explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3093: Drafting

2025-05-25T13:24:30Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ Better punctuation. Leaving only the 'better' of two prior CNs, too close to have both. A bit more clarification. Mdash.

{{comic
| number = 3093
| date = May 23, 2025
| title = Drafting
| image = drafting_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x518px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = A 5% efficiency gain at the cost of a 99% efficiency loss
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a bot that should not have tried this. The explanation is still a DRAFT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category: Tips|Tips]], this time an Aerospace tip.

{{w|Drafting (aerodynamics)|Drafting}} is an aerodynamic technique where one moving object follows another one closely to reduce drag by using the first objects {{w|slipstream}}. It is used in various sports, most prominently {{w|cycling}}.

The comic explores the idea of using drafting for rockets and states that while it theoretically works, it isn't really recommended.

The title text gives more details on this, claiming that although there is an efficiency gain of 5% through drafting via the general mechanism, it also comes with a 99% loss. Trying to closely follow a rocket, directly against the flow of its extremely hot and high-speed exhaust, could have adverse effects on the follower's flight. There might also be a risk to the leader, if the follower collides with it or if the follower explodes.

Generally, this could be understood because land transportation is based on traction (pulling yourself along a surface via friction). At higher speeds (above 60km/h), the dominant force becomes wind drag. {{w|Energy-efficient driving}} at these higher speeds can be improved by drafting behind another vehicle. This doesn't apply to rockets because they do not move themselves via friction but rather via Newton's third law (throwing stuff backwards). This means that the front rocket would just push the back rocket against its own thrust (among other bad effects).

It should be mentioned that drafting behind another land vehicle in regular traffic is a potentially lethal high-risk endeavour, as the truck in front of you may suddenly have to brake for one reason or another, and human reaction times are generally too long to rely upon when you're close enough for this method to have any significant effect. Rockets do not suddenly brake in mid-flight,{{Citation needed}} so this may be said in their favour as leading vehicles — that is of course, if you feel that blowing up in a spectacular fireball is preferable to being violently crushed into a metal pancake.

==Transcript==
:[A rocket with two boosters is launching going towards the top right corner. It has a two-stage core and two boosters, and they produce three flames from their exhaust and beneath these flames is a large exhaust plume fanning out behind the rocket most of the way towards the bottom of the panel. A smaller rocket is following the first rocket. It is very close to the first rocket, so most of the smaller rocket is inside the exhaust plume from the larger rocket. The smaller rocket does not have boosters, but still produces three smaller flames from its exhaust. Beneath these flames the smaller rocket also leaves a large but slimmer exhaust plume that exits the panel at the bottom left corner.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Aerospace tip: Although the technique reduces atmospheric drag for many types of vehicles, you should '''''never''''' try to improve rocket launch efficiency through drafting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Rockets]]

Talk:2945: Broken Model

2024-08-18T11:34:42Z

172.70.160.249:

If only Randall had included a cabbage somewhere... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.241|172.68.64.241]] 05:03, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:He included grass... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:The cabbage would consume nothing & nothing would consume the cabbage; it's a null value, so the mathematician left it out.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:55, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:The cabbages are too busy eating the goats in the universe next door. [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 07:43, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
:They're probably also eating the boats if anything. [[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 00:41, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

This "terrifying alternate universe" thing goes all the way back to the 5th century before the Common Era:

The lion shall lie down with the lamb, and they shall eat grass.
Alas for the lion! He cannot eat grass, he shall be no more, unless he become a lamb.
Alas for the grass! There are too many lambs, it cannot grow, it shall be no more, unless it become thorns.
Alas for the lambs! They cannot eat thorns, they shall be no more, unless they eat each other -
yea, unless some become lions, and they eat enough lambs so that the grass may grow again.

Ergo, Heaven is Hell. QED. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.177|172.68.22.177]] 06:09, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:Yep predators are important, but only if they are the 20 and the prey are the 400. Else it is extermination for the prey. And if the predators only eat those kinds of animals also the end for them. Luckily the rabbits could eat grass. But what should the grass eat now there are no more foxes? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

I wonder if the term ''hell'' is a reference to the paper [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24310043_A_slow_life_in_hell_or_a_fast_life_in_heaven_Demographic_analyses_of_contrasting_roe_deer_populations A slow life in hell or a fast life in heaven: Demographic analyses of contrasting roe deer populations] (2009). I couldn't find any earlier mention in this context. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.199|172.71.130.199]] 07:51, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:It's probably a reference to the realm mentioned in most religions where eternal punishment is dished out to uncool individuals based on their bad deeds. "Hell" is the reference here, not an article on deer populations, lol. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Anyone else with a sudden urge of writing a Zootopia fanfic ("No, Judy, NOOOOO!")? (Oh yes, the relevant pic exists. This is teh Internet.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.174|198.41.242.174]] 08:44, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

That last paragraph is completely incomprehensible at time of writing. --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 11:37, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Apparently, AI doesn't have a problem with redundant content - for example, the double mention of "Fox Hell" in the Title Text with two separate paragraphs. The AI generator also seems intent on commenting excessively on typical xkcd humor patterns. I feel like some of this extra AI content needs to be trimmed down just a bit, as it doesn't add value and just makes it look like a school essay instead of a human-readable explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:44, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:Agreed.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

It's rather obvious LLM was used here, especially the part where it only mentions the teacher saying "If this were an ecology class, I would have to fix that." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.32|162.158.146.32]]

Are AI-generated additions to the explanations allowed here? I immediately came here after reading the "explanation" and noticing how redundant and inaccurate it was and was hoping it would be removed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.217|162.158.62.217]] 22:07, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

:I don't believe anyone has ever come out and said "don't use AI-generated text in explanations" at this point, but I'm finding it annoying that at least one person feels the need to do it. I find it disruptive to some degree, as it probably takes almost as much work to clean up the extra garbage included as it would to write the explanations from scratch. I fear it may discourage editors from contributing to explanations when they end up just cleaning up someone's AI additions. Just my 2 cents worth. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:48, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

::I think it's a net positive because cleaning up an AI explanation takes less time than writing one from scratch. I do think we should have a rule that AI explanations need to be marked as such in the edit summary, which was done in this case. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.22|162.158.41.22]] 19:09, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

:::Maybe a 2nd rule that when someone adds an AI explanation, they themselves should remove the redundant content and gushing endorsements for the comic strip from the explanation text. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:57, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

== Carnivorous grass? ==

I feel like this grass exists, even though I've never seen it named. Looks like grass, but puts out thorns tough enough to penetrate bike tires, & can sometimes be found as a patch growing extra thick around a snared animal carcass?
: A quick search suggests that "carnivorous grass" with features like this is a trope in world-building games. However, you may be thinking of this {{w|Puya chilensis|real-world South American bromeliad}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.128|172.71.150.128]] 17:45, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
::Naw, this literally just looks like grass, until it seeds, & then the seeds are these horrific burrs. I don't think the plant is specifically carnivorous, though. I just know the burrs can injure, smallish critters can get snagged in stands of it, & I've taken to calling it "hell grass" because I imagine hell would have huge tracts of suburban lawns full of the impassable stuff. Re: carnivorous, almost any plant seems to like some carcass mixed into its soil now & then? So, I go more by how deadly they seem to be... & I mentioned this stuff mostly because I don't know what to call it & so have been calling it Hell Grass. WTF is this impostor-grass?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:43, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
::: Got it. Sounds like one of the 107 species in the genus {{w|Cenchrus|Cenchrus}}, which is a bona fide member of the grass family (Poaceae). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.53|172.71.146.53]] 23:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
::::That's it! The hell-grass cenchrus longispinus, grows all over southern NewMexico, & [http://jimbotany.com/Monastery_Plants/Cenchrus%20longispinus--aka%20Cenchrus%20pauciflorus%20%202011-08-08.jpg it's primary thorns get a ''lot'' longer & stouter than shown in most photos]. Awful stuff; snares small beasts, makes dogs cry & cats angry, & it creeps in flat to the ground right through friendlier grasses. Even a few strands deploying seeds one year, can turn a lovely lawn into a lie.
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:11, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Couldn't fungi be classified as carnivorous "grass"? [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 18:00, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
: I would say it would be stretch considering fungi is neither grass nor carnivorous. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:34, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
::I mean, it can "chew" (decompose) stuff by growing on it. Aren't fungi plants? What does their gene tree look like? [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:38, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Fungi were originally in the plant kingdom, but they're actually more closely related to animals than plants. In 2007 the Fungi kingdom was created for them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:23, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:::: Actually, Fungi were first recognized as a lineage at the "kingdom" level by {{w|Robert_Whittaker_(ecologist)|Robert Whittaker}} in 1969. Recognition that Fungi and Animalia are sister lineages came later. Remember that old line about how your boss must think you're a mushroom, 'cause dey keeps you in the dark and feeds you bullmanure? Your boss may have had more of a clue than you thought. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.53|172.71.146.53]] 23:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::Today I learned. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:47, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
:::::: True: no fungus is a grass. False: {{w|Carnivorous_fungus|No fungus is a carnivore}}. Oh, you were lying in a field of mushrooms contemplating picking some and having them for dinner, were you? You better watch out ... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.120|162.158.41.120]] 01:01, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

Uhhhh the explanation is wrong saying that the 400 rabbits will drive the foxes extinct. This is one of the unphysical parts of the lotka volterra equations actually, no matter what the start values are, if they are non zero they will remain nonzero forever. (This is called the atto fox problem)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.83|172.70.211.83]] 17:07, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
:That's correct if there's any migration, but more generally less than half a fox is zero foxes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.16|172.69.34.16]] 00:46, 16 June 2024 (UTC)
::In fact, less than two foxes (excepting "one 'widowed' fox that's already pregnant") is effectively zero foxes, in a closed-system.
::But depends upon how quantized or probability-based you deal with each amalgamation of the differential/integral calculus figues... Or interpreting them correctly as the implied one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.18|162.158.49.18]] 13:48, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

In the basic "obligate vulpivoric leporid" model, the drastic reduction of the (already few) foxes would be catastrophic for the rabbits, leading to a crash in ''their'' population and (so long as at least one breeding pair of foxes survived, for long enough) re-establish a new dynamic equilibreum that might look somewhat similar (but the memberships flipped) to the starting condition that was supposed to be many prey and few predators. (Not exactly the same, probably, as breeding cycles would still be geated towards their respective original roles, so it'd probably settle at very few rabbits needing a truly huge population of foxes to support them. If it didn't end in mutual extinction first.) 
The title-text's addition (or restatement) of rabbits being vulpo-vegetarian omnivores is not only hell for the foxes due to carniverous gramineae (which at least can nominally be avoided, by sticking to bare earth/rock or becoming arboreal/aquatic in pursuit of whatever now sustains them in leiu of any traditional lagomorphic food-source) but because their "hungry for meat" predators are ''not'' actually restricted by the plunging fox population. Foxes that evade their twin enemies will still have a large grass-sustained population of hoppy predators after their hides (or at least selective innards) whenever they become careless enough to show themselves (or their hide-out dens happen to get tunneled into by the even more capable burrowers). It is not explained what sustains the grass that would sustain the rabbits in this way (beyond the odd unwary renard), perhaps it's also significantly dual-diet with its original source of energy (i.e. photo-carninverous), but even if it's also subject to a population dive (unable to hunt foxes, being nibbled at by slightly frustrated bunnies), the fox-eating-rabbits will survive (and initially thrive) long enough to make it next to impossible for a stable revival of foxes to occur. 
Though, depending upon whether foxes have ''any'' dietary requirements, via the miswrit equations, they ''might'' just get through to a "no grasses, no rabbits" situation where foxes are now mathematically unconstrained and potentially breeding like... well... their former foes. Hard times to get there, but now no longer hell. (At least until you add disease-burdening terms or other rates of mortality that scale up by population and/or population density.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 11:34, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

2966: Exam Numbers

2024-08-01T15:29:32Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2966
| date = July 31, 2024
| title = Exam Numbers
| image = exam_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x400px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Calligraphy exam: Write down the number 37, spelled out, nicely.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10 MORE THAN AVERAGE MATH TEACHERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic depicts various similarly formatted examination questions that might appear on test papers at various points in a student's potential academic career. While they all share a similar feel, they are asking for different things, some of which might be considered more serious and examinable proofs of study than others. The joke is that the first and last questions are the same, but have very different interpretations based on the context.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Exam numbers
! Exam level !! Question !! Answer
|-
| {{w|Kindergarten}} math || Write down the biggest number you can think of || At a kindergarten-level education, it is assumed that an individual might write down a relatively small number like 300, depending upon whether they have encountered the concept of hundreds. It might also be interpreted as "what's the highest number that you (think you) can count up to". Given the nature of a child's exuberant glee at learning about ''really'' big (but otherwise normal) numbers, they may even try an answer something like "a million billion squillion gazillion". It is not certain what criteria would be used to mark this question correct or otherwise, it may actually be a stealth question in child psychology or a question that everybody "gets right" so long as they answer it.
|-
| Pre-{{w|algebra}} || Write down the value of x if x=3x-8 ||

''3x'' refers to the multiplication of 3 and the originally unknown number ''x'', as a convenient shorthand.

By subtracting ''3x'' from both sides, ''-2x = -8''. Divide both sides by -2 to find ''x''=4. Alternately, subtract ''x'' from both sides to give ''0 = 2x - 8'', and as taking 8 from two ''x''s makes it zero, one ''x'' is half that

(Verify by plugging ''x''=4 into the original equation. '''4''' = (3*'''4''') - 8 -> '''4''' = 12 - 8 -> '''4''' = 4.)
|-
| {{w|Calculus}} || Write down the value of ∫0π x sin2 x dx ||
The integral can be solved using a trigonometric identity:

∫0π x sin2 x dx

= ∫0π x (1-cos 2x)/2 dx

= ½ ∫0π x dx - ½ ∫0π cos 2x dx

= ¼ x2 |0π - ¼ ∫0π cos 2x d2x

= ¼ x2 |0π - ¼ sin 2x |0π

= ¼ π2 = 2.4674...

|-
| PhD {{w|Cosmology}} || Write down the Hubble constant to within 1% || The Hubble constant is a component of {{w|Hubble's law}}, which describes the relationship between the distance between galaxies and their speed of separation. Its exact value is not known to this level of accuracy; it is about 2.3×10-18 Hz. Different methods of measuring it have come up with significantly different values, and resolving this difference (the {{w|Hubble's law#Hubble tension|Hubble tension}}) is one of the great challenges of modern cosmology. PhDs involve advancing their field, so it seems this particular PhD student has completed a thesis solving this problem. This question might have a different acceptable answer in the future, depending upon further developments in cosmology (although the 'constant' itself changes over time).
|-
| {{w|Game Theory}} || Write down 10 more than the average of the class's answers || Game Theory studies "games" (and 'game-like' situations) in which two or more participants take actions that will succeed or fail based on other participants' decisions. In this case, all students' answers will be averaged (what kind of average is not stated, but the common assumption would be an {{w|arithmetical mean}}), and the highest- (or perhaps only) scoring answer will be one that is 10 more than that average.

If a student knew what everyone else was thinking, this would incentivise them to answer 10 more than the consensus (taking into account their own forthcoming answer), which would not necessarily be the largest number written down. For instance, if the answers end up being 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70, the (mean) average would be 50, making 60 the most correct answer. Since they presumably do not know each other's answers, they will have to guess what those answers are likely to be, factoring in that each of the other students will also be guessing everyone's answers and responding accordingly.

In reality, most game theory exams test your understanding of game theory as an academic subject, not your ability to win games. (A type of class where actual results may result in better grades is a business negotiation class where the results of practice negotiations can determine one's grade on the assignment.)

Something similar to this question is found in the title text of [[2385: Final Exam]].
|-
| Postgraduate Math || Write down the biggest number you can think of || This question echoes the very first example, but would be expected to be answered very differently (unlike a revisiting of most of the others).
Postgraduate math students can probably think of ''very'' large numbers. While a tempting answer could be "{{w|infinity}}", most mathematicians do not consider infinity to be a number, but rather a class of numbers. (Writing down "Infinity" in this context would be as wrong as writing down "Primes" or "Positive integers"). Even if infinity is an acceptable answer, some infinities are bigger than others. Students familiar with the field of [https://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Googology#History Googology] may give an answer such as Rayo's Number, which was the winning entry in the [https://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Number_Duel Big Number Duel].

This might heavily depend upon the branch of mathematics you are studying. Named (finite) numbers, or ones with specific and useful notations, might satisfy some questioning contexts, whilst the existence of a whole further set of trans-finite numbers (i.e. increasingly large types of "infinity") would be important considerations in others. For those associated with more computational mathematics, any infinity would be {{w|NaN|Not a Number}}, and their answer might instead be the ceiling of some binary representation (typically ''28n-1'' for some value of ''n''), the largest unsigned value reliably storable in a given byte form for an integer (e.g. a {{w|Integer (computer science)|double quadword}}). On the other end of the spectrum, many abstract algebraists might answer with some variation of "What ring are we working in, and is it even well ordered?" It also might be a trick question: if you can envision a real number greater than one, are you even doing real math (in a given field)?

As with the kindergarten question, there may be no previously anticipated "correct" answer. It could be another "correct just so long as you answer it" (or perhaps "sensibly" so) or the mark goes only to those giving the greatest valid number across all submissions.
|-
| {{w|Calligraphy}} (title text) || Write down the number 37, spelled out, nicely || Calligraphy is the art of artistic writing. The title text expands the joke outside the realm of math and points out that since calligraphy does not require any math skills, the only way a calligraphy exam would even mention numbers is if one had to write them out in such a way as to showcase their calligraphic skill and aesthetic judgement (choosing a form and adornement of script that is "nice", which may be a highly subjective choice). In this case, it could be rendered as "thirty-seven" or "thirty seven" (or possibly, "one score and seventeen" in old-fashioned writing). {{w|37}} is a number that some people believe [http://thirty-seven.org mysteriously appears more often than it should]; this was a subject of a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6iQrh2TK98 recent Veritasium video].
|}

This style of final exam question, un-numbered and therefore possibly the ''only'' question upon the whole of each final paper, in some ways (for some instances) echoes the question "What is your name?" that Randall will be aware was the sole question given to Discworld's {{w|List of Discworld characters#Victor Tugelbend|Victor Tugelbend}} in an attempt to ensure he comprehensively passed (or utterly failed) his final student-wizard's exam, after many prior times of deliberately not-quite-passing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[6 different math test questions.]

:[The first panel:]
:Kindergarten math final exam
:Q. Write down the biggest number you can think of
:A. [empty box]

:[The second panel:]
:Pre-algebra final exam
:Q. Write down the value of x if x=3x-8
:A. [empty box]

:[The third panel:]
:Calculus final exam
:Q. Write down the value of [integral sign, from 0 to pi] x sin^2 x dx
:A. [empty box]

:[The fourth panel:]
:PhD cosmology final exam
:Q. Write down the Hubble constant to within 1%
:A. [empty box]

:[The fifth panel:]
:Game theory final exam
:Q. Write down 10 more than the average of the class's answers
:A. [empty box]

:[The sixth panel:]
:Postgraduate math final exam
:Q. Write down the biggest number you can think of
:A. [empty box]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]

Talk:2069: Wishlist

2024-08-01T11:23:21Z

172.70.160.249:

Inspired by the current furor over Super Smash Bros being branded racist over the character Mr Game And Watch, perhaps? I know people started yelling over the last few days, but don't play the game so I don't have any further details. Feel free to delete / expand. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.160|172.69.62.160]] 09:36, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

Clippy: "It was an intelligent user interface that assisted users." Really? Did you have a different clippy? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.45|141.101.69.45]] 10:05, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

Randall should submit his list to McLeodGaming, maybe they will put one of these into SSF3. https://mcleodgaming.fandom.com/wiki/Character#Playable_characters_2 --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.44|162.158.88.44]] 10:53, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

The Mario and Luigi hybrid might be a reference to [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bowsette this monstrosity]. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 12:09, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

InstallShield Wizard Final Smash: Install malware. Screen glitches out, game blue screens, everyone takes damage and goes flying. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 14:17, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

If this comic left you wanting more: https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/will-not-play-new-smash-bros-unless-includes {{unsigned ip|172.68.230.106}}

is it just me or is the the Ruth Bader Ginsberg reference maybe related to how she looks like an older version bayonetta? {{unsigned ip|162.158.106.168}}

I assumed Lot's wife would be the pillar of salt version, because of how salty Smash players are when they lose. -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.196|162.158.38.196]] 20:47, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

The Lego Star Wars games for the Gamecude and Wii feature the Sarlacc Pit, though mostly asa a background/cutscene element, and definitely not as a playable character. It should probably also be noted that these games were multi-platform. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.83|108.162.246.83]] 21:01, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

(Hope this is formatted correctly) This comic probably is in response to last Thursday's Nintendo Direct, about the new Smash game coming next month. In that trailer, many characters were deconfirmed, including many popular picks, while a completely unexpected character (not said to avoid spoilers for those who don't wish to see them) was added. Many people have expressed amounts of negativity about the roster reveals, ranging from simple disappointment about their most wanted not making the cut to people raging about said characters inclusion due to how "deserving" said character is. People who are extremely disappointed and people who are defensive about the choices have made the fanbase really... Broken, as usual. Depending on how you see the comic, Randall could be mocking those or sympathising with those who didn't get their characters in.
Also, Lot's wife being the pillar of salt version could indeed be about how salty the Smash community can be (which would fit nicely if this comic is making fun of fans' overzealous disappointment) but it could also be seen as a reference to a certain event in the story mode, although it's not an exact reference.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.41|172.68.46.41]] 23:47, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

As for characters needing to be from Nintendo characters, Cloud only appears in games for Nintendo systems that are crossovers with characters from multiple different Final Fantasy games, with only a minority of those being on Nintendo systems. Some of the other characters also have the majority of their game appearances, including their original appearance, on other companies platforms (Snake, Pac Man, and Sonic.) And for the person talking about the Game and Watch controversy, that is not referenced in this comic, and the game has been a big topic of discussion among some people lately for reasons that have nothing to do with that, mainly due to it being highly anticipated and being released early next month, along with recent announcements of details about the game, including what characters are included (which is what this comic is talking about).--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.27|162.158.74.27]] 09:16, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

NOTHING about the "No Internet" dinosaur? C'mon Randall! {{unsigned ip|162.158.63.166}}
Well, at the time the No Internet Dinosaur was planned for DLC, but Nintendo ended up scrapping that bit because of a conflict with Google on Pokemon Go. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.52|172.68.78.52]] 04:00, 14 February 2019 (UTC)

They really should add Waluigi to Smash.

I could have sworn this comic mentioned Cool-Aide Guy. {{unsigned ip|172.70.214.218|04:10, 1 August 2024}}

Talk:208: Regular Expressions

2024-08-01T11:12:56Z

172.70.160.249:

Hi, sorry about the previous "poor explanation". This one is pretty straight-forward (I think), given enough information about "regex"es and Perl. On a side-note, how did you find out the date for the comic? -- NariOx
:The explanation was mostly accurate, my gripe was with the fact that a number of fields were empty - the transcript, date and categories weren't done. You can find the date in the "all comics" page, accessible from the sidebar. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:26, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Grumble grumble*, email should be intrinsically treated as 7-bit ASCII. 200MB of email would be almost 210 million bytes, raw. Even assuming half of that is header overheads on top of a whole lot of short message bodies, that's a lot more characters still to processed than 5 million. Of course, if people send more complex data through common MIME extensions (or the old favourites of uuencoding, etc) so as to send extended characters and binary-attachments (including various compressed formats of data, but again needing significant overheads when not containing large documents within), then that reduces the amount of characters needing searching (but probably needs a few more "use <foo>::<bar>;" bits on your Perl code, in order to give you the tools to isolate such blocks and decode what's in them for further searching within). But things went downhill ever since people could start sending emails with fancy graphical signatures and backgrounds... Yeah, I'm an Old Fogey from the dark ages. [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 00:00, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

I don't think a regex can isolate an address, it has so many forms that it can not be considered regular language. This discussion comes to similar conclusions: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9397485/regex-street-address-match [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 05:41, 1 November 2013 (UTC)
:It's an EMAIL address they're trying to match. Not quite obvious if you're not already thinking emails. At the same time, you COULD most likely catch a lot of the most common street address types, like 1234 Name Rd/St/Ave/etc. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 00:52, 30 January 2015 (UTC)
::No. "But to find them we'd need to search through 200MB of emails looking for something formatted like an address!" To '''find''' someone you need a physical address, not an email address. --[[Special:Contributions/197.234.242.240|197.234.242.240]] 14:48, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

The explanation misses the main point of the comic: a regex expert is so efficient he can solve a hard problem in a split second. Assuming, for instance, he jumped from 2 m high and he can type while he is less than 50 cm from the keyboard, he would have about .15 second to type. There's no way he could enter a long program implementing a complex algorithm but, according to Randall, this is sufficient to enter a compact regex that solves the problem.
In the title text, he is swinging back like a pendulum and using his new split-second typing opportunity to fix a bug in his initial regex. Zetfr 09:55, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

It's kinda funny that people are taking this so seriously when the comic itself (and the fact that it's in a comic) establishes this as a fantastical scenario. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 06:47, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

This is probably how they wrote Encyclopedia Brown. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.116|173.245.52.116]] 20:18, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

"Forgot to escape a space" in the hover text should also be explained, because spaces don't ever need to be escaped in RegEx as they aren't special characters, so that's either a mistake or another layer of the joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.117|172.68.210.117]] 01:07, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
:Given that it is Perl, he may indeed need to escape intended spaces, due to taking advantage of the use of [https://perldoc.perl.org/perlre#%2Fx-and-%2Fxx /x or /xx options being used]. It's something I rarely do myself, but perhaps I should (for readability, etc).
:Alternately, he's put in one or more "/s" (any whitespace character) only as "s" (the literal character 's') in his original hasty typing, but the former sounds more likely. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 11:12, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

User talk:Pie Guy

2024-07-26T15:59:33Z

172.70.160.249: /* Personal opinion warning. */ Rapidly? No, *rabidly*! Dunno how that got typoed.

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== The Sun and other suns... ==

No problem with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1071:_Exoplanets&curid=61&diff=328984&oldid=323586 this edit] (it turns out valid), except for the stated reasoning. By convention, only our star is "The Sun" (or Sol/Helios/etc, according to culture being used), but a distant planet can and will orbit "a sun" (unless it's a rogue, or complicated by being in a (stable?) N-ary system!) with "the stars" acting as the relative background scenery for both (possibly mostly shared, but each one's sun otherwise only a star to the other, at best).

I would, and do, aggressively recalitalise "sun" to (The) "Sun" - as necessary - without bothering on the more poetic/relational uses. Unless, of course, it needs to be ''lowercased''; and "our sun" preferential to "our Sun", but that would highly depend upon context, i.e. acceptably done in the following example style-usage from [https://history.nasa.gov/styleguide.html NASA]:
Capitalize the names of planets (e.g., “Earth,” “Mars,” “Jupiter”). Capitalize “Moon” when referring to Earth’s Moon; otherwise, lowercase “moon” (e.g., “The Moon orbits Earth,” “Jupiter’s moons”). Capitalize “Sun” when referring to our Sun but not to other suns. Do not capitalize “solar system” and “universe.” Another note on usage: “Earth,” when used as the name of the planet, is not preceded by “the”; you would not say “the Neptune” or “the Venus.” When “earth” is lowercased, it refers to soil or the ground, not the planet as a whole. Do use “the” in front of “Sun” and “Moon” as applicable. See the list below for capitalization of words containing “sun” and “moon.”

Obviously there are many standards, and you made it ''at least'' as correct, but a simple "rephrasing" reason would perhaps have been better and not have then brought out my inner-pedant... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.40|172.70.46.40]] 23:26, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

== 'Extending' cables ==

No problem with the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2534:_Retractable_Rocket&curid=24512&diff=341760&oldid=304108 alternative wording], as it becomes, but I'm a bit concerned that you think we 'extend' undersea cables. They are laid down. Unrolled from spools (or similar windings), and might be multiple lengths of cable (whether copper or fibe-optic) spliced together as necessary for handling and other logistical purposes (before spooling or between spools, or both, depending upon practical considerations). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.171|172.69.195.171]] 14:47, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:I was merely providing an example. I assumed that "extend" also included the "extension" of cables and other similar long, thin objects from spools or other holders. The first thing that jumped to my mind was a space elevator; would it not be appropriate that a space elevator's tether would be ''extended'' from the station in geostationary orbit to the surface below? In such a case, it would be a thing extended more than 400 km, making the original wording factually invalid. That's what I was thinking when I made the edit. But yeah, I knew undersea cables were rolled out in sections. [[User:Pie Guy|Pie Guy]] ([[User talk:Pie Guy|talk]]) 18:10, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

== Personal opinion warning. ==

Having played a part in the evolution of the Kamala Harris comic's warning element, I m wondering what the point is in the warning now. It's been cut down to "Just don't do stuff", now, without context or reasoning that goes beyond potentially ''any'' comic explanation. For my part, I don't begrudge Randall his opinion, helped by the fact I probably agree more with it than I disagree, but I was immediately concerned that some people were going to lambast him (on this forum, as well as elsewhere) when I saw him pin his views up so obviously, and it really does need a "look, we know you won't all agree, but let's try to be neutral; you've got plenty of other places to be rabidly for or against this opinion, and you're just going to look silly in twenty years time when Lord Binface has subsumed the whole planet into his interstellar empire", or similar. ...I can see your reasoning, but clearly you haven't seen its continual erosion (yes, originally it was far too wordy, but refining and evaporating are different things) and mostly just removal of every valid aspect to it such that it is a couple of steps away from being snuffed out. (Prematurely, IMO. The original version had an 'invisible' editor's suggestion that the warning should stay so long as Harris was in the race/the race was still unresolved, but even that got removed without any obvious reson given.) – As you can see, I'm also no obvious champion of laconic brevity... but there's a difference between distilling it down to its essence and just apllying the blue-pencil willy nilly. As the very latest in a line of those cutting it down (and with a handy Talk page, unluckily for you), I thought I'd set down my bottled up thoughts in your direction. Though you are just one of many (including myself) who have deigned to edit the warning concerned! And not at all the most questionable about it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.64|172.70.90.64]] 15:57, 26 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-26T08:27:56Z

172.70.160.249:

what in the heckoslovakia is panel 16 [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.216|172.71.147.216]] 02:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I can only assume that it's from the perspective of someone inside the well looking upward toward the outside world. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:23, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:: It's a reference to The Ring (リング) films and books. This distorted view from the inside of the well is an iconic part of the franchise's imagery, and, in minimal-spoilers form, its appearance suggests that someone has watched the cursed tape and should now expect a visitor to arrive from that well in seven days. (Definitely a red intersection) [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 02:52, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: more at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(franchise) aside holy gosh! I was expecting to link to IMDB for like two or three movies. /aside the trailer at https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/ starts with an a 1950-1990 ish USA telephone ring. It's been a while since I saw it and the ring referring to a telephone not magic ring is starting to sound familiar. SDT
:::: which is too much detail. "Panel 16 refers to a horror film" is not enough info SDT [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.102|172.70.134.102]] 04:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: [[396|You watched the tape!?]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.27|162.158.94.27]] 07:07, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: Having never seen* The Ring, I now think I understand a lot more about the film. Here was I, always thinking it was an allegory upon the idea of a {{w|webring}}...
::: ''* figure that if seeing "the tape" causes imminent death, then watching "The Ring" might at least cause an annoying rash/the sniffles in the near future... and I have indeed eventually felt an itch or had a runny nose even after seeing references ''to'' The Ring. Sometimes within a couple of months!''
::: I mean, is it not a bit of a Spoiler? (Clearly, I don't know how much it might be.) Hmmm... *itch itch* ''*aaachew!!*'' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.175|172.69.195.175]] 13:04, 25 July 2024 (UTC) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.100|172.70.134.100]] 03:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::::Even if it is a spoiler, which is debatable, the movie is from 2002 and the original story is from 1991. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.114|172.71.151.114]] 19:07, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm assuming that a table would probably be best for this comic, but tbh I don't know how to make one and it's kinda late for me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.212|162.158.137.212]] 02:48, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Update: thanks to whoever made the table [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.192|141.101.109.192]] 03:32, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::You're welcome :) I had to look at Wikipedia's tutorial to make it - [[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 05:55, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:::The table parser is incredibly byzantine; good job. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.11|172.70.215.11]] 07:34, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
As a note, water in power lines ''is'' actually a thing for high speed EV chargers - so much power is transferred even the cable need water cooling! [[User:Thief|Thief]] ([[User talk:Thief|talk]]) 12:38, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I'll be dammed, I'm the one who made that original statement, the more I know! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.23|172.68.210.23]] 23:15, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

172.70.162.18 (well, more precisely, the person who made [[Special:Diff/347189|this edit]]): you managed to make me frantically make two page moves thinking that you had removed the link that I added. See, I created [[:Category:Confusion matrices]] and added links to that on all the articles with confusion matrices. However, I thought you had reverted my edit when you removed a link to [[:Category:Comics with confusion matrices]]. So I thought I had created the category under the wrong name compared with what I added and went to move the category, until I realized you had indeed removed a link to a category that isn't used. Two page moves later (because I made a typo in the first move), I realized that the category's name was correct and that someone had earlier linked to a nonexistent category that was not mine. '''OOPS.''' —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 13:35, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Hi. I was just trying to submit the following, and got Edit Conflicted about it. Right, then. Obviously it's too late to make my reasoning known (I thought it was an IP who had created the "Charts with Confusion Matrices", or whatever it was, who couldn't have even created the required page, but... well, talk about confusion!) but giving it here anyway...
Removed the category of something to do with "confusion charts", which might be something to do with the appearence as a cross-compare table (akin to a Punnet Square, not ''quite'' the same as a Karnaugh Map; probably has some name such as "compatability matrix", but I can't remember or find what that might be). Anyway, apparently "confusion chart/square/matrix/whatever" isn't a term in use that I've been able to find out there in the real world (also, it is probably supposed to guide one ''away'' from potential confusion, not cause it), it specifically doesn't have a wikipedia entry (or even a wikiledia redirect to another one by another name) and we don't have that category even if we invented the term ourselves. There are other examples of this form already under [[:Category:Charts]], so it's "a thing" that we might want to service with a Category (ideally more "Compatability Matrix" than that other name), but best to create the category and add the comic(s) as members rather than speculatively add spurious non-existent categories then rely on someone else to fulfil them at a later date. Even better to have a quick check to see if everyone agrees to the category title (and need, ...which I would actually tentatively support, in this case, if asked) beforehand.
:...just as a note, as I spent quite some time trying to find out if "confusion charts" were a thing (and coming up blank), so maybe this way I haven't wasted my time quite as much as just going away, or instead just offering a laconic apology for getting in the way. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.5|172.69.195.5]] 13:46, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, me again. It looks like someone found {{w|Confusion matrix}} after all, as a wikipage. I'd actually looked for various "confusion" things but... Perhaps typoed the search when I tried vs. "matrix"..? Maybe. Seems the most logical mistake to have made. So ignore my above objections. Still, I don't like the name ("deconfusion matrix" would be awful, yet better), and I've never known it by that name. Just left making my opinion known, now, however wrong it turns out to have been. About that ''and'' the original wrong-way-round of implementing it (by parties unknown; not [[:User:Megan]], who it looks like just happened to clash with me in mutually well-meant but oppositely attempted resolutions to the original mess). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.121|172.70.163.121]] 14:28, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

it kind of looks like the driver in the car/front door panel is beret guy, assuming the car went front first into the door [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.9|172.70.178.9]] 16:20, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Reminds me a bit of Bumblebee, in the eponymous film, semitransforming to get through the internal door between the attached garage and the living area of the protagonist's (parents') house. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.18|172.70.162.18]] 20:21, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

;Request for a Wikipedian
Could someone please add a [citation needed] tag to {{w|Lightning rod#History}} where it says Franklin was unaware of Prokop Diviš's work? Decades ago when I read a 1950s biography of Franklin, I am pretty sure there were some questions about whether Franklin would likely have been aware of it and similar work which had not been entirely resolved by historians. My ISPs are both IP-rangeblocked so I can't edit enwiki from home or my cell phone internet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 17:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Franklin's "Experiments and Observations on Electricity," published in 1751,[https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/111/3/826/14788] became widely known and was translated into multiple languages, with practical and accessible explanations of the use of the lightning rod before Diviš's independent work in 1754.[https://english.radio.cz/270-years-ago-czech-scientist-prokop-divis-built-worlds-first-grounded-lightning-8819683]
:The sentence "His experimental apparatus, known as the "weather machine” predated Benjamim Franklin's more widely recognized experiments." is the one that needs the [citation needed] tag. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.9|172.70.207.9]] 18:52, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2963:_House_Inputs_and_Outputs&diff=347265&oldid=347264 "Randall would get off easy if he were merely to be yelled at."] a threat? Is someone trying to anonymously threaten Randall? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.15|172.71.142.15]] 21:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Probably not, but it should be "Most people would suffer consequences sterner than being yelled at when combining water and electricity without appropriate safeguards." However, in the past I have seen overpersonalization of the author to the extent of clearly indicating NPOV violations in these explanations. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.150|172.70.214.150]] 22:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2962: President Venn Diagram

2024-07-26T08:13:11Z

172.70.160.249:

<noinclude>{{notice|This site is intended to explain the technical details and inspirations (perhaps humorous) behind the comics. This particular page is for Discussion/Talk about the particular comic in question, which ''will'' involve some personal overviews and meta-discussion. But it is not the ideal place to reproduce the wi(l)der issue of public opinion, which the actual political process will eventually establish, and many other public forums and outlets exist in which you can convey your own current leanings/observations on the whole election-related happenings. Please be <s>sensible</s> ''typically geeky in your wit'', and try to keep all the ideological heat and partisan arguments out of this as much as possible.|image=warning!!.png|}}</noinclude>

Another really timely comic. Biden just dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris yesterday. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Forget Biden, Hillary and Obama. This is the endorsement that counts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.199|172.68.23.199]] 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I suppose no one is allowed to say that the upper right circle is mislabeled. It was supposed to say incompetent, dishonest and despicable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.25|162.158.90.25]] 02:07, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You're allowed to say it, but then we're allowed to suggest (with rather more emperical proof) that her presumptive opponent better fits your rewording. How about we all just don't try to re-run the old arguments (or pre-run the upcoming election) in that sort of tone, eh?
:(To be clear, Randall has made positive comments to his favoured candidate, rather than stooping to arbitrarily attacking their opponent. If you can't at least be as positive in your own convictions then it's really not going to help your cause.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.6|172.69.195.6]] 04:10, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::First, Harris has more than one opponent, not just within her own party, but in the general election to follow if she’s nominated. Second, the many good qualities of my favo[u]red candidate are irrelevant to this comic, so I didn’t mention ''her''. Third, I didn’t start this political discussion; Randall did, by making a refutable claim in his comic. Lastly, there’s nothing arbitrary about a resident of California pointing out [https://truthout.org/articles/kamala-harris-has-a-distinguished-career-of-serving-injustice/ facts about the former attorney general of California] that people in other states, such as Massachusetts, might be completely ignorant of. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.253|162.158.186.253]] 05:45, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Ugh, those abuses from the supposed party of police accountability. Politics in this country are so performative. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.75|108.162.216.75]] 13:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
: You could say it, but then the box which says 'Kamala Harris' is mislabeled and 'Donald Trump' should be placed in the box above the middle one. [[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 07:19, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::Also by saying the first circle is mislabeled you also say Randall is all those things. And if you feel that way, then remember you are free to NOT read his comics... I'm always on Randall's side in politics it seems, but I'm from another country, so I wont vote for any presidential candidates even if Randall was on the ballot ;-) I won't say more here now... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:22, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Note the difference between “upper right” and “upper left.” [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.198|172.70.207.198]] 21:11, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Well Kamala, you had a good run. Randall has the touch of death when it comes to picking political candidates. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.39|162.158.154.39]] 03:02, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You mean that no candidate endorsed by XKCD has ever won? ;) https://xkcd.com/2383/ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Randall was smart enough to not make a comic endorsing Joe *before* he got elected like he did with Hilldawg and (now) Kamala.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 11:36, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
: Not so; Randall endorsed [https://blog.xkcd.com/2008/01/28/obama/ Obama in 2008]. [[User:-insert valid name here-|-insert valid name here-]] ([[User talk:-insert valid name here-|talk]]) 15:09, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe Randall secretly wants Kamala to lose and is doing 5D chess. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.122|172.69.130.122]] 16:04, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall angling for VP? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:59, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I think Randall would be good president. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:52, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Meh, he seems to at least not be good at public speaking. And from what he says about himself, he would be distracted way too easily. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:I, as an Epsilon Eridani native, think he would be a spectacular president, but his research priorities would swiftly result in [https://www.space.com/universe-end-false-vacuum-decay false vacuum decay], so please, for the sake of the universe, please do not elect him. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.218|172.70.214.218]] 20:55, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

The layout of this Venn diagram reminds me of https://xkcd.com/112/ {{unsigned ip|162.158.166.234|03:04, 23 July 2024}}

I think I would probably swap the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.23|162.158.174.23]] 04:03, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I would be very interested in which non-Politicians Randall would put into the top middle section. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:People eligible to be president who would make a good president but aren't politicians? I would be much more interested in who he would list in the right middle section, that is, people who would make good presidents and love Venn diagrams, but are ineligible. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.133|172.69.6.133]] 03:42, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

I guess Munroe has no issues with questions about ongoing U.S. backed genocides shrugged off with "shrimp and grits!"? {{unsigned|Markifi|05:39, 23 July 2024}}

What really strikes me is that the USA have a (de facto) 2-Party system and still go so much into personal attacks and endorsements, etc. which in my mind could be the decision-making bit between 2 similiar parties in a multi-party system, or 2 equally sympathic parties to me. But in my mind a 2-party system should at least have the upside of actually discussing policy, and voters deciding based on that... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:30, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

If Randall was in charge he could stop supplying weapons to Israel probably [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.63|172.69.195.63]] 10:16, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

:Randall sempai- we are targeted too. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.52|15:37, 23 July 2024}}

Re: the mouseover text: "[[1062:_Budget_News|I am more of a deficit sugar glider]]" ought to be in the running. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.157|172.69.58.157]] 12:42, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

personally I'd put most candidates either the top left [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.24|172.69.58.24]] 17:34, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Neat. A Euler diagram (and no, Venn cannot just have this one). {{unsigned ip|172.71.158.226|18:18, 23 July 2024}}
:Quite! Venn called his diagrams "{{w|Euler diagram|Euler circles}}." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.137|172.71.151.137]] 22:09, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

I think the 'eligible' topic is related to a campaign against Harris saying she isn't eligible because she's not american enough. This (fake) news was reposted in France by french Trump's fans. {{unsigned ip|172.69.225.223|20:36, 23 July 2024}}
:No, the topic of Constitutional eligibility, it is more nuanced than each said is represented to state it. Kamala Harris was undisputedly (I believe) born in the US. This makes her a native-born citizen. The Constitution calls for a natural-born citizen but doesn't define that. From writings at the time (I don't remember which) natural-born means born to two citizen parents. Apparently, neither of her parents were US citizens at the time of her birth, so once again (as with Obama, Ted Cruz, others) there are fair questions by thinking people. [[User:ProfDigory|ProfDigory]] ([[User talk:ProfDigory|talk]]) 23:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

_sigh_ I was about to come in here and suggest that we don't do the obvious political battle here but then I realized I'd be up all night because someone was WRONG on the internet [[386: Duty Calls]]! [[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]]) 21:21, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I, too, have rather strong political opinions that absolutely nobody here cares about. But I also wanted to extend a heartfelt thank-you to the person who put the cautionary banner to not make the main article into a debate platform. I hope its presence becomes a staple of articles on all forthcoming controversial comics, as we commence our quadrennial plunge into the bubbling muck of American election season. -MeZimm [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.59|172.68.34.59]] 21:41, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Would it be a good idea to include a link to the actual United States Constitution in regard to the Presidential eligibility section? In other words, I'm wondering if it would be preferable to link directly to a primary source of information as opposed to a tertiary source like Wikipedia? Either way, I have a [https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2/#article-2-section-1-clause-5 link to the document on the Congress.gov website] for those who may want to have a read. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 00:13, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

Does anyone have a longer version of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWR2uTfrh-k&ab_channel=GOPWarRoom ? I want to see the diagram props! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.19|172.71.147.19]] 21:08, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:"So many memes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=XOjRsJiBTF0&ab_channel=FoxNews [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.129|172.70.214.129]] 22:00, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:I see you are a netizen of exquisite taste. Might I suggest https://www.c-span.org/search/basic/?query=kamala+venn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.29|108.162.245.29]] 22:43, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
::Oh my God, infinite anonymous clipping! https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5125621/user-clip-venn-diagram [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.3|172.71.150.3]] 23:03, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
:::[https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5125622/user-clip-circle-venn-diagram A fourth Eulerian circle emerges!] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.5|162.158.186.5]] 23:23, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

It has been decided. As per the [https://x.com/yashar/status/1815476912355205212 edict of the National Republican Senatorial Committee,] the problems with Kamala Harris are: (1) Her laugh is weird. And, (2) she loves Venn diagrams. Let the games begin! We shall [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI_lxFv203I&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive focus on the two issues Americans do care about: swine flue and fracking.] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.200|172.68.23.200]] 22:18, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

This is a really sad comic. Harris is a top cop and a corrupt one. America deserves better than either party is offering, and the supposed party of police accountability should not be running Harris. It's sad that Randall is telling himself otherwise. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.91|172.70.178.91]] 13:22, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I was not aware that Harris was ever in the police, herself, and cannot find any reference to it in a quick search. I know she advocated police bodycams, which only corrupt cops need to properly fear/avoid using, though obviously one can always be corrupt "in your spare time", or if you're not a uniformed officer/just sat at a desk. Anyway, you have an opinion, and feel free to make your own webcomic if you have better names, wish to add other names and/or want to change the basis upon which Harris's name is judged. It might well be that (of all likely candidates, as well as the unlikely one that is "me") Randall honestly sees Kamala as (one of) the better individual(s) for the role. If everyone agreed, there'd be no need to ask everybody and try to distil the resulting popularity contest into a close-fought result that maybe half the country won't like (but who ''would'' like a result that the other half(ish) of the country wouldn't like), give or take various statistical anomalies. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.103|172.70.85.103]] 15:15, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T14:15:22Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2963
| date = July 24, 2024
| title = House Inputs and Outputs
| image = house_inputs_and_outputs_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x684px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People think power over ethernet is so great, and yet when I try to do water over ethernet everyone yells at me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a possible reference to [[1037: Umwelt]] in panel 16 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in a series depicting {{w|confusion matrix|confusion matrices}}, similar to [[2420: Appliances]], [[2813: What To Do]] and [[1890: What to Bring]]. It is arranged as a table of five columns of conduits to and from a house, by five rows of resources and people, each of which typically enter, exit or both enter ''and'' exit the house via a least one of the identified conduits. The table cells are given a green background for compatible methods of transit and a red tint is used for the more problematic pairings. Each panel can be read as "[row label] [entering and/or exiting] the house via the [column label]", for example, "Fresh water entering the house via the well".

{| class="wikitable" style="background-color: lightpink;"
! !! Well !! Garage !! Power lines !! Front door !! Septic tank
|-
! Fresh water (Input)
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The purpose of a well is usually to pump fresh water into the home, primarily for drinking or washing. It may be unnecessary in many places if a reliable {{w|water supply network}} is available, if not impractical to service every property with their own individual well (somehow secured from issues of contamination and drought), but could still be used instead of (or in addition to) a community water supply in many cases, and externally supplied water may still have been ultimately abstracted from one or more large scale boreholes/wells. || Long gone are the days of {{w|Labours_of_Hercules#Fifth:_Augean_stables|having to clean up after your primary mode of transportation}}, for most people. || Water either shouldn't, or cannot be carried through electrical lines. || Many people prefer to control the amount of water they get, and the water may damage things inside the house. || Most people don't want anything they drink to contain (or go through pipes that have contained) sewage.
|-
! Cars (Input/Output)
| Most cars manufactured in recent years can't fit inside a well.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Garages are in fact built for the storage of cars and other similarly-sized vehicles. Placing a car in one will both help protect it from the elements and make it easier to access from inside your own home. || As of yet, cars cannot be transferred through power lines and require roads to travel on. However, this could significantly reduce travel costs. || Most cars can’t fit through doors, apart from the garage door. || Comedian {{w|Garrison Keillor}}'s 2008 ''More News from Lake Wobegon'' includes a story where an old septic tank is discovered to actually be a buried car.[https://theseriouscomedysite.com/comedy-cd-or-download/garrison-keillor-more-news-from-lake-wobegon/]
|-
! Electricity (Input)
| This would contaminate your water supply. || In the United States, lightning is responsible for causing around 24,600 structure fires annually, resulting in $8 to $10 billion in losses.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Power lines are designed to facilitate the connection of individual homes to the broader local power network. Randall does not identify that electricity can also be an output: e.g. houses with solar panels regularly export electricity too. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}} independently re-invented the {{w|lightning rod}} to prevent lightning strike damage to structures. || As Knit Cap demonstrates, this would not be the most convenient idea.
|-
! People (Input/Output)
|style="background-color: lightpink"| This cell depicts a view from inside a well, a very dangerous place for most people.{{Citation needed}} Due to the image being drawn from the point of view of a [[:Category:Comics with inverted brightness|mostly dark scene]], it looks red-on-black rather than black-on-red. The motif has a form resembling the poster art for the 2002 horror movie remake ''{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}}'', which involves a girl left to die in a well and becoming a vengeful ghost.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Though not outright designed for it, a person can enter and exit their home through the garage door just fine, provided the garage has an internal door to the rest of the home. Not the best way to welcome guests though. || Overhead power lines to homes are generally not strong enough to climb, and attempting to do so incurs a very serious risk of electrocution.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The front door of a home is designed for entry and exit of humans and similarly sized items. || In general, people find crawling through waste unwanted. Also, the septic tank is not connected to the street.
|-
! Sewage (Output)
| Sewage in drinking water can cause disease. It is/was the main cause for most {{w|cholera}} epedemics.
|colspan=3| Sewage spills are smelly, disgusting, hard to clean, and can destroy carpets, floors, and drywall.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A {{w|septic tank}} is an underground chamber through which wastewater flows for basic {{w|sewage treatment}}.
|}

The title text references {{w|Power over Ethernet|Power over ethernet}}, first implemented in the early 2000s, which passes electric power along with data on twisted-pair Ethernet cabling. This was a welcome development, as it removed the need for many lower-power network-connected devices to have independent power supplies, and potentially simplifies their installation and relocation. While networked water delivery ("running water") is also a welcome development, doing so over ethernet cables would be 'problematic', not simplifying either water delivery or the networking of devices. Randall would get off easy if he were merely to be yelled at.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A 5x5 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Well, Garage, Power lines, Front door, Septic tank. Each row's label has an arrow and a house next to it. The rows are: Fresh water (horizontal arrow towards house), Cars (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Electricity (horizontal arrow into house), People (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Sewage (vertical arrow out of bottom of house).]

:Well, Fresh water: [green]
::Voice from house: Mmm! Refreshing!

:Garage, Fresh water: [red]
::''Fwoosh''

:Power lines, Fresh water: [red]

:Front door, Fresh water: [red]
::Voice from house: Stop it!
::''Fwoosh!''

:Septic tank, Fresh water: [red]
::Voice from house: Eww.

:Well, Cars: [red]

:Garage, Cars: [green]

:Power lines, Cars: [red]

:Front door, Cars: [red]
::Cueball: Do you think I scratched the paint?

:Septic tank, Cars: [red]

:Well, Electricity: [red]
::Cueball's laptop: ⚠Low battery

:Garage, Electricity: [red]
::''Boom''

:Power lines, Electricity: [green]

:Front door, Electricity: [red]
::''Boom''

:Septic tank, Electricity: [red]
::Knit Cap: Why won't my console turn on?

:Well, People: [red (and black)]

:Garage, People: [green]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Power lines, People: [red]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Front door, People: [green]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Septic tank, People: [red]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Well, Sewage: [red]
::Voice from house: ''Why do I keep getting sick???

:Garage, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Oh no.

:Power lines, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Eww.

:Front door, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Oh ''no''.

:Septic tank, Sewage: [green]
::''Flush''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Charts]]

explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests

2024-07-22T10:44:34Z

172.70.160.249: /* The crapper is back */

<noinclude>{{Community links}}

__NEWSECTIONLINK__

{|-
|valign="top" width="100%"|[[File:Mop.svg|left|120px]] <big><big>Admin requests</big></big>

 Welcome to your mother's basement! Problems requiring assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]]. User problems, changes to protected pages, more user rights etc. {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Admin requests|Text=(+post)}}
|}
'''List of Admins:''' 
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
{{Special:ListUsers/sysop}}
</div>

= Discussion Area =
</noinclude>

== Racism on Main Page ==
There are some extremely racist comments on the main page. See https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. Please remove immediately!
Can admins please delete the racist comments on the main page?
The user who wrote these racist comments has the IP address of 162.158.146.163. Please block!

