explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1770: UI Change

2025-09-28T22:30:06Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 387631 by 75.172.15.125 (talk) Small things amuse small minds...

Man, Facebook Android App did this just this morning! Comments are broken![[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:01, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Pretty funny how the explainer so far focused on physical deterioration (old people's bodies beginning to fail) with respect to the offscreen comment. Randall is an environmentalist like everyone else, but even he clearly acknowledges in this comic that the point is mental deterioration and intelligence decrease with age -- failure to grasp things such as interfaces as fast as before. It's not about motor performance at all. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.145}}
:That's somewhat right, but I think that getting old means that you find it much harder to understand new things, but the things you could always do well you still can, except into much older ages. But I have no proof of this, it's just my experience. I'm open to being proved wrong by a study. Also, please don't nowiki your "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" at the end of your comment, it defeats the purpose. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.60|162.158.2.60]] 11:12, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

Title text scenario: the ''Windows 8 removed START button'' was reintroduced first via community hacks ("classic shell"), then officially with version 8.1 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8#Upgraded_versions (ref.WIKI)] and is still there now (W10 - but, how long for?): sometimes it just makes sense to go back, IF/WHEN possible [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.218|162.158.150.218]] 15:07, 9 December 2016 (UTC)
:I think one of the best examples would be the removal of the Context-Menu key on Android devices. Previously, menus could be accessed in any app by pressing the same key on nearly any Android device. (The Running-Apps screen could be accessed by holding the Home key.) When the Menu key was removed, many apps took a long time to implement an on-screen Menu button (making many features unavailable on those newer devices until all apps were updated to add an on-screen Menu button), & there is STILL no consistent standard for where this button is placed on the screen. In addition, the icon representing the Menu button often varies, with some apps using a "hamburger" icon (a stack of 3 horizontal lines) & others using a "dots" icon (a stack of 3 dots). Some apps even have TWO menus, using each of the icons on opposite sides of the screen. The Context-Menu key has been replaced with a dedicated Running-Apps key. (Presumably in an effort to get users to "close" their apps more often? Ironically, many apps will relaunch their background processes unless Exit/Quit is selected from their internal menus.) Context-Menus are used with great frequency in many apps, especially when toggling a setting is desired. Given the frequency with which Context-Menus are needed, & the relative infrequency with which the Running-Apps screen is needed, this could be seen as an arbitrary, nonsensical, & annoying UI alteration.

(Also, why are there so rarely any text labels on icons anymore? High resolution interfaces give plenty of pixels to fit a small line of text under each icon, reading "Menu", "New", "Delete", et cetera. Certainly, multi-lingual development would be slowed by the need to translate text-labels, but the increase in usability may often be worth it. For instance, the "Archive" icon in Gmail doesn't really look enough like anything to give an indication of its purpose until you tap it. The extensive use of pictograms often accompanies other symptoms of a society in decline. If we need pictograms where common labels would go, that's probably not a good sign for our social development.)
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.213|108.162.221.213]] 20:30, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

The title text has two levels: both Application interfaces and getting old. Randall is likely referencing Google's Calico lab which made a minor media buzz in 2013 with headlines like CNN's, "How Google's Calico aims to fight aging and 'solve death'. The MSN feed recently featured one of these stories along with Microsoft trying to "solve" cancer. {{unsigned ip|162.158.58.52}}

" products claiming to grant it have all been shams" That is exactly what they want you to believe! [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:57, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Psst!, the title text is politics duh. Old people protest with their vote to change things back. Now if they are angry enough, politicians will change things back, right? 'Cause that's always possible.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.148|162.158.114.148]] 16:57, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

I'm not sure the "getting old" refers to loss of physical and mental function so much as "arbitrary" changes in society's "user interface": newspapers disappearing, face-to-face socializing being displaced by on-line interactions, job discrimination against older workers (especially those who haven't updated their skills), etc. {{unsigned ip|162.158.214.64}}
:I agree, the comment about "getting old" seems more relevant to changes in society than changes in one's body. Many processes which were once relatively simple have been made fully electronic, or deprecated entirely; For instance, customer assistance that was once a phone call away is now often hidden behind an extensive menu system, if it is available at all. "Electronic billing" generally does NOT send you a bill, but rather requires you to go log into a website to retrieve it. Forms & services which were previously relatively straightforward may now be complicated by extensive anti-fraud measures. Devices that once had only basic controls like "Power" & "Play" may now involve multiple steps to perform a single action. "The cloud" (off-site 3rd party service) is now used for many features which previously were performed locally within the device itself, resulting in additional Connection, Login, Buffering, Conversion, (Re-re-re-)Retransmission, & battery considerations. In many ways, our new-gen digital systems are less convenient than in years past. Even YouTube is bloated & over-complicated compared to what it was in 2001. (ProTip: Use the "Embed" links to get a lightweight video page that plays well on older machines, without any of the unnecessary gak around the edges.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.213|108.162.221.213]] 20:30, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Maybe a reference to the reddit iOS app randomly swapping the positions of upvote/downvote and the share button? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.30|162.158.75.30]] 15:22, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

If the changes only were permanent this time [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.47|172.68.51.47]] 09:36, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

This is an obvious political reference to Trump and the latest Social Justice improvements. Take a step back and you'll see the big picture. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.117|188.114.111.117]] 20:59, 10 December 2016 (UTC)
:TANJ! (There Ain't No Justice) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.213|108.162.221.213]] 20:30, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
:No, I don't think so. Nothing in the comic seems to imply politics at all, much less Trump or SJ specifically.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.209|172.70.175.209]] 13:01, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Just noticed yesterday my fonts in MS Office looked funny. Oh, they designed a brand new font and made it the default for the planet. (Gee, thanks, how about some bug fixes?) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.209|172.70.175.209]] 13:01, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3147: Hiking

2025-09-28T00:05:42Z

92.17.62.87:

But what if the drones run out of battery? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 18:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

:: "''what if the drones run out of battery?''" What If the Amazon/UPS delivery truck with the [['''What If? 2''']] book you ordered runs out of gas/diesel/juice? Maybe they attempt repeat delivery. Maybe a refund is posted in 7 to 10 business days.

I was going to write a transcript, but I can't figure out how to describe how this is supposed to be a time series in a single panel. I'll let someone else do it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

:: "''how to describe how this is supposed to be a time series in a single panel''" It is three moments in time, superimposed. "Slide is delivered", "Hikers slide", "Slide is removed". [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:35, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

::: Four moments in time actually. You forgot "Hikers orders slide". [[Special:Contributions/2001:9B1:40D0:C300:102B:825:C539:3F33|2001:9B1:40D0:C300:102B:825:C539:3F33]] 01:06, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

I'd also like an on-demand ski lift for upwards segments [[Special:Contributions/73.222.207.213|73.222.207.213]] 23:54, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

I feel like this comic deserves a parody of "Jack and Jill went up a hill". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:37, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

This is how I learnt there were waterslides. [[Special:Contributions/64.114.211.21|64.114.211.21]] 08:59, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
: #todayyearsold [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 15:53, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure this would improve the hiking experience for me; not because I have anything against waterslides, but because the downhills are a valuable rest period in between unpleasant ascents. If it were over in a moment I'd still be exhausted at the bottom of the next rise. [[Special:Contributions/79.77.240.136|79.77.240.136]] 19:18, 27 September 2025 (UTC)
:And probably thoroughly wet, to boot. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:05, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

User talk:42.book.addict

2025-09-27T00:10:32Z

92.17.62.87: /* So, about that wikitext signature... */

<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)

explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical

2025-09-23T22:12:17Z

92.17.62.87: /* RSS Feed doesn't seem to contain anything after 3 August 2025 */

<noinclude>__NEWSECTIONLINK__
{{Community links}}

{|-
|valign="top" width="100%"|[[File:Crystal Clear app package settings blue.png|left|120px]] <big><big>Technical</big></big>

Technical issues ''about'' the [[explain xkcd]] wiki, including bug reports or MediaWiki extensions requests. {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Technical|Text=(+post)}}
|}</noinclude>

==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;">Most of the discussions on this page have been archived. The archive is available at '''[[explain xkcd talk:Community portal/Technical]]'''.</div>

== Unable to view "what if?" page ==

The link to the page for the [[what if?]] blog displays an error: "No input file specified." [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 03:38, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

:This also happens to me on [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] Must be something with the ?s in the titles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 15:46, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

::I've noticed that as well. I made a page in my userspace that redirects to the what if page, and for some reason that seems to work. ([[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink|here is the link to the page]]) [[User:Blue screen of life|Blue screen of life]] ([[User talk:Blue screen of life|talk]]) 20:09, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

:::I have also noticed this but it is not just on pages with questions marks. Both [[259]] and [[1705]] show the same thing. A full list (as of 22 June 2020) of the ones i found is in the last reply to my report found here [[#2138_page_issues]] [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 12:20, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

::::Both [[259]] and [[1705]] have an ({{w|E acute|e-with-accute-accent}}, Unicode U+00E9) in the URL, so for those pages, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
::::For the "what if?" page, I had recently added a redirect from [[what if (blog)]] to get to it, and the [[What If]] disambiguation page has been updated with it, so at least we can get to it that way; and for the comic explanations, at least we can get to them by linking to their number-redirects (as [[58]] instead of [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]); but not sure how to fix it overall. At the following page, it suggests tweaking an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Rewrite engine|rewrite}} directive in {{w|.htaccess}} (or a {{w|Common Gateway Interface|CGI}} setting in {{w|PHP}} if it's running on {{w|Internet Information Services|IIS}}):
::::* https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vmaw1tu5kkhyon0n
::::So maybe something about that has changed recently? Documentation:
::::* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewriterule Apache mod_rewrite <code>RewriteRule</code> directive]
::::* [https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.cgi.force-redirect php.ini <code>cgi.force_redirect</code> directive]
::::Summarizing a few points from [[User talk:SlashMe#Homeopathic Wiki|this related discussion]]:
::::* Only one of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=sysop 10 administrators] has made recent edits ([[Special:Contributions/SlashMe|SlashMe]]).
::::* Neither of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=bureaucrat 2 bureaucrats] ([[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] and [[Special:Contributions/Lcarsos|Lcarsos]]) have made any edits recently.
::::* For admin access to the ''server'' itself, my limited understanding is that [[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] might actually own the server, but may have also given admin access to [[Special:Contributions/Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]; however, neither of them have made edits recently.
::::But "most recent edit" might not be a good indicator, so I wonder of some of these folks are still involved in the project?
::::– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 05:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
: Looks like it happens for any page that has a percent-encoding in the title. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:32, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

=== Known broken pages ===
(Redirects work, whereas links to the actual page are broken.)

Title containing e-accute-accent:
* [[259]] ↳ [[259: Clichéd Exchanges]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=259:_Clich%C3%A9d_Exchanges What links here])
* [[1705]] ↳ [[1705: Pokémon Go]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1705:_Pok%C3%A9mon_Go What links here])

Title ending with question mark:
* <del>[[what if (blog)]] ↳ [[what if?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])</del> <ins>fixed – content now exists at [[what if]], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 broken links] are in the process of being updated (see below)</ins>
* [[58]] ↳ [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F What links here])
* [[111]] ↳ [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F What links here])
* [[1205]] ↳ [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1205:_Is_It_Worth_the_Time%3F What links here])
* [[1841]] ↳ [[1841: Who?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1841:_Who%3F What links here])
* [[1913]] ↳ [[1913: A ?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1913:_A_%3F What links here])
* [[2065]] ↳ [[2065: Who Sends the First Text?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2065:_Who_Sends_the_First_Text%3F What links here])
* [[2138]] ↳ [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F What links here])
* [[2236]] ↳ [[2236: Is it Christmas?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2236:_Is_it_Christmas%3F What links here])

=== Moved ===
I moved the [[what if?]] page to the [[what if (blog)]] page which I then changed to simply [[what if]] to fix this issue and because anyone new to this site would type that any way to see it. — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 06:47, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

:Still trying to wrap my head around it – so just to summarize, we currently have:
:
:* '''[[whatif]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=whatif&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' (see below)
:* '''[[What If?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])
:** ↳ ''also redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F What links here])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** ''content manually moved from'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&diff=198070&oldid=197859 diff]) '''[[what if?]]''' ''to'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if&diff=198071&oldid=197486 diff]) '''[[what if (blog)]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_(blog)&redirect=no no-redirect link]) (''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&action=history previous revision history] remains at'' '''[[what if?]]''')
:**** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:
:For completeness, we also have...
:
:* '''[[what if book]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_book&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if#The book]] – actual content'''
:** Suggestion: for consistency, also add a '''[[what if (book)]]''' page that redirects here?
:
:...and the disambiguation page...
:
:* '''[[What If]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[What If (disambiguation)]]''' – disambiguation page
:*** ''links to'' '''[[17: What If]]''' (↲ '''[[17]]''' redirects here ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=17&redirect=no no-redirect link]))
:*** ''links to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** Suggestion: mention the ''book'' here as well, and link to its section in the [[what if]] page?
:
:...and these troubleshooting pages from [[User:Blue screen of life]]:
:
:* '''[[User:Blue screen of life/redirecttest]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/redirecttest&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/whatiflink&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[What If?]]''' (see above)
:
:Given that the actual content of the "what if?" article now lives at '''[[what if]]''', I've started updating pages <ins>(except for Talk pages)</ins> to link directly there instead of the other redirect pages. All that's left to do are pages that link to the '''[[what if?]]''' redirect-page (which is broken). <del>Its [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if%3F "What links here"] special page is broken too, so it's difficult to find what pages link there – but now that it redirects to the [[what if]] page, you can see them indirectly from ''that'' page's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 "What links here"] special page.</del> <ins>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F These] are the pages that still link there.</ins> There are still a lot of them to go.
:
:Also, should the following redirect-pages be simplified to have them redirect straight to the new [[what if]] page, instead of redirecting through the intermediate '''[[what if?]]''' page (which itself redirects there anyway)?
:* '''[[whatif]]'''
:* '''[[What If?]]'''
:– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 17:20, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
:: Fixed the double redirects, don't ask me why we have so many pages for the same thing. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:29, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

== Discussion not displaying with comic ==

I am using FireFox on a Win10 machine. When I come to the site I can see the comic, explanation and transcript. But the discussion section is hidden. Even when logged in.

Any ideas?

: You say "when I come to the site". If the address bar says you are on Main_Page and you see the heading "Latest comic", then it's simply working as designed. Above the comic, click on "Go to this comic explanation" and you will see the comic plus discussion.

: Also, Steve, please sign your comments every time, with four tildes. That expands into your user name and a timestamp. Like this -- [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 10:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Random page sometimes takes me to an invalid address ==

Sometimes, when clicking on "Random page" in the left sidebar, the site will be blank apart from the text "No input file specified. ".

An example of such an URL is: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F

:I've noticed this happens for ''all'' URLs to comics that end in a question mark (or possibly any special character). Interestingly, this doesn't happen if you go to the comic from the search bar. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 23:04, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

== Bug on the main page ==

Bug Enviroment(Might work on other enviroments):
Ubuntu 20.04LTS
Firefox85.0
2021.2.7

Bug:
The front page reads: `Welcome, Main Page, to explain xkcd!` with `Main Page` formatted as a username,can someone fix this?

[[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 09:48, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

== Occasional error via Cloudflare ==
Just a note that I'm getting Cloudflare errors of "origin not reachable" (sounds wrong to me, in my head it should be 'destination', but never mind) three times now in the last ten to fifteen minutes - of maybe a dozen general site-requests.

I've also been getting seemingly .CSSless formatted pages over the past few days, which I've been putting down to slightly dodgy wifi at my end (not unknown) but if I'm getting Cloudflare's error cleanly then perhaps it's been entirely upstream/downstream/however-you'd-describe-the-Explain-server. (Obviously CSS resource requests, as with images, are additional HTTP calls, but I still lump it into the single site-request ''per page'' in my 'dozen' estimate above. No obviously lost images, though, in incomplete pages - not that can't be explained by .CSS non-following, anyway.)

I had copy-buffered some of the exact info, but due to incompetence I recopied over it before coming here. If it happens again, I'll try to bring it over here. But (the way these things go) maybe it won't. FYI, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 12:04, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
: Not a Cloudfare error (looks like an error of the actual explainxkcd server) but every now and then (like just a few minutes ago) I get an error page that generally goes away if I immediately refresh. To whit:
Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
: Not really a problem (occasionally happened while submitting an exit, and I have to confirm to the browser that I wish to repost the data, but this particular copied instance was through a more 'read-only' link-click, like most of the instances) but... in case someone finds this to be new and useful information... here you are! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 03:45, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
:OP, here, of the above 503 error report/casual mention. Obviously this is the same message that happened for an ''extended'' period of time over a number of days, but I've only just happened to find the site responding again and have not yet looked to see if it is explained as the same or different cause to the old intermittent issues (at root). I hope things are resolved from the major outage (server quota? bill payments? renewal/reconfiguration blips?) but wonder if I should report any future minor outages? I'm still smarting from the total loss of the fora.xkcd.com platform, a few years back, and while I'm not active enough here to consider a proper login (lurking as a freeloading anon-IP is good enough, usually, for my intellectual enjoyment, with all due apologies) I did have a slight pang of emptiness while it was out-of-order. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 15:48, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

== Add TemplateData ==

Add the {{mw|Extension:TemplateData|TemplateData}} extension to allow setting data for templates. This will help editors because they will be able to see the data of templates.

== MediaWiki 1.30.0?! ==

This wiki is [[Special:Version|currently]] on [[mw:MediaWiki 1.30|MediaWiki 1.30.0]] ([[mw:Release notes/1.30|release notes]]), the first of three releases of a version of MW that reached end-of-life in June of 2019 ([[mw:Version lifecycle]]). It's thus missing multiple important security updates from 1.30.1 and 1.30.2, not to mention the two years' worth of security updates since 1.30.x reached end-of-life. Even 1.31.x will be reaching end-of-life in just over a month.

If the sysadmins here update to [[mw:MediaWiki 1.35|MediaWiki 1.35.2]] ([[mw:Release_notes/1.35|release notes]]), that version will be maintained till September of 2023, with only a few security updates in the meantime. I would '''strongly''' encourage y'all to update to 1.35.2; to promptly update if there's a .3, .4, etc.; and to make sure you switch to the next LTS release (which will presumably be 1.39) well in advance of September of '23. (Note that this will also require updating to PHP 7.3.19 or later.) [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 07:17, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

== Uptime ==
Did the website just go down? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 13:06, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

It was definitely down this weekend!
https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nxrm65
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:21, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

== Comic template lappend breaks for standalone comic links ==

For example, https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html is changed to https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html/ which isn't valid [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.15|172.69.90.15]] 15:51, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Template here, I think it needs to be changed to solve this https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Template:comic

exkcd page here https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Blue_Eyes

== May not be your problem, but FYI. ==

My typcal setup: Android tablet, with Chrome for Android (latest update), but also Firefox for Android (ditto), using default Gboard (likewise) for input.

Occasionally (notably within the last few weeks/maybe a month or so), when going in to edit an explainxkcd page through Chrome (it's how I divide up my browsing), I'm getting the cursor in the textarea box which ''can'' be used to Cut/Copy/Paste (as applicable and useful), but the on-screen keyboard isn't popping up. Page is fully loaded (can be refreshed, doesn't have the "stop loading" alternative), can go back (page viewing) and try to go back to the page editor (often to same result). Sitting and waiting doesn't pop the keyboard up, either (sat there for minutes). Happens both on home wifi and mobile connection.

If I transfer my attentions to the page to Firefox (copy URL, to use there... but I don't use that by default for expxkcd stuff) there's no problem, but then if I come back to Chrome again it seems to start working again ''anyway'' so not sure if it's just avoiding/flushing a transient problem that would also initially crop up with Firefox if I used that more.

Because editing is a different (mobile-optimised) process on Wikipedia and I can't be sure about any the equivalence of any other wiki out there (and it doesn't happen with anything else I regularly key into on Chrome) it's not something I've reproduced outwith this site, and of course desktop page-editing doesn't require touch-screen keyboard because there's a physical one.

Not getting much feedback with Chrome (really can't get on with their bugrep processes, it's too huge a project to make headway, IME), not even tried to pester the Gboard team and I've not ''seen'' anything said on here about this being a site-issue (not sure how it could be, as it's outside the remit of the core web-page rendering process and more an Android or App level of incompetence), but I thought I'd make a note of it here for future reference. Make of it what you will. Annoying but not game-breaking. And I just wanted to vent a little. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 16:54, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

== [[special:interwiki]] ==

where'd it go? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.200|172.69.68.200]] 05:07, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

== Please update MediaWiki + AbuseFilter ==

Seriously. Many scripts and such built for modern, supported versions of MW do not work here because it is so unbelievably undated. PinkAmpersand above basically covers the reason why. I also highly recommend adding the extension AbuseFilter (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter) as it immensely makes removing vandalism easier (by straight up disallowing or blocking those that do, esp if it's like the current formulaic massive-replacement vandalism.) [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:48, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

:Ditto. I feel like the main problem is that the sole person who has access to the backend either doesn't have time to update, doesn't have interest, or doesn't have the technical knowledge necessary. But yes, I agree - updating and installing an extension to help control vandalism would help this wiki tremendously. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:09, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

== ↑ ? ==

Why do some pages have ↑ at the very start? They can all be spotted by searching ↑
Is it a technical thing, vandalism, some sort of glitch? Maybe I'm just uninformed or being an idiot.
:Edit logs tell me that an IP user manually reverting vandalism somehow inserted one or more extra characters while manually reverting vandalism. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:59, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
::Should it be removed? It's not necessary and might be confusing for screenreaders... [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:00, 23 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Maybe not en-mass, I'd say. But I've dove in to delete a rogue leading <nowiki> </nowiki> tag left from a part of a prior vandalism (likewise, just before the {{template|comic}}-element) and I've promised myself that I'll remove any more that I spot (and now that arrow) in any future whole-page edit I make. Plus a small shopping-list of inessential but useful edits like making {{template|Citation needed}}s flow better when they're mispunctuated/etc.
:::But that's my solitary opinion. I'm sure hunting out and squishing this isn't a problem at all. I'm just balancing my own peculiar brand of OCD with what is somehow my also my own version of casual apathy towards other details. (Also, it probably looks better for a named account of recognised good standing to start editing potentially hundreds of pages in a session, rather than myself... potentially indistinguishable from the IP who seems to relish worn out memes in a general page-trashing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.121|162.158.159.121]] 12:20, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Is there anything else we can do to prevent vandalism? ==

There's been quite a significant uptick in vandalism recently, and I don't feel we have any effective tools to combat it. I believe one of the biggest issues here is due to the way logged-out editing works on this wiki. Blocks are completely ineffective at slowing vandals, and IP editors can vandalize with basically nothing we can do to thwart them other than revert-warring. '''Is there a better way?'''

There's been some discussion of installing AbuseFilter, but I'm not sure anything became of it. We could disable logged-out editing, but that would likely be counterproductive as we get lots of legitimate contributions from logged-out users. If there's a way to switch to location-based IPs, we could rangeblock problematic users as well as proxies. Does anyone have any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.145|162.158.78.145]] 16:11, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:I'm sort of making server side changes via telegraph so an extension is probably going to take a while to get installed. Takes a bunch of emails and followups to get single variables changed in the mediawiki settings file. There is an email verification option, and some edit frequency variables that could be set to make spam more time consuming. Don't love range blocks but wouldn't mind getting the CDN IPs dealt with so we can actually use the IP bans again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very grateful that you're working on changes under the hood. What do you think is the best way to deal with disruption in the meantime? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:19, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Could borrow a patrol bot like the ones people on main wikipedia have, could ask around. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:53, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::::There's not really a drop-in solution that you can use, especially since the server's MediaWiki version is not in sync with Wikipedia's (so a lot of the APIs etc have completely changed; when initially reverting vandalism I tried importing some scripts from enwiki but they failed as a result), but also because the bots have gotten pretty complex (using machine learning provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, for example). [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:56, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
:::::Oh I do notice mediawiki hasn't been upgraded in a while. Looks like new version of mediawiki should be dropping extremely imminently, would be nice timing for an upgrade '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:45, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== Rollback ==

Does the rollback permission exist on this wiki? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:00, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:The rollback permission of course exists but there's no group called "rollbacker" like you'd find on Wikipedia (limited to admins). You'd need the sysadmin to change the configuration to add one, which as established is not really an option right now. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:58, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== What happened to custom JavaScript? ==

I put some code in <code>[[User:Some user/common.js]]</code>, but it is not alerting 'hi' every time I load a page. Why can't we execute JavaScript anymore? Is it in response to the [[Project:Crap|crapping]] incident? [[User:Some user|Some user]] ([[User talk:Some user|talk]]) 21:16, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
:Entirely because of that, yeah. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:51, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

== My IP ==

Why is my IP address a Cloudflare address in Norway? Is this a joke of some kind that I'm missing?

Other wikis like Wikipedia are showing me my actual IP when I go to [[Special:MyContributions]], so I suspect this is a wiki misconfiguration. It changed again while I was typing this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.194|162.158.222.194]] 16:55, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
:All IPs (as this one will be) are from Cloudflare gateway IPs, because that's the default IP that the Wiki understands as the source. Cloudflare mediates all the traffic, and perhaps to some advantage (not being privvy to the logs, I can only guess how much it insulates the true server from extreme problems, but I bet it does in some way).
:There have been suggestions before to change some setting (in the MediaWiki implementation? ...can't recall exactly) to have it pick up and use the IP that the gateway reports (in its meta-request) was the origin, but that's not been enacted for Idunnowhat reason.
:Because the black-box that is the Cloudflare traffic shapes in various ways, you will find that a single user will jump around 'apparent' IPs, and I've also been in the relatively embarassing situation of replying to another IP's info and finding that I've registered on the exact same IP so that it looks like I'm stooging myself, or something.
:On the whole, though, it's a harmless quirk. And given the trivial nature of deliberately spoofing origins (even on top of assuming you get an effectively static NAT from your ISP in the first place) I don't personally see it as a problem to 'solve' this. But neither would I complain if the 'fix' were implemented if this query reminds someone that they ''were'' going to try and do the necessary tweak.
:As a lay-answer, I hope that fills you in a little. ''If'' those who have more knowledge/control of the process want to add anything or correct me, I'm sure they'll do so as soon as they can, but here's a reply to keep you going for now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 01:19, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
:fyi it is supported in MediaWiki through <code>$wgCdnServers</code>. See [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Cloudflare#Integration_with_MediaWiki MediaWiki’s introduction]. {{unsigned|物灵|06:58, 6 April 2025}}

==Main page in categories==
{{notice|'''This discussion is marked as duplicate.''' See [[#Main Page|this discussion]].}}
[[Main_Page]] was found wrongly appearing in some newly-created categories, such as [[:Category:Cosmology]]. Could you fix it? --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 17:49, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
:Never noticed this myself, but I'll take it as read. Before checking myself, I'm wondering if this could be when the main page 'inherits' tags from the Current Comic that it features. And thus solve itself (whilst gaining others) upon a newer Current Comic. (Must surely inherit "Monday Comics"/etc, on schedule every week.)
:If it is that, perhaps the solution lies in the details contained within https://m.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Categories#Categories_and_templates_(transcluded_pages)
:Or maybe I'm wrong about it. But I have no rights to edit (thus at least examine the 'code' of) the Main page, to check my snap theory, as with most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 19:21, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

This happened again in [[:Category:Airplane banner]]. [[User:I27.O.O.I|I27.O.O.I]] ([[User talk:I27.O.O.I|talk]]) 09:00, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and it lasted as long as the latest comic was still one with particular categories. I don't intend to worry about it. If someone goes to a category that interests them and looks at the main page, as temporarily advertised, they're likely to find (as part of it) a comic which is indeed in that category. Doesn't sound like a big problem to me, except for determinin why some cats (e.g. Friday Comics) ''don't'' link to the Main page when they might be expected to...
:(PS, I know for sure that I27.O.O.I isn't the same person as ColofulGalaxy (and various others, beyond even those with the bloomin' obvious "CG" initials or other recent spoofs on the RFC1918 addresses), and I don't think I mind too much, but faking disagreements between your various IDs isn't helping, anyone... smells too much of trying to establish alibis in advance of your next attempt to vandalise the site with stupid stuff. And doesn't impress me, so I doubt it impresses anyone else either. As long as you're just doing sane things, however, I'll accept your little idiosyncracies.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.32|162.158.74.32]] 19:37, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
:(PPS: You left your fingerprint on this latter attempt to 'rescue' [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2659:_Unreliable_Connection&curid=25530&diff=307289&oldid=307282 this page]. - Spammer a few minutes before midnight, my IP reversion happened shortly after. A little later "Elisabeth" then re-spammed (modified), then another IP immediately jumps on it to restore it but with the modified undo-summary line clearly indicating that some sort of a game is being played. Please don't, it's not clever.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.34|172.70.90.34]] 02:22, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

This doesn't happen to date categories, but it happens in manually added categories such as [[:Category:Statistics]]. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

==Cannot create user page==
It says: 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. [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[Talk:2659: Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 22:56, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
:(Removed alternative text in the link involved, to not hide behind trickery.) I think you know that there's no problem with [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] itself, except that it had become one of several pages targeted for spamming, the only one then locked down, then finding that the spammers just retargeted to its Talk page, etc.
:I'm torn between "not assuming bad faith" and "don't feed the trolls", as competing principles, so I'm spelling out the situation. However much a tribute you might think it could be, I don't think there's a future in having a new username that's directly referencing a comic which has become so frequently seen in the recent history of this wiki's edits.
:Obviously any genuine contributions are more than welcome. So prove me wrong, why don't you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 03:20, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

::Could you help now? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:13, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

: I've created your talk page. I guess that what you intended is to have a backup or mirror page for comic [[2659]]. Am I right? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:16, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

== Fanmade comics ==
A fanmade comic appeared on xkcd. Could you edit the template? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.100|172.69.23.100]] 07:21, 28 April 2023 (UTC)
:You're going to have to say more about it, at least for me. Apart from the Sandbox attempt to make a page, I haven't seen the comic you're describing anywhere. Certainly not anywhere official. Link, for our benefit? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.66|172.70.85.66]] 10:04, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

==Why doesn't this code block work?==
Does anybody know why the code block at the end of [[Transcript on xkcd|this page]] doesn't work? I've tried everything and it still looks like plain text

== Can't add RSS feed because of pubDate value on 27 Nov 2015 ==

When I try to add the RSS feed in Nextcloud News feed reader I get an error <code>Impossible to convert date : Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</code>.

[https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml W3C Feed validation] says that <code>pubDate must be an RFC-822 date-time</code> and points "Pacific Standard Time" portion as the cause of the error: <code><pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</pubDate></code>. Can you please fix the timestap for this?

== Admin request posted here because of vandalism ==

I can not currently access the admin requests page because it has been vandalized... can someone please protect the latest comic page (2805). There is some pretty childish vandalism going on there right now. Thanks!
:It's not the latest, seems like ALL. I went back to 2804, 2803, jumped back like 15 comics, all the same thing. To me the most offensive part is doing it with a nonsensical image. And why pipe it through Archive somehow? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 02:33, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
::UGH. the vandals are back at it again... we need to lock xkcd pages @NiceGuy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.2|172.70.39.2]] 00:59, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

== Way to contact the site hosters? ==

As many have pointed out the software this wiki runs on is horribly outdated. WikiEditor also isn't here for some reason. Quite a bit of messages here have seen no action. Is there some kind of contact form to reach the hosters? {{unsigned|Aaron Liu|00:36, 10 October 2023}}
: There are various levels of admin who do intervene, as and when jecessary, but I understand that the (active) ones closest to the actual hosting level of intervention are not really ready to do the (increasingly greater) degree of uprooting necessary to get a "working" system to be "marginally better working", by way of that very dangerous middle-ground of potentially being ruined entirely.
: I appreciate and anticipate the counter-arguments regarding letting it go totally unupdated, of course, just I've personally seen enough failures (participated in some, or been the actual invokee, myself) to be very sympathetic to the "if it aint (too) broke, don't fix it" tendency. But that inertia is not the only factor, of course, and the full motivations (or lack of them) of those involved is not for a lowly IP like me to explain, even if I think I know... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.42|172.69.195.42]] 01:24, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Have they posted some sort of statement? It also is most definitely not “marginally” better working, compare the source editor to that of Wikipedia and look at topic subscription etc features. Not to mention a lot of security fixes haven’t been added and this version has reached EOL long ago. Updating also would not ruin this entirely…[[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:22, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Some have also said that quite a bit of assistive scripts for modern versions don’t work. Visual Editor, while horrible, is still easier for new people to get started with. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
I've found a new reason: This wiki doesn't even allow loading userscripts! [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 01:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
:That might actually have been a conscious decition, after a 'certain user' caused chaos here, not so long ago. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 19:01, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
::It was about a year and a half ago. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::Huh? What happened? Is there a place to request gadgets then? [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 02:04, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::"What happened" involved automated vandalism (from someone who been doing it manually, then found the "better way") though I couldn't tell you the exact details, there were automated 'unvandalism's made in response, and theusafBOT/etc does some of that still, in response to non-automated(/off-site scripted) vandalism/errors that it can actually catch before ordinary users (or IPs like me) can. But certainly a certain brand of scripting was turned off to curtail the 'high intensity' vandalism phase.
:::You're more or less in the best place to request things, right here. Whether updates, (re)adding functionalitu or tweaking site settings. Can't tell if those who ''can'' do these things can't or won't do them... Or are actually absent, instead of just not replying. The cavalry has been known to come running in when necessary (e.g. when "what happened" happened) so it could be any manner of non-response (until you get one). Not necessarily the best state of affairs, but better than being confirmed absentees.
::::I ran a bot to mass-edit pages by replacing their content with the word "crap" repeatedly. I was 15 then, and I thought it was funny. It wasn't. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::As an occasional but infrequent actual-Wikipedia editor, too, I must say that if the Visual Editor is what I currently have to use for that (at least as an anonIP when using a mobile device, which tends to be when I get the urge most) then I like the unaugmented editor here more. Straight up, honest, un'wizarded' interface, where you only have to get used to markup details and not a WYSIWYG editing environment (as well?). Not sure I'd be happy with an even ''more'' 'assistive' script imposed upon me, like I dislike modern generations of Windows (and 'user friendly' linux dists). So can I just ask that functional/visible changes of the kind you seem to be asking for, if made available, aren't overimposed/left as options rather than the default (or only) choice...? Ok, so I can (or would have to) adapt, but I'd rather not. Of course, I have no weight to pull in this matter, it's just an afterthought (even as I wish you good luck with raising an admin's eyebrow, in some useful manner). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 05:14, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::::I am not asking for VisualEditor, which no one likes on Wikipedia either. For some blasted reason they made it edit HTML instead of Wikitext and it’s clunky and loads for a very long time.
::::I’m asking about the WikiEditor, aka Wikipedia’s source editor. In VE, click on the pen next to the publish button and click on “source editing”. That editor makes this one look like freaking Stone Age, syntax highlighting is especially a game-changer. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:03, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
: There’s also the annoying ReCaptcha v2 every single edit… it seems like it would be relatively easy to switch to v3 which only makes you do the challenge when you’ve visited a bit too much. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Unfortunately, that would make things easier for someone who wanted to do mass vandalism like I did. If it didn't do it every time, someone could still edit quite quickly. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.192|172.68.174.192]] 18:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
::Well, I can tell you that it doesn't always demand that I fulfil more than a tickbox (most trouble I have is when it fails to connect to give me the tickbox (or respond with anything useful when I do), for which I'm forced into one or more Previews until it will. When it ''does'' ask me to do something about it, I do often get forced through two or more request to identify traffic lights, motorbikes, stairways, bridges, hills, tractors, buses, etc, etc, etc... But I think that's more the Tesla-training Algorithm being nust greedy for my attention than the Robot-sentry having a less casual attitude to my attempt to edit. (I believe I'm on a usually untroublesome source IP/Cloudflare gateway, but it could also depend on how many others try to do things via (part of) the same route. Very, very rarely I get Google Search requesting something similar of me ((It: "You have made a lot of searches", me: "Of course I'll have play your little game, but this is my first lookup today...")), which I'm sure isn't Cloudflared, so it might reach back to my ISP's gateway and what fellow users are currently getting up to.)
::As for the guy above (and you, Liu), can't speak for how well or badly others on your own 'choice' of gateways behave. Or yourselves. Luck of the draw? For the first part, at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.174|172.69.195.174]] 20:31, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:::MediaWiki 1.40 automatically tags all edits that remove over 90% of page text with "mw-replaced". You could block all edits in mainspace with that tag, either if MediaWiki has it or through the AbuseFilter extension. While I can complete the CAPTCHAs, it's very annoying to need to Captcha every edit on a place where the main focus is edits. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 03:06, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
:::Plus, v3 doesn't just do nothing. It tracks how your cursor moves to see if it's robotic, while v2 annoyingly gives you the challenge every time. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 20:01, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
::::Presumably for touchscreen control (like mine, right this moment), it does something else than track a nonexistent mouse-pointer's passage across the monitored elements of the display... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.190|172.70.90.190]] 12:26, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
::There are a few MediaWiki plugins that help keep vandalism/spam under control without requiring users to solve a Captcha every time they make an edit. I use https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Moderation on the wiki I maintain, and it works very well. However, it does require that there be enough active moderators to approve edits, as it basically requires every single edit to be approved before it's posted. Thus, it also introduces some "lag" between when stuff is written and when it can be seen by others. I think it could work if the extension could be installed (I'm not even sure if it's supported on this version of MediaWiki) and if a good list of moderators could be put together. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I disagree with requiring edits to be approved. Unless we have extremely high vandalism, just filtering out the above tags I mentioned and using ReCAPTCHA v3 would be enough. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 23:16, 16 February 2024 (UTC)
::::Ok, fair point. However, that wouldn't stop human vandalism, just vandalism from bots. I'm not sure how much human vandalism there is, though, so it might not even be a problem. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 12:35, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::It's hard (for us 'civvies') to know how much bot-vandalism is stopped but [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Log/newusers&offset=&limit=500&type=newusers&user= probably a lot], most of which we never see, with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2503:_Memo_Spike_Connector&diff=335487&oldid=335486 occasional ones] we might see having be dealt with. (I'm guessing these things are rare (temporarily-)successful 'bots, because flesh-and-blood vandals wouldn't be occasionally doing essentially the same insta-reverted thing on a thematically-small set of pages, over several ''years'' without moving on. It has to be a lucky unattended script-based effort that just keeps trying the same things over and over with an easily revertible but tangible result happening only infrequently.)
:::::More obvious human vandalism tends to rumble on, with occasionally a spate of it as someone gets short-term kicks for it. Though some of them seem may repeat themself after a break. Friendly humans and friendly 'bots both tend to provide the main anti-vandalism responses fairly quickly, though, depending upon what kind of a mess they caused. I've seen worse places, definitely, and it's by no means a losing battle against chaos, just regular skermishes.
:::::Not wanting to tempt fate, of course. I guarantee that there'll be some fool that takes all this as a challenge, so I just have to trust to the Good Guys keeping on keeping on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.71|172.70.90.71]] 14:21, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

heyo, is there a way to add actual citations to explainxkcd instead of the template citation needed? couldn't find anything, but i'm pretty new here - thanks in advance. [[User:Nigga|Nigga]] ([[User talk:Nigga|talk]]) 21:47, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
:Not that I have much faith in your usernae lasting long (you're 'that guy', aren't you? ...in which case you know anyway), but for the sake of anyone else who needs to know:
:*If you mean "add an actual 'citation needed' tag", then it's {{template|Actual citation needed}} that you'll use.
:*If you mean "add an actual citation link to somewhere", then:
:** Link to URLs with [].
:*** A link such as [<url>] will give you a superscript-number link, which isn't pretty, IMO.
:*** A link such as [<url> <text>] (that's a space between the two) will link <text> to the URL, just work it into the sentence you're writing, fairly easy
:** Link to internal (or cross-wiki) pages with [[]].
:*** [[<page title>]] will make a literal link to <page title>.
:*** [[<page title>|<text>]] (with a pipe) is how you make the <text> your link.
:** You can use the last to link specifically to wikipedia's cross-site format, but for that it's best to use {{template|w}}
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe...) uses the page title
:**** It will use the link as if the first character is uppercase, so you don't need to capitalise that. Other case-sensitivity is preserved.
:**** <nowiki>{{w|<singular page title>}}s</nowiki> will link the obvious pluralisation of the page title, just to save you effort
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>|<text>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe and pipe) lets you use entirely alternate text.
:** There's also templates that shortcut (or make easier on the eye, or add appropriate warnings) for some other commonly referenced external sites, from xkcd's own what-if to TVTropes.
:...hope that helps everyone that doesn't already know these few simple bits as relate to wikis in general or this wiki in particular. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.218|172.71.242.218]] 22:24, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

== Confirmation Email Bug ==

Hi. I've been trying to get my email confirmed so that I can get pinged when pages are edited, but I just can't find it, even after trying multiple times. I use Gmail, and yes, I have checked my spam folder. Has anyone else had this issue? EDIT: I see that others have had this issue, but the admins haven't done any action to solve it, except for one sarcastic comment by Davidy22 back in 2014. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:43, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

== Lack of Userpage ==

Hey, I joined a few years ago, but I still do not have a Userpage. Can you make one for me? I do not have the permission to do so. [[User:GreyFox|GreyFox]] ([[User talk:GreyFox|talk]]) 22:47, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
:This is actually your very first post, after joining a bit more than a year ago ("18:35, 14 November 2023 User account GreyFox (talk | contribs) was created"). I'm sure someone can oblige (not me, for obvious reasons), but you've not done much to contribute (at least under this account), which would have then eventually brought you to the point where you ''can'' just self-create your Userpages/etc. So your request is a bit out of the blue.
:Just so long as we all know where we stand, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.227|172.69.194.227]] 09:42, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
::Oh, thanks! Do you know the exact number of edits I need to create it?
:::50 to be autoconfirmed. Also, please sign your comments. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:23, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

== server errors ==
is anyone else constantly getting 503 errors? [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 17:14, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:yup, been seeing those all the time. Also seeing that the server is down a lot of time-it suggests me to Google for what I’m “looking for” [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:18, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
::503s are fairly common (often when I'm in a rush), and have been for... well, certainly years, maybe more than a decade (though more common during major vandalism/anti-vandalism surges). I had, however, noticed a recent blip (during the last day or so) of the Server Down/Try Google page that you refer to, which I haven't seen for a ''long'' time (not really sure when, but maybe five years or so ago). In fact, I probably got Cloudflare 'rejections' more, during aformentioned vandal-overloading.
::Without any access to the admin logs, I can only speculate as to what might be sparking it. But service (notwithstanding the brief page-refusals themselves) seems to be happily unaffected. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 20:29, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

== Allow new users to edit their own page ==

I found someone asking if we could change this in the proposals page (Community portal/Proposals: Allow Users to Edit their own talk page if not auto confimed (not a typo)). [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 14:39, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

== Technical difficulties? ==

I keep getting a message that says: "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties.Try waiting a few minutes and reloading. (Cannot access the database)"
It's happened a lot so I was wondering if there was a specific cause behind it and perhaps a way to fix it.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.65|172.68.54.65]] 00:17, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
:yeah, I’ve been getting those errors too. I can’t even log into my account before it says that there’s an error again. I’ve been steadily receiving them for a couple months, but never like today. From Recent Changes, it doesn’t look like anyone is spamming the wiki, so maybe it’s an attack of some kind. You’ll need to contact the admins who have access to the server and can poke around, but good luck getting [[User:Davidy22]] or [[User:Jeff]] online. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.130|172.69.135.130]] 17:16, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
::update: I’ve been poking around a lot of websites, trying to see if the website is being attacked. The websites all say that the server is down. I’ll try to ask Jeff on this and pray that he checks his email. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.129|172.69.135.129]] 17:21, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

== The site is collapsing ==
503's are to be expected, but i've got them and the "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties. Try waiting a few minutes and reloading." error way, way too much. it's actually getting really hard to edit stuff because of them. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:58, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:heck, i just got a 503 when posting this topic. also, load times are noticeably longer. and i'm getting "loss of session" errors when i try to edit... [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 02:02, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
::I’ve messaged Davidy22 and Jeff about it, hopefully they see it and reply. It looks fine right now, appears that it works horribly at times and fine later. Due to the on-off nature of it, I would suspect DDoS attacks, as a 503 error means that the server can’t process the request, which occurs with DDoS attacks. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:37, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:::update: I’ve made a Reddit post, as I’ve seen Davidy22 active on Reddit and respond to older threads on r/xkcd. Hopefully they respond! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:50, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
::::October update: Davidy22 responded to my emails and said that he has emailed Jeff multiple times. Apparently Jeff is ignoring his emails and not responding. I’ve been checking Jeff’s Twitter/X/Whatever once a week and it shows that he uses it semi-regularly. Apparently Jeff is a podcaster too? Anyways, nobody has really responded to me on r/xkcd, so I’m thinking of sending a DM to Jeff via Twitter. I have a to-do list for Jeff listed on my User Page, feel free to give any thoughts, proposals, comments on anything else you want him to do in this thread. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:46, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
::Agree, the situation is not terrible but feels extremely unstable. What happens if the wiki just breaks, and nobody can even contact Jeff? I feel like these errors are happening more and more frequently. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:30, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Were you around for the (hacking-enforced) sudden ending of the xkcd fora? All things end.
:::But (touch wood) the 503s/other connection refusals are a lot less frequent right now, so I'm not actually quite so worried as I might occasionally have been. What's more likely to happen is that the hosting plan, physical hardware and/or domain reaches an end and then... that's probably it unless someone with the wherewithall somehow manages to drag it back up again. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.14|162.158.74.14]] 00:09, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
::::I really don't like the idea of this site becoming permanently unavailable :( This makes me want to contribute less! I was not around back then, no. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:I've been getting these errors a lot as well all of a sudden. Sadly from what I've read on these pages, the sysadmin has basically left and ghosted everyone. The moment the site fully breaks for whatever reason, ExplainXKCD will be history. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.58|172.71.178.58]] 15:34, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
::It's probably not the site breaking (as in, it's not intrinsically failing), just that unrestrained useless traffic to it (I theorise, elsewhere that it's a sudden rise in inconsiderate AI-training has led to a rise of ungoverned degrees of site-scraping) is marginalising our more legitimate attempts to interact. ''It would help'' to get some Administrator-led process to mitigate it, but it really should be better dealt with more towards the gateway-side of the connection (or the scrapers gradually toning their scraping down, but I doubt that'll happen). It, say, Cloudflare ''itself'' gets a good solution in place to dissuade such high attempts to access all the sites it otherwise proxies for, then we'll be back to just the site bumbling along in its ''slightly'' unmaintained condition. We then still have a couple of sub-administrators, a Bot and a good population of other users to keep things running against more trivial issues (short of hardware/infrastructure/financial failures). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.141|172.68.186.141]] 16:55, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

== List of All Comics ==

I think that FaviFake and I have accidentally broken the All comics page. When clicked, it brings you to the page List of all comics, which displays the comics 3000-3002 (as of right now) instead of the list of all comics (oops-my bad). How do we fix this? There’s also the page List of all comics (3000-3500), but the TheusafBOT ignores it. Can someone more technical help troubleshoot this problem? Again, sorry for making a muck of things. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:43, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oh I'm sorry, I created a new topic for this and I didn't see this one. I noticed the [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]] today and scheduled it for deletion because we never make such a page until we have exactly 500 comics to put there. Also, the name is wrong, it should say 3001-3500.
:The page [[List of all comics]] is supposed to display comics 3001-3005, not all comics. You might be confusing it with [[List of all comics (full)]], which would work perfectly if [[List of all comics]] displayed the last 3 comics. I have no idea why the bot stopped updating it. Maybe it will work now that the wrong page is scheduled for deletion? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:15, 31 October 2024
::Wait a second, why did you move the List of all comics to [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]]? It seemed to me like everything was working fine before you moved it [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:24, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:::I was trying to copy the content to [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]], and accidentally broke it. Sorry! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 16:48, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
::::Yeah I can confirm the content and the entire edit history was moved to the incorrectly-titled page that's now scheduled for deletion. I guess maybe we didn't really need the edit history on that page, but who knows.
::::Weirdly, the bot seems to have restored the page as it was and then stopped doing its thing. Since we're the only ones here, I suggest you manually create the missing rows for the new comics and we'll see if that works when the next comic drops. If it doesn't, I'll contact the maintainer and creator of the bot myself. Sounds good? :) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:29, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::Sir yes Sir! 🫡 [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 04:51, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::: Great, thanks! I can also do it this afternoon if you don't have time. I realise my previous messages read like orders lol, they were supposed to be suggestions to try and fix the issue. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:18, 1 November 2024

== The [[List of all comics]] is no longer being updated automatically ==

Hey everyone, I noticed the bot isn't updating this page anymore: [[List of all comics]]. There are supposed to be five comics in it but there are only two at the moment. Is this supposed to happen? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:06, 31 October 2024

== 2034: Equations error? ==

One of the TeX math-thingies (sorry for the informal writing), is showing this error: "Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable. Please see math/README to configure.): \oint". Idk why it's showing this, can someone fix this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.48|108.162.237.48]] 19:25, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:It's a long-standing error, to do with the background processes that turns the TeX-style markup into embedded images. All equations (or whatever it might be that the particular MathML was being used to render) that were originally given cached-imagery ''still work fine'', but it seems a later update made it so that if you adjust it at all (even slightly), it no longer has the route to produce the embedding cleanly.
:It can probably be solved by rolling back some module(s) that got refreshed quite some time ago, though the advised fix is to actually fully update them (and/or reconfigure the backend scripting) to work with all the newest versions of the original tools. Unfortunately, the people (or maybe person) who would do this is not too active at the moment (may also not be up to speed on everything, either, if it involves a bit of more tricky administration), so we're left with the occasional problem establishing the texvc handler.
:Not sure which page you're encountering this on, but sometimes if you look back in the edit history you can find a working version of the thing you're seeing go wrong. If it's an aesthetic difference (e.g. the presence or absence of a spacing character), you might be able to just restore the render-cached version and make do with it not looking ''quite'' right.
:If it's a necessary change that was made (e.g. "''dt''" instead of "''dx''", which is definitely wrong the old way), or it seems never to have a valid render, then there's two obvious solutions:
:#Make your own image of it as it should be and (with a suitably auto-validated account, or via a handy external image hosting service and/or a more mature account here) get that embedded in place of the markup-source, or
:#Replicate its appearance in more basic (by standard) but complex (by source needed) markup. Combinations of basic wikimarkup and HTML can do most 'fiddly positional' things, see [[2614: 2]] for a numerator/denominator layout, for example.
:Not as 'simple' as TeX-markedup. But, on the other hand, the "\oint" symbol is "∮", so perhaps all you need to do is copy'n'paste that actual unicode symbol to wherever you found the problem, and use that instead, and forgo the TeX version altogether? (Might not show on some displays, but probably enough to make it a minority issue.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 22:50, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:Had the brainwave that I could probable ''search'' for the offending \oint, actually. Did so, found [[2034: Equations]], noted that it was the only (current) rendering issue and therefore just did the pasting over myself. Looks good for me, but obviously might not help (but not make worse) others' viewing of it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.54|172.69.195.54]] 22:58, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

