explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-03T06:40:27Z

173.245.53.150: added root filesystem info

*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the continually(?) growing dynamic comic [[1506: xkcloud]].
**The front page of the comic is [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|transcribed]] as usual on the main page.
*See pictures of the other types of pages here: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages]].

==Intro==
*After clicking on the red button on the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] (only part of the transcript written on the main page for xkcd), you will see either:
** the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page or
** the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.
*Both these pages are transcribed below.
**Here below the headings of the transcripts for the four pages links directly to the section with the relevant images on the page with [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages].
*From there you have to choose either a picture to a text or a text to an image.
**If you press the ''Draw one your self'' button on the ''Help! We lost the picture'' this page will change slightly:
***[[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]].
**When you then submit a picture, or if you just picked one of the five pictures or five text suggestions, or submitted a text your self, you will go to this page:
***[[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]]
*From all pages you can go back to the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] by clicking on the image of Cueball at his desk.
*After completing the first post, there will always be four post shown below (also if you go back to the front page).
**When you complete a post your new post will be shown together with three new.
**When you push a button to recover more data these four posts (including "yours") will be shown instead of only three as to begin with.
**From here you can loop between these four pages (not counting the ''Draw one for your self'' as a separate page.)
*The above mentioned pages are fully transcribed below.
*Also, there are lists for the following Randall created text and items:
**[[#Reason for data loss|Reason for data loss]]
**[[#User names|User names]]
**[[#User pictures|User pictures]] (a description of possible images next to users)
**[[#Like buttons|Like buttons]]
*Finally, there is all the user input text. This will probably be impossible to transcribe but a few examples should be provided as an example.
**These will be given here: [[#Post from users|Post from users]]
**Some of the picture can be seen on this page:
***[[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_text_page|Help! We lost the text]]==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! we lost the text that goes with this post!'''
:[For cases where the user has to submit or select a text according to a picture]
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the picture from the post. This picture is also chosen at random from a set which must mainly be created from user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five pictures see [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] section above).]

:[Below this and above five frames with text in two columns are this line of text:]
:Which text post do you think went with this picture?
:[The five texts below are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with. Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below this is a box where you are invited to write and submit a text suggestion. In the box written in gray letters (rather than black, which it will turn to when you type something) are the following text:]
:Or, write your own
:[To the left is a button with the text:]
:Submit

:[By clicking on any of the five text boxes you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) where the chosen text is now standing above the picture from the post above. If you write a text and click the submit button your own text will be written above the picture.]

:[Below this submit text box is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_picture_page|Help! We lost the picture]]==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a picture of a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The same picture can be used for several user names (and probably likewise).]
:[Below the user name is the text of the post. This text is also random and it must mainly be user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five sentences see [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] section below). Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below is a blue rectangle where the missing picture should be. Instead there is only a white question mark:]
:'''?'''

:[Below this and above six picture frames in two rows is a line of text:]
:Which of these pictures do you think went with this post?
:[The five first pictures are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with). In the sixth and last picture frame the following text is written:]
:Draw one your self

:[By clicking on any of the five pictures you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) with the chosen picture now substituting the "?" in the post above with the chosen picture. If you click the Draw one your self the page will change slightly into the [[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]] page - a page where you can do exactly this. From there you go to the other page mentioned before.]

:[Below these six frames is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following in light gray text:]
:Don't contact us ([http://euphoria.io/room/xkcd/ linking to this live chatroom])

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Draw_one_your_self_page|Draw one your self]]==
:[If you press the picture frame with the text ''Draw one your self'' on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page the page changes. It is not a new page. But below the white post frame with the blue rectangle with "?" there is now no longer six frames, but only one large frame. Above the frame is written:]
:Do your best to recreate the picture you think went with this post:

:[Below is a blank white frame with five tools to the left (pencil, eraser, redo, undo and delete all) and to the right you can choose between seven line thicknesses.]

:[Below this frame is a button on which it says:]
:Upload image
:[If you press this then you picture is uploaded and shown as part of the post on the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page].)

:[Below the image editor nothing has changed compared to before and everything beneath the thin black line is as before.]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help_us_recover_more_data_page|Help us recover more data]]==
:[At the top of this third page (or fourth if coming from the paint a picture page) there are the following white text on a red button:]
:'''Help us recover more data'''

:[If you click this button you go back to one of the two pages that follows the front page that is the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page or the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page. So in this way a loop will begin. The only difference is that now there will be four pictures instead of three at the bottom, and it will be the four that was on this page - including the one you have been involved in at the top.]

:[Below this button is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk - same as with the two pages mentioned above as are the text given here below. If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are both the post you have just finished (either by connecting a text or image with the missing part or even typing or painting your self) as well as three other posts below "yours". They are stacked above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. The other three are again random chosen - it is not the ones from the page where you should choose a text/image. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text is a blue "like button" that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]). Above these buttons there (from late in the afternoon no April 1st) appear a word which by clicking it created a permalink:]
:Link
:[This is written over all the buttons for each of the possible posts.]

