https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=E%5Eipi&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T11:09:12ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Davidy22&diff=141105User talk:Davidy222017-06-10T10:26:23Z<p>E^ipi: /* Sitenotice */</p>
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<div>Hi Davidy22,<br />
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Just a quick thanks for helping roll back so much of the vandalism. Per your recent log comment, yes, there has been a recent spate of vandalism; before yesterday, it was the odd spammer that I've had to remove. But with the advent of ''Click and Drag'', there's also been an insurgence of ip-based vandalism. I'm hoping this is just a spike owing to the popularity of the comic, but I'm with you; if it doesn't die down, something more drastic is going to have to be done.<br />
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But again, thanks for helping...<br />
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-- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:17, 21 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Please don't ==<br />
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Please don't create the redirects to explanations that haven't been created yet. It breaks the next and previous buttons, and gives people that are browsing through the explanations the false impression that the site is more complete than it is. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:41, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Ah, I'll stop then. Didn't know that. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 07:17, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Glad I'm not the only one who didn't know. Sorry about [[1633]] this morning. /.\ &mdash; ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)''<br />
:::It's fine, just had to do a few things manually. Good intentions. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:34, 22 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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==Davidy22, the spam connoisseur==<br />
Congratulations on transcending from being annoyed at all spam to recognizing the truly beautiful works of spammage from the rest of the cruddy heap. We should throw a party, lol. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:33, 1 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Hey, it *was* a well written bit of spam. It was one of those copy/paste types of spam, except it was nicely formatted and coherent all the way through. It was informative too. A great change from the mindless template drivel or gibberish that we usually get. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:11, 1 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Just asking ==:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
Was there a reason you deleted most of the List of all comics? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:What on- shi-<br />
:I was adding comic number 1132, and the preview was really slow, so I copied everything in the edit box and refreshed the page. I think half of the page hadn't finished loading in the edit box, and I only copied the first half. Derp [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 08:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::I figured it was something like that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:56, 12 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Just so you know, it happened again. But SlashMe fixed it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Mother of fracking- I'm going to figure out what's causing this and I'm going to fix this. Godammit. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:20, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Durr dee-durr, and now I've done it. Thanks for spotting that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:22, 1 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Ahem... You gonna finish that? ==<br />
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Have you taken a look at the front page recently (say within since you created the [[1134]] redirect)? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:42, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:I have it open right now. Please don't ninja me again. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 05:44, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::<nowiki>*Sits tight and twiddles thumbs*</nowiki> Actually, if you've got this I'll go back to the pitiful bit of literature I'm calling this year's NaNo. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:53, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== The Anonymous editor of 1132 ==<br />
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Has been 50.0.38.245 all along. For a while he changed his signature to be a userpage that didn't exist, and wasn't a registered user. He has now changed it back to being the IP address again. Just thought I should do some out-of-band communication about that. If you want to change your last comment about the anonymous user, that would be good. (I almost offered to edit it for you, but then realized the subject we're talking about, and decided that if 50.0 ever learns about looking at the edit history and diffs, I don't need to be called a hypocrite as well as a banhammer wielding {{w|BOFH}}) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:35, 15 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Broken mirror... ==<br />
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Sorry for the "ninja"... I guess we probably don't need 2 versions of the image though... Feel free to distill the explain part...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 07:15, 19 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Godammit, I even had the window open waiting for the article. The definitions can be merged into one paragraph, and wiki magic will explain how the comic works. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:20, 19 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Fooooooooor He's a Jolly Good Fellow... ==<br />
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You are the man, man. Keep it up! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:50, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Seconded. Great work, you deserved the milestone! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:26, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Please take a look ==<br />
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...at [[User talk:Lcarsos#Deletion|this]]. Nothing new to you, I suppose (spam fighting can be quite hard if we're overly cautious on every step), but I'm dropping the note just in case :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:52, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== autoblocking suspicious users ==<br />
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Once again, it looks like auto-blocking users that have suspicious usernames would require someone with more power than we have.<br />
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However, I very nearly blocked those three when I noticed the account creation. But, I didn't because I thought they might be legitimate users with stupid usernames. But now I've read up on {{w|Wikipedia:New_admin_school/Blocking|Wikipedia's block policy}} and from now on I'll be posting {{tl|uw-blockindef}} (which I've bungled fantastically right now, but shortly should be working) which should allow the rare legitimate user (with bad taste in usernames) to reclaim their good account, but allow us to block bad people.<br />
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You're ever friendly, massive toddler of an admin, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:41, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:I've also just found this page {{w|Wikipedia:Administrators' how-to guide}} which I will be reading very thoroughly and beginning to use this blacklist. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:16, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Hum. A great many of these templates could be condensed into a few bigger ones, but at least the documentation links are there for us to use. Also, you do know that Template:UserBox already exists, right? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::Well, crud. You switched, I switched. I do like the one we had better, mostly because of the descriptive labels and the nice thick borders. The name's in convenient CamelCase too. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:18, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::::As a general rule I loathe my shift key, using more keys to achieve the same goal is wasted time, and I could be called ruthless about wasted time. Saving a single keypress seems petty. But I had a CS professor point out that by specially crafting what you have to type (creating shortcuts) saving a keypress here and there can add up to saving several thousand keypresses every 8 hours, which over a long enough quantity of time can equal hours and days. That's my long winded explanation for why I like using {{tl|userbox}} instead of {{tl|UserBox}}.<br />
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::::Also, I like the wikipedia userboxen, it's more flexible. And that allows anyone who comes over from Wikipedia to know how to work userboxen here too. That's my case for it. I hope you agree because I don't want to have to push my shift key, but I'll take your input, and if we end up in a tie, we might ask Waldir to tie break for us, as he'd be a neutral third party. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:44, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::::In CS, I learned that descriptive variable names and easy to recognize naming conventions can save heaps of debugging time. I personally like the CamelCase version better because it uses variable names like left-bg instead of id-c for the background color in the box on the left, which makes the template self-documenting and easier to grok for a new user who's just reading the source. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::::: I was asked to comment. Here are my thoughts:<br />
::::::* Regarding CamelCase, it is indeed a neat convention but we don't use it elsewhere on the wiki. In fact, MediaWiki itself, in its early versions, used to rely on CamelCase for linking, but moved to the free-form, space enabled link syntax, which is better in many cases. Not everything converts nicely into CamelCase. So while I appreciate the argument to use CamelCase as the template name, I think the regular case version fits the wiki better. Besides, redirects are cheap and work well, so if the CamelCase title redirects to the lowercase one, whoever wants to use the CamelCase version can still do so seamlessly. Not an issue, therefore.<br />
::::::* I agree with Davidy22 on the parameter names. In fact, the code of the template can be arranged in a more readable form (using whitespace and indentation) so not only its uses can be deciphered, but the template itself too. Renaming parameters is a simple matter, especially for templates with not many uses as these are, which means there isn't a lot of replacements to perform.<br />
:::::: In summary, I think the two templates should definitely be merged and the best features of each kept in the final version: the title being [[Template:userbox]] (with redirects from [[Template:UserBox]] and [[Template:Userbox]]), and the parameters using intuitive names as {{tl|UserBox}}.<br />
:::::: --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:06, 5 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::::::: Sounds good to me. The wikicode looks god-awful ugly though, who's up for cleaning that thing up? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::::::: If you guys do the merge, I can clean it up afterwards :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 01:14, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== separate section for title text ==<br />
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I agree that in the two instances you removed the section header for the title text, it wasn't justified, but in some cases it does make sense. See [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Subsection for title text explanation|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:27, 5 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== No more imagesize ==<br />
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I made a comment on [[Template Talk: comic#Imagesize]], essentially imagesize isn't necessary, and I've changed the {{tl|create}} template to not include it. So rejoice, and forget imagesize ever existed (until the bug gets fixed). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
: Bah, what was that parameter good for anyways? Clicking on the image should take you to the XKCD site anyways. What user cares about the image pages that the template currently takes you to? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:20, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:: That's an interesting point. It's technically doable. But I think there should be a way to access the comic images (granted, I'm not sure why exactly, but I'm not comfortable leaving them "orphans" —linkless— either) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:08, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: There's the list of all comics page, and we could make the titletext link to the image page or something. I dunno, any excuse to kill imagesize. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::: To clarify, linking the image directly to xkcd has nothing to do with killing imagesize. That, for what I understand, has already been done. Good point about the list of comics page. I'll wait for more comments before implementing the change in the image link target. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:35, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
::::: Imagesize isn't *quite* dead yet. There's still four or five comics that still use it. Permission to upload the thumbnail versions of those comics, as we do with the other large comics, and end that broken thing once and for all? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:05, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::: I don't like the idea of uploading smaller versions of images. We ought to be able to use mediawiki's own image scaling abilities as soon as we can do some [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers|testing in the wiki setup]] and make the image scaling issue go away. Apart from that, what exactly are the problems of imagesize, again? I haven't followed the discussions about it, sorry. Feel free to give me pointers to the appropriate places where the issues have been discussed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 13:17, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Please move pages ==<br />
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I'm noticing that when someone creates a new page with the wrong title you're just copy/pasting the content onto the new page. Please don't do that. Please use the move page feature on the drop down of the page, that way we can keep the edit history for the page intact, and that way it doesn't look like you created these oddly poor quality pages. Thanks much. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:49, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Righty ho. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:09, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Sorry ==<br />
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I have been working contra u by routinely adding a white line above the categories. I instantly raise white flag! And say good night! -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:40, 7 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Trivia placement ==<br />
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Cheers mate! Please check the comment I made some time ago in the section you started, [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Section style and usage|"Section style and usage"]] on the Proposals community page. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:10, 27 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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If you disagree with the trivia placement between explanation and transcript, why don't you say so, and explain why? –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:50, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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I made a section for discussion of this, so that we can come to some agreement: [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Trivia and transcript]]. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 15:18, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination#Trivia and transcript placement]] –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Jurassic Park category ==<br />
Hi, you wrote you don't like how I created a new category for Jurassic Park. I thought it appropriate: there's a *lot* of references to Jurassic Park and/or velociraptors in the comics. And not all reference are to both... But what did you not like? Thanks for enlightening me! [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:07, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:There's a lot of categories on this wiki. When adding categories to a page, it can get extremely difficult to make sure that you've gotten every category that applies to the comic. For regular editors, the amount that we have to remember when maintaining pages is already quite onerous; more categories hurt our dinky heads. If you're willing to steward that category, go ahead, but you'll have to remember to put in the explanation pages yourself when you find a comic that it applies to. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:36, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:: OK. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
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==[[220: Philosophy]]==<br />
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Actually, what happened was: This being my first new page edit, I copy-pasted the format from another page, and then edited all the information to fit the correct comic. Then I realized I'd forgotten to remove the date of the original page's comic, so I did so. *blushes* No trolling intended, just a newbie mistake. Is 2/7/07 the correct date for this comic? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:23, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oooh. I thought you had gotten the date then removed it after seeing earlier rants concerning omitted dates. You can check a comic's date by clicking on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left. All dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:37, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Yep. I see that now, and now that I know it's there, I create new pages straight from [[List of all comics]]. No offense taken. Thanks for the useful advice! [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 05:52, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Character names in transcripts ==<br />
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Ah, I see now that you've been cleaning up after me, adding character names to transcripts instead of "Man", "Woman", et cetera. Now realizing that's the wiki's standard, I'll endeavor to do that myself from now on. Thanks for your patience with the new guy. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 07:40, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:It's k, just doing maintenance. You're really prolific, do you write all of those yourself or are you getting those explanations off the forums somehow? '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:38, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::I write them all myself. It's been some time since I've looked at the xkcd forums, actually. Sometimes I get a little help from Wikipedia when a particular detail escapes me. But you'll notice I don't make an attempt to explain the math ones. *laughs* [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 02:16, 30 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== My unexplained hobbies. ==<br />
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I just want to make sure that you are getting this, but I restored "My Unexplained Hobbies." You can now explain them. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:47, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Shweet. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:44, 12 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
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I suck at wiki stuff but am a real human - sorry for the confusion. {{unsigned|Schmammel}}<br />
:No matter. Also, see the blue box above the talk page edit box for instruction on how to sign your posts. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 19 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== About your new admin powers ==<br />
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Actually just the rollback hammer. I've learned this after being burned a few times.<br />
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Rollback will actually not revert just the one edit you are looking at, but will go back until it hits a revision that wasn't done by that user, so its useful for pure spam accounts, but if you're just undoing a single edit, you may still want to use the undo tool.<br />
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Also, once or twice I actually had it revert all the way back to the last patrolled edit, which meant it actually got rid of the edits of a few anonymous editors too.<br />
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Just a caution that with great power comes great responsibility.<br />
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--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:11, 22 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:Oh damn, did I do that? Welp. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u><font color="purple" title="I want you">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><font color="indigo" size="4px">²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:28, 22 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Removed Level 2 headings from Discussion page ==<br />
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Hi, I noticed you removed the level 2 headings in the discussion of comic 1188. I'm guessing it's the application of some formatting rule established on this wiki, so I'm curious where I can find a list of these standards that I should adhere to, so I don't make such a mistake again in the future. [[User:Jfresen|Jfresen]] ([[User talk:Jfresen|talk]]) 15:10, 20 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:It's not really a formatting convention, more of a workaround to technical limitations of the wiki. The way discussion pages are embedded into comic pages, headings in talk pages cause breakages when tables of contents are spawned. It's ugly and bad and it's the reason why we delete discussion page headers. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|purple|David}}<font color=green size=3px>y</font></u><font color=indigo size=4px>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:33, 20 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Captcha help ==<br />
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:''This thread was moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help]].''<br />
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== RE: Signature ==<br />
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Sweet, thanks David. {{User:Omega/sig}} 14:51, 28 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Time is hard... ==<br />
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... and not only that, she also is, just like her sister Gravity, a heartless b**** :D <br />
Thanks for taking care! :) [[User:Caranhyas|Caranhyas]] ([[User talk:Caranhyas|talk]]) 09:41, 4 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Feedback ==<br />
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Hey David. It's nice that you're so responsive to requests such as those at [[Mediawiki talk:Sitenotice]] (or [[explain_xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help|this one]]), but please take also a moment to report the request as completed, as that not only provides feedback to the requester, but is also a reference for the future (which removes the need to dig through the relevant page's history if, for example, one decides to check whether a request ever got implemented), and exemplifies desired behavior for future administrators. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:53, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Alright. Was just trying to get through everything quickly, and forgot to reply to those requests. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:55, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== 262 correction: Thanks! ==<br />
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Hi there!<br />
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Unfortunately, I was not aware that I had incorrectly created the page for xkcd 262. Thanks for fixing that. My only question is whether the page "262" should be redirected to xkcd 262 rather than just showing the deletion template.<br />
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Thanks,<br />
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[[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 07:02, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:The page "262" and all other pages consisting of only numbers are used internally to handle page linking. You don't really need to worry about them, you just need to know that making explanation pages in those numbered pages is baaad and that the create templates in the [[List of all comics]] will set up everything relevant for you. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::So all of the xkcd comic pages theoretically "exist" on the site, but not all have connected pages? Also, how do I create a new page from the "All comics" page? Thanks for being so patient--I really want to be able to contribute meaningfully here. [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 20:27, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
::No, we just link to the xckd comic pages. The numbered pages handle links between explanation pages. On the "List of all comics" page, there are (create) buttons next to all the red links; click those to start explaining those comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 8 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:::OK thanks for explaining! I'll try to do better next time :). [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 01:36, 10 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== List of unexplained comics ==<br />
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Thanks for the vote of confidence - hoping it'll encourage more contributors! [[User:Sean|Sean]] ([[User talk:Sean|talk]]) 21:50, 22 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== New sections in comic talk pages ==<br />
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Re [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:277:_Long_Light&curid=8457&diff=35146&oldid=35143 this correction] (especially your edit summary!): while there is the "Add topic" tab at the top of talk pages, you'll get new sections added to comic talk pages too.<br />
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Perhaps reducing them to ; headings is a better alternative that still marks a new topic.<br />
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;Just testing that I have the right formatting character<br />
Yes.<br />
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Of course this won't fix the automatically supplied heading from the "Add topic" tab, but then we do still want that functionality in other talk pages, like here...<br />
[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 03:25, 26 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:Ooh, the semicolon does that? You learn something new every day. Noted. There might be a way to change those controls at the top, I'll look into that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:50, 26 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Time frames 1008-1014 have an artefact in your upload ==<br />
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In your uploads "under the ground" between frames 1008 and 1014 there is a grey horizontal line with unmoving "ticks" while the terrain does change above. This is not reflected in the live hash for the only hash in this range recorded so far. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 10:55, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Hrm, I've just been pulling the images from the xkcd site and uploading them straight. Imma check on this. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:29, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, it's not just you, the [http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/?frame=1014&framediff=1007 geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190] has it too. Randall must have had a snafu that he's fixed. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 12:47, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Time1190 - but sometimes I also have NO time ==<br />
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I did register in here mainly for 1190, I am sure you did see this.<br />
This weekend I will work on a script giving me an easy update for the next day template, for now I am doing manual.<br />
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THANKS for your great job on all the other comics!<br />
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I just do need more TIME...<br />
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And I am not native English, so I am still happy about everyone correcting me.<br />
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Archive discussion I did start here [[Talk:1190:_Time]]<br />
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--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 10 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I actually already have a script to do that. I thought you had made one of your own though when you were filling in for new days, so I was just letting you go ahead with that. Here's my script: [http://pastebin.com/RQGGia3L]. Change the variables at the top of the script, run it and copy/paste the output into the page for time. The fields should be self-evident, but ask me if you have any questions. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:38, 11 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:: Oh, PYTHON - I prefer Perl or just a simple bash script.<br />
:: So I will ask Randall for a translator for Python to Perl ;)<br />
:: And tomorrow I hopefully will have some more time, your script is helpful.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 11 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Just for fun I did the script in PERL. Here is the link: [http://pastebin.com/PG5j56Nv template]--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:29, 12 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== And sometimes I do have time ==<br />
Just tell me what I did do wrong (I will follow you...). I am still new to WIKI syntax, it is still new to me. But I am learning as you can see.<br />
And after all that I will write a Perl Script with a missing close paren...<br />
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I like jokes but I also like a clean Wiki here!<br />
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--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:38, 23 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Uh, the explanation for that page is a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic, and it uses terms like the hibbert curve without defining them. It's not enough of an explanation to cover the whole comic. Also, there were a few missing categories and a bunch of trailing spaces in the transcript. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:46, 23 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
::"a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic" so sure this is still incomplete (I just did forget to add that template). Oh, and we have so many more complex comics with a need for more explanations. And while I am still not native English, which does mean I have to goooogle fore many memes, I am hoping I can support this wiki. I just try to do my best - any help on me is welcome! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:12, 24 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::And I'm pretty sure they're all tagged as incomplete too, so all is well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:17, 24 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== User talk page deleted? ==<br />
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Hey there, apparently my talk page was deleted because the only content on it was "buttsex", which is fine, but I just thought I should let you know that I did not add that ;). Can I restore my talk page blank? --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 11:39, 25 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, sure, I saw the edit log when I deleted it. Do whatever you want with your user page. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:50, 25 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Incomplete explanations ==<br />
Hello [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]], I will stop creating incomplete new pages even when I think it's good idea to have a page for each comic here and work afterwards on all those incomplete ones. The pages [[Help:How to add a new comic explanation]] and [[List of unexplained comics]] should clarify this issue. Furthermore there are many more incomplete comics here not marked as incomplete so you can't find them here: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. I am trying to give my best to support this wiki--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:44, 3 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:One add: I am not a youngster, my first computer was a C64 and the next one was a IBM compatible PC 286 (512 KByte main memory, 20 MByte hard drive). And right now I'm just trying to encourage other people to help here. But I don't want to fight against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 3 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
::I wasn't making any implication as to your age. It is actually harder to track incomplete articles than nonexistent ones - the wiki has no way of automagically detecting them the way it automatically provides red links for missing explanations. We have the incomplete tag, but people delete it from pages that still haven't quite been explained completely, and I sometimes forget to tag a new incomplete explanation as incomplete. Also, the fact that some incomplete articles exist that are not tagged as incomplete does not justify the creation of more stubs; if you find an unsatisfactory explanation, mark it as incomplete yourself. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:15, 3 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Various requests ==<br />
Could you delete the spam page [[User:Inkovic]] and block the user who created it? And delete [[Talk:283: Projection]] as well, since it was apparently created by mistake?<br />
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Also, [[1225: Ice Sheets]] is still missing a transcript. Could you help add it? And [[266: Choices: Part 3]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]] lack explanations, but have been removed from the [[List of unexplained comics]]. Should we re-add them to that page, or create some basic explanations for them? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:Incomplete articles are marked as incomplete, we'll deal with all the unsatisfactory articles on this wiki after we have a page for every comic. Still not an excuse to make more stubs, mind you. Did all the rest though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:08, 17 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Please block spammer 70.50.106.152, he did kill 1190 Time.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:53, 18 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Looks like a mistake. Not ban-worthy. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:24, 18 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
::This was the only edit he/she ever did. I am hoping this will not happen again, that big page was really hard to load.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:32, 18 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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The main page needs to be edited, as the recent deletion of the [[List of unexplained comics]] was recently deleted, making the wiki comic count one less than the actual number. Also, could you delete [[Talk:List of unexplained comics]] and [[:File:a matter of some gravity.jpg]]? The former is an orphaned talk page, and the latter was superseded by [[:File:A Matter of Some Gravity.png]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 20 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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I created an explanation for 1228 (Prometheus). What I wrote didn't appear for a few minutes and then when I tried to check why, I found you'd deleted a page, but the text I wrote then appeared where I was expecting it. Your comment on the deletion referred to "a thing on the front page" I should have read. I looked for this "thing", but I've still no idea what I did wrong, or what happened with all the page creation / deletion jiggery pokery. I created the explanation after clicking a box which told me to do so if I wanted to provide / improve the explanation. I apologise for my mistake, but perhaps it would be better not to put boxes on the main page which invite edits if those edits end up in the wrong place? [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 08:55, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I manually create the comic page and set it to show up on the front page usually within an hour of every new xkcd comic. The explanation pages for every comic follow a naming convention, with the comic number followed by the comic name. We also make a few redirects for the wiki to use to make the back/forwards buttons work. In addition to that, every explanation page has a template; note how every other page on this site has a particular look to it. The page that you created didn't follow any of that, so I deleted it and copy/pasted it to the correct location. The thing on the front page that I was referring to was the correct explanation page location that I had created 21 minutes earlier. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks for the explanation - quite a manual process! I didn't realise I was creating a page - it looked to me like the page had already been created (which it had, it seems) and I would just be editing the empty section for the explanation. Now I realise that the "please edit" box should have shown up in the editor, perhaps alarm bells should have wrung. Nevertheless, I'm still wondering if it would be better, if possible, to somehow remove or modify the "please edit" box when it appears on the main page so it doesn't create an incorrect new page when one already exists! [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 09:29, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Thank You,<br />
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[[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 09:03, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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There are a couple of xkcd comics that link to an extra image on the site when they are clicked. On this wiki, most of the time, the explanations just contain a direct link to this image. However, sometimes, users upload the secondary images and link to those. This is rather inefficient, especially since some images are too large to be displayed directly after they are clicked on the wiki. So, I was wondering if you could delete the few secondary images from the wiki. They are: [[:File:lakes and oceans large.png]], [[:File:na make it better.png]], [[:File:subways large.png]], and [[:File:lojban translated.png]].<br />
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In addition, I suggest that some [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]] also be nuked. [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.jpg]] was superseded by [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.png]]. [[:File:22 pieces.png]] was uploaded by a user who apparently just wanted to show off his Tetris skills. [[:File:2008 christmas special original.png]] is an xkcd comic before it was updated, which I doubt is necessary to include on the wiki. [[:File:starsmove.png]] doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:50, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Na make it better and the translated lojban do add to the comic. The two larger versions of comic images and the junk files have been deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:12, 14 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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I think you might have forgotten to delete [[:File:22 pieces.png]]. And [[404: 404 Error]] was created by mistake and also needs to go. <br />
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Also, could some admin tackle the issue that involves thumbnails not displaying properly? Dgbrt suggested [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Errors_and_symptoms#Image_Thumbnails_not_working_and.2For_appearing this fix]. Perhaps it could be tried? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:00, 18 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:The 404 page needs to exist for the previous/next comic buttons to work properly. It also explains why comic 404 is missing, which may be confusing to some xkcd readers. Mostly the forward/backwards buttons though. The scrap image is gone, and I'm looking into the proposed fix. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:21, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Nope. The page [[404: 404 Error]] is a duplicate to [[404: Not Found ]]. I just did a redirect there because I can't delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:58, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Whoop, deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:08, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Thanks, but there is still the discussion page. I did the same redirect there.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:26, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Spam at 1190 Time ==<br />