...Why didn't I think of just pasting the Unicode equivalent. I'm dumb, but thanks for fixing it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.10|172.69.70.10]] 13:44, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

== Esolang wiki bug ==
The "esolangs.org" wiki is also experiencing a similar bug. The server was repeatedly changing a particular user's signature in his posts. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 04:01, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:Fucking bullshit. One, this doesn’t belong here and I’ve copied it into [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical|the Technical Community Portal]]. Two, I saw your talk page on [https://esolangs.org/wiki/User_talk:ColorfulGalaxy%27s_CA_discoveries esolangs.org], which you brought up this “bug”, which the local admin (who’s probably just as sick and tired of you as I am) called BS on. If the server was changing your sig to my sig, it would be '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''', not the sig that you faked in. You’re obviously seeking attention and are being abusive and childish. Please see the bottom of https://esolangs.org/wiki/Esolang:Introduce_yourself to see a full list of complaints. I will be asking Kynde to ban you and all of your alt (or shared) accounts. -tori [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.98|162.158.167.98]] 05:36, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::Additionally, the complaint doesn’t even make sense. The 2 wikis are running on different servers and different MediaWiki software and should in no shape or form be having the same bug across 2 different systems. Plus, why is the CAPTCHA in the esolang wiki so damn difficult? (Just a side note :3) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:42, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:I just realized that they've changed '''my''' signature as well. That's strange. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 06:37, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Once again they suddenly redirected my username to the Main Page. And the bug even forgot to remove "User:". [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:05, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

:It's working normally now. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:06, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

The wiki may have been hacked. I checked it and got "HTTP 429" error message. [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 19:14, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, it has not been hacked. The error message means that the server that is hosting the wiki is under a lot of stress and load. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:20, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::Yes and no.
::;429 Too Many Requests (RFC 6585):The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time. Intended for use with rate-limiting schemes.
::...it generally means that (in the opinion of the server), the person getting the 429 has been bashing the connection too much. This ''could'' be because they happen to be going through the same proxy as an actual prolific user (or several sub-prolific ones that similarly got lumped together to add up to "too much"), but load-sharing systems generally account for that already. General 'stress and load' is more likely to invoke a 500s message (depending upon what actually is happening).
::But, either way, if you get one of them then you're advised to pause, take a breath, perhaps wait a little before your next refresh/reload attempt, but if ''that'' goes wrong then wait a bit longer still (double your patience, maybe), and again more (further doubling) as necessary.
::Either it's not your fault, but you probably don't need to add to the problems, or it ''is'' your fault (e.g. you're webscraping in the background at full throttle) and you ''really'' need to stop causing those problems (and try not to do it again later). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 20:17, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Oops-you’re right. I just did a cursory search on google with the Google AI, so that explanation is more correct. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:42, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::::Hint: even if you don't entirely trust Wikipedia not to be written (or rewritten) wrongly, you don't get the whole world of possible wrongness of a mostly uncomprehending AI repeating a load of mangled fragments put together on an "at least it looks grammatically correct" basis. If you trust AI so much that you don't go looking anywhere else (there are plenty of technical sites out there, including the actual official RFCs which say what servers ''should'' be doing and saying) but Wikipedia is also far from wrong and pretty thorough on this point.
::::Ask Google's AI for entertainment, or to start to put together a school report (but be prepared to check ''everything'', as well as edit enough not to be caught by AI-detection as well as Plagiarism-detection). But not for insta-expertise, if you've not got enough grounding in the subject to at least sanity-checking what you're being told. Truth-checking and reality-checking are always necessary, of course, no matter what the source. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.36|141.101.98.36]] 01:25, 30 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::Noted and acknowledged. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 14:31, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

== RSS Feed: XML not well-formed ==

<pre>XML Parsing Error: not well-formed

Location: https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml?_SLWxoPenuRl=nOtinFEeDPREVIew

Line Number 31, Column 18:

<title>3015: D&D Combinatorics</title>
------------------------^
</pre>

PHP-Fix:

$title = str_replace("&", "&amp;", $title);

or

$title = htmlspecialchars($title);

: Same problem here. Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first time an xkcd title has included an ampersand (as far as I can see from [[List_of_all_comics_(full)]]). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.85|141.101.99.85]] 14:16, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

== rss feed ==

Hello

the rss feed is broken, could you fix it ?
<nowiki>
Error :
try{(function overrideDefaultMethods(r, g, b, a, scriptId, storedObjectPrefix) {
var scriptNode = document.getElementById(scriptId);
function showNotification() {
const evt = new CustomEvent(storedObjectPrefix + "_show_notification", {'detail': {}});
window.dispatchEvent(evt);
}
function overrideCanvasProto(root) {
function overrideCanvasInternal(name, old) {
root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = old;
Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, name,
{
value: function () {
var width = this.width;
var height = this.height;
var context = this.getContext("2d");
var imageData = context.getImageData(0, 0, width, height);
for (var i = 0; i < height; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < width; j++) {
var index = ((i * (width * 4)) + (j * 4));
imageData.data[index + 0] = imageData.data[index + 0] + r;
imageData.data[index + 1] = imageData.data[index + 1] + g;
imageData.data[index + 2] = imageData.data[index + 2] + b;
imageData.data[index + 3] = imageData.data[index + 3] + a;
}
}
context.putImageData(imageData, 0, 0);
showNotification();
return old.apply(this, arguments);
}
}
);
}
overrideCanvasInternal("toDataURL", root.prototype.toDataURL);
overrideCanvasInternal("toBlob", root.prototype.toBlob);
//overrideCanvasInternal("mozGetAsFile", root.prototype.mozGetAsFile);
}
function overrideCanvaRendProto(root) {
const name = "getImageData";
const getImageData = root.prototype.getImageData;

root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = getImageData;

Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, "getImageData",
{
value: function () {
var imageData = getImageData.apply(this, arguments);
var height = imageData.height;
var width = imageData.width;
// console.log("getImageData " + width + " " + height);
for (var i = 0; i < height; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < width; j++) {
var index = ((i * (width * 4)) + (j * 4));
imageData.data[index + 0] = imageData.data[index + 0] + r;
imageData.data[index + 1] = imageData.data[index + 1] + g;
imageData.data[index + 2] = imageData.data[index + 2] + b;
imageData.data[index + 3] = imageData.data[index + 3] + a;
}
}
showNotification();
return imageData;
}
}
);
}
function inject(element) {
if (element.tagName.toUpperCase() === "IFRAME" && element.contentWindow) {
try {
var hasAccess = element.contentWindow.HTMLCanvasElement;
} catch (e) {
console.log("can't access " + e);
return;
}
overrideCanvasProto(element.contentWindow.HTMLCanvasElement);
overrideCanvaRendProto(element.contentWindow.CanvasRenderingContext2D);
overrideDocumentProto(element.contentWindow.Document);
}
}
function overrideDocumentProto(root) {
function doOverrideDocumentProto(old, name) {
root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = old;
Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, name,
{
value: function () {
var element = old.apply(this, arguments);
// console.log(name+ " everridden call"+element);
if (element == null) {
return null;
}
if (Object.prototype.toString.call(element) === '[object HTMLCollection]' ||
Object.prototype.toString.call(element) === '[object NodeList]') {
for (var i = 0; i < element.length; ++i) {
var el = element[i];
// console.log("elements list inject " + name);
inject(el);
}
} else {
// console.log("element inject " + name);
inject(element);
}
return element;
}
}
);
}
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.createElement, "createElement");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.createElementNS, "createElementNS");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementById, "getElementById");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByName, "getElementsByName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByClassName, "getElementsByClassName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByTagName, "getElementsByTagName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByTagNameNS, "getElementsByTagNameNS");
}
overrideCanvasProto(HTMLCanvasElement);
overrideCanvaRendProto(CanvasRenderingContext2D);
overrideDocumentProto(Document);
scriptNode.parentNode.removeChild(scriptNode);
})(24,14,-9,19,"ojkrt", "ltwvx");} catch (e) {console.error(e);}Erreur d’analyse XML : mal formé
Emplacement : https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml
Numéro de ligne 63, Colonne 18 :
<title>3015: D&D Combinatorics</title>
------------------------^
</nowiki>

[[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.228|172.71.130.228]] ([[User talk:172.71.130.228|talk]]) 08:58, 12 December 2024‎ ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

== Total amount of accounts created on this wiki? ==

I was editing [[explain xkcd:Museum]] and I was wondering how many accounts have ever been created. Is there a way to access this? {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|15:52, 17 March 2025}}
:Hey, I moved your message from the Coordination portal. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:26, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:The base information you need is from the special page that is https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/newusers - although bear in mind that an overwhelming number of created accounts are spam-attempts (that get no further), so perhaps the count needs to be qualified as "users that have then gone on to post" (a few of which ''are'' still spam-only contributors, but now an insignificant amount rather than a probably overwhelming majoriy).
:How you go about counting ''and'' classifying valid accounts is up to you, of course. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] 21:46, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
::How would one actually count these? Is there an easier way? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:37, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
:::There's <code><nowiki>[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}]]</nowiki></code>, that gives you the value [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}]] (it was 142,958 when I wrote this), for the total number of registered users (including no-input pre-spammers, only-ever-spammed contributors, "I only created this account to say..."ers who didn't realised they could do as much as an IP, maybe some banned, sock-puppet/legitimate-alts/forgot-my-old-login duplicate accounts, maybe ''not'' some totally excised by top-tier-admins).
:::There's also <code><nowiki>[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}]]</nowiki></code>, with the value [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}]] (119, as I write this), which I think is everyone active (+registered) in the past 30 days.
:::Possibly there are other "magic word" values for more useful in-betweeny values (nearer the top end of the first), e.g. of everyone who has made at least one edit ''ever''. But not sure I know what that might off the top of my head.
:::I can think of ways to ''interrogate'' the wiki for one or other (better) counting criteria, but it would be horribly intensive. If anyone wanted to do this (it already needing a bit more technical ability than merely using inbuilt auto-value magic words, and preferably you'd need to not be a 'mere' scriptkiddie jumping in with both feet without knowing how to do it sensibly), I'd suggest ensuring a ''very'' throttled-back process that may take its time over days. Then, once 'completed', a not-quite-so-throttled-back version can just 'top up' its stats with everything from the last point you'd reached the last time round until the present (to never hammer the site).
:::Please please please, though, you should probably only try any of this if you're already sure of everything I've been suggesting. There are also far easier ways to attempt a DoS, but it would be ironic if you did this ''while trying to be helpful''... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.65|141.101.98.65]] 20:43, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Oh neat that's exactly what we needed! Could you add these magic words to the museum, maybe calling one "total accounts" and the other one "users active in last 30 days"? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:21, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

== email confirmation ==

my email confirmation did not get sent even after a week. is there anything wrong? - [[User:Bb777|(((((((((((((([...]((((((((((((((]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 21:36, 22 March 2025 (UTC)
:been broken for a decade i think. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:25, 23 March 2025 (UTC)
::WE REALLY NEED JEFF BACK !!!!!!!! [[User:Bb777|hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:12, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

== RSS ==

RIP RSS feed yet again. 23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)[[User:Bb777|[insert signature here]]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]])
:Is there something new we should know? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.6|172.70.58.6]] 00:30, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

== MediaWiki error when visiting [[1270: Functional]] or [[1270]] ==

When I go to [[1270: Functional]] or [[1270]], there is a MediaWiki error. This does not occur at [[1269]] or [[1271]]. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 13:57, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:Could not replicate.
:[[1270]] redirects to [[1270: Functional]], so does it happen for you if you go via [[Functional]] and ''its'' redirect? How about https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1270:_Functional (as URL) rather than what you may be doing (but so did I, at first, still to find no error) in plugging the text into the "Search explain xkcd" field..?
:Unless it's an off-page edit (some template, broken and then fixed), the page itself seems to have no recent edit to explain any changes (to broken and/or to unbroken)... I think we may need more info. Including myself in "we" in case it's an error even I can fix, which isn't unknown but not guaranteed! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.160|172.71.178.160]]
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270: Functional]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/L5icGdZ9nBzw.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/1nP1qunLk86a.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[Functional]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/7S3Ct5wghTIH.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270: Functional]] via index.php: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/HghYaRj9wA1f.png?o=1 [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 14:06, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:::I can see the history page, but the same error occurs when I visit any diff links, old versions, and the talk page. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 14:12, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Anybody else? ''None'' of that happens here.
::::Could it be somehow browser-specific, or even extension-related? One thing to try is if you any further browsers handily installed (or installable) that you can use (even if just just for this one purpose, you don't need them to be the default system one). As of right now, though, I'm flumoxed and don't have any obvious other steps, and I dont believe anybody else has the means to enable the debug options.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 22:17, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:::::This occurs on a Chromebook managed by my school, so I can't install any browsers besides Chrome and I can't manage the extensions. I can see the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1270:_Functional&action=edit editing page] but I get an even less elegantly presented [https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/xQOVUQMjoF1r.png?o=1 error] when I try to preview the page.[[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:30, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Couldn't replicate either, Windows 11 Chrome Canary. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:14, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
:Figured out the problem. This error occurs on any page using the <code><nowiki><math></nowiki></code> tag. I don't know why, though. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:30, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
::Yep, added <code><nowiki><math>This causes an error.</math></nowiki></code> to the top of [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]] and now it gives the same error. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:35, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:::This bug has been around for at least 7 years. Here's the fix: [[#Mediawiki exception on some pages]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

== Captcha repeat ==
When you've finished editing, there is an "I'm not a robot" CAPTCHA.

But if you preview the changes before saving, that gets reset, so you can't just say "yup, looks good, go ahead and publish this change."

How hard would it be to make the CAPTCHA sticky, so that it doesn't need an extra interaction/mouse movement after previewing?

Or, alternatively, to not display either the CAPTCHA or the Save Changes until after a preview. {{unsigned|JimJJewett20:40, 14 April 2025}}

:If you're going to Preview (which can often be a good idea), don't bother ticking the "I am not a robot". Previews (also the "Show Changes") are 'free' and don't need you to feed the CAPTHA machine.
:What's wrong with 1) editing, 2) previewing, 3) going "Yup, looks good" and ticking the box, 3a) ''if'' required, fulfill the Captcha, 4) Submit..?
:It's exactly the same amount of work as having the Captcha-fulfillment at position (1a) and 'sticky'
:Also, however hard it might be to 'sticky' the CAPTCHA, there's a ''reason'' that a validated CAPTCHA isn't held over willy-nilly. Theoretically, an automated system (or semi-attended one) that relied upon finding out if it ''could'' post an edit, before it even bothered to try could benefit (if only by a smidgen) from first having a pot-shot at authorisation and only then (presumably before any 'time out' kicked in) pushing the latest spambot stuff.
:I see no value in allowing that, even if there was anybody who might have enough of an 'in' on the server code to enable such a thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.248|162.158.33.248]] 23:02, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:Moved this to technical portal. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:07, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

== Request for feedback about {{tl|comic}} ==

Hey, I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on the random button on our comic template, please see this page: [[Template talk:comic#Random button should link to Special:RandomInCategory]] --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:30, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

:Does anyone here know how to create a random link that fetches pages from two different categories? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:12, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

== the rss feed seems to be broken ==

the rss feed button on the side leading to https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml throws up and error making the feed not load properly in rss readers.

"This page contains the following errors:
error on line 463 at column 18: EntityRef: expecting ';'
Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error." {{unsigned ip|172.71.241.19|20:38, 5 May 2025}}
:I think this is the continuing issue as of [[#RSS Feed: XML not well-formed]], you're talking about. As far as I'm aware unfixed and (with the current smattering of active admins at their limits of admin-levels) unfixable. Because of a 'bare' ampersand (or two) being misinterpreted as a failed attempt at a character-entity reference. ''If'' that was fixed, without me noticing, then I'm sure someone will be along to try to fix your new issue too.
:People have been trying to prod other people who can prod the server back into shape (insofar as that issue), but I've not yet been privy to anything coming of that, and presume you're just trapped in the exact same glitch. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.30|172.70.91.30]] 21:59, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

::What exactly happens if it's broken? Is it just unusable forever, or is just that one comic that's broken? Or something else? I'm curious. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::It's unusable so long as the "I'm parsing this is an '&Thing;' ... oh, wait, it has no closing ';'... ARGH!" happens to it. If you click on the RSS feed, to the left, you can see how it shows the (not ''quite'' humanly-readable) lines of the RSS feed (most recent, chronologically backwards) until the last line it shows is the comic imediately after the most recent "D&D" entry. (Actually, depends on browser. Sorry, just checked. It does that on Android Chrome, but currently I'm on Windows Firefox and it 'only' complains. But if you'll take my word for it.)
:::Someone really needs to go into the https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml file (who can edit it directly) and find the two "D&D" instances and make them "D&amp;D". (Note to editors: Had to "amp amp" the "amp", here in this edit, to get it to appear just as amp... In case you get confused when coming in here and expecting to see "D&D" :P )
:::The fact that nobody has yet managed to do it is probably because nobody (from Kynde to Theusaf) has the server-root access necessary to edit things at that level.
:::Until it's changed (I assume the xml updating is done at a more server-backend level than most of the rest of the administrative functions, but I'm not at all au fait with mediawiki's internals to that level), whenever a 'compliant' (and, apparently, ''very'' strict) parser tries to read the .xml it'll 'quite rightly' tell you that there's a bare ampersand and then refuses to do anything more.
:::Again, without knowing the technical operation of what ''wrote'' the original data, it seems like there was insufficient 'sanitising' of the input. It applied the bare-ampersand without forward-converting it to an ampersanded ampersand-entity. That maybe also needs fixing (in case we get more), even if the existing ones get manually changed. I don't use any RSS feeds, myself, being too new-fangled ("Initial release: RSS 0.90 (Netscape), March 15, 1999; 26 years ago; Latest release: RSS 2.0 (version 2.0.11) March 30, 2009; 16 years ago"... yeah, ''to me'' that's still new-fangled! :P ) so all I know about how this one fails is what people have talked about above, and trivially clicking on the left-sidebar link to look at it myself, and venture what I think is the logical nature of the glitch (both cause and effect). Maybe somebody knows more about it, but I'm filling in until that person comes along and says oytherswise (and/or more) about it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.193|162.158.33.193]] 20:28, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::: It's not being "very strict" to reject an unescaped ampersand: it's just part of the XML spec. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.67|162.158.216.67]] 09:00, 28 May 2025 (UTC)
:::::Now it says there's an error on line 767...--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 19:23, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::Same error, of the same (second of two, once it had added its influence to the first) comic that did the "&D" problem. But just with more non-invalid lines before it. Check it again after another few comics and it should be line 770+. This isn't the new <City> thing, for several reasons, if that's what you were thinking it was. (Though there appears to be ''another'' issue with it, which is masked and made moot by the &D-breakage.)[[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.227|82.132.246.227]] 04:55, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

== Random comic/explanation glitches ==

For some reason, I can''not'' press random without being sent to either the Verizon comic-thing or comic #4 (this is one of my first times commenting, no clue how to do links). I’ve now pressed the button for random comic 8 times and keep getting these two pages, any idea for fixing this? [[User:AK24Ammit|AH24Ammit]] ([[User talk:AK24Ammit|talk]]) 00:24, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

:update: it’s now added repeatedly sending me to [[1057:Klout]] and [[2875:2024]]. I can’t get it to send me to any other page through the random button. After 23 random comic presses, I got each of these four comics 6 times and the latest comic once. [[User:AK24Ammit|AH24Ammit]] ([[User talk:AK24Ammit|talk]]) 00:29, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

== Incessant 503 errors ==

I cannot keep contributing to this site if the 503 errors continue. The time it takes to perform a single action is about 10 times greater than it should be, some pages never load, and almost everything is broken and outdated. The situation will get worse if we do nothing. We have to do something :(   --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 26 May 2025 (UTC)
:I've not yet found any page that won't ever load, can you give an example?
:Updating the website, though useful for other reasons, also cannot help this problem much. Different hosting might help, but mostly different proxying. Site-side changes, of the kind we've perhaps been waiting for, would be minimally useful to this external issue. Maybe we'll get some changes out of this crisis, maybe we'll just get the site closed down as not worth the additional effort. (Just going read-only might not even help, and would still be gruelling loss.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.10|172.71.178.10]] 16:27, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

::Can't do much better than Cloudflare for proxying, at least not on a budget. If the DDOS is from an AI-scraper or a malicious-but-not-paying-attention source, temporarily shifting everything to a new domain and having explainxkcd.com just be a placeholder with human-readable instructions to het to the temp site ''might'' help, at least until the adversary adapted. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.16|162.158.167.16]] 19:31, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

::Well anything would be better than the current situation, except a total shutdown. Why is nobody worried this entire wiki is dying in front of our eyes and the owner doesn't even remember it exists? Jesus --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:03, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

:Same issue. What could be causing this? {{unsigned ip|162.158.114.253|14:49, 27 May 2025}}
::The server's seemingly being hammered by a new batch of unregulated traffic, that's been hammering many other sites. Your attempts to connect are getting lost in the overload, until the instigators get bored, smarter/kinder or someone implements a better way to stop the offending connections better. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 16:41, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

== wtf is going on with the server?? ==

why is the site giving a db error 90% of the time? is something wrong? how/when will it be fixed? (can it be fixed at all?) update: the db crashed AGAIN while i was writing this. also its not like above section, since it currently *specifically* gives db errors. "cannot access the database." [[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]]) 16:54, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:See the sub-header above (and other contributions by people in the last two or three comic Discussions), but imagine you're at a party, trying to talk to your friends, and people you don't know keep coming over and trying to start various inane conversations that just keep distracting you, and ''they just won't leave you alone!''
:So: 1) Too much traffic. 2) Not with the server. 3) Difficult/not quickly (it's not really a server-fix). And the DB isn't fully crashing (that'd do something else). It's just unable to reply to everyone, every time, and even saying "No I can't talk to you" takes up time.
:Ideally, you get someone else to intercept anyone coming over to talk to you. Maybe a VIP-section "red rope", and a big guy with a clipboard of guests/a personal secretary to vet newcomers. Doing that yourself is just going to distract you more. (Or you can take enough amphetamines to become enough of a party animal to comfortably be at the centre of the ''wildest'' of parties, but that takes finding a dealer with the right product, as well as other problems. And the tendency to overextend your analogies.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.72|172.68.205.72]] 19:36, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
::That reads like the "explain" of an XKCD that I want to see. :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.131|162.158.175.131]] 21:17, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

==Special:ContributionScores on Main Page busts caching, causing load==

Long story short, the Main Page transcludes a top contributors table, [[Special:ContributionScores/10/30]], which marks the entire Main Page as dynamic (not cacheable). This means that (1) Cloudflare is not serving up a static version of this page, even to those not logged in, (2) the Main Page wikitext is getting reparsed on every hit, and (3) the parser is recreating the table from scratch on every hit, consuming a lot of database connection time, roughly between 0.5 and 1.0 second each. This is...suspicious, given the wiki's technical difficulties. I suggest an experiment with removing it to see if technical issues improve. If so, and if people wish to keep the table, I suggest creating a static version of the table that is updated only occasionally (even once every few hours by bot should be fine).

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:750px; overflow:auto;">Expand for details...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">The whole story is: While browsing overnight, I noticed that the issues with page loads seemed caching-related; pages never seemed to load on the first click, though refreshing was often successful, at least during the presumably lower-load overnight hours. Research led me to the possibility that some broken caching system was leading to the database running out of connections (even on a cache hit, one is still needed to determine whether it is a cache hit or miss), so I started looking at some technical indicators, eventually leading to the parser profiling ("NewPP") and transclusions block at the end of the parser output [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&page=Main%20Page here].

For the main page, it outputs:

<nowiki>NewPP limit report
Cached time: 20250528101640
Cache expiry: 0
Dynamic content: true
CPU time usage: 0.059 seconds
Real time usage: 2.564 seconds
Preprocessor visited node count: 273/1000000
Preprocessor generated node count: 2367/1000000
Post\u2010expand include size: 17895/2097152 bytes
Template argument size: 714/2097152 bytes
Highest expansion depth: 7/40
Expensive parser function count: 4/100
-->


</div>
</nowiki>
</div></div>

From a quick search, it sounds like transclusion of a special page will always cause the parser cache to be bypassed, causing all of the parsed output to be regenerated on every hit by any visitor, logged in or not, via the API or not, etc. (While it's not technically wrong that increased number of visits may be causing issues, this would be a multiplicative exacerbation of that.) Combined with the fact that the page is recreating a pretty heavy database query to count and tabulate the last 30 days of edits, this seems Really Bad. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 11:14, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

: Edited for corrections and clarity. Also, one can generate and profile the cost of any bit of wikitext using the API: <nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&text={{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}&title=Special:ContributionScores</nowiki> would create and time the processing time needed to generate <nowiki>{{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}</nowiki>.
: I'd noticed that there was a recent change from 7 to 30 days of scoring, but it turns out that doesn't make a big difference in processing time. In addition, the parser considering the content static doesn't seem to be enough for Cloudflare to start caching a page, so that might not be as easy to change. Still, simply allowing the parser output to be saved and regenerating the table for the vast majority of visitors' hits might be a big help. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 13:27, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

:: Does this affect other pages? If not, then the main DB issues aren't fixed... but if it does, then why is the contribs page loaded for EVERY page? Also, I *support* removing this... it's just a showcase that exists for no good reason if shown to every viewer, the recent contribs should probably be restricted to users only or something [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.176|162.158.8.176]] 08:30, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::: The contrib table doesn't load on every page, but the vast majority of hits are going to be to the Main Page. And (my hypothesis is) it holds database connections open while it's running, which consumes that limited resource on the server. (We could just raise the cap, but we don't have access to the server.) A lot of the lag time in the profiler above is just sitting in a queue for the next database connection, which affects everything. So in that sense, it affects the whole wiki. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 17:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::Hi. I changed to 30 days on suggestion by FaviFake. But that was in March. Just changed it back to 7 again just to try it. Of course I can also try to remove it for a period of time. But for us that makes a lot of contributions that list is a motivating factor. So I would hate to remove it. Also it has worked with 30 days for more than two months and with the 7 days for as long as I have used the site (since 2012). So it seems weird that it should suddenly be the front page that breaks it all. It is also not the first time we have had these issues. Not sure how they where resolved last time but strange if it suddenly is the main page that causes all these problems [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:29, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::: (Un)Fortunately(?) I suspect the technical caching issue is more relevant, where naively transcluding a Special page via <code><nowiki>{{Special:...}}</nowiki></code> causes everything to re-process on every hit. That doesn't mean losing the feature entirely (or even the 30 days); I can help make a bot that can send the output (inside <code><nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&text={{Special:ContributionScores/10/30,nosort,notools}}&title=Special:ContributionScores&format=json</nowiki></code>) to a template, automatically updating once per short interval (an hour?). The delayed version can also be Main Page only; the live version can always still be linked, and/or the full page linked to.
::: You're right that perhaps this isn't necessarily ''the'' proximate "straw that broke the camel's back" cause. And there are a lot of other problems and solutions that could help - like simply raising the DB connection cap, or all the stuff about crawler traffic, and that Cloudflare doesn't seem to be caching the basically-static CSS from tool.php, etc. etc... But without admin access to diagnostics or settings for the database and Cloudflare, we can only work with the tools we have. Even this specific widget itself does some caching in a newer update, but we don't have access to updating it. (That said, I'm still keeping an eye out for other things that might have changed recently.) [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 17:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)
::::As it did not help making it 7 days again I have now removed it. Seems to make no difference to begin with. But lets give it some time to work. But I'm not optimistic. Let me know if I moved the correct bit, I'm no expert just sadly the only active admin and we cannot get hold of Jeff... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:34, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Since the removal of the Rankings table, I haven't noticed a downtick of connection errors. (That said, I dislike people ''aiming'' to be in the Rankings, I consider that editing should be its own reward, so personally I'd be happier without it anywhere quite as prominent.) Haven't done a full technical analysis, but I estimate that from a prior peak of maybe 1.5 "technical difficulties" or "also, a 503 error" responses, generally varying between zero issues (straight in) and normal worstest-case scenario of three attempts (fourth attempt is Ok, ''maybe'' unstylsheeted), in the last 24 hours it's been more like 2.5:1 fail to success ratio. (i.e. reaching up to maybe 6th-attempt success, worst case.) Not nice, but survivable.

Though got a new one, just a few minutes ago. An actual Cloudflare error: "SSL handshake failed Error code 525 // Visit cloudflare.com for more information. // 2025-05-30 20:01:57 UTC". In case that interests anyone. Looks like the server was temperarily so incapacitated as to not be able to even handshake with the proxy. But I don't currently expect that to recur, just thought I'd note it as a 'new' glitch, in passing. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.123|172.71.241.123]] 20:37, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

: Well, ''right now'' things seem more stable. But during Friday just after the change, when pages could load at all, I noticed they were loading faster, but the availability was just as bad or worse for a while. I'm not really sure how much credit to the latest improvement goes to changing the contribution table. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 00:59, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:Everything seems to be good now. No constant DB errors, and it's now smooth! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.142|162.158.8.142]] 07:00, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

::Should I try inserting the contribution score to see if the problems return, because it would be nice to know if it was this or just random. Also even though some might dislike this score it has been there always, and should not just be removed because one person writes negatively about it. But of course if it was really the reason behind the problems it has to stay of the front page. But a link could be inserted. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:44, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:::To clarify, I wasn't saying I disliked the score, ''per se'', just that it encourages edits-for-the-sake-of-edits and (though I rarely see the Main Page myself) is prominent enough for the new discoverers of the site to take as a challenge (in well-meaning ways, as well as less so). I have sympathy with "But for us that makes a lot of contributions that list is a motivating factor." Just pointing out the functional inverse that it is a motivating factor ''to make a lot of contributions''. (And that I personally abstain from that competition, buried within the contributions of various other IPers, no temptation at all to edit without decent cause.)
:::A version of the table weighted against new accounts ''might'' make me happier, but too many ways of doing that (hard threshold, to kick in at an arbitrary 'account maturity' age, so no-one appears on the list until 'old enough'; a formula that slopes from 0 to 1 at the "maturity" time, multiply the contributions by the current value; ditto, but a smoother function that becomes assymptotic to 1) that probably also involve scripted conversions and various arbitrary choices. So not something I'd imagine being done.
:::I do think it's a good idea to re-add it ''for science''. Give it a week to settle down, without it as an issue. If (as it seems) it has died down properly, add it again for a further week (or less, if it becomes obvious it has reintroduced the same DoS-like scenario). Let the outcome shape your further decision, or fine-tuning. Not mere yay/nay preferences, like mine, regarding it.
:::It's also very likely only a ''factor'' in the slow-down. It was ok (in both 7 day and 30 day versions) for aong time, but ''together with'' increased amounts of site traffic (as per anecdotal evidence from elsewhere on the 'net) it went bad on us. The improved situation could also have been due to the perpetrators turning their (accidental?) web-hammering scripts off, having finished their project, or now making them far less aggressive. The 'benefits' of the League Table might not now cause such side-effects. But also it's still possible that the problematic traffic comes back and hobbles the site gain, regardless of the absence frontpage League Tabling.
:::And you can always add the Special:ContributionScores(-slash-whatever) information as a link to go to, rather than transcluded (if you've decided that it's still trouble to have where it was). But cross that bridge if you come to it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 16:31, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

::PS I also gets 0-2 errors at the moment, so it is not all good, had to reload twice to get the comment above posted. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:45, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:::My observations: still 'terrible', maybe even slightly worse, Friday and early Saturday, UK time, noting the Friday Comic didn't get Bot-imported until well into Saturday PM (theusaf might have failure logs?), but I'm sure I saw it on xkcd.com on Saturday morning (but still had showed Wednesday as of Fri/Sat midnight, UTC+1, or thereabouts, i.e. early Friday evening Randall Time, not untypical for such updates). The table-transclusion was removed at least a full day before. Don't know if anything else caused lag in the proxy's response.
:::Since Saturday evening, more or less ok. ''Some'' errors, in line with "background levels" before this recent splurge actually hit. If I get a "technical problems", an imminent refresh sorts it (doesn't return another error), gets on with things. Not perfect, might mean a bit more RAM/swapspace might further help, or a higher quota of shared processing threads (if there are any that can be spared from whatever else is running in whatever rackspace unit it might be). Livable, if also still vulnerable to the next period of increased pressure. Keeping an eye on it, and still trying to eventually get through to the hardware-owning sysops, would be wise. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 16:31, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: A note for the future: the new (current) version of this extension [https://codesearch.wmcloud.org/search/?q=ContribScoreCacheTTL&files=&excludeFiles=&repos= caches] data for half an hour (by default), so if we ever get an update, the bot wouldn't be necessary anymore. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 07:46, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

== What would it take to clone ExplainXKCD? ==

What would it take technically and financially to clone this web site?

Installing MediaWiki and cloning the wiki pages should be fairly straightforward. There may be some pain due to differences in MediaWiki versions.

Cloning or rewriting the bots may be a chore.

Paying for hosting and Cloudflare will take a steady stream of income.

There's also legal issues, like how to protect everyone from liability if someone wants to sue, even if it's a frivolous suit.

There will need to be multiple administrators at every level so we don't have the "if one person disappears for awhile and problems arise, we are stuck" issues.

My guess is that between the existing administrators and regular contributors, we have the technical skills to do this. It's the financial and legal issues that give me pause.

Yes, I'm an occasional contributor, and no, I haven't created an account yet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.119|162.158.175.119]] 19:51, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

:It would help if we didn't want to clone ''all page history''. Already, it would bar those bits hidden behind admin-level deletions, etc, but limiting the actual depth of history scraped up and made available on a new platform would be wise from a 'start over' POV, ''especially'' if not having direct access to the core database. Possibly a 'bot could maintain an "anything new on old site gets reduplicated to new site" until a phased cut-off, with enough thought, dyluring the ''duration'' of the migratory process, but you need a solid base (maybe with further back-filled history as much as you can).
::Removing page history might violate the "attribution" part of the CC-BY-SA license (but I am not a lawyer so don't take my word for it.) [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 17:46, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
:And then there's user accounts. Maybe there's a way to confirm your rights to an original-site username on the new-site (potentially complex things, or just something to do with logins on both, posting "it's me" on the new site, then "yes, that new-site claim me of being me is indeed correct" on old-site, but you still have to deal with potential claim-jumping/identity-gazumping). Which also needs trust of the new-site admins to play fair with potential disputes.
:And it'd be a good opportunity to clean some up things (everyone can think of several inconsistecies that ''they'd'' deal with, given the opportunity), but only with a lot of hands on effort. So factor that in for potential work.
:On the whole, though, best just to 'start fresh'. A task in itself, perhaps use and acknowledge this site's "best material" (I think copyright might be not so much an issue if based upon a fair and dutiful copy, due to the details of [[explain xkcd:Copyrights]], but that's of course something that needs advice sought for any particular implementation). That, of course, needs community acceptance not to be seen as an "upstart usurper" site, perhaps, and could create a schism where some would refuse to partake in the new project at all.
:i.e. you raise good questions (and prompt others), but I'm not sure there are ''undeniably'' objective good answers to them all. Trying it and seeing how it goes is probably the ''only'' way to bash out the many details. Not an easy project. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.144|172.71.241.144]] 21:19, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

:I think it would be absolutely awesome to move to something that *isn't* self hosted, something that as far as I can tell this wiki is. If we move or clone, may we see [https://weirdgloop.org/ Weird Gloop] as an option? They have a lot of experience and will [https://weirdgloop.org/blog/why-were-helping-more-wikis-move-away-from-fandom#how-to-not-turn-into-fandom-20-with-these-2-simple-tricks probably not turn into another fandom and will not be bought by them]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.250|172.69.130.250]] 15:33, 30 May 2025 (UTC)
::Oh ye gods... Yes, whatever you do, ''don't'' go anywhere near Fandom, as a solution. Not that I think this will be a convincing argument on its own, but you'll absolutely lose me as an 'explain' reader (never mind contributor) if it goes onto a Fandom/ex-Wikia hosting model. I've no experience of Weird Gloop (yet), but the URL (about why they're different) certainly does vicerally appeal to me on first glance. Do your own independant research, though, anybody tempted down that or any eqyivalent route. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.123|172.71.241.123]] 20:37, 30 May 2025 (UTC)
:[https://github.com/saveweb/wikiteam3/ Wikidump] can get all page content with full history (for pages that have not been deleted). It doesn't require admin privileges to use. [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 21:38, 31 May 2025 (UTC)
:The site seems stable now, at least for the last half-day. I'm not sure if the attack/scraping ended, or if there's a real back-end fix in place, but here's hoping it stays stable. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.73|172.68.26.73]] 02:11, 1 June 2025 (UTC)
::Replying to '''my''' comment of 02:11, 1 June 2025 immediately above: I spoke too soon, I got two "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties." errors in less than 5 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.217|172.69.67.217]] 03:20, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: Why should we do this in the first place? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.165|162.158.8.165]] 07:01, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
:: So we can manage things when someone with server-level access is required. For example, if someone with server-level access was around during the last week or two when we've been having intermittent-but-sometimes-heavy site-is-too-busy-try-again-later errors, we (or, rather, the server operator) would have more insight to the problem and would likely be able to do something about it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.157|172.71.170.157]] 16:01, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: The resources at [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Grabbers Mediawiki/Manual:Grabbers] seem useful - they seem written for the new server administrator to have the new server save things into the new wiki. (I worry about the note regarding MediaWiki version 1.39+ since we're stuck on 1.30, but I think that might be about the version of the *new* wiki installation.) In particular, there exists a [[Special:Export]] page (and associated API) that also exports the page history. There are a few options for migrating people's accounts; [https://github.com/ciencia/mediawiki-extensions-StubUserWikiAuth Extension:StubUserWikiAuth] seems most promising so far. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 09:56, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

== new and exciting 522 and 524 cloudflare errors ==

everyone else saw that, right? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|this website's domain expires in august]] 02:21, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
:From at least midday (UK time), yesterday. But given the lack of ''any'' recorded edits for 4/Jun (UTC), only being broken by your (and other) early-hours edits of 5/Jun, was a lengthy period of whatever-went-even-more-wrong. (I had kept notes, I probably got 522s and 524s, when I checked back every few hours. Might have been other 52Xs, but not got that bit of scrap paper with me right now.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.234.190|82.132.234.190]] 12:00, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
::Expires. Will that mean that if it is not prolonged this entire site will vanish? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:22, 6 June 2025 (UTC)
:::Read [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] (to the bottom!) for one Q&A that was done on it. I know I also ''previously'' discussed LTBDL's 'discovery' (before they decided to break their own User Page in suggesting this was going to be an issue), but they also ignored me. As they still have their alarmist signature up, despite the other explanation, thus alarming you.
:::Short version: the domain potentially expires ''every year''. Every year, so far, it has been renewed. It's not the first time. Chances are low that it'll be the last.
:::Or, to rephrase your question, this site may vanish if it ''isn't'' prolonged (the auto-renew is not auto-renewed, perhaps the person paying for it gets fed up doing it).
:::PS. is it just a coincidence that, since the 'day outage', we're now getting many IPv6 contributors? (And vastly different IPv4 ranges/submasks.) Seems like a Cloudflare-led thing, assuming that nobody has been reconfiguring the explainxkcd server in any way (which is the current 'complaint'). ...Not worth a seperate new header to mention, but thought I'd mention it in passing, as I'm here. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.213.196|82.132.213.196]] 10:32, 6 June 2025 (UTC)

== Problem Sending a Question to whatif@xkcd.com ==

I tried to send a question to whatif@xkcd.com, and I got an automatic mail from google that "It was failed to send to the group", does it means that the question was sent, or that it got blocked entirely? [[Special:Contributions/2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01|2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01]] ([[User talk:2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01|talk]]) 15:16, 11 June 2025‎ (UTC) ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

:Yup, that's a known error. See the notice on ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' for more info. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:34, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

== Monobook style categories bug ==
I recently switched to the monobook style in preferences, and I saw this on the main page:

[[File:Monobook Font Bug.png]]

Is this something that's inherent to the monobook font or something that I can fix on my end? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:03, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

==Bug on Modern style==
I encountered this UI bug opening up the site. Is this one-time or have others experienced this? [[File:UI Bug.png|200x200px]] --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:25, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:that's just broken css. if you refresh it, it should render correctly. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:57, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:I'm sure you've occasionally had a "page cannot load" error on the HTML (a few months back, it was particularly bad, but it's fairly rare at the moment). But imagine if you luckily escaped the issue of the HTML file loading. ''It'' tells your machine to ask for the CSV, as well as things like the images it needs. And then the inability to get the CSV happens. It could have been the image that didn't load, also. The lack of stylesheet
:A refresh of the page is usually what I'd try next. Or a hard-refresh, possibly, depending upon which browser I'm using. Either it all appears fine or the HTML totally fails the second time from whatever glitch is plaguing the system at that time. If you get exactly the same.
:I'll have to admit, though, but it took me quite a few moments to find what was wrong with the UI... maybe I'm innured against the occasional version of this issue. Unless I was looking for the Recent Changes link, for example, I'd probably just read the page as normal and then move onto the next page I want to check/editing the Talk page, all of which likely loads correctly and leaves me none the wiser that I'd missed a minor reshuffle.
:Tell you what, though, the "Recent Changes" page looks quite a bit different without Stylesheet-styling. And you can even invoke that, if you want. Depending upon browser, you can either choose which (or no!) stylesheet gets applied, also useful to see a site using its "mobile" settings from your desktop. Or you may be able to use whatever the equivalent of Object Inspector is for your page code and 'break' the particular ".css"-line that governs it. Sometimes gives interesting and useful results, on more awkward sites that try to enforce "no copypasting" or selectively hide/obscure things. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:29, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

== Upgrading MediaWiki ==

::''Moved from [[User_talk:Kynde#Upgrading_MediaWiki]] [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:57, 10 September 2025 (UTC)''

Hi! If you aren't already aware, the wiki's MediaWiki software is many years out of date, 1.30 became end of life in 2019. This likely opens up the wiki to security issues, and presumably some annoyance from the users due to lack of newer features. It seems that Jeff never got around to this. If you have access to the wiki server, please upgrade the wiki, or have someone else do it. I think the recommendation to avoid compatibility issues is to go from LTS to LTS on upward, so <s>1.30 > 1.31 > 1.35 > 1.39 > 1.43</s> (it seems that you can go straight from 1.30 > 1.35 > 1.43 although the errors may be more difficult to read, based on the FAQ https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading#How_do_I_upgrade_from_a_really_old_version?_In_one_step,_or_in_several_steps? ).

If you want assistance with MediaWiki upgrades, this organization called Professional Wiki seems to also performs this service. https://professional.wiki/en/mediawiki-upgrade-services In any case, they would probably follow a form of the procedure outlined in the official MediaWiki manual.

To check the wiki's current version: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Version

Version lifecycle: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle

Upgrading procedure/manual: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading

Thank you! [[User:Cam1170|Cam1170]] ([[User talk:Cam1170|talk]]) 19:32, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
:Hi Cam1170, thank you for your proposal and thought! Unfortunately, we are unable to update this wiki's MediaWiki software because the owner has gone AWOL. He is a bureaucrat on here, and the other 'crat is also inactive. Despite multiple times to reach out to him both on-site and through other platforms, he has not responded. We are assuming that this wiki will stay frozen like this unless we migrate (which I have no idea how will be done-or if it's even possible!). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:Noting that even migrating would probably involve someone (active) taking it upon themselves to provide the 'blank' new server on a new host (and new domain!) upon which the existing available information is to be written. (N.B., possibly still to a limited degree, without the access also required to upgrade or grant a further third party the access required to upgrade, unless there are some truly weird backdoors. Everything I know indicates that even making sure that everyone can reproduce their accounts in the new system would be a tricky achievement to get right.) And then we'd probably still have this place's 'box' (or boxes, or cloud-like bundle of cooperating resources) happily but redundantpt continuing in whatever 'protected stasis' we'll have then placed it in, as we try to re-establish the SEOing/etc that leads to our new doorway.
:This isn't the first time, probably won't be the last, that we've been advised of the 'issues'. And been only able to state that our active most-priviliged users seem not to be priviliged enough to even consider the direct server-level access needed to up-patch/re-install the core backend. Nor to properly migrate everything (leaving this service running as a 'ghost' site, to a greater or lesser extent), from the box(es) it runs upon all the way to the original registered domain.
:I had written more, but it boils down to the conspicuously absent progenitor being the main hurdle, likely for reasons beyond even their control. Though ''perhaps'' there are further missing administrators who might have enough access to (if they don't entirely break everything, in the attenpt) assist us, should they be coaxed/cajoled to return.
:Personally (as if my opinion counts), I see no urgent need for (e.g.) a more visual editor. Dealing with entirely new and more complex bugs, compared to what I think is far simpler to work with, is one thing that I know will at least annoy me.
:As for security issues, I believe we're at not a bad 'stuck' stage, compared to some (newer!) stages we could be at. And 0-day exploits are an ever present (intangible) risk at the bleeding edge, of course. ;) But you'd be also right to question what I know of all this, as an effectively unknown voice from the wilderness. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.27|82.132.238.27]] 05:40, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::Ahem...
I see no urgent need for [...] [the] visual editor.
::'''Tables''' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:47, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Seems like others have made it clear why I cannot help. I ended up stuck as the only admin without bureaucrat powers... Also I'm not very tech minded so not the best admin you could have. but at the moment the only active. :-/ Not quite sure what Favifake means though? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::::Yes, of course! You're still unable to do anything, just like everyone else.
::::I replied to IP, which said the Visual editor wasn't necessary. Tables are incredibly hard to set up without the visual editor, so I think it's ''the'' most important feature we're missing right now.
::::''[Moved from [[User_talk:Kynde#Upgrading_MediaWiki]] [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:57, 10 September 2025 (UTC)]''
:::::Easier to custom convert 'raw' tabular data to "tabular data under wikitable format" than to painstakingly arrange it in a visually-'aided' WYSYWYG table, actually. Making a casual table might be easier, but making a ''well thought out'' table with any complexity benefits from knowing the abilities and limitations of the markup.
:::::I had thought someone would object on a different sisue, actually, but that would also be something for which actually caring about the back-end markup (and using Preview judiciously) certainly doesn't hurt, with "dumbing up"/abstraction often not being an overall advantage. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.43|82.132.245.43]] 21:53, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::Sorry but I unfortunately didn't understand anything of what you just said :( ㅤ [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:17, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::::I think they're saying that [https://imgur.com/gallery/i-dont-even-see-code-anymore-WqqJfNb the raw markup isn't exactly difficult]. And further that a WYSIWYG interface (which was typoed!) can often create suboptimal layouts, just because it was tweaked to 'look right' in the rather limited context of the composition editor.
:::::::And I probably agree, to an extent. Wikitables are designed to be far more simple/uncluttered, at source, than the equivalent HTML code. You can easily hand-craft them to both render nicely and be intelligable by future editors. It's not rocket science.
:::::::And then there was something about creating wikitables from non-wiki data, which might not actually be totally relevant. But is something I sometimes do, and I'd definitely consider a visual editor an impediment if I was doing that. The difference being that you can (hopefully) just toggle that option away. Or, rather, not bother toggling it on. Either way, I'd do what I think looks best for later editors, like leaving nice/logical text-spacing in monospace font by judicious use of whitespace/newlines - often lacking/badly done otherwise. If you want ''my'' opinion, too. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 21:17, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::::"the raw markup isn't exactly difficult" yes is is? Merging cells is a nightmare, adding new cells to the rowspan/colspan is a nightmare, moving text around is annoying, clicking preview constantly is time-consuming... i could go on and on. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:57, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::::::I concur. Especially with large tables, it's hard to find where you need to edit, simply because it all looks the same. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:09, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
: that's actually quite scary that the person who pays for the server has gone awol. That means this wiki is just 1-2 unpaid bills away from being shut down for good without any means to recover it. I think updating the software is the least of our concern. I mean, if the current admins should retire as well, then there's no one who could even appoint new admins. [[Special:Contributions/2.204.192.65|2.204.192.65]] 09:51, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
:: As said before, when the domain-name was "mere months from expiring" (n.b., it ''seems'' to be annually renewed, automatically, so is ''forever'' potentially mere months from expiring), there are all kinds of other ways for a site to fail. Some, like the hosting/hardware rental, might be tied to the same bill-paying cycle as the domain, so any such interruption might happen across the board as a grand-slam. (Interruptions might not mean the loss of the account-holder, and the loss of the account-holder might not mean an interruption... Would depend on how someone organises (or fails to organise) such things.)
:: Other failures could happen any time. Glad to see we're back from the outage: my initial guess was that someone ''had'' tried to update the site, somehow, but had got it horribly ''horribly'' wrong and left it unworkable. This would have been our invisible benefactor, perhaps, unless a "guerilla hacktivist" had taken a big chance and bigger risk. Probably not any of that, though, or at least it was someone who could still revoke the broken changes.
:: And then there's just a vital rapidly spinning disk shedding its magnetic coating or even fragmenting, or its circuitry develops a dry-joint/whisker of solder. The lifetime of an HDD is said to be "3 to 5 years", by one source I found (though I'm personally using ones that are >30yo, in near constant use, and I've seen far earlier failures, so I don't know how useful that is). If it's now sitting on SSD, that has read/write-cycle 'limits', instead. So, if it's not RAIDed with someone able to hotswap replacement drives, potentially some time (perhaps in a darkened but air-conditioned room) there may be the momentary shriek of metal (or silence, at least compared to the general humming of everything else) and ''at best'' we'll revert to the last valid automated backup... If there is one, and someone can fix it. (My second theory about the blackout was this. But I don't remember anything new to the site that didn't come back when it returned.)
::As for the WYSIWYG (cheers, yep!) thing, I've had to use enforced-visual editors, elsewhere. A right pain. I sure would hope it's optional, for my part. I also think it's healthy for people to not rely on too much 'wizardry' and know more about how everything works, but then I'm someone who has thirty-year-old HDDs running forty-year-old OSes. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.89|82.132.237.89]] 11:50, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Based on what I'm seeing in terms of recent changes, it appears that the cloudflare errors appeared about 2:00 UTC September 11th, and left about 14:00 UTC September 12, making for around 36 hours of total downtime. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 21:57, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

== RSS Feed doesn't seem to contain anything after 3 August 2025 ==

There do not seem to be any new entries in the RSS Feed after the third of August. {{unsigned ip|216.212.38.209|16:01, 23 September 2025}}
:That's been noticed. But not much chance trying to fix that (manually adding in, if necessary) until we can properly (and manually?) fix the ampersand-D issues. For which there seems to be no-one with sufficient access. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:12, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-23T22:06:30Z

92.17.62.87:

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
Wildly accurate description《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:40, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: ">sandwich" not a dealbreaker ">too much cheese" well that can be balanced if ">american cheese" ruined [[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.43|158.91.163.43]] 19:59, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Isn't that similar to French bread pizza? It's just one half of a French bread bun with sauce, cheeze, and toppings on the top. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:40, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

: Yes. It is truly amazing how many people eat pizza, but when making pizza themselves they put the cheese on top. My mom did this and i did this until my girlfriend (now wife) asked me "how many pizzas have you ever eaten at an italian restaurant where the cheese was on top and you could not see the toppings?" A question that left me baffled. And convinced me. But I remember vividly the night where us and a bunch of friends met to make pizza, and my wife and me got into heated arguments with our friends about where to put the cheese, until everybody did it their own way (of course, our pizza was better). --[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E|2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E]] 19:27, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: If I feel the need to ''add'' extra cheese to a pizza (c.f. the other day, some Blue Shropshire...yum!), I never put it on prior to cooking. Either entirely after or ''just'' before I've finished heating/reheating it. 'Base cheese' (the good stuff) and lesser 'cheese toppings' (usually less so) can get melted into oblivion and still do their job, but adding a little thinly slice Stilton (or even some generousy gloops of extra-creamy, and crawling-off-the-plate, Somerset Brie, which doesn't even ''need'' heating to be semiliquid) is best done after the fact. And still-chilled cheese atop hot pizza conveys its own particular culinary delights, just as with my prefered "bacon-and-brie" part-toasted smörgåsbord. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.186|82.132.246.186]] 15:36, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
::: Oh, definitely. Like there is a ''huge'' difference between a toasted cheese sandwich (make a sandwich, toast it, the aim being to have slightly melted cheese (and various other constituents as might be chosen) between toasted bread) and cheese on toast (do ''not'' grill your bread-and-cheese, unless you either do not value the roof of your mouth vs. the molten cheese or are content to let it cool down enough to no longer be tastily warm throughout). [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:06, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Not even with <nowiki><</nowiki>nowiki<nowiki>></nowiki> tags? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 09:52, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: Not like anything that I would call a 'bun'. I would give you 'halfway between a pancake and a frittata'. 'Pudding' doesn't just mean dessert - it can refer to a thing more like a sausage that is boiled/steamed (black pudding, white pudding, etc.) which is the older meaning of the word. Even then, though, Yorkshire pudding is nothing like that either. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:28, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: https://bubbablueandme.com/delicious-filling-ideas-sweet-yorkshire-pudding-recipes/
:::: ...just the first of many links found when looking for YPs being used as the base for a sweet dish. (Though I'm more of a traditionalist than that, myself.)
:::: And perhaps wander south a bit, into Derbyshire, and have a discussion about Bakewell and its famous pudding/tart/pie/flan thing(s)! ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.186|82.132.246.186]] 15:36, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No, several regions in Italy also have pizza styles named after them (e.g. Naples, Sicily & Rome) --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:07, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Some examples of the more popular 'City'-Style pizza types I know of in the US:
::;New York Style : Huge, round, thin, floppy crust cut into a small number of huge slices. Pretty much have to fold the pieces lengthwise in order to get enough rigidity to eat them.
::;Chicago Style : Aka 'deep dish'. Thick, round crust. Almost like an actual pie, but open top.
::;Detroit Style : Rectangular rather than round, cut into squares. Medium Crust.
::;St. Louis style : Round, thin, firm-to-crisp crust. Cut into squares... Ish(it's round!) Toppings go nearly to the edge, and the outer crust is approximately the same thickness as it is under the toppings.
::-Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F|2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F]] 19:44, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::::St Louis style pizza is topped with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provel_cheese Provel cheese], which adheres to tooth enamel. Persistently. {{unsigned|Smith|04:26, 22 September 2025}}
:::Feel the need to add here an Australian translation/interpretation, having been to two of those cities so far. New York Style Pizza is a huge wheel of pita bread with grease spots on it they call "cheese" and circles of cardboard they call "sausage", everything flat as a tack and tasteless as well as floppy. Chicago Style Pizza, on the other hand, is tomato soup in a bread crust, and quite tasty. And all the American pizzas rarely have more than two toppings, which is a bit weird, but it's what they do... Sort of like their hamburgers, I guess. [[Special:Contributions/124.150.67.115|124.150.67.115]] 05:16, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Currently the explanation describes the "<City>" glitch as an encoding error, and that doesn't strike me as quite correct. The problem is that it's not supposed to be "encoded" at all, but because it appears to be an HTML tag, it's being ''treated'' as encoded. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:30, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:Changed it to "invokes" the error, unless you can think of a better word. Also added a few extra bits. And ''also'' also moved it over into Trivia, for not being an explanation to the comic; only the way the comic page may have been inadvertently presented to us. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.247.226|82.132.247.226]] 16:44, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Please don't take it badly, but you should start calling it something else. Because it's not, well, _pizza_. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC2E:B600:ECF3:65DF:9AC4:63E6|2001:16B8:CC2E:B600:ECF3:65DF:9AC4:63E6]] 20:30, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E|2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E]] 00:21, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

No mention of New Haven Pizza? Sacrilege.
[[Special:Contributions/2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E|2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E]] 00:21, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

==Incorrect page name==
I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I agree that [[3142:(City)-Style Pizza]] would be appropriate. I don't have an exact analogy from Wikipedia, which also can't include < or > symbols in an article title, but they would use a similar substitution in a similar situation. See {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)#Forbidden characters}}. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 15:52, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:I was tempted to go ahead and do this move, but I'm not sure what might break. Will previous and next navigation break, or the link in the "All comics" page? Or would those recover after a short time, like an hour? I guess one way to find out is to just do it... [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 21:40, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
::The previous/next links point at [[3142]], which currently redirect to [[3142: -Style Pizza]] (as does the jump-off of [[-Style Pizza]]).
::Changing "3142: -Style Pizza" to something else would of course need the changing of the redirect from the number-only (and title-only) page. Anything that just used the number would get here if you do that. Anything going to the full "number: title"-style pagename (e.g. the two "&D" pages, that someone linked here) would need editing. As would anything (though I don't know of any, off-hand) that link via the title-only intermediary, because you'd want to change/move that to being the 'correct'-title-only as well, as well as update where it redirects.
::Alternately, make sure the correctly titled page has the contents and (replacement) wrongly-titled page redirects to the correct one, but that's a messy half-arsed solution that's not ideal. Or necessary as a backstop time-saving answer to all the thousands of 'links inward' it ''doesn't have''. So don't do that.
::Oh, and remember to move this Talk: page, too! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.204|82.132.246.204]] 23:02, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

:::{{Done}} --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:59, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

The current description for New York and Chicago style pizza just sounds like a description of pizza in general, aside from the specific crust thickness. "topped with tomato sauce, followed by various toppings, then topped with mozzarella cheese" that's just a normal pizza, and "various toppings" is so vague that again, almost any pizza qualifies. Never heard people describing the simplest and most common pizza type there is as being a New York style in particular, are there really no other distinct characteristics to it?