==Reason for data loss==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
| +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|A reference to Hex, the magical computer from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which would occasionally emit this error
|-
|<%= reason %>
|A template used by server-side frameworks such as Rails, which would normally replace this line with the actual value of the "reason" variable.
|-
|a user's middle name was <nowiki></html></nowiki>
|Having a user name containing an html tag might cause issues in the server, similar to [http://xkcd.com/327 xkcd 327].
|-
|aol window in front of netscape window
|AOL (America Online, a dial-up online service popular in the 1990s) acquired Netscape (company that developed for the original commercial browser, precursor to Firefox) in 1998
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|Lyrics from the Prince song "Little Red Corvette"
|-
|bookmarks migrated to Venezuela
|Bookmarks are typically migrated from one file folder to another so that they can be accessed by another browser.
|-
|butter didn't suit the works
|Reference to "Alice in Wonderland" -- the Mad Hatter put butter into his watch to make it keep more accurate time, and explained "I used the very best butter, too."
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|butter to text interface not found
|A reference to speech-to-text interfaces, typically used by people who cannot see easily to enable them to use a computer.
|-
|butter underrun
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|cannot save, there's something gross on the S key
|A reference to the "Control-S" save shortcut on both Windows and Mac, and is saying that they are unable to activate the shortcut (thus saving the data) because there is "something gross" on it.
|-
|CAPTCHA response indicated parahuman intelligence
|A CAPTCHA is a tool which aims to prevent comupter-generated submissions to an online form by asking the user a question which is easy for humans but (supposedly) hard for computers. In this case, the CAPTCHA detects {{w|parahuman}} intelligence rather than human intelligence.
|-
|cat-like typing detected
|When cats walk or sit on keyboards, they can type, which can be annoying. A program called [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ PawSense] attempted to detect this and block the typed keystrokes to reduce inconvenience.
|-
|confirmation BIOS
|Pun on "confirmation bias" (a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors); BIOS is part of a PC's hardware
|-
|could not evade skifree yeti
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkiFree SkiFree] is an early 90s computer game that requires the player to ski down an endless slope. It's famous for a yeti that appears after the player reaches a certain distance, which then chases and eats the player. Possibly a reference to [[667: SkiFree]].
|-
|could not initialize sound blaster 16
|The Sound Blaster 16 is a PC sound card which used FM synthesis to play MIDI files, which was popular in the 1990s.
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|The CRM-114 unit's malfunction is the main plot device in the film Dr Strangelove
|-
|cumulonimbus #19 too rabbitlike
|A cumulonimbus is a type of cloud. This may be a reference to Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. The error suggests that the cloud looked too much like a rabbit.
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|database configuration violates the Prime Directive
|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive Prime Directive] comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek Star Trek], and refers to the principle of not interfering with the natural development of primitive cultures. This error is implying that the database is being seen as a primitive life, and therefore the server is not allowed to make any changes to it.
|-
|Dave's not registered, man
|Cheech and Chong reference: "Dave's not here, man".
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|dictionary too stiff to read
|dictionary in addition to being a book where you can look up the definition of words can also be a data structure of key value pairings.
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|"Wafer" refers to silicon or other material used as substrate for semiconductor fabrication.
|-
|ERR:INVALID DIM
|On the Texas Instruments TI-83 and TI-84 calculators, this is an error message shown [http://oakroadsystems.com/math/ti83oops.htm#x_InvalidDim in various situations].
|-
|error reading drive B. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abort,_Retry,_Fail%3F Abort, Retry, Fail?]
|A common error from MS-DOS, often caused by a failing floppy disk
|-
|error
|This error message is so uninformative as to be redundant.
|-
|error: error code [error] while decoding error code
|Similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|error: operation completed successfully
|A somewhat common coding error in *nix programs. The program detected an error and tried to print the error using a function such as perror which prints a message based on the global variable errno. However, the error wasn't generated by a standard library routine so errno equals 0 (no error).
|-
|ethics in journalism
|Possibly a reference to the movement Gamergate, a group ostensibly dedicated to "ethics in video game journalism", but has been accused of misogyny and harassment.
|-
|eyelash! eyelash!
|Possibly a reference to [http://xkcd.com/1086 xkcd 1086]
|-
|files fell out
|Paper files (as would be stored in a filing cabinet) can be misplaced and items can fall out of them if mishandled. However, it would be unexpected for digital files to fall out in this way.
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|firewall caught fire
|Pun based on the inclusion of the term "fire" in "firewall"
|-
|floating point unit no longer afloat
|A floating point unit is a part of a CPU which can perform calculations on non-integers. The pun is that the floating point unit is not floating (as in on a liquid). Possibly a reference to the Jargon File's [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/N/number-crunching.html#crunchly74-12-25 Crunchly comic].
|-
|food problematic
|Firefly quote
|-
|friday squid blogging
|Security guru Bruce Schneier regularly posts a blog post with this title, and some squid related news, primarily as a discussion thread
|-
|general uncertainty
|Possibly reference to the general uncertainty principle in Quantum Mechanics, which gives an upper limit for the accuracy of measuring two variables at the same time
|-
|GSM filter change required
|Possibly referring to an electronic component used to filter out GSM frequencies. Unlike automotive oil filters, electronic filters don't require changing.
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|A common error from the Commodore Amiga
|-
|hard drive oil depleted
|Hard drives don't use oil/gas like cars do, so it would be strange for the oil to have depleted.
|-
|helvetica scenario
|A reference to the episode on Calcium from the BBC TV show Look Around You.
|-
|HTTP 403 and 3/4ths
|HTTP errors are emitted when an HTTP request (e.g. to download a web page) fails. 403 is Forbidden and 404 is Not Found; 403.75 is somewhere between the two. Reference to Harry Potter's Platform 9¾.
|-
|HTTP 418
|The 4xx class of status code is intended for cases in which the client seems to have erred. For example, the well known 404 is when the client requests a web page that doesn't exist. HTTP 418 is part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTCPCP Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol], denoting "I am a teapot," and purportedly is used when sending an instruction to brew coffee to a teapot.
|-
|http is down
|Since all the traffic is being handled by http (or https), is http were truely down, it would be a conundrum.
|-
|hung up prematurely
|Possible reference to dialup modems: The server disconnected the phone line too soon.
|-
|I got pretty distracted trying to figure out how big space is
|
|-
|i hurt myself today / to see if i still feel
|Lyrics from "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|Refers to the phrase 'smoke and mirrors'
|-
|lights are out, hard drive is taking a nap
|
|-
|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lp0_on_fire lp0 on fire]
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|Main Bus B Undervolt
|A line from Apollo 13, when the spaceship is 'having a problem'.
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|"Maximum connection time exceeded" might be an error -- by definition, some connections must last longer than the mean (average) connection time.
|-
|microwave running
|Both microwaves and Wifi operate on the same frequency and have been known to cause interference
|-
|minimum recursion depth not reached
|"Maximum recursion depth exceeded" would be an error -- "depth not exceeded" wouldn't be (and there is no minimum limit)
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|not a hair question
|One of the error messages that the Bucket bot in the #xkcd IRC channel can emit is "That is not a hair question."
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|our buffer runneth over
|Old-English style message for "buffer overrun" instead of more modern language. There were no computers yet at that time.
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|out of monads
|Monads are a concept in functional programming languages, such as Haskell. They have a reputation for being hard to understand.
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER PC LOAD LETTER]
|Error message on older printers stating to add extra letter-size sheets, which has become known to be a very cryptic error message. Reference to the film {{w|Office Space}}.
|-
|Please Insert Riven CD 4
|Riven is a graphical adventure game by Cyan Worlds which was distributed on 5 CDs.
|-
|PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
|The prompt given by a Commodore-64 when using the LOAD command (without a filename argument)
|-
|previously-recovered files overwritten by newly-recovered ones
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|Possibly referring to quantum indeterminacy of qubits, which are used in quantum computing.
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|"Inner join" is a common SQL operation performed by a Relational DataBase Management System
|-
|screws are stripped
|
|-
|server aperture too narrow for capital letters
|
|-
|server farm lost starbucks wifi signal
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server had too much to drink
|Servers are unlikely to have human style issues with drinking too much alcohol.
|-
|server power cable stolen by raccoon for nest
|
|-
|server room haunted
|Maybe a reference to an UVB-76 broadcast in 2001, which said "I am 143. Not receiving the generator." and "That stuff comes from hardware room." in Russian
|-
|sitemap was held upside down
|Sitemap refers to a website directory. Paper maps can be held upside down.
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|soonerist sperver fid dot nile
|A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism spoonerism] - spoonerist serrver did not find file
|-
|spin cycle still active
|Washing machines have a spin cycle. Hard-drives spin. CPUs have cycles.
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|Quantum spin numbers (in atomic physics) must be integers or half-integers
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|"Reticulating Splines" is a loading message in The Sims and SimCity video game series.
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|subtle threading bug in turing-complete version numbering system
|
|-
|sysadmin trapped in well
|Reference to Timmy being trapped in a well.
|-
|tape on write-protect hole fell off
|Read-only floppy disks have a ''write-protect'' hole in the corner. A writable disk has no hole.<ref>http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/it-service-desk/write-protect-a-floppy-diskette/</ref> It was common practice to convert read-only floppy disks (that could be obtained for free due to, e.g. shareware distribution at computer stores) into writable floppy disks by placing sticky tape over the hole.
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|butter instead of number
|-
|the little plastic tab on the box the data's in broke off
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|the system / is down
|Lyrics from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILVfzx5Pe-A "The System is Down"], also known as Strongbad Techno. Possible additional reference to the '/' root filesystem on unix/linux.
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Similar warnings betray proprietary software designed to break when used outside the terms of its license. Messages like this are unlikely to be found in free software like Ubuntu, where anti-features are largely inviable.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|It would be ironic for the Open Source Initiative, which promotes sharing and modification, to prevent the sharing of the page for copyright reasons.
|-
|too many hands on the keyboard
|Possibly a reference to a scene in NCIS where two people simultaneously used the same keyboard to "double hack".
|-
|transfer interrupted by incoming fax
|Internet access used to be on dailup modems, which is also used for telephone calls or faxing. These can't operate at the same time.
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|Eight-track tape is an obsolete format for recorded music; the tape itself only had two sides. (Nine-track tape -- much wider than eight-track tape -- was used for computer data storage.)
|-
|turns out server was on circuit with lightswitch by door
|If you turned out the lights as you left the room, it would power down the server.
|-
|Unable to cast variable of type Int32 to Magic Missile
|Magic Missile is a spell (which you can cast) in Dungeons & Dragons. Casting can also refer (in programming) to converting variables from one type to another, e.g. from integer to string. The pun here is that a 32-bit integer is being cast to the Magic Missile spell.
|-
|undefined is not a function, which really makes you think
|"Undefined is not a function" is a Javascript TypeError.
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|unimplemented trap
|"Trap" refers to a computer operation code that is not implemented in the processor's instruction set and instead performs a system call. "Unimplemented trap" was an error message in some previous versions of MacOS.
|-
|User accepted terms but not conditions
|Normally, at a EULA you must accept 'terms and conditions'. There is basically no option to only agree to terms.
|-
|User is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_a_typewriter not a typewriter].
|A reference to the "isatty" function in the Unix C library, which reports whether a file descriptor is connected to a teletypewriter (terminal) or not. Interactive programs generally are intended to be used from a terminal.
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|Possibly a reference to filename restrictions?
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|virtual memory got too real
|Virtual memory is where the OS writes less-used parts of RAM to disk, so that the RAM can be used for another program, hence the less-used parts are in virtual memory. "This is getting too real" is an idiom meaning the person is approaching their wits' end.
|-
|wrong files
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|A line frequently announced by the Protoss advisor in Starcraft.
|}

