explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2822: *@gmail.com

2023-08-31T12:16:01Z

172.71.178.153:

Why not send to *@*.*? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.45|172.69.247.45]] 03:08, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
:Either *@* suffices (if not just a *), or (because of non-standard wildcard parsing) it would reach neither ''<whatever@mydomain.me.uk>'' nor ''<something@business.com.au>''... But it'd depend upon how you invoke the query of the relevent MXRecords. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.22|172.71.178.22]] 03:18, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Based on the caption of the comic, I believe the real joke is that many GMail recipients of the original mass email would incorrectly use the "Reply-All" functionality of their email client and thereby further bomb the gmail server with a much larger volume of emails. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:21, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

:That's certainly part of it, but getting millions of emails is far more annoying than the typical few. [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 04:44, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

I have a setup to shorten mail notifications and "XKCD: *.gmail.com" totally looks like something it could output as the sender name, so for a moment I got very confused why the latest comic was suddenly sent from a GMail address and with no subject. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 05:51, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Add to this the unfortunate tendency to promote Top-Posting (I'm looking at you, Outlook Express, but the various successors and competitors over the last three decades need not have followed that most unconventional convention too!) and 'email chains' of nested replies so easily build up in volumes that never would if each sender were encouraged to actually read through the prior chain of messaging (perhaps realise their contribution was unnecessary, given what someone already else said two iterations ago!) and judiciously prune out the historic ">>>>..."ed contributions that they aren't replying to. It also lets you mid-post (respond to a paragraph/point immediately after that embedded paragraph/point, to skip and excising later points intelligently) and stops it from becoming a hige hidden upside-down tree of ''everything'' in that message's history. (Which can also be a different problem... Something might have been said early on that might be best not to repeat to a later "copied in" contributor, for security or even politeness reasons, but now it's there to be discovered.) But, instead, the modern solution is to hide these top-post tree-roots behind client-side "collapsed"-content and keep forwarding all historic context ''unless'' someone takes time to scroll down-down-down from their "Yeah, I agree" simple response and snip the "..."-worthy stuff out (as well as many, many repetitions of "Please don't print this email out if you don't have to", "This email is intended only for the stated recipients", "The views of this sender do not necessarily reflect the views of his company", etc, often adding up and combining into .sig additions much larger than their respective senders' contributions). Plus an often confusing attempt to "threadify" multiple received messages, which (done right) would actually do better than the retention of a full and unexpurgated reply tree within Every. Single. Individual. Email! ...can you tell that I've been annoyed about this for pretty much almost thirty years? And it really hasn't been made any better over the last decade or so. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 12:16, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

User talk:NiceGuy1

2023-08-26T13:10:43Z

172.71.178.153: /* *cough* */ new section

==Andrew vs NiceGuy1==
Hi NiceGuy1. Was looking at the [[Special:ContributionScores|Contribution scores]], and was wondering who Andrew was. When I clicked in, I was directed to your page. Can you explain why your account list your contributions under a different name? Just curious --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:51, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:Andrew is my real name, I didn't realize I had put it on my account (this was a few years ago now), and I'm not sure why ExplainXKCD would be using it anywhere like that instead of my user name. ??? I certainly don't approve. And I don't see any Account page where I can see it listed at all... As it is I'm annoyed that the site keeps insisting on showing my username as red, saying my Talk page doesn't exist (this message MAY have changed that, but it doesn't look like it). Might be that it needs confirmation but the site refuses to send me the confirmation email. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:31, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::I've created your user page, so now your username doesn't appear red. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 13:55, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Thanks! Though it HAS been handy for spotting my comments, :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:54, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:Found the Preferences page, it has an optional entry for "Real Name", I entered Andrew there. I would question why ExplainXKCD is showing Real Name anywhere. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:37, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::Have you then changed it to NiceGuy1, that would be smart for you and others (I have put in Kynde as my real name there I see now). Agree that it is silly it post the real name. But guess the contribution score looks deeper... I'm happy you contribute so much. Did not know of course as I knew NiceGuy but not Andrew was posting changes ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:11, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Yeah, I guess I should do that. It seems wrong to put anything besides my real name as Real Name, but looks like that's the best thing to do. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:54, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

== Notifying of an overdue reply ==

Hi there,

As I was very late replying to you on [[Talk:2736: Only Serifs]], I just wanted to notify you that I have replied out of courtesy.