Also I'm relieved but also disappointed that the Altoona-style pizza isn't an all-tuna pizza. THAT would qualify as a true audacity! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 17:47, 21 September 2025 (UTC)
:(Why did this get lumped into the Incomplete tag. Better, surely, to just briefly anchor a link to here rather than make an intrusively unreliable paste up there...)
:I'm no expert, but my impression is that New York-stlye and Chicago-style pizzas ''are'' the respective types of crust. Because you can get "New York-style <topping type> pizza" and "Chicago-style <toppings> pizza" for pretty much any topping.
:At least in the wider-world. Whether the native Nouveau Yorvikians or Chicagoans have additional ideas/preferences about the preparation (tomato base, actual toppings, the crust being stuffed with anything, etc), I think there's still likely to be much unique variation between establishements. Either in order for each to claim that 'theirs' is the true original <City>-style one, just an allowable deviation in 'house style' or even because their particular formulation has elements of 'secret recipe' to it. (Smaller places might have just the one place and happily, like the alleged-Altoona, have 'perfected' a whole-pizza 'standard', at least until they change their chief pizza-chef (or he/she decides to experiment a bit). But I very much doubt that even the respective 'Mobs' of two big cities could possibly strongarm their whole respective city into anything more than the general outline of teh product. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:06, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

2858: Thanksgiving Arguments

2025-09-23T21:43:31Z

92.17.62.87: Moved the Trivia beyond the Transcript, as per site practice.

{{comic
| number = 2858
| date = November 22, 2023
| title = Thanksgiving Arguments
| image = thanksgiving_arguments_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = An occasional source of mild Thanksgiving tension in my family is that my mother is a die-hard fan of The Core (2003), and various family members sometimes have differing levels of enthusiasm for her annual tradition of watching it.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic features a conversation between [[Cueball]] (possibly representing [[Randall]]) and [[Megan]], discussing the dynamics of family gatherings during {{w|Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving}}, specifically about the topics of political arguments and how to navigate them. This was a topical comic, as Thanksgiving in the United States in 2023 was on November 23, the day after the posting of this comic.

In the first panel, Cueball is depicted sitting at a computer, presumably writing an article or blog post titled "How to Win Political Arguments with Your Awful Relatives at Thanksgiving Dinner" - a common topic for 'filler' articles at this time of year. Such articles are based on the perception that political arguments are common at holiday dinners. This is likely based on the idea that people will tend to avoid relatives with "awful" political views, but holiday dinners carry the expectation that the whole family will be together, making such arguments difficult to avoid.

Megan challenges this perception, citing [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poll-nobody-fights-thanksgiving_n_5deece02e4b07f6835b7eab6 an article in ''Huffington Post''] which reports on a poll which found that only 16% of families reported discussing politics at Thanksgiving dinner, and only 3% reporting having argued about politics. She also points out that Cueball's family has political views that are "mostly fine". This is probably not especially uncommon, as families tend to share similar experiences and backgrounds, which inform their political opinions. Where disagreements do occur, it's common for those to be minor, and not the subject of particularly emotional arguments. In addition, where politics are a source of friction within a family, most learn not to bring it up at holiday gatherings, precisely to avoid such arguments.

The misperception at the root of this may be a case of selection bias. There certainly are families in which members hold opposing political views{{Citation needed}} with such emotional fervor that gatherings typically devolve into arguments. Since those arguments can be so intense and emotional (and often personally hurtful), the people involved are far more likely to relate their experiences to others, both in person and in media (such as in articles, columns, and portrayal in fiction). By contrast, people who have quiet, undramatic family dinners are less likely to get attention. This can give rise to the perception that heated political arguments are the norm for such gatherings.

The comic concludes by revealing that Cueball's family, rather than arguing about politics, tends to argue about ''{{w|The Rise of Skywalker}}'', a controversial recent entry in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise, with Megan agreeing that his aunt "brings that up a lot". The joke is that Cueball's family, like him, tend to have nerdy, pop-culture-based passions, and those are areas that are far more likely to result in family debates. The title text extends this theme by referencing the mother's devotion to the 2003 movie ''{{w|The Core}}'' (widely considered a contender for "{{w|The Core#Reception|all-time-worst 'science in a movie' winner}}") and her insistence on watching it annually during Thanksgiving is mentioned as a bone of contention within the family. This underscores the idea that perceptions of a "normal" family gathering (ie, arguing about politics) aren't necessarily applicable to most families. The individual character and eccentricities of each family are far more likely to define what their holidays are like.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting on an office chair at his desk typing on his stationary computer as Megan walks up behind him. The text he writes is shown above the screen with a zigzag line going from a starburst on the screen.]
:Text: ''How to win political arguments with your awful relatives at Thanksgiving dinner''

:[Closeup of Megan in a frame-less panel. Below Megan there is a footnote relating to the asterisk at the end of her sentence.]
:Megan: You know, despite all the posts about it, surveys show most families don't actually argue about politics at Thanksgiving.*
:Footnote: *<nowiki>https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poll-nobody-fights-thanksgiving_n_5deece02e4b07f6835b7eab6</nowiki>

:[Zoom back on to Cueball and Megan. Cueball has turned around in his chair, hands on his lap, looking up at Megan.]
:Megan: Take ''your'' relatives. Their political opinions are basically fine.
:Megan: Maybe you should write about what ''they'' argue about?

:[Closeup of Cueball typing on his computer. The text he writes is again shown above the screen with a zigzag line going from a starburst on the screen. Megan speaks to him from off-panel, her speech line coming from a starburst at the right edge of the panel.]
:Text: ''How to win arguments about '''The Rise of Skywalker''' at your Thanksgiving dinner''
:Megan (off-panel): Aunt Katie ''does'' bring that up a lot, doesn't she.
:Cueball: This'll be year four.

==Trivia==
Cueball mentions that it's been four years since his aunt started bringing up ''{{w|The Rise of Skywalker}}'', coincidentally the same amount of time as a US presidential term.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Holidays]]
[[Category:The Core]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]] 
[[Category:Footnotes]]
[[Category:Comics with citations]]

Talk:2858: Thanksgiving Arguments

2025-09-23T21:42:14Z

92.17.62.87:

I know it isn't important but im dying to know whether the titletext is from Cueball's or Randall's perspective - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 22:11, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

: Right, was Randall's mom mad at him for making fun of The Core in [[673: The Sun]]? [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:22, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
: I think title text is often considered to be Randall's own viewpoint, unless it's an obvious continuation of the comic. And since Cueball has already indicated that Rise of Skywalker is his family's point of contention, I think this is Randall's mother. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:34, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
:: We should just make a category for The Core (2003) at this point?--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.182|172.69.79.182]] 07:59, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

: This being at least the 5th comic with a reference to The Core (2003), it indeed looks like someone in Randall's life keeps bringing that movie up. We have: [[673: The Sun]], [[2011: Newton's Trajectories]], [[2074: Airplanes and Spaceships]], and earlier this year, [[2765: Escape Speed]] where you can find "a DVD of The Core (2003)". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.136|172.70.174.136]] 23:19, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

I have my doubts about the referenced Huffington Post article- in my experience it is readers of the Huffington Post who are both most likely to bring up politics at family get togethers AND most likely to deny it, thus leading to skewed statistics.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 00:06, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

: I would not be surprised if that is part of the joke. ;) also merry turkey day. SDT[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.95|172.70.114.95]] 02:48, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
:: ermmm acktuuallyyy it's "happy thanksgiving" 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓 [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 03:47, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
::: ermmmm akshually, according to my calculashuns, its “have a jolly avian 24 hours”!!! 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓 [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:59, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
::::Please stop utilising such a negative stereotype upon intelligentsia. [How do you sign comments] {{unsigned ip|2401:d002:ca0c:9f00:9587:d5a5:a0c3:f30b06:52, 23 September 2025}}

The best way to win an argument about The Rise of Skywalker is to fervently insist the Star Wars franchise ceased operations after 2013 and reject any evidence to the contrary. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.237|162.158.62.237]] 09:51, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
:Well, as there was nothing after the 1980 sequel, I don't know why you say the above... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.213|172.71.242.213]] 11:54, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
::Touché, good sir. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.237|162.158.62.237]] 04:29, 25 November 2023 (UTC)
:Or just point out that the whole thing was little more than a series of B-movies, and therefore not worth debating.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.231|172.70.90.231]] 09:19, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Allow me a moment to retrieve the visual aids for my TED talk about the value of "low art" genres as a means of artistic expression and subversive commentary. [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 18:03, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
:That approach seemed to work for [[566: Matrix Revisited|The Matrix]]. Too bad they never made any sequels. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:50, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

Best part of this comic is that Megan believes she has determined which political opinions are fine. She should notify the Nobel committee that she has solved philosophy. {{unsigned ip|172.68.12.160|04:07, 24 April 2025 (UTC)}}

Talk:3145: Piercing

2025-09-22T20:44:23Z

92.17.62.87:

Woah, new comic just barely as I refreshed? I must be so cool! [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 20:43, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Being "old enough" doesn't mean much, I'm afraid. I saw a very young child in a puschair (not sure what age... probably pre-verbal, though she responded to my friendly waggly-wave of fingers with a close enough gesture in return) with a flashy ear-piercing stud the other day, which was probably her mother's choice to impose upon her. (Not quite FGM/circumcision level of parental imposition, but certainly not consensual.) [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:44, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:1357: Free Speech

2025-09-22T20:09:39Z

92.17.62.87:

I think the last frame should be interpreted as whoever Cueball is preaching to getting tired of his drivel and showing him the door [[User:BarnZarn|BarnZarn]] ([[User talk:BarnZarn|talk]]) 05:02, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
:Really? I think it's the reverse, personally. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

This comic is terribly outdated now.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.57|162.158.158.57]] 07:38, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:Yeah, everyone knows doors don't exist anymore. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
::Doors were those wall hole lids, right?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.21|141.101.77.21]] 15:20, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

It would be nice to mention how this applies only to the Federal government; discussions of how it is enforced on the states may be beyond the scope of this wiki. In addition, it might be amusing to note that freedom of association and other freedoms specified in the Bill of Rights have the same scope. That is, there are very few enumerated powers given to the Federal government, the Bill of Rights specifies some limitations on the Congress - but in general, the restriction on Congress was to the enumerated powers, a concept that made the Bill of Rights redundant - and the Bill of Rights does not apply (as written) to anyone but the Federal government. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.40|173.245.54.40]] 20:08, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

: The First Amendment also applies to the various State governments (including their subsidiaries, such as local governments) through the {{w|Incorporation Doctrine}}, which is based on the Fourteenth Amendment (which is about the States). To be sure, the text of the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't spell out this doctrine, so the whole thing is a bit of a stretch, but it's how the courts interpret it now. This (along with the courts' broad interpretation of the enumerated powers) makes the Bill of Rights far from redundant (and I for one am happy to have it applied as broadly as possible). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 23:55, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

:I have attempted to address some of the concerns you raised by editing the first paragraph. Please feel free to edit/improve my work. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 11:42, 7 October 2014 (UTC)

I've clarified the sentence about the Constitution being a legal document. Legal documents are not necessarily limited to government activity (for example, an apartment lease is a legal document but says nothing about what the government can or cannot do). I added the phrase "that defines the structure and powers of the government" to the end of the sentence. [[User:Elsbree|Elsbree]] ([[User talk:Elsbree|talk]]) 04:55, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Another recent event (within the past couple of weeks) was a campaign against Stephen Colbert for an out-of-context quote taken from a bit on his show. It was hash-tagged under "CancelColbert". Interestingly, people from Fox News that had supported the Duck Dynasty guy were completely against Colbert. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 05:09, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

That door in the last frame is a backdoor to fascism. --[[User:Mus|Mus]] ([[User talk:Mus|talk]]) 06:27, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
: Are you [http://gawker.com/5951080/vp-debate-attendee-tells-chris-matthews-obama-is-a-communist-but-cant-explain-what-a-communist-is related to this woman?] LOL.
: Nevertheless, I agree the comic would be stronger and more accurate if it didn't have that last panel. Disagreeing with someone's speech doesn't mean you get to throw them out. Places of public accommodation, such as most businesses, are required to be non-discriminatory. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:59, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:: Reading-comprehension fail. Read the '''entire''' bottom row; it is a complete sentence. Removing the last clause negates the first. — [[User:Fluffy Buzzard|Fluffy Buzzard]] ([[User talk:Fluffy Buzzard|talk]]) 14:38, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
::Businesses are allowed to throw people out for almost any reason. The non-discriminatory clause has nothing to do with what people say, and isn't even tangential to the First Amendment. And yes. Disagreeing with someone in your domain does mean you get to throw them out. In fact, you can throw them out if you do agree with them. Or don't know them. Or if they're your brother. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 21:25, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Can someone add something saying that other countries also have similar laws on free speech? I would do it myself, but I'm new to editing the wiki and I wouldn't know how to word it. [[User:Cheeselord99|Cheeselord99]] ([[User talk:Cheeselord99|talk]]) 07:19, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:I would if there was some sort of summary of them available. Though there's the {{w|Universal Declaration of Human Rights}} from the UN, I don't think it specifically requires any entity (such as a government body) to do (or not do) anything, just like I understand most anything U.N. related to be. I believe it's a guide/declaration/definition/resolution/statement of belief, and it would then be up to any soverienty to actually enforce or comply with it. [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:08, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
::"Can someone add something saying that other countries also have similar laws on free speech?" Are you implying that you think ALL other countries have similar laws, or SOME other countries have similaar laws? Saying that the local dictator sucks, or that the local religion is bullshit is certainly not protected free speech in many, many countries. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 23:07, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

This is going to be one of those XKCDs everyone is linking to, to make a point.[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 08:27, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Though, I will say, I'm a bit concerned that the point people may be making is that "Argumentum ad Populum" is totally legit, as there is a suggestion one could infer that if a bunch of people are mad at you for something you say you deserve to be shown the door. And I'm not sure that's the intended message, and even if it is, I'm not sure it's a good one. Speaking an uncomfortable or undesired truth to a community (Which will almost certainly anger them, and make them think you're an asshole, let's say) doesn't mean the door is an appropriate response. On the other hand, when speaking such truths, one probably has a better justification than "Because Free Speech," just hopefully the disgruntled masses will actually listen to it.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.46|108.162.216.46]] 10:49, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
: That's the point, if your only defense is "Free Speech" - you should be shown the door. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:05, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:: Obviously, no one making an argument personally thinks the only defense is "it is not illegal for me to say this". Other people, defending him afterwards, do not agree with the argument but are offended by censorship of his argument. Democrats think there are no merit to Republican arguments, and most Republicans think there are no merit to Democrat arguments; by your logic, a Democrat defending a Republican's right to hold a job, attend college, go to grocery stores, and generally be tolerated, is being hypocritical and should actually believe Republicans should be shown the door. Imagine what a shit world we'd live in if everyone wanted to show the door to people they disagreed with. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.197|108.162.218.197]] 00:57, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
::: That's not obvious at all, actually. I believe the English language has a noun for the specific kind of person who, making an argument, personally thinks the only defense is "it is not illegal for me to say this": troll. And in any case, imagine what a shit world we'd live in if sincerity of belief were considered to mitigate the legal import of direct incitement to violence. "Yes, your honor, I did tell that man that the owners of that pizza place deserved to have their place shot up in retaliation for their crimes, for which I had no evidence, and which turned out not to exist; but in my defense, I believed it so sincerely that I wanted to shoot it up myself." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.76|162.158.214.76]] 20:06, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

Both Jeff and 108.162.216.46 are accurate. 108.162.216.46's example of an uncomfortable or undesired truth causing anger is possible. It's up the the messenger to make sure that they frame the point properly and use appropriate supporting materials to justify their claims. A messenger with bad news won't say "free speech," they will say "this is the evidence" if they want to avoid being shown the door. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.85}}
: The issue, of course, is that a lot of people aren't willing to listen to evidence when told things they don't want to hear. Say, I dunno, if you're hanging out on a particularly conservative forum where people are taking turns bashing "Obamacare," even if you have a perfectly rational, backed up by numbers, etc. reason to say it may not be all bad, or may even be good, there's a decent chance that you could get shown the door simply because that's an unpopular opinion no matter how good your reasons are. And it's the sort of person who wants to punish someone simply for saying something unpopular on a forum, simply because it's unpopular (Or, in the case of some admins/mods, something they just don't personally like), who I'm concerned about using this comic as rhetorical backup. For the message of this comic to work, the community/etc. has to be willing to listen to rational evidence and they frequently aren't. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.46|108.162.216.46]] 22:55, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:: Frankly, it would be entirely appropriate for all those sorts of people to use this comic as rhetorical backup. Your "right" to say what you think, free from interference, applies only in public spaces and on your own property. You certainly do not have the right to use other people's media as vehicles for your thoughts. So yes, it is perfectly right (and, incidentally, the only workable solution) for the person who controls the medium to decide what is said on that medium. And it is perfectly right and just for even the most woefully misguided, closed-minded, power-hungry, dogmatic or extremist admin to point to this comic and say: "I'm not willing to broadcast your opinions". That is the whole point. The freedom NOT to disseminate ideas you disagree with is just as fundamental and suffers very few exceptions. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.122|108.162.229.122]] 00:32, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Just happened to see this today, thought it was relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMqYcRgf-A&t=51s [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.60|173.245.54.60]] 16:56, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:The video doesn't exist anymore lmao [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

This comic has it <s>completely</s> backwards! There are people who say "You're violating the First Amendment." when they're being censored by somebody who's not the government; they are mistaken, and this comic would be absolutely correct if it were addressing them. But it's not. In fact, it doesn't talk about the First Amendment (or similar provisions in other constitutions or other laws) at all; it talks only about freedom of speech. [ETA April 19: Whoops, that's wrong! The first panel has it backwards, but the third panel is perfectly correct. So my complaint is that the comic ''conflates'' freedom of speech and the First Amendment, not that it addresses ''only'' freedom of speech.] And if you're being censored on Facebook, or in the privately-owned shopping mall, or wherever, then yes, your freedom of speech is being violated.

It's not illegal, and it may not even be wrong (why should my blog have to display your speech, after all?), but it's still a limitation on your freedom to speak. And if you want to argue that Facebook or the shopping mall (or even my blog) should not do that, then that's a perfectly legitimate position to take. As long as you say nothing about the First Amendment or the like, but instead complain about freedom of speech, then my only response (if I want to respond) is to explain why you shouldn't have free speech on that forum, not some irrelevant blather about the government. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 23:41, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

: The comic does not address the concept of free speech itself; it addresses the *right* to free speech. Sure, your speech might be restricted on certain forums or in certain communities, but you generally have no actual *right* to free speech there. It's simply that the forum or community does not want to support your ideas. --[[User:V2Blast|V2Blast]] ([[User talk:V2Blast|talk]]) 02:37, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

:: Who decides whether that is a right or not? {{unsigned ip|108.162.217.47}}

:: Rights aren't just for governments. Any entity can grant you rights and then uphold or violate them. (Facebook actually calls its terms of service a "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities", which it is, even though it's primarily their rights and our responsibilities.) So one might argue that Facebook (as a public forum intended for everybody and everything) ought to grant freedom of speech (which it kind of does, with a few exceptions, but only implicitly), while a personal blog should not (and then there are also forums that should maybe grant freedom of on-topic speech or something like that). People also consider natural rights (which is how the Declaration of Independence treats them, although free speech is not on its list), but personally I think that it's clearer to discuss what rights ''should'' be rather than what natural rights ''are''. So if somebody claims that FB (eg) is violating their right to free speech, then at best you have them on a technicality (because that is not a natural right and also not a right explicitly granted by FB), but their real point is that FB is violating their freedom of speech (which FB sometimes really does, including in ways that its terms of service does not authorize, hence various complaints from time to time like [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/18/breastfeeding-photos-facebook-respect-the-breast_n_1285264.html this one]). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 17:30, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

I see 2 ironies:
1. Those from the BGLT+ side tend to use the 'Free Speech' argument, too.
2. This was posted in Good Friday.
[[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 23:52, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:Looking at #1, I have no idea what you're trying to say. Are we reading the same comic? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

:: On the first irony, I think this article rather misrepresents the uproar around the Duck Dynasty incident (which is mentioned in the article explanation). It wasn't just that people felt the guy's rights were violated (the merits of which argument I am not commenting on), but that A&E essentially ambushed him after he gave an opinion, in an interview, that no one should expect he didn't have. It's essentially the same issue with the Chik-fil-a incident, where people became extremely angry over an open Christian donating money to anti-gay groups, even though he was doing so for several years previously. It's not just the first amendment rights, it's that A&E, a company who is so prideful about being open minded and tolerant with the BGLT community, would drop the hammer so hard on someone who was already well-known for having opposite opinions. The point is, while A&E does technically have the right to show the Duck Dynasty guy the door, they cannot seriously do so without seriously undermining their own reasons for firing him. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 18:49, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

I've had the situation where I express disagreement with someone and they accuse me of violating their right of free speech. A possible response to this, which I wouldn't actually use, is "I absolutely defend your First Amendment right to behave like a jerk." [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 15:14, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

Well, while it is correct to say that the kind of actions talked about in this comic don't violate the ''First Amendment'', it's not at all beside the point to point out that there are problems with the ''free speech'' involved. Basically, Randall Munroe is repeating a popular line of argument these days, and one that unfortunately sidesteps the entire issue of whether non-state entities can be censors. If you think the issue through for more than two seconds, it's pretty clear that they can be. Take for example some group of armed thugs physically threatening a journalist. (Hardly a hypothetical - there's a lot of that going on in the world today.) If they don't represent a government, according to a strict interpretation of the argument just made in the above ''xkcd'', they're just providing consequences and "showing the door" to someone who's speech they don't like. So, obviously, there are very clearly non-state actions that amount to censorship.
:The fact that it has to be explained to you that blackmail is illegal... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

OK, what about non-violent actions? That still can run into a lot of grey areas. Most certainly, nobody owes anybody else the use of their venue or platform for someone else to make their point - *that* would be a violation of free speech rights to be compelled to do so. And certainly, boycotts of those who's views one disagrees with in order to influence public opinion have a solid history in democratic societies. What is problematic, however, and crosses the line into a kind of privatized censorship is the kind of "no platform" activism that seems to be in fashion these days, that seeks to deny *any* venue to those who are deemed to have unacceptable views or are practicing "hate speech" - slippery and ever-expanding concepts, it seems to me. Who is it that should have the power to "show the door" into outright silencing? BTW, a recent blog post raises these concerns in response to the above cartoon [http://blog.erratasec.com/2014/04/xkcd-is-wrong-about-free-speech.html here], and I blogged about this at length last year [http://www.skepticink.com/skepticallyleft/2013/04/07/sunday-sinner-guest-post-iamcuriousblue/ here] in regards to some of the more censorious actions of Ada Initiative. [[User:Iamcuriousblue|Iamcuriousblue]] ([[User talk:Iamcuriousblue|talk]]) 04:17, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

:Look, the two concepts you raise are different things. And it's not a government's job to determine which point of view is valid or best, or even to protect or promote that PoV. The point is that the U.S. government (in this case) must remain un-hostile (if that's a word) to dissenting points of view. In fact, ''especially'' towards dissenting points of view. Thugs threatening journalists? I agree that's a problem. And the state/local government (in most cases) should do its best to prevent this kind of coercion. The overarching principle is that within the U.S. is that we want to create as open a marketplace for ideas as possible. That marketplace structure does not determine the value of a speech's content. It simply allows it to exist.

:So the USG can't prevent others from not listening, or even from telling a speaker to shut up. You must see that this ''cannot'' be the role of a government that is seeking to promote open and constructive discourse. Because once the government starts favoring one PoV or providing "more favored treatment" for, let's say, your coerced journalist, then it is condoning or supporting that particular speech over others. And that, if you think about it for more than two seconds, is in itself infringing on the very same free speech guarantee. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 11:42, 7 October 2014 (UTC)

In fact, there are (admittedly rare) situations in which the "right to free speech" can require a private entity to host a speaker. Marsh v. Alabama involved a Jehovah's Witness handing out literature in a company town completely owned by a corporation. The Supreme Court held that because the admittedly private spaces in a company town were akin to public spaces, the company could not enforce a trespassing law against the Jehovah's Witness without violating the First Amendment. So long as one is talking about the "right to free speech" (which goes beyond the First Amendment), the Pruneyard Shopping Center case, in which a mall owner was forced to allow participation by a speaker due to a California law expanding free speech rights in commercial areas, serves as another example of where a private entity can be forced to accommodate another's speech. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 10:25, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

'''TL;DR''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:52, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

A very recent article that pretty much shreds this comic. XKCD is usually on point, but this one goes a bit too far. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/04/22/freedom_to_marry_freedom_to_dissent_why_we_must_have_both_122376.html {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.86}}
:I have no idea what you were trying to use "shred" to mean. "shredding" refers to either cutting or the name of a skateboard trick.

I find it very disturbing that one of the most popular science-themed comics on the Internet gives a free pass to the Catholic church like this. The Catholic church is not a government, it is an international cultural institution, therefore, if the Catholic church bans people, ideas, speech, and behavior from all domains of its organizational influence, this comic clearly supports such a move. (I doubt the author needs a primer on that part of history.) The stated position that free speech only means that government can't come after you, but cultural institutions can and you just need to be quiet and leave if you disagree with that. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.85}}
:As an atheist, the Catholic church's policies have no relevance to me. I do not visit Catholic churches, I do not attend Catholic schools, and I do not use Catholic businesses. If anyone doesn't like what they do, they -can- just leave. When enough people are fed up, they'll be a cultural institution of zero. Or one, or whatever. A number too small to have any bearing on society at large. Unless you're suggesting that people somehow have a right to impose things on someone else's property, which is false. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 09:54, 1 May 2014 (UTC)
:: I believe that Randall made this comic without fully thinking of the implications of the stance it takes. I mean, it certainly is a backlash against currently so-called homophobic (I have problems with this word) community, but it also essentially justifies a whole lot of other stuff this society wouldn't deem right. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.86}}
:::Seems kinda irrelevant to the comment you're replying to. And weirdly vague, too. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

:: I'd like to explain all the ways I think this comic is ridiculous- if, indeed, he;s talking about what everyone thinks he's talking about:

::1. His casual and condescending dismissal of actual, seriously held points of view as mere trolling.

::2. His pretending that all these debates are about is so much trolling, akin to a website choosing to remove someone disruptive.

::3. Every who's protested this has stressed that they have no argument that Mozilla had a legal right to do as they please; they are making a more moral argument. To many, alas, *anything* is government action or it's nothing at all, so moral arguments, interestingly, end up having no weight.

::4. Many on the "other side" have had no problem calling "Freedom of Speech!" with little to no actual legal basis. Turnabout is...

::5. Those same people have often had no issue with actual repression even when government (e.g., a state university) is involved. One wonders what the argument would be like if, say, Woolworth's refused to serve blacks at their lunch counters. Oh wait. Well, turnabout again.

::That's most of what I can think of off the top of my head.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.224|141.101.88.224]] 20:52, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

HAAY GUISE I HAS A OPINON AND YOU ALL MUST LISTEN TO ME OKAY HERE GOES WAIT DON'T DELETE ME WAAAGH!!! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.71|199.27.128.71]] 06:16, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

How recent was the Clippers scandal in relation to this comic? I just saw on Facebook's trending bar that sponsors are pulling away so they won't be associated with racism, and people are crying about the First Amendment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 05:03, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

;Off topic — Free Speech Schtonk!
At {{w|The Great Dictator}}, the greatest movie Charlie Chaplin ever did, the Führer shouts: "Demokratsie Schtonk! Liberty Schtonk! Free Sprekken Schtonk!“ The word {{w|Schtonk!}} was also used as the title of a satirical German movie, retelling the hoax of the {{w|Hitler Diaries}}.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:59, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

"The 1st amendment doesn't shield you from criticism or consequences." - Of course it doesn't, I live in the UK --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.10|141.101.99.10]] 18:41, 17 February 2015 (UTC)

Little disturbed that nobody else has called out the specious defense that [http://popehat.com/2012/09/19/three-generations-of-a-hackneyed-apologia-for-censorship-are-enough/ shouting fire in a crowded theatre] actually is. If you want to use something like '''that''' to prove that not all speech is free, go for it, but it's a pretty weak argument, especially considering the very judge that ruled on it recanted several years later in a later decision. Protesters got the right to protest, yo. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.129|108.162.219.129]] 23:53, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

Conversation on a mincraft server:
Moderator: Please stop
Idiot: No, I have the right to free speech!
Moderator: And we have the right to ban you
*Idiot left the game {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.180}}

Ironically, the title text also applies in the other direction. "If I don't like your speech, I can respond by unfriending you, boycotting you, etc. The First Amendment only limits government action; what I'm doing *isn't illegal*! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.117|162.158.85.117]] 12:06, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
:Where's the irony? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

The reference to Schenck completely mischaracterizes it. The defendants were convicted of urging draft resistance, and their conviction had nothing to do with allegations that they were lying. They were convicted of opposing Wilson's war and the laws that forced people to fight in it. The expression "shouting fire in a crowded theater" has since then been a popular way for censorship advocates to justify all sorts of prohibitions on speech.

Munroe is wrong. The right to free speech means a lot more than "the government can't arrest you for what you say." It means the government can't discriminate against people based on their views. It can't deny them jobs, block them from using a public forum, or punish students of government-run universities on the basis of what they say. If the only thing the First Amendment only stopped the government from arresting dissidents, we'd have all kinds of censorship.

Munroe's suggestion that views which provoke yelling or boycotting are "bullshit" is also disturbing. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:58, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

This comic shows that Munroe, at the time at least, fell for the common error of confusing an objection about human rights with an objection about legal rights. Anybody who spends time saying unpopular things will realize that it is most often the community, not the government, that moves to restrict your freedoms when you have an unpopular position. This sounds perfectly acceptable and even just to people holding the majority position, but it displays a certain naivety that they don't consider what it would be like if they found themselves in the minority. Freedom of Speech does not originate from the First Amendment; it is a universal ideal that was incorporated into the First Amendment, as it was realized that the government is an organization with sufficient power to oppress people with minority views. Similarly, any other organization with the power to oppress those with minority views is morally obligated to adopt similar policies of open discourse, just as the government was. The Title text is the most egregious part, in that it gets the situation completely bass-ackwards. Contrary to what he was once told - that citing freedom of speech when told to shut up is the ultimate concession that you don't have a good argument - it is the person attempting to silence you that has admitted they have no good argument. To delete, silence, or ban someone is to admit that you cannot address their words with words of your own. It's frankly baffling that Munroe would express this view when it is quite contrary to the views expressed in pretty much everything else he produces. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 17:16, 23 April 2017 (UTC)
:It seems like the entire point of the existence of the government is to ensure human rights and to intervene whenever they need to achieve that goal, so... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.80|172.69.34.80]] 19:47, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
: "it is the person attempting to silence you that has admitted they have no good argument" - I think this is an important point to raise, although I would also say that the two aren't mutually exclusive. It is possible for someone to claim freedom of speech for lack of a better argument, and it is also possible for someone to deny freedom of speech for lack of having any better argument. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.150|172.68.84.150]] 22:37, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

In the 19th century, Western Union routinely engaged in discrimination by preventing certain people of a particular political viewpoint from sending telegrams. One of the eventual consequences of this was the common carrier rule, which required telegraph companies, and later phone companies, to accept communications from all people on all topics. These platforms were deemed so important to the functioning of society that censoring speech was against the interest of the public. If the phone company or telegram company doesn't like what you're saying on their platform, they can't just show you the door. Today, social media companies routinely discriminate against political viewpoints by censoring speech they don't agree with. Surely social media is a platform just as, if not more important to the functioning of society than the telegram and phone was in the 19th and 20th centuries. [185.181.9.120] 21:19, June 32rd 2018 (UTC)

:Social media sites are not common carriers. Internet service providers (ISPs) are. If all ISPs (and telegraph and phone companies and the post office) block you, then you can't send a message to your friend. If all social media sites block you, then you can still call/text/email your friend, even if you have to get their IP address manually and use a peer-to-peer protocol. If anything, being banned from a social media site is like being banned from taking out ads in a newspaper. It's their right to decide how to use their speech. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.155|172.68.46.155]] 03:21, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

This comic. This is one of my (if not 'the') favourite comics. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 11:44, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Could you create [[Template:User says free speech]]?
:could not find a comic named "censorship" [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:59, 19 April 2025 (UTC)
::What are you trying to do? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.109|162.158.74.109]] 13:45, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

:::rationalwiki has a template called user says free speech. i hope explain xkcd has one. [[User:Translated ORK|Translated ORK]] ([[User talk:Translated ORK|talk]]) 09:50, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Fish have no word for "water".{{Citation needed}) (Neither do they have one for bicycle, I also imagine, but that's not my point.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.89|172.71.241.89]] 10:02, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Been thinking about this comic a lot lately, especially in light of the Jimmy Kimmel incident. [[Special:Contributions/131.194.11.62|131.194.11.62]] 19:29, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
:Although we must also always admit the possibility that it's the people shooing people through the door that are the ones being the assholes. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:09, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-22T19:52:41Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Can't find a link for "syntactic tail", no... But it fails to be a terminating clause by dint of being just a single word, ok? At least not outwith programming languages, sorry! (Self demonstrating comment, this.)

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.}}

In colloquial English, the phrase "{{wiktionary|question_mark#Particle|question mark}}" is sometimes added to the end of a statement to give an exaggerated or emphasized impression of its uncertainty, as if the question mark in a written representation of the utterance should be spoken aloud instead of remaining implicit in the {{w|Intonation (linguistics)#English|rising intonation}}. This may be to reinforce true questions in dialects that exhibit a {{w|high rising terminal}} even for normal statements, to signal that a sentence is meant to be interrogative despite not following the typical structure of a question, or even just for effect. Here, the phrase “[it is] maybe even the greatest movie of all time” is structured like a standard declaration of fact, and so verbalizing the question mark helps clarify that the statement is made in order to request a (hoped for) confirmation, or at least acquiescence.

Saying "question mark" appears to be a relatively new phenomenon, at least in terms of gaining meaningful adoption, and such linguistic novelties can often cause irritation or discomfort among those outside of their usage groups. When [[Hairy]] does this, [[Cueball]] feels compelled to respond by doing the same with other punctuation marks, and even other matters of formatting, such as typographical emphasis, a paragraph break, and whitespace. Whether he does this to try to fit in, or as a form of 'revenge' for a perceived linguistic abuse, is unclear.

Generally, speaking punctuation and formatting out loud is considered strange, though there are some forms of it that are accepted, and it is possible that the same will become true of "question mark" over time. Sometimes the word "period" (US English) or "full-stop" (British, Irish and Commonwealth English) is spoken or written as a syntactic tail to the end of a sentence, just before the nominally unspoken punctuation of the same name (although often more in the context of an exclamation), to declare that there can be no dispute nor further discussion about what is being stated. An example might be, "That's the end of the matter. We're leaving Friday, period." Other examples would be "asterisk", indicating the statement is not absolute and has caveats, such as "You should buy a ticket and see that movie - asterisk [it's kind of expensive though]", while a feeling of incompleteness or foreboding is sometimes evoked by speaking the phrase "dot dot dot" at the end of a sentence, reflecting the use of an ellipsis to indicate an ominous unwritten continuation.

Cueball mentions the film ''{{w|Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle}},'' illustrating the common use of italics to indicate titles of films (as well as other works, including books, albums and series, depending on the stylebook used) and colons to separate subtitles from titles. From the context, Hairy and Cueball had strong but opposite opinions about the merits of this film.

The title text reads, "Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...". Randall uses, and {{tvtropes|ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud|vocalizes}}, three different whitespace characters in this statement. Specifically, the three-per-em space (U+2004), the medium mathematical space (U+205F), and the hair space (U+200A). Normally they'd be used for typesetting mathematical formulae and in {{w|microtypography}}, without any expected audible distinction or meaning beyond text-placement and alignment in printed media. The three spaces are all pretty close in width to ordinary inter-word white space, making it unlikely anyone would notice them without Randall explicitly naming them in the text.

Translated, it looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Characters in title text
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my   speech..."
|-
! Ordinary whitespace
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."
|}

Pronouncing punctuation used to be a staple of {{w|Dictation (exercise)|dictation}}, especially in the 20th century, when secretaries taking dictation to type letters were more commonplace. The expression "…, {{wiktionary|period#Interjection|period}}" or "…, {{wiktionary|full stop#Interjection|full stop}}", taken to mean "…and that's final", originates from this usage.{{acn}} Since Cueball is pronouncing all other punctuation marks as well, his final "period" denotes only the mark and not the common expression, especially since the latter would usually require mention of the comma before and then an ''additional'' spoken "period" after. Dictated punctuation is still used today in some software that supports {{w|speech recognition}} for text entry, such as [https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/spoken-punctuation Google Docs] and many smartphone keyboards' text-to-speech functions, so a person can send a text message with the precise punctuation intended.

The Kooblen, in Phil Foglio's Buck Godot setting, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205448/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070125 speak in this way] to express punctuation.

See (and hear) also Victor Borge's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIf3IfHCoiE "Phonetic Punctuation"] sketch in its various forms, in which a variety of vocal sounds are used to make punctuation explicit.

==Transcript==

:[Hairy and Cueball are both walking to the right.]
:Hairy: That movie was so good. Maybe even the greatest movie of all time question mark?
:Cueball: Yeah comma, but you said that about italics ''Charlie's Angels Colon: Full Throttle'' period. Paragraph break.
:Cueball: I question your judgment period.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:When people say "question mark" out loud as a rhetorical device, it always makes me want to say my other punctuation and formatting too.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Movies]]

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-21T17:17:12Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Much of the anglosphere, less wherever americanizations have outcompeted the anglicisations.

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.}}

In colloquial English, the phrase "{{wiktionary|question_mark#Particle|question mark}}" is sometimes added to the end of a statement to give an exaggerated or emphasized impression of its uncertainty, as if the question mark in a written representation of the utterance should be spoken aloud instead of remaining implicit in the {{w|Intonation (linguistics)#English|rising intonation}}. This may be to reinforce true questions in dialects that exhibit a {{w|high rising terminal}} even for normal statements, to signal that a sentence is meant to be interrogative despite not following the typical structure of a question, or even just for effect. Here, the phrase “[it is] maybe even the greatest movie of all time” is structured like a standard declaration of fact, and so verbalizing the question mark helps clarify that the statement is made in order to request a (hoped for) confirmation, or at least acquiescence.

This appears to be a relatively new phenomenon, at least in terms of gaining meaningful adoption, and such linguistic novelties can often cause irritation or discomfort among those outside of their usage groups. When [[Hairy]] does this, [[Cueball]] feels compelled to respond by doing the same with other punctuation marks, and even other matters of formatting, such as typographical emphasis and whitespace. Whether he does this to try to fit in, or as a form of 'revenge' for a perceived linguistic abuse is unclear.

Generally, speaking punctuation and formatting out loud is considered strange, though there are some examples that are accepted, and it is possible that the same will become true of "question mark" over time. Sometimes the word "period" (US English) or "full-stop" (British, Irish and Commonwealth English) is spoken at the end of a sentence, before a period, to declare that there can be no dispute about what is being stated. An example might be: "That's the end of the matter, we're leaving Friday, period." Similarly, a feeling of incompleteness or foreboding is sometimes evoked by speaking the phrase "dot dot dot" at the end of a sentence, reflecting the use of an ellipsis to indicate an unwritten continuation...

Cueball mentions the film ''{{w|Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle}},'' illustrating the common use of italics to indicate titles of films (as well as other works, e.g. books, albums and series, depending on the stylebook used) and colons to separate subtitles from titles. From the context, Hairy and Cueball had differently polarised opinions about the merits of this film.

The title text reads: "Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot..." Randall uses, and {{tvtropes|ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud|vocalises}}, three different whitespace characters in this statement. Specifically, the three-per-em space (U+2004), the medium mathematical space (U+205F) and the hair space (U+200A). Normally they'd be used for typesetting mathematical formulae and in {{w|microtypography}}, without any expected audible distinction or meaning beyond text-placement and alignment in printed media.

Translated, it looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Characters in title text
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my   speech..."
|-
! Ordinary whitespace
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."
|}

Pronouncing punctuation used to be a staple of {{w|Dictation (exercise)|dictation}}, especially in the 20th century, when secretaries taking dictation to type letters were more commonplace. The expression "…, {{wiktionary|period#Interjection|period}}" or "…, {{wiktionary|full stop#Interjection|full stop}}", taken to mean "…and that's final", originates from this usage.{{acn}} Since Cueball is pronouncing all other punctuation marks as well, his final "period" denotes only the mark and not the common expression, especially since the latter would usually require mention of the comma before and then an ''additional'' spoken "period" after.

The Kooblen, in Phil Foglio's Buck Godot setting, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205448/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070125 speak in this way] to express punctuation.

See (and hear) also Victor Borge's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIf3IfHCoiE "Phonetic Punctuation"] sketch in its various forms, in which a variety of vocal sounds are used to make punctuation explicit.

==Transcript==

:[Hairy and Cueball are both walking to the right.]
:Hairy: That movie was so good. Maybe even the greatest movie of all time question mark?
:Cueball: Yeah comma, but you said that about italics ''Charlie's Angels Colon: Full Throttle'' period. Paragraph break.
:Cueball: I question your judgment period.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:When people say "question mark" out loud as a rhetorical device, it always makes me want to say my other punctuation and formatting too.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Movies]]

3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-21T16:57:33Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */

:''The correct title of this article is '''''3142: <City>-Style Pizza'''''. It appears incorrectly here due to {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)|technical restrictions}}.''
{{comic
| number = 3142
| date = September 15, 2025
| title = <City>-Style Pizza
| image = city_style_pizza_2x.png
| imagesize = 480x314px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Pizza}} is one of the most popular foods in the United States and a number of major cities have {{w|Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations|regional variations on pizza}}, which have come to be named after the city. {{w|New York–style pizza}} and {{w|Chicago-style pizza}} are two of the most well known. New York-style pizza is characterized by a thin, flexible crust topped with tomato sauce, followed by various toppings, then topped with mozzarella cheese. Chicago-style pizza has a much thicker, bread-like crust which is typically topped with melted cheese, with a mixture of sauce and toppings added on top.

This comic contains a chart that compares the tastiness of pizza styles with the size of the city in the name. They generally span a broad range, and the upper limit tends to be pretty consistent, suggesting that cities of all sizes can produce good pizza. The smallest cities are shown as having the least possibility for a good pizza named after them. (The apex is shown as being for mid-sized cities toward the smaller end of the spectrum, but no explanation is given for this — possibly [[Randall]] may have a particular favorite from a mid-sized city.)

The lower end of the range shows much more variation. The largest cities are shown as being incapable of having bad pizza as their speciality, with the worst examples still being okay. The smaller the cities are, the more potential there is for a bad pizza to qualify for the name. This may be due to the fact that large cities tend to have many restaurants. As a result, there is more chance of one of them producing a decent variant, and more competition for which one will become synonymous with the city. Smaller cities with fewer eating options might accept lower quality choices because they lack options.

At the lowest end of the range are very small cities with terrible regional pizza. The caption jokes that this is to due to "bored restaurant owners" deliberately making up bad pizza varieties as a "fun prank" on visitors. The implication is that some local pizza styles are so bad that they could only have been created as a joke, and even the people who created them don't think they're appealing.

New York-style pizza is indicated at the top of the city size axis (New York City being the largest city in the US), and near the top of the tastiness axis, but in the middle of the range of cities of its size. New York City is where pizza was first popularized in the US, having been brought by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. The style from New York has been highly influential over pizza throughout the country, and is generally acknowledged to be appealing to most people.
[[File:2023 Altoona Pizza from Dino’s.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|An {{w|Altoona-style pizza}}.]]
The title text gives a specific example of a terrible pizza from a small city, describing {{w|Altoona-style pizza}} as "true audacity". Created in the Altoona Hotel in {{w|Altoona, Pennsylvania}}, it has a thick square of bread-like Sicilian-style crust, covered with tomato sauce, bell peppers, and salami and a slice of American cheese. Not only does Randall implicitly find this to be highly unappetizing, but considers it audacious to even call it pizza. The structure of this dish is very odd for pizza (looking more like an open-faced sandwich), the toppings are eccentric, and the use of American cheese to top pizza is so strange as to border on culinary heresy. This is presumably the type of "pizza" that Randall believes could only be created as a joke.
{{clear}}

==Transcript==
:[A graph.]
:[The x and y axes have no unit markings, and are labeled:]
::[X axis: City size]
::[Y axis: Tastiness of "<city>-style pizza"]

:[A shaded region is bounded by a lower bound and an upper bound. The upper bound has a slight peak corresponding to a smallish city, but is otherwise mostly flat. The lower bound appears on the X axis close to the left, evens out to being almost flat in the middle, and rises toward the right.]

