates at the smaller Project Wonderful because 60% of our users were using adblock, so the agencies rejected us because our valuable "paying" audience was too low for them to consider us. That's been the difference between us using dedicated servers to host the site and hiring a contractor to set it up, and the (admittedly somewhat decent) shared hosting plan that we have to settle for now. We can only afford the shared hosting, because the small-scale advertisers at Project Wonderful don't even pay for full days of advertising; most of the time, we make less per day than the posted $3.90 price. That said, we're grateful that Project Wonderful would take us as a publisher when no one else would, but it really feels like the difference between being accepted to community college and being accepted to an ivy league school. For a similar reason, the Google ads route was not sufficient to satisfy our needs; not a large enough proportion of our users were looking at ads, so we either needed to spam them and degrade the site, or we needed to make them refresh, which makes pages slow and causes needlessly high traffic for a lot of users. We didn't want our ads to make the site worse, because that would drive away users and defeat the purpose of us being a public resource for xkcd readers. We actually decided to go the agency route pretty early, because adsense takes a massive cut of revenues and gives us little control over what ads or advertisers actually showed, which was not okay with us. Whoah, I wrote a lot. I hope it was coherent. Maybe someday I'll collect my thoughts and write a proper summary on how and why we advertise. Also, if you have any questions about anything ad-related, you can always ask us at [[explain xkcd talk:Advertise Here]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:15, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

== Feynman? ==

Feynman (both in [[182: Nash|living]] and [[397: Unscientific|zombie]] form) probably deserves an entry in the [[Template:Navbox characters|character navbox]] template doesn't he? [[Special:Contributions/128.250.152.198|128.250.152.198]] 02:21, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:That's two comics out of 1200+. Three if you count the song. Not quite enough yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:27, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:: If that's the criterion, then we need to get rid of [[Brown Hat]]. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:30, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Potentially, we could create a very minor character category with these two, and other characters with less than 10 appearances. [[User:tplaza64]]

== Job Interview (Atomic Soup) ==

The soup is clearly being poured out of an atomic socket. This "atomic soup" is probably not a reference to the alcoholic brew favoured by Scottish tramps, but more likely to the virtual nature of the company. {{unsigned|Sulis}}
:Hey, go here [[Talk:1293: Job Interview‎]] for discussions. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:58, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

== Is there a similar, transcripted service for The Oatmeal? ==

Hi everyone - this site is a real gem, I've sent it to a friend of mine who can't read XKCD because she's blind. The transcripts on this site are a real boon!

Does anyone know if there is a similar service for The Oatmeal? I've searched and searched, but found nothing so far.

Thanks :)

Jeff

:As far as I know we are kind of unique in the web comics world. I think we get away with it because Randall publishes all his comics as Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial. We liberally link back to xkcd, and we don't make a penny (The ads are just to cover server expenses, because wikis and the databases that support them get big when you're covering a body of work like xkcd). I haven't looked into the copyright Matt uses for the Oatmeal, but he seems like a cool enough guy to not kill a community transcripting effort of his comics. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:32, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== what if 103: Vanishing Water - comics ==

Please explain the 2nd and the 4th comics from http://what-if.xkcd.com/103/

"Just tried to sail my boat over land, because I didn't learn from that kid in the Zephyr." (who's the kid from Zephyr?)

"A third time?" (maybe whales were dropped twice before in other what-ifs?) [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 21:57, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

:"A third time?" is a reference to a whale falling twice in "Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy". Been a while, so I don't remember the details of how this fit in, but the second time it happened to the whale, he thought "Not again" or something along those lines. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:49, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

::Actually, it was the bowl of petunias that thought to itself "Oh, no, not again." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.73|108.162.216.73]] 00:48, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Raises the question of if we should explain jokes imbedded in What If comics. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:49, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Discussion usage ==

Am I being a killjoy in feeling that the discussion section should be mainly limited to discussion on improving the explanation, gathering consensus and that type of thing.
Specifically, the discussion for [[1418: Horse]] is quickly turning into every man and his dog posting a sentence in the style of the comic, which doesn't really add anything to the page other than clutter.

Personally, I'd just delete most of them, but I think I might be turning into a grumpy old bugger... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 20:32, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
:The discussion is also there for just talking about the comic. Those guys aren't wildly off-topic, there's no need to clamp down on what they get to talk about. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:44, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

::Yep, I must just be grumpy and draconian! Lesson learned --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 20:32, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

== 2014 Christmas header ==

Since the header for the site current contains a [http://imgs.xkcd.com/store/store_default.png graphic link to the store] that promises that Randall probably won't ship you a [[:Category:Bobcats|bobcat]], it seems to me that probably ought to be preserved and explained somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 17:45, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

== XKCD at LanguageLog ==

Arnold Zwicky (of the well-known linguistics blog Language Log) has put together a list of linguistics-related XKCD strips, here: http://arnoldzwicky.org/the-language-of-comics/comics-lists/xkcd-cartoons/ I thought it might be appropriate for a copy of the list (maybe a category) to be created from it. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.79|199.27.133.79]] 03:48, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
:[[:Category:Language]] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:39, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

== Bookmarklet ==

Hello there, I've created a little bookmarklet (https://ginkobox.fr/shaarli/?a77vQw) and I thought it might be useful for someone out there.

When launched, it adds the 'explain' before xkcd.com and the browser loads the explainxkcd page. I've tested it only on Firefox.

(Contact @ https://ginkobox.fr/wiki/doku.php?id=about) {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.229.100}}

:Thanks 108.162.229.100! I've started collecting these helpful tools on a [[Browser helpers|new page]], to hopefully make them easier for others to find. – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 01:36, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Is there a RSS feed for What If? ==

Is there a RSS feed for What If?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:59, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:No, because we cover the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:57, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

== My User Page ==

Can someone help me with [[user:17jiangz1|my user page]]? I can't seem to remove the large spaaaaaace on top.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 07:43, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
: The only solution I've found is to remove the contribution scores (data6=...). Not sure what exactly is triggering this bug. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 21:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
I am receiving "Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character ""." for <code><pre>{{#expr: {{formatnum:{{#cscore:17jiangz1|pages}}|R}}/{{formatnum:{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}|R}}*100 round 5 }}</pre></code>--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 05:46, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
:Bump?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:48, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

== What-If ==

In What-If 150, "Tatoonie Rainbow", http://what-if.xkcd.com/150/ the first image title-text says: "Vowing not to reference that video any further anywhere in this article, on principle.". What video is he talking about? [[User:5mi11er|slmiller]] ([[User talk:5mi11er|talk]]) 14:29, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

It hasn't updated for 2 weeks. why?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:50, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
:Looks like they're on hold for a few months (Until July 14th). Too bad, I enjoyed them. ([http://what-if.xkcd.com/ Look at the top of the What-If page]) --[[User:Zman9600|Zman9600]] ([[User talk:Zman9600|talk]]) 20:24, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
:What is so special about the date and time? Seems very specific: ''July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT.'' --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.99|141.101.98.99]] 12:48, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
Looks like it's set for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission launch. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.158}}

What If updates will resume on July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT. By that time {{w|New Horizons}} will have it's closest approach to {{w|Pluto}}. See here: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

== thanks for having a working website ==

the search function on xkcd.com was taken off, and now the random function seems to be having issues, but it's nice that here both work [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.114|188.114.97.114]] 19:09, 9 June 2015 (UTC)
:We do our best. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:27, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

== Ada Munroe ==

The latest [[what if?]] number 139 has a question by "Ada Munroe". Is she related to [[Randall]] in any way? --{{User:17jiangz1/signature|06:57, 09 August 2015}}

== Out of curiosity ==

I notice that whenever someone links to tvtropes.org in an explanation, someone changes the link to the matching page on allthetropes.org. I'm curious as to why that is. Is there some kind of terms of use conflict at play here that an editor should be keeping in mind? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.156|199.27.128.156]] 06:33, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
:TVtropes does not restrict links to their site, and if this has been happening there are some time-outs that I need to be handing out. Can you point me to some of the edits where this is happening? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:24, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
::The specific example I had was, um, [[1468: Worrying]]. On Jan 3rd the links went to tvtropes.org, and on March 18th they were all changed over to allthetropes.orain.org. I just found it curious, I wasn't sure what the reason for it was [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.47|162.158.255.47]] 10:32, 29 October 2015 (UTC)
:::Reverted. Typically, the reason people change perfectly good links to specific, obscure links in wikis is usually self-advertising. I'll be watching that guy's edits in the future. Thanks for the heads up. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:00, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

== Sightless readers offended by the "It's 'cause you're dumb" tagline. ==

I'll admit, every now and again the comic is over my head. ...because I'm dumb in that particular field. However, blind users who enjoy xkcd must do so through explainxkcd. They are NOT dumb. They are *blind*. Without explainxkcd, they would have no idea what is in the comics panels.

Explainxkcd is a great site. There is no question it provides a service to the internet community.

Please see this thread (last paragraph) on Userfriendly.org. Keep in mind, the end user is sightless and explainxkcd is "viewed" through a screen reader. http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/read.cgi?id=20160207&tid=3930989 (Anonymous)

: The guy on that other site is complaining about that XKCD does not work well in a screen reader -- that is not our problem, but a problem for Randall to solve on his own site. We cannot be the catch all for everything on the internet that Randall broke [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:37, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:: Agreed --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Honestly, I never even noticed the tagline in question. Humorous to sighted folks, sure. ...but obviously offensive to those who have no choice but to access xkcd through explainxkcd.

I'll leave it to the administrators or the community to figure something out, if anything at all. Maybe no one cares? I didn't come here to make any suggestions, only to point out how offensive those 4 words are to some users of the website. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.88}}

:Alright, put a link here in the site notice. What does everyone else think? I'm open to changing it, it's something people complain about fairly periodically and our identity isn't completely tied to the tagline, I feel. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:16, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

::Well, we definitely shouldn't change anything because that particular guy is upset. It's one thing to be offended, but he's also attacking both this site and Randal Monroe. I don't think that sort of behavior should be rewarded. I actually have a rule online where, if someone acts like a jerk to me, I will be kind, but I won't give them what they want. I think a lot of the problems with people being jerks to others is that they still get what they want, so what reason do they have to stop? If he wants us to change it, he should address us like an adult and ask us himself.

::But you claim this is a common complaint. Then I would say we need more info. My instinct would be that people don't understand that it's a joke. But then my solution would be to do what the site is designed to do and explain the joke, rather than take it down. If there's actually something about it that's offensive to an entire class of people, that's different. I am unaware of a stereotype that blind people are stupid, but I'm open to the idea that I don't know.

::I'm not particularly married to the tag line. I actually didn't even notice it was there. But I'm loathe to take it down over a misunderstanding. I can't think of a similarly humorous replacement that would not be offensive, but I can at least suggest "Because nobody knows everything." --[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 09:42, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:::I've gotten these before. There's a [[Talk:Main_Page#Header_message|slowly growing]] section in the main page discussion page and a complaint buried somewhere in my talk page and they're usually quite unhappy. I pegged it up this time round because there's special needs involved, and a good part of our intended appeal is the transcripts for the blind. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:45, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:::I like your reasoning, what if "It's 'cause you're dumb" was follow by "[citation needed]" and make the whole thing a link to a page explaining the header. It would be in character of the page, and xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.34|108.162.221.34]] 00:28, 13 February 2016 (UTC) Sam
::::Great idea, Sam! That's the funniest suggestion ever [citation needed]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.4|172.68.141.4]] 19:29, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

::Is he one of those people who are so self-centered and 'entitled' that just because they have a disability they assume that everyone is constantly trying to offend them, even in the most unlikeliest of cases? Does he actually believe that the tag line was written with the intention of offending blind people? This is ridiculous. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.71|141.101.106.71]] 11:04, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

"Just in case you feel dumb"? "Some comics may be funnier than they appear"?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.198|199.27.130.198]] 09:55, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

How about simply removing it? At least until we find something that isn't offensive to anyone - which might be very hard to obtain. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:34, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Because you're crippled... That's worse I guess. 
But before considering the "you're dumb" tagline, one must think about the name of this wiki. It is called '''Explain''' xkcd, not read xkcd, and explaining is for dumb people, not blind people. 
Maybe one thing we can do is add a "(unless you are just here for the transcript)" subtext, with a link to the transcript section, which has the advantage of both taming offended blind readers (maybe) and provide a direct, "spoilerless" link. --[[User:GuB|GuB]] ([[User talk:GuB|talk]]) 10:40, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I need explainxkcd for two reasons: being visually impaired, although I can see most of the comics I often miss crucial details that I find only in the transcript; and as a non-American, I lack many cultural references (books, movies, songs, sayings...) that are given in the explanations.
I don't think either of these reasons makes me "dumb". However, I never found the tagline offensive. It was immediately obvious to me that it was meant as humor. Who could seriously think that someone is dumb just because they haven't read the specific book that Randall is parodying in a given comic? Or because they're not familiar with a specific programming language or Unix command? IMHO the tagline *is* funny precisely because very few people can actually "get" all the comics without an explanation. Suggesting that anyone who isn't part of the 0.1% of the population who share all of Randall's abilities and references, is dumb, can't be anything but a joke. Adding to the lot those who can't get the comics because they're blind doesn't make the joke more offensive. It's a sad world where political correctness kills all forms of humor.

On the other hand, the tagline is not an essential part of the site and if a significant number want it removed, so be it.
Zetfr 10:46, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:Well not everybody's mind works the same way, and some people legitimately cannot grasp humor very easily. They may come to read the explanations precisely because they can't recognize what about a given comic is supposed to be humorous, and they likewise may not be able to tell that the tagline is just a joke. Besides, the tagline is equating a lack of knowledge with a lack of intelligence, which also makes it inaccurate and kind of kills the humor for those who stop and think about it.

:I personally agree with the above "Because nobody knows everything." approach. I would suggest something along the lines of "Because you won't always get the joke." --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.134|108.162.242.134]] 11:06, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:: This sounds like a bunch of dumb people coming together and suggesting that the rest of people should be more like them (joke intended) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:33, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

: +1 on this. '''Keep'''. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 20:15, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''removal''' [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 11:01, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Mostly agree with Zetfr, it is a rather obvious joke, and this is a website about a webcomic which is mostly about fun, it would be different if this was some serious news portal, but it isn't, and in my humble opinion people who can't take a joke shouldn't even be here. There will always be ranters and people who get offended, we should not let them make decisions for us. I sincerely believe vast majority of people, blind or otherwise, understand it. [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]])

:I agree with Zetfr. If a user doesn't understand that it is a joke, then he won't understand XKCD's jokes, either, no matter how much explaination he can get.
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 12:12, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
::I also agree with the above, and like the part of Zetfr about because you need a reader to use the page you do not need to be offended by an obvious joke --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

if i had a vote i'd say change the "because you're dumb" from text to a picture with alt text of something slightly less rude. "because you're using a screenreader," perhaps. although that would show up on mouseover. meh. whatever. --13:01, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:and someone isn't "entitled" because they get annoyed about something that doesn't annoy you. as a sighted person i don't even look at the headers on the page. i would imagine that since the text in question is at the top of the page he has to listen to it every single time the page is refreshed. which is annoying enough if it's not insulting. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 13:06, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
:It is bad to have the alt-text saying something differently, but since the current tagline is not offensive to non-blind people then why would it be offensive to a blind person. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:24, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''' -- Blind people do not have to come to this site, they can just use xkcd.com directly and if that is not working for blind people then that is Randall's problem not ours. The tag line has been there for years while I have noticed it before and used the site and I have never been offended, if a blind person is offended maybe they should stop using the internet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.109|162.158.255.109]] 15:18, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
: I second that -- the tag line does not appear to offend non-blind people, it should not offend blind people either [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:24, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Voting '''KEEP''' -- the tag line is a joke, and who is to say that blind people cannot be dumb [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 15:24, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''' as well. I don't see any reason to change it; it's not a jab at disabled people, blind or otherwise. The site is called '''explain'''xkcd, and everything here centers around explaining the comic, not being a transcription service. (If that's not the case, then maybe other things need changing too.) I always thought the tagline fit nicely with the "sarcasm" part of xkcd's own tagline. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.26|108.162.216.26]] 15:26, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''KEEP and satisfy both sides'''. If you examine the HTML, or use [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/fangs-screen-reader-emulator/ Fangs] (free screen reader), you may notice there is a jump-to-nav div element that lets people with screen readers jump to various parts of the page. The jump-to-nav div is only a few HTML lines below the tagline. I'd recommend:
# Moving the jump-to-nav div to '''before''' the tagline
# Adding a "Jump to Transcript" link in the jump-to-nav div.
# Test it with [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/fangs-screen-reader-emulator/ Fangs] in Firefox to simulate a screen reader.
This way, screen-reader users can jump to the transcript and don't have to hear the tagline every time they visit an explainxkcd.com page.
-- [[User:Hat|Hat]] ([[User talk:Hat|talk]]) 15:44, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

Consider "Do you get it now?" [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.11|198.41.235.11]] 16:09, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''': it's reasonable and no change is warranted

I like the suggestion of '''keeping''' the current tagline, but changing it to an '''image with alttext''' saying something like "because you're using a screenreader". I also vote to move the link to the transcript to above the tagline. [[User:Rileysci|Rileysci]] ([[User talk:Rileysci|talk]]) 17:32, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

: Great idea, but here's an even better one: '''Keep''' the tagline for visual browsers, but '''add code''' such as [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/672156/is-there-a-way-to-write-content-that-screen-readers-will-ignore <code> CSS { speak: none; } and aria-hidden="true"</code>] that prevents it from being spoken by screen readers. -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 15:31, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I get the joke and I'm not offended by it, but it seems to me that it really sticks out on this site and it doesn't seem consistent with Randall's sense of humor. Everyone on this site is very inclusive and eager to share all perspectives and points of view. I come here both to see the humor that I have the knowledge to understand and to learn more about the world the way Randall sees it. In short, I come here to be one of the lucky 10,000. In fact, I would suggest that as the tag line, "Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000!". Inside joke that can link to the comic (http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1053:_Ten_Thousand) and it is welcoming. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.170|108.162.245.170]] 18:44, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
: +1 on this. '''Change''' [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 03:45, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
: +1 on this. '''Change'''

I vote '''keep'''. In case it is not kept then it should be changed to something completely different. Te idea of making a title text to an image I really dislike, although I even more dislike adding anything to the existing one to either refer to people coming for the transcript or making excuses for the obvious joke. This has been a part of the page forever, I have seen it almost every time I come here. To begin with I did feel dumb sometimes, but I was never offended by it, just amused. But of course an explain page is for those who did not get the joke. And there are other pages that explains the comic. I do not know if they have a transcript? But I'm happy to know that some people must really enjoy the detailed transcripts that I usually try to provide. I had just not though about the blind perspective. I more use the transcript to make sure every one agrees on what is seen in the images of the comic. Having said all this, I must admit that the best suggestion for a change so far is the one posted above my post (about the lucky 10,000). :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote keep, for exactly the reasons explained by Zeftr above. Changing it to an image with alt text would be OK also. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:45, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:I vote '''Change''' it because it is too easily mistaken as an insult instead of a joke. At least change it to ''Because you are stupid''.... Ah, maybe instead ''Because xkcd is far beyond common knowledge'' or ''Because hardly anyone gets everything'' or ''Because it is usually nerdly esoteric even for geeks''. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.46|108.162.221.46]] 21:39, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

:I vote '''Change'''. I have never been a big fan of the tagline. I don't know everything, but I am certainly not dumb. Also, I echo the reference to (http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1053:_Ten_Thousand). This comic has always been about expanding knowledge, not making you feel guilty for not knowing something.

:'''Change''': I realize the "It's because you're dumb" tagline follows the sarcastic nature of Randall's humor, but there are enough people who don't get or appreciate that sort of humor and are likely to be more offended by it, special needs or no. Here's my suggestion: "For those of us who don't get it." [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:59, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

At what point is "enough" people offended? I've only seen evidence of several (https://xkcd.com/1070/) visually impaired users actually offended by the site, along with a couple people who didn't specify their visual ability. I don't know the traffic on this site, but I would expect it to be on the order of 10^4 or higher. So is this discussion about changing something that a handful of people find offensive? Or is there an actual problem of something inappropriate on the site. If this is all about a couple people finding something offensive, I imagine a few christians might take issue with (https://xkcd.com/709/). Should we start another discussion about accommodating them? Or add a disclaimer that the views expressed by Randall Munroe are his own and do not reflect those of this site? [[User:Beardmcbeardson|Beardmcbeardson]] ([[User talk:Beardmcbeardson|talk]]) 01:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
: So you vote to '''keep''' -- right? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 04:30, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Slightly Change'''-- make it more obviously tongue in cheek. "It's cause we're dumb" or "For those of us who need it" I agree with the point about not complying with people on the internet who can't behave like adults, however I've never found the line particularly funny. Also change the jump-to-nav, as that would just get annoying to hear it every time you open up the site. I am not recommending changing it based on the imagined offenses of others. I just think it could be funnier.[[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:29, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I like changing to "For those of us who need it"

'''Keep''' Trying to satisfy everyone is like trying to understand every comic. It probably won't happen. As an example, using the 'one of 10 000' example provided above can insult a bunch of people that are not from the States simply because the comic (and the reference to the comic for that matter) will make them feel left out. My other reasons for voting keep have all been mentioned already. People get insulted so easily, let's try not to encourage this behavior by rewarding it. [[User:Bon|Bon]] ([[User talk:Bon|talk]]) 07:16, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Change''' because I find it slightly offensive myself. If we change it, we should replace it with something that everybody would interpret as humorous, e.g. "Because we can't all be rocket scientists". [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 08:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep'''. Next thing we know, liberal arts majors will complain about xkcd science being offensive. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.229|141.101.91.229]] 10:12, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote for '''change''' or '''remove'''. Regarding the former, while I know it's supposed to be a joke, I never found it humorous myself and, unlike others that wrote before me, I don't think it relates to the humor or sarcasm used by Randall. It being offensive is not part of my motivation for my vote. I agree with some of the suggestions written up to now. Regarding the latter, I don't really think it's existence is necessary. Regardless, changing the div things is a must. [[User:GuiRitter|GuiRitter]] ([[User talk:GuiRitter|talk]]) 16:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote for '''change'''. You could keep much of the humour by changing it to something like "because ignorance '''can''' be cured". [[User:Farnz|Farnz]] ([[User talk:Farnz|talk]])

If I may vote (as a happy international user of this site, but not yet a contributor), one more vote for '''Keep''' - at least as "don't change now, because of this specific request, because of perceived offensiveness". For several reasons, which have been mentioned already:

a) I think it's funny. It also fits perfectly with the overall XKCD humor. And the same line of thinking as the book "You are now less dumb" from "YouAreNotSoSmart.com".

b) It's so obviously generic (directed at everyone reading it) I fail to understand how it can be interpreted as insult instead of irony. Even worse: I fail to understand why it should be _especially_ insulting to blind people. Having a transcript for them to use is nice, but it's merely one of the aspects this site provides (and it's not even at the top nor are there pages "transcript only", so blind are no primary audience)

c) If this site decides to actually help blind people more, how about: putting the tagline in the image (so it's not "read every time"), put the transcript at the top / provide pages with only transcripts, so that the original XKCD can be consumed prior to the explanations here (just as non-blind users would see it)

d) this request follows the current Outragism trend, so I do suspect that it's not actually blind people feeling offended, but privileged SJWs thinking about who might possibly feel offended, bringing change to the world where it's not beneficial even for those they claim to support. Comparable to PETA.

While I'm at it - THANK YOU for this site. Most XKCD I mostly understand. But due to being an international reader, some aspects of American Culture I need explainXKCD to grasp, and other aspects it's just nice to see more details, cross-references with other comics, and hidden gems.
[[User:Zefiro|Zefiro]] ([[User talk:Zefiro|talk]]) 18:46, 9 February 2016 (UTC)
:I'm an "international user", too, and I suppose a lot of users of this site are international users who need to be explained some xkcd jokes that would be obvious to any native English speaker living in the US. I don't have an opinion about changing the tagline or keeping it, but I would like to notice that "Because you are dumb" is the kind of joke that would need an explanation - it would be hard for me to tell if it's a joke or an insult. Therefore, an easier joke could have some advantage.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 22:16, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote for '''change.''' I know it's a joke, but it's not particularly funny, and can easily be mistaken for an insult. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 20:13, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I agree with Trlkly (and Isaac(https://xkcd.com/1448/)), more information is needed. The purpose of this site is to explain xkcd (obviously, from the name) so people come here primarily to seek knowledge or a better understanding about xkcd. As long as the explanations or the explainers don't act like white hat (https://xkcd.com/1386/), there should be no reason to take the tagline seriously.--[[User:Beardmcbeardson|Beardmcbeardson]] ([[User talk:Beardmcbeardson|talk]]) 01:20, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote KEEP, but I do support the idea of moving the jump-to to above the tagline. I believe that the tagline is obviously a joke, and that pleaing everyone is nigh impossible. I also strongly oppose the proposal to change it to an image with an alt-text of "because you're using a screen reader." Finally, I do not believe we should change the tagline. We should, if anything, remove it altogether. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.20|173.245.54.20]] 03:33, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Slightly Change''' - I like 199.27.130.198's idea, "Just in case you feel dumb." [[User:Mateussf|Mateussf]] ([[User talk:Mateussf|talk]]) 04:44, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Change''', preferably to something like "The ''Anti'' Thing Explainer; Simple Stuff in Complicated Words!" Only, you know, more complicated to improve the joke. [[User:KitsunePhoenix|Amaroq (KitsunePhoenix)]] ([[User talk:KitsunePhoenix|talk]]) 05:01, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

What about: it's cause you need more context. I also don't like the current tagline, because dumbness would be more the inability to understand than a lack of knowledge.

'''Change''' - First thing first, as suggested, move the jump-to-nav div to before the tagline and add a "Jump to Transcript" link in the jump-to-nav div.

Then also change the tagline: it's not that good, and not that in line with the xkcd humor - it's actually ''directly opposed'' to the spirit of [[1053]]. Some better ones have already been suggested:
*"Some comics may be funnier than they appear"
*"Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000!"
*"because sometimes we all need a little help"
''Or'' we could even have a bunch of good ones like that out of which one is selected at random when the page is loaded --[[User:Jules.LT|Jules.LT]] ([[User talk:Jules.LT|talk]]) 09:17, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I like the joke in the tag line (some of us come here because they are to stupid or to lazy to lookup all the information xkcd is joking about)
but I also find it to direct to the user. I want to add some suggestions to Jules.LT [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 10:01, 10 February 2016 (UTC)
* "Error loading tagline, click here to retry."
* "Because it is Monday morning."
* "Because you like explaining jokes."

I think people coming here and complaining because "dumb" appears to be aimed at insulting the blind are hilarious, because another meaning for "dumb" is "unable to speak." If people who were "dumb" in this way were complaining because we are using the other meaning of "dumb" it would be awkward, but degree of visual acuity is not open for the same misinterpretation. [[User:Swordsmith|Swordsmith]] ([[User talk:Swordsmith|talk]])

'''KEEP''' for the same reasons as [[User:Zefiro|Zefiro]]. If change is necessary, fix it so the screen reader doesnt say it aloud. (This ensures the change is propagated to those who have no other recourse for sightless XKCD enjoyment, and is not a ploy by SJWs who can't take sarcastic humor (why are they reading XKCD in the first place?) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.40|108.162.221.40]] 14:06, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

It is super obviously not intended seriously, because xkcd is a technical comic that nobody will understand entirely on the first pass. If it's true, then everybody is dumb. Boo hoo.

The guy in question is under the mistaken impression that Randall runs this site and maliciously hides his transcripts under the tagline. He's also very angry about a lot of things. Sighted people have to look at the tagline every time it loads too, it's at the top of the page.

I vote '''Keep''' because I hate negotiating with terrorists. If it has the effect of filtering out people who enjoy being outraged, then it's doing a service. Image search "stephen fry offensive".

I'd be fine with moving the jump-to-nav div. I'm absolutely against making it an image with a different tagline, because then we would be depriving blind people of the joke. I'm absolutely against changing it to something less offensive. I would settle for removing it entirely, or changing it to something more offensive, such as "It's 'cause you're dumb, and get offended over dumb shit."

Or, you know, make a transcribexkcd.com site. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.203|108.162.217.203]] 16:39, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change''' to one of the cool new suggestions I've seen. I've always been sad about this tagline, and while I love XKCD humor, I just don't think the tagline is funny. It makes me hesitate and sometimes decide not to share this site with others who I think would love the humor, but not the tagline. The issue keeps coming up, and this is just one more way that it irritates people and causes hassle. It's obvious to me that we should find a new tagline, or just drop it for the time being. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 17:39, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change''' The word "dumb" used as slang for "unintelligent" or "uneducated" is offensive and many better suggestions have been proposed, which retain the wry humor without the offense. Hiding behind "it's just a joke" is beneath the standards of this site. {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.134}}
:It's not hiding behind "just a joke", it IS the joke. It's tongue-in-cheek. It's so obviously false that you have to intentionally ignore the joke and manufacture offense about something benign. I'll give you that it's not that funny. It's also not that offensive. Why are we talking about something so petty. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 21:11, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep'''. I feel like a blind person being insulted by the implication that being sightless somehow makes them unintelligent is a pretty far leap of logic. Not being able to see has no bearing whatsoever on your actual mental acuity. How many actual complaints have there been? One, a few, lots? I don't know, but if it was a significant number I might change my mind. As it stands, though, I think it's pretty clear in the site description that this site is meant for people who don't understand the comic due to its focus on obscure topics and use of technical jargon, being written by a former NASA robot technician with a bent for Linux. Using disabilities as an insult is something I don't condone, but in this case I think it's a case of certain individuals being overly sensitive. Thinking a word as mild as "dumb" is offensive is a bit much, especially since it's often used in contexts other than "uneducated" or "stupid" - I use it to describe myself all the time when I can't word proper-like. I think of it more as "scatter-brained". --[[User:KingStarscream|KingStarscream]] ([[User talk:KingStarscream|talk]]) 18:55, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change''' I feel like the "Because we can't all be rocket scientists" tagline suggested above is great; I always found the tagline to be a bit annoying because I often know all of a comic except a small part, and I come here for that. It's just unnecessarily confrontational and Randall himself has expressed in https://xkcd.com/1386/ and https://xkcd.com/1053/ that he doesn't agree with insulting ignorance. {{unsigned ip|198.41.235.179}}

'''Change AND Keep''' I get the original joke, but I love some of the new ones too. Randomly rotating tag line appear is my vote, BUT let's make the tag line clickable so that we can explain the tag line .... for those of us who don't get the joke! {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.10}}

'''Keep''', but change the jump-to-nav, and maybe make the tagline clickable. I like the tagline. Someone already said this, but this is explainxkcd, not readxkcd. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.63|108.162.216.63]] 19:37, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Keep''', because it's been there for so long! I remember coming here years ago and looking for the references I didn't get, and the tagline was already there. It's a legacy thing, the one thing remaining from the old website in the new fancy wiki format. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.204|198.41.226.204]] 20:47, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

For all you people being offended and claiming that the tagline is contrary to the spirit of xkcd, I give you [https://xkcd.com/386/ xkcd.com/386]. This entire argument is offensive to me, can we remove it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.11|108.162.221.11]] 21:20, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep''' The referenced posting is obviously a troll. And xkcd has transcripts so the story of the self proclaimed blind person with diabetes does not make sense. --23:43, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Rather than "cuz you're dumb" which both asserts a trait and uses what might not be the best word choice, why not something like "Because you might be ignorant"? Dumb, after all, isn't remediable, though ignorance is. (Also, a consideration, "dumb" can mean "mute," so if there's something with screenreading for blindness, that could be read as assuming more than one disability? ("blind and dumb" akin to "deaf and dumb"?) // Possibly do something akin to the warning on the comic's site itself: "Because you might be a liberal arts major." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.61|108.162.221.61]] 00:22, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep''' because risk of accidental offence is never a good reason to rewrite comedy. If community wants to change suggest "Explaining Xtremely Klever Comedic Drawings"; if only to troll those who insist that the letters XKCD must stand for something (which it doesn't) [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 00:37, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

−
The issue seems to boil down to:

−
Is it funny?

−
Is it overly offensive?

−
And therefore:

−
Is it worth it?

−
Throwing in my opinion, however small:
+

It's amusing to me.
The joke is clear, and universal. Offence may be taken equally by anyone reading.
It fits well.
Possibly have a hidden link for those offended. A rotating tag line could include more jokes, but...
By all means move the navigation.

An explain explainxkcd page that is linked to might work, in the spirit of metahumour.

However, it may not be as serious an issue, as the tag line is easy to ignore. Just moving HTML a bit seems like a logical, cheap and easy solution, and then we can test it. Please note that this has no technical knowledge behind it, just a reading of the above.

So, my vote goes to '''keep''', and shuffle HTML or, in order, link, replace with rotating, modify, remove.
Harmless fun. Possibly have a cookie-based option to permanently hide the tag line.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.160|108.162.250.160]] 00:56, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

Apologies, I have broken formatting in the last few edits, trying to fix it...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.160|108.162.250.160]] 00:57, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

: My vote is '''change''', and it's not because of blind people. Let me run you through a very common scenario for new users:
:* You have a person who generally thinks of themselves as quite smart.
:* They read the comics and find most of them extremely funny.
:* They come across a comic they just can't understand.
:* They stare at it for minutes, wondering why they just can't get the joke.
:* Pride already bruised, they eventually give up and turn to Google.
:* "Explain xkcd! That's exactly what I'm looking for!"
:* Click the link.
:* "Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb"
:* Gee, what a lovely welcome. Not.

: Insulting your users the first time you meet them is '''''terrible''''' practice. You're pointing at them and laughing that they didn't understand the joke. You're kicking somebody when they're already down. OK, that is exaggeration, but when you look at the line as a new user, it's not friendly and welcoming; it doesn't encourage you to return. It's just bad UX.

: Now, we could overlook the directed insult if it was indeed funny, but it really isn't. There's nothing witty about it, nothing punny about it, no double-entendres or sly references. It's just an insult.

: Legacy is no reason to keep something that doesn't work. Just because something wasn't picked up as bad practice 5 years ago doesn't mean that it isn't bad practice. Can you imagine if Microsoft kept Clippy around for "legacy reasons"?

: It would be one thing if it were kept because there were no other options, but ''so many'' fantastic alternatives have been suggested:
:* '''It's 'cause we're dumb''' -- Changes it from an insult directed at one person to a statement with an inclusive sense of community. It saying that, hey, you may not understand all the comics, but neither do we! Let's learn together!
:* '''Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000!''' -- Direct reference to comic which celebrates filling gaps in one's knowledge. Also, as a comic reference, most people won't get it the first time, so make it a link and use it to draw people further in to this wiki!
:* '''Some comics may be funnier than they appear''' -- Actually humorous, containing reference to a very common message we're all familiar with (objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear). Also alludes to the hidden depths to many of the comics, where additional levels of meaning are revealed the more about the subject one knows, which is what this wiki is trying to reveal.
:* '''Error loading tagline, click here to retry.''' -- Looks like the kind of joke you'd actually find in the comments. Clicking the tagline should then do something completely unrelated to reloading the tagline (I dunno, set off some cool JS magic).
:* '''Because it is Monday morning.''' -- Should only be shown on Mondays. Can easily be implemented with parser functions.
:* '''Because sometimes we all need a little help''' -- Gives an understanding tone that's comforting to new users.

: '''TL;DR''': The current tagline is unnecessarily confrontational and projects a bad welcome to new users, and there is nothing particularly clever/funny/important about the current tag line to recommend keeping it, especially with ''so many'' better suggestions on offer. Put it this way, if you were seeing "It's 'cause you're dumb" tag as a suggestion to add to this wiki today, would you choose it over the other options? No? Then make like an old meme and "Let It Go!" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.157|108.162.249.157]] 05:49, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

: I think the above comment is a perfect example of different mindsets. I discovered this wiki in exactly the way you described. But I was not offended in anyway when seeing the tagline, which I did almost immediately. Rather, it got a little chuckle out of me along with a thought along the lines of "Haha, yeah, maybe I am dumb." If you get offended by such a tagline, it suggests to me that you are not all that certain about your own intelligence in the first place. It's a static bit of text. It was not aimed at the person reading it, it was aimed at EVERYONE reading it. EDIT-I realize this post could be seen as offensive or a personal attack, which it's not, please read the "you" not as the poster of the above mentioned comment, but as a generic for any person reading the comment. [[User:Bon|Bon]] ([[User talk:Bon|talk]]) 07:11, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

: If I remember correctly I've heard it origonally was a pic of Blackhat saying it. Would it be possible to use that on this site. It seems like a decent solution? (I haven't read all of this so I don't know if this has been suggested sorry if it has). Like people have said no one gets all of xkcd, as a nonAmerican there is also a lot of references I don't get. Getting offenend over this does seems pretty pathetic to me. I also use this site for non explanation reasons, that is it often links together comics which is handy, and people often post cool links. But as others have pointed out this site isn't transcriptxkcd or linkxkcd it's explainxkcd, so that's what it should be meant for. Claiming i's offensive o the visually impaired seems pretty silly. All in all, maybe it could do with tweaking to make it more obvious but IMO it's a solid '''keep''' [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 11:22, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

::I vote '''change''', for the reasons the Halfhat above listed. I also never thought "It's 'cause you're dumb." really fit with this wiki. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.33|141.101.104.33]] 12:57, 11 February 2016 (UTC)
:::I can't believe we've become such a limp-wristed baby society that we can't even have a joke like "It's 'cause you're dumb" as the tagline. Nobody would reasonably get offended at it. '''Keep.''' [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 13:35, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep'''. Blind people have to realize they're not the only ones reading this site. This site was created to explain the comic, not purely to provide a transcript of the comic - that's just icing. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:27, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

If there ever really was a single person who took the tag line seriously, then it was just telling them the truth. I vote '''keep'''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.90|162.158.255.90]] 19:15, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Keep, or otherwise, Change'''. My opinion: It is not offensive, and I find it humourous. As I am very interested in the maths and the sciences, and I am very nerdy, I do often understand the jokes in each comic. However, sometimes I don't quite get it. This wiki is very good for that, because it collates many people's views and expertise on the comic. If the vote is overall to change, I am a fan of "Because sometimes we all need a little help." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.29|173.245.54.29]] 21:18, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''change''': I've always been a bit unsettled by it myself. Some deaf readers may be more insulted by it than blind ones. vote for "'''Cause you're #dumb''" (or perhaps another NOT symbol... so only people that don't understand are insulted... and the tagline can be linked to a page that explains why it isn't an insult) [[User:Edo|Edo]] ([[User talk:Edo|talk]]) 23:16, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''KEEP'''. I actually had the feeling the fellow who complained may not understand sarcasm very well. Regardless, the tagline to me is remarkably funny and one of the things I always point out to folks when I first turn them on to XKCD. I worry they will stop following XKCD if they don't understand a post, which is why I am especially glad your site exists. There are many types of humor that will be lost on folks. Myself, for example. I was just railing to my friends about how much I did not like a recent popular vine which showed a guy, kinda probably the father, scaring a very young child strapped in a cat seat, by yelling in horror as the cats convertible roof was closed. Because I did not grow up watching laugh-tracked America's Funniest (sic) Home Video segments, I am not conditioned for casual schadenfreude-driven videos. But I know that's just me. I don't want to limit free-speech merely because it is not for me. Regardless, I really just want you to '''KEEP''' it because to me it is darn funny and just the sort of humor most of the folks who enjoy XKCD appreciate. --[[User:Hugo|Hugo]] ([[User talk:Hugo|talk]]) 23:25, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I will also vote '''keep'''. While it ''might'' be considered offensive, it's really no more "offensive" than XKCD itself. Lest we forget the line at the bottom of every comic page:
:Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and '''advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)'''.
I don't see how "It's 'cause you're dumb." is any worse. [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 23:52, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

:: I don't think it's offensive, it's more childish, which may be off-putting for first time readers. Hence I vote for '''change'''. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 01:12, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Keep''', per the reasoning of, among other people, Zefiro. I like the tagline a lot and don't see much at all, if anything, that's wrong with it. Like Hugo, I feel like it's a bit of ''entirely'' appropriate humor. [[User:APerson|APerson]] ([[User talk:APerson|talk!]]) 00:36, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''change'''. I know it's supposed to be a joke, but it seems out of place and not particularly funny, and it could discourage potential readers. I don't have an idea for a new tagline, but plenty of good ones have been suggested here. [[User:Cheese Lord Eggplant|Cheese Lord Eggplant]] ([[User talk:Cheese Lord Eggplant|talk]]) 03:13, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep''' better sums up my vote, and I wish to explain why. I understand the views (as stated above) that it might discourage potential viewers, but I have seen enough well-put arguments that point out why it should not be removed for the arguments on the other side of the debate. However, I do understand that sightless users would get pretty pissed off at being told that they're dumb over and over. Is there perhaps a way to hide the text from programs designed to assisted the disabled? I have a couple of suggestions.

Perhaps it can instead simply be an image, and can even be done in a more stylized text that hints at the humour behind it (no, I have no specific suggestions). This image should not have the words it says in the meta-text within it. I just think it's not worth removing it over, it's kind of funny (or very funny, depending who you ask), replacement suggestions kinda make it bland, and this is a way to avoid having sightless people get told they're dumb over and over. The stylization is just a suggestion, because most alternative taglines I've heard don't sound up to par compared to it. Just anything to point out the sarcastic and purely humorous intentions.

I'd like to enforce my suggestion of having an image with no meta-text that can be read by bringing up that explainxkcd.com can hardly ''lose'' popularity if for the sensitive minority they don't have a tagline (especially if this tagline they are not aware of could be construed as offensive). 'Cause seriously, who's going to go tell a blind person "hey man the tagline for this site is insulting to you want to hear it?" so they'll just not learn of its existence and go on peacefully. So: Image, stylized to clearly express humour, with no program-interpretable meta-text for the blind to hear. I'd like this opinion to be closely considered, and I'd love to hear intelligent replies. ''For all intents and purposes,'' I vote '''Keep''', but to address the issue proactively and adaptively to get the best for both worlds.

I would like to point out one change I would definitely agree with, however. The commenter at 108.162.249.157 not far up suggests "It's 'cause we're dumb", and I would totally back that. That one change could make a world of difference for some people. --[[User:Znayx|Znayx]] ([[User talk:Znayx|talk]]) 09:15, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

: "It's cause we're dumb" is actually a pretty acceptable change in my opinion. I still vote keep, but wouldn't mind seeing that one. Right now the no tagline version looks lonely. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.40|108.162.221.40]] 14:56, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

::For the record, I would oppose a change of "It's cause we're dumb" because it's simply not as funny (the joke benefits from it sounding like it's a mock insult) and for the reasons in my main post right below this one that I see no reason to change the tagline which should not offend or be taken personally by someone who has enough sense of humour and intelligence to enjoy xkcd. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 17:25, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
::This brings up the point that it is indeed a mock insult, and one that everyone gets when they visit the site, those with perfect vision are insulted just as much as the blind, or white, or black, etc... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.34|108.162.221.34]] 00:34, 13 February 2016 (UTC) Sam

I would vote '''keep''' as it is. I am mindful of offensive content, but context is key. This is a website whose primary purpose is explaining a humour-based webcomic that touches on topics that require some intelligence to really enjoy. The tagline is obviously (I hope) tongue-in-cheek. "if you need explanation of this sometimes very technical and specialized and sometimes ambiguous webcomic, you're clearly a moron". I think that most people on this site and elsewhere would consider those who enjoy xkcd (a webcomic that often concerns itself with science, history, technology, etc.) to be relatively intelligent. Just perhaps not in every particular area (as noted right at the top of this discussion). I also think it is clear that this is a wiki an thus the tagline is directed to everyone, even the people who wrote the tagline. We're all here because we're "dumb" in the sense of occasionally needing (or at least enjoying) a deeper explanation for the comics. If someone who is blind is using the site other than for its originally intended purpose, and it helps them, that's awesome. But that doesn't mean the tagline must acknowledge all possible uses of the site. Just the thesis statement of the site, which is "this site is for explaining something you might not understand". If there are blind people who use this site just to read the comic and never to need or enjoy the explanations, then I guess they are smarter than me. I do not personally believe in changing the tagline of the entire community because it doesn't apply to one small group that is using the site for a different purpose than its intentions (again, not knocking them for using the site at all, but seriously, don't walk into McDonalds and go "''I eat here because my doctor says I need more sodium, and I actually hate the food. I'm offended by your "I'm loving it" tagline. Change it!''". Or complain about Disneyland's slogan because you suffer from depression.). I would also have expected anyone who reads xkcd often enough to bother coming to this site just to do so because of their blindness would have a sense of humour and would understand the context in which the tagline was intended, and not take it personally. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 17:25, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
:I really agree with basically everything TheHypo writes, both here and his above comment on the reason "we're dumb" would not work at all. The idea with keeping the text but only as an image could be used, but I just do not like that we change this because someone made a ''troll complaint'' somewhere, regardless of him being blind or not; that is just one more good reason to keep it. Then again if we really wish to make it better for blind people, then by all means use an image. But keep the text in the image then! If you do enjoy xkcd then you should be able to spot the humor, and with the way Randall himself keep on mocking people on his own page, and in his comics, then why should this not fit well in with this explain page, and why should we not keep on doing what we have been doing so far? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:19, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

How about '''Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're ''dumb*''.''' (''*Or don't get the joke because it is either outside your area of expertise or in a format that isn't accessible to you'') - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.23|141.101.70.23]] 04:48, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change'''. I've always realized it was a joke, but I think we could do a bit better. How about, "Some comics may be funnier than they appear" as suggested by 199.27.130.198? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.42|173.245.54.42]] 19:35, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change'''. When I first started reading this wiki and noticed the tagline, I wasn't offended, and I realized it was a joke. But it also gave me an impression that this wiki is run by immature people as this is a childish insult, used as joke. Naturally, I wasn't too keen on following thissite closely and would only visit here when there's a comic that I don't understand at all. Thankfully, after reading through multiple explanations, I no longer think that the writers are immature and as I started reading other explanations, I started coming here even for the comics that I understand. My point is, it took me couple of months to warm towards explainxkcd and most people aren't that persistent/ give the chance to prove. So we are making lot of people to alienate with the site just at the tagline, even before they get to the content. I vote for '''Some comics may be funnier than they appear'''. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 01:07, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep''' would be my vote. Today's society puts too much emphasis on protecting people's feelings, to the point that some people have onion-paper-thin skins, too thin to operate effectively when out in public! I feel this complaint falls under this category. Such over sensitivity shouldn't seriously be catered to. Politely listened to and considered, at most. Bending to such things just encourages people to be more sensitive.

The way I see it, you CANNOT enjoy xkcd without being smarter than average, or you'd have to turn to xkcd Explain for every single comic! It cannot be fun to require being walked through every single one. Conversely, I doubt there's very many of these smart people who are smart enough to get every joke (and every nuance) without assistance. Therefore it should be clear that is is a simple tongue-in-cheek joke, you don't really mean it seriously. It should be taken in the tone that it's meant, and it offends me when people don't.

For example, right now I'm at a bar at a Valentine's Day event. As I'm hopelessly single, this day is problematic for me, especially to be in public. I COULD ask that people refrain from love stuff, from flaunting their relationship, etc., that I'm here for other reasons. But as an intelligent adult I realize this would be unreasonable, that many people, especially most here tonight, enjoy the love stuff, enjoy Valentine's Day. It is certainly not their fault I don't, not directly, and they should not be held responsible for my discomfort.

If the final vote is for Change, I like "It's because '''we're''' dumb", or "we're all dumb", be inclusive to reduce how derogatory it sounds. Remember, while sightless people might find this site useful, the primary reason for it IS because we're dumb, i.e. we need help getting the joke. - NiceGuy1[[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.215|198.41.235.215]] 04:53, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Wait, so they think they're smarter than me? I'm offended! ;-)
Okay so I'm not. I almost voted keep because the primary raison d'être of exkcd is not for blind people. It was created specifically for people who need help understanding some of the science, math, and arcana behind the humor.
But you know what? "It's 'cause you're dumb" is not that funny. Some of the suggestions are better. So I vote "'''CHANGE'''". [[User:Saspic45|Saspic45]] ([[User talk:Saspic45|talk]]) 07:30, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

How about "Explain xkcd: It's 'cause we're dumb."? This has more of a feeling of inclusiveness and camaraderie to me, as in we're all equals more-or-less in the face of RM's brilliance and having a good time enjoying the material together. Came up with it about a year ago, because as it is the tagline struck me as a bit harsh, and have said it that way in my mind ever since.
Edit: Ok, I see this has been suggested, so +1 for that minor change.

'''Change.''' While I didn't notice it at first, I was pretty offput when I did. As someone who has some trouble catching sarcasm all the time, I was excited when I found this site -- it helps me with not only things outside my knowledge, but also lets me check when something ''is'' being sarcastic. And when I finally noticed that tagline, even though I knew it couldn't be directed straight at me, it still sort of felt like it. I've been called dumb nearly throughout my life for not catching sarcasm which others seem to understand immediately, and it doesn't exactly feel nice (or in the spirit of XKCD!) to have that little reminder floating there. It's not even worded to be funny, either, just sorta cold. Sarcastically saying someone is dumb for not getting sarcasm... it's a vicious loop. And when there are so many other options -- many of which have fun puns or a much more friendly feel -- why are people so attached to this one? And from what it seems, a lot of people seem attached to it purely for the purpose of being stubborn against people who don't like it. Plus, why is it such an awful thing to try to make people feel more welcome? Jeez, guys. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.11|108.162.216.11]] 21:57, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Change it please. I see it all the time, and it feels SO condescending. I often check out the site to get more information about a topic in the scope of a given strip, or to see if there's any subtext outside of the primary joke, and it ALWAYS feels like the site is insulting my ability to understand "simple humor". I understand that it's supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek joke, but I hate it. I think it should either be changed to one of the previous suggestions, or use a rotating set of taglines, or it should just be removed completely, because I utterly dislike the way it currently is. [[Special:Contributions/130.215.123.52|130.215.123.52]] 12:27, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Definitely '''change''' - I'm surprised what it was doing there in the first place - but I do not like the "we're dumb" version either. My current favorite is "Because we all need a little help", as it is equally directed at both the non-joke-understanding audience and the screenreading audience; but I definitely like "Some comics may be funnier than they appear" and, to a lesser extent, "You're one of today's lucky 10,000" (not sure, actually, whether that one would benefit from a link to the relevant comic). Incidentally, how did the previous guy manage to post four hours in the future? Or is the AM/PM to 24h conversion broken? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.88|141.101.81.88]] 08:39, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Wow, this blew up... I never found the tagline particularly funny, but I honestly can't believe so many people appear to be offended by it. If someone is dumb enough to believe it is specifically aimed at them, not realise that it is humor, and think it is actually worth getting upset about, then the tagline is perfectly justified. Should be changed to "Please click here if you are easily offended", with a link to Disney.com, (or 4chan/b/...) --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:09, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''change'''. Even smart humans need positive words. Many of the proposed alternative with only positive words suits me fine. [[User:MGitsfullofsheep|MGitsfullofsheep]] ([[User talk:MGitsfullofsheep|talk]]) 13:25, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep''', but modify the Skip to Content tags to bypass it. It's humorous, and there's no such thing as a humorous tag line that won't offend '''someone'''. Can pretty much guarantee that if it's changed to something else, some wag will start a discussion about how that new subtitle offends them... {{unsigned|Danemcg}}

If it's not too late, I vote '''keep''', I regularly view the site for detailed information about comic topics and am always amused to read the tag line. I hope the poor fellow who tallies our votes here will mind that we're likely an unrepresentative group - if you're offended, you're likely to turn out, where a contented user (nearly myself) might just pass by. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.36|108.162.216.36]] 14:34, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''keep'''. Anyone who's actually offended by this is way to sensitive...[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.11|108.162.216.11]] 15:09, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change'''. Never found it funny. We can do better. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 16:12, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Change'''. It offends too many people (myself included, although more at first than now) to be kept. [[User:Z|Z]] ([[User talk:Z|talk]]) 16:57, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I too vote '''change''' if it's not too late. Not because it's particularly offensive but more because it's not funny or xkcd-ish enough to justify any offence it may or may not cause. I prefer some of the suggestions we've had:
* Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000! (with, of course, a link to the relevant comic)
* '''Some comics may be funnier than they appear.''' This one is my favourite and I feel it captures very well my main reason for using explainxkcd
::[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.149|141.101.106.149]] 21:12, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''Keep'''. If we legitimately had a large group of blind people who were offended at this tagline, I would be in support of changing it. However, the only supposedly blind person who we know of that takes offense was obviously a belligerent individual. Do we really want to take a guy who says "I've found more intelligent, compassionate, humane, wise, sympathetic, inclusive, and infinitely funnier *dingleberries* than [Randall Munroe].*Rude gesture*" seriously? do we really want some ranting asshole somewhere to dictate what our site does or does not do? seriously? [[User:VfiftyV|VfiftyV]] ([[User talk:VfiftyV|talk]]) 00:11, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

I vote '''change'''. I've always disliked the tagline, it's a bland and obvious "joke" that's at odds with the friendly, clever tone of both the comics and the rest of this site. Even if it's clear we don't mean it, calling every visitor to this site dumb, with no further context, just isn't setting a good example for the kind of *clever* sarcasm that Randall uses. We can do better. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 01:12, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep''' because it's clearly meant as a joke. It makes no sense to change this site over one person's "offense" that the unaffiliated xkcd site isn't blind-friendly enough.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.217|162.158.142.217]] 02:31, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep'''. Anyone with a sense of humor can understand that it's at least humorous. And, the primary purpose of the site ''is'' to... explain the comics, mainly to those who don't understand them. If it does get read out loud to every blind person who visits, then please, by all means, '''Change''' the layout at least to keep that from happening. But it shouldn't be removed due to half-baked complaints. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.168|108.162.245.168]] 02:57, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

I've already voted above, but I would like to call out the sightlessness issue as a red herring. One of the premises of accessible design is that all users get the same content, although perhaps in different ways, so I think we're going in the wrong direction in proposing to change or hide the text for blind users but not for everyone else. If we're to keep it, then let us keep it for all. If we're to change it, then let us change it (to the same thing) for all. If we're to remove it, then let us remove it for all. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:22, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Alright, I've tallied up the votes twice and counted 36-31 the first time, and 39-32 the second time. Both times were majority keep, though there was still a strong showing for people wanting to change it. I've fixed and restored the black hat figure who was supposed to be speaking the tagline back in the old blog days, and I turned the tagline off for screen readers since the blind may only need us for the transcript, and accessibility for the blind is a big part of why we had a transcript to begin with. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:44, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
:I think this is a great compromise. And cool that it is Black Hat's line. I did not know this used to be the case. Is it correct that the font color has also been turned gray so it is not so prominent? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:45, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
::Yeah, back when this site was a blog, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130118141641/http://www.explainxkcd.com/ the tagline was Black Hat's line.] [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Tagline&action=history looking at the edit history for the tagline], it looks like we've made some vague attempts to restore black hat's face next to the tagline before, but mediawiki doesn't process markup in that area. I did a little bit of CSS magic this time round to fix it properly this time. He's a little fuzzy though, could be better. The tagline's always been gray though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:57, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

: Just before I start, since I'm an IP user and therefore hard to identify (should probably make an account one of these days, but oh well), I just want to quickly mention that I am the same person as [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.157|108.162.249.157]] who posted on the 11 Feb.

: Now that's out of the way, I want to say that I disagree with the outcome decided for this post. While I appreciate the attempt to compromise by having it look a bit more like Black Hat is saying the line, I still think that the substance of the arguments against the current tag line are much stronger than the arguments for keeping it. The arguments for keeping it all basically boil down to "It's a joke and it's been there forever so there is no need to change and anyone who suggests otherwise should just man the f*** up." Nowhere have I seen anyone in the keep-camp argue as to why none of the alternatives are just as good or better than the current line. Pretty much, the only reason ever given to stick to the current tag line is that it's the status quo.

: On the other hand, you have many, many people pointing out that the tagline is offensive and that, even if the reader does understand it to be a joke, it's not a particularly clever one and provides a rather unwelcoming atmosphere. What many of the people in the keep-camp are ignoring is the fact that not everybody has a high level of self-confidence, and that being called dumb, even if the intention is tongue-in-cheek, just comes off as hostile and drives people away. It is also true that all tone of voice suggesting sarcasm is completely lost in text, which is why over at the [http://doctorwho.answers.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_Answers:Policies#Additional Doctor Who Answers Wiki] we specifically point this out in our policy of civility towards fellow users. This wiki is very different from that one in many ways, but I don't think it would be dumb to look at what others have noticed and learn from their mistakes, especially since that particular wording was added due to a bad misunderstanding leading from lost sarcasm. There has already been somebody here who admits they find understanding sarcasm to be difficult. Should we really be calling them dumb? Furthermore, the quote seems to directly contradict Randall's attitude towards ignorance, summed up so perfectly in [[1053: Ten Thousand]]. We should be welcoming ignorant, or "dumb", people in the hopes of enlightening them with the wisdom of the community here. Singling them out as dumb isn't going to help them.

: Finally, I fear the reason there aren't more change votes are because many of the people who were put off by the tagline simply never came back to this wiki after their first visit. I wouldn't be surprised if reader retention rates increased if you changed the tagline, and if the number of readers who convert to users also increases if the community provided a more friendly first-impression.

: Now, I know that I have raised this all before, along with many of the other people who voted for change, and it still doesn't seem to have made an impact of the people who try to insist that an insult with no wit or humour is "just a joke". I think the best way for us to prove that the tagline needs to change is to conduct a little experiment. Let's look at a list of commonly supported alternatives:

:# '''It's 'cause we're dumb'''
:# '''Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000!'''
:# '''Some comics may be funnier than they appear'''
:# '''Because sometimes we all need a little help'''

: Explanations for why these taglines are better than the current have already been provided. I challenge anyone reading this post from the keep-camp to explain why "It's 'cause you're dumb" is better than each of those taglines individually, without falling back on arguments of legacy or that the people reading the line are thin-skinned wusses. If reasonable counter-arguments can be made against each of those lines in favour of the current one, then I will back down. Until then, I cannot accept that the battle of ideas has chosen the current tagline. There are just so many better alternatives that are funnier, more in-line with the xkcd spirit, and above all, are welcoming to new readers into the community instead of turning them away the moment they reach the front door. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.157|108.162.250.157]] 11:28, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

:: Dude, you are not getting how voting and democracy works. The people who are proposing a change, are the equivalent of lobbyist --having lots of lobbyist does not equate to "strong support". None of these lobbyist have been able to agree on a single rewording, so they are not arguing for the same cause. On the the other hand there are thousands of of visitors (voters), of those who actually voted, voted to keep and not go with the suggestions of the lobbyists. Had there on the other-hand been a majority for change, the what would the change be? At best we would have to consolidate the suggestions (candidates), and since there is no term limit on tag-lines, the existing one should be a running candidate as well, and then make an eating contest between all the possible candidates [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.109|162.158.255.109]] 19:50, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

OK, I'll take a stab at it. "It's 'cause you're dumb" is better than any of these because it is funnier than any of these. It's funny for the same reason that the titles of numerous books, "XXX for Dummies" are funny. In fact, if it weren't such an obvious rip-off, the tag line could be "xkcd for Dummies", which would be the same joke.

:# '''It's 'cause we're dumb''' is sort of awkward, and why would I want an explanation for something I didn't understand from a bunch of dummies, anyway? I want somebody smart to explain it to the dummy - me - who didn't get the joke.
:# '''Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000!''' is meaningless, and therefore not funny, unless you click on it and then let Randall tell you the joke behind that punch line. I do love the sentiment now that I've seen that comic, and somehow linking to that comic as an explanation of what explainxkcd.com is all about is a great idea, but as a tag line, by itself, it just isn't funny.
:# '''Some comics may be funnier than they appear''' is sort of cute, as it relates to the warning in rear-view mirrors, but it is so actually true in the case of xkcd that it loses some of its funniness by being a serious explanation of why the explainxkcd.com site is valuable.
:# '''Because sometimes we all need a little help''' - is sweet, sympathetic, and inclusive; it's just not very funny.

By contrast, "It's 'cause you're dumb" grabbed me the first time I saw it as being relevant to why explainxkcd.com is a great site, and equally importantly, it made me laugh. Maybe it is to be expected that among the viewers of a site dedicated to explaining jokes there will be a reasonable percentage that don't get this particular joke, either. Maybe the solution is a link on that line to a page that explains the "It's 'cause you're dumb" joke in the way xkcd jokes are explained: "It's funny because you are not really dumb, you just maybe didn't get some very esoteric reference, and you'll enjoy the humor of xkcd more when that reference is explained. But, when jokes need to be explained, it is common for people to feel like they must be stupid, so we make a joke about that feeling. It's not really pointed at you in particular; after all, this is a published web-site - the folks who wrote it probably don't even know you." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.41|108.162.221.41]] 18:44, 16 February 2016‎

'''Change''', kind of. How about this: "Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're <strike>dumb</strike> of average intelligence." Maybe even include a (hidden) link to [[1386: People are Stupid]]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.220.17|108.162.220.17]] 23:42, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

: (I landed in an edit conflict with the person above, so my comments do not take their response into account.)