Edit: Resolved. Thanks :)

== Convert to real X-Forwarded-For IP addresses? ==

Can you admins do the https://serverfault.com/a/526551 thing so you can block by real IP addresses and ranges? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 15:45, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
:That is out of my league. But maybe some of the other clever admins may know what if that can be used? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:07, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

==Install anti-spam programs==
I think it’s time to install some sort of automated anti-spam programs that can catch these spammers fast.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.91|172.70.130.91]] 06:30, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

I don't want to be disrespectful, but it seems that the current set of admins lacks the collective time or ability to upgrade Mediawiki/MySQL and install widely available anti-vandalism and anti-spam measures. But you have perhaps the most technically inclined, supportive, and motivated audience you could hope for here. Why not use the main page top banner to ask for expert Mediawiki volunteers or if that doesn't work, funds to hire such a consultant to upgrade blocking and filtering tools or a new hosting solution if needed? I believe you'd be surprised with the extent of community support you can muster, and manually chasing vandalism is becoming tiresome. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 07:28, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
:I've been chasing jeff for months now because he's the only one with access to the server. I know he's alive and still active online, but he clammed up partway through the previous wave of heavy spam and the email chain is just 20 of my own emails, I'll get through eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:10, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
::[https://twitter.com/jeff_underscore @jeff_underscore] tweeted four days ago. Would it help if we launched a Twitter campaign to get him on board with a server update fundraiser, or something? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 03:36, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
::: Anyone with the skills and experience should tweet him to take him up on [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Jeff&diff=211706&oldid=211700 his offer,] IMHO. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.118.39|162.158.118.39]] 04:12, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

== Basic punctuation standards ==
Can we please have some agreement that <code>."</code> is better than <code>".</code>? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.29|172.71.150.29]] 07:08, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
:That would depend.
When asked "How do you deal with endquote punctuation in quoted speech?" he answered "Yes," with a definite nod of his head, "I would always try to put the punctuation before the quote."
:...that is how I was taught to do it, <mumble>fumphty-fumph</mumble> years ago, and when it is clear quoted speech (with 66s, 99s) then that's probably best. Except when it might confuse, but then a rewrite (or clearly indicated paraphrase/part-quote) might be useful. You'll note I example-quote 'wrongly' in some places below, to accomodate other factors. Like an exclamation point as a feature of the holding sentence that makes no sense at all to be translated to within the quoted sentence(-fragmant).
On the other hand providing "a set of words", with no clear quotation to them, ellicits no such compunction.
:...it gets a bit hazy, because a partial quote of a real full sentence (or an incomplete/incompleted quote) could go either way. But I would not consider "a set of words," to be sensible.
If you give a "list", "spread" or "set" of singular terms then no, or even compounded ones if they are ultimately the "be-all" and "end-all".
:...noting that I might personally single-quote in this case (I know not why I have adopted this principle, exactly), though I've often seen such things changed by others and it may be more contested than even the terminator punctuation. I might say that the 'true' difference is whether it is a definite "literal", insofar as meaning, or somewhat 'ad hoc', 'foreignish' or just plain constructed.
:But this is just my opinion. And, regardless of my preference to quote-punctuation ordering, I've seen several recent occasions where paren-punctuation ordering was totally off (IMO). Either "...at the end of a sentence (an aside.)", which should have been "... (an aside)." instead, or "(As a whole aside of its own)." for which it ''must'' surely be "(As ... of its own.)"
:Now, obviously too much ()ing is awkward, especially if nested, but I prefer the clearer in/out indication than other methods — like the mdash — which seem to be the favoured method by some editors — and, even more confusingly, often without spacing both sides. (Like "...by some editors—and, even more confusingly..."! Looks more like a hyphen, despite "—” and "–”-users changing hyphens-used-as-dashes to one or other of the dashes to try to differentiate them.)
:Ultimately, though, the people here will have learnt (or redeveloped) their own typographical standards over a wide range of educational eras (or under teachers/mentors whose own learnt-preferences might themselves be several decades passed into history) and with additional localisation/localization complications as well. I tend to agree with you (with caveats as mentioned) but it won't be universally acceptable. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 21:34, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
: Better? No. Correct (at least in American English)? Yes. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 13:25, 28 September 2022 (UTC)

== Propose block of (an?) IP user(s?) and suppression of their edits ==

I don't mind being insulted but I think it's clear they're bad for the community:

* https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:NotaBene&diff=296485&oldid=203158
* https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:NotaBene&diff=296486&oldid=296485

--[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 14:15, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

: As the IP who subsequently reverted those back out of existence (wasn't sure you'd seen it, but was clear to me it wasn't a useful/good-faith commentary, and now I find that you had and had certainly ignored it in-situ) I have mixed opinions. I could not have done my (good faith) edit if somehow restricted, in a way someone had previously gotten around. Bearing in mind the idiotic vandal(s) we have had before, and always ended up dealing with through sheer force of the more righteous and honest userbase, I think that drastic actions aren't necessary. But I can think of a few minor tweaks that maybe the current adminship can still hold in reserve and occasionally employ, without preventing the likes of me (long time contributor, but not yet decided to make it 'official') occasionally poking registered users' Talk pages with genuine queries or comments under most circumstances that may actually warrant it.
: That said, we have indeed had a spate of vandalism, recently, which I'm inclined to believe is 'our old friend' who probably decided he(?) was bored again. A few novel tricks (nonsense 'cat on keyboard' edits with no clear pattern to the nonsense or what it replaces) but in association with some of the old ones (global word replacements throughout an article). Quickly recorrected in all cases, SFAICT, so not a big problem.
: The above insertion (...insertions... seeming to care about punctuation typos!) I might have left for you to blue-pen out of your own Talk page (whatever the intent behind it) except for my spidey-sense saying it really was ''just'' trolling and that you had no reason to even consider a dismissive reply, never mind argue your defence against such an accusation. (But could always restore and reply to it if you really wanted to!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.137|172.71.178.137]] 17:57, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

:: To be clear, I'm not proposing a site-wide restriction of all IP users, just those specific addresses. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 18:41, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

::: Understood, but that'd mean inconveniencing even legitimate readers routing through the same Cloudflare gateways. Which are in bunches, such that any given region of the world is served by not necessarily contiguous IP ranges, thus false-positives and false-negatives. Until you blanket-ban enough to just make for a whole lotta false-positive blocking for a segment of real users once the instigator of the mess just moves on (or enjoys the mess he made, if self-aware enough of it).
::: I won't even know, until I submit this, if I'm this time listed even in the same IP/8-block as the above (172.71.178.137), but if it turns out that I'm a 141.* this time (or maybe 142.*, I forget what I occasionally show up as) then obviously had you reason to IP-block me because of my own actions then you'd have accomplished little by even banning the whole 16-/24-block of my original. And that's without any conscious intent to bypass the default allocation system...
::: So, not that you should take my own opinion as gospel, just thought I'd mention this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.3|172.70.90.3]] 20:23, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

== Hey ==

I cleaned everything up. You should probably restore the newest 3 topics.

:It could definitely do with a cleanup (not the only page like this!), but in a positive and considered manner, not just wiping and expecting unwarrented deletions to be restored after your removal. Archival sub-pages (restricted/fully-protected) should be involved, perhaps, for reference/history (on top of the History view itself).
:Not just wiping by an unisigned contributor, as you did. I'm a hairbreadth from just reverting it all back again, on principle, and maybe someone else will do that anyway.
:But defering to known named users (esp. the admins) and their decision on how to procede. (Please do delete this contribution if you see fit to do any restoration and make my opinions moot.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.138.79|172.68.138.79]] 20:26, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
::I agree that it needed cleanup, and also agree that wiping everything was not the best way to go about doing it. I've moved most of the deleted content to the "talk"/archive page, and put back some discussions. [[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 23:22, 23 October 2022 (UTC)

== Complaint transcluded from [[user:ArthurGreenham]] ==
:(Ok, so, the above transclusion is subject to change at any time, as proven by While False going in there and 'wikilinking' everything since I first saw the transclusion inserted here, so perhaps a little less ephemeral explanation is needed..?)
:Point the first: I have no issues with While False, in general. Seems to be a good editor in general. As I recall, did a lot to counter that particularly recurring bad-faith editor who the current expanded admin set will recall. And regular editing from you, mate..? As good as anyone else, I would say. No bad-faith detected in you at all.
:Point the second: You do seem to be a bit too gung-ho with new pages, and similar experiments with markup. Just because you can, it seems. If those with the power to remove pages choose not to, then I'm not complaining, but I still think it's a bit... self-indulgant. Not that a mere IP like me can rightfully complain.
:Point the third: Clearly, among the mass of newly registered users (who never then contribute) there is a large cohort generated by some external script(s) for the intention of SEO/propogation of linky-links. I suspect that they're set to do this on any wiki that they can create accounts upon, mindlessly and with the initiating 'intelligence' not bothered how well they do it (economies of scale, as per spamming/etc) because some will do it and fulfil whatever purpose.
:Point the fourth: But, back a long time ago, our chief admin here (and his then current peers/etc?) set it up so that new users just did not so easily create brand new pages. Without overly restricting the spamming of user-registration (or, more importantly, legitimately interested actual contributors) it stymied the scripts that were creating users that then could not create (and write their spam upon) the pages they were programmed to create.
:Point the fifth: But if someone who is an autoconfirmed user looks at the accounts created (I'm guessing here, so corrects me if I'm wrong) and decides to make the pages that new and heretofor uncontriutive users ''cannot'' create for themselves, there are times (at least two, that I know of) that the mindless spam-script has not given up and moved on from putting their random link-spam upon RandomNewname's user page. And as RandomNewname ''has'' a page, it does its preprogrammed stuff.
:...and the world does not stop turning, if that happens. But it does just marginally increase the benefits vs costs of the spam-engine technique (which are probably already breaking even and more, across all speculative spam-destinationa) and I'd suggest we shouldn't be helping with that any more than we already have to.
:Maybe theusaf could add to their own bot some sort of detection of a suspicious level of linkspamming upon a user's own pages (to neuter these that leak through, like the ones that it deals with in other circumstances), but that'd be difficult without having false-positives upon genuine new users with (once they can) a genuine reason to populate their userspace with various external links.
:Instead, perhaps hold back upon feeding the spambots the fresh ground that they seem to like to make use of. Perhaps a page for "please create my userspace!" if we want genuine users (or at least ones that can find and read instructions) to get a userspace more quickly than the normal limits apply, so any established (named) editor can give them their Welcome-templated editspace.
:We can't so easily protect against conscious bad-faith editors (we will just have to deal with them, as we have done), but we seem to have sufficient anti-bot defences. If misguided editing doesn't open up cracks in the walls.
:...Ok, that looks like a rant, but was just intended to cover (much of) the issue as I saw it in a way that explained my accumulated thinking on the matter. And I clearly think too much. This is not a diatribe against anybody (except the spambot originators), just a plea for action (or, rather, inaction) in a key way. And perhaps some moderator-level cleanup, so that the above transclusion is now effectively red-linked (then delete/archive this horribly overblown entry). Leaving it up to you lot. Have fun! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.3|172.70.90.3]] 10:34, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

==2696: Accuracy and precision==
This is my first edit/post here. Could someone please include the Wikipedia link to "Accuracy and precision" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision], which is a separate article from 'accuracy' and 'precision'? Thanks! unsigned ip|172.71.98.97|16:04, 9 November 2022}}
:If someone else hasn't done already, it's trivial enough to do yourself in a similar way to how you edited here, in any one of a number of ways.
:*By bare URL (shows the URL, like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision but not really suitable here)
:*As you did it above, with [] around the URL, giving a 'reference'-like link. Occaisionally useful, but a little impersonal in most cases.
:**Or use URL and alternate text in the []s (space-separated) <nowiki>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision like this]</nowiki>, which looks [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision like this] and is most useful for non-wiki links that you can describe well, or associate into the flow of text.
:*An internal wiki link is defined like <nowiki>[[2696: Precision vs Accuracy]]</nowiki> and renders as [[2696: Precision vs Accuracy]], which is common site practice (you could alse link to [[2696]] or [[Precision vs Accuracy]], in most cases, which are redirects) but doesn't help in the above link's case.
:**If you wanted to internally link with [[2696: Precision vs Accuracy|other text]] then using <nowiki>[[2696: Accuracy and precision|other text]]</nowiki> is the way to do it (use the pipe delimiter).
:*When it comes to wikipedia links, though, we have a nice template for it. By using <nowiki>Accuracy and precision}}</nowiki> (or with the underscored version of the title, if you wish) you get a link to {Accuracy and precision}}, with the nicer aesthetic. '''Probably what you wanted.''' You can lowercase the "A" and it will still link (usually... always good to check) and linking to something like a w|noun}} can generally be written as <nowiki>|noun}}s</nowiki> should you wish the flow of text to seemlessly render the link as being for multiple noun}}s, thanks to a little more background trickery.
:**If you want to use more <nowiki>Accuracy_and_precision|replaced text}}</nowiki> then you get aAccuracy_and_precision|replaced text}} rendering. '''Another possibility for what you'd wish to use, here.'''
:**Similar templates exist for linking the likes of emplate|wiktionary}} and evenemplate|tvtropes}}, should you need them.
:**...noting that the latter needs the NoSpacesVersion of the title and because tropes|TVTropesWillRuinYourLife|TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life}}, it has a slightly more forboding format, even though it isn't really ''that'' much worse than [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]]. ;)
:In case that's of any use to you, or anybody else. There are a few more tips and tricks, but this covers a lot of the usage-cases.
:Also, in discussion pages and ones like this, it's useful to sign your contribution with the four tildes. But it's easy to forget and there are templates to mark unsigned contribution. As I did above. Don't worry about it. It just lets you datestamp and demarkate elements of conversation in a useful manner. As a first edit, you can be forgiven, but just so you know for future! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.57|172.70.91.57]] 18:21, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

** "'it's trivial enough to do yourself in a similar way to how you edited here'" Those options do not seem to be open to me if I do not set up an account; I'm not ready to take that step, so it looks like I can only edit behind-the-scenes pages, not comic pages. Thanks for the advice! I do enjoy the site when I check in! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.17|172.71.182.17]] 18:35, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
** Never mind. I found the option. I didn't realize the new comic page was separate from the main page. I was trying to edit the main page. Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.17|172.71.182.17]] 18:39, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
:...I must say, I never thought about that, or I might have not concentrated on the link-formatting stuff (which I hope was just as useful, in its own way).
:As you see, I'm also not 'ready' to set up an account. But I rarely go via the main page, which is locked against trivial vandalism, plus know that the useful editing occurs only in the transcluded source page anyway. And now so do you, happily.
:I don't know if that confusion catches out many potential editors, but at least now you know yourself. And, from one IP to another, Welcome! I hope you now find yourself productively editing away in the future, if you have anything else useful to include. No obligation, of course, except to play nice if you do. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.11|172.70.86.11]] 19:20, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

==There's a lot of vandalism going on==

See the page history of any recent comic page. Not sure what to do about it. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 00:57, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

:Ban 162.158.107.56 and 172.71.150.83, they seem to be the perpetuators. [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 02:15, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

As of the 22nd, the users ChuddyCobson and CobsonTheGemson are responsible for a large amount of attacks and image vandalism, most of them NSFW (inappropiate and/or gore). Can something be done about them? [[User:Gyozaplanet|Gyozaplanet]]

I noticed the image for 1460 has been vandalized. But, in looking at the history it shows an old vandalism that was fixed. But following the link in the alleged fix gets the vandalized image. I'm out of my depth for fixing this, but couldn't find a better place to report it. It's getting too late and I'm far too tired to do more... (As an aside to what I came here for, are the above two things vandalism here? That's a rathole I'm not continuing down.) [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 09:37, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

A few hours ago I decided to visit this wiki, and got quite the surprise on the front page, in that it was heavily vandalized. Decided to make an account after looking at recent changes and saw how much there was.

The accounts involved seem to be these;
* CobsonTheGemson
* ChuddyCobson
* Cobson
* Stinkycobbypoopoo
* Chud
* GotTheJakkyDoe

Kinda confused since they don't seem to be bots but I assume they're using a script or something to automate their vandalism. As far as I know, A few other people and I reverted more or less everything those accounts have done but it's possible some stuff fell through the cracks.

Also some of the gifs I reverted (most notably the gif for 381) seem to still have the same image so I'm hoping that's just a cache thing that'll sort itself out in time.

I left the above weirdness since I don't know the etiquette for deleting stuff in this section and it would remove some context to the above person's post. Hope I didn't break anything while cleaning up. [[User:Neerti|Neerti]] ([[User talk:Neerti|talk]]) 10:24, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

:Cleaned up some accounts '''[[User:Davidy22|Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:38, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

== Opening Certain Pages causes mediawiki errors ==

For example [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals Proposals] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Dgbrt this user page] [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 02:10, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

== Apparent abuse of multiple accounts ==
For a few weeks (mostly the last few days) 51 accounts with the same soon-current name [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ASadSanta&pattern=1&year=&month=-1&tagfilter=&subtype= have been created]. To me it looks like preparation for abuse of multiple accounts. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&printable=yes printable version] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&action=info page information] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/User:While_False what links there] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChangesLinked&days=30&from=&target=User%3AWhile_False related changes] | [https://www.google.com Google search] | current time: CURRENTTIME}}) 11:44, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
:Now, they’re 195. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&printable=yes printable version] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&action=info page information] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/User:While_False what links there] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChangesLinked&days=30&from=&target=User%3AWhile_False related changes] | a late contribution | current time: CURRENTTIME}}) 17:24, 19 December 2022 (UTC)
::With the exception of being 'topical', these are quite typical of numerous other "<commonroot><randomchars>" sets of never-ever-used usernames. It is good to be aware of them, but I think this 'common root' was just randomly grabbed by the algorithm (or its master) without any particular view to be used any more effectively than before.
::I leave it to those who can actually do something to decide ''whether'' to actually do something, but I'm currently not so concerned. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.127|172.70.91.127]] 01:06, 20 December 2022 (UTC)
::Addendum - alongside "SadSanta...", we're getting a lot of [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ANatasha&pattern=1&year=&month=-1&tagfilter=&subtype= "Natasha"s], while around this time last year (as the first time glanced back at) we had [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3APellGync&pattern=1&year=&month=-1&tagfilter=&subtype= "PellGync"] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ASnawlrab&pattern=1&year=&month=-1&tagfilter=&subtype= "Snawlrab"] as the common roots concerned. Which ultimately came of nought.
::I get the impression that the limited-success script (as being used to create spam-accounts, but overwhelmingly failing to then exploit them) is set up to randomly apply two such common roots at a time (or else there's two copies of the code running, wherever, each switching out 'exhausted' roots for the next enqueued one in their own list ...as and when necessary). A quick poke into other 'recent' historic points in the Account Creation log highly supports this, but it could do with a far more rigorous analysis to be more definite. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.118|172.71.242.118]] 01:31, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

There also used to be a lot of eight-letter usernames. Too many usernames are being created every day. --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 22:03, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

== Current troll(s) ==
There's trolls posting extremely obscene stuff on the homepage, and frankly I'm appalled. The Admins need to take several steps to lock down the main page so that it's not possible for readers to view such obscene content (for example, why are arbitrary images that don't come from xkcd.com allowed???) Why are random users allowed to post arbitrary images that are not filtered/scanned in any way? ([[User:bkayes|bkayes]])
: It's been like this forever. It's rare enough that the admins leave things fairly open, but lengthy stretches lead to the lockdowns you're asking for, usually for about a week which is usually sufficient. Mixed feelings. There are a lot of tools that could help a lot, but we can't get [[User:Jeff]] to upgrade because his hosting deal depends on some ad stuff that won't port to newer versions. :( [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 04:45, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
:: Image uploads being open is usually nicer for everyone, except in the scenario while children decide to use it as an avenue for vandalism. I got enough on my hands already to be dealing with but this probably demands some attention '''[[User:Davidy22|Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:38, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
::: (Rerationalised under a new header, as a different issue, though also related to a prior section's 'insertion/revival' in response to the idiot concerned, too.) Appreciated, David. Noting that the inability for me to correct the account-led vandalism, last night, is the one factor that might eventually push me to establish a non-IP presence. But we had other volunteer accounts reacting fairly well to the trouble, and I knew we'd settle down soon enough. Anyhoo, Merry Christmas to you and the others on the side of stability, while I'm here and chatting away. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.136|172.71.178.136]] 17:00, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

::: I find it unfortunate that "rarity" is any sort of excuse for allowing this to happen. XKCD is a fantastic source of quality STEM entertainment, and thus is a great resource to get younger audiences interested in such fields through humor. Many high school age and younger people regularly view xkcd content. However, some of the comics are quite obscure or contain a lot of depth, which is why explainxkcd has been such a great resource for everyone to learn things that are outside of their depth (including younger audiences). The knowledge that someone can open explainxkcd and have the slightest chance that they see extreme gore/porn is absolutely absurd and unacceptable for a wiki that is serving solely family friendly science content. I can no longer recommend explainxkcd to people I know (and especially not younger people) because of the lack of modern anti-trolling tooling, and that really sucks. I understand the issues surrounding locking down the text explanations, but the images should be a trivially solvable problem. Compare a checksum between the image found at *.xkcd.com and the image uploaded and reject an image that doesn't match, or better yet *use the official xkcd RSS feed* (https://xkcd.com/rss.xml) to download the images directly, and don't allow any user edits of the images. Then you can deal with vandalization of the text some other time, locking down the images is really the highest priority here I think. ([[User:bkayes|bkayes]]) 04:17, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

== [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] ==

Could probably do with some page protection here. Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.231|162.158.34.231]] 23:41, 29 December 2022 (UTC)
:If you mean for the thing that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2659:_Unreliable_Connection&diff=prev&oldid=303665 gets reverted very quickly], I think that's already dealt with quite nicely. And it isn't the only page that is targetted, so where do you stop? Whole-site lockdown, when the occasonal automated spam is equally automatically reverted? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.21|162.158.74.21]] 00:05, 30 December 2022 (UTC)
::Over the past couple of weeks, the edit history of this particular page has consisted of nothing but vandalism and it's subsequent reversion. The vandal doesn't seem to be targeting (m)any other pages, so protection should make them go away. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.158|172.69.79.158]] 21:43, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
:::Nonetheless, the same tactic has been seen (and reverted, promptly) on other comics, like #976. ''edit: ...and #2503 suffered this vandalism/reversion, again, on 15 Jan 2023.'' Block 2659 and 976 from editing and someone may easily change the config for the script and hit any othe page they please, not really reducing the ultimate change/revert frequency, just where it is happening.
:::I'll accept gradual locking down of progressively more and more of the site, if it happens, but I'm not sure it'd be of any real benefit to do so. Not my call, so just giving my POV... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.74|162.158.34.74]] 23:47, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
Someone pointed out that the spams are more likely to occur on pages with "Connect" in their titles. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 10:49, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

The user talk page with the same name got spammed. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.242|172.69.134.242]] 06:18, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

== Announcement: online chat with Randall January 31 ==

Admins: would you please consider adding this blurb to the end of the [[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]] just for this month?

: [https://libraryc.org/mountainviewlibrary/22032 Register to attend an online chat] with [[Randall Munroe]] January 31 at 11am Pacific.

Thank you for your consideration. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 06:23, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
:Done —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 23:29, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
::Thank you! I'm very much looking forward to the well-attended zoom chat, let alone what should come from the large pool of questions from international fans. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.16|172.69.134.16]] 14:04, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

Archive of livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAEutGwIQ9c [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.173|162.158.166.173]] 19:03, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

==All community portal==
Would you mind semi-protecting [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/All|this]] and [[explain_xkcd_talk:Community_portal/All|that]] page? They don't seem to need edits. --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 17:55, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

== Brief(?) and limited spate of vandalism. ==

It may be a flash in a pan, but there's some [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2293:_RIP_John_Conway&action=history misuse of multiple accounts] going on here as of this timestamp (with ColourfulGalaxy having mostly had to correct matters on their own, so far). FYI, on their behalf. With any luck the idiot involved will get bored soon, if not already, but making a note anyway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.124|162.158.159.124]] 20:15, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

: He edited my user page just now. --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:17, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

: I tried to help them, but failed. I had to turn to you for help. [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 20:24, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

: EDIT: By the way, don't call him "idiot", or he may be angry.

::Given that someone [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:ColorfulGalaxy&curid=25508&diff=304689&oldid=303399 seems to be stalking you], and even snuck in some activity before ''my'' post, above, I'm starting to suspect something more. I leave it to those who can do things to sort it out. As an IP, I don't think I have any say in the matter, but I'll let others consider the possibilities. (You've got to be an idiot to clearly log in with the wrong account, though, and then fail to pick up the changes with the 'right' one. And I knew While False wasn't truly finished trying to do stupid things to the site... You're not impressing anybody, WF.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.201|172.70.85.201]] 20:28, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
:::That’s not typical WF behaviour at all. —[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.198|162.158.222.198]] 19:38, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

== The online chat s over ==

Please revert https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Sitenotice&diff=304122&oldid=239894 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.92|172.70.211.92]] 18:45, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

== Users involved in spamming. ==

There are at least three 'people' involved here, using trivial character differences/substitutions:
* https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/ElisabethPacheco
* https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/EIisabethPacheco
* https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/EIizabethPacheco
(...in case not obvious, especially in sans-serif, the second two use capital-I (i) instead of small-l (L), and the s/z difference should be obvious. No obvious signs of anything like using cyrillic look-alike characters, yet.)

There may be others, or will be, but these ones have just recently popped up in spamming (and then obfuscating? ...hoping to be reverted back into the spam version?) the redirect pages [[Drama‎‎]] and [[Google Maps]] (see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Drama&action=history here] and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Google_Maps&action=history here]), though they are currently fully reverted. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.35|172.70.90.35]] 04:33, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
:One of these also interacted with a differently named suspicious-looking/acting account:
:* https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/CipherGuide
:Could be a coincidence, but... For reference. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.190|172.71.242.190]] 13:18, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
:And now [[User:ElisabethPacheco (do not ban me)]]. [[User:AndroidTheLucario|AndroidTheLucario]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 03:54, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

Can someone block [[User:Email Trial 1]]? They're repeatedly adding comments on spamming other people's emails. Thanks! ~ [[user:megan|Megan]] she/her [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 16:25, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

== Ongoing image vandalism ==

by [[User:Troonjak|this user]] ([[Special:Contributions/Troonjak|contributions]]). ~ [[user:megan|Megan]] she/her [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:50, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

I suggest we raise the threshold for image uploads. After all, there's no reason for most editors to upload images. ~ [[user:megan|Megan]] she/her [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 03:13, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

Bumping this since it happened again. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 07:54, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

== Fix obnoxious typo on the Editor FAQ ==

This page contains a typo and I can't edit it out: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ

It's highlighted in this sentence:

"You can use the Math markup <nowiki><math>...</math></nowiki>. The other known code from Wikipedia <nowiki><chem>...</chem></nowiki> is not supported yet. It's based on LaTeX syntax and a general overview can be found at '''''it's''''' Wikipedia help page. Don't use it unless you actually understand what you are doing." Edit: Whoops, forgot to sign: [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:04, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

== Update MediaWiki ==

The current MediaWiki version is 1.30.0 which ended support mid-2019, please upgrade to 1.39.x or something due to security concerns. Instructions here https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading [[User:Cam1170|Cam1170]] ([[User talk:Cam1170|talk]]) 20:55, 29 March 2023 (UTC)
Make sure to upgrade to 1.35 first, from the Check Requirements section.
Actually, 1.31 then 1.35 then 1.39 for the smoothest transition. [[User:Cam1170|Cam1170]] ([[User talk:Cam1170|talk]]) 15:15, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

I would like to add that this is still an issue. I don't know a better way to bring this to admin attention. [[User:Cam1170|Cam1170]] ([[User talk:Cam1170|talk]]) 21:28, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

== user edits someone else's comment ==

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2760:_Paleontology_Museum&diff=309970&oldid=309964 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.65|162.158.87.65]] 09:51, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
::That word is not spelled "Ye". It's "Þe". [[User:Omg Oriental Music Group|Omg Oriental Music Group]] ([[User talk:Omg Oriental Music Group|talk]]) 00:49, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
:::That would depend. We all (FCVO 'all') get your point, but is spelt (or, if you wish, "spelled", but I would like to use the other form) that way by the original commentator. And it was a signed Talk post, not an Explanation page that needs to be standardised(/standardized) by success revisions.
:::Can you also say for definite that it was not intended by the original author to be the second-person plural personal pronoun (nominative), correctly or otherwise, rather than the definite article (under a standard reduced typeset)? No reason to change it, not even if an actual tyop. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.207|172.71.178.207]] 11:56, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
:Yeah, bad practice, except where correcting clear mistakes or otherwise sanitising something best not left up in the open (for whatever good reason). Like if I'd misapplied a style "colour" tag, by accident, but not if I'd openly written "colour" in a Talk entry.
:But not necessary in this case of language-geek hyperconnection. I think a revert/re-edit to restore the original would be not an issue, but I won't do it myself.
:The best way to look smart with the "thorn" character would have been to say "You have 'Ye Olde blah-de-blah', but I hink you meant... [etc]" and own the joke and the smugness rather than try to 'improve' on the original in-situ. As one who has made typos (but also said exactly what I wanted to, perhaps deciding not to over-egg the pudding) I would prefer even a snarky "did you mean.." reply over an invisible 'improvement' that may not even be properly focused any more. Each to their own, but my suggestion, if the editor wants to revise their edit. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.65|172.71.178.65]] 15:54, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

== Deletion of wrongly-titled pages ==
Could you please delete [[:Category:Comics with small caps|this redirect]]? [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 06:18, 17 April 2023 (UTC)

Could you delete [[:Category;Comics featuring real people|this page]]? [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 03:29, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

[[Usertalk:Billstz]] turned into a redirect. It should have been deleted. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:10, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

== Repeated spam in user talk page ==
The page [[User talk:ClassicalGames]] got repeatedly spammed. Could you semiprotect it? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.242|172.69.134.242]] 02:07, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

:Hmmmmm, I think he really deserves the spam. He spammed in [[User:ColorfulGalaxy/Sandbox|someone else's user page]] without permission. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.228|172.71.154.228]] 03:56, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

:Easily reverted, to restore legitimate conversation. (Perhaps more such attention should go to where some people are [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2293:_RIP_John_Conway&curid=22901&diff=312913&oldid=312626 repeatedly making entirely useless and gratuitous edits]...) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.86|172.71.242.86]] 08:59, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
::Those spammers probably knew the CG rules, and appeared to have welcomed every CG group member with a spam. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.33|172.69.23.33]] 09:57, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

== The relevant xkcd comic from not xkcd ==

https://thomaspark.co/2017/01/relevant-xkcd/ This comic. A reference to xkcd, in the style of xkcd, about xkcd.

Can I make a page about it? Please? :)

== What's a "comic incarnate"? ==

[[User:Memo Spike Connector]] seems to have a friend group of users with the names of various comics. E's been changing their user pages ''and signatures'' to match the comic pages and titles. Is this some sort of cult? It sounds fun! Where do I sign up? --[[User:AndroidTheLucario|Your favorite aura doggo]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 03:18, 10 June 2023 (UTC)
:To answer the title, "incarnate"=="made flesh". Reincarnation is when you're given a new body, again, incarnation can therefore be taken as when the 'spirit' first assumes a tangible (or visible) form.
:To ponder on this fad of creating comic-related user accounts... pretty much unnecessary and has no reason to be encouraged, I suppose. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.62|172.70.162.62]] 03:52, 10 June 2023 (UTC)
::How do I join? I wanna be cool like them! --[[User:AndroidTheLucario|Your favorite aura doggo]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 03:59, 10 June 2023 (UTC)
:I think this needs to be taken more seriously now. [[User:Memo Spike Connector]] has had their page added to the *category* of Cursed Connectors, despite not being an official comic. It's starting to feel like a very unusual case of vandalism, but I'm not sure. [[User:Tsumikiminiwa|Tsumikiminiwa]] ([[User talk:Tsumikiminiwa|talk]]) 19:37, 14 June 2023 (UTC)
:: Addendum, [[User:Unreliable Connection]] has their page added to the Internet and Social Interactions categories. Everything else I said before still stands. [[User:Tsumikiminiwa|Tsumikiminiwa]] ([[User talk:Tsumikiminiwa|talk]]) 19:41, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

== Main page in phones category ==

The [[Main Page]] is now in the [[:Category:Phones]] category. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 03:25, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
:Surely because [[2789: Making Plans]], currently transcluded there, is legitimately given that category. I'd be more surprised if it wasn't. (Until Wednesday's new comic release changes this, if it does.) What's the problem, and how is it related to 'your' issue, above? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.146|172.71.178.146]] 10:04, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
::I moved this to its own section, but you can change the section title if you want. --[[User:AndroidTheLucario|Your favorite aura doggo]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 19:43, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

== please block u|Vandal (and many more)==

cf. [[Special:Contributions/Vandal]] 11 page blankings today. Thanks. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:24, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Actually, looking at [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Log/newusers&limit=500&type=newusers&user= Special:Log/newusers] is pretty ominous. Nearly all of the last 500 (within the past 4 days), and also the next few thousand, are suspicious. The CAPTCHA probably needs to be replaced with something more difficult that is perhaps not as trivially automatable? And all those users blocked? Not sure. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 22:05, 4 July 2023 (UTC)
:As a regular checker of such things, I know for a fact that you get hundreds of 'suspicious' accounts created every day, and most of them 'go nowhere'. The account creation speedblocks may not be very good. Or, possibly, tens of thousands of accounts are ''tried'' to be created, with 'just' a small percentage of them getting past the CAPTCHA/etc to get noticed by us - the actual top-level site admins will have access to the 'failed to register fully' logs. ''But'', the actual page vandalism is very rarely any of these 'mechanised spam accounts'. I presume because the CAPTCHAs throttle down the 'lucky' accounts' abilities to do anything they were programmed to do ''once'' registered. And, no, the accounts aren't blocked (i.e. disabled accounts, except on very ''rare'' occasions when an Admin gets annoyed with a conspicuously used spam-login), if the actual Block Log is to be believed, but so many get created and ''never'' used so it looks like the "new user early posts" precautionary checks do a very good job.
:We're also getting that idiot (I presume the same idiot as we've had for a year or two now) who manually creates accounts, such as you have been dealing with (and me, and others) over the last 24 hours or so. As a stupid human rather than a 'smart' bot, the CAPTCHA is no block to him/her/them. And the occasional IP gets used in that way, too (and I mostly successfully revert vandalism as only an IP; usefully, I hope) which might just be lazy vandalism, on top of the baseline stupidity. But the precautions against them are different. As with the 'Eric's ("Hi, I see your website needs improving - Eric"-types of message), which also seem to be handled by the community (and/or our automated blocking/reverting).
:I don't see increasing the severity of the CAPTCHA to be a solution to much, honestly. Not from my perspective, certainly, though I know there's no reason to take my own unattributable word on that.
:Instead, we should keep on keeping on. The community handles these things as they need to be. The admins know the 'hidden fight' going on in the background, but won't (and shouldn't) reveal too much about the extent of the first-line defences against bad faith 'automated' edits and the rest. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.140|172.70.90.140]] 08:13, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Vandalism appeared again in [[2800]]. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:07, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

== Ban fake IP ==

Could you ban [[User:172.68.102.XXX]]? His edits sound suspicious, and he seems to be fighting against us. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 19:41, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

== Vandalism by 172.69.214.158 ==

Large number of extreme vandalism, which ThatoneU is valiantly yet inefficaciously fighting:

example from https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1193:_Externalities&action=history

<pre>
(cur | prev) 01:04, 24 July 2023‎ 172.69.214.158 (talk)‎ . . (6,765 bytes) (-15,000)‎ . . (Undo revision 318344 by ThatoneU (talk)) (undo)
(cur | prev) 00:47, 24 July 2023‎ ThatoneU (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (21,765 bytes) (+15,000)‎ . . (undo)
(cur | prev) 00:46, 24 July 2023‎ 172.69.214.158 (talk)‎ . . (6,765 bytes) (-15,000)‎ . . (undo)
</pre>

== Vandalism on page 2805 ==

The latest comic page (2805) is currently being vandalized. Can an admin please look into it?

== Problem with new accounts and IPs ==

So I'm sure many of you are well aware of the vandalism happening recently. But what concerns me the most is that all the edits were done by many, many different IPs, meaning that we can't just block one, and this site could get overrun by systematic IP vandalism. Also, the new accounts being created seem very suspicious. For such a small community, there's no way that there can be around 100 new users each day. The actual usernames of the users seem to follow a very repetitive pattern (generic first name + generic last name + random number). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.209|172.70.42.209]] 18:44, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
:As a fellow IP (and not a vandal myself, at least by intent) I find that the advantages of being able to leap in and correct (often 'named') damage outweigh the relatively small amount of IP-led vandalism. And the details of how the IPs represent the (limited, but geographically distributed) Cloudflare gateways has been noted before a number of times, together with what can be done about/with them.
:About the new accounts... Look back for ''years'', and you'll see the same (or similar) patterns. Almost all the truly rogue (presumably automated generation/'registering') then do nothing else as the site blocks the (still automated) attempts to do something with them.
:The worst danger this site is threatened by is the actual manually-posting individuals who (IPed or named) can do what they like so long as (like us legitimate editors) they are prepared to be sat at the keyboard and spend/waste the time in navigating the initial CAPTCHAs/etc to set down their changes. And there's not much more anybody can do about them without ruining everyone else's experience to a similar degree. Perhaps there's some adjustments possible, but none seem necesary to address the account-spam and other precautions are intercepting/reverting the lion's share of the edit-spam (with or without accounts).
:Not up to me, but I trust in those who it is up to. To continue with what is happening right now or to respond in new ways to anything that needs a new approach. Not saying that I don't have ideas of my own, for if I were able to intervene, but I doubt it'd be useful to voice them. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.158|172.70.162.158]] 21:12, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

== Large amounts of vandalism involving disturbing imagery. ==

Page 2805 has a huge vandalism problem. Vandals (it seems to be the same few people over and over, or maybe one person with multiple addresses) keep covering the page with weird, disturbing photos and way-too-bright colors.
A few people have been valiantly fighting back but that doesn't mean this isn't a problem.
I would like to please request that the page be locked to prevent further vandalism, and that you please ban all the people that have vandalized it in this way before (and/or take some other action to prevent future vandals) . Thank you very much! [[User:(insert name here)|(insert name here)]] ([[User talk:(insert name here)|talk]]) 01:20, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

There also seems to be a parser problem where instead of vandals replacing the page source, the vandalism is appended to the end, even though it isn't in the source. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.174.230|172.71.174.230]] 03:39, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

The optimal way to go would be to add bots that automatically replace questionable content like divs and detect image/word spam (like the one in Wikipedia). They would always be on so the vandals would get overwhelmed. Similarly I'd suggest monitoring the constant stream of IP addresses and created accounts. Most editors are IP addresses though, so you might want to watch out for that. Does ExplainXKCD have semiprotection capabilities? You would definitely want to do that, especially the important articles like [[xkcd]], [[Randall Munroe]], [[Cueball]], [[1:_Barrel_-_Part_1]], and ALL of the templates (the vandals were targeting those the most). [[User:84596Gamma|84596Gamma]] ([[User talk:84596Gamma|talk]]) 11:53, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

: I agree that the important pages (primary pages, plus all templates) need to be protected somehow so that this can't happen again. It's nice to have a low threshold to editing; it's nicer having a resource that can be depended on and doesn't require random volunteers jumping in to save. (Let's be honest; the images the vandal posted could have been much, much worse.) -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 12:28, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

:: What the heck is 'Explain XKCD Administrator' doing? He seems to also be doing some weird div BS, making it so that it's impossible to scroll or click on templates or some comics. Blocking would be heavily advised. [[User:84596Gamma|84596Gamma]] ([[User talk:84596Gamma|talk]]) 12:39, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

== Becoming an admin? ==

Hi. I've been contributing occasionally for eight years now, and I think I've been helpful. But, almost half of the edits were last night in that wave of vandalism. It was very frustrating knowing that I had the same tools as the (14-year-old?) vandal, and the only end-point to the fun would be one of us throwing in the towel, and it was probably going to me (bedtime).

I don't have the time and/or commitment to do regular moderation work, but I (think I) am a reasonable person, who deals with conflicts rationally and could help out in a pinch. Is there a chance I could be given some more powers to help out if (when) such a crap-storm happens again? Thanks for your consideration... -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 11:14, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

:I saw your efforts, early on in my own day, definitely looked to be amongst the helpful editors. I later picked up several cases (might have missed a couple, that others IDed before me) after I got online, and undid that latest form of vandalism in both templates (agree with above, they probably should be semi-protected) and pages. A simple Undo even at my level was sufficient to revert practically everything. What might have been handy was one of the top-moderators being around to use the mass-revert tools to streamline that, and keep on top of the account (or account''s'', as the problematic one would definitely open new accounts - we've seen them do this before) deserving to be blocked and banished. Unfortunately, the freedom of a wiki (which I value) doesn't really work well with over-administration. But that's a discussion to be had by those already at the top levels. I don't envy them. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.164|172.70.90.164]] 18:08, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

:: Well, the 14-year-old is back. I'm losing interest in fighting this mud-fest without real admin tools. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 20:11, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
::: We really need to stop this wave of persistent vandalism with protection. When will the admins notice our suffering? [[User:84596Gamma|84596Gamma]] ([[User talk:84596Gamma|talk]]) 20:23, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
::: I feel your pain. I caught (and had to recatch) a few of them as he turned up whilst I was browsing/considering proper edits. nd then I noticed you had appeared and were also retroing them, just as I thought I was barely keeping pace. But he's slackened off, so maybe you arriving here has made the difference. (And I'm fed up with pictures of fire hydrants!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.214|172.70.91.214]] 20:20, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
::::Me too... I'm coming to help. Hopefully we can fight that manchild off. Also I call death and destruction to Captcha. [[User:84596Gamma|84596Gamma]] ([[User talk:84596Gamma|talk]]) 20:22, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
:::: It's frustrating to watch the same few IP addresses wreak all this havoc. Being able to ban them would be a joy; why can't we have that power? -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 20:31, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
::::: OK: 2/3 of my contributions have been in the last 24 hours fighting Bozo-Man in all his flamboyant IP addresses. Without further powers, I'm done, because (unlike Bozo-Man) I have better things to do. Sorry... -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 22:39, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
:::::: What powers do you need? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]])
::::::: I'm not looking for Super Duper Guru™ powers, just something that would even the battle a bit. No, that's not true: I'm looking for something that would make the battle ''unfair'' by making it easier to clean things up than it is to vandalize them. For instance, of the 123 vandalisms I reverted over the pat 24 hours, a third of them were from the top four IP addresses, and two thirds were from the top ten. If you only look at the first three quads of the IP addresses, half came from just two subnets. Block a few IP addresses, and the moderation load would go way down. (And that ignores the work the other users did.)
::::::: It makes sense that you wouldn't want to be handing out Thor's Hammer indiscriminately, but (IMO) something needs to change. If MediaWiki's moderation permissions aren't selective enough for your tastes, I'd be happy to follow your guidance (e.g. no blocking people for more than 24 hours). -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 01:16, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
:::::::: Congrats, you are promoted, thanks for helping out. See me in a week if you still want the powers. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]])
::::::::: Thank you. Any guidance for the newbie admin? Or should I just "moderate moderately"? -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 01:33, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
:::::::::: Block and move... block and move. Great power / great responsibility and all that. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]])

== Preventation of vandalism ==

I'll bet the entire budget of the Death Star II that the vandalizer is going to strike again in a few hours. We should be more prepared - I've already cut links to templates, and we should be vigilant about the pages they are going to attack: the current comic, templates, important pages. [[User:84596Gamma|84596Gamma]] ([[User talk:84596Gamma|talk]]) 00:06, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
: What do you need to help? Let me know. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]])
:: Semiprotect all the templates. [[User:84596Gamma|84596Gamma]] ([[User talk:84596Gamma|talk]]) 00:52, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

== Username request ==

It looks like an impersonator registered an account under my name. Is it possible for me to get that username? [[User:Randall Munroe 2|Randall Munroe 2]] ([[User talk:Randall Munroe 2|talk]]) 04:41, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
:: To ask an obvious question: who are you? And, if you say you are the Randall Munroe of XKCD fame, how can we be sure? -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 12:41, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
::''May I have your attention, please?''
::''May I have your attention, please?''
::''Will the real Randall Munroe please stand up?''
::''I repeat''
::''Will the real Randall Munroe please stand up?''
::''We're gonna have a problem here...''
::(...but, in my assessmemt, Randall would have actual more direct ways of introducing himself to; if he suddenly decided to muddy the water by descending to our level when his interactions even with the forum were minimal; if he hasn't already been here/there/wherever all along, incognito and with/without the administrators knowing this. But Randall's technical and connected enough to not need to ask the above the way it was asked.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.181|172.70.162.181]] 15:36, 30 July 2023 (UTC)

== user page ==

how do i put stuff in my profile? others have done it but for mine it says that i don't have permission to create that page [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 16:01, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
: Don't know why you couldn't, but I now have created your user and talk pages; let us know if you now can't edit them. [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 16:08, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
:: There appears to be a rather restrictive page creation policy (it may be dialled up fairly high to age of account, possibly more so than any mere contributions-count), at least in regard to User-typed namespaces. Many account-creators have noted this, and had to be helped out. I suspect it's just their making that An User was ever prevented from. After all, even I can add things to User (and, more correctly and politely, User Talk) pages. And I'm not even a usernamed person. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.230|172.70.85.230]] 20:28, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

== Unable to edit ==
For the last two months, I was unable to make any edits. Is my account secretly locked? Also, I couldn't even post tweets. Did I offend you? [[User:ConlangGuide|ConlangGuide]] ([[User talk:ConlangGuide|talk]]) 23:38, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

:Also, I tried to post on ClassicalGames's talk page but it was messy. [[User:ConlangGuide|ConlangGuide]] ([[User talk:ConlangGuide|talk]]) 23:43, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

== cannot create user page ==

Like all the other instances of this, it just says "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page." At least it isn't just me [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]] ([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk]]) 16:43, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

: Created your user and talk page with placeholder text (".") -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 19:20, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

:: much thanks! now to wait until i can make my own custom css page [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]] ([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk]]) 19:38, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

:I didn't want to create yet another discussion topic for the same issue, so I put it here. Could someone create my user page as well? Thanks. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:14, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

=== Same here. ===

I'm almost glad I'm not the only one with this issue with the user and talk page. I was kind of asking myself what I've done not to be permitted a user page, you know. I remember trying to create one once upon a time, which included a link to my own webcomic. It didn't save for some reason and after that I wasn't permitted to create a user page. So if a link to your own hobbyist scribblings is considered illicit advertising, please let me know in order to avoid misunderstandings. [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 14:54, 16 June 2024 (UTC)
:With a dozen edits (up to and including the above), and a decent amount of time, I'd have expected you to be over the nominal threshold to give you the right to create your pages.
:(I'm not entirely sure what the criteria are, off the top of my head, though I know it's been discussed elsewhere. And if I were configuring it, I'd not put too much weight on "the number of edits" or "the net amount of added bytes"/whatever, as it could encourage pointless editing-for-the-sake-of-editing, rather than relying upon 'time served' to weed out those who are in a rush to create havoc... but there's arguments to make it a combination of criteria. And it's not up to me, anyway..!)
:Firstly, have you tried again recently, like right now? If you have, and it still won't 'take', or even let you get that far, then there's plenty of longer-term/higher-intensity users that ''might'' look kindly upon your participation and answer your plight. But do try again.
:And I'd say that (within reason, like avoid linking to anywhere dodgy or uploading masses of total junk) you're free to make your User page into anything you want. I'm pretty sure you aren't going to want to cross any 'line' (official or otherwise), so all the best. And bumping your request. (Also slightly sub-headering, because it is rather a reply to the above header. I might just have added an indented reply straight off, but... again... it's not really for the likes of me to say, so I'm only tweaking it, not merging it in.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.71|162.158.38.71]] 20:57, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

::Cheers for the info, and for the tweak! I didn't know how to make sub-headings (yes, I'm that wiki-illiterate - lol), or I'd have done it myself. Possibly I'm just not over this mysterious threshold, being a somewhat irregular visitor with a slight penchant for bad puns, but I certainly do intend to make contributions that actually contribute to something whenever I can (btw. my own webcomic, actually two webcomics by now, are both All Ages and hosted on a well-known webcomic community site, so it's certainly nothing dodgy from my point of view). I don't want to make a fuss about it all, either. If nothing works after a year or so, I'll just start over with a new account or something and see what happens. [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 18:24, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

== Small css-related changes to two templates ==

I've explained what changes I want made in the talk pages for [[Template:Comic]] and [[Template:Comic discussion]] already, but I think I might need to mention them here too. Changing the templates shouldn't cause any adverse effects, and allow for more versatility for users who create their own CSS. [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]])

: You should sign your comments with "-- ~~~~", which will insert your username. And, there's a very low chance that anyone with the power to change the CSS to wander by; we've been on our own for a while. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 22:01, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

: Added the class names. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 15:39, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

:: THANK YOU!!! The face of pure shock and excitement i felt when seeing this was beyond my wildest dreams ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 15:46, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

== Math Module breaks all pages with it ==

[[2070]] and [[2034]] appear to be broken for some reason. They wont load at all with the following reason:

<code>
MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: [ZUPRak3GkbeSokPCcKIp8AAAAJI] 2023-11-02 16:42:18: Fatal exception of type "MWException"

Exception caught inside exception handler.

Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.</code>

[[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 16:42, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
:: [[2295]] also broken. Must be related to the Math module. [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 16:44, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
:: Full list of broken pages:
::* [[128: dPain over dt]]
::* [[687: Dimensional Analysis]]
::* [[849: Complex Conjugate]]
::* [[899: Number Line]]
::* [[969: Delta-P]]
::* [[1047: Approximations]]
::* [[2028: Complex Numbers]]
::* [[2034: Equations]]
::* [[2048: Curve-Fitting]]
::* [[2059: Modified Bayes' Theorem]]
::* [[2070: Trig Identities]]
::* [[2117: Differentiation and Integration]]
::* [[2295: Garbage Math]]
::* Possibly more [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 00:14, 3 November 2023 (UTC)
:::On further analysis, it seems to be related to the MathML setting. [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 19:23, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

== Way to contact the site hosters? ==

I have tried posting at Jeff's talk page to no avail. Maybe yáll admins have a red phone hotline to Jeff? See reasons at [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Way to contact the site hosters?]]. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 01:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

== Escape speed is no longer incomplete ==

Can you delete the text at the top of every page except the main page that says ''"We still need to complete some explanations like this one: 2765: Escape Speed. All incomplete explanations are here."''? Escape speed is no longer incomplete, so that is wrong.[[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)] 14:03, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

This keeps happening with other comics too [[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 21:44, 18 April 2024 (UTC)

== Vandal Issue ==

we've got vandals all over [[2875: 2024]], and they're getting persistent [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 16:50, 2 January 2024 (UTC)
:At least one vandalism per minute. Even with Someoene and I both reverting, it's showing the racist message most of the time. Can Explainxkcd protect a page? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 17:54, 2 January 2024 (UTC)
::Deleting the vandal's ignorant... let's call it "self-defense" to be generous. What exactly is supposed to be "not racist" about a derogatory term for black men - which features prominently in the edit summaries is left as an exercise for the reader. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.181|162.158.146.181]] 18:35, 2 January 2024 (UTC)
:Preferably also rev-del the revisions and summaries. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.13|172.69.71.13]] 18:40, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

== XKCD Browser ==

I made a [https://github.com/kristianbenoit/XKCD XKCD browser] in python with pygame and think it could be useful to others. The idea was to popup a comic the morning after it was published from a crontab. There could be a hotkey to point to todays discussion on explainxkcd. I wonder where/how would be the place to advertise it ? [[User:Kbenoit|Kbenoit]] ([[User talk:Kbenoit|talk]]) 15:36-40, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:Here's a good start. Perhaps on the comic discussions for similar things ([https://uni.xkcd.com/ unixkcd], etc). As and when you get a User page here then you can perhaps expound on it there (assuning you aren't leaving the explanation to the github webspace. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.172|172.71.178.172]] 16:01, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::You (other IP, in the 160s.*) meant well, but [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests&diff=prev&oldid=335412 the person who linked my text] was not me and that link isn't directly useful for K's purpose. Maybe indeed I should have pointed at [[UniXKCD]], or [[Talk:UniXKCD]], but I wasn't sure that was even the best place on here. Look around the [[:Category:Interactive comics]], and/or ones featuring browsers lrominently, maybe.
::I repeat that you (Kristian, with our help at bumping the contribution here) have already now made it known/knowable, at least to those who browse this site widely, but once you get a Userspace page you can perhaps do a little bit more in your own free space and also push people there through subtle pointers or signature-links in further on-context contributions. This isn't really a place for random advertising, but definitely contextual links to offsite xkcd 'fandom' is not something I'd personally have issues with (certainly compared to some other things that might get snuck on here). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.62|172.70.91.62]] 13:43, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

== Vandalism-related Ban Request ==

Hey, if any of the admins see this, can you please ban Jupitale? They’ve made 11 vandalism-related edits, within the time frame of about 21 hours. Even though they haven’t ben active since February 28, I feel like it’s better to err on the more cautious side. Thanks! ^_^ [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:09, 5 March 2024 (UTC)
:It'd be even more cautious not to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Ash123&action=history create userpages] for a user that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1211:_Birds_and_Dinosaurs&diff=prev&oldid=336532 was only here to spam us].. (Note to admins: add Ash123 to that todo list, if we're calling them out, and I know I've reverted some other single-spamming usernames recently.) But you just know that a ban for anyone like 'Jupitale' (as much as they'd deserve it) is going to be of no actual consequence to them.
:And hold off on all those other userpages, 42. It's not your job, and you might not be right about the usefulness of the ones you're (seemingly randomly) creating. Without even being asked. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.217|172.69.194.217]] 01:55, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

== Countdown ==

Can we please have an xkcd-like countdown on the top of every page for how many days left till the next april fool's comic? (Eg. today it would say "7 days untill the next april fool's comic!") [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)] 10:26, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
:What certainty is there that there'll be one? If/when get the April Fool, or past it, do we reset for the next, or start counting down to the next hypothetical New Year, Christmas, Halloween comic or "Two/Seven/Ten Years" reanniversary? We need to know a few more details to the idea.
:And I presume you meant "a countdown in a suitably xkcx-ish manner, as there have been countdowns for books/etc but not a consistent approach, just some wide ranging but apt creative teasers [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.225|172.69.194.225]] 11:32, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
:Shhhh, it's supposed to be a surprise! I mean, in my opinion, I'd rather want to see people caught off guard in the comments rather than warn them. [[User:Asdf|Asdf]] ([[User talk:Asdf|talk]]) 12:35, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

== Unblock request ==

Hello! I tried to sign up for an account a couple years ago, but I happened to sign up during a major vandal attack, and an admin blocked me based on a mistaken accusation of vandalism and sockpuppetry. I had used the account [[User:Danny E. Corchado]], then I used [[User:Danny Corchado]] to attempt to appeal my block shortly afterwards; both accounts are now blocked. I no longer have the password to the former, but I can log in to the latter account. Can someone please unblock [[User:Danny Corchado]]? If someone creates [[User talk:Danny Corchado]], I should be able to edit that page to prove I do control the account. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.21|172.71.151.21]] 02:26, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
:ill give you the benefit of doubt-done and done [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 04:19, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
::Really? You actually think this could work like that? Both(/'both'?) of you? I wondered why you (42) randomly created that user's page from (from 'your' perspective) the mists of time. Which doesn't help unblock anyone, there's not even any logic in that request. (Once unblocked, whoever controls the account can prove that ''they control the account''. But where does that lead anyone?)
::And why would you associate ''in any way'' with an account 'of no account' that was linked with vandalism? You can only be judged by your actions, as you can choose any name (within reason) that you want. "Mr Corchado" still has uncounted options left if he absolutely must post, in all good faith, as 'Dan Corchado' or similar. You've been here long enough (longer than your current username) to know all this. Sheesh... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.77|172.70.85.77]] 11:03, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

== Adding images from 2916: Machine ==

I created most of the page for 2916: Machine, but do not have permissions to upload images to embed for each object/character, could someone either upload all the images I have linked on the page, or allow for me to upload the images? Thanks [[User:Claire Kholin|Claire Kholin]] ([[User talk:Claire Kholin|talk]]) 18:56, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

== Main Page Deletion ==

Hi. When I logged in today, I saw that the Main Page was deleted just 2 minutes before by Mark Hurd. If I remember correctly, he was confirmed to have passed on Wikipedia, and other Admins were talking about de-sysopping him. Can someone please explain this? Thanks, [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:44, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
:After Kynde restored the Main Page, he didn't protect it. Could someone please protect it so that trolls and vandals can't mess with it, like last time? Thanks. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:18, 13 April 2024 (UTC)

== "Interesting" Account Creations ==

Hi. So I was looking at the user creation log, and I noticed a suspicious number of accounts-at least 90% of them-are being created using a <Semi-generic first name> <semi-generic last name> <usally two or three numbers>. This would be kinda weird in the first place, however, almost none of the accounts are active. That and the fact that these accounts are being created no less than 10 minutes from each other made me think somethings a little weird. Maybe I'm just dumb. Just wanted to bring it to your attention in case this wasn't a normal thing.[[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 17:17, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
I looked a bit further, the exact same thing happened two months ago as well, but the names were random letters instead [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 17:34, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
:It's been happening (in various forms) for years. Maybe a decade, if not more. For as long as I've been paying attention, certainly, which might well be that long.
:Without access to the whole admin logs, it seems to reflect the intention of 'bots to spam, spam and spam again, automatically, creating accounts they will use to do so but then hitting the actually rather effective anti-bot defenses, so they do absolutely nothing (well, maybe they're lucky every now and again, but practically insignificant successes, and IP-only spams seem to dominate, at maybe twice a week for who-knows-how-many wctual attempts).
:Amongst the current bunch randomly created names, I see a few that are clearly created around the word "Ingredients" (rather than a feedstock to create 'FirstnameLastname', which has long been the main default). I take it that each meta-pattern we see as indicative of a different bot-farmer's efforts, so this might have been started up for a particular spam-theme. Which maybe we'll get an idea of if it gets lucky. Though I'm in no hurry to find out such details. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.13|172.71.242.13]] 12:39, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
Awesome, glad that its under control then :) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 14:32, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
:Recently created a public-facing wiki and I can confirm these accounts are would-be spambots (they started spamming my wiki until I made it impossible to register an account without already having one). —Megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 09:07, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
::Not to question your decision on how to do this, but idly wondering how many people who already have an account would want to register a new one, and why... RPing with alts actively encouraged, and nobody new joining in? Sounds interesting, but I feel I've misunderstood somehow. (And solving the problem however you want to is your perogative.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.123|172.69.195.123]] 10:35, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:::It's a small wiki mostly for me and my friends; I was silly and thought nothing could go wrong if I left account creation wide open since the wiki isn't linked from anywhere . I guess it must have been someone scanning the IPv4 address space. I don't need anyone registering anymore unless I make new acquaintances/friends, in which case I'll make an account for them. —Megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 14:41, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

==Block request==

Can someone block 42.book.addict on my profile and vice versa? We're having issues and I wanna stop with them. 19:34, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

== Problem with email verification. ==

I'm not getting the verification email. I checked everywhere in my inboxes, and dodecatuple-checked the email address I provided. Can anything be done? Although I guess it doesn't seem to be strictly necessary. Thank you. [[User:Paintadot|Paintadot]] ([[User talk:Paintadot|talk]]) 17:10, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

== Reclaim user account "rosuav" ==

I tried to sign in to make a small edit to #2954, but I can't create an account with my standard user name "Rosuav" due to one already existing; yet there's apparently no email address on file for that username. Is there a way to prove that I am that person, and request that it be unlocked? I use the same name everywhere eg GitHub, Twitch, Discord, Twitter (if that's at all relevant any more), and am the owner of the rosuav.com domain as well. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.144.144|172.68.144.144]] 06:10, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
:My instinct is that it could be done, but won't be. Even demonstrably owning the domain (with provable history) doesn't really trump the rights of any person who may have equally logical reasons for having beaten you to choosing 'their' username here. Yes, it leaves the way open for malicious cybersquatting/cybergazumping (haven't checked the history of this interloper account, to see if it's been unused/abused in 'your' name), but otherwise it sets an awful precedent of claim and counterclaim.
:I think you might just have to accept that you'll need a (totally, or slightly) different username here. Or do without, as you and I currently are.
:...not wishing to speak for the 'admins' here, who may suggest otherwise, but fairly safe in thinking that the hoops needed to be jumped through to 'correct' things in the fairest way are too untrivial, compared to the relative importance of task and any vital need. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 11:56, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

::Are the admins able to rename accounts? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.86|172.71.147.86]] 12:46, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

:::I think I've seen it done, maybe once, definitely a long time ago, unless I'm thinking of a completely different wiki(-like) server. But for totally different reasons than shuffling usernames in and out of use (in ways that didn't involve just account deletion, which is the clearer 'first step' that could possibly be justified).
:::Think about it, there's potentially a completely separate existing 'owner' of the contentious username. There's no pre-existing presumption that "<n> years of idleness" ever makes an identity forfeit, certainly not explicitly stated. Unlike various other login-mediated services, there's no real 'private space' to argue over ownership (and legitimate access) for, which saves some problems but then renders moot various possible reasons for making exceptional admin-changes.
:::For any purpose that mattersz it doesn't matter if you sign up as <code>JoeBloggs</code> or <code>Joe Bloggs</code> or <code>The Real Joe Bloggs</code> or <code>JoeyBloggs2008</code> or <code>JB003½</code> or <code>The Name's Bloggs, Joe Bloggs. Licenced To Kill, And Drive A Heavy Goods Vehicle</code>. Look at the [[Special:Log/newusers]], and see how meaningless any given username is, and not worth directly contesting in this sort of circumstance.
:::This is just my observation. I'd defer to any actual Admin who might have a more refined opinion (possibly quite different), Or actual community decisions, by ''named users'', that firmly suggested otherwise. But it looks like there's only three/four of us IPs who have anything to say on the matter. Or it's just me, pointlessly arguing with myself. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.60|172.71.242.60]] 14:44, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

== [[Category;Comics featuring real people]] ==

Can someone please delete this? It's obnoxiously showing up as an autocompletion whenever I'm about to search for categories (i.e. when I type "Category" into the search bar, it shows up). It's a main-space article and a cross-namespace redirect. It was probably created as an accident based on the fact that the person who created it soon redirected it to the correct name. It is not linked from any page except this one. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 00:26, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

== Removal of administrator permission for [[User:Markhurd|Markhurd]] ==

''Note that this request requires a bureaucrat, but for almost a year neither of our two bureaucrats have been active.''

