Editing 1777: Dear Diary

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 9: Line 9:
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
  
βˆ’
[[Black Hat]] is writing in a diary (probably his, but possibly not; see below).  His entry starts with the common idiom "Dear diary". In a regular diary entry, this opening is used to give the impression of writing to a trusted friend, the diary being anthropomorphized to take that friend's role. However, where other people would write about their day or put their feelings into words, Black Hat's diary entry consists of a standard phishing scam attempting to request some private information in exchange for a large cash amount which does not exist. In this case, the scam is the infamous [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nigerian-scams Nigerian Royalty scam], where the 'royalty' needs bank details to give money, when it will in fact be taken.  [[Black Hat]] apparently is so used to tricking people that even his own anthropomorphized diary is not safe from his pranks. Alternatively, the entry is intended for anyone who looks at his diary without his permission. It's also possible he has obtained someone else's diary and is somehow trying to scam the diary's owner, although it's not clear how that might work.  Or, since it is a rather obvious scam, he may simply be trying to scare the diary's owner, perhaps the same child as he traumatized in [[1776|the previous comic]] with a reindeer mutated to look like a spider.
+
[[Black Hat]] is writing in a diary (probably his, but possibly not; see below).  His entry starts with the common idiom "Dear diary". In a regular diary entry, this opening is used to give the impression of writing to a trusted friend, the diary being anthropomorphized to take that friend's role. However, where other people would write about their day or put their feelings into words, Black Hat's diary entry consists of a standard phishing scam attempting to request some private information in exchange for a large cash amount which does not exist. In this case, the scam is the infamous [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nigerian-scams Nigerian Royalty scam], where the 'royalty' needs bank details to give money, when it will in fact be taken.  [[Black Hat]] apparently is so used to tricking people that even his own anthropomorphized diary is not safe from his pranks. Alternatively, the entry is intended for anyone who looks at his diary without his permission. It's also possible he has obtained someone else's diary and is somehow trying to scam the diary's owner, although it's not clear how that might work.  Or, since it is a rather obvious scam, he may simply being trying to scare the diary's owner, perhaps the same child as he traumatized in [[1776|the previous comic]] with a reindeer mutated to look like a spider.
  
 
This comic creates a stark contrast by putting together elements that seem similar, but do not belong together, for comedic effect.
 
This comic creates a stark contrast by putting together elements that seem similar, but do not belong together, for comedic effect.

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)