: Thank you 108. You actually provided a decent rebuttal against the counterproposal, which has been lacking until this time. While I do not agree with all your points, I can actually see your point-of-view. Personally, I think that if we're going to use it as a reference to the "___ for Dummies" books, it needs to be clearer so people don't take it as an insult, but otherwise I understand your points.

: @162: As my friend, one of the greatest admins on one of the biggest non-Wikipedia wikis, says, wikis are not democracies. It is the idea with the best supporting arguments that wins, not the idea with the most votes, as many people support certain ideas for superficial reasons that are not aligned with the overall aim of improving the wiki to attract more readers/editors and improve content. Especially with such a close vote, I would put more emphasis on the quality of the arguments than the pure numbers of supports/opposes.

: Looking at the proper counter-arguments finally provided, I would shift the counter-proposal for a new tagline to tagline 3 suggested above: '''Some comics may be funnier than they appear'''. From above, I can see the argument against 1 being that people don't want help from dummies, 2 will probably be obscure for new users and may alienate them upon entry, and 4 is just too soppy. 3 however is funny, it's accessible, and it's actually funnier in my opinion because it actually ''does'' describe exactly what we do here. To the new user, it will at first just be a mildly amusing reference (still funnier than the current line in my opinion) but it will take on a new meaning and relevance as people use this wiki more, and the gradual realisation of relevance will make the tagline even more appropriate and amusing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.163|108.162.250.163]] 23:59, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

I’m the lurker who suggested “Some comics are funnier than they appear.” I was bemused to see it get any traction at all, since it’s not that hysterically funny, and perhaps incomprehensible outside the US where convex car mirrors aren’t etched “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”

Wow, am I glad I didn’t create an account here when posting it!

I expected to see more spit-balling in kind, not an outpouring of orneriness from a majority of this obviously intelligent community who are apparently too stubborn to admit that there could possibly be anything wrong with greeting newcomers, “It’s ‘cause you’re dumb.” I took the starting point of the thread to be the obviousness that ANYTHING ELSE would be better than that.

I also expected the admin to deliberate a little harder, showing how he evaluated arguments and suggestions and tried to do the right thing, rather than just counting votes. Notwithstanding the facade of democracy in his benevolent dictatorship, he also doesn’t seem to have taken into account that the effect of NOT changing the tagline—-thus continuing to alienate a lot of users and potential contributors like me-—far, FAR outweighs any potential backlash from the old guard who are married to it. What are they going to do, rage-quit because they didn’t get their way? Because something on their favorite wiki got **gasp!** CHANGED?

Boo hoo, I didn’t get my way on a small thing which doesn’t really matter. At all. I only followed up here because I noticed the banner soliciting user input had changed. However, the ugly tone of this little tempest in a teapot has certainly convinced me that this community isn’t worth joining or contributing to. I reserve the right to continue lurking, but I’m sure as hell turning my AdBlock back on.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.198|199.27.130.198]] 07:10, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) said "We're all idiots 99% of the time about 99% of things. It's the 1% that makes up for all the rest." Learning begins by owning your dumb. [[User:Bob Stein - VisiBone|Bob Stein - VisiBone]] ([[User talk:Bob Stein - VisiBone|talk]]) 16:12, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep'''. I felt offended -- but -- so what. It is true. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.169|141.101.91.169]] 21:20, 17 February 2016 (UTC) Martin

* '''Keep''' It is funny. People are not made of glass, not even dumb ones. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.172|108.162.245.172]] 23:15, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

: ''199 wrote:"I was bemused to see it get any traction at all, since it’s [...] perhaps incomprehensible outside the US where convex car mirrors aren’t etched “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”"''
: You don't need to worry about that. American culture has spread throughout the world so thoroughly that I assume most English speakers will understand it. I myself am an Aussie, who spent most of her childhood living in Europe, and I understood the reference perfectly. And while it might not be "hysterically funny", it is certainly more universally funny than the insult.

: Admins, please heed what 199 said in the rest of his/her message. You have yet another example in a long line of people being turned off from this wiki community because they don't like the attitude of this statement, nor the stubborn adherence to it despite so many people pointing out how wrong it is. You are aware that "It was just a joke" is a common defence bullies make, right? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.157|108.162.250.157]] 00:53, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

So, @Davidy22, can you add a "Jump to Transcript" link in the jump-to-nav div, and move the jump-to-nav div to before the tagline in the HTML? Thank you! [[User:Hat|Hat]] ([[User talk:Hat|talk]]) 08:58, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

At 12,000 words this discussion has beaten the H0/HO discussion on wikipedia... How long until we beat Star Trek Into Darkness??? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:10, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

'''Keep'''. I like the humour in it. 18.February 2016 12:40 (UTC) Fabian

XKCD provides transcripts about a week after a new comic comes out, so saying that blind readers require explainxkcd is a bit of an overstatement (although to be honest the official transcripts are somewhat vague). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.217|141.101.70.217]] 19:45, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

: Generally most transcripts gets completed within hours of the comics being posted. More complex ones can take longer, and there is sometimes a bit of back and forth as far as layout is concerned, but the content tends to be there pretty quickly. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:35, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

"Explain xkcd: extra knowledge, see discussions." I wish I'd thought of that one a week ago. And Randall says it's not an acronym, eh? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.198|199.27.130.198]] 09:21, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

:Ah crap... that's actually really good. I'd have supported this had it been mentioned earlier, even though I voted to keep the current. [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 02:39, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

For what it's worth, if the matter is ever re-opened, I'd vote to '''change''' to one of the alternate suggestions -- I quite like "extra knowledge, see discussions" but many others would be fine. The current one is a poor way to greet newcomers; it certainly gave ''me'' pause. Perhaps I've been sensitized by the general uptick in incivility in many places in recent years, but I'm actively avoiding forums and sites that appear to be encouraging rudeness. If one disregards that header, it becomes clear that this site isn't like that, but one has to get past that header first. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 17:32, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

'''Change''' because the only justification to keep it seems to be "It's just a joke why are people always so offended at everything" [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk about me behind my]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ/ back]) 12:55, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

I’d say '''change''' it. It’s not funny, it’s never been funny and it never will be funny. Why does a tag line have to be funny any way? All it needs to be is memorable and eye catching. I personally like “congratulations you’re one of today’s lucky 10,000” it’s a direct reference to an existing comic and encourages learning more.
:I agree, so '''change''' from me. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&printable=yes printable version] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&action=info page information] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/User:While_False what links there] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChangesLinked&days=30&from=&target=User%3AWhile_False related changes] | [https://www.google.com Google search] | current time: {{CURRENTTIME}}) 18:27, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

== Concerning recent spam ==

In light of the recent and large amount of spam that we've been seeing, I've revoked new users of the right to create and move pages, as well as access to the write api. If your account is three days old and has 10 or more edits under it, you will still be allowed to create and move pages. This will end when the spambots decide to leave. To the person who's doing this, don't ruin this for the other people who use this site. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:36, 11 February 2016 (UTC)
:In light of the recent burst of spam, creation of talk pages will also be shut off for new users. We will create an empty talk page for new comics in place of this feature. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:47, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
: So what will you do in three days when the spambot can create new pages again? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 07:58, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
::They have to hit both criteria. The flaw there is that spambots have also demonstrated themselves to be capable of editing pages, but I'm not sure what to do for that aside from look for a better captcha. If it comes to it, I'll write my own. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:05, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
aw man. tfw another troll already beat me to the punch {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.62}}

@Davidy22: Maybe we should use something like [[MW:Extension:TitleBlacklist]] or [[MW:Manual:Combating spam#.24wgSpamRegex]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 14:25, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
:Hum. I'll take a look when I get home. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:02, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
:: Sigh, it's getting out of hand again... --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:19, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Alright, I'm not sure what's happening here. This is what's in the localsettings file:

$wgGroupPermissions['user']['createtalk'] = false;
$wgGroupPermissions['autoconfirmed']['createtalk'] = false;

:::I don't know why this doesn't work. Probably well overdue for a mediawiki upgrade, but I have midterms and papers coming up. This timing is inconvenient. The title blacklist is for a newer mediawiki version, I'll lock and upgrade this weekend. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:07, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
:::For now, I'll try removing talk page creation rights from all non-admin users. I'll make the talk pages for new explanations. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:09, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Alright, I made a test account and I realised I'm very dumb. I forgot to turn off createtalk for all, so people could still make talk pages. I've also added mandatory email verification. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:34, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
::::See tagline ;-) --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 01:51, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
:::::I do want to find/write a better CAPTCHA though, none of these measures I've taken stop account creation, so the spammers might try just shoving a million accounts at us. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:03, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Oooh nevermind forcing email verification turns off anonymous editing. Don't want to go that far, and it didn't stop that one spammer anyways. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:17, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

== Will verifying my email turn off the CAPTCHA ==

Pretty much what the section title says. I find the way the captcha works here kinda annoying, since I submit and then get the CAPTCHA. I'd be willing to put in my email address if it would stop the CAPTCHA, but, otherwise, I don't see any point in doing so.

If it does stop the CAPTCHA, I would suggest mentioning this in the preferences as one of the benefits of adding an email, and perhaps point it out on the page when the CAPTCHA appears.

IF not, then will I just have the CAPTCHA forever? Or will it go away once I put in enough edits? Or do I need to do something else?

[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 00:10, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

:The email address is optional, we have it set up so that users less than 3 days old with less than 10 edits will have to fill in a CAPTCHA when they edit. It's set up that way to limit and make the damage that spambots can inflict much easier to fix. You appear to have cleared the 10 edit boundery today, so you should be able to start editing CAPTCHA free now. Giving people a way to bypass the anti spam window by providing an email address is an idea though, I'll see if I can't write a plugin for that after I'm done with finals. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:24, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

== Why does Mediawiki look so "old" all of a sudden? ==

Screendhots: [http://i.imgur.com/smN1a45.png][http://i.imgur.com/qdpxhdY.png]

I've tried this in three browsers, and they all look the same. [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 12:56, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:High traffic, high load, everything is on fire. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:28, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:: Man ! The fire started by Randall is out of control.. It has been so long, and this is looking very ugly. Did wiki go in "printer-friendly version only" mode ? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.56|162.158.255.56]] 04:10, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

(H'rm - realized I posted this in the wrong place - further discussion should go [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Stylesheets not working?|here]].) [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 15:20, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

== Annoying ad ==

From the anti-noscript text shown when an ad is blocked by noscript: "our ads are restricted to unobtrusive images and slow animated GIFs."

Yet the ad blocked features a drawing of a woman in her underwear. I find this very obtrusive.

Also, can you get rid of the captcha needed to even view content on this site using Tor? https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/203306930-Does-CloudFlare-block-Tor- {{unsigned ip|162.158.17.66}}
:Looked through our bids, a guy who was auto approved used the privelidge to put that ad up. I cancelled the ad, if he puts it up again he's getting banned. I'll get on the tor options in cloudflare. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:41, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

== Random Question ==
Since this is the miscellaneous section, I assume I can ask a question based on anything, even if it's not XKCD or wiki-related. Am I correct? Or is there another place to do that? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:21, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
:Nothing expressly forbids it, but do remember the purpose of the site. If you want to ask a question not related to xkcd or the site, there is likely another, better outlet for your question on the internet. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:14, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
:Ah. Okay. Just making sure. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:47, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

== "What if: Hide the Atmosphere" question ==

At the end, Randall notes one "may not want to" dig out Texas, and the guy in the illustration mentions "specifically requesting" something. As someone not from the USA, I don't know what he's referring to. Could someone please explain it? {{unsigned ip|172.68.51.28}}
:It's a reference to {{w|Don't Mess with Texas}}. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:52, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

== Blinking advert ==

There's an ad for something called Goliath Fallen that blinks occasionally. A static picture would be fine but the blinking is distracting --[[User:Figvh|Figvh]] ([[User talk:Figvh|talk]]) 04:22, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

== What is Randall Munroe's wife's name? ==
I am curious--haven't been able to find it. {{unsigned ip|162.158.62.141}}
:We accept privacy. Ask Randall himself. [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:21, 19 May 2018 (UTC)
:We could refer to her as Megan, based on the character even despite its' "everywoman" stance. Megan is represented as Randall's wife in the ''_ Years'' comic series (with Randall being the supportive main Cueball character), as well as in other comics where Randall is represented as a Cueball in a comic with a Megan. {{unsigned ip|172.70.130.6}} 18:52, 26 Jul 2021 (UTC)
::Also, broken signing because I forgot that <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> was a thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.6|172.70.130.6]] 18:56, 26 July 2021 (UTC)

== 5 bucks that most of these are spambots. ==

[[File:probablyspammers.png]]

🤔

[[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 19:07, 12 February 2018 (UTC)
:I tried "DROP TABLE users;" but then I lost my login... ;)
:The more serious thing is that when the Captcha was broken (after 31 March) that bots were too dumb but with the new reCaptcha V2 this happens again.
:But since those users take no further actions and IPs also can edit here it doesn't seem to be a problem. Nevertheless old users with zero edits may be purged in the future.
:[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:17, 19 May 2018 (UTC)

== Header pointing to FAQ implies content that doesn't exist ==

"All explain xkcd editors should check the latest update at the Editor FAQ. We now support LaTeX..."

Strangely, the FAQ doesn't mention LaTex once.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.210.34|172.69.210.34]] 15:06, 8 June 2018 (UTC)
:You're right but the (yet last) question "How do I enter mathematical or chemical formulas?" belongs to this. The Math functionality uses LaTeX syntax and I will mention this. I thought people who know the markup <code><nowiki><math>...</math></nowiki></code> do know that it's based on LaTeX. Nevertheless reading this {{w|Help:Displaying a formula|manual}} is mandatory. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:08, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

== Unable to create own user page? ==

Hi, I'm a new user here. When I try to put info on my user page it says I don't have permission to create it. Same applies for my talk page. Please help.[[User:VannaWho|VannaWho]] ([[User talk:VannaWho|talk]]) 07:18, 13 June 2018 (UTC)
:I've clarified the corresponding section in the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ|Editor FAQ]]. You will become a trusted user after a few more edits, but right now I've created your user and talk page. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:57, 13 June 2018 (UTC)
:Thanks. I'm looking forwards to becoming an active member of the community here.[[User:VannaWho|VannaWho]] ([[User talk:VannaWho|talk]]) 13:09, 13 June 2018 (UTC)
Thank You for the info!
[[User:GetPunnedOn]]
::Extra info, for GetPunnedOn (and others, but you're needing to he told this a lot, GPO...). Please use the full signature (those four tildes: <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>), to let us know that, in this case, you posted your reply at 23:30, 21 May 2023 UTC, as we knew what date and times in 2018 the prior users posted. Not even sure you'll read this/etc, so leaving it as an open message to anyone else who stumbles this way without otherwise picking up on the other hints to do so. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.206|172.71.178.206]] 08:52, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

== 2018 ==

This probably only means something to me, but has anyone else noted that we are approaching comic 2018 in 2018? I don't think any other comic has been posted in in the year its number represents. Maybe the sign of the apocalypse? Or like all the other signs of the apocalypse, just a random occurrence. I am interested in seeing if it is memorialized in some way. {{unsigned ip|172.69.33.239}}
:Please do not forget to sign your comments. Nevertheless the apocalypse was already here: [[998: 2012]]. And a comic with the name 2018 was published last December ([[1935: 2018]]). The comic number 2018 will probably happen on July 11 and the number 2019 will be two days later on July 13 (ohhh, it's a Friday...). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:41, 23 June 2018 (UTC)

== Random Kettle ==

Hello, so I had https://xk3d.xkcd.com/880/ open for an extended amount of time. When I came back to it today, I had a random blue kettle that was not on any other of my xkcd pages, and it would change locations every time i refreshed. (I have several screenshots, just not sure how to upload here.)

It went away when the back page button was pressed, but does anybody know what or WHY this kettle was there? {{unsigned|DeathFox4}}
:Please do not forget to sign your comments. You probably want to talk about this matter here: [[Talk:880: Headache]]. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:44, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

== Where to ask questions to find a specific comic? ==

Hello,

Someone searching for a specific comic has gotten me to try to find a place to ask the community, but haven't found any?

[https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/9uzvqv/help_me_find_the_one_where/]

kind regards,
Dodo --[[User:Dodo|Dodo]]
:Please sign your posts with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> because then we also see a timestamp of your comment. That's important because we could see that your question from reddit was solved there slightly after your post here. It's from SMBC and not xkcd. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 8 November 2018 (UTC)

== Incomplete "Created by a _" Tag Jokes ==

I'm not lobbying for their return or anything, I'm just curious why they were removed. Or rather, why the incomplete tag was rewritten to discourage them. It was a good bit of comedy, and their removal makes it seem like this wiki is trying to be more serious than it really needs to be, IMO. [[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 19:18, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
:I'm the creator of the BOT which initially presented a new page by honestly mentioning it was NOT created by a human. Years later, people started to make that joke. Sometimes it was really funny, but you can't repeat a joke for over hundreds of times, not funny and stupid attempts to reach that first jokes. And that incomplete tag is meant to be there for mentioning what's wrong or missing, sadly most editors don't use it for this reason. Nonetheless a nice joke is still welcome there, but it should be funny and not just an urge to present a "joke." --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

== xkcd.wtf ==

Hi everyone, I've recently made this small project http://xkcd.wtf/ . It's not yet finished, but somehow Big Goog' picked it up, so I thought I'll go live. It is important to me to announce it here first, since it uses explainxkcd's API and wouldn't be possible without all of you.

Originally, this was meant to be a Uni project, but the course was cancelled and the already purchased domain sat dormant for many months. Just recently, I picked it up and made a first prototype in Perl, then I undertook the painful process of rewriting it as a buzzword-compliant Javascript Single Page Application (so my server doesn't have to proxy everything). It sometimes craps out, because xkcd's API is awful (the 'real' one doesn't have CORS, the c.xkcd.com one is often offline) [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 22:19, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
:Nice, I know you have many skills in programming. What's the purpose of this project?
:Funny findings: The TLD isn't welcome always like here "In June 2012, Ryan Singel of Wired predicted that the .wtf domain would not be applied by anyone." and my own first investigation:
:<code>[root@localhost ~]# whois xkcd.wtf</code>
:<code>No whois server is known for this kind of object.</code>
:I'm running CentOS with no pending updates...
:Besides kidding, it works great and could be a good presentation on pages using a bad layout here. My goal is still to get this site much more mobile compliant, but there are still also issues on parts you don't use. Nonetheless let me know if you need help, hoping you will help here in the future too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:49, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
::hi, sorry I missed your post! The purpose was to do this as a university project, but the course was cancelled after I bought the domain in anticipation of it. not wanting it to go to waste, I've implemented it in my spare time. the whois error is strange; it works on Fedora (which queries whois.donuts.co (no m)). I may come back to your offer for help (thanks) and definitely won't be leaving explainxkcd.com (my expertise lies with computer topics, and there weren't many comics about that recently. that's why I've quieted down a bit) [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 17:03, 18 November 2018 (UTC)

== xkcd Sorting Options ==
Is there any way to sort xkcd comics by size? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.80|141.101.77.80]] 04:37, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
:What size? The pictures, the explanation, or what? Explanations are changed every day. So, for what purpose is this idea? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:21, 15 February 2019 (UTC)
::I can see some benefit in being able to sort explanations by size as some of the earlier comics have fairly short explanations that could be expanded, but I'm not sure this is worth the effort of setting up a sort function. I don't know why you would want to sort the images by size other than perhaps for general interest. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 10:55, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
:::A small sized explanation doesn't say anything about it's quality. IMHO in contrast there are many overwhelming explanations which are far too long, TL;DR... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:32, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
::::I agree. Most of the early explanations are just fine. I was just trying to guess why they were suggesting a sort function. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 14:15, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

== 1204: Detail has the incorrect picture ==

Not sure where to put this but just look at the title. Not sure how one changes it, but a typo was fixed and usually the newest picture is used. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 14:15, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

== Regarding the alt-right trolls ==
Safe to say everything they leave is deletable, ''including'' the little "jew reverted my edits, help!" complaint they almost always leave on the discussion pages? --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 00:53, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

== Is the "It's 'cause you're dumb" tagline a relic of the past? ==

Yes, I'm going there, because this issue isn't going away.

I read through the entirety of the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Sightless_readers_offended_by_the_.22It.27s_.27cause_you.27re_dumb.22_tagline. Explain XKCD tagline debate from 2016], and I have to admit, I was surprised. I had not considered that there would be so many people in support of this tagline, nor that the debate had been going on this long. I was actually sure that most people were in agreement with me that it's unnecessarily insulting and demeaning. It seems that isn't the case.

The main argument from the Keep side appears to be that "it's just a joke". Here are some examples of that sentiment:

* "Suggesting that anyone who isn't part of the 0.1% of the population who share all of Randall's abilities and references, is dumb, can't be anything but a joke."
* "it is a rather obvious joke"
* "If a user doesn't understand that it is a joke, then he won't understand XKCD's jokes, either, no matter how much explaination he can get."
* "I always thought the tagline fit nicely with the "sarcasm" part of xkcd's own tagline."
* "It's not hiding behind "just a joke", it IS the joke. It's tongue-in-cheek. It's so obviously false that you have to intentionally ignore the joke and manufacture offense about something benign."
* "It's amusing to me. The joke is clear, and universal. Offence may be taken equally by anyone reading. It fits well."
* "Looks like the kind of joke you'd actually find in the comments."
* "I can't believe we've become such a limp-wristed baby society that we can't even have a joke like "It's 'cause you're dumb" as the tagline. Nobody would reasonably get offended at it."
* "If there ever really was a single person who took the tag line seriously, then it was just telling them the truth."
* "the joke benefits from it sounding like it's a mock insult"
* "I doubt there's very many of these smart people who are smart enough to get every joke (and every nuance) without assistance. Therefore it should be clear that is is a simple tongue-in-cheek joke, you don't really mean it seriously. It should be taken in the tone that it's meant, and it offends me when people don't."
* "It's 'cause you're dumb" grabbed me the first time I saw it as being relevant to why explainxkcd.com is a great site, and equally importantly, it made me laugh."

I like to think that I do understand xkcd's humor very well - even the more subtle aspects of it, like Randall's perpetual social paranoia, his sarcasm at common failings of societies and organizations, his absurdism, his childlike wonder at the things we don't know. I love it, it makes me laugh and it makes me happy.

I am not a delicate snowflake, and I believe firmly that we should not allow people to use "being offended" as a weapon of control to take away freedoms or to force their agenda on others. That kind of behavior should rightfully be challenged and resisted.

However, I am not arguing on the basis of offense. I believe that I actually have a solid, reasonable foundation for my case for change that can be accepted by all, if I can argue it effectively enough. Because you see... I never got the joke.

When I came to Explain XKCD for the first time, and saw the "It's 'cause you're dumb" tagline, my reaction was "Well, that isn't true, and it's a bit childish." It didn't come across as sarcasm to me; it comes across more like the kind of boorish flippancy expected of an anonymous imageboard, where being crude is the local currency. Mentally, I just couldn't fit it with what I saw as an otherwise fine mission of collaboratively explaining a very clever webcomic as a service to readers all over the world. And I didn't like it. It's not the kind of tone that I enjoy in a community.

"I don't like it" is not, of course, an argument, and would be a poor foundation from which to make my case - particularly as I am up against people who insist that the tagline ''is'' xkcd's humor and tone. So instead, I would like to argue this case: '''I think that this is what xkcd's tone ''used to be'', and that it isn't what xkcd's tone is ''now'''''.

The "It's 'cause you're dumb" tagline is actually ''ten years old''. It originally appeared in a different context; it was in the header image for the Explain XKCD blog.

[[File:explain xkcd blog header image.png|center]]

The image of Black Hat insulting Cueball is subtly different to what the tagline is now, and so I think some of the nuance - that might soften the joke or make it less antagonistic - has been lost. I have a theory that this is part of the reason why people are so polarized on whether the tagline is insulting or not, because I suspect that some people are remembering this older version. However, that's away from the point.

My point is this: it is no longer 2009 and things have changed.

xkcd, and Randall himself, have changed - Randall has published more than 1500 comics in that time, as well as books dedicated to explaining science and technology in his unique, witty style. He loves knowledge and discovery and celebrates the little things that people find interesting, often standing up to defend such pursuits against those who might otherwise dismiss them. That is xkcd to me. And I submit that Explain XKCD has, in those ten years, outgrown the tagline as well, We are, I think, more encyclopedists than agitators. If most people on this wiki are like me, they find pleasure in carefully unraveling the mystery of an xkcd comic and creating a resource that's as useful as can be. The tagline serves no purpose, in that case, other than to drive away contributors.

We shouldn't be afraid to offend. But I don't think we should offend needlessly. I think we're better than that.

[[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 21:29, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

:I really like the old banner, and think that the tone fits well with many of the older comics. But I agree with you that most of the newer comics have a less childish tone to them, where it is not as fitting. Also having it as a tagline instead of a banner makes it less obvious to be a character-statement. It is not an important issue to me, but I agree with you. After all explainxkcd is a site, for the lucky [[Ten Thousand]] each day. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:36, 16 July 2019 (UTC)

== Pageviews? ==

Any idea how many pageviews, on average, this wiki gets? I'm not looking for any detailed breakdown or historical stats, just a rough average for the main page each day. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.57|172.69.23.57]] 02:21, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

I'd be really curious to know which pages are the most viewed on this website. Which comics are the most unintelligible to people? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.201|173.245.54.201]] 23:01, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

== xkcd site's fine print ==

I just noticed the fine print on the xkcd site, under the comics list: "xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing."

Is there an explanation for the above? (copied from xkcd's homepage on 8/8/19)

My first thought was "Those are low requirements". Then the "on an Apple IIGS" tripped me up. (I know so little of Apple software use that I can't say that portion is incorrect.) I like the humor of the screen resolution (although I think only computers could read it) and the suggested mode.

M.Striker
(didn't realize that this was an edit and not a message; deleted my included e-mail)

:The text you mentioned is explained at [[footnote]]. I guess you are new to this wiki/project? Feel free to improve any of the sites you find (many can be found by using the search function), or to comment/discuss the pages in the discussion section. If you want to sign your comments on here or in a comment section (with or without an existing account), you can use four "~"-symbols. (Do not wory, it will not show you actual IP adress). [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:18, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

== Randall NYT excerpt from "How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems" ==

FYI, Randall has an article in Tuesday's ''New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/science/what-makes-a-red-sky-at-night-and-at-morning.html "What Makes a Red Sky at Night (and at Morning)"]. It's an excerpt from "How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems." [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 03:34, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

== More ads? ==

Is it me, or are there now a ton of extra advertisements on this site? There is one between every paragraph of explanation. At least, when viewed with a mobile browser. It's a huge distraction, so I'm going to be enabling an adblocker.

: I would also like to file a complaint. [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 03:10, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

:: [[user:Davidy22]] If hosting expense is the problem, would it be possible to move to miraheze? [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 11:54, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

::: Hello? Anyone there? [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 06:55, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

== Should we* reference xkcd.com "black lives matter" banner ==

I consume almost all my xkcd directly from explain xkcd. So i only visit xkcd.com rarely.

I had been wondering why Randall was avoiding referencing the black lives matter movement which is clearly topical.

But i note that xkcd.com has a banner featuring Cueball saying "black lives matter".

Should we do the same?

* my apologies if we already do

[[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 06:01, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

:I'm not entirely sure if I understand the question. We list most (all?) the variants of Randall's banners on the [[:xkcd Header text]] page, and as of Tuesday (a bit late), that includes the Black Lives Matter banner. We also acknowledge it in [[2315: Eventual Consistency#Trivia]] as the first comic that ran after the banner went up. There's reason to ask if this wiki should give banners in general more prominent treatment, and question is raised on [[:Talk:xkcd Header text]].
:But are you asking if ExplainXKCD should adopt its own editorial position and feature a banner? I think it's really hard for wikis to make high-level editorial decisions like that. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 06:28, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
:: this was the question. And I hadn't looked hard enough. Thank you
:: no, not suggesting we do editorial, but glad we recognise what Randall has done. Cheers [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 12:30, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

== is scraping this site ok? ==

Hi everyone! Some days ago I scraped explainxkcd to get the webcomics' content, and created an interactive network chart where nodes are comics and two nodes share a link if they have words in common. (It's here: https://www.fluentdata.tech/visualizing-the-xkcd-comics-network-using-google-vision-spacy-and-d3/)

However, looking back I don't know if I had permission to actually scrape this site. Where can I get this information? Is scraping OK?
:From [[explain xkcd:Copyrights]], "The Explain XKCD wiki is generally licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license (CC-BY-SA-3.0). This means that you can freely reuse our content, but you have to say where you got it — if you're sharing on the internet, a link back to the article is appropriate." So yes, scraping this site is allowed, but you should credit the site. — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 03:43, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

== So what happened to the site? ==
Just curious, but it was down last night (June 14, Eastern Daylight time's night) and this morning has reverted to February. This is not a complaint, it's curiosity and a willingness to help out. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 15:41, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:I'm curious too. It was down on the morning of Friday the 11th & is currently back up showing last Wednesday the 9th's comic. A post asking about it on [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nxrm65 r/xkcd] got over 140 upvotes in 3 days. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:30, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
::The page was down for more than four days. Problem is there seem to be no administrators attached to explain xkcd anymore, so no one who actually knows anything replies to these posts... :-/ So if the page goes down permanently there seems to be no one who still uses this page, who knows what to do... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:03, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:::That would be a shame since a ton of good content would be lost. Somebody somewhere needs to be paying the bills for the site to be hosted though. Don't they know what happens to the product they're paying for? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 13:01, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
::::Indeed, is there anyway we can contribute to the upkeep of the site? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.182|141.101.76.182]]

== Stuck? ==
So, nothing yet for the August 7, 2021 comic? I normally see the main page update within an hour of the new xkcd appearing. Not complaining, just hoping nothing is wrong. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:43, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

== Help finding a specific comic. ==

I've been trying to find this specific comic but I can not find it anywhere. It's the one where a character suggests going to another building to avoid companies like Google and Facebook and tries to leave only to find the doors (and windows?) replaced with walls. Turns out Google and Facebook bought all the buildings and removed all doors so people can only use their services.
: (Above unsigned post by [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.65|108.162.245.65]] 04:38, 28 October 2021‎ (UTC).)
: 99% sure that's not an xkcd (though it does sound entertaining). You might try asking on r/xkcd, they can often ID even non-xkcd comics.
: Please sign your posts. [[User:Esogalt|Esogalt]] ([[User talk:Esogalt|talk]]) 05:32, 28 October 2021 (UTC)

== Update/further correct the Bots pages? ==

Seeing an edit to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Bots the site's meta-page on Bots] (and making a minor grammatical edit myself), the current and seemingly unfixable inactivity of DgbrtBOT and its replacement by Theusaof... (though not, yet, as an officially recognised member of the Bots group?) makes the statement "There are 3 bots" dubiously correct, depending upon how you count them. As a humble IP unconnected to any 'bot, I am neither confident enough in the facts to revise all the relevent details nor able to do much about it (not even create the above page's Talk-space) but maybe someone else here can muster up both qualities. So over to you..? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 11:48, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

== Countdown Timer ==

Does anyone know what the timer in the upper right corner of the website is? As of writing, it's around "20D 20H 20M" (ha ha). Is this for some kind of event I don't know about (I mean, I don't keep track of that sort of thing, so I wouldn't usually know anyway, but still), or is this just something weird Randall's doing that we're all going to find out together?

Just curious.
(Tidal Rose)

:Yes, I've been wondering, too. I can't find any good explanation anywhere for it -- I looked on Reddit, etc. I guess he really is keeping it a secret -- perhaps a book announcement. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.253|162.158.255.253]] 00:51, 11 January 2022 (UTC)

It appears that the accompanying image may also be updating (not minute to minute at the moment). Curious to see what this little black line does! (My bet is that it's a new book as well)

:My first thought was counting down to Webb reaching L2, but it's a couple days late for that... looks to be approximately 10AM Eastern on January 31, though my datemath is probably not too good when the local hour is <6. [[User:Davidhbrown|Davidhbrown]] ([[User talk:Davidhbrown|talk]]) 05:49, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

The image has definitely updated!

Is there a place where the progressive images are archived? [[User:Fuzzymo|Fuzzymo]] ([[User talk:Fuzzymo|talk]]) 01:00, 14 January 2022 (UTC)
:There is a [[Countdown_in_header_text|page structure]] now created for it. Go directly to [[Countdown_in_header_text/images|the /images sub-page]] for the captured series-so-far. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.43|162.158.159.43]] 04:37, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

The exact time it's counting down to is Monday, January 31, 2022 at 10 AM EST (Munroe's time zone) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.165|108.162.229.165]] 23:55, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

Could it be for [https://www.nationaldaystoday.com/national-backward-day/ National Backward Day?]
:Already mentioned (and mostly rejected?) in the ''real'' conversation about this. (See the [[Countdown in header text]] page, etc, if you haven't already.) Not sure what the plane would have to do with it, unless it turns out to be flying backwards when we see movement lines. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 17:53, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

== What if 103 ==

Why is it "not quite a coincidence" that the titanic was traveling at about the same speed when it hit bottom as when it hit the iceberg?
: 1. please sign your posts! 2. im guessing the joke is that it wasnt moving [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 17:09, 25 August 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
:: What are you talking about? Its speed was around 20.5 kts at the time of impact.

== Syndication comic: uploaded with no number, link to xkcd doesn't work? ==

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Syndication

In the title, the page is very broken and there's no evidence Randall Munroe ever uploaded this. Someone in the comments theorises it's a fan uploaded comic pretending to be official. Any way to find out? [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 08:08, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

== Concerning a certain editor ==

I'm puzzled and slightly worried as to the motives of [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=50&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Gadget-HotCat&namespace=&tagfilter=&start=&end= a given named editor]. Having made direct comments myself (and seen others do so), albeit only as an IP, I'm concerned as to their potentially reckless nature. As messages to(/in reply to) them have done very little to get a valid explanation, I thought I should note the case slightly more formally. They seemed quite helpful when they started to post (at a time of notable vandalism, and I'm reluctant to jump to any adverse conclusion about that) and I obviously cannot speak of their time beyond this submission, but I find an overwhelming amount of their most recent interactions to be (to put it charitably) naive, despite clearly the intelligence to use advanced Wiki markup/etc.

I welcome a ready and willing editor. Moreover one who has bothered to get an accountable account, more than I have ever done! I would be happy to see them usefully contribute further, but could they perhaps realise (or accept, if they already know) that the drive to submit random and (pretty much always) unexplanatory content is not useful to anyone. And that's all I wish to say, right now. As much of a nudge as I want to make for the moment. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.64|141.101.99.64]] 14:45, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

== xkcd Volume 0 ==
xkcd Volume 0 is a collection of chosen comic strips - but there's also red-text found scattered though pages, usually as some type of cypher or code. Because of that, can an authorized user create a stub for [[xkcd Volume 0]] so that the codes can be documented, or does that risk too much of a copyright violation? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.56|108.162.241.56]] 00:10, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

== Russia ==
Is there a comic that mentions Russia? Omg Omg Omg {{unsigned|Omg omg omg Бельков|23:02, 19 March 2023 (UTC)}}
:@[[User:Omg omg omg Бельков|Omg omg omg Бельков]]: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=russia&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go Let me use the search bar]. ~ [[user:megan|Megan]] she/her [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 23:25, 19 March 2023 (UTC)
:Might be a good idea if the mods had a look at the following accounts, BTW:
:"Omg сайт вместо гидры", "Omg omg omg Бельков", "Omgomg", "Площадка omg", "Darknet omg omg", "Ссылка на omgomg", "Омгомгомг магазин", "Омгомгомг сайт", "Омгомгомг ссылка", "Омг сайт магазин", "Омг ссылка", "Омг тор ссылка", "Площадка omg ссылка", "Сайт омг омг ссылка", "Сайт omg onion", "Сайт omg shop", "Сайт omgomg", "Omgomgomg ссылка", "Omg omg market onion", "Omg onion", "Omg online", "Omg shop ссылка", "Omg web net", "Omgomg гидра", "Omgomg замена гидре", "Omgomg market", "Omgomg tor", "Omgomgomg магазин", "Omgomgomg сайт", "Omg omg сайт зеркало", "Omg omg ссылка онион", "Omg omg сайт аналог гидры", "Omg зеркало", "Omg аналог гидры", "Omg вместо гидры", "Omg даркнет", "Omg дарк", "Omg маркет", "Omg omg площадка тор", "Omg онион", "Omg площадка даркнета", "Omg площадка новая", "Omg площадка торговая", "Omg ссылка", "Omg dark", "Omg darknet", "Omg market", "Omg omg даркнет", "Omg omg магазин ссылка", "Omg omg площадка отзывы", "Omg omg площадка сайт", "Зеркало ссылка омг"
:Wasn't particularly concerned, but then one decided to have a go at posting. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.185|172.69.79.185]] 23:51, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

== Edit War ==
An edit war has occurred on this page. Three topics were added and then removed. One user got banned. It seemed that the "Miscellaneous" is not actually miscellaneous. I can't create any talk pages, either. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 03:40, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

:Spammers are being impersonated. [[User:ClassicalGames|Clas]]rch 2023 (UTC)

== Connect spam ==
It seems that the pages with "Connect" in their titles tend to receive spam posts. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 08:05, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

Did this happen on Wikipedia too? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 10:40, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

Note for spammers: Do not rely on our group or others such as [[User:Memo Spike Connector]] to revert your edits. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 10:46, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

== April fools day ==
April fools day is coming. Let's predict what [[Randall]] will post for the day. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 08:05, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

: Uh, oh, April Fool's Day has already passed and there doesn't seem to be any related comics this year. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:14, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

:: Seems like they've seen our trying to predict the April Fools comic. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 23:35, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

== Public sandbox ==

What are the public sandbox pages used for? The "Main Page sandbox" was originally intended for testing the main page features, but then it received a lot of off-topic comments. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:24, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

:The [[:Template:sandbox]] page received spam posts recently, with some user repeatedly trying to put words under another person's pen. I'm afraid someone will start using chatbots to spam in the future. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 07:03, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

:The above issue seems to have been resolved. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.43|172.69.135.43]] 02:07, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

::And then a mysterious "fanmade comic" appeared. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.174|172.69.22.174]] 02:08, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

::For the record, [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous&diff=prev&oldid=312713 massive editing has occured] here, which is clearly debatable. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.35|172.70.90.35]] 08:33, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

== Editor guide for specific category ==

Could you add an editor guide on how to add this category to pages? Some user did it wrongly a while ago. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_sharing_name

I can't create talk pages. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.230|162.158.166.230]] 09:30, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

==Vector images don't work==
The vector images don't show up on my browser. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 22:59, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
:Which vector images, and which bowser? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.184|172.69.79.184]] 23:29, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

::There is supposed to be a vector image on the top of this page, just above the "Contents" block. It seems to be that none of the vector images show up normally on this computer. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 23:48, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

:::I used a new browser and it failed again. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 08:06, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
::::But ''which'' browser(s)? I mean, if you're using Lynx, then you probably won't get native inline SVG rendering support, ever. If you're using NCSA Mosaic then you definitely need to change to something a bit newer ''anyway''. If you're using the latest Chrome/Firefox/Edge/whatever then I'd be surprised if it doesn't work. And if it's ''only on this site'' (i.e. that similarly embedded graphics work elsewhere), then that's a whole other line of enquiry.
::::Help us to help you, if you have indeed got a problem (and perhaps explain how you found the problem, too, to know how you detected the anomaly). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.9|141.101.98.9]] 12:29, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

== Solar system category ==

Could the category for the solar system be possibly created? There are several comics related. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 07:13, 11 April 2023 (UTC)
:Hey! You don't need to make an admin request. In proposals 1.49 there's where you can propose categories, and if you think it's a good idea/get support you can just go ahead and make it. [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:44, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

== Categorization problem ==

Just now, I found two user pages lying in the [[:Category:Internet]] category. Could we possibly create a categorization template so that user pages that transcluded a comic page will not be categorized? We can also solve the problem that puts the Main Page in various theme categories. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 03:38, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
:I've blanked one of the sandboxes. The other one doesn't belong to our group. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 03:46, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
::Nice sentiments, but please stop feigning talking to yourself or using [[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2293:_RIP_John_Conway&diff=prev&oldid=310329 your own edits to justify your various unnecessary aliases]]...
::There really do not need to be 'personal sandboxes', and the use made of the sandboxes is not useful. Many things that a Sandbox is used for could be done simply by the "Show preview", and certainly it isn't supposed to be a notepad for unrelated junk. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.67|172.70.85.67]] 08:11, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

== Help with Creating a User Page ==

I'm a relatively new user, and I decided "I should probably make a user page," but for some reason it says that I "do not have permission to create this page" even though it's my page. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 03:08, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
:Check the user page now! [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|Z1mp0st0rz]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 15:24, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks! To everyone redirected here via my previous comments, click here -> [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 00:17, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

== Versailles-Rose-style cultural export ==

America has already banned cultural export from several places, but this happened again in [[Talk:2781: The Six Platonic Solids]]. That is illegal. It should be taken seriously. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.71|172.69.134.71]] 23:55, 2 July 2023 (UTC)
:Presuming you're refering to that thing edited out in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2781:_The_Six_Platonic_Solids&diff=prev&oldid=316742 this edit], if I thought I understood the original comment, then I'm darned if I can work out what your official objection to it is.
:If I thought the original wasn't just CG being CG, I'd revert that removal for being nonsensical. No "inciting illegality", so far as I can see, so no need to remove the comment or complain about it.
:You're not CG (or an off-site ally) wearing an IP cloak to do other typical CG-like things, such as we've seen many times before, are you? Don't do that, if so. I won't be restoring the original, but you need to establish better reasons for editorialising a Talk page's contributions.
:...but, if anyone is going to edit things around again, I hope they also put a suitably attributed {{template|unsigned ip}} on the other most recent appended line, ok? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.16|172.70.86.16]] 10:11, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
: He restored that offensive line. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.17|172.69.22.17]] 23:49, 7 July 2023 (UTC)
: Not sure what's going on here, but the nonsense language makes me suspect bots, in which case maybe just ban the IP. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 23:43, 9 July 2023 (UTC)
:: Difficult, with IPs. I'm one but not the type you want to ban, if you can take my word on that. It all depends on which Cloudflare gateway(s) you get routed through, and then which 'local' IP you happen to get assigned as from interaction to interaction.
:: Personally I suspect an idiot (a human, but an idiot. Or maybe an entire off-site group of idiots who are playing some sort of group game using our site as the playing-board. If it's automated (which is more difficult to do reliably than direct human trolling, realistically) then it's still an idiotically set up auto-trolling with no clear usefulness beyond 'because we can'. Nobody bothered to answer me as to why, but that just reinforces my feeling that there's no legitimate reasons behind any of it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.97|172.71.242.97]] 09:10, 10 July 2023 (UTC)

::That post appeared back again. That's kind of hidden cultural reference. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.17|172.71.154.17]] 23:46, 9 July 2023 (UTC)
::Too hidden. As I asked before (but it was deleted) explain it to us. Or me, at least. If tou actually have a point, we can help you. But you don't, I suspect. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.97|172.71.242.97]] 09:10, 10 July 2023 (UTC)

There is a hidden reference to another country's culture. Many Americans hate that country. We do not allow such countries' culture to invade our website. Our website is American. EDIT: Those captchas are way too hard. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.156|172.71.154.156]] 23:42, 10 July 2023 (UTC)
:Still obtuse. And, I suspect, also incorrect. Which country? China ? North Korea? Canada? You can say, you know... Free speech exists, with no overriding legal prohibition against even mentioning whatever enemy nation you consider as beyond the pale for 'many'. Perhaps you aren't allowed to incite hatred (not sure if it's a legal thing, but it would be a generally established forum policy) but merely mentioning a general emnitity arising from the distrust of all things mapleleafian can be done without fear or favo(u)r. Educate us. Make us understand the issue, that we might never again fall into the trap of razy lacism or accidentally mention beavers in polite company... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.130|172.70.85.130]] 08:23, 11 July 2023 (UTC)
:: Click the "edit" button and you'll see that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.204|162.158.166.204]] 23:02, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

== Twix re-referencing ==

Nearly put this as an HTML comment in the Social Media category (it has no Talk). Not sure if this should be under Proposals/Maintenance/Co-ordination in here (please move there, if you feel strongly it does belong in any of these). But probably needs saying.

Just seen one (out of many!) Twitter-referencing articles entirely rebranded to say "X" instead (and "x" for "tweet", etc). Which I felt a mistake. Reverted and added a single "now rebranded as..." caveat to the original mention, given the comic concerned was clearly Twitter-branded (older look, too), and this seemed a better solution.

I just want to express my opinion (and thus ask if I'm truly rolling with the consensus) that "now known as "X" is perhaps the besr direction to go. As and when, not necessarily as a splurge of appended edits to ''every'' Twitter-referencing page right this minute. (For one thing, it could so easily be rebranded/retrobranded/debranded altogether in the near future if either sanity prevails or greater insanity piles upon that already seen.)

Clear Twitter-era comics certainly don't need "tweets" changed to... whatever gets settled on as the proper term for post-Twitter tweets. "Twixes"? Yeah, nobody really knows that, yet, anyway. When (inevitably) a comic arises referencing "X (formerly known as Twitter)" then the referencing can be reversed. If/when Wikipedia renames/redirects accordingly then maybe that'll be a cue to (as we editors come across them in other edit contexts) change <code><nowiki>{{w|Twitter}}</nowiki></code> to something like <code><nowiki>{{w|X (Social media)|Twitter}}</nowiki></code> to avoid hitting the redirect, or whatever makes sense by then. But I would resist big changes to legacy references (i.e. pre-July 2023) and imagine that well-meaning editors that do try to help by almost 'keyboard/leopard' mass changing be discouraged/pre-empted.

But that's IMHO. I think it should potentially be a conversation, here, rather than me being a full on vigilante-reverter (and others having their own ideas) just because *I* have a particular impression of what's suitable to maintain site style. For the present. And potentially in years to come when the fate of The Media Formerly Known As Twitter might have transformed yet again and Randall's œuvre (perhaps still being drawn, thrice Earth-weekly, from his Lunar south-pole penthouse 'retirement' suite, or else from his official AI mind-mapped legal successor-entity!) continues to attract new readers for whom this "Twitter" thing needs actual explaining, even though they've used MuskMedia's 'æMotifier' quantum-netlink ever since they got their first cranial emotion-transceiver implant inserted and become a fully accredited voting Martian Citizen! (Or, alternatively, it's become as unknown to most people as AskJeeves/Geocities/Fidonet because it's a sidelined or even completely defunkt thing.)

So, yeah, ''waaay'' too early to do crazy site-wide edits, but perhaps agree on what we might do right now on a throttled back basis. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.197|141.101.98.197]] 09:46, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

== wait what? (is this "view a bunch of html" thing intentional?) ==

so i was trying to see the rss feed because i was curious and ended up with the page showing me a bunch of html code for some reason. what is going on???

also just realized half of the "[something][/something]" thing you use in forums to, for example, post something as a spoiler is basically html but with square brackets instead of whatever these are called (the ones that look like this: "<>") [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 18:30, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
:{{w|RSS}} is, or should be, based upon XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Which is basically the 'core' of many common markup languages, especially HTML (or XHTML, as it has been standardised). You're really supposed to use an RSS ''reader'' utility to parse the 'html code' and present it in a more human-readable way. (Although it's also fairly easy to human-read the RSS and scan for details of interest, so long as you have at least an inkling of what you're looking at and for.)
:Regarding the forum <code>[code]...[/code]</code> stuff, I ''think'' you're speaking of {{w|BBCode}}, which I think is intended to be a handy solution to allowing only ''sanitised'' markup to be posted by any given forum's random, rambling and potentially rabid users with something to say. If you're happy to allow a contributor to render a <code><nowiki></nowiki></code> tag (or with <code><nowiki></nowiki></code>, or via a CSS property, etc), your forum back-end translates the allowable <code>[b]...[/b]</code> into that mandated browser-friendly form.
:But if anyone tried to use any actual <X>-tag directly, then it gets sanitised into <code>&lt;X&gt;</code>. This means that ''unless the forum explicitly allows it'' (and in a form that the browser understands, might need a .js/.css extension to execute it in modern browsers) one couldn't <code><blink><marquee>Blink A Marquee</marquee></blink></code> within any arbitrary post text...
:And also, with such lightweight "Bulletin Board Code" and neutralised 'original raw HTML', you can also stop many of the possible techniques for someone trying direct script-injection or even just rendering follow-up messages liable to inheriting an opened (but not closed) formatting from more freely used HTML.
:(I'm not entirely sure if 'markup security' is the prime reason for using it, and I know some weird and disruptive loopholes have occasionally still had to be closed in the parsing/conversion rules, but it seems to me as good an impetus as any.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.8|172.71.242.8]]

== Is it possible to add a feature that keeps track of all viewed comics so that you specifically view unseen comics only? ==

I'm trying to read every xkcd comic, and I believe I have done so, but I still have a small doubt in my head. Would it be possible, even if only on explainxkcd to keep track of comics viewed? If not, is it possible to create a program that can do this locally or would I just need to go back through all of them? {{unsigned|SteveTheNoob|10:40, 12 October 2023}}

: I'm not aware of anything simple that might (say) work as a <nowiki>{{Special:RandomUnreadOnly}}</nowiki> restriction, if that's what you're looking for. You(/everyone with a named account) probably need a "read list" page off your userspace that gets updated by a bit of "Visited!" embedded template/code/scripting attached to every relevent page (probably limited by being 'noinclude'd) and can be checked before it suggests your next landing spot (Random or otherwise). It would be a bit contrived. Even more so if you store page details ''with'' a last-viewed timestamp (either to allow you to revisit upon an update or to just allow pages seen early on to be occasionally revisited), which I'd suggest would be useful. But if it's an internal wiki page (rather than browser-side) it would probably be visible to anyone (write-restricted, I imagine) and I'm not sure that's a wise move.
: Too late to necessarily help you, but the aspiring completist could simply progress logically (not 'Special:Random'ly) from Comic 1 on up (or the current latest on down, with future 'latest's being a different progression to track) and keep a note of where you've got to after each binge-session of Next/Previous following. That'd catch most of the comics, less those that are unnumbered for various reasons. It could be done wikiwise with a variation on the 'Latest Comic' (global) tracker, but again with a Userspace page. Or just a browser extention, updating a Bookmark/Favourites link or just jot it down on a bit of paper. Some of these would take far less effort than trying to a implement per-user shared-but-private wikimedia solution bespoke to the exacting needs of this particular Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.205|172.70.91.205]] 13:28, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

== While False ==

There’s now over a year ago since [[user:While False|While False]] contributed for the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:While_False&diff=303753&oldid=301370|Barry-Larry-very last time]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.5|162.158.222.5]]

:While False’s “Explain xkcd museum” can be found [[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|here]]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.44|162.158.222.44]]

== Furries ==

Someone has been adding vaguely-relaged pages to [[:Category:Furries]]. Is this okay? This person's criteria seem to be that anything related to anthropomorphic animals (including anything related to Narnia) is "furry"; they also consider anything pertaining to knots or cheese graters to be furry-related. (The knot and grater things are NSFW inside jokes within the furry fandom.)

My opinion is that anything with anthropomorphic animals is close enough to fall under the furry category (after all, anthropomorphic animals are basically what define the furry fandom), but individual Narnia-related pages don't need to be tagged as furry. [[:Category:Chronicles of Narnia]] being a subcat of Furries is enough IMO. As for knots and graters, I don't think those also should be enough to tag someone.

What do you all think? {{unsigned ip|172.71.146.55|04:38, 1 February 2024}}

:My opinion: that it must depict furries subculture or its ''unambiguous'' inspirations.
:I see that [[:Category:Chronicles of Narnia]] has been labeled such, but this implies that [[969: Delta-P]] (amongst others) includes furries.
:I'd also argue that merely 'talking animals' aren't sufficient to be "furrie". [[1503: Squirrel Plan]] (not catted... yet!) are still ultimately scuiromorphic squirrels. 'Intelligent' animals, and 'translator-microbed' for our benefit, but barely different in depiction from any [[635: Locke and Demosthenes|other typical appearance]]. YMMV.
:And if a long-standing comic has not been given a long-standing category ''until you 'spot' the connection'', then it might be obscure and need (in-line) justification. See the markup (and edit-history) of the Lowercase in [[739: Malamanteau]] as an example of perhaps why and how.
:...in particular, when someone made [[1762: Moving Boxes]] an example of "Furries", someone else thought it was (improperly) due to the word "Hooves", when it was really due to "Knots". Equally improperly, IMO, given that various types of knot were mentioned in the Explanation, but certainly no references there to Furries (or even to more 'obvious' kinks than furry-fandom, with or without extant categories or obvious interest by Randall). Personally, I thought it had been about the word "Kits" (c.f. "cubs"), not that I agreed with that assertion either. So do add an in-line comment, and it ''might'' help justify it to future editors who don't see what you see. Still arguable, but at least avoids arguing cross-purposes.
:''To summarise'', unless you consider everything with Animals in it (or at least every one with animals being [[928: Mimic Octopus|'odd' in any human-relatable way]]) as potential Furries-fodder, it really must be obviously referencing Furrie-subculture. Enough to be considered worthy a mention in the Explanation as well, not just because of a tenuous word-association or imagery inadvertently triggering an obscure personal interests. (There's a comic that specifically makes me think "Caramel", but it has nothing intrinsically to do with (e.g.) [[:Category:Food]]. I know why it makes me think that, but wouldn't consider it meaningful to ''anyone'' else. Even if it might for a small subculture, however, it still wouldn't actually be a valid category to apply if there was no reason for Randall to have had that same association in mind.)
:Categories should not include much more true material than they reasonably need to, just on the offchance that there's a totally unintended link. (And if ''all'' the Narnia references need cat:Furries, they also need cat:Animals. I might argue that cat:Religion is at least as necessary, just for every mention/hint of Aslan. But I wouldn't actually flood that option, either.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.207|172.71.242.207]] 10:49, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
::I think there are enough pages in the category as of right now (22:16, 9 March 2024 (UTC)), but seeing as I don't know all the references (what's so funny about knots and cheese graters?) it's obvious that I'm just William Shatner's generation 💅 descendant who pretends to be a furry for clout online. So I'm not sure whether you should trust me. --[[User:AndroidTheLucario|Your favorite aura doggo]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 22:16, 9 March 2024 (UTC)

== What is the significance of the word "crap" here? ==

I often see vague references to "crap" in discussions on this wiki, but I don't understand the meaning. Of course, I *do* know what the literal definition of "crap" is; I just don't know the significance here. It doesn't seem to be a word used particularly often in xkcd, so what is the significance here? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.49|108.162.245.49]] 02:28, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:I think you're refering to the escapades of a particular idiot (and possibly copycats). The actions conducted might well be refered to by various verb forms/etc of the word.
:Though there are 'legitimate' uses of the word in comics, in context, I don't think there is any particular Randallesque significance that you need to worry about. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.55|172.71.178.55]] 04:55, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you! What did the particular idiot do? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.62|172.71.150.62]] 22:46, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:::Just particularly low-vocabulary/high-volume/zero-creativity nuisance editing Probably doesn't need dignifying by further explanation, and really not worth dwelling on. But this was just one particular type of nuisance, dealt with just as many other nuisances (by whatever hand) also were/will be. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.212|172.70.91.212]] 02:05, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

== Is ReCAPTCHA really necessary? ==

I worry that I might be opening up a can of worms here, but here goes. For various personal reasons I don't like setting up accounts with things unless I really, really need to. I'm sure I'm not the only one. There are also people who can't set up accounts because they don't have an email address. Because we're not logged in, every time we want to make any edit or post any comment on any part of this Wiki, we have to go through multiple laborious ReCAPTCHAs. I'm sure the irony isn't lost on the rest of you that CAPTCHA/ReCAPTCHA is the butt of more than a few jokes on various XKCD comics, which imply that they are disingenuous processes whose real purpose is to farm out stultifyingly mundane computing tasks to a captive audience. Furthermore, I am editing on mobile, which can present formatting problems, rendering the ReCAPTCHA (and, by extension, my editing) impossible to complete. I know there are other ways in which this Wiki combats spam, so do we really need ReCAPTCHAs? Removing them would make this site considerably more accessible to eccentrics and Luddites such as myself. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 18:23, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
:I'm guessing you weren't here for the crap incident? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.120|162.158.41.120]] 23:22, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
:Speaking as an accountless luddite (long term active and non-lurking contributor; I ''choose'' not to clutter myself with yet another account, inventing yet another apt username when I don't actually have to), it ''can'' be annoying to have to do a round or two of Traffic Light or Tractor identification. But, given the number of obvious fake accounts, it may be that removing the control would release a deluge of one-shot spams that are currently caught.
:It's less trouble than the extra issue of having done a CAPTCHA successfully, submitting a ticked contribution, the explainxkcd server complaining of overload/whatever (error 503, I think) and then the necessary refresh-submit moans that I ''didn't'' give a CAPTCHA (logical enough... the side-server confirmation data probably loses synchronicity against the 'new' POST submission). And not even sure whether an other-than-CAPTCHA solution could handle that type of fail-over any better. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 10:52, 18 April 2024 (UTC)

== Why do all the comic updates feel late to me? I only ever see them on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends. ==

I'm in the same time zone as Randall, so it could just be a sleep schedule thing tbh. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:29, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
:Quick poll of server-times for explainxkcd's BOT back to mid-February suggests that significantly more than half were before midnight Randall Mean Time (or Randall Daylight Time). That said, a long long experience has taught me not to fret the "only see it the next morning" ones (my time). They keep coming. 2916 was an outlier (almost 29 hours longer to arrive than 2910 did, assuming that wasn't a BOT delay that I'm not aware of).
:In this sample, it went from an earliest time of 11:37 (servertime, remember), Q1 at 18:12, Q2 at 22:03, Q3 at 03:11 (still pre-midnight, for you and him), and the latest was 16:31 the day after. Mondays seem to be a bit lagged over Wednesdays and Fridays but, outliers apart, there doesn't seem to be much in it.
:I could do a far longer sampling (I can recall of a couple-of-days-delayed ones that arrived ''eventually'', but at least officially kept the MWF cycles going. not counting delayed-specials/etc), but there's not much to be seen recently to concern me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 23:32, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

== New users can't create pages ==

Hey, you know how new users can't create their own user pages? Well, it turns out that new users can't create ''any'' pages. Could this be the autoconfirm thing? {{unsigned|PDesbeginner|14:56, 20 June 2024}}
:If you think about it, you'll realise that it's probable that new users can't create user pages '''exactly because''' they can't create ''any'' pages... ;) But that state of affairs won't last long, if you're patient.
:...Until then, petitioning for (say) a new Category (with sufficient examples to provide a reason for it) might get you helped out by a sympathetic existing page-creator. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.90|172.70.91.90]] 19:45, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

== Minor edit/Watch this page ==

Before I save an edit, how do I decide which checkbox to select? [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 14:57, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
:I use the "minor edit" for fixing (my own) typos and when adding links or such to the(my) text. I never used the "watch" option but I guess you can use it to receive mail notifications if someone changes the page [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:57, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:I did a test and it turns out that the "Watch this page" box makes the page get automatically added to your watchlist when you save the edit. Thanks for the help with when to select the minor edit box, but does anyone know what it actually does? [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 20:07, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
::From my experience of other wiki sites (where I have an account, thus get to see such options), it's not much more than a bit of administrivia, to allow you to mark anything that you consider not bothersome in any way (de-doubling unnecessary whitespace, trivial typo-correction, etc.) and thus letting others selectively ignore such tweaks (at least until they start to wonder why an article has gained/lost several paragraphs as part of an apparently "minor edit").
::If it has any functional utility beyond just a handy user-flag, I haven't seen it. And no doubt there are those who would ''especially'' check (or have 'Bots check) so-called-minor edits, just to make sure they really are. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.203|172.70.162.203]] 23:07, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks! [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 16:58, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

== Hi! ==

How are all you beautiful people doing? I'm quite alright myself. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 03:03, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

== Red text ==
I found red text in the "Flowchart" comic explanation. Could you deal with it? [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 08:58, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
:In [[1195: Flowchart]]? I don't see any there.
:There are similarly named comics, and plenty of furtyer comics "that have a flowchart" so perhaps try at least telling us the number of the one you mean. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.145|172.70.86.145]] 18:44, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

== The future ==

You know, we're not too far from a future where each and every edit to this website will have paragraphs of critical commentary. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.210|108.162.245.210]] 23:49, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

== Comic # 2974 explanation ==

Someone please hug the editor of the explanation of comic #2974. They seem a little depressed. I noticed your nitpickyness and I cared. Thank you. Also you made me laugh a bunch. {{unsigned ip|172.70.111.167|13:28, 21 August 2024}}
:I don't see that myself (though there will be a number of editors, maybe the bits you mean are less obvious now) although hugs are rarely a bad idea (being careful in cases of sunburn, dermititis, excessive blisters or bubonic infections of various kinds) so free (but entirely optional!) hugs all round. Just because not all symptoms of depression are particularly obvious anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.17|172.70.162.17]] 14:37, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

== Comic #3000 ==
Y’all, we’re getting scarily close to comic 3000. Any bets on what it’ll be about? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:17, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
:I'll get back to you on that in a couple of months... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.164|172.70.162.164]] 04:39, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
::I myself think that it’s going to be a continuation of the <code><nowiki>[[Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd phones]]</nowiki></code> series. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:49, 26 August 2024 (UTC)
:::(You probably meant to use something like <code><nowiki>[[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd phones]]</nowiki></code>, which appears as the now clickable: [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd phones]] ...or something similar. FYI.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.62|141.101.98.62]] 20:36, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
nothing, you get nothing >:[ [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:06, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
It was SOOO disappointing and just a regular comic :( [[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 22:23, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

== Trouble finding comic about how kids read too many comics ==

Iirc, it was a comic that had newspaper quotes from various times in history. One was that kids read too many comics, one was that kids look out the window too much. Maybe one on too many video games, and/or too much tv. And maybe one on reading. Anyway, I'm having trouble finding it because the keywords are too vague. And "xkcd comic" just brings me to the homepage. Any help would be appreciated 🙏 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.6|172.70.131.6]] 04:30, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
:[[1601|1601: Isolation]] [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:33, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

== Correct name ==

What’s the correct name for this wiki? ExplainXKCD is what I use, but there’s also Explainxkcd or explainxkcd or explain xkcd. Please advise for all of us pedantic editors. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:55, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
:A question for the ages. The case of "xkcd" itself is officially all lowered, and all domain names are inherently caseless, whilst xkcd's (usual) comic-text is sᴍᴀʟʟᴄᴀᴘs (or, rather, partly camel-cased SᴍᴀʟʟCᴀᴘs). If I don't use "explainxkcd" I might go for "ExplainXkcd" or "explainXkcd" (the latter two probably wrong, but at least adds degrees of parsability, maybe with some cringing). There's even a [[:File:Logo.png|case]] (NPI!) to call it "EXPLAINxkcd", but I wouldn't. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.138|172.71.26.138]] 10:15, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
::I’ve also noticed that if you substitute x for 23, k for 11, c for 3, and d for 4, as that is the order that they appear in the English alphabet, those four numbers add up to 42, or the answer to life, the universe and everything else. Is this intentional? Has anybody else noticed this? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:41, 14 October 2024 (UTC)
:::[[xkcd#Meaning of xkcd|Yes]] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.150|172.68.205.150]] 22:36, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

== Coincidence ==

I just used the random page feature and got comic [[498: Secretary: Part 5]] twice in a row and got [[496: Secretary: Part 3]] on the third!
Its not important but I just think its neat[[User:Pego|Pego]] ([[User talk:Pego|talk]])

== Horrendously Cursed numbers ==

I need them. Currently, my favorite (which I found by a whole lot of guesswork) is 2^2.321928094886. It equals 5. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 23:35, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

It happened to bring a typo on page [[1506: xkcloud]] to my attention. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 04:02, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

== 2024 Harris banner ==

Will there be an article archiving and explaining the Harris banner on xkcd.com as of my typing this? https://imgs.xkcd.com/news/harris_news@2x.png [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 01:51, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Check [[Header text]]. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 03:36, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 04:29, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

== IP Editing Doesn’t Make Sense ==

I've read various arguments for why IP editing is allowed, or even a 'good idea'. I've read none that was compelling. Here are my reasons why I think it's not a good idea, and why it should be banned:

Per {{w|WP:ISU}}, user names that imply shared use are not allowed, so why is editing using an IP address allowed, given that IP addresses usually are shared? If the logic behind this policy is that an edit must be traceable to an individual editor, not a collective entity, then allowing anonymous editing from an IP address flies squarely in the face of that.
IP editing accounts for a large chunk of vandalism, disruptive editing, BLP violations, etc., and stopping it would reduce the cleanup workload for other editors.
Using multiple IP addresses, either intentionally or unintentionally, fragments a user's edit history, and makes it difficult, in some cases virtually impossible, to detect editing patterns and decipher intentions.
The 'hassle' of registering really is not great, and therefore I don't buy the argument that mandatory registration would make it difficult to recruit new editors.
It's too easy for a registered editor to get around certain rules (such as creators not being allowed to remove speedy tags from their own articles) by logging out and editing under IP.
The whole malarkey about hiding IP addresses, allegedly for privacy reasons (!), would go away if IP editing weren't an option.
To be clear, I think everyone should be able to access the site without registering, and anyone should be allowed to edit, just not edit without registering. In that sense it's not that different from using a public library: you're welcome to browse the collection, access the reference section, etc. without anyone asking you any questions, but if you want to take a book home, you need to get a library card from the nice librarian first.

