Editing White Hat

{{Infobox character
| image      = white_hat.png
| imagesize  = 200px
| caption    = '
| first_appearance = [[260: The Glass Necklace]]
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring White Hat|Comics featuring White Hat]].''<noinclude>

'''White Hat''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. He is distinguished by his eponymous white hat which appears to be in the shape and style of a {{w|boater}}. His appearance is identical to that of [[Black Hat]] other than the color of their respective hats. Unlike Black Hat, however, White Hat doesn't necessarily represent the same character in each appearance.

Interestingly, the two characters have been depicted together only in [[1000: 1000 Comics]], [[1110: Click and Drag]], [[1708: Dehydration]], [[1756: I'm With Her]], [[1881: Drone Training]], [[2174: First News Memory]], [[2712: Gravity]]and [[2765: Escape Speed]] although they actually speak in the same setting in [[1708]] and [[2174]], and speak to each other in [[1881]], the other three being [[:Category:Large drawings|large comics]] where they do not meet. The same goes for the other white hat guy, [[Beret Guy]]. See more on how little these three interact in xkcd in the explanation for [[:Category:Characters with hats|Characters with hats]].

In early comics, White Hat appeared mostly as a rare secondary character. But starting with comic [[915: Connoisseur]], White Hat began appearing more often and developed more of a personality, often playing the role of a philosophically misguided person. In this way, he's a bit of a {{rw|straw_man|straw man}}, making {{rw|fallacy|logical fallacies}} to help advance [[Randall Munroe|Randall]]'s point (see also [[973: MTV Generation]], [[1215: Insight]], [[1255: Columbus]], [[1277: Ayn Random]], [[2357: Polls vs the Street]] and [[2368: Bigger Problem]]). Other times, he is simply an alternative to [[Cueball]] or one of the other main characters.

In [[603: Idiocracy]] a character with a white hat appears, but it is a rounded safari hat very unlike White Hat's usual boater. He also has a very different mindset so there is no reason to believe that he is White Hat at all, and the comic has been removed from the list of those with White Hat. The main reason for the initial misunderstanding is that White Hat had already appeared in his normal hat three times before that comic, and Safari Hat guy has never been shown again, except in [[1000: 1000 Comics]].

==Characteristics==
The hat and name were not originally a reference to {{w|Black hat hacking}}, but to the now defunct webcomic, ''Men in Hats''. However, the character has evolved to have very similar motivation, hatching evil schemes often for no reason other than to cause chaos or go against the societal norms.

When he was first introduced, Black Hat's hat was taller and more in the style of a top hat. The design was refined in his next several appearances to the flat hat he currently sports.

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[[Category:Characters with hats| White Hat]]
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