Editing 1810: Chat Systems

{{comic
| number    = 1810
| date      = March 13, 2017
| title     = Chat Systems
| image     = chat_systems.png
| titletext = I'm one of the few Instagram users who connects solely through the Unix 'talk' gateway.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic consists of an {{w|Euler diagram}} showing a wide variety of {{w|Online chat|chat systems}} and their intersections. (Euler diagrams should not be confused with {{w|Venn diagram}}s, see more on this [[:Category:Venn diagrams|here]]). The comic demonstrates the complexity that can be involved in modern communications: simply remembering how to get in touch with someone can be a challenge.

Below is a [[#Chat systems|table]] with explanation for all 24 mentioned chat systems and below that a list of each system's [[#Euler intersections|intersections]] with the other systems. Several of the systems are already considered old, like ''The "chat" tab in an old {{w|Google Doc}}'', but some people keep using them, which is part of the joke. There only seems to be one "chat" system which could in no way be said to be an on-line chat system, and that is the ''Wall (bathroom)'' at the bottom, which refers to how people writes notes on public bathroom walls, making it an extra joke and possibly a reference to [[229: Graffiti]].

In the title text, [[Randall]] explains how he is one of the only few {{w|Instagram}} users to use the {{w|UNIX}} {{w|Talk_(software)|'talk' gateway}} (an old peer-to-peer chat system whereby users logged into the same UNIX system could privately communicate with each other in a full-screen interface.) But he doesn't tell how he had enhanced this old fashioned software.

Note that this is similar to the earlier [[949:_File_Transfer]].

===Chat systems===
The 24 chat systems with the number of stick figures inside are listed. Notice there are only 23 real systems, as one of the systems is a bathroom wall.
{| class="wikitable"
!System
!Number of people in group
!Explanation
!Intersects
|-
| {{w|SMS}}
|39
|Short Message Service; a text-based messaging system connecting most worldwide phone systems that had its beginnings in the 1980s and has since represented the most common form of data transmission for most people.  It is principally used to send short text messages between mobile phones, but most phone carriers provide facilities to send-to-email or send-to-voice (for use with landline phones).  Most major phone carriers also provide support for email-to-SMS.
|Slack, Hangouts, IRC, iMessage, Signal, Email, Snapchat, Whatsapp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, BBM, Twitter DM, WeChat, Peach
|-
| {{w|Email}}
|35
|A popular form of electronic communication that saw first widespread use in the 1960s. It allows you to send electronic "letters" to people using pre-exchanged email addresses. Many people use this platform, hence the large size of the corresponding circle.
|Slack, Hangouts, IRC, iMessage, Signal, Whatsapp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, BBM, Twitter DM, Skype, ICQ, Telegram
|-
| {{w|Hangouts}}
|9
|Google Hangouts is Google's instant messaging system. It can be used to share data and for video chat.
|SMS, Email, IRC, Slack, Signal
|-
| {{w|Signal_(software)|Signal}}
|8
| An app used for encrypted communications.
|SMS, Email, IRC, Slack, Hangouts, iMessage, Instagram DM, Zephyr
|-
| {{w|iMessage}}
|6
|Apple's SMS service
|Email, SMS, FB Messenger, Signal
|-
| {{w|IRC}}
|5
|Internet Relay Chat; a chat protocol from the late 1980s that still sees considerable but declining use today. It is an open, freely available protocol with many free client apps available. Communications are principally in text and users typically use an app to connect to an IRC server, which may in turn be connected to other IRC servers. Many clients also provide for file sharing. There are many client and server plugins that provide access to other protocols (such as IRC-Hangouts, etc).
|Email, SMS, Slack, Signal, Hangouts
|-
| {{w|Slack_(software)|Slack}}
|5
|A team instant messaging service
|Email, SMS, IRC, Hangouts, Signal
|-
| {{w|Twitter|Twitter DM}}
|4
| "Direct messages" between users on Twitter.
|Email, SMS
|-
| {{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}}
|2
|AOL Instant Messaging service; a popular messaging system from the 1990s that suffered a severe decline in 2005 upon the release of Gmail and Google Chat.  It is based on the closed source OSCAR protocol, but AOL created the TOC/TOC2 protocol specifications, and made specifications openly available, for third parties to connect to their service.  There have been short-lived dalliances with other protocols since 2008; it has never had direct support for the other widely used protocols here. Furthermore, it was discontinued on December 15, 2017, approximately nine months after the release of this comic.
|None
|-
|The "chat" tab in an old {{w|Google Doc}}
|2
|Google Docs is an online word processor reminiscent of Microsoft Word. One of the notable features is online collaborative editing, with a rudimentary chat feature for communication. Randall apparently communicates with someone using the chat in an old Google Doc.
|None
|-
| {{w|Facebook_Messenger|FB Messenger}}
|2
|Facebook's chat system.
|Email, SMS, iMessage
|-
| {{w|Instagram|Instagram DM}}
|2
|Direct Messaging, a feature of Instagram that allows users to post personal messages to each other.
|Email, SMS, Signal
|-
|{{w|Peach_(social_network)|Peach}}
|2
|Peach is a mobile-based social network introduced in January 2016.
|SMS
|-
| Telegram
|2
|Could refer to a cloud based instant messaging system by this name ({{w|Telegram (software)|Telegram}}), or to actually sending messages using {{w|telegrams}}. Telegrams were messages sent by electric telegraphy, which were often typed out and hand-delivered to the recipient. This was the first system for rapid communication across long distances that was widely available, originally developed in the 19th century. Naturally, telegraphy is now wildly obsolete (though some local services apparently do still exist) which would explain why Randall communicates with so few people that way.
|Email 
|-
| {{w|Skype}}
|2
|Microsoft's chat client. It offers voice over IP (VOIP) video and audio calls, instant messaging and phoning from within the app.
|Email
|-
| {{w|WhatsApp}}
|2
|Billed as encrypted end-to-end chat, allows voice over IP (VOIP) chats, text chats, video and image sharing. Caters for group chat as well. As of 2020 WhatsApp is the [https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2019/02/whatsapp-facts-stats.html most common instant messaging app worldwide], with [https://www.whatsapp.com/about/ more than 2 billion users in 180 countries.]
|Email, SMS
|-
| {{w|WeChat}}
|2
| Started off as a Chinese WhatsApp imitation. WeChat has become a full scale social media system, with its own news, games and payment system.
|SMS
|-
|{{w|Apache_HTTP_Server|Apache}} Request {{w|Server_log|Log}}
|1
|Like many {{w|Web server|web servers}}, Apache keeps a record of incoming requests -- both successful and unsuccessful -- in various log files. A conscientious webmaster will often review those logs, either to gauge interest in visited pages, or more importantly to detect failed requests that should not have failed, perhaps due to errors in the site's hotlinks which are therefore in need of cleanup.  If you know a particular webmaster who does this regularly, you can therefore send him/her a personal message by attempting to fetch a deliberately-nonexistent URL like <tt>http://example.com/Hey_Sandra_its_Pierce_wanna_have_a_drink_tonight.html</tt>, knowing that the "message" will show up as a failed request in the logs.  This is a form of "back channel" communication, hardly practical as a true "chat system"{{Citation needed}}, although an excellent in-joke among like-minded hackers.  Nevertheless, shortly after this comic appeared, a more "practical" implementation was [https://github.com/mdom/smokesignal published on github].
|None
|-
| {{w|BlackBerry Messenger|BBM}}
|1
|Blackberry message. A chat system available on {{w|BlackBerry}} phones, now largely obsolete.
|Email, SMS
|-
| {{w|Snapchat}}
|1
|Snapchat is an image messaging app.
|SMS
|-
|Wall (bathroom)
|1
|This is the only "other" joke in the comic as this is the only "system" not on-line. Apparently it is a chat system based around writing on the wall in the bathroom. Not an electronic system. It may thus be a reference to [[229: Graffiti]]. Leaving messages on public bathroom walls is a common form of {{w|graffiti}}. It may be used as a support for anonymous conversations. Alternatively, this could mean the person is an extreme introvert, and hides in his bathroom instead of interacting with others, by talking through the wall. It could also be a pun on "communicating through _____" as a bathroom wall is a physical object rather than an interface. It could also refer to someone who has a habit of talking through the wall to people in adjacent stalls of a public bathroom.
Alternately, there used to be a Facebook App called Bathroom Wall, which was an anonymous message board where people could both post and reply to posts. This was all anonymous by default, but users could attach a nickname to each individual post or reply in order to maintain a continuity, and even have a full conversation. It's possible that this is what Randall meant for this group, seeing as it was indeed a way to communicate online.
|None
|-
|{{w|Wall (Unix)}}
|1
|Short for "write all", the "wall" command copies its input to every user logged into the same Unix system, and so can be used as a primitive chat system.
|None
|-
| {{w|Zephyr (protocol)}}
|1
| Zephyr was designed as an instant messaging protocol and application-suite with a heavy Unix background.
|Email, SMS, Signal
|-
| {{w|ICQ}}
|1
|An older proprietary instant messaging application.
|Email
|}

