386: Duty Calls - Revision history

YZ100 at 00:34, 20 May 2026

2026-05-20T00:34:03Z

82.132.236.190: Undo revision 411233 by 2600:1700:BAF0:2430:5289:8FC8:F1E4:3939 (talk) Close to another CN, attached to a link/'cite'. Doesn't add much

2026-04-28T09:28:39Z

Undo revision 411233 by 2600:1700:BAF0:2430:5289:8FC8:F1E4:3939 (talk) Close to another CN, attached to a link/'cite'. Doesn't add much

2600:1700:BAF0:2430:5289:8FC8:F1E4:3939 at 00:56, 28 April 2026

2026-04-28T00:56:59Z

Lettherebedarklight: /* Trivia */ add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

2025-12-15T08:59:38Z

‎Trivia: add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

FaviFake: /* Explanation */

2025-06-13T12:29:00Z

‎Explanation

141.101.98.232: /* Alternative interpretation */ Slight punctuation change. Removing useless/unrendered linebreaks, while I'm here.

2024-03-14T14:03:56Z

‎Alternative interpretation: Slight punctuation change. Removing useless/unrendered linebreaks, while I'm here.

Rps: Alternative interpretation

2024-03-14T13:07:47Z

Alternative interpretation

FaviFake at 10:01, 1 September 2023

2023-09-01T10:01:19Z

FaviFake: It's a "title text", not an "alt text"

2023-08-22T21:10:59Z

It's a "title text", not an "alt text"

FaviFake: That's not even a real syndrome, if you check the link it was all created by a single person

2023-07-03T08:25:12Z

That's not even a real syndrome, if you check the link it was all created by a single person

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 [[Category:Internet]]
 [[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
 [[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 ===Alternative interpretation===
-There are a lot of people in the Internet.{{Citation needed}} Some percentage of those people are objectively wrong about known things. In consequence, there are a lot of wrong people in the Internet. So, correcting those people is a {{w|Sisyphus#Punishment_in_the_underworld|never ending task}}{{Citation needed}}. Also, some of those people are wrong because they are {{w|Crank#Slang|cranks}}, and won't accept even a clear demonstration of their error. But the people posting corrections can self-justify their effort because they are helping the {{w|Lurker|lurkers}} who otherwise could be led astray by the errors published.
+There are a lot of people in the Internet.{{Citation needed}} Some percentage of those people are objectively wrong about known things. In consequence, there are a lot of wrong people in the Internet. So, correcting those people is a {{w|Sisyphus#Punishment_in_the_underworld|never ending task}}. Also, some of those people are wrong because they are {{w|Crank#Slang|cranks}}, and won't accept even a clear demonstration of their error. But the people posting corrections can self-justify their effort because they are helping the {{w|Lurker|lurkers}} who otherwise could be led astray by the errors published.
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 ===Alternative interpretation===
-There are a lot of people in the Internet.{{Citation needed}} Some percentage of those people are objectively wrong about known things. In consequence, there are a lot of wrong people in the Internet. So, correcting those people is a {{w|Sisyphus#Punishment_in_the_underworld|never ending task}}. Also, some of those people are wrong because they are {{w|Crank#Slang|cranks}}, and won't accept even a clear demonstration of their error. But the people posting corrections can self-justify their effort because they are helping the {{w|Lurker|lurkers}} who otherwise could be led astray by the errors published.
+There are a lot of people in the Internet.{{Citation needed}} Some percentage of those people are objectively wrong about known things. In consequence, there are a lot of wrong people in the Internet. So, correcting those people is a {{w|Sisyphus#Punishment_in_the_underworld|never ending task}}{{Citation needed}}. Also, some of those people are wrong because they are {{w|Crank#Slang|cranks}}, and won't accept even a clear demonstration of their error. But the people posting corrections can self-justify their effort because they are helping the {{w|Lurker|lurkers}} who otherwise could be led astray by the errors published.
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:59, 15 December 2025
Line 33:		Line 33:
	[[Category:Internet]]		[[Category:Internet]]
	[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]		[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
		+	[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-[[Cueball]], and many people everywhere, feel an {{Wiktionary|irrepressible}} urge to correct people on the Internet, and often get intensely invested in arguments over mundane or insignificant topics. In this comic, Cueball is presented as an exaggerated example of one such arguer.  His statement that "This is important" shows his excessive investment in whatever (unnamed) topic he is arguing about. Additionally, Cueball's interpretation of the argument as "someone is wrong, I need to correct them" rather than "someone disagrees with me, I should learn from them" parodies Internet arguers' insistence in the obvious, objective superiority of their viewpoint. The phrase "Duty Calls" used in the title is traditionally used in much more dramatic contexts (say, by a police officer, firefighter, doctor, etc. when talking about their job), so applying it to the job of arguing on the Internet is a humorous mismatch that puts Cueball's disproportionate investment into perspective. In [[955: Neutrinos]] another incarnation of Cueball is cured of a similar disease. A much later comic is simply called [[1731: Wrong]], but here it is not the other people who are wrong! A callback to this comic was made in [[2051: Bad Opinions]].
+[[Cueball]], and many people everywhere, feel an {{Wiktionary|irrepressible}} urge to correct people on the Internet, and often get intensely invested in arguments over mundane or insignificant topics. In this comic, Cueball is presented as an exaggerated example of one such arguer.  His statement that "This is important" shows his excessive investment in whatever (unnamed) topic he is arguing about. Additionally, Cueball's interpretation of the argument as "someone is wrong, I need to correct them" rather than "someone disagrees with me, I should learn from them" parodies Internet arguers' insistence in the obvious, objective superiority of their viewpoint.
 The title text reinforces the absurd nature of his emotional investment in this argument. His reasoning that "they'll keep being wrong!" if he leaves suggests that the only solution he sees is to continue to argue until everyone on the Internet has agreed with him on all issues–a ridiculously impossible plan. By taking this satire to its logical conclusion–an eternity of arguing on the Internet with no time for pleasure in real life–Randall reminds the reader that getting emotionally involved in Internet arguments at the expense of real life is a terrible, terrible idea.