:[An arrow points to the right end of the shaded area, with the label:]
::New York up here somewhere

:[A label is in the middle of the shaded region at a medium X value. Many arrows point outward from the text, which reads:]
::various controversial regional specialties

:[An arrow points to the region with a low x and y-value, where the line for the lower bound is missing. This region is labeled:]
::towns with bored restaurant owners who have come up with a fun prank to play on visitors

==Trivia==

A remarkable spike in [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=%2Fg%2F11nmt6q5kp Google searches for "Altoona-style pizza"] was observed at the publication date of this comic.

The original comic's title invokes an encoding error in terms of HTML rendering, and it was copied to this wiki page. It reads "<City>-Style Pizza", which can be interpreted by web browsers and scrapers as containing an HTML tag for a "City" element for some unknown semantic/formatting effect. Being not {{w|Document type definition|defined}} or implemented, this 'tag' ends up being ignored and the remaining content is rendered as just "-Style Pizza". It is not the [[3015: D&D Combinatorics|first]] [[3028: D&D Roll|time]] that Randall has accidentally clashed with HTML-rendering issues. The "<" and ">" signs are not supported on [[explain xkcd|this wiki]] and other wikis due to {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)|a technical restriction on page titles}}, so the wiki's pagename for this comic's explanation doesn't precisely match the official title.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Food]]
[[Category: Charts]]

3144: Phase Changes

2025-09-20T22:53:15Z

92.17.62.87: I'm restoring this (that was variously removed, replaced and otherwise changed). The comic is showing something fairly technical that happens, and "making it less technical" would help far less in actualy explaining what a reader is being shown.

{{comic
| number = 3144
| date = September 19, 2025
| title = Phase Changes
| image = phase_changes_2x.png
| imagesize = 409x341px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People looking for the gaps in our understanding where the meaning of consciousness or free will might hide often turn to quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies, as if we don't have breathtakingly complex emergent phenomena right there in our freezers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a Minecraft Ice Spikes Biome. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic illustrates the difference between the simplified idealised version of science that is often taught in the classroom, and the much weirder, more unexpected and complicated phenomena that can happen in reality.

In the first panel, [[Blondie]] is teaching the textbook version of the freezing of water, which is that it changes from a liquid to a solid at exactly 0°C. The expectation might be that the next panel will explain that it's rather more complicated than that, due to factors such as impurities and mixing of ice and liquid water, which mean that both solid and liquid water, or a mix of the two, can exist at temperatures above and below 0°C.

Instead, it illustrates a much more surprising effect — that of {{w|ice spike}}s. Normally, water freezes uniformly when still, and creates a relatively smooth, flat surface. However, very occasionally, all but a small portion of the surface freezes. Because water expands by ~9% as it freezes, and the water below the surface only has this hole to expand through, the liquid water seeps out through the hole as it expands, freezes at the edges, the remaining water seeps out of this extension to the hole and so on until there is no more water capable of seeping past the freezing. This creates shapes such as spikes, where the rate of seepage is marginally less than the ability to disperse over the advancing ice-'tunnel', or inverted pyramids, where the rate slightly exceeds the ability to be retained. Cross-sectionally, they tend to have six-fold symmetry, for the same reasons as snowflake nucleation does. (That ''both'' structures are observed emerging from the single freezing body of water would make the comic's example somewhat counterintuitive, but we are already dealing with an example where two separate seepage holes must have developed without either losing their ability to extend due to the other's possibly preferential release of water.)

When remarking about the ice spike in the right panel, Blondie says that the water is "trying to give us a present." This may come from the fact that ice spikes are generally diagonally extended, as dictacted by the initial dominant plane of ice-crystalisation, making them look as if they are reaching out towards someone or something. It may also reference the fact that many people would experience surprised delight at finding such an odd formation.

The title text mocks people who look at things that remain gaps in scientific knowledge like free will and consciousness and try to assign deeper meaning to them them through fuzzy ideas like quantum uncertainty ({{w|Roger Penroses}}'s theory of {{w|Orchestrated objective reduction}}) or infinite cosmologies when phenomena like ice spikes show that even in simple systems, emergent properties can cause unexpected results. This suggests that consciousness is also an emergent property of a simpler system, and not something that relies on some "magical" secret sauce like quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies.

Ice spikes were also referenced in the title text of [[3025: Phase Change]].

==Transcript==
:[Blondie is standing to the right of a table, with her right hand gesturing toward a bowl of ice sitting on a table. There is a header above the comic. There is a line underneath the header.]
:Header: Phase change in theory
:Blondie: As you can see, when water is cooled to below 0°C, it changes from a liquid to a solid.

:[Blondie is standing in the same position, but the bowl now contains ice which has uneven structures growing out of it. To the left of the bowl, the ice is growing a trapezoid longer at the top than the bottom, and on the right side, the bowl is growing a large diagonal spike, which has a wider lower half then the upper half, the tip of which hangs over the edge of the bowl. There is a line underneath the header.]
:Header: Phase change in practice
:Blondie: When water freezes, it sometimes sends out long weird spikes.
:Blondie: Physics tell us the water is "trying to give us a present."

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category: Physics]]

3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-20T18:00:06Z

92.17.62.87: /* Trivia */ Wanted to avoid an awkward "this <wiki>" then "this <comic>", then minor additional changes also made towards the rhetorical flow.

:''The correct title of this article is '''''3142: <City>-Style Pizza'''''. It appears incorrectly here due to {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)|technical restrictions}}.''
{{comic
| number = 3142
| date = September 15, 2025
| title = <City>-Style Pizza
| image = city_style_pizza_2x.png
| imagesize = 480x314px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Pizza}} is one of the most popular foods in the United States and a number of major cities have {{w|Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations|regional variations on pizza}}, which have come to be named after the city. {{w|New York–style pizza}} and {{w|Chicago-style pizza}} are two of the most well known. New York-style pizza is characterized by a thin, flexible crust topped with tomato sauce, followed by various toppings, then topped with mozzarella cheese. Chicago-style pizza has a much thicker, bread-like crust which is typically topped with melted cheese, with a mixture of sauce and toppings added on top.

This comic contains a chart that compares the tastiness of pizza styles with the size of the city in the name. They generally span a broad range, and the upper limit tends to be pretty consistent, suggesting that cities of all sizes can produce good pizza. The smallest cities are shown as having the least possibility for a good pizza named after them. (The apex is shown as being for mid-sized cities toward the smaller end of the spectrum, but no explanation is given for this — possibly [[Randall]] may have a particular favorite from a mid-sized city.)

The lower end of the range shows much more variation. The largest cities are shown as being incapable of having bad pizza as their speciality, with the worst examples still being okay. The smaller the cities are, the more potential there is for a bad pizza to qualify for the name. This may be due to the fact that large cities tend to have many restaurants. As a result, there is more chance of one of them producing a decent variant, and more competition for which one will become synonymous with the city. Smaller cities with fewer eating options might accept lower quality choices because they lack options.

At the lowest end of the range are very small cities with terrible regional pizza. The caption jokes that this is to due to "bored restaurant owners" deliberately making up bad pizza varieties as a "fun prank" on visitors. The implication is that some local pizza styles are so bad that they could only have been created as a joke, and even the people who created them don't think they're appealing.

New York-style pizza is indicated at the top of the city size axis (New York City being the largest city in the US), and near the top of the tastiness axis, but in the middle of the range of cities of its size. New York City is where pizza was first popularized in the US, having been brought by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. The style from New York has been highly influential over pizza throughout the country, and is generally acknowledged to be appealing to most people.

The title text gives a specific example of a terrible pizza from a small city, describing {{w|Altoona-style pizza}} as "true audacity". Created in the Altoona Hotel in {{w|Altoona, Pennsylvania}}, it has a thick square of bread-like Sicilian-style crust, covered with tomato sauce, bell peppers, and salami and a slice of American cheese. Not only does Randall implicitly find this to be highly unappetizing, but considers it audacious to even call it pizza. The structure of this dish is very odd for pizza (looking more like an open-faced sandwich), the toppings are eccentric, and the use of American cheese to top pizza is so strange as to border on culinary heresy. This is presumably the type of "pizza" that Randall believes could only be created as a joke.

==Transcript==
:[A graph.]
:[The x and y axes have no unit markings, and are labeled:]
::[X axis: City size]
::[Y axis: Tastiness of "<city>-style pizza"]

:[A shaded region is bounded by a lower bound and an upper bound. The upper bound has a slight peak corresponding to a smallish city, but is otherwise mostly flat. The lower bound appears on the X axis close to the left, evens out to being almost flat in the middle, and rises toward the right.]

:[An arrow points to the right end of the shaded area, with the label:]
::New York up here somewhere

:[A label is in the middle of the shaded region at a medium X value. Many arrows point outward from the text, which reads:]
::various controversial regional specialties

:[An arrow points to the region with a low x and y-value, where the line for the lower bound is missing. This region is labeled:]
::towns with bored restaurant owners who have come up with a fun prank to play on visitors

==Trivia==

A remarkable spike in Google searches for Altoona-style pizza was observed at the publication date of this comic, as can be observed on [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=%2Fg%2F11nmt6q5kp Google Trends].

The original comic's title invokes an encoding error in terms of HTML rendering, and it was copied to this wiki page. It reads "<City>-Style Pizza", which can be interpreted by web browsers and scrapers as containing an HTML tag for a "City" element for some unknown semantic/formatting effect. Being not {{w|Document type definition|defined}} or implemented, this 'tag' ends up being ignored and the remaining content is rendered as just "-Style Pizza". It is not the [[3015: D&D Combinatorics|first]] [[3028: D&D Roll|time]] that Randall has accidentally clashed with HTML-rendering issues. The "<" and ">" signs are not supported on [[explain xkcd|this wiki]] and other wikis due to {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)|a technical restriction on page titles}}, so the wiki's pagename for this comic's explanation doesn't precisely match the official title.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Food]]
[[Category: Charts]]

Talk:3144: Phase Changes

2025-09-20T17:32:48Z

92.17.62.87:

Heyyyyyyy, new comic! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 12:47, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

finally, a comic about crystallography [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1498:5878:AD2:E57:4DFB:1B7F|2607:FB91:1498:5878:AD2:E57:4DFB:1B7F]] 12:52, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Water: Who wants a hugggg??? {{unsigned ip|173.95.168.108|02:13, 20 September 2025}}

3134: Wavefunction Collapse

2025-09-19T23:39:05Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ ...tyop.

{{comic
| number = 3134
| date = August 27, 2025
| title = Wavefunction Collapse
| image = wavefunction_collapse_2x.png
| imagesize = 656x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Wavefunction collapse is only one interpretation. Under some interpretations, graduate students also have souls.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A SOUlFUl PARTICLE DETECTOR. Should the reference to unsolved problem be removed? Those comics are very different to this and the other two mentioned as it is three different things not three replies to one question. And cursed is not the same a wrong or chaotic!}}

This comic presents three possible responses to a common question posed by undergraduates upon confronting the {{w|Measurement problem|problem of measurement}} in quantum mechanics - does the apparently privileged role of subjective or conscious {{w|Observer (quantum physics)|observers}} in wavefunction collapse imply that human consciousness itself impacts physics? This question is sometimes phrased as: does the observation effect or quantum collapse prove humans have souls? These questions stem from a misunderstanding of what an "observer" in physics really is, a misunderstanding the comic depicts with a college student asking his professor about human consciousness.

The 'Bad' option shows Cueball telling his student that everybody has a soul, and their individual consciousness affects reality in some way. The 'good' option shows Cueball telling his student that consciousness doesn't play a role at all, and that it is 'just a physical measurement'. The 'chaotic' option shows Cueball apparently observing that the wave function collapses only when ''he'' looks at it, because he is special in some way (in this case, Cueball is a professor while Hairy is the undergraduate student).

That quantum states exist as probability density distributions, but are only ever observed in definite states, raises the question of how the quantum world transitions into the classical world. The (historically) most popular {{w|Copenhagen interpretation|interpretation}} posits that {{w|wave function collapse}} occurs upon the measurement of a quantum state, in which the multiple mathematically possible states resolve into a definite state, without explicitly defining precisely when this "collapse" occurs, or what defines "measurement;" in fact, when measuring, say, an electron in a superposition of two states, wavefunction collapse could occur at any stage from the electron interacting with the detector, to the detector recording the measurement, to the scientist observing the recording. A famous though experiment, {{w|Schrödinger's cat}}, takes this to the extreme: if a cat is placed a box with a decaying radioisotope that upon decay triggers a gas bomb that kills the cat, shouldn't this place the cat-bomb-isotope-box system into a mixed state that only undergoes wavefunction collapse upon opening and observing whether the cat is alive or dead? The Copenhagen interpretation is agnostic to this question, only confirming that the cat will have resolved into its alive or dead state at or before observation. The {{w|Consciousness causes collapse}} postulate endorsed by the "bad" panel -- unfashionable now, but taken seriously historically -- posits that the conscious observation is indeed what triggers wave-function collapse. The 'good' panel, rather flippantly, seems to endorse a more modern {{w|Quantum decoherence|decoherence}}-based interpretation - that every interaction inside the cat-box system is a "measurement" that destroys the superposition well before the human observer enters the picture. Finally, the `chaotic` option is far more radical and sollipsistic than the `bad` - it's not merely conscious observation that causes collapse, but PhD-holding and tenured consciousness.

Good, bad, and chaotic may be taken as references to the {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment system}} in the role-playing game {{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}. In D&D, roles are characterized by their morality (good/neutral/evil) and their views about order (lawful/neutral/chaotic). However, this allows a single alignment to be both chaotic ''and'' either good or 'bad'/evil, so is perhaps just more a matter of two extremes followed up by {{tvtropes|TakeAThirdOption|something completely different}}, to set up a {{tvtropes|RuleOfThree|common variety}} of joke format.

The title text continues the chaotic option. Graduate students are intermediate between undergraduate and professors. It is unclear whether graduate students can cause waveform collapse, and therefore have souls.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy is sitting behind a desk with one a hand on the desktop and the other in his lap. He is looking up at Cueball, who is standing in front of the desk. Hairy is asking a question:]
:Hairy: If the wavefunction only collapses when I observe it, does that mean my consciousness affects the universe?

:[Three panels follows showing three possible responses from Cueball. Each panel has a label above, written inside a small rectangle that is overlaid on the top left of each panel. Each panel shows the same zoom in on the top half of Cueball.]

:[Panel 1]
:Bad:
:Cueball: Yes. Quantum entanglement proves that we all have souls.

:[Panel 2]
:Good:
:Cueball: No. Consciousness plays no role here. Its just physical measurement.

:[Panel 3]
:Chaotic:
:Cueball: No. The wave function collapses when '''''I''''' look at it because I'm a full professor.
:Cueball: It won't collapse for an undergraduate.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Religion]]

3134: Wavefunction Collapse

2025-09-19T23:38:07Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ It really does not match D&D alignment-succession. But it does match the rule-of-three joke format ending with an unexpectedly divergent punchline.

{{comic
| number = 3134
| date = August 27, 2025
| title = Wavefunction Collapse
| image = wavefunction_collapse_2x.png
| imagesize = 656x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Wavefunction collapse is only one interpretation. Under some interpretations, graduate students also have souls.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A SOUlFUl PARTICLE DETECTOR. Should the reference to unsolved problem be removed? Those comics are very different to this and the other two mentioned as it is three different things not three replies to one question. And cursed is not the same a wrong or chaotic!}}

This comic presents three possible responses to a common question posed by undergraduates upon confronting the {{w|Measurement problem|problem of measurement}} in quantum mechanics - does the apparently privileged role of subjective or conscious {{w|Observer (quantum physics)|observers}} in wavefunction collapse imply that human consciousness itself impacts physics? This question is sometimes phrased as: does the observation effect or quantum collapse prove humans have souls? These questions stem from a misunderstanding of what an "observer" in physics really is, a misunderstanding the comic depicts with a college student asking his professor about human consciousness.

The 'Bad' option shows Cueball telling his student that everybody has a soul, and their individual consciousness affects reality in some way. The 'good' option shows Cueball telling his student that consciousness doesn't play a role at all, and that it is 'just a physical measurement'. The 'chaotic' option shows Cueball apparently observing that the wave function collapses only when ''he'' looks at it, because he is special in some way (in this case, Cueball is a professor while Hairy is the undergraduate student).

That quantum states exist as probability density distributions, but are only ever observed in definite states, raises the question of how the quantum world transitions into the classical world. The (historically) most popular {{w|Copenhagen interpretation|interpretation}} posits that {{w|wave function collapse}} occurs upon the measurement of a quantum state, in which the multiple mathematically possible states resolve into a definite state, without explicitly defining precisely when this "collapse" occurs, or what defines "measurement;" in fact, when measuring, say, an electron in a superposition of two states, wavefunction collapse could occur at any stage from the electron interacting with the detector, to the detector recording the measurement, to the scientist observing the recording. A famous though experiment, {{w|Schrödinger's cat}}, takes this to the extreme: if a cat is placed a box with a decaying radioisotope that upon decay triggers a gas bomb that kills the cat, shouldn't this place the cat-bomb-isotope-box system into a mixed state that only undergoes wavefunction collapse upon opening and observing whether the cat is alive or dead? The Copenhagen interpretation is agnostic to this question, only confirming that the cat will have resolved into its alive or dead state at or before observation. The {{w|Consciousness causes collapse}} postulate endorsed by the "bad" panel -- unfashionable now, but taken seriously historically -- posits that the conscious observation is indeed what triggers wave-function collapse. The 'good' panel, rather flippantly, seems to endorse a more modern {{w|Quantum decoherence|decoherence}}-based interpretation - that every interaction inside the cat-box system is a "measurement" that destroys the superposition well before the human observer enters the picture. Finally, the `chaotic` option is far more radical and sollipsistic than the `bad` - it's not merely conscious observation that causes collapse, but PhD-holding and tenured consciousness.

Good, bad, and chaotic may be taken as references to the {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment system}} in the role-playing game {{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}. In D&D, roles are characterized by their morality (good/neutral/evil) and their views about order (lawful/neutral/chaotic). However, this allows a single alignment to be both chaotic ''and'' either good or 'bad'/evil, so is perhaps just more a matter of two extremes followed up by {{tvtropes|TakeAThirdOption|something completely different}}, to set up a {{tvtrope|RuleOfThree|common variety}} of joke format.

The title text continues the chaotic option. Graduate students are intermediate between undergraduate and professors. It is unclear whether graduate students can cause waveform collapse, and therefore have souls.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy is sitting behind a desk with one a hand on the desktop and the other in his lap. He is looking up at Cueball, who is standing in front of the desk. Hairy is asking a question:]
:Hairy: If the wavefunction only collapses when I observe it, does that mean my consciousness affects the universe?

:[Three panels follows showing three possible responses from Cueball. Each panel has a label above, written inside a small rectangle that is overlaid on the top left of each panel. Each panel shows the same zoom in on the top half of Cueball.]

:[Panel 1]
:Bad:
:Cueball: Yes. Quantum entanglement proves that we all have souls.

:[Panel 2]
:Good:
:Cueball: No. Consciousness plays no role here. Its just physical measurement.

:[Panel 3]
:Chaotic:
:Cueball: No. The wave function collapses when '''''I''''' look at it because I'm a full professor.
:Cueball: It won't collapse for an undergraduate.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Religion]]

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-19T23:27:03Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Or possibly to be deliberately provocative, but (though it ended up being) I think we can discard that motive here in favour of being an ill-judged appeal to support.

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT TIRONIAN ET ⹒ MULTIPLE HUMANS PERIOD. Don apostrophe 't remove this notice too soon period.}}

In colloquial English, the phrase "{{wiktionary|question_mark#Particle|question mark}}" is sometimes added to the end of a statement to give an exaggerated or emphasized impression of its uncertainty, as if the question mark in a written representation of the utterance should be spoken aloud instead of remaining implicit in the {{w|Intonation (linguistics)#English|rising intonation}}. This may be to reinforce true questions in dialects that exhibit a {{w|high rising terminal}} even for normal statements, to signal that a sentence is meant to be interrogative despite not following the typical structure of a question, or even just for effect. Here, the phrase “[it is] maybe even the greatest movie of all time” is structured like a standard declaration of fact, and so verbalizing the question mark helps clarify that the statement is made in order to request a (hoped for) confirmation, or at least acquiescence.

This appears to be a relatively new phenomenon, at least in terms of gaining meaningful adoption, and such linguistic novelties can often cause irritation or discomfort among those outside of their usage groups. When [[Hairy]] does this, [[Cueball]] feels compelled to respond by doing the same with other punctuation marks, and even other matters of formatting, such as typographical emphasis and whitespace. Whether he does this to try to fit in, or as a form of 'revenge' for a perceived linguistic abuse is unclear.

Generally, speaking punctuation and formatting out loud is considered strange, though there are some examples that are accepted, and it is possible that the same will become true of "question mark" over time. Sometimes the word "period" is spoken at the end of a sentence, before a period, to declare that there can be no dispute about what is being stated. An example might be: "That's the end of the matter, we're leaving Friday, period." Similarly, a feeling of incompleteness or foreboding is sometimes evoked by speaking the phrase "dot dot dot" at the end of a sentence, reflecting the use of an ellipsis to indicate an unwritten continuation...

Cueball mentions the film ''{{w|Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle}},'' illustrating the common use of italics to indicate titles of films (as well as other works, e.g. books, albums and series, depending on the stylebook used) and colons to separate subtitles from titles. From the context, Hairy and Cueball had differently polarised opinions about the merits of this film.

The title text reads: "Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot..." Randall uses, and {{tvtropes|ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud|vocalises}}, three different whitespace characters in this statement. Specifically, the three-per-em space (U+2004), the medium mathematical space (U+205F) and the hair space (U+200A). Normally they'd be used for typesetting mathematical formulae and in {{w|microtypography}}, without any expected audible distinction or meaning beyond text-placement and alignment in printed media.

Translated, it looks like:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Characters in title text
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my   speech..."
|-
! Ordinary whitespace
| "Although now people will realize that all this time I’ve been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."
|}

Pronouncing punctuation used to be a staple of {{w|Dictation (exercise)|dictation}}, especially in the 20th century, when secretaries taking dictation to type letters were more commonplace. The expression "…, {{wiktionary|period#Interjection|period}}" or "…, {{wiktionary|full stop#Interjection|full stop}}", taken to mean "…and that's final", originates from this usage.{{acn}} Since Cueball is pronouncing all other punctuation marks as well, his final "period" denotes only the mark and not the common expression, especially since the latter would usually require mention of the comma before and then an ''additional'' spoken "period" after.

The Kooblen, in Phil Foglio's Buck Godot setting, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428205448/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070125 speak in this way] to express punctuation.

See (and hear) also Victor Borge's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIf3IfHCoiE "Phonetic Punctuation"] sketch in its various forms.

==Transcript==

:[Hairy and Cueball are both walking to the right.]
:Hairy: That movie was so good. Maybe even the greatest movie of all time question mark?
:Cueball: Yeah comma, but you said that about italics ''Charlie's Angels Colon: Full Throttle'' period. Paragraph break.
:Cueball: I question your judgment period.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:When people say "question mark" out loud as a rhetorical device, it always makes me want to say my other punctuation and formatting too.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Movies]]

Template:TemplateTutorial

2025-09-19T23:14:15Z

92.17.62.87: Though it was previously changed away from this text, this is how it appears. And now looks even more correct. It's not a monospace code/markup-example, but an example of the appearance it will take in the (default) page layout. Other problems left in.

<noinclude><nowiki>Hello, and welcome to the wiki! Creating a template is simple.</nowiki>

Step one: Type <code><nowiki>{{YourTemplateName}}</nowiki></code> (but substituting your own name) on whatever page you want your template on.

Step Two: You should see a red line that looks something like <nowiki>Template:YourTemplateName</nowiki> that is (unlike here) a link. Click it.

Step Three: Add the content of your template by typing it in wikitext. If you want to use a specific image, make sure to upload it first before linking to it in the template.

Step Four: Add content to the page that should not be included in the template. This can be done with the noinclude and /noinclude commands.

Step Five: Now that you've added the content of your template, it's time to use it! Use it in a page by typing <code><nowiki>{{YourTemplateName}}</nowiki></code> on whatever page you want to use it on. Make sure to not use it on comic pages or comic discussion pages.

Alright! I hope this helped you get started. Now get out there, make your templates, and don't be afraid to ask people for help. This tutorial is merely meant to be a stepping stone, made for basic understanding. Make sure you understand proper template etiquette before using your template on any page other than your own user page or talk page. </noinclude>

[[Template:TemplateTutorial]]

3144: Phase Changes

2025-09-19T22:52:10Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ ...yeah, slightly better with that word there.

{{comic
| number = 3144
| date = September 19, 2025
| title = Phase Changes
| image = phase_changes_2x.png
| imagesize = 409x341px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People looking for the gaps in our understanding where the meaning of consciousness or free will might hide often turn to quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies, as if we don't have breathtakingly complex emergent phenomena right there in our freezers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a Minecraft Ice Spikes Biome. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic illustrates the difference between the simplified idealised version of science that is often taught in the classroom, and the much weirder, more unexpected and complicated phenomena that can happen in reality.

In the first panel, [[Blondie]] is teaching the 'vanilla' version of the freezing of water, which is that it changes from a liquid to a solid at exactly 0°C. The expectation might be that the next panel will explain that it's rather more complicated than that, due to factors such as impurities and mixing of ice and liquid water, which mean that both solid and liquid water, or a mix of the two, can exist at temperatures above and below 0°C.

Instead, it illustrates a much more surprising effect — that of {{w|ice spike}}s. Normally, water freezes uniformly when still, and creates a relatively smooth, flat surface. However, very occasionally, all but a small portion of the surface freezes. Because water expands by ~9% as it freezes, and the water below the surface only has this hole to expand through, the liquid water seeps out through the hole as it expands, freezes at the edges, the remaining water seeps out of this extension to the hole and so on until there is no more water capable of seeping past the freezing. This creates shapes such as spikes, where the rate of seepage is marginally less than the ability to disperse over the advancing ice-'tunnel', or inverted pyramids, where the rate slightly exceeds the ability to be retained. Cross-sectionally, they tend to have six-fold symmetry, for the same reasons as snowflake nucleation does. (That ''both'' structures are observed emerging from the single freezing body of water would make the comic's example somewhat counterintuitive, but we are already dealing with an example where two separate seepage holes must have developed without either losing their ability to extend due to the other's possibly preferential release of water.)

When remarking about the ice spike in the right panel, Blondie says that the water is "trying to give us a present." This may come from the fact that ice spikes are generally diagonally extended, as dictacted by the initial dominant plane of ice-crystalisation, making them look as if they are reaching out towards someone or something. It may also reference the fact that many people would experience surprised delight at finding such an odd formation.

The title text mocks people who turn to vague invocations of quantum mechanics to 'explain' the origins and definitions of free will and consciousness, implying that Blondie's dubious claims about the water having intention demonstrate that consciousness can be produced by the mere act of freezing water.

Ice spikes were also referenced in the title text of [[3025: Phase Change]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Blondie is standing to the right of a table, with her right hand gesturing toward a bowl of ice sitting on a table. There is a header above the comic.]
:Header: Phase change in theory
:Blondie: As you can see, when water is cooled to below 0°C, it changes from a liquid to a solid.

:[Blondie is standing in the same position, but the bowl now contains ice which has uneven structures growing out of it. To the left of the bowl, the ice is growing a trapezoid longer at the top than the bottom, and on the right side, the bowl is growing a large diagonal spike, which has a wider lower half then the upper half, the tip of which hangs over the edge of the bowl.]
:Header: Phase change in practice
:Blondie: When water freezes, it sometimes sends out long weird spikes.
:Blondie: Physics tell us the water is "trying to give us a present."

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category: Physics]]

3144: Phase Changes

2025-09-19T22:50:37Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ A little more extensive description of the mechanisms. (At least as currently generally considered correct.)

{{comic
| number = 3144
| date = September 19, 2025
| title = Phase Changes
| image = phase_changes_2x.png
| imagesize = 409x341px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People looking for the gaps in our understanding where the meaning of consciousness or free will might hide often turn to quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies, as if we don't have breathtakingly complex emergent phenomena right there in our freezers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created in a Minecraft Ice Spikes Biome. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic illustrates the difference between the simplified idealised version of science that is often taught in the classroom, and the much weirder, more unexpected and complicated phenomena that can happen in reality.

In the first panel, [[Blondie]] is teaching the 'vanilla' version of the freezing of water, which is that it changes from a liquid to a solid at exactly 0°C. The expectation might be that the next panel will explain that it's rather more complicated than that, due to factors such as impurities and mixing of ice and liquid water, which mean that both solid and liquid water, or a mix of the two, can exist at temperatures above and below 0°C.

Instead, it illustrates a much more surprising effect — that of {{w|ice spike}}s. Normally, water freezes uniformly when still, and creates a relatively smooth, flat surface. However, very occasionally, all but a small portion of the surface freezes. Because water expands by ~9% as it freezes, and the water below the surface only has this hole to expand through, the liquid water seeps out through the hole as it expands, freezes at the edges, the remaining water seeps out of this extension to the hole and so on until there is no more water capable of seeping past the freezing. This creates shapes such as spikes, where the rate of seepage is marginally less than the ability to disperse over the advancing ice-'tunnel', or inverted pyramids, where the rate slightly exceeds the ability to be retained. Cross-sectionally, they tend to have six-fold symmetry, for the same reasons as snowflake nucleation does. (That ''both'' structures are observed emerging from the single freezing body of water would make the comic's example somewhat counterintuitive, but we are already dealing with an example where two separate seepage holes must have developed without either losing their ability to extend to the other's release of water.)

When remarking about the ice spike in the right panel, Blondie says that the water is "trying to give us a present." This may come from the fact that ice spikes are generally diagonally extended, as dictacted by the initial dominant plane of ice-crystalisation, making them look as if they are reaching out towards someone or something. It may also reference the fact that many people would experience surprised delight at finding such an odd formation.

The title text mocks people who turn to vague invocations of quantum mechanics to 'explain' the origins and definitions of free will and consciousness, implying that Blondie's dubious claims about the water having intention demonstrate that consciousness can be produced by the mere act of freezing water.

Ice spikes were also referenced in the title text of [[3025: Phase Change]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Blondie is standing to the right of a table, with her right hand gesturing toward a bowl of ice sitting on a table. There is a header above the comic.]
:Header: Phase change in theory
:Blondie: As you can see, when water is cooled to below 0°C, it changes from a liquid to a solid.

:[Blondie is standing in the same position, but the bowl now contains ice which has uneven structures growing out of it. To the left of the bowl, the ice is growing a trapezoid longer at the top than the bottom, and on the right side, the bowl is growing a large diagonal spike, which has a wider lower half then the upper half, the tip of which hangs over the edge of the bowl.]
:Header: Phase change in practice
:Blondie: When water freezes, it sometimes sends out long weird spikes.
:Blondie: Physics tell us the water is "trying to give us a present."

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category: Physics]]

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-19T22:06:24Z

92.17.62.87:

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
Wildly accurate description《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:40, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: ">sandwich" not a dealbreaker ">too much cheese" well that can be balanced if ">american cheese" ruined [[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.43|158.91.163.43]] 19:59, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Isn't that similar to French bread pizza? It's just one half of a French bread bun with sauce, cheeze, and toppings on the top. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:40, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

: Yes. It is truly amazing how many people eat pizza, but when making pizza themselves they put the cheese on top. My mom did this and i did this until my girlfriend (now wife) asked me "how many pizzas have you ever eaten at an italian restaurant where the cheese was on top and you could not see the toppings?" A question that left me baffled. And convinced me. But I remember vividly the night where us and a bunch of friends met to make pizza, and my wife and me got into heated arguments with our friends about where to put the cheese, until everybody did it their own way (of course, our pizza was better). --[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E|2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E]] 19:27, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: If I feel the need to ''add'' extra cheese to a pizza (c.f. the other day, some Blue Shropshire...yum!), I never put it on prior to cooking. Either entirely after or ''just'' before I've finished heating/reheating it. 'Base cheese' (the good stuff) and lesser 'cheese toppings' (usually less so) can get melted into oblivion and still do their job, but adding a little thinly slice Stilton (or even some generousy gloops of extra-creamy, and crawling-off-the-plate, Somerset Brie, which doesn't even ''need'' heating to be semiliquid) is best done after the fact. And still-chilled cheese atop hot pizza conveys its own particular culinary delights, just as with my prefered "bacon-and-brie" part-toasted smörgåsbord. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.186|82.132.246.186]] 15:36, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
::: Oh, definitely. Like there is a ''huge'' difference between a toasted cheese sandwich (make a sandwich, toast it, the aim being to have slightly melted cheese (and various other constituents as might be chosen) between toasted bread) and cheese on toast (do ''not'' grill your bread-and-cheese, unless you either do not value the roof of your mouth vs. the molten cheese or are content to let it cool down enough to no longer be tastily warm throughout). [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:06, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Not even with <nowiki><</nowiki>nowiki<nowiki>></nowiki> tags? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 09:52, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: Not like anything that I would call a 'bun'. I would give you 'halfway between a pancake and a frittata'. 'Pudding' doesn't just mean dessert - it can refer to a thing more like a sausage that is boiled/steamed (black pudding, white pudding, etc.) which is the older meaning of the word. Even then, though, Yorkshire pudding is nothing like that either. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:28, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:::: https://bubbablueandme.com/delicious-filling-ideas-sweet-yorkshire-pudding-recipes/
:::: ...just the first of many links found when looking for YPs being used as the base for a sweet dish. (Though I'm more of a traditionalist than that, myself.)
:::: And perhaps wander south a bit, into Derbyshire, and have a discussion about Bakewell and its famous pudding/tart/pie/flan thing(s)! ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.186|82.132.246.186]] 15:36, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I agree that [[3142:(City)-Style Pizza]] would be appropriate. I don't have an exact analogy from Wikipedia, which also can't include < or > symbols in an article title, but they would use a similar substitution in a similar situation. See {{w|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)#Forbidden characters}}. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 15:52, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:I was tempted to go ahead and do this move, but I'm not sure what might break. Will previous and next navigation break, or the link in the "All comics" page? Or would those recover after a short time, like an hour? I guess one way to find out is to just do it... [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 21:40, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
::The previous/next links point at [[3142]], which currently redirect to [[3142: -Style Pizza]] (as does the jump-off of [[-Style Pizza]]).
::Changing "3142: -Style Pizza" to something else would of course need the changing of the redirect from the number-only (and title-only) page. Anything that just used the number would get here if you do that. Anything going to the full "number: title"-style pagename (e.g. the two "&D" pages, that someone linked here) would need editing. As would anything (though I don't know of any, off-hand) that link via the title-only intermediary, because you'd want to change/move that to being the 'correct'-title-only as well, as well as update where it redirects.
::Alternately, make sure the correctly titled page has the contents and (replacement) wrongly-titled page redirects to the correct one, but that's a messy half-arsed solution that's not ideal. Or necessary as a backstop time-saving answer to all the thousands of 'links inward' it ''doesn't have''. So don't do that.
::Oh, and remember to move this Talk: page, too! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.204|82.132.246.204]] 23:02, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No, several regions in Italy also have pizza styles named after them (e.g. Naples, Sicily & Rome) --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:07, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Some examples of the more popular 'City'-Style pizza types I know of in the US:
::;New York Style : Huge, round, thin, floppy crust cut into a small number of huge slices. Pretty much have to fold the pieces lengthwise in order to get enough rigidity to eat them.
::;Chicago Style : Aka 'deep dish'. Thick, round crust. Almost like an actual pie, but open top.
::;Detroit Style : Rectangular rather than round, cut into squares. Medium Crust.
::;St. Louis style : Round, thin, firm-to-crisp crust. Cut into squares... Ish(it's round!) Toppings go nearly to the edge, and the outer crust is approximately the same thickness as it is under the toppings.
::-Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F|2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F]] 19:44, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Feel the need to add here an Australian translation/interpretation, having been to two of those cities so far. New York Style Pizza is a huge wheel of pita bread with grease spots on it they call "cheese" and circles of cardboard they call "sausage", everything flat as a tack and tasteless as well as floppy. Chicago Style Pizza, on the other hand, is tomato soup in a bread crust, and quite tasty. And all the American pizzas rarely have more than two toppings, which is a bit weird, but it's what they do... Sort of like their hamburgers, I guess. [[Special:Contributions/124.150.67.115|124.150.67.115]] 05:16, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Currently the explanation describes the "<City>" glitch as an encoding error, and that doesn't strike me as quite correct. The problem is that it's not supposed to be "encoded" at all, but because it appears to be an HTML tag, it's being ''treated'' as encoded. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:30, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:Changed it to "invokes" the error, unless you can think of a better word. Also added a few extra bits. And ''also'' also moved it over into Trivia, for not being an explanation to the comic; only the way the comic page may have been inadvertently presented to us. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.247.226|82.132.247.226]] 16:44, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Please don't take it badly, but you should start calling it something else. Because it's not, well, _pizza_. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC2E:B600:ECF3:65DF:9AC4:63E6|2001:16B8:CC2E:B600:ECF3:65DF:9AC4:63E6]] 20:30, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E|2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E]] 00:21, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

No mention of New Haven Pizza? Sacrilege.
[[Special:Contributions/2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E|2604:2D80:DA83:DE00:5547:BA7B:AF4A:454E]] 00:21, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-15T23:12:44Z

92.17.62.87:

Talk:3140: Biology Department

2025-09-15T20:28:15Z

92.17.62.87: So is a signature.

I agree that the biology dept is probably talking about arthropods, not pathogens, BUT it could conceivably be referencing BOTH. Any microbiologists around here who want to weigh in with horror stories of some of the "bugs" they know about or work with? I also think that we might want to divvy this article up into an explanation first, THEN a list of fun examples. (I recently learned about honeypot ants and added it as an example... it would be creepy stuff if we took their defining behavioral characteristic and applied it to humans. Seems like it would be well at home in a horror movie.) [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 16:45, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Sign Maintenance Dept: It has been [ ] days since someone forgot where the 0 panel is kept. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:33, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Actually, assuming that people are constantly walking past the Biology Department sign and noticing the error, the Linguistics Department sign would need to be reset constantly. It’s been 15 seconds since someone... no, wait, it’s been 1 second since... [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B]] 20:22, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:This will be a joke, probably related to [[363: Reset]].[[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 20:55, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::My point was that the ‘explanation’ is currently backward from what the sign would need to say. If the second sign was tracking how long it had been since someone ''first'' noticed the error in the other sign, it would never reset, and if it was tracking how long it had been since the ''most recent'' noticing of the error, it would have to constantly reset as people walked by the first sign. Either way, the ‘explanation’ is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1]] 02:14, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
:::First time in ''each distinct period that it is wrong''??? Or the last. Once the Biology sign grammatically agrees (indicating >1 day(s) of this situation), everything happily stays as it is (or, in the case of the Linguistics sign, increments daily; whilstsoever it is "day(s)" being measured). But the next time it displays a new 1 (with or without first there being a period of "0 days", happily in existence), there is a new zero-point of the Linguistical situation at the first/last observation of the Biology "one days". [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:25, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

The first panel might be [one day] and and be wide enough to cover up the word ''days'' underneath. [[Special:Contributions/46.162.122.132|46.162.122.132]] 21:26, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Does the sign really imply that unusual bugs are discovered frequently? Signs like these are usually used in workplaces to encourage safety, since frequent resets to 0 should be shameful (think of the opening sequence of The Simpsons, where an accident happens to the guys updating the sign). The idea is that you hope to get to large numbers to show how safe the place is. It's like the sobriety chips given out in Alcoholics Anonymous. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
: It's not the sign itself that implies it - it's that it's currently only showing '3'. That reflects the common trope of a bad workplace showing a very low number on their workplace accident sign. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:36, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Welcome to the History Department. It has been 5 hours since we last saw evidence for the dictum that those who do not study history are fated to repeat it, and for rejection of Hegel's argument that humans cannot learn from history. Search "Horst Wessel" and be very afraid. It may already be too late. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 23:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm pretty certain that the trigger for this comic was specifically the _Messor ibericus_ example already listed in the explanation. This is a very surprising discovery and has been a major topic over conversation over the last few (~3) days in scientific social media and news (404media, Fediverse, etc.). Cloning males as disposable sexual slaves is just the kind of shocking discovery the comic describes. {{unsigned|Dhobern|00:59, 11 September 2025}}

Strepsiptera are worth a mention {{unsigned ip|216.66.31.77|19:44, 15 September 2025}}

Welcome to the explain xkcd center, where there has been 0 days without a multi-day long outage. 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 14:47, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

3096: Check Engine

2025-09-15T20:20:56Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Nowhere other than Earth has a solar body called "the Sun" (in Earth-English!), so does not require the proper-name version. (Also, likely a feature of other solar bodies, though we can't see them.) As identified, later given proper name

{{comic
| number = 3096
| date = May 30, 2025
| title = Check Engine
| image = check_engine_2x.png
| imagesize = 331x383px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They say it's probably safe to keep orbiting for a while, but if it stays on or starts flashing we might have to call someone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Sunspot}}s are temporary, relatively small, darker and colder regions on the surface of Earth's sun, and almost certainly other stars. The number of sunspots that can be observed varies over an approximately 11-year cycle. The current cycle is {{w|Solar_cycle_25|the 25th since reckoning began in 1755}}. Solar Cycle 25, which began in December 2019 and is expected to peak around mid-2025, has been more active than anticipated, raising some concerns about the impacts of recent solar flares and associated space weather events.

The joke in this comic is that the sunspot array shown has taken the form of a {{w|Check engine light|"Check engine" light}}, found on the instrument panel of most automobiles. The illumination of this light means that the automobile's onboard computer has detected an engine malfunction, which should be checked out by an experienced mechanic. For such a signal to appear among the nuclear fires and plasma of the Sun would most certainly be of concern to astronomers.

Many drivers will barely notice a Check Engine light, and may hope that they ''never'' have cause to see it appear except maybe briefly during the turning of the ignition key as one of the bulb-checks. If it lights persistently before or during driving, it could mean a costly problem, or at least the inconvenience of paying someone to investigate the problem. Frequently, such investigations reveal no identifiable issue with the engine itself, resulting rather from some kind of sensor fault. In this case, the advice may be that it's probably OK to keep driving unless the behaviour of the light changes, and fixing the sensor issue may cause more expense than the small risk of a genuine engine issue arising would warrant.

As we don't appear to be cycling the Sun's ignition process (i.e., it hasn't recently stalled, which would be a worry in itself) the showing of the light/dark-patch would probably be very concerning, and hopefully someone at least has the owner's manual in order to run through any initial troubleshooting, before perhaps a more extensive check is made at the local solar-repair shop to clear the error. Given the rotating nature of the star and Earth's orbit, one might also wonder how long this, or any other warnings, might be shown before becoming visible to {{w|Solar viewer|suitably equipped}} viewers of the Sun.

The title text says that "they" (presumably the astronomers) advise that it's probably safe for Earth to continue to orbit the Sun unless and until there is a change in the nature of the "check engine light" sunspot array. Such a change, on an instrument panel, signals that the matter needs immediate attention, lest something dramatic and expensive occur, such as an [https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l8j0ip/eli5_what_is_a_seized_engine/ engine seizure], which can be spectacular and is irreparable. The solar equivalent of an engine seizure would be a {{w|Nova|nova}}, which would definitely be of concern to astronomers (and [[1895 | everyone else]]), and for which the prospect of "calling [[673: The Sun | someone]]" that can do anything useful (a cosmic tow truck to pull Earth to a safe distance?) seems remote.

==Transcript==
:[In a black panel a large orange Sun-type sun is shown, depicted as it might look when viewed through solar eclipse glasses. A pattern in the form of a "check engine" light (as displayed on a car's instrument panel) is shown on the surface of the Sun, in the bottom right quarter. The pattern has a pictogram of a motor on the top with text below it, both in orange inside a black square, matching the orange shading of the rest of the Sun.]
:Check Engine

:[Caption below the panel:]
:This new sunspot cluster has raised concern among astronomers

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

2813: What To Do

2025-09-15T20:12:01Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386623 by Anonymous1279358478 (talk) A useless space. The first of several that "Anon...8478" added.

{{comic
| number = 2813
| date = August 9, 2023
| title = What To Do
| image = what_to_do_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x723px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = FYI: The 'drop, cover, and hold on' advice only applies to earthquakes. If you encounter a mountain lion, you should absolutely not drop to the ground, crawl under it, and hold on to one of its legs.
}}

==Explanation==

Similar to [[1890: What to Bring]], this comic takes four unrelated dangerous situations (mountain lion sighting, nearby lightning, fire alarm, and bleeding), and tries to mix-and-match the solutions. Predictably, mixing up good advice leads to fairly nonsensical behavior, so only the original four matches are marked green as acceptable. This comic is also similar, to a lesser extent, to [[Appliances]].

The title-text introduces another disaster, an earthquake, into the mix-and-match. A common safety precaution during an earthquake is to [https://www.shakeout.org/dropcoverholdon/ drop, cover, and hold on], which helps prevent you from being thrown about and/or hit by debris. However, attempting to "drop, cover, and hold on" in response to a mountain lion sighting is more likely to get you into danger than out of it.

;Advice

{| class="wikitable" | style="background:#E6C3C3;"
! (problem) vs (solution)
! scope="col"| Stand Up Straight, Speak Firmly, and Slowly Back Away
! scope="col"| Run Toward a Building or Hard-Topped Vehicle
! scope="col"| Calmly Exit the Building
! scope="col"| Apply Firm Pressure
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|mountain lion}}
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"| This is a common recommendation when encountering a mountain lion (puma, cougar, etc) out in nature. One should continue to face the mountain lion because mountain lions like clawing victims in the back of the neck and because facing away means that you can't try to kick the mountain lion in the face if they charge at you.
| Running away may cause the animal to chase you, and they may consider you as prey. If you safely make it into a building or vehicle, you may be able to hide or drive away from the animal and may be safer than being outdoors with them; however, it is safer to approach said building or vehicle ''slowly'', so as to not provoke the animal.
| Exiting a building and approaching the animal is not a good idea. If the animal is inside the building, however, it is recommended to combine this advice with (1).
| Applying "firm pressure" to the (wild) animal is a terrible idea and may result in injury or death, mainly because one has to be close to them in order to touch the,. Applying light pressure to a domesticated cat may make them less likely to attack, but wild cats do not respond positively to it.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|lightning}}
| Yelling at lightning is [https://shakespeare.mit.edu/lear/lear.3.2.html ineffective]. Also, making yourself stand more erect to maximize your apparent height and backing away slowly from a lightning strike will make you more of a target as you will then become more prominent above the surrounding terrain.
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"| This is the recommended solution when encountering lightning - to go indoors or inside of a hard-topped vehicle to avoid being struck. Either of these options will function as a rudimentary Faraday cage if lightning does strike your location, taking the brunt of the lightning and directing the charge away from the vulnerable humans inside. (Contrary to popular belief, a car's rubber tires offer no protection from lightning, compared to the body of the car itself)
| Exiting a building is a poor idea, as the risk of getting struck by lightning is increased, as are the chances of being caught in any associated rainstorm or fulminogenic fire.
| There is no safe way to "apply firm pressure" to lightning. In the diagram, Cueball applies pressure to the tree, which is just about the worst possible thing to do in a storm, as when lightning strikes the tree the electric charge will pass through Cueball, not to mention the associated risk of the tree exploding or a limb detaching and falling on him.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|fire alarm}}
| Yelling at a fire alarm is ineffective. {{citation needed}}
| When a fire alarm is sounding, it is terrible advice to run ''towards'' the sound of the alarm, unless you are a trained fire fighter with suitable tools. If, however, you happen to be the cause of the fire, running towards a vehicle is completely understandable.
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"| This is the recommended advice when hearing a fire alarm - to calmly exit the building, and move to a safe location.
| Applying firm pressure to a fire alarm will not result in stopping the alarm, unless you are able to damage the device, suppress the sound (either by covering the noisemaker or by pressing the alarm's button to temporarily silence it), or block the fire alarm sensors. Regardless, this will not stop the actual fire. Also, there is no safe way to "apply firm pressure" to fire, unless applying firm pressure is interpreted as using a fire blanket.
|-
! scope="row"| {{w|bleeding}}
| Yelling at a bleeding wound is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmInkxbvlCs ineffective]. Yelling at a bleeding person may make them feel worse.
| Running toward a building or vehicle is not a typical solution if someone is bleeding, and the increase in heart rate from running may make the injury bleed more quickly. However, there could be medical supplies and/or medically trained people (nurses, doctors, paramedics, etc.) inside the building or vehicle, so this idea is not completely incorrect.
| Exiting a building is not helpful if someone is bleeding, if either the exiting one is the injured one, or the non-injured one. Although, if someone/something in the building (such as a mountain lion) is the cause of the bleeding, this could be a good idea so that the bleeding or injury does not get worse.
| style="background:#C5E6C3;"| This is the recommended solution to stop bleeding - apply firm pressure to staunch the bleeding, using some kind of absorbent material (cloth bandages are the gold standard, but any clean fabric (such as clothing, towels, sheets etc.) will suffice), or, '''if you are trained in first-aid''' and the bleeding is particularly heavy, applying a tourniquet around the limb above the wound.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic is laid out like a grid, with situations down the left-hand side (mountain lion / lightning / fire alarm / bleeding) and the solutions across the top (stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away / run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle / calmly exit the building / apply firm pressure ). The grid illustrates the "match-ups", with a green square denoting a "correct" match-up and a red square denoting a bad idea.]