And a further clarification: I've nothing against users who edit under IP; my issue is with the system which allows this. As long as it is allowed, users are of course welcome to make use of this. I just think it shouldn't be allowed {{unsigned|IP Addresses Don’t Make Sense|23:25, 14 November 2024}}
:As an habitual IP, far for it for me to get involved in the argument. I will say that sometimes think it'd be nice to have a "history" that proves my actual involvement (the other day I came across a contribution from 2013 that was clearly mine), but those moments pass when I see how easy (too easy) it is to have gotten myself an account. Witness the various accounts that get conjoured up on a whim, 'yourself' included... You're not helping the cause by doing this.
:If you're a named user, normally, then you're just giving more reasons for locking everyone into far more restrictions than your nominal argument suggests, and forgetting how much non-disrupting (indeed, fixing) behaviour is also done by everyone. The perfect situation? Maybe not. But there are worse ones, for anyone who has thought about it for any time. Do you want ''my'' suggestions? I've got a whole shopping list of them, but you won't want to hear about them. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.227|172.69.194.227]] 03:38, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

== when did xkcd jump the shark ==
like, when exactly do you feel xkcd jumped the shark (if at all)? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:45, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
:If it has, than put me down as "likes shark-jumping". I've been directly enjoying (if not always as caught up with as I am these days) xkcd since before [[195: Map of the Internet]] (quite possibly back into only double-figures, but hard to know what I later rewound back to; or quite how far back I subsequently joined the fora and/or started explainxkcding, as both histories are shrouded behind data that's either now lost or inconveniently anonymised).
:Not everything is as geeky as that, but it doesn't have to be. Horses for courses, naturally. (Perhaps lasagna?) If ''everyone'' who had such a moment actually decides to tell you their answer, probably could be up to 3000 or so distinct replies. ("It was the flying ferret" "Those spiders always did it for me" ...) ''To clarify, there may be many valid answers, but the people who would give them are far more likely not to be here to answer your question. If anybody ''does'' hover around here and want to give a definite answer of why they no longer like xkcd, then bear in mind that they're more the exception than the rule. Twice-over!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.102|172.71.122.102]] 14:22, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
::Hi, 42.book.addict here to put in my own two cents (check my user page on why I’m an IP). I would like to comment that I have noticed that I very much enjoy the older (albeit lower quality and resolution) comics than before. I think that I like the old xkcd strips more because they were much more geeky and nerdy than now, as well as more funny and witty. I feel like Randall has adapted the strip to appeal to a larger audience, which in turn lowered how much I enjoyed it (as I’m a massive nerd/geek). I can’t give an exact number, because the Covid-19 comics were highly enjoyable and are more of an outlier. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.117|162.158.167.117]] 17:33, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

== How do I add userboxes to my page? ==
I saw a user with userboxes and I want to be able to continue developing my personal page. Can anyone tell my how? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 19:51, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
:Probably the easiest thing is to look at the source of any page that has something you want to use. 'Edit', the page. You can just copy what's there, if you understand all the {{}} stuff, or even just remember what to put in those {{}}s, etc. Perhaps you could try a bit of in-situ exiting (Preview if you want modify to understand, but ''don't'' fully Save... at least not until you're working back in your own userspace).
:Not knowing how much you know about wikisyntax/markup, I could be either overexplaining or explaining entirely over your head by saying something like the following, but ''if'' it's useful (now, or once you've started), then you're welcome:
:*You can use templates by editing in the {{template|template}} text, with the appropriate name there.
:*Some of them accept/need parameters, which you use by adding a "|" symbol after the name and then a parameter. Add more parameters by adding further "|", for first(, second, third, etc) parameters, as necessary, if that's how the template concerned works.
:*Some templates accept/need "|paramName=paramData" for certain things that can control control (look at any comic page, and how the {{template|comic}} is used, and note that "whitespace is (relatively) free"!), so look out for that.
:*Templates can nest... A {{template|notice}} might have a {{template|w}}(ikipedia link) within it. And there's a whole flow-control 'language' of making complex branching decisions so don't be surprised to see loads of {s and }s (usually doubled, ''perhaps'' tripled, and singly in 'wikitable' markup) in things you're trying to use.
:*Then there's the rest of the wikimarkup... Simple formatting to linking (external website, page on this wiki, interwiki formats (though some of those have templates ready to simplify!), etc). There's some things (handy relevent shortcuts) unique to this site, other things fairly universal. The ''general'' userbox format isn't that different from many other wikiprojects, but you may find something or other a bit more 'tuned' to our needs.
:*Try things out. Remember: "Show Preview" is your friend. (There's also the Sandboxes, but you usually don't need to fully save something, leaving its remnants in a page history, to learn thst it works... Or, more usefully, that it doesn't (or not as you expect).
:...any use? Could be telling you things you actually know, or you're about to ask about the {}s again. But at least look at the userbox markup, that you want to emulate, and then apply what you already can deduce to some testing to see what the bits you ''can't'' deduce actually do. Then you may have nice questions which are more straightforward (or at least direct!) for us to answer. ;)
:And this is my general advice to anyone (where I'm unsure what level of experience they're thrning up with). If it becomes clear that more technical replies are needed (assuming I can give them!), or if we need to go back to more basic principles, then I would adjust. But you have at least been able to do ''some'' edits, so probably don't need module 1 part 1 of Wiki 101. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.4|172.70.85.4]] 22:38, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
: My advice? Copy a box from the source of a user page that has them (copy the text within the braces, including the braces), and mess with some of the parameters until you get what you want. If you feel like you can understand it, you can also look at the {{template|userbox}} template and try to see what the possible parameters are, but the template is pretty complicated. I'm pretty sure that all of the parameters are named, so the order shouldn't matter. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:55, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

== Who is this? ==
what is [[User:Lettherebedarklight]]?
:They're a user of this wiki, just like you. They might have caught your attention because they're currently [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Lettherebedarklight&oldid=367915 edit warring with an admin] and seem to be resolutely [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Lettherebedarklight&action=history against the idea of having a normal signature or talk page]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:57, 8 March 2025 (UTC)
::no, I mean his user page just redirects to his user talk - [[User:Bb777|Bb777]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 23:47, 9 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Exactly! See the second and third links in my message --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:45, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

== Visual editing ==

why is the visual editor not here yet? - [[User:Bb777|Bb777]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 23:23, 15 March 2025 (UTC)

:Because the only person who has access to the backend has gone dark and nobody else has access (which is also why the site is collapsing). You can read more about this in the Technical and Admin requests portals. At this point, we're lucky the wiki hasn't completely broken down already. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:59, 16 March 2025 (UTC)

::Noting that the visual editor gives a chance of ''really'' weird markup (WYSIWYG, yes... probably, but there's plenty of chance to do [[2109: Invisible Formatting|silly''' '''things]] that you'd never do if you actually saw the code).
::Though the site isn't actually collapsing. It always has a chance ''of'' collapsing, of course, just like any site (fully maintained or not). but the running issues with it are either non-serious things that updating won't help (continual 'spam attack' attempts, though it can be shown that it's already set up to be pretty proofed against most of them and most attacks continue to be dumber than the age-old system set up to prevent them from doing too much, with a high proportuon of the rest still dumber than the 'Bot that currently adds even more protection, and ultimately even those that get past that get handled by the existing userbase) or easily avoided issues (you can't use MathML like you used to be able to, but there's alternatives to that in most circumstances). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.92|172.68.205.92]] 16:13, 16 March 2025 (UTC)
:by owner of the wiki, you mean (the mysterious) [[User:Jeff]]? - [[User:Bb777|Bb777]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 00:29, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
::Precisely --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:36, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

== soup ==

what is [[Template:soup]] for? - [[User:Bb777|Bb777]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 00:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:I guess it's a userbox, [[User:Certified_nqh/userbox|see some examples here]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:36, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

== deleting pages ==

does anyone here know how to delete pages? {{unsigned}}
:You add "<nowiki>[[Category: Pages to delete]]</nowiki>" and hope an admin eventually deletes it. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:46, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

== Google Chrome is now (again) truncating TITLE TEXT in webpages incl. XKCD ==

Greetings,
As of early April 2025, we’ve noticed that Google Chrome is no longer displaying to us the complete TITLE TEXT when we mouseover an XKCD image. This appears to be a regression of earlier-reported issues, going back 12 years or more.

We’ve been using m.xkcd.com on my mobile devices, and we may begin to prefer it on desktop as well, since the mobile rendering is the best way we’ve found to access the complete Title Text without browser interference.

Coming here because, perhaps, many readers of ExplainXKCD might need explained why the Title Text no longer makes a lot of sense with the ellipses, and also, we’ve no idea how to access the remainder of the text from the browser UI, without going into DevTools or something.

'''Note: This also affects images and Title Text here on Explainxkcd itself!!!'''

We’re using a ChromeOS Chromebook, Stable channel:
Version 134.0.6998.183 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 22:28, 4 April 2025 (UTC)
:In my experience with Chrome for Android, it just doesn't have the space to display the text in the window that it gives. (Latest comic ends with "an emitted SIm card hitting...") That also happens with (my prefered choice of browser) Firefox for Android. (''That'' ends with "a emitted SIM card hitting the side ...", for reference.) It's just a function of the screen-real-estate and the fitting it in with all the "Copy link / Share link / Share image / [etc]" options that this interface needs.
:Don't know about ChromeOS and Chromebook, all that much, but I get the impression it works more with the tablet paradigm rather than a normal laptop one (like the one I'm usong here, which gives a nice hover-text rendition of the whole job), and assumes and/or is a lower resolution so subject to such pixelated real-estate issues as I mention.
:That applies to the xkcd.com site. Here on explainxkcd.com it displays as (the beginning, and then) "and you listen very carefully..." on one line and then the URL of "explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:decay_chain_2x.png" on the next, above the various "click options". I ''believe'' that's to do with the fact that the explainxkcd image is an href (which gets represented in that space too), whereas the xkcd.com one is perfectly happy to just give me (as much as it can of) the "title=..." parameter of the img-tag.
:...and I've learnt not to worry about that. It's a technical limit that isn't any website's fault (well, maybe it's the fault of ''having'' too long a title-text), and the best that any browser under the circumstances can do.
:There's two ''or three'' main ways of seeing the whole thing though:
:#Go and edit the URL to add "view-source:" in front of it, and look at the source (that's how it works for Android Chrome, I imagine it's how it works in ChromeOS Chrome, it also works in both Windows and Android Firefox, and seems to be industry standard). Awkward, perhaps, to narrow down the appropriate length of markup tagging and read it straight, but it's there.
:#*Noting that a recent update of the Android Chrome started to make the ''default'' action of a URL of "view-soirce:<validURL>" to open a search up on the "view-soirce:<validURL>" line. One has to be careful to eschew using the enter/return key as that makes use of the "magnifying glass" option, you have to choose the second (non-default) "globe-like thing" option which depicts "yes, use this exact 'address'". No, I don't know what they messed with, and why they messed with it, and it's not the only thing that has changed recently with the UI that I really rather they hadn't changed, but took a while for me to dig up an answer about that so I freely share it in anticipation of it being important to someone else who remains similarly confused.
:#Easiest thing is to come here to explainxkcd, and don't bother with the hover-over (or whatever-you-do-to-get-the-title-text) text, at all. It's written beneath all (or nearly all?) Explanation Page images in plain sight. No hovering needed. Should be complete, unless the BOT (or someone who later comes along) has managed to mess it up, but then somebody (else) will probably fix it to how it really should be, and any remaining pecularities gets documented in the Explanation and/or its Talk.
:#There's also maybe dedicated xkcd viewers (I've got three installed from the Android store, just because I haven't yet decided that any one does everything I want it to do: "xkcd", "xkcd Browser" and "XKCDroid") that do at least try to be more hassle-free with their presentation of the hover-over title text. Don't know if you have such options under the ChromeOS system, but with even Windows going for 'app store' functionality behind it (not that I use it, save for very particular elements) I would rather hope that there'd be ports/clones of similar functionality that you can look at.
:I can easily imagine that the crew behind Chrome have indeed been messing around with your particular build. Like I said, things keep changing to my own instance, althugh the biggest problem I have is often that when editing it doesn't recognise the need to pop up the on-screen keyboard until I've changed tabs away from the editing page and back again, then I can actually do something (beyond cut/copy/paste actions, which sometimes is enough). But that's probably not going to affect you like it does me.
:And I don't use any "m.site.url" version of anything, if I can help it. Most mobile-site implementations tend to assume that I'm viewing in extreme portrait mode (which I'm not) and rearrange themselves in a way that really doesn't work in my prefered landscape orienttion, and that's just the start. As I don't do this, the above testing/examples I give was all done on "(explain)xkcd.com", not "m.xkcd.com" or whatever. But I don't see that it'll make a material difference to my checks and enumerations I've just done on your behalf. And still, hopefully, helps you understand my conclusion that... well, use one or other of my 'get arounds' (number 2?) and let Chromebook Chrome go and do whatever it feels like with hovertexts, 'cos you're not too bothered about it. Sound good? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.5|172.70.58.5]] 23:46, 4 April 2025 (UTC)

== An apology ==

Hello. I am a former vandal; I am the one who ran the "crap" bot and posted the Soviet flags; I also did smaller-scale vandalism several times. I'm not sure exactly when I quit, but it's been a year or two. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused, and I won't do it again. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.116|172.71.158.116]] 16:10, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

:Care to explain what your reasoning was? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:25, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

::I didn't really have any reasoning; I just (stupidly) thought it was funny. I don't want to reveal my exact age, but I was in my early-to-mid teen years then; it was just immature "humor." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.125|172.69.23.125]] 21:58, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

== is this HTML?==
I wonder if this is HTML. <nowiki><h1> Is this h1? </h1></nowiki> [note by [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 2 October 2025 (UTC): nowikied because breaks toc] [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 04:43, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:turns out h1 is the same as == [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 04:43, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:Actually, it's not, if you check.
:Wiki ==ed header is:
::<code><nowiki><h2>is this HTML?</nowiki></code> (+ the thing that gives you the "[edit]" link, etc, to the end of the h2-entity)
:Wiki 'forced' H1 is:
::<code><nowiki><h1>Is this h1?</h1></nowiki></code> (and nothing else)
:It's not ''very'' obvious, but H1/= and H2/== are actually ''slightly'' different.
<nowiki><H1>H1 text...</H1></nowiki> [note by [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 2 October 2025 (UTC): nowikied because breaks toc]
<H2>H2 text...</H2>
<H3>For contrast, this is H3</H3>
:Let's just say that the full range from = to ====== match H1 to H6 (give or take other differences, and I haven't checked what even greater "="-strings might or might not do), but mixing established wikimarkup and XML-family markup is best done with care and with good reason (e.g. to deliberately not invoke Table Of Contents-type sectioning? ...no, apparently not even that!).
:And you know that there's always the Sandbox pages (or, even better, edit something, Preview it, view the Preview's source and then ''don't "Save Changes"'' ...unless you still need to for some other reason) as a better alternative to 'asking' ultimately rhetorical questions in here. (And inviting potentially rhetorical answers, like this one.)
:You seem to have an enquiring mind, which is good. But remember that "a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing". I'm only giving you a bit of ''extra'' knowledge here, but also adding about the caution you should take. Please don't be a nuisance with it, unintentionally or otherwise. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.104|162.158.216.104]] 06:53, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

== How do I create a user page for myself? ==

I do not know how to create a user page for myself {{unsigned|Log of n|15:50, 16 May 2025}}
:It helps if you remember to sign things. But it looks like you ''might'' be able to create it (account old enough and contributed enough).
:If you see the redlinked links to your (non-existing, at first) "User:" and "User talk:" pages, in your usual signature (or the one I gave you, just above), you should be able to click on them and get the option to create them to put things in. Other places you can find those redlinks is in page-histories, your user-contributions and the RecentChanges list, in various slightly different ways. Or, having created User: space, click on the (redlinked) Discussion tab, or vice-versa.
:Try it, see if it works. If it doesn't, then ''anyone'' can create those pages for you (who can create any), but I don't think that's necessary for you. If you get rebuffed, let us know and someone will either give you better instructions or help you out directly.
:(The reverse is true, too: if you can create your own User: pages, you can create ''anybody else's'' who needs them, and more besides. But probably best if you don't just go finding redlinks and making them non-red, just because you can. Hold off on that, as it's too easy to create pages for long-idle accounts, spam-accounts or even regular editors who ''don't want'' their pages (yet?). If a very new account asks, maybe ''they'' need help, not yet having reached the threshold, but more experienced people often oblige after not too long. Follow their lead, learn from them before going mad with power... ;)
:...should this be in the FAQ? Isn't it already? Without getting exact about the thresholds needed (in case they're adjusted, if nothing else), I'm sure this could be written there. I'd check, but it's not like I can edit it (or create pages) as I currently am. Nor do I feel the need to. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.182|172.70.91.182]] 17:31, 16 May 2025 (UTC)

== I found a comic site. ==

It's called euge.ca and it's a lot inspired by XKCD. Could we explain it together? [[User:ExplainEuge.ca|ExplainEuge.ca]] ([[User talk:ExplainEuge.ca|talk]]) 08:42, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

:Could we do that in my user page? [[User:ExplainEuge.ca|ExplainEuge.ca]] ([[User talk:ExplainEuge.ca|talk]]) 08:43, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

::But your user page isn’t created... there, now it is [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 12:37, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:How's that related to xkcd? We don't explain things "inspired by" xkcd... --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:02, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

== Lonely Comic explanations ==

It’s kinda strange to see some of the earlier comics have just a few paragraphs and minimal discussions while others have dozens of paragraphs (ok, maybe not that much, but you get the idea) and hundreds of discussions. I felt lonely when visiting those lonely explanations [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 02:35, 1 July 2025 (UTC)

:Feel free to mark them as incomplete if they don't explain the comic enough! However, most of the early xkcd comics were simple drawings or simple jokes that didn't need a long explanation. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:15, 19 July 2025 (UTC)

== Leaderboard score ==

What does the score on the leaderboard mean? What are the rules of score? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 07:03, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

== User box ==

{{Userbox | border-c = #033 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = ?| info = Can someone tell me what’s a userbox?| float = right}} [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 12:31, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:You'll find a lot more answers if you type the same thing on google and add "Wikipedia" at the end: https://www.google.com/search?q=Can+someone+tell+me+what%E2%80%99s+a+userbox%3F+wikiepdia&num=10&newwindow=1&udm=14&sxsrf=AE3TifO4CvTB3NGTONgx7ci3eXPbJh2B1g%3A1754574833361&uact=5 --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:54, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

== [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence]] ==

We have a category titled "Artificial Intelligence" ([[:Category:Artificial Intelligence]]). Shouldn't that be [[:Category:Artificial intelligence]] with a lower-case "i"? --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 01:02, 10 August 2025 (UTC)
:Tricky. Wikipedia has it as {{w|Artificial intelligence}}, and use it as the mid-sentence "artificial intelligence", but also have {{w|Wikipedia:WikiProject Artificial Intelligence}}. It's something that ''can'' be used as a compound-noun title (thus deserves full title-case), unless you're wondering "if, one day, perhaps, we will truly encounter an artificial intelligence of some kind", in unironic use of the original words.
:For most purposes, I think, in the comics "AI" (the abbreviated title of the subject) is used/meant, so I suspect that it'd be the more titular umbrella of things (including, or at least aspiring to, AGI, etc) that applies.
:I don't see any obvious wikipedia discussions about whether or not to (have) capitalise(d) the term. I suspect that it just was assumed as default and everyone understands that a discussion of "artificial intelligence" can be refered to as "AI", there, but wouldn't complain about any variation other than "ai". ;) Whether umbrella title or 'just words' is used here... I don't think it matters (i.e. no change needed, meaning least fuss in not 'correctiny' it in all the places it would need to be). But a question could still be asked, in case there's a different consensus from my own 'feeling' about this. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 10:14, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

== What if pic explain ==

Can someone explain to me what is {{brda}}? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:58, 10 August 2025 (UTC)
:That'd depend upon what the person who created {{template|brda}} meant it to be, and I'd ask them, not the community. (I've just asked them, myself, for my own curiosity. Or, rather if I can help them do what they thought they wanted to do.) Probably just an experiment. Maybe one that didn't work, because of not knowing how to do what they wanted to do. Or possibly even why they wanted it in the first place.
:As has been said, before, it's very easy to create site pages (if you can at all), though it might be best to ask others first for advice, if you're fairly new to the whole concept. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 17:33, 10 August 2025 (UTC)
:Ah, that was you...
:So... I guess you're asking what the actual picture is, then? (And is that reason why you created the template, or something else?)
:It's an image that's present (in 'footnote-3') in that particular What-If article, which says ">Here's an image which is great for annoying a few specific groups of people:", and following the appearance of the "'''Br'''eaking '''Ba'''d" logo (using the chemical symbols for Bromine and Barium, as a stylistic choice). And I'd say that it probably annoys (amongst other people):
:*Chemists, who might or might not know of {{w|Davyum}}, but either way know that it doesn't mean anything.
:*Fans of Breaking Bad
:*Fans of Twilight (perhaps, though why this and not the non-footnote "Twilight: Breaking Dawn" 'poster' below?
:*People who think that images shouldn't appear in popover 'footnotes'
:*People whose browsers ''can't show'' images in such footnotes (or even show the popover footnotes themselves)...
:I'm sure you could think of a few others, perhaps even something that you yourself are. Were you possibly annoyed for not knowing what the image was? ;) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 17:47, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

== store ==

the store is back online wtf: https://store.xkcd.com/ (wikilink: [[Store]]) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:09, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
: "Opening soon"... -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 16:40, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
::Yup" [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:08, 1 September 2025 (UTC)
:The [https://uni.xkcd.com/ Unixkcd] command "buy stuff" also works again now. [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 04:17, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
::What happened when it didn't work? It could be added to [[unixkcd]]. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:20, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

== Random Explanation Button bias towards newer articles ==

I've consistently noticed that the Random Explanation button below the comic is more likely to give newer explanation pages. I clicked the button 10 times and 8 of the resulting pages had an index above 3000. Is this an intentional part of the feature, or is this an issue? {{unsigned ip|169.199.168.188|21:12, 1 October 2025}}
:I don't know if there's a bias been built in, it would need some active effort to have made it so. (Like I think it was the early iPod shuffle that was truly as (pseudo-)random as it could be, but this could result in an immediate repeat, or consecutive tracks being 'randomly consecutive', which was interpreted as a pattern - i.s. not just an occasional coincidence. They rewrote the algorithm to make it actually ''less'' fair, random-wise, but increase the ''perceived randomness''.)
:I believe the Random Page In Category page is being used to implement a comics-only (plus certain others?) 'landing' for the Random button. Unless there's either an inherent bias towards (say) newer articles in the backend-code, could it be signs of the list of possible comics being truncated?
:I just tried it myself. Decided in advance to commit to three sets of "ten random pages", to avoid a gambler's fallacy of stopping early or continuing too long, based upon the ravages/rewards of luck. But three lots (30 in total) should even out 'statistical blips' to a large degree. Interesting results:
:*First ten= [[verizon]] (yes, one of those 'non-comic comics'), 2974, [[ngram charts]] (!), 3112, 1086, 3094, 1039, 3089, 3113, 111
:**...well, high-biases, so far. And the two non-numeric ones are fairly recentlyadded pages, but on the last 'roll of the dice' it proves it ''does'' have access to historic ones, so not likely an accidental "only choose from the 1024 most recent pages" error, or some other value (though 1086 is also just before even a 2048-most-recent cutoff, too).
:*Second ten= 3120, 3106, 270, 3120 (again!), 510, 2726, 3142, 3133, 3112, 1000
:**...still a 3000+ bias, but still no obvious absolute reason for it.
:*Third ten= 3125, 3136, [[verizon]] (again!), 3109, 3141, 3124, 3146, 515, 3123, 3095
:**...just as strange. Makes me wonder if I should have aimed for ten 'tens', but not as a post-facto decision.
:Median number (excluding the no-number comics) is 3109, mean is 2459ish. Two numbers seen twice (3112 and 3120, plus [[verizon]] reappeared), perhaps more than expected through chance, and both in the 3000+ range (though counting them only singly doesn't 'unskew' the averages much). Unlikely results?
:Of course, someone who tries the same test for themself ''could'' end up with an equal sub-1000 apparent bias, from a reversion to the mean. Or, if it's truly a fair random result, a perfectly sane-looking evenish distribution. Still, on the above results, I'd dig into the fairness of the category-chooser, but that code is beyond my sight. Or double-check that the particular composite Category being chosen from doesn't (for example) include 3000+ comic numbers multiple times, making their choosing a significantly more significant chance than otherwise.
:I'll leave that to those that last edited the sidebar (which I used) or Comic template (which has its own call-out 'Random' button, which may or may not be the same thing). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.215.9|82.132.215.9]] 01:51, 2 October 2025 (UTC)
::Hi, yes they are the same thing, and I have no idea why this is happening. All pages are correctly included in the list, you can check at [[:Category:All pages]]. Any help would be appreciated!!! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:24, 2 October 2025 (UTC)
:::it's because the random button [https://colinmorris.github.io/blog/unpopular-wiki-articles isn't random]. see also [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T200703 T200703]. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 05:34, 9 October 2025 (UTC)
:::: :( ㅤ [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:48, 9 October 2025 (UTC)
:::::I think this would need Jeff to go in and tweak the button to make it truly random, although that might make it seem less so... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 16:39, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

== I need to find this specific comic or I will explode ==

I FORGET WHICH ONE IT IS BUT THERE'S A COMIC THAT HAS AIRBRUSHIGN PAINT SLITS... I KNOW THAT PHRASE IS USED BUT I CAN'TT FIND IT ANYWEHRWE HGELP -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 16:21, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
:Assuming you mean "Airbrushing paint slits"... Nothing comes to my mind, ''or'' to the obvious searches (sub-searches/variations/etc). One of the 5-Minute Copies has "Airbrush" as a label of the not-so-hot 'cover girl' image, but that's not really matching anything else. Then there's [[967: Prairie]] which plays on the twin-slit experiment. And plenty of even less relevent ones. Always possible it's somewhere outside of 'regular' xkcd.com (or what-ifs) that isn't really mentioned here ''or'' on via a more general internet search, so is it one of those things that might be semi-paywalled?
:Perhaps something more about it (and better typed?) would be useful. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:20, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-11-19T23:29:43Z

2.98.65.8: /* Editing other people's words? */ Now, that was me... Pedants' Curse.

<center>'''Archive 1'''</center>
<center>[[File:archive.png]]</center>
<center>For old and irrelevant messages, see my [[User talk:42.book.addict/archive|archive!]]</center>

== introductions ==
Just replying to your message (also dw no big deal for bothering me)
You click on your username and there should be an edit box. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:58, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:it says that i dont have permission to create the page…
:There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. it says [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:33, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

I think you might have to wait some time (like a timer) until you can edit your own page... I think I only got to edit my page after 1 month of creating my account.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 21:31, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:ok, thx [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

My guess on where you live is somewhere in the GMT zone, so United Kingdom.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:nope, im a california girl :) ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 05:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

lol you never know with utc times --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

== Depends what you wanted to do... ==

Is the following what you intended? 
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = [[{{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}}]] | float = left }} 
{{clear}}...or is even the [[]] part not what you want?{{clear}}
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = {{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}} | float = left }} 
{{clear}}As brief a guide as I can manage:
*URL links use []. Although literal https://www.google.com will self-link without ''any'' wikimarkup, you probably don't want it to look like that most of the time.
** Just give the URL, as in <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki></code>, to get a [https://www.google.com] (i.e. a reference number), not the best way to do it. It can be organised better with a 'References' section, but we don't do that here (they do on wikipedia, but usually with other bits to it.
** Better to give the URL and the text to use (after a space, a character that never appears raw in any proper URL). This can be <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!]</nowiki></code> or even <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]</nowiki></code>, to give [https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!] or [https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]... But perhaps best not to do the latter too much (I really didn't want to post that without the "(only kidding!)" part, in fact.)
*Internalised wikilinks use the [[]]s.
**Anything that can be found under the title, e.g. "2: Petit Trees (sketch)" (or, because of redirections, "2" and "Petit Trees (sketch)" go to the same spot, so <code><nowiki>[[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]</nowiki></code> gives you the literal links [[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]
**Or use <code><nowiki>[[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]</nowiki></code>, additional text separated by the 'pipe' symbol (i.e. "|"), to link to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]
**You can also link across to articles on other 'wikimedia family' sites, but I'm not going to try to summarise that, as the primary reason to do that is to go to an actual Wikipedia article, and there's a template set up to do that ''very'' nicely, already (and also a few other places, like Wiktionary, and some not-really-wikis with a similar philosphy like TVTropes). If in doubt, do it as a URL link ''or'' find a place where someone else has clearly markuped a link to the same site as you want to link to.
*So, anyway, Wikilink templates use the {{template|w}}-template, with one or two paramaters (pipe-separated). (It shortcuts the thing you'd maybe use [[]]s for
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link to "{{w|Article}}" (it capitalises the first character, even if you don't)
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article|with alternate text}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link there but "{{w|article|with alternate text}}"
**If the article name has whitespace (or other 'URL-unfriendly' characters) in it, those characters in the URL (which you wouldn't want to use) will be rendered as something URL-friendly. The URL for "Whitespace (programming language)", for example, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) but you wouldn't normally use that so literally in any case, and definitely not when you can significanty shorten it with the {{template|w}} notation.
***What you can do is (without 'alternate link text') render it as <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}}</nowiki></code> - i.e. {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}} - but that's not nice to see 'rendered raw' when you ''want'' the spaces. You could give it alternate text via <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> to give {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}} ...but that's wasteful and unnecessary.
***Instead, just do <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> (that's the literal copy of the article's own page title, from the rendered page) - and shows as {{w|Whitespace (programming language)}} - which is good. Although <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> might be the best way to seemlessly link to {{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}} ...depends what you want to appear there.
***And you can link to header anchors pretty much ''like'' the URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)#History by using <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> to have you show {{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}} or whatever else you might want to use.
**Also, for the use of a link which is singular but which you would like to include as the plural (usually the "...s" or "...es" version), you could use article-name first parameter and ''pluralised'' article name as second, but instead of <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural|Plurals}}</nowiki></code>, for a link to the {{w|Plural|Plurals}}, you can save yourself a lot of effort by doing <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural}}s</nowiki></code> to also give you a linke to {{w|Plural}}s. Magic, eh? And it also works with <code><nowiki>{{w|Ox}}en</nowiki></code> to link the different standard plural of {{w|Ox}}en to the article for "Ox" (better than linking to the word for {{w|Oxen}}, which ends up redirecting to {{w|Ox}} anyway).
...so, anyway, that's the basics. And a few not-so-basics. So if the solutions to your tagging issue aren't already solved (or even if they are!), you might have enough info here to kludge it into whatever form of infobox info text you ''really'' wanted to use. Ok? Probably far too much info for you to absorb in one go, but covers loads of interesting possibilities. About the only thing you don't want to do is wikilink straight to the word "trans", at that'll be a disambiguation page. And there's also no way (or reason?) to use the terms "trans man"/"trans woman" as the pluralised "trans men"/"trans women" versions via the "directly add the plural suffix" thing, of course. :P Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.217|162.158.38.217]] 20:40, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh my god thank you so much [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

== Welcome back, Tori! ==

How's life? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:47, 1 December 2024 (UTC)
:Eh, it’s fine. I just came back from New York on a ''very'' stressful flight-missed the original one, did my Language Arts homework on the flight, and came back to California at 2 am. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:26, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

== Comics with inverted brightness. ==

At the most arbitrary, I'd suggest that, just maybe, ''panes'' with inverted brightness fulfil the category requirements, or perhaps a bit of white text because it happens to be written on a more shaded bit of background, but I'm unsure that the {{diff|358698|lavatory signs}} strictly invoke inverted brightness (if real signs exist that are light-on-dark, which at least some of them are, this makes it an ''un''inverted depiction of one of them), and I'm unhappy with your (presumed) linking of this category for a {{diff|358691|tree silhouette}} (it shows the perfectly cromulant situation of bright sky behind a relatively dark tree, again not inverted, merely drawn for contrast).

An interesting example is something like [[811: Starlight]]. The stars (white spots on floodfilled black background) really shouldn't be considered inverted (black stars on white sky would be inverted; it's only that the category specifically mentions night ''and'' space scenes makes it valid from that perspective), but the text and stickfigures/etc ''are'' definitely inverted (all due to the background they're on).

It's just my opinion, but I don't think that any patch of black-floodfill (especially in just a fraction of a pane or two, within an otherwise normal multi-pane comic) around a white detail is automatically ripe for marking as inverted. I'll reluctantly accept "night sky" or "space" (but only with stars... no "entirely featureless black, through a window/porthole") as cause for being classed as Inverted, due to the category explanation. But feel that the true "inversion" is where there is [[566: Matrix Revisited|pane inversion]] which results in white text and/or (character) stickfigures upon black background as a definite contrast to 'normality'. Before you go too far with HotCatting some things that I'd feel compelled to revert (as I'm very tempted with the tree silhouette, and almost certain I should with the Gents-signs, for example...). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 19:12, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

==Hey again, I know we have some bad blood but...==
Hey 42, it's Z1m. I know we haven't seen each other in a while (who am I kidding, it's a wiki; I meant talked) Can you do the little welcome thing so I can edit my talk page? Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:26, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:Why can’t you use your old account? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::I forgot my pass :skull: [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:::SMH. Done. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:37, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

==I FORGOT MY PASS AGAIN ASDFGHJK<SAHFJEWIUBEIUWDBHIVHJ==
Help :( [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Help I'm not OK]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 18:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:41, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:I KNOW I'M A DINGUS DON'T LOOK AT ME LEAV EME TO MY BASIC YELLOW DORITO SHAME [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Do not click on this link if you wish to keep your soul]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]])

==Hi (3==
Sorry if I'm bothering you too much, just wanted to say hi. {{unsigned|Definitely Bill Cipher|15:19, 17 December 2024 (UTC)}}
:Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Sorry [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:10, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::It’s fine, as long as you remember. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::So, uh... do you wanna take this to my talk page and we can talk or... [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 21:18, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

==Congrats==
:I checked and you're the contributor today that has made the most edits. I'm on the leaderboard too, but not in the top three *0(*. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:52, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, that’s nice. I’ve stopped viewing Contribution Scores as a measurement of my editing ability-it only measures how many points and how many pages I have edited, not the quality of my edits or how much of an impact they have on the wiki. A bot can spam and get onto the All-Time Top 50 Leaderboard, but that's not reflective of its helpfulness (none). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:49, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I remain free from all such objectivity by staying firmly off the list. I ''could'' flatter myself that I deserve a place, for all my (useful?) work over the last 10+ years, but... no definitive tallying and I don't even fool myself that this statement can be believed. Which is liberating. No temptation to "edit for editing's sake", and remaining blissfully unaware how much time I must have spent not doing ''other'' important things. But that's just me (assuming you accept my account), and please don't consider this as downplaying the known-and-named contributors (current and past) who have made a more attributable contribution. Horses for courses. You (both) be you, and who knows where any of us might be in another ten years; hopefully managing to create a net positive outcome for the world, as the only thing that ''anybody'' should aspire to.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.182|172.69.43.182]] 17:18, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

== Bluey news just dropped. ==

https://youtu.be/ititZcuih8E?si=_9ceRfwc52qfa5Tu [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:23, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:NOOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:25, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::wait, what?--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

== Deleting User Talk Pages ==
I noticed that you added some user talk pages into the pages to be deleted category. Even if they are an IP address and only have one comment, they still probably shouldn't be deleted. I only noticed because you had marked my talk page. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:19, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
:As I commented over on your page (sorry, didn't spot this, yet), I think that it's perfectly legitimate to correct (by ''requesting'' deletion) the creation of IP-based User and User Talk namespace pages. The intended source/target can never make any proper use of them, and they are instead left open to disproportionately high chance of ''improper'' use.
:IPs ''may'' have been more reliably associated with particular login-less users (such as myself) in the earliest days of the site, but it's not just the current proxy-provider that makes it likely that anyone coming here is effectively randomised. A 2015-era commentator almost certainly doesn't have the exact same IP ''from their ISP'' (which is Cloudflared away, anyway), unless they've taken great trouble to maintain statically upon it, and that's presuming that they haven't switched providers and/or routing hardware in the last decade, to further muddle it up.
:So far, I haven't seen any communications to a User Talk:<IP> page that deserves preserving (and User:<IP> stuff tends to be worse, thankfully rarer), but if a named user (who may or may not be currently active, or have had their own Talk page) contributes anything 'untrivial' then you could perhaps copy it to their own (newly created, if necessary?) user-page, or to whatever article Talk page it's identifiably about. Admonations not to delete Incomplete-templates and nice messages of agreement about some Conan-related link-finding are not al all that level of preservable conversation (well, not even a dialogue, as they weren't even acknowledged!), as 'recent' examples.
:Anyway, marking for deletion still requires that someone ''actually'' deletes them. Currently, '42' can't do that. (They're clearly eager to be helpful, but not yet admin-material.) Realistically, it will need someone else to actually do that bit. And I think the current 'someone else' concerned isn't overly eager to delete things not related to more current unwanted contributions. I'd have done a bit more cleaning up, myself, but by deliberately having kept out of consideration for such responsibiity, it's not something I should actively complain about. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.186|141.101.98.186]] 13:00, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

==Hiiiii==
:Heya, 42! Just wanted to check in because I left for winter break and I thought 'I wonder how she's doing?'
:If I'm being annoying, you can just say so and I'll leave you alone.
:Anyway, I'm gonna go comic hop. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|Come and talk!]]) 15:15, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::I’m fine. I went skiing in {{w|Heavenly Mountain Resort|Tahoe}} 5 days during winter break and also went to {{w|Point Reyes Station}}. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:50, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Cool, if you wanna talk I'm here (3 [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

== I heard about the wildfires. ==

Are you safe? Are you alright? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:43, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:That’s SoCal, not the Bay Area, so I’m all good. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:10, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== Any luck with Jeff? ==

It’s been a while since you’ve put up the “banner” on your page. Has he responded yet? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:23, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:Nope. I’ve emailed Davidy22 and he responded, but he doesn’t have server access. I tried on Gmail, Reddit, X, asked @ActuallyBerg from [[explain xkcd#History|the old forum]] who’s apparently a friend with Jeff on both X and Bluesky. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:25, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::Damn… that’s slightly (very) worrying. Good job for trying tho [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:57, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah…I’m just going to keep on trying, seeing if I can solve some of the problems remotely. Not too sure what much I can do about the ‘crat situation though. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:59, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Well good luck [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:07, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== {{w|WP:REMOVED}} ==
kindly stop adding it back. thank you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 15:53, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:very well. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::ok, that's the limit. {{w|WP:NOBAN|don't post on my talk page again.}} if you wish to fiddle with minutae, go to wikipedia, where that sort of thing is appreciated. i'll also note that no one else has complained about my signature, only you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 10:13, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:::touche. to be honest, grabbing at your throat for a simple signature issue got a bit boring after a couple days. have a nice day! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 11:28, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== Talk Page added to "pages to delete ==
Hey, I noticed you added my talk page to the "pages to delete" category. Why? I don't really want my talk page deleted. Qoiuoiuoiu (talk) 16:29, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Sorry, changed it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:58, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::If you want my advice (no reason you do...), do a little more checking of the page history. ''And'' that of the partner page (compare User: <-> User Talk), where it exists. You might find a few of the ones that you marked for deleting weren't created, unused and abandoned, but actually 'in use' (even if not directly).
::You're eager, and I still completely support IP-related pages being marked for deletion (remembering that you don't have the power to ''actually'' delete them... which is probably a relief to a small handful of actal users, like the above), but maybe dial it back a bit so that you don't make a few more taggings that need to be reverted... Build up a personal 'hitlist', maybe, but do more poking around and keep it down to a handful of the 'best' candidaates that you find, not a couple of a dozen in quick order, which I think you did yesterday.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]]
:::I did check the Page history of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] though, and saw that it was created by [[User:While False]]. I also checked the User Page, and saw that it was edited slightly to change While False’s announcement. Because the entire purpose of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] was to presumably reduce red links, I tagged [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Checking page history and user pages honestly doesn’t take that much time, and I checked them for every single page (I think). Upon [[User:Qoiuoiuoiu|Qoiuoiuoiu’s]] complaint, I removed the Category and added a comment so that the talk page has a purpose. I believe that I was in the right to tag them in this case, and that is my decision. Although I do like the idea of the “hitlist”, and will create one. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:46, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

== Bluey ==

I can't believe you watch a ''children's'' show like Bluey. You should watch an ''adult'' show, like my personal favourite, {{w|My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic}} ;). [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 19:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:[https://gamejolt.com/games/sonic/783884 nah I'm sending you to the green hills for that one buddy] /j [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:39, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:LMFAOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== "Shared named" comics... ==

Not too sure about the shared-name status for "Advent Calendar", "Advent Calendar Advent Calendar" and "Advent" (more clear if there was "Advent Calendars", the AVAV ''might'' be deemed a copy (literally!) of AV, but it'd be a stretch to link the A to the AV and thus also the AVAV), but you can't really put just one comic in the Shared Name category, can you? If you're happy for it, then do it for all of them. And, when you do, might be a good idea to put the markup comment after the category membership tag with an explanation of which one(s) you're linking it with, to avoid random editors getting the wrong idea (or ''no'' idea) on spotting it... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 00:26, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

== Why do you have a hitlist? ==

Please don't put me on there 😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:53, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:It’s for user pages/talk pages to delete. It’s fine, you’re fine, everybody’s fine (except for me i have a flu) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:59, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
::Ykkkkkk, I bet Jeff’s heir would be easier to contact… Just saying…… [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 17:01, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::which would be the next ‘crat with server control, someone who doesn’t exist yet since Jeff still needs to promote them. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:17, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: dammit [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:53, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

==We're cooked==
You-know-who became president on MLK Day. We're so cooked, 42. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:as a Brit I too am concerned [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:36, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yeh i'm scared [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:21, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
:::yayyyyy politics [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:38, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

== Different name in ContributionScores? ==

Hi 42

I just realized that in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ContributionScores ContributionScores] you are listed as Victoria. How come you manage to have two different names on this wiki? Is that some error? It is confusing at least.

Keep up the good work --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:20, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:I noticed that too! What's your secret?--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:06, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::haha, there’s no secret. my name’s victoria, but i also go by tori. that’s why if you look up at old messages, some people refer to me as victoria or tori. if you want to keep on calling me 42, or 42.book.addict, that’s completely fine! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah I guess what i was asking is how you managed to change your name on the leaderboard! I can't figure it out haha. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:11, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::::oh, that’s easy-you just change it in your preferences. find the real name box, and input whatever you want. some people might find it confusing, and you might need to explain to people the difference, like this converstaion right now. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:18, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Oh, cool! Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:53, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

:Well if it is a part of the wiki I guess it is fine. But I think it is a bit confusing that we cannot see the user name of the person on the leaderboard. So it would be great if the name in the leader-board could also change to 42. But I guess that is not possible? As you know I'm made an admin, but also I have way to little knowledge of programming and wiki etc. And full time job, other hobbies and two kids, one of which seems to be older than 42. So it is not your age, but 42 comes from your love of Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy? (Big fan me-self). Impressive the amount of work you have put into the wiki in such a short time. I have been a member since October 2013. I still remember [[Talk:30: Donner|my first comment]] on explain, actually made it before I signed up and then added my signature after signing up a few days later ;-) Back then I used much more time on explain. Had actually not intended to become admin. But second time I was asked, and with no active admins I accepted. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
::Oh, nice! Never knew that you were a parent. i ''could'' remove the Victoria from the leaderboard by blanking my real name in preferences, but honestly, I’d rather not. There are tons of other people with a situation like this, and I don’t think that it’ll cause much confusion. I’m always happy to explain why it’s listed as Victoria or not! (BTW, Victoria is literally on my User Page) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:20, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Well we usually do not now much about each other and I had not read your user page before I found out you where also Victoria. Not sure what you mean by Victoria being on you user page. I searched on it and found no hit for Victoria... But no big problem. Just a bit confusing. Just stay on the leaderboard. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
::::weird...i could've sworn that i added it to my user page. i'll add it now to try to reduce confusion in the future. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:09, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

== You into Friday Night Funkin? ==

tldr it's a silly Newgrounds-inspired rhythm game with literally hundreds if not thousands of mods. you should get into it if you're not already

[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:19, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
:moved this to the bottom so you'd be more likely to see this haha [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:03, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
::no-i don’t play rhythm games. moved it back up for chronological order. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:34, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

== Contacting Randall ==

Hey Victoria! Sorry to hear about your mental health issues, I hope you're getting better.

Here's some good news: I tried contacting Randall to ask him when he replaced comic [[36: Scientists]], and he replied! It's weird that Randall is easier to reach than the owner of this wiki... You can read the conversation and a summary of what happened [[User:FaviFake|on my user page]]. Among other things, he gave me the official release date, April 28th, and, after I asked, he told me he might reply to more simple questions! If you have some technical or administrative questions, I could ask them directly to him. If you're curious, there are more details about this [[User:FaviFake|here]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

==oof==
:I'm so sorry, 42. I go to therapy and picked up a couple things, so if you need me, I'm here. You can leave a message on my talk page anytime and we can yap about whatever. Hang in there 0) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

== Uncooperating User ==

Hi 42 
You originally wrote regarding [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] here: [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Uncooperating_User|Uncooperating User]] 
I warned him not to change his signature to a link and also not deleting his talk page. But he has not complied. But now I saw your comment on his user page, after I rolled back his latest deletion... Regarding wiki policy. And since I do not go much into this I need some help here. I do not have time to read up on this. I'm just so unlucky as to be the only admin still active here... Not by my own wish. Maybe FaviFake should also say something here? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:39, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
:I believe this is what's happening: 42 originally noticed the user's signature, which is clearly a violation of the Wikipedia policy, and you warned them. They didn't cooperate, and then you warned them again, but this time you also told them to not blank their talk page (and to not redirect it), which wasn't among the things 42 pointed out. Because of this, she mentioned they're allowed to blank their talk page and redirect it to their user page, but not to have a signature that looks like an external link. And now, as you can see in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:FaviFake&diff=367780&oldid=367750 this edit of theirs], they have done both things. The signature is not allowed, but blanking their page is. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:56, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
::But if they blanck their talk page, then I cannot discuss the issues that are in violation of with their signature. So how can this be an acceptable conduct. Maybe blanking their user page but not the talk page...? As far as I can see his signature link still go to his user talk page, and not to the rickroll link, you have to copy paste that to get rolled... But if it is a problem, should I then block him for being uncooperative? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:52, 7 March 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, 42 pointed it out because she was confused by the link. i'm not really an expert in Wikipedia policy either. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:22, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

== Formatting ==

Just wondering why you're using awkward formatting on your user page when you could easier use:
*Foo
*Bar
**Baz subthing
**Bat subthing
*Flibble
...etc? No need for BRs and NBSPs. Can be combined with colon-leveling (though can also replace it). Swap *s for #s to get (nested) numbered lists, or *# for indented numbers with #* continuing the numbers around sub-bullets (starts to get complicated, but it's an option) if you decided you need to. Maybe it's a choice you're making, but FYI if you haven't already picked up the bullet-point syntax in all your time here. 
Anyway, just perhaps whilst you're active again. No problem if you don't make use of this information now/ever. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.133|172.71.178.133]] 07:56, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:I never knew that-thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:55, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

== so why do you wanna to delete [[user talk:物灵]]? ==

he and i were both from another website. i chose to chat with him here because i don't want Zhou Chenxiao to revert my edit. why you want to delete? [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:56, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:I will say this, here, in case you don't get to read my other note. This is not a refugee camp for conversations displaced from elsewhere. There's not even any chat goin on because it's all just you. (If there's another site where ''he'' is one-sidedly 'replying' to ''you'' , then I bet that place is equally bemused and unamused.)
:I can't speak for 42, but I'm not surprised someone else here wants to do that.
:Elsewhere you talk of Free Speech, but I think you might be confused. As well as the ''{{w|Gratis versus libre}}'' issue, this extends to what is written below any submission you are making: "Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors." Consensus may decide that the point you make is not worth the having been made. (Later, consensus may also decide that a removal/re-edit is bad and ''restore'' it, but that is a community issue to resolve.)
:This is as close to democracy as we can get (but, unlike the ''original'' democracy, we also let women and all kinds of other people 'vote'! ;) ), with shades of anarchy and the only totalitarian elements being when certain pages are locked-down/deleted by a designated admin who is probably acting upon community feeling (or on behalf of it, seeing where it is heading). It's a system that works (mostly hands-off). And you still can't falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater without push-back. Does that make sense? (@UT, also @42...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 10:50, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
::Seconded. I explicitly said in my edit summary that I deleted the content for being off-topic. Thanks to the IP for responding for me! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:20, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:::Thirded. (Is that a word?) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 06:26, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

==Welcome Back!==
I'm unsure as to whether we've met. I think we were editing at the same time for a period. Anyways, hello Tori (if I may call you that). Welcome back to the wiki! :) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:14, 26 August 2025 (UTC)
:hi, thanks so much for the welcome! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:59, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
::Please see my user page.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 16:42, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Thank you for your apology. And it's no big deal with my time-bio's boring anyways lol '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:43, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

==Mark April Fool's Sandbox for deletion?==
[[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!/Sandbox]] should be marked for deletion, I feel. It has been removed from his watchlist and provides nothing useful to the wiki. [[Special:Contributions/204.137.100.1|204.137.100.1]] 15:04, 28 August 2025 (UTC)
:Deleted by --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:20, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

== From /sig Talk Page (adminship) ==

Just so you know, 42, you'd make a great admin. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 18:18, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

==An odd question for someone who would know the answer==

Would it be allowed if you created a template for your sig (e.g. 42sig/DSBSig?) Could be useful for those with long usernames. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 15:59, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:why would you need a template? <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> works just fine... '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:17, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::Well, it would allow for more characters. This is why I ask, as both you and I have had issues setting up signatures due to long usernames. Setting your signature up as <nowiki>{{SigTemplateName}}</nowiki> in preferences would have it automatically display your signature when typing <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:20, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::More characters ''would'' be nice, but creating a bunch of templates only available for use for a single person would be less than ideal. What if we had a template called "sig", and inside was wikitext encoded so that when we called <nowiki>{{sig|User:XYZ}}</nowiki>; it could paste in the custom signature for XYZ? This is a pretty interesting idea-I'll reach out on the proposals portal and ask FaviFake to see if there's support for this. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:32, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::That.... That could work! Great idea! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:34, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::A bonus of that is that it's basically a sig museum, where you can browse other people's sigs and get inspired by them. There is the downside of people being able to edit other's sigs tho. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:37, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::::The idea of a sig museum is actually super cool-we could also add interesting signatures that were used by other users before to put on showcase. We could also make it so that only autoconfirmed users can edit it (and there's enough active users that any vandalism would probably be reverted quickly enough). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:43, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Honestly, forgot about that. I wonder what they say. FaviFake hasn't been active in a bit, so maybe we could reach out to kynde? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 17:17, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::::::It's probably fine. Contribution history says that it's only been a week-he very well may be on vacation or too busy to work. Give it some time. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:16, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::::::I know, it's just weird. I've almost never seen FaviFake not edit for more than a day. {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|19:14, 29 August 2025 (UTC)}}
::::::::::hi im back. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:26, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
::::::::::Go check the proposals board! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:16, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:I have seen you proposal and I must say I really hope you are not planning on making this your signature fro now on 42!
:<nowiki>42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]</nowiki>
:It is very confusing for the next editor, and I just tried to comment on your proposal when you posted it and could not understand what I was seeing in the editor (as I got there first because of edit conflict). Please stop using this as your signature! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:22, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::Got it. I'll change it and see if I can find another solution. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:33, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I personally think we should move forward with the template idea. That way, the wikitext would show <nowiki>{{sig|UserXYZ}}</nowiki> instead of the full wikitext. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 19:42, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Also, I created a pride sig that is almost 1400 characters long.... yeah we need a way to not show the full wikitext. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 19:44, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Sorry for the late reply. I think that we should '''''not''''' go ahead with the template idea. It's unnecessary and will clog up the server, both in readability and server load. Please look at my response in the proposals board. Thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:06, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

== "fact" template (un)tagging. ==

The <nowiki>{{fact}}</nowiki> template was (it was deleted? I missed that!) redirected to the <nowiki>{{Citation needed}}</nowiki> template. I think maybe replacing the "fact" with "Citation needed" might have been a better change than nowiki-ing the now-broken tags, in the cases you did that.

And then there were all the demonstrative examples (two or three in things I historically wrote, I notice, in various Talk: pages... under a historical range of IPs). Assuming you really want to edit other people's signed Talk contributions at all (not generally done, though I'm ambivalent about you 'tidying up' things where I only included "fact" as then-current, alongside the other examples), it would seem to be no more work to just refactor the phrasings to no longer have that in the list of (say) {{template|citation needed}}, {{template|Citation Needed}}, {{template|cn}}, etc, to no great loss of meaning.