==User names==
:[Below are possible (not all?) user names mentioned next to any post as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[In alphabetical order:]

<div style="-webkit-column-count: 4; -moz-column-count: 4; column-count: 4; -webkit-column-gap: 20px; -moz-column-gap: 20px; column-gap: 20px;">
*@meganamram
*Addison1
*Addison8
*Agric Silverfinger
*Aidan2
*Aiden1
*Aiden5
*Aidenn Aberforth Milne
*Alice1956
*Amanda08
*Anonymous
*Apple Martin
*Arthur19
*Ashley2009
*Ashley8
*Ashley92
*Ayden1952
*Bailey2001
*Barbara1974
*Benjamin Kenobi Sr
*Bool Hand Luke
*Brandi9
*Caden14
*Caden2010
*Candice10
*Carol04
*Chad80
*Charles18
*Chelsea2006
*Cheyenne1988
*Christina Applecare
*CMOS Def
*Curic Copperfinger
*Cynthia1995
*Cynthia99
*Dakota94
*David St. Hubbins
*Debbie26
*Debbie3
*Debbie62
*Deborah3
*Destiny1983
*Destiny89
*Dillon2008
*Donald19
*Donna2
*Dorothy7
*DragonBall Cooper
*Dunston Chexin
*Earl Sinclair
*Egbert Bentley White
*Eliezer Yudkowsky
*Elon Musk
*Eowyn L'Oreal James
*Euphegenia Doubtfire
*Facebook Scott Fitzgerald
*Frances29
*Frances51
*Frances99
*Gary1951
*Gary8
*Gary86
*George Debian Bush
*George Reagan Renesmee Martin
*Green Mario
*Greg2004
*Hatsy Collins
*Henry05
*Henry4
*Horsepower Lovecraft
*J. Alfred Leftshark
*Jack3
*Jack39
*Jacob10
*Jada5
*Jaden Riley Rufio Tolkien
*Jaden21
*Jaina Khloe Rowling
*Jalen81
*James URL Jones
*Jayden79
*Jennifer1
*Jeph Jacques
*Joe Biden
*John2
*Jonathan27
*Joshua80
*Justin87
*Kaden61
*Kaitlin1976
*Karen3
*Kathleen78
*Keira10
*Keira2002
*Keira48
*Kelsey1970
*Kelsey1996
*Kenneth96
*Khloe14
*Kilroy
*Kristy2007
*Larry Ronald Hubbard
*Larry1994
*Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit
*Linda08
*Lindsay2011
*Lisa1995
*Lord Gaga
*Lord Mondegreen
*Malik2
*Margaret11
*Margaret5
*Marie12
*Marie3
*Marissa Mayer
*Mark Zuckerberg
*Mark2007
*Mark92
*Martin Van Halen
*Matthew2006
*Mavis Bitcoin
*Michelle11
*Minecraft Holmes
*Misty3
*Myspace Tom
*Norton Ghost Dad
*Padme Dorothy James
*Pam06
*Patricia03
*Paul1957
*Player One
*Player Two
*Professor Monoculatus McToff
*Raymond6
*Ronald22
*Ruth3
*S. G. Dukat
*Samuel19
*Sarah55
*Sharon99
*Shaun1960
*Shaun46
*Sheena2005
*Sherri97
*Sidd Finch
*Sierra10
*Sierra7
*Stacy07
*Stacy14
*Steven02
*Steven2002
*Steven50
*Susan11
*Susan25
*Thomas2
*Tim21
*Tim87
*Tina Belcher
*Todd33
*Tonya22
*Tonya38
*Tracy1977
*Tricia1
*Tricia14
*Trinity1989
*Virginia1961
*Virginia2006
*Wil
*Wric Tungstenfinger
</div>

==User pictures==
:[Below are descriptions of possible (not all?) user pictures shown next to any user name as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[The images can be directly accessed from http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png to http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png .]
*[Hairy complete stick figure]
*[Chipmunk]
*[Close up of male face with black hair on a gray background]
*[Galaxy]
*[Chipmunk head]
*[e^iπ ≈ 0]
*[Tree crossing the street]

==Like buttons==
:[xkcloud has "Like" buttons next to each post (next to the post text above the picture), similar to those on Facebook, but with random text from this alphabetical list below where all words are [http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/want synonyms for want].]
*Covet
*Crave
*Hanker
*Thirst
*Yearn

==Post from users==
:[Some of the picture can be seen on this page: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].]
:[It will likely be impossible to transcribe all this as it is user input, and thus not Randall's own text. But at least a few examples should be given here as a reference. If anyone wish to expand beyond a few feel free to contribute.]
*Meritocracy is a pipe dream
''The Mushroom Kingdom (from Super Mario Bros.) is a monarchic meritocracy''
*The prophecy was true!
*The tea party was right about GMO bicycles
*Everything makes sense now
*Turkey drumstick Stonehenge was surprisingly compelling
*I've made a huge mistake
*Um, I think somethings wrong with my carrot...
*The rest is darkness and decay
*Howerboard to full power!
*My hobby: Freaking people out
*Is this real life?
''Reference to Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody''
*Where should I put this new cool tatto?

*Exact composition of this... thing... is yet to be determined.
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*Man, that cool-ade guy really lost some weight lately.
*Lol, no I didn't jump
*In hindsight, it makes perfect sense
*Whoops I left the Lens Cap on for this one. :S
*Duck Duck Go's secret algorithm
''Duck Duck Go is a search engine which doesn't track you. Somewhat ironically, their algorithm is a bit secretive''
*This isn't where I parked my zeppelin!
*Who stepped on my pop tart?
*Big Ben is going down
*Do my feet look fat?
*I say; Nuts to that!
*I can take photo's with my teeth!
*To infinity and birdyond!
''Reference to Toystory''
*I wish I could afford the monopolar model...
*I can control the BEES! But I only make them turn right
*the saddest moment of my childhood
*hey, so, we need to talk about your sphere-packing problem.

==References==
<references/>

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-02T13:59:01Z

173.245.53.150: changed user list to a simple table

*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the continually(?) growing dynamic comic [[1506: xkcloud]].
**The front page of the comic is [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|transcribed]] as usual on the main page.
*See pictures of the other types of pages here: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages]].

==Intro==
*After clicking on the red button on the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] (only part of the transcript written on the main page for xkcd), you will see either:
** the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page or
** the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.
*Both these pages are transcribed below.
**Here below the headings of the transcripts for the four pages links directly to the section with the relevant images on the page with [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages].
*From there you have to choose either a picture to a text or a text to an image.
**If you press the ''Draw one your self'' button on the ''Help! We lost the picture'' this page will change slightly:
***[[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]].
**When you then submit a picture, or if you just picked one of the five pictures or five text suggestions, or submitted a text your self, you will go to this page:
***[[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]]
*From all pages you can go back to the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] by clicking on the image of Cueball at his desk.
*After completing the first post, there will always be four post shown below (also if you go back to the front page).
**When you complete a post your new post will be shown together with three new.
**When you push a button to recover more data these four posts (including "yours") will be shown instead of only three as to begin with.
**From here you can loop between these four pages (not counting the ''Draw one for your self'' as a separate page.)
*The above mentioned pages are fully transcribed below.
*Also, there are lists for the following Randall created text and items:
**[[#Reason for data loss|Reason for data loss]]
**[[#User names|User names]]
**[[#User pictures|User pictures]] (a description of possible images next to users)
**[[#Like buttons|Like buttons]]
*Finally, there is all the user input text. This will probably be impossible to transcribe but a few examples should be provided as an example.
**These will be given here: [[#Post from users|Post from users]]
**Some of the picture can be seen on this page:
***[[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_text_page|Help! We lost the text]]==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! we lost the text that goes with this post!'''
:[For cases where the user has to submit or select a text according to a picture]
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the picture from the post. This picture is also chosen at random from a set which must mainly be created from user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five pictures see [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] section above).]

:[Below this and above five frames with text in two columns are this line of text:]
:Which text post do you think went with this picture?
:[The five texts below are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with. Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below this is a box where you are invited to write and submit a text suggestion. In the box written in gray letters (rather than black, which it will turn to when you type something) are the following text:]
:Or, write your own
:[To the left is a button with the text:]
:Submit

:[By clicking on any of the five text boxes you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) where the chosen text is now standing above the picture from the post above. If you write a text and click the submit button your own text will be written above the picture.]