:[From the top left corner, going from left to right, top to bottom, with each first item being on its own line in the grid, the squares are as follows:]

:[Green square, a mountain lion (drawn as a large cat) sits on the left, on a perch. Cueball and Megan have their arms raised and are speaking to it. Lines in front of them indicate they are backing up.]
:Cueball: ''HEY. STOP.''
:Megan: ''SHOO.''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, Cueball and Megan are being chased by a mountain lion, and are running towards a building to their right.]
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, Cueball and Megan exit a building and approach a mountain lion.]
:Megan: ''Hello.''
:*'''calmly exit the building''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, Cueball is putting his hands firmly on a mountain lion.]
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''mountain lion'''

:[Red square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball is standing outside, with his arms raised, yelling at the lightning. Lines in front of him indicate he is backing up.]
:''BOOM''
:Cueball: ''NO!''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Green square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball and Megan run toward a building to their right.]
:''BOOM''
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Red square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball and Megan exit a building and approach the lightning-struck tree.]
:''BOOM''
:*''' calmly exit the building''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Red square, lightning strikes a tree. Cueball pushes on the lightning-struck tree.]
:''BOOM''
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''lightning'''

:[Red square, a fire alarm is beeping. Cueball yells at the alarm, with his arms raised. Lines in front of him indicates he is backing up.]
:''BEEP BEEP BEEP''
:Cueball: ''HEY.''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away ''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Red square, a fire alarm is beeping next to a building with flames on its roof. Cueball and Megan run toward the burning building.]
:''BEEP BEEP BEEP''
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Green square, a fire alarm is beeping next to a house with flames on its roof. Cueball and Megan are exiting the burning building.]
:''BEEP BEEP BEEP''
:*'''calmly exit the building''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Red square, a fire alarm is beeping, and Cueball is trying to "suppress" the beeping sound. Behind him are flames.]
:''BEEP BEEP BE-eep eep eep eep eep''
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''fire alarm'''

:[Red square, Cueball is bleeding from his right arm, and holds it. Megan to his right yells at him with her arms raised. Lines in front of her indicates she is backing up.]
:Megan: ''HEY!''
:Megan: ''STOP IT!''
:*'''stand up straight, speak firmly, and slowly back away''' -> '''bleeding'''

:[Red square, Megan, holding a first aid kit in one hand and a bandage in the other, runs with a bleeding Cueball towards a building to their right.]
:*'''run toward a building or hard-topped vehicle''' -> '''bleeding'''

:[Red square, Megan holds a bandage, and to the ground in front of her is a first aid kit. Cueball is walking to the right of the panel, with an injured and bloody left arm raised.]
:Cueball: Bye!
:*'''calmly exit the building''' -> '''bleeding'''

:[Green square, Cueball sits in a chair and Megan is treating him by putting her hands on his injured limb. Behind her on the ground is a first aid kit.]
:*'''apply firm pressure''' -> '''bleeding'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Weather]]

31: Barrel - Part 5

2025-09-15T20:09:48Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386654 by BobcatInABox (talk) Doesn't help

{{comic
| number = 31
| date = November 16, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 5
| ognumber = 33
| ogtitle = Barrel - Part 5
| oglink = https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=11%3A54%20am-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%205,-The%20ferret%20got
| ogprev = 28
| ognext = 32
| image = barrel_part_5.jpg
| titletext = Too good not to happen. ''<div class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=11%3A54%20am-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%205,-The%20ferret%20got Original caption]:'' The [http://www.xkcd.com/ferret.html ferret] got to fly, in the end!</div>
}}

This was the thirty-third comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[28: Elefino]], and the next one was [[32: Pillar]].

==Explanation==
This gives a happy ending to the [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series]], with the flying ferret from [[20: Ferret]]. The humor is derived from the juxtaposition of two unlike elements - in this case, the contemplative and even dark nature of the series being resolved through the timely intervention of a comical flying animal. The ferret could also be interpreted as a symbol of hope and following one's dreams, since in its original appearance, its powers of flight were just a dream. However, the dream becomes reality to save a child from an endless sea of hopelessness.

This is the last in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The full series can be found [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|here]]. After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on the site, it became clear that the original comic [[20: Ferret]] was also part of the series. The comics are listed in the order chosen by Randall:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

The original caption included a link to [[20: Ferret]] the second comic in the series. The link is now defunct, but there's an [https://web.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html archived version].

==Transcript==
:[A boy is grasping on to a piece of driftwood in an ocean.]

:[A zoomed out view of the boy still grasping on to a piece of driftwood in the ocean.]

:[A ferret with some airplane wings and an airplane tail flies above the ocean.]

:[A shot of the ocean, now empty.]

:[The flying ferret is carrying the boy to safety.]

:[The ferret carrying the boy is now in the distance with the sun on the horizon.]

==Trivia==
This is the last comic that kept its original title after being transferred to [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 33]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:The Boy and his Barrel|06]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 06]]
[[Category:Ferrets]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Barrel Boy]]

3139: Chess Variant

2025-09-15T20:08:54Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386650 by Anonymous1279358478 (talk) That was a uselessly-added space.

{{comic
| number = 3139
| date = September 8, 2025
| title = Chess Variant
| image = chess_variant_2x.png
| imagesize = 310x344px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The draw-by-repetition rule does a good job of keeping players from sliding a tile back and forth repeatedly, but the tiles definitely introduce some weird en passant and castling edge cases.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by an IMMOVABLE CHESS BOARD. Confirm the explanation of the title text and relevant chess moves are understandable to the layperson. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
A {{w|Sliding puzzle|sliding puzzle}} is a puzzle with movable pieces that challenges players to slide the pieces around the board to get them into a certain pattern or to move a certain piece into a certain position. Patterns can be anything from a completed image to a series of numbers. One of the most common variants, the {{w|15 puzzle}}, is a square board with 15 square pieces (usually numbered 1 through 15, to be placed in obvious order, but can also feature segments of a larger picture that needs to be correctly assembled) and one empty space in a 4×4 grid. The goal is to order the numbers (or reassemble the picture) without lifting any piece, only sliding adjacent pieces into the empty space. [[Randall]] contemplates making a {{w|Chess variant|variant of chess}} in which 2x2 sections of the board can be moved around, possibly as an alternative to moving your own pieces. It is possible that “sliding number chess puzzle” is a pun on actual {{w|chess puzzles}} in which pieces are set up in a position and the player must find the best move or sequence of moves in that position.

A similar concept exists in {{w|Three-dimensional chess#Star Trek Tri-Dimensional Chess|Star Trek 3D chess}}. Although there's no official rule set by the show creators, the rules were invented by Star Trek fans. In this variant, the board has several 2x2 "attack boards" that can be moved around. For a more prosaic analog, the game {{w|Labyrinth (board game)|Labyrinth}} uses a board composed of tiles that players use to rearrange the playing arena, and features a similar prohibition against reversing the change made by the previous play.

The title text states that because of the {{w|threefold repetition}} rule in chess, sliding a tile back and forth will result in a draw, just as would already happen with the moving of the ''pieces'' back into an overall state of the board. This may discourage unimaginative 'stalling' play by one player, in allowing the other player to claim a draw and avoid a loss. However, this rule would probably lead to more draws, as it allows the player in the losing position to move tiles in an attack that could easily be avoided by moving the tile back. Thus, it gives a small extra advantage to the player in the losing position, as the player who is winning is not likely to draw their position. However, it's also mentioned that there are logistical challenges involving ''en passant'' pawn capture and castling with the tiles involved.

''{{w|En passant}}'' is a unique interaction between adjacent pawns of opposing sides. Normally, pawns can only move straight ahead, one space at a time, and can only capture pieces that are placed one square diagonally forward. However, an unmoved pawn can choose to advance two spaces rather than the usual one. If such a pawn thus bypasses the threatened area of an opposing pawn, that opposing pawn may then capture the pawn that moved two spaces ''en passant'', treating it as vulnerable (and retroactively capturable) at the mid-move moment that it had only travelled one space forward. Since the sliding chess puzzle is separated into 2x2 boards, a pawn positioned on one of those pieces would be able to move two spaces rather than the usual one from its transported location. Or perhaps, even that it could be argued that a pawn moving directly past an opposing pawn on a moving 2x2 board segment could be vulnerable to ''en passant'' capture. Possibly, the capturing pawn would end up where the captured pawn was originally destined, it having attacked the 'stationary' but shifting pawn, mid way through the movement of the board tile, and then effectively completed the act of being carried onward. Also possibly, this style of ''en passant'' would apply to pawns effectively carried two tiles backwards/sideways past a suitably placed opposing pawn, transitions that a pawn could not otherwise make by its usual mode of movement.

{{w|Castling}} is a move involving the king and rooks. Normally, the king can only advance one square at a time in any direction, while a rook can move on either axis but cannot pass through other piece. If neither the king or rook have been moved in the current game, there are no pieces between them and no opposing piece threatens the king's whole movement, a player may choose to "castle". This (in a normal setup) notionally involves moving the king two spaces towards a chosen rook (at the extreme left and right edges of the back rank upon which the king starts nearly in the middle of) and then placing that rook directly in the space the king moved over. It could be argued that a king and/or rook placed on respective 2x2 boards of the sliding puzzle, at least one of which has been shifted since the start of the game, have not themselves moved and thus should be eligible to castle from their resulting relative positions, with suitably modified repositioning rules.

It is also left unclear whether the wider-ranging pieces are allowed to effectively move through the missing/virtual spaces in the board where there currently is no tile, beyond merely being unable to ''end'' their move in the current 'hole' where no traditional chess squares exist at that moment. It also brings up the question of whether pawns promote if the tile that they are on gets moved to the last rank of tiles with the pawn on the last rank of squares. If so, who would get to choose which piece to promote, if the player whose pawn it isn't moved the piece?

One interpretation of the game shown is that white played e4, black e5, continuing with Nf3 and Nc6, then white played d4 (all normal moves, so far, the [https://lichess.org/opening/Scotch_Game Scotch Game]). In response, black slid the puzzle-square to the right to make white’s knight on the rim 'dim', and decentralize white’s pawn.

An early example of Randall depicting a 'movable' fragment of chessboard was used in [[839: Explorers]]. Though that one was of size 3x3, and had become entirely separated from the 'home board' (perhaps not even being originally part of it, having initially been assembled adjacent to it) and under its own motive power.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A chessboard is shown with the white pieces at the bottom of the screen. The pieces are illustrated in the basic design of standard computer chess. The chessboard is divided into 16 2x2 sliding squares with the e3-f4 sliding square currently being moved to the g3-h4 spot. Otherwise the opening is a standard Scotch Opening, with the pieces in the e3-f4 tile like how they are supposed to be in a scotch opening.]
:[Caption below the panel:]
:Sliding number puzzle chess

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Chess]]

3092: Baker's Units

2025-09-15T20:07:37Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386644 by Anonymous1279358478 (talk) A purposeless edit, inserting an additional space. Don't do that.

{{comic
| number = 3092
| date = May 21, 2025
| title = Baker's Units
| image = bakers_units_2x.png
| imagesize = 349x310px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 169 is a baker's gross.
}}

==Explanation==
A '{{w|Dozen#Baker's dozen|baker's dozen}}' is an expression referring to 13 units, as opposed to the normal 'dozen', meaning 12. This stems from a tradition in medieval times whereby salespeople would include 13 items when selling a 'dozen'. This was due to them having to pay penalties (in some regions, {{w|Ducking stool|draconian}} ones) when customers were [https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/obscure-medieval-laws/ sold too little bread], which could easily be done unintentionally with items like loaves of bread which would vary slightly in weight. To avoid the customer complaints and the penalty, bakers added a safety margin of one extra loaf that allowed them to still serve the correct weight of bread.

[[Randall]] proceeds to apply this principle to other things involving the number 12. That is, "simply" applying a count of 13 of a thing, or adding one to the most prominent quantity.

; Baker's foot

: Imperial feet are 12 inches long, so a 'baker's foot' would be 13 inches long.

; Baker's noon

: Noon is 12 o'clock (also 12:00 in {{w|24-hour clock}} notation). A 'baker's noon' would be 1 o'clock PM (13:00 in 24-hour notation). Local noon has often been a vital piece of information for those who need to know when the working daylight is half-way through, or specifically for noting the {{w|Solar time|local solar maximum}} for astronomical or navigation purposes, whilst 1 PM does not usually merit any note beyond that of any other hour — except during daylight saving time, when baker's noon may be closer to local noon than 12 o'clock. In some locations, bakeries that operate on sundays close their business around noon - the baker's noon would be an inconvenience instead of a safety margin for these businesses.

; Baker's dodecahedron

: A {{w|dodecahedron}} is a solid shape having 12 faces ("dodeca" = "twelve"). The best-known kind is the regular dodecahedron, a {{w|Platonic solid}} whose faces are regular pentagons (the shape that most {{w|Dice#Polyhedral dice|d12}}s take the form of), but there are others such as the {{w|rhombic dodecahedron}} and {{w|Pyritohedron#Pyritohedron|pyritohedron}}. A 'baker's dodecahedron' would have thirteen faces, making it, in fact, a tridecahedron, typically a form with some combination of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and/or hexagons. One way of forming a tridecahedron is to truncate one vertex of a dodecahedron, essentially "replacing" it with an additional small face. Tridecahedrons are not Platonic solids, and their use in dice-based games (though not impossible) would result in an unbalanced skew of possibilities, as well as one extra result (perhaps zero or thirteen) that a gaming system might not be designed to anticipate.

; Baker's New Year's Eve

: Under the {{w|Gregorian calendar}}, years have 12 months and, in most Western traditions, New Year's Eve is celebrated on the last day of the 12th of these. Therefore a baker would celebrate 'baker's New Year's Eve' at the end of an extra 13th month, on January 31 (possibly implying that their New Year would shift by one month each year, relative to everyone else's calendars). There are proposed calendars that have 13 months in every year, such as the {{w|International Fixed Calendar}}.

; Baker's octave

: In {{w|12 equal temperament|12-tone music systems}}, octaves contain 12 half-steps, also known as semitones. (A half-step is the distance between adjacent notes, such as F and F#.) A 'baker’s octave' would have 13 semitones, corresponding to a minor ninth, and would cause problems in musical composition as baker's octaves are dissonant instead of consonant. However, Randall's musical notation actually shows a ''major'' ninth, with ''fourteen'' semitones. If he wanted thirteen semitones, Randall could have used D♭ instead of D, or drawn a bass clef instead of a treble clef. Another way would have been to shift two notes up to make the pair E and F, or one note down to make it B and C, as these pairs are actually 13 semitones apart. Alternatively, he could keep the difference between the octave notes the same (preserving the ratio of 2:1), but split it into 13 semitones making notes slightly less than a standard semitone apart, requiring a complete overhaul of notation.

; Baker's jury

: Trial juries in the Anglo-Saxon law tradition ({{w|Common Law}}) consist of 12 peers. The 'baker’s jury' would have 13 peers. This might be considered to make little practical difference, though it does mean that in situations where a jury is allowed to present a majority verdict instead of requiring unanimity, the odd number of jurors would prevent exact ties. (Note that {{w|Trial by jury in Scotland|Scottish juries}}, start with the expectation of there being 15 jurors, and may well end up reduced to 13 or even 12.)

; Baker's EU flag

: The {{w|Flag of Europe}} has 12 stars forming a circle (symbolising the togetherness and union of its peoples).
: In the United States, 13 stars in a circle is associated with the {{w|Betsy Ross flag}}, the first U.S. flag, in which each star represented a state. But, unlike {{w|Flag of the United States#Historical progression of designs|the current and various historical US flags}}, the EU's stars do not represent member states. The flag was first adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955, when it already had 13 members, and currently there are over 40.
: The European Communities adopted the Flag of Europe in 1986, before the EC, turned into the European Union, which is currently 27 member states. A 13th star could potentially be added to make a 'baker's EU flag' without major alteration of the symbology.

; Baker's magnesium

: Magnesium is element number 12, with 12 protons (and, typically, 12 neutrons) in its nucleus. Aluminum is element number 13, signifying one extra proton (although also having ''two'' extra neutrons, in a typical atom). This is perhaps more importantly, for our purposes, reflected in the two elements' configuration of electrons that dictate their relatively different chemistries and behaviour in various solutions, compounds, alloys, etc, through {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} and availability of bond-types. 'Baker's magnesium' actually has more applications than standard magnesium in baking; such as {{w|sodium aluminium phosphate}}, used in some baking powders, and {{w|aluminum foil}} (often called tinfoil), sometimes used to protect pans or baked goods during baking, but it does not have as much actual nutritional value and is not quite so obviously a direct replacement/upgrade to its non-Baker 'original' as most of the other examples.

; Baker's gross

: In the title text, 144 (12x12) is a gross. Thus, 169 (13x13) would be a 'baker's gross', an addition of not just one but 25 units.

==Transcript==
:Baker's units
:[A formation comprising 13 small circular items] - Baker's dozen
:[A ruler divided into 13 parts] - Baker's foot
:1:00 PM - Baker's noon
:[A polyhedron with 13 faces] - Baker's dodecahedron
:January 31st - Baker's New Year's Eve
:[Two notes on a staff 14 half-steps apart] - Baker's octave
:[13 people standing in a row] - Baker's jury
:[A flag with 13 stars forming a circle] - Baker's EU flag
:Aluminum - Baker's magnesium

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Time]]

3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

2025-09-15T20:06:45Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386649 by Anonymous1279358478 (talk) That was the addition of a single space, for no apparent purposes other to than to edit the article. Don't do that.

{{comic
| number = 3118
| date = July 21, 2025
| title = iNaturalist Animals and Plants
| image = inaturalist_animals_and_plants_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x508px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Washington, DC: Eastern gray squirrel, Amur honeysuckle. Puerto Rico: Crested anole, sea grape. US as a whole: Mallard, eastern poison ivy.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a map of the United States showing, for each state, the name of the animal and plant most commonly reported on the {{w|citizen science}} social network {{w|iNaturalist}}. As the comic notes, these are not the most-encountered species, just the ones reported the most on iNaturalist. iNaturalist is a citizen science social network that shares observations of nature. In some cases the species most reported is an invasive species causing concern, such as brown anole and Amur honeysuckle, while some local species which are actually the most present and observable may escape being fully reported by not being considered worthy of any note.

For some smaller states, the animal and plant names are listed outside the state, with a connector line to the state. Some non-state regions are covered in the title text: the {{w|District of Columbia}}, too small to list such information on the district itself and in an awkward location for a connector; {{w|Puerto Rico}}, an unincorporated U.S. territory with a large population outside the 50 standard states (both contiguous and otherwise); and the U.S. as a whole.

The most reported animals are Common Eastern Bumble Bee and White-tailed Deer, with 7 states each, while the most reported plant is Common Milkweed, with 6 states. Of the 26 different animal species mentioned, 5 are mammals, 4 are birds, 12 are reptiles, and 5 are insects. This is part of what makes the results for "US as a whole" surprising: they only top the list in one or two states, yet become the most reported when adding up the numbers nationwide.

iNaturalist community members have [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/today-s-xkcd-comic-is-about-inaturalist/67916 noted] that several species have made it on the list due to a few prolific contributors contributing large numbers of observations of the same species.

===Reference table===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2"| State
! colspan="2" | Most observed...
|-
!Animal
!Plant
|-
!AL
|{{w|Alabama}}
|{{w|Gulf fritillary}}
|{{w|Liquidambar styraciflua|American Sweetgum}}
Also in: '''[[#GA|GA]]''', '''[[#SC|SC]]'''
|-
!AK
|{{w|Alaska}}
|{{w|Moose}}
|{{w|Chamaenerion angustifolium|Fireweed}}
|-
!AZ
|{{w|Arizona}}
|{{w|Urosaurus ornatus|Ornate Tree Lizard}}
''(Also the State Animal of Nebraska)''
|{{w|Saguaro}}
|-
!AR
|{{w|Arkansas}}
|{{w|Three-toed box turtle}}
''(Official Reptile of Missouri)''
|{{w|Ligustrum sinense|Chinese Privet}}
'''{{w|Naturalisation (biology)|Naturalized}}'''
|-
!CA
|{{w|California}}
|{{w|Western fence lizard}}
|{{w|Eschscholzia californica|California Poppy}}
|-
!CO
|{{w|Colorado}}
|{{w|Mule deer}}
Also in: '''[[#NM|NM]]''', '''[[#OR|OR]]''', '''[[#UT|UT]]'''
|{{w|Verbascum thapsus|Great Mullein}}
{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|-
!CT
|{{w|Connecticut}}
|{{w|Bombus impatiens|Common Eastern Bumble Bee}}
Also in: '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|{{w|Chimaphila maculata|Striped Wintergreen}}
|-
!DE
|{{w|Delaware}}
|{{w|Anaxyrus fowleri|Fowler's Toad}}
|{{w|Phytolacca americana|American Pokeweed}}
|-
!FL
|{{w|Florida}}
|{{w|Brown Anole}}
{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|{{w|Bidens alba|White Beggar-ticks}}
|-
!GA
|{{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}}
|{{w|Anolis carolinensis|Green Anole}}
Also in: '''[[#LA|LA]]'''
|American Sweetgum
Also in: '''[[#AL|AL]]''', '''[[#SC|SC]]'''
|-
!HI
|{{w|Hawaii}}
|{{w|Green sea turtle}}
|{{w|Metrosideros polymorpha|ʻŌhiʻa Lehua}}
{{w|Endangered species (IUCN status)|'''Endangered'''}}
|-
!ID
|{{w|Idaho}}
|{{w|Mallard}}
Also in: '''[[#WA|WA]]''', '''[[#**|Whole US]]'''
|{{w|Artemisia tridentata|Big Sagebrush}}
|-
!IL
|{{w|Illinois}}
|Common Eastern Bumble Bee
Also in: '''[[#CT|CT]]''', '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|{{w|Asclepias syriaca|Common Milkweed}}
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#NE|NE]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|-
!IN
|{{w|Indiana}}
|{{w|American robin}}
Also in: '''[[#NE|NE]]''', '''[[#TN|TN]]'''
|{{w|Lonicera maackii|Amur Honeysuckle}}
Also in: '''[[#DC|DC]]''', '''[[#KS|KS]]''', '''[[#KY|KY]]''', '''[[#MO|MO]]

{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|-
!IA
|{{w|Iowa}}
|{{w|White-tailed deer}}
Also in: '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MT|MT]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#PA|PA]]''', '''[[#VA|VA]]''', '''[[#WV|WV]]'''
|Common Milkweed
Also in: '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#NE|NE]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|-
!KS
|{{w|Kansas}}
|{{w|Ornate box turtle}}
|Amur Honeysuckle
Also in: '''[[#DC|DC]]''', '''[[#IN|IN]]''', '''[[#KS|KS]]''', '''[[#MO|MO]]

{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|-
!KY
|{{w|Kentucky}}
|{{w|Common box turtle}}
{{w|Vulnerable species|'''Vulnerable'''}}
|Amur Honeysuckle
Also in: '''[[#DC|DC]]''', '''[[#IN|IN]]''', '''[[#KS|KS]]''', '''[[#MO|MO]]

{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|-
!LA
|{{w|Louisiana}}
|Green Anole
Also in: '''[[#GA|GA]]'''
|{{w|Taxodium distichum|Bald Cypress}}
|-
!ME
|{{w|Maine}}
|{{w|American herring gull}}
Also in: '''[[#RI|RI]]'''
|{{w|Cornus canadensis|Canadian Bunchberry}}
|-
!MD
|{{w|Maryland}}
|Common Eastern Bumble Bee
Also in: '''[[#CT|CT]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|{{w|Pinus strobus|Eastern White Pine}}
Also in: '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]'''
|-
!MA
|{{w|Massachusetts}}
|Common Eastern Bumble Bee
Also in: '''[[#CT|CT]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|Eastern White Pine
Also in: '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]'''
|-
!MI
|{{w|Michigan}}
|White-tailed Deer
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MT|MT]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#PA|PA]]''', '''[[#VA|VA]]''', '''[[#WV|WV]]'''
|Common Milkweed
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#NE|NE]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|-
!MN
|{{w|Minnesota}}
|Common Eastern Bumble Bee
Also in: '''[[#CT|CT]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|Common Milkweed
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#NE|NE]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|-
!MS
|{{w|Mississippi}}
|{{w|Northern cardinal}}
Also in: '''[[#SC|SC]]''', '''[[#TX|TX]]'''
|{{w|Sarracenia alata|Pale Pitcher Plant}}
|-
!MO
|{{w|Missouri}}
|{{w|Bombus griseocollis|Brown-belted Bumble Bee}}
|Amur Honeysuckle
Also in: '''[[#DC|DC]]''', '''[[#IN|IN]]''', '''[[#KS|KS]]''', '''[[#KY|KY]]

{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|-
!MT
|{{w|Montana}}
|White-tailed Deer
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#PA|PA]]''', '''[[#VA|VA]]''', '''[[#WV|WV]]'''
|{{w|Achillea millefolium|Common Yarrow}}
|-
!NE
|{{w|Nebraska}}
|American Robin
Also in: '''[[#IN|IN]]''', '''[[#TN|TN]]'''
|Common Milkweed
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|-
!NV
|{{w|Nevada}}
|{{w|Common side-blotched lizard}}
|{{w|Larrea tridentata|Creosote Bush}}
Also in: '''[[#NM|NM]]'''
|-
!NH
|{{w|New Hampshire}}
|White-tailed Deer
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MT|MT]]''', '''[[#PA|PA]]''', '''[[#VA|VA]]''', '''[[#WV|WV]]'''
|Eastern White Pine
Also in: '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]'''
|-
!NJ
|{{w|New Jersey}}
|{{w|Spotted lanternfly}}
{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|{{w|Artemisia vulgaris|Common Mugwort}}
{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
{{w|Naturalisation (biology)|'''Naturalized'''}}
|-
!NM
|{{w|New Mexico}}
|Mule Deer
Also in: '''[[#CO|CO]]''', '''[[#OR|OR]]''', '''[[#UT|UT]]'''
|Creosote Bush
Also in: '''[[#NV|NV]]'''
|-
!NY
|{{w|New York (state)|New York}}
|{{w|Eastern gray squirrel}}
Also in: '''[[#DC|DC]]''', '''[[#NC|NC]]

''(Invasive to Europe)''
|{{w|Ageratina altissima|White Snakeroot}}
|-
!NC
|{{w|North Carolina}}
|Eastern Gray Squirrel
Also in: '''[[#DC|DC]]''', '''[[#NY|NY]]'''
|{{w|Polystichum acrostichoides|Christmas Fern}}
Also in: '''[[#TN|TN]]'''
|-
!ND
|{{w|North Dakota}}
|{{w|American bison}}
Also in: '''[[#SD|SD]]''', '''[[#WY|WY]]'''
|{{w|Rosa arkansana|Prairie}} {{w|Rosa blanda|Rose}}
''(Could be one of several {{w|Prairie Rose}} species.)''
|-
!OH
|{{w|Ohio}}
|{{w|Erythemis simplicicollis|Eastern Pondhawk}}
|{{w|Claytonia virginica|Virginia Springbeauty}}
|-
!OK
|{{w|Oklahoma}}
|{{w|Pond slider}}
|{{w|Juniperus virginiana|Eastern Redcedar}}
|-
!OR
|{{w|Oregon}}
|Mule Deer
Also in: '''[[#CO|CO]]''', '''[[#NM|NM]]''', '''[[#UT|UT]]'''
|{{w|Pinus ponderosa|Western Ponderosa Pine}}
''("Western" yellow-pine, a.k.a. "Ponderosa" pine?)''
|-
!PA
|{{w|Pennsylvania}}
|White-tailed Deer
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MT|MT]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#VA|VA]]''', '''[[#WV|WV]]'''
|{{w|Alliaria petiolata|Garlic Mustard}}
{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|-
!RI
|{{w|Rhode Island}}
|American Herring Gull
Also in: '''[[#ME|ME]]'''
|{{w|Rosa rugosa|Rugosa Rose}}
|-
!SC
|{{w|South Carolina}}
|Northern Cardinal
Also in: '''[[#MS|MS]]''', '''[[#TX|TX]]'''
|American Sweetgum
Also in: '''[[#AL|AL]]''', '''[[#GA|GA]]'''
|-
!SD
|{{w|South Dakota}}
|American Bison
Also in: '''[[#ND|ND]]''', '''[[#WY|WY]]'''
|{{w|Verbena stricta|Hoary Vervain}}
|-
!TN
|{{w|Tennessee}}
|American Robin
Also in: '''[[#IN|IN]]''', '''[[#NE|NE]]'''
|Christmas Fern
Also in: '''[[#NC|NC]]'''
|-
!TX
|{{w|Texas}}
|Northern Cardinal
Also in: '''[[#MS|MS]]''', '''[[#SC|SC]]'''
|{{w|Oenothera speciosa|Pinkladies}}
|-
!UT
|{{w|Utah}}
|Mule Deer
Also in: '''[[#CO|CO]]''', '''[[#NM|NM]]''', '''[[#OR|OR]]'''
|{{w|Juniperus osteosperma|Utah Juniper}}
|-
!VT
|{{w|Vermont}}
|Common Eastern Bumble Bee
Also in: '''[[#CT|CT]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#WI|WI]]'''
|Eastern White Pine
Also in: '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]'''
|-
!VA
|{{w|Virginia}}
|White-tailed Deer
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MT|MT]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#PA|PA]]''', '''[[#WV|WV]]'''
|{{w|Toxicodendron radicans|Eastern Poison Ivy}}
Also in: '''[[#**|Whole US]]'''
|-
!WA
|{{w|Washington (state)|Washington}}
|Mallard
Also in: '''[[#ID|ID]]''', '''[[#**|Whole US]]'''
|{{w|Polystichum munitum|Western Sword Fern}}
|-
!WV
|{{w|West Virginia}}
|White-tailed Deer
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MT|MT]]''', '''[[#NH|NH]]''', '''[[#PA|PA]]''', '''[[#VA|VA]]'''
|{{w|Rhododendron maximum|Great Rhododendron}}
|-
!WI
|{{w|Wisconsin}}
|Common Eastern Bumble Bee
Also in: '''[[#CT|CT]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MA|MA]]''', '''[[#MD|MD]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#VT|VT]]'''
|Common Milkweed
Also in: '''[[#IA|IA]]''', '''[[#IL|IL]]''', '''[[#MI|MI]]''', '''[[#MN|MN]]''', '''[[#NE|NE]]'''
|-
!WY
|{{w|Wyoming}}
|American Bison
Also in: '''[[#ND|ND]]''', '''[[#SD|SD]]'''
|{{w|Geranium viscosissimum|Sticky Geranium}}
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
!DC
|{{w|Washington, D.C.|Washington DC}} ''(title text)''
|Eastern gray squirrel
Also in: '''[[#NC|NC]]''', '''[[#NY|NY]]'''
|Amur Honeysuckle
Also in: '''[[#IN|IN]]''', '''[[#KS|KS]]''', '''[[#KY|KY]]''', '''[[#MO|MO]]

{{w|Invasive species|'''Invasive'''}}
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
!PR
|{{w|Puerto Rico}} ''(title text)''
|{{w|Anolis cristatellus|Crested anole}}
|{{w|Coccoloba uvifera|Sea grape}}
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
!data-sort-value="**"|
|{{w|United States|'''US as a whole'''}} ''(title text)''
|Mallard
Also in: '''[[#WA|WA]]''', '''[[#ID|ID]]'''
|Eastern poison ivy
Also in: '''[[#VA|VA]]'''
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows a map of the United States with state borders (including Hawaii and Alaska inset in the lower left) and two-letter state codes for each state. The map includes the Northwest Angle, which is not typically shown on maps of this scale.]
:[Above the map]: The Most-Observed Animal and Plant in Each State on iNaturalist
:[Below that, in parentheses]: Not the most common species in the state, just the one people have reported the most times.
:[Each state has text of the format "Animal" on top and "Plant" below. For RI, VT, NH, MA, CT, NJ, DE, and MD, the text is outside the state border with a line connecting them.]

:[In alphabetical order, the states have the following Animal/Plant text]:

:Alabama: Gulf Fritillary; American Sweetgum 
:Alaska: Moose; Fireweed 
:Arizona: Ornate Tree Lizard; Saguaro 
:Arkansas: Three-toed Box Turtle; Chinese Privet 
:California: Western Fence Lizard; California Poppy 
:Colorado: Mule Deer; Great Mullein 
:Connecticut: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Striped Wintergreen 
:Delaware: Fowler's Toad; American Pokeweed 
:Florida: Brown Anole; White Beggar-ticks 
:Georgia: Green Anole; American Sweetgum 
:Hawaii: Green Sea Turtle; ʻŌhiʻa Lehua 
:Idaho: Mallard; Big Sagebrush 
:Illinois: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed 
:Indiana: American Robin; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Iowa: White-tailed Deer; Common Milkweed 
:Kansas: Ornate Box Turtle; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Kentucky: Common Box Turtle; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Louisiana: Green Anole; Bald Cypress 
:Maine: American Herring Gull; Canadian Bunchberry 
:Maryland: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine 
:Massachusetts: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine 
:Michigan: White-tailed Deer; Common Milkweed 
:Minnesota: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed 
:Mississippi: Northern Cardinal; Pale Pitcher Plant 
:Missouri: Brown-belted Bumble Bee; Amur Honeysuckle 
:Montana: White-tailed Deer; Common Yarrow 
:Nebraska: American Robin; Common Milkweed 
:Nevada: Common Side-blotched Lizard; Creosote Bush 
:New Hampshire: White-tailed Deer; Eastern White Pine 
:New Jersey: Spotted Lanternfly; Common Mugwort 
:New Mexico: Mule Deer; Creosote Bush 
:New York: Eastern Gray Squirrel; White Snakeroot 
:North Carolina: Eastern Gray Squirrel; Christmas Fern 
:North Dakota: American Bison; Prairie Rose 
:Ohio: Eastern Pondhawk; Virginia Springbeauty 
:Oklahoma: Pond Slider; Eastern Redcedar 
:Oregon: Mule Deer; Western Ponderosa Pine 
:Pennsylvania: White-tailed Deer; Garlic Mustard 
:Rhode Island: American Herring Gull; Rugosa Rose 
:South Carolina: Northern Cardinal; American Sweetgum 
:South Dakota: American Bison; Hoary Vervain 
:Tennessee: American Robin; Christmas Fern 
:Texas: Northern Cardinal; Pinkladies 
:Utah: Mule Deer; Utah Juniper 
:Vermont: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Eastern White Pine 
:Virginia: White-tailed Deer; Eastern Poison Ivy 
:Washington: Mallard; Western Sword Fern 
:West Virginia: White-tailed Deer; Great Rhododendron 
:Wisconsin: Common Eastern Bumble Bee; Common Milkweed 
:Wyoming: American Bison; Sticky Geranium 

==Trivia==
*In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/c/c9/20250723151925%21inaturalist_animals_and_plants_2x.png original version of the comic], the postal codes for Iowa, Florida, Alaska, and Hawaii were missing from the map. They were later added.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Turtles]]

25: Barrel - Part 4

2025-09-15T20:03:53Z

92.17.62.87: Used an "optional breaking space", , as one of several ways to make a zero-width non-space that forgoes the eventual parsing of the ":" as being the start of a template-implemented line of transpoed text. There are several others!

{{comic
| number = 25
| date = October 31, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 4
| ognumber = 26
| ogtitle = Monday's Drawing
| oglink = https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=2%3A42%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-(11%20Comments
| ogprev = 37
| ognext = 26
| image = barrel_part_4.jpg
| titletext = :( ''<div class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=2%3A42%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-(11%20Comments Original caption]:'' By the way, here are all the barrel comics on a single (easily linked) page: http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html I cheated, and went back and lightened the gridlines in #2. It was just bothering me. I'll try not to do that much. But as I'm not destroying anyone's childhood, I don't feel like I'm really pulling a George Lucas. I mean, I'm not destroying more than one childhood. Oops.</div>
}}

This was the twenty-sixth comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[37: Hyphen]], and the next one was [[26: Fourier]].

==Explanation==
In the first three comics of the [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series]], [[Barrel Boy]] explored the ocean in a barrel and then encountered a whirlpool, all with a reaction of innocent wonder. Here, the empty barrel floating adrift, the title text, and a previous announcement by Randall that this would be the conclusion of the series, imply that the boy's encounter with the whirlpool separated him from the barrel, and he may have died.

This is the fifth in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The full series can be found [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|here]]. After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on the site, it became clear that the original comic [[20: Ferret]] was also part of the series. The comics are listed in the order chosen by Randall:

* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

There was no original caption on LiveJournal for this comic. However, just three hours and four minutes after posting it, Randall made a new post, titled [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=5%3A46%20pm-,Barrel%20series,-By%20the%20way Barrel series], which is available above the Explanation on this page. In the first part of the post, he advertises the new page he created for "all the barrel comics", implying this was supposed to be the end of the The Boy and his Barrel series (the link is now defunct, but there's an [https://web.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html archived version]). In the [[37: Hyphen|caption of the previous comic]], he also said "Tune in Monday for the conclusion to the story of the boy and his barrel". However, this would turn out to not be the last comic in the series, as [[31: Barrel - Part 5]] and [[20: Ferret]] would be included later likely to give an unplanned good ending to the story.

In the second part of the post, he jokingly implies that Barrel Boy passed away, which will be found to be incorrect in the actual last comic in the series. It's possible he changed his mind in the meantime and wanted to give the series a happy ending. The reference to George Lucas is in response to the {{w|changes in Star Wars re-releases}} that were not widely liked by long-term fans of the original movies, as they covered a general revamping and upgrading of the visuals, [https://nofilmschool.com/Jabba-The-Hutt-Returned-to-Star-Wars additional scenes], and even reinterpretations of {{w|Han shot first|existing scenes}}. In his post, he says he believes the change he made to [[11: Barrel - Part 2]] aren't as controversial.

== Transcript ==
:[A barrel is shown on a grid paper background, floating sideways and empty in a choppy sea.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 26]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:The Boy and his Barrel|05]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 05]]

22: Barrel - Part 3

2025-09-15T19:53:08Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386635 by BobcatInABox (talk) ...as per the other reverts, "Barrel Boy" doesn't really help understand this, assumes other knowledge.

{{comic
| number = 22
| date = October 24, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 3
| ognumber = 23
| ogtitle = Monday's Drawing
| oglink = https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A30%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-The%20saga%20of
| ogprev = 40
| ognext = 23
| image = barrel_whirlpool.jpg
| titletext = A whirlpool! ''<div class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A30%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-The%20saga%20of Original caption]:'' The saga of the boy and his barrel continues! ([http://www.xkcd.com/barrel_cropped_(1).jpg Part 1] and [http://www.xkcd.com/barrel_mommies.jpg Part 2])</div>
}}

This was the twenty-third comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[40: Light]], and the next one was [[23: T-shirts]].

==Explanation==
In the first two comics in the [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series]], the boy is floating in the ocean in a barrel, making fairly innocent points about life's uncertainty. In this comic, the view has zoomed out considerably, and the boy is seen to be on the edge of a gigantic {{w|whirlpool}}. Thus, there is now a palpably heightened sense of danger, though the boy's reaction continues to be innocent wonder. The comic's visual composition is reminiscent of {{w|File:Maelstrom-Clarke.jpg|a classic 1919 illustration}} by {{w|Harry Clarke}}, made for {{w|Edgar Allan Poe}}'s 1841 short story "{{w|A Descent into the Maelström}}." In the short story, the main character escapes from drowning by using a barrel to escape The Maelström.

The two links in the original caption used to link to the pictures of the first and third comic in the series, but they are now defunct. Here is the last part of the caption containing links to the archived pages: "([https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel_cropped_(1).jpg Part 1] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel_mommies.jpg Part 2])".

This is the fourth in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The full series can be found [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|here]]. After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on the site, it became clear that the original comic [[20: Ferret]] was also part of the series. The comics are listed in the order chosen by Randall:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[A large and deep vortex is in the center; spinning water covers the whole panel. A boy in a floating barrel is near the edge, apparently about to be sucked in.]
:Boy: wow!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 23]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:The Boy and his Barrel|04]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 04]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Barrel Boy]]

1: Barrel - Part 1

2025-09-15T19:51:44Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386634 by BobcatInABox (talk) He's clearly "a boy in the barrel", but the name "Barrel Boy" is not self-evident. (And a "barrel boy" could be carrying/throwing barrels/etc.).

{{notice|Despite being categorised as comic #1, this was the fifth xkcd comic released by Randall. The first xkcd comic was actually {{nowrap|[[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)]]}}. To learn more, read the [[LiveJournal|history of xkcd]].}}
{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 1
| ognumber = 5
| ogtitle = Barrel
| oglink = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A38%20pm-,Barrel,-He%27s%20fairly%20upbeat
| ogprev = 2
| ognext = 24
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| titletext = Don't we all. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A38%20pm-,Barrel,-He%27s%20fairly%20upbeat Original caption]:'' He's fairly upbeat about the situation!
}}

This was the fifth comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]], and the next one was [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]]. It was among the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.

==Explanation==
This is the first comic in the [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series]], which shows a young boy floating in a barrel in an ocean that doesn't have a visible end. It comments on the unlikely optimism and perhaps naïveté people sometimes display. The [[Barrel Boy]] is completely lost and seems hopelessly alone, without any plan or control of the situation. Yet rather than afraid or worried, he is instead quietly curious: "I wonder where I'll float next?" Although not necessarily the situation in this comic, this is a behavior people often exhibit when there is nothing they can do about a problematic situation for a long time; they may have given up hope or developed a cavalier attitude as a coping mechanism. The isolation of the boy may also represent the way in which we often feel lost through life, never knowing quite where we are, believing that no one can be turned to, and being lonely because of that. In [[1110: Click and Drag]] there is a reference to this comic at {{1110|1|n|48|e}}. ''{{w|Wired (magazine)|Wired}}'' determined a [http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/should-dwarves-stand-up-in-floating-barrels/ more realistic description] of the behaviour of a barrel in the water.

This is the first in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The full series can be found [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|here]]. After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on the site, it became clear that the original comic [[20: Ferret]] was also part of the series. The comics are listed in the order chosen by Randall:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

The title text expands on the philosophical content, with the boy representing the average human being: wandering through life with no real plan, quietly optimistic, always opportunistic, and clueless as to what the future may hold.

==Transcript==
:[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: i wonder where i'll float next?

:[A smaller frame with a zoom out of the boy in the barrel seen from afar. The barrel drifts into the distance. Nothing else can be seen.]

==Trivia==
This is the first comic not drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]] and the first comic featuring [[Barrel Boy]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 05]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 05]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:The Boy and his Barrel|01]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 01]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Barrel Boy]]

11: Barrel - Part 2

2025-09-15T19:49:34Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386633 by BobcatInABox (talk) Imagine you don't know that he's (nick-)named Barrel Boy... There's nothing in the comic to label him that, only that he's "a boy in a barrel".

{{comic
| number = 11
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 2
| ognumber = 13
| ogtitle = Barrel - Part 2
| oglink = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A46%20pm-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%202,-The%20story%20continues
| ogprev = 14
| ognext = 15
| image = barrel mommies.jpg
| titletext = Awww. ''<div class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A46%20pm-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%202,-The%20story%20continues Original caption]:'' The [http://www.livejournal.com/users/xkcd_drawings/1388.html story] continues.</div>
}}

This was the thirteenth comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[14: Copyright]], and the next one was [[15: Just Alerting You]]. It was among the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.

==Explanation==
As in the previous comic in the [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series]], the boy is floating in the ocean inside a barrel. The previous comic made a point about the uncertainty of life; here, [[Barrel Boy]]'s lament at not finding a mother is pure sentimentality, as accentuated by the title text. According to Freud, the first stage of psycho-sexual development is the Oral Stage, which relates to a baby's relationship with its mother. The realization that 'mommy' cannot be found is the first point at which a person learns to stop trusting the world and realizes that the world is not always comforting and safe.

This is the third in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The full series can be found [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|here]]. After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on the site, it became clear that the original comic [[20: Ferret]] was also part of the series. The comics are listed in the order chosen by Randall:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: none of the places i floated had mommies.

==Trivia==
After its release on [[LiveJournal]], the comic was edited to lighten the gridlines, as Randall explained in [[Barrel - Part 4]]'s original LiveJournal caption. He has said that he considers this cheating, but as he is "not destroying anyone's childhood", he doesn't feel as if he's "pulling a George Lucas". Learn more about the change in [[25: Barrel - Part 4#Explanation|25: Barrel - Part 4's explanation]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 13]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 13]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:The Boy and his Barrel|03]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 02]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Barrel Boy]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

3140: Biology Department

2025-09-15T11:45:17Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ And they might actually be right, and yet the public ignore them anyway... ;)

{{comic
| number = 3140
| date = September 10, 2025
| title = Biology Department
| image = biology_department_2x.png
| imagesize = 558x368px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the Linguistics Department - It has been [2] [DAYS] since someone noticed that the Biology Department sign has a one-day-long singular/plural disagreement after it resets.
}}

==Explanation==

Signs (such as [https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-factory-safety-sign-showing-days-since-last-accident-29336722.html this one]) in industrial workplaces, typically counting days since a safety incident occurred, are a common trope. They are also referenced in [[363: Reset]]. In this comic, the biology department has such a sign to indicate how often they discover things about bugs that are horrifying, suggesting that this is not only a relatively common occurrence, but one that the department thinks the general public needs to be aware of. The sign being shown at 3 days may suggest that they probably find these bugs often.

Insects and other arthropods (informally, "bugs") can have strange life cycles, some of which are truly horrifying. Some examples include
* {{w|parasitoid wasps}} lay their eggs in caterpillars, eggs that then hatch and eat the living caterpillar from the inside out (learning this [https://www.vice.com/en/article/darwins-monsters-parasitoid-wasps/ caused a crisis of faith] for {{w|Charles Darwin}})
* carpenter ants get infected by the {{w|Ophiocordyceps unilateralis|zombie-ant fungus}}, causing them to abandon their usual habitat and attach to the underside of a leaf, feeding the fungus until the ant dies
* houseflies vomit on things to start digesting them, then [https://www.rd.com/list/bizarre-bug-facts-totally-freak-you-out/ eat the vomit]
* {{w|honeypot ants}}, some of which are force-fed until their abdomens swell enormously, are used as living food storage containers for the rest of the colony
* {{w|Colobopsis explodens|exploding ants}} protect their colony from invaders by exploding their bodies to spray a toxin on their enemies
* female {{w|praying mantises}} [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/praying-mantis-hanky-panky-is-way-weirder-than-you-think sometimes eat the males while they mate], though mating can continue while the eating is happening
* ''Messor ibericus'' ants rely on cross-species hybrids for their worker caste. In order to produce these hybrids, M. ibericus queens will sometimes [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09425-w give birth to cloned males from another species.]. Since this news circulated widely a few days before this comic was released, these ants may be what inspired [[Randall]].

Additionally, "bugs" can be informally used to refer to a whole range of contagious {{w|pathogen}}s (often bacteria or viruses) that are ''also'' likely to be studied by a biology department, and potentially just as existentially horrifying with increased understanding, for example [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11326844/ zombie neutrophils].

The title text refers to a notice board from the Linguistics Department. It points out that during the times that the Biology Department's sign displays the number '1', there's an inconsistency with the plural word "days", and describes how long it has been since someone in Linguistics noticed the problem. Since the problem is most evident when the Biology Department's sign is displaying the number 1, it's likely that the number on the Linguistics Department's sign will mostly be the number on the Biology Department's sign minus one. (If it's talking about when Linguistics ''first'' noticed the problem, this will always be longer than the time shown on the Biology Department's sign, which is occasionally reset, unless everyone in Linguistics somehow forgets about the problem... but this is unlikely, because these signs do not usually refer to a single fixed event). The Linguistics sign has both a changeable number and a changeable word for the time period, so perhaps the linguists avoided the same 'error' on their own sign by allowing for the use of a "day" insert. But it might also allow "minute"/"minutes" or "hour"/"hours", depending on how quickly the sign was put up after the problem with the Biology sign was noticed, with a suitably responsive sign-caretaker. Eventually it might be changed to longer periods such as month(s), year(s), etc. This could be a reference to [[363: Reset]] in which someone who updates the sign fills the requirement for resetting the sign.

This comic visually resembles [[1758: Astrophysics]], which also features a sign showing the motto of some kind of science department.

==Transcript==

:[An institutional building with windows is in the background, surrounded by grass and with sidewalks in the front and leading to a door]
:[A sign in front reads:]

:Welcome to the Biology Department. It has been [3] days since we discovered something existentially horrifying about bugs that makes you question your whole reality.

:[The [3] is a replaceable tag, which can change numbers.]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Language]]

1106: ADD

2025-09-15T11:39:25Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Was just going to correct the case at the start of the ()s, but I also have niggling doubts that he's inattentive, as he goes for balloons that he's not holding *rather* than staying inordinately focused upon those that he already holds.

{{comic
| number = 1106
| date = September 10, 2012
| title = ADD
| image = add.png
| titletext = 20 balloons float away while I'm busy permanently tying one to a tree to deal with it for good. Unfortunately, that one balloon was 'land a rocket on the moon in Kerbal Space Program.'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic appears to be a visual representation of the thought process of someone with {{w|Attention Deficit Disorder}} or ADD (or some other subtype of {{w|ADHD}}). Various of Cueball's thoughts or tasks that he must do are represented by balloons which are rising out of his reach. He holds the "math problem" balloon and grabs the "call mom" balloon, but notices "check oven" is rising out of his reach. He abandons the two balloons he holds to dive and grab the "check oven" balloon. Of course, this allows the other two to rise, presumably out of Cueball's reach, as the pullout reveals a plethora of other balloons already rising too high, some of which describe actions required to live, like balloons marked "breathe" or "drink water". This visualizes how ADHD makes it incredibly difficult to multi-task, prioritize, and continually work on one task.

Cueball quickly drops one task to take on another, only to jump to yet another task before that one is done; showing how the person with ADHD feels; that while they are focusing on one task, 20 others are getting away from them. The title text further reinforces this, noting that while committing to actually complete one task (represented by tying a balloon to a tree), 20 others floated away. The task he chose to complete is (as stereotypical for someone with ADHD), a task that results in no necessary accomplishment — the task is to land a rocket on the moon (Mun or alternitively Minmus) in ''{{w|Kerbal Space Program}}'', a PC-based spaceflight simulator and video game. Additional humor comes from the fact that landing a rocket on the moon in Kerbal Space Program would require a lot of repetition through trial-and-error, making a long and involved task during which many other important tasks might be ignored normally.

In addition, the title "add" may also have a secondary meaning that Cueball feels that balloons/tasks are always being added, which does indeed feel like the case as his field of vision expands, resulting in an overwhelming experience.

Here is a list of all of the balloons with explanations for each
:*Parking Meter - He may be parked in a public parking area, where paying for temporary parking is common. He may need to refill the meter he is parked at or move to a new spot.
:*Taxes - Failing to pay taxes results in many different punishments, which he would almost certainly want to avoid.
:*Buy Soap - He is either out or almost out of soap and needs to buy more.
:*Phone Call - There are multiple interpretations to this. His phone may be actively ringing, or he is expecting a call. Alternatively, he may have to make a call to someone.
:*Relax - With all of his responsibilities, he needs to make time to relax.
:*Inbox - His e-mail inbox is likely filling up, and he desires to read or delete unread e-mails(see [[2389: Unread]]).
:*Clean - His house is constantly getting dirty, and he needs to clean it regularly.
:*Beat Game - There is a game he wants to beat, and he wants to make progress.
:*Feed Cat - He needs to take care of his cat every day and, like humans, cats require food.
:*Drink Water - He needs to not overstress, and drinking water helps with focus (and keeping him alive{{citation needed}}).
:*Call Mom - He probably hasn't called his mom in a while and wants to catch up with her.
:*Math Problem - Given that he is no longer in school ([[557: Students]]), he probably is not thinking about math homework, rather a phenomenon he was curious about and is using math to solve.
:*Send Card - He would like to send a card to a friend or family member who is far away from him, either living somewhere else or on vacation.
:*Check Oven - There is something in the oven and he needs to check it to make sure the food inside doesn't over- or undercook, and that his house does not burn down. Alternatively, he may be out, and is worrying about whether he turned his oven off.
:*Engine Light - The "check engine" light in a car generally refers to a non-specific engine issue which needs to be checked. This light in his car may be on, and he needs to take it to a mechanic.
:*Read - He may have chosen recently to read more, as seen in [[2005: Attention Span]].
:*Breathe - This is likely sarcastic, as people do not tend to forget to breathe{{citation needed}}.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is holding a balloon with "Math Problem" written on it. He is running to grab a balloon labeled "Call Mom" that is floating away.]

