Difference between revisions of "Talk:1360: Old Files"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 29: Line 29:
 
:I did remove that templates from this page, the explain is still very bad — but now you should be able to post your adds. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
 
:I did remove that templates from this page, the explain is still very bad — but now you should be able to post your adds. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
 
: I am the person who added the templates. I figured that on a xkcd wiki of all wikis one should feel free to use some more advanced Mediawiki features, to keep from redundancy (here, repetition of data between the explanation and the transcript)... Oh well. Apparently the definition of "to make sense" is "to make sense to others". Also, semicolons are used for definition lists, not for headers.
 
: I am the person who added the templates. I figured that on a xkcd wiki of all wikis one should feel free to use some more advanced Mediawiki features, to keep from redundancy (here, repetition of data between the explanation and the transcript)... Oh well. Apparently the definition of "to make sense" is "to make sense to others". Also, semicolons are used for definition lists, not for headers.
 +
:: By the way, the current transcript is wrong. The items listed under "No header" headers belong to the "named" headers on the parallel side. There is no dichotomy like that. If you insist on reflecting the visual layout of the comic in the transcript, I suggest something like this (uncapitalised, unsorted, and unformatted, because it is just a quick illustration):
 +
 +
<table class='wikitable'>
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
* misc.txt
 +
<th>
 +
documents <hr>
 +
Megan: <br> "You OK <br> down there?"
 +
<td>
 +
* video projects
 +
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
* facebook pics
 +
<th>
 +
old desktop
 +
<td>
 +
* pics from <br> other camera
 +
* temp
 +
* misc pdfs
 +
* mp3
 +
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
* temp
 +
<th>
 +
recovered from <br> drive frash
 +
<td>
 +
* work misc
 +
* audiobooks
 +
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
* downloads
 +
* ayb
 +
* ev override
 +
* angband
 +
* kazaa shared
 +
* gigs
 +
<th>
 +
my documents
 +
<td>
 +
* fight club.wmv
 +
* aim direct <br> connect files
 +
* elasto mania
 +
* 4chan
 +
* icq logs
 +
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
* lovenote.txt
 +
* gorilla.bas
 +
* aol
 +
** citadel
 +
* nyet
 +
* jokes.txt
 +
<th>
 +
high school <br> zip disk
 +
<td>
 +
* korn midi
 +
* photos3
 +
** prom
 +
* dream.txt
 +
* james.txt
 +
* qbasic
 +
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
&nbsp;
 +
<th>
 +
aaafiles
 +
<td>
 +
&nbsp;
 +
 +
<tr>
 +
<td>
 +
&nbsp;
 +
<th>
 +
txt <hr>
 +
Cueball: <br> "Oh my God. <br> I wrote poetry."
 +
<td>
 +
&nbsp;
 +
 +
</table>

Revision as of 20:56, 25 April 2014

I notice backup and recovery files. I once had a folder on my father's computer that housed everything I did. When the drive crashed, I managed to recover it and store it to a CD-ROM (this was before thumb drives). I copied everything onto my first computer within my main folder (I don't use My Documents), and I continue to move my main folder into a new main folder each time I migrate between computers. I have so many nested memories. I, too, have incomplete fan-fiction and instant message logs. Oh, and a dream.txt. 108.162.237.218 04:47, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't have as much of a problem with the "old files room", because I keep nearly all of my files on my laptop, but my hard drive is almost full. Another hard drive replace the CD drive, but this computer won't last much longer (bye cd drive workaround). I'll have to build an "old files room" sooner or later. Z (talk) 05:07, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Back in the... early '90s, I think it was... I recall there being someone like a buddhist monk (or someone claiming to be someone like a buddhist monk, and the religion could have been something else) who set up an internet site (not necessarily a website) as a temple for "all lost data". The files you had accidentally deleted, the floppies that got damaged or otherwise corrupted, forgotten formats on old drives that you'd lost the wherewithall to access them. Between this and the "hoarder" behaviour exhibitted in the above XKCD folder we encompass all long-term computer users. At the same time. I know I regret the dead USB sticks (with irreplacable content) and yet I stare in hopelessness at the folders "GStick" and "FStick" within My Documents, that really need looking at again. (No, they don't contain the lost material. Datestamped at 2009.) But they're two of fifty-three separate subfolders (and a helluva lot of loose files) in that level. "WebRedo"? I remember that. That site hasn't even been active for about a decade. 141.101.89.224 06:50, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Explanation

I think the point of the comic doesn't come across in the explanation. It's not just that he's sifting through files, but that he's finding files nested deeply in his folder structure that just came to pass because he always copied contents of an old computer to some folder on the next computer and then ignored its contents.

I.e. in his "Documents" folder, there is the "Old Desktop" folder from a previous computer, which contains the "Recovered from drive crash" folder from another previous system, which has another "Mu Documents" folder within, ... etc. The nesting aspect should somehow be integrated into the explanation. --108.162.229.57 09:59, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

The shape of the panel is vaguely reminiscent of a hard drive, this may be intentional, being emphasized by the increasing size of the individual layers. In which case there might be some metaphor construed by the placement of the two characters based on their location in the structure of the hard-drive perhaps involving the catalog index. 108.162.216.35 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)


It should be pointed out that the AYB folder is directly referencing https://xkcd.com/286/ 108.162.238.211 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I have done this before on my hard drive(s) and I always find my old qbasic programs. Anyone knows of an emulator for qbasic so I could see my old programs running again? Bigfatbernie (talk) 13:56, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

DOSBox will run QBasic programs if you grab the QBasic 1.1 interpreter from either an old copy of Windows 98 that still has it in its dos utilities folder, or just download it from here: http://www.qbasic.net/en/qbasic-downloads/compiler/qbasic-interpreter.htm 108.162.219.42 17:01, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Anybody know what Citadel is? 108.162.219.42 16:58, 25 April 2014 (UTC)


Can we get some instructions on how to edit the page?

It makes no sense to me whatsoever, and it's unlike every other page on the wiki. I can find the list we use in the transcript, but I can't figure out how to add the explainations 199.27.130.204 18:19, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

I did remove that templates from this page, the explain is still very bad — but now you should be able to post your adds. --Dgbrt (talk) 19:23, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
I am the person who added the templates. I figured that on a xkcd wiki of all wikis one should feel free to use some more advanced Mediawiki features, to keep from redundancy (here, repetition of data between the explanation and the transcript)... Oh well. Apparently the definition of "to make sense" is "to make sense to others". Also, semicolons are used for definition lists, not for headers.
By the way, the current transcript is wrong. The items listed under "No header" headers belong to the "named" headers on the parallel side. There is no dichotomy like that. If you insist on reflecting the visual layout of the comic in the transcript, I suggest something like this (uncapitalised, unsorted, and unformatted, because it is just a quick illustration):
  • misc.txt
documents

Megan:
"You OK
down there?"

  • video projects
  • facebook pics

old desktop

  • pics from
    other camera
  • temp
  • misc pdfs
  • mp3
  • temp

recovered from
drive frash

  • work misc
  • audiobooks
  • downloads
  • ayb
  • ev override
  • angband
  • kazaa shared
  • gigs

my documents

  • fight club.wmv
  • aim direct
    connect files
  • elasto mania
  • 4chan
  • icq logs
  • lovenote.txt
  • gorilla.bas
  • aol
    • citadel
  • nyet
  • jokes.txt

high school
zip disk

  • korn midi
  • photos3
    • prom
  • dream.txt
  • james.txt
  • qbasic

 

aaafiles

 

 

txt

Cueball:
"Oh my God.
I wrote poetry."