:[Below this submit text box is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_picture_page|Help! We lost the picture]]==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a picture of a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The same picture can be used for several user names (and probably likewise).]
:[Below the user name is the text of the post. This text is also random and it must mainly be user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five sentences see [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] section below). Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below is a blue rectangle where the missing picture should be. Instead there is only a white question mark:]
:'''?'''

:[Below this and above six picture frames in two rows is a line of text:]
:Which of these pictures do you think went with this post?
:[The five first pictures are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with). In the sixth and last picture frame the following text is written:]
:Draw one your self

:[By clicking on any of the five pictures you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) with the chosen picture now substituting the "?" in the post above with the chosen picture. If you click the Draw one your self the page will change slightly into the [[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]] page - a page where you can do exactly this. From there you go to the other page mentioned before.]

:[Below these six frames is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following in light gray text:]
:Don't contact us ([http://euphoria.io/room/xkcd/ linking to this live chatroom])

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Draw_one_your_self_page|Draw one your self]]==
:[If you press the picture frame with the text ''Draw one your self'' on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page the page changes. It is not a new page. But below the white post frame with the blue rectangle with "?" there is now no longer six frames, but only one large frame. Above the frame is written:]
:Do your best to recreate the picture you think went with this post:

:[Below is a blank white frame with five tools to the left (pencil, eraser, redo, undo and delete all) and to the right you can choose between seven line thicknesses.]

:[Below this frame is a button on which it says:]
:Upload image
:[If you press this then you picture is uploaded and shown as part of the post on the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page].)

:[Below the image editor nothing has changed compared to before and everything beneath the thin black line is as before.]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help_us_recover_more_data_page|Help us recover more data]]==
:[At the top of this third page (or fourth if coming from the paint a picture page) there are the following white text on a red button:]
:'''Help us recover more data'''

:[If you click this button you go back to one of the two pages that follows the front page that is the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page or the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page. So in this way a loop will begin. The only difference is that now there will be four pictures instead of three at the bottom, and it will be the four that was on this page - including the one you have been involved in at the top.]

:[Below this button is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk - same as with the two pages mentioned above as are the text given here below. If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are both the post you have just finished (either by connecting a text or image with the missing part or even typing or painting your self) as well as three other posts below "yours". They are stacked above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. The other three are again random chosen - it is not the ones from the page where you should choose a text/image. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text is a blue "like button" that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]). Above these buttons there (from late in the afternoon no April 1st) appear a word which by clicking it created a permalink:]
:Link
:[This is written over all the buttons for each of the possible posts.]

==Reason for data loss==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
| +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|A reference to Hex, the magical computer from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which would occasionally emit this error
|-
|<%= reason %>
|A template used by server-side frameworks such as Rails, which would normally replace this line with the actual value of the "reason" variable.
|-
|a user's middle name was <nowiki></html></nowiki>
|Having a user name containing an html tag might cause issues in the server, similar to https://xkcd.com/327/ .
|-
|aol window in front of netscape window
|AOL (America Online, a dial-up online service popular in the 1990s) acquired Netscape (company that developed for the original commercial browser, precursor to Firefox) in 1998
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|Lyrics from the Prince song "Little Red Corvette"
|-
|bookmarks migrated to Venezuela
|
|-
|butter didn't suit the works
|Reference to "Alice in Wonderland" -- the Mad Hatter put butter into his watch to make it keep more accurate time, and explained "I used the very best butter, too."
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|butter to text interface not found
|A reference to speech-to-text interfaces, typically used by people who cannot see easily to enable them to use a computer.
|-
|butter underrun
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|cannot save, there's something gross on the S key
|A reference to the "Control-S" save shortcut on both Windows and Mac, and is saying that they are unable to activate the shortcut (thus saving the data) because there is "something gross" on it.
|-
|CAPTCHA response indicated parahuman intelligence
|A CAPTCHA is a tool which aims to prevent comupter-generated submissions to an online form by asking the user a question which is easy for humans but (supposedly) hard for computers. In this case, the CAPTCHA detects parahuman intelligence rather than human intelligence.
|-
|cat-like typing detected
|When cats walk or sit on keyboards, they can type, which can be annoying. A program called [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ PawSense] attempted to detect this and block the typed keystrokes to reduce inconvenience.
|-
|confirmation BIOS
|Pun on "confirmation bias" (a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors); BIOS is part of a PC's hardware
|-
|could not evade skifree yeti
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkiFree SkiFree] is an early 90s computer game that requires the player to ski down an endless slope. It's famous for a yeti that appears after the player reaches a certain distance, which then chases and eats the player. Possibly a reference to [[667: SkiFree]].
|-
|could not initialize sound blaster 16
|The Sound Blaster 16 is a PC sound card which used FM synthesis to play MIDI files, which was popular in the 1990s.
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|The CRM-114 unit's malfunction is the main plot device in the film Dr Strangelove
|-
|cumulonimbus #19 too rabbitlike
|A cumulonimbus is a type of cloud. This may be a reference to Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. The error suggests that the cloud looked too much like a rabbit.
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|database configuration violates the Prime Directive
|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive Prime Directive] comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek Star Trek], and refers to the principle of not interfering with the natural development of primitive cultures. This error is implying that the database is being seen as a primitive life, and therefore the server is not allowed to make any changes to it.
|-
|Dave's not registered, man
|Cheech and Chong reference: "Dave's not here, man".
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|dictionary too stiff to read
|dictionary in addition to being a book where you can look up the definition of words can also be a data structure of key value pairings.
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|"Wafer" refers to silicon or other material used as substrate for semiconductor fabrication.
|-
|ERR:INVALID DIM
|On the Texas Instruments TI-83 and TI-84 calculators, this is an error message shown [http://oakroadsystems.com/math/ti83oops.htm#x_InvalidDim in various situations].
|-
|error reading drive B. Abort, Retry, Fail?
|A common error from MS-DOS, often caused by a failing floppy disk
|-
|error
|This error message is so uninformative as to be redundant.
|-
|error: error code [error] while decoding error code
|Similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|error: operation completed successfully
|A somewhat common coding error in *nix programs. The program detected an error and tried to print the error using a function such as perror which prints a message based on the global variable errno. However, the error wasn't generated by a standard library routine so errno equals 0 (no error).
|-
|ethics in journalism
|Possibly a reference to the movement Gamergate, a group ostensibly dedicated to "ethics in video game journalism", but has been involved in misogyny and harassment.
|-
|eyelash! eyelash!
|Possibly a reference to [http://xkcd.com/1086 xkcd 1086]
|-
|files fell out
|Paper files (as would be stored in a filing cabinet) can be misplaced and items can fall out of them if mishandled. However, it would be unexpected for digital files to fall out in this way.
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|firewall caught fire
|Pun based on the inclusion of the term "fire" in "firewall"
|-
|floating point unit no longer afloat
|A floating point unit is a part of a CPU which can perform calculations on non-integers. The pun is that the floating point unit is not floating (as in on a liquid). Possibly a reference to the Jargon File's [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/N/number-crunching.html#crunchly74-12-25 Crunchly comic].
|-
|food problematic
|Firefly quote
|-
|friday squid blogging
|Security guru Bruce Schneier regularly posts a blog post with this title, and some squid related news, primarily as a discussion thread
|-
|general uncertainty
|
|-
|GSM filter change required
|Possibly referring to an electronic component used to filter out GSM frequencies. Unlike automotive oil filters, electronic filters don't require changing.
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|A common error from the Commodore Amiga
|-
|hard drive oil depleted
|Hard drives don't use oil/gas like cars do, so it would be strange for the oil to have depleted.
|-
|helvetica scenario
|A reference to the episode on Calcium from the BBC TV show Look Around You.
|-
|HTTP 403 and 3/4ths
|HTTP errors are emitted when an HTTP request (e.g. to download a web page) fails. 403 is Forbidden and 404 is Not Found; 403.75 is somewhere between the two. Reference to Harry Potter's Platform 9¾.
|-
|HTTP 418
|The 4xx class of status code is intended for cases in which the client seems to have erred. For example, the well known 404 is when the client requests a web page that doesn't exist. HTTP 418 is part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTCPCP Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol], denoting "I am a teapot," and purportedly is used when sending an instruction to brew coffee to a teapot.
|-
|http is down
|Since all the traffic is being handled by http (or https), is http were truely down, it would be a conundrum.
|-
|hung up prematurely
|Possible reference to dialup modems: The server disconnected the phone line too soon.
|-
|I got pretty distracted trying to figure out how big space is
|
|-
|i hurt myself today / to see if i still feel
|Lyrics from "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|Refers to the phrase 'smoke and mirrors'
|-
|lights are out, hard drive is taking a nap
|
|-
|lp0 on fire
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|Main Bus B Undervolt
|A line from Apollo 13, when the spaceship is 'having a problem'.
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|"Maximum connection time exceeded" might be an error -- by definition, some connections must last longer than the mean (average) connection time.
|-
|microwave running
|Both microwaves and Wifi operate on the same frequency and have been known to cause interference
|-
|minimum recursion depth not reached
|"Maximum recursion depth exceeded" would be an error -- "depth not exceeded" wouldn't be (and there is no minimum limit)
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|not a hair question
|One of the error messages that the Bucket bot in the #xkcd IRC channel can emit is "That is not a hair question."
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|our buffer runneth over
|Old-English style message for "buffer overrun" instead of more modern language. There were no computers yet at that time.
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|out of monads
|Monads are a concept in functional programming languages, such as Haskell. They have a reputation for being hard to understand.
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|PC LOAD LETTER
|Error message on older printers stating to add extra letter-size sheets, which has become known to be a very cryptic error message.
|-
|Please Insert Riven CD 4
|Riven is a graphical adventure game by Cyan Worlds which was distributed on 5 CDs.
|-
|PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
|The prompt given by a Commodore-64 when using the LOAD command (without a filename argument)
|-
|previously-recovered files overwritten by newly-recovered ones
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|Possibly referring to quantum indeterminacy of qubits, which are used in quantum computing.
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|"Inner join" is a common SQL operation performed by a Relational DataBase Management System
|-
|screws are stripped
|
|-
|server aperture too narrow for capital letters
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server had too much to drink
|Servers are unlikely to have human style issues with drinking too much alcohol.
|-
|server power cable stolen by raccoon for nest
|
|-
|server room haunted
|Maybe a reference to an UVB-76 broadcast in 2001, which said "I am 143. Not receiving the generator." and "That stuff comes from hardware room." in Russian
|-
|sitemap was held upside down
|Sitemap refers to a website directory. Paper maps can be held upside down.
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|soonerist sperver fid dot nile
|A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism spoonerism] - spoonerist serrver did not find file
|-
|spin cycle still active
|Washing machines have a spin cycle. Hard-drives spin. CPUs have cycles.
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|Quantum spin numbers (in atomic physics) must be integers or half-integers
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|"Reticulating Splines" is a loading message in The Sims series
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|subtle threading bug in turing-complete version numbering system
|
|-
|sysadmin trapped in well
|Reference to Timmy being trapped in a well.
|-
|tape on write-protect hole fell off
|Read-only floppy disks have a ''write-protect'' hole in the corner. A writable disk has no hole.<ref>http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/it-service-desk/write-protect-a-floppy-diskette/</ref> It was common practice to convert read-only floppy disks (that could be obtained for free due to, e.g. shareware distribution at computer stores) into writable floppy disks by placing sticky tape over the hole.
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|butter instead of number
|-
|the little plastic tab on the box the data's in broke off
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|the system / is down
|Referencing the root '/' file system from unix/linux, which is vitally important for server operation.
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Similar warnings betray proprietary software designed to break when used outside the terms of its license. Messages like this are unlikely to be found in free software like Ubuntu, where anti-features are largely inviable.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|It would be ironic for the Open Source Initiative, which promotes sharing and modification, to prevent the sharing of the page for copyright reasons.
|-
|too many hands on the keyboard
|Possibly a reference to a scene in NCIS where two people simultaneously used the same keyboard to "double hack".
|-
|transfer interrupted by incoming fax
|Internet access used to be on dailup modems, which is also used for telephone calls or faxing. These can't operate at the same time.
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|Eight-track tape is an obsolete format for recorded music; the tape itself only had two sides. (Nine-track tape -- much wider than eight-track tape -- was used for computer data storage.)
|-
|turns out server was on circuit with lightswitch by door
|If you turned out the lights as you left the room, it would power down the server.
|-
|Unable to cast variable of type Int32 to Magic Missile
|Magic Missile is a spell (which you can cast) in Dungeons & Dragons. Casting can also refer (in programming) to converting variables from one type to another, e.g. from integer to string. The pun here is that a 32-bit integer is being cast to the Magic Missile spell.
|-
|undefined is not a function, which really makes you think
|"Undefined is not a function" is a Javascript TypeError.
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|unimplemented trap
|"Trap" refers to a computer operation code that is not implemented in the processor's instruction set and instead performs a system call. "Unimplemented trap" was an error message in some previous versions of MacOS.
|-
|User accepted terms but not conditions
|Normally, at a EULA you must accept 'terms and conditions'. There is basically no option to only agree to terms.
|-
|User is not a typewriter.
|A reference to the "isatty" function in the Unix C library, which reports whether a file descriptor is connected to a teletypewriter (terminal) or not. Interactive programs generally are intended to be used from a terminal.
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|Possibly a reference to filename restrictions?
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|virtual memory got too real
|Virtual memory is where the OS writes less-used parts of RAM to disk, so that the RAM can be used for another program, hence the less-used parts are in virtual memory.
|-
|wrong files
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|A line frequently announced by the Protoss advisor in Starcraft.
|}