:[Cueball is now holding both balloons, but looks over his shoulder and sees a balloon that reads "Check Oven".]
:Cueball: ''!!''

:[Cueball releases the balloons he had been holding and runs for the third.]

:[Cueball jumps for the "Check Oven" balloon and snatches it just before it is out of reach.]
:''LEAP''
:Cueball: Hah!

:[Full width panel showing 16 balloons floating away and one Cueball is holding. The balloons are different sizes and colors, and are floating at different heights. They are labeled as follows from left to right. Listed as * Label - color - height order (1 is the lowest balloon).
:*Parking Meter - blue - 11
:*Taxes - green - 3
:*Buy Soap - red - 12
:*Phone Call - green - 7
:*Relax - yellow - 6
:*Inbox - blue - 9
:*Clean - red - 13
:*Beat Game - green - 4
:*Feed Cat - yellow - 8
:*Drink Water - blue - 15
:*Call Mom - red - 2
:*Math Problem - green - 3
:*Send Card - red - 14
:*Check Oven (Cueball is holding this one still) - yellow - 1
:*Engine Light - yellow - 10
:*Read - blue - 16
:*Breathe - blue - 5

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]
[[Category:Rockets]]
[[Category:Taxes]]

Talk:Rob

2025-09-14T23:58:55Z

92.17.62.87: /* Last Initial? */

:[[647: Scary]] has the distinction of being the first comic to call Rob by his name in the transcript instead of saying "Man:".
This is despite the fact that the earlier comic [[632: Suspicion]] also calls Rob by his name in the transcript (and of course [[276: Fixed Width]] uses it as well, albeit in an unconventional format). Is this some reference to explainxkcd history that I'm not aware of? [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 14:31, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
:Nope. That's a mistake that you may fix. Thanks for finding that! [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:33, 3 December 2012 (UTC) has

== Robert and Little Bobby Tables ==

Aren't Robert and Little Bobby Tables a.k.a. Robert'); DROP TABLE students;-- in Comic [[327: Exploits of a Mom]] the same person? --[[Special:Contributions/92.203.102.185|92.203.102.185]] 10:31, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
: No, Robert'); DROP TABLE students;-- is a child: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5f/Little_Bobby_Tables.PNG

: And Rob is an adult: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/838:_Incident --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:33, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

== Last Initial? ==

In comic 838, we see Rob's *nix username as robm. I assume that would be a last initial... but in any case, should we include it in the wiki as additional information about him?
:At first I thought "Rob" might be a nickname for Randall, and the M would be for Munroe, but multiple comics mention a "Robert" (for which "Rob" is an obvious nickname,) and [[2584: Headline Words]] reveals that Randall and Rob are different people. [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 22:01, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
::There are particularly odd 'nicknames', like "{{w|Peggy (given name)|Peggy}}" derived from "Margaret", or somebody with the surname "Warren" liable to have been called "Bunny" in some eras/locales. But "Randall" wouldn't really go to "Rob", normally (to "Randy", "Ran", maybe "Dall(y)", normally), nor is there an obvious link to "Patrick" ("Pat", or maybe "Rick" the latter an interesting merger from the usually nicknaming from the "Richard" direction - which makes me wonder about his brothers, "Ricky and Doug", according to the first and so far only place I've readily found that actually mentions their names... Richard and Douglas, presumably..? But what of middle-names?).
::Of course, there's no accounting for more obscure family-derived sobriquets that may end up having very little bearing upon how they end up, and of course a totally unconnected moniker can arise. I could give you three or four nicknames given to me, totally unrelated to any part of my actual name. One from youngest days was derived from a childish insult, readily accepted through innocence until the point that I (unconsciously!) 'reclaimed' it. Another from my late teens was based on a computer username I was ''given'' (alphanumeric, depicting what department I was initially studying in, etc, somehoe morphed into something that became 'my name' IRL). A third, a workplace one, was from a characterisation on a TV programme that apparently I resembled. The fourth... very hard to try to actually describe, and so I won't.)
::Self-chosen usernames... well, apart from the fact that I've never chosen one for here, I've had loads of them, mostly left by the wayside, all of which I'd still be happy to be called IRL - if ever there's an IRL meetup, in leiu of any name that resembles what's on my birth certificate. Something like "robm" could even be one of those things. Maybe an initialism ("Randall's Online Baseline Moniker"? "Registered-name Of Broad Meaning"?).
::But perhaps simpler to just take it as a third-person character persona invented for the purpose of a 'fall guy' in the xkcd universe, distinct from all those times when Randall's deliberately doing a comic that says something like "I always find that..." and instead goes with "This guy always finds that...". ''Maybe'' even based upon someone he knows, but I suspect he's too genre-savvy to make it a straight and simple reference to anyone real. Or at least plausible deniability by knowing a ''number'' of Roberts, either several with 'M'-surnames (including a paternal cousins/etc, or two?) or very precisely none at all. At least at the time of first usage.
::Does it even need to be analysed quite so much? Probably not. Characters may take on a life far beyond the random 'throwawayness' that originally created them. If there ever was a "Rob M." in his life (or, indeed, in his own self), "Rob 'Cueball' Madeupname" has probably grown beyond that and neither author nor muse would necessarily consider there to be an active link between the stick figure and IRL one, after so many years. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:58, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

== Rob vs. Cueball ==
I get a vague sense that Rob is the name Randall gives to Cueball when it is appropriate for Cueball to have a name in that context. Am I the only one?
[[User:QuarterNotes|QuarterNotes]] ([[User talk:QuarterNotes|talk]]) 22:40, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

: No, I thought the same thing. After all, he doesn't give Cueball any other name (except Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:33, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

2632: Greatest Scientist

2025-09-14T17:06:37Z

92.17.62.87: /* Transcript */ Even https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/greatest_scientist_2x.png doesn't really give a positive impression of it being Black Hat. *Might* have a hat. Then could instead be White Hat, or even Beret Guy. Could be Hairy, or even Cueball, IMHO..!

{{comic
| number = 2632
| date = June 13, 2022
| title = Greatest Scientist
| image = Greatest Scientist.png
| titletext = "Ow! One of the petri dishes I left on the tower railing fell and hit me on the head. Hey, that gives me an idea..."
}}

==Explanation==

This comic takes the feats of seven of history's most acclaimed scientists and combines them into one fictional act, claiming that this person was the greatest scientist in history. The joke is that pulling off a combination of all of these would be rather impressive{{Citation needed}} from a technical standpoint, but would have little value as a scientific experiment; almost none of the things being tested are directly related to each other.

These scientists are {{w|Thales of Miletus}}, {{w|Galileo Galilei}}, {{w|Benjamin Franklin}}, {{w|Alexander Fleming}}, {{w|Ivan Pavlov}}, {{w|Eratosthenes}}, and {{w|Isaac Newton}}.

The ground is noticeably curved in this comic, because the curvature of the Earth is mentioned and measured.

Humorously combining multiple science experiments into one was also a punchline in [[1584: Moments of Inspiration]]. Curved floors to represent Earths curvature were mentioned in [[2412: 1/100,000th Scale World]].

==Table of Experiments==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ List of experiments in the comic
|-
! Experiment in comic !! Experiment in reality !! Meaning !! Scientist
|-
| Measuring the shadow of a tall building|| Tradition holds that {{w|Thales of Miletus}} measured the shadow of the {{w|Great Pyramid of Giza}}, and used geometry he had recently proven to calculate its height. || Thales was the first known person to actually prove mathematical fact rather than simply notice it, and as such he is considered the father of both math and science. His development of the theory of similar triangles in particular paved the way for many later discoveries, such as the Pythagorean theorem and Eratosthenes' measurement of the earth.|| {{w|Thales of Miletus}}
|-
| The Leaning Tower of Pisa || {{w|Galileo}} conducted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo%27s_Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa_experiment an experiment] at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, where he dropped two objects to measure whether the rate at which objects fall is dependent on weight or is constant. || Galileo found that objects with different weights fall at the same rate, disproving Aristotle's statement which purported the opposite. Galileo was not the first scientist to run such an experiment (and there is some debate whether he ran the experiment himself or not) but Galileo's version is notable for furthering the idea of experimentation in science, in opposition to the then-prevailing view that knowledge is learned by studying the writings of the ancients.|| {{w|Galileo Galilei}}
|-
|Flying a kite into a thunderstorm with lightning || In June 1752, Benjamin Franklin performed his famous {{w|kite experiment}} in which he attached a conductive wire to a kite and flew it near a thunderstorm. Attached to the kite was a key, which was further attached to a {{w|Leyden jar}}. || While the kite was not hit by lightning, "Franklin did notice that loose threads of the kite string were repelling each other and deduced that the Leyden jar was being charged." This is sometimes considered the discovery of the fact that lightning contains/is electricity. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}}
|-
| Two moldy petri dishes || In August 1928, Alexander Fleming put ''Staphylococcus aureus'' into multiple petri dishes and then left to go on holiday/vacation. On September 3, he returned and found that one plate had mold on it. The moldy plate was the only one that no longer had ''S. aureus'' bacteria in it. He later repeated this experiment and {{w|History_of_penicillin#The_breakthrough_discovery|the result was confirmed}}. || The mold that Fleming had discovered produced penicillin, an antibiotic. This was the first time that a substance had been discovered that could ''reliably'' treat bacterial infections, having a huge impact on medicine across the world. || Sir {{w|Alexander Fleming}}
|-
| Salivating dog located next to a bell || [https://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html In 1902 Ivan Pavlov conducted a study on dog reflexes] by giving dogs food and simultaneously ringing a bell. When the dog smelled and saw the food, it started salivating. Eventually, simply ringing the bell made the dog salivate, as the dog had associated the bell ringing with food. Pavlov also performed other, less humane experiments on other dogs. || This was the discovery of {{w|classical conditioning}}, where a stimulus is paired with an unrelated other thing through repeated exposure. The subject will eventually react to the unrelated thing in the absence of the stimulus. This is an example of taught reflexes, where a subconsious reaction like a reflex or instinct is taught. || {{W|Ivan Pavlov}}
|-
| The shadow angle of the dog determining the circumference of the Earth || |In the 200s BCE, the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes {{w|Earth's_circumference#Eratosthenes|measured the circumference of the Earth}}. While his exact method has been lost to time, a simplified version remains: At high noon on the summer solstice in Syene, Egypt, the sun was almost directly overhead. This was confirmed with a sundial. 5,000 stadia away in Alexandria, at the same time, the angle of the sun was measured with another sundial and converted into a fraction of the Earth's circumference. Some simple multiplication could then yield the circumference of the Earth. || The distance Eratosthenes calculated for the circumference of Earth was 250,000 stadia. This estimate was either 2.4% low or 0.8% high compared to modern knowledge, depending on whether he used Greek or Egyptian stadia - a remarkably accurate estimate for the time. || {{w|Eratosthenes}}
|-
| (Title text) A petri dish falling on the scientist's head, leading to a new discovery || Sir Isaac Newton, an inventor of calculus and discoverer of his famous {{w|Newton's laws of motion|Laws of Motion}}, also determined the basic mechanics of {{w|gravity}}. Newton apparently told acquaintances that his inquiries into gravity were {{w|Isaac_Newton#Apple_incident|"occasion'd by the fall of an apple"}}, and this is often embellished into a story where Newton came up with the notion of gravity when an apple fell from a tree and hit him on the head. Regardless of what the apple really landed on, this purportedly led Newton to consider the question of what ''exactly'' caused the apple to fall straight to the ground. || This line of thinking ultimately let him to deduce the {{w|Law of Universal Gravitation}}, which is fundamental to understanding celestial mechanics. || Sir {{w|Isaac Newton}}
|}

==Transcript==
:[A segment of the Earth is shown where the ground is noticeably curved, low at the edges and highest in the middle. On the left of the panel, there are one tall, but leaning tower, three smaller buildings, two trees and a small plant representing Pisa, Italy. The tower represents the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Cueball is standing in front of the left most building. The height of the tower is labeled h1 against a locally non-leaning dotted line, the length of its shadow upon the grounds is marked L1, the angle from ground at the end of the shadow to the tip of the tower is labelled θ1. Held by an indistinct figure at the top of the tower, there is a kite string which goes in a upward sloping curve to a kite. The kite is in the top right corner with it's tail pointing away from the kite to the right. Just above and to the left of the kite there is a cloud with a lightning bolt coming out beneath it. Beneath the kite there is a string down to a rectangular device, that seems to have two arms beneath it. These seems to have dropped two items, as indicated with dotted lines going down towards the ground in two parallel and straight lines. It turns out to be two disks that fell from the kite, and just above the ground they hit a bell supported on curved pin. As they hit the bell is makes two sounds. Next to the bell is a small dog with it's tongue hanging out. A horizontal line above the dog and its shadow is labeled (and possibly broken up by) h2, the length of its shadow on the ground L2, and the angle up from the far end of the shadow to the tip of the dog θ2. To the left of the dog there is a three and two smaller plants. Between Pisa and the dog, near the middle part of the curved there are various distant pyramids near the horizon. This section of the ground are very nearly horizontal to the image. All buildings in 'Pisa', the dropping disks and the supported bell/dog at the other side of the scene and various trees and plants around each end are locally-vertical in a radial manner, except for the Tower Of Pisa which is almost vertical to the image in exhibiting its local 'lean'. The two θ angles are clearly different but the dotted diagonal segments they define head in the same drawn direction from the tips of the shadows to the tips of their objects. The Sun is not illustrated but would be somewhere to the left of the image and upwards to cause the measured shadows.]
:Left labels: h1 θ1 L1
:Right labels: h2 θ2 L2
:Bell: Ding ding

:[Caption below the panel:]
:History's greatest scientist was probably that one who measured the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa while flying a kite into a distant thunderstorm where lightning caused two moldy Petri dishes to fall onto a bell next to a salivating dog whose shadow angle determined the circumference of the Earth.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Kites]]
[[Category:Animals]]

3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-13T21:24:04Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Really, there are other differences, related to the point of it beng at a plate-interface rather than poking up throuh the middle, but let's keep it simple, eh?

{{comic
| number = 3141
| date = September 12, 2025
| title = Mantle Model
| image = mantle_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 527x317px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Mantle plumes explain Hawaii, Yellowstone, Iceland, the East African Rift, the Adirondack uplift, the Permian extinction, the decline of Rome, the DB Cooper hijacking, and the balrog in Moria. Those little hills of sand in your yard are caused by antle plumes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain why the causes for title text are mysterious .This page was created by {{w|Pele (deity)|PELE}}, THE GODDESS OF VOLCANOES AND FIRE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A {{w|mantle plume}} is a flow of {{w|magma}} upward from deep in the Earth toward the surface. Some plumes are thought to come close to the surface and result in hotspots that produce volcanoes, such as the hotspot that formed the {{w|Hawaiian Islands}} chain. Here Randall says the plumes account for every surface feature on Earth that we can't otherwise account for, due to the little knowledge of them, which is absurd.

The title text extends this further, suggesting with increasing absurdity that mantle plumes account for other things:
* Hawaii. A hotspot, hypothesized to sit atop a mantle plume, did indeed create the Hawaiian Islands.
* Iceland. The same as Hawaii, essentially. Except for being at the edge of two plates instead of in the middle of one.
* {{w|Yellowstone}}. This area of hot springs, geysers, and other geothermal phenomena is in the {{w|Yellowstone Caldera}}, which some geologists believe sits atop a mantle plume.
* The {{w|East African Rift}}. This area in East Africa is a developing divergent {{w|tectonic plate}} boundary where the African plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates.
* The {{w|Adirondack_Mountains#Geology|Adirondack uplift}}. The Adirondack Mountains were raised by the collision of tectonic plates. Some geologists believe that tectonic plates are in turn driven, in part, by mantle plumes.
* The {{w|Permian extinction}}, also called the 'Great Dying' and more formally as the Permian-Triassic extinction event, is the largest of the {{w|List of extinction events|"big five" mass extinctions}} since vertebrate life appeared on Earth. There are several hypotheses as to why it happened, one of which, {{w|Siberian Traps}} volcanism, could have happened because of a mantle plume.
* The decline of Rome refers to the end of the {{w|Roman Empire}}. The decline was caused by a lot of factors, including changing social pressures, financial exhaustion after a series of wars, pressure from neighboring rivals, and siphoning of resources and attention to Constantinople. All of which had nothing to do with mantle plumes.{{Citation needed}}. One suggestion would be that this relates to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which was a tragedy, but not empire-ending. It could also allude to the Volcanic Winter of 536, which was in all likelihood caused by a volcano and which did hasten the decline of the Roman Empire in the age of Justinian.
* The {{w|DB Cooper}} airplane hijacking occurred in 1971 and remains unsolved. Dan B. Cooper is an alias of the hijacker, whose real name is unknown. The hijacking had nothing to do with mantle plumes.{{Citation needed}} This is one of several xkcd cartoons referring to [[D. B. Cooper]], including [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] in which Cueball suggested that Cooper might have become filmmaker {{w|Tommy Wiseau}}, and [[2498: Forest Walk]], in which Cooper is seen stuck in a tree on [[Beret Guy]]'s property.
* The {{w|balrog}} in {{w|Moria, Middle-earth|Moria}} is a fictional beast in {{w|J.R.R. Tolkien}}'s {{w|legendarium}} that first appeared in ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}''. It too has nothing to do with mantle plumes,{{Citation needed}} but it was revealed by the dwarves, who "delved too greedily and too deep and awoke a terror of shadow and flame." If we were to delve sufficiently greedily and deep that we dug into a mantle plume, we would indeed be greeted by a terrible amount of flame,{{Citation needed}} although the shadow aspect is unconfirmed.
* Ants often create anthills, which, depending on the species, can look like little plumes of sand. The title text refers to ants as "antle plumes". The {{w|nonce word}} "antle" sounds like "ant hill" in some {{w|h-dropping}} dialects of English.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[A diagram of the Earth’s inner structure is shown with the caption “Standard geophysical model of the mantle”. Dotted lines forming structures that appear to be moving through and between various layers of the mantle are labeled with arrows. The arrows either point to the base of the structures on the inside of the planet or formations on the outside.]

:[In the center around the Earth’s core are vertical columns rising up away from the core through cracks in lower layers of mantle. At different layers the structure either branches out horizontally between layers or again vertically through additional cracks. This process might yield a single vertical column, or several branching horizontal and vertical branches.]
:[These structures are labeled:]
:Hypothesized mantle plumes

:[On the Earth’s surface are various rock formations that align with the locations of plumes just below.]
:[The formations are labeled:]
:Every feature of the Earth surface that we have a hard time explaining

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Standard geophysical model of the mantle

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Comics featuring D. B. Cooper]]

explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical

2025-09-13T21:17:15Z

92.17.62.87:

<noinclude>__NEWSECTIONLINK__
{{Community links}}

{|-
|valign="top" width="100%"|[[File:Crystal Clear app package settings blue.png|left|120px]] <big><big>Technical</big></big>

Technical issues ''about'' the [[explain xkcd]] wiki, including bug reports or MediaWiki extensions requests. {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Technical|Text=(+post)}}
|}</noinclude>

==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;">Most of the discussions on this page have been archived. The archive is available at '''[[explain xkcd talk:Community portal/Technical]]'''.</div>

== Unable to view "what if?" page ==

The link to the page for the [[what if?]] blog displays an error: "No input file specified." [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 03:38, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

:This also happens to me on [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] Must be something with the ?s in the titles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 15:46, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

::I've noticed that as well. I made a page in my userspace that redirects to the what if page, and for some reason that seems to work. ([[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink|here is the link to the page]]) [[User:Blue screen of life|Blue screen of life]] ([[User talk:Blue screen of life|talk]]) 20:09, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

:::I have also noticed this but it is not just on pages with questions marks. Both [[259]] and [[1705]] show the same thing. A full list (as of 22 June 2020) of the ones i found is in the last reply to my report found here [[#2138_page_issues]] [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 12:20, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

::::Both [[259]] and [[1705]] have an ({{w|E acute|e-with-accute-accent}}, Unicode U+00E9) in the URL, so for those pages, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
::::For the "what if?" page, I had recently added a redirect from [[what if (blog)]] to get to it, and the [[What If]] disambiguation page has been updated with it, so at least we can get to it that way; and for the comic explanations, at least we can get to them by linking to their number-redirects (as [[58]] instead of [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]); but not sure how to fix it overall. At the following page, it suggests tweaking an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Rewrite engine|rewrite}} directive in {{w|.htaccess}} (or a {{w|Common Gateway Interface|CGI}} setting in {{w|PHP}} if it's running on {{w|Internet Information Services|IIS}}):
::::* https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vmaw1tu5kkhyon0n
::::So maybe something about that has changed recently? Documentation:
::::* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewriterule Apache mod_rewrite <code>RewriteRule</code> directive]
::::* [https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.cgi.force-redirect php.ini <code>cgi.force_redirect</code> directive]
::::Summarizing a few points from [[User talk:SlashMe#Homeopathic Wiki|this related discussion]]:
::::* Only one of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=sysop 10 administrators] has made recent edits ([[Special:Contributions/SlashMe|SlashMe]]).
::::* Neither of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=bureaucrat 2 bureaucrats] ([[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] and [[Special:Contributions/Lcarsos|Lcarsos]]) have made any edits recently.
::::* For admin access to the ''server'' itself, my limited understanding is that [[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] might actually own the server, but may have also given admin access to [[Special:Contributions/Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]; however, neither of them have made edits recently.
::::But "most recent edit" might not be a good indicator, so I wonder of some of these folks are still involved in the project?
::::– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 05:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
: Looks like it happens for any page that has a percent-encoding in the title. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:32, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

=== Known broken pages ===
(Redirects work, whereas links to the actual page are broken.)

Title containing e-accute-accent:
* [[259]] ↳ [[259: Clichéd Exchanges]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=259:_Clich%C3%A9d_Exchanges What links here])
* [[1705]] ↳ [[1705: Pokémon Go]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1705:_Pok%C3%A9mon_Go What links here])

Title ending with question mark:
* <del>[[what if (blog)]] ↳ [[what if?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])</del> <ins>fixed – content now exists at [[what if]], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 broken links] are in the process of being updated (see below)</ins>
* [[58]] ↳ [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F What links here])
* [[111]] ↳ [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F What links here])
* [[1205]] ↳ [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1205:_Is_It_Worth_the_Time%3F What links here])
* [[1841]] ↳ [[1841: Who?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1841:_Who%3F What links here])
* [[1913]] ↳ [[1913: A ?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1913:_A_%3F What links here])
* [[2065]] ↳ [[2065: Who Sends the First Text?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2065:_Who_Sends_the_First_Text%3F What links here])
* [[2138]] ↳ [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F What links here])
* [[2236]] ↳ [[2236: Is it Christmas?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2236:_Is_it_Christmas%3F What links here])

=== Moved ===
I moved the [[what if?]] page to the [[what if (blog)]] page which I then changed to simply [[what if]] to fix this issue and because anyone new to this site would type that any way to see it. — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 06:47, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

:Still trying to wrap my head around it – so just to summarize, we currently have:
:
:* '''[[whatif]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=whatif&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' (see below)
:* '''[[What If?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])
:** ↳ ''also redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F What links here])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** ''content manually moved from'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&diff=198070&oldid=197859 diff]) '''[[what if?]]''' ''to'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if&diff=198071&oldid=197486 diff]) '''[[what if (blog)]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_(blog)&redirect=no no-redirect link]) (''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&action=history previous revision history] remains at'' '''[[what if?]]''')
:**** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:
:For completeness, we also have...
:
:* '''[[what if book]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_book&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if#The book]] – actual content'''
:** Suggestion: for consistency, also add a '''[[what if (book)]]''' page that redirects here?
:
:...and the disambiguation page...
:
:* '''[[What If]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[What If (disambiguation)]]''' – disambiguation page
:*** ''links to'' '''[[17: What If]]''' (↲ '''[[17]]''' redirects here ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=17&redirect=no no-redirect link]))
:*** ''links to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** Suggestion: mention the ''book'' here as well, and link to its section in the [[what if]] page?
:
:...and these troubleshooting pages from [[User:Blue screen of life]]:
:
:* '''[[User:Blue screen of life/redirecttest]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/redirecttest&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/whatiflink&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[What If?]]''' (see above)
:
:Given that the actual content of the "what if?" article now lives at '''[[what if]]''', I've started updating pages <ins>(except for Talk pages)</ins> to link directly there instead of the other redirect pages. All that's left to do are pages that link to the '''[[what if?]]''' redirect-page (which is broken). <del>Its [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if%3F "What links here"] special page is broken too, so it's difficult to find what pages link there – but now that it redirects to the [[what if]] page, you can see them indirectly from ''that'' page's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 "What links here"] special page.</del> <ins>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F These] are the pages that still link there.</ins> There are still a lot of them to go.
:
:Also, should the following redirect-pages be simplified to have them redirect straight to the new [[what if]] page, instead of redirecting through the intermediate '''[[what if?]]''' page (which itself redirects there anyway)?
:* '''[[whatif]]'''
:* '''[[What If?]]'''
:– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 17:20, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
:: Fixed the double redirects, don't ask me why we have so many pages for the same thing. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:29, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

== Discussion not displaying with comic ==

I am using FireFox on a Win10 machine. When I come to the site I can see the comic, explanation and transcript. But the discussion section is hidden. Even when logged in.

Any ideas?

: You say "when I come to the site". If the address bar says you are on Main_Page and you see the heading "Latest comic", then it's simply working as designed. Above the comic, click on "Go to this comic explanation" and you will see the comic plus discussion.

: Also, Steve, please sign your comments every time, with four tildes. That expands into your user name and a timestamp. Like this -- [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 10:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Random page sometimes takes me to an invalid address ==

Sometimes, when clicking on "Random page" in the left sidebar, the site will be blank apart from the text "No input file specified. ".

An example of such an URL is: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F

:I've noticed this happens for ''all'' URLs to comics that end in a question mark (or possibly any special character). Interestingly, this doesn't happen if you go to the comic from the search bar. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 23:04, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

== Bug on the main page ==

Bug Enviroment(Might work on other enviroments):
Ubuntu 20.04LTS
Firefox85.0
2021.2.7

Bug:
The front page reads: `Welcome, Main Page, to explain xkcd!` with `Main Page` formatted as a username,can someone fix this?

[[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 09:48, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

== Occasional error via Cloudflare ==
Just a note that I'm getting Cloudflare errors of "origin not reachable" (sounds wrong to me, in my head it should be 'destination', but never mind) three times now in the last ten to fifteen minutes - of maybe a dozen general site-requests.

I've also been getting seemingly .CSSless formatted pages over the past few days, which I've been putting down to slightly dodgy wifi at my end (not unknown) but if I'm getting Cloudflare's error cleanly then perhaps it's been entirely upstream/downstream/however-you'd-describe-the-Explain-server. (Obviously CSS resource requests, as with images, are additional HTTP calls, but I still lump it into the single site-request ''per page'' in my 'dozen' estimate above. No obviously lost images, though, in incomplete pages - not that can't be explained by .CSS non-following, anyway.)

I had copy-buffered some of the exact info, but due to incompetence I recopied over it before coming here. If it happens again, I'll try to bring it over here. But (the way these things go) maybe it won't. FYI, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 12:04, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
: Not a Cloudfare error (looks like an error of the actual explainxkcd server) but every now and then (like just a few minutes ago) I get an error page that generally goes away if I immediately refresh. To whit:
Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
: Not really a problem (occasionally happened while submitting an exit, and I have to confirm to the browser that I wish to repost the data, but this particular copied instance was through a more 'read-only' link-click, like most of the instances) but... in case someone finds this to be new and useful information... here you are! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 03:45, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
:OP, here, of the above 503 error report/casual mention. Obviously this is the same message that happened for an ''extended'' period of time over a number of days, but I've only just happened to find the site responding again and have not yet looked to see if it is explained as the same or different cause to the old intermittent issues (at root). I hope things are resolved from the major outage (server quota? bill payments? renewal/reconfiguration blips?) but wonder if I should report any future minor outages? I'm still smarting from the total loss of the fora.xkcd.com platform, a few years back, and while I'm not active enough here to consider a proper login (lurking as a freeloading anon-IP is good enough, usually, for my intellectual enjoyment, with all due apologies) I did have a slight pang of emptiness while it was out-of-order. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 15:48, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

== Add TemplateData ==

Add the {{mw|Extension:TemplateData|TemplateData}} extension to allow setting data for templates. This will help editors because they will be able to see the data of templates.

== MediaWiki 1.30.0?! ==

This wiki is [[Special:Version|currently]] on [[mw:MediaWiki 1.30|MediaWiki 1.30.0]] ([[mw:Release notes/1.30|release notes]]), the first of three releases of a version of MW that reached end-of-life in June of 2019 ([[mw:Version lifecycle]]). It's thus missing multiple important security updates from 1.30.1 and 1.30.2, not to mention the two years' worth of security updates since 1.30.x reached end-of-life. Even 1.31.x will be reaching end-of-life in just over a month.

If the sysadmins here update to [[mw:MediaWiki 1.35|MediaWiki 1.35.2]] ([[mw:Release_notes/1.35|release notes]]), that version will be maintained till September of 2023, with only a few security updates in the meantime. I would '''strongly''' encourage y'all to update to 1.35.2; to promptly update if there's a .3, .4, etc.; and to make sure you switch to the next LTS release (which will presumably be 1.39) well in advance of September of '23. (Note that this will also require updating to PHP 7.3.19 or later.) [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 07:17, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

== Uptime ==
Did the website just go down? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 13:06, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

It was definitely down this weekend!
https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nxrm65
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:21, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

== Comic template lappend breaks for standalone comic links ==

For example, https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html is changed to https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html/ which isn't valid [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.15|172.69.90.15]] 15:51, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Template here, I think it needs to be changed to solve this https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Template:comic

exkcd page here https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Blue_Eyes

== May not be your problem, but FYI. ==

My typcal setup: Android tablet, with Chrome for Android (latest update), but also Firefox for Android (ditto), using default Gboard (likewise) for input.

Occasionally (notably within the last few weeks/maybe a month or so), when going in to edit an explainxkcd page through Chrome (it's how I divide up my browsing), I'm getting the cursor in the textarea box which ''can'' be used to Cut/Copy/Paste (as applicable and useful), but the on-screen keyboard isn't popping up. Page is fully loaded (can be refreshed, doesn't have the "stop loading" alternative), can go back (page viewing) and try to go back to the page editor (often to same result). Sitting and waiting doesn't pop the keyboard up, either (sat there for minutes). Happens both on home wifi and mobile connection.

If I transfer my attentions to the page to Firefox (copy URL, to use there... but I don't use that by default for expxkcd stuff) there's no problem, but then if I come back to Chrome again it seems to start working again ''anyway'' so not sure if it's just avoiding/flushing a transient problem that would also initially crop up with Firefox if I used that more.

Because editing is a different (mobile-optimised) process on Wikipedia and I can't be sure about any the equivalence of any other wiki out there (and it doesn't happen with anything else I regularly key into on Chrome) it's not something I've reproduced outwith this site, and of course desktop page-editing doesn't require touch-screen keyboard because there's a physical one.

Not getting much feedback with Chrome (really can't get on with their bugrep processes, it's too huge a project to make headway, IME), not even tried to pester the Gboard team and I've not ''seen'' anything said on here about this being a site-issue (not sure how it could be, as it's outside the remit of the core web-page rendering process and more an Android or App level of incompetence), but I thought I'd make a note of it here for future reference. Make of it what you will. Annoying but not game-breaking. And I just wanted to vent a little. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 16:54, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

== [[special:interwiki]] ==

where'd it go? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.200|172.69.68.200]] 05:07, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

== Please update MediaWiki + AbuseFilter ==

Seriously. Many scripts and such built for modern, supported versions of MW do not work here because it is so unbelievably undated. PinkAmpersand above basically covers the reason why. I also highly recommend adding the extension AbuseFilter (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter) as it immensely makes removing vandalism easier (by straight up disallowing or blocking those that do, esp if it's like the current formulaic massive-replacement vandalism.) [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:48, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

:Ditto. I feel like the main problem is that the sole person who has access to the backend either doesn't have time to update, doesn't have interest, or doesn't have the technical knowledge necessary. But yes, I agree - updating and installing an extension to help control vandalism would help this wiki tremendously. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:09, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

== ↑ ? ==

Why do some pages have ↑ at the very start? They can all be spotted by searching ↑
Is it a technical thing, vandalism, some sort of glitch? Maybe I'm just uninformed or being an idiot.
:Edit logs tell me that an IP user manually reverting vandalism somehow inserted one or more extra characters while manually reverting vandalism. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:59, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
::Should it be removed? It's not necessary and might be confusing for screenreaders... [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:00, 23 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Maybe not en-mass, I'd say. But I've dove in to delete a rogue leading <nowiki> </nowiki> tag left from a part of a prior vandalism (likewise, just before the {{template|comic}}-element) and I've promised myself that I'll remove any more that I spot (and now that arrow) in any future whole-page edit I make. Plus a small shopping-list of inessential but useful edits like making {{template|Citation needed}}s flow better when they're mispunctuated/etc.
:::But that's my solitary opinion. I'm sure hunting out and squishing this isn't a problem at all. I'm just balancing my own peculiar brand of OCD with what is somehow my also my own version of casual apathy towards other details. (Also, it probably looks better for a named account of recognised good standing to start editing potentially hundreds of pages in a session, rather than myself... potentially indistinguishable from the IP who seems to relish worn out memes in a general page-trashing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.121|162.158.159.121]] 12:20, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Is there anything else we can do to prevent vandalism? ==

There's been quite a significant uptick in vandalism recently, and I don't feel we have any effective tools to combat it. I believe one of the biggest issues here is due to the way logged-out editing works on this wiki. Blocks are completely ineffective at slowing vandals, and IP editors can vandalize with basically nothing we can do to thwart them other than revert-warring. '''Is there a better way?'''

There's been some discussion of installing AbuseFilter, but I'm not sure anything became of it. We could disable logged-out editing, but that would likely be counterproductive as we get lots of legitimate contributions from logged-out users. If there's a way to switch to location-based IPs, we could rangeblock problematic users as well as proxies. Does anyone have any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.145|162.158.78.145]] 16:11, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:I'm sort of making server side changes via telegraph so an extension is probably going to take a while to get installed. Takes a bunch of emails and followups to get single variables changed in the mediawiki settings file. There is an email verification option, and some edit frequency variables that could be set to make spam more time consuming. Don't love range blocks but wouldn't mind getting the CDN IPs dealt with so we can actually use the IP bans again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very grateful that you're working on changes under the hood. What do you think is the best way to deal with disruption in the meantime? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:19, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Could borrow a patrol bot like the ones people on main wikipedia have, could ask around. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:53, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::::There's not really a drop-in solution that you can use, especially since the server's MediaWiki version is not in sync with Wikipedia's (so a lot of the APIs etc have completely changed; when initially reverting vandalism I tried importing some scripts from enwiki but they failed as a result), but also because the bots have gotten pretty complex (using machine learning provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, for example). [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:56, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
:::::Oh I do notice mediawiki hasn't been upgraded in a while. Looks like new version of mediawiki should be dropping extremely imminently, would be nice timing for an upgrade '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:45, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== Rollback ==

Does the rollback permission exist on this wiki? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:00, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:The rollback permission of course exists but there's no group called "rollbacker" like you'd find on Wikipedia (limited to admins). You'd need the sysadmin to change the configuration to add one, which as established is not really an option right now. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:58, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== What happened to custom JavaScript? ==

I put some code in <code>[[User:Some user/common.js]]</code>, but it is not alerting 'hi' every time I load a page. Why can't we execute JavaScript anymore? Is it in response to the [[Project:Crap|crapping]] incident? [[User:Some user|Some user]] ([[User talk:Some user|talk]]) 21:16, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
:Entirely because of that, yeah. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:51, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

== My IP ==

Why is my IP address a Cloudflare address in Norway? Is this a joke of some kind that I'm missing?

Other wikis like Wikipedia are showing me my actual IP when I go to [[Special:MyContributions]], so I suspect this is a wiki misconfiguration. It changed again while I was typing this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.194|162.158.222.194]] 16:55, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
:All IPs (as this one will be) are from Cloudflare gateway IPs, because that's the default IP that the Wiki understands as the source. Cloudflare mediates all the traffic, and perhaps to some advantage (not being privvy to the logs, I can only guess how much it insulates the true server from extreme problems, but I bet it does in some way).
:There have been suggestions before to change some setting (in the MediaWiki implementation? ...can't recall exactly) to have it pick up and use the IP that the gateway reports (in its meta-request) was the origin, but that's not been enacted for Idunnowhat reason.
:Because the black-box that is the Cloudflare traffic shapes in various ways, you will find that a single user will jump around 'apparent' IPs, and I've also been in the relatively embarassing situation of replying to another IP's info and finding that I've registered on the exact same IP so that it looks like I'm stooging myself, or something.
:On the whole, though, it's a harmless quirk. And given the trivial nature of deliberately spoofing origins (even on top of assuming you get an effectively static NAT from your ISP in the first place) I don't personally see it as a problem to 'solve' this. But neither would I complain if the 'fix' were implemented if this query reminds someone that they ''were'' going to try and do the necessary tweak.
:As a lay-answer, I hope that fills you in a little. ''If'' those who have more knowledge/control of the process want to add anything or correct me, I'm sure they'll do so as soon as they can, but here's a reply to keep you going for now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 01:19, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
:fyi it is supported in MediaWiki through <code>$wgCdnServers</code>. See [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Cloudflare#Integration_with_MediaWiki MediaWiki’s introduction]. {{unsigned|物灵|06:58, 6 April 2025}}

==Main page in categories==
{{notice|'''This discussion is marked as duplicate.''' See [[#Main Page|this discussion]].}}
[[Main_Page]] was found wrongly appearing in some newly-created categories, such as [[:Category:Cosmology]]. Could you fix it? --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 17:49, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
:Never noticed this myself, but I'll take it as read. Before checking myself, I'm wondering if this could be when the main page 'inherits' tags from the Current Comic that it features. And thus solve itself (whilst gaining others) upon a newer Current Comic. (Must surely inherit "Monday Comics"/etc, on schedule every week.)
:If it is that, perhaps the solution lies in the details contained within https://m.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Categories#Categories_and_templates_(transcluded_pages)
:Or maybe I'm wrong about it. But I have no rights to edit (thus at least examine the 'code' of) the Main page, to check my snap theory, as with most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 19:21, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

This happened again in [[:Category:Airplane banner]]. [[User:I27.O.O.I|I27.O.O.I]] ([[User talk:I27.O.O.I|talk]]) 09:00, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and it lasted as long as the latest comic was still one with particular categories. I don't intend to worry about it. If someone goes to a category that interests them and looks at the main page, as temporarily advertised, they're likely to find (as part of it) a comic which is indeed in that category. Doesn't sound like a big problem to me, except for determinin why some cats (e.g. Friday Comics) ''don't'' link to the Main page when they might be expected to...
:(PS, I know for sure that I27.O.O.I isn't the same person as ColofulGalaxy (and various others, beyond even those with the bloomin' obvious "CG" initials or other recent spoofs on the RFC1918 addresses), and I don't think I mind too much, but faking disagreements between your various IDs isn't helping, anyone... smells too much of trying to establish alibis in advance of your next attempt to vandalise the site with stupid stuff. And doesn't impress me, so I doubt it impresses anyone else either. As long as you're just doing sane things, however, I'll accept your little idiosyncracies.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.32|162.158.74.32]] 19:37, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
:(PPS: You left your fingerprint on this latter attempt to 'rescue' [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2659:_Unreliable_Connection&curid=25530&diff=307289&oldid=307282 this page]. - Spammer a few minutes before midnight, my IP reversion happened shortly after. A little later "Elisabeth" then re-spammed (modified), then another IP immediately jumps on it to restore it but with the modified undo-summary line clearly indicating that some sort of a game is being played. Please don't, it's not clever.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.34|172.70.90.34]] 02:22, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

This doesn't happen to date categories, but it happens in manually added categories such as [[:Category:Statistics]]. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

==Cannot create user page==
It says: 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. [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[Talk:2659: Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 22:56, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
:(Removed alternative text in the link involved, to not hide behind trickery.) I think you know that there's no problem with [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] itself, except that it had become one of several pages targeted for spamming, the only one then locked down, then finding that the spammers just retargeted to its Talk page, etc.
:I'm torn between "not assuming bad faith" and "don't feed the trolls", as competing principles, so I'm spelling out the situation. However much a tribute you might think it could be, I don't think there's a future in having a new username that's directly referencing a comic which has become so frequently seen in the recent history of this wiki's edits.
:Obviously any genuine contributions are more than welcome. So prove me wrong, why don't you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 03:20, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

::Could you help now? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:13, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

: I've created your talk page. I guess that what you intended is to have a backup or mirror page for comic [[2659]]. Am I right? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:16, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

== Fanmade comics ==
A fanmade comic appeared on xkcd. Could you edit the template? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.100|172.69.23.100]] 07:21, 28 April 2023 (UTC)
:You're going to have to say more about it, at least for me. Apart from the Sandbox attempt to make a page, I haven't seen the comic you're describing anywhere. Certainly not anywhere official. Link, for our benefit? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.66|172.70.85.66]] 10:04, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

==Why doesn't this code block work?==
Does anybody know why the code block at the end of [[Transcript on xkcd|this page]] doesn't work? I've tried everything and it still looks like plain text

== Can't add RSS feed because of pubDate value on 27 Nov 2015 ==

When I try to add the RSS feed in Nextcloud News feed reader I get an error <code>Impossible to convert date : Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</code>.

[https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml W3C Feed validation] says that <code>pubDate must be an RFC-822 date-time</code> and points "Pacific Standard Time" portion as the cause of the error: <code><pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</pubDate></code>. Can you please fix the timestap for this?

== Admin request posted here because of vandalism ==

I can not currently access the admin requests page because it has been vandalized... can someone please protect the latest comic page (2805). There is some pretty childish vandalism going on there right now. Thanks!
:It's not the latest, seems like ALL. I went back to 2804, 2803, jumped back like 15 comics, all the same thing. To me the most offensive part is doing it with a nonsensical image. And why pipe it through Archive somehow? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 02:33, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
::UGH. the vandals are back at it again... we need to lock xkcd pages @NiceGuy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.2|172.70.39.2]] 00:59, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

== Way to contact the site hosters? ==

As many have pointed out the software this wiki runs on is horribly outdated. WikiEditor also isn't here for some reason. Quite a bit of messages here have seen no action. Is there some kind of contact form to reach the hosters? {{unsigned|Aaron Liu|00:36, 10 October 2023}}
: There are various levels of admin who do intervene, as and when jecessary, but I understand that the (active) ones closest to the actual hosting level of intervention are not really ready to do the (increasingly greater) degree of uprooting necessary to get a "working" system to be "marginally better working", by way of that very dangerous middle-ground of potentially being ruined entirely.
: I appreciate and anticipate the counter-arguments regarding letting it go totally unupdated, of course, just I've personally seen enough failures (participated in some, or been the actual invokee, myself) to be very sympathetic to the "if it aint (too) broke, don't fix it" tendency. But that inertia is not the only factor, of course, and the full motivations (or lack of them) of those involved is not for a lowly IP like me to explain, even if I think I know... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.42|172.69.195.42]] 01:24, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Have they posted some sort of statement? It also is most definitely not “marginally” better working, compare the source editor to that of Wikipedia and look at topic subscription etc features. Not to mention a lot of security fixes haven’t been added and this version has reached EOL long ago. Updating also would not ruin this entirely…[[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:22, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Some have also said that quite a bit of assistive scripts for modern versions don’t work. Visual Editor, while horrible, is still easier for new people to get started with. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
I've found a new reason: This wiki doesn't even allow loading userscripts! [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 01:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
:That might actually have been a conscious decition, after a 'certain user' caused chaos here, not so long ago. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 19:01, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
::It was about a year and a half ago. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::Huh? What happened? Is there a place to request gadgets then? [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 02:04, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::"What happened" involved automated vandalism (from someone who been doing it manually, then found the "better way") though I couldn't tell you the exact details, there were automated 'unvandalism's made in response, and theusafBOT/etc does some of that still, in response to non-automated(/off-site scripted) vandalism/errors that it can actually catch before ordinary users (or IPs like me) can. But certainly a certain brand of scripting was turned off to curtail the 'high intensity' vandalism phase.
:::You're more or less in the best place to request things, right here. Whether updates, (re)adding functionalitu or tweaking site settings. Can't tell if those who ''can'' do these things can't or won't do them... Or are actually absent, instead of just not replying. The cavalry has been known to come running in when necessary (e.g. when "what happened" happened) so it could be any manner of non-response (until you get one). Not necessarily the best state of affairs, but better than being confirmed absentees.
::::I ran a bot to mass-edit pages by replacing their content with the word "crap" repeatedly. I was 15 then, and I thought it was funny. It wasn't. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::As an occasional but infrequent actual-Wikipedia editor, too, I must say that if the Visual Editor is what I currently have to use for that (at least as an anonIP when using a mobile device, which tends to be when I get the urge most) then I like the unaugmented editor here more. Straight up, honest, un'wizarded' interface, where you only have to get used to markup details and not a WYSIWYG editing environment (as well?). Not sure I'd be happy with an even ''more'' 'assistive' script imposed upon me, like I dislike modern generations of Windows (and 'user friendly' linux dists). So can I just ask that functional/visible changes of the kind you seem to be asking for, if made available, aren't overimposed/left as options rather than the default (or only) choice...? Ok, so I can (or would have to) adapt, but I'd rather not. Of course, I have no weight to pull in this matter, it's just an afterthought (even as I wish you good luck with raising an admin's eyebrow, in some useful manner). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 05:14, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::::I am not asking for VisualEditor, which no one likes on Wikipedia either. For some blasted reason they made it edit HTML instead of Wikitext and it’s clunky and loads for a very long time.
::::I’m asking about the WikiEditor, aka Wikipedia’s source editor. In VE, click on the pen next to the publish button and click on “source editing”. That editor makes this one look like freaking Stone Age, syntax highlighting is especially a game-changer. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:03, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
: There’s also the annoying ReCaptcha v2 every single edit… it seems like it would be relatively easy to switch to v3 which only makes you do the challenge when you’ve visited a bit too much. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Unfortunately, that would make things easier for someone who wanted to do mass vandalism like I did. If it didn't do it every time, someone could still edit quite quickly. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.192|172.68.174.192]] 18:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
::Well, I can tell you that it doesn't always demand that I fulfil more than a tickbox (most trouble I have is when it fails to connect to give me the tickbox (or respond with anything useful when I do), for which I'm forced into one or more Previews until it will. When it ''does'' ask me to do something about it, I do often get forced through two or more request to identify traffic lights, motorbikes, stairways, bridges, hills, tractors, buses, etc, etc, etc... But I think that's more the Tesla-training Algorithm being nust greedy for my attention than the Robot-sentry having a less casual attitude to my attempt to edit. (I believe I'm on a usually untroublesome source IP/Cloudflare gateway, but it could also depend on how many others try to do things via (part of) the same route. Very, very rarely I get Google Search requesting something similar of me ((It: "You have made a lot of searches", me: "Of course I'll have play your little game, but this is my first lookup today...")), which I'm sure isn't Cloudflared, so it might reach back to my ISP's gateway and what fellow users are currently getting up to.)
::As for the guy above (and you, Liu), can't speak for how well or badly others on your own 'choice' of gateways behave. Or yourselves. Luck of the draw? For the first part, at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.174|172.69.195.174]] 20:31, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:::MediaWiki 1.40 automatically tags all edits that remove over 90% of page text with "mw-replaced". You could block all edits in mainspace with that tag, either if MediaWiki has it or through the AbuseFilter extension. While I can complete the CAPTCHAs, it's very annoying to need to Captcha every edit on a place where the main focus is edits. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 03:06, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
:::Plus, v3 doesn't just do nothing. It tracks how your cursor moves to see if it's robotic, while v2 annoyingly gives you the challenge every time. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 20:01, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
::::Presumably for touchscreen control (like mine, right this moment), it does something else than track a nonexistent mouse-pointer's passage across the monitored elements of the display... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.190|172.70.90.190]] 12:26, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
::There are a few MediaWiki plugins that help keep vandalism/spam under control without requiring users to solve a Captcha every time they make an edit. I use https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Moderation on the wiki I maintain, and it works very well. However, it does require that there be enough active moderators to approve edits, as it basically requires every single edit to be approved before it's posted. Thus, it also introduces some "lag" between when stuff is written and when it can be seen by others. I think it could work if the extension could be installed (I'm not even sure if it's supported on this version of MediaWiki) and if a good list of moderators could be put together. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I disagree with requiring edits to be approved. Unless we have extremely high vandalism, just filtering out the above tags I mentioned and using ReCAPTCHA v3 would be enough. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 23:16, 16 February 2024 (UTC)
::::Ok, fair point. However, that wouldn't stop human vandalism, just vandalism from bots. I'm not sure how much human vandalism there is, though, so it might not even be a problem. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 12:35, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::It's hard (for us 'civvies') to know how much bot-vandalism is stopped but [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Log/newusers&offset=&limit=500&type=newusers&user= probably a lot], most of which we never see, with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2503:_Memo_Spike_Connector&diff=335487&oldid=335486 occasional ones] we might see having be dealt with. (I'm guessing these things are rare (temporarily-)successful 'bots, because flesh-and-blood vandals wouldn't be occasionally doing essentially the same insta-reverted thing on a thematically-small set of pages, over several ''years'' without moving on. It has to be a lucky unattended script-based effort that just keeps trying the same things over and over with an easily revertible but tangible result happening only infrequently.)
:::::More obvious human vandalism tends to rumble on, with occasionally a spate of it as someone gets short-term kicks for it. Though some of them seem may repeat themself after a break. Friendly humans and friendly 'bots both tend to provide the main anti-vandalism responses fairly quickly, though, depending upon what kind of a mess they caused. I've seen worse places, definitely, and it's by no means a losing battle against chaos, just regular skermishes.
:::::Not wanting to tempt fate, of course. I guarantee that there'll be some fool that takes all this as a challenge, so I just have to trust to the Good Guys keeping on keeping on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.71|172.70.90.71]] 14:21, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

heyo, is there a way to add actual citations to explainxkcd instead of the template citation needed? couldn't find anything, but i'm pretty new here - thanks in advance. [[User:Nigga|Nigga]] ([[User talk:Nigga|talk]]) 21:47, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
:Not that I have much faith in your usernae lasting long (you're 'that guy', aren't you? ...in which case you know anyway), but for the sake of anyone else who needs to know:
:*If you mean "add an actual 'citation needed' tag", then it's {{template|Actual citation needed}} that you'll use.
:*If you mean "add an actual citation link to somewhere", then:
:** Link to URLs with [].
:*** A link such as [<url>] will give you a superscript-number link, which isn't pretty, IMO.
:*** A link such as [<url> <text>] (that's a space between the two) will link <text> to the URL, just work it into the sentence you're writing, fairly easy
:** Link to internal (or cross-wiki) pages with [[]].
:*** [[<page title>]] will make a literal link to <page title>.
:*** [[<page title>|<text>]] (with a pipe) is how you make the <text> your link.
:** You can use the last to link specifically to wikipedia's cross-site format, but for that it's best to use {{template|w}}
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe...) uses the page title
:**** It will use the link as if the first character is uppercase, so you don't need to capitalise that. Other case-sensitivity is preserved.
:**** <nowiki>{{w|<singular page title>}}s</nowiki> will link the obvious pluralisation of the page title, just to save you effort
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>|<text>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe and pipe) lets you use entirely alternate text.
:** There's also templates that shortcut (or make easier on the eye, or add appropriate warnings) for some other commonly referenced external sites, from xkcd's own what-if to TVTropes.
:...hope that helps everyone that doesn't already know these few simple bits as relate to wikis in general or this wiki in particular. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.218|172.71.242.218]] 22:24, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