But I appreciate you probably took some time to hunt down all <nowiki>{{fact}}</nowiki> examples (and at least one <nowiki>{{template|fact}}</nowiki>, I think). Plus the Fact/CN set of tags ''are'' sometimes overused, IMO, so a few less versions (put almost everywhere that anyone vaguely thought amusing) is certainly gratifying from ''that'' perspective. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.43|82.132.245.43]] 22:55, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

==It's alright :)==
None taken :) I myself know I am prone to that sort of thing. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 19:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:sorry, what? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:57, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Second item on the hitlist. Sorry about the confusion. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 19:59, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Ah, I see. It's no problem! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:02, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

==So, about that wikitext signature...==
Yeah... I wanna make it red and yellow with (talk) replaced by (yap here) and it's in Comic Sans... if you could help me out please. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 20:24, 19 September 2025 (UTC)
:Ok, I'll work on it if I find the time! Shouldn't take me more than 5-10 minutes though '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 04:34, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
:It really depends on the shades of red and yellow you want. Use <nowiki>yap here</nowiki> for each of the colors you want. Search 'google color picker' on Google and it gives you a hex code finder. I do not know how those fonts work though...--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 17:22, 26 September 2025 (UTC)
:Fonts... well, if you put in a style to with with "Comic Sans", then you probably want to try a style element like <code>font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', 'Chalkboard SE', 'Comic Neue', sans-serif;</code>, because not everywhere will have (perhaps not want!) MS Comic Sans and you would have to fail-back to various alternatives and (if all else fails) whatever generic SS font there is.
:Personally, though I'd not bother. Comic Sans is pretty much a Marmite font, and trying hard to make ''everyone'' experience something like the marmite taste (even those who normally do not) could annoy people.
:It'd also take up a lot of your allowable 'signature length quota' to add these (and more?) fail-throughs to the appropriate list. Though you could just give the single correct font ''for you'', and accept that it just won't do anything out of the ordinary for other people, too (which probably suits them down to the ground).
:Oh, and I'd also ''never'' recommend that you upload anything that you want in a personally-chosen font as an image, and embed that image as a pixel-perfect (but accessibility-deficient and text-scale-non-respecting!) alternative. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:10, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
I'd also never recommend that you upload anything that you want in a personally-chosen font as an image
::100% (it also breaks enwiki's signature policies) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:57, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

==Is this wiki dying?==
Lately, I've noticed a gradual decrease in the amount of daily contributions. Have you been noticing this too, or is that just me? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 14:32, 3 November 2025 (UTC)
:If I may contribute, ahead of 42... It's been busier and it's been quieter, even just within both of your own usernames' 'lifetimes'. Perhaps more (fellow, but clearly not as long-term) IPs, but hard to tell since whatever happened to not squash us down into the Cloudfare gateway IP ranges, etc.
:New comics still don't stay unExplained for long. And there's not so much traffic, or indeed vanalism in the worst cases, that it's hard to keep on top of anything that arises. I'd say there's still a community, albeit loose and ad hoc (in different ways to other online communities I'm party to, or have been).
:But I've not emperically compared 'now' with any given historical snapshots. This is just my impression. Please do this, if you feel like it. The number of edits done on yesterday's date, in prior years, perhaps. Or the dates of the past week, to even out the spikes on 'comic days' vs non-comic days. ''Might'' show year-on-year fluctuations, together with background noise.
:...sorry, meant to say less, not to totally pre-empt Victoria. But maybe she still has things to say, perhaps even in total disagreement with my above thoughts! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.95|82.132.239.95]] 15:48, 3 November 2025 (UTC)
::I mostly agree with these sentiments. I do feel like we used to have a more active past and would work fervently on documenting large projects such as April Fool's comics, Hoverboard, Time, etc. We do have a bit of backlog on Collector's Edition, but we put in a LOT of work into the What If? project. Places that we should tackle are probably the less known xkcd pages, secret comics, and of course Collector's Edition.
::Personally, I've had a lot less time to dedicate towards working on this project just because of how busy I am. I've had midterms, projects, and sports to juggle, resulting in almost no free time that I can spend. Circumstances change. Maybe other editors are also getting more busy. Who knows? Anyways, this isn't a race. We don't have any deadlines to reach, so any progress we make, regardless of pace, is good. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:58, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

==1==
54 52 41 4f 53 4e 49 53 53 49 4g 4f 20 4g 4f 45 20 4g 46 20 46 4g 55 52 3b 20 58 56 45 52

XIP EPFTO'U MPWF B GFX NPSF OVNCFST {{unsigned ip|204.137.100.1|20:23, 12 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:What? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:08, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::There may be (intentional?) coding errors in that top one. Or it was double-encoded, thanks to the lower one. So my advice is to crack the second one first.
::But fairly trivial, both of them.
::You can probably do the second in your head, by a single easy step, once you work out what does and doesn't matter.
::The first is a bit more technical, it helps if you're used to low-level data storage (ok, probably not actually in your wheelhouse, but not too hard to discover) ''and'' initially needs to be have the second code's thing unapplied to it to make logical sense.
::My advice is to have fun working it out. And expect three more (or two... but I don't think the second is "the second") to look at, if the author is true to their word. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.30|82.132.244.30]] 21:25, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Huh. The first bit almost reminds me of a hexadecimal, but that doesn't have 'g'
:::Second part is shifted ROT1 in a Caesar Cipher (used a decoder). Translates to 'WHO DOESN'T LOVE A FEW MORE NUMBERS'. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:39, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::::Update: CacheSleuth's multi decoder thinks top line is a bacon cipher. No clue. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:43, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Remember, I said that the second cipher had probably been applied also to the first. You're closer to the solution than you think. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.30|82.132.244.30]] 21:48, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
{{outdent|:::::}}
Are you behind this? Anyway, I'll try to apply a ROT-1, then see if it decides from hex. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:21, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:Results! TRANSMISSION ONE OF FOUR: XVER.
:I wonder what XVER means... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:24, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::Not me, I was just nerdsniped. Note that the next one popped up on Favi's pages. It also has a nonsense final 'word', meaning yet to be resolved.
::If you prefer to keep talking about it, here, I'll pop back later and see if you've figured it out (I know what it is, but not why it is!), without necessarily spoiling it right now.
::(PS, sorry, 42, I know you're probably not involved in this, maybe not interested even. Ba'al: Unless we hear from 42, if you're wanting to keep looking at this, maybe transfer the conversation/copy the original items over to your space? Obviously I've got nowhere better for it, but its up to you and you're interested in this now.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 22:47, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::I personally have no interest, but you can feel free to keep on working on it. DSB, if you want to keep on cracking it, I can move it over to your page. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:51, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

== Editing other people's words? ==

I mean, in Explanations, etc, you can redo anything that has previously been edited, that's the point of any Wiki articles. No issues with that.

But you're 'correcting' signed (or, indeed unsigned) Talk comments. However badly spelt, you shouldn't really be changing things for them like that. Perhaps they like things to be spelt the way they're spelling them, perhaps they ''intend'' that version of the word. Perhaps the word they intended isn't the one you think is intended and you've changed the entire meaning by making it 'differently more correct'.

Append the signature-replacements that they lack, yes. ''Perhaps'' re-indent things (though I've had things reindented for me, in the past, but by a misunderstandng which then makes it look like I'm replaying to something else). Very possibly changing a [bare-wiki-URL] to a {{template|w}}-type version doesn't matter too much, but... that's the point, it doesn't ''really'' matter. Warts and all. You could tell a regular named-user about the convention to use the 'w'/'wiktionary'/'tvtropes' things, so that it saves you work tuning up the Explanations where they've used the long-hand (and/or inefficient) link-forms, but there's no need to neaten up 'messy' Talk comments, and ''very'' occasionally there might be very real need to not do so.

See {{w|Wikipedia:TPO}} for Wikipedia's policy, which isn't ''necessarily'' the one here (even if its the line I wouldn't normally try to cross). Though you'll see it still appreciates changes in lines with {{w|Wikipedia:TPFIXFORMAT}} and {{w|Wikipedia:TPFIXLAYOUT}}, amongst others. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 22:11, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:Agreed. Getting things signed is perfectly fine, and, as long as you don't change the appearance of a link, you can optimize that as well. But please refrain from editing the message that's given in the comment. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:19, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:e.g. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1120:_Blurring_the_Line&curid=5005&diff=390955&oldid=369184 this edit], where you changed 'coloured' to 'colored'. That is just a regional spelling of the word, commonly used in British English. It's not even a misspelling! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:23, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
::Ah, looks like you spotted it too. Did a part-revert of that exact example (but only that!), as a passive example, not knowing you'd found it and pointed it out here.
::And I can't help it if all y'all can't spell properly, thanks to Noah Webster. ;) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:14, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:::I understand that it is British spelling, thank you very much. Please see {{diff|14586|here}} for the original comment and {{diff|17180|here}} where [[User:Weatherlawyer]] changed it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:07, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Additionally, [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#How do I enter links to other pages?|the FAQ page]] says all explainxkcd.com and en.wikipedia.org links should be written with <code>[[ ]]</code> and <code> <nowiki>{{w| }}</nowiki> </code> respectively around them. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:22, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
::::({{diff|83069|You actually meant this change by Weatherlawyer...}} Which shouldn't have been done, so my redoing of it was in error. Though the trivia of it makes ''all'' our actions around it equally inexplicable.)
::::The FAQ is not a commandment that "everything that is not like that should be made like that". As far as neatening up an Explanation is concerned, you'd of course be rewriting and making it the best-practice w-template version, if it had been originally left as [] or bare-URL, because the original writer did not know/care about the handy site-standard. But it doesn't really mean that there's a need to mess about with the normally-inviolate bones of past Talk-comments. Its a lot of unnecessary work, at best.
::::And something like the "As Slow as Possible" bit in {{diff|390995|this edit}} arguably makes it flow less obviously. It originally namechecked ''As Slow as Possible'' and then helpfully offered the URL, at the end, as a bare reference. More 'properly' written it would have had a the w-tagged put around the first mention, which is in its own context, but the bare-URL at the end basically said "and this is a URL that explains it" that's actually nicely in line with the bare-URL line in the FAQ.
::::If (as it looks like) you're just zooming through looking for every bare wikipedia.org link and 'converting' it, without looking into it further, you're probably missing something. And slowing down the generally excellent work, that you're doing, in giving everything 'unsigned' its historic details. It's your time, but going to far in such editorialising can be unproductive. Even when not actually a bit counterproductive. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:44, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Alright. I'll put more of my attention in signing comments and give less of it towards this issue. Thanks for your feedback! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:39, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
{{outdent|:::::}}
Why did you make [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2347:_Dependency&diff=prev&oldid=391211 this edit], where you fully deleted a comment left by an IP? What was the point of that? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 18:19, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:If you mean the "German Television ... Log4j" one, that was moved (a long way) further down, not deleted. Did not really check why, possibly thematically to fit it with other comments, and/or timstamp order of new comments not replying to anything earlier, but I'm just guessing and didn't try to reconcile it fully (once I'd seen it pop up 'later' in the scroll-down). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.44|82.132.236.44]] 18:44, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:Ok, I see you put it back (without removing the second copy), but you broke things. By using "::;" it set it as double-indented and then as a ";terminology:definition" pair, which activated upon the ":" in the time-stop given. So deleted it again. There's still the new version, lower down, that I just mentioned.
:Also reverted a deity/diety spelling error (actual one, I'm sure, not a mistaken one) just because it's still "editing other people's comments", the point made above, and frowned upon in this context. I haven't bothered to check how many other ones have happened, hidden in the midst of rearrangements by either of you, but that was very obviously different. It's an unforced error that someone made in a comment. Don't try to polish it, in case you're adding further errors by misunderstanding, like the first deity->diety change. (For all I know, DIETYBOUNCE is correct... Though it does sound more like a slimming supplement!) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.44|82.132.236.44]] 19:07, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
::[https://queue.acm.org/blogposting.cfm?id=74439 Deitybounce is correct]. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 20:12, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:::It is (almost certainly) {{diff|196415|their own edit}}, though. It's a bad habit to change things. It's not ''brilliant'' to have to try to change them back (see my initial error), but best things like that don't change in the first place. Both of you, please. Then others like me and ^^them^^ don't feel the need to try to make it authentically incorrect again. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:24, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-19T23:28:28Z

2.98.65.8:

First comment.
>"would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit" .... I dunno EPIRBs, but EZ-Pass sent my transponder "live", it tracked ALL over NYcity (I never go there), and I got bills for like 13 bridges, tunnels, expressways. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 23:44, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

:This also happened to me. At one point I needed a replacement for my EZ-Pass unit and managed to track the route it followed through NYC over the several monitored bridges the shipment crossed. Luckily the CS when I called, immediately recognized what had happened. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Is the caption implying that they've apologized multiple times for the same incident or that there have heen multiple incidents of this nature? The haphazardous unloading procedure shown makes me think it's the latter. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.89|64.114.211.89]] 00:33, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

: Because of some people I have known to well I would ship the items as fully operational and trust the sandwich ziplock bags I put them in to keep sneezes off. I would Not trust the end user to install them. It would suck to be the emergency responder for those 1600 {within whatever distance they are precise enough to show} screams for help:
: I recall a 911 operator who hung up on a surgical or something nurse who was reporting that her husband was having a heart attack because caller was not upset so obviously fake. IIRC the caller lost her husband and quite calmly (as must be for her job) helped her lawyers hurt that 911 center and every thing associated with it so badly that all 911 calls get a response nowadays.four tildas.just a sec [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1649:8047:48AF:AA8B:AEFE:DAD2|2607:FB91:1649:8047:48AF:AA8B:AEFE:DAD2]] 05:08, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

"...drifting out into the harbor!" Is the ship not already in the harbor? I really dislike that use of "out into", it makes little sense. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 01:51, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:It depends upon your interpretation of the (unseen) port in question.
:The harbour might just be considered the wide-open area, landward of any (natural or constructed) harbour-wall. Where the ship is, is at a dock-wall, might (together with the adjacent dock) be bounding a finger (one of several?) of waterway that's landward even of the primary open 'harbour' area, functionally considered different as a dock-basin.
:Or, even simpler (by visual, if not words), the crate drops between ship and dock-wall, where the ship itself forms the boundary from the 'open harbour' that (without the ship) normally goes to the sea-wall. But, here, the possibility of the crate being washed around the end of the ship and being in the ''open'' harbour where you find other boats sailing/motoring through (or tied up to buoys, floating jetties, etc) is "...drifting out into the harbour". A opposed to being within easy reach to retrieve, once you've found the right harbourside equipment.
:Unless it's been changed, since I last read it, the Explanation also had it rephrased as drifting ''out of'' the harbour (i.e. into the open sea, river, estuary or whatever-it's-a-harbour-off-of), though I had consciously decided not to change that. As it was functionally the logical end-result. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.196|82.132.236.196]] 03:34, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:If I have a bobcat sequestered in a room, waiting for a cardboard box and duct tape to be delivered, and someone accidentally opens the door, would it not be correct to say it is now out and into the house despite the fact that it was within the house before escaping the room? Another way to look at it would be a shortening of 'Oh no, the box is drifting out (of the port and) into (a part of) the harbor (that isn't the port)!', as both the speaker and listener both understand the context and origin of the box. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.37|64.114.211.37]] 04:09, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

So this comic is inadvertently based on a true story.

EPIRB stands for "Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon". I know because I used to work the company that makes them, though in a different assembly line. One day the production manager decided to give us all a chewing out.

It turns out due to poor quality control, around 1000 EPIRBs had shipped with faulty activators, and triggered unprompted.

Indeed, the coastguard were NOT amused. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.177.50|163.116.177.50]] 09:06, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

I understand the 1600 CT written at the box indicates that there is 1600 EPIRBs in it. But I'm not native English speaker and could not just find it by searching. Is CT an abbreviation for content? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:18, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:Ah I can now answer myself, as someone has actually already put in this link to the {{w|CT#Other uses|meaning of CT}}, and here it is stated that: ct followed by a number means the number of items contained in a package (e.g. zucchini 3 ct). Thanks for the link :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
::Although 3 zucchini would cause rather less alarm to the Coastguard{{cn}} [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:24, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:: I believe it is short for 'count' [[Special:Contributions/62.220.2.194|62.220.2.194]] 09:40, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Although, note, that it says that "ct followed by a number" is that thing, then gives the number followed by "ct" as example. ;) But that's just a minor problem with the Wikipedia page, and I'm less likely to be picky with that than one on this site! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 14:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC) (Well, as long as Cloudflare isn't being buggy...)
::::I'm assuming that you too were experiencing cloudflare errors in the Omaha server? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 15:05, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::It was more worldwide than that. From my own experience, it took out connections to Cloudflare-served services here in the UK (multiple local gateways), and it looked to be worldwide. I haven't seen a full explanation yet, but ''perhaps'' closer to "update error" than "mass DDos/hack".
:::::I'd not actual been hit by the recent AWS error, not long ago, nor the CrowdStrike thing before that, seemingly not using anything that relied on those working. But a handful of the places I ''do'' use seem to be behind CF. I only previously knew of this site, due to prior (wiki-side) errors, but suddenly I was unable to access TVTropes, etc, each now revealing themselves as using upon CF's services. (Meh... it happens. As long as CF knows how to stop it reoccuring in future.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.236|82.132.238.236]] 16:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah, here I was reading, edited the above (not in Omaha) and then found myself unable to save it, until a little over three hours later.
:::::From all that I've seen, it was down to a common reference file getting too big. Whether for the file-system or just for the code trying to check it, I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:54, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Modern EPIRBs have a digital identity which they broadcast - unlike their archaic ancestors which are no longer tracked. The old ones last century just basically all broadcast an emergency tone so you can't tell one from another. These identities map to an entry in a database, which presumably will be blank for a brand new EPIRB. Outfits like a Coast Guard will have access to the database and can thus see the 1600 beacons in the comic are probably unused. You're supposed to register contact details in the database, obviously if you need rescuing then your phone number is unlikely to be useful, but it can have details of friends and family back home who'll be able to verify that you're overdue, or at least your intent and purpose which justifies activation of the rescue assets. Registering in many countries is mandatory, and even if it's not mandatory for you it's a good idea. COSPAS SARSAT (the service EPIRBs are sending messages to) is said to "Take the search out of Search & Rescue" because of the accuracy of the position data. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:8B0:FBB0:1247:1B24:1C24:1D24:714|2001:8B0:FBB0:1247:1B24:1C24:1D24:714]] 19:13, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Another question is if the system is able to decode 1600 buoys transmitting at the same time. My guess is that coastguard would receive an alarm, but would only be able to decode data from few buoys transmitting. [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.206|109.81.171.206]] 19:22, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

AFAICT, system can only support cca 100 beacons at the same time. Quoting siranah.de/html/sail051c.htm

>>> Typical rescue beacon radios transmit a 5 watt signal for 0.5 second once every 50 seconds. ... The 406-MHz data channel is 170 kHz wide and centred at 406.05 MHz. On this channel, a burst of digital data is transmitted with a bit rate of 400 bps using phase modulation. Each transmission consists of a 160 ms CW preamble followed by a data message. The data message is either a 112-bit "short" message (280 ms) or a 144-bit "long" message (360 ms) both including full identification and position information. >>>

So, if you dropped around 100 beacons, there would be chance of them identifying eventually. With 1000 beacons, they would be cca 10 devices transmitting at the same time, all the time, and I doubt that would allow successful transmission. [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.206|109.81.171.206]] 19:36, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Am I missing something? Not being a native speaker I ask: do the words "once again" refer to any prior incident of the same sort? [[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:A849:D00:505C:3DD5:355A:EFF3|2001:16B8:A849:D00:505C:3DD5:355A:EFF3]] 20:50, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

saying "...apologize for 'the' 1,600 simultaneous false alarms 'this morning'" makes it clear they have already apologized for this specific event. It doesn't imply any previous false alarms. [[Special:Contributions/173.88.137.222|173.88.137.222]] 21:32, 18 November 2025
:It may refer to that morning's dropping of a similar box. "We'd like to apologise once again for [...], and ''now'' we also need to apologise for this latest incident... if you're not ''already'' getting 1600 more distress signals, you'll definitely start to be getting them as soon as the water soaks into the crate." [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 00:05, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:"We apologised yesterday for the box we dropped then, and now we'd like to apologise once again for the one we dropped this morning." [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:20, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

The Trivia section here describes a real case of [[978:_Citogenesis|Citogenesis]] ! {{unsigned ip|100.1.214.162|22:58, 19 November 2025}}

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-11-19T23:24:47Z

2.98.65.8: /* Editing other people's words? */

<center>'''Archive 1'''</center>
<center>[[File:archive.png]]</center>
<center>For old and irrelevant messages, see my [[User talk:42.book.addict/archive|archive!]]</center>

== introductions ==
Just replying to your message (also dw no big deal for bothering me)
You click on your username and there should be an edit box. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:58, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:it says that i dont have permission to create the page…
:There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. it says [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:33, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

I think you might have to wait some time (like a timer) until you can edit your own page... I think I only got to edit my page after 1 month of creating my account.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 21:31, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:ok, thx [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

My guess on where you live is somewhere in the GMT zone, so United Kingdom.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:nope, im a california girl :) ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 05:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

lol you never know with utc times --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

== Depends what you wanted to do... ==

Is the following what you intended? 
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = [[{{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}}]] | float = left }} 
{{clear}}...or is even the [[]] part not what you want?{{clear}}
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = {{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}} | float = left }} 
{{clear}}As brief a guide as I can manage:
*URL links use []. Although literal https://www.google.com will self-link without ''any'' wikimarkup, you probably don't want it to look like that most of the time.
** Just give the URL, as in <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki></code>, to get a [https://www.google.com] (i.e. a reference number), not the best way to do it. It can be organised better with a 'References' section, but we don't do that here (they do on wikipedia, but usually with other bits to it.
** Better to give the URL and the text to use (after a space, a character that never appears raw in any proper URL). This can be <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!]</nowiki></code> or even <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]</nowiki></code>, to give [https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!] or [https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]... But perhaps best not to do the latter too much (I really didn't want to post that without the "(only kidding!)" part, in fact.)
*Internalised wikilinks use the [[]]s.
**Anything that can be found under the title, e.g. "2: Petit Trees (sketch)" (or, because of redirections, "2" and "Petit Trees (sketch)" go to the same spot, so <code><nowiki>[[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]</nowiki></code> gives you the literal links [[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]
**Or use <code><nowiki>[[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]</nowiki></code>, additional text separated by the 'pipe' symbol (i.e. "|"), to link to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]
**You can also link across to articles on other 'wikimedia family' sites, but I'm not going to try to summarise that, as the primary reason to do that is to go to an actual Wikipedia article, and there's a template set up to do that ''very'' nicely, already (and also a few other places, like Wiktionary, and some not-really-wikis with a similar philosphy like TVTropes). If in doubt, do it as a URL link ''or'' find a place where someone else has clearly markuped a link to the same site as you want to link to.
*So, anyway, Wikilink templates use the {{template|w}}-template, with one or two paramaters (pipe-separated). (It shortcuts the thing you'd maybe use [[]]s for
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link to "{{w|Article}}" (it capitalises the first character, even if you don't)
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article|with alternate text}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link there but "{{w|article|with alternate text}}"
**If the article name has whitespace (or other 'URL-unfriendly' characters) in it, those characters in the URL (which you wouldn't want to use) will be rendered as something URL-friendly. The URL for "Whitespace (programming language)", for example, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) but you wouldn't normally use that so literally in any case, and definitely not when you can significanty shorten it with the {{template|w}} notation.
***What you can do is (without 'alternate link text') render it as <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}}</nowiki></code> - i.e. {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}} - but that's not nice to see 'rendered raw' when you ''want'' the spaces. You could give it alternate text via <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> to give {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}} ...but that's wasteful and unnecessary.
***Instead, just do <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> (that's the literal copy of the article's own page title, from the rendered page) - and shows as {{w|Whitespace (programming language)}} - which is good. Although <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> might be the best way to seemlessly link to {{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}} ...depends what you want to appear there.
***And you can link to header anchors pretty much ''like'' the URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)#History by using <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> to have you show {{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}} or whatever else you might want to use.
**Also, for the use of a link which is singular but which you would like to include as the plural (usually the "...s" or "...es" version), you could use article-name first parameter and ''pluralised'' article name as second, but instead of <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural|Plurals}}</nowiki></code>, for a link to the {{w|Plural|Plurals}}, you can save yourself a lot of effort by doing <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural}}s</nowiki></code> to also give you a linke to {{w|Plural}}s. Magic, eh? And it also works with <code><nowiki>{{w|Ox}}en</nowiki></code> to link the different standard plural of {{w|Ox}}en to the article for "Ox" (better than linking to the word for {{w|Oxen}}, which ends up redirecting to {{w|Ox}} anyway).
...so, anyway, that's the basics. And a few not-so-basics. So if the solutions to your tagging issue aren't already solved (or even if they are!), you might have enough info here to kludge it into whatever form of infobox info text you ''really'' wanted to use. Ok? Probably far too much info for you to absorb in one go, but covers loads of interesting possibilities. About the only thing you don't want to do is wikilink straight to the word "trans", at that'll be a disambiguation page. And there's also no way (or reason?) to use the terms "trans man"/"trans woman" as the pluralised "trans men"/"trans women" versions via the "directly add the plural suffix" thing, of course. :P Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.217|162.158.38.217]] 20:40, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh my god thank you so much [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

== Welcome back, Tori! ==

How's life? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:47, 1 December 2024 (UTC)
:Eh, it’s fine. I just came back from New York on a ''very'' stressful flight-missed the original one, did my Language Arts homework on the flight, and came back to California at 2 am. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:26, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

== Comics with inverted brightness. ==

At the most arbitrary, I'd suggest that, just maybe, ''panes'' with inverted brightness fulfil the category requirements, or perhaps a bit of white text because it happens to be written on a more shaded bit of background, but I'm unsure that the {{diff|358698|lavatory signs}} strictly invoke inverted brightness (if real signs exist that are light-on-dark, which at least some of them are, this makes it an ''un''inverted depiction of one of them), and I'm unhappy with your (presumed) linking of this category for a {{diff|358691|tree silhouette}} (it shows the perfectly cromulant situation of bright sky behind a relatively dark tree, again not inverted, merely drawn for contrast).

An interesting example is something like [[811: Starlight]]. The stars (white spots on floodfilled black background) really shouldn't be considered inverted (black stars on white sky would be inverted; it's only that the category specifically mentions night ''and'' space scenes makes it valid from that perspective), but the text and stickfigures/etc ''are'' definitely inverted (all due to the background they're on).

It's just my opinion, but I don't think that any patch of black-floodfill (especially in just a fraction of a pane or two, within an otherwise normal multi-pane comic) around a white detail is automatically ripe for marking as inverted. I'll reluctantly accept "night sky" or "space" (but only with stars... no "entirely featureless black, through a window/porthole") as cause for being classed as Inverted, due to the category explanation. But feel that the true "inversion" is where there is [[566: Matrix Revisited|pane inversion]] which results in white text and/or (character) stickfigures upon black background as a definite contrast to 'normality'. Before you go too far with HotCatting some things that I'd feel compelled to revert (as I'm very tempted with the tree silhouette, and almost certain I should with the Gents-signs, for example...). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 19:12, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

==Hey again, I know we have some bad blood but...==
Hey 42, it's Z1m. I know we haven't seen each other in a while (who am I kidding, it's a wiki; I meant talked) Can you do the little welcome thing so I can edit my talk page? Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:26, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:Why can’t you use your old account? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::I forgot my pass :skull: [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:::SMH. Done. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:37, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Thanks! [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 22:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

==I FORGOT MY PASS AGAIN ASDFGHJK<SAHFJEWIUBEIUWDBHIVHJ==
Help :( [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Help I'm not OK]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 18:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:''sigh'' '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:41, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:I KNOW I'M A DINGUS DON'T LOOK AT ME LEAV EME TO MY BASIC YELLOW DORITO SHAME [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|Do not click on this link if you wish to keep your soul]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]])

==Hi (3==
Sorry if I'm bothering you too much, just wanted to say hi. {{unsigned|Definitely Bill Cipher|15:19, 17 December 2024 (UTC)}}
:Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Sorry [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:10, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::It’s fine, as long as you remember. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::So, uh... do you wanna take this to my talk page and we can talk or... [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|A dream demon]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 21:18, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

==Congrats==
:I checked and you're the contributor today that has made the most edits. I'm on the leaderboard too, but not in the top three *0(*. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:52, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, that’s nice. I’ve stopped viewing Contribution Scores as a measurement of my editing ability-it only measures how many points and how many pages I have edited, not the quality of my edits or how much of an impact they have on the wiki. A bot can spam and get onto the All-Time Top 50 Leaderboard, but that's not reflective of its helpfulness (none). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:49, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I remain free from all such objectivity by staying firmly off the list. I ''could'' flatter myself that I deserve a place, for all my (useful?) work over the last 10+ years, but... no definitive tallying and I don't even fool myself that this statement can be believed. Which is liberating. No temptation to "edit for editing's sake", and remaining blissfully unaware how much time I must have spent not doing ''other'' important things. But that's just me (assuming you accept my account), and please don't consider this as downplaying the known-and-named contributors (current and past) who have made a more attributable contribution. Horses for courses. You (both) be you, and who knows where any of us might be in another ten years; hopefully managing to create a net positive outcome for the world, as the only thing that ''anybody'' should aspire to.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.182|172.69.43.182]] 17:18, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

== Bluey news just dropped. ==

https://youtu.be/ititZcuih8E?si=_9ceRfwc52qfa5Tu [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:23, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:NOOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:25, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::wait, what?--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

== Deleting User Talk Pages ==
I noticed that you added some user talk pages into the pages to be deleted category. Even if they are an IP address and only have one comment, they still probably shouldn't be deleted. I only noticed because you had marked my talk page. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:19, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
:As I commented over on your page (sorry, didn't spot this, yet), I think that it's perfectly legitimate to correct (by ''requesting'' deletion) the creation of IP-based User and User Talk namespace pages. The intended source/target can never make any proper use of them, and they are instead left open to disproportionately high chance of ''improper'' use.
:IPs ''may'' have been more reliably associated with particular login-less users (such as myself) in the earliest days of the site, but it's not just the current proxy-provider that makes it likely that anyone coming here is effectively randomised. A 2015-era commentator almost certainly doesn't have the exact same IP ''from their ISP'' (which is Cloudflared away, anyway), unless they've taken great trouble to maintain statically upon it, and that's presuming that they haven't switched providers and/or routing hardware in the last decade, to further muddle it up.
:So far, I haven't seen any communications to a User Talk:<IP> page that deserves preserving (and User:<IP> stuff tends to be worse, thankfully rarer), but if a named user (who may or may not be currently active, or have had their own Talk page) contributes anything 'untrivial' then you could perhaps copy it to their own (newly created, if necessary?) user-page, or to whatever article Talk page it's identifiably about. Admonations not to delete Incomplete-templates and nice messages of agreement about some Conan-related link-finding are not al all that level of preservable conversation (well, not even a dialogue, as they weren't even acknowledged!), as 'recent' examples.
:Anyway, marking for deletion still requires that someone ''actually'' deletes them. Currently, '42' can't do that. (They're clearly eager to be helpful, but not yet admin-material.) Realistically, it will need someone else to actually do that bit. And I think the current 'someone else' concerned isn't overly eager to delete things not related to more current unwanted contributions. I'd have done a bit more cleaning up, myself, but by deliberately having kept out of consideration for such responsibiity, it's not something I should actively complain about. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.186|141.101.98.186]] 13:00, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

==Hiiiii==
:Heya, 42! Just wanted to check in because I left for winter break and I thought 'I wonder how she's doing?'
:If I'm being annoying, you can just say so and I'll leave you alone.
:Anyway, I'm gonna go comic hop. Talk to me anytime! [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|Come and talk!]]) 15:15, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::I’m fine. I went skiing in {{w|Heavenly Mountain Resort|Tahoe}} 5 days during winter break and also went to {{w|Point Reyes Station}}. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:50, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Cool, if you wanna talk I'm here (3 [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

== I heard about the wildfires. ==

Are you safe? Are you alright? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:43, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:That’s SoCal, not the Bay Area, so I’m all good. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:10, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== Any luck with Jeff? ==

It’s been a while since you’ve put up the “banner” on your page. Has he responded yet? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:23, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:Nope. I’ve emailed Davidy22 and he responded, but he doesn’t have server access. I tried on Gmail, Reddit, X, asked @ActuallyBerg from [[explain xkcd#History|the old forum]] who’s apparently a friend with Jeff on both X and Bluesky. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:25, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::Damn… that’s slightly (very) worrying. Good job for trying tho [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:57, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah…I’m just going to keep on trying, seeing if I can solve some of the problems remotely. Not too sure what much I can do about the ‘crat situation though. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:59, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Well good luck [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:07, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

== {{w|WP:REMOVED}} ==
kindly stop adding it back. thank you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 15:53, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:very well. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::ok, that's the limit. {{w|WP:NOBAN|don't post on my talk page again.}} if you wish to fiddle with minutae, go to wikipedia, where that sort of thing is appreciated. i'll also note that no one else has complained about my signature, only you. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 10:13, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:::touche. to be honest, grabbing at your throat for a simple signature issue got a bit boring after a couple days. have a nice day! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 11:28, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== Talk Page added to "pages to delete ==
Hey, I noticed you added my talk page to the "pages to delete" category. Why? I don't really want my talk page deleted. Qoiuoiuoiu (talk) 16:29, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Sorry, changed it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:58, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::If you want my advice (no reason you do...), do a little more checking of the page history. ''And'' that of the partner page (compare User: <-> User Talk), where it exists. You might find a few of the ones that you marked for deleting weren't created, unused and abandoned, but actually 'in use' (even if not directly).
::You're eager, and I still completely support IP-related pages being marked for deletion (remembering that you don't have the power to ''actually'' delete them... which is probably a relief to a small handful of actal users, like the above), but maybe dial it back a bit so that you don't make a few more taggings that need to be reverted... Build up a personal 'hitlist', maybe, but do more poking around and keep it down to a handful of the 'best' candidaates that you find, not a couple of a dozen in quick order, which I think you did yesterday.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]]
:::I did check the Page history of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] though, and saw that it was created by [[User:While False]]. I also checked the User Page, and saw that it was edited slightly to change While False’s announcement. Because the entire purpose of [[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu]] was to presumably reduce red links, I tagged [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Checking page history and user pages honestly doesn’t take that much time, and I checked them for every single page (I think). Upon [[User:Qoiuoiuoiu|Qoiuoiuoiu’s]] complaint, I removed the Category and added a comment so that the talk page has a purpose. I believe that I was in the right to tag them in this case, and that is my decision. Although I do like the idea of the “hitlist”, and will create one. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:46, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

== Bluey ==

I can't believe you watch a ''children's'' show like Bluey. You should watch an ''adult'' show, like my personal favourite, {{w|My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic}} ;). [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 19:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:[https://gamejolt.com/games/sonic/783884 nah I'm sending you to the green hills for that one buddy] /j [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:39, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:LMFAOOO '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:38, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

== "Shared named" comics... ==

Not too sure about the shared-name status for "Advent Calendar", "Advent Calendar Advent Calendar" and "Advent" (more clear if there was "Advent Calendars", the AVAV ''might'' be deemed a copy (literally!) of AV, but it'd be a stretch to link the A to the AV and thus also the AVAV), but you can't really put just one comic in the Shared Name category, can you? If you're happy for it, then do it for all of them. And, when you do, might be a good idea to put the markup comment after the category membership tag with an explanation of which one(s) you're linking it with, to avoid random editors getting the wrong idea (or ''no'' idea) on spotting it... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 00:26, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

== Why do you have a hitlist? ==

Please don't put me on there 😭😭😭 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:53, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:It’s for user pages/talk pages to delete. It’s fine, you’re fine, everybody’s fine (except for me i have a flu) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:59, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
::Ykkkkkk, I bet Jeff’s heir would be easier to contact… Just saying…… [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 17:01, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::which would be the next ‘crat with server control, someone who doesn’t exist yet since Jeff still needs to promote them. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:17, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: dammit [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:53, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

==We're cooked==
You-know-who became president on MLK Day. We're so cooked, 42. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:as a Brit I too am concerned [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:36, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yeh i'm scared [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:21, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
:::yayyyyy politics [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:38, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

== Different name in ContributionScores? ==

Hi 42

I just realized that in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ContributionScores ContributionScores] you are listed as Victoria. How come you manage to have two different names on this wiki? Is that some error? It is confusing at least.

Keep up the good work --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:20, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:I noticed that too! What's your secret?--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:06, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::haha, there’s no secret. my name’s victoria, but i also go by tori. that’s why if you look up at old messages, some people refer to me as victoria or tori. if you want to keep on calling me 42, or 42.book.addict, that’s completely fine! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:05, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah I guess what i was asking is how you managed to change your name on the leaderboard! I can't figure it out haha. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:11, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
::::oh, that’s easy-you just change it in your preferences. find the real name box, and input whatever you want. some people might find it confusing, and you might need to explain to people the difference, like this converstaion right now. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:18, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Oh, cool! Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:53, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

:Well if it is a part of the wiki I guess it is fine. But I think it is a bit confusing that we cannot see the user name of the person on the leaderboard. So it would be great if the name in the leader-board could also change to 42. But I guess that is not possible? As you know I'm made an admin, but also I have way to little knowledge of programming and wiki etc. And full time job, other hobbies and two kids, one of which seems to be older than 42. So it is not your age, but 42 comes from your love of Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy? (Big fan me-self). Impressive the amount of work you have put into the wiki in such a short time. I have been a member since October 2013. I still remember [[Talk:30: Donner|my first comment]] on explain, actually made it before I signed up and then added my signature after signing up a few days later ;-) Back then I used much more time on explain. Had actually not intended to become admin. But second time I was asked, and with no active admins I accepted. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
::Oh, nice! Never knew that you were a parent. i ''could'' remove the Victoria from the leaderboard by blanking my real name in preferences, but honestly, I’d rather not. There are tons of other people with a situation like this, and I don’t think that it’ll cause much confusion. I’m always happy to explain why it’s listed as Victoria or not! (BTW, Victoria is literally on my User Page) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:20, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Well we usually do not now much about each other and I had not read your user page before I found out you where also Victoria. Not sure what you mean by Victoria being on you user page. I searched on it and found no hit for Victoria... But no big problem. Just a bit confusing. Just stay on the leaderboard. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
::::weird...i could've sworn that i added it to my user page. i'll add it now to try to reduce confusion in the future. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:09, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

== You into Friday Night Funkin? ==

tldr it's a silly Newgrounds-inspired rhythm game with literally hundreds if not thousands of mods. you should get into it if you're not already

[[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:19, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
:moved this to the bottom so you'd be more likely to see this haha [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:03, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
::no-i don’t play rhythm games. moved it back up for chronological order. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:34, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

== Contacting Randall ==

Hey Victoria! Sorry to hear about your mental health issues, I hope you're getting better.

Here's some good news: I tried contacting Randall to ask him when he replaced comic [[36: Scientists]], and he replied! It's weird that Randall is easier to reach than the owner of this wiki... You can read the conversation and a summary of what happened [[User:FaviFake|on my user page]]. Among other things, he gave me the official release date, April 28th, and, after I asked, he told me he might reply to more simple questions! If you have some technical or administrative questions, I could ask them directly to him. If you're curious, there are more details about this [[User:FaviFake|here]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

==oof==
:I'm so sorry, 42. I go to therapy and picked up a couple things, so if you need me, I'm here. You can leave a message on my talk page anytime and we can yap about whatever. Hang in there 0) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:35, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

== Uncooperating User ==

Hi 42 
You originally wrote regarding [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] here: [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Uncooperating_User|Uncooperating User]] 
I warned him not to change his signature to a link and also not deleting his talk page. But he has not complied. But now I saw your comment on his user page, after I rolled back his latest deletion... Regarding wiki policy. And since I do not go much into this I need some help here. I do not have time to read up on this. I'm just so unlucky as to be the only admin still active here... Not by my own wish. Maybe FaviFake should also say something here? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:39, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
:I believe this is what's happening: 42 originally noticed the user's signature, which is clearly a violation of the Wikipedia policy, and you warned them. They didn't cooperate, and then you warned them again, but this time you also told them to not blank their talk page (and to not redirect it), which wasn't among the things 42 pointed out. Because of this, she mentioned they're allowed to blank their talk page and redirect it to their user page, but not to have a signature that looks like an external link. And now, as you can see in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:FaviFake&diff=367780&oldid=367750 this edit of theirs], they have done both things. The signature is not allowed, but blanking their page is. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:56, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
::But if they blanck their talk page, then I cannot discuss the issues that are in violation of with their signature. So how can this be an acceptable conduct. Maybe blanking their user page but not the talk page...? As far as I can see his signature link still go to his user talk page, and not to the rickroll link, you have to copy paste that to get rolled... But if it is a problem, should I then block him for being uncooperative? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:52, 7 March 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, 42 pointed it out because she was confused by the link. i'm not really an expert in Wikipedia policy either. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:22, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

== Formatting ==

Just wondering why you're using awkward formatting on your user page when you could easier use:
*Foo
*Bar
**Baz subthing
**Bat subthing
*Flibble
...etc? No need for BRs and NBSPs. Can be combined with colon-leveling (though can also replace it). Swap *s for #s to get (nested) numbered lists, or *# for indented numbers with #* continuing the numbers around sub-bullets (starts to get complicated, but it's an option) if you decided you need to. Maybe it's a choice you're making, but FYI if you haven't already picked up the bullet-point syntax in all your time here. 
Anyway, just perhaps whilst you're active again. No problem if you don't make use of this information now/ever. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.133|172.71.178.133]] 07:56, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:I never knew that-thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:55, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

== so why do you wanna to delete [[user talk:物灵]]? ==

he and i were both from another website. i chose to chat with him here because i don't want Zhou Chenxiao to revert my edit. why you want to delete? [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:56, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:I will say this, here, in case you don't get to read my other note. This is not a refugee camp for conversations displaced from elsewhere. There's not even any chat goin on because it's all just you. (If there's another site where ''he'' is one-sidedly 'replying' to ''you'' , then I bet that place is equally bemused and unamused.)
:I can't speak for 42, but I'm not surprised someone else here wants to do that.
:Elsewhere you talk of Free Speech, but I think you might be confused. As well as the ''{{w|Gratis versus libre}}'' issue, this extends to what is written below any submission you are making: "Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors." Consensus may decide that the point you make is not worth the having been made. (Later, consensus may also decide that a removal/re-edit is bad and ''restore'' it, but that is a community issue to resolve.)
:This is as close to democracy as we can get (but, unlike the ''original'' democracy, we also let women and all kinds of other people 'vote'! ;) ), with shades of anarchy and the only totalitarian elements being when certain pages are locked-down/deleted by a designated admin who is probably acting upon community feeling (or on behalf of it, seeing where it is heading). It's a system that works (mostly hands-off). And you still can't falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater without push-back. Does that make sense? (@UT, also @42...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 10:50, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
::Seconded. I explicitly said in my edit summary that I deleted the content for being off-topic. Thanks to the IP for responding for me! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:20, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:::Thirded. (Is that a word?) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 06:26, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

==Welcome Back!==
I'm unsure as to whether we've met. I think we were editing at the same time for a period. Anyways, hello Tori (if I may call you that). Welcome back to the wiki! :) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:14, 26 August 2025 (UTC)
:hi, thanks so much for the welcome! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:59, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
::Please see my user page.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 16:42, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Thank you for your apology. And it's no big deal with my time-bio's boring anyways lol '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:43, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

==Mark April Fool's Sandbox for deletion?==
[[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!/Sandbox]] should be marked for deletion, I feel. It has been removed from his watchlist and provides nothing useful to the wiki. [[Special:Contributions/204.137.100.1|204.137.100.1]] 15:04, 28 August 2025 (UTC)
:Deleted by --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:20, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

== From /sig Talk Page (adminship) ==

Just so you know, 42, you'd make a great admin. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 18:18, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

==An odd question for someone who would know the answer==

Would it be allowed if you created a template for your sig (e.g. 42sig/DSBSig?) Could be useful for those with long usernames. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 15:59, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:why would you need a template? <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> works just fine... '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:17, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::Well, it would allow for more characters. This is why I ask, as both you and I have had issues setting up signatures due to long usernames. Setting your signature up as <nowiki>{{SigTemplateName}}</nowiki> in preferences would have it automatically display your signature when typing <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:20, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::More characters ''would'' be nice, but creating a bunch of templates only available for use for a single person would be less than ideal. What if we had a template called "sig", and inside was wikitext encoded so that when we called <nowiki>{{sig|User:XYZ}}</nowiki>; it could paste in the custom signature for XYZ? This is a pretty interesting idea-I'll reach out on the proposals portal and ask FaviFake to see if there's support for this. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:32, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::That.... That could work! Great idea! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:34, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::A bonus of that is that it's basically a sig museum, where you can browse other people's sigs and get inspired by them. There is the downside of people being able to edit other's sigs tho. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:37, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::::The idea of a sig museum is actually super cool-we could also add interesting signatures that were used by other users before to put on showcase. We could also make it so that only autoconfirmed users can edit it (and there's enough active users that any vandalism would probably be reverted quickly enough). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:43, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Honestly, forgot about that. I wonder what they say. FaviFake hasn't been active in a bit, so maybe we could reach out to kynde? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 17:17, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::::::It's probably fine. Contribution history says that it's only been a week-he very well may be on vacation or too busy to work. Give it some time. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:16, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::::::I know, it's just weird. I've almost never seen FaviFake not edit for more than a day. {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|19:14, 29 August 2025 (UTC)}}
::::::::::hi im back. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:26, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
::::::::::Go check the proposals board! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:16, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:I have seen you proposal and I must say I really hope you are not planning on making this your signature fro now on 42!
:<nowiki>42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]</nowiki>
:It is very confusing for the next editor, and I just tried to comment on your proposal when you posted it and could not understand what I was seeing in the editor (as I got there first because of edit conflict). Please stop using this as your signature! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:22, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::Got it. I'll change it and see if I can find another solution. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:33, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I personally think we should move forward with the template idea. That way, the wikitext would show <nowiki>{{sig|UserXYZ}}</nowiki> instead of the full wikitext. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 19:42, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Also, I created a pride sig that is almost 1400 characters long.... yeah we need a way to not show the full wikitext. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 19:44, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Sorry for the late reply. I think that we should '''''not''''' go ahead with the template idea. It's unnecessary and will clog up the server, both in readability and server load. Please look at my response in the proposals board. Thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:06, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

== "fact" template (un)tagging. ==

The <nowiki>{{fact}}</nowiki> template was (it was deleted? I missed that!) redirected to the <nowiki>{{Citation needed}}</nowiki> template. I think maybe replacing the "fact" with "Citation needed" might have been a better change than nowiki-ing the now-broken tags, in the cases you did that.

And then there were all the demonstrative examples (two or three in things I historically wrote, I notice, in various Talk: pages... under a historical range of IPs). Assuming you really want to edit other people's signed Talk contributions at all (not generally done, though I'm ambivalent about you 'tidying up' things where I only included "fact" as then-current, alongside the other examples), it would seem to be no more work to just refactor the phrasings to no longer have that in the list of (say) {{template|citation needed}}, {{template|Citation Needed}}, {{template|cn}}, etc, to no great loss of meaning.

But I appreciate you probably took some time to hunt down all <nowiki>{{fact}}</nowiki> examples (and at least one <nowiki>{{template|fact}}</nowiki>, I think). Plus the Fact/CN set of tags ''are'' sometimes overused, IMO, so a few less versions (put almost everywhere that anyone vaguely thought amusing) is certainly gratifying from ''that'' perspective. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.43|82.132.245.43]] 22:55, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

==It's alright :)==
None taken :) I myself know I am prone to that sort of thing. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 19:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:sorry, what? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:57, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Second item on the hitlist. Sorry about the confusion. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 19:59, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Ah, I see. It's no problem! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:02, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

==So, about that wikitext signature...==
Yeah... I wanna make it red and yellow with (talk) replaced by (yap here) and it's in Comic Sans... if you could help me out please. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 20:24, 19 September 2025 (UTC)
:Ok, I'll work on it if I find the time! Shouldn't take me more than 5-10 minutes though '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 04:34, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
:It really depends on the shades of red and yellow you want. Use <nowiki>yap here</nowiki> for each of the colors you want. Search 'google color picker' on Google and it gives you a hex code finder. I do not know how those fonts work though...--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 17:22, 26 September 2025 (UTC)
:Fonts... well, if you put in a style to with with "Comic Sans", then you probably want to try a style element like <code>font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', 'Chalkboard SE', 'Comic Neue', sans-serif;</code>, because not everywhere will have (perhaps not want!) MS Comic Sans and you would have to fail-back to various alternatives and (if all else fails) whatever generic SS font there is.
:Personally, though I'd not bother. Comic Sans is pretty much a Marmite font, and trying hard to make ''everyone'' experience something like the marmite taste (even those who normally do not) could annoy people.
:It'd also take up a lot of your allowable 'signature length quota' to add these (and more?) fail-throughs to the appropriate list. Though you could just give the single correct font ''for you'', and accept that it just won't do anything out of the ordinary for other people, too (which probably suits them down to the ground).
:Oh, and I'd also ''never'' recommend that you upload anything that you want in a personally-chosen font as an image, and embed that image as a pixel-perfect (but accessibility-deficient and text-scale-non-respecting!) alternative. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:10, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
I'd also never recommend that you upload anything that you want in a personally-chosen font as an image
::100% (it also breaks enwiki's signature policies) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:57, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

==Is this wiki dying?==
Lately, I've noticed a gradual decrease in the amount of daily contributions. Have you been noticing this too, or is that just me? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 14:32, 3 November 2025 (UTC)
:If I may contribute, ahead of 42... It's been busier and it's been quieter, even just within both of your own usernames' 'lifetimes'. Perhaps more (fellow, but clearly not as long-term) IPs, but hard to tell since whatever happened to not squash us down into the Cloudfare gateway IP ranges, etc.
:New comics still don't stay unExplained for long. And there's not so much traffic, or indeed vanalism in the worst cases, that it's hard to keep on top of anything that arises. I'd say there's still a community, albeit loose and ad hoc (in different ways to other online communities I'm party to, or have been).
:But I've not emperically compared 'now' with any given historical snapshots. This is just my impression. Please do this, if you feel like it. The number of edits done on yesterday's date, in prior years, perhaps. Or the dates of the past week, to even out the spikes on 'comic days' vs non-comic days. ''Might'' show year-on-year fluctuations, together with background noise.
:...sorry, meant to say less, not to totally pre-empt Victoria. But maybe she still has things to say, perhaps even in total disagreement with my above thoughts! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.95|82.132.239.95]] 15:48, 3 November 2025 (UTC)
::I mostly agree with these sentiments. I do feel like we used to have a more active past and would work fervently on documenting large projects such as April Fool's comics, Hoverboard, Time, etc. We do have a bit of backlog on Collector's Edition, but we put in a LOT of work into the What If? project. Places that we should tackle are probably the less known xkcd pages, secret comics, and of course Collector's Edition.
::Personally, I've had a lot less time to dedicate towards working on this project just because of how busy I am. I've had midterms, projects, and sports to juggle, resulting in almost no free time that I can spend. Circumstances change. Maybe other editors are also getting more busy. Who knows? Anyways, this isn't a race. We don't have any deadlines to reach, so any progress we make, regardless of pace, is good. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:58, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

==1==
54 52 41 4f 53 4e 49 53 53 49 4g 4f 20 4g 4f 45 20 4g 46 20 46 4g 55 52 3b 20 58 56 45 52

XIP EPFTO'U MPWF B GFX NPSF OVNCFST {{unsigned ip|204.137.100.1|20:23, 12 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:What? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:08, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::There may be (intentional?) coding errors in that top one. Or it was double-encoded, thanks to the lower one. So my advice is to crack the second one first.
::But fairly trivial, both of them.
::You can probably do the second in your head, by a single easy step, once you work out what does and doesn't matter.
::The first is a bit more technical, it helps if you're used to low-level data storage (ok, probably not actually in your wheelhouse, but not too hard to discover) ''and'' initially needs to be have the second code's thing unapplied to it to make logical sense.
::My advice is to have fun working it out. And expect three more (or two... but I don't think the second is "the second") to look at, if the author is true to their word. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.30|82.132.244.30]] 21:25, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Huh. The first bit almost reminds me of a hexadecimal, but that doesn't have 'g'
:::Second part is shifted ROT1 in a Caesar Cipher (used a decoder). Translates to 'WHO DOESN'T LOVE A FEW MORE NUMBERS'. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:39, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::::Update: CacheSleuth's multi decoder thinks top line is a bacon cipher. No clue. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:43, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Remember, I said that the second cipher had probably been applied also to the first. You're closer to the solution than you think. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.30|82.132.244.30]] 21:48, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
{{outdent|:::::}}
Are you behind this? Anyway, I'll try to apply a ROT-1, then see if it decides from hex. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:21, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:Results! TRANSMISSION ONE OF FOUR: XVER.
:I wonder what XVER means... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:24, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::Not me, I was just nerdsniped. Note that the next one popped up on Favi's pages. It also has a nonsense final 'word', meaning yet to be resolved.
::If you prefer to keep talking about it, here, I'll pop back later and see if you've figured it out (I know what it is, but not why it is!), without necessarily spoiling it right now.
::(PS, sorry, 42, I know you're probably not involved in this, maybe not interested even. Ba'al: Unless we hear from 42, if you're wanting to keep looking at this, maybe transfer the conversation/copy the original items over to your space? Obviously I've got nowhere better for it, but its up to you and you're interested in this now.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 22:47, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
::I personally have no interest, but you can feel free to keep on working on it. DSB, if you want to keep on cracking it, I can move it over to your page. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:51, 12 November 2025 (UTC)

== Editing other people's words? ==

I mean, in Explanations, etc, you can redo anything that has previously been edited, that's the point of any Wiki articles. No issues with that.

But you're 'correcting' signed (or, indeed unsigned) Talk comments. However badly spelt, you shouldn't really be changing things for them like that. Perhaps they like things to be spelt the way they're spelling them, perhaps they ''intend'' that version of the word. Perhaps the word they intended isn't the one you think is intended and you've changed the entire meaning by making it 'differently more correct'.

Append the signature-replacements that they lack, yes. ''Perhaps'' re-indent things (though I've had things reindented for me, in the past, but by a misunderstandng which then makes it look like I'm replaying to something else). Very possibly changing a [bare-wiki-URL] to a {{template|w}}-type version doesn't matter too much, but... that's the point, it doesn't ''really'' matter. Warts and all. You could tell a regular named-user about the convention to use the 'w'/'wiktionary'/'tvtropes' things, so that it saves you work tuning up the Explanations where they've used the long-hand (and/or inefficient) link-forms, but there's no need to neaten up 'messy' Talk comments, and ''very'' occasionally there might be very real need to not do so.

See {{w|Wikipedia:TPO}} for Wikipedia's policy, which isn't ''necessarily'' the one here (even if its the line I wouldn't normally try to cross). Though you'll see it still appreciates changes in lines with {{w|Wikipedia:TPFIXFORMAT}} and {{w|Wikipedia:TPFIXLAYOUT}}, amongst others. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 22:11, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:Agreed. Getting things signed is perfectly fine, and, as long as you don't change the appearance of a link, you can optimize that as well. But please refrain from editing the message that's given in the comment. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:19, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:e.g. [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1120:_Blurring_the_Line&curid=5005&diff=390955&oldid=369184 this edit], where you changed 'coloured' to 'colored'. That is just a regional spelling of the word, commonly used in British English. It's not even a misspelling! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 22:23, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
::Ah, looks like you spotted it too. Did a part-revert of that exact example (but only that!), as a passive example, not knowing you'd found it and pointed it out here.
::And I can't help it if all y'all can't spell properly, thanks to Noah Webster. ;) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:14, 14 November 2025 (UTC)
:::I understand that it is British spelling, thank you very much. Please see {{diff|14586|here}} for the original comment and {{diff|17180|here}} where [[User:Weatherlawyer]] changed it. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:07, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Additionally, [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#How do I enter links to other pages?|the FAQ page]] says all explainxkcd.com and en.wikipedia.org links should be written with <code>[[ ]]</code> and <code> <nowiki>{{w| }}</nowiki> </code> respectively around them. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:22, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
::::({{diff|83069|You actually meant this change by Weatherlawyer...}} Which shouldn't have been done, so my redoing of it was in error. Though the trivia of it makes ''all'' our actions around it equally inexplicable.)
::::The FAQ is not a commandment that "everything that is not like that should be made like that". As far as neatening up an Explanation is concerned, you'd of course be rewriting and making it the best-practice w-template version, if it had been originally left as [] or bare-URL, because the original writer did not know/care about the handy site-standard. But it doesn't really mean that there's a need to mess about with the normally-inviolate bones of past Talk-comments. Its a lot of unnecessary work, at best.
::::And something like the "As Slow as Possible" bit in {{diff|390995|this edit}} arguably makes it flow less obviously. It originally namechecked ''As Slow as Possible'' and then helpfully offered the URL, at the end, as a bare reference. More 'properly' written it would have had a the w-tagged put around the first mention, which is in its own context, but the bare-URL at the end basically said "and this is a URL that explains it" that's actually nicely in line with the bare-URL line in the FAQ.
::::If (as it looks like) you're just zooming through looking for every bare wikipedia.org link and 'converting' it, without looking into it further, you're probably missing something. And slowing down the generally excellent work, that you're doing, in giving everything 'unsigned' its historic details. It's your time, but going to far in such editorialising can be unproductive. Even when not actually a bit counterproductive. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:44, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Alright. I'll put more of my attention in signing comments and give less of it towards this issue. Thanks for your feedback! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:39, 15 November 2025 (UTC)
{{outdent|:::::}}
Why did you make [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2347:_Dependency&diff=prev&oldid=391211 this edit], where you fully deleted a comment left by an IP? What was the point of that? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 18:19, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:If you mean the "German Television ... Log4j" one, that was moved (a long way) further down, not deleted. Did not really check why, possibly thematically to fit it with other comments, and/or timstamp order of new comments not replying to anything earlier, but I'm just guessing and didn't try to reconcile it fully (once I'd seen it pop up 'later' in the scroll-down). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.44|82.132.236.44]] 18:44, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:Ok, I see you put it back (without removing the second copy), but you broke things. By using "::;" it set it as double-indented and then as a ";terminology:definition" pair, which activated upon the ":" in the time-stop given. So deleted it again. There's still the new version, lower down, that I just mentioned.
:Also reverted a deity/diety spelling error (actual one, I'm sure, not a mistaken one) just because it's still "editing other people's comments", the point made above, and frowned upon in this context. I haven't bothered to check how many other ones have happened, hidden in the midst of rearrangements by either of you, but that was very obviously different. It's an unforced error that someone made in a comment. Don't try to polish it, in case you're adding further errors by misunderstanding, like the first deity->diety change. (For all I know, DIETYBOUNCE is correct... Though it does sound more like a slimming supplement!) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.44|82.132.236.44]] 19:07, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
::[https://queue.acm.org/blogposting.cfm?id=74439 Deitybounce is correct]. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 20:12, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
:::It is (almost certainly) {{diff|196415|their own edit}}, though. It's a bad habit to change things. It's not ''brilliant'' to have to try to change them back (see my initial error), but best things like that don't change in the first place. Both of you, please. Then others like me and ^^them^^ don't feel the need to try to make it authoentically incorrect again. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:24, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

2347: Dependency

2025-11-19T00:23:52Z

2.98.65.8: /* Background and Examples */ Reinstated the boldness (unbreakingly). I'd have personally done it from the start with a ";{link}:Explanation" thing, but won't totally redo it.

{{comic
| number = 2347
| date = August 17, 2020
| title = Dependency
| image = dependency.png
| titletext = Someday ImageMagick will finally break for good and we'll have a long period of scrambling as we try to reassemble civilization from the rubble.
}}

==Explanation==
Technology architecture is often illustrated by a [https://www.guru99.com/images/1/102219_1135_TCPIPvsOSIM1.png stack diagram], in which higher levels of rectangles indicate components that are dependent on components in lower levels. This is analogous to a physical tower of blocks, in which higher blocks rest on lower blocks. The stack in this cartoon bears a striking resemblance to a physical block tower, suggesting the danger that the tower will lose its balance when a critical piece is removed, in this case a piece near the bottom, labeled as being maintained by a single semi-anonymous person located somewhere relatively unimportant doing it for their own unknown reasons without fame or acknowledgement. The concept of balance is not intended to be communicated by a stack diagram, making this a humorously absurd extension of a well-known diagram style.

===Background and Examples===
Taking code re-usability and modularization to its logical extreme has been a long-time tenet for programmers; programming began as a slow task on very memory-constrained systems, utilizing punch cards and days of delay waiting to discover a bug, so that reuse made things possible that otherwise wouldn't be. Once systems became small, fast, and able to hold a lot of data, the ability to provide higher and higher degrees of automation made reusable libraries a huge engine behind the development of technology. By outsourcing what would seem like basic functions, such as string manipulation, to other libraries, developers waste less time reinventing the wheel, so the philosophy goes (or as Beret Guy's business practices literally: [[2140: Reinvent the Wheel]]), and thus many tiny packages, many of which contained only one function, became popular dependencies. This was especially true in Unix and Linux, where an entire program is commonly used for one small task, and programs exist to tie others together into powerful shell scripts.
* {{w|Bash (Unix shell)|'''Bash shell'''}}
: The bash shell, which is used by virtually ''every'' Unix-like and Linux derivatives and that is used by many system administrators has been maintained since around 1993 by one single person from Ohio, US for over 30 years (as of 2025): Chet Ramey<ref>[https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/ Chet Ramey, Personal website (Last updated: Thu Sep 25 10:49:15 EDT 2014)]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160811002459/http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/222764/ "The A-Z of Programming Languages: BASH/Bourne-Again Shell, (2008)" ]</ref>.
* '''{{w|ImageMagick}}'''
:ImageMagick, mentioned in the title text, is a popular, standalone utility released in 1990 that is used for performing transformations between various graphics file formats, and various other transformations. While there are also numerous libraries and APIs for performing these tasks within larger programs, ImageMagick is so popular and easy to use that many programs use its API or just find it easier to {{w|Shell (computing)#Other uses|shell out}} to ImageMagick to perform a necessary transformation. They therefore {{w|Dependency hell|depend}} on ImageMagick, and would break if ImageMagick were to disappear.
* '''{{w|OpenSSL}}''': {{w|Heartbleed|Heartbleed bug}}
: In 2014, the Heartbleed revealed a significant portion of the internet was vulnerable to attack due to a bug in OpenSSL, a free and open-source library facilitating secure communication. One headline at the time demonstrated this comic in real life: [https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisstokelwalker/the-internet-is-being-protected-by-two-guys-named-st "The Internet is Being Protected by Two Guys Named Steve"]. The aforementioned Steves were overworked, underfunded, and largely unknown volunteers whose efforts nevertheless underpinned the security of major websites throughout the world. Randall provided a concise, helpful explanation of the bug in [[1354: Heartbleed Explanation]].

* '''{{w|Core-js}}'''
: {{w|Node.js}} (a platform for JavaScript) and Python are two modern ecosystems providing huge stashes of centralized libraries where developers of the world can come together to stand on the shoulders of all the small useful libraries they make for each other, to make new ones that are more and more powerful, and also more and more prone to sudden new unexpected bugs somewhere in the dependency chain. JavaScript was designed to be an easy to use front end scripting language, not a basic and core backend language as users of node.js's {{w|npm (software)|NPM}} package manager have made it be. While in theory, such a system may sound good for developers who would need to write and maintain fewer lines of code, systems which are highly optimized are also highly susceptible to rapid changes. For example, the famous left-pad incident in the NPM package manager left many major and minor web services which depended on it unable to build. [https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ A disgruntled developer unpublishing 11 lines of code was able to break everybody's build, because everyone was using it.]