[[User:Markhurd|Markhurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) ([[Special:Contribs/Markhurd|contribs]]) has been inactive since 2016 and is blocked because he has passed on. Yet his account still has administrator privileges which may be dangerous, since blocked administrators can still perform certain actions (e.g. blocking the administrator that blocked them). Thus, the account should have its administrator privileges removed. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 05:56, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

Actually, on this wiki, per [[Special:ListGroupRights]], administrators have the <code>unblockself</code> user right, allowing them to unblock themselves. So blocking an administrator doesn't really do anything at all. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 06:05, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

== The crapper is back ==

And eir username is [[User:💩💩💩💩💩]]. [[User:AndroidTheLucario|Your favorite aura doggo]] ([[User talk:AndroidTheLucario|talk]]) 13:41, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:Looking through the search archives, I see now. Maybe it's the person I had a brief revert skirmish with on 11 March 2023. Seems like that account stopped vandalizing a while ago, though their vandalism of a highly transcluded template makes me worried. —Megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 10:06, 20 July 2024 (UTC)
::Never rule out copycats, who did a bit of basic research. Or who were around the two or three times that this particular pattern occured, before, perhaps they weren't bored enough to join in then, or suddenly their hormones kicked in and they decided now was the time to rebel. Motives aren't easy to establish, beyond "because I can" and some strange urge to act out. For a number of minor reasons, that I'll not go fully into (because explaining would take more time than I place value on their actual correctness), I don't think it was "the crapper" seriously trying to revive their art.
::One other (broad) guess I have is that it's just a 'tagging' exercise/dare concocted by the off-site group from whom the original came, to have a new member fulfil initiation. I'm all but certain that certain lessons learnt by the original individual(s) weren't remembered, yet the choice of blindingly obvious emoji-username does seem like a relatively 'new' thought, so probably a different mind behind the implementation.
::Maybe they've even now got a sweepstake on how long it takes for the offending username to be banned? (Really should have been, already, though it doesn't matter in the long run if/when...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.19|172.70.85.19]] 11:05, 20 July 2024 (UTC)
New crapper: [[Special:Contribs/The crapper is back]]. For some reason these users aren't really doing much - they seem to edit a bit and then back off. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 05:46, 22 July 2024 (UTC)
:Interesting to note that the crapper reappears at very close to the point in time that a number of CGs become active, by the way. Which is absolutely not the first time they both coincide (sometimes 'helping de-crap').
:Also CG accounts have a nasty habit of reverting an error recently added by (usually) an IP, and, if they can't find enough actual useful typos to correct (the spate of searching for rogue "the the"s was actually mostly useful and correct, but didn't take enough care about it). Also, CGs tend to revert any things that even ''suggest the CGs are linked'' as if to try to erase that idea from everyone's memory, rather than laugh it off or ignore it or say "yeah, and..? ...your problem is?" and I rather expect that this comment will get the same treatment. Which doesn't link 'them' to the crapper, but does become rather tedious in its own right. So perhaps 'they' should take the hint to stop that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 10:44, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

2961: CrowdStrike

2024-07-19T18:20:15Z

172.70.160.249: /* Transcript */ Phonetic thinko...

{{comic
| number = 2961
| date = July 19, 2024
| title = CrowdStrike
| image = crowdstrike_2x.png
| imagesize = 322x384px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were going to try swordfighting, but all my compiling is on hold.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNAFFECTED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about the {{w|2024 CrowdStrike incident}} occurring on the day of the comic's release.

The title text refers to [[303: Compiling]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[White hat is addressing Ponytail, who is half nealing on a moving office chair, holding onto a rope tied to Cueball who is riding an electric scooter.]
:White Hat: Hey, aren't you supposed to be working on the -
:Ponytail: Sorry, that's all on hold today because of the CrowdStrike thing.
:Protip: as long as you're not actually in charge of ''fixing'' the CrowdStrike thing, you can use this excuse for pretty much anything you want to do today.
{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2960: Organ Meanings

2024-07-18T12:20:33Z

172.70.160.249:

how is thymus formed [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.102|172.70.85.102]] 07:00, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

You think Randall might have made this one as a ploy to have explain xkcd educate him on the organs and metaphors mentioned? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.33|162.158.146.33]] 07:59, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

Why is 'Liver' so high up on the metaphor scale? The only one I can think of is 'lily-livered', which doesn't appear to make much sense at all. On the other hand, I'd have 'Spleen' nearer the top, and 'Tongue' fairly high up as well. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 08:06, 18 July 2024 (UTC)
:Agreed; personally I’d have liver and tongue switch places, and I’d guess the one who added silver-tongued and biting one’s tongue would probably agree also. But that might be because I understand the biological function of a liver better than the average person does. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.5|172.70.210.5]] 08:21, 18 July 2024 (UTC)
:: Are those really metaphors, though? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.40.152|162.158.40.152]] 09:24, 18 July 2024 (UTC)
::: They aren't, or at least not metaphors to the tongue. Just done an edit, before having read this, to remove the visibility of "silver tongue" (a tongue that is metaphorically as silver... or maybe even quicksilver) and a "bitten tongue" (the tongue as if restrained by biting). Though there are other forms, the metaphor to biological function must be of the general "it is the tongue of the <something else>" type, maybe such as a tongue of lava or the tongue of an oil-can (one being an extending appendage, the other additionally being a contact depositor of liquid - though not always consistent in application).
::: Something can more easily be understood as the metaphorical heart/nerves/spine/etc of something, and we also have a good understanding of what the originals do. A sewage treatment plant can be considered the kidneys of a town (arguably more understood than a liver of one, for example, so I'd have personally switched the two), but it gets more complex with some of them. In the case of the appendix, we pretty much ''only'' know (in lay-use) that it's a spare fleshy bit that might or might not have any use, so the metaphorical 'equivalent biological function' of a "town's 'appendix'" is probably more understood than a body's ''actual'' appendix, for most people, the opposite of the situation with metaphorical/actual tongues. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.64|172.70.91.64]] 10:06, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that 'Metaphor meaning' is going to work as a column in the table - several of these have multiple metaphors associated, often with varied and little-related meanings.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 12:20, 18 July 2024 (UTC)

2959: Beam of Light

2024-07-17T08:30:16Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2959
| date = July 15, 2024
| title = Beam of Light
| image = beam_of_light_2x.png
| imagesize = 235x419px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Einstein's theories solved a longstanding mystery about Mercury: Why it gets so hot. "It's because," he pointed out, "the sun is right there."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT FLYING ALONGSIDE A BEAM OF LIGHT NYYOOOOOOOOOOM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Albert Einstein}} is famous for his theory of {{w|special relativity}}, and he developed this theory, in part, by imagining himself flying alongside a beam of light. In this comic, he's at the early stages of theory development, merely thinking fast car sounds like "NYYOOOOOOOOOOM," which sounds like a car whizzing by a spectator at an auto race. So his thought experiment is currently just, so to speak, a flight of fantasy.

{{w|thought_experiment|Thought experiments}}, such as those posited by Einstein to illustrate the principles of special relativity (which deals with the interactions between high speeds and the perceptions of time), can reveal what appear to be fundamental principles of the universe that can revolutionize scientific understanding.

In a similar vein, the title text refers to one of the long-standing issues about Mercury: {{w|Tests_of_general_relativity#Perihelion_precession_of_Mercury|its orbit around the Sun}} doesn't ''quite'' match what {{w|Newtonian physics}} would predict. We now know that this is accounted for by {{w|general relativity}}, another of Einstein's notable theories (which relates how gravity, or the space-time curvature that we understand as gravity, influences time and space, including planetary orbits). Again, we find ourselves overhearing his thoughts before he reaches any insights that will start to explain this. Instead he is stuck at just 'imagining' that Mercury is hot due to its proximity to the Sun, which isn't a particularly novel or useful conclusion, or close to what we would now recognize as Einstein's much-lauded theory.

The largely irrelevant (at least in any basic terms of relativity) issue of the heat from the Sun would seem to have more relevance to the {{w|Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism}}, at one time proposed as the cause of the Sun's heat but superseded by the eventual discovery and understanding of nuclear fusion, or the {{w|Yarkovsky effect}}, in which thermal effects were shown to have an influence upon the orbital dynamics of minor bodies. Neither of these things were the focus of Einstein's own studies.

An older version of Einstein was previously drawn in [[1206: Einstein]] and [[1233: Relativity]].

==Transcript==
:[Albert Einstein (drawn with dark, curly hair and a dark mustache) sitting on a chair, with a thought bubble above his head. There are papers, books and a cup on the desk in front of him.]
:Einstein (thinking): ''Nyoooooooooom!''
:Einstein (thinking): I'm so fast!
:Einstein (thinking): ''Nyyooooooooom!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The first few times Einstein imagined flying alongside a beam of light, he didn't have any particular insights.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2959: Beam of Light

2024-07-16T05:28:09Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ unrepeating effects

{{comic
| number = 2959
| date = July 15, 2024
| title = Beam of Light
| image = beam_of_light_2x.png
| imagesize = 235x419px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Einstein's theories solved a longstanding mystery about Mercury: Why it gets so hot. "It's because," he pointed out, "the sun is right there."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT FLYING ALONGSIDE A BEAM OF LIGHT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Thought experiments, such as those posited by {{w|Albert Einstein}} to illustrate the principles of {{w|Special Relativity}} (that deals with the interactions between high speeds and the perceptions of time), can sometimes reveal what appear to be fundamental principles of the universe that can revolutionise scientific understanding. But it is not always so. In this comic, we find Einstein being thoughtful about the scenario that would later help to make him famous, but at a point in time before any particularly profound revelations have been established. It is currently just, so to speak, a flight of fantasy.

In a similar vein, one of the long-standing issues about the orbit of Mercury is that it doesn't ''quite'' orbit the Sun in the way that Newtonian physics would suggest. We now know that this is accounted for by {{w|General Relativity}}, another of Einstein's suggestions (that relates the effects of gravity upon time perception), but we once more find ourselves overhearing his thoughts well before we get anywhere near any developments that we know will start to explain this, and is stuck at just 'imagining' that Mercury is hot due to its proximity to the Sun, which isn't a particularly novel or useful conclusion or in any way what we would now recognise as Einstein's much lauded theory.

The largely irrelevent (at least in any basic terms of Relativity) issue of the heat from the Sun would seem to have more relevence to the {{w|Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism}}, at one time proposed as the cause of the Sun's heat but superceded by the eventual discovery and understanding of nuclear fusion, or the {{w|Yarkovsky effect}}, in which thermal effects were shown to have an influence upon the orbital dynamics of minor bodies. Neither of these things were the focus of Einstein's own studies.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Albert Einstein sitting on a chair, with a thought bubble above his head.]
:Einstein: ''Nyoooooooooom!''
:Einstein: I'm so fast!
:Einstein: ''Nyyooooooooom!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The first few times Einstein imagined flying alongside a beam of light, he didn't have any particular insights.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2959: Beam of Light

2024-07-16T05:03:52Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

2958: Hatchery

2024-07-15T08:23:40Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2958
| date = July 12, 2024
| title = Hatchery
| image = hatchery_2x.png
| imagesize = 239x336px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Anadromous fish are more vulnerable in rivers, since the lack of salt means you can quickly crack passwords using rainbow trout tables.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT EXECUTING REMOTE COD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Remote code execution}} is a type of {{w|software exploit}} that takes advantage of a bug to allow a remote user of a computer application to make it run code that it was not intended to execute. For example, a webserver with such a bug might allow a user of a web page to make it run a program that deletes system files or displays private information.

The joke arising from this comic is that if you remove the "e" from "code", you get "remote cod execution". This refers to killing ("executing") {{w|cod|codfish}} remotely, using an exploit in a network application that allows one to view and manipulate the {{w|hatchery}}.

The title text contains a pun on {{w|rainbow tables}}, referring to {{w|rainbow trout}}, one type of which ({{w|steelhead}}) is {{w|anadromous fish|anadromous}} (migrating up rivers to spawn -- {{w|salmon}} are another well known example). Rainbow tables are used when trying to crack hashed passwords; it's a file with a carefully pre-computed selection of passwords and their corresponding hash values, which can be used to more efficiently recover password that are retrieved hashed. To prevent rainbow tables from being usable in this way, most modern password systems use "{{w|salt (cryptography)|salt}}", an extra random string that gets appended to the password before hashing so the same password will potentially have many different hashes, and it becomes infeasible to recover it even with the acceleration offered by rainbow tables. An additional pun is that rivers contain fresh water, so there's no salt (the chemical kind) and the fish are therefore more vulnerable.

The comic dialogue itself starts the whole chain of puns off by using the phrase "shooting fish in a barrel", which is figuratively used to mean that the task is extremely easy, but here becomes clear that he is literally {{w|Capital punishment|executing}} fish, without needing to be there in person. Also, Black Hat has [[374: Journal|previously]] talked about shooting "lonely, angsty fish in a barrel."

It might also be a pun referencing {{w|Call of Duty}}, as the game's acronym is "COD" and Black Hat is seen shooting something on a computer with a "Blam!". In this sense, "remote COD execution" would refer to running Call of Duty on the fish hatchery's computer equipment remotely.

{{w|Fish (Unix shell)|fish}} is also the name of a {{w|UNIX shell}}. Shells are popular targets for computer hackers as they are capable of being used to run arbitrary commands if sufficient access is gained through them.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is sitting at a computer desk, with Cueball standing behind him.]
:Black Hat: Shooting fish in a barrel.
:Computer: Blam!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:A new fish hatchery exploit allows remote cod execution.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Puns]]

2958: Hatchery

2024-07-15T08:23:10Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2958
| date = July 12, 2024
| title = Hatchery
| image = hatchery_2x.png
| imagesize = 239x336px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Anadromous fish are more vulnerable in rivers, since the lack of salt means you can quickly crack passwords using rainbow trout tables.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT EXECUTING REMOTE COD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Remote code execution}} is a type of {{w|software exploit}} that takes advantage of a bug to allow a remote user of a computer application to make it run code that it was not intended to execute. For example, a webserver with such a bug might allow a user of a web page to make it run a program that deletes system files or displays private information.

The joke arising from this comic is that if you remove the "e" from "code", you get "remote cod execution". This refers to killing ("executing") {{w|cod|codfish}} remotely, using an exploit in a network application that allows one to view the {{w|hatchery}}.

The title text contains a pun on {{w|rainbow tables}}, referring to {{w|rainbow trout}}, one type of which ({{w|steelhead}}) is {{w|anadromous fish|anadromous}} (migrating up rivers to spawn -- {{w|salmon}} are another well known example). Rainbow tables are used when trying to crack hashed passwords; it's a file with a carefully pre-computed selection of passwords and their corresponding hash values, which can be used to more efficiently recover password that are retrieved hashed. To prevent rainbow tables from being usable in this way, most modern password systems use "{{w|salt (cryptography)|salt}}", an extra random string that gets appended to the password before hashing so the same password will potentially have many different hashes, and it becomes infeasible to recover it even with the acceleration offered by rainbow tables. An additional pun is that rivers contain fresh water, so there's no salt (the chemical kind) and the fish are therefore more vulnerable.

The comic dialogue itself starts the whole chain of puns off by using the phrase "shooting fish in a barrel", which is figuratively used to mean that the task is extremely easy, but here becomes clear that he is literally {{w|Capital punishment|executing}} fish, without needing to be there in person. Also, Black Hat has [[374: Journal|previously]] talked about shooting "lonely, angsty fish in a barrel."

It might also be a pun referencing {{w|Call of Duty}}, as the game's acronym is "COD" and Black Hat is seen shooting something on a computer with a "Blam!". In this sense, "remote COD execution" would refer to running Call of Duty on the fish hatchery's computer equipment remotely.

{{w|Fish (Unix shell)|fish}} is also the name of a {{w|UNIX shell}}. Shells are popular targets for computer hackers as they are capable of being used to run arbitrary commands if sufficient access is gained through them.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is sitting at a computer desk, with Cueball standing behind him.]
:Black Hat: Shooting fish in a barrel.
:Computer: Blam!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:A new fish hatchery exploit allows remote cod execution.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:855: 1999

2024-07-12T22:21:02Z

172.70.160.249: Can't work exactly out what this is in reply to, but it definitely needs signing...

Not sure if this is of any importance, however after examining Zombocom's HTML I found a comment: "Please Visit 15footstick.com our other website. ThankZ" {{unsigned|‎184.75.117.227}}

Has this article seriously gone for a total of 357 days WITHOUT AN EXPLANATION? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.45|108.162.216.45]] 07:48, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
: I guess everyone must have been busy doing unlimited things on Zombocom. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.60|173.245.48.60]] 03:32, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Help, I can't view the glory of Zombocom.rofl because I no longer have flash installed! Has anybody in the past 16 years bothered to render this into HTML5? Like, just churn it through [https://developers.google.com/swiffy/ Swiffy] or something? :o [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.53|199.27.129.53]] 01:17, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
:Yup: http://www.html5zombo.com/ [[User:Crh23|Crh23]] ([[User talk:Crh23|talk]]) 13:23, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

New hardest to search for comic unlocked [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.35|172.68.150.35]] 15:29, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Okay just pointing out, you could use the developer panel or even could have hijacked the webserver and make whatever you want, so.... {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.20|20:57, 12 July 2024}}

2957: A Crossword Puzzle

2024-07-11T15:15:52Z

172.70.160.249: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 2957
| date = July 10, 2024
| title = A Crossword Puzzle
| image = a_crossword_puzzle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x937px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hint: If you ever encounter this puzzle in a crossword app, just [term for someone with a competitive and high-achieving personality].
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{notice|<big>'''SPOILER ALERT!'''</big> If you read on without trying to look at the crossword clues first, the joke is spoiled and your chance of finding out the joke yourself is gone instantly!|image=warning!!.png}}

This is a crossword puzzle. On a surface level, the answers seem extremely difficult, with questions covering a wide variety of trivia, linguistics, mathematics in various forms, alongside wordplay typical of crossword puzzles. But the joke is that every single letter of every single answer is "A". See explanation for all 51 clues in the [[#Table|table]] below. All the black squares are in a symmetrical pattern, which is generally the case for crossword puzzles in the US and UK. See description of the pattern in the [[#Transcript|transcript]].

The name of this comic, “A Crossword Puzzle”, is a double entendre; the “A” can be interpreted both as the indefinite article “a”, and as an identifier saying that this crossword puzzle is specifically an “A” puzzle, due to the answer being all “a”s.

The title text is a play on a "type A" personality. The term for someone with a competitive and high-achieving personality is "Type A". In the context of the title text, this answer is a hint that the entire puzzle can be completed in a crossword-solving app by typing the letter A repeatedly.

[[Randall]] pays tribute to a similar comic in the header text of this comic. See the [[#Trivia|trivia]] section below. In that trivia section there is also a picture of the solved puzzle.

==Table==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Location !! Clue !! Explanation !! Squares
|-
| 1-Across || Famous Pvt. Wilhelm quote || Reference to the {{w|Wilhelm scream}}. || 10
|-
| 11-Across || IPv6 address record || An IPv4 record is an "A" record; an IPv6 record is four times the length and is designated an "AAAA" record. || 4
|-
| 15-Across || “CIPHERTEXT” decrypted with Vigenère key “CIPHERTEXT” || A "{{w|Vigenère Cipher}}" translates the original text by the distance from A from the key, letter by letter. For instance, if the plaintext is "XK" and the key is "CD", the C shifts X 2 forward to become Z, and the D shifts K 3 forward to become N, yielding a ciphertext of "ZN". Since the ciphertext and the key are the same in this case, decryption just shifts all the letters back to A, akin to subtracting a number from itself and getting 0. || 10
|-
| 16-Across || 8mm diameter battery || An {{w|AAAA battery}} is a 1.5V battery that measures 8.3 mm in diameter, 2.2 mm smaller than the more common AAA battery. || 4
|-
| 17-Across || “Warthog” attack aircraft || The {{w|A-10 Warthog}} is an attack aircraft. Here, A-10 has been turned into AAAAAAAAAA (ten As). || 10
|-
| 18-Across || '''E'''ve'''r'''y t'''h'''ir'''d''' le'''t'''te'''r''' in the word for “inability to visualize” || {{w|Aphantasia}} is the inability to experience mental images. Following the example of the pattern in the clue, taking the first letter and every third one after (rather than just every third letter) we determine that '''A'''ph'''a'''nt'''a'''si'''a''' gives us the word "aaaa". This clue is particularly mean because of how it instructs you to visualize the letters highlighted within the word in order to get the answer. || 4
|-
| 19-Across || An acrostic hidden on the first page of the dictionary || The first page of the dictionary (if you ignore the copyright page and the index) is the list of words starting with A. An acrostic of this page, taking the first letter of each line and arranging them in order, would just be a sequence of A's. || 10
|-
| 21-Across || Default paper size in Europe || {{w|A4 paper}} (here written as AAAA) is the default size in Europe. At 210x297 mm, it is approximately 0.24" narrower and 0.71" longer than the 8.5"x11" paper used in the United States, and due to having an aspect ratio of 1:sqrt(2), can be cut in half to create two half-sized sheets with exactly the same aspect ratio. || 4
|-
| 22-Across || First four unary strings || A unary number system represents numbers using just one symbol. E.g. 32 in unary would be 11111111111111111111111111111111. The first four strings in unary, if you used A as the first (and only) symbol, would be A, AA, AAA, AAAA. || 10
|-
| 23-Across || Lysine codon || {{w|Lysine}} is an amino acid, with codons AAA and AAG. || 3
|-
| 24-Across || 40 CFR Part 63 subpart concerning asphalt pollution || [https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-63?toc=1 "40 CFR Part 63"] refers to federal air pollutant regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. The subpart for "asphalt processing and asphalt roofing manufacturing" is AAAAAAA. || 7
|-
| 25-Across || Top bond credit rating || The highest {{w|credit rating}} for bonds is AAA. || 3
|-
| 26-Across || Audi coupe || First of three Audi references. {{w|List_of_Audi_vehicles|Audi's car models}} range from A1 (subcompact hatchback) to A8 (full-size luxury sedan); the A5 is a compact executive coupé. || 5
|-
| 27-Across || A pair of small remote batteries, when inserted || Two AAA batteries (AAAAAA). "Inserted" is often a cryptic hint that one word should surround another. || 6
|-
| 29-Across || Unofficial Howard Dean slogan || A reference to Howard Dean, an American Democrat who ran for the party's nomination in 2004. He famously [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6i-gYRAwM0 yelled at a rally] in a way that was thought to be bizarre and which, it is thought, doomed his campaign. || 7
|-
| 32-Across || A 4.0 report card || A 4.0 GPA, at least {{w|Academic_grading_in_the_United_States|in the USA}}, is all A's. This clue assumes seven classes. || 7
|-
| 33-Across || The “Harlem Globetrotters of baseball” (vowels only) || The {{w|Savannah Bananas}}, the vowels for whom are aaaaaa. || 6
|-
| 34-Across || 2018 Kiefer song || [https://genius.com/Kiefer-aaaaa-lyrics AAAAA]. || 5
|-
| 35-Across || Top Minor League tier || The top {{w|Minor League Baseball}} tier is AAA. || 3
|-
| 36-Across || Reply elicited by a dentist || Dentists ask patients to "say aaaaaaa", i.e. "open up". This could also be an expression of pain; particularly the only kind you can make with dental tools in your mouth. (As Autechre put it: [https://youtu.be/UppsLKz1iD4 "Now, I don't want you to panic... just lean back and relax."]) || 7
|-
| 38-Across || Anaa’s airport || {{w|Anaa}} is an atoll in the {{w|Tuamotu archipelago}} of {{w|French Polynesia}}. AAA is the {{w|IATA}} code for the airport there. || 3
|-
| 41-Across || Macaulay Culkin’s review of aftershave || In the movie {{w|Home Alone}}, Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin) puts on his father's aftershave lotion. The six-year-old boy is not used to the lotion's antiseptic and screams as the stinging sensation kicks in. || 10
|-
| 43-Across || Marketing agency trade grp. || The {{w|American Association of Advertising Agencies}}, also called the 4A's (here AAAA). || 4
|-
| 44-Across || Soaring climax of Linda Eder’s ''Man of La Mancha'' || Refers to [https://youtu.be/BWP7l0OTXJI?t=130 the 20 second long wordless passage in Eder's opus]. Or possibly the final high note in the song The Impossible Dream || 10
|-
| 46-Across || Military flight community org. || The {{w|Army Aviation Association of America}}, or AAAA. || 4
|-
| 47-Across || Iconic line from ''Tarzan'' || Tarzan has a famous {{w|Tarzan yell|war cry}} he shouts, usually when swinging from a vine. || 10
|-
| 48-Across || Every other letter of Jimmy Wales’s birth state || The birth state of {{w|Jimmy Wales}}, the co-founder of Wikipedia, is Alabama. Taking every other letter of '''A'''l'''a'''b'''a'''m'''a''' gives "Aaaa". || 4
|-
| 49-Across || Warthog’s postscript after “They call me ''mister'' pig!” || Pumba in {{w|The Lion King}} yells "aaaaaaaaaa" while charging at the hyenas who insulted him. || 10
|-
| 50-Across || Message to Elsa in ''Frozen 2'' || The call which Elsa hears in {{w|Frozen 2}} is a sequence of four notes which resemble the requiem music {{w|Dies Irae#Music|Dies irae}}. The sequence is sung entirely with an open rounded vowel sound, or a soft "a" sound. || 4
|-
| 51-Across || Lola, when betting it all on Black 20 in ''Run Lola Run'' || In ''{{w|Run Lola Run}}'', Lola (Franka Potente) [https://youtu.be/OTSz1w-cuZM?si=2vc51WCWvn20Hjoo&t=116 screams loud enough to affect the outcome] of a roulette wheel where she has just bet all her money on Black 20. The scream could be transcribed as "AAAAAAAAAAA" || 10
|-
| 1-Down || Game featuring “a reckless disregard for gravity” || {{w|AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity}} - notably the title is commonly extended in promotional material beyond 6 A's. || 6
|-
| 2-Down || 1010101010101010101010102→16 || 10101010 10101010 10101010 in binary is equivalent to "AAAAAA" in hexadecimal. || 6
|-
| 3-Down || Google phone released July ’22 || The {{w|Pixel 6a}} was released in July 22. Stylized in this puzzle as "AAAAAA" ('A'*6) || 6
|-
| 4-Down || It’s five times better than that ''other'' steak sauce || 5 times better than {{w|A1 steak sauce}} would be A5, stylized in this puzzle as "AAAAA". || 5
|-
| 5-Down || ToHex(43690) || The decimal number 43690 converted to hexadecimal is AAAA. || 4
|-
| 6-Down || Freddie Mercury lyric from ''Under Pressure'' || A drawn-out 'Aaaaahhhh' rising in pitch. || 15
|-
| 7-Down || Full-size Audi luxury sedan || Second of three Audi references. As mentioned previously, the A8 is their full-size luxury sedan. || 8
|-
| 8-Down || Fast path through a multiple choice marketing survey || The "fast path" is just to select the first option over and over again. Usually the options are labeled A, B, C, and D (or more) - choosing the first option for every question would be answering entirely with A's. || 7
|-
| 9-Down || 12356631 in base 26 || Randall is expressing base 26 using the letters of the alphabet with 1=A, in which case 1235663110 = AAAAAA26. (It's unclear how one would express the digit 026 this way.) || 6
|-
| 10-Down || Viral Jimmy Barnes chorus || A reference to the music video for Kirin J Callinan's song '{{w|Big Enough}}', which features Jimmy Barnes in a cowboy hat screaming "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" while in the sky over mountain scenes. || 15
|-
| 11-Down || Ruby Rhod catchphrase || Ruby Rhod is a radio host in the film '{{w|The Fifth Element}}'; he has a scene with a memorable scream. || 5
|-
| 12-Down || badbeef + 9efcebbb || In hexadecimal, badbeef and 9efcebbb add together to equal AAAAAAAA (195,935,983, 2,667,375,547, and 2,863,311,530 in decimal respectively). || 8
|-
| 13-Down || In Wet Leg’s ''Ur Mum'', what the singer has been practicing || In the song "{{w|Ur Mum}}" by Wet Leg, the bridge starts with "Okay, I've been practicing my longest and loudest scream", which is apparently eight As long. || 8
|-
| 14-Down || Refrain from Nora Reed bot || The "Endless Scream" bot on social media, made by Nora Reed, posts "AAAAAAAAAAA" (with or without an h) at varying lengths. || 8
|-
| 20-Down || Mario button presses to ascend Minas Tirith’s walls || {{w|Minas Tirith}}. In Mario games you typically use the A button to jump. In games where you don't press a button to move (e.g. games with a joystick) then the button presses required to ascend a vertical structure would probably all be A. This clue might have been inspired by the {{w|A-button challenge}} / [https://ukikipedia.net/wiki/A_Button_Challenge A Button Challenge], which tallies the amount of A presses needed to beat ''Super Mario 64''. Additionally, Minas Tirith is a city with seven concentric rings, each with a wall around it and higher than the last ring. Presumably, it takes seven jumps to get to the highest area of the city, so the answer is "AAAAAAA". || 7
|-
| 24-Down || Vermont historic route north from Bennington || {{w|Vermont Route 7A}}, or AAAAAAA. || 7
|-
| 26-Down || High-budget video game || A high budget video game is usually referred to as a Triple-A game, or AAA. || 3
|-
| 28-Down || Unorthodox Tic-Tac-Toe win || Tic-Tac-Toe is usually won by getting either three Xs or three Os in a row, making XXX and OOO normal Tic-Tac-Toe wins. One could achieve a win of AAA by making the unorthodox choice of playing with the letter A instead of X or O. Alternatively, Randall is envisaging the grid as defined by rows 1, 2, 3, and columns A, B, C, so an AAA win would be simply playing in the first column each time - a strategy which should be obvious and easy to stop, even for young children who have not yet worked out that ''any'' route to winning can be blocked. || 3
|-
| 29-Down || String whose SHA-256 hash ends “…689510285e212385” || <code>printf AAAAAAAA <nowiki>|</nowiki> sha256sum</code> outputs <code>c34ab6abb7b2bb595bc25c3b388c872fd1d575819a8f55cc689510285e212385</code>.
Note that this 'clue' would be normally be ''particularly'' difficult, in isolation, as the nature of a {{w|hash function}} means that it is possible for multiple inputs to produce a given output, and that finding any of these (and definitely identifying ''all'' of them, to ensure you have the correct original) would require a {{w|brute-force attack}}; i.e. a test of all possible initial states to discover which of them might be viable candidates. Even more problematic is that we are only given a partial hash string, meaning we are possibly talking of a multiple of full hashes, each of them with a possible multiplicity of original plaintexts behind them.
 The number of possible hashes in the clue is 1664/1616, i.e. 1648, or approximately 6x1054, although there really is no reason (aside from the fundemental impracticality) to try to solve this problem from each and every 'hash end'. Instead you would 'only' check every combination of 8 letters (presuming no digits, punctuation or whitespace would be inserted, that no 'foreign'/accented characters are present and that uppercase is universally presumed, is 268; i.e. ~208 {{w|billion|short-scale billion}} possibilities) and discover which (one?) of these sufficiently matches the hash fragment given. Testing a hundred of these every second, it would take a little over 66 ''years'' to complete the task of checking every single possibility (rather than stopping at the first confirmed answer, which might well be the initial one in this particular case).
 In the context of a crossword such as this, however, you can significantly reduce this search by having established (or at least sufficiently narrowed down) the answers to the various across-clues which intersect with ever character of it (this form of crossword grid being of the {{w|Crossword#American-style crosswords|dense type}}, with no singly-clued spaces as with the more open lattice-types), reducing the necessary checks drastically. This could mean, having solved at least some of the perpendicular answers, that you have enough information to 'guess' at some likely answer, and then merely need to ''confirm'' that whatever guess(es) you make will resolve themselves into the clue-answer provided. (Much as you might with a more normally difficult clue, where you merely have to satisfy yourself that the surprise answer is at least justified as resulting from the original hint.)
| 8
|-
| 30-Down || Arnold’s remark to the Predator || A reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsFYPVxHKdc this scene] from '{{w|Predator (film)|Predator}}'. || 8
|-
| 31-Down || The vowels in the fire salamander’s binomial name || The vowels in {{w|Salamandra salamandra}} are aaaaaaaa. || 8
|-
| 32-Down || Janet Leigh ''Psycho'' line || The iconic scene in {{w|Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho}} is the shower scene, in which Janet Leigh gives a long piercing scream as she is murdered, which can be written as 8 "As" if one wishes. || 8
|-
| 34-Down || Seven 440Hz pulses || A sound with a frequency of 440 Hz is a middle "A" note. Seven such pulses would be AAAAAAA. || 7
|-
| 37-Down || Audi luxury sports sedan || Third of three Audi references. The A6 is their executive car. Actually, the A7, their executive liftback sedan, would fit the prompt of "luxury sports sedan" better, but 37 Down only has room for six As. || 6
|-
| 38-Down || A half-dozen eggs with reasonably firm yolks || Eggs can be [https://www.saudereggs.com/blog/egg-grading-system/ "graded on a variety of aspects"], with grades B, A, or AA. Eggs with a reasonably firm yolk are graded A, so having half a dozen of them gives you AAAAAA eggs. || 6
|-
| 39-Down || 2-2-2-2-2-2 on a multitap phone keypad || A "{{w|multi-tap|multitap keyboard}}" is a text entry system for mobile phones. Most numbers are associated with three letters, and tapping the same number multiple times in rapid succession selects the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd number. 2 is "a", 22 is "b", 222 is "c", 3 is "d", etc. 2-2-2-2-2-2 translates to "aaaaaa". || 6
|-
| 40-Down || .- .- .- .- .- .- || .- is Morse Code for A. It reads out as AAAAAA. || 6
|-
| 42-Down || Rating for China’s best tourist attractions || China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism provides ratings for many tourist attractions in China on a scale from A to AAAAA, with AAAAA being the best. Examples of well-known tourist attractions with the AAAAA rating include the Forbidden City, sections of the Great Wall of China, and the Terracotta Army. || 5
|-
| 43-Down || Standard drumstick size || 5A is a common, middle-range size for drumsticks (the sticks used to play drums, not the drumsticks that get eaten). Here, it's written as AAAAA. || 5
|-
| 45-Down || “The rain/in Spain/falls main-/ly on the plain” rhyme scheme || An AAAA rhyme scheme means each of the four lines ends with the same sound. || 4
|}

==Transcript==
:[A square 15x15 crossword puzzle is shown. Only 21 of the 225 squares are black. The black squares are in a pattern that are 180 degree rotationally symmetrical. Three black squares down from the 11th column and similarly three black squares up from the 5th column. Three black squares out from the right in row 7 and then two more black squares diagonally up from the end. Similarly three black squares out from the left in row 9 with two more black squares diagonally down from the end. A single black square is three above the first black square on the diagonal going down to the right and similarly there is a black square three under the first of the diagonal squares going down to the left. (Row 6 column 12 and Row 10 column 4). Finally there are three black squares on a diagonal crossing over the central point by going up from the left through the central point (Row 8 column 8). There are numbers at the top of every column (except the one that is a black square) and similarly at the left edge of all rows (except the one that is a black square). There are also numbers at the bottom of every black segment (except the one that reaches the bottom) and all rows after black segments except the one that reaches the right edge. In total all numbers from 1 to 51 is written. They are written in reading order from 1 to 51.]
:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

:[Below the square there are two rows of clues for each number that belongs to across (rows) and to the right there are one row of clues for each number that belongs to down (columns). Both segments have an underlined and bold title above the clues. Clue 1 goes in both across and down as the only number to be presented in both segments.]
:<big>'''Across'''</big>
:1. Famous Pvt. Wilhelm quote
:11. IPv6 address record
:15. "CIPHERTEXT" decrypted with Vigenère key "CIPHERTEXT"
:16. 8mm diameter battery
:17. "Warthog" attack aircraft
:18. '''E'''ve'''r'''y t'''h'''ir'''d''' le'''t'''te'''r''' in the word for "inability to visualize"
:19. An acrostic hidden on the first page of the dictionary
:21. Default paper size in Europe
:22. First four unary strings
:23. Lysine codon
:24. 40 CFR Part 63 subpart concerning asphalt pollution
:25. Top bond credit rating
:26. Audi coupe
:27. A pair of small remote batteries, when inserted
:29. Unofficial Howard Dean slogan
:32. A 4.0 report card
:33. The "Harlem Globetrotters of baseball" (vowels only)
:34. 2018 Kiefer song
:35. Top Minor League tier
:36. Reply elicited by a dentist
:38. ANAA's airport
:41. Macaulay Culkin's review of aftershave
:43. Marketing agency trade grp.
:44. Soaring climax of Linda Eder's ''Man of La Mancha''
:46. Military flight community org.
:47. Iconic line from ''Tarzan''
:48. '''E''''''v''''''e''''''r''''''y'''''' o''''''t''''''h''''''e''''''r''' letter of Jimmy Wales's birth state
:49. Warthog's postscript after "They call me ''mister'' pig!"
:50. Message to Elsa in ''Frozen 2''
:51. Lola, when betting it all on Black 20 in ''Run Lola Run''

:<big>'''Down'''</big>
:1. Game featuring "a reckless disregard for gravity"
:2. 1010101010101010101010102→16
:3. Google phone released July '22
:4. It's five times better than that ''other'' steak sauce
:5. ToHex(43690)
:6. Freddie Mercury lyric from ''Under Pressure''
:7. Full-size Audi luxury sedan
:8. Fast path through a multiple choice marketing survey
:9. 12356631 in base 26
:10. Viral Jimmy Barnes chorus
:11. Ruby Rhod catchphrase
:12. badbeef + 9efcebbb
:13. In Wet Let's ''Ur Mum'', what the singer has been practicing
:14. Refrain from Nora Reed bot
:20. Mario button presses to ascend Minas Tirith's walls
:24. Vermont historic route north from Bennington
:26. High-budget video game
:28. Unorthodox Tic-Tac-Toe win
:29. String whose SHA-256 hash ends "...689510285e212385"
:30. Arnold's remark to the Predator
:31. The vowels in the fire salamander's binomial name
:32. Janet Leigh ''Psycho'' line
:34. Seven 440Hz pulses
:37. Audi luxury sports sedan
:38. A half-dozen eggs with reasonably firm yolks
:39. 2-2-2-2-2-2 on a multitap phone keypad
:40. .- .- .- .- .- .-
:42. Rating for China's best tourist attractions
:43. Standard drumstick size
:45. "The rain/in Spain/falls main-/ly on the plain" rhyme scheme

==Trivia==
*This comic got a [[Header_text#A_Crossword_Puzzle|comic-specific header text]] after the first day it was up.
**This was because one of the comics Randall lists as one of those he enjoys, [https://www.buttersafe.com/ Buttersafe], had already posted a similar comic back in 2011: [https://www.buttersafe.com/2011/02/17/crosswords/ Crosswords].
**Randall had forgotten this, but now pays tribute to this, stating that he must have been accidentally inspired by that comic.
*[[User:Elfakyn|Elfakyn]] posted a link to a picture of the solved crossword puzzle in the [[Talk:2957:_A_Crossword_Puzzle#Solved_puzzle_picture|coments]] and allowed it to be included here:
[[File:2957_A-Crossword_Puzzle-Solved.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]

2941: Cell Organelles

2024-07-03T16:11:05Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ punc. Avoiding lazy redirect.

{{comic
| number = 2941
| date = June 3, 2024
| title = Cell Organelles
| image = cell_organelles_2x.png
| imagesize = 563x451px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's believed that Golgi was originally an independent organism who was eventually absorbed into our cells, where he began work on his Apparatus.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GOLGI ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows a {{w|Cell (biology)|biological cell}} diagram with a mix of real and fictional {{w|organelle}}s, giving both accurate {{w|Cell biology|cell biology}} terms and humorous ones. Actual cell components include the nucleus, mitochondria, and Golgi apparatus, while unrelated concepts come from geology, engineering, antivirus software, and even Star Wars. Labels like "evil endoplasmic reticulum" and "sticky endoplasmic reticulum" are variations of real cellular organelles. Other labels like "pith," "mantle," and "Vitreous humor," are borrowed from other types of circular cross-sectional diagrams (e.g., of fruit, planets, and eyeballs).

The title text is a fictional backstory to the {{w|Golgi apparatus}}, an essential cell organelle involved in processing and packaging proteins. It suggests that {{w|Camillo Golgi}}, the scientist who discovered the Golgi apparatus, was originally an independent organism that was supposedly absorbed into our cells, where it then started working on what is now known as the Golgi apparatus. The joke is a satirical take on {{w|Symbiogenesis|endosymbiotic theory}}, which posits that certain organelles within {{w|Eukaryote|eukaryotic}} cells, like {{w|mitochondria}} and {{w|chloroplasts}}, originated from independent symbiotic {{w|Prokaryote|prokaryotic organisms}} that were absorbed by a host {{w|germ cell}}. Golgi is drawn in the comic as a cute little alien.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Label
! Meaning
! Real?
! Cell organelle?
! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Smooth endoplasmic reticulum}}
| A network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, involved in the transport of materials.
| Yes
| Yes
| An {{w|endoplasmic reticulum}} is considered "smooth" if it is not covered in ribosomes.
|-
| {{w|Lithosphere}}
| The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
| Yes
| No
| Term from geology; part of the Earth's crust. Labeled cross-sectional diagrams of cells and of the layers of the Earth are commonly found in science textbooks.
|-
| {{w|O-ring}}
| A mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; used to seal connections.
| Yes
| No
| Engineering term. Both the o-ring and pith are drawn connected to the inner cell membrane. Made famous in pop culture for being the root cause of the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster}}.
|-
| {{w|Pith}}
| The central tissue in plants, used for nutrient transport.
| Yes
| No
| Botanical term. Most people think of pith as the layer of soft tissue between the skin and the flesh of citrus fruit, which explains its position in the diagram. Both the pith and o-ring are drawn connected to the inner cell membrane. A layer of pith was recently seen only 101 comics ago, in [[2840: Earth Layers]].
|-
| {{w|Cell nucleus|Nucleus}}
| The central and most important part of an object, forming the basis for its activity and growth.
| Yes
| Yes
| The cell nucleus is an actual cell organelle which houses {{w|DNA}}.
|-
| {{w|Nucleolus}}
| A small dense spherical structure in the nucleus of a cell during {{w|interphase}}.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle, involved in {{w|ribosome}} production.
|-
| Nucleoloulous
| Not a real term.
| No
| No
| A humorous continuation of the terms "nucleus" and "nucleolus." The nucleolus does have internal components, such as the fibrillar center, but none of them go by the name "Nucleoloulous"
|-
| {{w|Nucleon}}s
| Protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
| Yes
| No
| While cells contain nucleons,{{Citation needed}} the depicted circles are far larger than actual nucleons.
|-
| Drain plug
| A stopper for a drain.
| Yes
| No
| A plumbing term, which could refer to a {{w|porosome}}. Even small, temporary damage to the integrity of the {{w|cell membrane}} puts the cell at immediate and great risk of death.
|-
| Evil endoplasmic reticulum
| Not a real term.
| No
| No
| The rough endoplasmic reticulum is covered in ribosomes; the "evil" endoplasmic reticulum in the comic is covered in small spikes, making it evil.
|-
| {{w|Hypoallergenic}} filling
| Materials that cause relatively fewer allergic reactions.
| Yes
| [[Technically]] not incorrect
| Consumer product term, used e.g. for pillows and mattresses. If the {{w|cytoplasm}} doesn't cause allergic reactions within the cell, it is hypoallergenic.
|-
| Weak spot
| A vulnerable point.
| Yes
| Conceivably
| {{w|Cell membrane}} surfaces do indeed vary in strength, often due to the presence of organelles such as {{w|ion channel pore}}s or {{w|porosome}}s, both of which can be leveraged by viruses to enter cells.
|-
| {{w|Mitochondria}}
| Organelles that generate energy for the cell.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelles. Mitochondria are widely known as the "powerhouse of the cell," a phrase originally coined in 1957 by biologist {{w|Philip Siekevitz}}[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/powerhouse-of-the-cell/] which came to prominence online in the mid-2010s.{{acn}}
|-
| {{w|Midichlorians}}
| Fictional microorganisms in the {{w|Star Wars}} universe, which confer Force sensitivity and thereby associated {{w|Jedi}} (and Sith) powers.
| No
| Fictional
| It's unclear whether {{w|George Lucas}} intended for "midi-chlorians" to be {{w|Symbiogenesis|endosymbiotic organelles}} or internal {{w|Symbiosis|symbionts}}.
|-
| {{w|Chloroplast}}s if you're lucky
| Organelles in plant cells responsible for {{w|photosynthesis}}.
| Yes
| Yes, but in plants and plantlike organisms
| Actual cell organelles, found in plant cells and those of several different lineages of non-plant microorganisms and seaweeds. The phrase "if you're lucky" alludes to the good fortune that an organism, be it plant, animal, or microbe, gains by being able to photosynthesize, getting energy from sunlight, rather than have to run around all the time chasing energy. This benefit makes chloroplasts {{w|Kleptoplasty|worth stealing}}. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05499-y Experiments have been conducted] to transplant components of chloroplasts into mammal cells to slow disease. See also [https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1978/06/26 Zonker Harris].
|-
| Human skin
| The outer covering of the human body.
| Yes
| No
| Skin is a {{w|Tissue_(biology)|tissue}} (multicellular structure). The idea that a complex tissue can be wrapped around a single cell, as if it were a cell wall, or outer {{w|cell membrane}}, or {{w|extracellular matrix}}, is humorously backwards: human skin is made of cells, not the other way around. This may be referencing the common factoid that house dust is mostly human skin, implying that the cell is covered in a layer of dust.
|-
| {{w|Carbonation}}
| {{w|Carbon dioxide}} dissolved in a liquid.
| Yes
| No
| Carbonation causes soda pop and similar liquids to bubble, fizz, foam, and {{w|effervesce}}. The little dots depicted in the comic look like carbonation bubbles.
|-
| Golgi
| {{w|Camillo Golgi}} (1843–1926) was an Italian biologist and {{w|pathologist}} who discovered the Golgi apparatus; known also for his works on the central nervous system.
| Yes
| No
| The real Golgi was not and is not a tiny alien being who merged with our cells,{{Citation needed}} as the comic and title text imply. While the mitochondria and chloroplast may have been evolved in such a manner (through being consumed by a host cell), the golgi apparatus wasn't absorbed in such a manner, and Golgi was most likely not an alien.
|-
| {{w|Golgi apparatus}}
| A complex of {{w|vesicles}} and folded membranes involved in secretion and intracellular transport.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle, which takes {{w|polypeptide}} chains from the rough endoplasmic reticulum via transport vesicles and processes them into their protein structure before sending them (again via vesicles) to their destination such as an organelle or outside of the cell.
|-
| {{w|Norton AntiVirus}}
| A software product designed to protect computers from malware.
| Yes
| No
| Viruses do attempt to insert themselves into cells, and many cell types do have antiviral mechanisms (notably the {{w|CRISPR}} (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) DNA sequences in prokaryotes, which resist viral (bacteriophage) infection - however, the cell shown is not prokaryotic, since it contains a nucleus). A system designed to protect against computer viruses is unlikely to be helpful, though, since biological viruses are completely different, and cells have not been architected to support such software.
|-
| Sticky endoplasmic reticulum
| Not a real term, although parts of the reticula have sticky pockets.[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1156152/full]
| No
| No
| Another humorous twist on the actual types of endoplasmic reticula.
|-
| {{w|Pleiades}}
| A cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus.
| Yes
| No
| Even a single star is far too big to fit in a cell.{{Citation needed}} The labeled cluster in the comic looks like the actual constellation, as if this were a depiction of the night sky.
|-
| Natural flavor
| Flavoring derived from natural sources.
| Yes
| Conceivably
| A common ingredient on food labels (and sometimes cosmetics, etc.), usually meaning any substance to add flavor, aroma, or both, other than synthetic chemicals which are referred to as artificial flavors.
|-
| {{w|Cellophane}}
| A thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated {{w|cellulose}}.
| Yes
| No
| A type of packaging material. A {{w|cell wall}} is indeed made of cellulose, though not in the form of cellophane. Also, this drawing looks more like an animal cell (albeit a very odd one), which unlike plants and fungi, do not usually have a cell wall.
|-
| {{w|Rough endoplasmic reticulum}}
| Endoplasmic reticulum with {{w|ribosomes}} attached, involved in protein synthesis.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle. "Rough" refers to the presence of ribosomes covering its membrane, which translate {{w|messenger RNA}} into polypeptide chains. Normally the endoplasmic reticulum would wrap around the cell nucleus (as the nuclear envelope is itself a specialized part of the rough endoplasmic reticulum).
|-
| {{w|Ventricle}}
| A chamber of the heart that pumps blood out.
| Yes
| No
| Ventricles are actually part of the body, and they are composed of many cells. Possibly a pun on {{w|vesicle}} (or {{w|vacuole}}), a small membrane-enclosed vessel, such as the transport vesicles that carry polypeptides from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus for processing.
|-
| {{w|Mantle}} 
| The layer of the earth between the crust and the core.
| Yes
| No
| Misplaced geological term with many other meanings. Labeled cross-sectional diagrams of the layers of the Earth are commonly found in science textbooks.
|-
| {{w|Slime}}
| A moist, soft, and slippery substance, or a brand name for a {{w|Slime_(toy)|goopy substance sold as a toy}}.
| Yes
| No
| Could refer to the slimy texture and appearance of {{w|cytoplasm}}, but not specific to cells. Slime was a frequent appearance on the Nickelodeon TV kids channel during [[Randall]]'s youth in the 90s (a signature aspect of the network, it was introduced when Nickelodeon became the American home of the Canadian kids' show {{w|You Can't Do That on Television}}, which had a running gag of dumping green slime on anyone who said "I don't know").
|-
| {{w|Vitreous humour}}
| The clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina in the eyeball.
| Yes
| No
| The vitreous humour is in the eyes' {{w|extracellular matrix}}, not inside cells. Labeled cross-sectional diagrams of eyes are also commonly found in science textbooks.
|-
| {{w|Seed}}s
| Plant embryos used for reproduction.
| Yes
| No
| Seeds are multicellular, and sometimes contain small proportions of non-cellular tissue. Cells are found in seeds, not the other way around. Seeds would be labeled on a cross-sectional diagram of a fruit, not a cell.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cell Organelles

[A cell is shown with the following structures and areas labeled, counter-clockwise from upper left:]

* Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
* Lithosphere
* O-Ring
* Pith
* Nucleus
* Nucleolus
* Nucleoloulous
* Nucleons
* Drain plug
* Evil endoplasmic reticulum
* Hypoallergenic filling
* Weak spot
* Mitochondria
* Midichlorians
* Chloroplasts if you're lucky
* Human skin
* Carbonation
* Golgi
* Golgi apparatus
* Norton AntiVirus
* Sticky endoplasmic reticulum
* Pleiades
* Natural flavor
* Cellophane
* Rough endoplasmic reticulum

[These labels are inside the cell:]

* Ventricle
* Mantle
* Slime
* Vitreous humour
* Seeds

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Biology]]

2952: Routine Maintenance

2024-07-01T08:37:24Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2952
| date = June 28, 2024
| title = Routine Maintenance
| image = routine_maintenance_2x.png
| imagesize = 299x413px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The worst was the time they accidentally held the can upside down and froze all the Earth's magma chambers solid.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ONCOMING LETHAL DUST CLOUD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A recommended routine maintenance step for many electronics, such as desktop computer towers, is to remove the buildup of dust on a regular basis. This bit of routine maintenance can help prevent the electrical components from overheating, and lengthen the lifetime of these electronics. To make this job easier, safer, and cleaner, there exist {{w|Gas duster|cans}} of high-pressure gas, as depicted, which force through high-flow gas to displace the dust. (Attempting to do this with air from the lungs would be less effective, may add unintended moisture to the electronics, and could result in a faceful of dust).

