Talk:2555: Notifications

I wrote that the time in the title text does not seem to have any special meaning, the only thing a quick google search gave me was the bible verse "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." which is irrelevant to the comic as far as I can tell. Is there something I missed? -- 256.256.256.256 (talk) 08:52, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

I assume it has something to do with time zones, but not sure.162.158.222.123 09:40, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Yes for sure, it is late in the recipients time zone. And thus the program asks if the notification is so important at this later hour. On the internet you are often in communication with someone in another time zone. Has updated explaination.--Kynde (talk) 10:17, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

But it doesn't have a special meaning. 10:32 or 10:41 would have done the same job. --Lupo (talk) 07:15, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

Is it just a weird coincidence that today’s smbc is also about how to stop a tedious conversation? 198.41.238.107 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It sure is funny. The SMBC comic from 2021-12-15, Econs, was about paying someone to stop with a boring discussion. --Kynde (talk) 10:21, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

I got to thinking about the difference from saying "I perceive that you have mistaken me for someone who cares", or very often "someone who gives a (vulgar word)". I suppose the difference is that talking about Notifications means "Not just now" or "That's enough for now", but you could just say that. It doesn't forbid continuing the subject later. Robert Carnegie [email protected] 162.158.159.105 11:15, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Are you sure Cueball is sending notification to White Hat? When I saw this comic I thought that White Hat wants to say it annoys him when someone ignores others notifications settings and, voilà, Cueball just does it the same moment. Tkopec (talk) 12:58, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Well, if White Hat is complaining about anything like that (we never even get a hint what) it should be more about those who sets to ignore notifications (what Cueball does) or else it is about those who set about to ignore others' "ignore-notifications" settings but then he turns out not to be that kind of annoying person, as he actually respects that situation.

Whether Cueball knows what is about to be (re)complained about, from hearing this tiraid multiple times, I don't know. Or maybe it was mentioned as the pre-"...another thing" spouting of opinion, and thus quickly inspired him to act upon the suggestion.

It doesn't really matter. Whatever Randall might have conceived as being said before/after the short slice of Whitehat's rant, he gives no direct clue so it's likely to just be a generic stream of opinionated verbosity, making Cueball even more clever and inspired to have discovered this 'life hack' to cut it short. A bit like telling Sheldon that something is a "non-optional social convention".

...incidentally, one of John Finnemore's radio sketches in his 'Souvenir Programme' series (if you can, look it up (the whole series!) to listen to - I'm sure xkcders would be prime candidates to enjoy, or at least be able to appreciate, the (over?)intelligent humour) was basically if the Russian Revolution were being organised via email, with one character's involvement being (mostly!) a bog-standard Out Of Office reply. Best listened to, although if you can't you can definitely find a script-transcript site or two with the right Google-Fu. 172.70.86.22 13:46, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

I don't think it's necessarily "past their bedtime"; that's an oversimplification. I think it's implying "they need to go home, prepare for bed, and hopefully get a full night's sleep by the time they have to get up in the morning." It might easily be that they're fifteen minutes from home and want to go to sleep by 11:00 PM. It also might not be their "normal" bedtime; they specifically have "a thing" early tomorrow, an important event which presumably isn't a normal occurrence.172.70.35.70 20:01, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

10:34 is time which can easily be past "normal" - meaning, week day - bedtime and at the same time not that late on party or other social activity. -- Hkmaly (talk) 00:30, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

Sure, it could be past their bedtime, but you're making an assumption. People prefer different amounts of sleep, have different regular schedules, consider different times "early", etc. It's not necessarily true that it's past their normal bedtime, so the explanation shouldn't make that unfounded assumption.172.70.42.129 05:37, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Joke's on White Hat, I put my phone in airplane mode at night. Ain't no notifications waking me up except my alarm. 162.158.106.53 05:38, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

...but it's also likely to have flown away, surely? ;) 172.70.86.22 11:56, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

I don't have the time nor care to fix it myself, but this explanation acts as if Cueball and White Hat are in the same timezone, but "10:34 PM" could mean the same thing "Good Morning" means in XKCD 448. Tsumikiminiwa (talk) 20:39, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

Does anyone know what time #2555 was posted to xkcd.com? It would be entertaining if it was near 10:34pm in Randall's time zone.

I thought the comic was about how the "notify anyway" option sort of leaves you paralyzed with indecision. Because whenever it happens, you have to decide whether your text is important enough to notify them about, and how rude it would be to bypass the turned off notifications, is it worth it to keep notifying them, etc. Because White Hat is just standing there, not moving or doing anything after cueball blocks notifications, could this be an alternate explanation? (for instance, if it had just been that notifications were turned off with no bypass option, White Hat would simply be annoyed and probably keep talking anyway. But because he's given the option to bypass the filter, now he has to make a rather complicated choice and is paralyzed with indecision.) Edit: Should I add an alternate explanation?

(You should at least add four tildes to anything you add here in Talk. I've been seeing quite a few lapses from eager (new?) editors, recently, who don't realise the usefulness of at least giving their IP (discoverable anyway if, like me, you haven't got a login yet) and a datestamp. You can 'fake' it if you want, but it helps put breaks between replies, especially if at the same hierarchic level of indent. But don't mind me, just hoping it helps explain things.)

Yes, I think you're on to something. Maybe not the main thrust, but that's definitely an effect. Similar to being told by the boss's PA that he's doing something important, is it an important interuption? I mean, if you don't immediately inform him that one of the cross-beams gone out of skew on the treadle, that could be worse than doing so and interupting whatever vital (or 'vital') bossy thing the boss is currently doing. But what if it's the other way round? 141.101.99.32 03:08, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Got it, i'll add an alternate explanation. (and yes i'm new, thanks for letting me know!) -- 123.456.789.000 23:14, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

Alright, i added an alternate explanation. I dont know if its very clear or in the right place or whatnot, so please feel free to edit it. -- 123.456.789.000 01:39, 29 December 2021 (UTC)