256: Online Communities - Revision history

85.255.235.59: Fixed formatting

2025-09-29T09:10:03Z

Fixed formatting

85.255.235.59: Fixed formatting

2025-09-29T09:07:48Z

Fixed formatting

82.132.238.109: Undo revision 384231 by 2001:4450:813D:C800:5193:ACFE:71AD:992B (talk)

2025-08-15T16:00:48Z

Undo revision 384231 by 2001:4450:813D:C800:5193:ACFE:71AD:992B (talk)

2001:4450:813D:C800:5193:ACFE:71AD:992B: /* Trivia */

2025-08-15T11:14:16Z

‎Trivia

FaviFake: /* Explanation */

2025-07-29T10:16:43Z

‎Explanation

FaviFake: added Category:Online Communities using HotCat

2025-07-29T10:06:31Z

added Category:Online Communities using HotCat

FaviFake at 09:40, 27 July 2025

2025-07-27T09:40:20Z

FaviFake: /* Social Media (West) */

2025-07-27T09:35:49Z

‎Social Media (West)

FaviFake at 09:35, 27 July 2025

2025-07-27T09:35:11Z

73.116.159.163: tyop

2025-07-26T18:34:04Z

tyop

@@ Line 220: / Line 220: @@
 ----
-=== =Memes and related====
+===Memes and related===
 ; Isle of Slash
@@ Line 241: / Line 241: @@
 ----
 === MMORPGs and related games (Northeast by East)===
 An area dedicated to MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), large-scale games with huge numbers of players put into the same world. The label "Here there be anthromorphic dragons" references a common marking on old maps ("Here there be dragons") but updates it to joke about the more humanoid dragons seen in many games, or again, how dragons, especilally anthropomorphic dragons, are very-very popular in the furry community.

@@ Line 186: / Line 186: @@
 ----
-=== =Sites====
+===Sites===
 ; [https://www.2ch.net/‎ 2Channel]
@@ Line 219: / Line 219: @@
 ----
 === =Memes and related====

@@ Line 374: / Line 374: @@
 ==Trivia==
 This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125025438/https://store.xkcd.com/products/online-communities-2007-poster available as a poster] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
 {{comic discussion}}

@@ Line 374: / Line 374: @@
 ==Trivia==
 This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125025438/https://store.xkcd.com/products/online-communities-2007-poster available as a poster] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
 {{comic discussion}}

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This is Randall's first map of online communities, with a successor (showing some zoomed-in highlights of the map) at [[802: Online Communities 2]]. As Randall says on the map, the area of each "country" is roughly proportional to its membership, at least in 2007. Geographic location means a bit more, however, as the compass rose-shaped island near the middle of the map points out. North-south corresponds to a spectrum from practical to intellectual, and east-west corresponds to one from web-focused to real-life-focused. The map also bears a slight resemblance to {{w|South East Asia}}. Each "country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of Memes" and a small "Straits of web 2.0".
+This is Randall's first map of online communities, with a successor at [[802: Online Communities 2]]. As Randall says on the map, the area of each "country" is roughly proportional to its membership, at least in 2007. Geographic location means a bit more, however, as the compass rose-shaped island near the middle of the map points out. North-south corresponds to a spectrum from practical to intellectual, and east-west corresponds to one from web-focused to real-life-focused. The map also bears a slight resemblance to {{w|South East Asia}}. Each "country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of Memes" and a small "Straits of web 2.0".
 ----