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Hi, IP 68.100.149.94 is still doing annoying edits here. I do not like that.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:38, 22 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Su Doku ==<br />
Hi Davidy22, I'm trying to enhance explains. People do read and understand shorter explains more easy, but the link to the details must be always included. I just did add the incomplete tag because my edit is maybe not complete. Everyone is welcome to help. But please keep short as possible, otherwise people won't read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:19, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:That explanation is hardly too long. Our explanations should be self-sufficient, with the links there just to provide further context on things that we talk about in the explanations. A description of the format of sudoku is an important part of the explanation for comic 74, as the comic deviates from it in a notable way that not all visitors may recognize, be it because they haven't heard of sudoku before or because they aren't particularly familiar with the puzzles. There's a wee difference between cutting information and condensing the wording of a passage, and what you did with that explanation leads further towards cutting content. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:45, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer explains people will read. The wiki link for Su Doku is already there but I will work on a small explain soon.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::What, three full paragraphs is too much for people to read? Three full paragraphs of a complete explanation are better than a paragraph and two sentences of incomplete description? I'd rather we follow the name of the wiki and actually explain the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:41, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Read my version completely, I did adopt your hints on explain Su Doku and did some more polish. PLEASE just read before you undo! Tell me what's missing but I still prefer a more simple explain. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:10, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::::You made a complete explanation incomplete in the name of simplicity. At least you bothered re-adding the relevant information back in post-hoc this time. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 3 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== 1190 Time pictures after major changes ==<br />
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Hi,<br />
any ideas to get new file uploads here? After your change we have some silence...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:55, 6 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Geekwagon, Aubronwood and many other sites keep archives of past frame hashes. We can look up our last hash and upload all proceeding images here. I did that for the first 500-odd frames, until people started doing it faster than me. I'll probably start again since other editors seem to be on holiday. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:43, 6 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::You did upload all the images manual, is this the new way to do this? I thought your scripts don't like file names like 1234a, 1234b..., so do you not use a bot to upload the images? Further more: Since hashes from other sites do not map to the new naming here I think we have to document them here. But it seems I'm just running against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:01, 6 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Post-hoc scripts; instead of an image archive littered with special cases, scripts need only iterate in numerical order. It's slightly more difficult to upload, but it's a consistent naming scheme for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 7 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== 1190 Time pictures - Do you use a bot or not... ==<br />
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...it seems not - why?<br />
Lazy as I am! You're not like this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 12 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I have a script to help with backlog uploads, but then I also manually upload new images while I'm awake and am near my computer. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:14, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::What do you think about a bot? My computer is downloading the images by 24/7 so an upload here should be possible. But first I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki installation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:56, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::A bot would be nice. Slashme's Slashbot actually did time image uploads, but he stopped cuz electricity bills or something. We could ask him if he's willing to share. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:31, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::I am thinking about a bot like ''DgbrtBot''. I never have done this before (WikiBot) but I know the fucking manuals and while Randall does not like Perl I will use this language ;). Tomorrow I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki and then I will need an account for a bot.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:53, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Outage from Friday to Saturday ==<br />
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Did you recognize this, every error was just a "access denied for user ... on database ...". This board was dead for 24 hours.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:32, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Yep, purged cache to fix it. Not currently in a place with perfect access to internet though, so I'm not quite as fast with that as I usually am. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:33, 23 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::The same happened yesterday. Do you have chronic disk space/quota shortage? --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 13:13, 25 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Yep. We added a donate button and the sidebar ads when these issues started happening - a few days after time - to buy better hardware. Money comes slow. We could probably stand to upgrade mediawiki and PHP too sometime. Sometime. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:43, 25 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Hi - I'm wondering if there has been any traction or progress in upgrading mediawiki - I was thinking especially with the recent comic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/1434 comic 1434] - but also historic comics like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC) 826] - that an [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap imagemap] would be useful in the explanation, which is apparently bundled with [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.21#Bundled_extensions mediawiki 1.21], but also available as a extension(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:24, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::Imagemap seems to be compatible with our version of Mediawiki. I'll get to adding it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::::Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:40, 18 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::Thanks! -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:28, 29 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I tried to create an imagemap for [[1434]] on a separate page, but any attempt to include the imagemap caused the submission to hang (sitting showing only a blank page whether I tried to submit for a preview or to actually edit) - I believe it was Friday, but might have been Thursday if you're looking for error logs. This is in contrast to the behavior when I tried to use wiki image maps before you said you added the extension (it would:::::::: simply strip out the tags and show the text content). I don't know how much time you have to contribute to this site every day, or how high a priority fiddling with this extension would be, but I'd appreciate anything you can do to look into this. Specifically, I used the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:where_do_birds_go_clips_only.png cropped image I uploaded] and the [http://www.maschek.hu/imagemap/imgmap Online image map editor] markup generator, which was linked from the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap#See_also MediaWiki:ImageMap page] as it "supports all shapes, [and is] Extension:ImageMap compatible".<br />
::::::::Alrighty, I'll get on it. Do you have the imagemap markup you were trying to use saved somewhere? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:42, 3 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::::::Tested it, the error appears to be an old friend of mine. All the more reason to try and resolve it. Disabled the extension in the meantime, but it's still installed. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:22, 3 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::I don't have the markup handy, but it's pretty easy to create sample markup (which is why I included the links for errythang) - I'm not even sure how to escape it in a wiki to make it postable here, since it doesn't even commit the change - I appreciate your efforts! Do you get more money if I ''click'' on Ads? :-) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:18, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::::::::The way our pricing works, ad clicks don't directly translate to income, but they make the ad space more attractive to potential buyers which leads to them bidding up the price. Our base prices are rock bottom though to encourage our own users to advertise with us, and we wouldn't mind if you pointed your boss/marketing dept at work towards our bargain bin ad space. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::::A long-time friend has been dealt with, the plugin is now re-enabled. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== User RouterIncident and a bunch of templates ==<br />
<br />
Hi, I'm hoping you have had nice holidays. We all do need recovery. But it's bad when no active admin is available here.<br />
<br />
Please delete that citation template, or just enter a link to [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]. Please delete also this categories: "All articles lacking reliable references" and "Articles lacking reliable references". We still have the incomplete category, that should be enough.<br />
<br />
BTW: RouterIncident is maybe also on holiday, no action the last days.<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:04, 28 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I could not find these categories you speak of in the page creation log, but citation needed is gone now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:01, 29 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Please move some pages and edit the "List of all comics" ==<br />
<br />
I can't move pages here, but this should work:<br />
<br />
<nowiki>{{comicsrow|1245|2013-07-31|10 Day Forecast}}</nowiki><br />
*the correct page must be: "1245: 10 Day Forecast"<br />
*the ''title'' must be: "10 Day Forecast"<br />
<br />
So I did not save this update because it would result into corrupt links:<br />
<br />
<nowiki>xkcd.com/1245 | 10 Day Forecast (create) | number / title / talk | 10_day_forecast.png | 2013-07-31</nowiki><br />
<br />
Please help, or give me the power to do this on my own.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 1 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Ooor instead of deviating from the title on xkcd, we could use an excellent feature to the comicsrow template put in by Waldir. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:20, 1 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Uh, I didn't know this feature.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Template:Verification needed ==<br />
This template is unnecessary, please delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Please also delete the templates behind this non existing categories:<br />
:*Wikipedia pages with incorrect protection templates (2 members)<br />
:*Wikipedia protected templates (2 members)<br />
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:07, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Holy dependency hell. Purged the lot. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:42, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can you nuke [[Talk:404: 404 Error]]? You forgot to delete it when you got rid of [[404: 404 Error]].<br />
<br />
Also, any update on the thumbnail issue? They are still not displaying correctly See [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 22:03, 9 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Deleted. Thumbnails are a bit trickier, seeing as Jeff is the only one who has direct access to the server. Still plugging. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For some reason, the wiki places the [[Main Page]] in the same categories as the current comic. This should be fixed, as the only category it should belong to is the [[:Category:Root category|root category]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:30, 17 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:FYI I have answered [[User:Oneforfortytwo]] on [[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|his talk page]]. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 19:01, 17 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
One more thing: Can you edit [[1190: Time]] and remove all links to images after 2973:00? Seeing as there will not be any more of them uploaded, and some of them are showing up on the [[Special:WantedFiles|wanted files page]]. Also, can you restore the deleted image [[:File:starsmove.png]]? Originally, I thought there was nowhere to put it, but I realized that I can link to it at [[1190: Time/Pictures]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 06:04, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:51, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Oh, can you delete [[1360: Old Files/info]]? Also, could we possibly get a page where people can post pages to be deleted? That would make it easier to report them. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 19:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Can do. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:59, 29 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Mkay, deleted the page, was in the process of making the page when I recalled that [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]] and [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals]] tend to be the pages used for proposing deletion of pages. Page deletion doesn't come up incredibly often, although I could create the page if people really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:25, 30 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I found [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Although you can't explain why to delete a page. Perhaps a template would be more appropriate. Speaking of which, can you delete [[:Category:Commissioned]], [[:File:16px-BlackHat head.png]], [[:File:spirit rewrite unknown author.png]], [[:File:tongue awareness.jpg]], [[Special:ListFiles/ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|all of these uploads]], and [[Special:ListFiles/Spongebog|the Lorenz uploads here]]?<br />
<br />
By the way, [[User:DgbrtBOT]] is not selecting the xkcd.com licensing choice when uploading new comic images, causing all of them to show up in [[:Special:UncategorizedFiles]]. And [[User:Dgbrt]] appears to have gone AWOL. Is there any way we can contact him and get him to change his bot?<br />
<br />
Finally, I think there should be a category for the pages listed [[:Special:UncategorizedPages|here]]. Maybe helper comic pages, seeing as there is a helper comic images? Or comic subpages? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The template [[template:spam]] automagically includes the delete template. We used to have a delete template, but it literally saw no use. The black hat head is the site favicon and the tongue awareness image is used in an explanation. The others seem justifiable though. I'll submit a patch to dgbrt that oughta fix the image categorization thing. Comic subpages oughta be a fine name. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:19, 4 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Time animation—a little help maybe? ==<br />
<br />
About the animated Time GIF, I actually prepared one right away at the end, but I haven't been able to get it to upload here, even though it's rather less than the stated size limit, 12 MB out of I think 40 MB. If anyone can suggest what might be going on, I'll be happy to try it out. I did ask in the XKCD forum, but didn't get any help there. Just in case it was a temporary thing, I'll go give it a shot here again after I post this. Wouldn't want to save face or anything if it actually works all of a sudden, after all.—[[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 20:03, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Clean explains ==<br />
<br />
Oh, I did some reverts (undo) today again, I'm not happy:<br />
*Ninja Turtles still belong to NASA<br />
*Bullsh.. sorry<br />
*Duplicate on some chess jokes<br />
*Math<br />
*And math again at some statistics (Increased Risk). <- ok, or (Increased Risk.)<br />
While you do fight against spam, I simply do fight against some similar windmills. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:04, 27 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Many of these were hamfisted ones that were targeted at one change, and reverted everything else contained in the same edit. Some of them were legitimate, some of them seem to show minimal effort to look at context before you edit. It's getting to the point where it's actually kind of disruptive now. If something is not in your area of expertise, don't revert like you do currently. There's a reason why rollback privileges are not given to all users. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:37, 28 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== 1269: Privacy Opinions ==<br />
<br />
This edit war is useless. The add is just '''TL;DR'''. And I'm sure even you did not read it all. Please keep explains as short as possible, otherwise people don't read. For understanding my post read this (read it all, there is a final statement at the bottom):<br />
According to the title, the comic is about “opinions on internet privacy” in general. Six positions are offered as options. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by the author by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative valences in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels, as those characters are depicted either as having such boring lives that they have no need for privacy (the Crypto Nut, the Nihilist), or as being crazy (the Conspiracist, the Exhibitionist).<br />
A fifth position, the Philosopher, is tagged somewhat ambivalently by the author: Megan is depicted as boring her interlocutor, yet in the title text, the author admits that he is usually the Philosopher. Also, “Philosopher” in vernacular English is neutrally valenced, potentially having the ability to expound either wisdom (sophia) or sophistry. It is also a synonym for Sage, the sixth position. As the author condones his own movement from Philosopher to Sage, he thus indicates that the Philosopher is to be viewed negatively, even if it is a tempting position to hold.<br />
The title of the sixth position, the “Sage”, is positively valenced in contemporary English, and the author in the title text states that once he obtains a “burrito” – i.e., a “real” thing, he switches from the Philosopher to the Sage. The internal evidence presented thus far therefore is entirely consistent; the author encourages the reader to identify with the Sage.<br />
By presenting five negatively tagged positions followed by a positively tagged sixth and final one, the author follows a rhetorical commonplace of listing and refuting a number of positions one by one, concluding with the favored and best one, which is not refuted and should be accepted both on its own merits and by virtue of being the last one standing. The comic therefore implies that no other (significant) positions exist.<br />
Having completed the rhetorical analysis of the comic, we are now in a position to understand the meaning of “Internet Privacy”.<br />
Panels #3 and 5 directly reference the American NSA. Panel #5’s “exhibitionist” also references Google, but the characters in the panel appear to be NSA agents (one wears an official cap and they are viewing the exhibitionist on an official, government-looking monitor). Likewise, the focus of the “Nihilist” is that the joke is on the people who gather the data, rather than those who are subsequently able to make use of it (such as Facebook’s users rather than "Facebook" itself; i.e., Facebook's employees and, by extension, its advertisers). The content of the actual data is only mentioned in panels #2, 4, and 5, and in each panel, it is suggested that it is meaningless or trivial. The Sage underscores the notion that any data known about him does not bother him, and therefore must be meaningless or trivial. The reader is thus encouraged to believe that it does not actually matter whether others discover personal data abou t him/her.<br />
The comic is therefore what social theorists call *reductive*, because it reduces the range of possibilities of “Opinions on Internet Privacy” to an artificially and simplistically narrow subset; in this case, individuals concerned with government or corporate agencies using data that they have gathered on individuals, and the futility of worrying about such things. The comic does not admit the possibility of other “opinions on internet privacy” – namely, that individuals might have legitimate concerns with governmental or corporate uses of their data, let alone other individuals’ access to data that is assembled and distributed by corporations such as Facebook. The comic likewise does not consider the possibility of individuals having more interesting lives than the characters depicted, and therefore very real concerns about their privacy due to the activities that they engage in that are potentially more career limiting (should they be discovered) than obsessing about cryptography or eating a burrito.<br />
The comic is “functionally” reductive, as opposed to “intentionally” reductive, because the reduction is the function or effect of the comic for readers who read it straightforwardly (such as the poster who claimed it was “about” Edward Snowden), whether or not the author intended this reduction to occur. There is not enough internal evidence in the literary text (i.e., the comic) to maintain that the author intentionally excluded other viable opinions on internet privacy; it could be that they are just not on his radar. For example, we do not have enough information in the comic to claim that the author is against civil rights; it could be simply that he doesn’t often think about them. Likewise, it would exceed the evidence of the comic to claim that the author believes that schoolteachers who use the internet to facilitate legal but frowned-upon sexual behaviors should lose their jobs if they are found out due to internet privacy breaches; it could be that the author simply hasn’t bothered to worry about these matters if they don’t affect him personally. This adjudication – whether the comic is “intentionally” reductive or not – may only be made on the basis of external evidence; that is, data known about the author from sources beyond this comic.<br />
Use of such external evidence – historical, personal, psychological information about an author – is valid in determining the meaning of an author’s text, and is increasingly viable due to the accessibility of information about an individual on the internet today.<br />
Additional observations about the comic follow. <br />
<br />
And when you did complete all that readings maybe you can summarize it, just in a way a reader would read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:PRO TIP: explainxkcd is not guessxkcd.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:19, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::I did actually read it, and goes well past merely defining words in the comic. It covers writer's craft and all of it is derived from valid analysis of text from the comic. There's maybe a couple of excess words that I edited out, but length is not a bad thing. I read it the first time, and it was a valuable analytical contribution to the explanation; I question the value of flat-out reverting major edits that significantly improve pages. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:33, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::First sentence is mapped to the title, the TL;DR section is at the bottom. OK?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Uh, you cut the passage in half and split it up when it was referring back on itself? And you're accusing me of not bothering to read it? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:26, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::::Uh, Oh, Ahh, I did not delete any content, I just asked about improvements. Read my comments, still much smaller than this adds.<br />
:::::Are you happy when people do not visit this site again because the explain is bullshit? TL;DR... I still prefer articles people will read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::I know you didn't delete anything. You cut it down the middle and pasted half the passage at the end of the article, with little regard for flow or structure. That's not a valuable edit, even if it's a smaller change than the initial passage addition. Having short explanations is not worth cutting out valuable information. Cutting out content that's irrelevant to the comic, yeah. Cutting out false relations and waffle, that's fine. Don't cut out well-written analysis.<br />
::::::Also, I'm noticing concurrent issues being raised against your edits again. Consider editing and working on top of edits instead of straight reverting them, and avoid antagonistic language. You already have one warning from the last time this happened. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:59, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I still disagree. The list of panel explains is overruled by a massive amount of text before. This is still not a helpful explanation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 06:58, 30 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::::It's not a helpful explanation for those incapable of reading or scanning a sizeable passage of text. It contains all the relevant information in a coherent and laid-out manner, with a bullet pointed list to draw attention to the frame-by-frame explanations for those who want to skip the intention and analysis. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:26, 30 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Advertising ==<br />
<br />
My Firefox AddOn NoScript did block the external page "projectwonderful.com". The untrusted picture [http://www.projectwonderful.com/img/uploads/pics/91967-1378268302.png] does not belong to "explainxkcd.com". Then clicking the picture brings me to this link: [[explain_xkcd:Advertise_Here]]. But, I still do not see any advertisement here at all, only this "wonderful project world", what's wrong?<br />
<br />
I would like to pay here for a link to Randall's store (he doesn't know), but it has to be an internal picture to an external link. A user action is required, ask Randall about this security. External clicks do count, embedded content to external sites is a real insecure solution. Many modern browsers will not allow this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:51, 1 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
:The image does belong to us, it's just served by project wonderful when no advertisers are currently bidding on us. The word "advertise" used in the link title is in the verb form, not the noun; that page describes how to advertise on our site. That page contains our advertising guidelines and a few links to our project wonderful bidding page. There, you can create an account and bid on any of the four regions we have on offer. Our minimum rate is USD$3.8 per day, and they let you link any image to any site. If you still can't advertise with us, post imgur links to screenshots to show me what you're doing.<br />
:Have you not said in the past that you are an employed software developer? Instead of advertising a site wholly unaffiliated to you, why not ask your boss to try his hand at advertising on explain xkcd? It's cheaper than most advertising outlets, and we have a large and valuable audience for your average technology company. Your company can probably easily muster the ~$15 per day needed to advertise in all our available regions, and the process takes about as long as creating an account on any other site on the internet. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:13, 2 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== A database error has occurred... ==<br />
<br />
I did clean the cache, it seems no admin is required to fix this damn problem. Site was down but available now again. I will also talk to JEFF about this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:54, 3 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
: New server coming soon. Hopefully these DB issues will stop... forever. --[[User:Jeff|<b><font color="orange">Jeff</font></b>]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:39, 25 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== IP Users ==<br />
<br />
I still do not like this mess: [[User:108.162.216.45]] and [[User:50.151.2.168]]. Users have to register for this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:18, 8 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:No they don't? {{w|User:70.21.5.28}}. The page takes up so little space, it's not worth forcing them to do something they may not want to do. When our IP friend wants an account, they will make that choice on their own. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:35, 8 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Someone else will use the IP 50.151.2.168 in the future. If that user also likes xkcd and explainxkcd he will find a history he never has done. Still a mess. Nevertheless you can be sure that I never will edit this without admins permission.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Question: — or - ==<br />
<br />
You're changing — to -, even while it looks to me like a (typical American) loooong dash at the picture. Original transcript by Randal on [[752]] is "Do you--", so I don't understand some of your latest edits. I'm changing &mdash to — ( on Linux). I did opt for removing the double spaces after a sentence, but is this dash also history? Like miles... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:01, 22 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Eh, I just do it because it's only one character in the original comics. I don't actually have easy access to an mdash on my keyboard when I'm editing, I'll probably bind that to a key for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
::My question was just: Is "—" wrong or not. You know I am German, but my OS and much more programs are running on English. That's because all that translations are just annoying. Nevertheless, at [[752]] the original transcript shows this: "Blonde: Do you--". this should be a long dash. And you did change many &mdash to "—", I just want to understand how to behave on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:17, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::There isn't really a codified grammatical rule for the length of a dash. It's mostly stylistic, but it seems to be a rather common convention that a short dash is for joining words, and a long mdash is for punctuation dashes. Again though, it's not on the keyboard and the vast majority of people probably don't pay attention to dash length when reading. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:41, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::You did introduce this in the past, my keyboard gives me on "ALT GR + SHIFT + -" just a "—". but we still have to decide about a rule on this. "-"--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Extension:Comments ==<br />
<br />
Have you thought about trying [[mw:Extension:Comments|Extension:Comments]]? It was recently updated (July 2013) and looks like it would make commenting the explanations much more user-friendly. Could you make a little experiment to see if it works well? Say, install it so we can test and see if it works well? I'd be willing to help in the conversion of current comments to the new format, and we could even make it a long-term goal to eventually bring back all the comments from the blog :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
: I did edit the incomplete template, ERROR is not correct. But a hint to the missing reason is great.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
: From prior experience, the comments plugin does generate a lot of meta-pages with scrambled names that made me prioritize other things over it, but I can totally run it for a few days to see how things go. In a few weeks, my free time will skyrocket and I should be able to install and monitor the plugin then. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:40, 24 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:: Hey Davidy. I wonder if you're able to try this out. If so, let me know how I can help!<br />
:: On the other hand, I am disappointed to hear that the comments extension doesn't integrate neatly with mediawiki. Are you aware of any similar choice that may be better-behaved? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:33, 4 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New comics BOT ==<br />
<br />
I think that BOT is doing the job right now. Maybe there is a possibility to install it on this server, not much but some PERL modules are required, it should work on any OS. Nevertheless since I could see the updates in general did happen at 04:00 UTC I will implement a new script starting at 04:00 UTC, polling again after that again. But since I don't want to poll xkcd too much that poll would stop after fifteen minutes. Then there will be just a five minute schedule, until a new comic is found.<br />
<br />
BTW: <nowiki>$text .= "{{comicsrow|$comic_num|$date|$comic_name|$picture_name}}\n"; </nowiki> means I will always add the optional parameter for the picture. Not all picture did work properly in the past, so I decided to include this parameter to get a working picture link on the main page. Any suggestions are welcome. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 26 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I have an idea for that, but I have a metric buttload of things that I need to do by the end of this week. I've seen comics come out several hours late so I think polling for four hours would still be apt, and I'm sure Randall's server could handle us polling him a little faster. Having a explanation page up at the same time as a new comic is really huge. I believe I have a solution for the comicsrow problem, but I also don't know Perl. I could probably figure it out in a weekend though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:19, 27 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incomplete tag at main page ==<br />
<br />
Am I wrong, or is every new comic complete at the main page in the future? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:When we include a comic page on the main page, templates and categories are preserved. While that's good for page layout and the like, it's not so good when we have templates that impart their categories upon the inheriting page, like the incomplete template did. It was tagging the main page as incomplete whenever the newest comic was marked as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Yezzz, I understand. But presenting a new incomplete page in this way is not good. The counter has to be adjusted. But I'm serious on this and maybe some ''noinclude'' tags may help. While the main page should not be counted, the page it presents, if incomplete or not (<-the problem), should presented at the proper state. My bot will cover any solutions for further uploads. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::What counter? The counter on the main page doesn't take into account the main page itself, and the transcluded page is shown in its entirety, save for the discussion page and one category. What's the problem here? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:37, 10 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== I don't mind about a 24 hour ban... ==<br />
<br />
...but after that I did try to do some more talks here:<br />
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Mrarch&curid=13771&diff=55110&oldid=55109<br />
DELETED!<br />
I'm still the pest here, or what? I'm still hoping you will understand my actions here. I'm working much on the health of this board, talking to Jeff and many more here. And Mrarch just did delete my message. I'm German, so it could happen that I do use a sentence which could be interpreted different to my meanings. BUT: I just want to support this site as much I can do. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:49, 13 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oh nuts, didn't see that. I though he was just setting up his own user and talk pages. I'll leave a notice. Also, try to cooperate, and practice your English. There ''are'' a few naunces in his arguments that you're gliding over. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:45, 13 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
::And oh nuts, we need some more people to review all the updates here. We have many new people here, doing great edits, but sometimes a correction is needed. I will still do this here, but you can be sure I will be much more polite when an edit-war does happen. I don't mind - xkcd is just fun. That counts! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:26, 14 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== BOT uploads at the comic list ==<br />
<br />
Hi,<br />
I can remove that "Picture.png" add, but I think it's more safe to use this optional parameter. Sometimes upper case and lower case did cause some problems. I'm trying to prevent this by providing the image link my BOT did upload here.<br />
<br />
On January 1 my BOT did fail because the picture was not accepted at this Wiki, and my BOT stops on every unexpected error. The BOT doesn't understand Randall and so, when the BOT is running on problems it simply does nothing.<br />
<br />
I've had serious problems to connect this site since a few deys, I don't understand why, but my BOT is doing it's job as planed.<br />
<br />
Looking forward to some translations...<br />
<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:04, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Hm? What cases cause it to fail? Imma make this work. In cases of ambiguity, we could always err on the side of caution and include the parameter. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:54, 7 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
::The BOT did fail on January 1. because the "PNG" was in fact an "Adobe XMP" format and the upload was rejected by this site. A BOT barely can't handle this unexpected mess. This requires human action and the BOT stops further actions. The optional parameter will be posted anyway; if BOT doesn't fail.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 7 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incompleteness Tag. ==<br />
<br />
My browser (Chrome) is showing that 137: Dreams is the incomplete comic of the day. I used the tags there as the page instructed. Did I use them incorrectly? (possibly it was supposed to be in the main page edit instead of the discussion? I am fairly new here)This is the algorithm now. 19:10, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The explanation page is already tagged. Tagging the discussion page marks the discussion page as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:31, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
::I did edit this discussion page with a nowiki marker. And Anomulus please sign your comments in the proper way, it's much more easy to discuss with an user instead of just a date. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:41, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I did move some comics back to the incomplete section, a full explain is still more worth than a 0% ratio here. Nevertheless I am still thinking, not really working, on a German translation. But just because the ratio looks great here I will focus on that translation soon. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:18, 2 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:If our numbers are right, a very healthy portion of our visitors should be German and you shouldn't have to be concerned with taking on the entire burden of translation. It's probably good to be conservative with the incomplete tag, it reduces the burden on of research on translators if they only have to change the language. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:33, 2 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incomplete Explanation of the Day ==<br />
<br />
Some thoughts:<br />
*[[explain xkcd:Incomplete Explanation of the Day]]: No need for the daily update, it's also still at the top.<br />
*[[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]] should contain a link to this: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]].<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:43, 8 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It takes very little extra effort to also update the project page, so I just do it anyways. The incomplete explanation of the day is supposed to be a focusing effort, to finish off one comic at a time. A link to the list of all the incomplete comics wasn't working, which is why I started drawing attention to individual comics in the sitenotice. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:55, 8 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::So tell me what's wrong with this link: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. In my opinion this could be still placed at the top.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:26, 10 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::I don't understand, there was a similar link in the past.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::And in the past, that link had almost no effect on the incomplete pages count. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:54, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