: In 2020, the sole maintainer of the library [https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02-14-so-whats-next.md core-js], used by 75% of the top 100 websites to polyfill in new JavaScript features for old browsers and depended on by tons of popular libraries such as Babel, ran over two dark-clothed drunk pedestrians, one of whom was laying down, at night in Russia while speeding in front of a crossing. He had quit previous jobs to be able to maintain core-js, resulting in not having enough money to settle, and he was sentenced to 18 months in an open prison ([https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5 "колония-поселение"]).

* '''xz tool'''
: Leading up to 2024, a user account going by the name Jia Tan gained the trust of ''{{w|XZ Utils|xz}}'''s (one and only) maintainer. Over the course of 3 years, Jia Tan cleverly inserted a patch into ''xz'' that allows a remote user to gain root-level access via the common ssh protocol. This {{w|XZ_Utils_backdoor|compromised version of ''xz''}} was released in March 2024. Another programmer, Andres Freund, found this backdoor before ''xz'' was widely distributed.

* '''SQLite'''
: The project is maintained by three people working at a small private company.
: SQLite is used practically everywhere: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, embedded systems, and IoT devices. It runs serverless, entirely within a single C library, and exists in [https://sqlite.org/mostdeployed.html trillions of instances]. It may well be the most widely deployed software in history, especially when measured per developer.

The current model of libraries and open-source development (topics which Randall has addressed extensively in the past) relies heavily on the free and continued dedication of unpaid hobbyists. Though some major projects such as Linux may be able to garner enough attention to build an organization, many smaller projects, which are in turn reused by larger projects, may only be maintained by one person, either the founder or another who has taken the torch. Maintaining libraries requires both extensive knowledge of the library itself as well as any use cases and the broader community around it, which usually is suited for maintainers who have spent years at the task, and thus cannot be easily replaced. Thus, there are many abandoned projects on the internet as people move on to greener pastures. Far from the days of backwards compatibility, that's usually not a problem, unless a project happens to be far up the dependency chain, as illustrated, in which case there may be a crisis down the road for both the developers and the users down the chain.

==Transcript==
:[A tower of blocks is shown. The upper half consists of many tiny blocks balanced on top of one another to form smaller towers, labeled:]
:All modern digital infrastructure

:[The blocks rest on larger blocks lower down in the image, finally on a single large block. This is balanced on top of a set of blocks on the left, and on the right, a single tiny block placed on its side. This one is labeled:]
:A project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003

== References ==
<references/>
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Programming]]

Talk:3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-19T00:05:17Z

2.98.65.8:

First comment.
>"would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit" .... I dunno EPIRBs, but EZ-Pass sent my transponder "live", it tracked ALL over NYcity (I never go there), and I got bills for like 13 bridges, tunnels, expressways. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 23:44, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

:This also happened to me. At one point I needed a replacement for my EZ-Pass unit and managed to track the route it followed through NYC over the several monitored bridges the shipment crossed. Luckily the CS when I called, immediately recognized what had happened. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Is the caption implying that they've apologized multiple times for the same incident or that there have heen multiple incidents of this nature? The haphazardous unloading procedure shown makes me think it's the latter. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.89|64.114.211.89]] 00:33, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

"...drifting out into the harbor!" Is the ship not already in the harbor? I really dislike that use of "out into", it makes little sense. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 01:51, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:It depends upon your interpretation of the (unseen) port in question.
:The harbour might just be considered the wide-open area, landward of any (natural or constructed) harbour-wall. Where the ship is, is at a dock-wall, might (together with the adjacent dock) be bounding a finger (one of several?) of waterway that's landward even of the primary open 'harbour' area, functionally considered different as a dock-basin.
:Or, even simpler (by visual, if not words), the crate drops between ship and dock-wall, where the ship itself forms the boundary from the 'open harbour' that (without the ship) normally goes to the sea-wall. But, here, the possibility of the crate being washed around the end of the ship and being in the ''open'' harbour where you find other boats sailing/motoring through (or tied up to buoys, floating jetties, etc) is "...drifting out into the harbour". A opposed to being within easy reach to retrieve, once you've found the right harbourside equipment.
:Unless it's been changed, since I last read it, the Explanation also had it rephrased as drifting ''out of'' the harbour (i.e. into the open sea, river, estuary or whatever-it's-a-harbour-off-of), though I had consciously decided not to change that. As it was functionally the logical end-result. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.196|82.132.236.196]] 03:34, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:If I have a bobcat sequestered in a room, waiting for a cardboard box and duct tape to be delivered, and someone accidentally opens the door, would it not be correct to say it is now out and into the house despite the fact that it was within the house before escaping the room? Another way to look at it would be a shortening of 'Oh no, the box is drifting out (of the port and) into (a part of) the harbor (that isn't the port)!', as both the speaker and listener both understand the context and origin of the box. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.37|64.114.211.37]] 04:09, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

So this comic is inadvertently based on a true story.

EPIRB stands for "Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon". I know because I used to work the company that makes them, though in a different assembly line. One day the production manager decided to give us all a chewing out.

It turns out due to poor quality control, around 1000 EPIRBs had shipped with faulty activators, and triggered unprompted.

Indeed, the coastguard were NOT amused. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.177.50|163.116.177.50]] 09:06, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

I understand the 1600 CT written at the box indicates that there is 1600 EPIRBs in it. But I'm not native English speaker and could not just find it by searching. Is CT an abbreviation for content? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:18, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:Ah I can now answer myself, as someone has actually already put in this link to the {{w|CT#Other uses|meaning of CT}}, and here it is stated that: ct followed by a number means the number of items contained in a package (e.g. zucchini 3 ct). Thanks for the link :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
::Although 3 zucchini would cause rather less alarm to the Coastguard{{cn}} [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:24, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:: I believe it is short for 'count' [[Special:Contributions/62.220.2.194|62.220.2.194]] 09:40, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Although, note, that it says that "ct followed by a number" is that thing, then gives the number followed by "ct" as example. ;) But that's just a minor problem with the Wikipedia page, and I'm less likely to be picky with that than one on this site! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 14:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC) (Well, as long as Cloudflare isn't being buggy...)
::::I'm assuming that you too were experiencing cloudflare errors in the Omaha server? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 15:05, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::It was more worldwide than that. From my own experience, it took out connections to Cloudflare-served services here in the UK (multiple local gateways), and it looked to be worldwide. I haven't seen a full explanation yet, but ''perhaps'' closer to "update error" than "mass DDos/hack".
:::::I'd not actual been hit by the recent AWS error, not long ago, nor the CrowdStrike thing before that, seemingly not using anything that relied on those working. But a handful of the places I ''do'' use seem to be behind CF. I only previously knew of this site, due to prior (wiki-side) errors, but suddenly I was unable to access TVTropes, etc, each now revealing themselves as using upon CF's services. (Meh... it happens. As long as CF knows how to stop it reoccuring in future.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.236|82.132.238.236]] 16:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah, here I was reading, edited the above (not in Omaha) and then found myself unable to save it, until a little over three hours later.
:::::From all that I've seen, it was down to a common reference file getting too big. Whether for the file-system or just for the code trying to check it, I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:54, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Modern EPIRBs have a digital identity which they broadcast - unlike their archaic ancestors which are no longer tracked. The old ones last century just basically all broadcast an emergency tone so you can't tell one from another. These identities map to an entry in a database, which presumably will be blank for a brand new EPIRB. Outfits like a Coast Guard will have access to the database and can thus see the 1600 beacons in the comic are probably unused. You're supposed to register contact details in the database, obviously if you need rescuing then your phone number is unlikely to be useful, but it can have details of friends and family back home who'll be able to verify that you're overdue, or at least your intent and purpose which justifies activation of the rescue assets. Registering in many countries is mandatory, and even if it's not mandatory for you it's a good idea. COSPAS SARSAT (the service EPIRBs are sending messages to) is said to "Take the search out of Search & Rescue" because of the accuracy of the position data. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:8B0:FBB0:1247:1B24:1C24:1D24:714|2001:8B0:FBB0:1247:1B24:1C24:1D24:714]] 19:13, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Another question is if the system is able to decode 1600 buoys transmitting at the same time. My guess is that coastguard would receive an alarm, but would only be able to decode data from few buoys transmitting. [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.206|109.81.171.206]] 19:22, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

AFAICT, system can only support cca 100 beacons at the same time. Quoting siranah.de/html/sail051c.htm

>>> Typical rescue beacon radios transmit a 5 watt signal for 0.5 second once every 50 seconds. ... The 406-MHz data channel is 170 kHz wide and centred at 406.05 MHz. On this channel, a burst of digital data is transmitted with a bit rate of 400 bps using phase modulation. Each transmission consists of a 160 ms CW preamble followed by a data message. The data message is either a 112-bit "short" message (280 ms) or a 144-bit "long" message (360 ms) both including full identification and position information. >>>

So, if you dropped around 100 beacons, there would be chance of them identifying eventually. With 1000 beacons, they would be cca 10 devices transmitting at the same time, all the time, and I doubt that would allow successful transmission. [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.206|109.81.171.206]] 19:36, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Am I missing something? Not being a native speaker I ask: do the words "once again" refer to any prior incident of the same sort? [[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:A849:D00:505C:3DD5:355A:EFF3|2001:16B8:A849:D00:505C:3DD5:355A:EFF3]] 20:50, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

saying "...apologize for 'the' 1,600 simultaneous false alarms 'this morning'" makes it clear they have already apologized for this specific event. It doesn't imply any previous false alarms. [[Special:Contributions/173.88.137.222|173.88.137.222]] 21:32, 18 November 2025
:It may refer to that morning's dropping of a similar box. "We'd like to apologise once again for [...], and ''now'' we also need to apologise for this latest incident... if you're not ''already'' getting 1600 more distress signals, you'll definitely start to be getting them as soon as the water soaks into the crate." [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 00:05, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T23:54:12Z

2.98.65.8:

First comment.
>"would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit" .... I dunno EPIRBs, but EZ-Pass sent my transponder "live", it tracked ALL over NYcity (I never go there), and I got bills for like 13 bridges, tunnels, expressways. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 23:44, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

:This also happened to me. At one point I needed a replacement for my EZ-Pass unit and managed to track the route it followed through NYC over the several monitored bridges the shipment crossed. Luckily the CS when I called, immediately recognized what had happened. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Is the caption implying that they've apologized multiple times for the same incident or that there have heen multiple incidents of this nature? The haphazardous unloading procedure shown makes me think it's the latter. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.89|64.114.211.89]] 00:33, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

"...drifting out into the harbor!" Is the ship not already in the harbor? I really dislike that use of "out into", it makes little sense. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 01:51, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:It depends upon your interpretation of the (unseen) port in question.
:The harbour might just be considered the wide-open area, landward of any (natural or constructed) harbour-wall. Where the ship is, is at a dock-wall, might (together with the adjacent dock) be bounding a finger (one of several?) of waterway that's landward even of the primary open 'harbour' area, functionally considered different as a dock-basin.
:Or, even simpler (by visual, if not words), the crate drops between ship and dock-wall, where the ship itself forms the boundary from the 'open harbour' that (without the ship) normally goes to the sea-wall. But, here, the possibility of the crate being washed around the end of the ship and being in the ''open'' harbour where you find other boats sailing/motoring through (or tied up to buoys, floating jetties, etc) is "...drifting out into the harbour". A opposed to being within easy reach to retrieve, once you've found the right harbourside equipment.
:Unless it's been changed, since I last read it, the Explanation also had it rephrased as drifting ''out of'' the harbour (i.e. into the open sea, river, estuary or whatever-it's-a-harbour-off-of), though I had consciously decided not to change that. As it was functionally the logical end-result. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.196|82.132.236.196]] 03:34, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:If I have a bobcat sequestered in a room, waiting for a cardboard box and duct tape to be delivered, and someone accidentally opens the door, would it not be correct to say it is now out and into the house despite the fact that it was within the house before escaping the room? Another way to look at it would be a shortening of 'Oh no, the box is drifting out (of the port and) into (a part of) the harbor (that isn't the port)!', as both the speaker and listener both understand the context and origin of the box. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.37|64.114.211.37]] 04:09, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

So this comic is inadvertently based on a true story.

EPIRB stands for "Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon". I know because I used to work the company that makes them, though in a different assembly line. One day the production manager decided to give us all a chewing out.

It turns out due to poor quality control, around 1000 EPIRBs had shipped with faulty activators, and triggered unprompted.

Indeed, the coastguard were NOT amused. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.177.50|163.116.177.50]] 09:06, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

I understand the 1600 CT written at the box indicates that there is 1600 EPIRBs in it. But I'm not native English speaker and could not just find it by searching. Is CT an abbreviation for content? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:18, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:Ah I can now answer myself, as someone has actually already put in this link to the {{w|CT#Other uses|meaning of CT}}, and here it is stated that: ct followed by a number means the number of items contained in a package (e.g. zucchini 3 ct). Thanks for the link :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
::Although 3 zucchini would cause rather less alarm to the Coastguard{{cn}} [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:24, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:: I believe it is short for 'count' [[Special:Contributions/62.220.2.194|62.220.2.194]] 09:40, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Although, note, that it says that "ct followed by a number" is that thing, then gives the number followed by "ct" as example. ;) But that's just a minor problem with the Wikipedia page, and I'm less likely to be picky with that than one on this site! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 14:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC) (Well, as long as Cloudflare isn't being buggy...)
::::I'm assuming that you too were experiencing cloudflare errors in the Omaha server? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 15:05, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::It was more worldwide than that. From my own experience, it took out connections to Cloudflare-served services here in the UK (multiple local gateways), and it looked to be worldwide. I haven't seen a full explanation yet, but ''perhaps'' closer to "update error" than "mass DDos/hack".
:::::I'd not actual been hit by the recent AWS error, not long ago, nor the CrowdStrike thing before that, seemingly not using anything that relied on those working. But a handful of the places I ''do'' use seem to be behind CF. I only previously knew of this site, due to prior (wiki-side) errors, but suddenly I was unable to access TVTropes, etc, each now revealing themselves as using upon CF's services. (Meh... it happens. As long as CF knows how to stop it reoccuring in future.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.236|82.132.238.236]] 16:44, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah, here I was reading, edited the above (not in Omaha) and then found myself unable to save it, until a little over three hours later.
:::::From all that I've seen, it was down to a common reference file getting too big. Whether for the file-system or just for the code trying to check it, I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:54, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Modern EPIRBs have a digital identity which they broadcast - unlike their archaic ancestors which are no longer tracked. The old ones last century just basically all broadcast an emergency tone so you can't tell one from another. These identities map to an entry in a database, which presumably will be blank for a brand new EPIRB. Outfits like a Coast Guard will have access to the database and can thus see the 1600 beacons in the comic are probably unused. You're supposed to register contact details in the database, obviously if you need rescuing then your phone number is unlikely to be useful, but it can have details of friends and family back home who'll be able to verify that you're overdue, or at least your intent and purpose which justifies activation of the rescue assets. Registering in many countries is mandatory, and even if it's not mandatory for you it's a good idea. COSPAS SARSAT (the service EPIRBs are sending messages to) is said to "Take the search out of Search & Rescue" because of the accuracy of the position data. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:8B0:FBB0:1247:1B24:1C24:1D24:714|2001:8B0:FBB0:1247:1B24:1C24:1D24:714]] 19:13, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Another question is if the system is able to decode 1600 buoys transmitting at the same time. My guess is that coastguard would receive an alarm, but would only be able to decode data from few buoys transmitting. [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.206|109.81.171.206]] 19:22, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

AFAICT, system can only support cca 100 beacons at the same time. Quoting siranah.de/html/sail051c.htm

>>> Typical rescue beacon radios transmit a 5 watt signal for 0.5 second once every 50 seconds. ... The 406-MHz data channel is 170 kHz wide and centred at 406.05 MHz. On this channel, a burst of digital data is transmitted with a bit rate of 400 bps using phase modulation. Each transmission consists of a 160 ms CW preamble followed by a data message. The data message is either a 112-bit "short" message (280 ms) or a 144-bit "long" message (360 ms) both including full identification and position information. >>>

So, if you dropped around 100 beacons, there would be chance of them identifying eventually. With 1000 beacons, they would be cca 10 devices transmitting at the same time, all the time, and I doubt that would allow successful transmission. [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.206|109.81.171.206]] 19:36, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Am I missing something? Not being a native speaker I ask: do the words "once again" refer to any prior incident of the same sort? [[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:A849:D00:505C:3DD5:355A:EFF3|2001:16B8:A849:D00:505C:3DD5:355A:EFF3]] 20:50, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/173.88.137.222|173.88.137.222]] saying "...apologize for 'the' 1,600 simultaneous false alarms 'this morning'" makes it clear they have already apologized for this specific event. It doesn't imply any previous false alarms.

Talk:3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T14:44:58Z

2.98.65.8:

3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T01:08:21Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ "Accidents" are what these things are *supposed* to be used for. ;)

{{comic
| number = 3169
| date = November 17, 2025
| title = EPIRBs
| image = epirbs_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN UNATTENDED DISTRESS BEACON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}} (EPIRB) is a maritime safety device that, when it comes in contact with water, sends a distress signal via satellite. This signal is detected by search and rescue organizations such as the {{w|United States Coast Guard}} so that they can dispatch a rescue team. An EPIRB's purpose is to automatically notify such authorities of emergencies at sea such as ship sinking when it is out of range of normal radio communications and/or where those affected may not be able to reliably communicate their plight and correct location.

In the comic Cueball and Megan accidentally drop a box {{w|CT#Other uses|containing}} 1,600 EPIRBs into the water while moving it from a ship to a dock. Because EPIRBs automatically activate when immersed in water, and apparently the crate contains fully enabled units not otherwise held within waterproof packaging, the result would be 1,600 simultaneous signals of a ship sinking. The text beneath the comic is a quote of them calling the Coast Guard to again apologize for the overwhelming flood of signals. The joke of the comic is that the automatic nature of EPIRBs could allow such an overload if a package of them were dropped in water, and that it would cause difficulty for a search and rescue group to receive so many signals at once. Not only that, but Cueball and Megan would likely be fired for gross negligence, causing severe financial penalties which can be as much as $5,000 an hour for rescue assets, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for a major incident, safety violations, disruption of operations and legal consequences like significant civil fines and even criminal penalties if the actions were deemed willful or due to a reckless disregard for safety and the law. Cueball and Megan would likely be terminated to prevent further incidents and financial losses.

In reality, EPIRBs usually require some sort of pre-activation and would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit and prior to sale or installation on a vessel. While the Coast Guard may see the 1,600 simultaneous signals at the same geographic location and conclude that it was a likely unintended activation, they still have a bias for action and would begin mobilizing rescue assets until they could verify the false alarm through on-scene verification or successful contact with the owner and "stand down" the full search and rescue response.

The title text continues the joke about the nature of EPIRBs. Because they continuously broadcast their location (particularly modern GPIRBs with a GPS feature to provide an actual location and not just a signal to home in on), there is no reason to worry about the box floating out of the harbor and getting lost, because (even if it ''does'' float out of the harbor) there is no risk of "losing" it - there will be 1,600 separate signals indicating where to recover the box.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[:Cueball and Megan are on a bridge between a ship and a dock with wood. There is a cart and they drop a box with this text on it]
EPIRB
Water-Activated Distress Beacons
1600 C[oun]t
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T00:40:11Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ The wiki page doesn't have a forwarding link (not even mentioned on wiktionary). Also, it's currently self contradictory about what follows what, between the statement and the example, though no doubt both are possible. ;)

{{comic
| number = 3169
| date = November 17, 2025
| title = EPIRBs
| image = epirbs_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN UNATTENDED DISTRESS BEACON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}} (EPIRB) is a maritime safety device that, when it comes in contact with water, sends a distress signal via satellite. This signal is detected by search and rescue organizations such as the {{w|United States Coast Guard}} so that they can dispatch a rescue team. An EPIRB's purpose is to automatically notify such authorities of emergencies at sea such as ship sinking when it is out of range of normal radio communications and/or where those affected may not be able to reliably communicate their plight and correct location.

In the comic Cueball and Megan accidentally drop a box {{w|CT#Other uses|containing}} 1,600 EPIRBs into the water while moving it from a ship to a dock. Because EPIRBs automatically activate when immersed in water, and apparently the crate contains fully enabled units not otherwise held within waterproof packaging, the result would be 1,600 simultaneous signals of a ship sinking. The text beneath the comic is a quote of them calling the Coast Guard to again apologize for the overwhelming flood of signals. The joke of the comic is that the automatic nature of EPIRBs could allow such an overload if a package of them were dropped in water, and that it would cause difficulty for a search and rescue group to receive so many signals at once.

In reality, EPIRBs usually require some sort of pre-activation and would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit and prior to sale or installation on a vessel. While the Coast Guard may see the 1,600 simultaneous signals at the same geographic location and conclude that it was a likely accident, they still have a bias for action and would begin mobilizing rescue assets until they could verify the false alarm through on-scene verification or successful contact with the owner and "stand down" the full search and rescue response.

The title text continues the joke about the nature of EPIRBs. Because they continuously broadcast their location (particularly modern GPIRBs with a GPS feature to provide an actual location and not just a signal to home in on), there is no reason to worry about the box floating out of the harbor and getting lost, because (even if it ''does'' float out of the harbor) there is no risk of "losing" it - there will be 1,600 separate signals indicating where to recover the box.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[:Cueball and Megan are on a bridge between a ship and a dock with wood. There is a cart and they drop a box with this text on it]
EPIRB
Water-Activated Distress Beacons
1600 C[oun]t
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T00:24:26Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3169
| date = November 17, 2025
| title = EPIRBs
| image = epirbs_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN UNATTENDED DISTRESS BEACON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}} (EPIRB) is a maritime safety device that, when it comes in contact with water, sends a distress signal via satellite. This signal is detected by search and rescue organizations such as the {{w|United States Coast Guard}} so that they can dispatch a rescue team. An EPIRB's purpose is to automatically notify such authorities of emergencies at sea such as ship sinking when it is out of range of normal radio communications and/or where those affected may not be able to reliably communicate their plight and correct location.

In the comic Cueball and Megan accidentally drop a box containing 1,600 EPIRBs into the water while moving it from a ship to a dock. Because EPIRBs automatically activate when immersed in water, and apparently the crate contains fully enabled units not otherwise held within waterproof packaging, the result would be 1,600 simultaneous signals of a ship sinking. The text beneath the comic is a quote of them calling the Coast Guard to again apologize for the overwhelming flood of signals. The joke of the comic is that the automatic nature of EPIRBs could allow such an overload if a package of them were dropped in water, and that it would cause difficulty for a search and rescue group to receive so many signals at once.

In reality, EPIRBs usually require some sort of pre-activation and would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit and prior to sale or installation on a vessel. In addition, instead of overwhelming emergency response, 1,600 simultaneous signals in a harbor could almost immediately be discounted as an accident or glitch, and not monopolize search and rescue assets. However, it may cause an initial panic.

The title text continues the joke about the nature of EPIRBs. Because they continuously broadcast their location (particularly modern GPIRBs with a GPS feature to provide an actual location and not just a signal to home in on), there is no reason to worry about the box floating out of the harbor and getting lost, because (even if it ''does'' float out of the harbor) there is no risk of "losing" it - there will be 1,600 separate signals indicating where to recover the box.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[:Cueball and Megan are on a bridge between a ship and a dock with wood. There is a cart and they drop a box with this text on it]
EPRIB
Water-Activated Distress Beacons
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T00:22:14Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3169
| date = November 17, 2025
| title = EPIRBs
| image = epirbs_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN UNATTENDED DISTRESS BEACON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}} (EPIRB) is a maritime safety device that, when it comes in contact with water, sends a distress signal via satellite. This signal is detected by search and rescue organizations such as the {{w|United States Coast Guard}} so that they can dispatch a rescue team. An EPIRB's purpose is to automatically notify such authorities of emergencies at sea such as ship sinking when it is out of range of normal radio communications and/or where those affected may not be able to reliably communicate their plight and correct location.

In the comic Cueball and Megan accidentally drop a box containing 1,600 EPIRBs into the water while moving it from a ship to a dock. Because EPIRBs automatically activate when immersed in water, and apparently the crate contains fully enabled units not otherwise held within waterproof packaging, the result would be 1,600 simultaneous signals of a ship sinking. The text beneath the comic is a quote of them calling the Coast Guard to again apologize for the overwhelming flood of signals. The joke of the comic is that the automatic nature of EPIRBs could allow such an overload if a package of them were dropped in water, and that it would cause difficulty for a search and rescue group to receive so many signals at once.

In reality, EPIRBs usually require some sort of pre-activation and would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit and prior to sale or installation on a vessel. In addition, instead of overwhelming emergency response, 1,600 simultaneous signals in a harbor could almost immediately be discounted as an accident or glitch, and not monopolize search and rescue assets. However, it may cause an initial panic.

The title text continues the joke about the nature of EPIRBs. Because they continuously broadcast their location (particularly modern GPIRBs with a GPS feature to provide an actual location and not just a signal to home in on), there is no reason to worry about the box floating out of the harbor and getting lost, because there is no risk of "losing" it - there will be 1,600 separate signals indicating where to recover the box.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[:Cueball and Megan are on a bridge between a ship and a dock with wood. There is a cart and they drop a box with this text on it]
EPRIB
Water-Activated Distress Beacons
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-18T00:19:22Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ Presumed editing glitch... This bit fits better within the rest of the edit (though not totally necessary at all).

{{comic
| number = 3169
| date = November 17, 2025
| title = EPIRBs
| image = epirbs_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY AN UNATTENDED DISTRESS BEACON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

An {{w|emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}} (EPIRB) is a maritime safety device that, when it comes in contact with water, sends a distress signal via satellite. This signal is detected by search and rescue organizations such as the {{w|United States Coast Guard}} so that they can dispatch a rescue team. An EPIRB's purpose is to automatically notify such authorities of emergencies at sea such as ship sinking when it is out of range of radio communications.

In the comic Cueball and Megan accidentally drop a box containing 1,600 EPIRBs into the water while moving it from a ship to a dock. Because EPIRBs automatically activate when immersed in water, and apparently the crate contains fully enabled units not otherwise held within waterproof packaging, the result would be 1,600 simultaneous signals of a ship sinking. The text beneath the comic is a quote of them calling the Coast Guard to again apologize for the overwhelming flood of signals. The joke of the comic is that the automatic nature of EPIRBs could allow such an overload if a package of them were dropped in water, and that it would cause difficulty for a search and rescue group to receive so many signals at once.

In reality, EPIRBs usually require some sort of pre-activation and would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit and prior to sale or installation on a vessel. In addition, instead of overwhelming emergency response, 1,600 simultaneous signals in a harbor could almost immediately be discounted as an accident or glitch, and not monopolize search and rescue assets. However, it may cause an initial panic.

The title text continues the joke about the nature of EPIRBs. Because they continuously broadcast their location (particularly modern GPIRBs with a GPS feature to provide an actual location and not just a signal to home in on), there is no reason to worry about the box floating out of the harbor and getting lost, because there is no risk of "losing" it - there will be 1,600 separate signals indicating where to recover the box.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[:Cueball and Megan are on a bridge between a ship and a dock with wood. There is a cart and they drop a box with this text on it]
EPRIB
Water-Activated Distress Beacons
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3169: EPIRBs

2025-11-17T23:24:49Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ ...just to start things off.

spiral

2025-11-16T01:12:23Z

2.98.65.8: /* Transcript */ Deserved a more expanded description, as far as I felt able to give it. (Who the young man is (presumed with the wedding-gift sewing machine rescued from the van that didn't quite finish its deliveries), I have no idea! :P )

{{comic
| title = spiral
[[File:spiral1.jpg]]
[[File:spiral2.jpg]]
[[File:spiral3.jpg]]
[[File:spiral4.jpg]]
[[File:spiral5.jpg]]
[[File:spiral6.jpg]]
[[File:spiral7.jpg]]
[[File:spiral8.jpg]]
[[File:spiral9.jpg]]
| lappend = spiral
| extra = no
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
{{misc page}}

This page is linked from [[1488: Flowcharts]].

This appears to be a selection of images with the {{w|golden ratio}} spiral superimposed to display hidden meaning in their appearance. These spirals originate from a specialised point of the subjects and continue along some meaningful lines of the subject. The humour here could be that the golden ratio is normally found in famously aesthetically pleasing objects, whereas the images Randall has provided do not quite fulfil that brief.

==Transcript==
:[Nine eclectically unrelated images are the only contents of this entire web-page, each overlaid with at least one golden spiral and the frame of squares that define its shape. All but one image are photos, and a number of them show subjects that might be considered quirky, or at least 'niche', even before the overlay is applied.]

:[A photo Weird Al Yankovic, wearing an "LA Dodgers" baseball cap, and a sports jacket. His head and eyes are askew in a deliberate 'wacky' pose. The spiral begins in one of his eyes and a significant part of the other his face matches the curve, the spiral's framing lines are angled even more skewed than his head.]

:[An old 1970s 'Batman'-themed water-pistol, shaped as Batman himself in a frankly disturbing pose. The spiral originates from the base of the 'crotch'-trigger, and the curve eventually closely matches the profile around the back of Batman, from the the thighs, over his cape-clad back and to his neck, the constructing grid being orthagonal to the image and the whole segmented spiral overlay sits neatly within the image edges.]

:[A besuited and smiling young man, perhaps dressed for a wedding reception, is holding a small portable sewing machine and standing in front of a scene in which three policemen stand in attendence of an apparent accident. A standard UPS delivery van has apparently reversed off the road and down an embankment, which it is now angled up. The spiral starts on one of the van's headlights and sort of aligns with the top bottom and one side of the inclined van's front, as well as across the face of the young man. The grid is aligned to the highly rotated truck front, closely matching its upper and lower edges and the the central pillar between the two-part front windows.]

:[A very limber cat, mostly white but patterned with light-gingerish splodges, is sprawled in a very relaxed-looking but typically feline spine-twisting pose, apparently on a leather sofa. The back of its head manages almost to rest its own groin, due to its apparently effortless contortions. Starting almost at the point of one of its eyes, the curve really only significantly matches the cat's back/side from its rear-legs/rump to its midriff, the constructive grid at a seemingly arbitrary angle.]

:[A stock photo of a young Bill Gates casually on top of an office desk, smiling, leaning on a monochrome (white-on-blue) computer monitor displaying something with the Microsoft Logo (1982-1987). Various other computers and peripherals are on another desk in the background, in front of a window showing a likely third/fourth-storey view onto a possibly snow-dusted campus-like location with a pine forest stand visible in the near distance. Spiralling from the eye of Bill Gates, the curve toys with following some of his hair, but seems to mostly have been allowed to eventually align to the lower hem of the cream sweater he is wearing. The spiral's frame may have been rotated to intersect various edges of computer monitors, but is otherwise angled fairly arbitrary and not particularly precisely with the subjects head.]

:[Vladimir Putin, posed barechested and holding a fishing rod in a forest/river setting, perhaps one of his (im)famous and (maybe) unintentionally homoeretic calender shoots from the mid 2010s. The origin of the spiral is one of his nipples, with a few incidental contacts with his body (e.g. his man-cleavage and angled forearm), but the main congruence seeminly being the underside of the bush-hat he's wearing. The frmework is orthagonal, with particular additional relationship to the underyling image.]

:[A bright-eyed Joe Biden, toothily smiling into the camera in a likely publicity shot from his time as Vice-President. There are two counterrotating spirals, both originating from the same spot near the corner of one of his eyes, one of which tries to match the shape of his lower lip, the other seems to be keyed to the top of his thin but tidy grey-white head of hair. The framing scaffoldings are orthagonal but effectively perpendicular to each other, in an almost perfect 45° reflective relationship.]

:[The only image that is not a photographic scene, it is a scan or screen-shot of a road-atlas style map, mostly of parts of Massachusetts. It primarily encompasses Cape Cod and Boston. The spiral originates in the rough centre of Cape Cod Bay (not labeled) then spirals round to follow the geographically-curved shape of Cape Cod itself past Provincetown and Orleans, before cutting out across both land and sea, via Falmouth, up through Taunton and almost straight through the centre of Boston, just barely skirting Massachusetts Bay itself on the landward side, before exiting back to sea heading out towards the Gulf Of Maine to the north-east at the extreme top of the image. The skewed grid, for the spiral is slightly off-orthagonal.]

:[Another cat, with an orange-with-white mackeral coat, laid on a possibly wooden-effect laminate flooring, apparently at ease or (from the tail) pleasantly excited/playful. Its head is currently fully inserted (neck-to-neck) into a 'horse head' toy, possibly latex, with a fiberous mane and in a tanned/red hue that blends well with the cat's own fur. It is smaller than any actual horse-head would be, but still looks to be roughly the same volume as the uncovered part of the cat's body and has a mouth-open and visibly staring eye that gives the impression of the whole 'cat-horse' chimera-creature being startled. There are three different spirals superimposed. One starts on the floor below the outstretched rear legs to conform with the cat's belly and the back of its nearest foreleg. The second originates within its body, in order to follow the curve of its back and down behind the most outstretched rear paw. Its third spiral is set 'behind'/above its tail to somwhat follow the underside of its curved tail, to the back, in a curve that is a 180-degree rotation around its contact point with the second spiral, while the first 'fits' to the second at right-angles, and centre-to-edge (to within almost the width of the lines involved) as far as the alignment of the grids are concerned.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Extra pages]]

3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-15T21:03:50Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3165
| date = November 7, 2025
| title = Earthquake Prediction Flowchart
| image = earthquake_prediction_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 318x494px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created EXACTLY 3.1415926 YEARS BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The comic purports to depict a flowchart for determining whether you should believe someone claiming to be able to predict {{w|earthquakes}} with precision. However, this "flowchart" immediately leads to a hard '''NO''', with a brief description as to why. [https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/fact-sheet/how_often_do_earthquakes_occur Earthquakes happen] [https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=-77.5421,-217.26563&extent=84.9901,345.23438 all the time], so if someone claims they can predict them, we'd have their methodology proven or disproven almost immediately. Also, if it was reliable, seismologists would be parading it around as a revolutionary discovery. Thus, there should be no remaining need to consult a flowchart on the matter. Another interpretation is that seismologists will get mad over claiming useless facts.

In this context it is noteworthy that six Italian seismologists, volcanologists and engineers were {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prosecutions|charged with manslaughter}} in the aftermath of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, on the basis of having been "falsely reassuring". Six days before the earthquake killed 308 people, they convened in a committee meeting, and decided that there was no reason to warn the population over the highly tentative possibility that minor geological activity was a sign that something more major ''might'' be imminent. Seven years after the quake, they were finally cleared of wrongdoing. A high-ranking government official was not fully cleared, however, for inappropriate public reassurances. At other times, 'warnings' have been issued that did ''not'' clearly precede any actual disasters, and there are clearly many arguments about whether or not to risk "{{w|The Boy Who Cried Wolf|crying wolf}}" on flimsy evidence.

Prior to the L'Aquila quake, {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prior warning|other predictions were announced}} for a different part of the faultline. Retroactively, these previously dismissed claims were used to support that the threat was actually known. But similarly 'predictive' warnings are given all the time, and the initial interpretation makes it more likely to be just coincidentally connected with the real quake in not quite the 'right' place and not even necessarily at the right time. The only thing to be sure about is that certainty, both of when/where earthquakes might happen or of their ''not'' happening, is very much overrated.

This strip is similar to [[1723: Meteorite Identification]], as a one-step flowchart ending in a firm ''no''.

The title text compares those who claim to predict earthquakes to those who claim to predict the end of the world (based on their religion, for example). A prominent argument against those who claim to be able to predict non-apocalyptic disasters like earthquakes is that the "predictor" has not predicted any such disasters ''prior'' to their claim. An apocalypse, however, is not something that has occurred before,{{Citation needed}} and generally only happens once. Thus, unlike an earthquake predictor, anyone predicting an apocalypse will not need to explain any failures ({{w|False positives and false negatives|false negatives}}) to predict previous apocalypses. People who have ''previously'' predicted an apocalypse and failed to have it come about (i.e. a false positive), should be exceptions, but {{w|Harold Camping|such people}} never seem to lose credibility with their more devout followers.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above a flowchart:]
:Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake.
:Should you listen?

:[At the top of the flowchart is a wide diamond with the following text:]
:Start
:[An arrow points down to a rectangle with the following text:]
:<big>'''NO'''</big>
:(There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever '''''does''''' figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and the world's seismologists will not shut up about it.
:You won't need this flowchart.)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Earthquakes]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-11-15T20:44:04Z

2.98.65.8: /* Editing other people's words? */

3168: Beam Dump

2025-11-15T00:22:12Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3168
| date = November 14, 2025
| title = Beam Dump
| image = beam_dump_2x.png
| imagesize = 309x346px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAFELY DECELERATING BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic makes a pun on the fact physics work very differently at the atomic level. In the comic, [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], and [[White Hat]] have apparently hired an accelerator physicist to design a water park, portrayed as [[Ponytail]]. Ponytail decided that, in the event an emergency stop is activated on a large waterslide, the riders would be diverted to a "beam dump", a large block of graphite which Ponytail believes would safely slow the momentum of the riders. Of course, this wouldn't work on the human scale,{{cn}} as graphite is extremely solid and not good for survivably slowing down living beings.

However, in the context of a particle accelerator, {{w|beam dump}}s are indeed formed of large blocks of graphite, in order to safely slow the particles without having them release large amounts of energy. It could be argued that since this measure is intended for the safety of the operators, and not the particles (in this case, customers) it would technically be effective at the original purpose if the blocks are sufficiently large, protecting the operators from high velocity customers &em; if not from the lawsuits of any survivors/next-of-kin.{{cn}}

The title text adds to the joke, with the park designers apparently utilizing {{w|flypaper}} to 'minimize reflection or scattering of customers'. Of course, this would not work, as humans would be able to perceive and avoid the flypaper, unless they are fully boxed in. 

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[Ponytail is standing in front of a diagram on the wall, pointing at it with a pointer. The diagram has a picture of a waterslide and some untelligible text. The waterslide has two paths at the bottom; one returns to the base of the entrance tower, the other goes to a large black block. On the right stand Cueball, Megan, and White Hat facing her.]

Ponytail: If the emergency stop is activated, any riders on the waterslide will be diverted into the beam dump, a large graphite block which will safely absorb their momentum.

[Caption below comic:]

We regretted hiring an accelerator phsycist to design our water park.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-11-14T23:14:32Z

2.98.65.8: /* Editing other people's words? */

Talk:1120: Blurring the Line

2025-11-14T22:45:22Z

2.98.65.8: I'm guessing Rashby is English, and so used the normal English spelling in their own comment. And, even if it's exactly thirteen years old, this is an example of something that should not have been changed.

This comic might refer to the movie {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}} --[[User:Mambro|Mambro]] ([[User talk:Mambro|talk]]) 10:53, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
:It might also refer to the movie, "Teen Titans Go! to the Movies". {{unsigned ip|172.68.38.64|02:34, 25 October 2019 (UTC)}}
::Highly unlikely (at least originally), as that movie came out in 2018, nearly six years after the comic. [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 16:22, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

:There's a whole host of movies that white hat might be referring to. We can't know just from one theme present in the play, as there's a bajillion possible movies that it could be. Best to leave it unnamed.[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 11:54, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
::Or we could just mention the best-known (recent enough that a plurality of modern First-Worlders remember the ad blitz for it, yet old enough that many of those already probably regard it as a classic) example of such a movie, "Inception". I could say a lot more on the subject of MNG, but I'm not exactly an unbiased witness, so I'll leave the topic alone for now. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.52|173.245.54.52]] 19:53, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I don't think he was "passing the conversational ball" so much as it was meant to be a humorous blurring of the line between metaphor and reality (he's the "Michael Jordan" of blurring the line between metaphor and reality and then he has an actual basketball).
Also, what is "masturbatory naval gazing" supposed to mean? If someone could explain that portion, that would be great. [[User:Trek7553|Trek7553]] ([[User talk:Trek7553|talk]]) 14:51, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Referring to the basketball's orange color in the transcript could make a more accurate transcript. The appearance of the coloured basketball in the otherwise black and white panels is a very dramatic intrusion of "more reality" into the black and white 2D panel. "More reality" since color is an important property most of us experience in our real lives. A very abstract 2D drawing of people discussing 3D movie depictions of our shared actual reality (i've never considered xkcd to reference Flatland) seems to be playing with levels of abstraction visually, in addition to the self-referential language.[[User:Rashby|Rashby]] ([[User talk:Rashby|talk]]) 07:07, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

Wow!
Really?

Is sexual self arousal the goal of masturbation?[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 17:33, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
:Yes. Entirely so. I mean, literally what other function could it have? -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 03:07, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

"Masturbatory navel gazing" is a contradiction in terms, hence the cursor text.

From Merriam-Webster: Naval-gazing is useless or excessive self-contemplation. One could define a movie about movies in this way. Masturbation is self-love, and a movie about movies could be thought of as a form of self love too. --[[User:Johngardner|Johngardner]] ([[User talk:Johngardner|talk]]) 15:44, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Time to add absolutely nothing to anything.
b0nk
There we go. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 13:20, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

925: Cell Phones

2025-11-14T22:29:55Z

2.98.65.8: Tidied up a final bit of obvios vandal-detrirus. If there actually were any constructive edits made today, they will need redoing.

{{comic
| number = 925
| date = July 15, 2011
| title = Cell Phones
| image = cell_phones.png
| titletext = He holds the laptop like that on purpose, to make you cringe.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a good explanation of the correlation/causation fallacy, where one party states two unrelated events and posits that they must have influenced each other.

After hearing about the "Cell Phones Don't Cause Cancer" study, which refutes a claim made by the ''{{w|World Health Organization}}'' (just Google the debate or {{w|Mobile phone radiation and health|check out Wikipedia's article on it}}, the comic doesn't focus much on it), [[Black Hat]] plots "Total Cancer Incidence" per 100,000 and "Cell Phone Users" per 100 on the same graph. The graph in frame 3 shows an exponential rise in cancer in the 70's and 80's, followed by an exponential rise in cell phone usage in the 2000's. Black Hat reverses the correlation/causation fallacy, and comically comes to the conclusion that ''cancer'' causes ''cell phones''.

The comic highlights a well-known fallacy known as ''{{w|post hoc ergo propter hoc}}'', often shortened to simply ''post hoc.'' The Latin translates to "after this, therefore because of this,” (the simpler "after this" therefore implies “because of this”; ''post hoc'', as it were!) referring to the common mistake that because two events happen in chronological order, the former event must have caused the latter event. The fallacy is often the root cause of many superstitions (e.g., a person noticing they wore a special bracelet before getting a good test score thinking the bracelet was the source of their good fortune), but it often crosses into more serious areas of thinking. In this case, the scientific research community, which often prides itself on its intellectual aptitude, is gently mocked for being nonetheless prone to such poor reasoning all too often. The different possibilities are generally known as causation, when one thing is proven to cause another, or correlation, when changes in one thing are aligned with changes in another, but there is no proof that they are directly related.

The title text refers to the way Black Hat holds the laptop in panel 2. Being that Cueball (and Randall, for that matter) are quite into computers, the potential damage to a laptop screen either from the weight of its lower body or the pressure of the user's fingers on the LCD screen is enough to make him squirm in discomfort. The risk of dropping the computer is also present. Both the fallacy and the way Black Hat is holding his laptop contribute to the "problems" that Cueball mentions.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball holds a cellphone. Black Hat is sitting at a desk with a laptop.]
:Cueball: Another huge study found no evidence that cell phones cause cancer. What was the W.H.O. thinking?
:Black Hat: I think they just got it backward.

:[Black Hat turns towards Cueball in an unframed panel, holding the laptop with one hand by the upper edge of the screen. Cueball is not visible.]
:Cueball: Huh?
:Black Hat: Well, take a look.

:[There is a plot of total cancer incidence and cell phone users. Cancer rises from 1970 to 1990, then stays relatively steady. Cell phone use rises from roughly 1984, and steeply after 1990, to the present.]

:Cueball: You're not... There are ''so'' many problems with that.
:Black Hat: Just to be safe, until I see more data I'm going to assume cancer causes cell phones.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Phones]]

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-11-14T22:11:45Z

2.98.65.8: /* Editing other people's words? */ new section

3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T11:55:13Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ Remnant of double-nested parens, that I thought I'd abandoned.

{{comic
| number = 3166
| date = November 10, 2025
| title = Big and Little Spoons
| image = big_and_little_spoons_2x.png
| imagesize = 662x259px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAME-SIZED SPOON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Spooning}} is the intimate (and sometimes, but not always, sexual) act of laying down so that one's fore is directly up against the back of another person. A common colloquial term for people in this position is to refer to the two participants as "big spoon" (the one behind) and "little spoon" (the one in front). Cueball points out that the colloquialism does not have any basis in reality due to how spoons nest; commonly, spoons of the the same size will form a relatively uniform stack, which may be handy with a full complement of {{w|cutlery}} that is stored together in functional groups, while the spoons of differing sizes would rest awkwardly due to the different curvature in their handles. There ''may'' be an exception for a {{w|File:Swedish Measuring Spoon Set.jpeg|measuring spoon ''set''}}, or one-person camping set (perhaps small spoon, large spoon, plus knife and fork; or involving [[419: Forks and Spoons|hybrid]] {{w|Combination eating utensils|flatware}}), where one of each type is deliberately designed to be nested/packed against the others.

The last panel reveals that he is {{tvtropes|ExiledToTheCouch|sleeping on the couch}}, presumably because of his nitpickery regarding the colloquialism. From another room, someone else - presumably Megan - realizes that he is addressing anyone who is listening about this, and expresses annoyance that he hasn't let the matter go; Cueball merely insists that he's ''right'', indicating his refusal to let the matter slide.

The title text asks whether you are annoying spoon or sleepy spoon, which, in this context, most likely means to ask whether you are like Cueball (who is annoying) or like his sleepy partner.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Close up shot of Cueball's head and neck. Cueball is facing the left and has his arm raised.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the big spoon.

:[Cueball's face and neck are still the only elements visible. Cueball is facing the right now and has lowered his hand.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the little spoon.

:[A big spoon sitting atop a little spoon and a little spoon sitting atop a big spoon are depicted.]
:And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don't nest right ''either'' way. You nest ''same''-sized spoons.

:[Cueball is lying alone on a couch.]
:...and apparently ''we'' sleep on the couch.
:[Voice from outside the panel:]
:Voice: Why are you ''still'' going on about the spoon thing?
:Cueball: Because I'm ''right!''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]

3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T11:53:55Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ Tyop

{{comic
| number = 3166
| date = November 10, 2025
| title = Big and Little Spoons
| image = big_and_little_spoons_2x.png
| imagesize = 662x259px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAME-SIZED SPOON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Spooning}} is the intimate (and sometimes, but not always, sexual) act of laying down so that one's fore is directly up against the back of another person. A common colloquial term for people in this position is to refer to the two participants as "big spoon" (the one behind) and "little spoon" (the one in front). Cueball points out that the colloquialism does not have any basis in reality due to how spoons nest; commonly, spoons of the the same size will form a relatively uniform stack, which may be handy with a full complement of {{w|cutlery}} that is stored together in functional groups, while the spoons of differing sizes would rest awkwardly due to the different curvature in their handles. There ''may'' be an exception for a {{w|File:Swedish Measuring Spoon Set.jpeg|measuring spoon ''set''}}, or one-person camping set (perhaps small spoon, large spoon, plus knife and fork; or involving [[419: Forks and Spoons|hybrid]] {{w|Combination eating utensils|flatware}}), where one of each type is deliberately designed to be nested/packed against the others.)

The last panel reveals that he is {{tvtropes|ExiledToTheCouch|sleeping on the couch}}, presumably because of his nitpickery regarding the colloquialism. From another room, someone else - presumably Megan - realizes that he is addressing anyone who is listening about this, and expresses annoyance that he hasn't let the matter go; Cueball merely insists that he's ''right'', indicating his refusal to let the matter slide.

The title text asks whether you are annoying spoon or sleepy spoon, which, in this context, most likely means to ask whether you are like Cueball (who is annoying) or like his sleepy partner.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Close up shot of Cueball's head and neck. Cueball is facing the left and has his arm raised.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the big spoon.

:[Cueball's face and neck are still the only elements visible. Cueball is facing the right now and has lowered his hand.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the little spoon.

:[A big spoon sitting atop a little spoon and a little spoon sitting atop a big spoon are depicted.]
:And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don't nest right ''either'' way. You nest ''same''-sized spoons.

:[Cueball is lying alone on a couch.]
:...and apparently ''we'' sleep on the couch.
:[Voice from outside the panel:]
:Voice: Why are you ''still'' going on about the spoon thing?
:Cueball: Because I'm ''right!''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]

Talk:3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T11:51:35Z

2.98.65.8:

A spoon the size of a couch [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 03:16, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Panel four evoked a genuine out-loud laugh when most of the time I usually only get chuckles. Still my favorite comic that's not about hornyness. [[Special:Contributions/2603:800C:1200:596A:642C:F071:BB63:22A9|2603:800C:1200:596A:642C:F071:BB63:22A9]] 03:53, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Should there be a sentence about how sets of measuring spoons are designed to nest? [[Special:Contributions/138.229.156.169|138.229.156.169]] 04:51, 11 November 2025 (UTC)
:Your wish is my command. Though I didn't know it was your wish, as it was also already mine on first viewing, and included thoughts about one-person easy-pack cutlery sets, etc, too, which... well, can also involve compatibly-nesting knorks, and the like, for a theoretical minimum of packing-space [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 11:51, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

What's with the Royal We in the last panel?--[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:31, 11 November 2025 (UTC)
: I believe it refers to the 'some brave truth-tellers', a set of which Cueball believes he is a member. --[[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 11:23, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Randall isn't the first webcomic creator to use this idea: [https://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/who-stacks-irregular-spoons-anyway] [[Special:Contributions/88.85.135.155|88.85.135.155]] 08:53, 11 November 2025 (UTC)
: A similar take on it was addressed in another medium in ''Mallrats''. That was more about the arm problem than the relative sizes, though. --[[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 11:27, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T11:44:46Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ "Lying" in a sexual context could mean deceipt, invoking the "laying" form to make it more obvious that it's a reclined position. And presumably continuing the conversation from the sofa because of being banished to the sofa for this.

{{comic
| number = 3166
| date = November 10, 2025
| title = Big and Little Spoons
| image = big_and_little_spoons_2x.png
| imagesize = 662x259px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAME-SIZED SPOON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Spooning}} is the intimate (and sometimes, but not always, sexual) act of laying down so that one's fore is directly up against the back of another person. A common colloquial term for people in this position is to refer to the two participants as "big spoon" (the one behind) and "little spoon" (the one in front). Cueball points out that the colloquialism does not have any basis in reality due to how spoons nest; commonly, spoons of the the same size will form a relatively uniform stack, which may be handy with a full complement if {{w|cutlery}} that is stored together in functional groups, while the spoons of differing sizes would rest awkwardly due to the different curvature in their handles. There ''may'' be an exception for a {{w|File:Swedish Measuring Spoon Set.jpeg|measuring spoon ''set''}}, or one-person camping set (perhaps small spoon, large spoon, plus knife and fork; or involving [[419: Forks and Spoons|hybrid]] {{w|Combination eating utensils|flatware}}), where one of each type is deliberately designed to be nested/packed against the others.)

The last panel reveals that he is {{tvtropes|ExiledToTheCouch|sleeping on the couch}}, presumably because of his nitpickery regarding the colloquialism. From another room, someone else - presumably Megan - realizes that he is addressing anyone who is listening about this, and expresses annoyance that he hasn't let the matter go; Cueball merely insists that he's ''right'', indicating his refusal to let the matter slide.

The title text asks whether you are annoying spoon or sleepy spoon, which, in this context, most likely means to ask whether you are like Cueball (who is annoying) or like his sleepy partner.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Close up shot of Cueball's head and neck. Cueball is facing the left and has his arm raised.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the big spoon.

:[Cueball's face and neck are still the only elements visible. Cueball is facing the right now and has lowered his hand.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the little spoon.

:[A big spoon sitting atop a little spoon and a little spoon sitting atop a big spoon are depicted.]
:And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don't nest right ''either'' way. You nest ''same''-sized spoons.

:[Cueball is lying alone on a couch.]
:...and apparently ''we'' sleep on the couch.
:[Voice from outside the panel:]
:Voice: Why are you ''still'' going on about the spoon thing?
:Cueball: Because I'm ''right!''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]

3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T11:41:08Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3166
| date = November 10, 2025
| title = Big and Little Spoons
| image = big_and_little_spoons_2x.png
| imagesize = 662x259px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAME-SIZED SPOON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Spooning}} is the intimate (and sometimes, but not always, sexual) act of lying so that one's fore is directly up against the back of another person. A common colloquial term for people in this position is to refer to the two participants as "big spoon" (the one behind) and "little spoon" (the one in front). Cueball points out that the colloquialism does not have any basis in reality due to how spoons nest; commonly, spoons of the the same size will form a relatively uniform stack, which may be handy with a full complement if {{w|cutlery}} that is stored together in functional groups, while the spoons of differing sizes would rest awkwardly due to the different curvature in their handles. There ''may'' be an exception for a {{w|File:Swedish Measuring Spoon Set.jpeg|measuring spoon ''set''}}, or one-person camping set (perhaps small spoon, large spoon, plus knife and fork; or involving [[419: Forks and Spoons|hybrid]] {{w|Combination eating utensils|flatware}}), where one of each type is deliberately designed to be nested/packed against the others.)

The last panel reveals that he is {{tvtropes|ExiledToTheCouch|sleeping on the couch}}, presumably because of his nitpickery regarding the colloquialism. From another room, someone else - presumably Megan - realizes that he is addressing the audience about this, and expresses annoyance that he hasn't let the matter go; Cueball merely insists that he's ''right'', indicating his refusal to let the matter slide.

The title text asks whether you are annoying spoon or sleepy spoon, which, in this context, most likely means to ask whether you are like Cueball (who is annoying) or like his sleepy partner.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Close up shot of Cueball's head and neck. Cueball is facing the left and has his arm raised.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the big spoon.

:[Cueball's face and neck are still the only elements visible. Cueball is facing the right now and has lowered his hand.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the little spoon.

:[A big spoon sitting atop a little spoon and a little spoon sitting atop a big spoon are depicted.]
:And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don't nest right ''either'' way. You nest ''same''-sized spoons.

:[Cueball is lying alone on a couch.]
:...and apparently ''we'' sleep on the couch.
:[Voice from outside the panel:]
:Voice: Why are you ''still'' going on about the spoon thing?
:Cueball: Because I'm ''right!''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]

3166: Big and Little Spoons

2025-11-11T11:40:49Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3166
| date = November 10, 2025
| title = Big and Little Spoons
| image = big_and_little_spoons_2x.png
| imagesize = 662x259px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAME-SIZED SPOON. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Spooning}} is the intimate (and sometimes, but not always, sexual) act of lying so that one's fore is directly up against the back of another person. A common colloquial term for people in this position is to refer to the two participants as "big spoon" (the one behind) and "little spoon" (the one in front). Cueball points out that the colloquialism does not have any basis in reality due to how spoons nest; commonly, spoons of the the same size will form a relatively uniform stack, which may be handy with a full complement if {{w|Cutlery}} that is stored together in functional groups, while the spoons of differing sizes would rest awkwardly due to the different curvature in their handles. There ''may'' be an exception for a {{w|File:Swedish Measuring Spoon Set.jpeg|measuring spoon ''set''}}, or one-person camping set (perhaps small spoon, large spoon, plus knife and fork; or involving [[419: Forks and Spoons|hybrid]] {{w|Combination eating utensils|flatware}}), where one of each type is deliberately designed to be nested/packed against the others.)

The last panel reveals that he is {{tvtropes|ExiledToTheCouch|sleeping on the couch}}, presumably because of his nitpickery regarding the colloquialism. From another room, someone else - presumably Megan - realizes that he is addressing the audience about this, and expresses annoyance that he hasn't let the matter go; Cueball merely insists that he's ''right'', indicating his refusal to let the matter slide.

The title text asks whether you are annoying spoon or sleepy spoon, which, in this context, most likely means to ask whether you are like Cueball (who is annoying) or like his sleepy partner.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Close up shot of Cueball's head and neck. Cueball is facing the left and has his arm raised.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the big spoon.

:[Cueball's face and neck are still the only elements visible. Cueball is facing the right now and has lowered his hand.]
:Cueball: Some people like to be the little spoon.

:[A big spoon sitting atop a little spoon and a little spoon sitting atop a big spoon are depicted.]
:And some brave truth-tellers point out that the metaphor makes no sense because different-sized spoons don't nest right ''either'' way. You nest ''same''-sized spoons.

:[Cueball is lying alone on a couch.]
:...and apparently ''we'' sleep on the couch.
:[Voice from outside the panel:]
:Voice: Why are you ''still'' going on about the spoon thing?
:Cueball: Because I'm ''right!''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]

2393: Presidential Middle Names

2025-11-11T11:26:01Z

2.98.65.8: Undo revision 390564 by 112.206.96.46 (talk) Was it edited after publication? No obvious mention of that (or recollection)... Image seems to be the original image, etc.

{{comic
| number = 2393
| date = December 2, 2020
| title = Presidential Middle Names
| image = presidential_middle_names.png
| titletext = The bottom of the list remains unchanged. Poor Rutherford Birchard Hayes.
}}

==Explanation==
A list of what Randall perceives will be the prettiest presidential {{w|middle names}} after the inauguration on January 20, 2021. [[Joe Biden|Joe Robinette Biden]] (46th president-elect) will take the second slot bumping previous second-place holder {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt}}, the 32nd president, back to third. {{w|Warren G. Harding|Warren Gamaliel Harding}}, the 29th president, remains in first. Robinette is Biden's [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2008/08/joe_bidens_middle_name_is_robi.html grandmother's maiden name].

Overall, the ranking would not include every president, as many early presidents, such as {{w|George Washington}} and {{w|John Adams}}, lacked middle names. Some presidents were also more commonly known by their middle names as opposed to their first names, particularly John {{w|Calvin Coolidge}}, Stephen {{w|Grover Cleveland}}, Hiram {{w|Ulysses Grant}}, and Thomas {{w|Woodrow Wilson}}. In the case of Grant, the Senator who enrolled him at West Point messed up his full name as Ulysses Simpson Grant, hence he is widely known as ''Ulysses S. Grant'' with the spurious middle "S". Also, {{w|Harry S Truman}}'s middle name was just the letter S and was not an initial of a name; Truman's parents could not agree on which of his grandfathers' names to give him, but luckily they both started with the letter. One president has even changed his entire name: {{w|Gerald Ford}} was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., officially changing his name in 1935. The humor is based on the sheer oddity of ranking people by the perceived prettiness of their obscure middle names. There is no evidence in the comic for how Randall’s list would deal with these cases.

The title text announces that {{w|Rutherford B. Hayes|Rutherford Birchard Hayes}}, the 19th president, remains at or near the bottom.

===List of Presidents with middle names===

{| class="wikitable"
|+ (Ordered by middle name)
! President
! Presidential order
|-
|James ABRAM Garfield
|20
|-
|Chester ALAN Arthur
|21
|-
|Lyndon BAINES Johnson
|36
|-
|Rutherford BIRCHARD Hayes
|19
|-
|John CALVIN Coolidge
|30
|-
|Herbert CLARK Hoover
|31
|-
|Dwight DAVID Eisenhower
|34
|-
|Franklin DELANO Roosevelt
|32
|-
|James ("Jimmy") EARL Carter
|39
|-
|John ("Jack") FITZGERALD Kennedy
|35
|-
|Warren GAMALIEL Harding
|29
|-
|Stephen GROVER Cleveland
|22, 24
|-
|William HENRY Harrison
|9
|-
|George HERBERT WALKER Bush
|41
|-
|William HOWARD Taft
|27
|-
|Barack HUSSEIN Obama
|44
|-
|William ("Bill") JEFFERSON Clinton
|42
|-
|Donald JOHN Trump
|45, 47
|-
|James KNOX Polk
|11
|-
|Richard MILHOUS Nixon
|37
|-
|John QUINCY Adams
|6
|-
|Joseph ("Joe") ROBINETTE Biden
|46
|-
|Gerald RUDOLPH Ford
|38
|-
|Harry S. Truman (The S itself is the middle name)
|33
|-
|Hiram ULYSSES Grant (Ulysses S. Grant during his presidency -- again, the S itself is the middle name)
|18
|-
|George WALKER Bush
|43
|-
|Ronald WILSON Reagan
|40
|-
|Thomas WOODROW Wilson
|28
|}

The Presidents without middle names — almost all of those before Grant, and a few a bit later — were George Washington, John Adams, {{w|Thomas Jefferson}}, {{w|James Madison}}, {{w|James Monroe}}, {{w|Andrew Jackson}}, {{w|Martin Van Buren}}, {{w|John Tyler}}, {{w|Zachary Taylor}}, {{w|Millard Fillmore}}, {{w|Franklin Pierce}}, {{w|James Buchanan}}, {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}, {{w|Andrew Johnson}}, {{w|Benjamin Harrison}}, {{w|William McKinley}} and {{w|Theodore Roosevelt}}.