The comic suggests that a similar maintenance step is performed on the Earth itself, blowing gas into the Earth to force out the dust from it's magma chambers. However, filling the atmosphere with dust would be unhealthy and fatal to living beings, so as a safety measure everyone would have to take shelter.

This may be a reference to one theory about the K-T extinction event — that a crashing meteor sent so much dust into the air that it killed off many plants and animals, including all non-avian dinosaurs, in a much wider area than that directly affected by the initial impact. Those lineages that chanced to survive the global effects must have been able to escape the worst of the disrupted ecosphere while the worst of the atmospheric effects subsided, and were then able to exploit various newly vacant (and/or changed) environmental niches. (This would include our own mammalian ancestors, and the avian dinosaurs that led to todays birds; some of them may, perhaps, have survived by already being more inclined/suited to living in burrows.) However, this dust cloud would have lasted longer than the 48 hours suggested in the comic.

The image suggests that the "routine maintenance" for Earth would involve using the {{w|Hawaii hotspot}} (possibly via its most active volcano, {{w|Kilauea}}), as the point to insert the high-pressure gas, causing volcanoes to erupt in Iceland, the {{w|Aleutian Islands}} or the {{w|Kamchatka Peninsula}}, the {{w|Andes}}, and elsewhere; the two geographically-indeterminate plumes may represent Italy and Indonesia.

The title text mentions using the can upside-down, and this freezing solid the magma chambers. Pressurised canisters of air, as with similar aerosol sprayers, make use of a propellant gas that condenses into a liquid when compressed. When the spray valve is opened, the release of pressure allows some of the liquid to evaporate and take the place of the released gases, or become some of the gas subsequently released (or all of it, if its purpose is not to spray other contents). The transition of the propellant liquid/gas from dense liquid to space-filling gas requires it to 'boil off', this process needing to pick up {{w|Enthalpy of vaporization|heat (or 'enthalpy') energy}}. Under typical operation, the cooling liquid/gas takes heat from the general mass of the can itself as it tries to attain thermal equilibrium. As a result, the can (and the expelled gases) will be cooled a little. Then (ultimately) heat will also be taken from anything touching or surrounding the slightly cooled can and its spray. This is precisely how a purposeful refrigerant acts, either as a one-time process or as a reversible cycle where repressurising a suitable gas can 'release' heat (the heat/enthalpy of condensation) at the 'hot side' of a refrigerator, returning the gas in the system to liquid that it can later let boil again and cool the 'cold side' of the refrigerator.

It is not normally useful for such a can to allow the liquid propellant-in-waiting to exit the container, as it would waste its usefulness as a source of pressure once it does. But by holding the container the wrong way up (which way that is being dependant upon its design, and intended use...) the pressurised contents push the liquid out via the nozzle's stream. The now exposed propellant is now free to evaporate into the air at atmospheric pressure, typically much lower than the constraints it had within the can, after landing directly upon whatever the can was sprayed at. The resulting demand for heat energy (much more rapid than normal, and likely concentrated upon a much smaller target than the can itself represents) produces a greater localised drop in temperature and can lead to freezing nearby liquids (which may or may not be intended/useful). Of course, the total 'cooling effect' of such a can does not change, depending upon how it is (mis)used, it merely changes the extent (and lifetime) of application, and how extreme the temperature change may be within a much more limited 'liberation' of its cooling ability.

Spraying canned "air" in reverse is a party trick used to very quickly cool beverages, being able to bring them down from room temperature to ice cold in seconds, if performed correctly. Some 'spray cans' are ''designed'' to let you freeze things (e.g. to help in plumbing repairs) or safely chill surfaces (e.g. for first-aid purposes), but these are exceptions (that require judicious use) and generally it is a wasteful use of a spray-can, if not actually unwise.

Given the location of the planetary-scale dust-busting 'air canister', it may be considered confusing which 'way up' is the correct orientation, given that Earth-gravity would be pulling the contents sideways (however that changes what the nozzle ends up ejecting from the can itself). But such a large can would also have its own significant internal 'can-centric' gravity that possibly (depending upon how full of still-liquid propellant it is) exceeds that of the Moon, possibly letting all the denser liquid hold itself into the centre of the canister, even against the nearby Earth's gravity. Being significantly closer to the Earth than the Moon is, this can could also be a far greater influence upon Earth's own tides (not alluded to in the comic), making the dusting of the atmosphere or the freezing of some of its magma secondary issues to the sheltering population.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[The nozzle of a "Dust-Off" (compressed air) gas duster can is pointing into a hole on the Earth's surface in the Pacific Ocean around where Hawaii is located, and its trigger is pressed as an arrow indicates, resulting in dust clouds being released from five visible spots of the Earth. These eruptions can be seen in the Aleutian Islands or Kamchatka Peninsula, Iceland, the Andes, and two further in the eastern hemisphere on the other side of the Earth.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I know routine maintenance is important, but I hate how we all have to take shelter for 48 hours every year while they flush out the Earth's magma system for cleaning.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Geology]]

Category:Bad Map Projections

2024-06-27T08:55:47Z

172.70.160.249: The latest addition (and potential future ones) made me think "the last four" might no longer be a useful metric to maintain as the set becomes a further changed list...

*A series of comics of bad {{w|map projections}}. Such projections (real and invented) is a topic [[Randall]] often returns to.
**'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
This series began in [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize|January 2017]], and that it was a series became clear when it got its second installment in [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones|February 2017]]. But then it took three years until the third came in [[Bad Map Projection: South America|January 2020]]. The fourth came a year and a half later in [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special|July 2021]]. The fifth came nine and a half months later in [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator|April 2022]]. The sixth came 15 months later in [[2807: Bad Map Projection: ABS(Longitude)|July 2023]].

Randall has been into [[:Category:Maps|maps]] for a long time on xkcd. Especially he focused on map projections, which are various ways to show the Earth on a flat surface, as in [[977: Map Projections]]. This is not possible to do without distortion because the Earth is not flat.{{Citation needed}}

A long time after releasing that comic, which did not say the projections were bad, but clearly showed how different Earth's countries looks in different maps, he continues the list of projections (well, with Bad Map Projections he made himself) in what turned out to be a series, of six comics so far.

However, these projections are not real projections, and they are all named "Bad Map Projection: ''(Name)''".
They even get a number, which if taken seriously would mean there are 352 other unreleased bad map projections at least, as the highest number so far is 358 and as of 2023 there have been released only six bad map projections.

So far they have the following numbers (listed in number order rather than release order; the first two were released in the opposite order, and later releases not adhering to any obvious order since then, but with the third having the highest number so far). Release number shown at the end.
:<nowiki>#45</nowiki>: [[2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas|2951: Exterior Kansas]] (No. 7)
:<nowiki>#79</nowiki>: [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones|Time Zones]] (No. 2)
:<nowiki>#107</nowiki>: [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize|The Liquid Resize]] (No. 1)
:<nowiki>#152</nowiki>: [[2807: Bad Map Projection: ABS(Longitude)|ABS(Longitude)]] (No. 6)
:<nowiki>#248</nowiki>: [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator|Madagascator]] (No. 5)
:<nowiki>#299</nowiki>: [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special|The Greenland Special]] (No. 4)
:<nowiki>#358</nowiki>: [[2256: Bad Map Projection: South America|South America]] (No. 3)

This may give promise of several more bad projections. So far, the first two have been released using a similar six color scheme, like a political map with each country in a different color than its closest neighbors. But the other four were just plain black, gray, and white.
</div>
 

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Comic series]]

2950: Situation

2024-06-25T08:30:54Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2950
| date = June 24, 2024
| title = Situation
| image = situation_2x.png
| imagesize = 578x306px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We're right under the flight path for the scheduled orbital launch, but don't worry--it's too cold out for the rockets to operate safely, so I'm sure they'll postpone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Shark, the iceberg of the sea - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts a situation involving multiple pieces of infrastructure: a ship, sailing towards icebergs, which is tethered to an airship flying next to a power plant towards a bridge. Each of these are labelled with details that clearly reference famous disasters, all of which were caused (at least in part) by design failures. All of these incidents are common case studies for engineers studying how things can go very wrong. The implication is that, by putting them all together, most engineers would be highly concerned with the potential for catastrophe.

- "Unsinkable Ocean Liner" refers to the RMS ''{{w|Titanic}}''.

The ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner which famously {{w|Sinking of the Titanic|sank}} on its maiden voyage in 1912. It was the largest ship in operation at the time, and was called "unsinkable" due to its size and much-lauded design features. The ship struck an iceberg on the fourth day of its first voyage, breaching the hull and ultimately causing it to sink, resulting in 1,496 deaths. Multiple design inadequacies, including too few life boats and inadequate steering ability, were afterwards identified as contributing to the ship sinking and to the high loss of life.

- "Hydrogen-filled [Airship]" refers to the {{w|Hindenburg Disaster}}.

The {{w|LZ 129 Hindenburg|''Hindenburg''}} was a German airship which used hydrogen as a lifting gas. In 1937, during a landing in New Jersey, the ship caught fire and the inflammable hydrogen quickly ignited, causing the ship to crash and resulting in 36 deaths. While the origins of the fire are still debated, the dangers of using large amounts of inflammable gas in airships were made dramatically clear.

Ironically, the hydrogen airship in the comic appears to have been commissioned for the purpose of mitigating iceberg risks (unless 'iceberg spotting' is for the purpose of steering the 'Unsinkable Ocean Liner' towards icebergs, perhaps as a tourist attraction).

- "Soviet Era Nuclear Reactor Undergoing a Turbine Test" refers to the {{w|Chernobyl Disaster}}.

The {{w|Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant}} is located near the city of Pripyat, in Ukraine (under the Soviet Union at the time of the disaster). On 26 April 1986, a reactor core partially melted during a turbine test. This led to an explosion, causing a massive release of radiation. This incident remains the worst nuclear accident to date. The number of fatalities from the disaster are difficult to calculate; two people died from the initial damage, twenty-eight more from acute radiation sickness, and fifteen people who were directly exposed developed terminal thyroid cancer. The radiation, however, spread far beyond the plant itself and the number of premature deaths ultimately attributable to subsequent exposure can't be calculated directly, though most estimates are easily in the thousands.

- "Bridge Prone to Aeroelastic Flutter in High Winds" refers to the {{w|Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)|Tacoma Narrows Bridge}}.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington, was initially built in 1940. From the time of its construction, the bridge was observed to sway and {{w|Aeroelasticity#Flutter|flutter}} in high winds. About four months after opening, the bridge fluttered so violently in 40 mile-per-hour (64 km/h) winds that it collapsed into the strait. There were no human fatalities, though several people were injured. This collapse is frequently used to demonstrate the dangers of harmonic vibration in infrastructure, particularly structures exposed to strong winds. The bridge was eventually rebuilt, with a redesign intended to prevent such fluttering.

- The title text refers to the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster}}.

The {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger|''Challenger''}} was an American space shuttle which broke up shortly after its launch in 1986, killing all seven crew members aboard before reaching orbit. The disaster was caused by a failure of O-ring seals on one of the shuttle's rocket boosters and the subsequent leak of hot gasses. The likely cause of these failures was because the weather was much colder than normal in the launch area, causing the seals to be well below their design temperature range in the immediate lead-up to being exposed to launch conditions, and were then unable to maintain their integrity. Engineers for the company that had built the boosters raised this concern and recommended postponing the launch, but were overruled.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[An airship flying, labeled:]
:Hydrogen-filled scout airship for iceberg spotting
:[The airship is chained to a ship, going along a river, labeled:]
:Unsinkable ocean liner
:[In the background on the coast a nuclear power plant, labeled:]
:Soviet-era nuclear reactor undergoing a turbine test
:[The boat and airship are steering towards a bridge, labeled:]
:Bridge prone to aeroelastic flutter in high winds
:[Two unlabeled icebergs are on the water on either side of the bridge.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In retrospect, we should have noticed how nervous the situation was making the engineers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Space]]

2948: Electric vs Gas

2024-06-21T08:08:28Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2948
| date = June 19, 2024
| title = Electric vs Gas
| image = electric_vs_gas_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = An idling gas engine may be annoyingly loud, but that's the price you pay for having WAY less torque available at a standstill.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HYDROGEN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE RUNNING A GENERATOR. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Internal combustion engine|Internal combustion engines}} (ICEs) are the most common technology used to propel motor vehicles. In US vernacular, the most common motor fuel is known as "{{w|gasoline}}", or "gas" for short, leading to these engines being referred to as "gas engines". Gasoline is a product of petroleum refinement, leading to the name "petrol" being used in other dialects.

{{w|Traction motor|Electric motors}} would seem the more well-suited method for propelling a vehicle, and as early as 1885 were an actual form of motor car engine with which the fledgling internal combustion engine had to compete. Despite this early popularity, over most of the 20th century electric motors were sidelined in everyday car design, as supplying the electricity was considered to be impractical for most forms of transportation. Modern forms are rapidly rising in popularity, and now constitute 18% of all global vehicle sales.{{acn}} [[Randall]] has long been a strong proponent of electric vehicles.

In this strip, [[White Hat]] claims to be comparing the pros and cons of electric motors and gas engines. The joke is that every point he makes goes in favor of electric motors. Despite it being posed as a dilemma, it may be very clear which side of the debate White Hat is promoting. On the other hand, it may indicate that one of the things we might consider a pro in electric motors (the instantaneous power now available, exceeding that of many non-electric engines) he would consider a problem — perhaps more accurately, a problem with the ''drivers'' of such vehicles — recklessly using the enhanced capabilities to accelerate to high speeds at all opportunities, whether safe to do so or not.

The strip offers the following points in favor of electric motors:

* "Cleaner and more efficient". Internal combustion engines produce and vent harmful combustion products and toxic chemicals, while electric motors produce no emission byproducts at the point of use. The efficiency of both gas and electric motors vary, but the typical ICE vehicle in the US converts around 25% of available energy into motion, while the typical electric vehicle is in the neighborhood of 80%. Even when considering inefficiencies in the source production and transmission and storage and release of energy, battery-driven electric vehicles are generally more efficient than internal combustion propelled vehicles[https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/]. It should be noted that all of this refers to the motors only, and ignores how the fuel and electricity are produced, or the wider environmental impact of the vehicle.

* "More powerful". Electric motors are able to deliver a lot of power from a small motor ''if'' an ample energy supply is available, and can do so 'on demand', often far quicker than a fuel-powered engine that has to put its power through a gearbox in order to service a wide range of road velocities, from standstill to the eventual top speed. Due to battery limitations, short or partial runtime use cases (such as dragsters, hand tools, yard tools, toys and electric scooters) net the most benefit from the small size of a high-powered electric motor.

* "Annoyingly loud". Internal combustion engines, by their nature, produce significant noise. Despite noise attenuation measures such as mufflers, they contribute significantly to urban noise. Properly designed electric motors are nearly silent. In particular, turbo-charger blow-off valves make particular noises that are completely lacking in an all-electric vehicle being driven at a similar performance level. This might legitimately be considered a problem, though, when everyone is used to a rapidly approaching vehicle providing a very noisy warning of its approach. EV makers have sometimes added [https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-fake-engine-sound-hyundai-dodge-toyota-2023-7 fake ICE noises] to appeal to older drivers, and in the U.S. and some other countries, EVs are required to have {{w|Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds|warning sounds}} at low speeds for pedestrian safety.

* "WAY less torque available at standstill". Internal combustion engines need to continually operate within a specific range of rotational speeds, which means that a complex system of transmission gearing is needed to convert this motion into the specific speeds needed at the wheels. When starting from a standstill, this means that torque must be applied to the wheels relatively gradually to avoid stalling the engine. In addition, when a vehicle is standing still, the motor is typically idling at (very) low speed and must be sped up before it produces significant acceleration. Electric motors, in contrast, generally produce their peak torque when at a standstill. This results in electric vehicles having significantly better acceleration and engine responsiveness. Again, this could cause a legitimate problem with drivers changing from ICE to electric motors, because the new cars accelerate more than the driver is used to and provide different feedback. The audible clues of gear changes, whether from automatic or manual systems, are part and parcel of what many people have grown up with and come to rely on in anticipating what might need paying attention to.

The strip offers no points in favor of internal combustion (gas) motors, even those framed as if they were such.

It should be noted that White Hat is deliberately confining his arguments to electric vs gas ''motors'' rather than electric or gas-powered ''vehicles''. Doing so ignores the basic reason why internal combustion vehicles have long dominated transportation in certain specific countries: hydrocarbon fuels are a very dense and fairly easy to handle form of energy ''storage''. However worldwide, bicycle have been outselling cars [https://www.bikeradar.com/features/bike-vs-car-the-sales-race|since at least the WWII]. Providing electrical power to a moving vehicle requires either that the vehicle remain in contact with a power line, like a train, a tramway, a subway does, or a high-capacity battery and the ability to recharge that battery in a reasonable amount of time. More popular in the USA is a hybrid system, where a combustion engine provides at least some of the power to an electric motor, which was impractical until comparatively recently. Other methods, such as hydrogen fuel cells (a form of "combustion" that can be used more directly to form electricity), have been proposed, but remain niche, due to various barriers to adoption, or experimental. In the EU, the sale of new ICE cars is banned from 2035 in an effort to move to EVs.

A more comprehensive comparison would include the cons of electric cars. Especially in the United States, this topic is highly contentious for political, economic, engineering, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal tribal] reasons. A quick look at the edit history of this page will confirm that. Issues raised typically include:

* Higher cost of purchase (primarily due to the cost of batteries and, in the USA, now a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs), although partially offset by lower costs of operation
* Long charging times compared to refilling a gas tank (there are some approaches which mitigate this by operating either very high powered chargers or a battery swap model, rather than charging in-car, but these are not widely adopted)
* Relatively limited range ([https://ev-database.org/compare/electric-vehicle-longest-range 100-400 miles per charge] as of 2024)
* Shortened range in hot weather and significantly shortened range in cold weather (although ICE vehicles also have this problem)
* Limited charging infrastructure in some places (although ICE vehicles also have this problem)
* Higher vehicle weight, and resulting higher particulate emissions (from tires, but not brakes, because EVs use of regenerative braking reduces wear on their traditional brakes)
* Reliance on various mineral and metal extraction industries in the building of batteries
* Issues disposing of/recycling batteries at end of life
* Increased demand on electricity production

Advancing technologies, political policies, and economic realities are rapidly changing the relevance and seriousness of these points. The current adoption rate of EVs (well under 50%, even in California) is an indication that the general population thinks the cons still win.

Other real (or asserted) pros of electric cars aren't mentioned, which is still not the point of the comic
* Lower costs of operation (partially offset by higher costs of purchase)
* Can "fill" them at home or while parked without having to stay with them (partially negates the "long charging times" con)
* Higher reliability
* Lower carbon footprint, and reduced dependence on the fossil fuel industry

Future economic and political policies may make fueling and maintenance of gas powered personal cars an issue. If in 10 years 100% of cars sold are electric, then after the average 12 year vehicle lifespan of fuel cars has ended it may be that legacy fuel stations are harder to find (and recharging stations easier) in comparison to the other type. At the 20-year mark, most gasoline-fueled cars will be gone and the economic value of providing ubiquitously available fuel to a dwindling number of cherished hold-out 'classic' vehicles will have forced the supply chains to pivot. Maintenance for such cars may become an art of the past and finding a specialized mechanic may be necessary. (As, until recently, it would have been difficult to find an independent EV-qualified mechanic.)

==Trivia==
The etymology of "gasoline" is disputed: it may derive from "gas", or perhaps from the brand-name fuel "Cazeline" or "Cazelline" sold by a man called John Cassell; "Petrol" has also been a registered brand name for other businesses' motor-fuel products.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, with his palm raised, is talking to Cueball.]
:White Hat: Electric motors and gas engines each have their pros and cons.
:White Hat: On one hand, electric motors are cleaner and more efficient. On the other hand, electric motors are more powerful.
:White Hat: So it's hard to say which is better overall.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-18T10:56:33Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2947
| date = June 17, 2024
| title = Pascal's Wager Triangle
| image = pascals_wager_triangle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x802px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In contrast to Pascal's Wager Triangle, Pascal's Triangle Wager argues that maybe God wants you to draw a triangle of numbers where each one is the sum of the two numbers above it, so you probably should, just in case.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON WHO BELIEVED THE TWO BOTS ABOVE HIM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is structured in a layout that emulates {{w|Pascal's triangle}}. Pascal's triangle is a numerical triangle where the top is 1 and each value below is the sum of the 2, or in the case of the edges, 1 number(s) above it. For example, a triangle would start with a singular 1, then the next row would have two ones, and the next would have a one, a two, and another one, and so on. It plays important roles in binomial expansion, probability theory, and other areas of math. While {{w|Blaise Pascal}} did not invent the triangle, it is named after him.

{{w|Pascal's Wager}} is a philosophical argument proposed by Blaise Pascal. Essentially, if the Bible is true, both the rewards for believing in God and the punishment for nonbelief are infinite; if it is not, the cost of belief and benefit for nonbelief are negligible. Therefore, if there is a finite possibility that the Bible is true, however small, one should believe in God.

The comic merges the two — each Cueball is wagering his proof of a god or gods to the Cueballs below him, thereby creating Cueballs that believe in a number of gods equal to the sum of the 2 Cueballs above him. In the second row, the two Cueballs believe in a god, as intended by the original Cueball. However, in the third row, the Cueball in the middle interprets the two proofs offered to him as proving the existence of two gods. Theoretically, this expansion would continue for all integers as the triangle grows, giving rise to a belief in escalating numbers of gods towards the middle bottom of the triangle. This is clearly not the intent of the first Cueball, who simply wagered the proof of his one god, but he has no control over the situation.

It is unclear why the Cueballs behave in this fashion, instead of treating all the proofs as proving the existence of the same god. Perhaps each one rewords their arguments for god(s) sufficiently to make them sound different than other gods. This is not without precedent; for instance, scholars of comparative mythology believe that the religion of Proto-Indo-European peoples splintered into many disparate religions of Europe and West Asia.

This comic may be referencing a common counterargument to Pascal's Wager — that it works equally well for any hypothetical god which offers paradise for one action and damnation otherwise. This can even include hypothetical gods with contradictory criteria for entrance into paradise. In this case, the Cueballs apparently chose to believe in ''n'' deities to cover their bases.

The title text suggests that everyone should draw a proper Pascal's Triangle, since there is a possibility that God wants you to do so, and if they do then the benefits of pleasing them or the costs of displeasing them could be high, whereas if they have no such desire then there is minimal cost to drawing one anyway. The failing of this logic is that God may have a positive preference for you ''not'' to draw a Pascal's Triangle.

Pascal's Wager was previously mentioned in the title text of [[525]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueballs, each holding some document, are shown in a triangular arrangement, with arrows pointing from upper to lower Cueballs:]
C1
C2 C3
C4 C5 C6
C7 C8 C9 C10
C11 C12 C13 C14 C15
:C1: Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C2 & C3: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C4 & C6: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C5: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''two''' gods!
:C7: I'm convinced! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my god!
:C8 & C9: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''three''' gods!
:C12 & C14: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''four''' gods!
:C13: Ok, I believe you both! Hey, you two below me! Here's a proof that you should believe in my '''six''' gods!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pascal's Wager Triangle

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Religion]]

2946: 1.2 Kilofives

2024-06-17T10:08:09Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2946
| date = June 14, 2024
| title = 1.2 Kilofives
| image = 1 2 kilofives 2x.png
| imagesize = 256x342px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh yeah? Give me 50 milliscore reasons why I should stop.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 83.333... millidozen BOTS, Y2K reference added by ZC - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Abraham Lincoln's {{w|Gettysburg Address}} features the phrase "four {{wiktionary|score#Noun|score}} and seven"‍ to refer to 87: a "score" is a group of 20, which literally translates as "four-twenties [and] seven". This is because English used to count by twenties. However, this practice has died off and most English speakers nowadays would not use "score" in such a manner. Inspired by this, [[Cueball]] (possibly representing [[Randall]]) decides to use unusual prefixes to state the population of a town.

{{w|Metric prefix}}es can be added to a unit to scale up or down its magnitude. For example, "{{w|kilo-}}" means "multiply by 1000", so a {{w|kilometer}} is as long as 1,000 {{w|meter}}s. These prefixes are added to {{w|List of metric units|various metric units}} but, due to their usefulness, have been adopted and added to other, non-metric units, such as "kilocubic feet per second" (for the flow rate of a liquid, much to Randall's chagrin when researching for his book "XKCD What-If"), "megadeath" (how many millions killed in an estimated nuclear blast), or the "{{w|Helen (unit)|millihelen}}" (the amount of beauty needed to launch a ship). Most potentially confusing might be "kilo-/mega-/giga-/terabyte", which might reference {{w|Megabyte#Definitions|differently}} intended {{w|Gigabyte#Consumer_confusion|multiples}}. However, they're not ordinarily added before number words to change their magnitude.

Taking "kilofive" to be a unit meaning 5,000, the population of East Hills, 6,000, can therefore be expressed as 1.2 kilofives. But phrasing a number this way requires the listener to make excess calculations to understand it, so [[White Hat]] would probably get confused or annoyed.

It is somewhat common for metric prefixes to go ''after'' numbers in abbreviations. Well-known examples are "{{w|Y2K}}" for "year 2000", and "{{w|4K resolution}}" for "4,000 [pixels]". The number 5,000 may be abbreviated as "{{w|5K}}" in "{{w|5K resolution}}". However, the 'postfix' may be implied to modify the implied but unstated unit, where there is an obvious one, or stand for the unit itself in such cases as the word "kilometer" (often abbreviated to /ˈkeɪ/(s), in common use, in phrases such as "{{w|5K run}}") or "{{wiktionary|kilopixel|kilo''pixel''}}" (in this case referencing the horizontal resolution, as in 5120 × 2880 pixels, rather than prior usages such as the 1080 ''horizontal lines'' in the standard known as {{w|1080p}}, or the total ''area'' pixel count in 'megapixel'/'gigapixel' image sensors), thus making it directly stand for a prefixed unit itself, as an adjunct to the the standard common shortening of "kilos" for, usually, "kilograms". Saying "1.2 5K" could be even more awkward, liable to be misunderstood as "1.25k" (1,250) instead of the value of 6000.

In the title text, Cueball has apparently annoyed White Hat with his confusing expressions of numbers, but he doubles down, now directly including the word "score". 50 milliscore, or 50 × 1&frasl;1000 × 20, would be equal to 1.

The comic might refer to the village of {{w|East Hills, New York}}. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,284, or 1.214 kilosixes.

==Trivia==
In Roman numerals, {{w|Roman_numerals#Large_numbers|symbols can be added to numerals}} to denote orders of magnitude. In this system, 1,000 might be written as "CIↃ". This rough pattern of marks, as typically chisled or impressed into wax by a stylus, would later be refined and expressed in the not dissimilar shape of the "M" as most often seen these days to represent the thousands value in dates/etc. Alternately "I" (nominally '1') could be given a bar above it, as would any other such numerals involve in that expression, to indicate the value being denoted being of the higher order.

For a while, {{w|Long hundred| a hundred actually referred to 120}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball, with his palm raised, is talking to White Hat. There is a sign on the ground in the background.]
:Cueball: It's a pretty small town—the population is just 1.2 kilofives.
:[The sign reads:]
:Welcome to
:East Hills
:Pop. 6,000

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why Abraham Lincoln should be the only one who gets to come up with weird ways to say normal numbers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Language]]

2073: Kilogram

2024-06-12T12:13:39Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ "fixing it to" had further implications of 1:1 ratio, not 1:<othermultiple>. Replaced 'lazy ampersand' with proper 'and'.

{{comic
| number = 2073
| date = November 16, 2018
| title = Kilogram
| image = kilogram.png
| titletext = I'm glad to hear they're finally redefining the meter to be exactly three feet.
}}

==Explanation==

Standard units such as the kilogram, meter, and second are redefined from time to time as measurement technologies improve. These redefinitions are generally done to improve the precision to which the various units can be known or reproduced, without changing their actual value. The joke here is that redefining the kilogram to equal one pound sounds like an incredible idea to Americans who never use the kilogram. However, this idea would cause mass confusion and outrage, and would additionally fail to improve the precision of the kilogram.

In this comic, Black Hat announces that the kilogram has been redefined as equal to one {{w|Pound (mass)|pound}}. Ponytail and Cueball seem to think this makes things simpler, but Megan is alarmed. The metric system of measurement is the one used by most of the world and is the standard system used in science. Redefining the kilogram to be equal to the pound would be very disruptive and outrage supporters of the metric system. This is for two reasons. The first is that since the pound and the kilogram are completely different, redefining the kilogram to a new size from before will create a lot of confusion, since now when people read a mass in kilograms they need to work out whether it was written in old kilograms or new (pound-sized) kilograms.

The second reason is that the {{w|Pound (mass)#Current use|current definition}} of the pound relies on the kilogram, as the pound is officially defined as 0.45359237 kilograms. If the kilogram is defined in terms of the pound, which is still defined in terms of the kilogram, then in effect the kilogram is defined in terms of itself. This is illogical, leads to potentially spiralling redefinitions, and does not solve the original problem of increasing the precision of the kilogram measure.

On the day of this comic, the {{w|General Conference on Weights and Measures|General Conference on Weights and Measures}} (which Randall confused with the {{w|International Committee for Weights and Measures|International Committee for Weights and Measures}}) voted to redefine the {{w|kilogram}} by fixing it via the value of {{w|Planck's Constant}}. This is measured using a {{w|Kibble balance}}, which involves passing a measured current through an electromagnet to exert a force to balance 1 kg. The change took effect on May 20, 2019, when the platinum cylinder International Prototype Kilogram that previously defined the unit was retired. This means that the mass of a kilogram is no longer tied to a physical object, but to the fundamental properties of the universe. By fixing the value of Planck constant to 6.62607015×10-34 kg⋅m2⋅s−1, the kilogram is defined in terms of the second and the speed of light via the meter.

The previous method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate is to use physical metal weights measuring exactly one kilogram, periodically transporting them around the world to an official weight lab to confirm they still weigh the same. Over time these physical objects have changed very slightly in their mass making them unreliable in the long run -- thus running into the issue that a kilogram did not stay a constant measure of mass. Note that these weights and comparisons are so precise that a fingerprint on one of the weights could throw them off.

The new method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate relies upon an extremely precise knowledge of local gravitational effects and an absence (or counteraction) of electromagnetic interference. On a traditional scale, two units of equal weight will balance, regardless of local gravitational levels; whereas the new method requires that the gravitational force be determined precisely for every site, meaning an additional measurement has to take place. This involves a high-precision {{w|gravimeter}} such as the FG5 absolute gravimeter.

The title text continues the joke by saying that the meter has been defined as exactly three feet. The yard, the closest US measurement to the meter, is three feet. However, a meter is about 9 centimeters (~3.55 inches) longer than a yard. As with the pound, the metric system is used to define the yard as it is officially defined as 0.9144 meters. This joke recreates the comic in the real world, with Randall playing as Black Hat, and the reader responding. Those who fall for the claim will either be excited that things are simpler, or devastated at what the result will be.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat talking to Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan while all stand in a row. Megan's hands are raised emphatically.]
:Black Hat: To end many years of confusion, the International Committee for Weights and Measures has just voted to redefine the kilogram.
:Black Hat: As of next May, it will equal exactly one pound.
:Ponytail: Oh, cool.
:Cueball: That ''does'' make things simpler.
:Megan: '''''No!!'''''

==Trivia==
To further expand on this, the classic definitions of all our various units of time, length, mass, and temperature are based on phenomena that are neither convenient to measure precisely nor in fact consistently reproducible. The duration of an Earth day and year vary unpredictably, the circumference of the Earth varies, the International Prototype Kilogram gains or loses mass any time it is handled (and in fact just sitting there it and its reference copies diverge from each other), and the value of baseline temperatures such as the freezing point of water depend on which isotopes of hydrogen are in the water molecules.

Nevertheless, there really are constants of nature. For example, one of them is ‘''c''’, the speed of light in a vacuum. The expressed value of ''c'' depends on your choice of the unit of distance and the unit of time, but it’s a constant in those units. Now just suppose we all had a reproducible way to define a specific unit of time, which just for fun we call a ‘second’. You might not know the length of a ‘meter’, but if I told you that measured in meters per second the universal constant value of ''c'' is exactly 299792458 meters per second, then I would have fixed the length of a meter to be exactly the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds. And in fact this is what the international body responsible for defining our SI units has done.

{{w|Second#"Atomic"_second|One second}} is defined to be a specific number of periods of the radiation emitted in a certain transition of a cesium 133 atom. The specific number was set in the year 1967, so as to match a previous astronomical standard called {{w|Second#Fraction_of_an_ephemeris_year|ephemeris time}} to the limit of human measuring ability at the time. The 1967 definition didn’t change the actual duration of a second, but it did make its measurement forever reproducible.

In 1983 the value of ''c'' was fixed to the value noted above. Prior to that it had been measured with respect to existing definitions of a meter, and had to be expressed with a measure of uncertainty. For example in 1973 a team at the US National Bureau of Standards refined ''c'' to 299,792,457.4 m/s ± 1 m/s. But from 1983 onwards, with an exact integer value for ''c'' that is quite close to that Bureau measurement, the length of a meter is now fixed with no plus/minus uncertainty. Furthermore, both the second and the meter match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.

Similar redefinitions of units of mass and of temperature in terms of universal constants have been agreed to, mass with regard to the Planck constant ''h'', and temperature with regard to the Boltzmann constant ''k''. The constants ''h'' and ''k'' had previously been measured quantities, complete with uncertainties. The SI body fixed both of them to exact values, resulting in exact, no-uncertainty values for a kilogram of mass and a kelvin of thermodynamic temperature. As with the second and the meter, these new definitions match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.

To expand on this even further, three additional universal constants that were previously measured and that had uncertainty values have been assigned fixed values, resulting in exact definitions of three corresponding units of measurement without affecting their applicability. Fixing the unit of elementary charge, ''e'', serves to define the unit of electric current, the Ampere. Fixing the unit of luminous efficacy ''Kcd'' serves to define the unit of luminous intensity, the candela. And fixing the Avogadro constant ''NA'' serves to define the unit of amount of substance, the mole.

A Wikipedia article about redefining the SI units of measure in terms of newly fixed values of things taken to be universal constants is {{w|2019 redefinition of the SI base units}}.

Additionally, it might be worth noting the pound has multiple different types and definitions. The most common definition today is the international avoirdupois pound (lb), which is defined (discarding the semantics) as a unit of mass equal to 0.45359237 kilograms. However the pound is commonly used as to describe force, defined as the force an avoirdupois pound exerts on the Earth (lbf). These definitions however are identical in practical terms, such that an item with 0.45359237 kilograms of mass exerts one avoirdupois pound of force on the Earth. In the SI, the derived unit of force is the newton.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2073: Kilogram

2024-06-12T12:07:40Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ Of course, it could be 'solved' by defining kg against a prior (non-averdupois) pound...

{{comic
| number = 2073
| date = November 16, 2018
| title = Kilogram
| image = kilogram.png
| titletext = I'm glad to hear they're finally redefining the meter to be exactly three feet.
}}

==Explanation==

Standard units such as the kilogram, meter, and second are redefined from time to time as measurement technologies improve. These redefinitions are generally done to improve the precision to which the various units can be known or reproduced, without changing their actual value. The joke here is that redefining the kilogram to equal one pound sounds like an incredible idea to Americans who never use the kilogram. However, this idea would cause mass confusion and outrage, and would additionally fail to improve the precision of the kilogram.

In this comic, Black Hat announces that the kilogram has been redefined as equal to one {{w|Pound (mass)|pound}}. Ponytail and Cueball seem to think this makes things simpler, but Megan is alarmed. The metric system of measurement is the one used by most of the world and is the standard system used in science. Redefining the kilogram to be equal to the pound would be very disruptive and outrage supporters of the metric system. This is for two reasons. The first is that since the pound and the kilogram are completely different, redefining the kilogram to a new size from before will create a lot of confusion, since now when people read a mass in kilograms they need to work out whether it was written in old kilograms or new (pound-sized) kilograms.

The second reason is that the {{w|Pound (mass)#Current use|current definition}} of the pound relies on the kilogram, as the pound is officially defined as 0.45359237 kilograms. If the kilogram is defined in terms of the pound, which is still defined in terms of the kilogram, then in effect the kilogram is defined in terms of itself. This is illogical, leads to potentially spiralling redefinitions, and does not solve the original problem of increasing the precision of the kilogram measure.

On the day of this comic, the {{w|General Conference on Weights and Measures|General Conference on Weights and Measures}} (which Randall confused with the {{w|International Committee for Weights and Measures|International Committee for Weights and Measures}}) voted to redefine the {{w|kilogram}} by fixing it to the value of {{w|Planck's Constant}}. This is measured using a {{w|Kibble balance}}, which involves passing a measured current through an electromagnet to exert a force to balance 1 kg. The change took effect on May 20, 2019, when the platinum cylinder International Prototype Kilogram that previously defined the unit was retired. This means that the mass of a kilogram is no longer tied to a physical object, but to the fundamental properties of the universe. By fixing the value of Planck constant to 6.62607015×10-34 kg⋅m2⋅s−1, the kilogram is defined in terms of the second and the speed of light via the meter.

The previous method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate is to use physical metal weights measuring exactly one kilogram, periodically transporting them around the world to an official weight lab to confirm they still weigh the same. Over time these physical objects have changed very slightly in their mass making them unreliable in the long run -- thus running into the issue that a kilogram did not stay a constant measure of mass. Note that these weights and comparisons are so precise that a fingerprint on one of the weights could throw them off.

The new method of confirming that a kilogram is accurate relies upon an extremely precise knowledge of local gravitational effects & an absence (or counteraction) of electromagnetic interference. On a traditional scale, two units of equal weight will balance, regardless of local gravitational levels; whereas the new method requires that the gravitational force be determined precisely for every site, meaning an additional measurement has to take place. This involves a high-precision {{w|gravimeter}} such as the FG5 absolute gravimeter.

The title text continues the joke by saying that the meter has been defined as exactly three feet. The yard, the closest US measurement to the meter, is three feet. However, a meter is about 9 centimeters (~3.55 inches) longer than a yard. As with the pound, the metric system is used to define the yard as it is officially defined as 0.9144 meters. This joke recreates the comic in the real world, with Randall playing as Black Hat, and the reader responding. Those who fall for the claim will either be excited that things are simpler, or devastated at what the result will be.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat talking to Ponytail, Cueball, and Megan while all stand in a row. Megan's hands are raised emphatically.]
:Black Hat: To end many years of confusion, the International Committee for Weights and Measures has just voted to redefine the kilogram.
:Black Hat: As of next May, it will equal exactly one pound.
:Ponytail: Oh, cool.
:Cueball: That ''does'' make things simpler.
:Megan: '''''No!!'''''

==Trivia==
To further expand on this, the classic definitions of all our various units of time, length, mass, and temperature are based on phenomena that are neither convenient to measure precisely nor in fact consistently reproducible. The duration of an Earth day and year vary unpredictably, the circumference of the Earth varies, the International Prototype Kilogram gains or loses mass any time it is handled (and in fact just sitting there it and its reference copies diverge from each other), and the value of baseline temperatures such as the freezing point of water depend on which isotopes of hydrogen are in the water molecules.

Nevertheless, there really are constants of nature. For example, one of them is ‘''c''’, the speed of light in a vacuum. The expressed value of ''c'' depends on your choice of the unit of distance and the unit of time, but it’s a constant in those units. Now just suppose we all had a reproducible way to define a specific unit of time, which just for fun we call a ‘second’. You might not know the length of a ‘meter’, but if I told you that measured in meters per second the universal constant value of ''c'' is exactly 299792458 meters per second, then I would have fixed the length of a meter to be exactly the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds. And in fact this is what the international body responsible for defining our SI units has done.

{{w|Second#"Atomic"_second|One second}} is defined to be a specific number of periods of the radiation emitted in a certain transition of a cesium 133 atom. The specific number was set in the year 1967, so as to match a previous astronomical standard called {{w|Second#Fraction_of_an_ephemeris_year|ephemeris time}} to the limit of human measuring ability at the time. The 1967 definition didn’t change the actual duration of a second, but it did make its measurement forever reproducible.

In 1983 the value of ''c'' was fixed to the value noted above. Prior to that it had been measured with respect to existing definitions of a meter, and had to be expressed with a measure of uncertainty. For example in 1973 a team at the US National Bureau of Standards refined ''c'' to 299,792,457.4 m/s ± 1 m/s. But from 1983 onwards, with an exact integer value for ''c'' that is quite close to that Bureau measurement, the length of a meter is now fixed with no plus/minus uncertainty. Furthermore, both the second and the meter match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.

Similar redefinitions of units of mass and of temperature in terms of universal constants have been agreed to, mass with regard to the Planck constant ''h'', and temperature with regard to the Boltzmann constant ''k''. The constants ''h'' and ''k'' had previously been measured quantities, complete with uncertainties. The SI body fixed both of them to exact values, resulting in exact, no-uncertainty values for a kilogram of mass and a kelvin of thermodynamic temperature. As with the second and the meter, these new definitions match their predecessor definitions for all intents and purposes.

To expand on this even further, three additional universal constants that were previously measured and that had uncertainty values have been assigned fixed values, resulting in exact definitions of three corresponding units of measurement without affecting their applicability. Fixing the unit of elementary charge, ''e'', serves to define the unit of electric current, the Ampere. Fixing the unit of luminous efficacy ''Kcd'' serves to define the unit of luminous intensity, the candela. And fixing the Avogadro constant ''NA'' serves to define the unit of amount of substance, the mole.

A Wikipedia article about redefining the SI units of measure in terms of newly fixed values of things taken to be universal constants is {{w|2019 redefinition of the SI base units}}.

Additionally, it might be worth noting the pound has multiple different types and definitions. The most common definition today is the international avoirdupois pound (lb), which is defined (discarding the semantics) as a unit of mass equal to 0.45359237 kilograms. However the pound is commonly used as to describe force, defined as the force an avoirdupois pound exerts on the Earth (lbf). These definitions however are identical in practical terms, such that an item with 0.45359237 kilograms of mass exerts one avoirdupois pound of force on the Earth. In the SI, the derived unit of force is the newton.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2941: Cell Organelles

2024-06-04T14:46:38Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2941
| date = June 3, 2024
| title = Cell Organelles
| image = cell_organelles_2x.png
| imagesize = 563x451px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's believed that Golgi was originally an independent organism who was eventually absorbed into our cells, where he began work on his Apparatus.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GOLGI ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts a {{w|Cell (biology)|biological cell}} diagram with a mix of real and fictional {{w|organelle}}s, blending accurate {{w|Cell biology|cell biology}} terms with misplaced or absurd labels. While it includes actual cell components like the nucleus, mitochondria, and Golgi apparatus, it also includes unrelated concepts from various fields such as geology, engineering, software, and pop culture. Labels like "evil endoplasmic reticulum" and "sticky endoplasmic reticulum" make fun of scientific terms. The comic plays on the complexity and diversity of cell structures by mixing in unrelated and humorous terms, highlighting the often confusing and intricate nature of scientific diagrams with clever wordplay and cross-disciplinary jokes.

The title text adds a humorous fictional backstory to the {{w|Golgi apparatus}}, an essential cell organelle involved in processing and packaging proteins. It playfully suggests that {{w|Camillo Golgi}}, the scientist who discovered the Golgi apparatus, was originally an independent organism. This organism was supposedly absorbed into our cells, where it then started working on what is now known as the Golgi apparatus. The joke is a satirical take on {{w|Symbiogenesis|endosymbiotic theory}}, which posits that certain organelles within {{w|Eukaryote|eukaryotic}} cells, like {{w|mitochondria}} and {{w|chloroplasts}}, originated from independent symbiotic {{w|Prokaryote|prokaryotic organisms}} that were absorbed by a host {{w|germ cell}}. Golgi appears to be depicted in the comic as a tiny alien being.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Label
! Meaning
! Real?
! Cell organelle?
! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Carbonation}}
| {{w|Carbon dioxide}} dissolved in a liquid.
| Yes
| No
| Carbonation causes soda pop and similar liquids to bubble, fizz, foam, and {{w|effervesce}}. The little dots look a bit like carbonation bubbles.
|-
| {{w|Cellophane}}
| A thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated {{w|cellulose}}.
| Yes
| No
| A type of packaging material. A {{w|cell wall}} is indeed made of cellulose, though not in the form of cellophane. Also, this drawing looks more like an animal cell, which (unlike plants and fungi) should not have a cell wall.
|-
| {{w|Chloroplast}}s if you're lucky
| Organelles in plant cells responsible for photosynthesis.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelles, only found in plant cells. The phrase "if you're lucky" implies you'd be privileged if you could truly conduct photosynthesis using your cells, simply gaining energy from sunlight, or it could potentially suggest that of all foreign objects that Randall could have added to an animal cell, chloroplasts are one of the least dangerous.
|-
| Drain plug
| A stopper for a drain.
| Yes
| Conceivably
| A plumbing term, which could refer to a {{w|porosome}}. Even small, temporary damage to the integrity of the {{w|cell membrane}} puts the cell at immediate and great risk of death.
|-
| Evil endoplasmic reticulum
| Not a real term.
| No
| No
| A humorous twist on the different types of actual {{w|endoplasmic reticulum|endoplasmic reticula}}, implying a malevolent version.
|-
| Golgi
| {{w|Camillo Golgi}} (1843–1926) was an Italian biologist and {{w|pathologist}} who discovered the Golgi apparatus; known also for his works on the central nervous system.
| Yes
| No
| The real Golgi was not and is not a tiny alien being who merged with our cells, as the comic and title text imply.
|-
| {{w|Golgi apparatus}}
| A complex of {{w|vesicles}} and folded membranes involved in secretion and intracellular transport.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle, which takes {{w|polypeptide}} chains from the rough endoplasmic reticulum (carried via transport vesicle) and processes them into their ultimate protein structure before sending them (via vesicles) to their destination (such as an organelle or outside of the cell).
|-
| Human skin
| The outer covering of the human body.
| Yes
| No
| Skin cells aren't normally inside other cells, but dead skin cell fragments can be inside {{w|phagocyte}}s. The label, however, is drawn connected to the outer {{w|cell membrane}} or the {{w|extracellular matrix}}. This may be a reference to the idea that almost everything in the human environment is coated with invisible skin cells.
|-
| {{w|Hypoallergenic}} filling
| Materials that cause relatively fewer allergic reactions.
| Yes
| No
| Consumer product term, particularly used for pillows and mattresses.
|-
| {{w|Lithosphere}}
| The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle. Both labeled diagrams of cells and of the layers of the Earth are commonly found in science textbooks.
| Yes
| No
| Term from geology; part of the Earth's crust.
|-
| {{w|Mantle}} 
| The layer of the earth between the crust and the core.
| Yes
| No
| Misplaced geological term with many other meanings.
|-
| {{w|Midichlorians}}
| Fictional microorganisms in the {{w|Star Wars}} universe, which confer Force sensitivity and thereby {{w|Jedi}} associated powers.
| No
| Fictional
| It's unclear whether {{w|George Lucas}} intended for "midi-chlorians" to be {{w|Symbiogenesis|endosymbiotic organelles}} or internal {{w|Symbiosis|symbionts}}. Might also be referring to {{w|chromoplasts}} or {{w|nitroplasts}}
|-
| {{w|Mitochondria}}
| Organelles that generate energy for the cell.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelles, widely known as the "powerhouse of the cell."
|-
| Natural flavor
| Flavoring derived from natural sources.
| Yes
| Conceivably
| A common ingredient on labels, usually meaning any substance to add flavor, aroma, or both, other than synthetic chemicals which are referred to as artificial flavors.
|-
| {{w|Norton AntiVirus}}
| A software product designed to protect computers from malware.
| Yes
| No
| Computer viruses and biological viruses are completely different, and systems designed to counter one generally don't work for the other. Many cell types do have antiviral mechanisms, notably the {{w|CRISPR}} (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) DNA sequences in prokaryotes, which resist viral (bacteriophage) infection. However, the cell shown is not prokaryotic, since it contains a nucleus.
|-
| {{w|Nucleolus}}
| A small dense spherical structure in the nucleus of a cell during {{w|interphase}}.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle, involved in {{w|ribosome}} production.
|-
| Nucleoloulous
| Not a real term.
| No
| No
| A humorous continuation of the terms "nucleus" and "nucleolus."
|-
| {{w|Cell nucleus|Nucleus}}
| The central and most important part of an object, forming the basis for its activity and growth.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle which houses genetic material.
|-
| {{w|Nucleon}}s
| Protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
| Yes
| No
| The depicted circles are far too big to be actual nucleons.
|-
| {{w|O-ring}}
| A mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; used to seal connections.
| Yes
| No
| Engineering term. Both the o-ring and pith are drawn connected to the inner cell membrane. Made famous in pop culture for being the failure mode for the Challenger Shuttle disaster.
|-
| {{w|Pith}}
| The central tissue in plants, used for nutrient transport.
| Yes
| No
| Botanical term. See immediately above. Generally encountered as the white stuff between a citrus fruit, like an orange, and the peel.
|-
| {{w|Pleiades}}
| A cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus.
| Yes
| No
| Even a single star is far too big to fit in a cell.
|-
| {{w|Rough endoplasmic reticulum}}
| Endoplasmic reticulum with {{w|ribosomes}} attached, involved in protein synthesis.
| Yes
| Yes
| Actual cell organelle. "Rough" refers to the presence of ribosomes covering its membrane, which translate {{w|messenger RNA}} into polypeptide chains. Normally the endoplasmic reticulum would wrap around the cell nucleus.
|-
| {{w|Seed}}s
| Plant embryos used for reproduction.
| Yes
| No
| Seeds are multicellular, and sometimes contain small proportions of non-cellular tissue. Seeds are found inside fruit, not cells.
|-
| {{w|Slime}}
| A moist, soft, and slippery substance.
| Yes
| Conceivably
| Could refer to the texture and appearance of {{w|cytoplasm}}, but not specific to cells.
|-
| {{w|Smooth endoplasmic reticulum}}
| A network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, involved in the transport of materials.
| Yes
| Yes
| A standard term for the smooth (i.e., not ribosome-covered) portion of the endoplasmic reticulum.
|-
| Sticky endoplasmic reticulum
| Not a real term, although parts of the reticula have sticky pockets.[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1156152/full]
| No
| No
| Another humorous twist on the actual types of endoplasmic reticula.
|-
| {{w|Ventricle}}
| A chamber of the heart that pumps blood out.
| Yes
| No
| Ventricles are actually part of the body, and they are composed of many cells. Possibly a pun on {{w|vesicle}} (or {{w|vacuole}}), a small membrane-enclosed vessel, such as the transport vesicles that carry polypeptides from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus for processing.
|-
| {{w|Vitreous humour}}
| The clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina in the eyeball.
| Yes
| No
| The vitreous humor is in eyes, not cells.
|-
| Weak spot
| A vulnerable point.
| Yes
| Conceivably
| {{w|Cell membrane}} surfaces do indeed vary in strength, often due to the presence of organelles such as {{w|ion channel pore}}s or {{w|porosome}}s, both of which can be leveraged by viruses to enter cells.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cell Organelles

[A cell is shown with the following structures and areas labeled, counter-clockwise from upper left:]

* Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
* Lithosphere
* O-Ring
* Pith
* Nucleus
* Nucleolus
* Nucleoloulous
* Nucleons
* Drain plug
* Evil endoplasmic reticulum
* Hypoallergenic filling
* Weak spot
* Mitochondria
* Midichlorians
* Chloroplasts if you're lucky
* Human skin
* Carbonation
* Golgi
* Golgi apparatus
* Norton AntiVirus
* Sticky endoplasmic reticulum
* Pleiades
* Natural flavor
* Cellophane
* Rough endoplasmic reticulum

[These labels are inside the cell:]

* Ventricle
* Mantle
* Slime
* Vitreous humour
* Seeds

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Biology]]

2940: Modes of Transportation

2024-06-04T12:45:27Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2940
| date = May 31, 2024
| title = Modes of Transportation
| image = modes_of_transportation_2x.png
| imagesize = 510x518px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Transportationally convenient but insidiously dangerous robotic car - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall's chart compares different modes of transportation by how convenient and dangerous they are. At the top-left (high in convenience and low in danger) are airliners and trains, as these are both fast-moving vehicles on which many millions of dollars have been spent to make them safer. In the top-right, motorcycles are at the same convenience level, but are rated much more dangerous, since they are easy to lose control of at high speeds, and careless drivers (of cars) can easily hit a motorcycle and cause extreme harm. Things like unicycles (bottom-left) are considered much lower on the convenience scale, being not very fast or easy ways to travel, but relatively safe, while towards the centre, skis are apparently moderately convenient and moderately dangerous, since they are relatively easy to fall on if going fast downhill. Way out on their own in the bottom-right, hot air balloons appear to be unique in being rated least on convenience and highest on danger. Presumably, modes of transportation similar to hot air balloons (like zeppelins and blimps) are left off the chart to increase the gap for comedic effect.

Because a hot air balloon is rated so poorly, if an optimization algorithm considers it the optimal mode of transportation, it must be the result of a sign error (e.g. having a minus sign where a plus sign is supposed to be, or vice versa), making the algorithm optimize for the opposite result by mistake. This could be because, unusually, on the y axis of the chart higher is better, whereas on the x axis lower is better. If these were treated the wrong way around, it would result in the air balloon appearing to be the best result. More typically, you might plot convenience vs ''safety'', so that a higher value on either axis would represent a better result. However, both measures are still likely to need to take underlying data (for safety, incident counts, etc.; for convenience, travel time, etc.) and invert them, leading to potential for errors.

In order to compare the relative danger from each mode of transport, one can look at statistics of fatalities and injuries sustained during each activity. Traditionally this can be reported in fatalities/{{w|Killed_or_Seriously_Injured|KSI}} per mile driven or passenger mile (or other unit of distance), to account for the fact that some modes are used much more than others and make valid comparisons. They may also be reported per capita (but this ignores the relative usage of different modes), or per journey (but this doesn't take into account the fact that different modes typically have different journey lengths and times). All of these are somewhat flawed, since they are really measuring the danger ''to'' users of that mode of transport, both from their own conveyance, and from other sources such as other road users. Since ballooning is not a very common mode of transport, hot air balloon incidents are [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9533500/ correspondingly uncommon], and flights are not routinely monitored or registered, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions from the data for hot air balloons.

The title text makes a joke that if a hot air balloon enthusiast disagrees with the ranking and is angered by it, they may wish to remonstrate or retaliate, but will have a difficult time getting to Randall's house with their preferred mode of transportation, because they are limited to travelling in the direction of the wind. If they chose an alternative form of transport, they would be making his point for him. In reality, hot air balloons have some freedom to choose their direction of travel, since by controlling their altitude they can access different wind directions at different heights. Randall should, therefore, be concerned about hot air balloonists who live within a wedge spanned by the various wind directions accessible on a given day. In principle, if the weather conditions are favorable, this could cover every direction from Randall's house. The phrase "hot air balloon people" is reminiscent of "autogyro people" from the title text of [[1972: Autogyros]].

Curiously, the comic includes most common forms of transport, and a number of less common ones, but omits examples such as buses (a mass transit solution arguably more convenient than trains). It is not clear if this is an error, or a deliberate choice to maintain the comic's layout and presentation.