===I just did remove a typo===<br />
<code>:"1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". a</code><br />
<br />
If you can not accept my typo correction on that simple damn "a" I will give up here. And I'm not sorry. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:40, 19 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:In the same edit I removed whitespace from the page, as is not immediately obvious from diffs but can be seen from the edit size numbers. The "a" has been gone in each of my proceeding edits, as you can see in the revision log if you would care to read it. Autoreverting is bad. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:57, 19 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== 1037: Umwelt ==<br />
<br />
Hi, I'm sorry. But as my comments did say, some texts maybe helpful; but I can't fix all that layout issues. The individual pictures are still great, some ideas on that edits are nice, but it does not work in the full context. And those massive edits don't give both of us a way to review them all. I just did that revert because it doesn't work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 28 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The layout is still broken... I don't like edits without using a preview to verify a proper layout — and I do not like massive edits no one can follow.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 28 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Image resizing will be fixed soon. Give it at most three weeks. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:37, 1 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New admin proposal ==<br />
<br />
Please take a look [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#New admin|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:36, 4 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Template:comic ==<br />
<br />
Isn't this just a revert and a freeze to a former revert done by me? Others did play then again on the main page appearance, but changes at this should be only possible for people not experimenting. The entire main page has to be protected. That page isn't a playground.<br />
<br />
And on that admin discussions on me: My most posts are related to language, layout, and something — and I still don't like all those esoteric explains on ASSes, PENISpumps, ... But an admin has to work mostly on different issues.<br />
<br />
Randall does primarily focus on "romance, sarcasm, math, and language.". Randall does more, so the SEX category is here, but I think we have to focus on the "primarily focus" at the headlines on explain pages first.<br />
<br />
My advice here: Do NOT try to enhance well working templates, other statements are much more important.<br />
<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 8 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's not quite a revert, he changed how linking works for the first comic page, added jump links to the first and last pages and attempted a few fixes. I just fixed a few omissions that he made. Admin work usually tends to be focused on non-content stuff, yeah, but I feel like those people maybe probably might be right. Innuendo in comics not explicitly mentioning sex exist. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:03, 8 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Mail send ==<br />
<br />
It's still not easy to find important mails, I nearly lost yours but now you got a reply. Your issues needs a test, I will do that soon. And sorry for this three month late reply. Maybe I have been blind, I just found your message today.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:46, 17 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The site GitHub.com did send a message to me from "David ???(possibly your surname)" but the address was in fact <nowiki>notifications@github.com</nowiki>. So this reply was stupid by me because that mail will never reach you.<br />
:Please send me a notification here because I don't visit that GitHub site on a regular base. Last visit was two or three months ago. It's just a backup for myself and available to everyone who likes.<br />
:Your request could remove links to GIF or JPG files, so I decided to include the picture link always because it does work on that template. Dynamic comics are much more complicated and my BOT stops to post any update here if something went wrong. I'm still thinking about a better logging on that, My idea is still: If the BOT decides not to post chaos here it should save any content for later manual analysis. But that's a big deal because Randall's comics are so different...<br />
:Nevertheless the BOT covers most comics just in time, I know people are happy on this — and when the comic is too sophisticated, it just stops to prevent chaos here.<br />
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:41, 18 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== File:lorenz-new.png ==<br />
<br />
Moving this to File:lorenz.png does not work like my former updates, maybe it's some cache on the server. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:31, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Huh. I'll have to take a look at that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:45, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The file on the server looks right. It'll probably update itself on the caching servers in good time. The distortion is annoying though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:49, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Can you clear the cache? The page [[1350]] still looks bad like my former reverted updates. But maybe we use this just a test for the servers. Uploads are easy, but updates are the hell. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:08, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Eff it, let's wait on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:17, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::One idea: Try "Lorenz.png" instead of "lorenz.png". While WIKI is mostly case insensitive the servers maybe are. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:20, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== German page ==<br />
<br />
Is it still possible to create a German page here? I'm complete (honestly mostly) on my investigations for presenting a proper German page. On a positive reply I will present some more details (maybe screenshots) of my local wiki and a plan on how to bring it up to public. And consider, this would not only be for German readers, we have Austria, Switzerland, and many other parts in Europe. I would be happy to support this, and my BOT would be too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:37, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's still possible, gonna do it after we clear out all the incomplete pages as promised.'''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:44, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::So then this never would be happen. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:50, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::No, because we'll eventually clear out our backlog of old, incomplete articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:24, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== /r/xkcd sitenotice ==<br />
<br />
May I ask why you've added a sitenotice about /r/xkcd? The /r/xkcd sub is controlled by /u/soccer, who links to racist, xenophobic and misogynistic content regularly. Randall has even spoken in support of a petition for /u/soccer to be removed as a mod (which of course didn't happen because reddit doesn't do that). /r/xkcdcomic is a non-hateful alternative, one that Randall supports, and it has more users than /r/xkcd. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 13:19, 2 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:If you look closely at the text and click on the link, you'll see that it actually says and links to xkcdcomic. Also, /r/xkcd is currently at 40000 subs and hit 10000 a few years ago. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:38, 2 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Hmmm, yeah, I'm not sure how I got that backwards, but I did. Someone pointed it out to me on IRC and I guess I didn't look closely enough. Sorry about that. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 19:35, 6 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Any idea on this: [[A Smarter Planet]] ==<br />
<br />
This should be mentioned here, but that article doesn't represent a comic from the main page. Maybe it should be merged to [[Randall]]? What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:17, 6 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:That's not a bad idea. I'll put that on the list of things to do. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Sorry, I've forgotten to post a reply here. I did put in a new template for this special issue because it's different to a common comic from xkcd. A standard comic template never can cover this. And when this template is complete it should be protected, but the resulting category page is still bad and I need help on this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 28 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, I figured that when I tried it myself. It might be a bug with parserfunctions though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:17, 29 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Do we have active admins here? ==<br />
<br />
This site seems to be running into chaos. The former approved admins do not work that much here; and now I'm even missing you.<br />
<br />
Maybe you are on holidays; if so, I'm just greeting with "Happy holiday". BUT this site still needs an admin.<br />
<br />
You know I'm still looking forward on a German page for this, but this English page is still on my main focus. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The image caching issue is caused by Cloudflare not refreshing the image that it serves as fast as we'd like it to. Outstanding admin requests and unsigned messages were left for one day. That's not inactivity. The only thing I saw being raised was the admin request, which was closer to a progress update to which you butted in with an irrelevant remark. The only conflict I see in talk pages is between you and other editors, and it's only mild disagreements and mostly civil discussion at the moment, so I'm pretty fine with it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Minor edits ==<br />
<br />
Hi, you are often doing minor edits like fixing some syntax or missing parentheses. If you would mark them as "minor edits" it could be ignored at the "Recent changes" page. Major changes could be found much more easier. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incoming confirmation email: Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist ==<br />
<br />
Since the email address of incoming confirmation emails come from a non-existing domain, they are bounced so never reach me.<br />
<br />
From the mail logs:<br />
<br />
<code><br />
2014-05-30T08:36:21.455368+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: NOQUEUE: connect from vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged) <br />
2014-05-30T08:36:22.049902+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: ruleset=check_mail, arg1=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged), reject=553 5.1.8 <expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>... Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist <br />
2014-05-30T08:36:22.219369+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: from=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, size=2306, class=0, nrcpts=0, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged)<br />
</code> {{unsigned|Jeroenp}}<br />
<br />
:You shouldn't need a confirmation email to contribute and use the site. Uh, that feature'll probably be turned off; how did you request the email that generated the above error? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:21, 31 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Because at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Preferences it says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><blockquote>E-mail address is optional, but is needed for password resets, should you forget your password.You can also choose to let others contact you by e-mail through a link on your user or talk page. Your e-mail address is not revealed when other users contact you.<br /><br />
E-mail confirmation: Your e-mail address is not yet authenticated. No e-mail will be sent for any of the following features. <br /><br />
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail Confirm your e-mail address]<br /><br />
* Enable e-mail from other users<br />
* Send me copies of e-mails I send to other users<br />
* E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed<br />
* E-mail me when my user talk page is changed<br />
* E-mail me also for minor edits of pages<br />
</blockquote></blockquote><br />
::So I used this to send a confirmation email: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail<br />
::[[User:Jeroenp|Jeroenp]] ([[User talk:Jeroenp|talk]]) 19:13, 31 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The lunarpages do not know to set up a proper Mail Server. My Mail Servers also would never accept this until I whitelist them. Sadly I still have to do this for some customers — also big customers in the US. Reasons because this mail isn't valid:<br />
*dig vps.lunarpages.com:<br />
;; ANSWER SECTION:<br />
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 80.156.86.78<br />
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 62.157.140.133<br />
*whois 67.210.100.50:<br />
The answer belongs to LunarPages.<br />
*But 67.210.100.50 isn't a registered MX entry for the domain "lunarpages.com":<br />
lunarpages.com. 300 IN MX 0 sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com.<br />
*which is:<br />
sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com. 300 IN A 74.50.25.50<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, but fighting against SPAM is important and a proper Mail and DNS configuration is mandatory. Maybe those admins at LP do need some help and advise.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 2 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:If you don't have anything useful to say, don't say it. You don't have to be in on every single conversation on the wiki. The issue is being dealt with. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:45, 3 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== "Feeling old" category ==<br />
<br />
Hello, Davidy22. I noticed that you deleted the "Feeling old" category I made a while ago due to being "tenuous, not significant enough." In the interest of becoming a better contributor to the wiki, could you explain further on significance for a new category?<br />
<br />
I realize that there are various qualifications that a category has to fulfill, lest it only add clutter to the wiki. A category ought to be simple, memorable, and concise. It should refer to something within or about the strip, be deliberate, and be objective. And, ideally, it should apply to a fair number of strips. I figured that the four strips that included the motif of "character/Randall reflects on how distant the seemingly-recent past is" all used it significantly, as a central theme or as a punchline. I personally feel that Randall hasn't exhausted his use of this motif, and therefore it warrants its own category for future comics, saving time in future explanations and aiding readers of past explanations.<br />
<br />
(My one personal issue with it is that the phrase "feeling old" does not feel concise or specific enough, but I couldn't think of a single word or a better two-word phrase to describe it.) -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 18:18, 12 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I hope you (Or Davidy22) don't mind me starting off this conversation. Categories are not meant to be used as a tag cloud. Categories are a concrete thing in the comic such as [[:Category:Comics with color]], [[:Category:Red Spiders]]. They are not motifs or feelings about the comic. We don't have categories for happy comics and sad comics, and I can't think of a persuasive enough argument to allow them. Until there's a significant number of comics with "I feel old" or "I'm getting old" or "#FeelingOld" (eww) in the text, I'd hold off on trying to push this one through. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:55, 13 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Part of the deletion ''was'' because it only had four comics under it. The only times I've allowed categories with that few comics behind them was when they were put forward by registered users who I could make promise to maintain them. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:51, 13 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
::: Okay, so ''feeling'' old is a bad category name. Categories that sound subjective in general are bad. Perhaps "Aging" could work? And also, courtesy of two particular xkcd blogs, I know of at least 10 comics that would belong to it: [[218]], [[354]], [[447]], [[493]], [[647]], [[891]], [[973]], [[1093]], [[1393]], and the recently posted [[1408]]. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 03:38, 16 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Weird formatting bug ==<br />
<br />
I remember back when I had asked about skins you had told me to mention if there was anything off. Well, it's nothing major, but [http://puu.sh/ceEv7.png this] seems to happen on the Main Page alone on the monobook skin. I can't say I've ever seen this before... [[User:Schiffy|<font color="000999">Schiffy</font>]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|<font color="FF6600">Speak to me</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|<font color="FF0000">What I've done</font>]]) 16:55, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Mmmm, testing does not give me the same bug, but that part of the page is still malformed. I'll get on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Dont change other peoples comments ==<br />
<br />
When the user clicks "add a topic" in the comments block a new section is added. When a user does this you modify it to a heading style you prefer. This is against every design principal I know of. You have 3 legitimate choices: remove the button, style the header so it pleases you more, or let it be. Since this is a standard part of the wiki and updading versions would likely undo your changes, I would sugest that you simply learn to live with it, as it is not objectivly ugly. <br />
When I find myself in times of trouble<br />
Mother Mary comes to me<br />
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be<br />
And in my hour of darkness<br />
She is standing right in front of me<br />
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be<br />
Let it be, let it be<br />
Let it be, let it be<br />
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:10, 21 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's not actually done because the header is ugly, it's done because of an error case that occurs when the discussion page is transcluded onto the main explanation page, that came up a while back. It would probably be better to remove that button instead of having to manually change every discussion page header, and I'll get to that when I have the time. Also, note how I only modify headers in explanation talk pages, where the error can occur; headers in user talk pages and the community portal are unchanged. Also, updating between mediawiki versions does not change the contents of (most) pages, so it wouldn't actually undo what I'm doing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:54, 21 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Am I allowed to undo other peoples comments when they include blatant racism? See Weatherlawyer's comments on [[500: Election]] and [[522: Google Trends]]. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:28, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::No. You are not the judge of what other people are allowed to say. If other people say something questionable, they will be warned and/or banned. On the subject his his specific comments, they doesn't seem overtly racist in 500, just heavily politically skewed, but 522 seems pushing it. I'll warn him for now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:32, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::With respect, referring to 'Only having voted for a chimpanzee twice' is (to me at least) an obvious racial slur aimed at Obama. I have no issue with anyone posting inflammatory comments with regard to his politics/policy/decisions as President/what he stands for etc etc etc, but racism is not ok. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 21:10, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::Chimp in the general lexicon is used to describe someone mentally challenged, not black. I must say it's quite hard to discern exactly who or what he's talking about because it feels like he's just making comments for the sake of making lots of comments. His statement about texas being granted statehood probably doesn't support the idea that he's talking about Obama, since they're not very supportive of him to begin with. Texas to my knowledge has been a republican state, so unless he really doesn't know what he's talking about, I'd say it's more likely that he's talking about one or more of the recent Republican presidents. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:47, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Other explanations ==<br />
<br />
What if we tried to include explanations for the What if? portion of xkcd? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:26, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
{{Color|#AAA|(p.s. - I'm not sure how to get my question to look like it's written on graph paper)}}<br />
:That question comes up every once in a while. My response to the first one was that those things tend to be self explanatory and that the wiki is for the comic, but this'll be the fourth time it's been suggested. I dunno, how would it be formatted on the main page? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Format indeed... also I understand what you mean about self explanatory - I'd say at least 85% of each entry is quite plain, simple, and straightforward. Most of the humor of the feature is not traditional "ah-ha!" humor (that comes from revelation of a twist on assumptions, or which might benefit from explanation). Every once in a while, though, that remaining 15% (often from the images, but sometimes from a {{w|factlet}} or two) contains a few nuggets of knowledge that make me yearn for discussion or comment, and occasionally clarification to one degree or another. In addition to possible issues of cherry-picking what's explained, and questions on how to format it, there's the question of the variability in release date of the comics (used to be every Tuesday, then Thursday and, if I'm not mistaken, the last two(?) have been on Friday, with a few weeks missed (sometimes with and sometimes without notice or explanation) - so how to catalog that? I'll append to this conversation whenever I get that feeling of "if only there was" and we'll keep it open for discussion, if that sounds good to you(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:33, 5 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Probably just note the release date of each article, although I don't fancy to task of cataloging that. I dunno, drop me a message whenever you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:37, 5 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Template:i ==<br />
<br />
I created that template for a reason. Unicode doesn't work right in many circumstances, especially on phones. Now people without Unicode support will see incorrect equations. Plus typing in a Unicode character is not easy, and not having an easy way to do it will guarantee it won't be used. That's why character templates exist on other wikis. <br />
<br />
I copied the way of making the imaginary constant from Wikipedia. That's how the math template works. The Unicode version doesn't even look like an i in many fonts--the dot is missing. It looks like a weird squiggle that people won't recognize.<br />
<br />
I really wish you would have done like other wikis and had a discussion (and let me know) before just deleting something. I'm lucky I happened to leave the tab open and happened to see it was deleted. <br />
<br />
--[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 22:54, 23 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Huh, tested and it does seem to be broken on phones. I'll get restoring that. A lot of these templates don't tend to end up being used though, past their creation. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:33, 24 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Strong Language ==<br />
<br />
Hey - I find it interesting that someone chose to create the category about "strong language" or something that you chose to delete because it had one comic. There are countless examples of "strong language", pretty much irrespective of what you consider to be "strong" (just search for one of the various "strong" words) but it's fascinating noone has felt strongly enough about it to make a category until 2015 -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:04, 26 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:It's also that "Strong language" is a really subjective category name that doesn't hold the same boundary for everyone, and is gonna be tough to populate to a degree that satisfies everyone. Although the person who made the category still frequents the wiki, so maybe he's capable of maintaining it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:36, 27 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Delete a page ==<br />
<br />
I created a page [[Test Page]] to test a potential feature. I intended to delete it afterwards, but it seems I don't have permission to delete it. Could you do so? Alternatively, make it into a sandbox [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 03:28, 1 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, sure. In the future, use [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:33, 1 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::K [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:45, 1 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Comic template ==<br />
<br />
I made an upgraded version of the comic template that'll deal with [[Radiation]]'s broken navigation bar for once and for all. Could you please look over it to make sure it's all working fine, then replace the current template with it? Updated template is over [[User:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]] and can be viewed in action [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]]. [[User:Pixali|<font color="008000">Pixali</font>]] ([[User talk:Pixali|<font color="004b00">talk</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|<font color="004b00">contribs</font>]]) 02:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Tested, this implementation seems to break the back button. Documentation is incomplete and may need usage examples for the new parameters, but I can probably write that when this makes it to the actual implementation. When I'm free, I'll try and get it to work, there's a good start here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:52, 4 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Got there before ya. I effectively rewrote the entire experimental template, fixing formatting & the broken back buttons while keeping the support for undefined numbers. I still have the examples up over at [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|the talk page]] for the new template so you can check it out there. I also tried to document it a bit better (inc. explaining the sort key better), but I'm not sure if it's satisfactory yet. [[User:Pixali|<font color="008000">Pixali</font>]] ([[User talk:Pixali|<font color="004b00">talk</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|<font color="004b00">contribs</font>]]) 04:51, 6 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Seems pretty solid. I'll fold it into the main template. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:42, 6 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Advertising? ==<br />
<br />
Check the recent changes log. A page appears to have been made for the purpose of advertising or political rant or something (I didn't read much, it's long).<br />
<br />
In any case, it's not relevant to this wiki. {{unsigned ip|Mikemk}}<br />
:Yeah, it happens. Looks like another admin got to it before I came home. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:46, 5 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== dgbrtBOT Problems ==<br />
<br />
While I did update my OS to CentOS 7 this weekend I did some tests on my bot. But it seems that problem doesn't belong to my update because I can't get this site via https - only http works.<br />
<br />
Broken: [https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]<br />
<br />
Working: [http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]<br />
<br />
My bot requires a secure login via https so I don't know how to fix this.<br />
<br />
Browser request gives me "Error 521" and my bot is "Error code 2: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable". <br />
<br />
Even [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page] doesn't work for me.<br />
<br />
Unless this is fixed my bot will not work.<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:57, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:On it. Would it be possible for you to fall back on http while we work on that? xkcd comics aren't hugely security sensitive, so it should be fine. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:13, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I'm glad to reach you so soon. And sadly this WIKI requires HTTPS for a bot to login. My attempts on plain HTTP did fail, I do need SSL. Did you change something here? On Friday my bot did work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:28, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::What's the error message with HTTP? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:04, 9 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::"Logging in over plain HTTP is a bad idea, we would be sending secrets (passwords or cookies) in plaintext over an insecure connection. To protect against eavesdroppers, set protocol => 'https'..."<br />
::::I do accept this restriction; using https should be possible here for BOTs because a BOT can do many. If someone missuses my BOT account it would be bad for this site.<br />
::::Maybe I have to import a non trusted certificate (costs money to make it public), but I want still to be on a save path.<br />
::::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:30, 9 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hum, it would be bad if another party got your address. In other news, have you tried it again recently? It should work, I believe. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:58, 9 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::::PROBLEM SOLVED! And the secrets are reset, just in case...<br />
::::::I got an expected error message while trying to update the LATEST COMIC. Not allowed because it just exist. Looks good...<br />
::::::Next BOT run should work until it's an unexpected dynamic one done by Randall. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 10 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
Bad news: Picture upload did work but then my bot failed. Error messages are not very helpful but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So I will do some tests tomorrow on that damn API changes. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:57, 11 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Oof. If there's anything you need server side, tell me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:48, 11 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
More BAD news: I still have to figure out the reason for error messages like this: "Error code 0: at /opt/xkcd/xkcdtest.pl line 104." What the hell is "Error code 0"??? Sadly it seems I have to work on this a little bit more. AND gooooogle doesn't help me... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:06, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Error code 0 is the default exit value in perl. It seems like you're terminating the script at line 104. It's a natural exit though, so it's probably part of your error checking. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:51, 13 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Request for help ==<br />
<br />
I'm in the midst of a [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob disagreement]] with another user about some general stylistic issues and I'd like to solicit broader input from the wiki community. Do you know a mechanism by which I can request such input? Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Davidy22&action=edit&section=77<br />
<br />
:The community portal would be the place to do it. People don't usually frequent there, but you'll get input over an extended period of time. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:24, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:29, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== List of all comics broke recently ==<br />
<br />
Thanks for adding "For comics from 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]]" to http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics_(full)<br />
But now links are being added in the wrong place. I'm just not sure why/how. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 18:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:There's a couple of things I did wrong. Fix'd '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:40, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The "incomplete explanation of the day" doesn't seem to be updated daily... ==<br />
<br />
Should this be the case?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 08:06, 9 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Currently, it's whenever the current one is completed. It used to be per day, but we don't have as many incomplete comics left to cycle through, and the ones that are left, are difficult to fix and don't get frequent changes. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:12, 9 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==What Ifs taken down? ==<br />
Hey man, I saw you took down the 'Short Answer Section', 'Alternate Universe Whatifs' and the 'Growth Rate' page. Is this because of the Creative Commons license, because you maybe don't want whatif-pages on this wiki or is it of something else? I really spent some time working on those two and maybe a genuine reason for taking them down would be appreciated [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 19:55, 21 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
:The what if pages were literally just the contents of the main articles transferred over to here. Those articles are already Randall's answers to questions, well explained in-of themselves. They don't need any further assistance from us, and we're not providing a lot of value by just copying the text of his articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:02, 21 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
::OK, I see the point you're making. Most of those don't go as deep as some of the comics and are basicly explinations themselves. I might as well just add links to the what-if.xkcd.com website for more info. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 20:05, 21 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== You're a hero ==<br />
<br />
I don't know how often you're told that. But you're a hero, and you're my hero. Keep doing an amazing job and avoid burn out. I'll be coming back in 2 weeks. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:07, 28 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Being able to just set up pages and let users fill everything in really helps with the load. Makes it much less work than it may seem. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:19, 28 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Green Hat ==<br />
<br />
If Green Hat's one appearance is not sufficient for his own page, why does [[Brown Hat]] have his own page with only one appearance in [[399: Travelling Salesman Problem]]? --{{User:17jiangz1/signature|12:46, 05 May 2015}}<br />
:I was not a part of making that, and am not a huge fan of the existence of that page because of the precedent set. Weak precedent doesn't really justify making more though, as there are enough one-off characters to easily make the characters navbox very cluttered and unusable while providing little real value to visitors. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:22, 6 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Unicode Theme ==<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand how unicode wasn't a significant theme in xkcd. It has been mentioned directly and indirectly, from the past into the present. Compared to "no title text", it seemed at least as significant of a category. What kinds of categories are considered significant? (It was significant to me.) {{unsigned|Azule}}<br />
:Hum, looking back, it *is* a central point of all four comics included. Might be more justifiable than the typical marginal category page. Just remember to maintain it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:10, 15 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Bot Problems==<br />
Can you see anything at the log files why my BOT can't create/edit a simple page here? Since I still get only "Error code: 0". I maybe have to debug the API itself. Picture upload should be fixed now. Someone did beautify the LATESTCOMIC template my bot didn't expect this and did a save STOP at that point. Let's see if the picture works again tomorrow, but I want to do the entire comic again. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I'll check soon, wee bit busy at the moment '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:28, 27 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks for help. Picture upload works again since I adopt the beautified LATESTCOMIC page - I need that number to verify a new comic. My bot is doing nothing if that test fails. <br />
::But when I try to create a new page I still get NO information about the error. And I did many investigations so far. It's frustrating... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 27 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Please delete this:<br />
:::2 June 2015<br />
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb Test 000001; 20:23 . . (+33) . . DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs) (Created by dgbrtBOT)<br />
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb 000001: Test 000001; 20:23 . . (+288) . . DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs) (Created by dgbrtBOT)<br />
:::Bullshit... downgrading my BOT API to the former version did solve the problem. The documentation for the current MediaWiki:Bot is WRONG!!! I don't know why I haven't had this idea before.<br />
:::If my bot works again I will update the dgbrtBOT page on that status tomorrow. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::Huh. It might be that we're out of date, and you upgraded to a version incompatible with our mediawiki version. I'm gonna have to get on that eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:53, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::I don't think it's your MediaWiki version, my BOT API was just crap. Let's see if it does work again tomorrow. Picture uploads are already done by my bot again - even when people overwrite it. But maybe I've to do some minor fixes tomorrow, let's see. May the SCHWARTZ be with my MOG... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:12, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::::I suspect your newer version wasn't trying to break things, we *are* very out-of-date. The only way to really know is by upgrading the wiki and seeing if it breaks the bot again, I guess. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:20, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::::My latest API client was corrupt, not the wiki here itself. Your guess sounds a little bit like the test was done in "2001: A Space Odyssey" on HAL. But since my BOT can't talk like HAL I have to check the log-files afterwards. Today there was only ONE PROBLEM: An user here was faster than my BOT within just 2 minutes - should not happen very often.<br />
:::::::But if this happens again my BOT will get a new enhancement: If my BOT finds a just a few minutes old upload here it will override them all and create all the edits needed here. Nobody can write an explain by that time but my BOT would ensure all the proper changes would be done here. What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:16, 3 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::::::Sounds good. I could also restrict page creation to certain groups, so that an anonymous user doesn't pull the trigger so fast either. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:58, 3 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::Let's see first if my BOT works again. But restricting page creation should not affect/effect the creation of TALK pages. Maybe overwrite this posts by my BOT would be the better option. Everything wrong would be cleaned up. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:09, 4 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
The problems are '''solved''' and I'm happy about that. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I noticed. Good stuff. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:04, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Bad uppercase==<br />
Please delete this: [[:File:Antique_Factory.PNG]]. The correct lowercase picture is done by me. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:47, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Please delete==<br />
Please delete this [[:File:1540.jpg]] because it's the wrong name. I did change [[1540: Hemingway]] to the correct file uploaded by my BOT.<br />