==User names==
:[Below are possible (not all?) user names mentioned next to any post as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[In alphabetical order:]
{|
|
*@meganamram
*Addison1
*Addison8
*Agric Silverfinger
*Aidan2
*Aiden1
*Aiden5
*Aidenn Aberforth Milne
*Alice1956
*Amanda08
*Anonymous
*Apple Martin
*Arthur19
*Ashley2009
*Ashley8
*Ashley92
*Ayden1952
*Bailey2001
*Barbara1974
*Benjamin Kenobi Sr
*Bool Hand Luke
*Brandi9
*Caden14
*Caden2010
*Candice10
*Carol04
*Chad80
*Charles18
*Chelsea2006
*Cheyenne1988
*Christina Applecare
*CMOS Def
*Curic Copperfinger
*Cynthia1995
*Cynthia99
*Dakota94
*David St. Hubbins
*Debbie26
*Debbie3
*Debbie62
*Deborah3
*Destiny1983
*Destiny89
|width="30px"| 
|
*Dillon2008
*Donald19
*Donna2
*Dorothy7
*DragonBall Cooper
*Dunston Chexin
*Earl Sinclair
*Egbert Bentley White
*Eliezer Yudkowsky
*Elon Musk
*Eowyn L'Oreal James
*Euphegenia Doubtfire
*Facebook Scott Fitzgerald
*Frances29
*Frances51
*Frances99
*Gary1951
*Gary8
*Gary86
*George Debian Bush
*George Reagan Renesmee Martin
*Green Mario
*Greg2004
*Hatsy Collins
*Henry05
*Henry4
*Horsepower Lovecraft
*J. Alfred Leftshark
*Jack3
*Jack39
*Jacob10
*Jada5
*Jaden Riley Rufio Tolkien
*Jaden21
*Jaina Khloe Rowling
*Jalen81
*James URL Jones
*Jayden79
*Jennifer1
*Jeph Jacques
*Joe Biden
*John2
*Jonathan27
|width="30px"| 
|
*Joshua80
*Justin87
*Kaden61
*Kaitlin1976
*Karen3
*Kathleen78
*Keira10
*Keira2002
*Keira48
*Kelsey1970
*Kelsey1996
*Kenneth96
*Khloe14
*Kilroy
*Kristy2007
*Larry Ronald Hubbard
*Larry1994
*Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit
*Linda08
*Lindsay2011
*Lisa1995
*Lord Gaga
*Lord Mondegreen
*Malik2
*Margaret11
*Margaret5
*Marie12
*Marie3
*Marissa Mayer
*Mark Zuckerberg
*Mark2007
*Mark92
*Martin Van Halen
*Matthew2006
*Mavis Bitcoin
*Michelle11
*Minecraft Holmes
*Misty3
*Myspace Tom
*Norton Ghost Dad
*Padme Dorothy James
*Pam06
*Patricia03
|width="30px"| 
|
*Paul1957
*Player One
*Player Two
*Professor Monoculatus McToff
*Raymond6
*Ronald22
*Ruth3
*S. G. Dukat
*Samuel19
*Sarah55
*Sharon99
*Shaun1960
*Shaun46
*Sheena2005
*Sherri97
*Sidd Finch
*Sierra10
*Sierra7
*Stacy07
*Stacy14
*Steven02
*Steven2002
*Steven50
*Susan11
*Susan25
*Thomas2
*Tim21
*Tim87
*Tina Belcher
*Todd33
*Tonya22
*Tonya38
*Tracy1977
*Tricia1
*Tricia14
*Trinity1989
*Virginia1961
*Virginia2006
*Wil
*Wric Tungstenfinger
|}