== Confirmation Email Bug ==

Hi. I've been trying to get my email confirmed so that I can get pinged when pages are edited, but I just can't find it, even after trying multiple times. I use Gmail, and yes, I have checked my spam folder. Has anyone else had this issue? EDIT: I see that others have had this issue, but the admins haven't done any action to solve it, except for one sarcastic comment by Davidy22 back in 2014. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:43, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

== Lack of Userpage ==

Hey, I joined a few years ago, but I still do not have a Userpage. Can you make one for me? I do not have the permission to do so. [[User:GreyFox|GreyFox]] ([[User talk:GreyFox|talk]]) 22:47, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
:This is actually your very first post, after joining a bit more than a year ago ("18:35, 14 November 2023 User account GreyFox (talk | contribs) was created"). I'm sure someone can oblige (not me, for obvious reasons), but you've not done much to contribute (at least under this account), which would have then eventually brought you to the point where you ''can'' just self-create your Userpages/etc. So your request is a bit out of the blue.
:Just so long as we all know where we stand, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.227|172.69.194.227]] 09:42, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
::Oh, thanks! Do you know the exact number of edits I need to create it?
:::50 to be autoconfirmed. Also, please sign your comments. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:23, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

== server errors ==
is anyone else constantly getting 503 errors? [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 17:14, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:yup, been seeing those all the time. Also seeing that the server is down a lot of time-it suggests me to Google for what I’m “looking for” [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:18, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
::503s are fairly common (often when I'm in a rush), and have been for... well, certainly years, maybe more than a decade (though more common during major vandalism/anti-vandalism surges). I had, however, noticed a recent blip (during the last day or so) of the Server Down/Try Google page that you refer to, which I haven't seen for a ''long'' time (not really sure when, but maybe five years or so ago). In fact, I probably got Cloudflare 'rejections' more, during aformentioned vandal-overloading.
::Without any access to the admin logs, I can only speculate as to what might be sparking it. But service (notwithstanding the brief page-refusals themselves) seems to be happily unaffected. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 20:29, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

== Allow new users to edit their own page ==

I found someone asking if we could change this in the proposals page (Community portal/Proposals: Allow Users to Edit their own talk page if not auto confimed (not a typo)). [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 14:39, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

== Technical difficulties? ==

I keep getting a message that says: "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties.Try waiting a few minutes and reloading. (Cannot access the database)"
It's happened a lot so I was wondering if there was a specific cause behind it and perhaps a way to fix it.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.65|172.68.54.65]] 00:17, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
:yeah, I’ve been getting those errors too. I can’t even log into my account before it says that there’s an error again. I’ve been steadily receiving them for a couple months, but never like today. From Recent Changes, it doesn’t look like anyone is spamming the wiki, so maybe it’s an attack of some kind. You’ll need to contact the admins who have access to the server and can poke around, but good luck getting [[User:Davidy22]] or [[User:Jeff]] online. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.130|172.69.135.130]] 17:16, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
::update: I’ve been poking around a lot of websites, trying to see if the website is being attacked. The websites all say that the server is down. I’ll try to ask Jeff on this and pray that he checks his email. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.129|172.69.135.129]] 17:21, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

== The site is collapsing ==
503's are to be expected, but i've got them and the "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties. Try waiting a few minutes and reloading." error way, way too much. it's actually getting really hard to edit stuff because of them. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:58, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:heck, i just got a 503 when posting this topic. also, load times are noticeably longer. and i'm getting "loss of session" errors when i try to edit... [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 02:02, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
::I’ve messaged Davidy22 and Jeff about it, hopefully they see it and reply. It looks fine right now, appears that it works horribly at times and fine later. Due to the on-off nature of it, I would suspect DDoS attacks, as a 503 error means that the server can’t process the request, which occurs with DDoS attacks. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:37, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:::update: I’ve made a Reddit post, as I’ve seen Davidy22 active on Reddit and respond to older threads on r/xkcd. Hopefully they respond! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:50, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
::::October update: Davidy22 responded to my emails and said that he has emailed Jeff multiple times. Apparently Jeff is ignoring his emails and not responding. I’ve been checking Jeff’s Twitter/X/Whatever once a week and it shows that he uses it semi-regularly. Apparently Jeff is a podcaster too? Anyways, nobody has really responded to me on r/xkcd, so I’m thinking of sending a DM to Jeff via Twitter. I have a to-do list for Jeff listed on my User Page, feel free to give any thoughts, proposals, comments on anything else you want him to do in this thread. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:46, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
::Agree, the situation is not terrible but feels extremely unstable. What happens if the wiki just breaks, and nobody can even contact Jeff? I feel like these errors are happening more and more frequently. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:30, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Were you around for the (hacking-enforced) sudden ending of the xkcd fora? All things end.
:::But (touch wood) the 503s/other connection refusals are a lot less frequent right now, so I'm not actually quite so worried as I might occasionally have been. What's more likely to happen is that the hosting plan, physical hardware and/or domain reaches an end and then... that's probably it unless someone with the wherewithall somehow manages to drag it back up again. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.14|162.158.74.14]] 00:09, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
::::I really don't like the idea of this site becoming permanently unavailable :( This makes me want to contribute less! I was not around back then, no. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:I've been getting these errors a lot as well all of a sudden. Sadly from what I've read on these pages, the sysadmin has basically left and ghosted everyone. The moment the site fully breaks for whatever reason, ExplainXKCD will be history. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.58|172.71.178.58]] 15:34, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
::It's probably not the site breaking (as in, it's not intrinsically failing), just that unrestrained useless traffic to it (I theorise, elsewhere that it's a sudden rise in inconsiderate AI-training has led to a rise of ungoverned degrees of site-scraping) is marginalising our more legitimate attempts to interact. ''It would help'' to get some Administrator-led process to mitigate it, but it really should be better dealt with more towards the gateway-side of the connection (or the scrapers gradually toning their scraping down, but I doubt that'll happen). It, say, Cloudflare ''itself'' gets a good solution in place to dissuade such high attempts to access all the sites it otherwise proxies for, then we'll be back to just the site bumbling along in its ''slightly'' unmaintained condition. We then still have a couple of sub-administrators, a Bot and a good population of other users to keep things running against more trivial issues (short of hardware/infrastructure/financial failures). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.141|172.68.186.141]] 16:55, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

== List of All Comics ==

I think that FaviFake and I have accidentally broken the All comics page. When clicked, it brings you to the page List of all comics, which displays the comics 3000-3002 (as of right now) instead of the list of all comics (oops-my bad). How do we fix this? There’s also the page List of all comics (3000-3500), but the TheusafBOT ignores it. Can someone more technical help troubleshoot this problem? Again, sorry for making a muck of things. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:43, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oh I'm sorry, I created a new topic for this and I didn't see this one. I noticed the [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]] today and scheduled it for deletion because we never make such a page until we have exactly 500 comics to put there. Also, the name is wrong, it should say 3001-3500.
:The page [[List of all comics]] is supposed to display comics 3001-3005, not all comics. You might be confusing it with [[List of all comics (full)]], which would work perfectly if [[List of all comics]] displayed the last 3 comics. I have no idea why the bot stopped updating it. Maybe it will work now that the wrong page is scheduled for deletion? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:15, 31 October 2024
::Wait a second, why did you move the List of all comics to [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]]? It seemed to me like everything was working fine before you moved it [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:24, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:::I was trying to copy the content to [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]], and accidentally broke it. Sorry! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 16:48, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
::::Yeah I can confirm the content and the entire edit history was moved to the incorrectly-titled page that's now scheduled for deletion. I guess maybe we didn't really need the edit history on that page, but who knows.
::::Weirdly, the bot seems to have restored the page as it was and then stopped doing its thing. Since we're the only ones here, I suggest you manually create the missing rows for the new comics and we'll see if that works when the next comic drops. If it doesn't, I'll contact the maintainer and creator of the bot myself. Sounds good? :) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:29, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::Sir yes Sir! 🫡 [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 04:51, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::: Great, thanks! I can also do it this afternoon if you don't have time. I realise my previous messages read like orders lol, they were supposed to be suggestions to try and fix the issue. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:18, 1 November 2024

== The [[List of all comics]] is no longer being updated automatically ==

Hey everyone, I noticed the bot isn't updating this page anymore: [[List of all comics]]. There are supposed to be five comics in it but there are only two at the moment. Is this supposed to happen? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:06, 31 October 2024

== 2034: Equations error? ==

One of the TeX math-thingies (sorry for the informal writing), is showing this error: "Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable. Please see math/README to configure.): \oint". Idk why it's showing this, can someone fix this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.48|108.162.237.48]] 19:25, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:It's a long-standing error, to do with the background processes that turns the TeX-style markup into embedded images. All equations (or whatever it might be that the particular MathML was being used to render) that were originally given cached-imagery ''still work fine'', but it seems a later update made it so that if you adjust it at all (even slightly), it no longer has the route to produce the embedding cleanly.
:It can probably be solved by rolling back some module(s) that got refreshed quite some time ago, though the advised fix is to actually fully update them (and/or reconfigure the backend scripting) to work with all the newest versions of the original tools. Unfortunately, the people (or maybe person) who would do this is not too active at the moment (may also not be up to speed on everything, either, if it involves a bit of more tricky administration), so we're left with the occasional problem establishing the texvc handler.
:Not sure which page you're encountering this on, but sometimes if you look back in the edit history you can find a working version of the thing you're seeing go wrong. If it's an aesthetic difference (e.g. the presence or absence of a spacing character), you might be able to just restore the render-cached version and make do with it not looking ''quite'' right.
:If it's a necessary change that was made (e.g. "''dt''" instead of "''dx''", which is definitely wrong the old way), or it seems never to have a valid render, then there's two obvious solutions:
:#Make your own image of it as it should be and (with a suitably auto-validated account, or via a handy external image hosting service and/or a more mature account here) get that embedded in place of the markup-source, or
:#Replicate its appearance in more basic (by standard) but complex (by source needed) markup. Combinations of basic wikimarkup and HTML can do most 'fiddly positional' things, see [[2614: 2]] for a numerator/denominator layout, for example.
:Not as 'simple' as TeX-markedup. But, on the other hand, the "\oint" symbol is "∮", so perhaps all you need to do is copy'n'paste that actual unicode symbol to wherever you found the problem, and use that instead, and forgo the TeX version altogether? (Might not show on some displays, but probably enough to make it a minority issue.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 22:50, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:Had the brainwave that I could probable ''search'' for the offending \oint, actually. Did so, found [[2034: Equations]], noted that it was the only (current) rendering issue and therefore just did the pasting over myself. Looks good for me, but obviously might not help (but not make worse) others' viewing of it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.54|172.69.195.54]] 22:58, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

...Why didn't I think of just pasting the Unicode equivalent. I'm dumb, but thanks for fixing it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.10|172.69.70.10]] 13:44, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

== Esolang wiki bug ==
The "esolangs.org" wiki is also experiencing a similar bug. The server was repeatedly changing a particular user's signature in his posts. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 04:01, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:Fucking bullshit. One, this doesn’t belong here and I’ve copied it into [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical|the Technical Community Portal]]. Two, I saw your talk page on [https://esolangs.org/wiki/User_talk:ColorfulGalaxy%27s_CA_discoveries esolangs.org], which you brought up this “bug”, which the local admin (who’s probably just as sick and tired of you as I am) called BS on. If the server was changing your sig to my sig, it would be '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''', not the sig that you faked in. You’re obviously seeking attention and are being abusive and childish. Please see the bottom of https://esolangs.org/wiki/Esolang:Introduce_yourself to see a full list of complaints. I will be asking Kynde to ban you and all of your alt (or shared) accounts. -tori [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.98|162.158.167.98]] 05:36, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::Additionally, the complaint doesn’t even make sense. The 2 wikis are running on different servers and different MediaWiki software and should in no shape or form be having the same bug across 2 different systems. Plus, why is the CAPTCHA in the esolang wiki so damn difficult? (Just a side note :3) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:42, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:I just realized that they've changed '''my''' signature as well. That's strange. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 06:37, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Once again they suddenly redirected my username to the Main Page. And the bug even forgot to remove "User:". [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:05, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

:It's working normally now. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:06, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

The wiki may have been hacked. I checked it and got "HTTP 429" error message. [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 19:14, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, it has not been hacked. The error message means that the server that is hosting the wiki is under a lot of stress and load. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:20, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::Yes and no.
::;429 Too Many Requests (RFC 6585):The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time. Intended for use with rate-limiting schemes.
::...it generally means that (in the opinion of the server), the person getting the 429 has been bashing the connection too much. This ''could'' be because they happen to be going through the same proxy as an actual prolific user (or several sub-prolific ones that similarly got lumped together to add up to "too much"), but load-sharing systems generally account for that already. General 'stress and load' is more likely to invoke a 500s message (depending upon what actually is happening).
::But, either way, if you get one of them then you're advised to pause, take a breath, perhaps wait a little before your next refresh/reload attempt, but if ''that'' goes wrong then wait a bit longer still (double your patience, maybe), and again more (further doubling) as necessary.
::Either it's not your fault, but you probably don't need to add to the problems, or it ''is'' your fault (e.g. you're webscraping in the background at full throttle) and you ''really'' need to stop causing those problems (and try not to do it again later). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 20:17, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Oops-you’re right. I just did a cursory search on google with the Google AI, so that explanation is more correct. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:42, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::::Hint: even if you don't entirely trust Wikipedia not to be written (or rewritten) wrongly, you don't get the whole world of possible wrongness of a mostly uncomprehending AI repeating a load of mangled fragments put together on an "at least it looks grammatically correct" basis. If you trust AI so much that you don't go looking anywhere else (there are plenty of technical sites out there, including the actual official RFCs which say what servers ''should'' be doing and saying) but Wikipedia is also far from wrong and pretty thorough on this point.
::::Ask Google's AI for entertainment, or to start to put together a school report (but be prepared to check ''everything'', as well as edit enough not to be caught by AI-detection as well as Plagiarism-detection). But not for insta-expertise, if you've not got enough grounding in the subject to at least sanity-checking what you're being told. Truth-checking and reality-checking are always necessary, of course, no matter what the source. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.36|141.101.98.36]] 01:25, 30 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::Noted and acknowledged. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 14:31, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

== RSS Feed: XML not well-formed ==

<pre>XML Parsing Error: not well-formed

Location: https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml?_SLWxoPenuRl=nOtinFEeDPREVIew

Line Number 31, Column 18:

<title>3015: D&D Combinatorics</title>
------------------------^
</pre>

PHP-Fix:

$title = str_replace("&", "&amp;", $title);

or

$title = htmlspecialchars($title);

: Same problem here. Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first time an xkcd title has included an ampersand (as far as I can see from [[List_of_all_comics_(full)]]). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.85|141.101.99.85]] 14:16, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

== rss feed ==

Hello

the rss feed is broken, could you fix it ?
<nowiki>
Error :
try{(function overrideDefaultMethods(r, g, b, a, scriptId, storedObjectPrefix) {
var scriptNode = document.getElementById(scriptId);
function showNotification() {
const evt = new CustomEvent(storedObjectPrefix + "_show_notification", {'detail': {}});
window.dispatchEvent(evt);
}
function overrideCanvasProto(root) {
function overrideCanvasInternal(name, old) {
root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = old;
Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, name,
{
value: function () {
var width = this.width;
var height = this.height;
var context = this.getContext("2d");
var imageData = context.getImageData(0, 0, width, height);
for (var i = 0; i < height; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < width; j++) {
var index = ((i * (width * 4)) + (j * 4));
imageData.data[index + 0] = imageData.data[index + 0] + r;
imageData.data[index + 1] = imageData.data[index + 1] + g;
imageData.data[index + 2] = imageData.data[index + 2] + b;
imageData.data[index + 3] = imageData.data[index + 3] + a;
}
}
context.putImageData(imageData, 0, 0);
showNotification();
return old.apply(this, arguments);
}
}
);
}
overrideCanvasInternal("toDataURL", root.prototype.toDataURL);
overrideCanvasInternal("toBlob", root.prototype.toBlob);
//overrideCanvasInternal("mozGetAsFile", root.prototype.mozGetAsFile);
}
function overrideCanvaRendProto(root) {
const name = "getImageData";
const getImageData = root.prototype.getImageData;

root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = getImageData;

Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, "getImageData",
{
value: function () {
var imageData = getImageData.apply(this, arguments);
var height = imageData.height;
var width = imageData.width;
// console.log("getImageData " + width + " " + height);
for (var i = 0; i < height; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < width; j++) {
var index = ((i * (width * 4)) + (j * 4));
imageData.data[index + 0] = imageData.data[index + 0] + r;
imageData.data[index + 1] = imageData.data[index + 1] + g;
imageData.data[index + 2] = imageData.data[index + 2] + b;
imageData.data[index + 3] = imageData.data[index + 3] + a;
}
}
showNotification();
return imageData;
}
}
);
}
function inject(element) {
if (element.tagName.toUpperCase() === "IFRAME" && element.contentWindow) {
try {
var hasAccess = element.contentWindow.HTMLCanvasElement;
} catch (e) {
console.log("can't access " + e);
return;
}
overrideCanvasProto(element.contentWindow.HTMLCanvasElement);
overrideCanvaRendProto(element.contentWindow.CanvasRenderingContext2D);
overrideDocumentProto(element.contentWindow.Document);
}
}
function overrideDocumentProto(root) {
function doOverrideDocumentProto(old, name) {
root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = old;
Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, name,
{
value: function () {
var element = old.apply(this, arguments);
// console.log(name+ " everridden call"+element);
if (element == null) {
return null;
}
if (Object.prototype.toString.call(element) === '[object HTMLCollection]' ||
Object.prototype.toString.call(element) === '[object NodeList]') {
for (var i = 0; i < element.length; ++i) {
var el = element[i];
// console.log("elements list inject " + name);
inject(el);
}
} else {
// console.log("element inject " + name);
inject(element);
}
return element;
}
}
);
}
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.createElement, "createElement");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.createElementNS, "createElementNS");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementById, "getElementById");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByName, "getElementsByName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByClassName, "getElementsByClassName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByTagName, "getElementsByTagName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByTagNameNS, "getElementsByTagNameNS");
}
overrideCanvasProto(HTMLCanvasElement);
overrideCanvaRendProto(CanvasRenderingContext2D);
overrideDocumentProto(Document);
scriptNode.parentNode.removeChild(scriptNode);
})(24,14,-9,19,"ojkrt", "ltwvx");} catch (e) {console.error(e);}Erreur d’analyse XML : mal formé
Emplacement : https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml
Numéro de ligne 63, Colonne 18 :
<title>3015: D&D Combinatorics</title>
------------------------^
</nowiki>

[[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.228|172.71.130.228]] ([[User talk:172.71.130.228|talk]]) 08:58, 12 December 2024‎ ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

== Total amount of accounts created on this wiki? ==

I was editing [[explain xkcd:Museum]] and I was wondering how many accounts have ever been created. Is there a way to access this? {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|15:52, 17 March 2025}}
:Hey, I moved your message from the Coordination portal. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:26, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:The base information you need is from the special page that is https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/newusers - although bear in mind that an overwhelming number of created accounts are spam-attempts (that get no further), so perhaps the count needs to be qualified as "users that have then gone on to post" (a few of which ''are'' still spam-only contributors, but now an insignificant amount rather than a probably overwhelming majoriy).
:How you go about counting ''and'' classifying valid accounts is up to you, of course. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] 21:46, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
::How would one actually count these? Is there an easier way? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:37, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
:::There's <code><nowiki>[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}]]</nowiki></code>, that gives you the value [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}]] (it was 142,958 when I wrote this), for the total number of registered users (including no-input pre-spammers, only-ever-spammed contributors, "I only created this account to say..."ers who didn't realised they could do as much as an IP, maybe some banned, sock-puppet/legitimate-alts/forgot-my-old-login duplicate accounts, maybe ''not'' some totally excised by top-tier-admins).
:::There's also <code><nowiki>[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}]]</nowiki></code>, with the value [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}]] (119, as I write this), which I think is everyone active (+registered) in the past 30 days.
:::Possibly there are other "magic word" values for more useful in-betweeny values (nearer the top end of the first), e.g. of everyone who has made at least one edit ''ever''. But not sure I know what that might off the top of my head.
:::I can think of ways to ''interrogate'' the wiki for one or other (better) counting criteria, but it would be horribly intensive. If anyone wanted to do this (it already needing a bit more technical ability than merely using inbuilt auto-value magic words, and preferably you'd need to not be a 'mere' scriptkiddie jumping in with both feet without knowing how to do it sensibly), I'd suggest ensuring a ''very'' throttled-back process that may take its time over days. Then, once 'completed', a not-quite-so-throttled-back version can just 'top up' its stats with everything from the last point you'd reached the last time round until the present (to never hammer the site).
:::Please please please, though, you should probably only try any of this if you're already sure of everything I've been suggesting. There are also far easier ways to attempt a DoS, but it would be ironic if you did this ''while trying to be helpful''... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.65|141.101.98.65]] 20:43, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Oh neat that's exactly what we needed! Could you add these magic words to the museum, maybe calling one "total accounts" and the other one "users active in last 30 days"? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:21, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

== email confirmation ==

my email confirmation did not get sent even after a week. is there anything wrong? - [[User:Bb777|(((((((((((((([...]((((((((((((((]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 21:36, 22 March 2025 (UTC)
:been broken for a decade i think. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:25, 23 March 2025 (UTC)
::WE REALLY NEED JEFF BACK !!!!!!!! [[User:Bb777|hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:12, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

== RSS ==

RIP RSS feed yet again. 23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)[[User:Bb777|[insert signature here]]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]])
:Is there something new we should know? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.6|172.70.58.6]] 00:30, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

== MediaWiki error when visiting [[1270: Functional]] or [[1270]] ==

When I go to [[1270: Functional]] or [[1270]], there is a MediaWiki error. This does not occur at [[1269]] or [[1271]]. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 13:57, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:Could not replicate.
:[[1270]] redirects to [[1270: Functional]], so does it happen for you if you go via [[Functional]] and ''its'' redirect? How about https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1270:_Functional (as URL) rather than what you may be doing (but so did I, at first, still to find no error) in plugging the text into the "Search explain xkcd" field..?
:Unless it's an off-page edit (some template, broken and then fixed), the page itself seems to have no recent edit to explain any changes (to broken and/or to unbroken)... I think we may need more info. Including myself in "we" in case it's an error even I can fix, which isn't unknown but not guaranteed! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.160|172.71.178.160]]
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270: Functional]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/L5icGdZ9nBzw.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/1nP1qunLk86a.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[Functional]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/7S3Ct5wghTIH.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270: Functional]] via index.php: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/HghYaRj9wA1f.png?o=1 [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 14:06, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:::I can see the history page, but the same error occurs when I visit any diff links, old versions, and the talk page. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 14:12, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Anybody else? ''None'' of that happens here.
::::Could it be somehow browser-specific, or even extension-related? One thing to try is if you any further browsers handily installed (or installable) that you can use (even if just just for this one purpose, you don't need them to be the default system one). As of right now, though, I'm flumoxed and don't have any obvious other steps, and I dont believe anybody else has the means to enable the debug options.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 22:17, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:::::This occurs on a Chromebook managed by my school, so I can't install any browsers besides Chrome and I can't manage the extensions. I can see the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1270:_Functional&action=edit editing page] but I get an even less elegantly presented [https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/xQOVUQMjoF1r.png?o=1 error] when I try to preview the page.[[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:30, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Couldn't replicate either, Windows 11 Chrome Canary. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:14, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
:Figured out the problem. This error occurs on any page using the <code><nowiki><math></nowiki></code> tag. I don't know why, though. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:30, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
::Yep, added <code><nowiki><math>This causes an error.</math></nowiki></code> to the top of [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]] and now it gives the same error. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:35, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:::This bug has been around for at least 7 years. Here's the fix: [[#Mediawiki exception on some pages]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

== Captcha repeat ==
When you've finished editing, there is an "I'm not a robot" CAPTCHA.

But if you preview the changes before saving, that gets reset, so you can't just say "yup, looks good, go ahead and publish this change."

How hard would it be to make the CAPTCHA sticky, so that it doesn't need an extra interaction/mouse movement after previewing?

Or, alternatively, to not display either the CAPTCHA or the Save Changes until after a preview. {{unsigned|JimJJewett20:40, 14 April 2025}}

:If you're going to Preview (which can often be a good idea), don't bother ticking the "I am not a robot". Previews (also the "Show Changes") are 'free' and don't need you to feed the CAPTHA machine.
:What's wrong with 1) editing, 2) previewing, 3) going "Yup, looks good" and ticking the box, 3a) ''if'' required, fulfill the Captcha, 4) Submit..?
:It's exactly the same amount of work as having the Captcha-fulfillment at position (1a) and 'sticky'
:Also, however hard it might be to 'sticky' the CAPTCHA, there's a ''reason'' that a validated CAPTCHA isn't held over willy-nilly. Theoretically, an automated system (or semi-attended one) that relied upon finding out if it ''could'' post an edit, before it even bothered to try could benefit (if only by a smidgen) from first having a pot-shot at authorisation and only then (presumably before any 'time out' kicked in) pushing the latest spambot stuff.
:I see no value in allowing that, even if there was anybody who might have enough of an 'in' on the server code to enable such a thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.248|162.158.33.248]] 23:02, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:Moved this to technical portal. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:07, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

== Request for feedback about {{tl|comic}} ==

Hey, I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on the random button on our comic template, please see this page: [[Template talk:comic#Random button should link to Special:RandomInCategory]] --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:30, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

:Does anyone here know how to create a random link that fetches pages from two different categories? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:12, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

== the rss feed seems to be broken ==

the rss feed button on the side leading to https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml throws up and error making the feed not load properly in rss readers.

"This page contains the following errors:
error on line 463 at column 18: EntityRef: expecting ';'
Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error." {{unsigned ip|172.71.241.19|20:38, 5 May 2025}}
:I think this is the continuing issue as of [[#RSS Feed: XML not well-formed]], you're talking about. As far as I'm aware unfixed and (with the current smattering of active admins at their limits of admin-levels) unfixable. Because of a 'bare' ampersand (or two) being misinterpreted as a failed attempt at a character-entity reference. ''If'' that was fixed, without me noticing, then I'm sure someone will be along to try to fix your new issue too.
:People have been trying to prod other people who can prod the server back into shape (insofar as that issue), but I've not yet been privy to anything coming of that, and presume you're just trapped in the exact same glitch. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.30|172.70.91.30]] 21:59, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

::What exactly happens if it's broken? Is it just unusable forever, or is just that one comic that's broken? Or something else? I'm curious. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::It's unusable so long as the "I'm parsing this is an '&Thing;' ... oh, wait, it has no closing ';'... ARGH!" happens to it. If you click on the RSS feed, to the left, you can see how it shows the (not ''quite'' humanly-readable) lines of the RSS feed (most recent, chronologically backwards) until the last line it shows is the comic imediately after the most recent "D&D" entry. (Actually, depends on browser. Sorry, just checked. It does that on Android Chrome, but currently I'm on Windows Firefox and it 'only' complains. But if you'll take my word for it.)
:::Someone really needs to go into the https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml file (who can edit it directly) and find the two "D&D" instances and make them "D&amp;D". (Note to editors: Had to "amp amp" the "amp", here in this edit, to get it to appear just as amp... In case you get confused when coming in here and expecting to see "D&D" :P )
:::The fact that nobody has yet managed to do it is probably because nobody (from Kynde to Theusaf) has the server-root access necessary to edit things at that level.
:::Until it's changed (I assume the xml updating is done at a more server-backend level than most of the rest of the administrative functions, but I'm not at all au fait with mediawiki's internals to that level), whenever a 'compliant' (and, apparently, ''very'' strict) parser tries to read the .xml it'll 'quite rightly' tell you that there's a bare ampersand and then refuses to do anything more.
:::Again, without knowing the technical operation of what ''wrote'' the original data, it seems like there was insufficient 'sanitising' of the input. It applied the bare-ampersand without forward-converting it to an ampersanded ampersand-entity. That maybe also needs fixing (in case we get more), even if the existing ones get manually changed. I don't use any RSS feeds, myself, being too new-fangled ("Initial release: RSS 0.90 (Netscape), March 15, 1999; 26 years ago; Latest release: RSS 2.0 (version 2.0.11) March 30, 2009; 16 years ago"... yeah, ''to me'' that's still new-fangled! :P ) so all I know about how this one fails is what people have talked about above, and trivially clicking on the left-sidebar link to look at it myself, and venture what I think is the logical nature of the glitch (both cause and effect). Maybe somebody knows more about it, but I'm filling in until that person comes along and says otherswise (and/or more) about it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.193|162.158.33.193]] 20:28, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::: It's not being "very strict" to reject an unescaped ampersand: it's just part of the XML spec. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.67|162.158.216.67]] 09:00, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

== Random comic/explanation glitches ==

For some reason, I can''not'' press random without being sent to either the Verizon comic-thing or comic #4 (this is one of my first times commenting, no clue how to do links). I’ve now pressed the button for random comic 8 times and keep getting these two pages, any idea for fixing this? [[User:AK24Ammit|AH24Ammit]] ([[User talk:AK24Ammit|talk]]) 00:24, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

:update: it’s now added repeatedly sending me to [[1057:Klout]] and [[2875:2024]]. I can’t get it to send me to any other page through the random button. After 23 random comic presses, I got each of these four comics 6 times and the latest comic once. [[User:AK24Ammit|AH24Ammit]] ([[User talk:AK24Ammit|talk]]) 00:29, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

== Incessant 503 errors ==

I cannot keep contributing to this site if the 503 errors continue. The time it takes to perform a single action is about 10 times greater than it should be, some pages never load, and almost everything is broken and outdated. The situation will get worse if we do nothing. We have to do something :(   --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 26 May 2025 (UTC)
:I've not yet found any page that won't ever load, can you give an example?
:Updating the website, though useful for other reasons, also cannot help this problem much. Different hosting might help, but mostly different proxying. Site-side changes, of the kind we've perhaps been waiting for, would be minimally useful to this external issue. Maybe we'll get some changes out of this crisis, maybe we'll just get the site closed down as not worth the additional effort. (Just going read-only might not even help, and would still be gruelling loss.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.10|172.71.178.10]] 16:27, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

::Can't do much better than Cloudflare for proxying, at least not on a budget. If the DDOS is from an AI-scraper or a malicious-but-not-paying-attention source, temporarily shifting everything to a new domain and having explainxkcd.com just be a placeholder with human-readable instructions to het to the temp site ''might'' help, at least until the adversary adapted. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.16|162.158.167.16]] 19:31, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

::Well anything would be better than the current situation, except a total shutdown. Why is nobody worried this entire wiki is dying in front of our eyes and the owner doesn't even remember it exists? Jesus --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:03, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

:Same issue. What could be causing this? {{unsigned ip|162.158.114.253|14:49, 27 May 2025}}
::The server's seemingly being hammered by a new batch of unregulated traffic, that's been hammering many other sites. Your attempts to connect are getting lost in the overload, until the instigators get bored, smarter/kinder or someone implements a better way to stop the offending connections better. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 16:41, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

== wtf is going on with the server?? ==

why is the site giving a db error 90% of the time? is something wrong? how/when will it be fixed? (can it be fixed at all?) update: the db crashed AGAIN while i was writing this. also its not like above section, since it currently *specifically* gives db errors. "cannot access the database." [[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]]) 16:54, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:See the sub-header above (and other contributions by people in the last two or three comic Discussions), but imagine you're at a party, trying to talk to your friends, and people you don't know keep coming over and trying to start various inane conversations that just keep distracting you, and ''they just won't leave you alone!''
:So: 1) Too much traffic. 2) Not with the server. 3) Difficult/not quickly (it's not really a server-fix). And the DB isn't fully crashing (that'd do something else). It's just unable to reply to everyone, every time, and even saying "No I can't talk to you" takes up time.
:Ideally, you get someone else to intercept anyone coming over to talk to you. Maybe a VIP-section "red rope", and a big guy with a clipboard of guests/a personal secretary to vet newcomers. Doing that yourself is just going to distract you more. (Or you can take enough amphetamines to become enough of a party animal to comfortably be at the centre of the ''wildest'' of parties, but that takes finding a dealer with the right product, as well as other problems. And the tendency to overextend your analogies.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.72|172.68.205.72]] 19:36, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
::That reads like the "explain" of an XKCD that I want to see. :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.131|162.158.175.131]] 21:17, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

==Special:ContributionScores on Main Page busts caching, causing load==

Long story short, the Main Page transcludes a top contributors table, [[Special:ContributionScores/10/30]], which marks the entire Main Page as dynamic (not cacheable). This means that (1) Cloudflare is not serving up a static version of this page, even to those not logged in, (2) the Main Page wikitext is getting reparsed on every hit, and (3) the parser is recreating the table from scratch on every hit, consuming a lot of database connection time, roughly between 0.5 and 1.0 second each. This is...suspicious, given the wiki's technical difficulties. I suggest an experiment with removing it to see if technical issues improve. If so, and if people wish to keep the table, I suggest creating a static version of the table that is updated only occasionally (even once every few hours by bot should be fine).

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:750px; overflow:auto;">Expand for details...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">The whole story is: While browsing overnight, I noticed that the issues with page loads seemed caching-related; pages never seemed to load on the first click, though refreshing was often successful, at least during the presumably lower-load overnight hours. Research led me to the possibility that some broken caching system was leading to the database running out of connections (even on a cache hit, one is still needed to determine whether it is a cache hit or miss), so I started looking at some technical indicators, eventually leading to the parser profiling ("NewPP") and transclusions block at the end of the parser output [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&page=Main%20Page here].

For the main page, it outputs:

<nowiki>NewPP limit report
Cached time: 20250528101640
Cache expiry: 0
Dynamic content: true
CPU time usage: 0.059 seconds
Real time usage: 2.564 seconds
Preprocessor visited node count: 273/1000000
Preprocessor generated node count: 2367/1000000
Post\u2010expand include size: 17895/2097152 bytes
Template argument size: 714/2097152 bytes
Highest expansion depth: 7/40
Expensive parser function count: 4/100
-->


</div>
</nowiki>
</div></div>

From a quick search, it sounds like transclusion of a special page will always cause the parser cache to be bypassed, causing all of the parsed output to be regenerated on every hit by any visitor, logged in or not, via the API or not, etc. (While it's not technically wrong that increased number of visits may be causing issues, this would be a multiplicative exacerbation of that.) Combined with the fact that the page is recreating a pretty heavy database query to count and tabulate the last 30 days of edits, this seems Really Bad. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 11:14, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

: Edited for corrections and clarity. Also, one can generate and profile the cost of any bit of wikitext using the API: <nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&text={{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}&title=Special:ContributionScores</nowiki> would create and time the processing time needed to generate <nowiki>{{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}</nowiki>.
: I'd noticed that there was a recent change from 7 to 30 days of scoring, but it turns out that doesn't make a big difference in processing time. In addition, the parser considering the content static doesn't seem to be enough for Cloudflare to start caching a page, so that might not be as easy to change. Still, simply allowing the parser output to be saved and regenerating the table for the vast majority of visitors' hits might be a big help. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 13:27, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

:: Does this affect other pages? If not, then the main DB issues aren't fixed... but if it does, then why is the contribs page loaded for EVERY page? Also, I *support* removing this... it's just a showcase that exists for no good reason if shown to every viewer, the recent contribs should probably be restricted to users only or something [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.176|162.158.8.176]] 08:30, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::: The contrib table doesn't load on every page, but the vast majority of hits are going to be to the Main Page. And (my hypothesis is) it holds database connections open while it's running, which consumes that limited resource on the server. (We could just raise the cap, but we don't have access to the server.) A lot of the lag time in the profiler above is just sitting in a queue for the next database connection, which affects everything. So in that sense, it affects the whole wiki. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 17:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::Hi. I changed to 30 days on suggestion by FaviFake. But that was in March. Just changed it back to 7 again just to try it. Of course I can also try to remove it for a period of time. But for us that makes a lot of contributions that list is a motivating factor. So I would hate to remove it. Also it has worked with 30 days for more than two months and with the 7 days for as long as I have used the site (since 2012). So it seems weird that it should suddenly be the front page that breaks it all. It is also not the first time we have had these issues. Not sure how they where resolved last time but strange if it suddenly is the main page that causes all these problems [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:29, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::: (Un)Fortunately(?) I suspect the technical caching issue is more relevant, where naively transcluding a Special page via <code><nowiki>{{Special:...}}</nowiki></code> causes everything to re-process on every hit. That doesn't mean losing the feature entirely (or even the 30 days); I can help make a bot that can send the output (inside <code><nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&text={{Special:ContributionScores/10/30,nosort,notools}}&title=Special:ContributionScores&format=json</nowiki></code>) to a template, automatically updating once per short interval (an hour?). The delayed version can also be Main Page only; the live version can always still be linked, and/or the full page linked to.
::: You're right that perhaps this isn't necessarily ''the'' proximate "straw that broke the camel's back" cause. And there are a lot of other problems and solutions that could help - like simply raising the DB connection cap, or all the stuff about crawler traffic, and that Cloudflare doesn't seem to be caching the basically-static CSS from tool.php, etc. etc... But without admin access to diagnostics or settings for the database and Cloudflare, we can only work with the tools we have. Even this specific widget itself does some caching in a newer update, but we don't have access to updating it. (That said, I'm still keeping an eye out for other things that might have changed recently.) [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 17:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)
::::As it did not help making it 7 days again I have now removed it. Seems to make no difference to begin with. But lets give it some time to work. But I'm not optimistic. Let me know if I moved the correct bit, I'm no expert just sadly the only active admin and we cannot get hold of Jeff... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:34, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Since the removal of the Rankings table, I haven't noticed a downtick of connection errors. (That said, I dislike people ''aiming'' to be in the Rankings, I consider that editing should be its own reward, so personally I'd be happier without it anywhere quite as prominent.) Haven't done a full technical analysis, but I estimate that from a prior peak of maybe 1.5 "technical difficulties" or "also, a 503 error" responses, generally varying between zero issues (straight in) and normal worstest-case scenario of three attempts (fourth attempt is Ok, ''maybe'' unstylsheeted), in the last 24 hours it's been more like 2.5:1 fail to success ratio. (i.e. reaching up to maybe 6th-attempt success, worst case.) Not nice, but survivable.

Though got a new one, just a few minutes ago. An actual Cloudflare error: "SSL handshake failed Error code 525 // Visit cloudflare.com for more information. // 2025-05-30 20:01:57 UTC". In case that interests anyone. Looks like the server was temperarily so incapacitated as to not be able to even handshake with the proxy. But I don't currently expect that to recur, just thought I'd note it as a 'new' glitch, in passing. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.123|172.71.241.123]] 20:37, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

: Well, ''right now'' things seem more stable. But during Friday just after the change, when pages could load at all, I noticed they were loading faster, but the availability was just as bad or worse for a while. I'm not really sure how much credit to the latest improvement goes to changing the contribution table. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 00:59, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:Everything seems to be good now. No constant DB errors, and it's now smooth! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.142|162.158.8.142]] 07:00, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

::Should I try inserting the contribution score to see if the problems return, because it would be nice to know if it was this or just random. Also even though some might dislike this score it has been there always, and should not just be removed because one person writes negatively about it. But of course if it was really the reason behind the problems it has to stay of the front page. But a link could be inserted. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:44, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:::To clarify, I wasn't saying I disliked the score, ''per se'', just that it encourages edits-for-the-sake-of-edits and (though I rarely see the Main Page myself) is prominent enough for the new discoverers of the site to take as a challenge (in well-meaning ways, as well as less so). I have sympathy with "But for us that makes a lot of contributions that list is a motivating factor." Just pointing out the functional inverse that it is a motivating factor ''to make a lot of contributions''. (And that I personally abstain from that competition, buried within the contributions of various other IPers, no temptation at all to edit without decent cause.)
:::A version of the table weighted against new accounts ''might'' make me happier, but too many ways of doing that (hard threshold, to kick in at an arbitrary 'account maturity' age, so no-one appears on the list until 'old enough'; a formula that slopes from 0 to 1 at the "maturity" time, multiply the contributions by the current value; ditto, but a smoother function that becomes assymptotic to 1) that probably also involve scripted conversions and various arbitrary choices. So not something I'd imagine being done.
:::I do think it's a good idea to re-add it ''for science''. Give it a week to settle down, without it as an issue. If (as it seems) it has died down properly, add it again for a further week (or less, if it becomes obvious it has reintroduced the same DoS-like scenario). Let the outcome shape your further decision, or fine-tuning. Not mere yay/nay preferences, like mine, regarding it.
:::It's also very likely only a ''factor'' in the slow-down. It was ok (in both 7 day and 30 day versions) for aong time, but ''together with'' increased amounts of site traffic (as per anecdotal evidence from elsewhere on the 'net) it went bad on us. The improved situation could also have been due to the perpetrators turning their (accidental?) web-hammering scripts off, having finished their project, or now making them far less aggressive. The 'benefits' of the League Table might not now cause such side-effects. But also it's still possible that the problematic traffic comes back and hobbles the site gain, regardless of the absence frontpage League Tabling.
:::And you can always add the Special:ContributionScores(-slash-whatever) information as a link to go to, rather than transcluded (if you've decided that it's still trouble to have where it was). But cross that bridge if you come to it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 16:31, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

::PS I also gets 0-2 errors at the moment, so it is not all good, had to reload twice to get the comment above posted. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:45, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:::My observations: still 'terrible', maybe even slightly worse, Friday and early Saturday, UK time, noting the Friday Comic didn't get Bot-imported until well into Saturday PM (theusaf might have failure logs?), but I'm sure I saw it on xkcd.com on Saturday morning (but still had showed Wednesday as of Fri/Sat midnight, UTC+1, or thereabouts, i.e. early Friday evening Randall Time, not untypical for such updates). The table-transclusion was removed at least a full day before. Don't know if anything else caused lag in the proxy's response.
:::Since Saturday evening, more or less ok. ''Some'' errors, in line with "background levels" before this recent splurge actually hit. If I get a "technical problems", an imminent refresh sorts it (doesn't return another error), gets on with things. Not perfect, might mean a bit more RAM/swapspace might further help, or a higher quota of shared processing threads (if there are any that can be spared from whatever else is running in whatever rackspace unit it might be). Livable, if also still vulnerable to the next period of increased pressure. Keeping an eye on it, and still trying to eventually get through to the hardware-owning sysops, would be wise. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 16:31, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: A note for the future: the new (current) version of this extension [https://codesearch.wmcloud.org/search/?q=ContribScoreCacheTTL&files=&excludeFiles=&repos= caches] data for half an hour (by default), so if we ever get an update, the bot wouldn't be necessary anymore. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 07:46, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

== What would it take to clone ExplainXKCD? ==

What would it take technically and financially to clone this web site?

Installing MediaWiki and cloning the wiki pages should be fairly straightforward. There may be some pain due to differences in MediaWiki versions.

Cloning or rewriting the bots may be a chore.

Paying for hosting and Cloudflare will take a steady stream of income.

There's also legal issues, like how to protect everyone from liability if someone wants to sue, even if it's a frivolous suit.

There will need to be multiple administrators at every level so we don't have the "if one person disappears for awhile and problems arise, we are stuck" issues.

My guess is that between the existing administrators and regular contributors, we have the technical skills to do this. It's the financial and legal issues that give me pause.

Yes, I'm an occasional contributor, and no, I haven't created an account yet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.119|162.158.175.119]] 19:51, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

:It would help if we didn't want to clone ''all page history''. Already, it would bar those bits hidden behind admin-level deletions, etc, but limiting the actual depth of history scraped up and made available on a new platform would be wise from a 'start over' POV, ''especially'' if not having direct access to the core database. Possibly a 'bot could maintain an "anything new on old site gets reduplicated to new site" until a phased cut-off, with enough thought, dyluring the ''duration'' of the migratory process, but you need a solid base (maybe with further back-filled history as much as you can).
::Removing page history might violate the "attribution" part of the CC-BY-SA license (but I am not a lawyer so don't take my word for it.) [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 17:46, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
:And then there's user accounts. Maybe there's a way to confirm your rights to an original-site username on the new-site (potentially complex things, or just something to do with logins on both, posting "it's me" on the new site, then "yes, that new-site claim me of being me is indeed correct" on old-site, but you still have to deal with potential claim-jumping/identity-gazumping). Which also needs trust of the new-site admins to play fair with potential disputes.
:And it'd be a good opportunity to clean some up things (everyone can think of several inconsistecies that ''they'd'' deal with, given the opportunity), but only with a lot of hands on effort. So factor that in for potential work.
:On the whole, though, best just to 'start fresh'. A task in itself, perhaps use and acknowledge this site's "best material" (I think copyright might be not so much an issue if based upon a fair and dutiful copy, due to the details of [[explain xkcd:Copyrights]], but that's of course something that needs advice sought for any particular implementation). That, of course, needs community acceptance not to be seen as an "upstart usurper" site, perhaps, and could create a schism where some would refuse to partake in the new project at all.
:i.e. you raise good questions (and prompt others), but I'm not sure there are ''undeniably'' objective good answers to them all. Trying it and seeing how it goes is probably the ''only'' way to bash out the many details. Not an easy project. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.144|172.71.241.144]] 21:19, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

:I think it would be absolutely awesome to move to something that *isn't* self hosted, something that as far as I can tell this wiki is. If we move or clone, may we see [https://weirdgloop.org/ Weird Gloop] as an option? They have a lot of experience and will [https://weirdgloop.org/blog/why-were-helping-more-wikis-move-away-from-fandom#how-to-not-turn-into-fandom-20-with-these-2-simple-tricks probably not turn into another fandom and will not be bought by them]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.250|172.69.130.250]] 15:33, 30 May 2025 (UTC)
::Oh ye gods... Yes, whatever you do, ''don't'' go anywhere near Fandom, as a solution. Not that I think this will be a convincing argument on its own, but you'll absolutely lose me as an 'explain' reader (never mind contributor) if it goes onto a Fandom/ex-Wikia hosting model. I've no experience of Weird Gloop (yet), but the URL (about why they're different) certainly does vicerally appeal to me on first glance. Do your own independant research, though, anybody tempted down that or any eqyivalent route. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.123|172.71.241.123]] 20:37, 30 May 2025 (UTC)
:[https://github.com/saveweb/wikiteam3/ Wikidump] can get all page content with full history (for pages that have not been deleted). It doesn't require admin privileges to use. [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 21:38, 31 May 2025 (UTC)
:The site seems stable now, at least for the last half-day. I'm not sure if the attack/scraping ended, or if there's a real back-end fix in place, but here's hoping it stays stable. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.73|172.68.26.73]] 02:11, 1 June 2025 (UTC)
::Replying to '''my''' comment of 02:11, 1 June 2025 immediately above: I spoke too soon, I got two "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties." errors in less than 5 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.217|172.69.67.217]] 03:20, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: Why should we do this in the first place? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.165|162.158.8.165]] 07:01, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
:: So we can manage things when someone with server-level access is required. For example, if someone with server-level access was around during the last week or two when we've been having intermittent-but-sometimes-heavy site-is-too-busy-try-again-later errors, we (or, rather, the server operator) would have more insight to the problem and would likely be able to do something about it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.157|172.71.170.157]] 16:01, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: The resources at [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Grabbers Mediawiki/Manual:Grabbers] seem useful - they seem written for the new server administrator to have the new server save things into the new wiki. (I worry about the note regarding MediaWiki version 1.39+ since we're stuck on 1.30, but I think that might be about the version of the *new* wiki installation.) In particular, there exists a [[Special:Export]] page (and associated API) that also exports the page history. There are a few options for migrating people's accounts; [https://github.com/ciencia/mediawiki-extensions-StubUserWikiAuth Extension:StubUserWikiAuth] seems most promising so far. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 09:56, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

== new and exciting 522 and 524 cloudflare errors ==

everyone else saw that, right? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|this website's domain expires in august]] 02:21, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
:From at least midday (UK time), yesterday. But given the lack of ''any'' recorded edits for 4/Jun (UTC), only being broken by your (and other) early-hours edits of 5/Jun, was a lengthy period of whatever-went-even-more-wrong. (I had kept notes, I probably got 522s and 524s, when I checked back every few hours. Might have been other 52Xs, but not got that bit of scrap paper with me right now.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.234.190|82.132.234.190]] 12:00, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
::Expires. Will that mean that if it is not prolonged this entire site will vanish? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:22, 6 June 2025 (UTC)
:::Read [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] (to the bottom!) for one Q&A that was done on it. I know I also ''previously'' discussed LTBDL's 'discovery' (before they decided to break their own User Page in suggesting this was going to be an issue), but they also ignored me. As they still have their alarmist signature up, despite the other explanation, thus alarming you.
:::Short version: the domain potentially expires ''every year''. Every year, so far, it has been renewed. It's not the first time. Chances are low that it'll be the last.
:::Or, to rephrase your question, this site may vanish if it ''isn't'' prolonged (the auto-renew is not auto-renewed, perhaps the person paying for it gets fed up doing it).
:::PS. is it just a coincidence that, since the 'day outage', we're now getting many IPv6 contributors? (And vastly different IPv4 ranges/submasks.) Seems like a Cloudflare-led thing, assuming that nobody has been reconfiguring the explainxkcd server in any way (which is the current 'complaint'). ...Not worth a seperate new header to mention, but thought I'd mention it in passing, as I'm here. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.213.196|82.132.213.196]] 10:32, 6 June 2025 (UTC)

== Problem Sending a Question to whatif@xkcd.com ==

I tried to send a question to whatif@xkcd.com, and I got an automatic mail from google that "It was failed to send to the group", does it means that the question was sent, or that it got blocked entirely? [[Special:Contributions/2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01|2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01]] ([[User talk:2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01|talk]]) 15:16, 11 June 2025‎ (UTC) ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

:Yup, that's a known error. See the notice on ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' for more info. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:34, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

== Monobook style categories bug ==
I recently switched to the monobook style in preferences, and I saw this on the main page:

[[File:Monobook Font Bug.png]]

Is this something that's inherent to the monobook font or something that I can fix on my end? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:03, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

==Bug on Modern style==
I encountered this UI bug opening up the site. Is this one-time or have others experienced this? [[File:UI Bug.png|200x200px]] --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:25, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:that's just broken css. if you refresh it, it should render correctly. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:57, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:I'm sure you've occasionally had a "page cannot load" error on the HTML (a few months back, it was particularly bad, but it's fairly rare at the moment). But imagine if you luckily escaped the issue of the HTML file loading. ''It'' tells your machine to ask for the CSV, as well as things like the images it needs. And then the inability to get the CSV happens. It could have been the image that didn't load, also. The lack of stylesheet
:A refresh of the page is usually what I'd try next. Or a hard-refresh, possibly, depending upon which browser I'm using. Either it all appears fine or the HTML totally fails the second time from whatever glitch is plaguing the system at that time. If you get exactly the same.
:I'll have to admit, though, but it took me quite a few moments to find what was wrong with the UI... maybe I'm innured against the occasional version of this issue. Unless I was looking for the Recent Changes link, for example, I'd probably just read the page as normal and then move onto the next page I want to check/editing the Talk page, all of which likely loads correctly and leaves me none the wiser that I'd missed a minor reshuffle.
:Tell you what, though, the "Recent Changes" page looks quite a bit different without Stylesheet-styling. And you can even invoke that, if you want. Depending upon browser, you can either choose which (or no!) stylesheet gets applied, also useful to see a site using its "mobile" settings from your desktop. Or you may be able to use whatever the equivalent of Object Inspector is for your page code and 'break' the particular ".css"-line that governs it. Sometimes gives interesting and useful results, on more awkward sites that try to enforce "no copypasting" or selectively hide/obscure things. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:29, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

== Upgrading MediaWiki ==

::''Moved from [[User_talk:Kynde#Upgrading_MediaWiki]] [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:57, 10 September 2025 (UTC)''

Hi! If you aren't already aware, the wiki's MediaWiki software is many years out of date, 1.30 became end of life in 2019. This likely opens up the wiki to security issues, and presumably some annoyance from the users due to lack of newer features. It seems that Jeff never got around to this. If you have access to the wiki server, please upgrade the wiki, or have someone else do it. I think the recommendation to avoid compatibility issues is to go from LTS to LTS on upward, so <s>1.30 > 1.31 > 1.35 > 1.39 > 1.43</s> (it seems that you can go straight from 1.30 > 1.35 > 1.43 although the errors may be more difficult to read, based on the FAQ https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading#How_do_I_upgrade_from_a_really_old_version?_In_one_step,_or_in_several_steps? ).