For the first time my BOT reverted an existing page because some standards did miss. My BOT was late (13:35 Nk22 vs. 13:48 dgbrtBOT) but my BOT was still acting correct and did all the further actions needed. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] got a message by me. My BOT acts every 2 minutes so it seems I have to solve a cache problem, maybe at Randall's cloud... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 19 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Dunnered '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:00, 20 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks. A new upload on the correct image did last more than three hours for me to see. My BOT suffers on the same Cloud Cache problems. I've no idea to solve this damn clod cache. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:54, 20 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== BOT problems, CLOUD problems ==<br />
<br />
My BOT still got the old comic while other people did upload the new one in a corrupt way. So let's define some rules for my BOT to be slightly more violent. For now I'm only checking if also the comic-name redirect exists. But I think that my BOT should test all required updates here, and if something is missing it would do a clean job here. Wrong picture uploads and more will still have to be solved manually. It will only a few minutes and I don't think that it will delete many essential contents, and even if it does it will be available at the history.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 22 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== RE: Delete Template ==<br />
<br />
Really? That's weird, [[Template:Delete]] is showing up blank and redlinked for me. <span style="background:#0064de;font-size:12px;padding:4px 12px;border-radius:8px;">[[User talk:AgentMuffin|<span style="color:#f0faff;">~AgentMuffin</span>]]</span><br />
<br />
== Kudos on fighting spam ! ==<br />
I don't know if anyone tells you this.. You do an amazing job to keep all this working smoothly. It was especially evident in your current spam fighting. You were able to undo things even before anyone sees it. Amazing work man ! Keep it up. We are all with you, just holler somewhere on main page if you need help and we'll be there. (Well I haven't opened an account yet but I try to help anonymously...) Kudos again.. I'll buy you a drink if we ever meet and you mention that you are Davidy22 :D [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 10:48, 12 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:If I was good at this sysadmin thing, there just shouldn't be any spam. Took a whole day to figure out a configuration that keeps it at a manageable level, but stuff is still slipping through the cracks. I'll get to polishing it off in the weekend. Thanks for the support though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:50, 12 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I second the anonymous praise here. All of it, both spam and keeping the page up and running. I did not even notice any spam, not before I read your note at the bottom below the ''Should we change the tagline?'' discussion. How does it manifest it self (can you shown an example, or is it not just reverted but completely deleted from the pages?). Great work no matter! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:24, 13 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::If you take a look at the deletion log, you'll see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/delete all the garbage] that appeared here in the last few days. There's also some vandalism in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous&action=history Miscellaneous], and no other community portal, which is suspicious. This just cropped up in the last few days, not sure why spammers decided to target us again. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:12, 13 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::Did it fall together with the "Should we change the tagline? What do you want the new one to be? Discuss it here!" banner at the top, that links to the site that was spammed? That might make sense? Thanks for answering, now I understand what type of Spam we are being subjected too, and also why I did not see these pages from normal use. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:29, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::Yeah, links from the main page probably determine where the spammers are targeting, but I don't know why they decided to start targeting us after all this time leaving us alone. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:42, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::: Someone might have linked the misc page from some other site (reddit/tumblr/etc.) after banner was put up and the spammers might have just followed the link when crawling that site. That seems to be logical explanation of why it started just after we put up that banner. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 22:08, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::::: Well, i personally think that Davidy is doing a great job with handling this spam situation, and he deserves a lot more credit than what he's getting. So thanks, Davidy, for making sure the site is still functional. P.S. Sorry about the lack of signature. i just joined the channel today and i haven't figured everything out yet. {{unsigned|Flamewolf}}<br />
::::::::If I were doing a good job, there wouldn't be spam to clean up in the first place. I'm trying a bunch of things but the spammers are fairly smart. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:27, 18 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:This thread has gone too deep, I'm coming out to first level. ;-) Alright, you could try couple of things. You first want to know where the spammers are coming from and if you can stop them at source. You might have to add tracking on what previous site is the user coming from. If all spam bots are coming from single source, we could request the source site that links us to modify/hide their links. Second, are the spam accounts posting from different IPs every time ? Otherwise you could place a temporary IP based ban. Third, I'm interested in knowing why the bots are creating accounts while they could edit the pages anonymously. This might tell us about the algorithm they are using. And how are accounts treated differently than anon users ? Do they not get captcha while posting ? In which case, you could enable captacha's for users with accounts as well. EDIT: I'm the same guy as the OP of this thread (IP : 199.27.130.216). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:18, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:And in case you haven't seen this, take a look at [[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam this mediawiki page]] about spam fighting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:27, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Another observation by looking at recent changes / deletion log, half the edits seem to be by bots, while half of them appear as if real people are behind this. There are companies out there that take contracts to and employ people to manually circumvent the spam protection strategies. If this is the case, we need a different strategy. That's why it's so important to know the nature of spammers and what are they using.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:48, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:To be honest, i've had an idea for maybe stopping or slowing this. Maybe we could find a way to trace where all these accounts are coming from and block that place's IP from connecting to the website? --[[User:Flamewolf|Flamewolf]] ([[User talk:Flamewolf|talk]]) 15:26, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Alright, so, we're using cloudflare as a CDN and intermediary for traffic for performance reasons, and they obscure IP addresses. There's a fix that we've yet to implement, but something always seems to get in the way in real life. IP banning is a little weak because of this. Users with accounts also get CAPTCHA'd, until they are at least 3 days old and have at least 10 edits. I'm not sure why the spambots make accounts, besides gunking up our database with more garbage. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:00, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: Hey, good job! Whatever steps you took, seem to be working. Spam is nowhere to be seen. [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:RecentChanges Recent changes]] are all clean. Well done ! :) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 05:38, 22 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::The last thing I changed was a permissions thing shutting off talk page creation for new users. Now that's over with, I'm going to have to dive back into that mess of a discussion over the tagline again. Blergh, with finals coming up too. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:54, 23 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Question about spam ==<br />
<br />
If I see spam on a talk page, such as what is present on the current comic's talk page, should I delete it? I don't want to get in trouble for messing with other people's posts. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 13:31, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Spambots aren't people, go nuts. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:25, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I just spotted this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1613:_The_Three_Laws_of_Robotics&oldid=112929 spam] where the entire [[1613]] was deleted. I had just added something today, and found it was missing. I have of course corrected it, but could there be more? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:52, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Creation of disussion pages for new comics ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy22. I have recently seen at least two cases where people wish to make a comment on a new comic, but cannot because the page has no been created (and they do not have the right to do so). For instance I even had [[User_talk:Kynde#Please_create_the_discussion_page_for_today.27s_comic.|a message]] from someone who could see I was making changes (I guess). Would it be possible for the BOT to create the discussion page empty like I did here [[Talk:1654: Universal Install Script]], with a not shown reminder about signing comments? That would help some users of explain xkcd who do not wish to make a user account. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:45, 11 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, I can leave a message in dgbrt's talk page. I'll push him the changes needed to make it happen as well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:51, 11 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Great, it would help some of the early users :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:22, 12 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Hi Davidy22 and hi [[User:Kynde|Kynde]]. Sorry, I'm late. Please check my talk page for further progress.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:46, 30 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Hi Davidy does the boot not work at all now? Posted a reply on [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Making_discussion_pages|Dgbrt's talk page]]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:06, 11 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Errors in counting "known appearances" for characters ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy22. I have seen this error more than once, and today with a comic featuring [[Danish]] it once again became very clear that something was wrong (impossible to spot for Cueball and the other main characters). On her page it says 16 know appearances. But on the page [[:Category:Comics featuring Danish]] it says 18, and even though one of these are the main page (which will change Wednesday when the next comic is released) there is one too few in the count. Maybe it will correct it self later? I think I have seen the same for [[Hair Bun Girl]] but her count is up to date now. But it is typically on the release days that people would pass these pages, so it is a shame if it first works later. Just so you can check it out, and if you know what's going on let me know ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:08, 21 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:So, the way the explanation on the main page works, we take the number in [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] and find the page that is named that number. Every comic in this wiki must have a correspoding page for their number that redirects to the comic explanation to make the forward/backward buttons work and for the main page to automatically point to the latest explanation without need for us to allow bots to modify the main page directly. The entire text of the explanation is included in the main page in this process, including categories. The [[Template:comic discussion|discussion template]] actually has a check for the title of the current page, and it doesn't render if it's the main page. We can do a similar thing to prevent categories from being assimilated into the main page, create a template that inserts the check around the categories and have a bot remove the template when the comic isn't the newest one anymore. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 26 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
::That would be great. Guess you have more important things on your mind right now. Such a shame this should happen when this crazy april fool came out. It probably hinders some people in using this page to help explain. Good luck with making it work. I tried to read the post on the community page but did not really understand why it happened. It cannot be related to the Garden comic can it? And it was working fine all weekend. So nothing with April 1st either... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:14, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::The traffic is slugging our servers around and making a bunch of things on the wiki weird. I'm trying to alleviate the symptoms, but stuff like styles not working is the traffic's fault. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:46, 6 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::So because people come in here due to the Garden comic there is so much run on Explain for a work week that it is still not working? If that is true Randall has done it again with his Nerd sniping! And yes I'm very guilty and would have been smeared all over the side walk by the truck had it been Black Hat rather than Randall who did this to me ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:53, 8 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Wiki continuity ==<br />
<br />
Hey - I noticed that neither of the two 'crats have been active since mid-late 2015. Have you been in contact with them? People may come and go from a wiki, but it'd be a shame to lose contact with the only folks who have the ability to promote admins. A wiki-reader, ''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' <sup>[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]</sup> 01:32, 24 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I do actually keep in touch with [[User:Jeff|Jeff]] still, but Lcarsos is AWOL as far as I know. Jeff and I have server access, and I technically could make myself a beauracrat if I wanted to, I just wanted Jeff to be ok with it first and never asked. Jeff is still alive though, and I can get him to promote an admin if the community ever agrees that a user should be upgraded. I'm looking at kynde in particular, he does a lot here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 26 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Hey thanks Davidy. I'm not sure I'm up for the task though. I do actually not know that much about computers or what it means being an admin on such a page here. But I really appreciate the thought and the notice. Funny that Jeff wrote the note of the 100 mil. views only six days after the post from Philosopher. I had not heard about Jeff before, but read about him after that. Oh and also spotted that DGBRt works on the bot making auto discussion pages. Maybe it works here on April 1st (a comic I'm looking much forward to. Where is it. It's noon in Europe I cannot wait any longer ;-)--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:50, 1 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Hi Davidy. As you can obviously see I have been contributing quite a lot to explain xkcd lately. But it is time I took a break as I simply have spend too much time on xkcd... So I will take a break at least for the rest of 2016 from posting here. I hope to return later. Since I plan to stop completely from contributing after this post, I thought I at least would let someone know that it was a choice ;-) Best regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::Thanks for all the work you've put in here, have a good holiday and I hope you'll be able to come back some time soon. You do good work here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:21, 14 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hi Davidy. Thanks for those words. I will not be back to me normal amount of editing, but I will start to contribute again some times. Just did on the [[2017]] comic. Nice to be back. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:25, 2 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::::Oh, good to see you back already. Take your time with it, don't burn yourself out on editing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:06, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Complaining about Dbgrt:<br />
:Hi Davidy. I'm a bit tired of what happens lately with no. four top contributor back in the warzone. I would like to write something to you about why I feel I might end up taking another (longer?) break due to this... I hope you still would be sad to see me go, but these last few weeks it has been more with dread than enjoyment I come to these pages to see what has been written about my edits... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:55, 7 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
::By the way just read through [[Talk:1806: Borrow Your Laptop]]. I have said a lot of what I have been thinking there now... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 8 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::I've had problems with dgbrt and other users before, I'll look into it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:15, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::Thanks. It is developing into a heated discussion between mainly Dgbrt and the rest... I'm sure I also sometimes make bad edits, and could cause problems... But at the moment Dgbrt seems to believed I had agreed with him on his other points rather than just the transcript. I tried to write that it was the tone and style that provoked me (and it seems others). And also that he seems to wish different style than the others involved at the moment. He claims there are many who have issues with the current style, but apart from the transcript I have not seen many examples, and none that he links to. Mainly it is to be expected that those who has issues write, and those that have not are much less likely to write that they like something. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:08, 10 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hi again. I'm really getting sooo tired of the way Dgbrt writes to my edits (and others). So I have now written an angry reply to him here [[Talk:1805:_Unpublished_Discoveries]], and explained to him that I have also complained to you directly. Because it is just not OK to become personal because I missed a "]" or write as I explain in my comment on that talk page. Hope you will find time to do something about it before he scares other editors than me away! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:06, 13 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::::Hope you will soon find time Davidy, because it just gets more and more out of hand between the two of us. I had not been back to edit since the March 11th until today (long time for me when a new comic was up yesterday), because I'm really getting depressed by the way Dgbrt acts. See his comment (and my reply) to my admission that I had talked to you here in the link above. As I said he scrutinizes everything I do and find it lacking. If I think I'm improving something he says I have ruined other peoples work, but he also just undos others work as well... I see that you also undid one of his undoings as your most recent edit here... For the newest comic [[1810]] I really believed I only followed the consensus in the discussion and made some really nice additions, in my opinion of course. I hardly deleted any info, but moved it around. And then almost instantly I [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk%3AKynde&diff=137247&oldid=136552 get this message]. And again he only looks at the red not at what I have actually written. When deleting a paragraph or moving around everything turns red. This is thus the second time in a row he goes after my edits like this. I have almost not looked at what he have done to my many edits from this weekend, but the one I for other reasons did look at today [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1803:_Location_Reviews&action=history he had undone]. I redid it, but to what purpose...? I'm really sad that it has come to this, and have no proof yet that it is other than Dgbrt that has anything in general against my edits. Though he keeps claiming so. Of course there will be some negative comments, but he writes as if he knows that many other editors dislike what I do. Maybe I should have agreed to be an admin back then... ;-) well probably not when I end up in such a stupid edit war :/ --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Current lack of styles etc. ==<br />
<br />
You obviously have more access than me, but simply turning on Chrome's Developer Tools shows all ''load.php'' script and style references are returning 404 status, but when you go to those references directly in a new tab they all display "No input file specified.".<br />
<br />
And for me, the site doesn't seem to be slow in any way that would suggest lots of load.<br />
<br />
[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 16:04, 18 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A simple search at google gave me this: [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Load.php Manual:Load.php]. So someone with access to the server has to edit the file ".htaccess". If this doesn't help I would need the log-files from the server for further investigations. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:47, 7 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
::It was permissions, didn't change htaccess when the problems started. Had a good few red herrings, figured it out eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:00, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Looks much better now. Thanks! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is not incomplete. (Help us fix it!) ==<br />
<br />
Every page says "The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is 1338: Land Mammals. Help us fix it!"<br />
<br />
But 1338: Land Mammals doesn't have an incomplete notice, and the list of all complete pages does not list 1338: Land Mammals.<br />
<br />
I think someone removed the incomplete status from 1338: Land Mammals but no one picked a new one for the spotlight.<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.131|108.162.215.131]] 03:16, 5 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Thanks for reminding me, I'll get better about checking on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:01, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Category that should be deleted ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy22. When [[1724]] came up someone added the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice]]. That took this category up to three. But I believe this may be warranted to keep that category. But I'll leave that to you. You deleted one I made once with three comics [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Ba%27al&action=edit&redlink=1 Category:Ba'al] (see [[1419: On the Phone]]).<br />
<br />
But there was another category: [[:Category:Set theory]], which only referred to the two old Axiom of Choice comics and then as an under category had the Axiom of Choice category. So it was redundant. So I have removed any references to this category and moved relevant text to the axiom of choice.<br />
<br />
So I will suggest that the set theory category page is deleted as with Ba'al. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 7 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Oh, how'd I miss that. Removed both categories, the axiom of choice category was too narrow and too infrequent to merit a category page. Thanks for telling me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:56, 10 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I guess it is hard to keep up with all that happens here. I have made several new categories but now try to wait for at least five entries. For instance [[:Category:Google Glass]] and [[:Category:Climate change]] are recent addition, the latter very actual you could say with [[1732]]... And then I also just added [[Blondie]] and [[:Category:News anchor]] as new categories. I rephrased all three axiom of choice comics to refer to each other rather than to the category, so there is no loss of data for deleting both those categories. Let me know if you think I create too narrow categories. But as soon as there are more than five of anything, it become very tedious to refer back to each of them from each comic and a category is much to prefer. And with five already the chance that Randall soon add more comics is realistic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:20, 13 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
New category to delete. Maybe there should be a category but not with this hopeless name: [[:Category:Comics featuring the floating sphere from the future]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:18, 19 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:48, 19 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Great. Now that we know it was only a two comic series I have made a new category for that series: [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere]]. I have also made a chronological list on the [[:Category:Comic series]] of each series to see how special this new series was in it's release schedule. There have been similar series, but never just like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:49, 25 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
----<br />
<br />
== Why do you keep disorganizing my comments? ==<br />
I've run into the instance where I would leave a comment on a page and then get an email later, only to find out it was just you moving my comments around. I know you told me posts like this were supposed to follow a chronological order, but comments don't need to (nor do they have to) follow a chronological order, so why do you keep disorganizing my comments and put them all the way at the bottom of the page (even when they are in chronological order or mine aren't the only comments out of order, yet you move only mine anyways)? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 22:45, 10 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:They do actually go in order. You break chronology when replying to a comment, and you signify that with indentation, but otherwise the custom on wikis is that new comments and comment threads go to the bottom. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:04, 10 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::If they go in chronological order, then why don't others follow that formula? Because on the same thread (and others) I've noticed out-of-order comments. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 23:13, 10 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Every top level comment goes in chronological order. The exception is when you're replying to another comment. Everyone else puts new top level comments at the bottom of the talk page. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:33, 11 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::I was talking about top level comments. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:10, 11 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::And they should be in time order. Minor mistakes happpen sometimes, but posting straight to the top is just deliberately disregarding the flow of comments. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:41, 11 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Current incomplete explanation ==<br />
<br />
The "current incomplete explanation in the spotlight" has been the same for 5 months now and the last edit was almost a month ago.<br />
May I suggest to either (a) mark the comic as complete and move on or (b) put a different comic in the spotlight and send this one back to the backlog?<br />
<br />
Pro (a): All regular visitors who are willing to edit have probably read the notice, visited the explanation multiple times and simply don't have anything more to add at this point and won't be re-reading everything again.<br />
<br />
Pro (b): If the comic comes into spotlight again at a later date, people are more likely to click on it because it's different from their last visit and they may actually go through with re-reading everything.<br />
<br />
P.S. What's the criteria for completion on a comic like this where you can essentially explore a whole world and write about pretty much anything in it?<br />
--[[User:7he3rain|7he3rain]] ([[User talk:7he3rain|talk]]) 10:50, 17 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I don't want to just mark it as complete when I can't say that it is, I'll just change the comic. This kind of stuff does happen with the larger comics though, the pages get really unwieldy and they're older pages that people aren't necessarily interested in. I think there's a fairly good criteria for completion for 1608, set by the very large table, but it's an awful long way off still. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:46, 17 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Yep mostly my work and I lost interest and time when other big comics came out. I would like to complete it but it is a big task. There are also other reasons given for why it is incomplete. And so it should not be marjed as complete. But yes maybe it should be changed to another comic in the searchlight? Which has already happened. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:16, 19 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Signature concerns ==<br />
I have tried numerous times, and I don't know if it's because I'm an idiot or not, but I cannot find a way to make a signature for my page. I've tried codes and other things in the 'new signature' bar, but all it does is replace 'JayRulesXKCD' with the code I typed before... What am I doing wrong? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:34, 9 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Signature for your page? You mean a custom signature, right? You want to put <nowiki>{{SUBST:User:JayRulesXKCD/sig}}</nowiki> in the new signature box, then make a page containing the signature. You can view mine for a template. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:11, 9 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Yes. I meant a custom signature. Thank you. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:10, 10 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Falsehoods ==<br />
<br />
>I'm not willing to keep making points that you'll brush off as false and state your own claims as true<br />
<br />
It is literally the other way round. It is you who declare that 'signing' is good and I whose examples how it isn't you consistently ignore and vocally state that I have failed to provide. In light of this eerie brand of apparent self-victimization of yours, it doesn't seem to make much sense any longer to point out the nonsense of how you claim to have to 'clean mess' while the 'mess' in question is literally just freedom from screen clutter.<br />
<br />
>this talk page is now locked for anonymous users<br />
<br />
In a way befitting of an admin who spoke almost exclusively in falsehoods over this whole 'discussion', this is literally false as well. The page is locked to regular users as well. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.245}}<br />
:The talk page is locked for user accounts under 10 days old and with less than 10 edits in other places. It's the same protection level used for page creation. I used it on the talk page because in addition to yur willful refusal to recognize or follow site rules, there were multiple other anonymous users who were behaving poorly towards other users, for whom banning was also going to prove ineffective because of shifting IP addresses. I'm not going to waste unpaid volunteer time dealng with people who think they're being clever defying formatting rules on internet forums because they think 20 additional charaters of information is discussion crippling clutter. If you're going to waste my time on my talk page as well, I'm going to raise privilege levels here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:36, 10 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: >yur willful refusal to recognize<br />
:: Not only did I recognize them, I also explained why you made them, why they damage the community, why you're refusing to admit that they damage the community, how you refuse to acknowledge any of the prior, and how you repeatedly vocally deny that I have explained all of the prior (owing to your discussion style, much of it more than once). Also, stellar job using the word 'other' in two so different contexts: first by implying that I am 'behaving poorly', and second, that no one behaved poorly towards me. To anyone who might read this comment, [[ Talk:1756: I'm With Her |search the page for the word 'civility' for the extent to which I abused other users]]. (Also, if you had a modicum of decency, you would have made a template explaining that owing to the page having been locked, any threads left unfinished do not reflect one of the participant deserting them, but just your interruption. But then, we've already established that it's not the site that you're caring about here.) (Oh, and shave your talkpage, it's fucking disgusting.) <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.238}}<br />
:::Damage is some kind of hyperbole to use to describe a convention so baked into wiki discussion, there's a rendered shortcut for it baked into the software. Also, you're not the only offender on the talk page, the whole page was locked for anonymous users because you, some of the users you were conversing with, and certain other people throwing slurs at randall and admins were on changing IP addresses, making blocks impossible for behavior that would typically justify temporary blocks. This is a problem with IP users in general, and letting anonymous users comment is a motion of trust that the user won't deliberately ignore written rules while swearing at admins through the protection of being impossible to ban. You are not the only reason the page is locked, though the time I wasted on you certainly contributed to the decision. I've issued an ineffective ban on a commenter on the page already, and the discussion is far off topic in multiple branches of your comment trees and aggressive sporadically throughout. The page is locked so that moderation can actually happen, and because anonymous users haven't shown their best side today. Also, your tendency to assert that statements you disagree with are unequivocally false is very irritating. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:36, 11 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::Great response Davidy - and very polite compared to what you faced. By the way also interesting to hear what happens behind the curtain for an admin. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 28 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sad comic trivia ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy.<br />
<br />
As you can see I'm back editing. Specifically I have been busy connecting the sad post Trumps election comics and have made the post as a trivia to [[1790: Sad]] - see [[1790#Sad_comics|here]].<br />
<br />
I would like to hear your opinion on the placement. I do not think these comics fit into a category as their relation needs to be seen in a broader light that I have tried to shine here. But maybe a separate page could be created, but I really do not know what to call it. Sad comics in general would also cover lots of other comics especially many of the cancer comics. So Sad Comics alone would not do it. Also Trump should not be part of the name, as Randall has as far as I know never mentioned his name in his comics yet? But to me it is crystal clear that the comic is either a direct reaction to the election or to peoples behavior online (or around Randall). Although I'm quite sure he is sad about the way politic is going especially with his concern for global warming.<br />
<br />
When I first made the trivia someone deleted it entirely, but it was also just a short sum up of those three other comics [[Blame]], [[Negativity]] and [[1779: 2017|2017]]. Now I have also included he [[I'm With Her]] as it seems to have started the series of sad comics. But I think it is important for the understanding of these comics to have them collected somewhere, and if they are sad, then a comic called [[Sad]] seems to be the right place if no single page would do. <br />
<br />
What do you think about this, and about my current trivia on Sad's page?<br />
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:57, 28 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Given the absence direct references to Trump in the comic, I would refrain from implicating him until Randall makes it explicitly clear that he's talking about Trump. The portions that talk about other comics' relation to Trump definitely fall outside the scope of the explanation page for 1790 and their removal was probably appropriate. Also, the word sad is a little tenuous of a link to trump and 1761, 1773 and 1779 all seem like similarly loose connections. They all depict feelings that may result from the election, but are not necessarily directly connected or caused by the election and linking them in a category or section for this and not other, older comics showing sadness is going to be difficult to support in the future. Also, constructing links between miscellaneous comics to Trump when none of them directly reference Trump seems like taking a side when we as a wiki should be firmly neutral. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:05, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::Hi Davidy. Thanks for the constructive critique. What about the release days in relation the the election, the electoral college vote, new year (of the year he will be president) and finally the first comic after his first real workday. Personally I'm not in any doubt that his sad comics is a result of the election. Maybe they reflect more on other peoples sadness than Randall's own, but with the [[1732]] comic in mind I'm sure he is not only worried about the wall and Muslims banned from the states, but really really worried about the global warming that Trump will help increase. And he has made a direct comic related to his opinion on Trump in I'm With Her. By placing it in a trivia people can also choose not to read it, and I find that the increase in such sad comics is very relevant. I do not remember any real sad comics the year before his election.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:31, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::PS Just ran through the all comics a year back from I'm with her (or rather Blame) and on from blame. There are four depressing in those last 30 comics Blame included. The only remotely sad or disturbing comic in the 157 a year back from Blame is the global warming comic I just linked above here. And that is not really sad because it is also funny. But the end is scary. Also I checked the 15 pages listed under cancer. I would only say five of those are sad, the other are mainly funny or just something to be thoughtful of. The five sad comics came out over a range of 324 comics [[818]] in November 2010 until [[1141]] November 2012. SO instead of four in just three months it was only five over two years and on a subject he had real cause to be sad, negative or worried about. So I think it is very relevant for explain xkcd to note this increase in sad comics. Of course there could have been other sad comics in between those, but I just don't remember many comics like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:59, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::The difference between the cancer category and these comics that may or may not have something to do with Trump is that there are explicit references to cancer in the comics in the cancer category. It takes some amount of inference to link those four comics to Trump, and they aren't necessarily linked to the election. They may typify things that Randall noticed after the election, but they can be used in vastly different contexts and the correlation does not necessarily indication causation. The only comic among the five in the trivia section that genuinely merits a sizeable amount of of text on trump is [[1756]], because he's actually directly relevant to the comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:24, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hmmm. So would you suggest to remove it completely from the trivia. I could put it on my own page as a theory and link people with interest to it from the comics talk pages. Or would it be enough to remove Trump references and then keep the four sad negative comics as a worth of mentioning due to the fact that they do seem to take a negative view of the world which is not usually Randall's style. I'm of course sad... because I put a lot of work into that section. Just like I just did with the so far empty transcript of [[1461:_Payloads]] (not that much though!). See by the way an interesting [[1461:_Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] I found regarding that comic and the transcript on xkcd for said comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 01:03, 30 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::::Personal interpretation of a comic or loose perceived links between comics are what the discussion section is for. If users want to discuss speculative links between comics that aren't necessarily mentioned within the comic itself, they should do it in the discussion page and not the comic explanation. I'm usually actually somewhat against trivia because the kind of content that gets inserted in such a section is usually better suited to the discussion page, but it's sometimes appropriate. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:48, 30 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::::OK- I have moved it away from Sad which is not about Trump. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Oversized texting ==<br />