==User pictures==
:[Below are descriptions of possible (not all?) user pictures shown next to any user name as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[The images can be directly accessed from http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png to http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png .]
*[Hairy complete stick figure]
*[Chipmunk]
*[Close up of male face with black hair on a gray background]
*[Galaxy]
*[Chipmunk head]
*[e^iπ ≈ 0]
*[Tree crossing the street]

==Like buttons==
:[xkcloud has "Like" buttons next to each post (next to the post text above the picture), similar to those on Facebook, but with random text from this alphabetical list below where all words are [http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/want synonyms for want].]
*Covet
*Crave
*Hanker
*Thirst
*Yearn

==Post from users==
:[Some of the picture can be seen on this page: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].]
:[It will likely be impossible to transcribe all this as it is user input, and thus not Randall's own text. But at least a few examples should be given here as a reference. If anyone wish to expand beyond a few feel free to contribute.]
*Meritocracy is a pipe dream
''The Mushroom Kingdom (from Super Mario Bros.) is a monarchic meritocracy''
*The prophecy was true!
*The tea party was right about GMO bicycles
*Everything makes sense now
*Turkey drumstick
*Stonehenge was surprisingly compelling
*I've made a huge mistake
*Um, I think somethings wrong with my carrot...
*The rest is darkness and decay
*Howerboard to full power!
*My hobby: Freaking people out
*Is this real life?
''Reference to Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody''
*Where should I put this new cool tatto?

*Exact composition of this... thing... is yet to be determined.
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*Man, that cool-ade guy really lost some weight lately.
*Lol, no I didn't jump
*In hindsight, it makes perfect sense
*Whoops I left the Lens Cap on for this one. :S
*Duck Duck Go's secret algorithm
''Duck Duck Go is a search engine which doesn't track you. Somewhat ironically, their algorithm is a bit secretive''
*This isn't where I parked my zeppelin!
*Who stepped on my pop tart?
*Big Ben is going down
*Do my feet look fat?
*I say; Nuts to that!
*I can take photo's with my teeth!
*To infinity and birdyond!
''Reference to Toystory''
*I wish I could afford the monopolar model...
*I can control the BEES! But I only make them turn right
*the saddest moment of my childhood
*hey, so, we need to talk about your sphere-packing problem.

==References==
<references/>

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-02T09:26:46Z

173.245.53.150: Extra explanations

*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the continually(?) growing dynamic comic [[1506: xkcloud]].
**The front page of the comic is [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|transcribed]] as usual on the main page.
*See pictures of the other types of pages here: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages]].

==Intro==
*After clicking on the red button on the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] (only part of the transcript written on the main page for xkcd), you will see either:
** the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page or
** the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.
*Both these pages are transcribed below.
**Here below the headings of the transcripts for the four pages links directly to the section with the relevant images on the page with [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages].
*From there you have to choose either a picture to a text or a text to an image.
**If you press the ''Draw one your self'' button on the ''Help! We lost the picture'' this page will change slightly:
***[[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]].
**When you then submit a picture, or if you just picked one of the five pictures or five text suggestions, or submitted a text your self, you will go to this page:
***[[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]]
*From all pages you can go back to the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] by clicking on the image of Cueball at his desk.
*After completing the first post, there will always be four post shown below (also if you go back to the front page).
**When you complete a post your new post will be shown together with three new.
**When you push a button to recover more data these four posts (including "yours") will be shown instead of only three as to begin with.
**From here you can loop between these four pages (not counting the ''Draw one for your self'' as a separate page.)
*The above mentioned pages are fully transcribed below.
*Also, there are lists for the following Randall created text and items:
**[[#Reason for data loss|Reason for data loss]]
**[[#User names|User names]]
**[[#User pictures|User pictures]] (a description of possible images next to users)
**[[#Like buttons|Like buttons]]
*Finally, there is all the user input text. This will probably be impossible to transcribe but a few examples should be provided as an example.
**These will be given here: [[#Post from users|Post from users]]
**Some of the picture can be seen on this page:
***[[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_text_page|Help! We lost the text]]==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! we lost the text that goes with this post!'''
:[For cases where the user has to submit or select a text according to a picture]
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the picture from the post. This picture is also chosen at random from a set which must mainly be created from user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five pictures see [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] section above).]

:[Below this and above five frames with text in two columns are this line of text:]
:Which text post do you think went with this picture?
:[The five texts below are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with. Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below this is a box where you are invited to write and submit a text suggestion. In the box written in gray letters (rather than black, which it will turn to when you type something) are the following text:]
:Or, write your own
:[To the left is a button with the text:]
:Submit

:[By clicking on any of the five text boxes you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) where the chosen text is now standing above the picture from the post above. If you write a text and click the submit button your own text will be written above the picture.]

:[Below this submit text box is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_picture_page|Help! We lost the picture]]==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a picture of a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The same picture can be used for several user names (and probably likewise).]
:[Below the user name is the text of the post. This text is also random and it must mainly be user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five sentences see [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] section below). Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below is a blue rectangle where the missing picture should be. Instead there is only a white question mark:]
:'''?'''

:[Below this and above six picture frames in two rows is a line of text:]
:Which of these pictures do you think went with this post?
:[The five first pictures are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with). In the sixth and last picture frame the following text is written:]
:Draw one your self

:[By clicking on any of the five pictures you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) with the chosen picture now substituting the "?" in the post above with the chosen picture. If you click the Draw one your self the page will change slightly into the [[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]] page - a page where you can do exactly this. From there you go to the other page mentioned before.]

:[Below these six frames is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following in light gray text:]
:Don't contact us ([http://euphoria.io/room/xkcd/ linking to this live chatroom])

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Draw_one_your_self_page|Draw one your self]]==
:[If you press the picture frame with the text ''Draw one your self'' on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page the page changes. It is not a new page. But below the white post frame with the blue rectangle with "?" there is now no longer six frames, but only one large frame. Above the frame is written:]
:Do your best to recreate the picture you think went with this post:

:[Below is a blank white frame with five tools to the left (pencil, eraser, redo, undo and delete all) and to the right you can choose between seven line thicknesses.]

:[Below this frame is a button on which it says:]
:Upload image
:[If you press this then you picture is uploaded and shown as part of the post on the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page].)

:[Below the image editor nothing has changed compared to before and everything beneath the thin black line is as before.]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help_us_recover_more_data_page|Help us recover more data]]==
:[At the top of this third page (or fourth if coming from the paint a picture page) there are the following white text on a red button:]
:'''Help us recover more data'''

:[If you click this button you go back to one of the two pages that follows the front page that is the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page or the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page. So in this way a loop will begin. The only difference is that now there will be four pictures instead of three at the bottom, and it will be the four that was on this page - including the one you have been involved in at the top.]

:[Below this button is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk - same as with the two pages mentioned above as are the text given here below. If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy
:regarding your
:personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are both the post you have just finished (either by connecting a text or image with the missing part or even typing or painting your self) as well as three other posts below "yours". They are stacked above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. The other three are again random chosen - it is not the ones from the page where you should choose a text/image. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text is a blue "like button" that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]). Above these buttons there (from late in the afternoon no April 1st) appear a word which by clicking it created a permalink:]
:Link
:[This is written over all the buttons for each of the possible posts.]

