929: Speculation - Revision history

82.132.238.117: /* Explanation */ Improving the parenthesised aside slightly, including relevent link.

2026-04-24T14:58:12Z

‎Explanation: Improving the parenthesised aside slightly, including relevent link.

68.101.170.57: /* Explanation */

2026-04-24T02:56:16Z

‎Explanation

68.101.170.57: Replaced redundant section with a more informative version.

2026-04-24T02:55:47Z

Replaced redundant section with a more informative version.

68.101.170.57: Removed section that was excessively speculative.

2026-04-24T02:47:06Z

Removed section that was excessively speculative.

162.218.182.24: /* Explanation */ ce

2026-04-09T18:55:28Z

‎Explanation: ce

1234231587678 at 19:51, 23 February 2024

2024-02-23T19:51:42Z

172.70.210.45: /* Transcript */ google plus

2023-10-20T22:07:13Z

‎Transcript: google plus

B for brain: /* Explanation */

2023-10-07T21:09:31Z

‎Explanation

172.71.178.65: /* Explanation */ ...misedited that out of prior post.

2023-05-31T19:25:15Z

‎Explanation: ...misedited that out of prior post.

172.70.91.67: /* Explanation */ We're sure he's eventually on the feeds of various other 'social' networks, or clones/carbon-copies. But on its own we can't say this comic makes him a Facebooker, exclusively or otherwise.

2023-05-31T19:22:00Z

‎Explanation: We're sure he's eventually on the feeds of various other 'social' networks, or clones/carbon-copies. But on its own we can't say this comic makes him a Facebooker, exclusively or otherwise.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 They are interrupted when they pass the ball to [[Black Hat]], who immediately shoots it with a crossbow bolt. Their arguments and rather intelligent discussion are derailed by the absurdity of Black Hat's reaction, which is both humorous and puts the issue in stark contrast.
-The punchline is that the idea of attempting to catch a ball that is thrown to you is a generally considered a natural and universally adopted reaction, whereas [[Black Hat]] takes nonconformity to the extreme by instead responding by shooting it with a crossbow. (crossbows are a recurring theme in xkcd)
+The punchline is that the idea of attempting to catch a ball that is thrown to you is a generally considered a natural and universally adopted reaction, whereas [[Black Hat]] takes nonconformity to the extreme by instead responding by shooting it with a crossbow. ([[:Category:Crossbows|Crossbows]] are a recurring theme in xkcd.)
 In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 They are interrupted when they pass the ball to [[Black Hat]], who immediately shoots it with a crossbow bolt. Their arguments and rather intelligent discussion are derailed by the absurdity of Black Hat's reaction, which is both humorous and puts the issue in stark contrast.
-The punchline is that the idea of attempting to catch a ball that is thrown to you is a generally considered a natural and universally adopted reaction, whereas [[Black Hat]] takes nonconformity to the extreme by instead shooting it with a crossbow. (crossbows are a recurring theme in xkcd)
+The punchline is that the idea of attempting to catch a ball that is thrown to you is a generally considered a natural and universally adopted reaction, whereas [[Black Hat]] takes nonconformity to the extreme by instead responding by shooting it with a crossbow. (crossbows are a recurring theme in xkcd)
 In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 They are interrupted when they pass the ball to [[Black Hat]], who immediately shoots it with a crossbow bolt. Their arguments and rather intelligent discussion are derailed by the absurdity of Black Hat's reaction, which is both humorous and puts the issue in stark contrast.
-Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.
+The punchline is that the idea of attempting to catch a ball that is thrown to you is a generally considered a natural and universally adopted reaction, whereas [[Black Hat]] takes nonconformity to the extreme by instead shooting it with a crossbow. (crossbows are a recurring theme in xkcd)
 In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:47, 24 April 2026
Line 14:		Line 14:

	Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.		Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.
−
−	A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Black Hat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.

	In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w\|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.		In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w\|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-During a {{w|basketball}} game, the players discuss the nature of universal conformity. {{w|Facebook}} and the now-defunct {{w|Google+}} were competing {{w|social networks}}; at the time of this comic many people were switching to Plus over Facebook leading many to speculate that Facebook was in decline and that Plus would soon be the dominant social network. As of 2019, it seems that Facebook has successfully held its position as the Default Social Network™, while Google Plus was a colossal blunder for Google and was finally sunset for consumers in April 2019.
+During a {{w|basketball}} game, the players discuss the nature of universal conformity. {{w|Facebook}} and the now-defunct {{w|Google+}} were competing {{w|social networks}}; at the time of this comic, many people were switching to Plus over Facebook, leading many to speculate that Facebook was in decline and that Plus would soon be the dominant social network. As of 2019, it seems that Facebook has successfully held its position as the Default Social Network™, while Google Plus was a colossal blunder for Google and was finally sunset for consumers in April 2019.
 The two players seem to have a disagreement over this. One player states that it would be ridiculous to expect everyone to move to Plus. The other player denies the notion that they have to, stating that he values his personal preference over conformity. He supports this idea by saying that his mother still uses {{w|AOL}} and other people continue using {{w|IRC}} and that if each time a new dominant social network emerged and everyone switched to it, neither of these things would stick around.
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.
-A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.
+A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Black Hat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.
 In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:51, 23 February 2024
Line 16:		Line 16:

	A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.		A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.
−

	In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w\|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.		In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w\|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 [[Category:Social networking]]
 [[Category:Basketball]]
 [[Category:Crossbows]]
 [[Category:Sport]] <!-- The other sport mentioned being skeet shooting -->

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:25, 31 May 2023
Line 15:		Line 15:
	Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.		Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.

−	A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.	+	A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:22, 31 May 2023
Line 15:		Line 15:
	Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.		Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.

−	A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook.	+	A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.