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:07, 14 March 2024
Line 11:		Line 11:

	The title text reinforces the absurd nature of his emotional investment in this argument. His reasoning that "they'll keep being wrong!" if he leaves suggests that the only solution he sees is to continue to argue until everyone on the Internet has agreed with him on all issues–a ridiculously impossible plan. By taking this satire to its logical conclusion–an eternity of arguing on the Internet with no time for pleasure in real life–Randall reminds the reader that getting emotionally involved in Internet arguments at the expense of real life is a terrible, terrible idea.		The title text reinforces the absurd nature of his emotional investment in this argument. His reasoning that "they'll keep being wrong!" if he leaves suggests that the only solution he sees is to continue to argue until everyone on the Internet has agreed with him on all issues–a ridiculously impossible plan. By taking this satire to its logical conclusion–an eternity of arguing on the Internet with no time for pleasure in real life–Randall reminds the reader that getting emotionally involved in Internet arguments at the expense of real life is a terrible, terrible idea.
		+
		+	===Alternative interpretation===
		+
		+	There are a lot of people in the Internet {{Citation needed}} . Some
		+	percentage of those people are objectively wrong about known things.
		+	In consequence, there are a lot of wrong people in the Internet.
		+	So, correcting those people is a {{w\|Sisyphus#Punishment_in_the_underworld\|never ending task}}.
		+	Also, some of those people are wrong because they are
		+	{{w\|Crank#Slang\|cranks}}, and won't accept even a clear demonstration of
		+	their error. But the people posting corrections can self-justify their
		+	effort because they are helping the {{w\|Lurker\|lurkers}} who otherwise could be
		+	led astray by the errors published.

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Trivia==
-This comic is available as a signed print in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints xkcd store].
+This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
 {{comic discussion}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:25, 3 July 2023
Line 13:		Line 13:

	In [[955: Neutrinos]] another incarnation of Cueball is cured of a similar disease. A much later comic is simply called [[1731: Wrong]], but here it is not the other people who are wrong! A callback to this comic was made in [[2051: Bad Opinions]].		In [[955: Neutrinos]] another incarnation of Cueball is cured of a similar disease. A much later comic is simply called [[1731: Wrong]], but here it is not the other people who are wrong! A callback to this comic was made in [[2051: Bad Opinions]].
−
−	~~This comic has coined the term [[SIWOTI Syndrome]]: Someone Is Wrong On The Internet~~

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==