This is the second comic in a row to feature an algorithm.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Transportation !! Description !! Convenience !! Danger !! Zone
|-
|{{w|Train}}s
|Mass transit on rails, typically between urban centers.
|data-sort-value=""|Convenient and comfortable, provided proper funding/maintenance and filled timetables. Allows relatively cheap travel for many people at once.
|data-sort-value=""|Exceedingly safe, due to dedicated tracks along a controlled environment. Accidents are largely limited to individuals wandering onto the off-limit tracks.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Airliner}}s
|Mass transit by aircraft
|data-sort-value=""| Extremely fast travel between population centers for larger groups of people. Less comfortable and more expensive than trains.
|data-sort-value=""| Extremely safe due to strong regulation and relatively little traffic interactions. However, the few catastrophies that do happen have high death counts.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Car}}s
|Motorised road vehicle Most common method of long distance travel, used by many individuals to reach specific destinations
|data-sort-value=""| Owners of a car can usually go easily to any road-accessible location within a 200 mile/300 km radius. Requires constant focus, but can transport a few passengers or some cargo. Parking, maintenance, and infrastructure requirements are often ignored when judging car convenience.
|data-sort-value=""| Insides of cars are covered with safety features, because collisions are relatively common. Assuming appropriate speed limits and proper focus by the driver, accidents can largely be avoided. Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do, and cars are very dangerous to nearby pedestrians and cyclists.
|Practicality
|-
|Scooters
|Either: 
*{{w|Kick scooter}} - Less convenient than the placing would suggest.
*{{w|Scooter (motorcycle)|Low powered motorbike/moped}} - More dangerous than the placing would suggest.
*{{w|Motorized scooter|Engine-powered scooter}} - A middle-ground.
|data-sort-value=""| Kick scooter-style vehicles are probably less convenient than bicycles as they do not provide seating, and are less efficient at converting energy into motion. A low-powered motorbike is about as convenient as a bicycle, requiring refueling in lieu of pedalling, and going much faster.
|data-sort-value=""| Kick scooters are much slower – and therefore safer – than bicycles. Some motorized scooters can reach speeds comparable to car travel, but they are usually limited to speeds around average cycling speeds. Falling from one might be slightly safer than from a bicycle. Low-powered motorbikes often go much faster than bicycles, and would therefore be much more dangerous. All leave the rider vulnerable to danger from motorised traffic sharing the same space.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Bicycle}}s
|Human-powered (or {{w|Electric bicycle|mostly so}}) two-wheeled road vehicle
|data-sort-value=""| Assuming proper road or trail connections, bicycles are highly flexible for traveling to any location within a ~10 km radius, or further. They are a very efficient use of human power for producing motion.
|data-sort-value=""| Bicycles mostly move slow enough for falls or collisions to have little impact, though they are vulnerable to motorized traffic where it shares the road, and are often perceived to be much more subject to danger than they really are.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Boat}}s
|Watercraft of various types
|data-sort-value=""| Specialized for water traffic, which is a very common form of transportation. Quite comfortable (unless you suffer from seasickness), but usually very slow.
|data-sort-value=""| Sinking, capsizing, or falling overboard, whether by collision or misuse, can be lethal, especially on the sea. However, collisions are very rare.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Walking}}
|Personal bipedal ambulation 
|data-sort-value=""| Can travel between any two connected points regardless of infrastructure, but most people only find it comfortable for a few kilometers. Very slow compared to even bicycles, but the energy intensity is good for exercise.
|data-sort-value=""| Most danger to those walking comes from others, such as being hit by a motorized vehicle. Has the potential for trip injuries, and walking up or down stairs is particularly dangerous, since a greater fall can result.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Motorcycle}}s
|...
|data-sort-value=""| As practical as cars to move between locations, and sometimes quicker, due to the ability to filter in traffic, but generally less comfortable, especially in rough weather.
|data-sort-value=""| Cars with all the safety features of bicycles. Exceedingly dangerous at higher speeds, especially when sharing the road with cars.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Helicopter}}s
| Rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors.
|data-sort-value=""| Effective to move between any two points as long as there are landing pads of reasonable size. Can be used to hover relatively still in the air. Speed for utility helicopters is comparable to trains. Very loud, and very difficult to learn to fly.
|data-sort-value=""| As per {{w|Harry Reasoner}}: "An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter."
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Light aircraft}}
|In the United States, the general category of [https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small_airplanes/categories small aircraft] covers a variety of aircraft certified to weigh 19,000 pounds (8618 kg) or less at takeoff. Maximum allowed weight varies by specific category.
|data-sort-value=""|
|data-sort-value=""|
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Go-kart}}s
|...
|data-sort-value=""| A lack of proper suspension makes for a bumpy ride, poor clearance would leave them at risk of grounding on more uneven terrain, and the maximum speed is quite low.
|data-sort-value=""| Crashing is much more likely to cause spinal damage than bicycles, but the relatively low speed would make them much safer than other motorized vehicle options.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Skateboard}}s
| A board on four wheels
|data-sort-value=""| Much slower and less energy-efficient than bicycles.
|data-sort-value=""| As long as you're not doing mad tricks in a quarterpipe, using a skateboard for transportation carries little risk, other than being struck by other users of the same space. Safety gear is common.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Inline skates|Rollerblades}}
| Shoes with a single line of wheels at the bottom
|data-sort-value=""| Much slower and less energy-efficient than bicycles.
|data-sort-value=""| As long as you're not doing mad tricks in a quarterpipe, using rollerblades for transportation carries little risk, other than being struck by other users of the same space. Safety gear is common.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Ski}}s
| Narrow strips of material to stand on while sliding across a low-friction surface
|data-sort-value=""| A fine way to move downhill relatively fast, but maintenance of the slope is required. Also a fairly quick way to travel on the flat when there is snow cover that would make other modes of transport challenging. Less useful in less conducive conditions.
|data-sort-value=""|Downhill skiers can reach high speeds at which collisions could cause significant injury to the skier's lightly protected body. It can be hard to control your speed at lower skill levels, but as long as low speeds are maintained (as it might when used as a transportation option), skiing is not that dangerous.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Unicycle}}s
| One-wheeled human-powered vehicle
|data-sort-value=""|Can be a [https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/24351890.wellington-teen-circumnavigates-globe-unicycle/ practical form of transport] for skilled riders. Because unicycles lack a gear system, they are less mechanically efficient than bicycles and have a much lower top-speed.
|data-sort-value=""| Because of the lower top-speed, unicycles would be safer than bicycles, though you may fall off it more frequently.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Sled}}s
| A construction that can slide over snow, ice, or sand
|data-sort-value=""| Useful in limited conditions in which other forms of transport might struggle to cope with.
|data-sort-value=""| It is hard to properly control your speed downhill, but extremely safe on level terrain or slight slopes.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Bumper Cars}}
| Small electric karts with rubber bumpers
|data-sort-value=""| Only really convenient for making ''very'' short journeys. Typically require an electronic mesh in the ceiling to move at all.
|data-sort-value=""| Apparently safe enough to be a hardly-supervized children's entertainment attraction.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Hot Air Balloon}}s
| A basket tied to a huge bag of heated air
|data-sort-value=""| Provide limited control and low speeds. They were the only form of air-travel available in the 19th-century, but were overtaken by powered air-travel.
|data-sort-value=""| A malfunction in the balloon can result in a very rapid descent, from great height. A poorly executed descent could result in a mid-air collision (e.g. with trees, powerlines, etc.) with potential for a nasty fall.
The air that provides the lift is heated by a flame, which may be open (and even in covered flame heaters, a malfunction may allow the flame to escape outside). Roughhousing, due to movement inside the basket or a gust of wind, could cause the envelope to catch on fire, preventing the balloon from going down until the moment in which not enough lift can be provided, causing the basket to plummet to the ground, potentially causing death or serious injury to the passengers.
Further known dangers are malfunctions of the propane tanks fueling the burner causing an explosion and falling down the edge of the basket due to improper or no tethering.
|?????
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A chart is shown, where the Y axis is labeled "Convenient for travel" and has an arrow pointing up and the X axis is labeled "Dangerous" and has an arrow pointing right.]
:[In gray text, "Zone of practicality" points to a large irregular area fitting in to the top left corner of the chart with a gray background. The following modes are shown in this area, starting with the first few bunched at highest convenience:]
::Trains [very convenient, very safe]
::Airliners
::Cars
::Scooters [the most dangerous of this set, at medium-low danger]
::Bicycles
::Boats [medium-high convenience, a slight amount of danger]
::Walking [the least convienient, at roughly half, and lowest danger of this set]
:[In gray text, "Zone of specialty and recreational vehicles" points to a large irregular swathe from the top right to the bottom left with a gray background. The following modes are shown in this area, with the nodes spread in rough order from high convenience/danger to low convenience/danger:]
::Motorcycles [highly convenient, nearly maximum danger]
::Helicopters [not quite fully convenient, most danger]
::Light aircraft
::Go karts
::Skateboards
::Rollerblades
::Skis
::Unicycles
::Sleds
::Bumper cars [lowest convenience and lowest danger item]
:[In gray text, "?????" points to a small blob in the bottom right corner with a gray background, notably distant from the nearest other group. A single mode is included in this area:]
::Hot air balloons [placed as almost the least convenient and most dangerous, of all labels]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

2940: Modes of Transportation

2024-06-04T12:44:15Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2940
| date = May 31, 2024
| title = Modes of Transportation
| image = modes_of_transportation_2x.png
| imagesize = 510x518px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Transportationally convenient but insidiously dangerous robotic car - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall's chart compares different modes of transportation by how convenient and dangerous they are. At the top-left (high in convenience and low in danger) are airliners and trains, as these are both fast-moving vehicles on which many millions of dollars have been spent to make them safer. In the top-right, motorcycles are at the same convenience level, but are rated much more dangerous, since they are easy to lose control of at high speeds, and careless drivers (of cars) can easily hit a motorcycle and cause extreme harm. Things like unicycles (bottom-left) are considered much lower on the convenience scale, being not very fast or easy ways to travel, but relatively safe, while towards the centre, skis are apparently moderately convenient and moderately dangerous, since they are relatively easy to fall on if going fast downhill. Way out on their own in the bottom-right, hot air balloons appear to be unique in being rated least on convenience and highest on danger. Presumably, modes of transportation similar to hot air balloons (like zeppelins and blimps) are left off the chart to increase the gap for comedic effect.

Because a hot air balloon is rated so poorly, if an optimization algorithm considers it the optimal mode of transportation, it must be the result of a sign error (e.g. having a minus sign where a plus sign is supposed to be, or vice versa), making the algorithm optimize for the opposite result by mistake. This could be because, unusually, on the y axis of the chart higher is better, whereas on the x axis lower is better. If these were treated the wrong way around, it would result in the air balloon appearing to be the best result. More typically, you might plot convenience vs ''safety'', so that a higher value on either axis would represent a better result. However, both measures are still likely to need to take underlying data (for safety, incident counts, etc.; for convenience, travel time, etc.) and invert them, leading to potential for errors.

In order to compare the relative danger from each mode of transport, one can look at statistics of fatalities and injuries sustained during each activity. Traditionally this can be reported in fatalities/{{w|Killed_or_Seriously_Injured|KSI}} per mile driven or passenger mile (or other unit of distance), to account for the fact that some modes are used much more than others and make valid comparisons. They may also be reported per capita (but this ignores the relative usage of different modes), or per journey (but this doesn't take into account the fact that different modes typically have different journey lengths and times). All of these are somewhat flawed, since they are really measuring the danger ''to'' users of that mode of transport, both from their own conveyance, and from other sources such as other road users. Since ballooning is not a very common mode of transport, hot air balloon incidents are [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9533500/ correspondingly uncommon], and flights are not routinely monitored or registered, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions from the data for hot air balloons.

The title text makes a joke that if a hot air balloon enthusiast disagrees with the ranking and is angered by it, they may wish to remonstrate or retaliate, but will have a difficult time getting to Randall's house with their preferred mode of transportation, because they are limited to travelling in the direction of the wind. If they chose an alternative form of transport, they would be making his point for him. In reality, hot air balloons have some freedom to choose their direction of travel, since by controlling their altitude they can access different wind directions at different heights. Randall should, therefore, be concerned about hot air balloonists who live within a wedge spanned by the various wind directions accessible on a given day. In principle, if the weather conditions are favorable, this could cover every direction from Randall's house. The phrase "hot air balloon people" is reminiscent of "autogyro people" from the title text of [[1972: Autogyros]].

Curiously, the comic includes most common forms of transport, and a number of less common ones, but omits examples such as buses (a mass transit solution arguably more convenient than trains). It is not clear if this is an error, or a deliberate choice to maintain the comic's layout and presentation.

This is the second comic in a row to feature an algorithm.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Transportation !! Description !! Convenience !! Danger !! Zone
|-
|{{w|Train}}s
|Mass transit on rails, typically between urban centers.
|data-sort-value=""|Convenient and comfortable, provided proper funding/maintenance and filled timetables. Allows relatively cheap travel for many people at once.
|data-sort-value=""|Exceedingly safe, due to dedicated tracks along a controlled environment. Accidents are largely limited to individuals wandering onto the off-limit tracks.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Airliner}}s
|Mass transit by aircraft
|data-sort-value=""| Extremely fast travel between population centers for larger groups of people. Less comfortable and more expensive than trains.
|data-sort-value=""| Extremely safe due to strong regulation and relatively little traffic interactions. However, the few catastrophies that do happen have high death counts.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Car}}s
|Motorised road vehicle Most common method of long distance travel, used by many individuals to reach specific destinations
|data-sort-value=""| Owners of a car can usually go easily to any road-accessible location within a 200 mile/300 km radius. Requires constant focus, but can transport a few passengers or some cargo. Parking, maintenance, and infrastructure requirements are often ignored when judging car convenience.
|data-sort-value=""| Insides of cars are covered with safety features, because collisions are relatively common. Assuming appropriate speed limits and proper focus by the driver, accidents can largely be avoided. Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do, and cars are very dangerous to nearby pedestrians and cyclists.
|Practicality
|-
|Scooters
|Either: 
*{{w|Kick scooter}} - Less convenient than the placing would suggest.
*{{w|Scooter (motorcycle)|Low powered motorbike/moped}} - More dangerous than the placing would suggest.
*{{w|Motorized scooter|Engine-powered scooter}} - A middle-ground.
|data-sort-value=""| Kick scooter-style vehicles are probably less convenient than bicycles as they do not provide seating, and are less efficient at converting energy into motion. A low-powered motorbike is about as convenient as a bicycle, requiring refueling in lieu of pedalling, and going much faster.
|data-sort-value=""| Kick scooters are much slower – and therefore safer – than bicycles. Some motorized scooters can reach speeds comparable to car travel, but they are usually limited to speeds around average cycling speeds. Falling from one might be slightly safer than from a bicycle. Low-powered motorbikes often go much faster than bicycles, and would therefore be much more dangerous. All leave the rider vulnerable to danger from motorised traffic sharing the same space.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Bicycle}}s
|Human-powered (or {{w|Electric bicycle|mostly so}}) two-wheeled road vehicle
|data-sort-value=""| Assuming proper road or trail connections, bicycles are highly flexible for traveling to any location within a ~10 km radius, or further. They are a very efficient use of human power for producing motion.
|data-sort-value=""| Bicycles mostly move slow enough for falls or collisions to have little impact, though they are vulnerable to motorized traffic where it shares the road, and are often perceived to be much more subject to danger than they really are.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Boat}}s
|Watercraft of various types
|data-sort-value=""| Specialized for water traffic, which is a very common form of transportation. Quite comfortable (unless you suffer from seasickness), but usually very slow.
|data-sort-value=""| Sinking, capsizing, or falling overboard, whether by collision or misuse, can be lethal, especially on the sea. However, collisions are very rare.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Walking}}
|Personal bipedal ambulation 
|data-sort-value=""| Can travel between any two connected points regardless of infrastructure, but most people only find it comfortable for a few kilometers. Very slow compared to even bicycles, but the energy intensity is good for exercise.
|data-sort-value=""| Most danger to those walking comes from others, such as being hit by a motorized vehicle. Has the potential for trip injuries, and walking up or down stairs is particularly dangerous, since a greater fall can result.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Motorcycle}}s
|...
|data-sort-value=""| As practical as cars to move between locations, and sometimes quicker, due to the ability to filter in traffic, but generally less comfortable, especially in rough weather.
|data-sort-value=""| Cars with all the safety features of bicycles. Exceedingly dangerous at higher speeds, especially when sharing the road with cars.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Helicopter}}s
| Rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors.
|data-sort-value=""| Effective to move between any two points as long as there are landing pads of reasonable size. Can be used to hover relatively still in the air. Speed for utility helicopters is comparable to trains. Very loud, and very difficult to learn to fly.
|data-sort-value=""| As per {{w|Harry Reasoner}}: "An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter."
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Light aircraft}}
|In the United States, the general category of [https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small_airplanes/categories small aircraft] covers a variety of aircraft certified to weigh 19,000 pounds (8618 kg) or less at takeoff. Maximum allowed weight varies by specific category.
|data-sort-value=""|
|data-sort-value=""|
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Go-kart}}s
|...
|data-sort-value=""| A lack of proper suspension makes for a bumpy ride, poor clearance would leave them at risk of grounding on more uneven terrain, and the maximum speed is quite low.
|data-sort-value=""| Crashing is much more likely to cause spinal damage than bicycles, but the relatively low speed would make them much safer than other motorized vehicle options.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Skateboard}}s
| A board on four wheels
|data-sort-value=""| Much slower and less energy-efficient than bicycles.
|data-sort-value=""| As long as you're not doing mad tricks in a quarterpipe, using a skateboard for transportation carries little risk, other than being struck by other users of the same space. Safety gear is common.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Inline skates|Rollerblades}}
| Shoes with a single line of wheels at the bottom
|data-sort-value=""| Much slower and less energy-efficient than bicycles.
|data-sort-value=""| As long as you're not doing mad tricks in a quarterpipe, using rollerblades for transportation carries little risk, other than being struck by other users of the same space. Safety gear is common.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Ski}}s
| Narrow strips of material to stand on while sliding across a low-friction surface
|data-sort-value=""| A fine way to move downhill relatively fast, but maintenance of the slope is required. Also a fairly quick way to travel on the flat when there is snow cover that would make other modes of transport challenging. Less useful in less conducive conditions.
|data-sort-value=""|Downhill skiers can reach high speeds at which collisions could cause significant injury to the skier's lightly protected body. It can be hard to control your speed at lower skill levels, but as long as low speeds are maintained (as it might when used as a transportation option), skiing is not that dangerous.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Unicycle}}s
| One-wheeled human-powered vehicle
|data-sort-value=""|Can be a [https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/24351890.wellington-teen-circumnavigates-globe-unicycle/ practical form of transport] for skilled riders. Because unicycles lack a gear system, they are less mechanically efficient than bicycles and have a much lower top-speed.
|data-sort-value=""| Because of the lower top-speed, unicycles would be safer than bicycles, though you may fall off it more frequently.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Sled}}s
| A construction that can slide over snow, ice, or sand
|data-sort-value=""| Useful in limited conditions in which other forms of transport might struggle to cope with.
|data-sort-value=""| It is hard to properly control your speed downhill, but extremely safe on level terrain or slight slopes.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Bumper Cars}}
| Small electric karts with rubber bumpers
|data-sort-value=""| Only really convenient for making ''very'' short journeys. Typically require an electronic mesh in the ceiling to move at all.
|data-sort-value=""| Apparently safe enough to be a hardly-supervized children's entertainment attraction.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Hot Air Balloon}}s
| A basket tied to a huge bag of heated air
|data-sort-value=""| Provide limited control and low speeds. They were the only form of air-travel available in the 19th-century, but were overtaken by powered air-travel.
|data-sort-value=""| A malfunction in the balloon can result in a very rapid descent, from great height. A poorly executed descent could result in a mid-air collision (e.g. with trees, powerlines, etc.) with potential for a nasty fall.
The air that provides the lift is heated by a flame, which may be open (and even in covered flame heaters, a malfunction may allow the flame to escape outside), and some roughhousing due to movement inside the basket or a gust of wind could cause the envelope to catch on fire, a situation that prevents the balloon from going down until the moment in which not enough lift can be provided, causing the basket to plummet to the ground, potentially causing death or serious injury to the passengers.
Further known dangers are malfunctions of the propane tanks fueling the burner causing an explosion and falling down the edge of the basket due to improper or no tethering.
|?????
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A chart is shown, where the Y axis is labeled "Convenient for travel" and has an arrow pointing up and the X axis is labeled "Dangerous" and has an arrow pointing right.]
:[In gray text, "Zone of practicality" points to a large irregular area fitting in to the top left corner of the chart with a gray background. The following modes are shown in this area, starting with the first few bunched at highest convenience:]
::Trains [very convenient, very safe]
::Airliners
::Cars
::Scooters [the most dangerous of this set, at medium-low danger]
::Bicycles
::Boats [medium-high convenience, a slight amount of danger]
::Walking [the least convienient, at roughly half, and lowest danger of this set]
:[In gray text, "Zone of specialty and recreational vehicles" points to a large irregular swathe from the top right to the bottom left with a gray background. The following modes are shown in this area, with the nodes spread in rough order from high convenience/danger to low convenience/danger:]
::Motorcycles [highly convenient, nearly maximum danger]
::Helicopters [not quite fully convenient, most danger]
::Light aircraft
::Go karts
::Skateboards
::Rollerblades
::Skis
::Unicycles
::Sleds
::Bumper cars [lowest convenience and lowest danger item]
:[In gray text, "?????" points to a small blob in the bottom right corner with a gray background, notably distant from the nearest other group. A single mode is included in this area:]
::Hot air balloons [placed as almost the least convenient and most dangerous, of all labels]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

2940: Modes of Transportation

2024-06-03T14:27:45Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2940
| date = May 31, 2024
| title = Modes of Transportation
| image = modes_of_transportation_2x.png
| imagesize = 510x518px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Transportationally convenient but insidiously dangerous robotic car - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall's chart compares different modes of transportation by how convenient and dangerous they are. At the top-left (high in convenience and low in danger) are airliners and trains, as these are both fast-moving vehicles on which many millions of dollars have been spent to make them safer. In the top-right, motorcycles are at the same convenience level, but are rated much more dangerous, since they are easy to lose control of at high speeds, and careless drivers (of cars) can easily hit a motorcycle and cause extreme harm. Things like unicycles (bottom-left) are considered much lower on the convenience scale, being not very fast or easy ways to travel, but relatively safe, while towards the centre, skis are apparently moderately convenient and moderately dangerous, since they are relatively easy to fall on if going fast downhill. Way out on their own in the bottom-right, hot air balloons appear to be unique in being rated least on convenience and highest on danger. Presumably, modes of transportation similar to hot air balloons (like zeppelins and blimps) are left off the chart to increase the gap for comedic effect.

Because a hot air balloon is rated so poorly, if an optimization algorithm considers it the optimal mode of transportation, it must be the result of a sign error (e.g. having a minus sign where a plus sign is supposed to be, or vice versa), making the algorithm optimize for the opposite result by mistake. This could be because, unusually, on the y axis of the chart higher is better, whereas on the x axis lower is better. If these were treated the wrong way around, it would result in the air balloon appearing to be the best result. More typically, you might plot convenience vs ''safety'', so that a higher value on either axis would represent a better result. However, both measures are still likely to need to take underlying data (for safety, incident counts, etc.; for convenience, travel time, etc.) and invert them, leading to potential for errors.

In order to compare the relative danger from each mode of transport, one can look at statistics of fatalities and injuries sustained during each activity. Traditionally this can be reported in fatalities/{{w|Killed_or_Seriously_Injured|KSI}} per mile driven or passenger mile (or other unit of distance), to account for the fact that some modes are used much more than others and make valid comparisons. They may also be reported per capita (but this ignores the relative usage of different modes), or per journey (but this doesn't take into account the fact that different modes typically have different journey lengths and times). All of these are somewhat flawed, since they are really measuring the danger ''to'' users of that mode of transport, both from their own conveyance, and from other sources such as other road users. Since ballooning is not a very common mode of transport, hot air balloon incidents are [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9533500/ correspondingly uncommon], and flights are not routinely monitored or registered, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions from the data for hot air balloons.

The title text makes a joke that if a hot air balloon enthusiast disagrees with the ranking and is angered by it, they may wish to remonstrate or retaliate, but will have a difficult time getting to Randall's house with their preferred mode of transportation, because they are limited to travelling in the direction of the wind. If they chose an alternative form of transport, they would be making his point for him. In reality, hot air balloons have some freedom to choose their direction of travel, since by controlling their altitude they can access different wind directions at different heights. Randall should, therefore, be concerned about hot air balloonists who live within a wedge spanned by the various wind directions accessible on a given day. In principle, if the weather conditions are favorable, this could cover every direction from Randall's house. The phrase "hot air balloon people" is reminiscent of "autogyro people" from the title text of [[1972: Autogyros]].

Curiously, the comic includes most common forms of transport, and a number of less common ones, but omits examples such as buses (a mass transit solution arguably more convenient than trains). It is not clear if this is an error, or a deliberate choice to maintain the comic's layout and presentation.

This is the second comic in a row to feature an algorithm.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Transportation !! Description !! Convenience !! Danger !! Zone
|-
|{{w|Train}}s
|Mass transit on rails, typically between urban centers.
|data-sort-value=""|Convenient and comfortable, provided proper funding/maintenance and filled timetables. Allows relatively cheap travel for many people at once.
|data-sort-value=""|Exceedingly safe, due to dedicated tracks along a controlled environment. Accidents are largely limited to individuals wandering onto the off-limit tracks.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Airliner}}s
|Mass transit by aircraft
|data-sort-value=""| Extremely fast travel between population centers for larger groups of people. Less comfortable and more expensive than trains.
|data-sort-value=""| Extremely safe due to strong regulation and relatively little traffic interactions. However, the few catastrophies that do happen have high death counts.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Car}}s
|Motorised road vehicle Most common method of long distance travel, used by many individuals to reach specific destinations
|data-sort-value=""| Owners of a car can usually go easily to any road-accessible location within a 200 mile/300 km radius. Requires constant focus, but can transport a few passengers or some cargo. Parking, maintenance, and infrastructure requirements are often ignored when judging car convenience.
|data-sort-value=""| Insides of cars are covered with safety features, because collisions are relatively common. Assuming appropriate speed limits and proper focus by the driver, accidents can largely be avoided. Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do, and cars are very dangerous to nearby pedestrians and cyclists.
|Practicality
|-
|Scooters
|Either: 
*{{w|Kick scooter}} - Less convenient than the placing would suggest.
*{{w|Scooter (motorcycle)|Low powered motorbike/moped}} - More dangerous than the placing would suggest.
*{{w|Motorized scooter|Engine-powered scooter}} - A middle-ground.
|data-sort-value=""| Kick scooter-style vehicles are probably less convenient than bicycles as they do not provide seating, and are less efficient at converting energy into motion. A low-powered motorbike is about as convenient as a bicycle, requiring refueling in lieu of pedalling, and going much faster.
|data-sort-value=""| Kick scooters are much slower – and therefore safer – than bicycles. A motorized scooter can exceed bicycle speeds, but falling might be slightly safer. Low-powered motorbikes often go much faster than bicycles, and would therefore be much more dangerous. All leave the rider vulnerable to danger from motorised traffic sharing the same space.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Bicycle}}s
|Human-powered (or {{w|Electric bicycle|mostly so}}) two-wheeled road vehicle
|data-sort-value=""| Assuming proper road or trail connections, bicycles are highly flexible for traveling to any location within a ~10 km radius, or further.
|data-sort-value=""| Bicycles mostly move slow enough for falls or collisions to have little impact, though they are vulnerable to motorized traffic where it shares the road, and are often perceived to be much more subject to danger than they really are.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Boat}}s
|Watercraft of various types
|data-sort-value=""| Specialized for water traffic, which is a very common form of transportation. Quite comfortable (unless you suffer from seasickness), but usually very slow.
|data-sort-value=""| Sinking, capsizing, or falling overboard, whether by collision or misuse, can be lethal, especially on the sea. However, collisions are very rare.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Walking}}
|Personal bipedal ambulation 
|data-sort-value=""| Can travel between any two connected points regardless of infrastructure, but most people only find it comfortable for a few kilometers. Very slow compared to even bicycles, but the energy intensity is good for exercise.
|data-sort-value=""| Most danger to those walking comes from others, such as being hit by a motorized vehicle. Has the potential for trip injuries, and walking up or down stairs is particularly dangerous, since a greater fall can result.
|Practicality
|-
|{{w|Motorcycle}}s
|...
|data-sort-value=""| As practical as cars to move between locations, but generally less comfortable, especially in rough weather.
|data-sort-value=""| Cars with all the safety features of bicycles. Exceedingly dangerous at higher speeds, especially when sharing the road with cars.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Helicopter}}s
| Rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors.
|data-sort-value=""| Effective to move between any two points as long as there are landing pads of reasonable size. Can be used to hover relatively still in the air. Speed for utility helicopters is comparable to trains. Very loud, and very difficult to learn to fly.
|data-sort-value=""| As per {{w|Harry Reasoner}}: "An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter."
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Light aircraft}}
|In the United States, the general category of [https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small_airplanes/categories small aircraft] covers a variety of aircraft certified to weigh 19,000 pounds (8618 kg) or less at takeoff. Maximum allowed weight varies by specific category.
|data-sort-value=""|
|data-sort-value=""|
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Go-kart}}s
|...
|data-sort-value=""| A lack of proper suspension makes for a bumpy ride, poor clearance would leave them at risk of grounding on more uneven terrain, and the maximum speed is quite low.
|data-sort-value=""| Crashing is much more likely to cause spinal damage than bicycles, but the relatively low speed would make them much safer than other motorized vehicle options.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Skateboard}}s
| A board on four wheels
|data-sort-value=""| Much slower and less energy-efficient than bicycles.
|data-sort-value=""| As long as you're not doing mad tricks in a quarterpipe, using a skateboard for transportation carries little risk, other than being struck by other users of the same space. Safety gear is common.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Inline skates|Rollerblades}}
| Shoes with wheels at the bottom
|data-sort-value=""| Much slower and less energy-efficient than bicycles.
|data-sort-value=""| As long as you're not doing mad tricks in a quarterpipe, using rollerblades for transportation carries little risk, other than being struck by other users of the same space. Safety gear is common.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Ski}}s
| Narrow strips of material to stand on while sliding down a hill
|data-sort-value=""| A fine way to move downhill relatively fast, but maintenance of the slope is required. Also a fairly quick way to travel on the flat when there is snow cover that would make other modes of transport challenging. Less useful in less conducive conditions.
|data-sort-value=""|Downhill skiers can reach high speeds at which collisions could cause significant injury to the skier's lightly protected body. It can be hard to control your speed at lower skill levels, but as long as low speeds are maintained (as it might when used as a transportation option), skiing is not that dangerous.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Unicycle}}s
| One-wheeled human-powered vehicle
|data-sort-value=""|Can be a [https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/24351890.wellington-teen-circumnavigates-globe-unicycle/ practical form of transport] for skilled riders. Because unicycles lack a gear system, they are less mechanically efficient than bicycles and have a much lower top-speed.
|data-sort-value=""| Because of the lower top-speed, unicycles would be safer than bicycles, though you may fall off it more frequently.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Sled}}s
| A construction that can slide over snow, ice, or sand
|data-sort-value=""| Useful in limited conditions in which other forms of transport might struggle to cope with.
|data-sort-value=""| It is hard to properly control your speed downhill, but extremely safe on level terrain or slight slopes.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Bumper Cars}}
| Small electric karts with rubber bumpers
|data-sort-value=""| Only really convenient for making ''very'' short journeys. Typically require an electronic mesh in the ceiling to move at all.
|data-sort-value=""| Apparently safe enough to be a hardly-supervized children's entertainment attraction.
|Speciality/Recreational
|-
|{{w|Hot Air Balloon}}s
| A basket tied to a huge bag of heated air
|data-sort-value=""| Provide limited control and low speeds. They were the only form of air-travel available in the 19th-century, but were overtaken by powered air-travel.
|data-sort-value=""| A malfunction in the balloon can result in a very rapid descent, from great height. A poorly executed descent could result in a mid-air collision (e.g. with trees, powerlines, etc.) with potential for a nasty fall.
|?????
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A chart is shown, where the Y axis is labeled "Convenient for travel" and has an arrow pointing up and the X axis is labeled "Dangerous" and has an arrow pointing right.]
:[The following modes are shown in the "Zone of practicality" (a large irregular area fitting in to the top left corner of the chart), highlighted with a gray background, starting with the first few bunched at highest convenience, :]
:Trains [very convenient, very safe]
:Airliners
:Cars
:Scooters [the most dangerous of this set, at medium-low danger]
:Bicycles
:Boats [medium-high convenience, a slight amount of danger]
:Walking [the least convienient, at roughly half, and lowest danger of this set]
:[The following modes are shown in the "Zone of specialty and recreational vehicles" (a large irregular swathe from the top right to the bottom left, not quite touching the prior zone), highlighted with a gray background, the nodes spread in rough order from high convenience/danger to low convenience/danger:]
:Motorcycles [highly convenient, nearly maximum danger]
:Helicopters [not quite fully convenient, most danger]
:Light aircraft
:Go karts
:Skateboards
:Rollerblades
:Skis
:Unicycles
:Sleds
:Bumper cars [lowest convenience and lowest danger item]
:[The following is labeled "?????" (in the bottom right corner), and has a gray background all to itself in a small blob notably distant from the nearest other group:]
:Hot air balloons [placed as almost the least convenient and most dangerous, of all labels]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:790: Control

2024-05-31T14:03:21Z

172.70.160.249:

Soon followed by psychologists recommending the tested drug as a depressant after looking at the results of the trials. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:21, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

This has always bothered me: If LSD Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, why isn't it LAD? What's so special about the S in LySergic that it beats out the A in Acid? Anonymous 01:06, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

: It is from the German "Lysergsäure-diethylamid" where "säure" refers to the acidity. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.240.6|108.162.240.6]] 14:39, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

::Ah, that makes sense. Anonymous. 00:10, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

LSD invokes hallucinations, not delirium. By definition, you know when you're hallucinating. Just saying. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.111|108.162.249.111]] 00:21, 22 January 2014 (UTC)
:: People who do insane things like jump off a building or flee from hallucinations while on LSD are usually those who had it slipped to them without their knowledge. The reason most people who are tripping aren't fooled by the things their poorly filtered mind brings up is that they're aware it's happening, not that it's not convincing. If you think you're sober, those impressions are entirely believable. They are not even really a hallucination, but in fact are the triggering of memories by sensory stimulus or thoughts. LSD blocks part of your brain's normal chemical filtering of memories and thoughts, which would keep you from being distracted by only slightly-relevant thoughts. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:33, 28 October 2019 (UTC)
: Hallucinations are, in fact, indistinguishable from reality, like delirium. LSD-like effects, where things feel real but you know they aren't are sometimes called pseudohallucinations. Delirants like belladona, datura, mandrake or even nutmeg are more likely produce true hallucinations, usually of the unpleasant kind. [[User:GuB|GuB]] ([[User talk:GuB|talk]]) 13:56, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

: If you are not aware that you have been given a drug that would cause hallucinations, and are going in to have the size of your rash analyzed, you have no expectation of perceiving things that aren't real to help cue you in to what is happening

:: Saying 'LSD does not cause delirium' might make sense when reading wikipedia or someone's sanitized lab report, but "OH GOD SPIDERS" is not a very abnormal response to the drug. [[User:Singlelinelabyrinth|Singlelinelabyrinth]] ([[User talk:Singlelinelabyrinth|talk]]) 03:15, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

There is an argument that, when doing tests on humans, who leave the lab and do things that may accidentally or by design affect the data (say, a person being given the placebo rather than a drug for blood sugar, blood pressure, etc who happens to start walking more at work because they are moved to a less centrally located desk, the term "comparison group" should be used instead of "control group," because they can compare the two data sets but not control for all variables [[User:Katt3|Katt3]] ([[User talk:Katt3|talk]]) 17:48, 19 September 2016 (UTC)Katt3

I always thought the multiple arms were to show motion. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.41|173.245.54.41]] 05:32, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

: An alternative explanation (which was actually my first thought) is that what we see is Megan's perception of herself. Not only does she see spiders around her, but she also sees some features of spiders (having 8 legs/limbs) in her own body. [[User:Bebidek|Bebidek]] ([[User talk:Bebidek|talk]]) 13:13, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
::Theory: upper-limb triplication is an unforeseen adverse reaction *specifically* when combining LSD and a particular type of placebo. But never discovered because there's never been any reason to combine them, before, let alone test for this exact 'drug' reaction.
::In this case, everything would have been 'ok' (more or less) if the LSD hadn't been ''mixed'' into the previously chosen placebo, or if the prior (proper) doses of theoretically inert 'sugar pill' substance had been flushed out of the recipient's system before the psychoactive dose got administered.
::...I know... But this is the xkcdverse, and there's been weirder things than a stealthily-intereactive 'placebo'. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 14:03, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2935: Ocean Loop

2024-05-26T08:50:56Z

172.70.160.249:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so a Trivia section has been automatically generated, and an imagesize parameter has been added (at half size) to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 20:47, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
:We're still calling 4760 x 4295 "massive" in a time when many tvs and monitors are 4k? I mean I guess it's technically massive compared to the website's default, a downright ''embarrassing'' 635 x 573 -[[Special:Contributions/172.71.255.7|172.71.255.7]] 19:37, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
::[[1475: Technically]] 20 million pixels are technically massless, not massive. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.46|172.71.98.46]] 19:49, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:Bad bot EDIT: Oops, wording threw me off, it did the RIGHT thing this time! Bravo! "Standard size" made me think it had generated/found a regular sized image and saved THAT again! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:14, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Is there anyway to get notifications when a new comic comes out? I'm always late to these 21:27, 20 May 2024 (UTC)Jush
:I believe that there may be a Twitter (or X, or Xwitter, whatever we're calling it out) announcement direct from Randall's account, but I don't use that myself. And, like me, you were here ''right as it came out'', more or less, so so don't worry too much. You ''could'' write your own BOT-like poller (various ways, but do at least considerately throttle it back to checking perbaps no more frequently than every 15 minutes, 'cos too many people doing that would be 'problematical'), if you can't find a push-notifying service that does most of the hard work for you (and a whole host of other subscribers). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.241|172.70.85.241]] 22:23, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
:You can use the RSS feed: https://xkcd.com/rss.xml [[User:Val|Val]] ([[User talk:Val|talk]]) 04:07, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Happy Victoria day to anyone else in Canada! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.235|162.158.146.235]] 21:39, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Due to not being told about any Edit Conflict, I managed to co-edit the initial explanatuon with A.N.Other (sorry, haven't checked who, probably the first major editor in the page-history). I've put the most useful bit (IMO) of their article into mine, but some of it seemed wrong. Or at least not right.
*"because of the size and speed of a cruise ship, the ship likely wouldn't make it around the loop without falling off" - well, given the mass of water nicely holding itself to the loop, a ship floating around in it at the same speed would be holding itself to the loop quite nicely (moreso, perhaps, with its CoG taking a tighter loop than the fluid-loop).
**Of course, it could be slower, but that would mean fighting the current. Whatever huge velocity the water is going, you'd have to be capable of going full-reverse at ''significant'' speed to overcome that,
***Well, you could be ''just'' less than the ''just'' more than fast-enough water, but it's probably significantly faster than loop-speed, or a lot of edge-surface water would shed out of the topmost loop-trough due to fluidic friction against the trough itself.
***And there's the acceleration needed to match the fluid flow-rate, but that causes problems before 'falling off' is an issue. Imagine suddenly finding yourself going hundreds (thousands?) of knots sternwards in still water. Probably what it'd feel like, before even getting to the tilt (by which time, any ship that had survived is probably now close to water-speed).
*"Second even if they managed to make it through without falling, many of the passangers would abtain extreme injuries and/or likely fall off the ship all together (unlike {{w|rollercoasters}} the passengers aren't strapped down)" - If you experience negative Gs in a rollercoaster, it's not a true loop (just an awkward inversion). You should normally always stay at positive Gs, albeit at somewhere within 0<Gs<1 (which ''feels'' like negative, but is just short of weightlessness). Being strapped in is still important, but mostly for forces lateral to "local down" for where you are on the ride.
**...or, of course, if the ride malfunctions and leaves you stationary and inverted. Which happens, but that's not at all intended in most situations. There'd be no way an 'otherwise normal' flume-loop would do that, though refering back to the need of your ship to experience initial acceleration before it even hits the loop (and final deceleration once it exits it).
*"Third, because of the way the loop's designed, several hundreds (if not thousands) of tons of water is being launched onto the top of the cruise ship at a high speed. Needless to say, this would not only likely capsize the ship, but would also flatten any passenger on the deck." - The sudden undersea current is going to be a problem, but it's not going to be directed over the ship (save ''completely'' over the ship, in the loop far above).
**What you'll have is the turbulent local sea conditions. There'd be a 'standing wave-trough' in front of the point the jet of water is shown to emerge, itself probably a catastrophic problem for a ship, even an ocean-going one built in expectation of occasionally meeting {{w|rogue waves}}) and all the problems involved in traversing such rough seas. If your vessel can survive that (without spinning sideways and hitting the flume-trough, or breaking its back due to the extremely uneven and changing buoyancy along its length) then it's probably going to survive the much smaller amount of water that splashes 'over' its upper superstructure, compared to whatever relative mastrom of flow there will be passing under/against its (nominally) below-waterline hull.
I don't know how much 'reality' Randall has invested in this premise (I presume little, given the lack of pressure-trough in the 'still' water just short of the jet-emergence, nor any distortion in the sea surface wherever the jet originally sucked its water in from), but a lot of the issues of the looping-the-loop "What if" train will be the prime factors, plus maintaining general control (in river navigation, going downstream, between bridge piers, you really have to power your vessel forward, faster than the river itself, or risk losing yaw discipline on your craft). All the rest is icing on the cake of improbability. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.241|172.70.85.241]] 22:23, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
:It's a comic drawing after all, it's meant to illustrate the concept but leave the actual reality to our imagination. Conceptually it seems obvious to me that if the ship actually makes it through the loop, it exits fairly smoothly (class 2 or class 3 white water rafting).[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.52|162.158.146.52]]
:"...wherever the jet originally sucked its water in from..." - from the mains, obviously.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 11:05, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

The current paragraph on the title text seems off-base. It seems pretty clear to me that Randall had the idea, managed to get the loop constructed, persuaded the ship to sail to the vicinity (unless it was constructed on a previously planned route), and was attempting to persuade them to enter it ''before'' anyone realised it was a bad idea and objected. He then tried toorganise the passenger poll, and they shut that down too, and fired him. The suggestion that someone else randomly built the thing, separately from him trying to persuade them to use it, doesn't really make any sense.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.48|172.70.90.48]] 11:24, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

As a ballpark, spherical cow, estimate: To complete the loop, the centripetal force at the top of the loop has to equal the gravitational force of the ship. Centripetal force is mv^2/r, and gravitational force is mg, so we have v_top^2/r = g, v_top = sqrt(gr). At the top of the loop, the height is 2r, which means you have potential energy 2mgr, and kinetic energy 1/2 mv_top^2 = 1/2 mgr. Thus, at the bottom of the loop, you need kinetic energy 2mgr + 1/2 mgr = 5/2 mgr. This gives us the velocity at the bottom of the loop, 1/2 mv_bot^2 = 5/2 mgr, v_bot = sqrt(5gr). Call the cruise ship 300 m long, the diameter of the loop appears to be about 3 ship lengths, so r = 450 m. So the ship has to enter the loop at 150 m/s, 540 km/h, 335 mph. That's about Mach 0.45, which is probably the first time a cruise ship speed has ever been described with a Mach number. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.75|172.70.135.75]] 13:03, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:Hopefully, they will also have handed out machs to all the passengers...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.131|172.69.43.131]] 15:12, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:The speed is probably much easier to achieve than it sounds, though, as the water will already by at a very high speed and the ship will only need to accelerate the difference between it's final speed and the water's. So we'd also need to find out the speed of the water to know what kind of engine the ship would need to achieve this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.17|172.70.162.17]] 10:41, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
::We're probably not talking about ship-engine power at all (except to drift it into the jetstream effect). The best way might be to remodel the ship's stern into a giant 'pusher' plate (or deploy a huge, and tough, drag-chute from the bow) and rely upon the (from above) 0.45mach-speed water most effectively drag the ship up to (almost) its speed quickly enough to make the journey. This jet of water ''will'' already be dragging the water around it up to significant amounts of the speed (you'd probably want to msybe double the stream-speed to average it out at above looping speed for both jet and jet-adjacent water dragged into the system).
::The ship will already by floating in an unnaturally heavy current at the point we picture it, probably unable to even reverse out of it, and the best use of engines would be to merge 'nicely' into the full stream, and doing the equivalent of decelerating from some techmagically-indiced demi-supersonic rearward motion through stationary waters. Ship sterns aren't really designed to cut through water as much as bows are (and, even for the latter, often not anything like as fast) but exactly how it behaves would be complicated by many engineering and fluid-dynamics issues that the average ship would never be expected to encounter (or not more than any unlucky once!), so when this loop-the-loop is designed and built (for the ship company?) it'll probably require a simultaneous refit of some kind of other for the intended vessel(s). Though if the first has been done (without ''anyone'' noticing/caring), maybe the second also was (with the owners at least complicitly indifferent to the extensive dry-dock work). ...or so says my fanon on this issue. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.164|141.101.98.164]] 12:51, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

There are human scaled water slide loopings, but they start by having the human drop vertically and then "only" loop up with ~45° inclination: {{w|AquaLoop}}. This probably would not easily scale to cruise ship sizes. Also starting the looping horizontally and going upwards may be a challenge to implement. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.32|172.71.160.32]] 14:29, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Could this be a reference to Cannonball Loop, the infamous looping waterslide that used to be at New Jersey's notorious Action Park (aka Traction Park or Class Action Park). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.74|172.70.175.74]] 15:11, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:Glad I wasn't the only person who thought this, thank you! Have added a bit about it, not sure if it's that well-worded or in the right place but felt like it needed to be there, not least to introduce people to the astonishing horror show that was (Class) Action Park...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 15:22, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Isn't this a giant https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclonic_separation - device, where the ship will be smashed onto the bottom of the "track"? {{unsigned ip|172.71.160.30|05:05, 22 May 2024}}
:Not how I think you envisage it. The ship is (by definition) no more massive than the water it displaces, so centripetal forces won't send it 'outwards' to hit the track-bottom. If it was a floating ball, it would remain on the curving surface, and never sink through thee stream. Cyclonic selarators merely exagerate the differences in density, and the simplified buoyancy equations do not give the ship any reason to 'sink' if it starts off floating. (This may channge if significant induced bubbles/cavitation in the water-jet itself reduced the density of the water, like a gas discharge beneath a ship can cause it to sink on otherwise calm seas.)
:But, depending upon various rotational momentum issues, the rapid change of water-engle might not be matched by the 'localised relevelling' of the ship that makes it effectively nose-dive into the water (like the depictions of the Titanic, but faster) and then have the bow strike the chute-structure (although the flow of water might still be enough to directly counteract the angle and force it back). Whether this is survivable is another issue. And, if it doesn't happen, you've got a water piling up on(/over?) the stern so long as the relative waterspeed and shipspeed have it effectively steaming backwards at high velocity (and with a geometrically 'dipped' stern). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.164|141.101.98.164]] 12:51, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Its all fine and dandy if you want to "pretend" to die. (See the above video links.) In fact, the experiences are advertised as "fun". Yet the moment someone wants to try out the real thing, almost everyone throws a hissy fit. :( [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:36, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
:Apropos of ''what'' links, may I ask? I must have missed that particular context. (Also hoping this isn't from personal experience, as this isn't really a good place or method to seek help or considerate recognition. Best we could ever do is point out better places and trust they work.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:50, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2936: Exponential Growth

2024-05-24T13:32:25Z

172.70.160.249:

If that's done by each of your moves being to add one (more) grain to the board, the game would last quite a while. Even with reduced time-limits on the game-clock. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.154|172.70.91.154]] 21:27, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Hmmm. Interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.203|172.69.58.203]] 21:31, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

First transcript! Hope it's good.[[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]]) 21:36, 22 May 2024‎ (you only <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>ed, it looks like...)

Total of 2^64 - 1 ≈ 1.8 x 10^19 grains of rice. If a grain of rice averages 30 mg, then that's 5.5 x 10^14 kg of rice. That's around the mass of Lake Erie. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.56|172.71.223.56]] 21:38, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

The legend about the chess board and doubling the grain placed on each square is researched here:
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5992/what-is-the-origin-of-the-wheat-and-chessboard-legend [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.113|172.71.150.113]] 21:50, 22 May 2024 (UTC)~

The rice is on the side or the board is turned wrong. {{unsigned ip|172.70.115.17|23:13, 22 May 2024}}
:...not sure what you mean here. (Also, do sign your contributions.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.186|172.70.162.186]]
::The white square always goes on your right corner so this border is sideways (assuming we're looking at it head on, which seems likely) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 23:35, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
::a1 is a dark square, so wherever the one grain of rice is, it can't be a1. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.35|172.71.102.35]] 08:41, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Either a8 or h1, which is SO annoying (most likley a mistake on Randall's part tho)[[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:35, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
With all those zeros in the values given for row eight i assume we are looking at the limitations of someones calculation skills/calculator... last I checked 5 was not a factor of any 2^n value? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.80.246|172.70.80.246]] 00:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think we don't need this part at all. If we really want to illustrate the numbers we could simply use the illustration from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem#Second_half_of_the_chessboard [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:15, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

That doesn't look like Hairy in the final panel. Is it a Kasparov caricature? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:12, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:I agree it is not the standard Hairy. Since this is Kasparovs gambit and Karpov tried to counter it, then it should be Karpov that walks out! Even though it is not Kasparaov but Black Hat that used the gambit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe it's the same Cueball from the first panel, but he's had to wait so long while Black Hat fetched all the rice that his hair grew out.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 13:32, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

I have to wonder if this comic is related to the Casablanca Chess Tournament that took place this past week, where 4 top-ranked players competed by playing a series of real historical games starting from the middle of each game. Magnus Carlsen won the tournament, which also included Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, and Bassem Amin. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:38, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Russia pulling out of Black Sea agreement has been labelled "grain gambit" --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.131.158|172.71.131.158]] 06:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Trivia: 1. e2–e4 c7–c5 2. Sg1–f3 e7–e6 3. d2–d4 c5xd4 4. Sf3xd4 Sb8–c6 5. Sd4–b5 d7–d6 6. c2–c4 Sg8–f6 7. Sb1–c3 a7–a6 8. Sb5–a3 d6-d5!? is the Kasparov Gambit, see Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.30|172.71.160.30]] 08:56, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

This is a completely normal amount of rice. I eat this much grain daily. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:21, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Counter with Tree countergambit. plant tree(1) seeds in the first square and tree(2) on the next square then tree(3) in the next square. Nobody has found out what happens afterwards. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.212|14:25, 23 May 2024}}

So, out of curiosity, how many grains of rice can you actually fit on an average chess board square? Or maybe, how big would a chessboard have to be in order for the rice to fit on top of every square without overflowing? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.91.144|172.69.91.144]] 22:13, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Assuming that its a standard size and it can stack up around 10 cubic inches upwards about 4117267200 grains [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 03:08, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Also, I noticed everyone here seems to have an ip in the 172.69.0.0 to 172.71.255.255 range, but I just checked and that's not even my ip address at the moment. What's that about? Does the wiki mask our actual ip addresses? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.110|172.69.90.110]] 22:29, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
:Not the wiki, but the gateways to the wiki that help with load-balancing and related connection issues. And you'll also see some IPs in the 141.x.y.z range, and others. I ''usually'' am in 171.[69-71].y.z range, but between one contribution another I might be anywhere.
:It's a known thing, for better or worse. Ultimately, there are behind-the-scenes details that would know the 'true' origin of everyone (give or take what load-balancing your own ISP also does at ''your'' side of the connection), but it's left obscured from our more plebian eyes.
:Getting a username will also remove the wider and more general geographic potshots someone can make a out your origin (the gateways seen to be used are likely to reveal ''at least'' your continent, if anyone's bothered), but I never saw the need.
:...now. I wonder under what range will the following put me..? => [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.96|172.69.194.96]] 23:34, 23 May 2024 (UTC) 8) Postscript: I first quickly used Preview, and I actually got the 141.range, then posted for real and got the 172s. About ten seconds between the two 'postings'. Hah! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.129|141.101.98.129]] 23:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

"If exponential growth is unrestricted, it will eventually grow beyond the constraints of anything that could plausibly be built to contain it." - Given that the increase in rice grains is, itself, not plausible, I see no reason why the growth in size of rice cookers needs to be plausible either.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 09:59, 24 May 2024 (UTC)
:I was tempted to add something about square/cube-law (not quite applicable, as there'll be a smidgen of cubing as you raise the square-area of container material, etc, but along tbose lines), but that of course makes the implausibility threshold of the cookers higher than the same threshold of rice (everything else being equal). So then you're on to the heat-penetration abilities (after a while, the outer rice is overcooked, when the innermost rice has barely felt the heat). And that leads me to believe that something like a {{w|rotary kiln}} design might be best adopted (external heat, internalised water delivery, properly tuned, and could even be effectively pressurised with the right cycling addons to either end) to just accept rice in at a constant rate and produce perfectly cooked rice at the commensurate output rate. Of course, exponential increase in feed would then require exponential increase in parallel rotary-cookers to handle it, but starting at an already more efficient/controllable mass-cooking process than merely upscaling a traditional pot-style cooker. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.220|172.71.242.220]] 11:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

2418: Metacarcinization

2024-05-22T08:51:17Z

172.70.160.249: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2418
| date = January 29, 2021
| title = Metacarcinization
| image = metacarcinization.png
| titletext = Scientists still don't know how marine biologists manage to so consistently bring up whalefall ecosystems, when relevant conversational openings are so few and far between.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic strip opens with a conversation between [[White Hat]] and [[Cueball]] as they are walking together. White Hat asks Cueball if he has seen a video of a crow sledding on a roof — presumably [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uXiAe7Oc-I this one], or one of its later viral reposts. ([https://laughingsquid.com/dog-rides-toboggan-down-hill/ Animals sledding] seems to be a thing lately). In this case, the crow is a {{w|Hooded Crow}}. Cueball remarks that it's a cool example of {{w|tool use by animals}}, a sign of intelligence (which corvids [Corvidae; the crow family], including crows, ravens, and [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/9-20-animal-behavior-fall-2013/lecture-notes/MIT9_20F13_Lec4.pdf jackdaws], are famous for). He then points out that {{w|Tool use by sea otters|sea otters use tools}} too, namely using stones to crack open crab shells.

This in turn leads him to bring up the fact that the 'crab' body plan has evolved multiple times, a phenomenon known as {{w|carcinization}}, previously discussed in [[2314: Carcinization]]. In that strip, Cueball turned into a crab shortly after hearing about carcinization, so perhaps White Hat will likewise be transformed momentarily.

The conversation serves as an example of a {{tvtropes|WikiWalk|wiki walk}}, where a conversation naturally diverts from the original topic into a seemingly unrelated topic through a series of logical associations. Although a sledding crow has little to do with carcinization in and of itself, the conversation has managed to bridge the two topics through intermediary steps (crow using a sled, animals using tools in general, otters using stones to open crabs, crab evolutionary process).

The title and caption is a joke that, much like natural life-forms have evolved into crab-like forms multiple independent times, so too do all of Cueball's (or Randall's) conversations wiki-walk into a discussion of that evolutionary process.