Apologies for the delay! There's no obligation to reply; I just figured it would make sense to let you know. --[[User:Sophira|Sophira]] ([[User talk:Sophira|talk]]) 12:32, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

== Huge vandalism returned ==

Hello there... Apparently the xkcd vandalism with childish pictures has returned yet again... Do you think we need automated bots to revert this type of inane BS vandalism? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.122|172.70.42.122]] 01:01, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
:Well, I have no ability to implement bots, and feels like a steep learning curve to learn to program one... I HAVE to think that admins can block the guilty IP addresses? Or at least can lock editing pages, or restrict it until the immature people give up. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 14:16, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

== *cough* ==

A [https://www.lspace.org/fandom/filks/genfilk/the-lurkers-support-me-in-email.html word to the wise], maybe..? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 13:10, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2801: Contact Merge

2023-07-13T12:39:56Z

172.71.178.153: /* three dots */

Same person.
:All three of them...[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 08:32, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Why is he only using John's first name when talking about him, as if Surf King should know who that is, when it's clear they've "never met"?
Shouldn't it be: My phone keeps wanting to merge you with my friend John Smith? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.30|172.71.178.30]] 07:46, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Because he's spectacularly unaware, and assumes that everyone that he 'knows' also know each other?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.110|172.70.90.110]] 08:16, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

This is the first XKCD in a long time that I have absolutely no understanding of. Who is Surf King? Even Google doesn't bring anything up (I assumed it was someone well known in the USA but unknown to the few of us that don't live in that country). Please someone post an explanation soon! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.46|162.158.74.46]] 09:06, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:No one in particular. Just someone named John. The short explanation is that his phone figured out that "Surf King" and "John" are the same person/contact while Cueball remains ignorant. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 09:18, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::I see now. I think I was reading too much into it. I usually assume Randall is operating on a level far above my own! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.146|172.69.79.146]] 10:02, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

I took the "4 years" thing to mean that Cueball had been chatting with SurfKing for 4 years (not an idle chat, but still actively used), and has somehow missed the fact that it's his friend John he's been talking with the whole time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.25|172.70.38.25]] 11:51, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and I think it's probably a group chat. It might not be that unusual for someone to use a nickname in a group chat (maybe because someone else gave them that nickname). The group chat context might also make it more likely that a context would have been established where Cueball might expect that everyone would know who "John" was, though as pointed out above, Cueball is pretty clueless.[[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 11:56, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:: Adding, I think it has to be a group chat because it would be too strange even for Cueball if he started a one-on-one chat with Surf King without knowing who he was, but if some friend added them both to a chat this situation might make sense. [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:05, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::: One more, sorry: This *has* to be a group text because Cueball is @-ing Surf King. You don't need to @ someone if they're the only other person you're talking to. (Also Surf King must be pretty annoyed if he's managed to break out the bold italics in a group text, I don't think most texting services support that.) [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:11, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::(Comment below edit-conflicted by sub-thread thisnisvindented to... Adding this replybafter, but same timestamp.)
::I deliberately left "group chat" unsaid (i.e. leaving it open) because of the lack of correspondants' avatars/labels on the non-self side of the conversation, which seems to be a standard for both actual and xkcdified representation. Though 'tagging' SurfKing might indicate a more broadcast chat, it's as possible/polite to say in a one-to-one (like starting a letter "Dear Aunty Emma", though the envelope it was in was clearly addressed to her). ((This bit written before edit-conflict with Mwphil's triple-indent, above. But answers it anyway, possibly.))
::Anyway, likely possibly its a grouping-agnostic 'chatroom' type thing (or conversation handler) whereby you invite/include at least one other person and it threads all messages with the same full set of contacts together for easy reading (and possible separation from derivative conversations with additions/removals from that set, unless it allows retroactive inclusion/chucking). As said below, I've used many different chat-type methods (though not directly with the "speech bubble" UI as visual theme) and I think we can't pin this down to a particular family of P2P interfaces. But I find the respective thought processes of the two participants (both inside and outside the screenshot shown) more interesting than the more nebulous decisions as to UX/functionality. Strangely for me, being that I'm much more comfortable thinking about code than people where it's just something involving myself.
::But, of course, open to be re-rewritten. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.35|172.70.85.35]] 12:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Done a significant rewrite/expansion to the explanation. My experience of "bubble chats" like the comic is restricted only to screenshots (or illustrations, like this) so I'm extrapolating a lot from all the variations that exist, plus adding extensive IRC/BBS experience which is linked by cross-pollination (pre-web/Web-1.5/etc forming a clear basis for Web2.x and App-based paradigms now handle instant/asynchronous short-form messaging conventions). If I'm totally wrong, I'm sure you'll rip out the bad bits. Wanted also to suggest the possibility that if John hasn't actually been seriously using Surf King for a while (but still has pull-/push-notifications active), it was only Cueball's necro that got him to go back into whatever chat-handler that was set up to handle his surf-dude chat. But it was already very unweildy an Explanation, so I'll only leave this bit of my imagination here - to be more easily ignored/dismissed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.35|172.70.85.35]] 12:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