@@ Line 384: / Line 384: @@
 [[Category:Internet]]
 [[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
-[[Category:Volcanoes]] <!-- Google's Volcano Fortress -->
+[[Category:Volcanoes]]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 This is Randall's first map of online communities, with a successor (showing some zoomed-in highlights of the map) at [[802: Online Communities 2]]. As Randall says on the map, the area of each "country" is roughly proportional to its membership, at least in 2007. Geographic location means a bit more, however, as the compass rose-shaped island near the middle of the map points out. North-south corresponds to a spectrum from practical to intellectual, and east-west corresponds to one from web-focused to real-life-focused. The map also bears a slight resemblance to {{w|South East Asia}}. Each "country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of Memes" and a small "Straits of web 2.0".
-===Compass Rose-shaped Island===
+----
 This is a joke located near the middle of the map, that nonetheless serves to organize the illustration. A Compass Rose —the name for the multi-pointed star that shows where North is on the map— appears on most maps; however, here, it's actually land that just coincidentally looks like a compass rose.
 The "points" of the island do, however, roughly organize the map. Left is "Focus on Real Life," labelled "IRL," an abbreviation for "In Real Life." Right is "Focus on Web," labelled ".com." Up is "Practicals," labelled "N," as in "North," but with small letters making it spell "Noob," slang for a "Newbie" or "New user" — a person less experienced with the internet, as many of the sites to the top of the map are ones infamous for having large numbers of largely computer-illiterate people. Down is "Intellectuals," labelled ''"&pi;,"'' an important constant in mathematics approximately equal to 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937511.
-===The Icy North===
+----
 These are communities that were once major players, but now in a much reduced role. While some are still fairly large, they're somewhat relics of older times, hence the "Mountains of Web 1.0" that run through them — Web 1.0 is the first major generation of websites.
@@ Line 40: / Line 42: @@
 : A barely-readable note just below the "O" of "NORTH." This may simply be a reference to a lot of fantasy series containing a chasm. (For example, the One Ring is destroyed by flinging it into a fiery chasm in The Lord of the Rings.)
-===Dating sites (Northwest coastal regions)===
+----
 ; [https://eharmony.com E-Harmony], [https://okcupid.com OkCupid], and [https://mixerdates.com/ MixerDates]
@@ Line 48: / Line 51: @@
 : This label appears to be a joke: Surrounded by, but separate from dating sites and social media sites, it would be a rather lonely place. Possibly named after "[https://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tol_Eress%C3%ABa Tol Eressëa]" (Translation: The Lonely Island), a somewhat obscure location in J. R. R. Tolkien's books, but there are {{w|The Lonely Island|other possibilities}}.
-===Social Media (West)===
+----
 These are sites mainly used to communicate with friends, such as Facebook and Myspace. The first large one was ''Friendster'', but this has largely become a social gaming site primarily used in Southeast Asia, as discussed in The Icy North, above. Other social media sites listed are:
@@ Line 78: / Line 82: @@
 : A South Korean social media site featuring avatars and "mini-rooms."
-===The Blogipelago (Southwest)===
+----
 This is a portmanteau of blog and archipelago. Sulawesi is a real island in the Indonesian archipelago, implying that this region's similarity to Indonesia is probably intentional.
@@ Line 114: / Line 119: @@
 : This is a major celebrity gossip blog, rated #15 in the "[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs World's 50 most powerful blogs"] by ''The Guardian,'' and, at time of writing, rating #11 in the [https://technorati.com/blogs/top100/ Technorati top 100.]
-===Sea of Culture (Central region) ===
+----
 Sites for sharing and showing off music and images, most focusing on self-created content.
@@ Line 141: / Line 147: @@
 : A ''strait'' is a narrow passage between two outcroppings. Web 2.0 is a term used to describe new internet architectures, which these programs and Wikipedia (the other side of the strait) are examples of. '''Gays of Web 2.0''' is a pun: The opposite of a gay person (homosexual) is a straight person (heterosexual).
-===User-created content and discussions (Southeast)===
+----
 Sites such as {{w|Wikipedia}} and chat programs such as IRC.
@@ Line 174: / Line 181: @@
 : A joke, perhaps in line with Cory Doctorow's Balloon ([[239: Blagofaire]], also referenced in this strip). The Super Mario series of games also commonly contains bossfights in airships.
-===Ocean of Subculture and Sea of Memes (East)===
+----
 Sites related to smaller internet communities, aka "subcultures" and internet memes. The "Viral Straits" references the idea of something "going viral," i.e. spreading quickly to huge numbers of people on the internet. These sites are often responsible for things going viral, and the memes listed are ones that went viral in the past.
-====Sites====
+----
 ; [https://www.2ch.net/‎ 2Channel]
@@ Line 209: / Line 218: @@
 : Another image and website aggregator, linking to various things of interest. It uses tags to let people find specific types of content. Since this comic was released, this website they renamed as simply "Delicious".
-====Memes and related====
+----
 ; Isle of Slash
@@ Line 229: / Line 239: @@
 : As in, "THIS! IS! SPAAARTA!!!", a famously over-the-top line from the movie ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''.
-===MMORPGs and related games (Northeast by East)===
+----
 An area dedicated to MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), large-scale games with huge numbers of players put into the same world. The label "Here there be anthromorphic dragons" references a common marking on old maps ("Here there be dragons") but updates it to joke about the more humanoid dragons seen in many games, or again, how dragons, especilally anthropomorphic dragons, are very-very popular in the furry community.
@@ Line 256: / Line 267: @@
 : A virtual world, noted for largely working from user-generated content, which can be sold by users for real money. See {{w|Second Life}}. ''Third Life'' is a joke based on Second Life — if it existed, it would presumably be a game people play to escape Second Life, which they play to escape their first, real life.
-===Title text===
+----
 The title text references [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dont-worry-im-from-the-internet the 2005 meme] "Don't worry, I'm from the Internet" - a catchphrase that originated from photos of cosplayers which spread on message boards and social media. While that phrase was originally used jokingly, Randall expresses a (genuine?) hope for a future where online communities are taken as legitimately as physical ones. This connects to the comic's detailed geographic mapping of online spaces - suggesting that just as you might ask someone "what part?" when they say they're from America or Europe, someday saying you're "from the Internet" would prompt the same genuine follow-up question about which specific online community you call home.

@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 ; [https://facebook.com Facebook]
-: Generally considered (at least in the West) the "modern" social media network, and the most popular. However, this comic is from 2007, and Facebook did not catch up to Myspace until 2008-2009. [Source: {{w|Myspace}}]
+: Generally considered (at least in the West) the "modern" social media network, and the most popular. However, this comic is from 2007, and Facebook did not catch up to Myspace until 2008-2009.
 ; [https://orkut.com Orkut]

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 : These are early sites that offered to help you find your former classmates from school, a role largely taken over by the big, more generalized social media sites. Classmates.com is probably best known by its memetic advertisement that said "She married him??!! And they've got 7 kids??"
-; [https://friendster.com Friendster]''' was the first big social media site. It was later outpaced by ''Myspace'' and ''Facebook'' (see Social Media below). It has survived by rebranding itself as a social gaming site, now used primarily in Southeast Asia.
+; [https://friendster.com Friendster]
 ; Qwghlm