Hi David, I would like to see your opinion on this topic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#Transcript_TLDR.3B]. And then I found this (also done by Kynde): [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=xkcd&diff=134457&oldid=109437]. It really needs a major rework. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:37, 17 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I'll take a look, swamped right now. Quick skim seems to tell me that kynde is somewhat compromising, though the solution he's chosen seems to be employing slightly needless cruft. I'll comment when I get back to my desk. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:34, 18 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
::Hi Dgbrt and Davidy22. <br />
::I have tried to change the latest transcripts according to Zetfr's comments. <br />
::And yes I did realize that my changes to the [[xkcd]] page was way too much on that specific page. And that was also why I removed most of the content to other specialized pages (maybe there is still too much in the [[xkcd#History|xkcd history]]?) <br />
::I did this before I saw the comment Dgbrt made about it to me [[User_talk:Dgbrt#xkcd_page_and_more|on his page]]. That was where I had begun a thread [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Transcript_and_other_features|Transcript and other features]] because I was ''really happy how our transcript discussion went in the end''... I guess we were not on the same page there though :/ <br />
::I'm sorry we are taking your precious time with our problems. I just wish to get as much information about correlations between comics etc. on xkcd into this wiki. Maybe it will not always end in the right place?<br />
::For that same reason I did not understand why Dgbrt's new category for comics where Randall has mentioned explain xkcd was not interesting enough (it just needed a better title IMHO), as I also [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Keep_it_compact|just wrote]] to Dgbrt. <br />
::I will not do any further edits regarding the issues mentioned here above though, before hearing from you guys. <br />
::Best regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:52, 20 February 20 don't understand a comic17 (UTC)<br />
:::People come here because they don't understand a comic or part of a comic. First up, information that was found in metadata that otherwise has nothing to do with the comic is about as interesting to visitors as the [[773|letter from the president]] on a university website. A similar deal with the transcript, there are details that don't particularly contribute to comprehension of the comic that a blind person probably doesn't need to hear about, although you seem to have resolved your issues there. Explaining concepts used in a comic is useful, though you should try to use the <nowiki>{{w}}</nowiki> template where possible, as wikipedia is going to just be a better format for learning about something, and they'll remain up to date better than we probably can. It also has the side effect of cutting the length of explanations and leaving the extra reading to people who really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:59, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::I disagree. There are also many people coming here investing many hours to write the big explains. Why just not let them know that Randall recognizes and mention this. The JSON pages a no secret content; but since many people don't know it has to be explained. And, why do not make those editors a little bit proud about their work. I will talk to [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] about a different approach on this issue.<br />
::::Since you have not reacted on all the massive enhancements by Kynde on the [[xkcd]] pages I will also discuss this with himself.<br />
::::I'm hoping you will have a little bit more time in the future on such issue and not just pressing the UNDO button.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:47, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::I concur with Dgbrt on the extra details, but maybe less in the main explanation. But trivia or sub pages etc I think it cool for those who use their time on these page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:22, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== incomplete transcript 933 ==<br />
<br />
Hi, <br />
I saw you worked on 933, reverting and re-reverting. Do you think my way of transcript is ok and I can go on this way? Perhaps you can also give me some feedback or references to my approach for the 657 transcript? Anyway, is there a "how to" for transcripts? Thanks & best regards, LaVe--[[User:LaVe|LaVe]] ([[User talk:LaVe|talk]]) 19:37, 23 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Oh, your work is fine, I just misclicked on the rollback button. Continue as you were. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:59, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sitenotice ==<br />
<br />
Could the [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice|sitenotice]] be updated to randomly pull a comic from the [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete explanations category]]? There's an example of how to do this on {{w|Template:Random page in category|Wikipedia}}. And perhaps it could be set to update after a fixed interval of time - say, a week? It would be easier than updating it manually, and you could avoid situations where the highlighted "incomplete explanation" is no longer incomplete, but remains in the sitenotice.<br />
<br />
EDIT: Well, it seems that the second part is not really feasible. However, I still think the first part should be implemented. Instead of linking to a specific comic that could easily go stale, the sitenotice could just say "click here to see an incomplete comic" or something like that. The actual link would take you to a random incomplete comic using the aforementioned method. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 05:18, 10 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Explain xkcd doesn't have the random in category special page (or dpl which could also be used), the sitenotice does need updating though. [[User:E^ipi|E^ipi]] ([[User talk:E^ipi|talk]]) 10:26, 10 June 2017 (UTC)</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=MediaWiki_talk:Sitenotice&diff=141104MediaWiki talk:Sitenotice2017-06-10T10:17:36Z<p>E^ipi: /* This needs to be updated */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div>== "get a coffee" -> "sit by a lake" ==<br />
<br />
The (admin-editable only) sitenotice currently suggests to go "get a coffee" while things stabilize about the heavy server load. I'd say it would be much more appropriate to suggest instead to go "[http://xkcd.com/1024/ sit by a lake]" [[File:Face-smile.svg|20px]] (with the appropriate link to xkcd.com, not here...). - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 23:14, 26 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Great idea! {{done}} :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:26, 27 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Note at the top, about the server error ==<br />
<br />
The message is a little out-dated, as the comic ([[1190: Time]]) is not the latest anymore. I propose that the second sentence be changed to say "... in light of [[1190: Time]] ..."<br />
Also, it would provide a quick, easy link to 1190: Time. <br />
Just a thought.<br />
<br />
: Good point, I'll change it :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 11:58, 30 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
: '''update''': Davidy22 {{diff|31807|beat me to the punch}}, although he didn't tell anyone ;) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:01, 30 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Well, I think the message is now getting completely obsolete, things seem to have returned to a normal enough state to remove it, no? - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 12:27, 4 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: {{Done|{{diff|32450|Done}}}} by Davidy22 --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:49, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Suggested addition ==<br />
<br />
I think we should use <code><nowiki>{{#ifeq:{{PAGENAME}}|240:Dream Girl|This is today's incomplete explanation of the day.|Today's...is 240: Dream Girl.}} Help us fix it!</nowiki></code>. This would provide a better message for those visiting the actual page. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.220|108.162.219.220]] 15:14, 4 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:It would have been a good idea, but I forgot about Mediawiki namespaces. Sitenotice isn't transcluded into pages, it's a separate thing appended to the top of a page, so it doesn't inherit the current page name. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:20, 4 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Updating frequently ==<br />
<br />
Currently, I think the incomplete comic of the day should be changed more often (i.e. daily), since the incomplete comics are piling up, and most users aren't seeing the notice, as it is dismissible.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:10, 20 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== This needs to be updated ==<br />
<br />
You need to change this, the explanation for 1835 is no longer incomplete ([[explain xkcd:Explanation Completion Project]] also needs updating). If you had the dynamic page list extension installed you could randomly select a comic in the incomplete explanations cat and this wouldn't be a problem. [[User:E^ipi|E^ipi]] ([[User talk:E^ipi|talk]]) 10:17, 10 June 2017 (UTC)</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=414:_Mistranslations&diff=140234414: Mistranslations2017-05-25T17:59:31Z<p>E^ipi: Undo revision 140233 by 108.162.219.190 (talk) vandalism?</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number =414<br />
| date =April 23, 2008<br />
| title =Mistranslations<br />
| image =mistranslations.png<br />
| titletext =Oh, I think this word might mean 'Crisco'!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The ''{{w|Kama Sutra}}'' is a well-known work on human sexual behavior originally written in the language Sanskrit, in India sometime between 400 BC and 200 AD. It's not exclusively a "sex manual", as it also contains a guide to virtuous and gracious living, but in the Western world, it's primarily thought of as a manual of exotic sex positions.<br />
<br />
Given that the ''Kama Sutra'' was written almost 2,000 years ago, it's doubtful that it has ''any'' references whatsoever to a skateboard ramp, but Cueball and Megan enjoy their badly-translated version of the ''Kama Sutra'' so much that they refuse to change it.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to {{w|Crisco}}, a brand of shortening that is used in baking as well as as a sexual lubricant. It has been mentioned before in [[330: Indecision]] and later in [[557: Students]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A bed sits on the ground in the middle of the frame. At the left of the frame, Cueball stands atop a skateboard jump ramp twice his height, one foot on the back of a skateboard poised over the coping. At the bottom of the ramp is a small kicker ramp which will launch him over the bed. Megan to the right of the frame stands on the roof of a house grasping a rope which is affixed directly over the bed. They are both poised to begin their motion.]<br />
:Our copy of the Kama Sutra has a couple mistranslations.<br />
:Which we refuse to fix.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Template:LATESTCOMIC&diff=139973Template:LATESTCOMIC2017-05-17T15:02:28Z<p>E^ipi: Hope this doesn't break anything but surely there shouldn't be a space included when the template is used?</p>
<hr />
<div><noinclude>The latest [[xkcd]] comic is number: </noinclude>1838</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:E%5Eipi&diff=139923User:E^ipi2017-05-16T15:52:07Z<p>E^ipi: Created page with "Stupid name I know. I edit over at [rationalwiki.com RationalWiki]."</p>
<hr />
<div>Stupid name I know.<br />
<br />
I edit over at [rationalwiki.com RationalWiki].</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1836:_Okeanos&diff=1399181836: Okeanos2017-05-16T15:45:10Z<p>E^ipi: added Category:YouTube using HotCat</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1836<br />
| date = May 12, 2017<br />
| title = Okeanos<br />
| image = okeanos.png<br />
| titletext = WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Chat comments still need more explanation.}}<br />
The {{w|NOAAS_Okeanos_Explorer_(R_337)|NOAAS Okeanos Explorer}}, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea {{w|Okeanos}}, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html] of its deep sea exploration online. <br />
<br />
This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVT36Axtn0], see the [[#Table of comments|table]] below for details. <br />
<br />
The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humorous examples of what the chat section would look like. Several of the examples are the product of commenters falsely believing the livestream is that of a game, probably since most livestreams on youtube are of people playing games; [[Randall]] is joking about the viewers of said streams in particular not being able to tell the difference, as well as YouTube commenters in general. Randall has mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in both [[202: YouTube]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]].<br />
<br />
In the caption below Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section, for the reasons given in the comic above.<br />
<br />
The title text is yet another comment by someone who dropped their phone in the ocean from a boat, and now wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it, which is of course impossible, as the phone will by now be hidden in the silt on the bottom. And even if not, the chance of finding anything dropped in the {{w|pacific ocean}}, the largest Ocean on the Earth, is all but zero. Also, the Central Pacific Basin, where Okeanos was at the time of this comic's release, is 6500 meters deep; at that depth the water pressure is approximately 4454863 Pascal's, or roughly 646 PSI. This is probably enough to irrevocably damage something as breakable as a cell phone. Needless to say, retrieving one's phone from the bottom of the Central Pacific Basin would be a challenging and pointless endeavor.<br />
<br />
==Table of comments==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Comment<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| Fake<br />
| A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.<br />
|-<br />
| Who else is watching this in 2017?<br />
| This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.<br />
|-<br />
| Is this {{w|Pre-rendering|prerendered}} or will these graphics be in the game?<br />
| Previews for video games often use a mix of pre-rendered computer graphics and in-game footage, generally because in-game footage is not always visually impressive, interesting to watch, or easy to fit into the narrative of a preview advertisement. This practice can easily mislead people into believing that the pre-rendered graphics represent the actual game graphics, leading to disappointment when they purchase the game and find out that this isn't the case. The commenter, who has mistaken the marine footage for a game trailer, is trying determine if what he's seeing is pre-rendered or not, since it looks photorealistic to the point that he can't believe these are in-game graphics.<br />
|-<br />
| That squid is a {{w|Neoliberalism|neoliberal}}.<br />
| Likely an attempt at trolling; anyone with even a passing knowledge of marine life will be annoyed that the commenter confused the onscreen jellyfish with a squid, and everyone else will be annoyed by the politically-charged accusation in a place where such conversation clearly does not belong. Judging by the following comments, they have successfully baited at least one other person in the chat.<br />
|-<br />
| Why do the McElroy's never talk?<br />
| A reference to The Adventure Zone, a ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their father. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish.<br />
|-<br />
| Stop messing around and eat the fish already.<br />
| Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher. It could also be that the commenter believes that the footage is from the perspective of a marine predator.<br />
|-<br />
| This is why {{w|Donald Trump|Trump}} won.<br />
| Another unwelcome injection of politics. This is likely targeted at the 'squid is a neoliberal' commenter, accusing them (in so many words) of being endemic of the widespread ignorance amongst the American population which led to the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.<br />
|-<br />
| Why do you never craft anything?<br />
| A comment referencing games such as ''{{w|Subnautica}}'' and ''{{w|Minecraft}}'', where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials. Not crafting items in these games is often taken as a sign of ignorance or inexperience, which may be a source of mockery for commenters watching a gaming stream.<br />
|-<br />
| This is just a distraction<br />
| Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.<br />
|-<br />
| Something is wrong with that baby giraffe.<br />
| A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is either confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe, or is feigning this confusion as a joke.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube live-stream. The live-stream is from "OceanExplorerGov", using a submarine to explore the Central Pacific Basin. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the chat (typically shown in live-streams) is displayed]<br />
<br />
:User #1: Fake<br />
:User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?<br />
:User #3: Is this pre-rendered or will this be in the game?<br />
:User #4: That squid is a neo-liberal<br />
:User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk<br />
:User #6: Stop messing around and eat the fish already.<br />
:User #7: This is why Trump won<br />
:User #8: Why do you never craft anything<br />
:User #9: This is just a distraction<br />
:User #10: Something is wrong with that baby giraffe<br />
<br />
:Caption: I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration live-stream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:YouTube]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=202:_YouTube&diff=139917202: YouTube2017-05-16T15:44:45Z<p>E^ipi: removed Category:Internet using HotCat</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 202<br />
| date = December 27, 2006<br />
| title = YouTube<br />
| image = youtube.png<br />
| titletext = I pray GunPistolMan never learns the word 'sheeple'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic is pointing out the fact that many of the comments on {{w|YouTube}} videos are insipid and poorly informed, being pointless arguments over some minor topic, or factually incorrect position. In this case, the {{w|Moon landing conspiracy theories|Moon landing hoaxers}} are at the receiving end of [[Randall]]'s pen.<br />
<br />
* The comment by ''Rocckir'' just states that the video is obviously fake, with no evidence or explanation.<br />
<br />
* The comment by ''BigMike133'' confuses the {{w|Space Shuttle}} (which was never capable of landing on the Moon) with the {{w|Apollo Lunar Module}}.<br />
<br />
* The comment from ''GunPistolMan'' claims that the video is fake due to the mistaken belief that the Moon would have no {{w|Gravity|gravity}}, whereas in reality every object in the universe made of matter has gravity, including the Moon, {{w|Comet|comets}}, {{w|Asteroid|asteroids}}, {{w|Natural satellite|moons of other planets}} and so on. The gravity of the Moon is approximately 1/6th the gravity of {{w|Earth}}.<br />
<br />
* The comment by ''CrackMonkey74'' names {{w|Louis Armstrong}}, a famous jazz musician, who may have [http://lyrics.wikia.com/Louis_Armstrong:Moon_Song waxed] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5x8HnyIYHE lyrical] about the moon, but never went there. The ill-informed commenter actually means {{w|Neil Armstrong}}, who was the first person to walk on the Moon. The dare to accuse Armstrong to his face may be a reference to an incident where moon-hoax conspiracy theorist {{w|Bart Sibrel}} confronted {{w|Buzz Aldrin}} and called him "a coward, and a liar, and a thief". Aldrin responded by punching Sibrel; Sibrel's attempt to bring charges was dismissed on the grounds that he had provoked Aldrin to the point where the punch was a justified response.<br />
<br />
* The comment by ''SimplePlan2009'' presents, likely mocking the other commenters, the ludicrous position that the Moon shot was faked by suggesting that the footage was filmed by actors on {{w|Mars}}, a planet that at its closest approach to Earth is over a hundred times farther away than the Moon. Landing humans on Mars (much less landing enough people and equipment to set up a soundstage) is a feat that has still not been accomplished{{Citation needed}}, and if it had been possible during the Apollo era, the landing on the Moon would have been a trivial task in comparison. In other words, why go through all the trouble of faking it, if doing it for real would have been no trouble at all?<br />
<br />
This comic was published in December 2006. In July 2009, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vml7pZJujF0 a restored video] showing Neil Armstrong's first moonwalk was uploaded to YouTube. User Michael Huang copied to that video's comments section all the sentences in this comic. Then, after some other users took some of his comments seriously, he later added another comment stating "This entire comment chain is from the famous webcomic, xkcd". The comments are copied verbatim, including typos and grammar errors. The only mistake is in the first comment: Michael Huang included only one question mark when the comic has three of them.<br />
<br />
The title text is the first reference to [[:Category:Sheeple|Sheeple]] which appeared a few more times in xkcd comics. The reputation of YouTube comment threads as cesspools of abject stupidity and blatant trolling is revisited in [[301: Limerick]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]]. The username CrackMonkey74 appears again in [[406: Venting]] and [[574: Swine Flu]]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:The Internet has always had loud dumb people, but I've never seen anything quite as bad as the people who comment on YouTube videos.<br />
:[A YouTube comments page for a moon landing video.]<br />
:Comments & Responses<br />
:rocckir (48 minutes ago)<br />
:this is so obviously faked its unbilevable, why r people so gullible??? morons<br />
:bigmike133 (35 minutes ago)<br />
:ive seen the space shuttle ass hole it definetly landed on the moon do some research...<br />
:GunPistolMan (22 minutes ago)<br />
:if it was real why is their gravity? americans r fucken sheep<br />
:crackmonkey74 (17 minutes ago)<br />
:u dont think we went to the moon why not tell louis armstrong to his face<br />
:simpleplan2009 (5 minutes ago)<br />
:it was a soundstage on mars<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:YouTube]]<br />
[[Category:Sheeple]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:April_fools%27_comics&diff=139491Category:April fools' comics2017-05-02T16:38:26Z<p>E^ipi: </p>
<hr />
<div>Comics that were put up on {{w|April Fools' Day}} as an April Fools' Day joke.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] first posted an April Fool's comic on Sunday, April 1, 2007. This comic was not numbered; sequentially, it came between [[242: The Difference]] and [[243: Appropriate Term]]. It has not been preserved in the official xkcd archives, though it survives on a [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3701 thread in the xkcd forums].<br />
<br />
Other than this instance, Randall did not generally post joke comics on April 1st unless it was one of the three designated comic release days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). But on Friday, April 1, 2011 with [[880: Headache]], he has released a real April Fools' Day joke annually. Beginning with the following year with [[1037: Umwelt]], he began releasing an April Fools Day comic on April 1st, notwitstanding what day of the week it fell on by shifting the comic's release to that day, except for April 1st, 2017, where no comics were released.<br />
<br />
Prior to 2011, due to the 2008 leap year, April 1st coincided with a comic release day only once: [[563: Fermirotica]] in 2009. This comic has no obvious ties to April Fools Day and does not appear to be intended to mark that date.<br />
<br />
Only exception to this before 2011 is the [[404: Not Found]] in 2008, but this is a meta-comic, since it in fact doesn't exist.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics by date]]<br />
[[Category:Comics from April[[</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1827:_Survivorship_Bias&diff=1390941827: Survivorship Bias2017-04-21T09:26:43Z<p>E^ipi: /* Transcript */ transcript seems complete to me</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1827<br />
| date = April 21, 2017<br />
| title = Survivorship Bias<br />
| image = survivorship_bias.png<br />
| titletext = They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatest attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Still incomplete.}}<br />
<br />
This comic deals with {{w|survivorship bias}}. Survivorship bias, or survival bias, is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and inadvertently overlooking those that did not because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. The survivors may be actual people, as in a medical study, or could be companies or research subjects or applicants for a job, or anything that must make it past some selection process to be considered further.<br />
<br />
In this comic [[Hairy]] is giving a talk encouraging people to "never stop buying {{w|lottery}} tickets". This is an unwise investment plan for many reasons. To begin with, the chances of winning the lottery are mathematically very low and the total payout is less than ticket sales, meaning the expected return from buying a lottery ticket is almost[1] always negative. In some jurisdictions, lottery winnings are subject to taxes as well, and while small winnings may either be exempt from lottery tax or advertised after tax reduction, a jackpot is often advertised before taxes. On top of this, the winner may get their winnings in partial instalments over time, often decades for the really large sums.<br />
<br />
Survivorship bias applies in this situation since successful people are much more likely to get paid to conduct inspirational speeches{{Citation needed}} than someone who failed. [[Randall]] says below that people should be informed about survivorship bias before hearing inspirational talks from successful people.<br />
<br />
[1]When item prices are donated to a lottery (for charity or advertising purposes), sometimes the value of those items may actually be larger than the total price for all of the lottery tickets, if you otherwise would be willing to pay full prize for all the prizes.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Hairy is standing on a stage with five bags of money around him.]<br />
<br />
Hairy: Never stop buying lottery tickets, no matter what anyone tells you.<br />
<br />
Hairy: I failed again and again, but I never gave up. I took extra jobs and poured the money into tickets.<br />
<br />
Hairy: And here I am, proof that if you put in the time, it pays off!<br />
<br />
Caption: Every inspirational speech by someone successful should have to start with a disclaimer about survivorship bias.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1827:_Survivorship_Bias&diff=1390931827: Survivorship Bias2017-04-21T09:25:36Z<p>E^ipi: Your wiki is set up weird, usually it doesn't matter whether the first letter is capitalised.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1827<br />
| date = April 21, 2017<br />
| title = Survivorship Bias<br />
| image = survivorship_bias.png<br />
| titletext = They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatest attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Still incomplete.}}<br />
<br />
This comic deals with {{w|survivorship bias}}. Survivorship bias, or survival bias, is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and inadvertently overlooking those that did not because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. The survivors may be actual people, as in a medical study, or could be companies or research subjects or applicants for a job, or anything that must make it past some selection process to be considered further.<br />
<br />
In this comic [[Hairy]] is giving a talk encouraging people to "never stop buying {{w|lottery}} tickets". This is an unwise investment plan for many reasons. To begin with, the chances of winning the lottery are mathematically very low and the total payout is less than ticket sales, meaning the expected return from buying a lottery ticket is almost[1] always negative. In some jurisdictions, lottery winnings are subject to taxes as well, and while small winnings may either be exempt from lottery tax or advertised after tax reduction, a jackpot is often advertised before taxes. On top of this, the winner may get their winnings in partial instalments over time, often decades for the really large sums.<br />
<br />
Survivorship bias applies in this situation since successful people are much more likely to get paid to conduct inspirational speeches{{Citation needed}} than someone who failed. [[Randall]] says below that people should be informed about survivorship bias before hearing inspirational talks from successful people.<br />
<br />
[1]When item prices are donated to a lottery (for charity or advertising purposes), sometimes the value of those items may actually be larger than the total price for all of the lottery tickets, if you otherwise would be willing to pay full prize for all the prizes.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Please do not delete this tag until you have confirmed that this section is complete.}}<br />
<br />
[Hairy is standing on a stage with five bags of money around him.]<br />
<br />
Hairy: Never stop buying lottery tickets, no matter what anyone tells you.<br />
<br />
Hairy: I failed again and again, but I never gave up. I took extra jobs and poured the money into tickets.<br />
<br />
Hairy: And here I am, proof that if you put in the time, it pays off!<br />
<br />
Caption: Every inspirational speech by someone successful should have to start with a disclaimer about survivorship bias.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1803:_Location_Reviews&diff=1360711803: Location Reviews2017-02-25T12:34:56Z<p>E^ipi: Grammar and spelling</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1803<br />
| date = February 24, 2017<br />
| title = Location Reviews<br />
| image = location_reviews.png<br />
| titletext = Google and Yelp keep deleting my scathing reviews of the Mariana Trench, the Chernobyl reactor core, the jet stream, and the equator.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Stars to be included in the table.}}<br />
<br />
This comic shows a {{w|Google Map}} with the service's typical pointer in red over the central position of the map. Below is the name of the site ''Canyon River Nuclear Launch Facility'' and eleven reviews of this {{w|Nuclear Launch Facility}}.<br />
<br />
Many online advertising services and social media networks (like {{w|Google}} and {{w|Yelp}} mentioned in the title text and for instance {{w|Facebook}}) allow users to leave reviews of stores, businesses and locations. For various reasons these sites often find themselves with pages dedicated to, as Randall puts it, "places that really don't need reviews" such as municipal works installations, government property, and natural landmarks. This naturally attracts both clueless people and lots of self-styled comedians leaving less-than-helpful comments on such review pages. <br />
<br />
[[Randall]] is just poking fun at this phenomenon by inventing possible reviews for the non existing location ''Canyon River Nuclear Launch Facility''. See explanations for the 11 visible (out of 22) reviews in the [[#Reviews|table below]]. Of course those responsible for such a facility with {{w|nuclear missiles}} would not like the attention they would be getting in this way, especially not when one of the comments mentions a hole in the fence...<br />
<br />
In the title text Randall mentions that both Google and Yelp keep deleting his scathing reviews of several locations like the above. And while Canyon River Nuclear Launch Facility appears not to exist, the places/phenomena he lists in the title text certainly do, and are places that you either cannot or would not normally visit as destinations. This explains why <br />
<br />
{{w|Mariana Trench}} is the deepest area of the world's oceans, about 10,994 meters (36,070 ft). It is located between Japan and Australia. The pressure in the Mariana Trench is about 1,086 bars, more than 1,000 times the standard atmospheric pressure of about 1 bar at sea level. Despite this enormous pressure there live some organisms in the {{w|Mariana_Trench#Life}}. Humans can reach the ground only by special deep-sea submarines, like Jacques Piccard did in 1960 with the {{w|Bathyscaphe Trieste}}. See reviews for the Mariana Trench at [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mariana+Trench/@17.75,142.4978113,17z/data=!4m7!3m6!1s0x67328f3cd57de715:0x1bbe64e7a21aa7fc!8m2!3d17.75!4d142.5!9m1!1b1?hl=en Google Maps] [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marianengraben/108402422518280 Facebook].<br />
<br />
The {{w|Chernobyl}} reactor core is the most dangerous part of the {{w|Chernobyl Nuclear power plant}}. It is located in the North of Ukraine. In the reactor No. 4 there was a nuclear disaster that happened on 26 April 1986. It caused devastating damage and massive radioactive contamination. There is still an {{w|Chernobyl Exclusion Zone}} 30 kilometers around the power plant. See reviews for the Chernobyl power plant at [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chernobyl+Nuclear+Plant/@51.3852262,30.1003411,15z/data=!4m14!1m6!3m5!1s0x472a7d09e1ec5ef3:0x6b27a13ab968d17c!2sChernobyl+Nuclear+Plant!8m2!3d51.3889447!4d30.0988421!3m6!1s0x472a7d09e1ec5ef3:0x6b27a13ab968d17c!8m2!3d51.3889447!4d30.0988421!9m1!1b1?hl=en Google Maps] and [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kernkraftwerk-Tschernobyl/118179298239715?rf=116556918391753 Facebook].<br />
<br />
The {{w|jet stream}} is a meteorologic phenomenon about 9 to 16 kilometers above the ground. It consist of air currents with speeds from 92 km/h (50 kn; 57 mph) to over 398 km/h (215 kn; 247 mph). Such jet streams are routinely used for reducing fuel usage for long distance plane travels. <br />
<br />
The {{w|equator}} is, as the jet streams, not a singular place but a circumference around the Earth. It is thus impossible to review the equator as a location, as there is a whole range of specific (and interesting) locations around the equator, with countries with {{w|tropical rainforest climate}}, which many people from European and North American countries struggle with, but mainly it goes over water, mainly the Pacific but also the Atlantic ocean.<br />
<br />
===Reviews===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Review<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| Greatest country on earth || A patriotic review, though provides no information on the actual nuclear site. And this is of course not a country.<br />
|-<br />
| Looks cool but you can't get in || This reviewer, although initially positive, attempts to highlight what they perceive as a major flaw with the site: namely, that it is off-limits to unauthorized personnel and heavily-guarded, so it's impossible to actually go inside. This is typical of a nuclear facility, but this kind of review could also be seen for a fancy restaurant that needs very early pre-booking.<br />
|-<br />
| What is this store || Reviewer really, really has no idea what this facility actually is, mistaking it for a store.<br />
|-<br />
| My cousin worked here || If true, this review is a serious security risk (e.g. kidnapping the reviewer to extort information from his cousin). The comment may also just be a way for the reviewer to pretend he knows someone who works in the higher levels of the government. Usually this kind of comment together with a four star rating is to signal that you know more about the location than regular reviewers does. Of course you could then also be perceived as partial.<br />
|-<br />
| Waitstaff heavily armed and very rude || This review mistakes the facility's security guards for a restaurant's waitstaff. Since the guards are protecting some of the most dangerous weapons in existence, and would not let unknown outsiders into the facility, it follows that the guards would be heavily armed, and quite rude to those who sought entry without proper permission.<br />
|-<br />
| Stop doing chemtrails || This reviewer believes in the {{w|chemtrail conspiracy theory}} and is urging the government to cease spreading the chemtrails. This conspiracy was earlier mentioned both in [[966: Jet Fuel]] and [[1677: Contrails]].<br />
|-<br />
| This place is a symptom of the {{w|military-industrial complex}} strangling our democracy and...<span style="color: gray;">(read full review-1184 words)</span> || A slightly tongue-in-cheek reference to essays against 'The Military-Industrial complex' and how they are often copy-pasted by people who don't really understand them in inappropriate places. Or just to people who rant far beyond anything that people would ever read, except if they are already agreeing with the writer.<br />
|-<br />
| Anyone else notice the hole in the west fence? || The adventurer's travel guide to government installations... Posting a comment like this would (at best) bring the hole to the attention of the site staff to be repaired and (at worst) bring the writer unwelcome attention from the authorities for publicizing a security vulnerability at a missile site. This might also be a reference to {{w|Richard Feynman}}'s account of finding a hole in the fence surrounding the {{w|Los Alamos, New Mexico|Los Alamos}} facility during the {{w|Manhattan Project}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Whoa, missiles! || The writer is impressed and apparently surprised to discover that the site has missiles. This may also be a reference to the "Whoa, technology!" meme, which originated when YandereDev, a Youtuber, uttered the phrase in one of his videos.<br />
|-<br />
| Good idea but confusing web site. How do I preorder? || This reviewer thinks that one can order a nuclear missile launch here, but can't find a preorder form on the website. In reality, the decision to launch nuclear missiles often rests with the heads of state or government, and outside persons are not allowed to control them.<br />
|-<br />
| Please don't launch these || A plea to the facility owners not to launch the nuclear missiles, due to their deleterious effects on human life.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Inside the main panel there is a frame with a Google location map with the typical red pin stuck in the center of the map inside a large gray region of the map. A river goes from the north through the gray region and out to the west. East and south of the river some roads and other items are shown, several of them also outside the gray region. The red pin is stuck next to a corner in one of the roads.]<br />
<br />
:[Below the map is the name of the location at the red pin, and below that there are three lines of unreadable text:]<br />
:<big>Canyon River Nuclear Launch Facility</big><br />
<br />
:[Below that there is broken line with text in the break, and below that follows 11 reviews with yellow stars to the left:] <br />
:Reviews (22)<br />
:[5/5 stars] Greatest country on earth <br />
:[2/5 stars] Looks cool but you can't get in<br />
:[1/5 stars] What is this store<br />
:[4/5 stars] My cousin worked here<br />
:[2/5 stars] Waitstaff heavily armed and very rude<br />
:[1/5 stars] Stop doing chemtrails<br />
:[1/5 stars] This place is a symptom of the military-industrial complex strangling our democracy and...<span style="color: gray;">(read full review-1184 words)</span><br />
:[4/5 stars] Anyone else notice the hole in the west fence?<br />
:[5/5 stars] Whoa, missiles!<br />
:[3/5 stars] Good idea but confusing web site. How do I preorder?<br />
:[1/5 stars] Please don't launch these<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:I love finding reviews of places that really don't need to have reviews.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Only 11 of the 22 reviews posted is shown. For those 11 the average star rating is 2.6/5 stars. All five possible ratings are represented at least once.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Google Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&diff=135139what if?2017-02-13T10:41:21Z<p>E^ipi: /* Articles */ added most recent one, don't know when it was released could someone please add?</p>
<hr />
<div>:<small>''Not to be confused with [[17: What If]].''</small><br />
[[File:whatifbanner.jpg]]<br />
<br />
'''''[http://what-if.xkcd.com/ what if?]''''' is a blog hosted on the [[xkcd]].com domain and written by [[Randall Munroe]] with entries posted [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/once-in-a-blue-moon.html occasionally]. Before publishing the what if? book, articles were posted weekly.<br />
<br />
On the blog, Randall uses his degree in physics and strong scientific background to discuss hypothetical physics questions apparently submitted by readers.<br />
Since 2014, there's also a book of the blog.<br />
<br />
Unlike other sites which answer readers' questions, ''what if?'' typically takes the question beyond the original scope likely intended by the reader and takes it to some extreme for humorous effect. For example, in {{what if|1|the first article}}, he discusses what would happen if a baseball were pitched at 90% of the speed of light. After effectively describing what would occur as a nuclear explosion, leveling the stadium and the surrounding mile radius, he concludes with the note ''"A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered 'hit by pitch', and would be eligible to advance to first base."''<br />