==Transcript==
:<big>Prettiest</big>
:Presidential Middle Names Official Rankings
:(Updated for 2021)

# Gamaliel (Warren Harding)
#Robinette (Joe Biden) '''(NEW!)'''
#Delano (Franklin Roosevelt) 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

Talk:3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-11T00:04:33Z

2.98.65.8:

Gettin pretty sick of the "citation needed" joke appearing in early drafts of our explanations. It's not clever to just say that at random. [citation needed] [[Special:Contributions/69.5.140.194|69.5.140.194]] 03:14, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
: I think what you meant to say was "First!!1!" [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:28, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

It turns out I suddenly find myself... needing to know the plural of apocalypse. -- Riley Finn, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ... [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:28, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

The return of the flowchart! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 03:57, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

As early as [https://doi.org/10.1785/BSSA0640051363 1974], there was substantial evidence that earthquakes at least in Southern California were unpredictable. To be more precise, the paper found that if you remove aftershocks, the distribution of earthquakes appeared to follow a Poisson distribution. This is the distribution expected from a "memoryless" process where each event is independent of any earlier event, and where earthquakes have a constant probability of occurring, making them completely impossible to predict.

It may be that not all earthquakes everywhere really work this way, but in the past 50 years, evidence has accumulated only to support this hypothesis. No progress whatsoever has been made in predicting earthquakes, only in reasons to believe they fundamentally cannot be predicted (at least without a lot of inaccessible information regarding strain deep within the earth). [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 05:16, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

: There's a difference between being impossible to predict based on past earthquakes, and being impossible to predict based on other measurable indicators, though. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.254.40|163.116.254.40]] 15:20, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Any examples of people claiming to predict earthquakes? --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 05:25, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

:Ben Davidson of YouTube channel SpaceWeatherNews (formerly Suspicious0bservers) does, and links it to a bunch of other bizarre pseudoscience. [[Special:Contributions/184.75.151.213|184.75.151.213]] 08:25, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

There's actually quite a few regular earthquakes. The issue is that they're all small and isolated. Very few people care that some mountains abruptly shift a few dozen microns every month. Many more care about the big ones that are extremely difficult to predict. [[Special:Contributions/24.19.215.69|24.19.215.69]] 06:05, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

The point about predicting the apocalypse may be related to a thing earlier this year where a bunch of folks believed that the Rapture was going to happen. Sept 23. My friend was absolutely inundated with people saying it was going to happen. [[Special:Contributions/2601:40D:4282:5380:F806:A8F7:EAF2:A7A1|2601:40D:4282:5380:F806:A8F7:EAF2:A7A1]] 12:38, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
:Don't leave me hanging... It's bad enough that I didn't even get told that it was going to happen, in advance, but at least you could let me know if it ''did''! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 11:43, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
::Well if it DID happen, then pretty few people must have been raptured... which would mean that pretty few people were actually "good" people, which seems about right though :-/--[[Special:Contributions/93.241.210.5|93.241.210.5]] 10:16, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
:My theory is that the Rapture ''did'' happen, but that all of the people who were taken were retroactively removed from existence. All evidence and memory of them disappeared. All of the terrible accidents that resulted from the sudden disappearances of vehicle drivers, equipment operators, generator managers, etc., were erased. Just like in modern-era ''Doctor Who'' after yet another alien invasion, afterwards, nobody believes that it happened. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:57, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

There ''is'' a perfect way of predicting future earthquakes to the exact second, but it requires a time machine. ("Past performance is no guarantee of future results." "That would be true if I were giving you information from ''our'' past." - Gunther Thurl and Kevyn Andreyasn, ''Schlock Mercenary'') [[Special:Contributions/207.253.24.188|207.253.24.188]] 16:00, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Does the {{w|July 2025 Japan megaquake prophecy}} needs any mention? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 16:37, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Religious apocali (apocalypses is probably fine, but doesn’t sound quite as cool) tend to only happen once, sure, but there’s also the whole “massive flood wiping out 99.99% of life” thing that happened in Christianity. It would be difficult to argue such an event wouldn’t be considered apocalyptic were it to happen today. Also, in some syncretic interpretations, the Norse Ragnarok happened prior to the events of Genesis (after the universe creation part, of course) which is about as apocalypse as it gets. Of course, there the question is less “why didn’t you predict that one” and more “another apocalypse? So what, we’ve already had 2 and it was fine.” [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 04:01, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
: Not to mention some 'cyclical history'-type theologies, where an apocalyptic event may not just have occurred more than once, but an infinite number of times. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:32, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
: ("Apocalypsen", shirley...) A "massive flood wiping out 99.99% of life" is {{w|Waterworld|a box-office disappointement}}. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 22:26, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible that there are still unknown types of Earthquakes that *are* predictable? Or quakes on bodies other than the Earth? Maybe someone couldn't predict 100% of quakes, but maybe quakes of a specific type. Particularly if someone whips out his handy dandy Quake Inducer 3000™ and says "I will cause an Earthquake on this spot tomorrow." [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.124|191.101.157.124]] 18:13, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

I predict that there will be no Apocalypse tomorrow. At least, not on Earth. (It's a fairly safe prediction, because if I'm wrong, very few people will bother to take me to task over it. Though as long as the internet persists, there will be a few.) [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:57, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
:No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 00:04, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:971: Alternative Literature

2025-11-10T22:30:55Z

2.98.65.8:

I would totally buy a blank book. I could hollow them out to make boxes, or wire up the insides to build a revolving door, or hire an artist to draw wonderful images in them to put on display for anyone who comes over to my home. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:21, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Interestingly, this is exactly the argument used to explain why reading books is better than watching TV: TV gives too much of the ready context, while a book allows the reader to fill in the blanks with his own imagination. The empty books just go one step further. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.11|108.162.246.11]] 22:15, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
:I dunno, I mean, there's plenty of space in TV to work in stuff, exercise your imagination. In my view a book is for having stuff in it. A story in a book gives you a structure to build on, a framework that lets you build higher than you would go on your own. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 04:19, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

I write short stories all the time but nobody reads them.
Maybe I should get a printer?

"Telling someone who trusts you that you're giving them medicine, when you know you're not, because you want their money, isn't just lying--it's like an example you'd make up if you had to illustrate for a child why lying is wrong."

I think it is worse when vets do it to cattle and sheep. You never get to hear the farmer saying "Bah!"
though. Odd, that.[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 19:10, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Anybody else reminded of "The Library of Babel" by Borges? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.113|108.162.238.113]] 16:32, 14 September 2019 (UTC)

Going way back to the 2013 comment (writing in 2021): there are excellent reasons to buy blank books. As you say, writing in them is a really good reason. Buying them to ''read'' is not, for my non-hallucinatory self, a good reason. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 13:44, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

Everybody here going on about the benefits of buying blank books to write and draw stuff. You guys know those are called notebooks, right? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.254.27|172.70.254.27]] 19:06, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

I was simply reminded of John Cage's blank music piece. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 11:05, 17 November 2024 (UTC)
:That's {{w|4′33″}}, though of course that's deliberately "everything but the music", compared to "we put something in that's (apparently) related to the problem, but then diluted it out so you don't get any side-effects (but somehow still the effects that we imagine)". The Cage piece is more an honest "here, have an elaborate drink of water" than homeopathy's "you ''will'' hear whatever other symphony you desire, in your head!"... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.142|172.70.86.142]] 12:31, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Why do all the links lead to rationalwiki? should this be changed? {{unsigned|New editor|20:30, 10 November 2025}}

Talk:3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-10T22:26:54Z

2.98.65.8:

Gettin pretty sick of the "citation needed" joke appearing in early drafts of our explanations. It's not clever to just say that at random. [citation needed] [[Special:Contributions/69.5.140.194|69.5.140.194]] 03:14, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
: I think what you meant to say was "First!!1!" [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:28, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

It turns out I suddenly find myself... needing to know the plural of apocalypse. -- Riley Finn, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ... [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:28, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

The return of the flowchart! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 03:57, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

As early as [https://doi.org/10.1785/BSSA0640051363 1974], there was substantial evidence that earthquakes at least in Southern California were unpredictable. To be more precise, the paper found that if you remove aftershocks, the distribution of earthquakes appeared to follow a Poisson distribution. This is the distribution expected from a "memoryless" process where each event is independent of any earlier event, and where earthquakes have a constant probability of occurring, making them completely impossible to predict.

It may be that not all earthquakes everywhere really work this way, but in the past 50 years, evidence has accumulated only to support this hypothesis. No progress whatsoever has been made in predicting earthquakes, only in reasons to believe they fundamentally cannot be predicted (at least without a lot of inaccessible information regarding strain deep within the earth). [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 05:16, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

: There's a difference between being impossible to predict based on past earthquakes, and being impossible to predict based on other measurable indicators, though. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.254.40|163.116.254.40]] 15:20, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Any examples of people claiming to predict earthquakes? --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 05:25, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

:Ben Davidson of YouTube channel SpaceWeatherNews (formerly Suspicious0bservers) does, and links it to a bunch of other bizarre pseudoscience. [[Special:Contributions/184.75.151.213|184.75.151.213]] 08:25, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

There's actually quite a few regular earthquakes. The issue is that they're all small and isolated. Very few people care that some mountains abruptly shift a few dozen microns every month. Many more care about the big ones that are extremely difficult to predict. [[Special:Contributions/24.19.215.69|24.19.215.69]] 06:05, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

The point about predicting the apocalypse may be related to a thing earlier this year where a bunch of folks believed that the Rapture was going to happen. Sept 23. My friend was absolutely inundated with people saying it was going to happen. [[Special:Contributions/2601:40D:4282:5380:F806:A8F7:EAF2:A7A1|2601:40D:4282:5380:F806:A8F7:EAF2:A7A1]] 12:38, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
:Don't leave me hanging... It's bad enough that I didn't even get told that it was going to happen, in advance, but at least you could let me know if it ''did''! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 11:43, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
::Well if it DID happen, then pretty few people must have been raptured... which would mean that pretty few people were actually "good" people, which seems about right though :-/--[[Special:Contributions/93.241.210.5|93.241.210.5]] 10:16, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

There ''is'' a perfect way of predicting future earthquakes to the exact second, but it requires a time machine. ("Past performance is no guarantee of future results." "That would be true if I were giving you information from ''our'' past." - Gunther Thurl and Kevyn Andreyasn, ''Schlock Mercenary'') [[Special:Contributions/207.253.24.188|207.253.24.188]] 16:00, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Does the {{w|July 2025 Japan megaquake prophecy}} needs any mention? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 16:37, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Religious apocali (apocalypses is probably fine, but doesn’t sound quite as cool) tend to only happen once, sure, but there’s also the whole “massive flood wiping out 99.99% of life” thing that happened in Christianity. It would be difficult to argue such an event wouldn’t be considered apocalyptic were it to happen today. Also, in some syncretic interpretations, the Norse Ragnarok happened prior to the events of Genesis (after the universe creation part, of course) which is about as apocalypse as it gets. Of course, there the question is less “why didn’t you predict that one” and more “another apocalypse? So what, we’ve already had 2 and it was fine.” [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 04:01, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
: Not to mention some 'cyclical history'-type theologies, where an apocalyptic event may not just have occurred more than once, but an infinite number of times. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:32, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
: ("Apocalypsen", shirley...) A "massive flood wiping out 99.99% of life" is {{w|Waterworld|a box-office disappointement}}. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 22:26, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible that there are still unknown types of Earthquakes that *are* predictable? Or quakes on bodies other than the Earth? Maybe someone couldn't predict 100% of quakes, but maybe quakes of a specific type. Particularly if someone whips out his handy dandy Quake Inducer 3000™ and says "I will cause an Earthquake on this spot tomorrow." [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.124|191.101.157.124]] 18:13, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

3163: Repair Video

2025-11-10T22:21:40Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ a lot of commas in and out of sub-clauses, not necessarily done in a readable or even logical manner (also worried that the edit that prompted this is far too overwordy and isn't actually a good replacement for what it succeeded, meh...)

{{comic
| number = 3163
| date = November 3, 2025
| title = Repair Video
| image = repair_video_2x.png
| imagesize = 305x449px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The statue should be in the likeness of whatever sculptor posted the sculpting tool repair video that was most helpful during the installation of the statue.
}}

==Explanation==

This strip depicts [[Cueball]] finding a video explaining how to fix the exact problem he is currently having with his humidifier.

The nature of mass-produced consumer products means that issues that come up with one unit (either due to design or manufacturing issues) are likely to show up elsewhere in products of the same line. Where these issues are major, causing safety issues or immediate lack of functionality, the product might be recalled. But it is common for products (particularly ones with complex moving parts) to develop minor issues, which aren't worth discarding the item over but which cause problems. In this case, it's "an annoying clicking sound". Such problems can cause anything from annoyance to loss of functionality, and the typical options are either to just live with the problem, try to return it (if it's within the warranty period) or just discard it. All of these put a burden on people, to one degree or another.

In many cases, these issues are due to a minor design flaw or defect, and may have a simple fix. But, since they aren't part of the intended operation, there's generally no official source information about such fixes. Some people, by examination, specialized knowledge and/or luck, are able to figure out these fixes on their own. In a pre-internet era, such knowledge was rarely spread (the odds of knowing another person with the same model of the same product having the same issue are pretty low). In modern times, though, such fixes can be posted online for anyone else who encounters the same problem.

Importantly, there's very little incentive to share such information. These fixes are obscure enough, and apply to few enough people, that maintaining such information commercially is unlikely to be profitable. Instead, such videos are generally made by individuals who figured out how to fix their own products and want to share the information. While the effort of making and posting such a video is generally minor. It is also very unlikely to generate any profit or widespread recognition, so people generally do it entirely out of a desire to help others avoid the aggravation they themselves had to go through. It is helpful but thankless work, carried out by ordinary people.

The caption states that people who go to such effort should be commemorated with "at minimum, a statue". He acknowledges that "there's more important work in the world", but suggests that this kind of recognition is still proper. Most systems for public accolades are focused on people who do either dramatic and highly impactful work, or those who are particularly recognizable. In this case, the people involved might only affect the lives of a few people, and only in a small way, but the willingness to help strangers who they're unlikely to ever meet is a laudable thing. This might also be intended to exaggerate the frustration that many people feel when dealing with malfunctions that make major appliances worse, if not nonfunctional.

The title text carries the joke further, suggesting that, if such a statue is made, the sculptor will inevitably have problems with their tools, and will, themselves, have to turn to repair videos for advice. He suggests finding whoever made the most useful repair video and making the statue in their likeness, presumably as a symbolic representation for everyone who does so.

Thanks to this video, Cueball finds the solution to his problem easily, unlike in [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients]]. This comic could be seen as a happier version of the events in that earlier comic, though this one concerns an appliance and the other concerns software.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Cueball sits at his desk, on which there is a laptop computer showing a video. His hands are on his lap. Behind Cueball's chair and on the floor, there is a humidifier with "E-21" printed on it, making noise. The humidifier's cord extends to the right side of the panel.]
:Voice from computer: Hey all!
:Voice from computer: Does your E-21 humidifier make an annoying clicking noise? Mine did, but I finally figured out that there's an easy fix, so I made this video in case anyone else...
:Cueball: Oh my god. Yes. '''''Yes.'''''
:Humidifier: Click click

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I know there's more important work in the world, but I feel like these people deserve, at minimum, a statue.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-10T22:13:48Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ punctuation, and non-redirection

{{comic
| number = 3165
| date = November 7, 2025
| title = Earthquake Prediction Flowchart
| image = earthquake_prediction_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 318x494px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created EXACTLY 3.1415926 YEARS BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The comic purports to depict a flowchart demonstrating whether you should believe someone claiming to be able to predict {{w|earthquakes}}. However, this "flowchart" immediately leads to a hard '''NO''', with a brief description on why. [https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/fact-sheet/how_often_do_earthquakes_occur Earthquakes happen] [https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=-77.5421,-217.26563&extent=84.9901,345.23438 all the time], so if someone claims they can predict them, we'd have their methodology proven or disproven almost immediately. Also, if it was reliable, seismologists would be parading it around as a revolutionary discovery. Thus, there should be no remaining need to consult a flowchart on the matter. Another interpretation is that seismologists will get mad over claiming useless facts.

In this context it is noteworthy that six Italian seismologists, volcanologists and engineers were {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prosecutions|charged for manslaughter}} in the aftermath of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, on the basis of having been "falsely reassuring". Six days before the earthquake killed 308 people, they convened in a committee meeting, and decided that there was no reason to warn the population over the highly tentative possibility that minor geological activity was a sign that something more major ''might'' be imminent. Seven years after the quake, they were finally cleared of any wrongdoing. At other times, 'warnings' have been issued that did ''not'' clearly precede any actual disasters, and there are clearly many arguments about whether or not to risk "{{w|The Boy Who Cried Wolf|crying wolf}}" on flimsy evidence, especially when there is always the confusing possibility of coincidentally warning about {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prior warning|a different 'wolf'}} from the real one that was not spotted in time.

This strip is similar to [[1723: Meteorite Identification]], as a one-step flowchart ending in a firm ''no''.

The title text compares those who claim to predict earthquakes to those who claim to predict the end of the world (based on their religion, for example). A prominent argument against those who claim to be able to predict non-apocalyptic disasters like earthquakes is that the "predictor" has not predicted any such disasters ''prior'' to their claim. An apocalypse, however, is not something that has occurred before,{{Citation needed}} and generally only happens once. Thus, unlike an earthquake predictor, anyone predicting an apocalypse will not need to explain any failures ({{w|False positives and false negatives|false negatives}}) to predict previous apocalypses. People who have ''previously'' predicted an apocalypse and failed to have it come about (i.e. a false positive), should be exceptions, but {{w|Harold Camping|such people}} never seem to lose credibility with their more devout followers.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above a flowchart:]
:Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake.
:Should you listen?

:[At the top of the flowchart is a wide diamond with the following text:]
:Start
:[An arrow points down to a rectangle with the following text:]
:<big>'''NO'''</big>
:(There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever '''''does''''' figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and the world's seismologists will not shut up about it.
:You won't need this flowchart.)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Earthquakes]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

Talk:839: Explorers

2025-11-10T22:08:27Z

2.98.65.8: Put the latest comment at the bottom. Put the more-recent-than-this-comic traditional "don't top post" comment at the top...

How is that ship flying in the first place? Wouldn't the pieces fall off? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Inertia The pieces are moving at the same speed as the board. You would need energy to slow it down. Search it up. It's everywhere on the web. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.64|108.162.241.64]] 00:54, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Magnetic Chess :-) [[Special:Contributions/121.99.55.58|121.99.55.58]] 03:23, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

Is the mini board really floating? It looked to me like it was adrift in sea. I think I might make some edits.
:I think the board is actually rolling on casters. If you look closely you can see a small round circle by each corner. I've edited it a bit. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.63}}
::In the original transcript, it notes that it's mounted on rockets. [[WriterArtistCoder|WriterArtistCoder]] 02:06, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

This comic actually has a common error by non-chess players using chess positions: a1, and by extension a3 and c3, are dark squares. h1 is supposed to be the light-squared corner. [[Special:Contributions/18.215.1.155|18.215.1.155]] 06:50, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
:Unless, of course, the positions are relative to their small board, where al corners are white and hence numbering has to start on a white square [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.218|108.162.212.218]] 17:41, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

It looks like there are wheels in the corners. [[Special:Contributions/209.104.241.66|209.104.241.66]] 16:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

The loose 3x3 board is from a Classic Star Trek 3-D chess set. The little pegs on the corners are used to secure the board in different places around the game. [[Special:Contributions/74.98.181.175|74.98.181.175]] 02:03, 11 August 2013 (UTC)
: No, it's not. The Star Trek 3D chess consists of 3 stationary 4x4's and 4 mobile 2x2's. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.183|108.162.254.183]] 02:25, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Make of it what you will, but I just realized that the robber in Catan looks a lot like a black bishop....[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 14:27, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

There's a typo in the comic. It says "misson" instead of "mission". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 04:55, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
: and I just adjusted the transcript to reflect that [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 05:08, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

The black bishop and the "completing the mission alone" might be a reference to the robber from Catan, who looks very similar in the original edition. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.136|172.69.55.136]] 09:14, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

On a 3x3 board, in at most 2 moves any pawn would be promoted, almost certainly to queen. The bishop and knight may have deliberately approached Battleship in order to avoid being outranked. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 10:55, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

The bishop isn't any closer to capturing the knight than the knight is to capturing the bishop. Sure, the bishop can move away if the knight tries to capture it, but similarly the knight can move away if the bishop tries to capture it. So I think the explanation needs to be changed. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.152|172.71.178.152]] 21:57, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

Our intrepid explorers might be interested in this video: [https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=9f0cd8536e2d2af3JmltdHM9MTcwMTk5MzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0wZGY5NTUzNi0wMGI4LTZiOTktMGYzMi00NmZkMDEwMjZhMmQmaW5zaWQ9NTIxMw&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=0df95536-00b8-6b99-0f32-46fd01026a2d&psq=can+chess+with+hexagons&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_dj1iZ1IzeUVTQUVWRQ&ntb=1] [[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 04:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

The claim by the black bishop "I swear to god, I'm this close to capturing him" is 100% saying that the knight can be captured no matter what the knight does.
If its the knights turn: Knight to B1 or A2. Bishop to B2. No matter where the Knight moves, the Bishop can capture. If its the Bishops turn: Bishop to C1. Knight to B1 or A2. Bishop to B2. Again, the Knight cannot evade the Bishop.[[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 02:10, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

If the knight moves to b1, the black bishop will get the food anyway. [[User:Artem|Artem]] ([[User talk:Artem|talk]]) 06:42, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3

2025-11-09T23:03:56Z

2.98.65.8: Undo revision 390478 by 2600:4040:553C:6300:DF41:64B1:D9BC:BB81 (talk) Reapplied it being "third", but reverted to not misquote wierdly

{{comic
| number = 821
| date = November 19, 2010
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 3
| image = five minute comics part 3.png
| titletext = Resulting in The Little Rock 9x + C.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the third comic in the [[:Category:Five-Minute Comics|Five-Minute Comics series]]. The series is composed of four comics, released between in November 2010 and August 2011. They are listed here for convenience:
*[[819: Five-Minute Comics: Part 1]]
*[[820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2]]
*[[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]
*[[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]

The caption above the comic explains the circumstances which led to this series' release. Here are the explanations for each of the small comics and the title text:

; Comic #1

: {{w|Pearl Harbor}} is a US Navy base that was {{w|Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked}} in 1941 by Japanese airplanes, which prompted the US to join World War II. The attacks were made on ''December'' 7, 1941, not November 7. Thus, Randall is correct in depicting a Navy base going about its usual business. This may also be a joke on present-day levels of awareness of the event; as it fades out of living memory, people might indeed confuse the date with November (or October) 7, despite it being {{w|Day of Infamy speech|"a date which will live in infamy"}}.

; Comic #2

: {{w|Breastfeeding in public}} is a touchy subject in parts of the world. In the US, some consider it to be inconsiderate to others who would prefer not to see such a display. Of course, women breastfeeding in public are generally feeding their infants, not other adults. The situation presented in the comic is an absurd exaggeration of the debate.

; Comic #3

: "s" is the command in {{w|sed}} to perform a pattern search-and-replace; the syntax has also been adopted by other text-processing utilities, including {{w|Perl}} (a favorite subject of xkcd), and has entered into the geek lexicon as something that could appear in general conversation. The specific command "s/I think that/I saw a study once that said/g" means "Find all occurrences of the phrase 'I think that' and replace it with the phrase 'I saw a study once that said'." This will, indeed, improve the persuasiveness of an article, as the existence of scientific evidence will make people more likely to believe what's said, while most people won't even think to actually look up the study in question.

; Comic #4

: Arson is the crime of intentionally setting fire to a structure. {{w|Billy Joel}} will no doubt claim {{w|We Didn't Start the Fire|he didn't start the fire}}. And it turned out that they believed him. This was mentioned in the title text of [[1794: Fire]], which displays another similarly folded newspaper front page, with only the headline readable. The picture shown the fire Billy was arrested for, but he was only detained briefly. The song is also mentioned in [[1775: Things You Learn]].

; Comic #5

: Coca-Cola is a fizzy cola-flavored soft drink, commonly abbreviated as "coke." {{w|Pop Rocks}} are a candy that contain tiny bubbles of gas, so that as the sugary candy dissolves on your tongue, it creates a popping sensation. For a long time, it was claimed that drinking the two together would cause one's stomach to explode; this was finally put to rest as some people (the Mythbusters in particular) started actually trying it, and discovered that it's merely painful, not lethal. Here, it's combined with elements of other common scary urban legends (phones ringing and creepy laughter) to form something bizarre.

; Comic #6

: After ''{{w|Brown v. Board of Education}}'' ruled that schools could not segregate based on race, nine African American students from Little Rock, Arkansas enrolled in the previously-segregated Little Rock Central High School. The school board could not officially deny them attendance, but members of the community (and, after Arkansas governor Orval Faubus intervened, the Arkansas National Guard) formed a blockade to physically prevent them from entering the school building. The governor claimed this was within his power even after ''Brown v. Board'', because the students were enrolled without issue, they were just physically blocked from entering the school building. After determining that the right to enroll in a school does, implicitly, include the right to actually attend classes there, president Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division to accompany the students and force the National Guard to stand down, thus integrating the school. This incident became known as the {{w|Little Rock Nine}}. However, {{w|Integral|integration}} also has a meaning in mathematics. This is indicated in the comic with the soldiers lifting up a giant integral sign to place beside the school, in order to (mathematically) integrate it. Normally, an integral only makes sense on functions; however, since this is the Little Rock ''Nine'', if we take the integral of the constant function ''f''(''x'') = 9, we do, in fact, get 9''x'' + ''C'', as stated in the title text. The posture of the three soldiers with the integral sign echoes the iconic {{w|Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima}} photograph.

; Comic #7

: Cell phones with advanced computing capabilities, typically at least requiring fully-featured Internet browsing, multimedia capabilities, and the ability to run software applications, are called "smartphones." Most cell phones also have a "vibrate" function that allows someone in a public situation to receive calls without alerting others; the phone will discreetly vibrate rather than activate a ringtone, thus privately notifying the owner that a call is incoming. A semi-common problem with this feature is that a vibrating phone on a table that has a slight slope will slowly - or, if the slope is bad enough, rather quickly - slide down the slope, possibly falling off the table and breaking. If our smartphones ever decided to kill us, this would possibly be their only method of attack. Randall would later cover this topic in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|5|Robot Apocalypse}}''.

; Comic #8

: The Three Little Pigs is a children's fairy tale about three pigs who build their houses out of, respectively, straw, sticks, and bricks. A wolf comes along and eats the pigs living in the straw and stick houses, but he can't knock down the brick house, because his only method for breaking them down is to blow on them until the material falls to pieces. (In some variants, the more foolish pigs seek refuge in the brick house for a happier total ending for all but the wolf.) The 119 Little Pigs seems to be a variant where the pigs build their houses out of the 118 {{w|chemical elements}}, plus one other material (perhaps the bricks). The 38th little pig builds his house out of {{w|strontium}}, which is, of course, the 38th element on the Periodic Table. One wonders what happened to the pigs who are stuck making their houses out of elements that are gaseous or liquid at room temperature, or those whose houses would react with the air and/or undergo nuclear decay. In his book ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'', in the first comic, it shows the 92nd little pig, who built his house out of depleted Uranium, The wolf responded, "Dude". However, given the water content in exhaled breath, it's {{w|Alkali metal#Reaction with water (alkali metal hydroxides)|easy to see}} how the wolf would huff, puff, and blow down the houses made of {{w|lithium}}, {{w|sodium}}, {{w|potassium}}, {{w|rubidium}}, {{w|caesium}}, and {{w|francium}}. Though making houses out of {{w|hydrogen}}, {{w|helium}}, {{w|nitrogen}}, {{w|oxygen}}, {{w|fluorine}}, {{w|neon}}, {{w|chlorine}}, {{w|argon}}, {{w|krypton}}, {{w|xenon}}, and {{w|radon}} would all be very difficult as they are gases at room temperature.{{cn}} Also, there would be issues such as death from the toxicity of the elements, e.g. fluorine would kill the pig and wolf. The piggies may have difficulty collecting enough metal, as they would have trouble collecting enough {{w|technetium}} (43), which only occurs in minute traces, and {{w|astatine}}, of which approximately 1 ounce exists on earth. It could be a coincidence, or possibly Randall's intent, that the wolf asks "What is this shit?" while referring to strontium while "stronzo" is an Italian (vulgar) word for "turd", pronounced almost the same (it's a common source of bad taste jokes) and stront is a Dutch word for shit.

; Comic #9

: "Fastest gun in the West" is a boast commonly made in Western movies, where it is used to mean that a person is the fastest at drawing his gun in a duel (or, alternatively, can fire his gun the fastest). It doesn't actually describe the gun itself, and certainly doesn't describe how fast the gun can gallop across the land.

; Comic #10

: "It's what separates the ''men'' from the ''boys''" is a phrase used to describe "macho" activities that, apparently, only "real men" will participate/do well in; all the other men haven't grown up yet, and are thus "boys." This strip takes a more literal approach, making a joke about how centrifuges also separate the men from the boys because the men are heavier. {{w|Centrifuge}}s are used to rapidly separate a material from the liquid it's suspended in; this is either a pun on the word "separate", or an attempt by Randall to make the occupation of lab technician seem macho. In the film ''{{W|Moonraker_(film)|Moonraker}}'', {{W|James Bond}} was almost killed in a centrifuge used as a g-force training vehicle for pilots/astronauts - but he survived - and he for sure is a real man... See also [[123: Centrifugal Force]].

; Comic #11

: Narnia is the mythical land in ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}''. In the books, time passes differently in Narnia, such that one can spend many years in Narnia and come out to find that almost no time at all has passed on Earth; conversely, during a short trip back to Earth, hundreds of years could pass in Narnia. {{w|Lucy Pevensie|Lucy}} is taking advantage of this by putting a computer in Narnia to perform extremely fast computation. {{w|Folding@home}} and {{w|SETI@home}} are distributed computing projects that aim to solve extremely large computational problems by pooling together computer resources of thousands of home computers who volunteer for the project; Folding@home looks at how proteins are folded, which has applications in medical science, and SETI@home analyzes EM waves from space, looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligent life amongst the cosmic background noise. Running through all of that data in a few hours would be quite an accomplishment indeed, given that, as Peter points out, the idea has many problems Lucy has evidently overcome:

:*The book was written in 1957 and it occurs even earlier than that, long predating personal computers, so Lucy shouldn't even have one.

:*Even if it occurs in an alternate universe where the PC was invented before 1957, the storage that would be needed to store the entire Folding@home and SETI@home databases would be far beyond her means, since the characters in the book are evacuees who don't have any money.

:*Even if she somehow pulled that much storage space together, the time needed for one computer to run through those databases is on the order of millennia. A computer would not continuously run for that long without careful treatment, which Narnia is not equipped for.

:*Even if we handwave around that issue (''"Aslan, use your power to keep all dust away from this computer for the next ten thousand years, please"''), the wall socket powering the computer is on the Earth side. Mains power outlets in the UK provide alternating current with an amplitude of 230 volts and a frequency of 50 hertz. The 50 Hz part is what's important here: all devices designed to work with UK mains power expect a 50 Hz sine wave. The time difference between Earth and Narnia would substantially elongate the sine wave in a method similar to the Doppler effect, which would probably prevent the computer from functioning at all. The frequency issue can be avoided by converting the alternating current to direct current on earth and passing the direct current to Narnia. However, to have a usable amperage (coulombs per second) on Narnia, the amperage (coulombs per second) on earth would have to be absurdly high, requiring wires much larger than shown. Also, the electricity costs would be too high.

:*The time differential doesn't occur while people are entering/exiting Narnia (though they do occur while the wardrobe's open) or the Pevensie children would have had had some difficulty surviving the transition. Since the cables of the computer are crossing between the worlds, it seems unlikely that the time differential is even active yet.

; Comic #12

: ''{{w|The Honeymooners}}'' is a classic American sitcom. The show stars Ralph and Alice Kramden, and Ralph frequently makes empty threats of the form "One of these days, Alice...," followed by a combination of onomatopoeia. For example: "One of these days, Alice... BANG! ZOOM! Straight to the moon!" (Alice inevitably replies "Ahhh, shut up."). Here, Randall takes the pattern to a ridiculous and not-at-all threatening place.

==Transcript==
:Because of a family illness, instead of regular comics, this week I'll be sharing some strips that I drew as part of a game I played with friends. Each comic had to be written and drawn in five minutes.

:--Randall

:;Comic #1
:Pearl Harbor. November 7th, 1941.
:[There is a beach, with some ships floating in a crescent shaped harbor.]

:[The same bay, again.]

:[The boats continue to move about the harbor.]

:[The boats do their thing. A title explains.]
:(We're going to be here a while, since the attack wasn't until December.)

:;Comic #2
:[Cueball is sitting on a bus, Megan in front of him. Another person is sitting in front of Megan and another person is sitting behind Cueball.]
:I know it's natural and all, but I really wish women on the bus wouldn't try to breastfeed me.
:Megan: C'mon, have some milk. Right here.
:Cueball: I'm ''reading''.

:;Comic #3
:s/I think that/I saw a study once that said that/g
:Instant persuasiveness multiplier!

:;Comic #4
:[A newspaper front page. Billy Joel is between two policemen.]
:Times
:Billy Joel Arrested for Arson

:;Comic #5
:[One person has a cord leaving their mouth, the other is holding a handset on the end of it to their ear.]
:Handset: Hee hee hee... *giggle*
:I hear that if you drink coke and eat pop rocks, you vomit up a corded telephone handset on which you hear creepy little girls giggling.

:;Comic #6
:[Three soldiers are holding a large integral sign, while a fourth points a gun at the Little Rock High School.]
:1957: Eisenhower orders the military to integrate Little Rock High School.

:;Comic #7
:[A smartphone is vibrating across a table, towards a person.]
:The smartphones got ''too'' smart... and developed a taste... for BLOOD!
:Fortunately, the only way they could move was by turning on their vibrate while on a sloped table.

:;Comic #8
:[Cueball is reading to his child.]
:Cueball: And the wolf went to see the 38th little pig, who had built his house out of strontium.
:Cueball: And the wolf was all, "Ok, what is ''with'' this shit?"
:The 119 Little Pigs

:;Comic #9
:[Cueball is holding up a gun.]
:Cueball: Fastest gun in the west!

:[The gun is galloping across the desert.]
:''gallop gallop''

:[There is a podium, with a gun in each position.]
:Winner!

:;Comic #10
:[A picture of a centrifuge dominates the panel.]
:Centrifuges: They're what separate the men from the boys.

:;Comic #11
:[A computer monitor is plugged in, and cables run into a wardrobe.]
:Lucy: Time passes differently in Narnia, so by putting the CPU and storage for my machine there, I was able to run through the Folding@Home and Seti@Home databases in about an hour.
:Peter: There are so many problems with that.

:;Comic #12
:[Someone is talking to Alice.]
:Person: One of these days, Alice... Wham, zoom, sploosh, fwoom, splash, gurlle, wheeeee, fwoosh, aren't waterslides fun?!

==Trivia==
The tenth panel of this comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125020853/https://store.xkcd.com/products/centrifuge available as a T-shirt] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Five-Minute Comics| 03]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Five-Minute Comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Analysis]]

3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-09T21:19:27Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ Darnit. *This* is what I was trying to do, actually, but "visited link" is so much less visible as different from normal text in Preview (than unvisited link) so I missed my goof.

{{comic
| number = 3165
| date = November 7, 2025
| title = Earthquake Prediction Flowchart
| image = earthquake_prediction_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 318x494px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created EXACTLY 3.14159 YEARS BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
The comic purports to depict a flowchart demonstrating whether you should believe someone claiming to be able to predict {{w|earthquakes}}. However, this "flowchart" immediately leads to a hard '''NO''', with a brief description on why. [https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/fact-sheet/how_often_do_earthquakes_occur Earthquakes happen all the time], so if someone claims they can predict them, we'd have their methodology proven or disproven almost immediately. And, if it's reliable, seismologists would be parading it around as a revolutionary discovery. Thus, there should be no remaining need to consult a flowchart on the matter.

In this context it is noteworthy that six Italian seismologists, volcanologists and engineers were {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prosecutions|charged for manslaughter}} in the aftermath of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, on the basis of having been "falsely reassuring". Six days before the earthquake killed 308 people, they convened in a committee meeting, and decided that there was no reason to warn the population over the highly tentative possibility that minor geological activity was a sign that something more major ''might'' be imminent. Seven years after the quake, they were finally cleared of any wrongdoing. At other times, 'warnings' have been issued that did ''not'' clearly precede any actual disasters, and there are clearly many arguments about whether or not to risk "{{w|The Boy Who Cried Wolf|crying wolf}}" on flimsy evidence, especially when there is always the confusing possibility of coincidentally warning about {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prior warning|a different 'wolf'}} from the real one that was not spotted in time.

This strip is similar to [[1723: Meteorite Identification]], as a one-step flowchart ending in a firm ''no''.

The title text compares those who claim to predict earthquakes to those who claim to predict the end of the world, for example based on their religion. A prominent argument against those who claim to be able to predict non-apocalyptic disasters, like earthquakes, is that the "predictor" has not predicted any such disasters ''prior'' to their claim. An apocalypse, however, is not something that has occurred before, and generally only happens once.{{Citation needed}} Thus, unlike an earthquake predictor, anyone predicting an apocalypse will not need to explain any failures ({{w|False positives and false negatives|false negatives}}) in predicting other apocalypses. People who have ''previously'' predicted an apocalypse and failed to have it come about (i.e. a false positive), should be exceptions, but {{w|Harold Camping|such people}} never seem to lose credibility with their more devout followers.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption above a flowchart:]
:Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake.
:Should you listen?

:[At the top of the flowchart is a wide diamond with the following text:]
:Start
:[An arrow points down to a rectangle with the following text:]
:<big>'''NO'''</big>
:(There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever '''''does''''' figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and the world's seismologists will not shut up about it.
:You won't need this flowchart.)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Earthquakes]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-09T21:17:16Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ I actually had that, and then edited it out accidentally! Oh well.

{{comic
| number = 3165
| date = November 7, 2025
| title = Earthquake Prediction Flowchart
| image = earthquake_prediction_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 318x494px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created EXACTLY 3.14159 YEARS BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
The comic purports to depict a flowchart demonstrating whether you should believe someone claiming to be able to predict {{w|earthquakes}}. However, this "flowchart" immediately leads to a hard '''NO''', with a brief description on why. [https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/fact-sheet/how_often_do_earthquakes_occur Earthquakes happen all the time], so if someone claims they can predict them, we'd have their methodology proven or disproven almost immediately. And, if it's reliable, seismologists would be parading it around as a revolutionary discovery. Thus, there should be no remaining need to consult a flowchart on the matter.

In this context it is noteworthy that six Italian seismologists, volcanologists and engineers were charged for manslaughter in the aftermath of the {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prosecutions|2009 L'Aquila earthquake}}, on the basis of having been "falsely reassuring". Six days before the earthquake killed 308 people, they convened in a committee meeting, and decided that there was no reason to warn the population over the highly tentative possibility that minor geological activity was a sign that something more major ''might'' be imminent. Seven years after the quake, they were finally cleared of any wrongdoing. At other times, 'warnings' have been issued that did ''not'' clearly precede any actual disasters, and there are clearly many arguments about whether or not to risk "{{w|The Boy Who Cried Wolf|crying wolf}}" on flimsy evidence, especially when there is always the confusing possibility of coincidentally warning about {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prior warning|a different 'wolf'}} from the real one that was not spotted in time.

This strip is similar to [[1723: Meteorite Identification]], as a one-step flowchart ending in a firm ''no''.

The title text compares those who claim to predict earthquakes to those who claim to predict the end of the world, for example based on their religion. A prominent argument against those who claim to be able to predict non-apocalyptic disasters, like earthquakes, is that the "predictor" has not predicted any such disasters ''prior'' to their claim. An apocalypse, however, is not something that has occurred before, and generally only happens once.{{Citation needed}} Thus, unlike an earthquake predictor, anyone predicting an apocalypse will not need to explain any failures ({{w|False positives and false negatives|false negatives}}) in predicting other apocalypses. People who have ''previously'' predicted an apocalypse and failed to have it come about (i.e. a false positive), should be exceptions, but {{w|Harold Camping|such people}} never seem to lose credibility with their more devout followers.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption above a flowchart:]
:Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake.
:Should you listen?

:[At the top of the flowchart is a wide diamond with the following text:]
:Start
:[An arrow points down to a rectangle with the following text:]
:<big>'''NO'''</big>
:(There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever '''''does''''' figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and the world's seismologists will not shut up about it.
:You won't need this flowchart.)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Earthquakes]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-09T21:15:55Z

2.98.65.8: /* Explanation */ More unwieldy, perhaps, but digs into the "could they have known, did anyone actually know, and what if they'd have worried everybody over a suspicion that never came to pass" sort of issue that we have here...

{{comic
| number = 3165
| date = November 7, 2025
| title = Earthquake Prediction Flowchart
| image = earthquake_prediction_flowchart_2x.png
| imagesize = 318x494px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created EXACTLY 3.14159 YEARS BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
The comic purports to depict a flowchart demonstrating whether you should believe someone claiming to be able to predict {{w|earthquakes}}. However, this "flowchart" immediately leads to a hard '''NO''', with a brief description on why. [https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/fact-sheet/how_often_do_earthquakes_occur Earthquakes happen all the time], so if someone claims they can predict them, we'd have their methodology proven or disproven almost immediately. And, if it's reliable, seismologists would be parading it around as a revolutionary discovery. Thus, there should be no remaining need to consult a flowchart on the matter.

In this context it is noteworthy that six Italian seismologists, volcanologists and engineers were charged for manslaughter in the aftermath of the {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prosecutions}}, on the basis of having been "falsely reassuring". Six days before the earthquake killed 308 people, they convened in a committee meeting, and decided that there was no reason to warn the population over the highly tentative possibility that minor geological activity was a sign that something more major ''might'' be imminent. Seven years after the quake, they were finally cleared of any wrongdoing. At other times, 'warnings' have been issued that did ''not'' clearly precede any actual disasters, and there are clearly many arguments about whether or not to risk "{{w|The Boy Who Cried Wolf|crying wolf}}" on flimsy evidence, especially when there is always the confusing possibility of coincidentally warning about {{w|2009 L'Aquila earthquake#Prior warning|a different 'wolf'}} from the real one that was not spotted in time.

This strip is similar to [[1723: Meteorite Identification]], as a one-step flowchart ending in a firm ''no''.

The title text compares those who claim to predict earthquakes to those who claim to predict the end of the world, for example based on their religion. A prominent argument against those who claim to be able to predict non-apocalyptic disasters, like earthquakes, is that the "predictor" has not predicted any such disasters ''prior'' to their claim. An apocalypse, however, is not something that has occurred before, and generally only happens once.{{Citation needed}} Thus, unlike an earthquake predictor, anyone predicting an apocalypse will not need to explain any failures ({{w|False positives and false negatives|false negatives}}) in predicting other apocalypses. People who have ''previously'' predicted an apocalypse and failed to have it come about (i.e. a false positive), should be exceptions, but {{w|Harold Camping|such people}} never seem to lose credibility with their more devout followers.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption above a flowchart:]
:Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake.
:Should you listen?

:[At the top of the flowchart is a wide diamond with the following text:]
:Start
:[An arrow points down to a rectangle with the following text:]
:<big>'''NO'''</big>
:(There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever '''''does''''' figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and the world's seismologists will not shut up about it.
:You won't need this flowchart.)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Earthquakes]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!

2025-11-09T20:51:26Z

2.98.65.8: /* Tumbleweed */ Yes, it's ironic. I Previewed, but only noticed the punctuation typo when I'd Saved for real... :P

==If you want your user page created, tell me==

==Talking with [[user:DollarStoreBa'al| DollarStoreBa'al]]==
No way am I that cool man.

By the way, here's a way to create a userbox:
{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = ;) | info = <nowiki>[[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|This user _____ ]]</nowiki> | float = left}}. Thank [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher]] for this, I learned it from him. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:05, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:Oh, I'm sorry. Misunderstood your request. Userboxes are used on user pages to add supplemental information. I have one or two on my user page if you want to look at those. By the way, I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'the numbers'. Please clarify if you can. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:09, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::like these numbers <nowiki> border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | </nowiki> [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:18, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::border-c controls the color of the userboxes border, between 1 and 255. Border-s is the thickness of the border. info-s is the font of the text inside the userbox... I think. Honestly not sure. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:22, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::Thanks anyway [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:24, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::You're welcome! Always happy to help. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:28, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

== Can we help you..? ==

So, {{template|brda}} seems to have been an experiment. To what end? Can we help you make your original idea work? [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 17:26, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

::I just don’t want to write the link down so I used a template. I just don’t understand what does that picture mean, and I need someone to help me explain.
::: *cringe* ...well, hope you can use what I gave you over on the other page, then.
:::Slightly more confused, myself, about the need for a template. Thought you'd maybe be wanting to include the image (ebedded, or as a link) in a signature or even something you'd want to manually enter in multiple places. Never mind. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 00:18, 11 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I'll go further, in explaining this. '''It might look complicated''', but [[3126: Disclaimer|that's just the way I am]], and you might even understand it so well that you can spot several errors I made in writing it. (I claim no monopoly on understanding, or even infallibility.) If not, it's here for re-reading later.
:::Whatever 'pops out' of a template appears on the page that calls it. If you "subst:" it, it works that thing out and makes it permanent, otherwise whenever you browse the calling page it asks the template what it currently says and uses that.
:::You can use potentially complicated dynamic 'markup' in your template that you ''could'' have used directly in the outer page, but don't want to have to apply each time. Or use the template in multiple places and don't want to have to re-edit each instance if you ever need to change it... instead just change the template and (as long as you didn't subst: it, of course) it gets corrected everywhere it gets used. And, you can pass parameters to the template, which can be used in the dynamic logic of how it presents itself in any particular use, so you can have it do "sort of the same thing", but differently according to the situation.
:::#A simple example of the first is {{template|Citation needed}}, which easily inserts the 'fake [[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''citation needed'']]] text', without having to worry about re-writing it accurately enough every time.
:::#A very common example of the second is {{template|LATESTCOMIC}} which is asked to hold the very latest comic number. At the time of writing, 3126, at the time of reading, {{LATESTCOMIC}}. Right now, those two values will appear identical, but I used the "subst:" on the first one, as I did the "Citation needed", so that whatever is current is inserted as if I wrote it straight. Once the next comic gets added to the wiki, the second number will change, and keep changing, without me ever re-editing this page.
:::#Probably the example of the third type that you will have noticed (maybe even used) more is the {{template|w}} template for 'easy' wikipedia linking. Though as every single comic page uses the {{template|comic}} template at its start (so complicated, with so many parameters, you may not have realised that it is even a {{}}-thing!), that's one example of how each individual use of a given template can give you subtly (or very! or anywhere inbetween...) different looks in different places.
:::#*On top of that, there is internal dynamic markup that looks at ''what page it is being called from'' (or with a more simple markup, whether it's being viewed directly or transposed into a 'parent' page, or ''only'' being seen when transposed into a 'parent' page), so it can (for example) stop some aspects of text in a Comic page (of the latest comic) from being seen alongside the rest when it is inserted into the Main wiki page.
:::As you can see, '''this can get complicated''', especially when templates do multiple or all of the above, at the same time. I'm not expecting you to take in the full potential of what templates are useful for, just trying to give you an indication of what they are used and useful for.
:::Meanwhile, you had to 'write down' the link in {{template|brda}} in order to ''not'' write down the link in the place(s) you 'wrote down' the template instead. And, testing it (or maybe initialising it, as a red link) aside, the only place it seems you wanted it to be 'wrote down, but not by writing it down' was on the question in the Portal page. It saved you no work (or difficulty), and in fact slowed things down compared to just using it straight. So it didn't help you with point #1, above.
:::Similarly, while you ''could'' have intended it to perhaps say "the thing I currently most want someone to explain is <insert latest thing>", where you just have to alter the <insert latest thing> elsewhere (without finding and editing where you mention it), it was named to suggest that you were never going to change the contents, referencing the current contents. And asking a question, getting answers then potentially 'silently' changing the question (but leaving the answers) isn't exactly useful. You'd be best to think of a different way of doing "At the moment, I'm most interested in <insert latest thing>" as a rolling record.
:::I think what the above IP was imagining, though, was that you had wanted to do a Trout-or Whale-like template, but starting from the ground up. You were going to refine how the image (eventually, when properly marked-up) displayed, choose left/right/central justification, subtitle/surtitle, boundary box, etc, in one spot, perhaps even later change the image used from the What-If site version to your own freshly edited and uploaded (to here, presumably) animated-gif version, or potentially a more subtle edit. But by then you might have used the template-transclusion in several places, which you wouldn't now need to re-edit individually as you've changed the source 'page'.
:::Also, it's worth noting that using templates for purely static content (at least between manual edits) is an organisational choice ''not too different'' from just transcluding a normal 'non-template' page itself. And the boundaries are blurred in the case of how the Main Page of this wiki uses nested templates and 'normal' transclusion to show the latest edit of the latest comic explanation in there at all times. But let us not get hooked up over such minutiæ, just yet. ;) With many authors, many ideas, much fine-tuning and jury-rigging of ad hoc mechanisms and back-end automation, you'll find blurred lines (and probably intentionally blurrable, from the way that the wikimedia framework was set up — itself a mass of bolts and screws from different developers across different timescales, or even the same developers with different ideas over time!) all over the place.
:::Understanding it all is a lofty aim, and I'm only an amateur analyst of some small parts of it. Understanding ''the general concepts'', however, can act as a future springboard to such greater things and ways of thinking, even beyond the sphere of wikis themselves. Be curious, but also thoughtful. More haste, less speed. {{tvtropes|IceCreamKoan|<Insert further profound-sounding epithet here...>}} [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.103|82.132.236.103]] 13:11, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

==moved stuff==

Haha nice try

:I'm just wondering what you are trying to do? And why? As you seem happy to still use this page. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.232|82.132.239.232]] 11:57, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

Can you please un-move your User and Talk page? It's confusing and not in the format that is used here. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:46, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:I concur. Also, Thx$store caused me quite the scare when my talk page was suddenly marked for deletion. I feel we should both remember to talk to experienced editors (namely Victoria, FaviFake, or Kynde) before making templates. They can get messy. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 18:37, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

I don’t know how to unmove though. [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:36, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:Technically, it wouod be just a 'move back', what you did to move ot, reverse the from/to.
:(There ''may'' be an "undo move" ability, but even a normal edit revert is just "re-edit to replace the newer stuff with the older stuff again", with a bit of text autoadded to the edit summary that says what you asked it to go back from, when it comes down to it. Rewinding anything can be done 'manually', to much the same effect. Of course, it all leaves edit histories and, possibly, whole legacy page-entries.)
:Just avoid leaving a redirect from the 'old' ('older new') location to point to the 'new' ('older old', i.e. original) location, which might be an option given to you. But I've never seen this particular wiki's moving-pages, not having an account and presume (from what I've seen of past moves) that that's something set to have to actively tick to happen.
:Just read the instructions and descriptions on and around the various bits of the webform/controls. You used them once, I think you can use them again.
:Or ''ask'' someone else to do it, who is already well grounded in how to sort out this situation, if you're still unsure. An admin (''the'' admin) might correct blatantly wrong things for you (whether or not you think you want them to), but I'm sure other 'regular' users with a bit of editing under their belt can do almost anything other than actually deleting "To be deleted" pages, so long as they know they're not treading on anybody's toes.
:I can't do anything myself, through deliberate choice, not being a registered user. But I've been around long enough that I hope I can at least advise you (or anyone else who'll take notice) well enough how to work it out for yourself. You really just need to think a little and make sure that what you're doing makes sense. And not to just go ahead and do random things 'because you can', tempting as that may be. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.174|82.132.245.174]] 09:48, 28 August 2025 (UTC)
::I think 'unmove' is an admin-only ability. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:43, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

==Tumbleweed==
1: I belive tumbleweed is just a template that you use when you want to jokingly say that a page is dead (hasn't been updated in a long time). It's used in user pages to show that someone is probably not going to continue updating a certain section or the entire page. 
2: I have no clue what you did, but I had to revert your edit on my talk page. I'm not sure how, but you somehow managed to replace the entire convo about the signature issue with the tumbleweed? Thanks for reaching out! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 16:57, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
:If you look at what was removed closely (as I actually did, after an initial idea that something else was involved), there was a <code><nowiki>{{w|wikilink]]</nowiki></code>, typoed to not close with the double-curly but the double-square.
:I think this parsed with a closing double-curly in AFU's contribution to 'absorb' everything from that point onward to this new end-point (effectively hiding everything in the middle).
:Of course, it's never a bad idea to Preview what is submitted. Which might have made it obvious, and could have cut down on the seven or eight edits. But, hey, {{tvtropes|TalkingIsAFreeAction|not that this is important}}... ;) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:50, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!

2025-11-09T20:50:23Z

2.98.65.8: /* Tumbleweed */

==If you want your user page created, tell me==

==Talking with [[user:DollarStoreBa'al| DollarStoreBa'al]]==
No way am I that cool man.

By the way, here's a way to create a userbox:
{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = ;) | info = <nowiki>[[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|This user _____ ]]</nowiki> | float = left}}. Thank [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher]] for this, I learned it from him. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:05, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:Oh, I'm sorry. Misunderstood your request. Userboxes are used on user pages to add supplemental information. I have one or two on my user page if you want to look at those. By the way, I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'the numbers'. Please clarify if you can. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:09, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::like these numbers <nowiki> border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | </nowiki> [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:18, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::border-c controls the color of the userboxes border, between 1 and 255. Border-s is the thickness of the border. info-s is the font of the text inside the userbox... I think. Honestly not sure. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:22, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::Thanks anyway [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:24, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::You're welcome! Always happy to help. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:28, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

== Can we help you..? ==

So, {{template|brda}} seems to have been an experiment. To what end? Can we help you make your original idea work? [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 17:26, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

::I just don’t want to write the link down so I used a template. I just don’t understand what does that picture mean, and I need someone to help me explain.
::: *cringe* ...well, hope you can use what I gave you over on the other page, then.
:::Slightly more confused, myself, about the need for a template. Thought you'd maybe be wanting to include the image (ebedded, or as a link) in a signature or even something you'd want to manually enter in multiple places. Never mind. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 00:18, 11 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I'll go further, in explaining this. '''It might look complicated''', but [[3126: Disclaimer|that's just the way I am]], and you might even understand it so well that you can spot several errors I made in writing it. (I claim no monopoly on understanding, or even infallibility.) If not, it's here for re-reading later.
:::Whatever 'pops out' of a template appears on the page that calls it. If you "subst:" it, it works that thing out and makes it permanent, otherwise whenever you browse the calling page it asks the template what it currently says and uses that.
:::You can use potentially complicated dynamic 'markup' in your template that you ''could'' have used directly in the outer page, but don't want to have to apply each time. Or use the template in multiple places and don't want to have to re-edit each instance if you ever need to change it... instead just change the template and (as long as you didn't subst: it, of course) it gets corrected everywhere it gets used. And, you can pass parameters to the template, which can be used in the dynamic logic of how it presents itself in any particular use, so you can have it do "sort of the same thing", but differently according to the situation.
:::#A simple example of the first is {{template|Citation needed}}, which easily inserts the 'fake [[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''citation needed'']]] text', without having to worry about re-writing it accurately enough every time.
:::#A very common example of the second is {{template|LATESTCOMIC}} which is asked to hold the very latest comic number. At the time of writing, 3126, at the time of reading, {{LATESTCOMIC}}. Right now, those two values will appear identical, but I used the "subst:" on the first one, as I did the "Citation needed", so that whatever is current is inserted as if I wrote it straight. Once the next comic gets added to the wiki, the second number will change, and keep changing, without me ever re-editing this page.
:::#Probably the example of the third type that you will have noticed (maybe even used) more is the {{template|w}} template for 'easy' wikipedia linking. Though as every single comic page uses the {{template|comic}} template at its start (so complicated, with so many parameters, you may not have realised that it is even a {{}}-thing!), that's one example of how each individual use of a given template can give you subtly (or very! or anywhere inbetween...) different looks in different places.
:::#*On top of that, there is internal dynamic markup that looks at ''what page it is being called from'' (or with a more simple markup, whether it's being viewed directly or transposed into a 'parent' page, or ''only'' being seen when transposed into a 'parent' page), so it can (for example) stop some aspects of text in a Comic page (of the latest comic) from being seen alongside the rest when it is inserted into the Main wiki page.
:::As you can see, '''this can get complicated''', especially when templates do multiple or all of the above, at the same time. I'm not expecting you to take in the full potential of what templates are useful for, just trying to give you an indication of what they are used and useful for.
:::Meanwhile, you had to 'write down' the link in {{template|brda}} in order to ''not'' write down the link in the place(s) you 'wrote down' the template instead. And, testing it (or maybe initialising it, as a red link) aside, the only place it seems you wanted it to be 'wrote down, but not by writing it down' was on the question in the Portal page. It saved you no work (or difficulty), and in fact slowed things down compared to just using it straight. So it didn't help you with point #1, above.
:::Similarly, while you ''could'' have intended it to perhaps say "the thing I currently most want someone to explain is <insert latest thing>", where you just have to alter the <insert latest thing> elsewhere (without finding and editing where you mention it), it was named to suggest that you were never going to change the contents, referencing the current contents. And asking a question, getting answers then potentially 'silently' changing the question (but leaving the answers) isn't exactly useful. You'd be best to think of a different way of doing "At the moment, I'm most interested in <insert latest thing>" as a rolling record.
:::I think what the above IP was imagining, though, was that you had wanted to do a Trout-or Whale-like template, but starting from the ground up. You were going to refine how the image (eventually, when properly marked-up) displayed, choose left/right/central justification, subtitle/surtitle, boundary box, etc, in one spot, perhaps even later change the image used from the What-If site version to your own freshly edited and uploaded (to here, presumably) animated-gif version, or potentially a more subtle edit. But by then you might have used the template-transclusion in several places, which you wouldn't now need to re-edit individually as you've changed the source 'page'.
:::Also, it's worth noting that using templates for purely static content (at least between manual edits) is an organisational choice ''not too different'' from just transcluding a normal 'non-template' page itself. And the boundaries are blurred in the case of how the Main Page of this wiki uses nested templates and 'normal' transclusion to show the latest edit of the latest comic explanation in there at all times. But let us not get hooked up over such minutiæ, just yet. ;) With many authors, many ideas, much fine-tuning and jury-rigging of ad hoc mechanisms and back-end automation, you'll find blurred lines (and probably intentionally blurrable, from the way that the wikimedia framework was set up — itself a mass of bolts and screws from different developers across different timescales, or even the same developers with different ideas over time!) all over the place.
:::Understanding it all is a lofty aim, and I'm only an amateur analyst of some small parts of it. Understanding ''the general concepts'', however, can act as a future springboard to such greater things and ways of thinking, even beyond the sphere of wikis themselves. Be curious, but also thoughtful. More haste, less speed. {{tvtropes|IceCreamKoan|<Insert further profound-sounding epithet here...>}} [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.103|82.132.236.103]] 13:11, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

==moved stuff==

Haha nice try

:I'm just wondering what you are trying to do? And why? As you seem happy to still use this page. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.232|82.132.239.232]] 11:57, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

Can you please un-move your User and Talk page? It's confusing and not in the format that is used here. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:46, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:I concur. Also, Thx$store caused me quite the scare when my talk page was suddenly marked for deletion. I feel we should both remember to talk to experienced editors (namely Victoria, FaviFake, or Kynde) before making templates. They can get messy. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 18:37, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

I don’t know how to unmove though. [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:36, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:Technically, it wouod be just a 'move back', what you did to move ot, reverse the from/to.
:(There ''may'' be an "undo move" ability, but even a normal edit revert is just "re-edit to replace the newer stuff with the older stuff again", with a bit of text autoadded to the edit summary that says what you asked it to go back from, when it comes down to it. Rewinding anything can be done 'manually', to much the same effect. Of course, it all leaves edit histories and, possibly, whole legacy page-entries.)
:Just avoid leaving a redirect from the 'old' ('older new') location to point to the 'new' ('older old', i.e. original) location, which might be an option given to you. But I've never seen this particular wiki's moving-pages, not having an account and presume (from what I've seen of past moves) that that's something set to have to actively tick to happen.
:Just read the instructions and descriptions on and around the various bits of the webform/controls. You used them once, I think you can use them again.
:Or ''ask'' someone else to do it, who is already well grounded in how to sort out this situation, if you're still unsure. An admin (''the'' admin) might correct blatantly wrong things for you (whether or not you think you want them to), but I'm sure other 'regular' users with a bit of editing under their belt can do almost anything other than actually deleting "To be deleted" pages, so long as they know they're not treading on anybody's toes.
:I can't do anything myself, through deliberate choice, not being a registered user. But I've been around long enough that I hope I can at least advise you (or anyone else who'll take notice) well enough how to work it out for yourself. You really just need to think a little and make sure that what you're doing makes sense. And not to just go ahead and do random things 'because you can', tempting as that may be. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.174|82.132.245.174]] 09:48, 28 August 2025 (UTC)
::I think 'unmove' is an admin-only ability. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:43, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

==Tumbleweed==
1: I belive tumbleweed is just a template that you use when you want to jokingly say that a page is dead (hasn't been updated in a long time). It's used in user pages to show that someone is probably not going to continue updating a certain section or the entire page. 
2: I have no clue what you did, but I had to revert your edit on my talk page. I'm not sure how, but you somehow managed to replace the entire convo about the signature issue with the tumbleweed? Thanks for reaching out! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 16:57, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
:If you look at what was removed closely (as I actually did, after an initial idea that something else was involved, there was a <code><nowiki>{{w|wikilink]]</nowiki></code>, typoed to not close with the double-curly but the double-square.
:I think this parsed with a closing double-curly in AFU's contribution to 'absorb' everything from that point onward to this new end-point (effectively hiding everything in the middle).
:Of course, it's never a bad idea to Preview what is submitted. Which might have made it obvious, and could have cut down on the seven or eight edits. But, hey, {{tvtropes|TalkingIsAFreeAction|not that this is important}}... ;) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:50, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

User talk:DollarStoreBa'al

2025-11-09T20:39:52Z

2.98.65.8:

Speak through the interdimentional portal

==General Chitchat and such==
Hey, as per your comment on [[Main Page#Create my user page]], I created your pages. Welcome to the wiki! Please always remember to sign your comments with <nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki>, and ask in the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]] if you don't know something. If you want, you can read the [[explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ#Why_can.27t_I_upload_pictures_or_create_pages.3F|the Editor FAQ]]! Welcome. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

:Thanks! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 19:11, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

:hi btw :) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:11, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
::hello, how are you doing this fine morning, my dear fellow? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:03, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

==Hiyo==
:I'm trying to lurk less and be friendly so I just thought I'd ah drop in :) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:53, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Bello. me editor guy who edit much. edit fun! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:00, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::hahahahaha edit fun indeed. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:20, 4 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Question: How do you add those user boxes that you have on your page? Those would be nice to have. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:52, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::copy and paste this and remove the nowiki tag:

<nowiki>{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = alastor jumpscare | info = [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|This user has a pet cannibal deer.]] | float = left}}</nowiki> and replace it with what you desire, for example:

<nowiki>{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = ;) | info = [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|This user _____ ]] | float = left}}</nowiki>

[[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:50, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::Dude thanks! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 13:48, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::You're very welcome dear. WEE WOO [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:18, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

==Wow==
Am I so cool that I got a mention on your user page just because I showed you how to make userboxes? I mean, if I am... thanks. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:44, 25 March 2025 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes you are. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:43, 25 March 2025 (UTC)
::YAY TYSM i will get you free jambalaya for you immediately due to that (if you're into that) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:19, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

::: No need. Also, I see you're from Louisiana. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 03:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)]]
::::Haha or maybe I just like jambalaya :). Also you are not 4029 hHHA [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:17, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

==The 5s and Es and Os==
Reply to this if you've figured out what the meaning of the thingy on my user page is.
:it's base 3 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:07, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:: :O [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:31, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:: Nope! I'll give you a hint: talk to sam. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 14:33, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
https://voca.ro/1Akmh0zRqa8Q [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:02, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:uhhh...[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 20:41, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
::sorry, that's not it. Don't know what to say to that.[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:54, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

You have one week! Hint: beep boooop --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 16:30, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:Morse code? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 19:33, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

::Morse code of what? You are very, very close.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:47, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Time's up! If you put this into [https://morsecode.world/international/translator.html/] and click play, you get the intro to Bad Apple. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 14:44, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

:It's better than [[2869: Puzzles]] [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 11:11, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

== Want to do some repetitive work? ==

Hey dollar, I noticed you're very active here! I don't have a ton of time, but I recently overhauled the template {{tl|comic}} to add many new features. While we figure out [[Header text]], would you be interested in editing the contents of about 50 pages (the early xkcd comics) to make these new features work? It's a lot of repetitive work, you'd just need to make the same small edits on 50 pages. (If you're interested in why the OG comics were in a different order, see [[LiveJournal]]). Just let me know and I'll finish the documentation for the template! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:13, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:What exactly would I be doing to get these features to work? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:18, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

::If it isn't super-complex wikitext things I can totally help! --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]] 19:21, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Right so you'd just need to move things around and remove some useless code. This process adds a second white navigation bar at the bottom to browse the OG comics in the original order.
[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1:_Barrel_-_Part_1&diff=374851&oldid=373457 You can follow this example]. The steps are:

Start from [[4|comic number 4]]:
#Based on the short sentence written above the explanation, add "ognumber =", "ogprev =", and "ognext =" (so the navbar can work)
#Add "oglink =", and move ONLY the link from "before" to "oglink" (so from HTTPS://..... until the end of the link, move that to "oglink")
#Now, from the edit preview, copy the original title.
#Delete everything in "before =" now that you moved the link
#Add "ogtitle =" and paste the original title that you copied.
#Finally, in "titletext", add two couples of apostrophes (<nowiki>''</nowiki>) in these places: https://imgur.com/a/BewKKr1
#Now save the changes, and click the new white "Next >" button you just created to go to the next one!
And you're done! It's much simpler when you try it. Of course you don't have to do it, feel free to work on the header text! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:41, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

me am do. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)com/wiki/index.php/S--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)pecial:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 20:51, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Oh and I added friendly errors for when you forget to add one of the "og" labels. Just note that if you don't provide "ognumber", the cool white navbar won't show up. Remember to always insert a pipe before a label, like this "'''|''' ognumber =". And once you get to comic 55 you're done! That's the last one --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:58, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Hey, I don't really understand where I'm supposed to put these. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 21:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Nevermind, I got this. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 21:05, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
:Erm nope the OGnumber, OGprev, and OGnext you should take from the first sentence above the explanation. For example [[24]] says it's sixth. Anyways, I found a pretty big bug in the template, so I guess we should stop until it's fixed. The Original title doesn't show up! Arghhh! I'll fix it.
:I'll let you know when you can continue. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:18, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

alright, sounds good! Dang tho. Let me know and I'll get right back to it. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 13:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

:Hey, I, um, undid all your edits because they broke the template haha. I guess this was more complex that I thought! Don't worry, I'll finish them myself over time. I'm more experienced than I thought it seems! Thanks for trying to help anyways! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:52, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Reviewing them, it seems you were not isolating the link correctly and leaving there some HTML elements that closed other open HTML elements that weren't finished! It did look, interesting, at least! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:55, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:::So sorry about that, I noticed those random Html elements. Thought they were part of the bug. oops. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 22:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

::::No worries! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

==The mistake==
===Kynde's talk page===
You might want to expedite the actual deletion of [[User:User:User:User:User:User/Mr. Beast is trying to aquire my bones]] (and its User Talk counterpart). I believe the editor concerned was sleep-deprived (but wouldn't put it past being instead a chemical imbalance of some legal ''or'' illegal kind). I'd have added the Pages To Delete category, but there's already a few of those hanging around unfulfilled... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.176|82.132.246.176]] 17:02, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Ok man, I created that page because I wanted somewhere that would
*Be private (which it is. It's impossible to create the account User:User:User:User:User. I checked.)
*Affect Nobody (which it shouldn't. The only person it's affecting is you.)