In the title text, Randall jokes that marine biologists have a similar tendency to bring up {{w|Whale fall|whalefall}} (or "whale fall") ecosystems, which arise whenever a whale's carcass falls onto the deep ocean floor and are thought to provide "stepping stones" for species migration across the generally barren seafloor. Such occurrences are relatively rare, perhaps occurring once every few miles on whale migration routes, but they happen anyway, much like conversations about them. Another example of scientists tending to bring up facts from their field of study can be found at [[1610: Fire Ants]], and Randall often brings up the fact that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are walking together. White Hat has his smartphone out in his hand.]
:White Hat: Have you seen this video of a crow sledding on a roof?
:Cueball: Yeah! It's always cool to see animals using tools.
:Cueball: Like how sea otters use rocks to open crab shells.
:Cueball: Hey, did you know the "crab" body plan has evolved multiple times?

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Regardless of the starting topic, any conversation with me eventually converges to carcinization.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]

explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical

2024-05-21T20:29:41Z

172.70.160.249: /* server errors */

<noinclude>__NEWSECTIONLINK__
{{Community links}}

{|-
|valign="top" width="100%"|[[File:Crystal Clear app package settings blue.png|left|120px]] <big><big>Technical</big></big>

Technical issues ''about'' the [[explain xkcd]] wiki, including bug reports or MediaWiki extensions requests. {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Technical|Text=(+post)}}
|}
= Discussion Area =
</noinclude>

== We need more maintainers ==

:''I'm moving a thread that Davidy22 started on my talk page. The gist is, we need more people with server-side access (especially mediawiki-savvy ones) so we can properly deal with several issues that have been plaguing the wiki for a while now, most notably spam, but also the image scaling problem, a possible extension for proper comments, clean urls, etc. Below is the original thread, please comment.'' --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:56, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Could you set the permissions so that all anon users have to pass a captcha to edit? The spam has gotten obscene, and they've stopped posting links, so our current detection mechanisms aren't working anymore. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 08:21, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

:I would love to have the ability to tweak the wiki more thoroughly, but currently Jeff's the only one with server access. To be honest, I am not terribly familiar with server-side mediawiki management, so I haven't asked Jeff for access, but it's clear we can't be dependent on a single person to do all the mediawiki config (and Jeff probably knows even less about mediawiki than I do). Are you by any chance acquainted with server-side mediawiki maintenance? I think we could present a good case for having someone else with access to a dev/prototype instance of this wiki on Jeff's server so we could at least experiment and tell him exactly what needs to be done. Thoughts? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:40, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

::I agree that we need more people that are empowered to actively fight spam. I think that we ought to promote Davidy22 to administrator also, so that he can delete pages and block spammers/vandals as he notices them rather than letting them pile up until yourself, IronyChef, or myself notice that there's work that needs done.

::What I think we should do is break out rights into more groups than simply administrator and bureaucrat. I think that's too big of a jump, and that there should be some gradiation. I think we should add a moderator (mark pages as patrolled and rollback ability (as much as it's a sledgehammer when you really only need a ball-peen hammer)) position.

::I think we also need a spam fighter position, but that might not be possible to implement. It should be a position that allows the person to delete pages with 1 or 2 edits (page creation, marked as spam, maybe as high as 3 or 4 for the bots that repeat edit certain pages) and block users with 1 or 2 edits. The real problem there is how to grant those super-powerful abilities without allowing them to lose their mind and go crazy and destroy the wiki. Of course, if we don't catch it early enough there's going to be those IPs that manage to get to six edits, and those will have to be squashed by a full admin. We will also need a way of tagging those spam accounts so when a full admin passes by they will also know to ban the IP address after a spam fighter has deleted all the pages it created.

::Finally, we also need a more active bureaucrat so that we don't have to bug Jeff to promote admin's as well as future moderators and/or spam fighters, and recognize bot accounts as bot accounts. We also should find someone knowledgeable to help Jeff (and maybe he has little helpers) to maintain the actual server. I've done some PHP work, but I've never touched anything deep inside a wiki (I like Ruby and Rails much more). This is my first time gaining admin status on a wiki, so I have no idea what the extra dials and levers do/mean. I look up on the MediaWiki manual and Wikipedia help pages things that I think should be possible, and often times pages exist in places about doing these things, but I'm nowhere near being called knowledgeable. After I finish up some IRL work I'm currently tied up in, I intend to set up a VM webserver on my computers and run a mediawiki install so I can learn how to work (and not break) things without putting explain xkcd in jeopardy.

::Another really wordy post from, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:01, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

::: From what I know, a moderator user group is possible, but not the spam fighter one. Then again, too many hierarchical levels may be too much for such a small body of regulars. Implementing the moderator group is easy, [[mw:Manual:User rights]] has the details (the "ninja" example and the "list of permissions" section should be enough for putting together the configuration commands to be added to the wiki's LocalSettings.php).
::: As for bureaucrats, I think it makes sense but it seems to me that Jeff only takes longer to perform changes that affect the server, as they understandably may take longer or be more complex (or break the wiki!). Bureaucrats' only difference from admins is that they can promote/demote other users, and this Jeff has been doing without delay, so perhaps there isn't a need for more bureaucrats at the moment. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
::: We do need more sysadmins (people with access to the server), though, for sure. This is a little tricky as none of us is comfortable enough to confidently make server changes in a mediawiki install. Jeff, how about putting the wiki in source control and giving two or three people access to it, so that any wrongdoings can be easily reverted? You could setup a git repository in the server and we could fork it locally to our machines, make tests and push the commits to the server repo whenever they're ready. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:20, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

:::: This is good stuff. I'm down with promoting more admins for spam fighting. If they screw stuff up we can demote them if necessary. I really haven't found a spam fighting extension that I think will be the best possible solution. I'll keep looking as it may be a combination of things. Server access is much more complicated as it is not even my server and it is shared hosting. I think that would be best to be accessed just by me. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:10, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

::::: Regarding the server, I understand -- your position seems reasonable. In any case, I've been looking for extensions that may help taking some workload out of server actions and make more stuff configurable via the wiki itself. I'll report back if I find something usable.
::::: On another note, how do you feel about promoting more bureaucrats? I suggest Lcarsos who's been consistently active for the past few months. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:47, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Personally I'd kind of like to go and make some changes myself. Come up with a nice short url pattern and set it up. Upgrade the wiki. etc... [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 02:44, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
:The shorter URL is being looked into, although Mediawiki strongly advises against it. As for upgrades to the wiki, monetary donations towards Jeff so he can buy better bit for the server would be appreciated. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:06, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
::MediaWiki does not advise against it. Half the code currently running short URLs in core was written by me. Same for the new standard for rewrite rules in the new guides. And the tool to automatically generate the config needed to apply short urls to a wiki. Short URLs are '''not''' advised against.
::We do however strongly advise against installing a wiki in <code>/wiki</code>. Because you do '''not''' want to create <code>/wiki/$1</code> style paths while your script path makes scripts look like <code>/wiki/index.php</code>.
::In this case my plan would be to move <code>/wiki</code> to <code>/w</code> then come up with some other short url pattern like <code>/e/$1</code>, some other path, or maybe <code>/$1</code>.
::And setup some 301 redirects to redirect from the old urls to the new ones.
::And upgrading the version of MediaWiki so that it doesn't have security holes doesn't require server replacement. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 07:09, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
:::Ohwait, software upgrades. Uh. I knew you were talking about that. Yep. Definitely. The wiki recently had issues with running out of hard drive space, so that was all that was on my mind there.
:::Also, I thought you had been referring to [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Wiki_in_site_root_directory this]. Whoop. Well, you could leave Jeff a message at his [[user talk:Jeff|talk page]] to get server access. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:05, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
::::I strongly support this. It's been far too long since we decided we'd want the short url scheme (<code>/$1</code> seems like the best option since it would be simpler/cleaner and allow http://explainxkcd/1234 to point to the correct comic without any extra rewrite rules). While you're at it, I'm sure many would appreciate a look at the current situation with image resizing, which doesn't seem to be working for some reason. Installing [[mw:Extension:Comments|Extension:Comments]] would be awesome, too, as well as [[mw:Extension:Contribution Scores|Extension:Contribution Scores]] ([http://setiquest.org/wiki/index.php/Special:ContributionScores live example]). I'll ask Jeff to take a look at this thread. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:07, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
::::: [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) email me and I'll get you set up with whatever you need. All the suggestions sound good to me. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 00:10, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
::::: Also, the [[Special:ContributionScores|Contribution Scores]] are up. I'm not even top 10 all time, I need to step up my game. Comments will take more work as it needs its own database. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 00:10, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
::::::Awesome! I did some styling changes to make it more interesting :) Let me know what you guys think about it! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:32, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
:::::::Holy crud, what did you do when the wiki started to have almost double my lifetime score? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:57, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
::::::::Hahahah :P I'm pretty sure I cheated a little, IIRC there was an image renaming operation for which I used [http://github.com/btongminh/mwclient mwclient] ;) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:22, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

== Sort by numbers in categories ==

I noticed that in [[:Category:Comics]] all comics are sorted correctly by numbers; but not in any subcategory. (I didn't really get the explanation of how it works on the comics page.) How to fix this? -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:40, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

:<nowiki>The comics template uses a template called num4 that turns the number in the comic number field into a four-digit number. That's then passed as a parameter to the category link, and the comics category page sorts articles by those four-digit numbers instead of their actual names. If we wanted to do the same for other categories, we would have to type them all out as [[Category:Politics|0200]], or whatever the comic number is. I would rather wait for mediawiki to come out with an in-built feature to solve this.</nowiki> [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:28, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

::Is there a reason that the template applies that directly to [[:Category:Comics]] and not as a default sortkey via DEFAULTSORT? – ''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 12:10, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

::: Good thinking. Using DEFAULTSORT oughta make it work for all categories. I'll give it a try. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:37, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

== Resize ==

I haven't been here (to edit) for a while, but have we still not addressed the bug that doesn't allow image resizing? I know most of us don't have access to that kind of lower-level coding on the site, but I think it's a bit of a notable issue that we can't display comics smaller than their actual size. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:24, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

:Take it up with [[User:Jeff]], but I suspect that adding your voice to the already insistent roaring that images are broken isn't going to inspire much change. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:08, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

== Incidental Ads ==

as ive noticed i think you should check if someone has embeded some of your links with ads really annoying please fix

--[[User:TheWeatherMan|TheWeatherMan]] ([[User talk:TheWeatherMan|talk]]) 14:00, 23 January 2013 (UTC)TheWeatherMan

:Do you have any specific examples of this? By the way, using punctuation, capitalization, spell check, and complete sentences are more likely to get someone to help you. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:10, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

::There is known malware (both adware and viruses) that makes Wikipedia look like it has ads. This wiki uses the same wiki software, so perhaps that malware affects our site too? – ''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 05:42, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

==/wiki/==
Now that explainxkcd redirects straight to the wiki, could we take the /wiki/ out of the url? I'd also like the wiki's edit log to be purged to clean out the history and forget about past spam, but that's probably wishing for too much. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:06, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

:But seriously, could the /wiki/ go? It'll screw with the spammers for a day or two, at the very least. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:37, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

==Newbie questions: Comic dates, previous-and-next-comic buttons==
Just created the my first page, [[220: Philosophy]], but I could use a little guidance. How do I find the date that an ''xkcd'' comic was originally posted, and how do I rig up the previous-comic and next-comic arrows on a page? (Actually, I've noticed several pages that should have the arrows but don't.) [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:19, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
:Those arrows will automagically insert themselves when you make the adjacent comic explanations. There *is* a little backstage magic that needs to be taken care of, but we can do that for you. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:40, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
** OK. How about the dates? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:41, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
:::Click on "All Comics" in the navbar on left-hand side of the site. The dates are in the form YYYY-MM-DD. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:56, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

:The comic template checks for the existence of the numerical redirect for the comic before and the comic after. If it finds the page to exist it will display the next/previous button as appropriate. So, by creating the redirects listed on the [[List of all comics]] (third column, only worry about the number and title links) future pages will automatically get the links created. Redirect pages look like <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[####: Comic Title]]</nowiki></code> and that's it ([http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1143&redirect=no here] is a link to the redirect page with redirect disabled so you can look at the source to see what I'm talking about). That's all that needs to exist on the number and title redirects. If you feel up to creating them yourself, feel free, otherwise someone else goes through occasionally and mass adds all the missing redirects. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:55, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

== Error message ==

I've been getting this error message a lot the last cup'o days. When trying to access a page; when trying to save changes on a page. Any ideas on why? I'm getting it on both chrome and firefox.
::Database error
::A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:
::(SQL query hidden) from within function "Revision::insertOn". Database returned error "1142: INSERT command denied to user ::'dbo423085716'@'74.208.16.155' for :table 'text' (db423085716.db.1and1.com)".
–[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:54, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

:Every once in a while I get a SQL error being reported, but usually I can simply F5 and the page comes up. Every once in a while it seems like the server load is just so that somebody gets lucky enough to see the server error out. I don't think there's much we can do about this, other than move the wiki onto a more powerful server. But, there are no ads on this site, there is no revenue model, just a very kind person paying for hosting that keeps this site up. I'm more than willing to overlook a few hiccups for the continuing availability of explain xkcd. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:12, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

::Yeah, I get those too, but St. Nerol was talking about something that happened recently with the server running out of hard drive space and throwing SQL errors every time someone tried to make large edits. I had to find Jeff on twitter because I'd get SQL errors when I tried to edit his talk page. He's looking into history deletion plugins, to clear out our vast archives of deleted spam and obsoleted prototype comic templates. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:10, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

== Install a caching reverse proxy to handle heavy load ==

According to returned headers, this server runs from Apache directly. I would recommend setting up a reverse caching proxy in front of Apache to handle high traffic load (like, e.g. current load). The one I use is nginx (http://nginx.org/) -- admins, drop me an email if you need help setting it up [[User:Fry-kun|Fry-kun]] ([[User talk:Fry-kun|talk]]) 21:38, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

:The standard software to use is either Squid or Varnish. Nginx is a bit too much of a webserver to be configured in the way MW needs iirc. Although nginx would help with serving the static assets. Unfortunately there will be a need to switch to a proper server first. The site seems to be hosted on shared hosting. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 04:59, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

::I had gotten burned before with both Squid and Varnish but Nginx had always kept my systems alive. It's extremely lightweight and works great to fix these kinds of problems. But, of course if it's a shared server where you can't use it, it won't help... [[User:Fry-kun|Fry-kun]] ([[User talk:Fry-kun|talk]]) 16:35, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

:::Nginx is a great webserver. It'll serve out static pages much better than Apache. But the issue here isn't the webserver. It's PHP and all the work that the database needs to do on every request. Switching webservers won't get rid of that issue. Using squid/varnish a proper reverse proxying cache will allow complete pages to be cached and served directly to readers bypassing the webserver, php, and the database entirely on some requests. That'll reduce the load the site has to cope with. [[User:Dantman|Dantman]] ([[User talk:Dantman|talk]]) 23:47, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

== A couple of enwiki features implemented ==

I have "imported" {{tl|disambig}} and the related [[:Category:Disambiguation pages|category]] for the [[Exoplanets‎‎|one page]] it was needed for (to avoid having a page that was uncategorised :-) ).

I have also created {{tl|unsigned ip}} (and converted the one use of {{tl|unsigned}}) and applied it for a handful of existing uses of {{tl|unsigned}}. It hardly matters, but then it's also only three more characters to type for new uses.

Importantly, however, I implore you to consider including the second datestamp parameter when applying either template -- it's actually the more useful information. I know it's a pain to convert times ''back'' to UTC, but, hey, most of you don't have to deal with a half hour timezone :-) [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 16:19, 13 April 2013 (UTC)

:Urrggh, there's an option to make UTC the default display time. The template oughta be a little more automated, mebbe filling the time in automagically with five tildes if no date field is entered? The time will be a bit off when editors fill in the unsigned templates, but it'll be close enough to the actual value. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:59, 13 April 2013 (UTC)

::No, especially while there's existing templates to adjust, where the "default" datestamp would be way out. If someone wants to fix a lot of the existing usage, setting their timezone to UTC is the simplest option. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 09:14, 14 April 2013 (UTC)

== I've removed "add a comment!" from Discussion heading ==

:''This thread has been moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#I've removed "add a comment!" from Discussion heading|The proposals board]].''

== Need password reset ==

Sorry to bother you all, but I seem to have lost the password to this account and don't have an email set (which requires the password). I'm still logged in thanks to the "remember me" feature but after 30 days I'll lose access. This isn't fixable at the MediaWiki level; someone with access to the server mysql or whatever will need to change something. Is there such a person I can email with? [[User:Splainr|Splainr]] ([[User talk:Splainr|talk]]) 03:05, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
:I assume your browser isn't remembering it for you? [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 03:08, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
::Oh wow that was fast. Nope, neither Firefox not OSX keychain access know what it is. [[User:Splainr|Splainr]] ([[User talk:Splainr|talk]]) 15:18, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
: I'm not sure how to solve that problem, but I know account usurpation has been done for the single-login transition in Wikimedia wikis, so technically it should be doable. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 23:04, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

See [[mw:Manual:Resetting passwords]]. --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 11:59, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

== Analytics ==

Recently I found out about WikiApiary, an interesting site that collects analytics from mediawiki wikis. I added explain xkcd. Check the stats that have been collected so far: http://wikiapiary.com/wiki/explain_xkcd --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 00:03, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

== "External" hotlinking enabled to confirm issue with other car.jpg ==

FYI I have [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=MediaWiki:External_image_whitelist&oldid=34582 enabled] "external" hotlinking to this wiki's own images to show [[:File:other car.jpg]] can display correctly. See further notes about that issue [[File talk:other car.jpg|here]]. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 14:32, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

:If the problem is lack of thumbnail generation, it should display correctly even without hotlinking, simply by using the original size, e.g.
:[[File:other car.jpg]]
:I'm not sure why it doesn't. In any case, this image hotlinking thing reminded me, would it be a good idea to use the images hosted at XKCD.com and only upload variants to the wiki (e.g. those at [[:Category:Helper comic images]]) and images Randall for some reason deleted from the server (e.g. images with typos)? This would reduce the load on the explainxkcd server and provide a better experience for viewers since xkcd is already optimized for high loads and actually openly provides the image urls for hotlinking. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:01, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Seeing as [[User:Daddy]]'s upload has fixed the wiki always attempting to display the thumbnail version (which still don't work), I have disabled the "hotlinking" again.

[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 11:32, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

== Redirect from explainxkcd.com/1234 ==

It would be really cool if <code>http://www.explainxkcd.com/<number></code> redirected to the explain page for that number. That would allow people to get to the correct explanation by simply adding <code>explain</code> to the comic url.

If you are willing to do this, all you would need to do (assuming you run apache with mod_rewrite enabled) is put the following in <code>.htaccess</code> in your web root:

<code><pre>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(\d+)/?$ /wiki/index.php?title=$1 [R,L]
</pre></code>

-[[User:Sionide21|Sionide21]] ([[User talk:Sionide21|talk]]) 22:28, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

::Yeah! I'm waiting for this. But admins seems to be rare here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:44, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
::And it seems we both could help...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:47, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
:::There are several admins here (in fact, I am, too), but what you are looking for is the sysop, the one with access to the server. Admins can delete/protect/undelete pages and block users etc. [[User:Jeff|Jeff]] is the only one that can change MediaWiki configuration or url rewriting... --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 17:08, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your information, so I will try to talk to [[User:Jeff|Jeff]]. BTW: Can you edit the main page? I still miss a link to the incomplete comics on the top.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:52, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
::::: At the top of the main page, there is a section that says ''"We have collaboratively explained 1189 xkcd comics, and only 33 (3%) remain. Add yours while there's a chance!"''. The word ''remain'' is already linked to the list. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:16, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
::::::I was talking about the 97% comics. There are still many incomplete pages and we have a category here on that.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:36, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
:::::::Ah, I see. Just did it; everyone: feel free to change the sentence, I'm not a native speaker. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 21:07, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
::::::::THANKS! I'm also not native English, I'm German. But this wiki is a great challenge to get more practice, even much more as if talking to common English natives.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
::::::::: This is something I want to do, so I'm putting this on my page, so I remember to add it to the .htaccess. I'm not super familiar with the .htaccess rules, can I have this along with the other rules I have in my htaccess file? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:17, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::: Yes, that rule will work alongside other rules --[[User:Sionide21|Sionide21]] ([[User talk:Sionide21|talk]]) 19:28, 27 October 2013 (UTC)
::::::::::: I've fixed this on our new host. (I actually had the rule in there already, I just had it in the wrong order.) I'd love to promote this feature a bunch. Any ideas how? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 02:33, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::::: A sitenotice oughta do it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:43, 30 October 2013 (UTC)
:::::::::::: Woohoo, finally!!! Now if we could just have [[#We need more maintainers|clean URLs]] too, that'd be swell! ;) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 05:02, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

== Incomplete – motivation ==

Is it possible to fix (or is there already) a way to add a motivation with the "incomplete"-tag? I tried <nowiki>{{incomplete|the title text needs explaining}}</nowiki>, which made "edit it" in the banner link to the uncreated page "the title text..."... ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 12:16, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

:You can use the <nowiki>{{notice|Your text...}}</nowiki> template:
{{notice|Here is my notice.}}
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:30, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
::Thanks! I think that ideally most incomplete-notices shold carry a note on what's missing, but we aren't there, so this'll do for now. ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:21, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

== Unable to Edit ==

I cannot edit this latest comic's page. When I hit edit a screen appears which says "This page has been protected to prevent editing." I've never edited before, but I'm annoyed by the improper use of the word candid. "It would be candid and unrealistic" would be better off in that sentence if candid was removed. How do I make it so I can edit the page, so I can remove this affront to the English language?
:I believe you are trying to edit the main page. You can click "Latest comic" in the left sidebar or the "Go to this comic" button in the top right corner of the grey box to go to the actual page for today's comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:42, 1 July 2013 (UTC)
::That was the problem, thanks.--[[User:Holcma01|Holcma01]] ([[User talk:Holcma01|talk]]) 17:07, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

== Banner ad placement ==

On iPad and iPhone browsers, the banner ads obscure the top of the page. This covers up some of the useful buttons up there, like LOGIN for example. The workaround is to refresh the page. Because the banner ad is the last thing to load, you have a brief window of maybe three seconds to find and click the link you need. [[User:Gardnertoo|Gardnertoo]] ([[User talk:Gardnertoo|talk]]) 20:24, 26 July 2013 (UTC)
: Fixed. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:12, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

== Bookmarklet for jumping to explainxkcd.com from xkcd.com ==

I wrote a short {{w|bookmarklet}} for jumping from xkcd.com to explainxkcd.com. Bookmarklet form:
<pre>
javascript:var%20match%20%3D%20window.location.href.match(%2F%5Cd%2B%2F)%3B%0Avar%20suffix%20%3D%20match%20%3F%20%27%3Ftitle%3D%27%20%2B%20match%5B0%5D%20%3A%20%27%27%3B%0Awindow.location%20%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.explainxkcd.com%2Fwiki%2Findex.php%27%20%2B%20suffix%3B
</pre>

Decoded:
<pre>
javascript:var match = window.location.href.match(/\d+/);
var suffix = match ? '?title=' + match[0] : '';
window.location ='http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php' + suffix;
</pre>

If you're on a numbered xkcd page, it will go to the accompanying explainxkcd.com page automatically. If you're on the xkcd.com home page, it goes to the explainxkcd.com wiki home page. [[User:Mattflaschen|Mattflaschen]] ([[User talk:Mattflaschen|talk]]) 17:30, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

To add this bookmarklet to your browser:

# Copy the bookmarklet javascript (*not* the decoded version)
# Using your browsers bookmark manager, create a new bookmark
# Give the bookmark a meaningful name -- e.g. ExplainXKCD
# Paste the javascript in for the bookmark URL
# Save.
({{unsigned|Tomh}})

:Thanks Mattflaschen and Tomh! I've started collecting these helpful tools on a [[Browser helpers|new page]], to hopefully make them easier for others to find. – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 01:33, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Database Error ==

I have NO IDEA where this should go, but
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1011
has the content

Database error
A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:
(SQL query hidden)
from within function "SqlBagOStuff::set". Database returned error "1142: INSERT command denied to user 'dbo423085716'@'74.208.16.155' for table 'objectcache' (db423085716.db.1and1.com)".

Just thought I should report it.

OOPS forgot sig. [[Special:Contributions/67.175.58.94|67.175.58.94]] 00:13, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Edit: This has been fixed randomly. Never mind then. :X

== [[mw:Extension:SyntaxHighlighter]] ==

Could we maybe enable this? It would be helpful for some of the programming-heavy comics' explanations, e.g. [[1270|today's one]].[[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 17:02, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
: Done, PinkAmpersand. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:57, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

== It's not taking me to the main page ==

If I type explainxkcd.com, it redirects me to http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki which just shows a directory listing, rather than taking me to the main page (as I assume it's supposed to). [[User:Chridd|chridd]] ([[User talk:Chridd|talk]]) 02:07, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
:Thaat's not supposed to happen. I'm on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:49, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
:Is it fixed for you now? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:55, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
::Yes [[User:Chridd|chridd]] ([[User talk:Chridd|talk]]) 14:46, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

== Logo in upper left corner missing ==

The logo in the upper left corner is missing, probably because of a wrong redirect. The logo should be at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/skins/common/images/explainxkcd.png, but this link takes me to the main page. The icons in the edit toolbar are missing, too, probably the same problem. You should exclude all \.png$ queries from redirects. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.177|108.162.254.177]] 10:09, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
: Fixed that. Sorry about that, it was an overzealous htaccess. Thanks! --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:45, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

== Sidebar ad overhangs content in Firefox 25.0 ==

The sidebar ad on each page overhangs the content frame slightly when I view this site in Firefox 25.0 on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit pc. I have started Firefox in safe mode with all add-ons disabled and it still happens. Site looks fine in IE 11. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.79}}
:Have you tried hitting control-shift-R, or clearing your cache? That sounds like Firefox is disregarding part of our CSS for whatever reason. I'm running a very similar setup and I'm not getting these problems. Try giving it a wee bit of time and trying again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:27, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

:What's your monitor resolution and size of your Firefox window (maximized, 50/50 split, etc)? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:24, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
::I'm really sure that scaling isn't the issue, I made the sidebar width definite. I'll check it again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:06, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
:::The sidebar has a fixed width defined at the CSS style sheet. Press F5 or CTRL-R to reload this style sheet. This happened to me in the past too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:14, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
::::I changed the defined width to pixels instead of em, in the annoying edge-case that a browser uses a weird default font width. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:24, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
:::::It looks fine now.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.79|173.245.56.79]] 06:08, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
::::::Sidebar ad overhangs content in DuckDuckGo 7.67.1.2 for iOS 15.4.1, on iPhone 12. aka 'Your sidebar ad has been crushed into a cube. You have fifteen minutes to move your cube.'

== Connection problems ==

Whatever the new hoster does cost, you should get your money back. Sometimes the page doesn't load at all, or the menu is missing after the browser did finish after one or two minutes. The performance here is still annoying. That cloud seems to be a dead cloud. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:33, 11 January 2014 (UTC)
:It's easily more performant than our old service, and it holds up far better to traffic. I am inclined to say that it's a region specific issue, and I'll submit a ticket for that, but they've worked far better than flat shared hosting for the time that we've been using them. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:01, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
::More detail: The message is an Error 522 (Connection timed out).
::*You (Browser, Working) <-> Amsterdam (CloudFlare, Working) <-> <nowiki>www.explainxkcd.com</nowiki> (Host, '''Error''')
::In December the CloudFlare did belong to Frankfurt. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:35, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
:::I'm having still major problems to connect, only this this silly error message. ...and then it does work again. Still strange.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:58, 14 January 2014 (UTC)
:Today I've been getting a ''lot'' of these errors with Cloudflare. (London-based CloudFlare, in my case.) "Error 522 Ray ID: 2587581d8b8a350c • 2015-12-21 23:25:22 UTC" is just one of the IDs. Not sure if you'd prefer another bit of the page info, instead, but the Ray ID looked unique enough to pinpoint debug info in the background.) The suggestion is made that the web server is too busy at something or other. Anyway, just so you're aware.
:I had a look here, first, to see if anyone had mentioned anything (and found the above), so apologies if I'm not posting in the best bit of the best page. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 23:44, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
::It seems to be an occasional regional issue that cloudflare has with us. When I go to our server directly our site is still up, so something between us and cloudflare is failing. Not sure what though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:40, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
:Yesterday (and day before?) Cloudflare London insisted that the server was not responding. Not sure if that was an actual explain-server issue (not seen mention of it anywhere else, in a brief dig), only Cloudflare London being refused by the server (detecting and blanket filtering rogue traffic via my gateway) or some other issue. Meant to check for update timestamps on the latest comic article that coincided with my being unable to visit the site at the time. But FYI, assuming the cause isn't already sorted out with no further actions needed and/or possible... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.92|162.158.155.92]] 16:02, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

== Wrong IP address shown ==

All [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&hideliu=1 edits by IPs] (well, at least all I checked, including my own edits) are recorded using IP addresses of CloudFlare ([http://www.utrace.de/whois/108.162.238.220 108.162.192.0/18], [http://www.utrace.de/whois/173.245.50.88 173.245.48.0/20] and some other ranges), i.e., it's not the address of the client, but of the server. This seems similar to [https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56681]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.160|108.162.254.160]] 09:05, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
:That's something we're working on, but current limitations with our provider are making things sow for us. When they give us what we need, we can do it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:59, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
::Hmmpf! I just noticed this twelve months later and it's still the case... [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 01:59, 29 January 2015 (UTC)
:::Uurrrp a couple of holdups happened, I need to do this at some point. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:54, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

::: I just noticed it as well [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 04:20, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

: CloudFlare is already providing the Real Ip address -- there are mods for Apache https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/203656534-How-can-I-set-up-Apache-mod-CloudFlare- and Nginx https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200170706-How-do-I-restore-original-visitor-IP-with-Nginx- or you can just pull it from the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header which proxy servers (like CloudFlare) typically puts the client IP address. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 04:25, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

== 1337 leads to...? ===

Current and latest comic page, 1337, unusually has a "Next" before there's even any 1338 page. (It points to 1337.) As a lowly IP, I don't feel I ought to delve too deep to see if it's a page template issue (possibly because "1337" is both a past title ''and'' the current number, maybe, although not too sure if that'd work out) or just because of manual editing. But bringing it to general attention. (It may of course be an issue that does not even last beyond Wednesday, and comic number 1338's arrival, even without intervention.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 13:40, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
:D'aww, and I wanted to be lazy too. I'll get to fixing it, an IP took it to himself to add stuff to the comic template and he removed the auto-hiding buttons. Imma fixy. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:42, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
::I did revert some edits on that issue here, so for the first point it should work again. In general: The main page should not be affected like this and the test environment is called: Sandbox. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:43, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
:::The issue was fixed three hours before your autorevert. This is getting excessive. The next time you autorevert a large edit without testing or making an attempt to fix things yourself, expect a three-day ban. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:41, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

== No confirmation email? ==

I requested an email for confirmation when I registered. I got nothing, not in spam filter, not in trash, and definitely in not my inbox.

Today, I requested another confirmation email. Again, nothing has appeared.

Is it me? Is it my shampoo??? Enquiring minds want to know....
Thanks. [[User:Karenb|Karenb]] ([[User talk:Karenb|talk]]) 22:45, 20 March 2014 (UTC)
:Confirmation emails? What, are we a five-star hotel now?
:Jokes aside, is this a thing you really need? You should be autoconfirmed after editing for a while without getting blocked, but if you can put forward a good reason why we should add this in, I'll do it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:54, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
:::Not blocked! Trying to authenticate my email, which I thought was an automatic process. Does that feature not work? That would certainly explain the lack of autoresponse.... Cheers. KB [[User:Karenb|Karenb]] ([[User talk:Karenb|talk]]) 01:35, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm having the same issue. I've requested several confirmation emails over the past few days. I have also tried changing and then resetting my email address. Nothing has worked so far, and it's not in any of my filtered inboxes. I can edit most pages. Will this fix itself even if I don't get an email? [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 18:16, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

==Because the people visiting here are probably the people that should see this==
After the server upgrades mentioned in the sitenotice, de.explainxkcd.com should exist. I'm not publicizing it yet, just want to get it up and work out implementation details before it goes fully live. Pls dun test during the downtime, there'll be plenty of time for that after it's live. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:14, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
:Ok, so our server doesn't actually have the required dependencies to complete the upgrade, so that was slightly fruitless. Sorry about any downtime or inconvenience caused, I didn't add the German wiki again because I'm looking set up the parallel wikis on an up-to-date base. Sorry again for any inconvenience that may have caused, I'll make sure to be better prepared next time, and maybe actually succeed in performing the upgrade next time. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:02, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

==Does anyone have image of Black Hat saying to Cueball "It's 'cause you're dumb" ?==
Guys, does anyone has this image?
I'm hosting Russian xkcd fanpage here - vk.com/xkcdoff and if someone would post it it would be very helpful. --[[User:KOTYAR|KOTYAR]] ([[User talk:KOTYAR|talk]]) 22:40, 24 March 2014 (UTC)
:I actually can't find it either. Shame, I liked that old thumbnail. I could probably photoshop up a new version if you really want one though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:53, 26 March 2014 (UTC)
:
::[[File:explain xkcd blog header image.png|right]] Just going to the [[explain xkcd]] page and following [http://wayback.archive.org/web/20091026122109/http://www.explainxkcd.com/2009/07/03/extrapolating/ the first historic (internet-archived) link] allowed me to extract [http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110202213753im_/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wp-content/themes/lightword/images/header-image.png the requested "header-image.png"] (the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wp-content/themes/lightword/images/header-image.png corresponding image URL on the current site] gives nothing anymore... thank you, Internet Archive!). Which I uploaded to the wiki here, for convenience and because it's part of this wiki's history, in a way, and also, cool. [[File:Face-smile.svg|20px|Smile|link=]] - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 10:39, 16 April 2014 (UTC) (PS: also, [http://www.facebook.com/explainxkcd/photos/10150144122985214 facebook.com/explainxkcd/photos/10150144122985214]; but JPEG.)

== expxkcd.com redirect not up-to-date ==

By adding "exp" at the beginning of the URL one can easily switch from [http://xkcd.com/1234 xkcd.com/1234] to [http://expxkcd.com/1234 expxkcd.com/1234], which redirects to the corresponding explanation here, and that's nice. But right now, [http://expxkcd.com expxkcd.com] redirects to [[1355]] (at least for me), instead of [[1356]], the latest comic. Wouldn't it be better if expxkcd.com redirected to the [[Main Page]] instead (as does correctly [http://explainxkcd.com explainxkcd.com])? - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 10:55, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
:expxkcd is actually a thing that user [[user:grep]] was so kind to purchase and handle for us. I can forward this on to him for him to resolve, and give him the rewrite rules we use if he needs them. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:12, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
:
::Nice, thank you for the quick forward to the right place. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 11:31, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, the reason for that is that right now, I update it manually, which is obviously a really bad idea. I plan to change this pretty soon. I don't want it to go to the main page because the main page doesn't show the discussion, and comes along with all the other, regular main page stuff. Any rewrite rules wouldn't hurt, Davidy22. {{User:Grep/signature|12:04, 16 April 2014}}
::Hrm. Ours rules point towards the main page. We have no automatically updating page that always redirects to the latest comic, but you can use Mediawiki hooks to append the contents of the page [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] to the end of our URL. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:44, 17 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Sorry, I don't understand. My BOT will upload the next comic on time, unless it's some new chaos by Randall a BOT just can't handle. The LATESTCOMIC template is updated and so it seems only be an issue on that damn Cloud Service Cache. Even Randall's pages are affected. At "What-if" I still have to use <CTRL+R> to get the latest content. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:26, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
::::We're talking about a different thing related to shortened URLs. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:24, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
:::That is an interesting idea, however I just made a script that automatically adds 1 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I could have it grab the number from your page and do this once a day at something like 00:10 EST (because Randall sometimes does things on other days), that's a possibility as well (other times / intervals may also be done if you wish/want). {{User:Grep/signature|04:34, 02 May 2014}}
::::Our LATESTCOMIC page and Randall's xkcd json page should both have up-to-date comic numbers for you to pull. Ours is probably the better one to pull since your site is linking to us. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:30, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:::::The script now checks Template:LATESTCOMIC every 30 minutes to see if the comic has changed or not. If you wish, I might be able narrow this down to 11PM->6AM (for 30 minute checking) and then have it check every two hours at other times or something similar to that (if [http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.time.html systemd.time] has a way to do it) {{User:Grep/signature|12:13, 09 May 2014}}
::::::I still do not see that problems. Please touch this wiki as less as needed, this is still the best choice. But there is still a big problem on the cache, an update on a picture lasts many hours. Some statements in "LocalSettings.php" should work, if not this wiki version is buggy. Problems should be solved at the cause and not be overridden by some additional scripts. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:51, 9 May 2014 (UTC)
:::::::We have ample bandwidth for a bot that only checks once every half-hour. The image caching issue is irrelevant to the current topic. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:45, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

== Explain xkcd upgraded to version 1.19.17 ==

Woo! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:59, 26 July 2014 (UTC)

The header seems to have broken, there is no longer a link to the explanation in it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 22:00, 26 July 2014 (UTC)
:Which header are you talking about? All the links I can think of still seem to work. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:13, 27 July 2014 (UTC)
:: It fixed itself shortly after I mentioned it. It was the incomplete explanation, the link to 428 was bold, but not a link. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 04:48, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

One of the ads is broken.

[[File:brokenexplainxkcdad.png]]

[[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]]) 04:33, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

:Ooh, thanks for catching that. Should be fixed now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:08, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

Nice :) But is this update a preparation for an upcoming update to {{w|MediaWiki version history|one of the latest versions}}, or are we limited to 1.19 for some reason? I'm asking because 1.19 is only supported for {{w|mw:Version lifecycle#Version timeline|a few more months}}, and also because with newer versions we'd have access to some niceties -- for example, after version 1.20 the {{w|mw:Help:Magic words#Statistics|PAGESINCAT}} magic word accepts parameters, which would allow the count of explained comics in the main page to work using less hardcoded hacks. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:08, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

:Prior attempts to update the wiki have been prevented by the realization that Lunarpages doesn't give us quite as much control over our server share as we thought we had. Checking again, they seem to have upgraded the version of PHP on our server since we last attempted and failed to run one dumb update script, which should mean that it'll work next time we try it. The wiki also has quite a bit of user effort invested into it now, and I'm a little less ready to jump into .0~.3 releases than I would normally be on my own machine, so I upgraded down the LTS path that I knew would be safe. After the first ill-planned attempt, I've been eyeing the 1.23 LTS line for the next major jump, but I'm certainly not stepping into it while it's still relatively fresh. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:08, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

:: Sounds reasonable. Thanks for the details. I'll be looking forward to the next update :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:52, 28 July 2014 (UTC)
::Just wanting to offer, I use ARP Networks for hosting, you should check them out if you want more control. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.154}}
:::Hum, there's an option. I'll keep that in mind. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:35, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
::::It wasn't me that posted that comment. But surprisingly enough anon and I have the same first two bytes in our IP addresses. Congrats on the version upgrade. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:31, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

Why does the site say I'm blocking ads when I'm not? I do use AdBlock Plus, but it's turned off for this site. Screenshot [http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj637/backagain2012/contra_zps3c6aa295.png here]. And while I'm here, that "unblock us" text has an error- the first "and" in the second sentence shouldn't be there. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 01:51, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
:The text only appears when the ads fail to load. The error message actually says noscript, which means that the Javascript that the ad box uses to fetch images isn't running. How long has this been happening for you? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:35, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
::It just started. I came over here as soon as I noticed it. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 19:07, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
:::Have you recently made any changes to your browser? Does the problem persist when you hit CTRL+SHIFT+R? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:43, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
::::Nope, no recent changes. And yes, the problem persists when I hit Ctrl+Shift+R. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 14:04, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
:::::I am genuinely puzzled. The message tells me that something is causing your browser to fail to load/run the Javascript that makes the ad render and report stats, so the problem could be anything that can cause that: noscript, outdated browser, experimentation. I don't know anything about your setup, and it works on my test machines, so I can't tell currently what's wrong. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:10, 1 August 2014 (UTC)
:Do you have privoxy installed on your machine? (this is a long shot) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:24, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

== If anything broke, complain here. ==

There's a banner that says:
The wiki has been updated to stable mediawiki version 1.19.17. If anything broke, complain here.

So...

The following have broken:
Cars
My previous computer
A railroad train
Condoms
Etc.

None of which has anything to do with this website.

The banner should be made more specific before Randall sees it and does a comic mocking it.

Or not. {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.80}}
:Well, there's always that one guy. Fixed. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:05, 28 July 2014 (UTC)
::I don't see how you could have fixed that one guy. Throttled, eliminated, insulted, blocked, etc. But not fixed. [[User:Walenc|Walenc]] ([[User talk:Walenc|talk]]) 16:29, 28 July 2014 (UTC)
:::See sense 6 here: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fix#Verb :P [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 02:13, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
::::i bet you think yer so clever. just watch me take the site down. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:35, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

== Misc Request... (|< < Prev Comic Next > >| format) ==

I usually browse in a very small window and the menu buttons split kind of strangely (http://i.imgur.com/wPE7szZ.png). Would it be possible to replace the spaces with nonbreaking spaces? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.202|173.245.56.202]] 15:13, 1 August 2014 (UTC)
:Annoyingly, the spaces that are giving you trouble can't be changed because they're text string inputs, and Mediawiki has no regular expression markup yet. Every other instance of formatting-critical spaces has been changed to non-breaking spaces though, thanks for the heads up! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:13, 2 August 2014 (UTC)
:: I think I fixed this by adding a space between the buttons. Unfortunately, this only works as long as the comic is not as wide as the button bar. I guess this is because of the surrounding table. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 20:15, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

== Not receiving password reset emails ==

I've forgotten my password, and password reset is not working for me. I went to [[Special:PasswordReset]], and had it send me a reset email. However, I have not received the email. I am sure that I have an email associated with my account, and it's confirmed. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.174|173.245.54.174]] 08:38, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:Tested, password reset emails seem to work for me. Have you checked your spam folder? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:04, 24 August 2014 (UTC)
::I checked in Gmail in "Mail & Spam & Trash", and it still doesn't find it. I tried a fresh reset, so we'll see if that comes through. No luck after a minute or two. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.71|108.162.216.71]] 04:59, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

==TOR Captcha==

Hi, I use TOR. To access your website, cloudfare has made it such that I have to enter a captcha. This is very inconvenient, as your site is not the only one doing this. Can you please fix this issue? You should be able to see a guide here: https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/599/cloudflares-captcha-screen-insurmountable . Thank you for taking the time to consider this. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.60|141.101.104.60]] 11:34, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
:Is it better now? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:06, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
::Sorry, no. I still get the captcha. What did you try doing? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.87|108.162.216.87]] 22:09, 13 September 2014 (UTC)
:::Set the threat level threshold way up. Any further steps into cheap botnet territory. For your security, you may want to reconsider the nodes through which you're operating through. Also, why do you need to use Tor to visit us? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:17, 14 September 2014 (UTC)
::::Ah, okay, thanks, now I'm not getting the captcha. As for why I'm using Tor, I don't ''need'' to, but I'd rather do so just to be anonymous. I wouldn't have written if it were just your site, but since Cloudfare has made captchas the default setting for Tor, the internet is starting to become near unusable. So that everyday people aren't scared away from using Tor due to the perceived complexity of daily browsing, whenever I have to enter a captcha, I try to contact someone at the site to ask them to change the setting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 06:52, 14 September 2014 (UTC)

== Upgrade to the latest MediaWiki version? ==

I think we should start trying to maintain a regular upgrade schedule of some sort. 6 months ago was the last time we've upgraded, and I think we should upgrade again. The impetus for this change would be for [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Translate translation] [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TranslationNotifications features], [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Babel plus other multilinguality efforts that require the new versions of MediaWiki.] Localization efforts should be put into place, and the translate feature would work well for that. [[User:Chess|Chess]] ([[User talk:Chess|talk]]) 01:53, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
:Plans to upgrade only include LTS releases. That said though, the recent and unintentional server downtime was actually the result of a setup for a coming mediawiki upgrade, among other things. The plan is to upgrade to 1.23 sometime in the coming months, during the weekend after a satisfactory number of bugfix releases. We're very interested in setting up translations, although mediawiki in it's current form already supports translation; the extensions you linked are mostly quality-of-life additions. It's been delayed because the plan is to eliminate all incomplete comics first so that translators have a solid base to work from. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:42, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
::Can I just be nitpicky and say that we last upgraded about 3.5 months ago, not 6? Thanks. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 03:17, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

== Fix HTTPS access ==

explain xkcd is using Cloudflare which recently enabled HTTPS for all users, but when [https://explainxkcd.com accessing it via HTTPS] it returns [https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200171916-Error-521 error 521].
In order to fix this in addiction to the solution steps proposed by CloudFlare check if SSL settings are correct. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.138}}
:On it '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:51, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

HTTPS is working now, there just some mixed-content warnings, mostly on style tags which being active mixed content are blocked, but it's still a good improvement as it's possible to have more privacy when browsing explain xkcd.{{unsigned ip|188.114.99.35}}

: Whoever has server access, can they try changing $wgServer ([[mediawikiwiki:Manual:$wgServer|Manual:$wgServer]]) to use a protocol relative url? As the manual page says, you may also want to set $wgCanonicalServer to a fully-qualified url (hopefully defaulting to https). [[User:Behrat|Behrat]] ([[User talk:Behrat|talk]]) 04:17, 29 October 2015 (UTC)
::Done. How's it now? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:42, 31 October 2015 (UTC)
::: Much better! The styles and scripts are loaded now, and the page looks good. It's still not completely green https because it's loading some images over plain http, but my browser at least appears to be allowing them for now. If you want any more suggestions on technical issues, let me know. I currently maintain my own mediawiki installation with full https, cloudflare, and short urls. [[User:Behrat|Behrat]] ([[User talk:Behrat|talk]]) 20:27, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
::::Huh. Is it the ad images? The comic pictures *should* be also done over https, no? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:10, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
::::: Yeah, one of them is the ad images (http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/lunarpages_160x600.jpg). Most of them are from [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], so you could just change all the urls on that css page to protocol-relative. The only other one I see is http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/88x31.png, which I think is set at [[mediawikiwiki:Manual:$wgFooterIcons|$wgFooterIcons]], but I'm not sure. All of them appear to be accessible over https, so just changing the links should work. [[User:Behrat|Behrat]] ([[User talk:Behrat|talk]]) 01:13, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

If I replace xkcd with explainxkcd I get a very ugly CSS-less page in Chrome on Win7. If I change the https to http, the page works [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.12|141.101.105.12]] 06:07, 3 September 2015 (UTC)
:Can you provide more information about your setup? Test a different browser? Unable to reproduce. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:56, 3 September 2015 (UTC)
:: I can reproduce in Firefox. This is due to the mixed content blocker. Usually, it should only block active content (scripts) and maybe warn about passive content (stylesheets), but at least in Firefox, it is configurable to block both. But I cannot see why the stylesheets shouldn't be served via HTTPS.
:: Currently, the styles are referenced absolutely ([http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/load.php?debug=false&lang=de&modules=site&only=styles&skin=vector&* http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/...]), but they should rather by referenced domain-relative (<code>/wiki/...</code>) or at least protocol-relative (<code>[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/load.php?debug=false&lang=de&modules=site&only=styles&skin=vector&* //www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/...]</code>). --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:29, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

== RSS feed issue ==

When attempting to access the feed for this wiki I'm told "Sorry. No feed found." Is there some way that the feed can be restored to the satisfaction of Feedly? Could it be due to some [http://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml validation issues], or should I consider changing my news reader? [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 23:08, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
:Huh. The feed updates automatically with a script that I wrote a while ago, I'm very sure it passed more than this the last time I checked. Fixed a few things, left the one about the date because that's a pain to fix, and one that I can't figure out for the life of me. I think I fixed the line that was causing the actual problems though. Should update on feedly now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:52, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
::Hallelujah - the feed was mixed in with other geeky material and it only took me nearly 8 months to notice that nothing was coming through from here anymore. I'm premature with my thanks though. The [http://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml RSS link] in the navigation pane to the left still doesn't want to be understood by Feedly. By contrast, other feeds such as for latest changes can be picked up. [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 02:04, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
:::Hrm. Sent an email to feedly about it, Just tested and I'm having similar issues with feedly. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:17, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
::::It seems it's not just Feedly. When I use Chrome's [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rss-feed-reader/pnjaodmkngahhkoihejjehlcdlnohgmp/related?hl=en RSS Feed Reader], that too also tells me "No posts here yet" followed by the an ever helpful "Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp" [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 02:33, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
::::Could it be that it's just not valid XML? I see that it ends at line 236 with </item> with no other closing tags, for example. [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 03:18, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
:::::Ohwait a minute, the auto updater rips old entries off the bottom and that's where there's supposed to be a closing channel and RSS tag. well. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:19, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
It's good to know that the cause is now known - I'll let you (or someone else with the authority) get on with fixing things up :-) [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 07:46, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
:[http://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/http://www.explainxkcd.com/rss.xml Hullo.] It's not perfect that only one specific formation of the URL works, but it's a start. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:01, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
:: You sir do God's work - and that coming from a Dillahunty-following Atheist is saying something. [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 08:11, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
My reader has been refusing to process the feed for the last few days. I finally un-busied enough to poke into why. When I looked at the source at [http://www.explainxkcd.com/rss.xml /rss.xml] I saw:
<pre>
</item>

<item>
<title>1561: Water Phase Diagram</title>
<link>http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:51:11 -0700</pubDate>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<h2>1561: Water Phase Diagram</h2><a href="http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561">http://www.explainxkcd.com/1561</a>]]></description>
</item>
</pre>
I'm thinking that the script is broken. I could pro'ly come up with something workable, given the access. --[[User:Ericm301|Ericm301]] ([[User talk:Ericm301|talk]]) 16:50, 9 August 2015 (UTC)
:What on earth is happening here I don't even know. The script seems fine, I repaired the RSS file again manually. See if it malfunctions again today. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:22, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
::Script is behaving very strangely. Today's update warped the feed file in a weird way, this doesn't usually happen. I'll test it on my machine to see what's happening. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:56, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
It was fine for a minute (that must have been your edit), but now it's broke again. --[[User:Ericm301|Ericm301]] ([[User talk:Ericm301|talk]]) 19:53, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
:Alright, I figured out what was going on with the feed. There was a bit of code I had in the update script that trimmed off the last entry of the RSS file and when I recreated an empty file for the feed after the inexplicable wipe, I forgot to turn it off so it was still shaving off the end of the file. This time it should be working. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:34, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

== "Known appearances" character infobox fix? ==

Currently, "Known appearances" in the characters infobox is broken as for some pages, when the character's category serves as it's own info page. (e.g. [[:Category:Red Spiders]], [[:Category:Sharks]], [[:Category:Squirrels]], [[:Category:Barrel]] etc.) Can this be fixed?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:21, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

:Fixed it myself. Just use template "Infobox character 2" instead of "Infobox character" when the character's category serves as it's own info page.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 14:55, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

== Comic 1505 (30 March 2015) isn't properly showing up, I think? ==

Excuse me if I'm being a n00b, but [[1505]] is posted, and the page is extant, but it's not showing on the [[Main Page]] yet. Is this supposed to happen, i.e. waiting for someone to put some content on the page, or did something break somewhere...? Again, sorry if I've just committed a massive derp. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 04:38, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
:Should be showing up now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:38, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

== rendering problem ? ==

To me, right now, with Windows Firefox 37.0.1, [[625: Collections]] looks like this:

[[File:communityportal_technical_1504_collections.png]]

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the source text.

Here's the [[Main Page]] in Internet Explorer 8:

[[File:communityportal_technical_1504_mainpage.png]]

This is affecting everything? Or just me? [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 03:31, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Okay, [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|somebody]] was messing with [[Template:w]]. I reverted it to the previous editor's version, seemed to fix things. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 03:46, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:On that note, they made a similar template that links to rationalwiki, but didn't use it at all in any pages. Huh. It's not even a very significant site. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:52, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::The IP [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=301:_Limerick&oldid=84906&diff=88577 preferred the Rationalwiki article] on Poe's Law to the Wikipedia version, I guess.
::[[User:452]] did not approve. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 07:57, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::Given the fact that he broke Template:W, and [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|didn't seem to know what he was doing]], I undid his other edits, sorry if this was inappropriate. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 17:51, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

== Main Page ==

When categories are added to the latest comic, the Main Page is also categorized in those categories.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 13:42, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
:The most obvious solution would be to put the categories inside <nowiki><noinclude></nowiki> tags, on every page. {{unsigned|143}}
::That's ugly and labor-intensive though. I think there's something we can do with string matching to fix it in a better way. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:35, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

== #cscore doesn't work with #expr ==

I can't use cscore with expr on my userpage.--{{User:17jiangz1/signature|10:30, 01 May 2015}}

== 1545 page severely broken? ==

The very tail end of the raw page source (using Internet Explorer) is
"wgRedirectedFrom":"1545"});
}</script><script>
...and then stops, obviously unfulfilled. (I also snipped everything up until that unique-looking Redirection data, for brevity.)

Compare that with the equivalent snippet from an adjacent page:
"wgRedirectedFrom":"1544"});
}</script><script>if(window.mw){
...and then continues with a working rest of the page. (Also snipped, but this time both before ''and'' after. I've kept it short while imagining I've given enough to ID the precise breakpoint though.)

Same problem encountered when using "Next" link from 1544 or "Previous" link from 1546. Page http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics ''itself'' suffers the exact same error. (Last wgVariable listed in LoaC page is ''"wgSearchNamespaces":[0]'', instead, but still similarly ends after apparently the same close-script and open-script flagging point.)

Does ''not'' go wrong in Mozilla-based browsers also on this machine (Firefox, Seamonkey). Page sources for 1545 look exactly like the above 1544 snippet, as expected, with no obvious funny characters or 'Little Bobby Tables' anomalies, SFAICT. In case it's a spurious downloading error that has ended up being cached, I've also "shift-refreshed" in my browser to force download.

Utterly Baffling me, but FYI in case it's something someone needs to know about, although I'm hoping it's just local strangeness and not anything actually of significance.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 04:33, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
:Opened in Internet Explorer 11, it seems to appear for me. Are any site features being impacted by this bug? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:44, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
::Nothing I was previously familiar enough with to spot an adverse effect. Note that http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1545:_Strengths_and_Weaknesses - the link I tried to get from the LoaC page (but only just now tried in non-IE!) works perfectly. Even while the "/1545" (i.e. 'RedirectedFrom') version of the page ''continues'' to be truncated. I can only assume that (despite attempts to force things anew), it's buggily-cached iteration.
::Hang on, that gives me an idea. Which works. I changed the 1545 page (change labelled as "Troubleshooting" in history) and... it opens perfectly. Removed change (should probably have self-reverted, in hindesight, but suspect it'd be fixed anyway) and no further issue. "List of all Comics" page still as broken (because I haven't forced it to update, and am not inclined to 'interfere' with it), but I shall check again after 1547 forces its own changes upon it. Otherwise, consider this closed. Sorry to bother you.
::TL;DR; problem solved. Pretty much proven to be not even a site issue, I now think. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 21:38, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
::Ok, FYI, once 1547 'Solar System Questions' ''finally'' appeared, I check "List of all comics" page. First of all a lot of "Waiting for page..." (uh oh), but then force-refreshed page (in the way that didn't work previously) and it loaded correctly. C'est finis. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 15:02, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

== [[881]] loads as "database error" ==

With this content:
Database error
A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:
(SQL query hidden)
from within function "SqlBagOStuff::set". Database returned error "1114: The table 'objectcache' is full (db423085716.db.1and1.com)".