==Reason for data loss==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
| +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|A reference to Hex, the magical computer from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which would occasionally emit this error
|-
|<%= reason %>
|A template used by server-side frameworks such as Rails, which would normally replace this line with the actual value of the "reason" variable.
|-
|a user's middle name was <nowiki></html></nowiki>
|Having a user name containing an html tag might cause issues in the server, similar to https://xkcd.com/327/ .
|-
|aol window in front of netscape window
|AOL (America Online, a dial-up online service popular in the 1990s) acquired Netscape (company that developed for the original commercial browser, precursor to Firefox) in 1998
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|Lyrics from the Prince song "Little Red Corvette"
|-
|bookmarks migrated to Venezuela
|
|-
|butter didn't suit the works
|Reference to "Alice in Wonderland" -- the Mad Hatter put butter into his watch to make it keep more accurate time, and explained "I used the very best butter, too."
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|butter to text interface not found
|A reference to speech-to-text interfaces, typically used by people who cannot see easily to enable them to use a computer.
|-
|butter underrun
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|cannot save, there's something gross on the S key
|A reference to the "Control-S" save shortcut on both Windows and Mac, and is saying that they are unable to activate the shortcut (thus saving the data) because there is "something gross" on it.
|-
|CAPTCHA response indicated parahuman intelligence
|A CAPTCHA is a tool which aims to prevent comupter-generated submissions to an online form by asking the user a question which is easy for humans but (supposedly) hard for computers. In this case, the CAPTCHA detects parahuman intelligence rather than human intelligence.
|-
|cat-like typing detected
|When cats walk or sit on keyboards, they can type, which can be annoying. A program called [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ PawSense] attempted to detect this and block the typed keystrokes to reduce inconvenience.
|-
|confirmation BIOS
|Pun on "confirmation bias" (a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors); BIOS is part of a PC's hardware
|-
|could not evade skifree yeti
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkiFree SkiFree] is an early 90s computer game that requires the player to ski down an endless slope. It's famous for a yeti that appears after the player reaches a certain distance, which then chases and eats the player.
|-
|could not initialize sound blaster 16
|The Sound Blaster 16 is a PC sound card which used FM synthesis to play MIDI files, which was popular in the 1990s.
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|The CRM-114 unit's malfunction is the main plot device in the film Dr Strangelove
|-
|cumulonimbus #19 too rabbitlike
|A cumulonimbus is a type of cloud. This may be a reference to Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. The error suggests that the cloud looked too much like a rabbit.
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|database configuration violates the Prime Directive
|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive Prime Directive] comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek Star Trek], and refers to the principle of not interfering with the natural development of primitive cultures. This error is implying that the database is being seen as a primitive life, and therefore the server is not allowed to make any changes to it.
|-
|Dave's not registered, man
|Cheech and Chong reference: "Dave's not here, man".
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|dictionary too stiff to read
|dictionary in addition to being a book where you can look up the definition of words can also be a data structure of key value pairings.
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|"Wafer" refers to silicon or other material used as substrate for semiconductor fabrication.
|-
|ERR:INVALID DIM
|On the Texas Instruments TI-83 and TI-84 calculators, this is an error message shown [http://oakroadsystems.com/math/ti83oops.htm#x_InvalidDim in various situations].
|-
|error reading drive B. Abort, Retry, Fail?
|A common error from MS-DOS, often caused by a failing floppy disk
|-
|error
|This error message is so uninformative as to be redundant.
|-
|error: error code [error] while decoding error code
|Similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|error: operation completed successfully
|A somewhat common coding error in *nix programs. The program detected an error and tried to print the error using a function such as perror which prints a message based on the global variable errno. However, the error wasn't generated by a standard library routine so errno equals 0 (no error).
|-
|ethics in journalism
|Possibly a reference to the movement Gamergate', a group dedicated to "ethics in video game journalism", and which has been accused of misogyny and harassment.
|-
|eyelash! eyelash!
|Possibly a reference to [http://xkcd.com/1086 xkcd 1086]
|-
|files fell out
|
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|firewall caught fire
|Pun based on the inclusion of the term "fire" in "firewall"
|-
|floating point unit no longer afloat
|A floating point unit is a part of a CPU which can perform calculations on non-integers. The pun is that the floating point unit is not floating (as in on a liquid). Possibly a reference to the Jargon File's [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/N/number-crunching.html#crunchly74-12-25 Crunchly comic].
|-
|friday squid blogging
|Security guru Bruce Schneier regularly posts a blog post with this title, and some squid related news, primarily as a discussion thread
|-
|general uncertainty
|
|-
|GSM filter change required
|Possibly referring to an electronic component used to filter out GSM frequencies. Unlike automotive oil filters, electronic filters don't require changing.
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|A common error from the Commodore Amiga
|-
|hard drive oil depleted
|Hard drives don't use oil/gas like cars do, so it would be strange for the oil to have depleted.
|-
|helvetica scenario
|A reference to the episode on Calcium from the BBC TV show Look Around You.
|-
|HTTP 403 and 3/4ths
|HTTP errors are emitted when an HTTP request (e.g. to download a web page) fails. 403 is Forbidden and 404 is Not Found; 403.75 is somewhere between the two. Reference to Harry Potter's Platform 9¾.
|-
|HTTP 418
|The 4xx class of status code is intended for cases in which the client seems to have erred. For example, the well known 404 is when the client requests a web page that doesn't exist. HTTP 418 is part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTCPCP Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol], denoting "I am a teapot," and purportedly is used when sending an instruction to brew coffee to a teapot.
|-
|http is down
|Since all the traffic is being handled by http (or https), is http were truely down, it would be a conundrum.
|-
|hung up prematurely
|Possible reference to dialup modems: The server disconnected the phone line too soon.
|-
|I got pretty distracted trying to figure out how big space is
|
|-
|i hurt myself today / to see if i still feel
|Lyrics from "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|Refers to the phrase 'smoke and mirrors'
|-
|lights are out, hard drive is taking a nap
|
|-
|lp0 on fire
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|Main Bus B Undervolt
|A line from Apollo 13, when the spaceship is 'having a problem'.
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|"Maximum connection time exceeded" might be an error -- by definition, some connections must last longer than the mean (average) connection time.
|-
|microwave running
|Both microwaves and Wifi operate on the same frequency and have been known to cause interference
|-
|minimum recursion depth not reached
|"Maximum recursion depth exceeded" would be an error -- "depth not exceeded" wouldn't be (and there is no minimum limit)
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|not a hair question
|One of the error messages that the Bucket bot in the #xkcd IRC channel can emit is "That is not a hair question."
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|our buffer runneth over
|Old-English style message instead of more modern language. There were no computers yet at that time.
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|out of monads
|Monads are a concept in functional programming languages, such as Haskell.
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|PC LOAD LETTER
|Error message on older printers stating to add extra letter-size sheets, which has become known to be a very cryptic error message.
|-
|Please Insert Riven CD 4
|Riven is a graphical adventure game by Cyan Worlds which was distributed on 5 CDs.
|-
|PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
|The prompt given by a Commodore-64 when using the LOAD command (without a filename argument)
|-
|previously-recovered files overwritten by newly-recovered ones
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|Possibly referring to quantum indeterminacy of qubits, which are used in quantum computing.
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|"Inner join" is a common SQL operation performed by a Relational DataBase Management System
|-
|screws are stripped
|
|-
|server aperture too narrow for capital letters
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server had too much to drink
|Servers are unlikely to have human style issues with drinking too much alcohol.
|-
|server power cable stolen by raccoon for nest
|
|-
|server room haunted
|Maybe a reference to an UVB-76 broadcast in 2001, which said "I am 143. Not receiving the generator." and "That stuff comes from hardware room." in Russian
|-
|sitemap was held upside down
|Sitemap refers to a website directory. Paper maps can be held upside down.
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|soonerist sperver fid dot nile
|A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism spoonerism] - spoonerist serrver did not find file
|-
|spin cycle still active
|Washing machines have a spin cycle. Hard-drives spin. CPUs have cycles.
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|Quantum spin numbers (in atomic physics) must be integers or half-integers
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|"Reticulating Splines" is a loading message in The Sims series
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|subtle threading bug in turing-complete version numbering system
|
|-
|sysadmin trapped in well
|Reference to Timmy being trapped in a well.
|-
|tape on write-protect hole fell off
|Read-only floppy disks have a ''write-protect'' hole in the corner. A writable disk has no hole.<ref>http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/it-service-desk/write-protect-a-floppy-diskette/</ref> It was common practice to convert read-only floppy disks (that could be obtained for free due to, e.g. shareware distribution at computer stores) into writable floppy disks by placing sticky tape over the hole.
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|butter instead of number
|-
|the little plastic tab on the box the data's in broke off
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|the system / is down
|Referencing the root '/' file system from unix/linux, which is vitally important for server operation.
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Similar warnings betray proprietary software designed to break when used outside the terms of its license. Messages like this are unlikely to be found in free software like Ubuntu, where anti-features are largely inviable.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|It would be ironic for the Open Source Initiative, which promotes sharing and modification, to prevent the sharing of the page for copyright reasons.
|-
|too many hands on the keyboard
|Possibly a reference to a scene in NCIS where two people simultaneously used the same keyboard to "double hack".
|-
|transfer interrupted by incoming fax
|Internet access used to be on dailup modems, which is also used for telephone calls or faxing. These can't operate at the same time.
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|Eight-track tape is an obsolete format for recorded music; the tape itself only had two sides. (Nine-track tape -- much wider than eight-track tape -- was used for computer data storage.)
|-
|turns out server was on circuit with lightswitch by door
|If you turned out the lights as you left the room, it would power down the server.
|-
|Unable to cast variable of type Int32 to Magic Missile
|Magic Missile is a spell (which you can cast) in Dungeons & Dragons. Casting can also refer (in programming) to converting variables from one type to another, e.g. from integer to string. The pun here is that a 32-bit integer is being cast to the Magic Missile spell.
|-
|undefined is not a function, which really makes you think
|"Undefined is not a function" is a Javascript TypeError.
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|unimplemented trap
|"Trap" refers to a computer operation code that is not implemented in the processor's instruction set and instead performs a system call. "Unimplemented trap" was an error message in some previous versions of MacOS.
|-
|User accepted terms but not conditions
|Normally, at a EULA you must accept 'terms and conditions'. There is basically no option to only agree to terms.
|-
|User is not a typewriter.
|A reference to the "isatty" function in the Unix C library, which reports whether a file descriptor is connected to a teletypewriter (terminal) or not. Interactive programs generally are intended to be used from a terminal.
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|Possibly a reference to filename restrictions?
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|virtual memory got too real
|Virtual memory is where the OS writes less-used parts of RAM to disk, so that the RAM can be used for another program, hence the less-used parts are in virtual memory.
|-
|wrong files
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|A line frequently announced by the Protoss advisor in Starcraft.
|}