You've also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:DGAF&diff=prev&oldid=385114 vandalized] [[Template:DGAF]], which I created, is inspired by 42.book.addict, and affects nobody but me. This makes me think that you're just looking through my contributions and immediately flagging things you frame as 'wrong'. This is not only incredibly creepy, but is also completely pointless. I'm a high school student on the internet. Also, I believe you're the same person who insulted me about DSBContribs, which I no longer use, and was fixed. Just stop and let me do my own thing. Amusedly and angrily, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 18:11, 26 August 2025 (UTC)
:Given other recent activity, it ''looked'' like another example of {{diff|385026|editing whilst insensible}} (together with statements about returning to school, put me in mind the situation of which the {{w|Eternal September}} was the next step). i.e. honest errors of judgement.
:To term the "UserUserUser..." space 'private' is erroneous. It can be seen by anyone. It can be ''edited'' by anyone. Though, by convention, only the User Talk should be edited by anyone other than the ultimate named User. Which you aren't, BTW... create for someone else, ''if you must'', if they're too new and unwilling to wait the trivial amount of time before they can. Creating the spaces for someone who didn't request help or ''doesn't even exist'' needs some form of justification that you're well short of.
:It affects everyone if random, meaningless and context-free pages are added to the wiki 'just for fun'. Data isn't free. Storage isn't limitless. Potentially obscuring real useful (on-topic) information with stupid semi-vandalism (that I didn't think you'd do intentionally, based upon prior behaviour), is not something I expected. But it looked like a momentary lapse that (being on the scene) I tried to helpfully deal with as much as I could. (If I'd have been an Admin, myself, I ''would'' have just deleted them. 'Luckily' for you, I have no interest in that amount of leverage, I'm sticking what anyone can do, perhaps the next person along would have reacted the same, or worse.)
:No, I'm not stalking you. All edits are visible, you made edits, I saw them. I remember DSBContribs (or similar, if it's what I think you mean), but didn't recall it was your work. And others, including a named user, 'insulted' you about that. Or, as I recall, questioned the reasoning behind it, and didn't get a sensible answer. So 0lease accept my apologies. It seems that you ''are'' the kind of person to create useless pages like these last few. If I had known that, I wouldn't have come here suggesting that they were in error, but come here to just draw Kynde's attention to them as effectively being vandalism.
:And, because your template page tried to link to a non-existing wiki page, I also just made it go somewhere that works. That was before reading here how this may well have been culpably intentional, so again was done out of more good faith helpfulness than it turns out I should have been employing.
:That's regardless of your age, BTW. Whether you're at "High School" in the US, at maybe 14-18+ years old, or a High School like I attended where I am (and many years ago), which was for 11-16+ then workplaces or college (then maybe uni) beckoned. You don't need to be older to be more sensible about these things, and you don't need to be young to act idiotically.
:And, lucky you, you get this shiny wiki (and everything else) to work with. I had no access to the Internet until I was 18 (though, at that time, the web itself hadn't been invented, let alone wikis), and of course made my own goofs (asked whether I needed to buy an estamp to send an email!).
:But let me not bore you. I'm not in control here, only a fellow traveller who would give advice and assistance to those who might need it, and cares perhaps more than you might 'give a fuck' about various corners of the online world, like this. Reasoning over, lecture finished, friendly advice concluded. I just shoved it all in one reply to save you the trouble of having to deal with an impatiently slow conversation. And to not keep 'pinging' Kynde's email notification more than necessary (sorry Kynde!)... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.247.23|82.132.247.23]] 20:47, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Do you wish to know something? I'm 14. User:User:User:User:User is (and I checked) completely impossible to create, as shown in this image: [[File:refutation.png]] But, if you wish, I shall make it a subpage of my own account.
::Yes, of course it's ''technically'' public, but unless people specifically search for that page (which is still a subpage, btw), it won't affect anybody. Also, I'd like to point out, everybody editing any page is the ''whole point'' of a wiki. Yes, storage isn't limitless. Very cool. At this point, that page is a drop in the ocean of data already contributed by all the rest of these pages (including the lecture you just added, which is ''more'' bytes than the pages I created).
::Thank you for that edit, by the way. When I previewed it, it showed that it did go to the correct page ({{w|Wikipedia:Don't-give-a-fuckism}}), so I published it that way. However, your edits make it seem like you're definitely stalking me. From what I've seen, all you've done is edit recent comic pages and berate me (and Kynde) about my mistakes.
::DSBContribs was my work. I did, however, provide a sensible reason as to why I created it. If you didn't see it, here it is:

::DSBContribs was created specifically for my signature. At the time I created this, I had no idea what subpages were and I was running out of characters on my signature. I created it because I thought it wouldn't be a hindrance to the wiki and it would save me precious characters on my signature.
::However, I do still apologize, even if the insulting on the template was a ''bit'' far and not in the least helpful. I will move Mr.Beast is trying to aquire my bones to a subpage of my own. I will fix that template (which was not useless) and subsequently delete the content from the three unnecessary redirects. I had no intention of vandalizing the wiki, as I've stated multiple times. No page I create is meant to be vandalism in any way, and I try to do my best to help the wiki be the best it can be. Sometimes it gets boring being 'sensible' all the time (especially in IB classes, where I regularly have 3+ hours of homework/night), and I wanted some sort of way to let all the wild shit that my ADHD makes out. That's what came out. Again, I truly apologize.

I bid thee well on wherever the journey of life may take thee, fellow traveler. May we see each other again, be it in life, in death, or in the cursed month of Jancember. Take Care.

Ba'al, teenage Soul-Eater, out.

:Wow that was a long read. I do give a f**k about not having such a template her so I deleted that instantly! I'm going to wait till you have moved relevant content of the user:user page somewhere with a more sensible name. ASnd no I do not think you should just write random gibberish on any pages here. And no I do not think we should have such a confusing page on here. So yes I will delete it eventually. If there is anything valuable on the page, make a different page, call it your sandbox or something, I don't know, but not something which is impossible for me or any one else to find out what it is supposed to be, like this many times user page. We have so many random users being created and many of them begin to spam us and has to be blocked. I do really not have the time to such a debate as the one here, so I hope you will do as I say and we can end this nicely. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:38, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

::Something you probably didn't see: The fact that I did move the page to a sandbox YESTERDAY. Good day, and make Jeff proud. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:42, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:::No I did not see as I do not stalk anyone here: So I can then delete [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:DollarStoreBa%27al/Mr._Beast_is_trying_to_aquire_my_bones this page] now? And please try not to insult me with any mention of Jeff. He is no longer active and no one has any contact with him on these pages. I'm not happy about being the only active admin here, but you should reply decently! Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:45, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Well, I never accused you of stalking (unless you were the IP in disguise), and I never meant to insult you with making Jeff proud. I like to imagine him as a father looking at his millionaire son with pride. If you wish to, delete the page. Go ahead, it won't affect anyone. Except me. And maybe mystery British(?) IP. This feud is over, and has been for hours. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:57, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::DollarStoreBa'al, I would very strongly recommend you to relax a bit and stop being so attacking/condescending. A lot of your edits don't make sense and aren't helping or contributing towards the growth and improvement of this wiki, so of course other users will be confused and annoyed. Maybe take a break from editing for a bit and mull over your edits for a bit? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:01, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

::::::You're right. 42. You're always right :) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 16:07, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::::I'm so sorry. You don't need to forgive me for this. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 16:26, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

===My talk page===

N 19:49 heADer TExt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:49 hEaDeR tEXt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:46 hEaDeR TeXt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:46 HEADER TEXT‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:45 header Text‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:45 Header Text‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
...now that I know you're doing stupid and unnecessary things deliberately, I won't try to provide help. And you, of course won't be taking my friendly advice, so I'll try not to disturb you further, if I can help it. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.82|82.132.244.82]] 20:57, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

:I KNEW YOU WERE STALKING MY EDITS! Now that you have discovered that I've done unnecessary edits (which are only affecting you), try zooming out a little. Specifically, to the 2,000 bytes I added to [[What if? Chapters]]. I didn't get almost 300 contribution score by doing meme edits all day. Besides, three of those are genuinely useful, and I'm not going to listen to a random IP with maybe 10 edits tops telling me how to edit a wiki. If you want to fix my work, go right ahead. That's what wikis are for. I invite you to fix everything. If you stop stalking my contributions page.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 23:07, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Also, I would like to point out that it's harder to get more unfriendly than making a template which only links to my user page insult me, thereby vandalizing my user page. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 23:11, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::There was going to be no further reply, but you need to know these things:
::;I KNEW YOU WERE STALKING MY EDITS!
::Read what I said. All edits are visible. That's an extract from that list of all edits via the Recent Changes link. You are not being 'stalked'. Though, if I ''could'' easily do so, I'd now specifically hide all your edits and let absolutely ''anyone'' else work out what (if anything) to do in response.
::;Specifically, to the 2,000 bytes I added to [[What if? Chapters]].
::That looked good, as far as I saw it. Would you have me edit something that didn't need editing, just to congratulate you for a job adequately done? There was something I ''might'' have changed, but so trivial that I actively chose not to, and I am now thankful of that.
::;I didn't get almost 300 contribution score by doing meme edits all day.
::Good for you, if the contribution score means so much to you. Quality over quantity is better, and doesn't have a hand macro to show it. But you do you, if you're chasing the scoreboard rankings alone.
::;and I'm not going to listen to a random IP with maybe 10 edits tops telling me how to edit a wiki.
::As you point out, elsewhere, my IP ''will'' keep changing. (And I'm not the only person who may have appeared on any given IP.) I shudder to think how many edits I've made here, in reality, but shall I show you edits by various IPs across a decade or so and claim them as mine? No, because the merit (or otherwise) of one's latest contribution is all that matters. I'm usually happy to be an anon-IP, amongst other anon-IPs and named-users (both venerable and fleetingly transient alike).
::;If you stop stalking my contributions page.
::I can reassure you that I've probably never even looked at ''your'' specific contributions page, certainly not for a long time. I normally only ever check those to check whether "one-edit vandals" have perhaps made other edits that had temporarily slipped under the collective radar, but I don't think I had ever considered you as one of them, before, even back when you were new here. (How long is that? Six months. Two years? Maybe a bit longer?I could look it up easily by checking your contribs page, but I'm now firmly resolved to not do that, for your sake.)
::
::If any what I have written reads as less than polite, it's perhaps partly my exasperation leaking through. By the time I felt the need to add another word to "unnecessary", above, I can see that this had happened. For which I am sorry.
::But text-only communications, like this, also tend to be read in a way that the reader's mood dictates. And I think some of my more straightforward initial contributions got misread at your end, tinted with reflected emotion.
::And, please, let this be it. The world doesn't need to see this, nor does the server need it being added to, and of course there's no alternative backchannel to conduct a lengthy private conversation about it all. I shall read what you reply, just because it's hard to ''not'' read anything that isn't deleted/overwritten, but please no more needless creation of fake user pages (or, indeed, IP user pages). Unnecessary and as likely to be removed as anything else out there. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.228|82.132.244.228]] 05:07, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

It is probable that you didn't see the reply I gave you on Kynde's talk page. Here is that reply:

:Do you wish to know something? I'm 14. User:User:User:User:User is (and I checked) completely impossible to create, as shown in this image: [[File:refutation.png]] But, if you wish, I shall make it a subpage of my own account.
:Yes, of course it's technically public, but unless people specifically search for that page (which is still a subpage, btw), it won't affect anybody. Also, I'd like to point out, everybody editing any page is the whole point of a wiki. Yes, storage isn't limitless. Very cool. At this point, that page is a drop in the ocean of data already contributed by all the rest of these pages (including the lecture you just added, which is more bytes than the pages I created).
:Thank you for that edit, by the way. When I previewed it, it showed that it did go to the correct page (Wikipedia:Don't-give-a-fuckism), so I published it that way. However, your edits make it seem like you're definitely stalking me. From what I've seen, all you've done is edit recent comic pages and berate me (and Kynde) about my mistakes.
:DSBContribs was my work. I did, however, provide a sensible reason as to why I created it. If you didn't see it, here it is:

:DSBContribs was created specifically for my signature. At the time I created this, I had no idea what subpages were and I was running out of characters on my signature. I created it because I thought it wouldn't be a hindrance to the wiki and it would save me precious characters on my signature.
:However, I do still apologize, even if the insulting on the template was a bit far and not in the least helpful. I will move Mr.Beast is trying to aquire my bones to a subpage of my own. I will fix that template (which was not useless) and subsequently delete the content from the three unnecessary redirects. I had no intention of vandalizing the wiki, as I've stated multiple times. No page I create is meant to be vandalism in any way, and I try to do my best to help the wiki be the best it can be. Sometimes it gets boring being 'sensible' all the time (especially in IB classes, where I regularly have 3+ hours of homework/night), and I wanted some sort of way to let all the wild shit that my ADHD makes out. That's what came out. Again, I truly apologize. I hope this marks the end of this little spat we've had.
I bid thee well on wherever the journey of life may take thee, fellow traveler. May we see each other again, be it in life, in death, or in the cursed month of Jancember. Take Care.

Ba'al, teenage Soul-Eater, out.

:See my reply there: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#On_Template:DGAF_and_User:User:User:User:User:User.2FMr._Beast_is_trying_to_aquire_my_bones Reply] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:42, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:: I just did, and I did just respond. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:43, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

==My Mistakes==
=== Your signature is in violation of {{w|WP:SIGAPP}} ===

Hey, I wanted to let you know that your current signature doesn't follow {{w|WP:SIGAPP}} (specifically the first bullet point). Kindly change it. Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:48, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Changed to 14pt. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 13:02, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:Any height that's taller than the other text on the page disrupts the way that surrounding text displays. 14 px is no better. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:25, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

FINE --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 15:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:That still disrupts the page flow... I think you signature is already more eye-catching than any other signature on this entire wiki, why do you want to increase its height too? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:: I thought the issue was the height? Doesn't the wiki use 12pt font, which that Sig is? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 15:27, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, I just noticed that it does increase the space between two lines. It might be the superscript's fault then. Well, at least the current one is much better than before. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:49, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

=== Mass-deleting links ===

Hay, just letting you know that maybe you've misunderstood the "incomplete" notice. You shouldn't delete every link on the page ''until there are no links left'', but rather include these links, if they're helpful, directly into the explanation, as explained in [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#ref|the editor faq]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:09, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

===Creating someone's User pages, without being asked===
In short, not worth the bother. You were helped, above, because you asked (and now, obviously, have become capable of doing the creation yourself, within a very short time). But this wiki is littered with "Welcome, I created your User pages for you" (including for IPs, which is particularly unuseful), where the user concerned has not then used them. However active an editor they are, if they don't know/care about them then it's effort done for nothing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.130|172.70.86.130]] 08:50, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
:Yup, I also pointed it out. In case you missed my reply to your message, here's a copy:
:”It's relevant to note that we only create User pages when people explicitly ask for them. On the other hand, User talk pages are created if you want to talk to that specific member privately."--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:03, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry about that. Just trying to help! --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:34, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

=== NEWS ===

Hey uhhh does anyone know about [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/science/randall-munroe-xkcd-science-textbook.html this]? Should we make explanations for these?
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:48, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Google's Ai says there are multiple exclusive comics for the textbook, but I've only been able to find Inside Body, shown here: [[File:Inside Body.jpg]]

:Just so you know, the standard method for announcing something, big or small, to the community is to create a post in te community portal. Just so you don't have to copy and paste every message and reach a wider audience. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:50, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

=== Why [...] is DSBContribs a thing? ===

Did you seriously have to create a page in the main namespace with the sole purpose of redirecting to your user contributions page?

Firstly, the main namespace is supposed to be on-topic. Why, you may ask? Because "DSBContribs" literally appears in the search results for "D" alongside "DSBSig/sandbox" (???), right between DNE (comic #259) and Danger Mnemonic (comic #2487).

User specific stuff should really go as sub-pages of your user page, and nothing is stopping you from directly linking to your contribs page in your signature instead of using a pointless redirect.

As I've read more of your talk page I've realised you're [...] [[Special:Contributions/86.143.223.93|86.143.223.93]] 13:48, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

:Highly disagree on the tone but agree with the message. I redacted the message and scheduled both for deletion, use your user page for this. thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:38, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

::Sorry about this. At the time, I did not know subpages even existed. Thank you random IP for the advice, even if slightly unhinged, and thank you FaviFake for getting to those deletions. I would have done those deletions eventually. I created DSBContribs to save characters on my signiature, assuming that the pages would not show up on the search (linking to special:contributions:DollarStoreBa'al is much longer than linking to DSBContribs). Evidently, I was wrong. I created DSBSIG/sandbox while trying to create a sandbox page and being stupid. That was me trying to work out the wikitext to create a signature. I have perfected my signature now, and these pages are no longer needed. The 'FINE' comment was meant to be a joke. Maybe that would have worked better with a rolling eyes emoji and an 'ugh'. I will be putting this into the 'my mistakes' section of my talk page as this was definitely a mistake. Thanks for bringing my attention to this! Gratefully yours, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 05:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

::: By the way, I looked at your little message Mr. IP man. First, I see where you're coming from. I am a little bit immature, this is true. However, this should probably come as an expectation with someone going into 9th grade. This has been acknowledged on my user page and my comment on 3123. Please do your research. Second, swears are fine for basically all purposes EXCEPT to insult people. The fact that you are willing to insult someone who you think is an 8-year-old shows how mature you truly are. Maybe you are the one who should, as you put it 'grow the fuck up'. Thank you, and have a good day. Sincerely, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 05:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

:::: Hi, it's me (on a different IP because I'm at home now).
:::: I'm sorry for being so aggressive in my original comment, I thought you were a grown adult, not a teen. ("think is an 8-year old" is incorrect btw, I was saying you were "acting like an 8 year old", but that itself was too harsh).
:::: I made stupid mistakes too when I was around your age, and I should have assumed good faith rather than take such an aggressive tone.
:::: Sorry for that, and good luck with school! [[Special:Contributions/90.219.64.93|90.219.64.93]] 13:50, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

::::: I accept your apology with open arms. I truly hope we can work together to improve the wiki in the future. Best regards, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:11, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

=== Possessive and contracted "its"/"it's". ===

This also confused me, oh so many years ago. Then I was given a handy way of knowing ''which'' was the exception, which has served me well, and I've never had to second-guess myself. (Naturally, I've probably typoed/thinkoed it wrong, unconsciously... But since then I've never had a moment of doubt when I've deliberately kept myself/others correct.) Maybe it'll help you. - I tried to summarise it in the edit I made to the message concerned, but ''not enough space'' to do it justice...
#The possessive version is "its". It is one of a number of "irregular possessives", "his" instead of "him's"/, "hers" instead of "her's", "theirs" instead of "they's"/"them's".
#*Basically all the very common and basic pronoun-based possessives that (as I think of it, although not entirely correctly) were added to the language ''long before'' anybody actually tried to regularise the use of possessives, so just stuck that way. If it belongs to "him", "her", "me" "you", "us", "them" ''and'' "it", you're in the realms of using a completely irregular possessive, none of which use apostrophes.
#*''Personally'', I think that "one" (the equally 'basic', IMO, impersonal pronoun) should be included in that. Not for the likes of {{w|Ones' complement}} (that's belonging to (a number of) digit-ones), but in the "{{w|One (pronoun)|one}} is speaking sense. But (as noted in that last link), it isn't. So don't do that.
#This leaves the contractive version as the one that uses the apostrophe. With two interesting caveats:
#*There ''are'' irregular contractions. The word "forecastle" contracts to "fo'c'sle" or "fo'c's'le", which is a lot more overkill than other similarly complicated contractions. And "will not" becomes "won't" (or, some suggest, just "wont", though that's also a different word), despite not having the right set of letters in the right order to remain after (at least) the "not"->"n't" contraction.
#*In reporting speech, where someone says "it's just something I want to say", use it without fear. But, when writing, I find that (except for ''very'' casual use, essentially speaking in text ...or of course when tending to write in abbreviations/limited space) it's{{asic}} just much better to write "it is", in full. Can't(cannot) be written wrong, couldn't(/could not) be read wrong.
#Oh, and then theres "its'", the plural-(non-irregular-)possessive, which ''could'' be used in certain circumstances... "There are loads of ''its'' in this text, without apostrophes... please check that each ''its''' punctuation is correct!". But... not a common occurance. (Far less than "belonging to the word 'it'", the sole reason to use possessive "it's".) ;)

...TL;DR;, irregular possesive "its" because of all the other irregular possessive pronouns that have words of their own. And you might just find it easier to uncontract "it's", most of the time, ''especially'' if you're still not entirely sure about it. (Or, perhaps, you're happy to not let go of such a minor degree of gravitas, and it's not transcriped real-world enunciation, which might even feature such monstrosities as "couldn't've" as the contraction of "could not have"!)

Don't know if that helps, or is understandable, but there you are. Overexplained and overly rambling, as it is..! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 21:51, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

:While you have way too much time on your hands, it'sn't (it is not) hard to understand, so thank you! As I said, it's basically my only grammatical flaw, so this helps tremendously. Damn my brain and its grammatical irregularities. Its a pleasure to talk with you! Sincerely, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 00:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

::Definitely didn't just make a mistake on an it's. After reading a full page worth of why not to. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 00:44, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

==excuse me==

but it appears you have discovered that I was a spammer in a past account or maybe this account. who's to say anymore? anyway i'm trying to fix that hehe [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:02, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

==template==

What is a template? What’s a {{Trout}} and {{Whale}}?
 
If it looks weird, click edit [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 12:20, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

: I'm assuming you're asking what a template is and not about sea life. Templates are basically shortcuts that we use for commonly used things. For example, <nowiki>{{cn}}</nowiki> creates {{cn}}. You can create one pretty easily. I made those because they're commonly used on Wikipedia, and wanted to transfer them here. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:41, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::how can I create one? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:21, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::Here's something that may be able to help: {{AprilFoolsHelp}} --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:43, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::thxxxxxxxxx [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::You are very welcome! I hope you are excited to start contributing to the wiki! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::::By the way, please don't be afraid to ask me any questions at all. If I can, I will help! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:48, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::::Thanks [[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]], which is <nowiki>{{Thx$store}}</nowiki> (if I can call you that)

==Template Tips==
Ok. Sorry, needed to get that out of my system. Thank you for the supplement. Truly. It's a good warning. Just please don't start randomly insulting people towards the end. This is a wiki. Speak the facts, and nothing more. In this case, the facts are:
*Templates are easy to create.
*It's useful to learn from other templates.
Those are the facts. Now, you're done. Don't go on to insult them about how they're too stupid to do something useful.
:No insult intended, no mention at all of stupidity, just the obvious eagerness. Tried only to give caution not to run before you've learnt how (and, ideally, where) to walk. All edits show up, to anyone looking. The initial query had not been answered, when I started the reply, and I had to hastily rewrite things to fit back in on the end.
:To the above, I'd add:
:*Know what purpose your template will have.
:That way you're less likely to create something that you later regret, give or take a rename/delete. (If you want anything totally deleted, it may take a long time, a meanwhile you can only edit it 'clear', but still findable and the history checkable.) Most templates are ''not'' there to add pictures of sealife, but to grease the wheels of common (or not so common) Explanation page scenarios. And we might even thank you for a good shortcut for something we maybe never realised was needed before.
:For a more technical 'manual', {{w|Help:A quick guide to templates}} might be a useful next read, and from there jump around into other Help: items. There's a lot you ''can'' do, though you certainly won't want to use it all right from the start. Take your time and know ''why'' you're doing something, as well as ''what'.
:Good luck for the future, I've probably said as much as you need me to say for now. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.73|82.132.246.73]] 17:39, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:While this is very useful, it would be nice if you posted this on [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!]]'s talk page. He's the one learning the ropes, and it would probably be very useful to him. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 17:47, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

==Requests/favors==
If you need anything done, reach out to me! I'll let you know what I can do to help you! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:49, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

Hi [[User:DollarStoreBa'al | DollarStoreBa'al]], are you good enough to have the link to my user page? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 01:57, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

:Done! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:56, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

==Hello again Darling :D==
I'm back after the summer hello sir O) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 13:59, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

:A fellow school-based follower of the truth, I see! Welcome back, and I wish thee well on your adventures. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:00, 26 August 2025 (UTC) P.S. I use monobook style now.

==Category thing==
Hey, can someone tell me why my talk page is on 'pages to delete?' {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|18:08, 27 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:I have tracked it down to {{diff|383609|this edit}} by [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!]], where they used a (fairly useless and unnecessary) template (that they created themselves) called <nowiki>Template:Thx$store</nowiki> to thank you for helping to teach them the process of creating a new template. Since I marked that template for deletion, when the comment calls for the template, it also marks your talk page for deletion. I have changed it so that the template is replaced with the text that it would substitute in and your page is no longer marked for deletion. Also signed off your unsigned comment. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:30, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
::When someone says "I have tracked it down" you know they mean business. Thanks, that's quite reassuring. Another mystery IP (not sure if it's the same guy as today) did warn him not to make meaningless templates. Of course, I also made a meaningless template, so.... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 18:33, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

== Do you not learn? ==

You say that you've learned from your mistakes, yet I don't see any changes. You say that you're an incoming 9th grader and that's somehow an excuse for your immaturity, but I'm also a 9th grader and can compose myself perfectly fine. You say that you won't do the same mistakes again, yet you still create useless pages. How many more are you going to create? I really don't want to be yelling at you like this, but I just don't think you'll be able to change without it. FYI, I've marked User:DSB and the /C pages for deletion. Grow up. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:41, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:Look. You aren't a bad person. In fact, I wholeheartedly believe that your passion can turn into a positive thing for this wiki. The thing is, you have a tendency to try to fix things by doing even more things, often panicking and making the situation worse. I've already told you this before, but I'll reemphasize it for you. '''TAKE A BREAK.''' Go for some walks. Work on your homework. Talk to people. Hang out with some friends. Don't just spend all your time on here. Trust me, I made the same mistake before. I would recommend a couple days of rest. See how it feels! It might hurt in the beginning, but nobody NEEDS you on here so badly to work on things to the point of such fanatic editing. I don't think Kynde, FaviFake, or any of the other editors hate you, to be honest. We're all just annoyed that you seem to not listen to our advice and keep on making the same mistakes. It's fine to make mistakes-that's how we learn! But you need to stop worrying so much and just step away from the screen for a bit. (Also, I'd recommend talking to a friend or a trusted adult. Your /PRIVATE page seems to be filled with quite a bit of self-hatred. Don't listen to that voice in your head. She's a bitch and none of it is true. I've dealt with poor mental health too. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I had left for so long. You should try to get these feelings out in a healthy way, instead of taking it out yourself or spending all your time online. Nobody thinks you're stupid. You just need to learn how things are done around here. If that's on a steep learning curve, so be it. Just keep on pushing through, and listen to people more.) And finally, you ''can'' make subpages, but try to reduce the number that you have. Think to yourself before you make one: do I TRULY need this? Will it help me out positively in the long run? If not, just put it in another section of your userpage (or make a proper sandbox!). Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk, and I wish you all a good night. Tori, signing off. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 04:05, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

::Take a break / Hey, our kid is pretty great / Run away with us for the summer / Let's go upstate / Eliza, I've got so much on my plate / We can all go stay with my father

::There's a lake I know (I know) / In a nearby park (I'd love to go) / You and I can go when the night gets dark / '''I will try to get away'''

::Such a good song, Lin cooked with that one. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:03, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

== are you ok? ==

do you need help? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 06:11, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

== Would you prefer to get a Blog? ==

User pages are sufficient to give an idea of who you are, and User Talk ones for people to talk to you about your contributions/etc.

Maybe create sub-pages if you have a relevant site-related project and need 'a space' for them. Such as, as an off-the-wall example, "a list of all the instances of comics that have less than the average number of vowels in them". Perhaps in the hope that it'll be appreciated and made into a more regular page.

But from what I've seen of your 'contributions' this week, none of that applies. Drunk-typing? Well, ''probably'' not if you're still so far underage that you probably don't have decent access to anything stronger than wine-gums, but definitely you weren't in full control of your keyboard. We've other people on here, as young as you, and have had even younger ones. If we can actually believe what anybody reveals about theirselves. (I'm a 111-year old hobbit, by the way.) You've been one of the most immaturely-acting people here who haven't actually been '''obviously''' trying to vandalise this site, and I'm sure you've strained the patience of pretty much everyone.

But you're not the first to go a little wild, like this. And - dare I say it - some of those who went on to be mainstays of this site got over the novelty of "anyone can edit (almost) anything", and possibly a rush of teenage hormones messing up their judgement. May I suggest you ''take a deep breath'' and work out what it is that you're doing that is creating such friction and push-back? I've seen you being a reasonable contributor before, and it's not even been all bad over the last week or so.

And you may have personal life changes going on. Those hormones, issues at home/school/elsewhere, general worries about the state of the world that you're growing up into... maybe a combination of them, or some of these things even ''causing'' some of the others. It happens. You're not alone ...even if one of the key issues is actually in feeling alone! But this is not necessarily the place to try to reshape the world like this.

How about you stick a little more to just xkcd matters, for the time being. There are plenty of other ways, and places, to run through whatever it is that you might be going through, and it might be best to balance things a bit more 'worklike' here than too much 'at play', like it looks like you're doing at the moment. Rebalance back to 'just enough of each' later.

And if you ''do'' get somewhere to blog, you'll even have a lot more control. Create anything you want (more or less, within the T&Cs of the service), not worrying about other people editing it, and probably even later cleanly delete anything you no longer want (with no pesky Page History open for everyone to read). You could even put a link to your blog here in your User space, if you want to. At least the blog that you want to connect to yourself here. (You can have an xkcd-adjacent one, ''and'' one to cry out in anguish if you so wish. And a third to... well, you get the idea.) And the skills to maintain blog code is a bit more 'real-world' than the purely wiki-related markup you learn here, and you can still learn the wiki-markup in parallel with getting to grips with HTML or other popular {{w|Content management system}} markup, giving you a few more useful lifeskills that ''merely'' being eventually a master wiki-guru.

How does that sound? Please do stay, but please also consider if everything you're doing is strictly necessary. I see I'm not the only one driven to try to explain this to you. And for some reason I thought I might be able to quickly suggest a solution to this little quandry. (No, it hasn't actually been that quick, has it.) If you really don't like what I say here... delete it. And I'll say no more. Or just tell me to mind my own business. I've probably got some other things to do around here, if our other old-hand editors don't get there before me! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:34, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

:I really should, shouldn't I... I'll try to find one. Yesterday and today have mainly been focused on What If? Chapters and a potential new project with Tori (Have you met her? She's lovely) about Sigs. Today has mainly been the latter, with a bit of the former, and some sig ideas I've been working on. I've been trying to stick to more useful matters. For example, /WORKPAGE currently contains drafts of some unfinished What If? Chapters I've been working on. So, I have been attempting to work on more xkcd-related matters. Is it ok if you could

:But, I shall heed your advice. I shall get a blog (not blood, autocorrect). Do you have any recommendations for where to start?

:One last thing: Could you show me one of the apparent 'drunk typing' incidents? I edit on my school Chromebook, so I wouldn't be surprised if the keyboard decided to be weird. Thank you for the advice! Once, again, I shall heed it. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 22:51, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

::Oh, and by the way, I will not delete this thread. Also, how do you access the internet in Valinor?
::'Drunkeness', or whatever it was, was very evident in something like {{diff|385245|here}}. More mundane 'misuse of the keyboard' issues are the times you add multiple linefeeds between very simple statements. You need to do two line-feeds to 'separate the paragraphs', any more than that is not normally visually necessary at all, and can ''look'' like you weren't even paying full attention at the time, however well-written the line-fragments between are. If it weren't for the fact that there were actual (sort-of-)discernable words in there, the 'drunk' one could also have perhaps been a "cat walked on my keyboard" issue. Were you and the cat ''both'' trying to use the keyboard? (Or one of you trying to walk on it, the other trying to type on it. One way round or the other?) I think it's that kind of thing that got people initially concerned about you. Help us to help you (to help yourself?), maybe. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 02:10, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::i don't think the help is strictly necessary, but, as I said before, do you have any suggestions for places to make a blog? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 18:30, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::::I don't blog, so nothing from personal experience. I bet you could use some Google-Fu (or Bing-Fu, or DuckDuckGo-Fu, or AltaVista-Fu, or AskJeeves-Fu, or...) to find a few such solutions, then look at all their offerings (check their wikipedia pages..? and, yeah, add some Wiki-Fu to the previous list of ways in which to search) and decide which one works for you. Or which two or three, and try them out with either completely identical aims in mind or initially split up your interests (one's your sports-appreciation, another is about what your favourite TV is, a third being your humorous observations about things you see every day, ...), then you can keep running the one(s) that turn out to work for you.
::::You know what you currently want, better than me or aanyone. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:50, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::If you need a blog, and don't know what platforms to use, I'd recommend making a Google Site or Wordpress blog. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:10, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

== {{w|Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/ltbdl}} ==

they think we're the same person, ha. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 02:29, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

:I did not think this is what I would come back to. That's wild and hilarious.

:They are raeb

:And I am Dollar

:And we are not the same person

--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:42, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

::OMG THEY BANNED YOU WTF? I've pleaded your case, but idk if they'll respond. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:49, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Okay, wait a second. A checkuser does checks on User IPs. If you were found guilty, that means that you were editing under the same IP as me. By any chance, do you go to school in Lincoln, NE? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 14:04, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
::::one, revert your case pleading, it's silly and won't help, and two, we're "very unlikely" to be the same person according to checkuser, don't panic. maybe link them here. (i don't go to school in lincoln.) [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 15:00, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::Ok, now it's weird. I didn't know you couldn't have alt accounts, even if you explicitly stated that they were, indeed, alt accounts. Seems a bit strict if you ask me. Also, 1+1=Window, not Yes. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 22:53, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

==Can you please help me==
I helped you with the userboxes. Now I need your help. How do I get my sig to be something besides what it is now? [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:34, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
:Hi there, Tori here. If you want to change your signature, go to your preferences page on the top right of the website (it's next to your Talk page and Watchlist). Scroll down until you see the signatures section and change it. If you need help figuring out wikitext, feel free to shoot me a message on my [[user talk:42.book.addict|talk page]]! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:32, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

== Template:what if? chapters ==

Sorry, but what's the point of creating a template for what if chapters? What do you intend to use it for? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:28, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
:I intended it as a workaround in order to edit two pages at once. (those being the blog page and the chapters page). I noticed there was a discrepancy between the tables on the two pages, and I created a workaround for it. Also, it's faster than copy-pasting, now that the load times are astronomical. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 16:30, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
::Sounds good! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:40, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
Ok I'm sorry but I had to change it back. Here are a few drawbacks:
#Now people reading our summaries can't edit them directly.
#The history is gone. You should've moved the page, not copy and paste. Both for copyright attribution (see {{w|WP:CWW}}) and for maintenance, to see when and why something was added.
#Now we need to transclude the table on 1 more page (servers!), and the pages that were already transcluding the page (except [[what if? (blog)]]) now are transcluding both the page AND the template.
And most importantly: there wasn't any discrepancy between the pages that transcluded the pages, just as there is no discrepancy now. The table was the exact same.

Could you explain what discrepancy you saw? The code and text behind the original [[What If? Chapters]] page, the blog page, the new template you created, and any other pages transcluding [[What If? Chapters]] was truly identical (and still is, just with the added issues listed above.).

Also; templates are not supposed to be edited frequently. A template is created in order to save time writing the same code on dozens or hundreds of pages. The table both needs to be edited and is only transcluded on a few pages. These are the pages in which the page was transcluded: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/What_If%3F_chapters&hidelinks=1&hideredirs=1] --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:04, 4 October 2025 (UTC)
:There were just some chapter summaries I saw that were different between the blog page and the chapters page. I'm not angry about this, thanks for bringing up the points which I am not advanced enough to see. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 12:55, 6 October 2025 (UTC)
::Huh, that's odd. The only difference between the two is that the last header cell on the left becomes highlighted in yellow when transcluded. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:16, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

== Current signature. ==

I've noticed that your signature does <all the fancy stuff><NEWLINE><space><timestamp>. Might be a good idea to remove the <NEWLINE> before the (presumably auto-appended) <space><timestamp> as it currently puts your
timestamp like this.

Which is ''probably'' not what you'd intended. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.74|82.132.245.74]] 20:47, 4 November 2025 (UTC)
:......Nope, didn't intend that. I'll see if I can fix it. (not signing this because... well, you know) --DSB {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|21:12, 4 November 2025 (UTC)}}
::I've found the issue. I was trying to make my signature in times new roman using [[Template:TNR]]. This template uses div for it's styling. For some reason, it's inserting <nowiki></div></nowiki> between the signature and timestamp rather than after. Is there a way to get the <nowiki></div></nowiki> to go after the timestamp rather than before (which is what I was intending)? Thanks! --DSB {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|21:18, 4 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:::Standard advice is to not use div-tags in your custom .sig, for exactly this reason. You should be able to do the same (except for the undesired newline-forcing) with span-tagging where you invoked div-tags.
:::The way it rendered (must basically have been subst:ed between what you used and how it renders), I didn't know you'd used the TNR template. If that's for character-length reasons then a "TNRspan" template (or something ''not'' four characters longer, if you're extremely tight for space) would have to be used.
:::Or change the TNR so <code><nowiki>{{TNR|span=yes}}</nowiki></code> will specially 'return' you your no-Div version (that's the nice-looking version; you could also have it do something like responding to <code><nowiki>{{{1}}}</nowiki></code> being "s" or "1", if you can only afford to extend by two extra characters). That makes the one template dual-use, instead of making another template.
:::TIMTOWTDI. But you'll know what you want to do, I can only give vague pointers. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.74|82.132.245.74]] 22:22, 4 November 2025 (UTC)
::::Weird. I changed the TNR template to <nowiki></nowiki> instead of <nowiki><div></nowiki>, but upon testing it's still doing that weird newline thing. {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|14:11, 5 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:::::Finally fixed. I can't get the timestamp to also be TNR, but at least it doesn't auto-newline. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:15, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
::::::That looks not too bad, though the timestamp is sans-serif again. Though ''might' in part be browser-dependant as to how it looks (mine may react only to the 'serif' and not the full 'Times New Roman', giving a TNR''-like'' serif-font that works good adjacent to the non-specific choice of sans-serif font. Also, at first glance, there's a mystery as to why the timestamp is '''''BOLD+ITALIC''' (or maybe STRONG+EMPHASIS, for the pedants).
::::::The structure is probably as follows, rewritten just for visual representation/explanation. Formatting that you do is in ()s, my explanatory notes are in ** and * pairs:
**start of 'fixed text' signature insertion**
(SPANopen style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;")
--
(BOLD+ITALICstart)
(LINKpage)User:DollarStoreBa'al
(LINKtext)
(SPANopen style="color:#E3C6BE")
DollarStoreBa'al
(SPANclose, i.e. end:style="color:#E3C6BE")
(LINKclose)
(SUPERSCRIPTopen)
(LINKpage)User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al
(LINKtext)
(SPANopen style="color:#CC9A8B")
Converse
(SPANclose, i.e. end:style="color:#CC9A8B")
(LINKclose)
(SUPERSCRIPTclose)
*expected to be an /implied/ (BOLD+ITALICSclose), here*
*check HTML source for why not?*
(SPANclose, i.e. end: style="font-family: Times New Roman...etc")
**end of 'fixed text' signature insertion**
**start of 'timestamp' signature insertion**
*BOLD+ITALICS is still active?*
*but all /other/ formats ended by the most recent (SPANclose)*
14:15, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
**end of 'timestamp' signature insertion**
::::::Without looking at exactly what you're doing behind the scenes, I'm not ''entirely'' sure, but I think the {{template|TNR}} includes a close-Span tag, preventing that from 'rolling on' into the timestamp bit.
::::::Exactly how the '''''BOLD+ITALIC''''' rolls on, I don't know without checking the HTML source. Might be an intentional function of the wikimarkup-to-HTML conversion that 'remembers' that formatting and reapplies it as necessary, at least until a 'forced' end-of-scope (end of a Div or P tag, a Br/Hr monotag, new ordered/unordered list item (or changing the list-level), table cell/row transitions, and then there's the next (same/different) ":"-prepended indented follow-up lines and (of course) double-newlines) to force even no-prefix lines into paragraph-breaks. All of these (and other less obvious wikimarkup scenarios) probably translate to a hard /div closure in the HTML.
::::::Does {{template|TNR}} currently close its own Span? Does removing that Span-end let it 'roll on' over the timestamp? If you do that, does the insert-signature process close off all remaining Spans ''after'' the timestamp? (Normally, a signature is followed by a newline+newline or at least a newline+:nextlinehasindents, but if you add a P.S. comment after a timestamp that benefits from an unclosed formatting rlling through, does anything add a closure to stop it rolling through onto the P.S...? Can't test this, myself, directly, but it'd be interesting to find out!)
::::::Note that I don't know if you intended TNR to be used anywhere else. But by changing it from Div-based to Span-based it changes how it looks if I "{{TNR|use it here}}", and if you then make it so that it open-Spans but never close-Spans then it would change the appearance of this paragraph even further.
::::::...ouch. Actually, I had assumed it would currently (as 'span-only', opening and closing) not linefeed, browserside, but currently it adds a forced break, and doesn't even have any way of knowing how many indents (if any) to add before the continuation text.
::::::Though if nobody else is using it for ''anything else'', it shouldn't matter. Just pointing out that (''if they are'') changes you make to fine-tune your signature ''could'' have collateral effects for other people who use TNR when it does one thing but then find that it's doing another thing.
::::::Creating a template 'just for your own use' is Ok-ish, but you might just want to note its purpose and (current) peculiarities in case someone thinks that it's intended for a more general purpose, and in a more logical manner than you've had to make it 'work' just for you.
::::::It's also known for templates to contain imbalanced markup, with either how it is used or the presence of a second 'closing' template (see {{template|cot}} and {{template|cob}}, that mark the 't'op and 'b'ottom of a 'co'llapsable area) making the final result properly balanced in the end. But mostly you'd expect internal closure of anything the template started, whether Spanny or Divvy in nature, or justify it and make it obvious without digging through the actual template-code itself.
::::::But I don't know how useful all of this is, to you or those coming along afterwards (before or after further template tweaks, etc). I'm just trying to pass on everything I think could be helpful, knowing that a lot of it could be 'beyond helpful', i.e. actually quite irrelevent. If not incomprehsible. (If not wrong, given I can't even test many assumptions, directly!) But here it is, anyway. HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.89|82.132.244.89]] 16:24, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::::I'm using the TNR template because it looks cool, but it also does have a purpose. It's used in early Taglines and header texts. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 16:53, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Having tried many things, I've found that including the TNR template at all is messing up the timestamp. I'll see if there's another way to include the template without that, but idk if there is a way. In the meantime, here's my new Sig: --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 17:25, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

:{{outdent|:::::}}
:((I researched,cchecked and wrote the following followup whilst you were replying, just aboce. You've answered some of my points, plus seem happy with as it is now, but still posting it given the thought I put into it... ;) Not that I actually think that it's necessary as helpful as I might have hoped it to be, in the end! Absolutely no reply expected, if you're happy to say nothing more.))
:Ok, actually looked at the HTML source, now, neutering the 'raw' markup, whitespacing it and adding **commentary**:
**start signature, fixed text**
**default formatting**
<nowiki><</nowiki>span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">
**formatting is now TNR**
--
<nowiki><</nowiki>b>
**formatting is TNR+Bold**
<nowiki><</nowiki>i>
**formatting is TNR+Bold+Italics**
<nowiki><</nowiki>a href="/wiki/index.php/User:DollarStoreBa%27al" title="User:DollarStoreBa'al">
**formatting is TNR+B+I and a link..**
<nowiki><</nowiki>span style="color:#E3C6BE">
**...which is coloured**
DollarStoreBa'al
<nowiki><</nowiki>/span>
**back to TNR+B+I link, no colour**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/a>
**back to TNR+B+I, no link
<nowiki><</nowiki>sup>
**TNR+B+I+Superscript**
<nowiki><</nowiki>a class="mw-selflink selflink">
**TNR+B++Sup and a link (to this page, in this specific instance)**
<nowiki><</nowiki>span style="color:#CC9A8B">
**TNR+B+I+Sup link is coloured**
Converse
<nowiki><</nowiki>/span>
**TNR+B+I+Sup link, no colour**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/a>
**TNR+B+I+Sup, no link**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/sup>
**TNR+B+I, normal-script again**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/span>
**this should have removed TNR, *and* the 'inner' B+I too...**
** (Although this is not what you wanted, it's what you should get!) **
**...but apparently we're now just with B+I**
** (This might be my own browser's interpretation, not everyone's.) **
**this is the inbuilt transition between fixed-sig and time-sig**
**a space is here, then...**
14:15, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
<nowiki><</nowiki>/i> ** (Your signature markup does not ask for this!) **
**just Boldness left**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/b> ** (Your signature markup does not ask for this!) **
**neutral format again**
**end of signature**
:What goes with the "TNR+B+I" going to "B+I", I don't know. Unless they've changed the HTML spec regarding this in the last decade or three.
:The wiki-server back end was smart enough to add the close-Italics and close-Bold, at the end of the signature (''perhaps'', knowing that these were imminent a 'smart' error-checking by the browser's HTML-renderer let their formats persist, when otherwise they would not have? ...odd, but possible). Possibly it would have also closed the TNR-span, after the B-closure,cif not already asked to do so by the end of the TNR-template?
:...so...
:#First 'fix', remove the <code><nowiki><</nowiki>/span></code> from TNR. See how that affects any newly applied signatures (it won't change old ones).
:#Also see how/if it changes the indent-loss above my "...ouch" line, above.
:#''Also'' also chase down if TNR gets used ''anywhere else'' in this wiki, at the moment, and check that you've not broken anything else that other people might have used it for.
:If the first fix works and the third thing isn't a problem (ignore the second issue, I'm happy for it to change), then you're sorted. Otherwise (no fix, or even further broken in ways that aren't any good for anyone) reverse the change to where it works best for everyone and accept it not working precisely how you think you want it.
:If it fixes, as suggested, I'd also be interested how signing with <code><nowiki>~~~~ and more text</nowiki></code> works. (i.e. does it TNR the "and more text"?) Not that it's important, just my own curiosity.
:And think about a more advanced explanation on TNR's page, if it's going to be 'an odd template' in any way, like being Span-opener without being a Span-closer.
:That's all. Over to you, nothing more I can do (I could change TNR's code, but not then test it with your signature), but ''maybe'' I've done enough to help. Without too much confusion. I'll let you sort the rest out on your own, unless there's anything specific that arises to follow-up with. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.131|82.132.246.131]] 17:45, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
::tbh I'm good. Besides, I have no clue how to convert that raw HTML into usable wikitext (idk how to code, planning to learn someday). Either way, works fine. Also, you commentary has made me realize how complex my sig actually is. Times New Roman+Bold+Italics, which is a link which is colored. {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|19:21, 5 November 2025 (UTC)}}

User talk:DollarStoreBa'al

2025-11-09T20:31:15Z

2.98.65.8:

Speak through the interdimentional portal

==General Chitchat and such==
Hey, as per your comment on [[Main Page#Create my user page]], I created your pages. Welcome to the wiki! Please always remember to sign your comments with <nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki>, and ask in the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]] if you don't know something. If you want, you can read the [[explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ#Why_can.27t_I_upload_pictures_or_create_pages.3F|the Editor FAQ]]! Welcome. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

:Thanks! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 19:11, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

:hi btw :) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:11, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
::hello, how are you doing this fine morning, my dear fellow? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:03, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

==Hiyo==
:I'm trying to lurk less and be friendly so I just thought I'd ah drop in :) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:53, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Bello. me editor guy who edit much. edit fun! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:00, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::hahahahaha edit fun indeed. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:20, 4 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Question: How do you add those user boxes that you have on your page? Those would be nice to have. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:52, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::copy and paste this and remove the nowiki tag:

<nowiki>{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = alastor jumpscare | info = [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|This user has a pet cannibal deer.]] | float = left}}</nowiki> and replace it with what you desire, for example:

<nowiki>{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = ;) | info = [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|This user _____ ]] | float = left}}</nowiki>

[[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:50, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::Dude thanks! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 13:48, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::You're very welcome dear. WEE WOO [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:18, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

==Wow==
Am I so cool that I got a mention on your user page just because I showed you how to make userboxes? I mean, if I am... thanks. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:44, 25 March 2025 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes you are. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:43, 25 March 2025 (UTC)
::YAY TYSM i will get you free jambalaya for you immediately due to that (if you're into that) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:19, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

::: No need. Also, I see you're from Louisiana. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 03:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)]]
::::Haha or maybe I just like jambalaya :). Also you are not 4029 hHHA [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:17, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

==The 5s and Es and Os==
Reply to this if you've figured out what the meaning of the thingy on my user page is.
:it's base 3 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:07, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:: :O [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:31, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:: Nope! I'll give you a hint: talk to sam. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 14:33, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
https://voca.ro/1Akmh0zRqa8Q [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:02, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:uhhh...[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 20:41, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
::sorry, that's not it. Don't know what to say to that.[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:54, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

You have one week! Hint: beep boooop --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 16:30, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:Morse code? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 19:33, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

::Morse code of what? You are very, very close.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:47, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Time's up! If you put this into [https://morsecode.world/international/translator.html/] and click play, you get the intro to Bad Apple. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 14:44, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

:It's better than [[2869: Puzzles]] [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 11:11, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

== Want to do some repetitive work? ==

Hey dollar, I noticed you're very active here! I don't have a ton of time, but I recently overhauled the template {{tl|comic}} to add many new features. While we figure out [[Header text]], would you be interested in editing the contents of about 50 pages (the early xkcd comics) to make these new features work? It's a lot of repetitive work, you'd just need to make the same small edits on 50 pages. (If you're interested in why the OG comics were in a different order, see [[LiveJournal]]). Just let me know and I'll finish the documentation for the template! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:13, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:What exactly would I be doing to get these features to work? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:18, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

::If it isn't super-complex wikitext things I can totally help! --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]] 19:21, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Right so you'd just need to move things around and remove some useless code. This process adds a second white navigation bar at the bottom to browse the OG comics in the original order.
[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1:_Barrel_-_Part_1&diff=374851&oldid=373457 You can follow this example]. The steps are:

Start from [[4|comic number 4]]:
#Based on the short sentence written above the explanation, add "ognumber =", "ogprev =", and "ognext =" (so the navbar can work)
#Add "oglink =", and move ONLY the link from "before" to "oglink" (so from HTTPS://..... until the end of the link, move that to "oglink")
#Now, from the edit preview, copy the original title.
#Delete everything in "before =" now that you moved the link
#Add "ogtitle =" and paste the original title that you copied.
#Finally, in "titletext", add two couples of apostrophes (<nowiki>''</nowiki>) in these places: https://imgur.com/a/BewKKr1
#Now save the changes, and click the new white "Next >" button you just created to go to the next one!
And you're done! It's much simpler when you try it. Of course you don't have to do it, feel free to work on the header text! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:41, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

me am do. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)com/wiki/index.php/S--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)pecial:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 20:51, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Oh and I added friendly errors for when you forget to add one of the "og" labels. Just note that if you don't provide "ognumber", the cool white navbar won't show up. Remember to always insert a pipe before a label, like this "'''|''' ognumber =". And once you get to comic 55 you're done! That's the last one --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:58, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Hey, I don't really understand where I'm supposed to put these. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 21:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Nevermind, I got this. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 21:05, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
:Erm nope the OGnumber, OGprev, and OGnext you should take from the first sentence above the explanation. For example [[24]] says it's sixth. Anyways, I found a pretty big bug in the template, so I guess we should stop until it's fixed. The Original title doesn't show up! Arghhh! I'll fix it.
:I'll let you know when you can continue. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:18, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

alright, sounds good! Dang tho. Let me know and I'll get right back to it. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 13:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

:Hey, I, um, undid all your edits because they broke the template haha. I guess this was more complex that I thought! Don't worry, I'll finish them myself over time. I'm more experienced than I thought it seems! Thanks for trying to help anyways! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:52, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Reviewing them, it seems you were not isolating the link correctly and leaving there some HTML elements that closed other open HTML elements that weren't finished! It did look, interesting, at least! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:55, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:::So sorry about that, I noticed those random Html elements. Thought they were part of the bug. oops. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 22:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

::::No worries! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

==The mistake==
===Kynde's talk page===
You might want to expedite the actual deletion of [[User:User:User:User:User:User/Mr. Beast is trying to aquire my bones]] (and its User Talk counterpart). I believe the editor concerned was sleep-deprived (but wouldn't put it past being instead a chemical imbalance of some legal ''or'' illegal kind). I'd have added the Pages To Delete category, but there's already a few of those hanging around unfulfilled... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.176|82.132.246.176]] 17:02, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Ok man, I created that page because I wanted somewhere that would
*Be private (which it is. It's impossible to create the account User:User:User:User:User. I checked.)
*Affect Nobody (which it shouldn't. The only person it's affecting is you.)