<br />
The questions Randall tackles range from realistic possibilities (e.g. the probability of achieving a {{what if|2|perfect SAT score by guessing}}) to completely fictional questions (e.g. {{what if|3|How much Force power}} can {{w|Yoda}} output?). In his explanations, Randall, often uses diagrams in an ''xkcd'' style. Regardless of the context, Randall tends to take the questions extremely literally and responds seriously to them, even if they are whimsical (such as the Yoda question). This is clear from his response to the question of what would happen if everybody on Earth stood together and {{what if|8|jumped at the same time}}. After acknowledging that the question has been answered elsewhere, he recaps the result, but then focuses more intently on the unasked resulting issue of the aftermath of everyone on Earth being magically transported to one location as they all try to return home.<br />
<br />
This site is not under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License] like [[xkcd]] is.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Release schedule==<br />
*The two first articles were released on the same day, Tuesday July 10, 2012, probably to get the blog going, and let users of xkcd see that there was going to be more. <br />
**After that they were released weekly for almost three years, with just a few times with two (and once three) weeks between releases, up until article 136 was released on April 12, 2015 (2 years and 40 weeks).<br />
**First after 25 releases was there a two week Christmas break before article 26 was released on December 31, 2012.<br />
**After that there were five more two weeks break, one three week break (before December 11, 2014) and two releases in a row (133-134 towards the end of this period of 136 articles), where the release dates where shifted so the two came out over three weeks' time with about 1.5 weeks between them.<br />
**The second break came a year after the first and was also a Christmas break before article 77 was released on December 31, 2013<br />
**Then from August 2014 there came several two week breaks, one in August, one in September and two in November, the last lasting three weeks into December, and on top of that the normal two weeks Christmas break.<br />
**After this less orderly period there came a period of 10 weeks in a row with 10 releases starting on January 1, 2015.<br />
*The release day was fixed to once a week on a given weekday, except for a few articles that were delayed a day (or two) in one week, but then next week's article would again be released on the normal day.<br />
**To begin with the release day was '''Tuesdays''', and the third article was released a week after the first two on Tuesday July 17, 2012.<br />
**The release day shifted to '''Wednesday''' from article 100 released on Wednesday June 11, 2014.<br />
**The release day shifted once more to '''Thursday''' from article 117 released on Thursday October 23, 2014.<br />
**The final six articles in this period were released on four different week days, only two of them with one week apart.<br />
*The result of the above is that over the first 144 weeks 136 articles where released with never more than 3 weeks between releases. As the first two were released on week 1, this means that there were 134 articles released over the next 143 weeks, meaning there were only 9 weeks without an article.<br />
*After article 136 was released on April 12, 2015, Randal took a '''13 weeks break''' from updates until July 14, 2015.<br />
**At the time Randall wrote a note stating "What If updates are temporarily on hold, and will resume on July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT." <br />
**This was the date and time that the {{w|New Horizons}} probe achieved its closest approach to {{w|Pluto}}. <br />
**The article 137 from July 14, 2015 was about the New Horizons probe. <br />
*After the break only three articles were released, two more were released after article 137 over three weeks, the last article 139 released on August 4, 2015.<br />
**But then there were '''two more breaks''', so only one more article was released in 2015, with article 150 released after more than 6 weeks on September 18, 2015.<br />
*First after 17 more weeks releases began again with article 141 on Tuesday January 16, 2016.<br />
**After that articles began coming out regularly with a total of 9 releases out before the end of March 2016, mainly on Tuesdays to begin with, then one on a Friday before the last two came on Saturdays with two weeks breaks before each, the last being article 149 on March 26, 2016.<br />
*Since then only three more articles were released in 2016, the first two with about 8 weeks between them and then more than 12 weeks.<br />
**So during the summer of 2016, it seemed it was down to about one release every two months but then it increased.<br />
*The what if? has not stopped but the first comic in 2017 came almost 15 weeks after the last in 2016, more than three months between releases. This was so far the second longest break.<br />
**At the moment it seems impossible to guess when a new post is released, and it would be nice if anyone did notice a new post, that they made a note in the discussion of the next comic released.<br />
*See more details for breaks in the releases in the table with a list of all the [[#Articles|articles]] down below.<br />
<br />
==The book==<br />
Randall announced his ''what if?'' book on 12 March 2014 in [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/03/12/what-if-i-wrote-a-book/ the blag]. It was published on September 2, 2014, and the UK edition of the book was published on September 4, 2014. It is the 2nd book published by Randall. <br />
[[Image:What_If?.jpeg|frame|The general cover of the book]]<br />
It is just like 'xkcd:volume 0' a compilation of some questions from the website, but half of them are new.<br />
<br />
In the UK edition of the book, Randall included a preface about his thoughts on the units used in the UK. (The Metric System)<br />
====Summary====<br />
'''The summary on the back of the book reads:'''<br />
<br />
''Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD 'a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language' which offers a witty take on the world of science and geeks. It now has 600,000 to a million page hits daily. Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate. 'My friend and I were arguing about what would happen if a bullet got struck by lightning, and we agreed that you should resolve it . . . ' He liked these questions so much that he started up What If.<br />
<br />
*If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how long would you survive?<br />
*How dangerous is it, really, to be in a swimming pool in a thunderstorm?<br />
*If we hooked turbines to people exercising in gyms, how much power could we produce?<br />
*What if everyone only had one soulmate?<br />
*When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British empire?<br />
*How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live?<br />
*What would happen if the moon went away?<br />
<br />
''In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, studded with memorable cartoons and infographics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion. Far more than a book for geeks, WHAT IF: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much the smarter for having read.''<br />
<br />
'''The summary on the back of the UK edition of the book reads:'''<br />
<br />
''Hey! Thanks for looking at my book. If you're thinking about buying it, here are some things you might want to know:''<br />
<br />
Humans can't digest the cellulose in paper, but if we could, eating this book would give you about 2,300 calories (including the cover).<br />
<br />
This book can't stop most bullets; if you want to use it for armour, you may want a lot more than one copy.<br />
<br />
If you have a good arm, you could probably throw this book about 45 feet. With practice, it's possible to throw a book every 800 milliseconds, which means that if human attackers are sprinting towards you, you'll have three or four chances to hit them before they reach you. If, on the other hand, you're being attacked by a coyote, it's higher top speed means you'll have only one chance to hit it. Aim carefully.<br />
<br />
''HIDDEN FEATURE: The inside of this book has words and pictures, plus a special UK foreword.'' It answers many important questions, including whether you could jump from a plane with a helium tank and inflate balloons fast enough to slow your fall and survive (yes) and whether you could hide from a supersonic windstorm in Finland (yes, but it won't help).<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*There is an easy way to link to a given what if? story by using [[Template:what if|a template]]. For instance write the following:<br />
**<nowiki>See the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|147|Niagara Straw}}''.</nowiki><br />
*Copy paste the above text and correct the number and the title to get this result: <br />
**See the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|147|Niagara Straw}}''.<br />
<br />
==Articles==<br />
*Below is a list of the articles released in the what if? blog. <br />
**This list can also be found in the [https://what-if.xkcd.com/archive/ acrhive section] on the what if? blog.<br />
**But here more data can be added...<br />
{| class="wikitable " | <br />
! No.<br />
! Title <br />
! Release date <br />
! Weeks since last release<br />
! Question(s) answered / Topic <br />
! Comment/Short note on subject<br />
|-<br />
| 1 || {{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}} || July 10, 2012 || || What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light? || The very first what if? The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion.<br />
|-<br />
| 2 || {{what if|2|SAT Guessing}} || July 10, 2012 || 0.0 || What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be? || This second article was released on the same day as the first, probably to get the blog going, and let users of xkcd see that there was going to be more. No one would get a perfect score<br />
|-<br />
| 3 || {{what if|3|Yoda}} || July 17, 2012 || 1.0 || How much Force power can Yoda output? || First regular release. From here on standard release day was Tuesday.<br />
|-<br />
| 4 || {{what if|4|A Mole of Moles}} || July 24, 2012 || 1.0 || What would happen if you were to gather a mole (unit of measurement) of moles (the small furry critter) in one place? || As a mole is such a high number this would be tricky.<br />
|-<br />
| 5 || {{what if|5|Robot Apocalypse}} || July 31, 2012 || 1.0 || What if there was a robot apocalypse? How long would humanity last? || Humanity would survive if the robots cared about keeping themselves alive as well. If not, then we all die. <br />
|-<br />
| 6 || {{what if|6|Glass Half Empty}} || August 7, 2012 || 1.0 || What if a glass of water was, all of a sudden, literally half empty? || As in a vacuum? It would explode. <br />
|-<br />
| 7 || {{what if|7|Everybody Out}} || August 14, 2012 || 1.0 || Is there enough energy to move the entire current human population off-planet? || <br />
|-<br />
| 8 || {{what if|8|Everybody Jump}} || August 21, 2012 || 1.0 || What would happen if everyone on earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant? || <br />
|-<br />
| 9 || {{what if|9|Soul Mates}} || August 28, 2012 || 1.0 || What if everyone actually had only one soul mate, a random person somewhere in the world? || <br />
|-<br />
| 10 || {{what if|10|Cassini}} || September 4, 2012 || 1.0 || What would the world be like if the land masses were spread out the same way as now - only rotated by an angle of 90 degrees? || <br />
|-<br />
| 11 || {{what if|11|Droppings}} || September 11, 2012 || 1.0 || If you went outside and lay down on your back with your mouth open, how long would you have to wait until a bird pooped in it? || <br />
|-<br />
| 12 || {{what if|12|Raindrop}} || September 18, 2012 || 1.0 || What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop? || <br />
|-<br />
| 13 || {{what if|13|Laser Pointer}} || September 25, 2012 || 1.0 || If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color? || <br />
|-<br />
| 14 || {{what if|14|Short Answer Section}} || October 2, 2012 || 1.0 || <br />
* How long would the Sun last if a giant water hose were focused upon it? My sixth grade brother, Adam, asked me this. <br />
* What if you shined a flashlight (or a laser) into a sphere made of one-way mirror glass? <br />
* If Michael Phelps could hold his breath indefinitely, how long would it take for him to reach the lowest point in the ocean and back if he swam straight down and then straight back up? <br />
* In the first Superman movie, Superman flies around Earth so fast that it begins turning in the opposite direction. This somehow turns back time [... ] How much energy would someone flying around the Earth have to exert in order to reverse the Earth's rotation? <br />
* How fast would you have to go in your car to run a red light claiming that it appeared green to you due to the Doppler Effect? <br />
* What would happen if you opened a portal between Boston (sea level) and Mexico City (elev. 8000+ feet)? <br />
* When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced. <br />
|| <br />
|-<br />
| 15 || {{what if|15|Mariana Trench Explosion}} || October 9, 2012 || 1.0 || What if you exploded a nuclear bomb (say, the Tsar Bomba) at the bottom of the Marianas Trench? || <br />
|-<br />
| 16 || {{what if|16|Today's topic: Lightning}} || October 16, 2012 || 1.0 ||<br />
* How dangerous is it, really, to be in a pool during a thunderstorm?<br />
* What would happen if you were taking a shower when you were struck by lightning? Or standing under a waterfall? <br />
* What would happen if you were in a boat or a plane that got hit by lightning? Or a submarine? <br />
* What if you were changing the light at the top of a radio tower and lightning struck? Or what if you were doing a backflip? Or standing in a graphite field? Or looking straight up at the bolt?<br />
* What would happen if lightning struck a bullet in midair?<br />
* What if you were flashing your BIOS during a thunderstorm and you got hit by lightning?<br />
|| <br />
|-<br />
| 17 || {{what if|17|Green Cows}} || October 23, 2012 || 1.0 || If cows could photosynthesize, how much less food would they need? || <br />
|-<br />
| 18 || {{what if|18|BB Gun}} || October 30, 2012 || 1.0 || In Armageddon, a NASA guy comments that a plan to shoot a laser at the asteroid is like “shooting a b.b. gun at a freight train.” What would it take to stop an out-of-control freight train using only b.b. guns? || <br />
|-<br />
| 19 || {{what if|19|Tie Vote}} || November 6, 2012 || 1.0 || What if there's LITERALLY a tie? || The release date in the archive is the wrong year 2013.<br />
|-<br />
| 20 || {{what if|20|Diamond}} || November 13, 2012 || 1.0 || If a meteor made out of diamond and 100 feet in diameter was traveling at the speed of light and hit the earth, what would happen to it? || <br />
|-<br />
| 21 || {{what if|21|Machine Gun Jetpack}} || November 20, 2012 || 1.0 || Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward firing machine guns? || <br />
|-<br />
| 22 || {{what if|22|Cost of Pennies}} || November 27, 2012 || 1.0 || If you carry a penny in your coin tray, how long would it take for that penny to cost you more than a cent in extra gas? || <br />
|-<br />
| 23 || {{what if|23|Short Answer Section II}} || December 4, 2012 || 1.0 || <br />
* If my printer could literally print out money, would it have that big an effect on the world?<br />
* What would happen if you exploded a nuclear bomb in the eye of a hurricane? Would the storm cell be immediately vaporized?<br />
* If everyone put little turbine generators on the downspouts of their houses and businesses, how much power would we generate? Would we ever generate enough power to offset the cost of the generators?<br />
* Using only pronounceable letter combinations, how long would names have to be to give each star in the universe a unique one word name?<br />
* I bike to class sometimes. It's annoying biking in the wintertime, because it's so cold. How fast would I have to bike for my skin to warm up the way a spacecraft heats up during reentry?<br />
* How much physical space does the internet take up?<br />
* What if you strapped C4 to a boomerang? Could this be an effective weapon, or would it be as stupid as it sounds?<br />
|| <br />
|-<br />
| 24 || {{what if|24|Model Rockets}} || December 11, 2012 || 1.0 || How many model rocket engines would it take to launch a real rocket into space? || <br />
|-<br />
| 25 || {{what if|25|Three Wise Men}} || December 18, 2012 || 1.0 || The story of the three wise men got me wondering: What if you did walk towards a star at a fixed speed? What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle? || <br />
|-<br />
| 26 || {{what if|26|Leap Seconds}} || December 31, 2012 || 1.9 || Every now and then we have to insert a leap second because the Earth’s rotation is slowing down. Could we speed up Earth’s rotation, so that we do not need Leap Seconds? || The first two weeks Christmas break<br />
|-<br />
| 27 || {{what if|27|Death Rates}} || January 8, 2013 || 1.1 || If one randomly chosen extra person were to die each second somewhere on Earth, what impact would it have on the world population? || <br />
|-<br />
| 28 || {{what if|28|Steak Drop}} || January 15, 2013 || 1.0 || From what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground? || <br />
|-<br />
| 29 || {{what if|29|Spent Fuel Pool}} || January 22, 2013 || 1.0 || What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? Would I need to dive to actually experience a fatal amount of radiation? How long could I stay safely at the surface? || <br />
|-<br />
| 30 || {{what if|30|Interplanetary Cessna}} || January 29, 2013 || 1.0 || What would happen if you tried to fly a normal Earth airplane above different Solar System bodies? || <br />
|-<br />
| 31 || {{what if|31|FedEx Bandwidth}} || February 5, 2013 || 1.0 || When - if ever - will the bandwidth of the Internet surpass that of FedEx? || <br />
|-<br />
| 32 || {{what if|32|Hubble}} || February 12, 2013 || 1.0 || If the Hubble telescope were aimed at the Earth, how detailed would the images be? || <br />
|-<br />
| 33 || {{what if|33|Ships}} || February 19, 2013 || 1.0 || How much would the sea level fall if every ship were removed all at once from the Earth's waters? || <br />
|-<br />
| 34 || {{what if|34|Twitter}} || February 26, 2013 || 1.0 || How many unique English tweets are possible? How long would it take for the population of the world to read them all out loud? || <br />
|-<br />
| 35 || {{what if|35|Hair Dryer}} || March 5, 2013 || 1.0 || What would happen if a hair dryer with continuous power was turned on and put in an airtight 1x1x1 meter box? || <br />
|-<br />
| 36 || {{what if|36|Cornstarch}} || March 12, 2013 || 1.0 || How much cornstarch can I rinse down the drain before unpleasant things start to happen? || <br />
|-<br />
| 37 || {{what if|37|Supersonic Stereo}} || March 19, 2013 || 1.0 || What if you somehow managed to make a stereo travel at twice the speed of sound, would it sound backwards to someone who was just casually sitting somewhere as it flies by? || Assuming the stereo is indestructible then yes. <br />
|-<br />
| 38 || {{what if|38|Voyager}} || March 26, 2013 || 1.0 || With today's technology, would it be possible to launch an unmanned mission to retrieve Voyager I? || <br />
|-<br />
| 39 || {{what if|39|Hockey Puck}} || April 2, 2013 || 1.0 || How hard would a puck have to be shot to be able to knock the goalie himself backwards into the net? || <br />
|-<br />
| 40 || {{what if|40|Pressure Cooker}} || April 9, 2013 || 1.0 || Am I right to be afraid of pressure cookers? What's the worst thing that can happen if you misuse a pressure cooker in an ordinary kitchen? || <br />
|-<br />
| 41 || {{what if|41|Go West}} || April 16, 2013 || 1.0 || If everybody in the US drove west, could we temporarily halt continental drift? || <br />
|-<br />
| 42 || {{what if|42|Longest Sunset}} || April 23, 2013 || 1.0 || What is the longest possible sunset you can experience while driving, assuming we are obeying the speed limit and driving on paved roads? || <br />
|-<br />
| 43 || {{what if|43|Train Loop}} || April 30, 2013 || 1.0 || Could a high-speed train run through a vertical loop, like a rollercoaster, with the passengers staying comfortable? || <br />
|-<br />
| 44 || {{what if|44|High Throw}} || May 7, 2013 || 1.0 || How high can a human throw something? || <br />
|-<br />
| 45 || {{what if|45|ISS Music Video}} || May 14, 2013 || 1.0 || Is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo this] the most expensive music video ever? || <br />
|-<br />
| 46 || {{what if|46|Bowling Ball}} || May 21, 2013 || 1.0 || I've been told that if the Earth were shrunk down to the size of a bowling ball, it would be smoother than said bowling ball. My question is, what would a bowling ball look like if it were blown up to the size of the Earth? || <br />
|-<br />
| 47 || {{what if|47|Alien Astronomers}} || May 28, 2013 || 1.0 || Let's assume there's life on the the nearest habitable exoplanet and that they have technology comparable to ours. If they looked at our star right now, what would they see? || <br />
|-<br />
| 48 || {{what if|48|Sunset on the British Empire}} || June 4, 2013 || 1.0 || When (if ever) did the Sun finally set on the British Empire? || <br />
|-<br />
| 49 || {{what if|49|Sunless Earth}} || June 11, 2013 || 1.0 || What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly switched off? || <br />
|-<br />
| 50 || {{what if|50|Extreme Boating}} || June 18, 2013 || 1.0 || What would it be like to navigate a rowboat through a lake of mercury? What about bromine? Liquid gallium? Liquid tungsten? Liquid nitrogen? Liquid helium? || <br />
|-<br />
| 51 || {{what if|51|Free Fall}} || June 25, 2013 || 1.0 || What place on Earth would allow you to freefall the longest by jumping off it? What about using a squirrel suit? || <br />
|-<br />
| 52 || {{what if|52|Bouncy Balls}} || July 2, 2013 || 1.0 || What if one were to drop 3,000 bouncy balls from a seven story parking structure onto a person walking on the sidewalk below? Should the person survive, what would be the number of bouncy balls needed to kill them? What injuries would occur and what would the associated crimes be? || The release date in the archive is the wrong month June.<br />
|-<br />
| 53 || {{what if|53|Drain the Oceans}} || July 9, 2013 || 1.0 || How quickly would the ocean's drain if a circular portal 10 meters in radius leading into space was created at the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest spot in the ocean? How would the Earth change as the water is being drained? || <br />
|-<br />
| 54 || {{what if|54|Drain the Oceans: Part II}} || July 16, 2013 || 1.0 || Supposing you did {{what if|53|Drain the Oceans}}, and dumped the water on top of the Curiosity rover, how would Mars change as the water accumulated? || <br />
|-<br />
| 55 || {{what if|55|Random Sneeze Call}} || July 23, 2013 || 1.0 || If you call a random phone number and say “God bless you”, what are the chances that the person who answers just sneezed? On average, not just in spring or fall. || <br />
|-<br />
| 56 || {{what if|56|Restraining an Airplane}} || July 30, 2013 || 1.0 || If you wanted to anchor an airplane into the ground so it wouldn't be able to take off, what would the rope have to be made out of? || <br />
|-<br />
| 57 || {{what if|57|Dropping a Mountain}} || August 6, 2013 || 1.0 || What if a huge mountain—Denali, say—had the bottom inch of its base disappear? What would happen from the impact of the mountain falling 1 inch? What about 1 foot? What if the mountain's base were raised to the present height of the summit, and then the whole thing were allowed to drop to the earth? || <br />
|-<br />
| 58 || {{what if|58|Orbital Speed}} || August 12, 2013 || 0.9 || <br />
* What if a spacecraft slowed down on re-entry to just a few miles per hour using rocket boosters like the Mars-sky-crane? Would it negate the need for a heat shield?<br />
* Is it possible for a spacecraft to control its reentry in such a way that it avoids the atmospheric compression and thus would not require the expensive (and relatively fragile) heat shield on the outside?<br />
* Could a (small) rocket (with payload) be lifted to a high point in the atmosphere where it would only need a small rocket to get to escape velocity?<br />
|| <br />
|-<br />
| 59 || {{what if|59|Updating a Printed Wikipedia}} || August 20, 2013 || 1.1 || If you had a printed version of the whole of (say, the English) Wikipedia, how many printers would you need in order to keep up with the changes made to the live version? || <br />
|-<br />
| 60 || {{what if|60|Signs of Life}} || August 27, 2013 || 1.0 || If you could teleport to a random place of the surface of the Earth, what are the odds that you'll see signs of intelligent life? || <br />
|-<br />
| 61 || {{what if|61|Speed Bump}} || September 3, 2013 || 1.0 || How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? || <br />
|-<br />
| 62 || {{what if|62|Falling With Helium}} || September 10, 2013 || 1.0 || What if I jumped out of an airplane with a couple of tanks of helium and one huge, un-inflated balloon? Then, while falling, I release the helium and fill the balloon. How long of a fall would I need in order for the balloon to slow me enough that I could land safely? || <br />
|-<br />
| 63 || {{what if|63|Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards}} || September 17, 2013 || 1.0 || If all digital data were stored on punch cards, how big would Google's data warehouse be? || <br />
|-<br />
| 64 || {{what if|64|Rising Steadily}} || September 24, 2013 || 1.0 || If you suddenly began rising steadily at one foot per second, how exactly would you die? Would you freeze or suffocate first? Or something else? || <br />
|-<br />
| 65 || {{what if|65|Twitter Timeline Height}} || October 1, 2013 || 1.0 || If our Twitter timelines (tweets by the people we follow) actually extended off the screen in both directions, how tall would they be? || <br />
|-<br />
| 66 || {{what if|66|500 MPH}} || October 8, 2013 || 1.0 || If winds reached 500 mph, would it pick up a human? || <br />
|-<br />
| 67 || {{what if|67|Expanding Earth}} || October 15, 2013 || 1.0 || How long would it take for people to notice their weight gain if the mean radius of the world expanded by 1cm every second? (Assuming the average composition of rock were maintained.) || <br />
|-<br />
| 68 || {{what if|68|Little Planet}} || October 22, 2013 || 1.0 || If an asteroid was very small but supermassive, could you really live on it like the Little Prince? || <br />
|-<br />
| 69 || {{what if|69|Facebook of the Dead}} || October 29, 2013 || 1.0 || When, if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living ones? || <br />
|-<br />
| 70 || {{what if|70|The Constant Groundskeeper}} || November 5, 2013 || 1.0 || How big of a lawn would you have to have so that when you finished mowing you'd need to start over because the grass has grown? || <br />
|-<br />
| 71 || {{what if|71|Stirring Tea}} || November 12, 2013 || 1.0 || I was absentmindedly stirring a cup of hot tea, when I got to thinking, "aren't I actually adding kinetic energy into this cup?" I know that stirring does help to cool down the tea, but what if I were to stir it faster? Would I be able to boil a cup of water by stirring? || <br />
|-<br />
| 72 || {{what if|72|Loneliest Human}} || November 19, 2013 || 1.0 || What is the furthest one human being has ever been from every other living person? Were they lonely? || <br />
|-<br />
| 73 || {{what if|73|Lethal Neutrinos}} || November 26, 2013 || 1.0 || How close would you have to be to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino radiation? || <br />
|-<br />
| 74 || {{what if|74|Soda Planet}} || December 3, 2013 || 1.0 || How much of the Earth's currently-existing water has ever been turned into a soft drink at some point in its history? || <br />
|-<br />
| 75 || {{what if|75|Phone Keypad}} || December 10, 2013 || 1.0 || I use one of those old phones where you type with numbers—for example, to type "Y", you press 9 three times. Some words have consecutive letters on the same number. When they do, you have to pause between letters, making those words annoying to type. What English word has the most consecutive letters on the same key? || <br />
|-<br />
| 76 || {{what if|76|Reading Every Book}} || December 17, 2013 || 1.0 || At what point in human history were there too many (English) books to be able to read them all in one lifetime? || <br />
|-<br />
| 77 || {{what if|77|Growth Rate}} || December 31, 2013 || 2.0 || What height would humans reach if we kept growing through our whole development period (i.e. till late teens/early twenties) at the same pace as we do during our first month? || The second two weeks Christmas break <br />
|-<br />
| 78 || {{what if|78|T-rex Calories}} || January 7, 2014 || 1.0 || If a T-rex were released in New York City, how many humans/day would it need to consume to get its needed calorie intake? || <br />
|-<br />
| 79 || {{what if|79|Lake Tea}} || January 14, 2014 || 1.0 || What if we were to dump all the tea in the world into the Great Lakes? How strong, compared to a regular cup of tea, would the lake tea be? || <br />
|-<br />
| 80 || {{what if|80|Pile of Viruses}} || January 21, 2014 || 1.0 || What if every virus in the world were collected into one area? How much volume would they take up and what would they look like? || <br />
|-<br />
| 81 || {{what if|81|Catch!}} || January 28, 2014 || 1.0 || Is there any way to fire a gun so that the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely caught by hand? e.g. shooter is at sea level and catcher is up a mountain at the extreme range of the gun. || <br />
|-<br />
| 82 || {{what if|82|Hitting a comet}} || February 5, 2014 || 1.1 || Astrophysicists are always saying things like "This mission to this comet is equivalent to throwing a baseball from New York and hitting a particular window in San Francisco." Are they really equivalent? || <br />
|-<br />
| 83 || {{what if|83|Star Sand}} || February 11, 2014 || 0.9 || If you made a beach using grains the proportionate size of the stars in the Milky Way, what would that beach look like? || <br />
|-<br />
| 84 || {{what if|84|Paint the Earth}} || February 18, 2014 || 1.0 || Has humanity produced enough paint to cover the entire land area of the Earth? || <br />
|-<br />
| 85 || {{what if|85|Rocket Golf}} || February 25, 2014 || 1.0 || Assuming that you have a spaceship in orbit around the Earth, could you propel your ship to speeds exceeding escape velocity by hitting golf balls in the other direction? If so, how many golf balls would be required to reach the Moon? || <br />
|-<br />
| 86 || {{what if|86|Far-Traveling Objects}} || March 4, 2014 || 1.0 || In terms of human-made objects, has Voyager 1 travelled the farthest distance? It's certainly the farthest from Earth we know about. But what about the edge of ultracentrifuges, or generator turbines that have been running for years, for example? || <br />
|-<br />
| 87 || {{what if|87|Enforced by Radar}} || March 11, 2014 || 1.0 || I've occasionally seen "radar enforced" on speed limit signs, and I can't help but ask: How intense would radio waves have to be to stop a car from going over the speed limit, and what would happen if this were attempted? || <br />
|-<br />
| 88 || {{what if|88|Soda Sequestration}} || March 18, 2014 || 1.0 || How much CO<sub>2</sub> is contained in the world's stock of bottled fizzy drinks? How much soda would be needed to bring atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> back to preindustrial levels? || <br />
|-<br />
| 89 || {{what if|89|Tungsten Countertop}} || March 25, 2014 || 1.0 || How far would a tungsten countertop descend if I dropped it into the Sun? || <br />
|-<br />
| 90 || {{what if|90|Great Tree, Great Axe}} || April 3, 2014 || 1.3 ||<br />
''If all the seas were one sea, <br /><br />
''What a great sea that would be! <br /><br />
''If all the trees were one tree, <br /><br />
''What a great tree that would be! <br /><br />
''If all the men were one man, <br /><br />
''What a great man that would be! <br /><br />
''If all the axes were one axe, <br /><br />
''What a great axe that would be! <br /><br />
''And if the great man took the great axe, <br /><br />
''And cut down the great tree, <br /><br />
''And let if fall into the great sea, <br /><br />
''What a great splish-splash that would be!'' <br /><br />
... How great would all of these things be?<br />
|| <br />
|-<br />
| 91 || {{what if|91|Faucet Power}} || April 8, 2014 || 0.7 || I just moved into a new apartment. It includes hot water but I have to pay the electric bill. So being a person on a budget ... what's the best way to use my free faucet to generate electricity? || <br />
|-<br />
| 92 || {{what if|92|One-Second Day}} || April 15, 2014 || 1.0 || What would happen if the Earth's rotation were sped up until a day only lasted one second? || <br />
|-<br />
| 93 || {{what if|93|Windshield Raindrops}} || April 22, 2014 || 1.0 || At what speed would you have to drive for rain to shatter your windshield? || <br />
|-<br />
| 94 || {{what if|94|Billion-Story Building}} || April 29, 2014 || 1.0 || My daughter — age 4.5 — maintains she wants a billion-story building. It turns out not only is that hard to help her appreciate this size, I am not at all able to explain all of the other difficulties you'd have to overcome. || <br />
|-<br />
| 95 || {{what if|95|Pyramid Energy}} || May 6, 2014 || 1.0 || What took more energy, the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Apollo Mission? If we could convert the energy to build the Great Pyramid, would it be enough to send a rocket to the Moon and back? || <br />
|-<br />
| 96 || {{what if|96|$2 Undecillion Lawsuit}} || May 14, 2014 || 1.1 || What if Au Bon Pain lost [http://loweringthebar.net/2014/05/2-undecillion-dollar-demand.html this lawsuit] and had to pay the plaintiff $2 undecillion? || <br />
|-<br />
| 97 || {{what if|97|Burning Pollen}} || May 20, 2014 || 0.9 || What if you were to somehow ignite the pollen that floats around in the air in spring? Other than being a really bad idea, what effect would it have? || <br />
|-<br />
| 98 || {{what if|98|Blood Alcohol}} || May 27, 2014 || 1.0 || Could you get drunk from drinking a drunk person's blood? || <br />
|-<br />
| 99 || {{what if|99|Starlings}} || June 3, 2014 || 1.0 || I was watching [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY this video] and was wondering: How many birds there would need to be for gravity to take over and force them into a gargantuan ball of birds? || <br />
|-<br />
| 100 || {{what if|100|WWII Films}} || June 11, 2014 || 1.1 || Did WWII last longer than the total length of movies about WWII? For that matter, which war has the highest movie time:war time ratio? || From here on standard release day was Wednesday. <br />
|-<br />
| 101 || {{what if|101|Plastic Dinosaurs}} || June 18, 2014 || 1.0 || As plastic is made from oil and oil is made from dead dinosaurs, how much actual real dinosaur is there in a plastic dinosaur? || <br />
|-<br />
| 102 || {{what if|102|Keyboard Power}} || June 25, 2014 || 1.0 || As a writer, I'm wondering what would be the cumulative energy of the hundreds of thousands of keystrokes required to write a novel. || <br />
|-<br />
| 103 || {{what if|103|Vanishing Water}} || July 2, 2014 || 1.0 || What would happen if all the bodies of water on Earth magically disappeared? || <br />
|-<br />
| 104 || {{what if|104|Global Snow}} || July 9, 2014 || 1.0 || From my seven-year-old son: How many snowflakes would it take to cover the entire world in six feet of snow? (I don't know why six feet...but that's what he asked.) || <br />
|-<br />
| 105 || {{what if|105|Cannibalism}} || July 16, 2014 || 1.0 || How long could the human race survive on only cannibalism? || <br />
|-<br />
| 106 || {{what if|106|Ink Molecules}} || July 23, 2014 || 1.0 || Suppose you were to print, in 12 point text, the numeral 1 using a common cheap ink-jet printer. How many molecules of the ink would be used? At what numerical value would the number printed approximately equal the number of ink molecules used? || <br />
|-<br />
| 107 || {{what if|107|Letter to Mom}} || July 30, 2014 || 1.0 || What’s the fastest way to get a hand-written letter from my place in Chicago to my mother in New Jersey? || <br />
|-<br />
| 108 || {{what if|108|Expensive Shoebox}} || August 13, 2014 || 2.0 || What would be the most expensive way to fill a size 11 shoebox (e.g. with 64 GB MicroSD cards all full of legally purchased music)? || The third two weeks break.<br />
|-<br />
| 109 || {{what if|109|Into the Blue}} || August 20, 2014 || 1.0 || If I shot an infinitely strong laser beam into the sky at a random point, how much damage would it do? || <br />
|-<br />
| 110 || {{what if|110|Walking New York}} || August 27, 2014 || 1.0 || Could a person walk the entire city of NY in their lifetime? (including inside apartments) || <br />
|-<br />
| 111 || {{what if|111|All the Money}} || September 2, 2014 || 0.9 || People sometimes say "If I had all the money in the world ..." in order to discuss what they would do if they had no financial constraints. I'm curious, though, what would happen if one person had all of the world's money? || <br />
|-<br />
| 112 || {{what if|112|Balloon Car}} || September 17, 2014 || 2.1 || My 12-year-old daughter is proposing an interesting project. She is planning to attach a number of helium balloons to a chair, which in turn would be tethered by means of a rope to a Ferrari. Her 13-year-old friend would then drive the Ferrari around, while she sits in the chair enjoying uninterrupted views of the countryside. Leaving aside the legal and insurance difficulties, my daughter is keen to know the maximum speed that she could expect to attain, and how many helium balloons would be required. || The fourth two weeks break.<br />
|-<br />
| 113 || {{what if|113|Visit Every State}} || September 24, 2014 || 1.0 || How fast could you visit all 50 states? || <br />
|-<br />
| 114 || {{what if|114|Antimatter}} || October 1, 2014 || 1.0 || What if everything was antimatter, EXCEPT Earth? || <br />
|-<br />
| 115 || {{what if|115|Into the Sun}} || October 8, 2014 || 1.0 || When I was about 8 years old, shoveling snow on a freezing day in Colorado, I wished that I could be instantly transported to the surface of the Sun, just for a nanosecond, then instantly transported back. I figured this would be long enough to warm me up but not long enough to harm me. What would actually happen? || <br />
|-<br />
| 116 || {{what if|116|No-Rules NASCAR}} || October 15, 2014 || 1.0 || If you stripped away all the rules of car racing and had a contest which was simply to get a human being around a track 200 times as fast as possible, what strategy would win? Let's say the racer has to survive. || <br />
|-<br />
| 117 || {{what if|117|Distant Death}} || October 23, 2014 || 1.1 || What is the farthest from Earth that any Earth thing has died? || From here on standard release day was Thursday. <br />
|-<br />
| 118 || {{what if|118|Physical Salary}} || October 30, 2014 || 1.0 || What if people's incomes appeared around them as cash in real time? How much would you need to make to be in real trouble? || <br />
|-<br />
| 119 || {{what if|119|Laser Umbrella}} || November 13, 2014 || 2.0 || Stopping rain from falling on something with an umbrella or a tent is boring. What if you tried to stop rain with a laser that targeted and vaporized each incoming droplet before it could come within ten feet of the ground? || The fifth two weeks break.<br />
|-<br />
| 120 || {{what if|120|Alternate Universe What Ifs}} || November 20, 2014 || 1.0 || Dispatches from a horrifying alternate universe || <br />
|-<br />
| 121 || {{what if|121|Frozen Rivers}} || December 11, 2014 || 3.0 || What would happen if all of the rivers in the US were instantly frozen in the middle of the summer? || The only tree weeks break, the sixth break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 122 || {{what if|122|Lava Lamp}} || December 18, 2014 || 1.0 || What if I made a lava lamp out of real lava? What could I use as a clear medium? How close could I stand to watch it? || <br />
|-<br />
| 123 || {{what if|123|Fairy Demographics}} || January 1, 2015 || 2.0 || How many fairies would fly around, if each fairy is born from the first laugh of a child and fairies were immortal? || The third two weeks Christmas break, the seventh break in total<br />
|-<br />
| 124 || {{what if|124|Lunar Swimming}} || January 8, 2015 || 1.0 || What if there was a lake on the Moon? What would it be like to swim in it? Presuming that it is sheltered in a regular atmosphere, in some giant dome or something. || <br />
|-<br />
| 125 || {{what if|125|Bowling Ball}} || January 15, 2015 || 1.0 || You are in a boat directly over the Mariana Trench. If you drop a 7kg bowling ball over the side, how long would it take to hit the bottom? || <br />
|-<br />
| 126 || {{what if|126|Stairs}} || January 22, 2015 || 1.0 || If you made an elevator that would go to space (like the one you mentioned in the billion-story building) and built a staircase up (assuming regulated air pressure) about how long would it take to climb to the top? || <br />
|-<br />
| 127 || {{what if|127|Tug of War}} || January 28, 2015 || 0.9 || Would it be possible for two teams in a tug-o-war to overcome the ultimate tensile strength of an iron rod and pull it apart? How big would the teams have to be? || <br />
|-<br />
| 128 || {{what if|128|Zippo Phone}} || February 5, 2015 || 1.1 || What in my pocket actually contains more energy, my Zippo or my smartphone? What would be the best way of getting the energy from one to the other? And since I am already feeling like Bilbo in this one, is there anything else in my pocket that would have unexpected amounts of stored energy? || <br />
|-<br />
| 129 || {{what if|129|Black Hole Moon}} || February 12, 2015 || 1.0 || What would happen if the Moon were replaced with an equivalently-massed black hole? If it's possible, what would a lunar ("holar"?) eclipse look like? || <br />
|-<br />
| 130 || {{what if|130|Snow Removal}} || February 19, 2015 || 1.0 || I've long thought about putting a flamethrower on the front of a car to melt snow and ice before you drive across it. Now I've realized that a flamethrower is impractical, but what about a high-powered microwave emitter? || <br />
|-<br />
