Difference between revisions of "explain xkcd:Sandbox"
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| − | + | __NOTOC__{{DISPLAYTITLE:explain xkcd}} | |
| − | + | <center> | |
| − | ------ | + | <font size=5px>''Welcome to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' wiki!''</font><br> |
| + | <span style="font size:210%;">We have an explanation for all [[List of all comics (full)|'''{{#expr:{{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}}}}''' xkcd comics]], and only {{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} ({{#expr: {{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 1}}%) are incomplete. [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Help us finish them!]]</span><!-- Note: the -1 in the calculation above has been removed (it was there to discount "comic" 404, but we've categorized it to be a comic and so has Randall.) --> | ||
| + | </center> | ||
| + | <!-- Go to this explanation button --><span style="position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.4em; font-size: 100%;"><span class="no-link-underline">[[{{LATESTCOMIC}}| </span>'''Go to this explanation''']]</span> | ||
| − | + | =Latest comic= | |
| + | <div style="border:1px solid grey; background:#000001; padding:1.5em;"> | ||
| + | {{:{{LATESTCOMIC}}}} | ||
| + | ---- | ||
| + | |||
| + | <span style="position: absolute; left:0; padding-top:1.35em; font-size: 105%;"><span class="no-link-underline"> [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link={{LATESTCOMIC}}#Discussion]][[{{LATESTCOMIC}}#Discussion| </span>'''View comic discussion''']]</span><br><br></div> | ||
| + | |||
| + | == New here? == | ||
| + | <div style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em">{{Special:ContributionScores/10/30/nosort,notools}}<div style="font-size:0.85em; width:28em; font-style:italic">[[Special:ContributionScores|Lots of people]] contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have [{{fullurl:Special:Contributions|contribs=newbie}} just joined]. You can do it too! Create your account [[Special:UserLogin/signup|here]].</div></div> | ||
| + | |||
| + | You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at [[explain xkcd]]. Feel free to [[Special:UserLogin/signup|create an account]] and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|comics]], [[:Category:Characters|characters]], [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' articles]], and [[:Category:xkcd|everything in between]]. If it is referenced in an [[xkcd]] comic, it should be here. | ||
| + | |||
| + | * If you're new to wiki editing, see the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on [[mw:Help:Editing pages|how to edit wiki pages]]. There's also a handy {{w|Help:Cheatsheet|wikicode cheatsheet}}. | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | * You can browse the comics from the [[List of all comics (full)|list of all comics]] or by navigating the category tree at [[:Category:Comics]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | * The incomplete explanations are listed [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|here]]. Feel free to help out by expanding them! | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Rules == | ||
| + | |||
| + | Be a jerk! | ||
| + | |||
| + | There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic. | ||
| + | |||
| + | If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good. | ||
| + | |||
| + | If you need assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]], post a message to the [[explain xkcd talk:Sandbox|Admin requests]] board. | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Category:Root category]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | Recent comments: {{Special:RecentChanges|namespace=1}} | ||
Latest revision as of 09:33, 16 March 2026
Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki!
We have an explanation for all 3254 xkcd comics, and only 48 (1.5%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!
Latest comic[edit]
| Results Age |
Title text: Please, we need your help. Our research suggests you're the last living descendant of the person who knew how to format this config file. |
Explanation[edit]
| This is incomplete: This page was created BY AN INTERNET GRANDPA. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
This comic shows how likely it is that a bug reported will be fixed, based on the age of some past post that matches your search for details of the problem.
A table is shown below of the explanations of each table row:
| Age of post | Explanation given | Full Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 2 hours ago | A service outage. Not very long to fix - Just wait. | The recentness of the information implies that it has just happened, and other people have noticed it and started to post about the issue. Large-scale problems like a service outage are obvious priorities, and will (hopefully!) be fixed quickly. |
| 5 days ago | A new update just broke something big. High chance to be fixed, but you might have to wait for a patch | Similar to before, a large breakage would be very high priority to be fixed. However, as it's been five days since reporting it, the bug is likely taking a while to be found, so - as pointed out in the comic - you could have to wait a bit longer for this one to be resolved. |
| 3 months ago | A new product isn't working for some users. Decent chance of finding a solution in replies | This problem is clearly not considered a priority for a fix by the creators, judging by how long it's been there. It possibly isn't an issue affecting everyone, or even a large proportion of users. However, people are innovative, and someone may well have found their own fix, patch or kludge to get around the product limitations. |
| 2 years ago | You've run into an edge case. Low chance to be fixed, but the replies could help with troubleshooting | An edge case is a rare situation that the developers did not think to account for, usually causing a logic error, where the program works, but outputs something unexpected which might cause an error down the line. Very few people will suffer from this precise problem, which may mean that it's not considered worth the effort to apply a fix. The developers or other users may have encountered similar issues on this or similar software, and noting how they solved those problems might lead you towards how to solve your own. |
| 13 years ago | You're the only one with this problem. Very Low chance to be fixed, and the post is likely irrelevant | A post of this age likely predates the software you're using, or at least the current version of it. It's probably a coincidental match to your search query, and doesn't actually relate to the problem you've encountered. Since no-one else has posted about this issue or anything similar within a recent timeframe, it's likely that you're the first person (or at least, one of very few people) to have come across it. |
| 24 years ago | Oh god how is the Internet so old. Maybe whoever posted the message's children can help you out. | This is another comic where Randall makes people feel old, in this case by pointing out that the Internet is very old, and people posting comments in the early period of the Internet have now had time to have kids who have reached an age where they are themselves posting. It is also (presumably) rare enough to be a DenverCoder9 situation, and 13 years is longer than the time in that comic, so 13 years might be such a situation too.