You've also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:DGAF&diff=prev&oldid=385114 vandalized] [[Template:DGAF]], which I created, is inspired by 42.book.addict, and affects nobody but me. This makes me think that you're just looking through my contributions and immediately flagging things you frame as 'wrong'. This is not only incredibly creepy, but is also completely pointless. I'm a high school student on the internet. Also, I believe you're the same person who insulted me about DSBContribs, which I no longer use, and was fixed. Just stop and let me do my own thing. Amusedly and angrily, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 18:11, 26 August 2025 (UTC)
:Given other recent activity, it ''looked'' like another example of {{diff|385026|editing whilst insensible}} (together with statements about returning to school, put me in mind the situation of which the {{w|Eternal September}} was the next step). i.e. honest errors of judgement.
:To term the "UserUserUser..." space 'private' is erroneous. It can be seen by anyone. It can be ''edited'' by anyone. Though, by convention, only the User Talk should be edited by anyone other than the ultimate named User. Which you aren't, BTW... create for someone else, ''if you must'', if they're too new and unwilling to wait the trivial amount of time before they can. Creating the spaces for someone who didn't request help or ''doesn't even exist'' needs some form of justification that you're well short of.
:It affects everyone if random, meaningless and context-free pages are added to the wiki 'just for fun'. Data isn't free. Storage isn't limitless. Potentially obscuring real useful (on-topic) information with stupid semi-vandalism (that I didn't think you'd do intentionally, based upon prior behaviour), is not something I expected. But it looked like a momentary lapse that (being on the scene) I tried to helpfully deal with as much as I could. (If I'd have been an Admin, myself, I ''would'' have just deleted them. 'Luckily' for you, I have no interest in that amount of leverage, I'm sticking what anyone can do, perhaps the next person along would have reacted the same, or worse.)
:No, I'm not stalking you. All edits are visible, you made edits, I saw them. I remember DSBContribs (or similar, if it's what I think you mean), but didn't recall it was your work. And others, including a named user, 'insulted' you about that. Or, as I recall, questioned the reasoning behind it, and didn't get a sensible answer. So 0lease accept my apologies. It seems that you ''are'' the kind of person to create useless pages like these last few. If I had known that, I wouldn't have come here suggesting that they were in error, but come here to just draw Kynde's attention to them as effectively being vandalism.
:And, because your template page tried to link to a non-existing wiki page, I also just made it go somewhere that works. That was before reading here how this may well have been culpably intentional, so again was done out of more good faith helpfulness than it turns out I should have been employing.
:That's regardless of your age, BTW. Whether you're at "High School" in the US, at maybe 14-18+ years old, or a High School like I attended where I am (and many years ago), which was for 11-16+ then workplaces or college (then maybe uni) beckoned. You don't need to be older to be more sensible about these things, and you don't need to be young to act idiotically.
:And, lucky you, you get this shiny wiki (and everything else) to work with. I had no access to the Internet until I was 18 (though, at that time, the web itself hadn't been invented, let alone wikis), and of course made my own goofs (asked whether I needed to buy an estamp to send an email!).
:But let me not bore you. I'm not in control here, only a fellow traveller who would give advice and assistance to those who might need it, and cares perhaps more than you might 'give a fuck' about various corners of the online world, like this. Reasoning over, lecture finished, friendly advice concluded. I just shoved it all in one reply to save you the trouble of having to deal with an impatiently slow conversation. And to not keep 'pinging' Kynde's email notification more than necessary (sorry Kynde!)... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.247.23|82.132.247.23]] 20:47, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Do you wish to know something? I'm 14. User:User:User:User:User is (and I checked) completely impossible to create, as shown in this image: [[File:refutation.png]] But, if you wish, I shall make it a subpage of my own account.
::Yes, of course it's ''technically'' public, but unless people specifically search for that page (which is still a subpage, btw), it won't affect anybody. Also, I'd like to point out, everybody editing any page is the ''whole point'' of a wiki. Yes, storage isn't limitless. Very cool. At this point, that page is a drop in the ocean of data already contributed by all the rest of these pages (including the lecture you just added, which is ''more'' bytes than the pages I created).
::Thank you for that edit, by the way. When I previewed it, it showed that it did go to the correct page ({{w|Wikipedia:Don't-give-a-fuckism}}), so I published it that way. However, your edits make it seem like you're definitely stalking me. From what I've seen, all you've done is edit recent comic pages and berate me (and Kynde) about my mistakes.
::DSBContribs was my work. I did, however, provide a sensible reason as to why I created it. If you didn't see it, here it is:

::DSBContribs was created specifically for my signature. At the time I created this, I had no idea what subpages were and I was running out of characters on my signature. I created it because I thought it wouldn't be a hindrance to the wiki and it would save me precious characters on my signature.
::However, I do still apologize, even if the insulting on the template was a ''bit'' far and not in the least helpful. I will move Mr.Beast is trying to aquire my bones to a subpage of my own. I will fix that template (which was not useless) and subsequently delete the content from the three unnecessary redirects. I had no intention of vandalizing the wiki, as I've stated multiple times. No page I create is meant to be vandalism in any way, and I try to do my best to help the wiki be the best it can be. Sometimes it gets boring being 'sensible' all the time (especially in IB classes, where I regularly have 3+ hours of homework/night), and I wanted some sort of way to let all the wild shit that my ADHD makes out. That's what came out. Again, I truly apologize.

I bid thee well on wherever the journey of life may take thee, fellow traveler. May we see each other again, be it in life, in death, or in the cursed month of Jancember. Take Care.

Ba'al, teenage Soul-Eater, out.

:Wow that was a long read. I do give a f**k about not having such a template her so I deleted that instantly! I'm going to wait till you have moved relevant content of the user:user page somewhere with a more sensible name. ASnd no I do not think you should just write random gibberish on any pages here. And no I do not think we should have such a confusing page on here. So yes I will delete it eventually. If there is anything valuable on the page, make a different page, call it your sandbox or something, I don't know, but not something which is impossible for me or any one else to find out what it is supposed to be, like this many times user page. We have so many random users being created and many of them begin to spam us and has to be blocked. I do really not have the time to such a debate as the one here, so I hope you will do as I say and we can end this nicely. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:38, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

::Something you probably didn't see: The fact that I did move the page to a sandbox YESTERDAY. Good day, and make Jeff proud. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:42, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:::No I did not see as I do not stalk anyone here: So I can then delete [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:DollarStoreBa%27al/Mr._Beast_is_trying_to_aquire_my_bones this page] now? And please try not to insult me with any mention of Jeff. He is no longer active and no one has any contact with him on these pages. I'm not happy about being the only active admin here, but you should reply decently! Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:45, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
::::Well, I never accused you of stalking (unless you were the IP in disguise), and I never meant to insult you with making Jeff proud. I like to imagine him as a father looking at his millionaire son with pride. If you wish to, delete the page. Go ahead, it won't affect anyone. Except me. And maybe mystery British(?) IP. This feud is over, and has been for hours. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:57, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::DollarStoreBa'al, I would very strongly recommend you to relax a bit and stop being so attacking/condescending. A lot of your edits don't make sense and aren't helping or contributing towards the growth and improvement of this wiki, so of course other users will be confused and annoyed. Maybe take a break from editing for a bit and mull over your edits for a bit? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:01, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

::::::You're right. 42. You're always right :) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 16:07, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::::I'm so sorry. You don't need to forgive me for this. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 16:26, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

===My talk page===

N 19:49 heADer TExt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:49 hEaDeR tEXt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:46 hEaDeR TeXt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:46 HEADER TEXT‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:45 header Text‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:45 Header Text‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
...now that I know you're doing stupid and unnecessary things deliberately, I won't try to provide help. And you, of course won't be taking my friendly advice, so I'll try not to disturb you further, if I can help it. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.82|82.132.244.82]] 20:57, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

:I KNEW YOU WERE STALKING MY EDITS! Now that you have discovered that I've done unnecessary edits (which are only affecting you), try zooming out a little. Specifically, to the 2,000 bytes I added to [[What if? Chapters]]. I didn't get almost 300 contribution score by doing meme edits all day. Besides, three of those are genuinely useful, and I'm not going to listen to a random IP with maybe 10 edits tops telling me how to edit a wiki. If you want to fix my work, go right ahead. That's what wikis are for. I invite you to fix everything. If you stop stalking my contributions page.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 23:07, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Also, I would like to point out that it's harder to get more unfriendly than making a template which only links to my user page insult me, thereby vandalizing my user page. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 23:11, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::There was going to be no further reply, but you need to know these things:
::;I KNEW YOU WERE STALKING MY EDITS!
::Read what I said. All edits are visible. That's an extract from that list of all edits via the Recent Changes link. You are not being 'stalked'. Though, if I ''could'' easily do so, I'd now specifically hide all your edits and let absolutely ''anyone'' else work out what (if anything) to do in response.
::;Specifically, to the 2,000 bytes I added to [[What if? Chapters]].
::That looked good, as far as I saw it. Would you have me edit something that didn't need editing, just to congratulate you for a job adequately done? There was something I ''might'' have changed, but so trivial that I actively chose not to, and I am now thankful of that.
::;I didn't get almost 300 contribution score by doing meme edits all day.
::Good for you, if the contribution score means so much to you. Quality over quantity is better, and doesn't have a hand macro to show it. But you do you, if you're chasing the scoreboard rankings alone.
::;and I'm not going to listen to a random IP with maybe 10 edits tops telling me how to edit a wiki.
::As you point out, elsewhere, my IP ''will'' keep changing. (And I'm not the only person who may have appeared on any given IP.) I shudder to think how many edits I've made here, in reality, but shall I show you edits by various IPs across a decade or so and claim them as mine? No, because the merit (or otherwise) of one's latest contribution is all that matters. I'm usually happy to be an anon-IP, amongst other anon-IPs and named-users (both venerable and fleetingly transient alike).
::;If you stop stalking my contributions page.
::I can reassure you that I've probably never even looked at ''your'' specific contributions page, certainly not for a long time. I normally only ever check those to check whether "one-edit vandals" have perhaps made other edits that had temporarily slipped under the collective radar, but I don't think I had ever considered you as one of them, before, even back when you were new here. (How long is that? Six months. Two years? Maybe a bit longer?I could look it up easily by checking your contribs page, but I'm now firmly resolved to not do that, for your sake.)
::
::If any what I have written reads as less than polite, it's perhaps partly my exasperation leaking through. By the time I felt the need to add another word to "unnecessary", above, I can see that this had happened. For which I am sorry.
::But text-only communications, like this, also tend to be read in a way that the reader's mood dictates. And I think some of my more straightforward initial contributions got misread at your end, tinted with reflected emotion.
::And, please, let this be it. The world doesn't need to see this, nor does the server need it being added to, and of course there's no alternative backchannel to conduct a lengthy private conversation about it all. I shall read what you reply, just because it's hard to ''not'' read anything that isn't deleted/overwritten, but please no more needless creation of fake user pages (or, indeed, IP user pages). Unnecessary and as likely to be removed as anything else out there. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.228|82.132.244.228]] 05:07, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

It is probable that you didn't see the reply I gave you on Kynde's talk page. Here is that reply:

:Do you wish to know something? I'm 14. User:User:User:User:User is (and I checked) completely impossible to create, as shown in this image: [[File:refutation.png]] But, if you wish, I shall make it a subpage of my own account.
:Yes, of course it's technically public, but unless people specifically search for that page (which is still a subpage, btw), it won't affect anybody. Also, I'd like to point out, everybody editing any page is the whole point of a wiki. Yes, storage isn't limitless. Very cool. At this point, that page is a drop in the ocean of data already contributed by all the rest of these pages (including the lecture you just added, which is more bytes than the pages I created).
:Thank you for that edit, by the way. When I previewed it, it showed that it did go to the correct page (Wikipedia:Don't-give-a-fuckism), so I published it that way. However, your edits make it seem like you're definitely stalking me. From what I've seen, all you've done is edit recent comic pages and berate me (and Kynde) about my mistakes.
:DSBContribs was my work. I did, however, provide a sensible reason as to why I created it. If you didn't see it, here it is:

:DSBContribs was created specifically for my signature. At the time I created this, I had no idea what subpages were and I was running out of characters on my signature. I created it because I thought it wouldn't be a hindrance to the wiki and it would save me precious characters on my signature.
:However, I do still apologize, even if the insulting on the template was a bit far and not in the least helpful. I will move Mr.Beast is trying to aquire my bones to a subpage of my own. I will fix that template (which was not useless) and subsequently delete the content from the three unnecessary redirects. I had no intention of vandalizing the wiki, as I've stated multiple times. No page I create is meant to be vandalism in any way, and I try to do my best to help the wiki be the best it can be. Sometimes it gets boring being 'sensible' all the time (especially in IB classes, where I regularly have 3+ hours of homework/night), and I wanted some sort of way to let all the wild shit that my ADHD makes out. That's what came out. Again, I truly apologize. I hope this marks the end of this little spat we've had.
I bid thee well on wherever the journey of life may take thee, fellow traveler. May we see each other again, be it in life, in death, or in the cursed month of Jancember. Take Care.

Ba'al, teenage Soul-Eater, out.

:See my reply there: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#On_Template:DGAF_and_User:User:User:User:User:User.2FMr._Beast_is_trying_to_aquire_my_bones Reply] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:42, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:: I just did, and I did just respond. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:43, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

==My Mistakes==
=== Your signature is in violation of {{w|WP:SIGAPP}} ===

Hey, I wanted to let you know that your current signature doesn't follow {{w|WP:SIGAPP}} (specifically the first bullet point). Kindly change it. Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:48, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Changed to 14pt. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 13:02, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:Any height that's taller than the other text on the page disrupts the way that surrounding text displays. 14 px is no better. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:25, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

FINE --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 15:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:That still disrupts the page flow... I think you signature is already more eye-catching than any other signature on this entire wiki, why do you want to increase its height too? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:: I thought the issue was the height? Doesn't the wiki use 12pt font, which that Sig is? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 15:27, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, I just noticed that it does increase the space between two lines. It might be the superscript's fault then. Well, at least the current one is much better than before. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:49, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

=== Mass-deleting links ===

Hay, just letting you know that maybe you've misunderstood the "incomplete" notice. You shouldn't delete every link on the page ''until there are no links left'', but rather include these links, if they're helpful, directly into the explanation, as explained in [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#ref|the editor faq]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:09, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

===Creating someone's User pages, without being asked===
In short, not worth the bother. You were helped, above, because you asked (and now, obviously, have become capable of doing the creation yourself, within a very short time). But this wiki is littered with "Welcome, I created your User pages for you" (including for IPs, which is particularly unuseful), where the user concerned has not then used them. However active an editor they are, if they don't know/care about them then it's effort done for nothing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.130|172.70.86.130]] 08:50, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
:Yup, I also pointed it out. In case you missed my reply to your message, here's a copy:
:”It's relevant to note that we only create User pages when people explicitly ask for them. On the other hand, User talk pages are created if you want to talk to that specific member privately."--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:03, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry about that. Just trying to help! --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:34, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

=== NEWS ===

Hey uhhh does anyone know about [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/science/randall-munroe-xkcd-science-textbook.html this]? Should we make explanations for these?
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:48, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Google's Ai says there are multiple exclusive comics for the textbook, but I've only been able to find Inside Body, shown here: [[File:Inside Body.jpg]]

:Just so you know, the standard method for announcing something, big or small, to the community is to create a post in te community portal. Just so you don't have to copy and paste every message and reach a wider audience. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:50, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

=== Why [...] is DSBContribs a thing? ===

Did you seriously have to create a page in the main namespace with the sole purpose of redirecting to your user contributions page?

Firstly, the main namespace is supposed to be on-topic. Why, you may ask? Because "DSBContribs" literally appears in the search results for "D" alongside "DSBSig/sandbox" (???), right between DNE (comic #259) and Danger Mnemonic (comic #2487).

User specific stuff should really go as sub-pages of your user page, and nothing is stopping you from directly linking to your contribs page in your signature instead of using a pointless redirect.

As I've read more of your talk page I've realised you're [...] [[Special:Contributions/86.143.223.93|86.143.223.93]] 13:48, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

:Highly disagree on the tone but agree with the message. I redacted the message and scheduled both for deletion, use your user page for this. thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:38, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

::Sorry about this. At the time, I did not know subpages even existed. Thank you random IP for the advice, even if slightly unhinged, and thank you FaviFake for getting to those deletions. I would have done those deletions eventually. I created DSBContribs to save characters on my signiature, assuming that the pages would not show up on the search (linking to special:contributions:DollarStoreBa'al is much longer than linking to DSBContribs). Evidently, I was wrong. I created DSBSIG/sandbox while trying to create a sandbox page and being stupid. That was me trying to work out the wikitext to create a signature. I have perfected my signature now, and these pages are no longer needed. The 'FINE' comment was meant to be a joke. Maybe that would have worked better with a rolling eyes emoji and an 'ugh'. I will be putting this into the 'my mistakes' section of my talk page as this was definitely a mistake. Thanks for bringing my attention to this! Gratefully yours, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 05:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

::: By the way, I looked at your little message Mr. IP man. First, I see where you're coming from. I am a little bit immature, this is true. However, this should probably come as an expectation with someone going into 9th grade. This has been acknowledged on my user page and my comment on 3123. Please do your research. Second, swears are fine for basically all purposes EXCEPT to insult people. The fact that you are willing to insult someone who you think is an 8-year-old shows how mature you truly are. Maybe you are the one who should, as you put it 'grow the fuck up'. Thank you, and have a good day. Sincerely, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 05:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

:::: Hi, it's me (on a different IP because I'm at home now).
:::: I'm sorry for being so aggressive in my original comment, I thought you were a grown adult, not a teen. ("think is an 8-year old" is incorrect btw, I was saying you were "acting like an 8 year old", but that itself was too harsh).
:::: I made stupid mistakes too when I was around your age, and I should have assumed good faith rather than take such an aggressive tone.
:::: Sorry for that, and good luck with school! [[Special:Contributions/90.219.64.93|90.219.64.93]] 13:50, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

::::: I accept your apology with open arms. I truly hope we can work together to improve the wiki in the future. Best regards, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:11, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

=== Possessive and contracted "its"/"it's". ===

This also confused me, oh so many years ago. Then I was given a handy way of knowing ''which'' was the exception, which has served me well, and I've never had to second-guess myself. (Naturally, I've probably typoed/thinkoed it wrong, unconsciously... But since then I've never had a moment of doubt when I've deliberately kept myself/others correct.) Maybe it'll help you. - I tried to summarise it in the edit I made to the message concerned, but ''not enough space'' to do it justice...
#The possessive version is "its". It is one of a number of "irregular possessives", "his" instead of "him's"/, "hers" instead of "her's", "theirs" instead of "they's"/"them's".
#*Basically all the very common and basic pronoun-based possessives that (as I think of it, although not entirely correctly) were added to the language ''long before'' anybody actually tried to regularise the use of possessives, so just stuck that way. If it belongs to "him", "her", "me" "you", "us", "them" ''and'' "it", you're in the realms of using a completely irregular possessive, none of which use apostrophes.
#*''Personally'', I think that "one" (the equally 'basic', IMO, impersonal pronoun) should be included in that. Not for the likes of {{w|Ones' complement}} (that's belonging to (a number of) digit-ones), but in the "{{w|One (pronoun)|one}} is speaking sense. But (as noted in that last link), it isn't. So don't do that.
#This leaves the contractive version as the one that uses the apostrophe. With two interesting caveats:
#*There ''are'' irregular contractions. The word "forecastle" contracts to "fo'c'sle" or "fo'c's'le", which is a lot more overkill than other similarly complicated contractions. And "will not" becomes "won't" (or, some suggest, just "wont", though that's also a different word), despite not having the right set of letters in the right order to remain after (at least) the "not"->"n't" contraction.
#*In reporting speech, where someone says "it's just something I want to say", use it without fear. But, when writing, I find that (except for ''very'' casual use, essentially speaking in text ...or of course when tending to write in abbreviations/limited space) it's{{asic}} just much better to write "it is", in full. Can't(cannot) be written wrong, couldn't(/could not) be read wrong.
#Oh, and then theres "its'", the plural-(non-irregular-)possessive, which ''could'' be used in certain circumstances... "There are loads of ''its'' in this text, without apostrophes... please check that each ''its''' punctuation is correct!". But... not a common occurance. (Far less than "belonging to the word 'it'", the sole reason to use possessive "it's".) ;)

...TL;DR;, irregular possesive "its" because of all the other irregular possessive pronouns that have words of their own. And you might just find it easier to uncontract "it's", most of the time, ''especially'' if you're still not entirely sure about it. (Or, perhaps, you're happy to not let go of such a minor degree of gravitas, and it's not transcriped real-world enunciation, which might even feature such monstrosities as "couldn't've" as the contraction of "could not have"!)

Don't know if that helps, or is understandable, but there you are. Overexplained and overly rambling, as it is..! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 21:51, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

:While you have way too much time on your hands, it'sn't (it is not) hard to understand, so thank you! As I said, it's basically my only grammatical flaw, so this helps tremendously. Damn my brain and its grammatical irregularities. Its a pleasure to talk with you! Sincerely, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 00:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

::Definitely didn't just make a mistake on an it's. After reading a full page worth of why not to. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 00:44, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

==excuse me==

but it appears you have discovered that I was a spammer in a past account or maybe this account. who's to say anymore? anyway i'm trying to fix that hehe [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:02, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

==template==

What is a template? What’s a {{Trout}} and {{Whale}}?
 
If it looks weird, click edit [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 12:20, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

: I'm assuming you're asking what a template is and not about sea life. Templates are basically shortcuts that we use for commonly used things. For example, <nowiki>{{cn}}</nowiki> creates {{cn}}. You can create one pretty easily. I made those because they're commonly used on Wikipedia, and wanted to transfer them here. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:41, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::how can I create one? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:21, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::Here's something that may be able to help: {{AprilFoolsHelp}} --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:43, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::thxxxxxxxxx [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::You are very welcome! I hope you are excited to start contributing to the wiki! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::::By the way, please don't be afraid to ask me any questions at all. If I can, I will help! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:48, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::::Thanks [[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]], which is <nowiki>{{Thx$store}}</nowiki> (if I can call you that)

==Template Tips==
Ok. Sorry, needed to get that out of my system. Thank you for the supplement. Truly. It's a good warning. Just please don't start randomly insulting people towards the end. This is a wiki. Speak the facts, and nothing more. In this case, the facts are:
*Templates are easy to create.
*It's useful to learn from other templates.
Those are the facts. Now, you're done. Don't go on to insult them about how they're too stupid to do something useful.
:No insult intended, no mention at all of stupidity, just the obvious eagerness. Tried only to give caution not to run before you've learnt how (and, ideally, where) to walk. All edits show up, to anyone looking. The initial query had not been answered, when I started the reply, and I had to hastily rewrite things to fit back in on the end.
:To the above, I'd add:
:*Know what purpose your template will have.
:That way you're less likely to create something that you later regret, give or take a rename/delete. (If you want anything totally deleted, it may take a long time, a meanwhile you can only edit it 'clear', but still findable and the history checkable.) Most templates are ''not'' there to add pictures of sealife, but to grease the wheels of common (or not so common) Explanation page scenarios. And we might even thank you for a good shortcut for something we maybe never realised was needed before.
:For a more technical 'manual', {{w|Help:A quick guide to templates}} might be a useful next read, and from there jump around into other Help: items. There's a lot you ''can'' do, though you certainly won't want to use it all right from the start. Take your time and know ''why'' you're doing something, as well as ''what'.
:Good luck for the future, I've probably said as much as you need me to say for now. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.73|82.132.246.73]] 17:39, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:While this is very useful, it would be nice if you posted this on [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!]]'s talk page. He's the one learning the ropes, and it would probably be very useful to him. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 17:47, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

==Requests/favors==
If you need anything done, reach out to me! I'll let you know what I can do to help you! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:49, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

Hi [[User:DollarStoreBa'al | DollarStoreBa'al]], are you good enough to have the link to my user page? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 01:57, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

:Done! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:56, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

==Hello again Darling :D==
I'm back after the summer hello sir O) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 13:59, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

:A fellow school-based follower of the truth, I see! Welcome back, and I wish thee well on your adventures. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:00, 26 August 2025 (UTC) P.S. I use monobook style now.

==Category thing==
Hey, can someone tell me why my talk page is on 'pages to delete?' {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|18:08, 27 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:I have tracked it down to {{diff|383609|this edit}} by [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!]], where they used a (fairly useless and unnecessary) template (that they created themselves) called <nowiki>Template:Thx$store</nowiki> to thank you for helping to teach them the process of creating a new template. Since I marked that template for deletion, when the comment calls for the template, it also marks your talk page for deletion. I have changed it so that the template is replaced with the text that it would substitute in and your page is no longer marked for deletion. Also signed off your unsigned comment. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:30, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
::When someone says "I have tracked it down" you know they mean business. Thanks, that's quite reassuring. Another mystery IP (not sure if it's the same guy as today) did warn him not to make meaningless templates. Of course, I also made a meaningless template, so.... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 18:33, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

== Do you not learn? ==

You say that you've learned from your mistakes, yet I don't see any changes. You say that you're an incoming 9th grader and that's somehow an excuse for your immaturity, but I'm also a 9th grader and can compose myself perfectly fine. You say that you won't do the same mistakes again, yet you still create useless pages. How many more are you going to create? I really don't want to be yelling at you like this, but I just don't think you'll be able to change without it. FYI, I've marked User:DSB and the /C pages for deletion. Grow up. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:41, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
:Look. You aren't a bad person. In fact, I wholeheartedly believe that your passion can turn into a positive thing for this wiki. The thing is, you have a tendency to try to fix things by doing even more things, often panicking and making the situation worse. I've already told you this before, but I'll reemphasize it for you. '''TAKE A BREAK.''' Go for some walks. Work on your homework. Talk to people. Hang out with some friends. Don't just spend all your time on here. Trust me, I made the same mistake before. I would recommend a couple days of rest. See how it feels! It might hurt in the beginning, but nobody NEEDS you on here so badly to work on things to the point of such fanatic editing. I don't think Kynde, FaviFake, or any of the other editors hate you, to be honest. We're all just annoyed that you seem to not listen to our advice and keep on making the same mistakes. It's fine to make mistakes-that's how we learn! But you need to stop worrying so much and just step away from the screen for a bit. (Also, I'd recommend talking to a friend or a trusted adult. Your /PRIVATE page seems to be filled with quite a bit of self-hatred. Don't listen to that voice in your head. She's a bitch and none of it is true. I've dealt with poor mental health too. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I had left for so long. You should try to get these feelings out in a healthy way, instead of taking it out yourself or spending all your time online. Nobody thinks you're stupid. You just need to learn how things are done around here. If that's on a steep learning curve, so be it. Just keep on pushing through, and listen to people more.) And finally, you ''can'' make subpages, but try to reduce the number that you have. Think to yourself before you make one: do I TRULY need this? Will it help me out positively in the long run? If not, just put it in another section of your userpage (or make a proper sandbox!). Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk, and I wish you all a good night. Tori, signing off. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 04:05, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

::Take a break / Hey, our kid is pretty great / Run away with us for the summer / Let's go upstate / Eliza, I've got so much on my plate / We can all go stay with my father

::There's a lake I know (I know) / In a nearby park (I'd love to go) / You and I can go when the night gets dark / '''I will try to get away'''

::Such a good song, Lin cooked with that one. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:03, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

== are you ok? ==

do you need help? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 06:11, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

== Would you prefer to get a Blog? ==

User pages are sufficient to give an idea of who you are, and User Talk ones for people to talk to you about your contributions/etc.

Maybe create sub-pages if you have a relevant site-related project and need 'a space' for them. Such as, as an off-the-wall example, "a list of all the instances of comics that have less than the average number of vowels in them". Perhaps in the hope that it'll be appreciated and made into a more regular page.

But from what I've seen of your 'contributions' this week, none of that applies. Drunk-typing? Well, ''probably'' not if you're still so far underage that you probably don't have decent access to anything stronger than wine-gums, but definitely you weren't in full control of your keyboard. We've other people on here, as young as you, and have had even younger ones. If we can actually believe what anybody reveals about theirselves. (I'm a 111-year old hobbit, by the way.) You've been one of the most immaturely-acting people here who haven't actually been '''obviously''' trying to vandalise this site, and I'm sure you've strained the patience of pretty much everyone.

But you're not the first to go a little wild, like this. And - dare I say it - some of those who went on to be mainstays of this site got over the novelty of "anyone can edit (almost) anything", and possibly a rush of teenage hormones messing up their judgement. May I suggest you ''take a deep breath'' and work out what it is that you're doing that is creating such friction and push-back? I've seen you being a reasonable contributor before, and it's not even been all bad over the last week or so.

And you may have personal life changes going on. Those hormones, issues at home/school/elsewhere, general worries about the state of the world that you're growing up into... maybe a combination of them, or some of these things even ''causing'' some of the others. It happens. You're not alone ...even if one of the key issues is actually in feeling alone! But this is not necessarily the place to try to reshape the world like this.

How about you stick a little more to just xkcd matters, for the time being. There are plenty of other ways, and places, to run through whatever it is that you might be going through, and it might be best to balance things a bit more 'worklike' here than too much 'at play', like it looks like you're doing at the moment. Rebalance back to 'just enough of each' later.

And if you ''do'' get somewhere to blog, you'll even have a lot more control. Create anything you want (more or less, within the T&Cs of the service), not worrying about other people editing it, and probably even later cleanly delete anything you no longer want (with no pesky Page History open for everyone to read). You could even put a link to your blog here in your User space, if you want to. At least the blog that you want to connect to yourself here. (You can have an xkcd-adjacent one, ''and'' one to cry out in anguish if you so wish. And a third to... well, you get the idea.) And the skills to maintain blog code is a bit more 'real-world' than the purely wiki-related markup you learn here, and you can still learn the wiki-markup in parallel with getting to grips with HTML or other popular {{w|Content management system}} markup, giving you a few more useful lifeskills that ''merely'' being eventually a master wiki-guru.

How does that sound? Please do stay, but please also consider if everything you're doing is strictly necessary. I see I'm not the only one driven to try to explain this to you. And for some reason I thought I might be able to quickly suggest a solution to this little quandry. (No, it hasn't actually been that quick, has it.) If you really don't like what I say here... delete it. And I'll say no more. Or just tell me to mind my own business. I've probably got some other things to do around here, if our other old-hand editors don't get there before me! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:34, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

:I really should, shouldn't I... I'll try to find one. Yesterday and today have mainly been focused on What If? Chapters and a potential new project with Tori (Have you met her? She's lovely) about Sigs. Today has mainly been the latter, with a bit of the former, and some sig ideas I've been working on. I've been trying to stick to more useful matters. For example, /WORKPAGE currently contains drafts of some unfinished What If? Chapters I've been working on. So, I have been attempting to work on more xkcd-related matters. Is it ok if you could

:But, I shall heed your advice. I shall get a blog (not blood, autocorrect). Do you have any recommendations for where to start?

:One last thing: Could you show me one of the apparent 'drunk typing' incidents? I edit on my school Chromebook, so I wouldn't be surprised if the keyboard decided to be weird. Thank you for the advice! Once, again, I shall heed it. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 22:51, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

::Oh, and by the way, I will not delete this thread. Also, how do you access the internet in Valinor?
::'Drunkeness', or whatever it was, was very evident in something like {{diff|385245|here}}. More mundane 'misuse of the keyboard' issues are the times you add multiple linefeeds between very simple statements. You need to do two line-feeds to 'separate the paragraphs', any more than that is not normally visually necessary at all, and can ''look'' like you weren't even paying full attention at the time, however well-written the line-fragments between are. If it weren't for the fact that there were actual (sort-of-)discernable words in there, the 'drunk' one could also have perhaps been a "cat walked on my keyboard" issue. Were you and the cat ''both'' trying to use the keyboard? (Or one of you trying to walk on it, the other trying to type on it. One way round or the other?) I think it's that kind of thing that got people initially concerned about you. Help us to help you (to help yourself?), maybe. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 02:10, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::i don't think the help is strictly necessary, but, as I said before, do you have any suggestions for places to make a blog? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 18:30, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::::I don't blog, so nothing from personal experience. I bet you could use some Google-Fu (or Bing-Fu, or DuckDuckGo-Fu, or AltaVista-Fu, or AskJeeves-Fu, or...) to find a few such solutions, then look at all their offerings (check their wikipedia pages..? and, yeah, add some Wiki-Fu to the previous list of ways in which to search) and decide which one works for you. Or which two or three, and try them out with either completely identical aims in mind or initially split up your interests (one's your sports-appreciation, another is about what your favourite TV is, a third being your humorous observations about things you see every day, ...), then you can keep running the one(s) that turn out to work for you.
::::You know what you currently want, better than me or aanyone. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:50, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::If you need a blog, and don't know what platforms to use, I'd recommend making a Google Site or Wordpress blog. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:10, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

== {{w|Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/ltbdl}} ==

they think we're the same person, ha. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 02:29, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

:I did not think this is what I would come back to. That's wild and hilarious.

:They are raeb

:And I am Dollar

:And we are not the same person

--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:42, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

::OMG THEY BANNED YOU WTF? I've pleaded your case, but idk if they'll respond. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 13:49, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Okay, wait a second. A checkuser does checks on User IPs. If you were found guilty, that means that you were editing under the same IP as me. By any chance, do you go to school in Lincoln, NE? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 14:04, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
::::one, revert your case pleading, it's silly and won't help, and two, we're "very unlikely" to be the same person according to checkuser, don't panic. maybe link them here. (i don't go to school in lincoln.) [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 15:00, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::Ok, now it's weird. I didn't know you couldn't have alt accounts, even if you explicitly stated that they were, indeed, alt accounts. Seems a bit strict if you ask me. Also, 1+1=Window, not Yes. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 22:53, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

==Can you please help me==
I helped you with the userboxes. Now I need your help. How do I get my sig to be something besides what it is now? [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:34, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
:Hi there, Tori here. If you want to change your signature, go to your preferences page on the top right of the website (it's next to your Talk page and Watchlist). Scroll down until you see the signatures section and change it. If you need help figuring out wikitext, feel free to shoot me a message on my [[user talk:42.book.addict|talk page]]! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:32, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

== Template:what if? chapters ==

Sorry, but what's the point of creating a template for what if chapters? What do you intend to use it for? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:28, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
:I intended it as a workaround in order to edit two pages at once. (those being the blog page and the chapters page). I noticed there was a discrepancy between the tables on the two pages, and I created a workaround for it. Also, it's faster than copy-pasting, now that the load times are astronomical. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 16:30, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
::Sounds good! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:40, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
Ok I'm sorry but I had to change it back. Here are a few drawbacks:
#Now people reading our summaries can't edit them directly.
#The history is gone. You should've moved the page, not copy and paste. Both for copyright attribution (see {{w|WP:CWW]]) and for maintenance, to see when and why something was added.
#Now we need to transclude the table on 1 more page (servers!), and the pages that were already transcluding the page (except [[what if? (blog)]]) now are transcluding both the page AND the template.
And most importantly: there wasn't any discrepancy between the pages that transcluded the pages, just as there is no discrepancy now. The table was the exact same.

Could you explain what discrepancy you saw? The code and text behind the original [[What If? Chapters]] page, the blog page, the new template you created, and any other pages transcluding [[What If? Chapters]] was truly identical (and still is, just with the added issues listed above.).

Also; templates are not supposed to be edited frequently. A template is created in order to save time writing the same code on dozens or hundreds of pages. The table both needs to be edited and is only transcluded on a few pages. These are the pages in which the page was transcluded: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/What_If%3F_chapters&hidelinks=1&hideredirs=1] --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:04, 4 October 2025 (UTC)
:There were just some chapter summaries I saw that were different between the blog page and the chapters page. I'm not angry about this, thanks for bringing up the points which I am not advanced enough to see. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 12:55, 6 October 2025 (UTC)
::Huh, that's odd. The only difference between the two is that the last header cell on the left becomes highlighted in yellow when transcluded. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:16, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

== Current signature. ==

I've noticed that your signature does <all the fancy stuff><NEWLINE><space><timestamp>. Might be a good idea to remove the <NEWLINE> before the (presumably auto-appended) <space><timestamp> as it currently puts your
timestamp like this.

Which is ''probably'' not what you'd intended. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.74|82.132.245.74]] 20:47, 4 November 2025 (UTC)
:......Nope, didn't intend that. I'll see if I can fix it. (not signing this because... well, you know) --DSB {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|21:12, 4 November 2025 (UTC)}}
::I've found the issue. I was trying to make my signature in times new roman using [[Template:TNR]]. This template uses div for it's styling. For some reason, it's inserting <nowiki></div></nowiki> between the signature and timestamp rather than after. Is there a way to get the <nowiki></div></nowiki> to go after the timestamp rather than before (which is what I was intending)? Thanks! --DSB {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|21:18, 4 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:::Standard advice is to not use div-tags in your custom .sig, for exactly this reason. You should be able to do the same (except for the undesired newline-forcing) with span-tagging where you invoked div-tags.
:::The way it rendered (must basically have been subst:ed between what you used and how it renders), I didn't know you'd used the TNR template. If that's for character-length reasons then a "TNRspan" template (or something ''not'' four characters longer, if you're extremely tight for space) would have to be used.
:::Or change the TNR so <code><nowiki>{{TNR|span=yes}}</nowiki></code> will specially 'return' you your no-Div version (that's the nice-looking version; you could also have it do something like responding to <code><nowiki>{{{1}}}</nowiki></code> being "s" or "1", if you can only afford to extend by two extra characters). That makes the one template dual-use, instead of making another template.
:::TIMTOWTDI. But you'll know what you want to do, I can only give vague pointers. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.74|82.132.245.74]] 22:22, 4 November 2025 (UTC)
::::Weird. I changed the TNR template to <nowiki></nowiki> instead of <nowiki><div></nowiki>, but upon testing it's still doing that weird newline thing. {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|14:11, 5 November 2025 (UTC)}}
:::::Finally fixed. I can't get the timestamp to also be TNR, but at least it doesn't auto-newline. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:15, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
::::::That looks not too bad, though the timestamp is sans-serif again. Though ''might' in part be browser-dependant as to how it looks (mine may react only to the 'serif' and not the full 'Times New Roman', giving a TNR''-like'' serif-font that works good adjacent to the non-specific choice of sans-serif font. Also, at first glance, there's a mystery as to why the timestamp is '''''BOLD+ITALIC''' (or maybe STRONG+EMPHASIS, for the pedants).
::::::The structure is probably as follows, rewritten just for visual representation/explanation. Formatting that you do is in ()s, my explanatory notes are in ** and * pairs:
**start of 'fixed text' signature insertion**
(SPANopen style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;")
--
(BOLD+ITALICstart)
(LINKpage)User:DollarStoreBa'al
(LINKtext)
(SPANopen style="color:#E3C6BE")
DollarStoreBa'al
(SPANclose, i.e. end:style="color:#E3C6BE")
(LINKclose)
(SUPERSCRIPTopen)
(LINKpage)User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al
(LINKtext)
(SPANopen style="color:#CC9A8B")
Converse
(SPANclose, i.e. end:style="color:#CC9A8B")
(LINKclose)
(SUPERSCRIPTclose)
*expected to be an /implied/ (BOLD+ITALICSclose), here*
*check HTML source for why not?*
(SPANclose, i.e. end: style="font-family: Times New Roman...etc")
**end of 'fixed text' signature insertion**
**start of 'timestamp' signature insertion**
*BOLD+ITALICS is still active?*
*but all /other/ formats ended by the most recent (SPANclose)*
14:15, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
**end of 'timestamp' signature insertion**
::::::Without looking at exactly what you're doing behind the scenes, I'm not ''entirely'' sure, but I think the {{template|TNR}} includes a close-Span tag, preventing that from 'rolling on' into the timestamp bit.
::::::Exactly how the '''''BOLD+ITALIC''''' rolls on, I don't know without checking the HTML source. Might be an intentional function of the wikimarkup-to-HTML conversion that 'remembers' that formatting and reapplies it as necessary, at least until a 'forced' end-of-scope (end of a Div or P tag, a Br/Hr monotag, new ordered/unordered list item (or changing the list-level), table cell/row transitions, and then there's the next (same/different) ":"-prepended indented follow-up lines and (of course) double-newlines) to force even no-prefix lines into paragraph-breaks. All of these (and other less obvious wikimarkup scenarios) probably translate to a hard /div closure in the HTML.
::::::Does {{template|TNR}} currently close its own Span? Does removing that Span-end let it 'roll on' over the timestamp? If you do that, does the insert-signature process close off all remaining Spans ''after'' the timestamp? (Normally, a signature is followed by a newline+newline or at least a newline+:nextlinehasindents, but if you add a P.S. comment after a timestamp that benefits from an unclosed formatting rlling through, does anything add a closure to stop it rolling through onto the P.S...? Can't test this, myself, directly, but it'd be interesting to find out!)
::::::Note that I don't know if you intended TNR to be used anywhere else. But by changing it from Div-based to Span-based it changes how it looks if I "{{TNR|use it here}}", and if you then make it so that it open-Spans but never close-Spans then it would change the appearance of this paragraph even further.
::::::...ouch. Actually, I had assumed it would currently (as 'span-only', opening and closing) not linefeed, browserside, but currently it adds a forced break, and doesn't even have any way of knowing how many indents (if any) to add before the continuation text.
::::::Though if nobody else is using it for ''anything else'', it shouldn't matter. Just pointing out that (''if they are'') changes you make to fine-tune your signature ''could'' have collateral effects for other people who use TNR when it does one thing but then find that it's doing another thing.
::::::Creating a template 'just for your own use' is Ok-ish, but you might just want to note its purpose and (current) peculiarities in case someone thinks that it's intended for a more general purpose, and in a more logical manner than you've had to make it 'work' just for you.
::::::It's also known for templates to contain imbalanced markup, with either how it is used or the presence of a second 'closing' template (see {{template|cot}} and {{template|cob}}, that mark the 't'op and 'b'ottom of a 'co'llapsable area) making the final result properly balanced in the end. But mostly you'd expect internal closure of anything the template started, whether Spanny or Divvy in nature, or justify it and make it obvious without digging through the actual template-code itself.
::::::But I don't know how useful all of this is, to you or those coming along afterwards (before or after further template tweaks, etc). I'm just trying to pass on everything I think could be helpful, knowing that a lot of it could be 'beyond helpful', i.e. actually quite irrelevent. If not incomprehsible. (If not wrong, given I can't even test many assumptions, directly!) But here it is, anyway. HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.89|82.132.244.89]] 16:24, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::::I'm using the TNR template because it looks cool, but it also does have a purpose. It's used in early Taglines and header texts. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 16:53, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Having tried many things, I've found that including the TNR template at all is messing up the timestamp. I'll see if there's another way to include the template without that, but idk if there is a way. In the meantime, here's my new Sig: --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 17:25, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

:{{outdent|:::::}}
:((I researched,cchecked and wrote the following followup whilst you were replying, just aboce. You've answered some of my points, plus seem happy with as it is now, but still posting it given the thought I put into it... ;) Not that I actually think that it's necessary as helpful as I might have hoped it to be, in the end! Absolutely no reply expected, if you're happy to say nothing more.))
:Ok, actually looked at the HTML source, now, neutering the 'raw' markup, whitespacing it and adding **commentary**:
**start signature, fixed text**
**default formatting**
<nowiki><</nowiki>span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 16px;">
**formatting is now TNR**
--
<nowiki><</nowiki>b>
**formatting is TNR+Bold**
<nowiki><</nowiki>i>
**formatting is TNR+Bold+Italics**
<nowiki><</nowiki>a href="/wiki/index.php/User:DollarStoreBa%27al" title="User:DollarStoreBa'al">
**formatting is TNR+B+I and a link..**
<nowiki><</nowiki>span style="color:#E3C6BE">
**...which is coloured**
DollarStoreBa'al
<nowiki><</nowiki>/span>
**back to TNR+B+I link, no colour**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/a>
**back to TNR+B+I, no link
<nowiki><</nowiki>sup>
**TNR+B+I+Superscript**
<nowiki><</nowiki>a class="mw-selflink selflink">
**TNR+B++Sup and a link (to this page, in this specific instance)**
<nowiki><</nowiki>span style="color:#CC9A8B">
**TNR+B+I+Sup link is coloured**
Converse
<nowiki><</nowiki>/span>
**TNR+B+I+Sup link, no colour**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/a>
**TNR+B+I+Sup, no link**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/sup>
**TNR+B+I, normal-script again**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/span>
**this should have removed TNR, *and* the 'inner' B+I too...**
** (Although this is not what you wanted, it's what you should get!) **
**...but apparently we're now just with B+I**
** (This might be my own browser's interpretation, not everyone's.) **
**this is the inbuilt transition between fixed-sig and time-sig**
**a space is here, then...**
14:15, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
<nowiki><</nowiki>/i> ** (Your signature markup does not ask for this!) **
**just Boldness left**
<nowiki><</nowiki>/b> ** (Your signature markup does not ask for this!) **
**neutral format again**
**end of signature**
:What goes with the "TNR+B+I" going to "B+I", I don't know. Unless they've changed the HTML spec regarding this in the last decade or three.
:The wiki-server back end was smart enough to add the close-Italics and close-Bold, at the end of the signature (''perhaps'', knowing that these were imminent a 'smart' error-checking by the browser's HTML-renderer let their formats persist, when otherwise they would not have? ...odd, but possible). Possibly it would have also closed the TNR-span, after the B-closure,cif not already asked to do so by the end of the TNR-template?
:...so...
:#First 'fix', remove the <code><nowiki><</nowiki>/span></code> from TNR. See how that affects any newly applied signatures (it won't change old ones).
:#Also see how/if it changes the indent-loss above my "...ouch" line, above.
:#''Also'' also chase down if TNR gets used ''anywhere else'' in this wiki, at the moment, and check that you've not broken anything else that other people might have used it for.
:If the first fix works and the third thing isn't a problem (ignore the second issue, I'm happy for it to change), then you're sorted. Otherwise (no fix, or even further broken in ways that aren't any good for anyone) reverse the change to where it works best for everyone and accept it not working precisely how you think you want it.
:If it fixes, as suggested, I'd also be interested how signing with <code><nowiki>~~~~ and more text</nowiki></code> works. (i.e. does it TNR the "and more text"?) Not that it's important, just my own curiosity.
:And think about a more advanced explanation on TNR's page, if it's going to be 'an odd template' in any way, like being Span-opener without being a Span-closer.
:That's all. Over to you, nothing more I can do (I could change TNR's code, but not then test it with your signature), but ''maybe'' I've done enough to help. Without too much confusion. I'll let you sort the rest out on your own, unless there's anything specific that arises to follow-up with. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.131|82.132.246.131]] 17:45, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
::tbh I'm good. Besides, I have no clue how to convert that raw HTML into usable wikitext (idk how to code, planning to learn someday). Either way, works fine. Also, you commentary has made me realize how complex my sig actually is. Times New Roman+Bold+Italics, which is a link which is colored. {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|19:21, 5 November 2025 (UTC)}}

Talk:3165: Earthquake Prediction Flowchart

2025-11-09T11:43:28Z

2.98.65.8:

Talk:1636: XKCD Stack

2025-11-08T21:09:26Z

2.98.65.8:

I just came here. AM I IN THE FUTURE? ''I'm in the future!'' {{unsigned ip|199.27.130.246}}
:We are in the future together.{{unsigned|KingSupernova}}
::But if there are no comments, aren't we in the past? The distant past, before the beginning of the comments? ...Watch out for raptors!{{unsigned ip|162.158.2.227}}
:::Can confirm... all you guys are in the past; (as an active time traveller heading to the future, i've seen it all!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.210|162.158.91.210]] 09:11, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Would you two sign your comments, please? --[[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 07:17, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
:It was actually three people '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:12, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Right now it says that we aren't yet at the stage of having a CPU in Minecraft. That's not true. SethBling has implemented BASIC [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4e7PjRygt0 using only command blocks, armor stands, and banners]. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 08:50, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
:That's not really a CPU, it's just an inefficient method to parse characters and compile code.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 17:28, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
::Actually, isn't BASIC an interpreted language? Thus, "compile code" should be stated as "interpret code". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.58|108.162.216.58]] 18:02, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
:Java is needed to run Minecraft. This makes sense![[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.132|172.69.6.132]] 13:31, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
I would think "archive.org mirror" means a mirror of [company]'s website on archive.org, not a mirror ''of'' archive.org. [[User:Sjorford|Sjorford]] ([[User talk:Sjorford|talk]]) 11:51, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
:But a mirror of archive.org would be funny because a) it's essentially a mirror already and b) it would be absolutely enormous. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.55|141.101.70.55]] 23:25, 31 January 2016 (UTC)
::I think a mirror of the company's site on archive.org would be much funnier, because it would imply that this whole stack is pointless because it recursively requires a mirror of its own operation as part of itself. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.254.66|172.68.254.66]] 05:49, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Docker?
:Docker: A-B
::Nested Docker: A-B-C
:::Doubly Nested Docker: A-B-C-D
::::Triply Nested Docker: A-B-C-D-E
Surely. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 13:38, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

LOL, I read on the front page the bit about Excel being a database, clicked through here to edit it, and found that in the intervening 2 minutes someone had made the exact edit I meant to. The system works :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.153.59|162.158.153.59]] 14:01, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
:"The Microsoft Jet Database Engine is a database engine on which several Microsoft products have been built." Microsoft Access 95 / Excel 95 Jet version 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Jet_Database_Engine [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.68|108.162.208.68]] 15:19, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

;48-bit architecture

# you mixed together machine word size and address space size, the former is the matter, address space is insignificant (eg most 8-bit computers use 16bit address space).
# there are 48-bit architectures "Computers with 48-bit words include the AN/FSQ-32, CDC 1604/upper-3000 series, BESM-6, Ferranti Atlas, and Burroughs large systems (B5xxx-B8xxx, which additionally had a 3-4 type tag)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48-bit
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.68|108.162.208.68]] 15:14, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
# Does anyone else think that the 48bit arch could be a reference to the 3/4s from the version number, 48 is 3/4 of 64, which is a much more common arch.{{unsigned ip|162.158.34.140}}

I see it as a Randall-style [[:Category:Compromise|compromise]] between 32- and 64-bits.
Zetfr 17:53, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

;Mystery Networking Horror

This may also be a reference to the D-Reaper from the anime ''Digimon Tamers,'' which was a primitive anti-virus and resource manager that was, as TV Tropes put it, ''Gone Horribly Right.'' Constructed to cull AI programs that that exceeded their memory budget on a computer from the year 197X, it saw the Digimon (and humans) in the year 200X as a threat, and was actually able to delete anything in the Digital World that it touched due to having grown more powerful and complex by many orders of magnitude from all of the code it had consumed in the past. It was quite literally a digital ''Eldritch Horror,'' in every sense of the word.

You may view both TV Tropes and the Digimon Wiki for more information on this subject.
- Kitsune_Phoenix; 16:13, 2016-01-29 (UTC)

How exactly did someone interpret "Macromedia Java 7.3.8.1¾ (48-bit)" as a reference to Platform 9¾? The only obvious connection I see is that they both include "¾", but if that's enough to make something a reference, then Platform 9¾ is actually, itself, a reference to Deep Space 9. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.222|162.158.142.222]] 20:55, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
: Agree. I'm taking it out. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 03:37, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

;Broken Java Applet Interpretation

Could this not also be saying that the Java applet is "broken" in the same sense that people say that Windows is "broken"

I mean, technically, Windows works, but it works so poorly, and there are alternatives that are so much better, so by comparison, it is broken. Well, of course there are some things in Windows that truly are broken, too.

Honestly, this is definition I originally used internally when I first read through the comic.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.46|108.162.216.46]] 02:46, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

----

I think the stack presented is mostly a pun on the OSI/ISO stack (see {{w|OSI model}}) which is usually drawn in this kind of format, and is usually thought to be too cumbersome to use in actual practice.
--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 14:53, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Everytime I see someone say something about Java not working anymore I play that rap music video "Java Life" they released a few years ago [[User:Beastachu|Beastachu]] ([[User talk:Beastachu|talk]]) 12:47, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

----

There actually was something called "MacromediaJava" (one word). Before Alchemy/FlasCC/CrossBridge, there was an earlier C-to-AS3 compiler meant to demonstrate how cool the AS3 runtime is. Someone managed to port enough of Kaffe and Classpath to it to build a replacement for the Java Plugin that ran applets in Kaffe under FlashPlayer instead of directly in Java. It didn't work on most applets, and was slow and glitchy, and it was never meant as more than a demonstration, and normally I'd say there's no way anyone would be referring to that in 2016… but given the theme of this comic, the XKCD stack may be the one place where it was used. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.82|162.158.255.82]] 23:34, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

I changed the table in the transcript to a list. If this fits the requirements for transcripts, please remove the incomplete-tag. --[[User:LaVe|LaVe]] ([[User talk:LaVe|talk]]) 22:36, 8 March 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks for bringing this up, but removing that table means you have to explain it. Furthermore have a look at the standard layout like I've done. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:48, 8 March 2017 (UTC)
:: Thank you! --[[User:LaVe|LaVe]] ([[User talk:LaVe|talk]]) 06:52, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

i keep getting error 503 when viewing this comic :(

edit: the "giant cpu someone built in minecraft" and "a dev typing real fast" parts made me laugh so hard i fell off my chair [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 13:06, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

Could the 3/4 version be a joke related to the 48 bit version since 48/64 reduces to 3/4? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.69|172.70.210.69]] 18:28, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

----
New addition to the article..."as Archive.org holds virtually the entire internet." But I'm thinking that might need better enumerating. It only archives 'the web', and the easily connected-web at that. In addition, of the things it archives, it generally archives multiple snapshots. So it might even have 'as much as' (for the sakes of argumnet) the entire technically-public webwise internet, but still with huge gaps that makes 'virtually' do an awful lot of work (as well as 'the ... internet'). I could just {{template|Actual citation needed}} that, but thought it better to just write my concerns out like this and leave it as it is until maybe someone else has better wording in mind. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:11, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
:(BTW, for comparison, "the internet" is often quoted in terms of holding zettabytes, while the Internet Archive is in terms of petabytes. So a very rough factor of a millionth of that which it might have. Also, given that archive.org is a set of actual web pages on the actual internet, if it ''were'' to faithfully store the state of everything then it either doesn't store an entire half of it (that copy which is on itself) or it starts becoming an extremely recursive issue. "Hey, archive.org, what does archive.org have on what archive.org had on what archive.org might have had on [...] the contents of explainxkcd.com?". :P ) [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 21:09, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3164: Metric Tip

2025-11-08T20:49:00Z

2.98.65.8:

!tsrif --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 21:08, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
:If you like to have fun with first comments, the place to do it is The Daily WTF comment pages. https://thedailywtf.com. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:25, 5 November 2025 (UTC)
Would have helped avoid the Mars Climate Orbiter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter] feature. [[User:SubtrEM|SubtrEM]] ([[User talk:SubtrEM|talk]]) 07:41, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

I am switching from metric to imperial: I am 1m34.5" --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:18, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:You mean 1m2'26⅔cm. Or ''very nearly'' 2yd4cm½"..? [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.220|82.132.244.220]] 12:08, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
::This actually is how I remember how much a Yard is. I am slightly over 2Yards, while being under 2m, so a Yard is a bit less than a meter. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:36, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Can I introduce you to the fathom? It's exactly 2 yards, and generally used for harbor depth, but saying you're a fathom tall is technically correct... {{unsigned ip|176.165.208.89|20:21, 6 November 2025 (UTC)}}
::::It's hard to fathom any of this.[[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:19, 7 November 2025 (UTC)

Wait, what? ounce can be volume or weight? So you could give the density of a material in oz/oz? Imperial units are really weird... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:21, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:That would be highly nonstandard. Density is usually given in pennyweight/cubic barleycorn. [[Special:Contributions/209.188.63.33|209.188.63.33]] 08:52, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:Not just that - it can be an areal density or a thickness, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ounce#Other_uses Strictly speaking, though, the imperial measure of volume is not an 'ounce', but a 'fluid ounce' - it's just that Americans have mangled the two together. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:21, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
: Weirdly enough, the active ingredient in something like medication is given in mg/oz (fluid ounce, presumably). That's just wrong.--[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 10:35, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

"...are usually effectively one or other measurement of weight..." The grammar here seems wrong and confusing. [[Special:Contributions/2A00:23C5:FE1C:3701:54C4:F71B:724:CBE7|2A00:23C5:FE1C:3701:54C4:F71B:724:CBE7]] 10:30, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
: Better now? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:41, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

I'm so glad I live in a metric country now. Helping people fix their terminally naff cars in the 80s in the UK was a trauma - spanner/socket sizes, like 13/16ths and 10/12ths and 1/2 and... so the guy takes one, not right, asks for the next size up. Well, what size is that then? You mean the six and a quarter eighths, yes? 😪
Oh, and don't get me started on American recipes - you'll very quickly discover that US Imperial and British Imperial are not the same (and far too many American recipes measure stuff in "cups"). So, really, Imperial is complicated enough without translating half into metric! [[Special:Contributions/92.184.141.48|92.184.141.48]] 14:07, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:Most recipes don't require the measurements to be very precise and you can get away with adding too few.or too much of an ingredient. A "cup" is just a large cup. So for a cup of wheat, just fill a cup or even looser, throw in what you estimate to be a cup.
:Certain bakeware and especially homemade pasta and cakes are picky about the relative quantities (especially of wheat and water), so beware! [[User:IIVQ|IIVQ]] ([[User talk:IIVQ|talk]]) 20:13, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

I ran some numbers, and assuming 28.349523125 grams in an ounce and 16 ounces in a pound, "7 kg and 9 ounces" would be 7255.145708125 grams, assuming the "9 ounces" doesn't involve rounding, while 16 pounds would be 7257.47792 grams, which differs by only about 2.332211875 grams, or about 0.08 ounce - it's possible the weight is actually 16 pounds exactly, which feels like it makes "7 kg and 9 ounces" even worse than it already is. [[User:Conster|Conster]] ([[User talk:Conster|talk]]) 14:13, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:Don't see why - it's easy to see the equivalence: 7 + 9 = 16. Simples! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:30, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
::This is an interesting coincidence - I made a [https://www.desmos.com/calculator/dqbzb8gfjf desmos] to find other places this happens. Unfortunately, looks like it's just in the 7kg, 9oz case (7257g) and integer multiples of it, up to 30kg. After 30kg, there are no more coincidences like this one. Maybe someone could mention this case in the trivia section. [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 16:04, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

To sell the metric system to Americans, you should make it sound bigger. Americans love big things, and telling them a "metric yard" (a meter) is longer than a yard, or a "metric pound" is weightier (500g) than a pound should work wonders... Except against their most confusing unit, the mile per gallon, that one is a doozy {{unsigned ip|176.165.208.89|20:31, 6 November 2025 (UTC)}}

Of course, one should also use esoteric units. Like: 1 meter, 7 hands, and 175 picolightseconds. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 23:17, 6 November 2025 (UTC)
:I prefer 1 smoot 5 cm. [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 03:50, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
:Wait, mpg is confusing to non-Americans? It's just the amount of miles you can drive per gallon of gas used...--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:00, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
::It's because we all know that the typical US 'runabout' car is a gas-guzzling monster-truck (despite the bumpiest terrain it encounters being the traffic-calming bumps on the school run) for which the amount of fuel it uses (whether petrol, diesel, aviation fuel or RP-1) is best measured in ''gallons per mile''... ;)
::(Or, more seriously, for even those of us who still habitually deal with miles, we work with the miles/litre 'standard'. And even the older subset of us who still would ''like'' to have stayed with the previous miles-per-gallon know that the US gallon is different from the UK(/Commonwealth) gallon, and yet ''perhaps'' vastly less likely to know the approximate conversion factors for that than the ones between gallons and litres that they normally use to work out "what's that in 'old money'?"...) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.181|82.132.244.181]] 15:15, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Miles per liter is how far I can run divided by how much water I consume (in liters) that I would not have consumed had I been sitting down during that time. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 16:42, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
::::Oh god the US is more confusing than I thought. GALLONS ARE DIFFERENT? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 16:51, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
::::: See {{w|Gallon#Definitions}} (including this {{w|File:Gasoline_unit.svg|related image}}) and {{w|Comparison of the imperial and US customary measurement systems}}... Enjoy! [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 19:30, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
::Yes, mpg is not a hard concept, but to me as a German, there are two uncommon units involved there and a reciprocal. An economic car uses 3l/100km here. Try to figure out what that is in mpg. It is 0.8 gallons per 62 miles... so maybe 78 mpg? (assuming I got the right types of miles and gallons) --[[User:Bmwiedemann|Bmwiedemann]] ([[User talk:Bmwiedemann|talk]]) 05:32, 8 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Well, you're ''probably'' using the {{w|Mile (disambiguation)|right mile}} (even the US survey mile is just 3.2mm longer than what we'd normally use in the UK).
:::Doesn't help that you'll be primarily used to km. Personally, the way I convert (either way) is remembering that from the Earth to the Sun is 93 million miles or 150 million kilometres (well, actually it averages as 92.96 million vs 149.60 million, but I'm sure you'll agree that those are not nearly as memorable and workable, and results in just a fraction of a percentage of difference ...so I'm sure you'll excuse the slight sloppiness).
:::...anyway, it makes it easy to convert in your head. And significantly lot better than the 5/8ths or 8/5ths factor most people make do with.[[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:49, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

Re: ''This is worse than saying it all in one single system, as it is much more awkward and confusing for the receiver. '' Is it really? It gives people an idea of what a centimeter is for distances up to 30 cm. Some educational models refer to that as "{{w|instructional scaffolding}}", introducing a simpler version of a system to help people adopt the full system. [[Special:Contributions/181.214.173.156|181.214.173.156]] 20:25, 7 November 2025 (UTC)