== three dots ==

I don't think the three dots are Surf King not deigning to respond. Aren't three dots (in some chat things?) what you get when someone is typing but hasn't sent the message yet? So Surf King has started to try to respond to this but is too flabbergasted to finish his comment. [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:03, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:I thought there could be three things they could represent:
:*Surf King "had no words" to Cueball's inane reality-ignoring comment, it's his version of 'eye rolling'. Which Cueball didn't understand (fully/correctly).
:*The "your party is typing" symbol. (Although that shouldn't be still there once further messaging (to and from that party) have been added to the chat-sequence.)
:*It's a conversation-manager indication of time passed.
:**And/or that further messages existed in this spot but that are ellided in this view (leaving intro message, for context, and the current foot of the conversation).
:To me, the first makes most sense (flabberghasted and ''did'' type something). The second looks wrong (reason given). The third is clear from context (the time passing), though there's a problem with the alternate/additional 'third' point being that it doesn't help the joke of this being a four year (mostly no-contact?) conversation where Surf King has seemingly forgotten things while Cueball has no grasp of the temporal dislocation.
:But YMMV. And because I wasn't ''totally'' sure I tried to write what I wrote to cover all three main ideas. (It wasn't really dealt with at all when I started my edit regarding it. Any further informed change is of course perfectly welcome, but at least you now have my half-considered lines of thought about all this.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 12:39, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Category talk:Extra comics

2023-07-04T06:32:56Z

172.71.178.153:

I sincerely believe that we should place this comic here due to this comic, while apparently part of the 5-minute comic series, is not a numbered one, despite still being one by Randall Munroe:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/940:_Oversight
[[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 17:30, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

== "What If" Illustrations/Comics? ==

Is there a dedicated place for [https://what-if.xkcd.com/ What If?] images? Else, I'd like to propose a major new subcategory here for them.

[[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 04:37, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

== As per disappearing comics... ==

I think [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Extra_comics&curid=16772&diff=316813&oldid=306011 this removal] of (example) reasons detracts from the experience. Any comic linked to should have its own explanation (in full/not needing extra references) but a ''brief'' summary of how/why can have been listed here (does not need to 'pre-repeat' any links) would be useful. And if new reasons develop, the category explanation can (eventually) be appended to at leisure. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.106|141.101.98.106]] 13:38, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not sure if I understood your comment fully, but I had removed the deleted comics note because I also added the [[:Category:Deleted comics]] to the Extra comics category. I'll restore the old first bullet point in a few hours --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:39, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
::I perceive a bit of a garden path to my earlier comment, so just FYI:
::*Of course every comic explanation page for "Extras" will have full details of "This is outside the normal release, because <blah>", or whatever.
::*This also applies to "Deleteds"
::**...which may or may not be a subset of the "Extras" - I'd class bonus comics separate from removed/replaced comics, normally, although there has been a one-day bonus comic which inhabits both sets quite obviously.
::*Within these two Cats, we obviously want to avoid saying "<link>Comic X</link> was extra/deleted because... <link>Comic Y</link> was, because... <link>Comic Z</link>, because..." ''just'' above the list that consists (mostly?) of X, Y and Z links, seemingly already covered by the linking prose above.
::*However, perhaps remove the specifics and just summarise that "known reasons for <the special status of these comics> have been: ...", sufficient to generalise the full details as written up here (or past versions of here) ''and'' the full-blown Explanation version.
::*As future bonuses/deletions happen, normal Cat-adding will put them in the auto-list but it'll need intervention to determine if you need to add to the reason summary (say "typo, misclico, change of mind" hypothetically at least) with any additional classification ("corporate malfeasance"? Well, whatever... :P )
::...well, I leave it to you (and anyone else both willing and able to reshape things accordingly), this was just an opinion/suggestion on what works best for me. YMMV, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 18:18, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
:::If I didn't fully understand what you said in the last comment, I definitely don't understand what you're trying to say now. What's a garden path??? What do you think should be done, about what? I only removed the "some of these comics were deleted" notice, is that what you're talking about? I don't mind if it is put back, I guess. I really just don't understand, sorry. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:11, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
::::[[2793: Garden Path Sentence]] - and if you don't understand my gist, still, then my gist clearly isn't worth further expanding and explaining with yet more words. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 06:32, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Category talk:Extra comics