The Internet is, in fact, significantly over forty years old, based upon original infrastructure and methods that were set up for perhaps up to two more decades previous to that. The World Wide Web (to many, synonymous with the Internet) hails from the early 1990s, and Google (one of the more commonly used search engines, through which this error search might have been made) was launched in the late 1990s, which are still practically older than this notional post. The biggest surprise might be that some information published on a webpage in 2002 (and still relevant to your search) survives on some still live web server (or as an archive/mirror of that original information on some archival/successor site). For example, any topical write-up of a then extant case of this issue, if documented upon web pages originally hosted by GeoCities, would have otherwise been made permanently inaccessible by the end of 2014. |
The title text appears to be a conversation taking place in a distant future with the descendant of an ancient internet post. The 'last living descendant' is a common trope in fiction where arcane knowledge is passed down through a family line (often on the previous generation's deathbed). The suggestion is that the solution to the user's issue is a closely guarded secret that has had to be kept safe in this way.
Transcript[edit]
| This is one of 45 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- Implications of the age of the posts you see when you Google an error message
- [A search engine prompt field is shown, containing part of an error code message (beginning with E-21, and what looks like a 9 and 3 next to it). Below this are search results shown as obscured text, except for a the phrase '3 years ago' in the first heading. This is expanded into an ellipse that obscures the rest of the search field.]
- [A table, with 3 columns, labelled "Age of post", "What it means", and "Probability of a fix"]
- [Row 1: Age of post:] 2 hours ago
- [What it means:] There's an infrastructure outage
- [Probability of a fix:] Very high -- just wait
- [Row 2: Age of post:] 5 days ago
- [What it means:] A recent update broke something big
- [Probability of a fix:] High, but you might have to wait for a patch
- [Row 3: Age of post:] 3 months ago
- [What it means:] A new product isn't working for some users
- [Probability of a fix:] Decent chance of a solution in the replies
- [Row 4: Age of post:] 2 years ago
- [What it means:] You've run into an edge case
- [Probability of a fix:] Low, but maybe the replies can help with troubleshooting
- [Row 5: Age of post:] 13 years ago
- [What it means:] You're the only person with this problem
- [Probability of a fix:] Very low -- post is likely not relevant
- [Row 6: Age of post:] 24 years ago
- [What it means:] Oh God how is the Internet this old
- [Probability of a fix:] Maybe whoever posted this message has kids who can help you
Discussion
Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.
This is a test. PoolloverNathan[stalk the blue seas] 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
- This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 23:49) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
- A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)
here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this
furhhfghure guyrburgryhuyvfr "rvhru"
interesting way of writing quotations xd
- hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line
edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
hi uh its hard to get here.
is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)
yum yum [citation needed]
Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}
This is the leaderboard:Last 7 days (Top 50) |
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<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello doesthiswork (yesitdoes) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)New here?[edit]
Last 30 days (Top 10) |
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You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to create an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd comics, characters, What If? articles, and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd comic, it should be here.
- If you're new to wiki editing, see the explain xkcd:Editor FAQ for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on how to edit wiki pages. There's also a handy wikicode cheatsheet.
- Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the Community portal.
- You can browse the comics from the list of all comics or by navigating the category tree at Category:Comics.
- The incomplete explanations are listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!
Rules[edit]
Be a jerk!
There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.
If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t.
Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.
If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.
Recent comments:14 May 2026
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Talk:3245: Results Age (14 changes | history) . . (+4,596) . . [Yorkshire Pudding; Lordpishky; Blagae; RG; JohnHawkinson; GSLikesCats307; Barmar; 82.132.212.205; 80.187.113.212; 208.59.176.206; 185.146.232.73; 82.13.184.33 (3×)] |
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Talk:1000: 1000 Comics (2 changes | history) . . (+131) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb] |
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Talk:3137: Cursed Number (2 changes | history) . . (0) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb] |
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Talk:1208: Footnote Labyrinths (4 changes | history) . . (0) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb (3×)] |
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Talk:285: Wikipedian Protester (3 changes | history) . . (0) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb (2×)] |
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Talk:69: Pillow Talk (3 changes | history) . . (+196) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb (2×)] |
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| 19:39 | Talk:3182: Telescope Types (diff | hist) . . (+184) . . 2001:a62:5f7:fb01:538e:3f07:c9f0:f0c0 (talk) (1791 reference) |
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Talk:609: Tab Explosion (2 changes | history) . . (+145) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb] |
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Talk:1408: March of the Penguins (2 changes | history) . . (0) . . [81.179.199.253; 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb] |
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| 17:05 | Talk:1235: Settled (diff | hist) . . (+1) . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (adding back accidental char removal) |
| 15:04 | Talk:935: Missed Connections (diff | hist) . . (+44) . . 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:7dfa:19a4:56db:a3eb (talk) |
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Talk:3242: Aperiodic Table (2 changes | history) . . (+323) . . [RG; 82.132.212.205] |
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