==Transcript==
:[An Euler diagram with many circle like drawings for various chat systems is shown. Some circles overlapping others in complicated ways, others are single circles with no connections, but most are embedded into others. Inside the circles mainly the standard sticky figures like Cueball, Megan, Ponytail and Hairy are shown but there are also a few others.]

:[The list of items and its intersections from left top to right bottom is:]
:Skype - none, Email
:Email - none, Skype, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, ICQ, iMessage, Signal, WhatsApp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, BBM, Telegram, Twitter DM
:SMS - none, Email, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, Snapchat, iMessage, Signal, WeChat, WhatsApp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, Peach, BBM, Twitter DM
:AIM - none
:Slack - Email, SMS, Hangouts, IRC, Signal
:Hangouts - Email, SMS, Slack, IRC, Signal
:IRC - Email, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, Signal
:Snapchat - SMS
:ICQ - Email
:iMessage - Email, SMS, Signal, FB Messenger
:Signal - Email, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, iMessage, Zephyr, Instagram DM
:WeChat - SMS
:WhatsApp - Email, SMS
:Zephyr - Email, SMS, Signal
:FB Messenger - Email, SMS, iMessage
:Instagram DM - Email, SMS, Signal
:Peach - SMS
:BBM - Email, SMS
:Telegram - none, Email
:Twitter DM - none, Email, SMS
:The "chat" tab in an old Google Doc - none
:Apache Request Log - none
:Wall (Unix) - none
:Wall (bathroom) - none

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I have a hard time keeping track of which contacts use which chat systems.

==Trivia==
*There are [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/ef/1810_Chat_System_numbered.PNG 57 characters] in the comic.
*The ubiquity of standards - here, of messaging systems - was already covered in [[927: Standards]] and people's hesitation to switch off IRC was mentioned in [[1782: Team Chat]]. The same point about people using various chat systems was used in [[1254: Preferred Chat System]]. And famously the hidden chat room mentioned in [[1305: Undocumented Feature]], was later created by Randall through the [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] [[1506: xkcloud]] - see the [[1506:_xkcloud#Don.27t_contact_us|Don't contact us]] section.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]] 
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Euler diagrams]]