| 131 || {{what if|131|Microwaves}} || February 27, 2015 || 1.1 || I have had a particular problem for as long as I can remember. Any time I attempt to heat left over Chinese food in a microwave, it fails to heat completely through somewhere. Usually the center but not always and usually rice, but often it will be a small section of meat. It's baffling and has made me automatically adjust heating times to over 2 minutes. In most cases this tends to heat the bowl or plate more than the food. So I suppose the question is what is the optimal time to heat left over Chinese food in the microwave, how about an 800 watt microwave? || The release date in the archive is the wrong year 2014. From here on there seems to no longer be a standard release day for some time.<br />
|-<br />
| 132 || {{what if|132|Hotter than Average}} || March 7, 2015 || 1.1 || I saw a sign at a hot springs tub saying "Caution: Water is hotter than average" with water at about 39°C. Although they were presumably trying to say "hotter than the average swimming pool," this got me wondering: What is the average temperature of all water on the Earth’s surface, and how does that temperature compare to 39°C? || <br />
|-<br />
| 133 || {{what if|133|Flagpole}} || March 17, 2015 || 1.4 || So, you're falling from a height above the tallest building in your town, and you don't have a parachute. But wait! Partway down the side of that skyscraper there's a flagpole sticking out, sans flag! You angle your descent and grab the pole just long enough to swing around so that when you let go you're now heading back up toward the sky. As gravity slows you and brings you to a halt, you reach the top of the skyscraper, where you reach out and pull yourself to safety. What's the likelihood this could happen? || The first of two longer shifts in release day two weeks in a row which resulted in only two releases over three weeks, resulting in the eight break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 134 || {{what if|134|Space Burial}} || March 28, 2015 || 1.6 || I've often joked I'd like to have my remains put into orbit. Not in a "scatter my ashes" sense, but, like, "throw my naked corpse out the airlock" sense. Honestly, my main motivation is to baffle someone in the distant future, but it's an interesting scientific question: what would happen to my body in orbit over the course of years, decades or centuries? || The second of two longer shifts in release day two weeks in a row which resulted in only two releases over three weeks, resulting in the eight break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 135 || {{what if|135|Digging Downward}} || April 5, 2015 || 1.1 || What would happen if I dug straight down, at a speed of 1 foot per second? What would kill me first? || <br />
|-<br />
| 136 || {{what if|136|Spiders vs. the Sun}} || April 12, 2015 || 1.0 || Which has a greater gravitational pull on me: the Sun, or spiders? Granted, the Sun is much bigger, but it is also much further away, and as I learned in high school physics, the gravitational force is proportional to the square of the distance. || <br />
|-<br />
| 137 || {{what if|137|New Horizons}} || July 14, 2015 || 13.3 || What if New Horizons hits my car? || The second longest break up til summer 2016, the only one to have been announced. The ninth break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 138 || {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}} || July 28, 2015 || 2.0 || What if you released a submarine into Jupiter's atmosphere? Would it eventually reach a point where it would float? Could it navigate? || The sixth two weeks break, tenth break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 139 || {{what if|139|Jupiter Descending}} || August 4, 2015 || 1.0 || If you did {{what if|138|fall into Jupiter's atmosphere in a submarine}}, what would it actually look like? What would you see before you melted or burned up? || <br />
|-<br />
| 140 || {{what if|140|Proton Earth, Electron Moon}} || September 18, 2015 || 6.4 || What if the Earth were made entirely of protons, and the Moon were made entirely of electrons? || First and shortest of two long breaks in a row, the 11th break in total. <br />
|-<br />
| 141 || {{what if|141|Sunbeam}} || January 12, 2016 || 16.6 || What if all of the sun's output of visible light were bundled up into a laser-like beam that had a diameter of around 1m once it reaches Earth? || Second and longest break so far of two long breaks in a row, the 12th break in total. From here on standard release day was again Tuesday.<br />
|-<br />
| 142 || {{what if|142|Space Jetta}} || January 20, 2016 || 1.1 || What if I tried to re-enter the atmosphere in my car? (a 2000 VW Jetta TDI). Would it do more environmental damage than it is already apparently doing? || <br />
|-<br />
| 143 || {{what if|143|Europa Water Siphon}} || January 26, 2016 || 0.9 || What if you built a siphon from the oceans on Europa to Earth? Would it flow once it's set up? (We have an idea for selling bottled Europa water.) || <br />
|-<br />
| 144 || {{what if|144|Saliva Pool}} || February 2, 2016 || 1.0 || How long would it take for a single person to fill up an entire swimming pool with their own saliva? || <br />
|-<br />
| 145 || {{what if|145|Fire From Moonlight}} || February 9, 2016 || 1.0 || Can you use a magnifying glass and moonlight to light a fire? || <br />
|-<br />
| 146 || {{what if|146|Stop Jupiter}} || February 16, 2016 || 1.0 || I understand that the New Horizons craft used gravity assist from Jupiter to increase its speed on the way to Pluto. I also understand that by doing this, Jupiter slowed down very slightly. How many flyby runs would it take to stop Jupiter completely? || <br />
|-<br />
| 147 || {{what if|147|Niagara Straw}} || February 26, 2016 || 1.4 || What would happen if one tried to funnel Niagara Falls through a straw? || From here on there is no longer any standard release days.<br />
|-<br />
| 148 || {{what if|148|Eat the Sun}} || March 12, 2016 || 2.1 || What percentage of the Sun's heat (per day) does the population of Earth eat in calories per year? What changes could be made to our diets for the amount of calories to equal the energy of the Sun? || The seventh two weeks break, 13th break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 149 || {{what if|149|Pizza Bird}} || March 26, 2016 || 2.0 || My boyfriend recently took a flight on a plane with wifi, and while he was up there, wistfully asked if I could send him a pizza. I jokingly sent him a photo of a parrot holding a pizza slice in its beak. Obviously, my boyfriend had to go without pizza until he landed at JFK. But this raised the question: could a bird deliver a standard 20" New York-style cheese pizza in a box? And if so, what kind of bird would it take? || The eight two weeks break, 14th break in total. <br />
|-<br />
| 150 || {{what if|150|Tatooine Rainbow}} || May 23, 2016 || 8.3 || Since rainbows are caused by the refraction of the sunlight by tiny droplets of rainwater, what would rainbow look like on Earth if we had two suns like Tatooine? || First two months break of at least two in a row, the 15th break in total.<br />
|-<br />
| 151 || {{what if|151|Sun Bug}} || July 21, 2016 || 8.4 || How many fireflies would it take to match the brightness of the Sun? || Second two months break of at least two in a row, the 16th break in total. The release date in the archive is the wrong month June. It was released [http://web.archive.org/web/20160718014924/http://what-if.xkcd.com/ between 18-20 July], as the link here was posted on the 20th. But on the [http://web.archive.org/web/20160724210016/https://what-if.xkcd.com/archive/ archive page] is says it was released on June 21, which should probably have been July 21.<br />
|-<br />
| 152 || {{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}} || October 18, 2016 || 12.6 || Since Death Valley is below sea level could we dig a hole to the ocean and fill it up with water? || After two 8 weeks breaks this one waited almost three months. Regarding the question it could be done, but why did the guy asking the question whish to do such a horrible thing Randall ends up asking back. Most of the what if? goes with citing temperature records and other trivia actually naming a Jeopardy master. At least two comics coming out right after this was referencing this article. [[1748: Future Archaeology]] and [[1750: Life Goals]]. <br />
|-<br />
| 153 || {{what if|153|Hide the Atmosphere}} || January 30, 2017 || 14.9 || Earth’s atmosphere is really thin compared to the radius of the Earth. How big a hole do I need to dig before people suffocate? || With close to 15 weeks this was the second longest break between articles so far. The hole needs to be Very big it turns out, but under the right circumstances a five mile hole over the entire state of Texas might suffice... But beware of messing with the Texans. <br />
| 154 || {{what if|154|Coast-to-Coast Coasting}} || Unkown || Unknown || Earth’s atmosphere is really thin compared to the radius of the Earth. How big a hole do I need to dig before people suffocate? || <br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
<!-- NOTE: When posting new articles into the table copy paste the two lines here below in right above the |} in the line above this comment, and put the number on the two "x"es places and add the Title and the release date as taken from the archive for what if? Finally calculate how many weeks it has been since last release (X.Y), or leave that field empty:<br />
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|-<br />
| x || {{what if|x|Title}} || Month Day, 20XX || X.Y || Question ||<br />
<br />
Since the release are now so random, then please think about writing a comment on the newest comics talk page, announcing that a new what if? is out, many people would probably appreciate this<br />
--><br />
<br />
[[Category:Meta]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1796:_Focus_Knob&diff=1349771796: Focus Knob2017-02-08T16:34:45Z<p>E^ipi: Removed incomplete explanation tag.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1796<br />
| date = February 8, 2017<br />
| title = Focus Knob<br />
| image = focus_knob.png<br />
| titletext = Maybe if I spin it back and forth really fast I can do some kind of pulse-width modulation.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The image is of a rotary {{w|control knob}} used for adjusting parameters in instruments, such as the visual focus of a camera or display. Apparently this one is for adjusting [[Randall]]'s personal focus level, with the extremes of focus being towards small details and big picture respectively. However, humans do not usually have control knobs to adjust personal parameters; thus, the absurdity of the concept -- having direct, immediate control of mental/emotional focus -- drives the humor of this strip. Some may see this as desirable, but it could also be manipulated by others against one's will.<br />
<br />
While performing any task, it is easy to get so lost in the details that you forget the big picture. It is also equally easy to think much about the big picture and make vague plans while missing out on the details.<br />
<br />
One can get lost doing small tasks that might increase efficiency for long projects (e.g. fiddling with email settings), but these might make one lose track of the big picture.<br />
<br />
The healthy balance, Randall suggests, is focusing mostly towards the big picture, while keeping an eye on the details. Focusing too much on the big picture can ensure nothing gets done, leading to panic and existential crises. Unfortunately, if we assume the knob can only stop at the little notches marked along the outside, there is no way to set it to a healthy focus.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Randall imagines spinning the dial to and fro, causing {{w|Pulse-width modulation}} (a technique often used to encode data in waves). This techniques consists of shifting between a set of fixed values (often 2) so that the average is the expected output. For example switching back and forth between 0 and 1, spending half the time in each position will lead to a mean value of 0.5. To code 0.7, you have to spend more time in the 1 position (70% of the time). In this way, he could attempt to have an average of a healthy focus even if the knob cannot be set directly in that range. One feature of this modulation is that the expected value is not actually reached by the signal before applying the low-pass filter (averaging), so using a PWM-like method would mean alternating between being too much and too little attention to detail to have an average on the healthy balance, but never actually reach it. As cool as the idea may sound, it is probably not very healthy.<br />
<br />
Many people having a project to complete will usually cycle through the various available settings, often going directly from fiddling the email to panic and existential crisis in a matter of minutes. Maintaining a healthy balance throughout the project is difficult, because it occupies such a small place on the knob.<br />
<br />
Of course, not everyone is knob-headed, so some people can panic and have an existential crisis while simultaneously fiddling with email settings.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Personal Focus<br />
<br />
:[A gray rotary control knob with the range of options divided into 36 equal sections. The knob points at the 12th line from left extreme. The clockwise order of the labeled settings are:]<br />
:[Left extreme:]<br />
:Detail-Oriented<br />
:[First 23 sections:]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Fiddling with email settings</span><br />
:[One narrow section:]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Healthy balance</span><br />
:[Last 12 sections:]<br />
:<span style="color: gray;">Panic and existential paralysis</span><br />
:[Right extreme:]<br />
:Big Picture<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1729:_Migrating_Geese&diff=1349761729: Migrating Geese2017-02-08T16:32:33Z<p>E^ipi: /* Explanation */ citation needed</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1729<br />
| date = September 5, 2016<br />
| title = Migrating Geese<br />
| image = migrating_geese.png<br />
| titletext = "Hey guys! I have a great idea for a migration!" "Dammit, Kevin."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Is there not some kind of slang on "Head Goose" that could relate to the fourth in line to the GB throne? More on the title text: "An idea for A migration?".}}<br />
{{w|Bird migration|Migrating}} refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with birds like {{w|geese}} that travel long distances to avoid cold seasons and get back to the food in the summer time. When geese fly to their new habitat, they tend to fly in a very clear {{w|V formation}}. The V formation improves the efficiency of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from one of the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird except for the "leading" one in supporting its own weight in flight, saving them up to 20% of the energy needed.<br />
<br />
It should be noted that geese do have family structures with adult geese in "alpha" positions, but not a strict ranking order. An individual's position in formation flights is coincidental and constantly changing, so that the goose at the point of the formation can pull back and rest in the V wings while others "lead" the swarm. Popular earlier beliefs about an "alpha goose" heading a formation for the entire flight is a myth, easily disproven by watching geese formations in flight. <br />
<br />
This comic shows such a formation with 20 geese, with several geese and areas in the V formation labeled, giving different roles to the geese and assigning these areas a new meaning. See the [[#Table of labels|table below]].<br />
<br />
Apart from a "twin engine" goose in the bottom right arm of the V the only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45-degree angle. In that direction there is no aerodynamic help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration (maybe referring to the new direction). (This was the only second time the name Kevin was used in xkcd for a fictive person, see more in [[1795:_All_You_Can_Eat#Kevin|this trivia]]).<br />
<br />
===Table of labels===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Name<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|Head Goose<br />
(4th in line to the British throne)<br />
|Supposedly, this goose is in line to become the newest monarch of the United Kingdom after the deaths of the three (humans) who are ahead it (Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince George of Cambridge[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_throne]). In actuality the current fourth in line to the British throne is {{w|HRH}} {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge}}. In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of {{w|Canada goose|Canada geese}} to the US east coast. Canada used to be part of the {{w|British Empire}} and remains a member of the {{w|Commonwealth of Nations}}, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession (excepting, of course, for the fact that it's a goose). <br />
|-<br />
|Quarterback<br />
|A {{w|quarterback}} is a position in {{w|American football}}, usually placed in the second row of an American football formation, just like the associated goose. On nearly every non-kicking play, the quarterback is the player who stands behind the center and receives the ball to start the play. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.<br />
|-<br />
|Comptroller<br />
|A {{w|comptroller}} is a position in a company. A comptroller oversees and manages all financial operations. <br />
|-<br />
|Migration abort goose<br />
|This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure. Or it could be operated like an abort button aborting the entire migration for all geese.<br />
|-<br />
|Twin-Engine Model<br />
|This goose has two tails offset on each side of the center of the goose, instead of one tail in the middle like the rest. The "tails" also extend beyond the wings, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft, which has two motors: one on each wing instead of one in the nose.<br />
|-<br />
|CIA Informant<br />
|A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the {{w|Central Intelligence Agency}} (CIA). If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities.<br />
|-<br />
|Backups<br />
|These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.<br />
|-<br />
|Shock Front<br />
| A shock front is the front boundary of a {{w|shock wave}} created by either a {{w|sonic boom}} or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself. A V-shaped shockwave called a '{{w|Bow shock (aerodynamics)|bow shock}}', similar in appearance to the V-shaped goose formation, is genearted by a supersonic object. Since geese fly subsonically in normal circumstances {{Citation needed}}, they do not generate a shock wave. But of course this set of geese may be somewhat different with the involvement of CIA and stealth technology.<br />
|-<br />
|Missing Valence Geese<br />
|In Chemistry, {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon.<br />
In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes". It is thus a little weird that there are two backup geese close to these valence vacancies, as they should then have filled them up...<br />
|-<br />
|Stealth cargo being escorted <br />
|The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "{{w|Stealth technology|stealth}}". This would be a nice [[:Category:Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] to spread.<br />
|-<br />
|Kevin<br />
|Also mentioned in the title text. It is unclear what the name refers to. It may refer to:<br />
* The "go-to name" for [[Randall]] at the time of this comic's release, as he also used the name in [[1719: Superzoom]], ten comics before this one; as well as What-If #83 as a placeholder name for the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This was thus the only second time the name Kevin was used in xkcd for a fictive person, see more in [[1795:_All_You_Can_Eat#Kevin|this trivia]]. Here is also mentioned the only four real Kevins that has been mentioned by name in xkcd. (None of those are mentioned here below).<br />
* An {{w|Eddie Izzard}} skit about migrating birds (Eddie Izzard - Religions, Cats & Migrating Birds). A group of birds are following Kevin, assuming that he knows where he is going. But he is lost and they end up in the wrong place.<br />
* Kevin McCallister from the {{w|Home Alone}} movies, who gets separated from his parents a lot. (see [[1164: Home Alone]]).<br />
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp Kevin of reddit fame], the dumbest person ever.<br />
* One of the {{w|Minions (Despicable Me)|Minions}} from the "{{w|Despicable Me}}" franchise ([http://despicableme.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin]), who leaves the main Minion group in search of a new master.<br />
* The intelligent and playful bird [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin], from the Disney/Pixar movie {{w|Up (movie)|Up}}. <br />
* [https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg Kevin] from {{w|South Park}}. Especially the "Dammit Kevin" mentioned in the title text could arise from this.<br />
* [http://the321penguins.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin] from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Penguins! 3-2-1 Penguins!], who "will answer questions and save planets without even knowing he could."<br />
* {{w|We Need to Talk About Kevin}}, a book and drama film about a deranged child.<br />
* Kevin Beckman, the dimwitted receptionist from the 2016 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters:_Answer_the_Call Ghostbusters] movie.<br />
* The internet meme (especially in Europe) according to which being named Kevin connotates being the village idiot. Kevin is usually urged to stop talking, ironically congratulated, etc. It’s due to the fact that this name was given [https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-name-Kevin-have-so-many-negative-connotations-in-modern-Germany-Is-it-really-because-of-Kevin-Costner mainly in low socioeconomic class] (so Kevins will probably have poor education) and possibly because it was [https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fprenoms.doctissimo.fr%2Ftop-prenoms-annee-1991.html&edit-text=&act=url way too common around the ’90s].<br />
* Just a random name, as the only of the birds that actually has a personal name acts alone instead of following the other birds.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the panel:]<br />
:Understanding Migration of Geese<br />
<br />
:[20 geese are shown flying in a typical migratory V-formation. As they are shown in silhouette it is not possible to determine if they are seen from above or from below. They are flying toward the top of the image with the first goose close to the top in the middle of the image. There is one head goose, and then there are 7 geese in the left arms and 9 geese in the right arm. Behind the left arm there are two stragglers that are not in line with the others, but closer to the middle than those above and not as close to each other as the rest but still flying in the same direction. Finally there is one goose at the bottom right corner flying at a 45 degree angle away from the other to the right. The first goose is flapping its wing, which is also the case with six other geese, no. 4 and 6 in the left and 3, 5 and 6 in the right arm as well as the middle of the two in the rear towards the middle. The rest are soaring with straight wings and all of these look the same except no. 7 in the right arm which has two tails, which both goes ahead of the wings, making it look like a plane with two engines. The head goose and 5 of the 9 geese in the right arm as well as the one bottom right are labelled with and arrow pointing to them from the label. The front goose has the label in front to the left, the other have it in front to the right, except the second last in the arm which has the label inside the V and one flying away which has the label right above it. The two behind and right of the left arm have one label behind them with two arrows from the label pointing at both geese. There is a thick curvy line in front of geese no. 3 to 5 in the left arm. In front of that line is a thinner broken line. In front of this is a label written with the same curvature. There are two areas surrounded by dotted lines. The first one is behind the last of the left arms geese, extending in the same direction for a distance of about two geese. It has a label above and left with and arrow pointing to it. The other area is in the middle of the V forming a loose triangular structure with a label inside.]<br />
:Head goose: Head goose <small>(4<sup>th</sup> in line to the British throne)</small><br />
:Right no. 1: Quarterback<br />
:Right no. 3: Comptroller<br />
:Right no. 5: Migration abort goose<br />
:Right no. 7: Twin-engine model<br />
:Right no. 8: CIA informant<br />
:Bottom right corner: Kevin<br />
:Behind center: Backups<br />
:In front of left no. 3-5: Shock front<br />
:Empty area behind left arm: Missing valence geese<br />
:Empty area in center: Stealth cargo being escorted<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:American football]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=395:_Morning&diff=134932395: Morning2017-02-07T16:46:01Z<p>E^ipi: Added category</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 395<br />
| date = March 12, 2008<br />
| title = Morning<br />
| image = morning.png<br />
| titletext = I'd press on them to try to unstick them, but I can't reach. Can we try cycling day and night really fast?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic makes reference to the idea, as presented in the movie {{w|The Matrix}}, that reality is a computer simulation. In {{w|Liquid-crystal display|LCD screens}}, especially {{w|TFT LCD}}, a {{w|Defective pixel|dead pixel}} is a pixel that does not work properly, usually set as black or as some other color. Megan realizes that the reality is a computer simulation when she sees dead pixels in the sky, indicating that what she sees is an LCD screen.<br />
<br />
In last panel of the comic, there are two red and one green pixel that look exactly like actual dead pixels.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to usual techniques for fixing a dead pixel. One way is to apply pressure and release it, which isn't possible for Megan due to the distance of the sky. Another way is to make the area of the screen that the dead pixel is on change colors really quickly, which could happen if the day-night cycle was fast enough.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is standing to one side.]<br />
:We've all seen The Matrix<br />
:We've all joked about "What resolution is life"<br />
:But it doesn't blunt the shock<br />
:Of waking up one morning<br />
:[Megan looks up from field and sees several colored pixels in the sky.]<br />
:And seeing dead pixels in the sky.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:The Matrix]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1795:_All_You_Can_Eat&diff=1348511795: All You Can Eat2017-02-06T16:35:23Z<p>E^ipi: Transcript</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1795<br />
| date = February 6, 2017<br />
| title = All You Can Eat<br />
| image = all_you_can_eat.png<br />
| titletext = After my absent-mindedness resulted in a bad posterboard-related stomachache, I learned to do the sign-making place last.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|stub}}<br />
All-you-can-eat is when a restaurant will continuously serve more food until you have eaten all-you-can-eat.<br />
<br />
Part of the "[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]" series, this comic shows [[Randall]] wishes to append "all-you-can-eat" to random stores. As these stores do not sell food, this is humourous. A possible alternative would be "all-you-can-''buy''", but that is not funny.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
[4 shops with signs above them.]<br />
Shop number 1: [ALL YOU CAN EAT DISCOUNT TIRES]<br />
Shop number 2: [ALL YOU CAN EAT HAIR SALON]<br />
Shop number 3: [ALL YOU CAN EAT LUMBER AND FLOORING DEPOT]<br />
Shop number 4: [ALL YOU CAN EAT PET STORE]<br />
[Caption below the frame:]<br />
MY HOBBY: GOING OUT AT NIGHT AND ADDING "ALL YOU CAN EAT" TO EVERY STORE'S SIGN<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:My Hobby]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=666:_Silent_Hammer&diff=134186666: Silent Hammer2017-01-25T18:29:31Z<p>E^ipi: Removed inaccuracy.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number =666<br />
| date =November 23, 2009<br />
| title =Silent Hammer<br />
| image =silent_hammer.png<br />
| titletext ='I bet he'll keep quiet for a couple weeks and then-- wait, did you nail a piece of scrap wood to my antique table a moment ago?'<br />
}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Black Hat]] has created a set of tools that work in complete silence so that he can go to the house of the chairman of the {{w|The Skeptics Society|American Skeptics Society}} late at night, do some rearranging of walls and moving of windows, just to screw with him in typical Black Hat fashion. A {{w|skeptic}} is someone who questions knowledge, facts and beliefs, especially of supernatural phenomena like the existence of {{w|poltergeists}} which Black Hat is trying to imitate with his rearranging and scratching noises.<br />
<br />
The American Skeptics Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting skeptical and critical thinking in education and public discourse. The executive diretor and chief editor of the {{w|Skeptic_(U.S._magazine)|Skeptic Magazine}}, {{w|Michael Shermer}}, is a leading proponent of skepticism, and has written many books and articles debunking pseudoscience, fringe science, quack medicine, alien abductions, conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena. The Skeptic Society website [http://www.skeptic.com] and Skeptic magazine feature a lot of material debunking anecdotal accounts of these phenomena, explaining how events like "hauntings" could have occurred without supernatural intervention.<br />
<br />
One of the premises of modern skepticism is that the supernatural is not rejected out of hand; if someone came up with a proper scientific hypothesis that predicted something supernatural and that hypothesis was proven beyond reasonable doubt. A skeptic would accept that the supernatural thing in question was probably correct.<br />
<br />
In the title text Cueball realizes that Black Hat has (probably intentionally) ruined his antique table by demonstrating his silent hammer.<br />
<br />
Black Hat's tools are seen in two boxes labelled "drills" and "non-drills", likely a reference to the phrase "this is not a drill", used to differentiate an emergent situation from a practice of procedure for such.<br />
<br />
The particularly evil nature of this comic (even for Black Hat) might be because this is comic number 666, which is the "number of the beast".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat is hammering something on a table.]<br />
:Cueball: What—<br />
:Black Hat: Silent hammer. I've made a set of silent tools.<br />
:Cueball: Why?<br />
:Hammer: <small>''woosh woosh woosh''</small><br />
<br />
:Black Hat: Stealth carpentry. Breaking into a house at night and moving windows, adjusting walls, etc.<br />
:[He takes his silent hammer over to a tool bench with other things on it. Two boxes underneath are labeled "Drills" and "Non-Drills."]<br />
<br />
:Black Hat, narrating: After a week or so of questioning his own sanity, the owner will stay up to watch the house at night. I'll make scratching noises in the walls, pipe in knockout gas, move him up to his bed, and never bother him again.<br />
:[The events he's describing are shown in two mini-panels below.]<br />
<br />
:Cueball, off-panel: Nice prank, I guess, but what's the point?<br />
:Black Hat: Check out the owner's card, on the table.<br />
:Cueball, off-panel: Chair of the American Skeptics Society? Oh, god.<br />
:Black Hat: Yeah, this doesn't end well for him.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
The comic number is 666, which is the "mark of the beast" according to the book of Revelation in the Christian Bible.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1693:_Oxidation&diff=1341301693: Oxidation2017-01-24T17:48:47Z<p>E^ipi: Fixed link from previous edit</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1693<br />
| date = June 13, 2016<br />
| title = Oxidation<br />
| image = oxidation.png<br />
| titletext = Calm down--there were lots of arthropods living on your skin already. These ones are just bigger.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic [[Ponytail]] has set [[Megan]]'s car on fire, possibly by crashing it.<br />
<br />
{{w|Oxidation}} refers to a whole class of chemical reactions. Any chemical reaction that involves the loss of electrons is called "oxidation" (since a lot of these involve oxygen). One oxidation reaction is {{w|rusting}}, the reaction of iron atoms in the steel of the car with oxygen and moisture to produce iron oxide hydrate. Rusting is extremely difficult to prevent, and all cars are rusting slowly. {{w|Oxidation}} was also mentioned in the title text of [[1426: Reduce Your Payments]], where the main joke was about the opposite reaction i.e. reduction.<br />
<br />
Another oxidation reaction is {{w|combustion}}, an exothermic reaction, such as the violently rapid reaction of flammable parts of the car with oxygen to produce a whole load of nasty gases and particulates, as well as a lot of heat. {{w|Vehicle fire|Vehicle fires}} can burn very quickly and destroy a vehicle within minutes.<br />
<br />
From the most detached viewpoint, these are both oxidation reactions (although they occur in different places: rusting normally happens to the car chassis while fires are usually isolated to the engine) and Ponytail argues that as all cars oxidize, the fire that she has caused has only accelerated the inevitable destruction of the vehicle.<br />
<br />
This idea was already explored in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|97|Burning Pollen}}'', where the second image shows a burning car and the text above mentions the difference between rusting and burning cars: Lots of materials oxidize when exposed to air. Bananas go bad, copper turns green, iron rusts. Fire is another kind of oxidation reaction. In other words, our cars are always oxidizing; we just try to keep it from happening suddenly. The title text of the image even mentions the fact that it is different parts that burns than those that rust: ''Although the parts that oxidize during a car fire and the parts that rust aren’t usually the same.''<br />
<br />
The comic by extension mocks arguments that ignore or trivialize quantitative differences. Such arguments are commonly employed to attack climate change: the Earth has been warming since the glacial period ten thousand years ago, it's just happening faster since the introduction of large quantities of greenhouse gases.<br />
<br />
In the title text the small {{w|arthropods}} (invertebrates that have jointed bodies and exoskeletons) are referencing microscopic {{w|mites}} – tiny creatures that can live on the human body without normally causing any harm (you probably have {{w|eyelash mite}}s, for instance).<br />
<br />
Presumably as a form of revenge, Megan has caused Ponytail to become covered in much larger arthropods - most probably {{w|spiders}}, judging by [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Spiders|fixation with them]], but it could be any combination of these often feared animal: spiders, {{w|scorpions}}, {{w|insects}}, {{w|crabs}}, {{w|centipedes}}, {{w|millipedes}} etc. As contrasted with the harmless mites mentioned above, other parasitic arthropods (such as the {{w|Crab louse}}, an insect known in slang as "crabs") are notorious as a {{w|sexually transmitted infection}}, and Megan could have been referring to these as those Ponytail already had as a further means of degrading her after the car fire incidence.<br />
<br />
Megan's car also caught fire in [[1014: Car Problems]], but there she did not at first know for sure who did it. Not a direct relation, but Megan seems to be unlucky with her cars.<br />
<br />
This comic was referenced in the title text of [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail is holding a finger up in front of Megan while gray smoke and heat waves pours in to the frame from off-panel left.]<br />
:Ponytail: In my defense, your car has been oxidizing since you got it.<br />
:Ponytail: It's just happening a lot faster now.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Arthropods --><br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1693:_Oxidation&diff=1341291693: Oxidation2017-01-24T17:47:56Z<p>E^ipi: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1693<br />
| date = June 13, 2016<br />
| title = Oxidation<br />
| image = oxidation.png<br />
| titletext = Calm down--there were lots of arthropods living on your skin already. These ones are just bigger.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic [[Ponytail]] has set [[Megan]]'s car on fire, possibly by crashing it.<br />
<br />
{{w|Oxidation}} refers to a whole class of chemical reactions. Any chemical reaction that involves the loss of electrons is called "oxidation" (since a lot of these involve oxygen). One oxidation reaction is {{w|rusting}}, the reaction of iron atoms in the steel of the car with oxygen and moisture to produce iron oxide hydrate. Rusting is extremely difficult to prevent, and all cars are rusting slowly. {{w|Oxidation}} was also mentioned in the title text of [[1426: Reduce Your Payments]], where the main joke was about the opposite reaction i.e. reduction.<br />
<br />
Another oxidation reaction is {{w|combustion}}, an exothermic reaction, such as the violently rapid reaction of flammable parts of the car with oxygen to produce a whole load of nasty gases and particulates, as well as a lot of heat. {{w|Vehicle fire|Vehicle fires}} can burn very quickly and destroy a vehicle within minutes.<br />
<br />
From the most detached viewpoint, these are both oxidation reactions (although they occur in different places: rusting normally happens to the car chassis while fires are usually isolated to the engine) and Ponytail argues that as all cars oxidize, the fire that she has caused has only accelerated the inevitable destruction of the vehicle.<br />
<br />
This idea was already explored in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|97|Burning Pollen}}'', where the second image shows a burning car and the text above mentions the difference between rusting and burning cars: Lots of materials oxidize when exposed to air. Bananas go bad, copper turns green, iron rusts. Fire is another kind of oxidation reaction. In other words, our cars are always oxidizing; we just try to keep it from happening suddenly. The title text of the image even mentions the fact that it is different parts that burns than those that rust: ''Although the parts that oxidize during a car fire and the parts that rust aren’t usually the same.''<br />
<br />
The comic by extension mocks arguments that ignore or trivialize quantitative differences. Such arguments are commonly employed to attack climate change: the Earth has been warming since the glacial period ten thousand years ago, it's just happening faster since the introduction of large quantities of greenhouse gases.<br />
<br />
In the title text the small {{w|arthropods}} (invertebrates that have jointed bodies and exoskeletons) are referencing microscopic {{w|mites}} – tiny creatures that can live on the human body without normally causing any harm (you probably have {{w|eyelash mite}}s, for instance).<br />
<br />
Presumably as a form of revenge, Megan has caused Ponytail to become covered in much larger arthropods - most probably {{w|spiders}}, judging by [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Spiders|fixation with them]], but it could be any combination of these often feared animal: spiders, {{w|scorpions}}, {{w|insects}}, {{w|crabs}}, {{w|centipedes}}, {{w|millipedes}} etc. As contrasted with the harmless mites mentioned above, other parasitic arthropods (such as the {{w|Crab louse}}, an insect known in slang as "crabs") are notorious as a {{w|sexually transmitted infection}}, and Megan could have been referring to these as those Ponytail already had as a further means of degrading her after the car fire incidence.<br />
<br />
Megan's car also caught fire in [[1014: Car Problems]], but there she did not at first know for sure who did it. Not a direct relation, but Megan seems to be unlucky with her cars.<br />
<br />
This comic was referenced in the title text of [[1732:Earth Temperature Timeline]]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail is holding a finger up in front of Megan while gray smoke and heat waves pours in to the frame from off-panel left.]<br />
:Ponytail: In my defense, your car has been oxidizing since you got it.<br />
:Ponytail: It's just happening a lot faster now.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Arthropods --><br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1789:_Phone_Numbers&diff=1341271789: Phone Numbers2017-01-24T16:50:01Z<p>E^ipi: Grammar/spelling</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1789<br />
| date = January 23, 2017<br />
| title = Phone Numbers<br />
| image = phone_numbers.png<br />
| titletext = Texting should work. Unless the message is too long, in which case it gets converted to voicemails, and I think I'm locked out of my voicemail.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Major revisions just made on Tuesday 24th. Have a look and correct typos etc.}}<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]], who again represents [[Randall]] as given from the caption below the comic, has several phone numbers stored for [[White Hat]] under his contact entry on his phone and asks him which number he should generally use.<br />
<br />
Often, people who have known each other for a long time may have old information recorded for each other, which may no longer be accurate. For instance if they have know each other from when {{w|Mobile phone|cell phones}} where still rather new they would have had a {{w|landline telephone|home phone}} number also. More and more people have discontinued their land lines and now only keep the cell phone number. <br />
<br />
But it is not so easy with the five numbers Cueball has for White Hat here listed as #1 to #5 as they are numbered in the comic (and not the order he mentions them):<br />
#'''Cell phone''': The first number White Hat mentions is actually White Hat's cell phone; so usually this would be the number you should use as first priority, but not so with White Hat.<br />
#'''Google Voice''': White Hat then goes on to say he should use his {{w|Google Voice}}. It is not stated that this is #2, but the other four are numbered. The reason Cueball should use this is that it will forward to White Hat's laptop, although only if his laptop is connected to WiFi.<br />
#'''Always works''': The third number, the fourth he mentions always works, but for some reason it cannot do sms text messages. This could of course be because this was a discontinued landline, but see #4.<br />