2023-07-03T18:18:09Z

172.71.178.153: /* As per disappearing comics... */

2784: Drainage Basins

2023-06-03T15:34:50Z

172.71.178.153: /* Transcript */ Added the other two lakes identifiably drawn in. (Not the Great ones, even Mich, those are generally expected as boundary lines/'coastline' on similar scale of maps, and are all in the Atlantic area, so no confusion...)

{{comic
| number = 2784
| date = June 2, 2023
| title = Drainage Basins
| image = drainage_basins_2x.png
| imagesize = 659x500px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After a pail of water was thrown on the Wicked Witch of the West outside Salt Lake City, Utah's Great Salt Lake was measured to be 7 parts per trillion witch by volume.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LIQUID 90s KID. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Alex Mack was the main character in the Nickelodeon show ''{{w|The Secret World of Alex Mack}}'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120516025126/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-02/news/tv-45351_1_alex-mack] who developed superpowers after being drenched by an experimental substance. One of these is the ability to turn into a puddle of liquid.

A {{w|drainage basin}} is an area of land where all flowing water converges to one or more outlets to the same body of water. A depiction of drainage basins is a {{w|Drainage divide|watershed map}}, which for the United States is shown in the comic.

When Randall sees a map of the US's major drainage basins, he thinks of Alex turning into liquid and flowing as part of the basin she happens to be in at the time.

The title text refers to the {{w|Wicked Witch of the West}}, a character from ''{{w|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz}}''. When a bucket of water is thrown on her, she dissolves into a puddle. If this happens in the {{w|Great Basin}}, she'll flow into Utah's {{w|Great Salt Lake}}. If its dissolved particles are measured, a tiny fraction will be witch. Seven trillionths of its 18.93 cubic km volume is about 130 liters, which is approximately twice the volume of a typical human being — Randall is likely including the Witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the East as well. Randall does however assume that Oz is somewhere within the Great Basin. The {{w|Land of Oz}} is depicted to be somewhere else entirely, surrounded by desert and thus perhaps has its own salt-lake basin(s); but famously it is not in Kansas, from which any witch-water would have ultimately flowed down to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Title, scribbled out in red:] <s>US Drainage Basins</s>
:[New title, in red, added below:] Where Alex Mack Will End Up

:[Map of the United States, the state borders in light pen; the national borders, seaboards and major lakes in black pen, plus additional boundaries as appropriate between the following labeled drainage basins:]
:[Much or all of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, Arizona and about half of Utah:] Pacific Ocean
:[Hawaiian islands, in typical US map repositioning:] Pacific Ocean
:[Alaska, in typical map repositioning, below a line approximately the three quarters up from the south:] Pacific Ocean
:[Remainder of Alaska:] Arctic Ocean
:[Most of Nevada, the western half of Utah (including the Great Salt Lake, outlined) and about a third of California (with the Salton Sea outlined):] Great Basin
:[A small patch of Wyoming, a triangle of New Mexico lying on the Mexican border and a separate thin swathe through parts of New Mexico and Texas:] Various Basins
:[About half of North Dakota and a small section of northern Minnesota:] Hudson Bay
:[From northeast Minnesota across two thirds of Wisconsin, Michigan, a bit of northern Indianna, northern half of Ohio, and most of the eastern seaboard states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massecheusetts, New York, Long Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia (not West Virginia), North and South Carolinas, half of Georgia and half of Florida (Lake Okeechobee visible):] Atlantic Ocean
:[All remaining states or parts of states:] Gulf of Mexico

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How I still think of these maps, deep down

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with red corrections]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Fiction]]