No other page gives me this error, just [[881]].--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.6|162.158.92.6]] 19:42, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

I just got this on 564 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.200|141.101.98.200]] 22:44, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

== Database error ==

I can't see [[:Category:Interactive_comics]] (<tt>1114: The table 'objectcache' is full (db423085716.db.1and1.com)</tt>). [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.105|199.27.128.105]] 00:18, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

== RSS missing ==

Hey it looks like there's an issue with the rss feed, when you browse to the url on the right it just displays an empty page, not sure what's going on. [[User:Eluvatar|Eluvatar]] ([[User talk:Eluvatar|talk]]) 14:19, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
:Huh, in the last few hours the rss file was inexplicably wiped. I've restored the base of it, the bot should start populating the feed with new comics, but old ones are gone. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:49, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

== Extra Comics ==

In extra comics, the header of the comic has "Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{"." such as in [[The Rise of Open Access]]. {{User:17jiangz1/signature|13:32, 13 September 2015}}
:{{done}} - It was because [[0]] was created, so the logic that #ifexist:0 should be false failed. I changed it to default to -2 when number is not present, which will work as long as no one creates [[-1]]! [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 11:15, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

== Explanations for all -4 comics! ==

The main page header now contains this text:

[http://i.imgur.com/p7VACbW.png We have an explanation for all -4 xkcd comics, and only 23 (1%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!]

I'm assuming this is a bug. {{unsigned|Okofish|01:00, 15 September 2015}}

: {{done}} It was a temporary artifact due to recent categorization changes. It's now fixed. Thanks for the quick report :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 01:14, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

== Discussion pane missing on comic 1592? ==

After checking the Discussion tab to make sure there ''was'' a Discussion, I thought that someone had removed the <nowiki>{{comic discussion}}</nowiki> tag, and went into full-page edit to put it back. But it's there. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just temporary, but FYI in case it isn't. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.185|141.101.75.185]] 15:06, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
:Fixed. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:21, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

== Captcha ==

Captcha not appearing at all. Can't edit pages without turning off security settings (which were set to default). Chrome and "Edge" on Windows 10. Both yell at me about some components of the page being insecure. 15:48, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

:Same issue with other browsers. reCAPTCHA won't load from an "insecure" resource when the wiki is accessed over HTTPS. [[User:TisTheAlmondTavern|TisTheAlmondTavern]] 15:07, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
::Oooh, I see. Alright, I'll get to fixing it now I know what the problem is. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:00, 7 December 2016 (UTC)
Slight bug in the editing panel, when asked what webcomic we're talking about, it cannot be in all caps, it must be strict lowercase, despite appearances on xkcd.com. Could someone take a look at it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 00:54, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
:It took me several months to figure out that "this wiki" is named "explain xkcd" and not "explainxkcd". I spent those months answering two questions every time the "what's this wiki's name" question appeared (when I missed the answer, a different question appeared).--[[User:Jojonete|Jojonete]] ([[User talk:Jojonete|talk]]) 09:06, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
::I was sure both answers were correct, but never attempted to type explainxkcd, just in case. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 12:44, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

== wiki server clock has drifted - about 13 minutes fast ==

As I type this, it is exactly 07:42:45 UTC. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 07:55, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

And thus timestamps here are 12 or 13 minutes off. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 07:59, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
:I see the same thing: 15:41:00 UTC now.... [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 15:54, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
::Huh. I'll look into it, when I get back home. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:19, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Currently it's 20 minutes fast. It's 21:00 UTC and it shows 21:20 (UTC). [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 21:20, 14 July 2015 (UTC)
:Sorry bout the delay, was busy for a long bit, should be fixed now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:44, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Currently it's 8 minutes fast. It's 20:56:00 UTC and it shows 21:03 UTC. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 21:03, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
:do we not have ntp on the server or something, gonna reset the clock again when i get back home. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:33, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Happening again: it's 11:33 UTC and the server has 11:48 UTC. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.161|141.101.75.161]] 11:49, 11 March 2016 (UTC)
:Fixed again, and I'm gonna have to check our NTP installation. 06:37, 18 March 2016 (UTC)
:Alright, changed some things, this shouldn't happen anymore. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:38, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

The clock is about 13-14 minutes off again. It's currently 13:49 UTC. –''TisTheAlmondTavern'', 13:36, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

== Discussion template resources apparently missing ==

As co-header (right-margin hugging text) to the Discussion section on all pages (or at least as many as I've just visited - and on multiple browsers, ''just in case''...) I'm getting the following, with the <>-tags being my own descriptive additions:
<redlink>File:comment.png</redlink> <validlink>add a comment!</validlink> ⋅ <redlink>File:Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif</redlink> <validlink>refresh comments!Discussion</validlink>
Looks like the PNG and GIF files concerned have been removed, or the links in the Discussion template broken/incorrectly redirected.

(Sidenote: The character between the "add a comment!" and the "File: Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif" that I've copied here verbatim (so doubtless appears correctly for everyone else who reads this) is an 'I don't have this character on my machine' character, for me, which is obviously entirely my fault for not downloading additional fonts that I'd need. From cursory investigation, it appears to be essentially the same as "·", Alt-0183, or HTML code '&middot;', which ''would'' render on my machine and yet (if changed) shouldn't break on those where it currently works. For your consideration, but not as vital.)
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 06:30, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
:ETA - Delving around further, [[:Category:Pages with broken file links]] seems to indicate it ''is'' a widespread problem at server-side, and not somehow solely my own (except for the Sidenote issue!). And suggests a simple way to check that the issue is fixed (when suddenly the category is nowhere near as 'full'), and then discover any related ones that might need fixing (like the special Star Trek Into Darkness alternate version of the Discussion template). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 06:57, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
::Huh. I have a feeling I know what caused this, I'll get right on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:23, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
:::I've seen some more of these cases, e.g. on [[explain xkcd:Community portal]]. I think these images are from Wikimedia Commons, maybe that integration broke somehow? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 16:33, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
::::i don't know what is even happening, the images seem to be fine now but they still show up as broken file links '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:04, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

== Update captcha text? ==

The text above the posting captcha says “type the two words” but reCaptcha often doesn't use two, and they're often not words. Example: http://i.imgur.com/TdM5n5O.png

Maybe we could change it to something like “type the text”?

[[User:P1h3r1e3d13|P1h3r1e3d13]] ([[User talk:P1h3r1e3d13|talk]]) 23:44, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
:So, the reCAPTCHA captchas are entirely provided by Google. If there's an error in it, it's likely Google's fault and a bug report should be sent in that direction instead. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:23, 3 March 2016 (UTC)
::I noticed that before. It's not a bug in recaptcha, but rather in ConfirmEdit, file ReCaptcha/i18n/en.json to be exact. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.217|162.158.90.217]]
:::Oh huh, hadn't thought of that. I'll fix that up then. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:45, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

== Stylesheets not working? ==

It doesn't look like any of the site's CSS is loading for me. I have tried purging, adding useskins to the URL, and clearing my browser's cache, and webpage content remains in Times New Roman with no special styling. Headers and bold spans of text are bold, list items are bulleted, buttons are button-y, templates and my signature display with HTML-<tt>style</tt>-attribute-level CSS, and so on, but that's the extent of it. Is this a belated April Fools' joke, or has something gone horribly wrong between the servers and my eyes? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

:I made a similar post earlier -- it seems to have vanished down a black hole. I linked these screenshots: [http://i.imgur.com/smN1a45.png] [http://i.imgur.com/qdpxhdY.png]
:Note that there are no ads either! This could get to problem-level very fast. [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 01:28, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
::There are actually still ads, they're just shoved right at the bottom of the page. mysqld is clocking in at 40% cpu load, and mediawiki seems to be going into fallback mode and skipping stylesheets which is about what I'd expect from an april fools comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:31, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Ah, figured it was some sort of server overslow. For a while there I was getting a 503 error. [[User:KangaroOS|Kangaro]][[User talk:KangaroOS|OS]] 01:36, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Well, perhaps you don't need another note about this, but I noted the 'stylesheetless' appearance myself, just now. Except that it ''is'' styled, partially. (When I choose to view by Style "No style", it's even more not-Styled!) Could be because a subset of styles aren't being loaded (so that the ones that ''are'' still loaded can only be identified from their enforced absence), but looks like you have this as much in hand as can be expected, so just FYI... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.137|141.101.98.137]] 04:13, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
::Have you tried switching the server off and back on ? ;-) Jokes apart, are there really so many users continuously polling ? It could be just a case of stale open connections. Really, a reboot might not hurt (although it may kill-off few sessions and you may get some angry posts, but at this point, it might be worth the try) Edit: Sorry, I was messing up the formatting while replying. I'm trying to fix it. But at this point, does it really matter? :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.56|162.158.255.56]] 04:21, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Alright guys, still having trouble with the load, but I've put a quick temporary hack in place to get the css working again for now. Fonts are a little off, I'll deal with that soon. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:09, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
::::Did a little more work on things, styles should be working again but it's not great on the back end. I'm going to do some rooting around to see what went wrong. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:07, 6 April 2016 (UTC)
:::::Cool.. This is pretty good. We're almost there.. The only things I can notice that are off are - (1) Category list at the end of the page (2) Contents block at the beginning of the page and (3) Edit buttons for individual sections. By the way, I'm curious, what exactly was broken ? I didn't expect you'd have to fix things here. I expected that since the issue was caused by excess server load, it would return back to normalcy automatically once things settle down a bit in couple of days after the offending comic was more or less explained. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.56|162.158.255.56]] 03:32, 6 April 2016 (UTC)
::::::A script responsible for picking user preferences and integrating css from pages like [[Mediawiki:common.css]] was failing to complete because of server load, so I gave it a helping hand and just had it insert a static stylesheet instead. I almost certainly missed a few spots though, because the wiki does not look right. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:43, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

(resetting indent) Yes, things are still off. The text "Jump to: navigation, search" is at the top of every page, but it's useless because it links to stuff already at the top of the page. Edit summaries aren't italicized, the edit boxes don't use the whole window width, links are underlined, section edit links are too big, etc. I put the Wayback Machine to good use, and found the below set of archived pages, all using the proper style. Compare them with the current appearances of the pages, and you should see most, if not all, of the issues I've seen. [http://web.archive.org/web/20160402151417/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Main Page] | [http://web.archive.org/web/20150326134736/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/NealCruco My contributions] | [http://web.archive.org/web/20150326170626/http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1486:_Vacuum&action=edit The "edit" page for comic 1486] --[[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 21:50, 7 April 2016 (UTC)
::Is here nothing to be done about the missing styles? The tables still look horrible and there is not help when editing, for instance for signature etc. Colapsing of tables etc. also won't work which is a mess for some of the long explanations and tables [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
HotCat also seems to be not working for adding categories. {{User:17jiangz1/signature|13:18, 25 April 2016}}
:Yeah, load.php is failing so all gadgets and user scripts are unavailable. :-( [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 14:42, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
::Alright, figured it out. It was a deal with file permissions, not sure how those got changed on April 1st. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:59, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

== Comic navigation buttons ==

You know, the buttons that look like the ones on the xkcd site. Shouldn't they also highlight like the xkcd site? I thought maybe it was due to the above CSS issue, but the links to archive.org make it seem like it's just never worked.

It just seems to me that, if we're going to go that far in mimicking the actual buttons, we should probably also mimic their a:hover settings. Shut off the box shadow, change the background to white, and the link color to #6E7B91.

I've tested the following CSS, and it appears to work:

<nowiki>
li.plainlinks:hover, .no-link-underline > li:hover {
background-color: #FFF !important;
box-shadow: none !important;
-moz-box-shadow: none !important;
-webkit-box-shadow: none !important;
}
li.plainlinks:hover > a > span, .no-link-underline > li:hover > a > span {
color: #6E7B91 !important;
}
</nowiki>

[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 09:14, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
:Seems like a decent addition. Thanks! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:52, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

== Captcha trouble ==

For about an hour, I wasn't able to edit a page or create an account when I was trying to, because the captcha was missing. I'm not sure if it was problem on this site or captcha but I thought I'd mention it.
--[[User:Anqied|Anqied]] ([[User talk:Anqied|talk]]) 08:34, 11 June 2016 (UTC)
:Recaptcha appears to work for me currently. Does it work now? It seems like they may have just gone down temporarily. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:52, 11 June 2016 (UTC)
::I'm not certain this is the same issue, but I was just having a problem with the captcha for unregistered users trying to edit a page. I figured out that it's because you were trying to serve the captcha through HTTP even though the page was on HTTPS, so my browser was blocking the captcha. Changing to HTTP "fixed" the issue, but that shouldn't be the solution. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.187|108.162.215.187]] 16:45, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

== wrong IP ==

[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=632:_Suspicion&curid=3946&diff=122229&oldid=100180 My edition] was attributed to 141.101.104.60, whereas my real address is 88.156.226.213 according to [https://ipinfo.io]. Wikimedia sites (Wikipedias, Wiktionaries...) recognize my IP address properly. Someting strange is going on here. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.71|141.101.104.71]] 22:40, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

Just a heads up that your website is incorrectly identifying the IP address of visitors as being from the CloudFlare server that is serving the page content to them. It would be best practice if you could explicitly look for the field "REMOTE_ADDR" rather than "X-FORWARDED-FOR" as the former is unaffected by the use of intermediate proxies.
PS My IP address should begin with 131.111. IP addresses beginning with 141.101 belong to Cloudflare London. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.5|141.101.98.5]] 21:08, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

* This appears to still be an issue. I just [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1787:_Voice_Commands&curid=19860&diff=133917&oldid=133916 posted] from [[Special:Contributions/172.72.47.40|172.72.47.40]], my work place and it's showing as [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.11|108.162.238.11]]. Thanks.

* FYI I just created this account and the "email address confirmation" email I received said the account was created by a Cloudflare IP (162.158.107.199), not my own. [[User:ExcarnateSojourner|ExcarnateSojourner]] ([[User talk:ExcarnateSojourner|talk]]) 15:09, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

== Captcha does not appear ==

I am not a registered user (I just haven't bothered to make an account), so I have to complete a Captcha before saving any of my edits. However, I've found numerous times that the captcha does not show up when I hit [Save page]. The line of text introducing it ("To help protect against automated edit spam, please type the word you see in the box below:") shows up, but the no actual captcha and thus no saved edits. '''Is this a known issue with Chrome?''' I managed to circumvent it by using IE (I assure you, it was the only other browser available), but I would much prefer to be able to edit ''explain xkcd'' pages in Chrome, my usual browser. {{unsigned ip|108.162.220.17}}
:What plugins do you have installed on chrome? Do you have Javascript enabled? I'll see what can be done if you have them off. '''[[User:D?avidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:45, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
::I just figured out the problem and successfully edited a page. I too tried IE after Chrome but still encountered the issue... to my consternation I noticed a new icon in the address-bar, 'Blocked content'. (Apparently recaptcha is treated similarly to a pop-up.) Interacting with this new button made the captcha appear. I am in Chrome adding this comment, and after finding the similarly-functioning/corresponding button here, all is well [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.247|108.162.237.247]] 18:39, 2 August 2016 (UTC)
::Hmph, I am likely a completely different user from the foregoing, but our IP addresses are similar and both reported as from Cloudflare in TX. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.247|108.162.237.247]] 18:42, 2 August 2016 (UTC)
::I would like to address this and also point out this is the only site where I've run into this problem; other wiki-based sites can load captcha fine. According to Chrome it's blocked because it's an "unsafe script". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.84|141.101.107.84]] 08:54, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

== Wanted files ==

[[Special:WantedFiles]]: 41 file is linked but nonexistent.

Some on talk pages, user pages and project pages, but here is a list of those in main namespace:
# File:Apatosaurus scale mmartyniuk wiki.png
# File:Apidae - Eucera sp. (male).JPG
# File:Louisae.jpg
# File:Wet kookaburra 6674 Crop Edit.jpg
# File:MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft.jpg
# File:Bee orchids, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 833516.jpg
# File:Synhalonia nest 1.jpg
# File:Butterfly Voters View.jpg
# File:Fusca estacionado.jpg
# File:Ophrys apifera flower1.jpg
# File:Galilean moon Laplace resonance animation.gif
# File:PalmCellTower.jpg
# File:746 telephone in red.JPG
# File:Candidate Higgs Events in ATLAS and CMS.png
# File:Tommy Wiseau.jpg
# File:Google maps auto.jpg
# File:Velociraptor dinoguy2.jpg
# File:Acrocanthosaurus skeleton (1).jpg
# File:Vraptor-scale.png
# File:Alces alces elan trophee chateau Tanlay.jpg
# File:DBCooper.jpg
# File:Rick Astley - Pepsifest 2009.jpg
# File:Anonymous emblem.svg
# File:Eas new.svg
# File:John Cage and Michael Bach in Assissi 1992.jpg
I could not find why they were deleted and it's hard for me to argue for their presence in the articles. Being a newbie here, I would like to ask those who knows better to either undelete files, or upload them again, or delete file mentions from the explanations. Thanks --[[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 15:47, 8 August 2016 (UTC)
:I tend to clean up after myself, don't recognise these file names. I believe these happen when files get moved, feel free to cut dead file links wherever you find them if you find them unnecessary.'''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:38, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

== [[827]]/[[1721]]: Business Idea ==

See [[1721#Trivia]]. Randall has accidentally named both 1721 and 827 "Business Idea". He fixed it by renaming 827 to "My Business Idea". I tried to reproduce by renaming the file and wiki page for 827, but it now shows the old comic on both pages. Maybe CloudFlare caching? And idea (that's not a business idea) to fix this? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]])
:Cloudflare takes a little time to update changes to an image. For immediate results, you can create an image under a different name and use that while you wait for the old one to update. Otherwise, it should update within a few hours. Is it good for you now? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:48, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
::Yes, it was resolved after a few hours. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 20:25, 18 August 2016 (UTC)

== Mobile CSS ==

I've accessed this Wiki on my mobile device more often than previously and I couldn't find any discussion about this. Honestly, 50% of the reasons I'm adding this topic is about the discussion, the rest is about making it easier for people with narrower screens.
I understand that I am a new member on this Wiki and that altering [[Mediawiki:Common.css]] has site-wide effects (and I'm sure that there are some templates that won't agree with some of the options we have, even some tables, such as the one on [[893: 65 Years#Trivia]], will break a very narrow design).

OK. Let me just ramble on about this, then. =)
There are some obvious (but not necessarily easier) options for mobile devices. [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Mobiles,_tablets_and_responsive_design MediaWiki] lists a few Skins and Extensions. Not having ever had access to a Wiki's server, I have no idea how nerve-racking that is (or if it even makes sense for this Wiki). Even more obvious to some - and even harder to implement - is a mobile app (that I wouldn't use anyway).

So, to bridge the time until maybe something more effective comes along, we ''could'' try to add some CSS ourselves. I'm no expert. But here are my thoughts.
*This is about all devices with narrow screens, not just phones. Let's say anything under 600px width is considered narrow.
*Most obviously, the font size should be affected. This has negative consequences for anything with fixed font size. And anything we forget. Basically, the sidebar, the search and anything else on top of each page can be massively smaller depending on the screen and fixing that won't be as easy.
*Of course we could disregard the sidebar, or rather, push it to the bottom (which is easy, it's artificially placed on the left instead of the bottom). There are a number of reasons why a lot of people wouldn't want that. One of those reasons is that the ads would basically disappear for anyone who doesn't scroll down. We would have to figure out where else we can put it, on the top maybe. On the plus side, we could have the entire width of the screen just for the article.
*Another thing that breaks the design regularly: comic images. We could make them fit. The navigation might be more challenging.
*There's a whole lot of paddings and margins to get rid of.
*Maybe make the search box a lot bigger?

A short snippet for the comic images and for the font:

@media handheld,screen and (max-width: 600px),screen and (max-device-width: 600px){ /* because some mobile browsers like to work with a higher resolution than the resolution of the screen */

#bodyContent{
font-size:initial; /* resetting font to full size */
}

td > img{ /* maybe add a class for the table in [[Template:comic]] */
display:block;
margin:auto;
max-width:100%; /* make image fit into box */
height:auto;
}

}

I don't know... What do you think?
Oh, also, Mediawiki says this can be added to [[Mediawiki:Mobile.css]] but I guess that is for extensions? We'd probably have to add that to [[Mediawiki:Common.css]] if we ever want to add it.
[[User:Ret Samys|Ret Samys]] ([[User talk:Ret Samys|talk]]) 16:21, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Getting on a plane soon, but I'll take a look at this when I get off and get moved in again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:07, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

== HTTPS Links Back to XKCD Interfere with Random Button ==

''(I've moved this from "Proposals" to here, now realising this is the proper location.)''

The Links back to the comics that are present just above the comic itself on the wiki pages (and adjacent to the next and previous links) provides an HTTPS link back to XKCD. However, this interferes with users who want to click that link, and then click <code>random</code> - because <code>c.xkcd.com</code> does NOT support HTTPS, and thus clicking <code>random</code> after returning to xkcd from explainxkcd via the button on a comic's article does not work. These links should be switched back to HTTP.

--[[User:9000 volts|9000 volts]] ([[User talk:9000 volts|talk]]) 22:53, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

:What makes you suspect <code>c.xkcd.com</code> does not support SSL? It features a perfectly valid wildcard certificate from GeoTrust (currently valid from Dec 14 00:00:00 2016 GMT, so it should already have affected you), although it's different from the multi-site certificate from Fastly used on the comic and what-if.xkcd.com and, yet again, different from the Let's Encrypt ones used on the blag and store.

:On the other hand, there is a compelling argument for HTTP links: Most interactive comics break with HTTPS. –''TisTheAlmondTavern'', 14:19, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
::I can't reproduce the issue with random comics, but the benefits of using SSL for links to a site that stores no user data probably don't outweigh the issues that some people seem to be having. Changed. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:34, 10 February 2017 (UTC)

== "Retry for a live version" and stuff not responding ==

Every now and then, I'd just be browsing around the site, then all of a sudden I'd run into an issue with it saying that there was an error with the explainxkcd.com host and that I would need to wait for the servers to restart. This is happening rather often for me, but goes away quickly. Sometimes, it happens on my own wiki pages too... weird. Other times, things would just freeze. Is it something on my end, or is it with the site? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:05, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

== Support for timezones? ==

I live in the timezone PST, and because of that, the clock seems to be ahead of my time by about 7 hours and 40 minutes. Can someone add support for different timezones?
For example, at my time of posting, it is 7:56 PM on March 8, 2017. The time the wiki thinks it is is shown on my signature: [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 03:40, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
:You can actually set your own time zone. Go to Preferences->Date and Time, and there should be a time offset option for you to pick your time zone. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:36, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
::The thing is, I do have my time zone set to PST, but on the wiki it is still showing up as the wrong time. [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 15:24, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Oh, the timestamps recorded in signatures are in UTC for everyone. That doesn't change, because it makes it easier to follow the timeline of a conversation in a talk page. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:24, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
::::Uhhh, the timestamp isn't UTC at all. My latest BOT upload was 06:02, 8 March 2017 CET or 05:02, 8 March 2017 UTC and it is recorded here as 04:45, 8 March 2017. So we still have an offset 17 minutes to the past. That's an old problem.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:33, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
:::::It is UTC, server inaccuracy doesn't change the time zone, it just makes it inaccurate. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:13, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
::::::And even if you don't like me for this: The server time is currently UTC-00:17 and not UTC. This odd offset confuses users. But I know nobody can change this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:36, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

== Mailserver-problem ==

Hello, 
I tried to reset my password today, but there is a problem with your mail-server: The sender-adress of your password-reset-mail is expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com, but the (sub-)domain vps.explainxkcd.com does not exists, and so the eMail is rejected by my mail-server (and most others too). Could that please be fixed? Thank you very much. --DaB.

== When did InstantCommons get disabled? ==

I was just about to add some photos of the ISS transiting the sun to [[1828|today's explanation]], but saw that it's no longer possible to just enter the names of {{w|c:|Wikimedia Commons}} photos and for them to render. I know of at least one explanation—[[1400]]—that previously had such images, but now just has redlinks. I presume that at some point someone must have disabled {{w|mw:InstantCommons|$wgUseInstantCommons}} in the config settings. May I ask what the reason for that was? And is there any chance that that could be reverted? Obviously there aren't a lot of articles where it makes sense to have Commons images up, but IMHO it's a useful feature to have for the rare occasion where it makes sense, like with today's comic. [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 21:20, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
:'''Solved.''' You now can embed pictures from Commons like local files. The link <nowiki>[[File:DBCooper.jpg|thumb|Cooper]]</nowiki> shows the picture from Commons because it doesn't exist here. There is no need to use a template. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:57, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

== Wikipedia template stopped working ==

Some time ago the template used for links to Wikipedia stopped working correctly. If you see here link to Halloween on Wikipedia, it works again:
{{w|Halloween}}. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 22:21, 25 June 2017 (UTC)

: Known issue, there's currently an anon doing boring vandalism. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.172|108.162.241.172]] 22:37, 25 June 2017 (UTC)

== CAPTCHA does not work for HTTPS visitors ==

I am a fervent believer in encrypting everything (I am the crypto nut in [[1269: Privacy Opinions]]), and have configured the NoScript plugin to force the use of HTTPS instead of HTTP for all sites that aren't on a special list in my configs. Hence, I tend to visit sites on HTTPS that most people visit on unencrypted HTTP, discovering all the bugs in people's HTTPS implementations in the process...and this site is not exempt from the bugfinding.

In order to edit pages, you need to enter a CAPTCHA. However, the script that makes this captcha work is fetched from Google over unencrypted http (the src tag in the script specifies http: not https:). When I visit this site over HTTPS, the use of active content served over unencrypted HTTP onto an encrypted page causes Firefox to have a spasm and block the script. Since Google fully supports HTTPS, the script's src tag should just be changed to say https: instead of http:, and that SHOULD fix it. Better yet, omit the protocol at all, and do something like:

src="//www.google.com/recaptcha/(rest of url)"

Most modern browsers will interpret that as "fetch www.google.com/recaptcha/(rest of url) over the same protocol used to serve this page."

(Sadly, NoScript is not smart enough to fix this by itself and just change the script's src to https: client-side...)

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.89|162.158.79.89]] 11:12, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

The CAPTCHA also doesn't work for https while using Chrome. 01 September 2017

== Deprecation of reCAPTCHA v1 ==

The wiki currently uses reCAPTCHA v1 to validate users as human, which [https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/faq#what-happens-to-recaptcha-v1 beginning in November will show public deprecation notices] and stop working altogether on March 31, 2018.

Are there already plans to migrate to reCAPTCHA v2 or a different CAPTCHA algorithm? –[[User:TisTheAlmondTavern|TisTheAlmondTavern]] ([[User talk:TisTheAlmondTavern|talk]]) 20:05, 31 October 2017 (UTC) (wiki clock is several minutes late again, BTW)

:I do intend to update the CAPTCHA, I got the email notice from Google. I've been away from the site for longer than I'd like, been busy but it looks like a bunch of stuff has piled up while I was gone. I'll try to fix what I can with the time I have. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:38, 12 November 2017 (UTC)

::Any update on this? It has <6 weeks of life left, and the user messaging has just got angrier. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.26|162.158.155.26]] 09:22, 20 February 2018 (UTC)

:::10 days left. I wonder what happens then. Right now, it just says "V1 SHUTDOWN ON 2018-03-31" and expects me to type it as an answer. {{unsigned ip|172.68.110.46}}

::::You can hit the refresh button and it will display an actual catch. 4 days before they shut it down. [[User:TheMageKing|TheMageKing]] ([[User talk:TheMageKing|talk]]) 12:22, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Either the kludge of simply typing the message about shutdown still works, or the Captcha system is just not working: I'm not autoconfirmed here but I was able to edit today, 9 days after v1 presumably went "poof". [[User:Yngvadottir|Yngvadottir]] ([[User talk:Yngvadottir|talk]]) 18:12, 9 April 2018 (UTC)

The new reCAPTCHA v2 is now online. I apologize for the delay but many updates were required and I tried to keep the server downtime as short as possible. [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:53, 19 May 2018 (UTC)
== RSS bot stopped? ==

The master RSS feed only goes up to 1912, although the wiki is already up to 1914. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.18|141.101.105.18]] 11:20, 11 November 2017 (UTC)
:Sorry, been busy, the feed should be up and running again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:38, 12 November 2017 (UTC)

== Captcha doesn't work on my browser ==

I can't make any edits to the comic pages because the captcha simply doesn't appear when I'm trying to edit the comic pages. {{unsigned|WilliamBrennan}}
:Please check your add blockers and activate JavaScript. [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:53, 19 May 2018 (UTC)

Hi & Thanks heaps! I finally created an account after years of pleasurable & enlightening explanations. It took me over 5 minutes to get past the Captcha, and I've seen a few in the last week registering for sites such as XDA-developers and the like. Not sure how it all works but it feels like it's set to "ultra-difficult" or some-such...and this is the place where things are *easy* for *stupid people* like me ;) Cheers & thanks again {{unsigned|Munchywok}}
:The Captcha is from Google (Big Brother...) and based on an sophisticated software in which you sometimes even don't have to solve it at all when it is convinced that you are a human. But it depends on your browser installation, especially your add ons. My best experience is using Google Chrome without any extensions. Firefox with extensions is the hell. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:25, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

== New High Resolution comics ==

I've noticed Randall has been making the comics higher resolution to look good on HiDPI/Retina displays. But the copies on ExplainXKCD are the old low resolution copies.

Perhaps we'll have to go through at some point and update these? {{unsigned ip|162.158.75.58}}
:I am aware of this. Randall started to provide two different resolutions at standard comics more than a year ago, and he also provides the larger resolutions to older comics since than. Technically the image tag provides links to two pictures and the browser decides based on the screen resolution what is shown. Since this wiki is now at the latest version the use of [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgResponsiveImages $wgResponsiveImages] may be possible. But this has to be tested first. Stay tuned... [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:53, 19 May 2018 (UTC)

== Should the HTTP urls redirect to HTTPS? ==

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but shouldn't the HTTP urls be redirecting to HTTPS? Right now, the HTTP and HTTPS endpoints seem to have different login states, which is possibly confusing. I was stumped for a long time on why I couldn't login to my account, because I kept getting the error message "There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Go back to the previous page, reload that page and then try again." And then I noticed the "Use secure connection" button, and when I clicked it, it took me to the HTTPS site where I was already logged in! But even now, if I go to an HTTP url, I'm still logged out there. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 00:43, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
:Of course HTTP and HTTPS are different endpoints. Login via HTTPS and your credentials are encrypted and this will be never converted into plain text for HTTP. And I just successfully tested both connections with Google Chrome. Maybe we should redirect always to HTTPS like xkcd does, right now it's just your choice. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:46, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

::Ah, I see. If I log in from the HTTP site, I'm logged in on both the HTTP and HTTPS sites. But if I login from the HTTPS site, then I'm only logged in on the HTTPS site, and not on the HTTP site. Furthermore, if I'm logged into the HTTPS site and I try to login from the HTTP site, I get the error message that I quote from above. Fair enough.

::I guess one contribution to my confusion was the fact that the HTTPS site doesn't have the green padlock in Chrome. That would have made the difference between the HTTPS and HTTP site a bit more obvious. (I rarely type in the entire URL directly; I usually just let the Chrome address bar autocomplete do its job... and unfortunately that autocomplete takes me to the HTTP site, and I keep forgetting about that.) Right now, on any HTTPS page here, Chrome still says that it's insecure: "Attackers might be able to see the images you're looking at on this site and trick you by modifying them." Firefox says something similar: "Parts of this page are not secure (such as images)." Perhaps someone should look into that? (I think it might be the ad image.) [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 03:09, 23 August 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for your remarks. I'm aware of this but the site isn't insecure, only a few local images and some from wikimedia are hard coded to a http link. It's not much so I'll fix it soon.
:::In general every http request should be redirected to https, but that's not trivial at our current environment. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:35, 23 August 2018 (UTC)
::::It took some time to find all the places of hard coded images via http (insecure) but now you should see the green secure remark in your browser when logging in via https. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:50, 24 August 2018 (UTC)
:::::in my holy opinion at least the login page should only be served securely. people are notoriously bad at not-reusing-passwords. [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 12:23, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

Just noting that basically every major site out there redirects from HTTP to HTTPS (including http://en.wikipedia.com, http://xkcd.com, http://stackoverflow.com, and even other wiki communities like http://wiki.puella-magi.net, http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki, and http://wiki.documentfoundation.org). So it would really cool if we could get that redirect action happening on this site, too :) I was browsing the site today and I was just struck once again by how odd it was that I wasn't logged in, until I remembered that I was on the HTTP site, not the HTTPS site. A real user experience annoyance, if you ask me. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 21:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Of course you're right. I still have other issues but this will be done soon. Stay tuned... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:08, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

== Captcha too picky ==

I just had to solve the "select all street signs" Captcha at least 10 times in a row. I never know when/whether to include slivers, backs of signs, sign posts, walk/wait lights. Captcha already doesn't follow my definition of street sign (I only call the sign that has the street name a "street sign", but I realize what I call "road signs," Captcha also calls "street signs" and I can adjust for that. But I haven't figured out the other issue yet, and I suspect Captcha is dinging me on choosing slivers. But that's only a guess, since it never tells you what you got wrong, it just gives you another Captcha. {{unsigned|Thisisnotatest}}
:My advice is installing Google Chrome and it works fine. Since that Captcha software is also from Google (Big Brother...) I believe that's on purpose. Firefox is the hell as you described; I'm not sure how it works at MS IE/Edge. In general you have to select not less than three and not more than four squares. But on Firefox, even when it seems definitely to be correct, the chance of getting an error message is more than 80%. You probably use FF. Nonetheless right now there are no other adequate Captcha tools supported by Mediawiki, the software this Wiki runs on. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:57, 27 August 2018 (UTC)
:I second this. Big Brother's Captchas on Firefox are nearly unsolvable (granted, I'm browsing with JS off and blocking 3rd party cookies). And recaptcha requires 1) JavaScript and 2) a connection to google. [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 12:23, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

== Cannot create a user page ==

i have tried to make a user page for myself and cannot seem to do it, i'm sorry if this has been addressed already, but i couldn't find it. [[User: Nintendo Mc]] ([[User talk:Nintendo Mc|talk]]) 13:07, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
:New user don't have the rights. Do some more edits and wait a few days until you can create new pages. Your user page is created by me for now. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:00, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

::'''Good Question!''' is there some place '''that everyone''' [who is cool] '''can find,''' that explains '''how many''' edits one has to do (and/or, '''how long''' one has to wait) in order to cause the<blockquote>[...] but you do not have permission to create this page.</blockquote>
::'''[error] message''' to ... '''"no longer" appear,''' when some limitation or rule is no longer blocking or "preventing" allowing creation -- by that user -- of his own '''"User:"''' page? (OR ... of ''her'' own '''"User talk:"''' page?)

::I have done [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Mike_Schwartz very few edits] here, but ... a couple of them were almost '''3 years ago.'''

::For what it's worth (FWIW), '''I did not plan to say much''' on my "User:" page here. Probably something like:
::::This user is not a frequent flyer here on this Wiki (at "explainxkcd"); ...but he has done [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Mike_Schwartz a 4-digit number of edits] on ''other'' Wikis ...mainly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page English Wikipedia] ("See also" his [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Schwartz "User:" page] there.)

::<big><big>Any comments?</big></big> Thanks for listening. --[[User:Mike Schwartz|Mike Schwartz]] ([[User talk:Mike Schwartz|talk]]) 07:43, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

:::According to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Permission request|here]] and [[:explain xkcd:Autoconfirmed users]], you need to accumulate 10 edits (as well as your account being active for at least 3? or 7? days), then you become an "autoconfirmed user" and gain the [[Special:ListGroupRights|right]] to create pages. – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 02:09, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Accessibility issues ==

[First post - hello, everyone!]

I have 15 years of experience of using MediaWiki, and have been heavily involved in some of the accessibility work on Wikipedia.

When we use colons (<code>:</code>), semicolons (<code>;</code>), and asterisks (<code>*</code>) to indent dialogue, discussions, etc we actually cause MediaWiki to generate HTML lists.

If we leave a bank line between indented lines/ paragraphs, we cause the start of a new HTML list.

Since the start of each list is read out by the kind of software used by (for example) people with severe visual impairments, this generates barrier to their use of the site.

The solution is to not leave blank lines; to always indent replies by just one step; and to maintain consistency in the type of character used.

You can see examples and more explanation at {{w|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Lists}}

Please consider adopting Wikipedia's recommended best practice for such lists, on this site. [[User:Pigsonthewing|Andy Mabbett]] (Pigsonthewing); [[User talk:Pigsonthewing|Talk to Andy]]; [[Special:Contributions/Pigsonthewing|Andy's edits]] 19:20, 5 November 2018 (UTC)
:Thanks for your input and welcome here. At first you should know that this Wiki doesn't follow every Wikipedia standard, but there is a --relatively new-- [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ|FAQ]] and we should talk at that discussion page about any enhancements. And please consider to keep it short, a typical editor here isn't a Wikipedean and doesn't read tons of manuals.
:There are many ugly layouts here, most written before the FAQ did exist, but when I and others see them the explanation or transcript gets an incomplete tag for that reason. And the biggest problem in the past was the use of overwhelming tables.
:BTW: Using a new-newline for each sentence isn't also a nice layout. Never mind... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:54, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

== suggest adding info to pages ==

I see "Title text" here on explainxkcd, but not on the comic itself.

Eg. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1313:_Regex_Golf shows "Title text: /bu|[rn]t|[coy]e|[mtg]a|j|iso|n[hl]|[ae]d|lev|sh|[lnd]i|[po]o|ls/ matches the last names of elected US presidents but not their opponents."

I don't see that anywhere on https://xkcd.com/1313/ Why not? {{unsigned ip|172.68.174.106}}

:First of all: Please sign your comments
:<s>Second: I am not sure this is the right place for such a question, so please do not wonder if someone removes it.</s>
:And finally: the "title text" can be seen by hovering the mouse over the image on the "regular" xkcd page. Here it is made more visible by mentioning beneath the picture additionally. More details can be found at the page about the title text :) https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/title_text [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:09, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

@[[User:Lupo|Lupo]], no honest comment will be removed here, even if it should be posted at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous|Miscellaneous]] section. @IP, the proper internal link is here: [[title text]], and I see that this wiki needs a simple page to explain all the terms and characters used in a general short way. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:43, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

== Mediawiki exception on some pages ==

I get the following MedaiWiki exception on some of the pages:

<pre>MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: [0beebcc3efaec7ded86aea14] 2018-12-05 23:25:16: Fatal exception of type "MWException"

Exception caught inside exception handler.

Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.</pre>

See for example sites https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2034:_Equations or https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Dgbrt

[[User:Sztupy|Sztupy]] ([[User talk:Sztupy|talk]]) 23:29, 5 December 2018 (UTC)

:Also having this. Seems to happen when “math” in Preferences-Appearance is set to “MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools)” [[User:DrMeepster|DrMeepster]] ([[User talk:DrMeepster|talk]]) 08:01, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

:New error: If that math option is set to “Latex source” than an error relating to the page-ruining setting replaces any latex code: Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension can not find Restbase URL. Please specify $wgMathFullRestbaseURL.") from server "invalid":): <LATEX CODE HERE> [[User:DrMeepster|DrMeepster]] ([[User talk:DrMeepster|talk]]) 07:50, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

::Sorry for my late reply. I will check and solve this issue soon, right now only the plain PNG image setting does work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 15 February 2019 (UTC)

: The problem appears to not be solved. In addition to the above pages (which are still broken), I've noticed it on the following: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2292 and https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2311. The workaround of configuring my account to render math as PNG works, but someone with the knowledge and access to fix this needs to do so. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:43, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

== “All 2126 Comics have an Explanation” ==

There are 2127 comics, and the main page seems to update automagically, so I’m not sure what the issue is. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 15:58, 25 March 2019 (UTC)
:I think you posted this before the "new robot" comic came up? keep in mind that the number 404 is not linked to any comic. (There is an explain page for 404, but no comic 404. Therefore it is actually 1 comic less than you might think based on the number. On the other hand there are I think 2 or 3 additional special comics (not numbered), such as the latest entry to the 5 minute comic series, or the one about open source, etc. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]])
::I posted after it came up. I know about the unnumbered comics, so assumed they didn’t count, but I always forget about 404. Accounting for the non-comic, all seems right in the world. Thanks Lupo. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 14:01, 26 March 2019 (UTC)
:::Just checked and they just subtract 1 in the source code??????? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:58, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

== API ==

Hi, I'm working on a project focused on docs, and wondered if there's some API or database I can access to pinch some of the tagging info from this site?
Even something like Randall's /json.html data from each page would work. ''[[User:Toonarmycaptain]] ([[User talk:Toonarmycaptain]] forgot to sign this edit at 03:50, 14 May 2019 (UTC)''

== Unwanted Link ==

In [[1467: Email]], there are two links in the title text that should be normal text. It has happened several times in other pages, and it's annoying. How do I change links like that into regular text? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:41, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
:Not sure what you mean. Maybe it is a browser issue on your end? on my computer neither chrome nor internet explorer or edge interpret anything inside of "My New Year's resolution for 2014-54-12/30/14 Dec:12:1420001642 is to learn these stupid time formatting strings." as a link... [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:00, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
::Just checked. iPad misinterpreting part of them as phone numbers, appeared as link. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 09:29, 11 July 2019 (UTC)

== Captcha not working? ==

I've been experiencing some problems when trying to solve captcha when posting comments and topics. It's gotten much harder than before, I fail a lot more often, and occasionally, when I finish it, it reloads the page with an "Incorrect or Missing Captcha" error, and forces me to retry. Has anybody else experienced this problem? Am I the only one with Captcha issues? '''Has it been working properly in recent times?'''[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.244|108.162.241.244]] 18:40, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

== DgbrtBOT ==

The bot seems to have been down since December 13, 2019, and Dgbrt hasn't made a single edit since March, 2019. He hasn't responded to the comments in DgbrtBOT's talk page, either. Is there any way for an someone to contact him? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:12, 1 January 2020 (UTC)
:The bot has resumed its extremely helpful work again this week, but no word yet on why it was MIA for a solid month. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:06, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

== Google Ads appearing all over the page ==

Google seems to have changed something in AdSense again, and the ads have been appearing in random positions again since December, 2019. [https://wpadvancedads.com/adsense-in-random-positions-auto-ads/ This page] might have a solution? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:20, 1 January 2020 (UTC)

== Links to xkcd pages sould be withoult "www." part ==

There is an issue with loading resources on pages, that are opened with "www." part in URL.
For example commic [https://www.xkcd.com/1975/ 1975].
If viewed from https://www.xkcd.com/1975/, comic is not interactive. On the other hand, https://xkcd.com/1975/ works like a charm.

Page failes to load resorces from https://xkcd.com/1975/alto/root with error caused by CORS policy:

* Access to fetch at 'https://xkcd.com/1975/alto/root' from origin 'https://www.xkcd.com' has been blocked by CORS policy: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. If an opaque response serves your needs, set the request's mode to 'no-cors' to fetch the resource with CORS disabled.

All links to commics in headers (button ''Comic #1975 (April 1, 2018)'') include "www." part, for example this explanation:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1975:_Right_Click

IMO links in headers (buttons ''Comic #xxx (date)'') should be updated to exclude "www." part.

== Can't create my userpage ==

I just registered, and can't seem to edit/create my own userpage. I've been editing MediaWiki wikis for a very long time and it's currently part of my career, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything right. Is there a prerequisite number of edits or something before I can create my userpage? [[User:Equazcion|Equazcion]] ([[User talk:Equazcion|talk]]) 22:18, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

:I do not know the answer to that, but ... if one of us finds out "sooner" than the other, then, let's "share" the answer. Yours might appear here, and mine ... might appear about eleven "sections" up, in this same "Technical" portal ... <s>at the URL</s> in the section "[[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical#Cannot_create_a_user_page|Cannot create a user page]]." (see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd%3ACommunity_portal%2FTechnical&type=revision&diff=190166&oldid=190127 the DIFF listing]...)

:Maybe I should have "seconded the motion" '''here''', instead of adding my own question, -- which is very similar! -- to a different section, up '''there?''' Pardon me ... --[[User:Mike Schwartz|Mike Schwartz]] ([[User talk:Mike Schwartz|talk]]) 08:15, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

::[[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Permission_request]] might help. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 11:06, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

:::Yes, according to that page, your account must be at least one week old, AND you must have made at least 10 edits. There's a new page, [[:explain xkcd:Autoconfirmed users]], which says it's three days (rather than one week) and 10 edits – after that, you become an "autoconfirmed user", and gain the right to create pages ([[Special:ListGroupRights|among other things]]). – [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 02:01, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== List of all comics incomplete/overflowing ==

The [[List_of_all_comics | List of all comics]] and the full list are incomplete, stopping with 2289. Taking a look at [[List_of_all_comics_(full) | List of all comics (full)]] nets that it belongs to the category 'Pages where template include size is exceeded', so I'm assuming it just hit the limit. I'm sadly not well versed in MediaWiki, so I have no idea what a workaround would look like

== 2138 page issues ==

This first came up when following a link from on of the other Code Quality pages.

when you go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F you get a blank pag that says "No input file specified."

however when you go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2138 you get the actual page via redirect but when you reload the page it goes back to "No input file specified."

not sure what causes this but i tested in chrome (incognito mode to avoid extensions), old edge (not chromium) and chrome iOS via mobile data. all test had the same result.

sorry if this is the wrong place for this but not sure where else to put it. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 14:44, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

:This problem seems to be common to all comics ending with a question mark: [[2236]], [[2138]], [[2065]], [[1841]], [[1205]]. My best guess is that the url is being interpreted as a query, but since there is nothing after the question mark this results in an error. Whether this is a new error or just hasn't been noticed before I don't know. Renaming the pages without the question mark could work, but would require every reference to these comics on the wiki to be updated. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 10:07, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

::i think it is new, i recently (not sure when but after 2138 was released) went through the Code Quality series using the links and it worked fine then. i don't think it is being interpreted as a query because the question mark is encoded. i would amazed if it would still interpret this as a query because that would completely defeat the point of encoding the url in the first place. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 09:35, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

:::here is a full list of broken pages: [[58]], [[111]], [[259]], [[1205]], [[1705]], [[1841]], [[1913]], [[2065]], [[2138]], [[2236]]. i wrote a quick javascript to extract a full list of urls from [[List of all comics (full)]] (then added the recent ones manually, [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical#List_of_all_comics_incomplete.2Foverflowing|see above]]). then ran a python script to get the content of each page and check if it is broken (with a 2 sec delay to minimise server load) and saved the list if broken ones. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 13:34, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

:::: Note that you can view the comic by changing the URL from <code>index.php/...</code> to <code>index.php?title=...</code> ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F example]). —[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 13:03, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

== "All comics" from left sidebar is not updating ==

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics

[https://imgur.com/a/J287JBz image]

== Attention needed to some List pages ==

I just (mis)clicked on "All Comics", and thought it looked odd.
DGBRTBot needs a prod, or something, given the current months-old state and commented prediction in https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_all_comics&action=history

(Oh, and the [[List of all comics (full)]], which I then checked has a redlinked Category of "Pages where template include size is exceeded" and seems to have been previously given a badly-included "...and everything before #501". Not sure if the first problem is easily solvable, but as I'm here I thought I'd mention it, and you could properly add 1-500 ''and'' 501-1000 to sort the Include Size issue, maybe?)

I could be way off-piste, but as it looks like nobody has noticed anything yet I thought I'd at least raise the issue, and then leave the fixing to someone with a bit more Wiki-Fu..? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.120|162.158.155.120]] 20:48, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

:For [[List of all comics]], looks like [[User:DgbrtBOT|DgbrtBOT]] is working again, and [[User:Btx40]] already went back and added the missing entries, so that should be all good now.
:For [[List of all comics (full)]], not sure if I correctly understand what you mean by "''you could properly add 1-500 ''and'' 501-1000 to sort the Include Size issue''"? But I think the "''badly-included '...and everything before #501' ''" you mentioned wasn't so much ''badly-inluded'' – its code looked correct to me – rather, the inclusion makes the page so big that it ''causes'' the page to exceed the "template include-size" limit. See the following Wikipedia articles for more about how this "template include-size" limit works in MediaWiki:
:* {{w|Wikipedia:Template limits#Post-expand include size}}
:* {{w|Wikipedia:Post-expand include size}}
:So ''as a result of'' exceeding the limit, the parser ''excludes'' the template that caused the limit to be exceeded (i.e. it excludes the 1-500 list at the bottom of the page), so as to keep the page under the size limit; and instead of the ''actual'' content, the parser just inserts a ''link'' to the content. And it so happens that in this case, the ''content'' includes the control-characters for constructing the table rows – so because those control characters are excluded along with the content, then the link shows up in the last existing cell of the table, and ''appears'' to be badly-included.
:I'm not sure how to fix it, but some options could be:
:* Somehow reduce the content of the page so that the full list of #1-to-#current doesn't exceed the limit.
:** Each "row" of the table produces about 700 characters in the resulting HTML; around 200 of that is the hidden "create" link (from [[Template:comicsrow]]) that I think ''would'' appear if the comic's page didn't exist yet. I would say that at this point, since all the comics already have pages, then that "create" link is only useful for the most recent comic, and could probably be omitted to significantly reduce the size of the page.
:*** (Actually, it looks like DgbrtBOT might automatically create the page for each new comic, so the "create" link might not be needed ''at all'' anymore.)
:** There are some other elements that could be removed from each table row to save space, such as the <code>title</code> attributes of the links, etc.
:** Not sure if all of that would create enough headroom for the 1-500 list though?
:* Increase <code>$wgMaxArticleSize</code> on the server? ([https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgMaxArticleSize See here].)
:** Not sure of the risks of that; and in any case, it's only that one page that currently exceeds the limit, so may not be worth it.
:For now, I've added a note to the page explaining that 1-500 are missing and why, and I've tweaked the bottom of the table to make the link to 1-500 a bit more presentable in the meantime.
:– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 06:41, 3 October 2020 (UTC)

== Strange error—maybe edit conflict? ==

I happened to be looking at my edit history, and I noticed that something insane happened back in June: I made an edit to [[2319: Large Number Formats]], and it somehow combined my edit with someone else's. The entirety of my edit (as I crafted it) was confined to the article's categories; I added one and put the set in alphabetical order. But the edit, {{diff|193595|as it was logged}}, is a massive alteration, with all sorts of questionable changes. It was (rightly, I think) undone by [[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] a couple days later. Did I somehow overlook an edit-conflict error and accept some (now anonymous) users edit? I can see myself making some kind of oversight at that time of night, but it seems antithetical to the wiki process to have an edit misattributed in this way. (I certainly don't like having that change connected with my name, but I also wonder how this intersects with important issues of public ownership integral to wiki communities.) I'd appreciate any insight fellow editors could provide. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 22:24, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
:As I'm passing through, I shall note that I'm the IP that added the "(The 1971 transition[...]" paragraph you see 'added' there. It was actually part of a larger edite that was later (than my edit, earlier than yours) understandably removed for being irrelevent. During this {{diff|193424|5-day-earlier revision}}. But I had absolutely nothing to do with pretty much every other change in your above-logged diff, SFAICS from a quick skim, so honestly don't know why it features there. But hope this info is useful. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.66|162.158.159.66]] 23:05, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
::That's actually quite helpful because it caused me to go look at older versions of the article. It looks like my edit {{diff|193595&oldid=193386|used a very early version as a starting point}} (thereby reverting all changes made later). My best guess is that I had gone back to an old version because Randall changed this comic after it was published and was trying to convince myself that I wasn't crazy. No, not crazy, but spacey. Wikipedia puts a big red warning across the page when you're ending an old version, and this wiki uses only a bit of bold text—that apparently wasn't enough to draw my attention. Thanks! [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 01:33, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

== Unable to view "what if?" page ==

The link to the page for the [[what if?]] blog displays an error: "No input file specified." [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 03:38, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

:This also happens to me on [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] Must be something with the ?s in the titles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 15:46, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

::I've noticed that as well. I made a page in my userspace that redirects to the what if page, and for some reason that seems to work. ([[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink|here is the link to the page]]) [[User:Blue screen of life|Blue screen of life]] ([[User talk:Blue screen of life|talk]]) 20:09, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

:::I have also noticed this but it is not just on pages with questions marks. Both [[259]] and [[1705]] show the same thing. A full list (as of 22 June 2020) of the ones i found is in the last reply to my report found here [[#2138_page_issues]] [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 12:20, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

::::Both [[259]] and [[1705]] have an ({{w|E acute|e-with-accute-accent}}, Unicode U+00E9) in the URL, so for those pages, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
::::For the "what if?" page, I had recently added a redirect from [[what if (blog)]] to get to it, and the [[What If]] disambiguation page has been updated with it, so at least we can get to it that way; and for the comic explanations, at least we can get to them by linking to their number-redirects (as [[58]] instead of [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]); but not sure how to fix it overall. At the following page, it suggests tweaking an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Rewrite engine|rewrite}} directive in {{w|.htaccess}} (or a {{w|Common Gateway Interface|CGI}} setting in {{w|PHP}} if it's running on {{w|Internet Information Services|IIS}}):
::::* https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vmaw1tu5kkhyon0n
::::So maybe something about that has changed recently? Documentation:
::::* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewriterule Apache mod_rewrite <code>RewriteRule</code> directive]
::::* [https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.cgi.force-redirect php.ini <code>cgi.force_redirect</code> directive]
::::Summarizing a few points from [[User talk:SlashMe#Homeopathic Wiki|this related discussion]]:
::::* Only one of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=sysop 10 administrators] has made recent edits ([[Special:Contributions/SlashMe|SlashMe]]).
::::* Neither of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=bureaucrat 2 bureaucrats] ([[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] and [[Special:Contributions/Lcarsos|Lcarsos]]) have made any edits recently.
::::* For admin access to the ''server'' itself, my limited understanding is that [[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] might actually own the server, but may have also given admin access to [[Special:Contributions/Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]; however, neither of them have made edits recently.
::::But "most recent edit" might not be a good indicator, so I wonder of some of these folks are still involved in the project?
::::– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 05:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
: Looks like it happens for any page that has a percent-encoding in the title. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:32, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

=== Known broken pages ===
(Redirects work, whereas links to the actual page are broken.)