#'''This can be deleted?''': This is the last number White Hat mentions. This number could also have been White Hat's discontinued landline (see #3), or a previous cell number. White Hat states that it can be deleted. But then on second thought he adds an "I think?" So even this number cannot be deleted from Cueball's phone. The title text most likely refers to this number, as it is the last he has mentioned in the main comic.<br />
#'''Work number''': The fifth number, mentioned third, is White Hat's work number (maybe he has an office, or it's just an official number for his business). But this is indifferent as it just forwards all calls directly to #1 the cell phone.<br />
<br />
White Hat does say that Cueball should use #2 the Google Voice. This is a telephony service that provides call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging for Google customers. [https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updates-our-google-voice-apps/ Google is updating Google Voice] and it may be the first time in 5 years{{Citation needed}}, so that is probably the reason for the comic as the update came out rather late on the day when Google made the announcement of the update.<br />
<br />
However he then makes it clear that this will only work when he is online with his laptop on a WiFi connection. This could be his way of saying that he only wishes to talk to Cueball when he is in such a position. <br />
<br />
However he also explains the other numbers more or less making it clear how he could be reached. And all in all it seems like his cell phone is still the best way to reach him.<br />
<br />
Today on smartphones it could be possible in your contact list to save such tedious details about each number (such as "should always work but doesn't accept texts.") But who wishes to do so? Also not all cell phones do have this option, and maybe at best you can only label the numbers as "work", "home" or "cell" but not to the detail that White Hat provides.<br />
<br />
In the caption below Randall explains that this kind of trouble with getting the correct number for people he wish to contact is one (another) of more (several?) reasons he never calls people. Today there are so many other methods of getting into contact, also even if texting is out of the questions as well. Skype, messenger, other social networking platforms like Facebook and of course the old way of sending a letter or talking in person...<br />
<br />
White Hat's answer reveals a complicated history of communication practices. This cobbled-together personal technology is a common theme for Randall, see [[1254: Preferred Chat System]] for another example, where Voicemail, text and Google Voice is also mentioned (and mixed in with written letter if not real mail).<br />
<br />
The title text must refer to one of the five numbers saying that texting works for one of the numbers. This should then not be #3. It could be the number he says Cueball should use #2, but it seems more likely that it is an amendment to the last I think for #4. Maybe he realizes that this is the number he used to receive text on, when his #3 number was all he had and since that could not receive text he got the number which is now #4.<br />
<br />
In either case the number he talks about can in fact receive text - but if #4 it can probably not receive phone calls. And then it gets weird because if the text gets too long then the message goes to {{w|voicemail}}. This is of course nonsense as a text message cannot just turn in to a spoken message. (Though of course there are programs that reads up text, but as this takes up more space than text on a server, it would make no sense). <br />
<br />
To cap it up, just in case it did turn into a voicemail, it would not make any difference because White Hat has been locked out of his voicemail.<br />
<br />
It is not uncommon that young people never use voicemail and expect people to text them rather than leave a message. This could be a problem for them if "old" people call to let them know of a job they have been offered etc. So it is likely that Randall also jokes about this by letting White Hat be indifferent to having been locked out of his voicemail.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[White Hat is looking at a smartphone held out by Cueball]<br />
:Cueball: I have five phone numbers for you. Which one should I use?<br />
:White Hat: That first one is my cell- you should use the Google Voice one, since it will forward to my laptop if I'm on WiFi. #5 is my work number, which just forwards to #1. #3 should always work but can't do texts.<br />
:White Hat: You can delete #4. I think.<br />
<br />
:[Caption under the panel:] Another reason I never call people.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1192:_Humming&diff=1340291192: Humming2017-01-22T17:33:31Z<p>E^ipi: Does that category not exist?</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1192<br />
| date = March 29, 2013<br />
| title = Humming<br />
| image = humming.png<br />
| titletext = I'm so bad at carrying a tune, those 'find a song by humming its melody' websites throw an HTTP 406 error as soon as I start to hum.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Services like {{w|MusicBrainz}} and {{w|SoundHound}} can detect a recorded song's {{w|acoustic fingerprint}} and match it with an existing song. This lets them identify the title and artist of an unnamed recorded musical extract. In this comic, [[Megan]] hacks the acoustic fingerprint database to add her own entry with a message to [[Cueball]], in which she asks him to buy [[1022|cat food]].<br />
<br />
HTTP error code 406 means Not Acceptable. When a client requests data from a server, the client lists the data formats that it can accept. If a server is unable to provide data in any format that the client accepts, the server returns error 406 Not Acceptable. For example, this can occur if a client requests XML but the server supports only JSON. In the comic, the standard meaning of the error message is ignored and the text "Not Acceptable" is taken literally: The server is offended by [[Randall]]'s humming.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is humming a tune.]<br />
:Cueball: Hey.<br />
:Cueball: What's that?<br />
<br />
:[Megan is still humming the same tune.]<br />
:Cueball: What are you humming?<br />
:Cueball: Should I know the tune?<br />
:Cueball: ...Hmm...<br />
<br />
:[Cueball gets out his phone and opens up a music recognition program.]<br />
:Phone: Identify song<br />
:Phone: Recorded<br />
:Phone: > Live [beta]<br />
<br />
:Phone: Identifying...<br />
<br />
:[A zoom in on the phone screen. An album cover with a picture of Megan on it.]<br />
:Positive match:<br />
:''Check it out!''<br />
:By I hacked the audio fingerprint database<br />
:Feat. MEEEEEE<br />
:Track: We're out of cat food (pick some up?)<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1192:_Humming&diff=1340281192: Humming2017-01-22T17:32:17Z<p>E^ipi: Added animal category (cat)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1192<br />
| date = March 29, 2013<br />
| title = Humming<br />
| image = humming.png<br />
| titletext = I'm so bad at carrying a tune, those 'find a song by humming its melody' websites throw an HTTP 406 error as soon as I start to hum.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Services like {{w|MusicBrainz}} and {{w|SoundHound}} can detect a recorded song's {{w|acoustic fingerprint}} and match it with an existing song. This lets them identify the title and artist of an unnamed recorded musical extract. In this comic, [[Megan]] hacks the acoustic fingerprint database to add her own entry with a message to [[Cueball]], in which she asks him to buy [[1022|cat food]].<br />
<br />
HTTP error code 406 means Not Acceptable. When a client requests data from a server, the client lists the data formats that it can accept. If a server is unable to provide data in any format that the client accepts, the server returns error 406 Not Acceptable. For example, this can occur if a client requests XML but the server supports only JSON. In the comic, the standard meaning of the error message is ignored and the text "Not Acceptable" is taken literally: The server is offended by [[Randall]]'s humming.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is humming a tune.]<br />
:Cueball: Hey.<br />
:Cueball: What's that?<br />
<br />
:[Megan is still humming the same tune.]<br />
:Cueball: What are you humming?<br />
:Cueball: Should I know the tune?<br />
:Cueball: ...Hmm...<br />
<br />
:[Cueball gets out his phone and opens up a music recognition program.]<br />
:Phone: Identify song<br />
:Phone: Recorded<br />
:Phone: > Live [beta]<br />
<br />
:Phone: Identifying...<br />
<br />
:[A zoom in on the phone screen. An album cover with a picture of Megan on it.]<br />
:Positive match:<br />
:''Check it out!''<br />
:By I hacked the audio fingerprint database<br />
:Feat. MEEEEEE<br />
:Track: We're out of cat food (pick some up?)<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]<br />
[[Catgeory:Animals]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=548:_Kindle&diff=134025548: Kindle2017-01-22T16:01:26Z<p>E^ipi: Added category</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 548<br />
| date = February 25, 2009<br />
| title = Kindle<br />
| image = kindle.png<br />
| titletext = I'm happy with my Kindle 2 so far, but if they cut off the free Wikipedia browsing, I plan to show up drunk on Jeff Bezos's lawn and refuse to leave.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The {{w|Amazon Kindle}} is a device that allows people to read books via ebook format. The comic was published three weeks after {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}} released the {{w|Amazon_Kindle#Kindle_2|Kindle 2}}, which included the ability to read {{w|Wikipedia}} articles via the 3G connection that was included with the device.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] remarks that "ebooks are for chumps", but goes on to explain the real reason for purchasing a Kindle. Since it has free cellular web access, he could navigate through any city (presumably with 3G access), assisted by {{w|Wikipedia}} and {{w|Wikitravel}}.<br />
<br />
[[Megan]] believes she has heard such a description of a device before and snatches the Kindle away from Cueball. When she scratches off the Amazon Kindle logo at the top of the device she reveals that the device is actually ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (fictional)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}''. This fictional electronic encyclopedia is described in the {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|real-life franchise}} of the same name. Those works recount the tale of a travel editor who works for and owns a copy of the ''Guide'', which provides travel tips throughout the galaxy, including {{w|Mostly Harmless|an entry for Earth}}. The comic suggests that Amazon simply re-brands copies of the ''Guide'' as Kindles.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the great utility of having the ability to access Wikipedia for free on an easy-to-carry device. The speaker states that should this utility ever become disabled, he would stage a drunk protest on the lawn of {{w|Jeff Bezos}}, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is looking at a tablet.]<br />
:Megan: A kindle? Ebooks, huh?<br />
:Cueball: Ebooks are for chumps.<br />
:Megan: Why get a kindle, then?<br />
:Cueball: One reason:<br />
<br />
:[Text is above the frame in which Cueball wanders a city with the tablet and with small bubbles forming above his head to indicate him being intoxicated.]<br />
:Cueball (narrating): <u>Free</u> cellular web access. Even if I spend months broke and drunk in a strange city, I'll still be able to use Wikipedia and Wikitravel to learn about anything I need.<br />
<br />
:[Megan takes the tablet from Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: Why does that sound familiar?<br />
:Megan: Gimme that.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on the top of the tablet where the name is written:]<br />
:Amazon Kindle<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out to Megan who scratches at the top of the tablet.] <br />
:Scrape, scrape, scrape<br />
<br />
:[Zoom back to the damaged top of the tablet where a layer has been scraped off. This partly reveals a new name, where the first letter and the last two letters are only partly visible:] <br />
:Hitchhiker's Guide<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Catgeory:Wikipedia]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=657:_Movie_Narrative_Charts&diff=133865657: Movie Narrative Charts2017-01-18T16:56:55Z<p>E^ipi: Removed title text from transcript</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 657<br />
| date = November 2, 2009<br />
| title = Movie Narrative Charts<br />
| image = movie_narrative_charts.png<br />
| titletext = In the LotR map, up and down correspond LOOSELY to northwest and southeast respectively.<br />
}}<br />
*A [http://xkcd.com/657/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete| Needs more?}}<br />
<br />
These charts show movie character interactions. The horizontal axis is time. The vertical grouping of the lines indicates which characters are together at a given time.<br />
<br />
=== {{w|Lord_of_the_Rings_film_trilogy|Lord of the Rings Trilogy}} ===<br />
A mass of colored lines weaves back and forth across the chart, representing various characters. Sauron is represented by a red bar at the bottom contained within a huge black bar with branches, that in turn represents his army of nazgul, orcs, etc. Major locations (Moria) and plot points (the breaking of the fellowship) are marked. Gandalf, especially at the beginning, jumps all over the map in a short time. Eagles appear and then disappear a couple of times. Treebeard's line is flat except for the march to Isengard. At the end, the ship to the West drifts off into a corner.<br />
<br />
=== {{w|Star_Wars|Star Wars (original Trilogy)}} ===<br />
Luke, mostly accompanied by R2-D2, joins and parts from other sets of characters. There's a dotted alternative path on Jabba's line for the special edition. Yoda appears about halfway through (where Luke's Jedi training is marked). All the surviving lines group up at Endor except for Vader, the Emperor, Luke, and Lando; after the climactic duel, the latter two join the rest.<br />
<br />
=== {{w|Jurassic_Park_(film)|Jurassic Park}} ===<br />
The human characters are in black; dinosaurs are in red. Dilophosaurus appears briefly to eat Nedry and then fades out again. The three raptors are together at the beginning, but split up about halfway through. One has a dotted portion of line between "locked up" and "escapes." In the meantime, they cut off the lines of Arnold and Muldoon. The raptor lines all end when t-rex's swoops down to meet them at the end, and all the surviving humans leave together.<br />
<br />
=== {{w|12 Angry Men (1957 film)|12 Angry Men}} === <br />
This is a very famous trial film that tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. Only one of these angry men believe the defendant to be innocent and he fights for this against the other 11.<br />
<br />
The lines are labeled Juror 1 through Juror 12. They are all perfectly horizontal and parallel.<br />
<br />
The joke in the 12 Angry Men graphic is that in the movie all 12 jurors (the angry men) are in the same room the entire movie. They never move and they all always interact with each other, hence their lines stay straight and close to each other. <br />
<br />
This is actually not entirely true as the movie begins in the court room and a couple of times during the proceedings a few jurors goes into the washroom and have a brief discussion there, and finally in the very last scene two jurors have a brief exchange in front of the courthouse. But basically there is no need for such a narrative chart, and that is the joke.<br />
<br />
=== {{w|Primer_(film)|Primer}} ===<br />
The last box is a movie called Primer from 2004, which became a cult classic. It is about a group of engineers who discover a way to time travel, but only in one direction (backwards) and only at the speed of regular time (i.e. you have to stay in the time machine for one hour to move an hour back in time). Because of this, the story ends up having multiple versions of the same person existing at the same time; the plot and time-travel mechanics are notoriously hard to follow, so that it is almost impossible to figure out where each character is at one time, as the comic illustrates.<br />
Three lines start on the left labeled Abe, Aaron, and Granger. They enter a mass of scribbling. Somewhere vaguely towards the end, three lines emerge and fade out, all labeled with question marks.<br />
The chart for ''Primer'' is referenced in the title text of the fourth image in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|101|Plastic Dinosaurs}}''.<br />
<br />
These charts are a reference to the map by infographic pioneer {{w|Charles Joseph Minard}} that details the movements and losses of Napoleon's troops on his failed conquest of Russia.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Either all or only the visible text should be included here. In the latter case a second page with the full transcript should be made}} <br />
These charts show movie character interactions.<br />
The horizontal axis is time. The vertical grouping of the<br />
lines indicate which characters are together at a given time.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]<br />
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]<br />
[[Category:Velociraptors]]<br />
[[Category:Time travel]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1787:_Voice_Commands&diff=1338631787: Voice Commands2017-01-18T16:54:58Z<p>E^ipi: Hope I didn't put this in the wrong place</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1787<br />
| date = January 18, 2017<br />
| title = Voice Commands<br />
| image = voice_commands.png<br />
| titletext = Dvorak words may sound hard to pronounce, but studies show they actually put less stress on the vocal chords.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br />
The {{w|Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard|Dvorak keyboard layout}} was designed to replace the {{w|QWERTY}} keyboard layout (the de facto standard keyboard layout, so named for the starting letters in the top row). The Dvorak layout was designed in the belief that it would significantly increase typing speeds over the QWERTY layout. Using Dvorak for speech to text makes no sense whatsoever.<br />
<br />
The sentence he tells his phone translates to "Okay Google send a text" - he says it as if it was typed on a QWERTY keyboard set to Dvorak layout.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to the fact that many users of DVORAK keyboards claim they may be hard to learn, but they are more productive after you get used to them. This makes little sense in the scenario set up by the comic, because no typing is involved in giving voice commands to Google.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[Ponytail] Can you text it to me?<br />
<br />
[Cueball] Sure! SVAT USSUPD ;DLH A KDBK<br />
<br />
[Ponytail] ...What?<br />
<br />
[Phone beeps]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1787:_Voice_Commands&diff=1338551787: Voice Commands2017-01-18T16:44:33Z<p>E^ipi: Removed incomplete transcript</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1787<br />
| date = January 18, 2017<br />
| title = Voice Commands<br />
| image = voice_commands.png<br />
| titletext = Dvorak words may sound hard to pronounce, but studies show they actually put less stress on the vocal chords.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br />
The sentence he tells his phone translates to "OK Google; send a text" - he says it as if it was typed on a QWERTY keyboard set to Dvorak layout.<br />
This is a reference to the fact that many users of DVORAK keyboards claim they may be hard to learn, but they are more productive after you get used to them. This makes little sense in the scenario set up by the comic, because no typing is involved in giving voice commands to Google.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[Ponytail] Can you text it to me?<br />
<br />
[Cueball] Sure! SVAT USSPUPD; DLH A KDBK<br />
<br />
[Ponytail] ...What?<br />
<br />
[Phone beeps]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1787:_Voice_Commands&diff=1338541787: Voice Commands2017-01-18T16:43:19Z<p>E^ipi: Transcript</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1787<br />
| date = January 18, 2017<br />
| title = Voice Commands<br />
| image = voice_commands.png<br />
| titletext = Dvorak words may sound hard to pronounce, but studies show they actually put less stress on the vocal chords.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br />
The sentence he tells his phone translates to "OK Google; send a text" - he says it as if it was typed on a QWERTY keyboard set to Dvorak layout.<br />
This is a reference to the fact that many users of DVORAK keyboards claim they may be hard to learn, but they are more productive after you get used to them. This makes little sense in the scenario set up by the comic, because no typing is involved in giving voice commands to Google.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
[Ponytail] Can you text it to me?<br />
<br />
[Cueball] Sure! SVAT USSPUPD; DLH A KDBK<br />
<br />
[Ponytail] ...What?<br />
<br />
[Phone beeps]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=596:_Latitude&diff=133730596: Latitude2017-01-15T16:30:48Z<p>E^ipi: /* Trivia */ grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 596<br />
| date = June 12, 2009<br />
| title = Latitude<br />
| image = latitude.png<br />
| titletext = The G1, especially with the new Android upgrade, is way better than I originally thought.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
[[Black Hat]] shows his friend [[Cueball]] that he has made a mobile phone application to log and find addresses and business names for the locations of his "friends" using data from {{w|Google Latitude}} which was a location-aware feature of Google Maps that allowed a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location. <br />
<br />
The reason it is worth doing so for him, is that most of those that use Google Latitude, haven't learned the habit to turn it off when engaging in "discreet" activities. And then Black Hat can access their whereabout which he then uses in his app.<br />
<br />
The second panel shows the screen of Black Hat's smartphone with the logs for his two friend in table form showing activity for [[Megan]] and Robert, the latter log is partially cut off. (Regarding the use of these names see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]).<br />
<br />
Robert's log is fairly innocuous: home at 12:30 PM, school at 2:00 PM and in a {{w|Subway (restaurant)|Subway restaurant}} at 3:30 PM. This log shows that Robert did nothing interesting for Black Hat. There are also several holes in the table compared to the other column. This could either indicate that he stayed this long time those three places, but it could also indicate that Robert has already learned to switch of Latitude when he is not actively using it. This would fit with Black Hat's comment about a narrow window in which people haven't learned this. His friend Robert (which could be the Cueball shown here, see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]), may already have thought of this himself, or maybe Black Hat has mentioned it to him before getting the idea for the app thus warning him about the problem (without meaning to). <br />
<br />
The reason Black Hat states that there only is a ''narrow window of time that people forget to turn Google Latitude off'', is because people like him will make other people, who forgets this, miserable. And then everyone will soon learn to turn the feature off making Black Hat's app useless.<br />
<br />
Megan's log appears to prove Black Hat's point: She was home at 11:00 AM, at a {{w|sex toy}} store at 12:30 PM, home again at 1:30 PM, at another sex toy store at 2:00 PM, home again at 2:30 PM, then at {{w|Fry's Electronics}} at 3:00 PM, and directly at a {{w|power tool}} store at 3:30 PM, finally home again at 4:00 PM only to be at the hospital burn ward at 4:10 PM. The last entry is the only one where the interval is not half an hour indicating how fast Megan had to get to the hospital after getting home with her new power tools and electronics (note that Fry is a name, as in Charles Fry, so this was not why she was fried...)<br />
<br />
This suggests that Megan first tried the sex toy(s) from the first store, found them insufficiently satisfying, purchased additional sex toys from another store, was still unsatisfied, and then purchased some electronic devices and power tools (either to improve the performance of her sex toys or to apply directly for additional stimulation). The results were apparently more painful than pleasurable, necessitating a quick visit to the hospital burn ward. Overall, Megan has had an at first unsatisfying day and then finally a rather bad day, considering where the burn is most likely to be... She would almost certainly not be pleased to learn that Black Hat has been tracking her whereabouts and sharing this with their mutual friend Cueball.<br />
<br />
The title text shows that [[Randall]] liked the T-Mobile G1, also known as the {{w|HTC Dream}}, especially with the new Android upgrade, more than he previously thought because it allows for more capabilities and the interface is clean and easy-to-use when compared to other "smartphones" of that time period (because the G1 was the first phone to introduce {{w|Android}}) and it allows for special Google networking, allowing for apps like Maps to run better (making it easier to run apps like Latitude). From what able to be gathered in the comic, it is [[Black Hat]] who says this, because he is the one who uses the app and shows it off to [[Randall]]. He would be the most likely one to benefit from this kind of phone running this kind of OS/app.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat is holding a phone up to Cueball.]<br />
:Black Hat: We're in a narrow window in which people are using Google Latitude, but haven't learned the habit of turning it off when they're doing something discreetly.<br />
:Black Hat: I wrote an app to log friends' locations and work out addresses and business names.<br />
<br />
:[A timetable is visible. The first column gives the time and splits the day in the half hour intervals starting at 11:00 AM, except for the last entry at 4:10 PM, where the time only jumps 10 minutes. The next two columns represents two persons activities during this time period. In the second column the last letter shown in the comic is partly cut off more or less. This last partly shown letter is written in the transcript, but no guess is made here. See the explanation. Above the table, over the two names, there is a caption:]<br />
:::::<big>Locations</big><br />
:{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
|Time ||Megan ||Rober<br />
|-<br />
|11:00 AM || Home ||<br />
|-<br />
|12:30 PM || Eastview Adult<br>Toy Store || Home<br />
|-<br />
|1:30 PM || Home || <br />
|-<br />
|2:00 PM || Laketown Sex<br>Toy Shop || Schoo<br />
|-<br />
|2:30 PM ||Home ||<br />
|-<br />
|3:00 PM || Fry's Electronics ||<br />
|-<br />
|3:30 PM || Ed's Power<br>Tool Emporium || Subwa<br />
|-<br />
|4:00 PM || Home || <br />
|-<br />
|4:10 PM || Hospital<br>Burn Ward || <br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This is one of the handful of times that the name ''Megan'' has been used in xkcd, in this case without actually showing Megan, so there is actually no indication in this comic how she looks. But that has been shown in several others.<br />
**Despite her not being shown, the comic should be listed as featuring Megan, as her name is used.<br />
*Given that Black Hat has sometimes interacted with the Cueball called [[Rob]], it seems likely that the Cueball in this comic is actually Rob (for Robert), and it turns out that he has either forgotten to turn of his Google Latitude, or only has it turned on when he actually uses it. He has in either case only used it in inconspicuous places, and would not be alarmed at seeing the table of his own activities.<br />
**Maybe this is why Black Hat shows it to him, so he can share Megan's event log which is much more interesting. <br />
**That Rob has been at a school could mean he was a teacher or for some other reason needed to go there. It is such a short time span in the afternoon that it does not seem like something a school kid would do. <br />
***Some have, using the school as argument, suggested that this Robert is actually [[Little Bobby Tables]]. <br />
***But Black Hat has never interacted with the [[Mrs. Roberts|Roberts family]] so this seems unlikely, and he has never been called Robert, but he has been drawn like a kid looking like Cueball. <br />
**Given that it is unclear if it is either Rob or Bobby neither should be credited as part of this comic.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Sharks&diff=133392Category:Sharks2017-01-06T15:48:50Z<p>E^ipi: Surely 349 was the first shark appearance?</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Infobox character 2<br />
| image = shark.png<br />
| caption = A close-up of a shark from [[731: Desert Island]]<br />
| first_appearance = [[349: Success]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
Sharks feature prominent in several comics. <br />
<br />
In 2014 the decline in shark population has been mentioned more than once. Although frequently mentioned, sharks are not frequently seen in the comics.<br />
<br />
{{navbox-characters}}<br />
[[Category:Characters]]<br />
[[Category:Animals|Sharks]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1779:_2017&diff=1331191779: 20172016-12-31T14:59:09Z<p>E^ipi: There were loads of celebrity deaths in Britain as well.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1779<br />
| date = December 30, 2016<br />
| title = 2017<br />
| image = 2017.png<br />
| titletext = Things are looking good for the eclipse--Nate Silver says Earth will almost definitely still have a moon in August.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|First draft of an explanation,}}<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] shares some of his thoughts about 2016, a year that many people eagerly await the end of because of its increased turmoil (terrorist attacks, controversial political events in numerous countries, and, in the United States and Britain, the deaths of an unusually large number of well-known and beloved celebrities). It is also known that Randall is a {{w|Hillary Clinton}} supporter (as shown in the [[1756: I'm With Her]] comic), so an additional reading of that tile could be that we are headed into 2017 "without" a Hillary Clinton presidency.<br />
<br />
Instead of simply condemning 2016 as a terrible year and expecting 2017 to be significantly better, [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] observe that much of what made 2016 bad is the effect that it will have upon future years rather than the actual events themselves (for instance, a divisive {{w|United States presidential election, 2016|U.S. presidential election}} has caused significant controversy in 2016, but President-elect {{w|Donald Trump}} will actually take office and begin to affect the world — either for good or for bad — in 2017). However, Randall also offers a glimpse of hope in the last few panels by observing that, just as all of the bad things in 2016 were unexpected, good things in 2017 that are unexpected are equally likely to happen. As such, he argues that we should hold on to our hope even though things seem difficult right now.<br />
<br />
As the conversation unfolds, Megan and Cueball encounter an uprooted tree and cross it like a balance beam. This is a visual metaphor; the dead tree represents the end of the old year, while the crossing represents the transition into the new year. This is similar to the magical toboggan from {{w|Calvin and Hobbes}} that serves as a metaphor for their conversations, mentioned in [[529: Sledding Discussion]] and [[409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic)]].<br />
<br />
The last panel may also serve as a reminder that the world continues to spin on despite all of the turmoil. This is true both literally, as the {{w|solar eclipse|eclipse}} Randall is excited about is caused by the orbits of several celestial bodies lining up just right (the sun, Earth, and moon), but also figuratively, as he notes that prime-numbered years have typically been good ones, and so illustrates the positive attitude that people can choose to take in order to see all that which is good and to spread a little bit more cheerfulness. Randall has had six prime years since his birth, 1987, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2011. This could also be a pun referencing the saying "being in his prime years".<br />
<br />
Randall previously mentioned his excitement for the {{w|Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017|2017 eclipse}} exactly three years earlier in [[1302: Year in Review]], where Megan complains about 2013 not having an eclipse nor aurora, and hopes they don't cancel the 2017 eclipse.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to {{w|Nate Silver}} who is well-known (in the United States) as an election predictor on {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}. His model allowed for a higher chance that Donald Trump would win the presidency compared to other similar models — though the fact that he still favored a Clinton win may be contributing to getting humor from the idea that he may be "wrong" again, and the Moon could possibly vanish in 2017, making the year definitely worse than 2016. This is accentuated by the qualifier "almost definitely", which is of humorously low confidence for presenting a fact as certain as the Moon not somehow disappearing within the next year.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Cueball and Megan walking outdoors]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Can't wait for this stupid year to be over.<br />
<br />
[The two approach a fallen tree]<br />
<br />
:Megan: I can. This year made the future scarier. So much of why 2016 was bad was because of the things it sent us into 2017 without.<br />
<br />
[Megan has hopped up onto the tree trunk and begins to walk along it]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: You gotta have hope, though.<br />
:Megan: You say that, but you also said all this awful stuff couldn't happen, and it did. You're as clueless as the rest of us.<br />
<br />
[Cueball also walks along the tree trunk as Megan stops and turns to look at him]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Well, if we're wrong about which bad things can happen, it's got to make us at least a ''little'' less sure about which good things can't.<br />
<br />
[Closeup of Megan hopping down from the tree]<br />
<br />
:Megan: I guess.<br />
<br />
[A distant shot of Megan and Cueball walking along again]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Plus, 2017 has a cool eclipse in it.<br />
:Megan: Ooh, yeah!<br />
:Cueball: And it's prime. Prime years have always been good for me.<br />
:Megan: Sure, I'll take it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:New Year]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1530:_Keyboard_Mash&diff=1330691530: Keyboard Mash2016-12-30T12:20:19Z<p>E^ipi: Cook bread maybe = make toast as previously mentioned on talk page.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1530<br />
| date = May 27, 2015<br />
| title = Keyboard Mash<br />
| image = keyboard mash.png<br />
| titletext = WHY DON'T YOU COME HANG OUT INSIDE MY HOUSE. WE CAN COOK BREAD AND CHAT ABOUT OUR INTERNAL SKELETONS.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is chatting with [[White Hat]], who says he is frustrated because a barking dog is preventing him from sleeping and White Hat mashes the {{w|keyboard}} to show his frustration. Keyboard mashing is often used in this way where the user makes their hands spasm across the keyboard, creating a line of text that can be compared to an angry groan in real life. Cueball is about to give some advice, but is confused by a quirk in what White Hat typed. All the characters he typed (except one) were on the home row of the QWERTY keyboard, the row starting with the letters A, S, D, and F, in the middle of the keyboard. The letters A, S, D, F, J, K, and L (all from the home row) are scattered throughout the text, but there is a 7 (which comes from the numbers row, on top of the keyboard) in the middle of this text. Cueball, wonders how White Hat put a seven in there, because if White Hat was keyboard mashing and touched the 7 key, he likely would have hit any of the QWERTY row keys because of keyboard mashing hand spasms, but he didn't. All the other characters were on the home row. White Hat berates Cueball for always focusing on strange, tiny details. When the final panel shows what's going on where White Hat is, we see that a giant {{w|spider}} has imprisoned him in a web and is talking to Cueball, which explains how the keyboard mashing "White Hat" did was strange.<br />
<br />
The reason the dog was barking appears to be because the giant spider was lurking nearby. Little did White Hat know that the dog was alerting him of the spider. When the spider notices that White Hat mentions the barking dog to Cueball, the spider apparently restrains White Hat and takes over typing. Another possibility is that the "dog" barking is actually White Hat, as he is seen making grunts from beneath the spider's silk. It can be seen in the last panel that the spider is typing with 3 legs, which explains how the 7 key would have been pressed.<br />
<br />
The statement "I am a normal human typing with my human hands" is [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuspiciouslySpecificDenial an oddly specific assertion] from the giant spider that it is actually a human, a claim that would normally be taken for granted and had not really been cast into doubt by Cueball's inquiries about how "7" got into a string of home-row keystrokes.<br />
<br />
The title text invitation ends with a similar statement, suggesting that they "...CHAT ABOUT OUR INTERNAL SKELETONS", which spiders (unlike humans) do not possess. This implies that the spider also wants to trap and possibly eat Cueball as well, or actually hang out with him in an attempt to make friends. "...HANG OUT INSIDE MY HOUSE" may also have a double meaning, as White Hat is actually "hanging" from the ceiling inside his house. Also another oddity is that the spider asks Cueball to cook bread, although bread is actually baked, and in any case this isn't a common pastime during the night (the spider could also mean make toast). The final oddity is that the title text is written in all caps which is usually interpreted as shouting and would not be used in a casual invitation.<br />
<br />
The central theme of the comic is a vindication of Cueball's world-view, wherein tiny oddities such as the appearance of a numeral in a keyboard mash merit investigation. In the real world, the appearance of a "7" in the middle of a home row keyboard mash is more likely attributable to {{w|Rollover (key)#Key jamming and ghosting|key ghosting}}.<br />
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In the title text of [[1541: Voice]] there is again a reference to a sentence that could be uttered correctly by a human, but would never be used in real life. But a non-human entity that tries to blend in as a human, may inadvertently use such a "wrong" sentence to try to ensure other people think they are indeed humans. It is a direct reference to the type of sentence used in the title text here.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball approaches his desktop computer, which has emitted a message seemingly from White Hat as it displays a picture of him.]<br />
:New chat message<br />
<br />
:[Below the chat log is shown with White Hat's comments on the left in gray frames and Cueball's comments to the right in white frames. The first post in a row from each person is labeled with their picture at the end of a small arrow in the frame]:<br />
:White Hat: Can't sleep. Stupid dog keeps barking.<br />
:White Hat: So frustrating. FJAFJKLDSKF7JKFDJ<br />
:Cueball: Ugh, I'm sorry. Maybe you could...<br />
:Cueball: ... Okay, wait. I have to ask.<br />
:Cueball: How did you hit a "7" in the middle there?<br />
:White Hat: Huh?<br />
:White Hat: I was just randomly keyboard mashing.<br />
:Cueball: Sorry, Right.<br />
:White Hat: Anyway,<br />
:Cueball: I know this is silly, but like... All your hands were clearly right on the home row.<br />
:Cueball: I don't get how one finger could have stretched up to the "7".<br />
:White Hat: Why do you always fixate on these bizarre details?<br />
:Cueball: I don't know.<br />
:Cueball: Sorry.<br />
:White Hat: It's weird, is all.<br />
<br />
:[Chat transcript continues above White Hat's laptop, as it started in the first panel over Cueball's computer. But now we see a human-sized spider suspended from the ceiling by web is using three of its legs to type on the laptop. Behind the spider, White Hat is suspended from the ceiling upside down, almost totally encased in spider web. He tries to speak. Between them, a chair has been knocked over onto its back.]<br />
:Spider (as White Hat in the chat): I am a normal human typing with my human hands.<br />
:Cueball (chat): Yeah, of course. I know.<br />
:White Hat (speaking): '''Mmm!! Mmph!!!'''<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Spiders]]</div>E^ipihttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1010:_Etymology-Man&diff=132735Talk:1010: Etymology-Man2016-12-20T12:24:40Z<p>E^ipi: /* Minor characters */ new section</p>
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<div>That water isn't coming in nearly fast enough to be a tidal wave. Probably just a flood. A really fast flood. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:15, 18 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
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: Maybe Etymology-Man talks really really fast. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.11|108.162.250.11]] 03:20, 15 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
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:: Maybe Etymology-Man also has the power to slow incoming danger by sheer force of knowledge [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 08:57, 27 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
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== Minor characters ==<br />
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Shouldn't etymology man be in the list of minor characters? [[User:E^ipi|E^ipi]] ([[User talk:E^ipi|talk]]) 12:24, 20 December 2016 (UTC)</div>E^ipi