If you want assistance with MediaWiki upgrades, this organization called Professional Wiki seems to also performs this service. https://professional.wiki/en/mediawiki-upgrade-services In any case, they would probably follow a form of the procedure outlined in the official MediaWiki manual.

To check the wiki's current version: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Version

Version lifecycle: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle

Upgrading procedure/manual: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading

Thank you! [[User:Cam1170|Cam1170]] ([[User talk:Cam1170|talk]]) 19:32, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
:Hi Cam1170, thank you for your proposal and thought! Unfortunately, we are unable to update this wiki's MediaWiki software because the owner has gone AWOL. He is a bureaucrat on here, and the other 'crat is also inactive. Despite multiple times to reach out to him both on-site and through other platforms, he has not responded. We are assuming that this wiki will stay frozen like this unless we migrate (which I have no idea how will be done-or if it's even possible!). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:Noting that even migrating would probably involve someone (active) taking it upon themselves to provide the 'blank' new server on a new host (and new domain!) upon which the existing available information is to be written. (N.B., possibly still to a limited degree, without the access also required to upgrade or grant a further third party the access required to upgrade, unless there are some truly weird backdoors. Everything I know indicates that even making sure that everyone can reproduce their accounts in the new system would be a tricky achievement to get right.) And then we'd probably still have this place's 'box' (or boxes, or cloud-like bundle of cooperating resources) happily but redundantpt continuing in whatever 'protected stasis' we'll have then placed it in, as we try to re-establish the SEOing/etc that leads to our new doorway.
:This isn't the first time, probably won't be the last, that we've been advised of the 'issues'. And been only able to state that our active most-priviliged users seem not to be priviliged enough to even consider the direct server-level access needed to up-patch/re-install the core backend. Nor to properly migrate everything (leaving this service running as a 'ghost' site, to a greater or lesser extent), from the box(es) it runs upon all the way to the original registered domain.
:I had written more, but it boils down to the conspicuously absent progenitor being the main hurdle, likely for reasons beyond even their control. Though ''perhaps'' there are further missing administrators who might have enough access to (if they don't entirely break everything, in the attenpt) assist us, should they be coaxed/cajoled to return.
:Personally (as if my opinion counts), I see no urgent need for (e.g.) a more visual editor. Dealing with entirely new and more complex bugs, compared to what I think is far simpler to work with, is one thing that I know will at least annoy me.
:As for security issues, I believe we're at not a bad 'stuck' stage, compared to some (newer!) stages we could be at. And 0-day exploits are an ever present (intangible) risk at the bleeding edge, of course. ;) But you'd be also right to question what I know of all this, as an effectively unknown voice from the wilderness. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.27|82.132.238.27]] 05:40, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::Ahem...
I see no urgent need for [...] [the] visual editor.
::'''Tables''' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:47, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Seems like others have made it clear why I cannot help. I ended up stuck as the only admin without bureaucrat powers... Also I'm not very tech minded so not the best admin you could have. but at the moment the only active. :-/ Not quite sure what Favifake means though? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::::Yes, of course! You're still unable to do anything, just like everyone else.
::::I replied to IP, which said the Visual editor wasn't necessary. Tables are incredibly hard to set up without the visual editor, so I think it's ''the'' most important feature we're missing right now.
::::''[Moved from [[User_talk:Kynde#Upgrading_MediaWiki]] [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:57, 10 September 2025 (UTC)]''
:::::Easier to custom convert 'raw' tabular data to "tabular data under wikitable format" than to painstakingly arrange it in a visually-'aided' WYSYWYG table, actually. Making a casual table might be easier, but making a ''well thought out'' table with any complexity benefits from knowing the abilities and limitations of the markup.
:::::I had thought someone would object on a different sisue, actually, but that would also be something for which actually caring about the back-end markup (and using Preview judiciously) certainly doesn't hurt, with "dumbing up"/abstraction often not being an overall advantage. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.43|82.132.245.43]] 21:53, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::Sorry but I unfortunately didn't understand anything of what you just said :( ㅤ [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:17, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::::I think they're saying that [https://imgur.com/gallery/i-dont-even-see-code-anymore-WqqJfNb the raw markup isn't exactly difficult]. And further that a WYSIWYG interface (which was typoed!) can often create suboptimal layouts, just because it was tweaked to 'look right' in the rather limited context of the composition editor.
:::::::And I probably agree, to an extent. Wikitables are designed to be far more simple/uncluttered, at source, than the equivalent HTML code. You can easily hand-craft them to both render nicely and be intelligable by future editors. It's not rocket science.
:::::::And then there was something about creating wikitables from non-wiki data, which might not actually be totally relevant. But is something I sometimes do, and I'd definitely consider a visual editor an impediment if I was doing that. The difference being that you can (hopefully) just toggle that option away. Or, rather, not bother toggling it on. Either way, I'd do what I think looks best for later editors, like leaving nice/logical text-spacing in monospace font by judicious use of whitespace/newlines - often lacking/badly done otherwise. If you want ''my'' opinion, too. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 21:17, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

36: Scientists

2025-09-13T20:22:16Z

92.17.62.87: Don't want to delete this, if true, but clearly it has no real value if it hasn't been given a link to support it.

{{comic
| number = 36
| date = April 28, 2006
| title = Scientists
| image = scientists.jpg
| titletext = A leading expert characterized the situation as 'retarded'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic plays on the type of statement that news reports often use: "In what [group of experts] are calling '[quote]'," to add more weight and credibility to their stories.  In this case, [[Cueball]] is using the phrase to attempt to add gravitas to the (relatively mundane) fact that his shoes are missing, and he thinks it's "pretty gay" by assigning this opinion to scientists (rather than it being, presumably, his friend's or his own opinion). The same joke is at play in the image text where a leading expert thinks the situation is "retarded."

The phrases "pretty gay" and "retarded" are infantile and offensive slang for "foolish" or "contemptible", and so they are the opposite type of speech expected of experts on news reports. These terms were not generally considered more than mildly offensive by most of the public at the time this comic was posted. The cultural mainstream is now typically much more critical of this type of language, and this comic would likely be heavily criticized if it were published today.

There may be a second level to the joke: Randall was still working for NASA at the time the comic was posted, so his friends at that time would presumably include scientists and "leading experts". If his friends made fun of him for not being able to find his shoes, it would therefore be accurate to say that scientists had made those statements. However, since them being scientists is irrelevant to the legitimacy of their opinions about Randall's shoe problems, presenting their teasing as an expert opinion is humorously misleading; a similar joke is at play in [[1206: Einstein]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is staring at an empty box on the floor.]
:Cueball: In what scientists are calling "pretty gay", I can't find my shoes.

==Trivia==
Before [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] started using the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website for his comics, he posted them on [[LiveJournal]] using the "[https://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ xkcd_drawings]" account. The new xkcd website [[LiveJournal#First day on xkcd.com|opened on January 1, 2006]], and the backlog of 41 comics from LiveJournal from [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] to [[44: Love]] was transferred on the same day, but in a completely different order. There were also two new comics released on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and a third new comic, this one, inserted a few months later. This comic was instead initially published as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]].

According to an [[User:FaviFake|email exchange between Randall Munroe]] and an editor from [[explain xkcd]], he later corrected this duplication on April 28, 2006, almost four months after the release of duplicate. Prior to this confirmation, readers had only been able to narrow the replacement window to between [https://web.archive.org/web/20060423175703/http://www.xkcd.com/c36.html April 23, 2006] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20060705231511/http://xkcd.com/c36.html July 5, 2006], based on Web Archive captures. The comic's art style and content suggested it may have been an older, unused drawing selected to better match the tone and aesthetic of the surrounding comics.

In February 2025, [[User:FaviFake]], an editor from this wiki, contacted Randall Munroe via email to clarify the exact date that this comic was swapped in. Munroe [[User:FaviFake|responded the same day]], resolving a long-standing ambiguity surrounding the comic's release date and allowing explain xkcd to assign an official release date:

{{Quote|FaviFake,

''I had totally forgotten about this! Checking my logs, I believe I swapped it in on April 28th.

''Thank you for your tireless documentation effort :)

''Warmest wishes,'' ''Randall|[[Randall Munroe]]|[[User:FaviFake|Source]]}}{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]

3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-13T00:35:13Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ Too many of them, for my liking. But at least we should have the correct punctuationing.

{{comic
| number = 3141
| date = September 12, 2025
| title = Mantle Model
| image = mantle_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 527x317px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Mantle plumes explain Hawaii, Yellowstone, Iceland, the East African Rift, the Adirondack uplift, the Permian extinction, the decline of Rome, the DB Cooper hijacking, and the balrog in Moria. Those little hills of sand in your yard are caused by antle plumes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain why the causes for title text are mysterious .This page was created by {{w|Pele (deity)|PELE}}, THE GODDESS OF VOLCANOES AND FIRE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

A {{w|mantle plume}} is a flow of {{w|magma}} upward from deep in the Earth toward the surface. Some plumes are thought to come close to the surface and result in hotspots that produce volcanoes, such as the hotspot that formed the {{w|Hawaiian Islands}} chain. Here Randall says the plumes account for every surface feature on Earth that we can't otherwise account for, due to the little knowledge of them, which is absurd.

The title text extends this further, suggesting with increasing absurdity that mantle plumes account for other things:
* Hawaii. A hotspot, hypothesized to sit atop a mantle plume, did indeed create the Hawaiian Islands.
* {{w|Yellowstone}}. This area of hot springs, geysers, and other geothermal phenomena is in the {{w|Yellowstone Caldera}}, which some geologists believe sits atop a mantle plume.
* The {{w|East African Rift}}. This area in East Africa is a developing divergent {{w|tectonic plate}} boundary where the African plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates.
* The {{w|Adirondack_Mountains#Geology|Adirondack uplift}}. The Adirondack Mountains were raised by the collision of tectonic plates. Some geologists believe that tectonic plates are in turn driven, in part, by mantle plumes.
* The {{w|Permian extinction}}, also called the 'Great Dying' and more formally as the Permian-Triassic extinction event, is the largest of the {{w|List of extinction events|"big five" mass extinctions}} since vertebrate life appeared on Earth. There are several hypotheses as to why it happened, one of which, {{w|Siberian Traps}} volcanism, could have happened because of a mantle plume.
* The decline of Rome refers to the end of the {{w|Roman Empire}}, which had nothing to do with mantle plumes.{{Citation needed}}
* The {{w|DB Cooper}} airplane hijacking occurred in 1971 and remains unsolved. Dan B. Cooper is an alias of the hijacker, whose real name is unknown. The hijacking had nothing to do with mantle plumes.{{Citation needed}}.
* The {{w|balrog}} in {{w|Moria, Middle-earth|Moria}} is a fictional beast in {{w|J.R.R. Tolkien}}'s {{w|legendarium}} that first appeared in ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}''. It too has nothing to do with mantle plumes,{{Citation needed}} but it was revealed by the dwarves, who "delved too greedily and too deep." If we were to delve sufficiently greedily and deep that we dug into a mantle plume, a balrog would be the least of our problems.{{Citation needed}}
* Ants often create anthills, which, depending on the species, can look like little plumes of sand. The title text refers to ants as "antle plumes". The {{w|nonce word}} "antle" sounds like "ant hill" in some {{w|h-dropping}} dialects of English.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[A diagram of the Earth’s inner structure is shown with the caption “Standard geophysical model of the mantle”. Dotted lines forming structures that appear to be moving through and between various layers of the mantle are labeled with arrows. The arrows either point to the base of the structures on the inside of the planet or formations on the outside.]

:[In the center around the Earth’s core are vertical columns rising up away from the core through cracks in lower layers of mantle. At different layers the structure either branches out horizontally between layers or again vertically through additional cracks. This process might yield a single vertical column, or several branching horizontal and vertical branches.]
:[These structures are labeled:]
:Hypothesized mantle plumes

:[On the Earth’s surface are various rock formations that align with the locations of plumes just below.]
:[The formations are labeled:]
:Every feature of the Earth surface that we have a hard time explaining

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Standard geophysical model of the mantle

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-13T00:29:32Z

92.17.62.87:

The wiki lives! 🥹 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 21:04, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

:So it wasn't just my computer that wouldn't show explain xkcd? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::Also: what went wrong and how did they fix it? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
:::And: do we have a plan in case it happens again? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::::It was clearly a server-side issue. (Well, more server-side than Cloudflare, which still covers a lot of ground.( There are a number of different things that could have been wrong, from the server rack-space no longer being paid for (a potentially more permanent death than the domain not being paid for - which we know has been, anyway) to someone having been messing about with the site and caused fatally excessive parsing errors (there's no sign of that, in the page-edit history that we see, although there's always a potential for the person who got the server working 'sensibly' again to have purged the evidence along with the problem).
::::Could also have just been a temporary power-outage/blown-fuse in the apartment of the person who currently lets the server hum away in the background (if that's the server's physical location, which I doubt) ''or'' that person was moving it from one residence to another and so obviously had to unplug it, transport it and plug it back in again to power and network connection (again, from what I know, I doubt that... but it's not an impossible scenario).
::::Unless we get to hear from whoever fixed the problem, we can just keep on guessing.
::::Assuming that any actual person ''did'' fix the problem rather than (for yet another theory...) it being a connectivity issue further along the chain that just happened to catch our server in that, and was just sorted out as a more general restorating of service.
::::I had several 'likely' ideas during the downtime... Well, ''obvious'' they couldn't all be actually likely, as they were mutually exclusive to each other, but a larger share of the divided percentages than some of the more out-there ones... but very little proof of any of them, now we're up and running again. Not ruled out, but without the basic fingerprints that I'd have expected to support their realities. And some of my imagined solutions to the outage were situations where I would not actually have expected the site to return at all, too, and these have obviously been defied/subverted given that we're now talking here about this.
::::The good news (with reservations, at least) is that, the way we've been returned to 'normality', this raises the chances of this issue not being a recurring one. With a side-line chance of ''if'' whatever-it-was recurs, it'll be solved far quicker next time. Whoever/whatever we have to thank for it.
::::The bad news is that I don't think anyone 'active' has anything to do with it (please do let us know, if you did!). Either no direct hands-on fix at all, as described, or someone who ''really'' doesn't want to bother talking to us users and only steps/stepped in for a bit of quiet background fixing that nobody'll properly appreciate. (My kind of person, that, actually. I rather like it when I fix issues so that nobody besides my more immediate colleagues knows they've been fixed... although ideally I'd be doing so before anyone even knew they ''needed'' fixing. And this wasn't my work, of course. With so little access, or even familiarity with the basic setup, you'd have to look elsewhere for any mysterious house-elf who sorted this one out.)
::::TL;DR; - I don't know how to answer your question. I get the idea that nobody will answer your question as long as [[1305: Undocumented Feature|anyone who knows doesn't want to]]. I don't eventhink there's any possible plan that we can devise to deal with it. Even with an 'off-wiki' forum to talk amongst ourselves about things, the next time this happens again. Even if we could [[1810: Chat Systems|agree on where to go]], it'd just end up being a legacy chatroom (like the Euphoria one) once the inevitable day comes when something means that this site goes dark and never lights up again. ''C'est la vie'', etc... [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:28, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

La plume de la Terre est sous le bureau de mon oncle. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:33, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-13T00:28:17Z

92.17.62.87:

The wiki lives! 🥹 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 21:04, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

:So it wasn't just my computer that wouldn't show explain xkcd? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::Also: what went wrong and how did they fix it? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
:::And: do we have a plan in case it happens again? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::::It was clearly a server-side issue. (Well, more server-side than Cloudflare, which still covers a lot of ground.( There are a number of different things that could have been wrong, from the server rack-space no longer being paid for (a potentially more permanent death than the domain not being paid for - which we know has been, anyway) to someone having been messing about with the site and caused fatally excessive parsing errors (there's no sign of that, in the page-edit history that we see, although there's always a potential for the person who got the server working 'sensibly' again to have purged the evidence along with the problem).
::::Could also have just been a temporary power-outage/blown-fuse in the apartment of the person who currently lets the server hum away in the background (if that's the server's physical location, which I doubt) ''or'' that person was moving it from one residence to another and so obviously had to unplug it, transport it and plug it back in again to power and network connection (again, from what I know, I doubt that... but it's not an impossible scenario).
::::Unless we get to hear from whoever fixed the problem, we can just keep on guessing.
::::Assuming that any actual person ''did'' fix the problem rather than (for yet another theory...) it being a connectivity issue further along the chain that just happened to catch our server in that, and was just sorted out as a more general restorating of service.
::::I had several 'likely' ideas during the downtime... Well, ''obvious'' they couldn't all be actually likely, as they were mutually exclusive to each other, but a larger share of the divided percentages than some of the more out-there ones... but very little proof of any of them, now we're up and running again. Not ruled out, but without the basic fingerprints that I'd have expected to support their realities. And some of my imagined solutions to the outage were situations where I would not actually have expected the site to return at all, too, and these have obviously been defied/subverted given that we're now talking here about this.
::::The good news (with reservations, at least) is that, the way we've been returned to 'normality', this raises the chances of this issue not being a recurring one. With a side-line chance of ''if'' whatever-it-was recurs, it'll be solved far quicker next time. Whoever/whatever we have to thank for it.
::::The bad news is that I don't think anyone 'active' has anything to do with it (please do let us know, if you did!). Either no direct hands-on fix at all, as described, or someone who ''really'' doesn't want to bother talking to us users and only steps/stepped in for a bit of quiet background fixing that nobody'll properly appreciate. (My kind of person, that, actually. I rather like it when I fix issues so that nobody besides my more immediate colleagues knows they've been fixed... although ideally I'd be doing so before anyone even knew they ''needed'' fixing. And this wasn't my work, of course. With so little access, or even familiarity with the basic setup, you'd have to look elsewhere for any mysterious house-elf who sorted this one out.)
::::TL;DR; - I don't know how to answer your question. I get the idea that nobody will answer your question as long as [[1305: Undocumented Feature|anyone who knows doesn't want to]]. I don't eventhink there's any possible plan that we can devise (an 'off-wiki' forum to talk about things, the next time this happens again. Even if we could [[1810: Chat Systems|agree on where to go]], it'd just end up being a legacy chatroom (like the Euphoria one) once the inevitable day comes when something means that this site goes dark and never lights up again. ''C'est la vie'', etc... [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:28, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

La plume de la Terre est sous le bureau de mon oncle. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:33, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

1457: Feedback

2025-09-12T20:51:12Z

92.17.62.87: Undo revision 386463 by 184.66.238.129 (talk) No thanks...

{{comic
| number = 1457
| date = December 8, 2014
| title = Feedback
| image = feedback.png
| titletext = A new study finds that if you give rats a cell phone and a lever they can push to improve the signal, the rats will chew on the cell phone until it breaks and your research supervisors will start to ask some questions about your grant money.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke about the psychological theory that animals conditioned using seemingly random rewards and punishments promotes superstitious behavior, and then extrapolates this theory to humans and Wi-Fi or (more likely) Cellular signal integrity.

Often when connecting to unfamiliar Wi-Fi networks or when in a poorly covered area of a cell network, the signal displayed by the connecting device varies wildly, especially as distance increases. Poor wireless signal and drops in connection can be extremely frustrating, and hence [[Cueball]] has likely tried a variety of methods to improve the signal. As a result of his desperation, he replicates scenarios that are unlikely methods to increase his signal, but in some way mirror conditions where he has been successful finding a signal in the past. His past conditions have somehow led him to having the superstition that holding a pineapple while standing on top of a chair may resolve the problem. Likely, the signal increased at random while he was standing on a chair holding the pineapple, and he erroneously concluded that the chair and pineapple ''caused'' the signal strength increase. It is almost inconceivable that this technique could have any positive effect on the signal. This is related to the idea in comic [[552: Correlation]]. See also the much later [[2259: Networking Problems]].

[[Megan]] questions his ridiculous behavior, but it seems Cueball has become extremely erratic due to the inconsistent signal strength.

The title text refers to a fictive study that apparently examined the behavior of rats in response to signal strength on a cellphone. It is a reference to {{w|B. F. Skinner}}'s [[#Skinner's real experiment|experiments]]. In these experiments, rats and, more frequently cited, pigeons are taught superstitious behavior by being rewarded at random intervals. In this new experiment the rats naturally could not understand the concept of signal strength,{{Citation needed}} so they chewed up the cellphone till they broke, leading to the research supervisors questioning the validity of the study and questioning whether the grant money for the study was well used.

===Skinner's real experiment===
Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behavior." He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions.

One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a 'tossing' response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return. Skinner suggested that the pigeons behaved as if they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their "rituals" and that this experiment shed light on human behavior.

See this [https://youtu.be/BR-eMMCp7tg Mind Field episode] where this experiment has been performed on humans!

==Transcript==
:[Megan is looking up at Cueball who is standing on a chair facing away from her. He is holding a pineapple at breast height in his right hand while he is looking up at his smartphone, which he is holding up above head height in his left hand.]
:Megan: Why are you standing on a chair holding a pineapple?
:Cueball: '''''I wasn't getting good reception but now I am!'''''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The erratic feedback from a randomly-varying wireless signal can make you crazy.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Phones]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

Talk:3140: Biology Department

2025-09-12T20:35:28Z

92.17.62.87:

I agree that the biology dept is probably talking about arthropods, not pathogens, BUT it could conceivably be referencing BOTH. Any microbiologists around here who want to weigh in with horror stories of some of the "bugs" they know about or work with? I also think that we might want to divvy this article up into an explanation first, THEN a list of fun examples. (I recently learned about honeypot ants and added it as an example... it would be creepy stuff if we took their defining behavioral characteristic and applied it to humans. Seems like it would be well at home in a horror movie.) [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 16:45, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Sign Maintenance Dept: It has been [ ] days since someone forgot where the 0 panel is kept. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:33, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Actually, assuming that people are constantly walking past the Biology Department sign and noticing the error, the Linguistics Department sign would need to be reset constantly. It’s been 15 seconds since someone... no, wait, it’s been 1 second since... [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B]] 20:22, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:This will be a joke, probably related to [[363: Reset]].[[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 20:55, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::My point was that the ‘explanation’ is currently backward from what the sign would need to say. If the second sign was tracking how long it had been since someone ''first'' noticed the error in the other sign, it would never reset, and if it was tracking how long it had been since the ''most recent'' noticing of the error, it would have to constantly reset as people walked by the first sign. Either way, the ‘explanation’ is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1]] 02:14, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
:::First time in ''each distinct period that it is wrong''??? Or the last. Once the Biology sign grammatically agrees (indicating >1 day(s) of this situation), everything happily stays as it is (or, in the case of the Linguistics sign, increments daily; whilstsoever it is "day(s)" being measured). But the next time it displays a new 1 (with or without first there being a period of "0 days", happily in existence), there is a new zero-point of the Linguistical situation at the first/last observation of the Biology "one days". [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:25, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

The first panel might be [one day] and and be wide enough to cover up the word ''days'' underneath. [[Special:Contributions/46.162.122.132|46.162.122.132]] 21:26, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Does the sign really imply that unusual bugs are discovered frequently? Signs like these are usually used in workplaces to encourage safety, since frequent resets to 0 should be shameful (think of the opening sequence of The Simpsons, where an accident happens to the guys updating the sign). The idea is that you hope to get to large numbers to show how safe the place is. It's like the sobriety chips given out in Alcoholics Anonymous. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Welcome to the History Department. It has been 5 hours since we last saw evidence for the dictum that those who do not study history are fated to repeat it, and for rejection of Hegel's argument that humans cannot learn from history. Search "Horst Wessel" and be very afraid. It may already be too late. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 23:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm pretty certain that the trigger for this comic was specifically the _Messor ibericus_ example already listed in the explanation. This is a very surprising discovery and has been a major topic over conversation over the last few (~3) days in scientific social media and news (404media, Fediverse, etc.). Cloning males as disposable sexual slaves is just the kind of shocking discovery the comic describes. {{unsigned|Dhobern|00:59, 11 September 2025}}

Talk:3140: Biology Department

2025-09-12T20:25:11Z

92.17.62.87:

I agree that the biology dept is probably talking about arthropods, not pathogens, BUT it could conceivably be referencing BOTH. Any microbiologists around here who want to weigh in with horror stories of some of the "bugs" they know about or work with? I also think that we might want to divvy this article up into an explanation first, THEN a list of fun examples. (I recently learned about honeypot ants and added it as an example... it would be creepy stuff if we took their defining behavioral characteristic and applied it to humans. Seems like it would be well at home in a horror movie.) [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 16:45, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Sign Maintenance Dept: It has been [ ] days since someone forgot where the 0 panel is kept. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:33, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Actually, assuming that people are constantly walking past the Biology Department sign and noticing the error, the Linguistics Department sign would need to be reset constantly. It’s been 15 seconds since someone... no, wait, it’s been 1 second since... [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B]] 20:22, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:This will be a joke, probably related to [[363: Reset]].[[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 20:55, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::My point was that the ‘explanation’ is currently backward from what the sign would need to say. If the second sign was tracking how long it had been since someone ''first'' noticed the error in the other sign, it would never reset, and if it was tracking how long it had been since the ''most recent'' noticing of the error, it would have to constantly reset as people walked by the first sign. Either way, the ‘explanation’ is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1]] 02:14, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
:::First time in ''each distinct period that it is wrong''??? Or the last. Once the Biology sign grammatically agrees (indicating >1 day(s) of this situation), everything happily stays as it is. But the next time it displays a new 1 (with or without first there being a period of "0 days", happily in existence), there is a new zero-point of the Linguistical situation at the first/last observation of the Biology "one days". [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:25, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

The first panel might be [one day] and and be wide enough to cover up the word ''days'' underneath. [[Special:Contributions/46.162.122.132|46.162.122.132]] 21:26, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Does the sign really imply that unusual bugs are discovered frequently? Signs like these are usually used in workplaces to encourage safety, since frequent resets to 0 should be shameful (think of the opening sequence of The Simpsons, where an accident happens to the guys updating the sign). The idea is that you hope to get to large numbers to show how safe the place is. It's like the sobriety chips given out in Alcoholics Anonymous. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Welcome to the History Department. It has been 5 hours since we last saw evidence for the dictum that those who do not study history are fated to repeat it, and for rejection of Hegel's argument that humans cannot learn from history. Search "Horst Wessel" and be very afraid. It may already be too late. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 23:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm pretty certain that the trigger for this comic was specifically the _Messor ibericus_ example already listed in the explanation. This is a very surprising discovery and has been a major topic over conversation over the last few (~3) days in scientific social media and news (404media, Fediverse, etc.). Cloning males as disposable sexual slaves is just the kind of shocking discovery the comic describes. {{unsigned|Dhobern|00:59, 11 September 2025}}

Talk:3138: Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure

2025-09-07T23:16:29Z

92.17.62.87:

I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere. (Separate and apart from so-called "shrink rules" used by patternmakers who create patterns for metal castings). No? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 00:36, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

https://www.inchcalculator.com/actual-size-of-dimensional-lumber/ for reference --- MEL

: Wikipedia has {{w|Lumber#Dimensional_lumber|a similar table}}. Interestingly, if the values on this table are correct, the xkcd measure fails for the 8 x 8 board. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209|2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209]] 02:18, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

:"I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere" - if doesn't exist now, it soon will. [[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:59, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

Thinking that there might be a typo in the comic - It says : A "1x8" IS "3/4 BY 7 1/8", yet it should be "3/4 BY 7 1/4".

I no longer want to be a lumberjack! [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989|2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989]] 06:57, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

This reminds me of when I changed my friend’s text replacements to be slightly misspelled whenever she tried to type a common word in college. She was getting a degree in linguistics and it was SO FUNNY 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:29, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
:She should have claimed that she was undertaking "applied linguistics" and investigating how to create a deliberate {{w|language change}}! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:23, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

I was told (and maybe this is wrong), that the dimensions are intended to represent the final thickness of a wall when drywall (usually 0.5" thick) is attached to the studs. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 20:58, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
:I think that's just a convenient side effect. Of course, if the drywall is 1/2 thick, a wall with 2x4 studs will be 4.5 inch thick. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 22:22, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

:That would be pretty ahistorical, so I think it is indeed wrong. Drywall is a relatively modern invention, and I think the standardization of 2x4s as 1.5″ thick predates it (need to check that…but even if it didn't, then it would be worse). Wood lath and plaster walls are more like 5/8″ from the stud face, if not more. And, of course, in modern American multifamily residential construction 5/8″ walls are more common, or even double-5/8″ walls (making 1 1/4″) in fire-rated assemblies. So it does not even end up being "convenient," not that a 4" wall assembly is particulary more "convenient" than a 4.5″ or a 4.125″ or a 4.75″ wall assembly…very little turns on the thickness of the stud plus wallboard, but a lot turns on the thickness of the stud cavity (insulation, space for utilities, &c.) or the thickness of the drywall (spacing of electrical outlets, mudrings, etc.). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 04:20, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
Once again, the UK wins on ridiculousness. I bought some fencing materials yesterday. The panels were 1.83m x 1.22m, so they could be metric but nevertheless 6' x 4'. I got some presawn posts that were 2400mm long (so kind of 8', or close enough), and they were sold as 75mm x 75mm, so they were 3x3, but they fit perfectly into the 70mm x 70mm post supports I got to go with them. Using metric to sidestep the need for traditional-measurement nonsense...but just keeping the nonsense and throwing new numbers at it. Actually, that should rendered into Latin and put on a scroll as part of a national coat of arms. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 09:49, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

Since the tape measure uses variable length inches, the watch (provided by the cartoonist) might be similar to Vetinari's clock. (Where individual ticks are of random duration.) I looked to see if xkcd had covered such a clock before (for possible link), but didn't find one. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:90|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:90]] 19:16, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

As an aside, I am always bemused about Americans being so stuck on imperial measurements when metric is so much easier. Oh except money...Americans are happy with metric money :o). [[Special:Contributions/59.101.181.77|59.101.181.77]] 20:42, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
:Oh, undoubtedly. It's literally just counting. The system we all use for enumerating everything (including feet and inches, or furlongs and chains, or drachms and scruples, or whatever else) is base 10. So just use base 10 and give names to 1,10,100,1000, etc. of length/capacity/mass/etc. units, and nobody needs to know anything beyond counting to deal with absolutely everything. Anybody who says pounds and ounces, or yards and miles (or whatever) is superior is objectively wrong.

:But.

:People get used to things.

:So you get the mess I mentioned above.

:Adopt the metric system, but then sell milk in 568ml bottles, because that's a pint, and milk inherently belongs in pints, so people have to have that much milk as a unit. Sell syrup and treacle in 454g and 907g cans, so 1lb and 2lb cans of sugary stuff can still exist. Nobody would be able to cope with 400g, 450g, 500g, 900g or 1kg! Keep selling beer and cider in pints, but change spirits to 25ml or 35ml (which you choose is up to you as a licensed bar) from 1/6 of a gill (or 1/5 of a gill in Scotland). Sell fuel in litres, but advertise vehicle fuel consumption in miles per gallon. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:59, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
:I know, obviously not {{wiktionary|the full shilling}}! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:16, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

1538: Lyrics

2025-09-07T22:29:20Z

92.17.62.87: /* Explanation */ More economical, for the same result.

{{comic
| number = 1538
| date = June 15, 2015
| title = Lyrics
| image = lyrics.png
| titletext = To me, trying to understand song lyrics feels like when I see text in a dream but it𝔰 hอᵣd t₀ ᵣeₐd aกd 𝒾 canٖt fཱྀcu༧༦࿐༄
}}

==Explanation==
For some songs, the vocalist chooses to perform in a way that emphasizes emotion, accent or style over clear pronunciation of the lyrics. Some forms of music, for example the Jazz style Scat, use purely nonsensical lyrics while some styles of dance music use a single line of lyrics repeated throughout the track. Sometimes the instruments overwhelm the vocals, so the words are unintelligible.

There are also certain types of people that may describe themselves as "lyric deaf", which is sort of the lyrical equivalent to being {{w|Tone deafness|tone deaf}}, although it doesn't have an underlying medical understanding. Some people that describe themselves as tone deaf are even quite musically capable.

The comic is illustrating (in text form) how listening to such a song feels before you have learned what the actual lyrics are. The lyrics are represented in an indecipherable way, with a few mildly recognizable words. This represents the auditory experience of being able to hear and understand some words (perhaps incorrectly), but not all of them. The depiction is similar to some {{w|CAPTCHA}}s (text that is distorted so it is hard to recognize, and one has to guess at what the words are.) Audio CAPTCHAs are sometimes used, where words must be picked out from distorted sound.

Another example of this experience can be seen in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc this British TV commercial] from the 1980s, showing someone who has misheard {{w|Desmond Dekker}} song {{w|Israelites (song) |Israelites}} so for instance the line ''Poor me Israelites'' becomes ''Oh-oh my ears are alight''. See more details in the [[#Trivia|trivia]] section.

This experience is similar to that shown by the character {{w|Havelock Vetinari}} the Patrician of {{w|Ankh-Morpork}}, in {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} book {{w|Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music}} (see [http://www.ealasaid.com/fan/vetinari/vl-soulmusic.html part of book here]). Rather than listening to music, he preferred to read the printed sheet music:
:''In fact the kind of music he really liked was the kind that never got played. It ruined music, in his opinion, to torment it by involving it on dried skins, bits of dead cat and lumps of metal hammered into wires and tubes. It ought to stay written down, on the page, in rows of little dots and crotchets, all neatly caught between lines. Only there was it pure. It was when people started doing things with it that the rot set in. Much better to sit quietly in a room and read the sheets, with nothing between yourself and the mind of the composer but a scribble of ink. Having it played by sweaty fat men and people with hair in their ears and spit dribbling out of the end of their oboe... well, the idea made him shudder.''

For a related experience see {{w|Mondegreen}}.

The title text elaborates on the fact that [[Randall]] has the same experience when trying to understand [http://lyricsmusic.name/ song lyrics] as when he sees text in his dreams. The last part of the title text is written in strange scripts to illustrate how he feels when seeing text in his dreams. Translated it says: ''it's hard to read and I can't focus.''

Note that it looks like the song lyrics were written by drawing in a tool, like MS Paint, and then cutting out pieces and shifting them slightly.

=== Possible lyrics and songs ===
The closest guess on the lyrics is this:
:''I can't even tell her''
:''Anything she wanna''
:''Had outstanding skill''
::''Beautiful''
:''Forgetting love.''
(Note that the first line also might be ''I can't even '''help''' her''.)

It is very likely that [[Randall]] completely made up these lyrics himself and if any song coincidentally share some part of them it only happens because Randall has chosen some very cliché lyrics, that would thus be likely to occur in some pop songs.

Nevertheless, here below are some possible song references, in which the exact line from above occurs:
*If the first line is ''I can't even '''tell''' her'', it could come from
:{{w|Joe Budden}}'s song ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJPZtoH_wok More of Me]''
:From the [http://genius.com/Joe-budden-more-of-me-lyrics lyrics]:
:''World keeps spinning, learned sinners keep sinning''
:''And '''I can't even tell her''' some fights ain't fight worthy''
:''Cause my pops got 20 years clean, but her pops got 20 years dirty''
*If the first line is ''I can't even '''help''' her'', it could come from:
:{{w|Bill Anderson (singer)|Bill Anderson's}} song ''[https://myspace.com/whisperinbill/music/song/baby-s-blue-again-104023287-116024575 Baby's Blue Again]''
:From the [http://www.metrolyrics.com/babys-blue-again-lyrics-bill-anderson.html lyrics]:
:''Oh Lord, and '''I can't even help her'''''
:''All I can do is just wait''
:''Until the clouds are all blown away''
*The second line ''Anything she wanna'' could be from:
:[https://twitter.com/1johnnycinco Johnny Cinco's] song ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri4LjCESbOA She Wanna]''
:From the [http://www.lyricfever.com/lyrics/1069636/Johnny-Cinco/She-Wanna lyrics]:
:''Buy here '''anything she wanna'''''
:''Fly in '''anything she wanna'''''
:''Try on '''anything she wanna'''''
*The third line ''Had to be outstanding or kill'' (which is basically just a simple guess at what could be said in the line) does not make much sense and there are no songs that include such a line.
*The fourth line ''Forgetting love'' could come from:
:[https://www.facebook.com/chino.brown.7 Chino Brown's] song ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SOW2o-g8yg Love Again]''
:From the [http://genius.com/Chino-brown-love-again-lyrics lyrics]:
:''I was at a point in my life''
:''Of just '''forgetting love'''''
:''Until the day you touched me''

Or we've been [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniped]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in a chair holding something. A speaker on a counter behind him is transmitting music. Four lines of wavy undecipherable lyrics emanate from the speaker. The lyrics are surrounded by musical notes. Below is the best attempt to write this down in text, also using capitals when they are clearly there in the comic.]
:I CANT₣∇EN +ELҼ ⊤HER
:A|N⊃Г⊕N6 ƒHE W(AN NAp.
:HADβE Aūτ|ƒA!NNNG∩fҠILL...
:FOR♡ITiNn⊣GLOOOO!VEEE ?.-

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be able to understand song lyrics without looking them up.

==Trivia==
*The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc commercial] mentioned in the explanation above spoofs Desmond Dekker's song ''Israelites''.
*The two verses used in the commercial are the 2nd and 3rd of the song as can be seen in the [http://www.metrolyrics.com/israelites-lyrics-desmond-dekker.html lyrics].
*Below can be read the two verses, with the first line (and then every second line) being what is sung (from the lyrics) and the following lines what the guy in the street shows on his cards (as he heard it):
*Verse 2:
:*Get up in the morning
::Get up in the morning
:*slaving for bread, sir
::sleeping for for bread, sir
:*So that every mouth
::Sold out to every monk
:*can be fed
::and beef-head
:*Poor
::oh-oh
:*me Israelites
::me ears are alight
*Verse 3:
:*My wife an' my kids
::Why find my kids?
:*them a pack up an' a leave me
::They buck up and a-leave me
:*Darlin' she said,
::Darling Cheese head
:*I was yours to be seen
::I was yards too greasy
:*Poor
::oh-oh
:*me Israelites
::me ears are alight
*After these two verses, there are more text from the guy while no new lines are sung:
::I think that's what he says
::But I need to hear it on a {{w|Hitachi Maxell|Maxell}}
::(There is a picture of a {{w|Compact Cassette|cassette tape}} below that last line of text.)

===Non-ASCII characters===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Matching text
! Character
! Description
! Preview
|-
| THAI CHARACTER O ANG
| U+0E2D
| THAI CHARACTER O ANG
| อ
|-
| ARABIC SUBSCRIPT ALEF
| U+0656
| ARABIC SUBSCRIPT ALEF
| ٖ
|-
| TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN AA
| U+0F71
| TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN AA
| ཱ
|-
| TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN REVERSED II
| U+0F81
| TIBETAN VOWEL SIGN REVERSED II
| ཱྀ
|-
| TIBETAN MARK BSKA- SHOG GI MGO RGYAN
| U+0FD0
| TIBETAN MARK BSKA- SHOG GI MGO RGYAN
| ࿐
|-
| TIBETAN MARK INITIAL YIG MGO MDUN MA
| U+0F04
| TIBETAN MARK INITIAL YIG MGO MDUN MA
| ༄
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Dreams]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

Talk:450: The Sea

2025-09-07T22:27:42Z

92.17.62.87:

Umm...before changing the page shouldn't there be some discussion here? There was a bunch of other stuff that got deleted. [[Special:Contributions/69.122.106.29|69.122.106.29]] 03:22, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

;Justification of "male enhancement" theory

DGBert wrote that there's no justification for the idea of the first pump being a penis-enlarging pump. What other theory do you have about (a) a pump, that (b) makes someone larger and (c) improves their self-image?
:If you have any hints not only coming from your own brain you are welcome. This wiki is "Explain" and not "Speculate". --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:59, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

(Do we have Word Of God about this or many other 'Explanations'? An awful lot of this Wiki is speculation, without it.) Personally, while the first pump could be either kind of pump, the title text asking for ''another'' in order to drain the sea means that the first (regardless of which way one's mind snaps, on reading) was not intended to be a sea-draining pump. Randall also often does something akin to "one-lead-element Markov Chaining", and "how small I am" leading to a penis pump fits his sense of absurdist humour. Even if it isn't initially that, it's still akin to being a {{w|Garden path sentence}} (only more of a disfluent paragraph version) when parsing. All IMO. YMMV. HTH. HAND.
''[[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 13:40, 14 June 2013 (UTC)''

;Totally agree with "male enhancement" explanation

The previous explanation (last edited by [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]) was:

<blockquote>
In this comic, Cueball compares himself to a very large sea and realizes how small he is. The initial implication is that this causes him to be humble and realize his small place on the planet -- a common sentiment expressed in poetry and blogs.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The punchline "I should get one of those pumps" induces humor by reversing the expectation: as he thinks about how small he is compared to the sea, he starts wanting to buy a pump, presumably take out the sea water so the sea could be smaller and not so much a threat to his self-image anymore. It shows that he really hasn't learned anything and is still egotistical.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The title text creates additional humor by reversing the expectation yet again, by saying that he wanted another pump to drain the sea, meaning that the purpose of the first pump was not to drain the sea. This leads the reader to ponder what possible use the first pump was to have, and how it was going to make him bigger.
</blockquote>

This, to me, felt weak, was overly complex, and ignored what seems a painfully obvious point. The number of "male enhancement" products being marketed by junk-mail at the time was a frequent source of humour, and something that anyone with an e-mail account (and a poor junk-mail filter) dealt with on a frequent basis. Ref: [http://www.google.ca/trends/explore?q=penis%20pump#q=penis%20pump%2Cmale%20enhancement&cmpt=q|Google Trends on Male Enhancement]

Note, the line is: "... one of '''those''' pumps." This wording indicates that Randall is referring to something that he expects the reader to realize is topical. If he meant a generic pump, he would NOT have used the keyword "those". People ignorant of the junk mail of the day, and the function of penis pumps, would understandably not get the joke.
''[[User:MisterSpike|MisterSpike]] ([[User talk:MisterSpike|talk]]) 10:16, 26 June 2013 (UTC)''

;Totally agree with previous explanation. [[User:Undee|Undee]] ([[User talk:Undee|talk]]) <nowiki>12:01, 30 October 2013 (UTC)</nowiki>

; A question for Dgbrt
Did you know that in English the sentences ''I'm small'' and ''I'm big'' sometimes mean ''my penis is small''[http://im-small.tumblr.com/] and ''my penis is big''?[http://es.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=big&defid=3086531][http://wtfcontent.com/wtf-2500.htmlhttp://wtfcontent.com/wtf-2500.html] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 13:44, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

: I seriously take issue with that statement as well - I suggest using "can also mean" rather than "mean" or "sometimes mean" [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:55, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

;A question to me (Dgbrt)
This explain should be discussed with [[Randall]]. This comic doesn't belong to SEX, most man don't use a "Penis Pump" because it's nonsense. If Randall did joke about this item we would get a better claim on this. This explain still does not cover the meanings by the author. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:29, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
:I was asking because if you didn't know the meaning of "I'm small" then you obviously didn't think about a penis pump until you came here. People who knew in advance the meaning of "I'm small"" immediately thought of a penis pump. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 13:05, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

First, I agree that without the tagline, the first thought is about the ocean. I am reminded of the Norse myth about Thor being tricked by the giants to "drink the ocean" in what he thought was a beer (or mead or ale) drinking contest. The phrase to drink the ocean does appear in colloquial english (american).

There are at least two popular cultural allusions here that north american readers would be familiar with. One is the Austin Powers movies. When Austin is unfrozen there is an elaborate scene where they are returning his personal effects and one of them is a swedish penis pump. The scene goes on and on as he tries to deny it. The second thought is an episode from Seinfeld where George goes into the ocean, his bathing trunks fall off and his male member is reduced to the point that his date laughs. The rest of the episode goes includes George trying to convince everyone that he is actually reasonably endowed. His explanation is "shrinkage". I think this second argument might be more compelling if cueball were walking out of the ocean where it is obvious that he is a victim of shrinkage. Without that visual we would have to imagine he is thinking back to a past event. For those readers unfamiliar with the ocean, or male member(s), the effect, I believe is based on cold so would last until core body temperature returned to normal. Your mileage may vary. {{unsigned|Mcjoker|01:13, 19 February 2014}}

The links that direct to tumblr should be labelled NSFW. I do regularly follow the wiki and a select discussions, even at work during breaks(or while the code compiles). They do carry no warning as of now. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:48, 5 March 2014 (UTC)BK201
:No good reason to link to a generic porn tumblr, even if it's below-average-penis-size-themed. The Urban Dictionary link, I think, suffices. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 10:28, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

;Some statements
*Thanks for removing tumblr links.
*This explain is still the worst here, the urbandictionary link doesn't explain a penis relationship as well
*The urbandictionary page links to penis but the hell there a millions of other objects could be small and big
When I'm standing at night alone at a shore of a sea I'm thinking about the vastness of all beyond me, but not about pumping up my penis. Furthermore I'm pretty sure most people all over the world think the same. So, if US or American male citizens have a major problem with their own pee-pee it has to be explained in a much better way. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:28, 26 May 2014 (UTC)
:I came here without thinking about penis pumps. But after reading the explain it was so obvious to me that it is about a penis pump. It would only be a funny comic becuase of this. And Randall use infantile humor all the time. I think the only reason Dgbrt is against this is that he hoped it was one of the beautiful comics that Randall also does from time to time and then also that he did not get the joke himsefl :-) Explain is perfect, although I have now changed layot to explain in the order that you could get the joke before reading title text and after. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:31, 26 June 2014 (UTC)
::See also the discussion page of this penis joke comic: [[532: Piano]] :-) {{unsigned|Kynde}}

This explanation is ridiculous - I'm quite sure that the "pumps" reference shoes of the same name (just do an image search for pumps) which are high heeled and therefore adressing directly the problem of being too small. No penis needed for the joke IMO. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.17|141.101.104.17]] 08:07, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

: Why do you believe it is ridiculous? As has been stated before, Randall makes use of penis jokes fairly frequently (see Category:Penis) The usage of the word pump for shoes may be different in different places (backed up as you say by a google image search showing high heeled shoes), but I have always known pumps as being flat shoes. Regardless, why would Cueball only want 'one' pump, to stand slightly taller but a bit wobbly?! As a native english speaker, I have no doubt in my mind that 'one of those pumps' refers to a penis pump. To answer some of the non-penis-pump statements:
*most man don't use a "Penis Pump" because it's nonsense - I agree most men don't actually use them, and the actual long-term results of use are supposedly dubious, but it only matters that a penis pump is supposed to make a man 'bigger' (penis size, ego, self-worth, etc)
*When I'm standing at night alone at a shore of a sea I'm thinking about the vastness of all beyond me, but not about pumping up my penis. Furthermore I'm pretty sure most people all over the world think the same. - Again, I agree with you, but thats what this joke is, it sets you up to think its going to be one thing (maybe a beatuiful philospohical statement or something), then suddenly pulls an unexected crude twist.
*if US or American male citizens have a major problem with their own pee-pee it has to be explained in a much better way - Across many (most?) cultures, male penis size is linked to manliness. Some cultures regard bigger as better, others smaller as better. In the US (Randall's background), there is the implication that bigger is better, which leads on to the joke. {{unsigned|Pudder}}

If you just read the panels, you will think of a water pump to drain the ocean which taunts Cueball so. The actual punchline comes from the title text; you realize the first pump must be something other than a water pump. This is when "how small I really am" takes on a whole new meaning. The explanation is correct... however, it is poorly worded and convoluted. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 18:33, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I think it is funny that folks tried so hard to avoid the sexual connotation, which is so obviously what was meant by the cartoon. {{unsigned ip|68.108.177.233|18:49, 7 September 2025}}