Title containing e-accute-accent:
* [[259]] ↳ [[259: Clichéd Exchanges]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=259:_Clich%C3%A9d_Exchanges What links here])
* [[1705]] ↳ [[1705: Pokémon Go]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1705:_Pok%C3%A9mon_Go What links here])

Title ending with question mark:
* <del>[[what if (blog)]] ↳ [[what if?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])</del> <ins>fixed – content now exists at [[what if]], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 broken links] are in the process of being updated (see below)</ins>
* [[58]] ↳ [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F What links here])
* [[111]] ↳ [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F What links here])
* [[1205]] ↳ [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1205:_Is_It_Worth_the_Time%3F What links here])
* [[1841]] ↳ [[1841: Who?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1841:_Who%3F What links here])
* [[1913]] ↳ [[1913: A ?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1913:_A_%3F What links here])
* [[2065]] ↳ [[2065: Who Sends the First Text?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2065:_Who_Sends_the_First_Text%3F What links here])
* [[2138]] ↳ [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F What links here])
* [[2236]] ↳ [[2236: Is it Christmas?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2236:_Is_it_Christmas%3F What links here])

=== Moved ===
I moved the [[what if?]] page to the [[what if (blog)]] page which I then changed to simply [[what if]] to fix this issue and because anyone new to this site would type that any way to see it. — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 06:47, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

:Still trying to wrap my head around it – so just to summarize, we currently have:
:
:* '''[[whatif]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=whatif&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' (see below)
:* '''[[What If?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])
:** ↳ ''also redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F What links here])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** ''content manually moved from'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&diff=198070&oldid=197859 diff]) '''[[what if?]]''' ''to'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if&diff=198071&oldid=197486 diff]) '''[[what if (blog)]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_(blog)&redirect=no no-redirect link]) (''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&action=history previous revision history] remains at'' '''[[what if?]]''')
:**** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:
:For completeness, we also have...
:
:* '''[[what if book]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_book&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if#The book]] – actual content'''
:** Suggestion: for consistency, also add a '''[[what if (book)]]''' page that redirects here?
:
:...and the disambiguation page...
:
:* '''[[What If]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[What If (disambiguation)]]''' – disambiguation page
:*** ''links to'' '''[[17: What If]]''' (↲ '''[[17]]''' redirects here ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=17&redirect=no no-redirect link]))
:*** ''links to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** Suggestion: mention the ''book'' here as well, and link to its section in the [[what if]] page?
:
:...and these troubleshooting pages from [[User:Blue screen of life]]:
:
:* '''[[User:Blue screen of life/redirecttest]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/redirecttest&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/whatiflink&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[What If?]]''' (see above)
:
:Given that the actual content of the "what if?" article now lives at '''[[what if]]''', I've started updating pages <ins>(except for Talk pages)</ins> to link directly there instead of the other redirect pages. All that's left to do are pages that link to the '''[[what if?]]''' redirect-page (which is broken). <del>Its [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if%3F "What links here"] special page is broken too, so it's difficult to find what pages link there – but now that it redirects to the [[what if]] page, you can see them indirectly from ''that'' page's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 "What links here"] special page.</del> <ins>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F These] are the pages that still link there.</ins> There are still a lot of them to go.
:
:Also, should the following redirect-pages be simplified to have them redirect straight to the new [[what if]] page, instead of redirecting through the intermediate '''[[what if?]]''' page (which itself redirects there anyway)?
:* '''[[whatif]]'''
:* '''[[What If?]]'''
:– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 17:20, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
:: Fixed the double redirects, don't ask me why we have so many pages for the same thing. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:29, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

== Discussion not displaying with comic ==

I am using FireFox on a Win10 machine. When I come to the site I can see the comic, explanation and transcript. But the discussion section is hidden. Even when logged in.

Any ideas?

: You say "when I come to the site". If the address bar says you are on Main_Page and you see the heading "Latest comic", then it's simply working as designed. Above the comic, click on "Go to this comic explanation" and you will see the comic plus discussion.

: Also, Steve, please sign your comments every time, with four tildes. That expands into your user name and a timestamp. Like this -- [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 10:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Random page sometimes takes me to an invalid address ==

Sometimes, when clicking on "Random page" in the left sidebar, the site will be blank apart from the text "No input file specified. ".

An example of such an URL is: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F

:I've noticed this happens for ''all'' URLs to comics that end in a question mark (or possibly any special character). Interestingly, this doesn't happen if you go to the comic from the search bar. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 23:04, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

== Bug on the main page ==

Bug Enviroment(Might work on other enviroments):
Ubuntu 20.04LTS
Firefox85.0
2021.2.7

Bug:
The front page reads: `Welcome, Main Page, to explain xkcd!` with `Main Page` formatted as a username,can someone fix this?

[[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 09:48, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

== Occasional error via Cloudflare ==
Just a note that I'm getting Cloudflare errors of "origin not reachable" (sounds wrong to me, in my head it should be 'destination', but never mind) three times now in the last ten to fifteen minutes - of maybe a dozen general site-requests.

I've also been getting seemingly .CSSless formatted pages over the past few days, which I've been putting down to slightly dodgy wifi at my end (not unknown) but if I'm getting Cloudflare's error cleanly then perhaps it's been entirely upstream/downstream/however-you'd-describe-the-Explain-server. (Obviously CSS resource requests, as with images, are additional HTTP calls, but I still lump it into the single site-request ''per page'' in my 'dozen' estimate above. No obviously lost images, though, in incomplete pages - not that can't be explained by .CSS non-following, anyway.)

I had copy-buffered some of the exact info, but due to incompetence I recopied over it before coming here. If it happens again, I'll try to bring it over here. But (the way these things go) maybe it won't. FYI, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 12:04, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
: Not a Cloudfare error (looks like an error of the actual explainxkcd server) but every now and then (like just a few minutes ago) I get an error page that generally goes away if I immediately refresh. To whit:
Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
: Not really a problem (occasionally happened while submitting an exit, and I have to confirm to the browser that I wish to repost the data, but this particular copied instance was through a more 'read-only' link-click, like most of the instances) but... in case someone finds this to be new and useful information... here you are! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 03:45, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
:OP, here, of the above 503 error report/casual mention. Obviously this is the same message that happened for an ''extended'' period of time over a number of days, but I've only just happened to find the site responding again and have not yet looked to see if it is explained as the same or different cause to the old intermittent issues (at root). I hope things are resolved from the major outage (server quota? bill payments? renewal/reconfiguration blips?) but wonder if I should report any future minor outages? I'm still smarting from the total loss of the fora.xkcd.com platform, a few years back, and while I'm not active enough here to consider a proper login (lurking as a freeloading anon-IP is good enough, usually, for my intellectual enjoyment, with all due apologies) I did have a slight pang of emptiness while it was out-of-order. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 15:48, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

== Add TemplateData ==

Add the {{mw|Extension:TemplateData|TemplateData}} extension to allow setting data for templates. This will help editors because they will be able to see the data of templates.

== MediaWiki 1.30.0?! ==

This wiki is [[Special:Version|currently]] on [[mw:MediaWiki 1.30|MediaWiki 1.30.0]] ([[mw:Release notes/1.30|release notes]]), the first of three releases of a version of MW that reached end-of-life in June of 2019 ([[mw:Version lifecycle]]). It's thus missing multiple important security updates from 1.30.1 and 1.30.2, not to mention the two years' worth of security updates since 1.30.x reached end-of-life. Even 1.31.x will be reaching end-of-life in just over a month.

If the sysadmins here update to [[mw:MediaWiki 1.35|MediaWiki 1.35.2]] ([[mw:Release_notes/1.35|release notes]]), that version will be maintained till September of 2023, with only a few security updates in the meantime. I would '''strongly''' encourage y'all to update to 1.35.2; to promptly update if there's a .3, .4, etc.; and to make sure you switch to the next LTS release (which will presumably be 1.39) well in advance of September of '23. (Note that this will also require updating to PHP 7.3.19 or later.) [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 07:17, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

== Uptime ==
Did the website just go down? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 13:06, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

It was definitely down this weekend!
https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nxrm65
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:21, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

== Comic template lappend breaks for standalone comic links ==

For example, https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html is changed to https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html/ which isn't valid [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.15|172.69.90.15]] 15:51, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Template here, I think it needs to be changed to solve this https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Template:comic

exkcd page here https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Blue_Eyes

== May not be your problem, but FYI. ==

My typcal setup: Android tablet, with Chrome for Android (latest update), but also Firefox for Android (ditto), using default Gboard (likewise) for input.

Occasionally (notably within the last few weeks/maybe a month or so), when going in to edit an explainxkcd page through Chrome (it's how I divide up my browsing), I'm getting the cursor in the textarea box which ''can'' be used to Cut/Copy/Paste (as applicable and useful), but the on-screen keyboard isn't popping up. Page is fully loaded (can be refreshed, doesn't have the "stop loading" alternative), can go back (page viewing) and try to go back to the page editor (often to same result). Sitting and waiting doesn't pop the keyboard up, either (sat there for minutes). Happens both on home wifi and mobile connection.

If I transfer my attentions to the page to Firefox (copy URL, to use there... but I don't use that by default for expxkcd stuff) there's no problem, but then if I come back to Chrome again it seems to start working again ''anyway'' so not sure if it's just avoiding/flushing a transient problem that would also initially crop up with Firefox if I used that more.

Because editing is a different (mobile-optimised) process on Wikipedia and I can't be sure about any the equivalence of any other wiki out there (and it doesn't happen with anything else I regularly key into on Chrome) it's not something I've reproduced outwith this site, and of course desktop page-editing doesn't require touch-screen keyboard because there's a physical one.

Not getting much feedback with Chrome (really can't get on with their bugrep processes, it's too huge a project to make headway, IME), not even tried to pester the Gboard team and I've not ''seen'' anything said on here about this being a site-issue (not sure how it could be, as it's outside the remit of the core web-page rendering process and more an Android or App level of incompetence), but I thought I'd make a note of it here for future reference. Make of it what you will. Annoying but not game-breaking. And I just wanted to vent a little. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 16:54, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

== [[special:interwiki]] ==

where'd it go? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.200|172.69.68.200]] 05:07, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

== Please update MediaWiki + AbuseFilter ==

Seriously. Many scripts and such built for modern, supported versions of MW do not work here because it is so unbelievably undated. PinkAmpersand above basically covers the reason why. I also highly recommend adding the extension AbuseFilter (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter) as it immensely makes removing vandalism easier (by straight up disallowing or blocking those that do, esp if it's like the current formulaic massive-replacement vandalism.) [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:48, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

:Ditto. I feel like the main problem is that the sole person who has access to the backend either doesn't have time to update, doesn't have interest, or doesn't have the technical knowledge necessary. But yes, I agree - updating and installing an extension to help control vandalism would help this wiki tremendously. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:09, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

== ↑ ? ==

Why do some pages have ↑ at the very start? They can all be spotted by searching ↑
Is it a technical thing, vandalism, some sort of glitch? Maybe I'm just uninformed or being an idiot.
:Edit logs tell me that an IP user manually reverting vandalism somehow inserted one or more extra characters while manually reverting vandalism. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:59, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
::Should it be removed? It's not necessary and might be confusing for screenreaders... [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:00, 23 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Maybe not en-mass, I'd say. But I've dove in to delete a rogue leading <nowiki> </nowiki> tag left from a part of a prior vandalism (likewise, just before the {{template|comic}}-element) and I've promised myself that I'll remove any more that I spot (and now that arrow) in any future whole-page edit I make. Plus a small shopping-list of inessential but useful edits like making {{template|Citation needed}}s flow better when they're mispunctuated/etc.
:::But that's my solitary opinion. I'm sure hunting out and squishing this isn't a problem at all. I'm just balancing my own peculiar brand of OCD with what is somehow my also my own version of casual apathy towards other details. (Also, it probably looks better for a named account of recognised good standing to start editing potentially hundreds of pages in a session, rather than myself... potentially indistinguishable from the IP who seems to relish worn out memes in a general page-trashing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.121|162.158.159.121]] 12:20, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Is there anything else we can do to prevent vandalism? ==

There's been quite a significant uptick in vandalism recently, and I don't feel we have any effective tools to combat it. I believe one of the biggest issues here is due to the way logged-out editing works on this wiki. Blocks are completely ineffective at slowing vandals, and IP editors can vandalize with basically nothing we can do to thwart them other than revert-warring. '''Is there a better way?'''

There's been some discussion of installing AbuseFilter, but I'm not sure anything became of it. We could disable logged-out editing, but that would likely be counterproductive as we get lots of legitimate contributions from logged-out users. If there's a way to switch to location-based IPs, we could rangeblock problematic users as well as proxies. Does anyone have any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.145|162.158.78.145]] 16:11, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:I'm sort of making server side changes via telegraph so an extension is probably going to take a while to get installed. Takes a bunch of emails and followups to get single variables changed in the mediawiki settings file. There is an email verification option, and some edit frequency variables that could be set to make spam more time consuming. Don't love range blocks but wouldn't mind getting the CDN IPs dealt with so we can actually use the IP bans again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very grateful that you're working on changes under the hood. What do you think is the best way to deal with disruption in the meantime? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:19, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Could borrow a patrol bot like the ones people on main wikipedia have, could ask around. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:53, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::::There's not really a drop-in solution that you can use, especially since the server's MediaWiki version is not in sync with Wikipedia's (so a lot of the APIs etc have completely changed; when initially reverting vandalism I tried importing some scripts from enwiki but they failed as a result), but also because the bots have gotten pretty complex (using machine learning provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, for example). [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:56, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
:::::Oh I do notice mediawiki hasn't been upgraded in a while. Looks like new version of mediawiki should be dropping extremely imminently, would be nice timing for an upgrade '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:45, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== Rollback ==

Does the rollback permission exist on this wiki? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:00, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:The rollback permission of course exists but there's no group called "rollbacker" like you'd find on Wikipedia (limited to admins). You'd need the sysadmin to change the configuration to add one, which as established is not really an option right now. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:58, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== What happened to custom JavaScript? ==

I put some code in <code>[[User:Some user/common.js]]</code>, but it is not alerting 'hi' every time I load a page. Why can't we execute JavaScript anymore? Is it in response to the [[Project:Crap|crapping]] incident? [[User:Some user|Some user]] ([[User talk:Some user|talk]]) 21:16, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
:Entirely because of that, yeah. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:51, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

== My IP ==

Why is my IP address a Cloudflare address in Norway? Is this a joke of some kind that I'm missing?

Other wikis like Wikipedia are showing me my actual IP when I go to [[Special:MyContributions]], so I suspect this is a wiki misconfiguration. It changed again while I was typing this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.194|162.158.222.194]] 16:55, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
:All IPs (as this one will be) are from Cloudflare gateway IPs, because that's the default IP that the Wiki understands as the source. Cloudflare mediates all the traffic, and perhaps to some advantage (not being privvy to the logs, I can only guess how much it insulates the true server from extreme problems, but I bet it does in some way).
:There have been suggestions before to change some setting (in the MediaWiki implementation? ...can't recall exactly) to have it pick up and use the IP that the gateway reports (in its meta-request) was the origin, but that's not been enacted for Idunnowhat reason.
:Because the black-box that is the Cloudflare traffic shapes in various ways, you will find that a single user will jump around 'apparent' IPs, and I've also been in the relatively embarassing situation of replying to another IP's info and finding that I've registered on the exact same IP so that it looks like I'm stooging myself, or something.
:On the whole, though, it's a harmless quirk. And given the trivial nature of deliberately spoofing origins (even on top of assuming you get an effectively static NAT from your ISP in the first place) I don't personally see it as a problem to 'solve' this. But neither would I complain if the 'fix' were implemented if this query reminds someone that they ''were'' going to try and do the necessary tweak.
:As a lay-answer, I hope that fills you in a little. ''If'' those who have more knowledge/control of the process want to add anything or correct me, I'm sure they'll do so as soon as they can, but here's a reply to keep you going for now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 01:19, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

==Main page in categories==
{{notice|'''This discussion is marked as duplicate.''' See [[#Main Page|this discussion]].}}
[[Main_Page]] was found wrongly appearing in some newly-created categories, such as [[:Category:Cosmology]]. Could you fix it? --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 17:49, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
:Never noticed this myself, but I'll take it as read. Before checking myself, I'm wondering if this could be when the main page 'inherits' tags from the Current Comic that it features. And thus solve itself (whilst gaining others) upon a newer Current Comic. (Must surely inherit "Monday Comics"/etc, on schedule every week.)
:If it is that, perhaps the solution lies in the details contained within https://m.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Categories#Categories_and_templates_(transcluded_pages)
:Or maybe I'm wrong about it. But I have no rights to edit (thus at least examine the 'code' of) the Main page, to check my snap theory, as with most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 19:21, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

This happened again in [[:Category:Airplane banner]]. [[User:I27.O.O.I|I27.O.O.I]] ([[User talk:I27.O.O.I|talk]]) 09:00, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and it lasted as long as the latest comic was still one with particular categories. I don't intend to worry about it. If someone goes to a category that interests them and looks at the main page, as temporarily advertised, they're likely to find (as part of it) a comic which is indeed in that category. Doesn't sound like a big problem to me, except for determinin why some cats (e.g. Friday Comics) ''don't'' link to the Main page when they might be expected to...
:(PS, I know for sure that I27.O.O.I isn't the same person as ColofulGalaxy (and various others, beyond even those with the bloomin' obvious "CG" initials or other recent spoofs on the RFC1918 addresses), and I don't think I mind too much, but faking disagreements between your various IDs isn't helping, anyone... smells too much of trying to establish alibis in advance of your next attempt to vandalise the site with stupid stuff. And doesn't impress me, so I doubt it impresses anyone else either. As long as you're just doing sane things, however, I'll accept your little idiosyncracies.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.32|162.158.74.32]] 19:37, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
:(PPS: You left your fingerprint on this latter attempt to 'rescue' [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2659:_Unreliable_Connection&curid=25530&diff=307289&oldid=307282 this page]. - Spammer a few minutes before midnight, my IP reversion happened shortly after. A little later "Elisabeth" then re-spammed (modified), then another IP immediately jumps on it to restore it but with the modified undo-summary line clearly indicating that some sort of a game is being played. Please don't, it's not clever.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.34|172.70.90.34]] 02:22, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

This doesn't happen to date categories, but it happens in manually added categories such as [[:Category:Statistics]]. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

==Cannot create user page==
It says: There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[Talk:2659: Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 22:56, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
:(Removed alternative text in the link involved, to not hide behind trickery.) I think you know that there's no problem with [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] itself, except that it had become one of several pages targeted for spamming, the only one then locked down, then finding that the spammers just retargeted to its Talk page, etc.
:I'm torn between "not assuming bad faith" and "don't feed the trolls", as competing principles, so I'm spelling out the situation. However much a tribute you might think it could be, I don't think there's a future in having a new username that's directly referencing a comic which has become so frequently seen in the recent history of this wiki's edits.
:Obviously any genuine contributions are more than welcome. So prove me wrong, why don't you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 03:20, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

::Could you help now? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:13, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

: I've created your talk page. I guess that what you intended is to have a backup or mirror page for comic [[2659]]. Am I right? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:16, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

== Fanmade comics ==
A fanmade comic appeared on xkcd. Could you edit the template? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.100|172.69.23.100]] 07:21, 28 April 2023 (UTC)
:You're going to have to say more about it, at least for me. Apart from the Sandbox attempt to make a page, I haven't seen the comic you're describing anywhere. Certainly not anywhere official. Link, for our benefit? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.66|172.70.85.66]] 10:04, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

==Why doesn't this code block work?==
Does anybody know why the code block at the end of [[Transcript on xkcd|this page]] doesn't work? I've tried everything and it still looks like plain text

== Can't add RSS feed because of pubDate value on 27 Nov 2015 ==

When I try to add the RSS feed in Nextcloud News feed reader I get an error <code>Impossible to convert date : Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</code>.

[https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml W3C Feed validation] says that <code>pubDate must be an RFC-822 date-time</code> and points "Pacific Standard Time" portion as the cause of the error: <code><pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</pubDate></code>. Can you please fix the timestap for this?

== Admin request posted here because of vandalism ==

I can not currently access the admin requests page because it has been vandalized... can someone please protect the latest comic page (2805). There is some pretty childish vandalism going on there right now. Thanks!
:It's not the latest, seems like ALL. I went back to 2804, 2803, jumped back like 15 comics, all the same thing. To me the most offensive part is doing it with a nonsensical image. And why pipe it through Archive somehow? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 02:33, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
::UGH. the vandals are back at it again... we need to lock xkcd pages @NiceGuy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.2|172.70.39.2]] 00:59, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

== Way to contact the site hosters? ==

As many have pointed out the software this wiki runs on is horribly outdated. WikiEditor also isn't here for some reason. Quite a bit of messages here have seen no action. Is there some kind of contact form to reach the hosters? {{unsigned|Aaron Liu|00:36, 10 October 2023}}
: There are various levels of admin who do intervene, as and when jecessary, but I understand that the (active) ones closest to the actual hosting level of intervention are not really ready to do the (increasingly greater) degree of uprooting necessary to get a "working" system to be "marginally better working", by way of that very dangerous middle-ground of potentially being ruined entirely.
: I appreciate and anticipate the counter-arguments regarding letting it go totally unupdated, of course, just I've personally seen enough failures (participated in some, or been the actual invokee, myself) to be very sympathetic to the "if it aint (too) broke, don't fix it" tendency. But that inertia is not the only factor, of course, and the full motivations (or lack of them) of those involved is not for a lowly IP like me to explain, even if I think I know... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.42|172.69.195.42]] 01:24, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Have they posted some sort of statement? It also is most definitely not “marginally” better working, compare the source editor to that of Wikipedia and look at topic subscription etc features. Not to mention a lot of security fixes haven’t been added and this version has reached EOL long ago. Updating also would not ruin this entirely…[[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:22, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Some have also said that quite a bit of assistive scripts for modern versions don’t work. Visual Editor, while horrible, is still easier for new people to get started with. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
I've found a new reason: This wiki doesn't even allow loading userscripts! [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 01:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
:That might actually have been a conscious decition, after a 'certain user' caused chaos here, not so long ago. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 19:01, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
::It was about a year and a half ago. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::Huh? What happened? Is there a place to request gadgets then? [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 02:04, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::"What happened" involved automated vandalism (from someone who been doing it manually, then found the "better way") though I couldn't tell you the exact details, there were automated 'unvandalism's made in response, and theusafBOT/etc does some of that still, in response to non-automated(/off-site scripted) vandalism/errors that it can actually catch before ordinary users (or IPs like me) can. But certainly a certain brand of scripting was turned off to curtail the 'high intensity' vandalism phase.
:::You're more or less in the best place to request things, right here. Whether updates, (re)adding functionalitu or tweaking site settings. Can't tell if those who ''can'' do these things can't or won't do them... Or are actually absent, instead of just not replying. The cavalry has been known to come running in when necessary (e.g. when "what happened" happened) so it could be any manner of non-response (until you get one). Not necessarily the best state of affairs, but better than being confirmed absentees.
::::I ran a bot to mass-edit pages by replacing their content with the word "crap" repeatedly. I was 15 then, and I thought it was funny. It wasn't. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::As an occasional but infrequent actual-Wikipedia editor, too, I must say that if the Visual Editor is what I currently have to use for that (at least as an anonIP when using a mobile device, which tends to be when I get the urge most) then I like the unaugmented editor here more. Straight up, honest, un'wizarded' interface, where you only have to get used to markup details and not a WYSIWYG editing environment (as well?). Not sure I'd be happy with an even ''more'' 'assistive' script imposed upon me, like I dislike modern generations of Windows (and 'user friendly' linux dists). So can I just ask that functional/visible changes of the kind you seem to be asking for, if made available, aren't overimposed/left as options rather than the default (or only) choice...? Ok, so I can (or would have to) adapt, but I'd rather not. Of course, I have no weight to pull in this matter, it's just an afterthought (even as I wish you good luck with raising an admin's eyebrow, in some useful manner). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 05:14, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::::I am not asking for VisualEditor, which no one likes on Wikipedia either. For some blasted reason they made it edit HTML instead of Wikitext and it’s clunky and loads for a very long time.
::::I’m asking about the WikiEditor, aka Wikipedia’s source editor. In VE, click on the pen next to the publish button and click on “source editing”. That editor makes this one look like freaking Stone Age, syntax highlighting is especially a game-changer. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:03, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
: There’s also the annoying ReCaptcha v2 every single edit… it seems like it would be relatively easy to switch to v3 which only makes you do the challenge when you’ve visited a bit too much. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Unfortunately, that would make things easier for someone who wanted to do mass vandalism like I did. If it didn't do it every time, someone could still edit quite quickly. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.192|172.68.174.192]] 18:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
::Well, I can tell you that it doesn't always demand that I fulfil more than a tickbox (most trouble I have is when it fails to connect to give me the tickbox (or respond with anything useful when I do), for which I'm forced into one or more Previews until it will. When it ''does'' ask me to do something about it, I do often get forced through two or more request to identify traffic lights, motorbikes, stairways, bridges, hills, tractors, buses, etc, etc, etc... But I think that's more the Tesla-training Algorithm being nust greedy for my attention than the Robot-sentry having a less casual attitude to my attempt to edit. (I believe I'm on a usually untroublesome source IP/Cloudflare gateway, but it could also depend on how many others try to do things via (part of) the same route. Very, very rarely I get Google Search requesting something similar of me ((It: "You have made a lot of searches", me: "Of course I'll have play your little game, but this is my first lookup today...")), which I'm sure isn't Cloudflared, so it might reach back to my ISP's gateway and what fellow users are currently getting up to.)
::As for the guy above (and you, Liu), can't speak for how well or badly others on your own 'choice' of gateways behave. Or yourselves. Luck of the draw? For the first part, at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.174|172.69.195.174]] 20:31, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:::MediaWiki 1.40 automatically tags all edits that remove over 90% of page text with "mw-replaced". You could block all edits in mainspace with that tag, either if MediaWiki has it or through the AbuseFilter extension. While I can complete the CAPTCHAs, it's very annoying to need to Captcha every edit on a place where the main focus is edits. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 03:06, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
:::Plus, v3 doesn't just do nothing. It tracks how your cursor moves to see if it's robotic, while v2 annoyingly gives you the challenge every time. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 20:01, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
::::Presumably for touchscreen control (like mine, right this moment), it does something else than track a nonexistent mouse-pointer's passage across the monitored elements of the display... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.190|172.70.90.190]] 12:26, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
::There are a few MediaWiki plugins that help keep vandalism/spam under control without requiring users to solve a Captcha every time they make an edit. I use https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Moderation on the wiki I maintain, and it works very well. However, it does require that there be enough active moderators to approve edits, as it basically requires every single edit to be approved before it's posted. Thus, it also introduces some "lag" between when stuff is written and when it can be seen by others. I think it could work if the extension could be installed (I'm not even sure if it's supported on this version of MediaWiki) and if a good list of moderators could be put together. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I disagree with requiring edits to be approved. Unless we have extremely high vandalism, just filtering out the above tags I mentioned and using ReCAPTCHA v3 would be enough. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 23:16, 16 February 2024 (UTC)
::::Ok, fair point. However, that wouldn't stop human vandalism, just vandalism from bots. I'm not sure how much human vandalism there is, though, so it might not even be a problem. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 12:35, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::It's hard (for us 'civvies') to know how much bot-vandalism is stopped but [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Log/newusers&offset=&limit=500&type=newusers&user= probably a lot], most of which we never see, with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2503:_Memo_Spike_Connector&diff=335487&oldid=335486 occasional ones] we might see having be dealt with. (I'm guessing these things are rare (temporarily-)successful 'bots, because flesh-and-blood vandals wouldn't be occasionally doing essentially the same insta-reverted thing on a thematically-small set of pages, over several ''years'' without moving on. It has to be a lucky unattended script-based effort that just keeps trying the same things over and over with an easily revertible but tangible result happening only infrequently.)
:::::More obvious human vandalism tends to rumble on, with occasionally a spate of it as someone gets short-term kicks for it. Though some of them seem may repeat themself after a break. Friendly humans and friendly 'bots both tend to provide the main anti-vandalism responses fairly quickly, though, depending upon what kind of a mess they caused. I've seen worse places, definitely, and it's by no means a losing battle against chaos, just regular skermishes.
:::::Not wanting to tempt fate, of course. I guarantee that there'll be some fool that takes all this as a challenge, so I just have to trust to the Good Guys keeping on keeping on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.71|172.70.90.71]] 14:21, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

heyo, is there a way to add actual citations to explainxkcd instead of the template citation needed? couldn't find anything, but i'm pretty new here - thanks in advance. [[User:Nigga|Nigga]] ([[User talk:Nigga|talk]]) 21:47, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
:Not that I have much faith in your usernae lasting long (you're 'that guy', aren't you? ...in which case you know anyway), but for the sake of anyone else who needs to know:
:*If you mean "add an actual 'citation needed' tag", then it's {{template|Actual citation needed}} that you'll use.
:*If you mean "add an actual citation link to somewhere", then:
:** Link to URLs with [].
:*** A link such as [<url>] will give you a superscript-number link, which isn't pretty, IMO.
:*** A link such as [<url> <text>] (that's a space between the two) will link <text> to the URL, just work it into the sentence you're writing, fairly easy
:** Link to internal (or cross-wiki) pages with [[]].
:*** [[<page title>]] will make a literal link to <page title>.
:*** [[<page title>|<text>]] (with a pipe) is how you make the <text> your link.
:** You can use the last to link specifically to wikipedia's cross-site format, but for that it's best to use {{template|w}}
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe...) uses the page title
:**** It will use the link as if the first character is uppercase, so you don't need to capitalise that. Other case-sensitivity is preserved.
:**** <nowiki>{{w|<singular page title>}}s</nowiki> will link the obvious pluralisation of the page title, just to save you effort
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>|<text>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe and pipe) lets you use entirely alternate text.
:** There's also templates that shortcut (or make easier on the eye, or add appropriate warnings) for some other commonly referenced external sites, from xkcd's own what-if to TVTropes.
:...hope that helps everyone that doesn't already know these few simple bits as relate to wikis in general or this wiki in particular. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.218|172.71.242.218]] 22:24, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

== Confirmation Email Bug ==

Hi. I've been trying to get my email confirmed so that I can get pinged when pages are edited, but I just can't find it, even after trying multiple times. I use Gmail, and yes, I have checked my spam folder. Has anyone else had this issue? EDIT: I see that others have had this issue, but the admins haven't done any action to solve it, except for one sarcastic comment by Davidy22 back in 2014. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:43, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

== Lack of Userpage ==

Hey, I joined a few years ago, but I still do not have a Userpage. Can you make one for me? I do not have the permission to do so. [[User:GreyFox|GreyFox]] ([[User talk:GreyFox|talk]]) 22:47, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
:This is actually your very first post, after joining a bit more than a year ago ("18:35, 14 November 2023 User account GreyFox (talk | contribs) was created"). I'm sure someone can oblige (not me, for obvious reasons), but you've not done much to contribute (at least under this account), which would have then eventually brought you to the point where you ''can'' just self-create your Userpages/etc. So your request is a bit out of the blue.
:Just so long as we all know where we stand, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.227|172.69.194.227]] 09:42, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
::Oh, thanks! Do you know the exact number of edits I need to create it?
:::50 to be autoconfirmed. Also, please sign your comments. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:23, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

== server errors ==
is anyone else constantly getting 503 errors? [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 17:14, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:yup, been seeing those all the time. Also seeing that the server is down a lot of time-it suggests me to Google for what I’m “looking for” [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:18, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
::503s are fairly common (often when I'm in a rush), and have been for... well, certainly years, maybe more than a decade (though more common during major vandalism/anti-vandalism surges). I had, however, noticed a recent blip (during the last day or so) of the Server Down/Try Google page that you refer to, which I haven't seen for a ''long'' time (not really sure when, but maybe five years or so ago). In fact, I probably got Cloudflare 'rejections' more, during aformentioned vandal-overloading.
::Without any access to the admin logs, I can only speculate as to what might be sparking it. But service (notwithstanding the brief page-refusals themselves) seems to be happily unaffected. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 20:29, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

2307: Alive Or Not

2024-05-21T12:56:21Z

172.70.160.249: /* Things ranked as alive */ typo

{{comic
| number = 2307
| date = May 15, 2020
| title = Alive Or Not
| image = alive_or_not.png
| titletext = Computer viruses currently fall somewhere between prions and fire.
}}

==Explanation==
There is no universally-accepted definition of "{{w|life}}"; {{w|Life#Definitions|all definitions}} thus far proposed have either excluded some things commonly understood to be alive or included some things commonly understood to not be alive. Take reproduction, a trait commonly assumed to be essential and unique to life; by this definition, anything which cannot reproduce (including {{w|mules}}, {{w|worker bees}}, and postmenopausal women) would be considered nonliving, while anything which can duplicate itself (including {{w|computer viruses}}, {{w|3D printers|advanced 3D printers}}, and {{w|fire}}—see below) would be considered alive.

Many more elaborate definitions of life have been attempted over the decades. Some common additional factors include:

* {{w|Homeostasis}}, the ability to control an internal environment to maintain a constant state;
* {{w|Metabolism}}, converting nutrients into energy and building blocks for growth, reproduction, and so on;
* {{w|Adaptation}} through heredity and natural selection; and
* Responding to the environment.

Despite all of this, the only definite definition of "life" is "something everyone agrees is alive" - and even then, that’s also indefinite because of the further ambiguity of what counts as part of “everyone”. This comic attempts to rank several types of things by how likely people are to perceive them as "alive". As there is a debate as to whether viruses are alive or not, [[Randall]] has taken a side, and may spark debate, by putting viruses above the alive line.

Given that this comic was released during the early days of the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic, viruses are for sure on Randall's mind, given that most comics more than a month before this one was about COVID-19. And this comic is most likely inspired by this, and the previous comic [[2306: Common Cold]], where the cold viruses are definitely alive, and afraid.

=== Things ranked as alive ===

* '''Animals (normal)'''
* '''Animals (weird ones like jellyfish and coral)''': Randall's categorization of animals as "normal" or "weird" can be seen as a simplified version of the {{w|Great chain of being}}, a philosophical framework in which humans are seen as the most "advanced" form of life, followed by a divine or otherwise justified hierarchy of progressively lesser life-forms (mammals, birds, fish, lizards, insects, and so on). Categorizing weird animals was already done in [[1587: Food Rule]]. Corals may be considered as lying between animals and fungi because corals, like, fungi and plants, are {{w|Sessility (motility)|sessile}}, i.e., they "grow" in one place. Jellyfish are not sessile, but {{w|Cnidaria#Basic_body_forms|many jellyfish are very similar to corals}} in different generations. The more unlike ourselves that creatures are, the more incomprehensible their 'lives' are to casual inspection - whilst being definitely alive and officially members of the Animal Kingdom, {{w|Sponge#Coordination of activities|some creatures}} can be very weird indeed.
* '''{{w|Fungi}}''': Fungi represent a unique lineage of eukaryotic, mostly multicellular organisms. Although historically studied by botanists specializing in the sub-discipline "mycology", modern scholarship places fungi in the "opisthokont" lineage, which contains both the animals and the fungi. Fungi, like animals, cannot make complex organic molecules from carbon dioxide, and must consume organic molecules as food to survive. Like plants, fungi are typically unable to move on their own. The various types of fungi include mushrooms, yeasts, rusts, smuts, and molds. Fungi evolution is also referenced in [[1749: Mushrooms]].
* '''{{w|Plant}}s''': Those often green<nowiki>[</nowiki>{{w|Viridiplantae|citation needed}}<nowiki>]</nowiki>, often leafy things outside your current isolation dwelling, sometimes inside, next to the window. They are primarily distinguished from other eukaryotes by being able to use photosynthesis to convert water, carbon dioxide and energy from light into sugar and free oxygen.
* '''{{w|Slime mold}}s''': Slime molds are eukaryotic single-celled organisms (so "more advanced" than bacteria). In the "plasmodial" slime molds, the "single cell" may expand to spread across several feet of territory, and weigh several pounds, while the "cellular" slime molds are most notable for their occasional congregation into macro-sized colonies which can appear to move as a single creature. It's interesting that Randall ranks them as "less alive" than fungi (which they were once thought to be), especially given some of their curious behaviors (e.g. [https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/18/slime-mould-rail-road-transport-routes optimizing transportation networks] when presented with a collection of food flakes and obstacles).
* '''{{w|Bacteria}}''': Bacteria are one of two groups of prokaryotes, meaning cells that do not contain a nucleus and rarely harbor membrane-bound organelles. A small portion of Bacteria are pathogenic, but most are actually harmless. Bacteria's ability to convert raw materials into nutrients available for other living things makes them essential to other living things.
* '''{{w|Archaea}}''': Archaea (misspelled as ''Archea'' by Randall) is a {{w|domain (biology)|domain}} of organisms, which do not fall under eukaryotes or bacteria. They are single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus, and were initially thought to be ancient lineages of bacteria (i.e. ''archaeobacteria'') found in extreme environments similar to the early Earth, which is probably why Randall ranks them as "less alive" than bacteria. However, it is now known that they live pretty much everywhere that regular bacteria do, and that they have very distinct biochemistry from bacteria; they are actually more closely related to eukaryotes (i.e. slime molds and up) than bacteria are.
* '''{{w|Virus}}es''': Viruses are infectious agents consisting of a genome surrounded by a protein or lipid shell. When a virus contacts a cell, it delivers its genome inside the cell which causes the cells' reproductive machinery to create more viruses. Since viruses are incapable of reproducing without the aid of larger cells, [https://www.google.com/search?q=are+viruses+alive it is often debated] whether or not they are actually alive. Randall has ranked viruses as "alive" but on the lowest possible rung of such; indeed, many biologists say [https://askabiologist.asu.edu/questions/are-viruses-alive viruses fall in a gray area], or that [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848616300103 the question is arbitrary and non-scientific]. By another criterion life on Earth is defined by the presence of extremely long molecules that can be replicated (copied). Every organism above viruses contains both DNA and RNA. Viruses only contain either RNA or DNA. Nothing below here contains any (biologically active) DNA or RNA. This comic came out the day after [[2306: Common Cold]], where cold virus was anthropomorphized and was asking humans to stop with all their hand washing when the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic is over. Thus those viruses were definitely alive. Maybe that comic inspired this one.

===Things ranked as not alive===
* '''{{w|Prions}}''': Prions are misfolded proteins that cause other proteins to misfold. They are most famously the cause of various brain diseases such as "{{w|mad cow disease}}", and may be involved in Alzheimer's disease. Similarly to viruses, prions require something else to replicate, but unlike viruses, they do not possess a nucleic-acid genome or any other means of carrying heritable information, and they do not alter the cell's production machinery, but rather interact with proteins which are already made. In that sense, they're more like a particularly tricky kind of metabolic waste product or pollution.
* (from title text) '''{{w|Computer virus}}es''': A piece of code which hijacks computer systems to replicate itself, named by analogy to biological viruses. Strictly speaking, they're just a particular encoding of information, usually stored in electromagnetic media (although there's no reason one couldn't be stored on punch cards). Randall ranks them as "''currently''" more alive than fire, because they do carry "genetic" information (which anti-virus programs can be programmed to look for, analogous to immunity) and some are capable of modifying themselves to adapt to new environments, but less alive than prions because they only operate within information systems. However, if viruses became more intelligent, or a virus were able to e.g. hijack an electronics factory to start making flash drives and memory cards that carry the virus's code, then perhaps it might move up in the hierarchy.
* '''{{w|Fire}}''': Fire is a common example of something which meets many common definitions for life; it grows, reproduces by spreading seeds (sparks), and consumes energy and excretes waste (ashes and smoke) by the same net chemical process as respiration. However, while fire can be a necessary part of the life cycle of other organisms (e.g. redwood trees), it does not maintain a constant environment within itself, nor does it perform {{w|anabolism}}, the construction of larger molecules from smaller ones. Respirating life-forms use helper molecules to moderate the oxidation reaction into small steps to produce useful units of energy, rather than letting it all happen at once to produce heat.
* '''{{w|Clouds}}''': Random shapes taken by clouds may resemble animals and other objects, but arguably they are not alive in any sense. Things like tornadoes and hurricanes, on the other hand, can meet some definitions of life: they maintain homeostasis, actively seek and consume energy, and occasionally reproduce. Cf. ''Fire'' above.
* '''{{w|Fossils}}''': Fossils are the petrified remains of once-living organisms, so in that sense they are more connected to life than "regular rocks", and some may hold DNA that could theoretically be used to clone the fossilized life-form.
* '''{{w|Rocks}} shaped like faces''': Humans have an extremely advanced capability for seeing patterns, and one of the most powerful patterns we seek is {{w|Face perception|faces}}, so much so that we see faces even where they don't exist (a common form of {{w|pareidolia}}). Humans instinctively anthropomorphize any object which vaguely resembles a face as having a sense of attention and mood, and so a rock shaped like a face would likely be treated differently than a rock not shaped like a face. Randall does not distinguish between rocks intentionally carved to look like faces (such as the famous {{w|Moai}} sculptures) or rocks that happen to look vaguely like faces under the right lighting conditions (such as the famous {{w|Face on Mars}}.)
* '''Regular {{w|rocks}}''': Modern taxonomy originates from Carl Linnaeus, who categorized all objects on Earth as animals, plants (often stated as "''vegetable''" in quiz games like Twenty Questions), or minerals. Minerals are most obviously not alive, although some cultures and works of fiction have creatures that turn to stone and will return later to life, and some people keep {{w|Pet Rock|rocks as "pets"}}.

Interestingly, the vertical line linking the categories extends beyond both the most-alive and least-alive things, making one wonder what Randall might think is more alive than "normal animals" or less alive than "regular rocks". In the latter direction an explanation might be that shortly before this comic the scientific press wrote about heat-resistant bacteria that live in the desert and slowly eat regular rocks generating their own water in this process making even the sand in the desert partially alive.

==Transcript==
:[A chart consisting of vertical line, with 14 dots and a horizontal dashed dividing line drawn across the list a bit below the middle. Each dot has a label to the right of the line with a line pointing to the dot they belong to. Above and below the dividing line is a label with a broad arrow pointing up above and down below.]
:Up arrow: Alive
:Down arrow: Not alive

:[Dot labels from top to bottom above the dashed line:]
:Animals (Normal)
:Animals (Weird ones like jellyfish and coral)
:Fungi
:Plants
:Slime molds
:Bacteria
:Archea
:Viruses

:[Dot labels from top to bottom below the dashed line:]
:Prions
:Fire
:Clouds
:Fossils
:Rocks shaped like faces
:Regular rocks

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Mycology]]

2932: Driving PSA

2024-05-14T14:27:05Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2932
| date = May 13, 2024
| title = Driving PSA
| image = driving_psa_2x.png
| imagesize = 414x538px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This PSA brought to you by several would-be assassins who tried to wave me in front of speeding cars in the last month and who will have to try harder next time.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CLUELESS BOT DRIVING AT 72.42048 km/h (20.1168 m/s) (outpaced by raptor) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A PSA is a {{w|Public Service Announcement}}. Some drivers, when having priority (often informally called "right of way") by the rules of the road, will let others take it before them. This comic is saying that people who exhibit this behavior are actually {{w|The_Terminator|Terminator}}-style assassins, sent to kill people by sending them into oncoming traffic and making it look like an accident.

The title text explains that Randall made this PSA because he has experienced this multiple times in the last month. Since this behavior is often catastrophically dangerous, he believes the action could only be performed by time-travel assassins. As such, he has not accepted the right of way, and thus believes himself to have evaded death. He then says that, since he already knows this trick, the assassins should try harder. Such a claim that assassins are actively trying to murder him using "right of way" would be treated as a conspiracy theory by most people.

Despite the PSA's conspiratorial presentation, this is good advice. This habit is sometimes called "the wave of death", because it is common for such "generous" drivers to forget about other lanes that also have priority over the crossing driver or pedestrian, and cluelessly wave them through right into the path of another car which is traveling at full speed. Always check for yourself that your way is clear, and if your view is blocked, sit tight. While Randall likely exaggerated this for comical effect, it could actually be helpful in making the advice more memorable and therefore more likely to save lives.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Driving PSA:
:Random drivers can’t grant you the right of way as a gift.
:[A T-intersection with a major road separated by a concrete median going from top to bottom, and a minor road coming from the left]
:[A car is parked to the right of the minor road]
:First car: You, waiting to turn left
:[A second car is parked in the left turning lane of the right major road, with a third car, a truck hauling cargo, and a fourth car lined up behind it]
:Second car [in a speech bubble]: You go ahead! I’m feeling generous.
:Second car: Time traveler pretending to be polite
:[In the second lane is a black arrow pointing upwards, with text below it reading 45 MPH, and a fifth car below the text]
:Fifth car: Car that they are waving you into the path of
:If someone waves you out, assume that they are an assassin sent from the future to kill you and make it look like an accident.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Time travel]]

Talk:2932: Driving PSA

2024-05-14T08:24:49Z

172.70.160.249:

Did the best I could on the explanation, even if it's a bit clunky. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 03:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Pretty lame strategy. Even with someone waving me on, when I get past them I'll look to the right to make sure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:22, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe they're not trying to kill Randall, but the person in the other lane. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 05:00, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:It doesn't even need to be a fatal crash. Maybe the person in the other lane is an obstetrician who will intercede in a complex childbirth, and this "accident" will be major enough that that no longer happens, and the child dies... [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 06:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::Or possibly the aim is actually to engineer a meet-cute between Randall and the driver of the other car, so that a critical birth can (eventually) take place...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:24, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Just curious, as I'm from Germany - does the USA have no traffic lights? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.210|198.41.242.210]] 07:15, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Uncontrolled intersection with a left turn onto a 4-lane road? US road design, combined with US car-centric settlement planning, must have been made by those more clever, trying-harder assassins that Randall mentions in the title text, and it looks like they've got a lot of people on their list. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.229.131|162.158.229.131]] 07:20, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

: If it was a single lane street, and not three-lane road (or stroad), then accepting granting the right of way / waving in would be perfectly safe (assuming that you watch left). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:23, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2932: Driving PSA

2024-05-14T08:24:26Z

172.70.160.249:

Did the best I could on the explanation, even if it's a bit clunky. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 03:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Pretty lame strategy. Even with someone waving me on, when I get past them I'll look to the right to make sure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:22, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe they're not trying to kill Randall, but the person in the other lane. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 05:00, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:It doesn't even need to be a fatal crash. Maybe the person in the other lane is an obstetrician who will intercede in a complex childbirth, and this "accident" will be major enough that that no longer happens, and the child dies...
[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 06:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::Or possibly the aim is actually to engineer a meet-cute between Randall and the driver of the other car, so that a critical birth can (eventually) take place...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:24, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Just curious, as I'm from Germany - does the USA have no traffic lights? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.210|198.41.242.210]] 07:15, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Uncontrolled intersection with a left turn onto a 4-lane road? US road design, combined with US car-centric settlement planning, must have been made by those more clever, trying-harder assassins that Randall mentions in the title text, and it looks like they've got a lot of people on their list. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.229.131|162.158.229.131]] 07:20, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

: If it was a single lane street, and not three-lane road (or stroad), then accepting granting the right of way / waving in would be perfectly safe (assuming that you watch left). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:23, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

1706: Genetic Testing

2024-05-13T21:19:25Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ Ceveril spilling eerors! ;)

{{comic
| number = 1706
| date = July 13, 2016
| title = Genetic Testing
| image = genetic_testing.png
| titletext = Plus, now I know that I have risk factors for elbow dysplasia, heartworm, parvo, and mange.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] has sent a DNA sample to a {{w|genetic genealogy}} company. The implied premise of the comic is that Cueball intended to send his own DNA to one of the several companies that analyze human DNA samples and provide a report as to the genetic history of that person - examples include notable/famous ancestors or relatives, ethnic background, risk factors for certain medical conditions, etc. However, the result that Cueball receives is consistent with a report for a {{w|purebred dog|dog pedigree}} test, breaking down the percentage of certain breeds present in a dog's ancestry. [[Megan]] suggests that Cueball has sent his sample to the wrong company. Cueball appears to agree in principle, but (seriously or jokingly - it is unclear) indicates that he intends to hedge his bets and avoid chocolate just in case he actually is, in fact, a dog. Dogs are generally susceptible to {{w|theobromine poisoning|poisoning from theobromine}}, a compound found in chocolates which causes seizures and heart failure in dogs (and many other creatures). Basically, if Cueball really is a dog, then eating chocolate could kill him.

This comic mirrors a real life example of this [https://interestingengineering.com/culture/consumer-dna-testing-company-gets-duped-by-dog-dna where a man sent in three DNA samples] to a Canadian company (Viaguard Accu-Metrics) claiming to be able to distinguish between Aboriginal (Canadian Indian/Indigenous peoples) tribes. Two of the samples was of his own DNA, however one of the samples was of a dog's DNA. The company claimed that both him and the dog were 20% Aboriginal. It claimed that they were 12% Abenaki and 8% Mohawk. Later, CNN sent in DNA from people who had confirmed ancestry in India and Russia, while other DNA testing companies got their ancestry correct, Viaguard Accu-Metrics also claimed that both the Russian and the Indian had 20% Aboriginal ancestry.

[https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-human-DNA-is-shared-with-other-things 82%] or [http://www.thehumangenome.co.uk/THE_HUMAN_GENOME/Primer.html 94%] of genes (depending on how you measure it) are shared between humans and dogs. National Geographic erroneously reported that only [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1207_051207_dog_genome.html 5%] of human DNA is shared with dogs and mice, which may have misled Randall Munroe. This leads to several possible interpretations of the comic: It is possible (as Cueball suggests in the last panel) that he is, in fact, a dog with excellent human impersonation skills, or that he somehow shares DNA with a dog. It is possible that Cueball mistakenly sent a sample of a dog's DNA (perhaps his own) somehow thinking that is the method of testing ''his own'' DNA. Perhaps Cueball submitted his own (human) DNA to a dog pedigree company and their method of testing includes a presumption of dog DNA, and therefore was able to produce this result from Cueball's sample. Or perhaps this comic is a suggestion that some DNA test companies are scams that do not even perform DNA tests, but simply send out arbitrary reports that are not based on any testing.

The title text refers to the fact that certain dog breeds are more or less susceptible to disease. The diseases he mentions, {{w|elbow dysplasia}}, {{w|Dirofilaria immitis|heartworm}}, {{w|parvovirus|parvo virus}} and {{w|mange}} are several diseases that can end up killing, disfiguring or disabling dogs, but which humans are generally not susceptible to. As noted above, ancestry DNA test results can inform people about their genetic risk factors for disease, either by specifically investigating your own DNA for those risk factors or, more likely (and less costly) by informing of what risk factors are generally prevalent in your ancestry or others people sharing the same ancestry as you.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are talking to each other.]
:Cueball: I sent a DNA sample to one of those "Trace your ancestry" projects.
:Megan: How legit are those?
:Cueball: No idea. I just figured it'd be fun.

:Six weeks later...
:[Cueball walks towards Megan with a letter in his hand.]
:Cueball: Sweet, got my results back.
:Megan: Ooh, share!

:Ancestry Report
::48% Labrador Retriever
::35% Beagle
::12% Cocker Spaniel
::5% Other

:[Megan is holding the report.]
:Megan: I think you sent your sample to the wrong service.
:Cueball: Just in case, I should probably start avoiding chocolate.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2928: Software Testing Day

2024-05-12T13:07:55Z

172.70.160.249: /* Explanation */ Not necessarily 'abuse'. Could be perfectly valid calculation.

{{comic
| number = 2928
| date = May 3, 2024
| title = Software Testing Day
| image = software_testing_day_2x.png
| imagesize = 255x408px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The company tried to document how often employees were celebrating Software Testing Day, but their recordkeeping system kept mysteriously crashing.
}}

==Explanation==
The upcoming holiday Megan is referring to could be Cartoonist Day, which is on May 5th (same day as Mexico's Cinco de Mayo). As a cartoonist himself, this may be Randall's way of celebrating it.

Quality Assurance (QA) engineers are responsible for ensuring the quality of some product through the use of testing. In software, this process often involves entering bizarre and/or nonsense inputs in an attempt to break the software. Cueball, a QA engineer in this case, expresses concern that the scheduling system might crash. This could either be because as a QA engineer he is concerned about crashes in general, or that as a system used by QA engineers it likely has a lot of weird/invalid values that could cause a crash.

For example, here it seems that Software Testing Day, a day likely celebrated by QA engineers, takes place every −1 years on January 0th at 25:71 PM. That statement is nonsensical in the following ways:

* The frequency of a recurring event is always expressed as a positive amount of time, so a negative value like “every −1 years” does not make sense.
* The first day of the month is the 1st, not the 0th. (There is an entire ''category'' of bugs/errors which result from numbering systems being mistaken for {{w|Zero-based_numbering|starting with 0 instead of 1}}, or vice versa.)
* There are ({{w|Daylight_saving_time|in most cases}}) only 24 hours in a day, so “25” is (in most cases) too large, and even where there is a switch from Daylight Saving Time, clocks simply repeat the hour before midnight, so the numbers above 24 hours are not displayed, even if using the 24-hour notation.
** In addition, the “PM” suggests that it is a 12-hour time, so the expected range of values for the hour is 1 to 12, making the “25” even more nonsensical.
* There are only 60 minutes in an hour, so “71” is too large of a minute.

Apparently, though this date is nonsensical, the QA engineers have decided to make this date a celebration day. Probably since, as expressed in the comic, the software for keeping track of the date has crashed. Another interpretation of this comic could be how software always crashes in one form or another when being tested, and thus the nonsensical date implies that successful runs of software is never celebrated.

All numerical values are out of range, suggesting that a QA engineer picked this date to test the scheduling system. If the date were to be made sense through under/overflow, it would result on January 1st at 14:11 (2:11 PM). And the -1 year interval could be interpreted to mean it happens every year (perhaps with the annual events being numbered backwards). Alternatively, an attempt to enter these numbers might be rejected as invalid, forcing the user to enter a properly formatted date and time. Both "January" and "PM" are acceptable values; because these two items tend to be selected from predetermined lists since they have an extremely limited number of possible values, it's rarely possible to enter an invalid value for either of these fields.

The title text suggests that the recordkeeping system used to see how often employees celebrated Software Testing Day kept crashing, possibly due to the employees purposefully inputting nonsensical dates or a date that occurred prior to the previous celebration. QA engineers may have semi-accidentally crashed the system by testing it, or deliberately crashed it to disguise the frequency of their days off.

In real life, such invalid dates would be rejected or coerced to be valid dates. Failing to account for invalid dates may result in errors, sometimes catastrophic, such as [https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/12/azure_leap_day_confirmed/ the February 29, 2012 Microsoft Azure outage] caused by the server trying to generate a certificate valid until February 29, 2013, a date that does not exist as 2013 being a non-leap year.

Treatment of invalid dates varies by the chosen programming language and date-time library. Javascript, for example, would coerce January 0th into December 31st, and 25 o’clock into 1 o’clock the following day. While there is no way to directly create a Javascript Date object using 12-hour notation (because that requires text parsing, and the validation of the text input would just result in an invalid date), the following code snippet represents how far this correction can be taken advantage of:

// In Javascript, month 0 is January
const d = new Date(2024, 0, 0, 25+12, 71);
console.log(d); // prints “Mon Jan 01 2024 14:11:00” (exact format depends on your locale)

An event happening every −1 years is equivalent to one that happens every year, but the numbers are reversed; i.e. if this year hosts the 1st Software Testing Day, next year will host the 0th Software Testing Day. This is expected to cause issues in software that assumes that the 2nd Software Testing Day will occur after the 1st Software Testing Day, an assumption that time only moves in one direction that [[2867: DateTime|may or may not]] be reasonable.

The holiday may be due to the claim of "we really can't do anything else, during this automated process", using the same sort of logic as [[303: Compiling]] justified for the programming team. Albeit that here we explicitly learn that a failure behind the scenes will cancel the 'sanctioned' pausing/idling-away of contracted work hours, much as a notable compilation/build error would interupt the others' few minutes of office sports.

===Unusual date-time notation in real life===
* Seconds usually go from 0 to 59. However, when a leap second is added, December 31st, 23:59:59 UTC is followed by 23:59:60 (11:59:60 PM) before starting the new year.
* "24:00" can be used to unambiguously state the ''closing'' midnight of a given date. i.e. the same as "00:00" upon the next, but without the ambiguity as to which 'midnight' bookending of the given date it might refer to, e.g. for deadlines.
** It can be generally used to simplify the understanding of how much time is encompassed by a period starting at a pre-midnight time and ending at a post-midnight one.
* Japan, in particular, [https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/16/7b/00/cd/proof-that-there-are.jpg uses] [https://preview.redd.it/qulk93jj2w731.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=6b8a8abe10579156b853fff140f5f08dce7646f8 hour numbers] greater than 24 to express times past midnight but before sunrise. For example, 25:00 on a Friday is the same time as 1:00 the following Saturday. This is mainly used to express the starting times of midnight TV programming and the closing times of bars and other establishments open late at night. The hours usually go up to 27, but numbers up to 30 (6AM of the following day) are also seldom seen. It allows the timepoint to 'belong' to the normal working day that precedes it, rather than setting it prior to the normally expected start of business for the day after (especially when that involved weekends).

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball stand facing each other.]
:Megan: So, do you and the other QA engineers have any fun plans for the holiday?
:Cueball: Yeah, assuming the scheduling system doesn't crash.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Software Testing Day is a holiday celebrated every -1 years on January 0th at 25:71 PM.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Calendar]]