==User names==
:[Below are possible (not all?) user names mentioned next to any post as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[In alphabetical order:]
*@meganamram
*Addison8
*Agric Silverfinger
*Aidan2
*Aiden5
*Aidenn Aberforth Milne
*Agric Silverfinger
*Alice1956
*Amanda08
*Anonymous
*Arthur19
*Ashley8
*Ashley92
*Ashley2009
*Ayden1952
*Bailey2001
*Barbara1974
*Brandi9
*Caden14
*Caden2010
*Candice10
*Carol04
*Chad80
*Charles18
*Cheyenne1988
*CMOS Def
*Christina Applecare
*Curic Copperfinger
*Cynthia99
*Dakota94
*David St. Hubbins
*Debbie26
*Debbie3
*Debbie62
*Debian Bush
*Destiny1983
*Destiny89
*Dillon2008
*Donna2
*DragonBall Cooper
*Dunston Chexin
*Egbert Bentley White
*Eliezer Yudkowsky
*Elon Musk
*Facebook Scott Fitzgerald
*Frances29
*Frances51
*Frances99
*Gary1951
*Gary86
*George Debian Bush
*George Reagan Renesmee Martin
*Green Mario
*Greg2004
*Hatsy Collins
*Henry4
*J. Alfred Leftshark
*Jack3
*Jack39
*Jacob10
*Jada5
*Jaden Riley Rufio Tolkien
*Jaina Khloe Rowling
*Jalen81
*James URL Jones
*Jayden79
*Jenniferl
*Jeph Jacques
*Joe Biden
*John2
*Justin87
*Kaitlin1976
*Kathleen78
*Keira10
*Keira48
*Kelsey1970
*Kelsey1996
*Kenneth96
*Kilroy
*Khloe14
*Kristy2007
*Larry Ronald Hubbard
*Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit
*Linda08
*Lisa1995
*Lord Gaga
*Lord Mondegreen
*Margaret11
*Margaret5
*Marie3
*Mark Zuckerberg
*Mark2007
*Mark92
*Martin Van Halen
*Minecraft Holmes
*Misty3
*Myspace Tom
*Norton Ghost Dad
*Padme Dorothy James
*Pam06
*Paul1957
*Patricia03
*Player One
*Player Two
*Professor Monoculatus McToff
*Raymond6
*Ronald22
*Ruth3
*S. G. Dukat
*Samuel19
*Sarah55
*Sierra10
*Sierra7
*Shaun46
*Sheena2005
*Sherri97
*Stacy07
*Steven02
*Steven2002
*Steven50
*Susan25
*Tim21
*Tina Belcher
*Todd33
*Tonya22
*Tracy1977
*Tricia14
*Trinity1989
*Virginia2006
*Wil
*Wric Tungstenfinger

==User pictures==
:[Below are descriptions of possible (not all?) user pictures shown next to any user name as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[The images can be directly accessed from http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png to http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png .]
*[Hairy complete stick figure]
*[Chipmunk]
*[Close up of male face with black hair on a gray background]
*[Galaxy]
*[Chipmunk head]
*[e^iπ ≈ 0]
*[Tree crossing the street]

==Like buttons==
:[xkcloud has "Like" buttons next to each post (next to the post text above the picture), similar to those on Facebook, but with random text from this alphabetical list below where all words are [http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/want synonyms for want].]
*Covet
*Crave
*Hanker
*Thirst
*Yearn

==Post from users==
:[Some of the picture can be seen on this page: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].]
:[It will likely be impossible to transcribe all this as it is user input, and thus not Randall's own text. But at least a few examples should be given here as a reference. If anyone wish to expand beyond a few feel free to contribute.]
*Meritocracy is a pipe dream
''The Mushroom Kingdom (from Super Mario Bros.) is a monarchic meritocracy''
*The prophecy was true!
*The tea party was right about GMO bicycles
*Everything makes sense now
*Turkey drumstick
*Stonehenge was surprisingly compelling
*I've made a huge mistake
*Um, I think somethings wrong with my carrot...
*The rest is darkness and decay
*Howerboard to full power!
*My hobby: Freaking people out
*Is this real life?
''Reference to Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody''
*Where should I put this new cool tatto?

*Exact composition of this... thing... is yet to be determined.
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*Man, that cool-ade guy really lost some weight lately.
*Lol, no I didn't jump
*In hindsight, it makes perfect sense
*Whoops I left the Lens Cap on for this one. :S
*Duck Duck Go's secret algorithm
''Duck Duck Go is a search engine which doesn't track you. Somewhat ironically, their algorithm is a bit secretive''
*This isn't where I parked my zeppelin!
*Who stepped on my pop tart?
*Big Ben is going down
*Do my feet look fat?
*I say; Nuts to that!
*I can take photo's with my teeth!
*To infinity and birdyond!
''Reference to Toystory''
*I wish I could afford the monopolar model...
*I can control the BEES! But I only make them turn right
*the saddest moment of my childhood
*hey, so, we need to talk about your sphere-packing problem.

==References==
<references/>

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-01T15:04:38Z

173.245.53.150: removed sorting, some additions

__NOTOC__
==Intro==
*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the continually(?) growing dynamic comic [[1506: xkcloud]].

:[After clicking on the red button on the first page you will go to a new page. This can either be the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page or the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page which are transcribed below.]

==Help! We lost the picture==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from Randall's (or others?) input. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the text of the post. This text is also random. (Note now for Aprils Fools' day - are the entries in the table below both for the reason and for the posts. Can they be both or is it two different sets of random reasons/posts?)]
:[Below is a blue rectangle where the missing picture should be. Instead there is only a white question mark:]
:'''?'''

:[Below this and above six picture frames in two rows are this line of text:]
:Which of these pictures do you think went with this post?
:[The five first pictures are from a random sample, created by Randall (or by users?). In the sixth and last picture frame the following text is written:]
:Draw one your self

:[By clicking on any of the five pictures you get to a new page with the chosen picture now substituting the "?" in the post above with the chosen picture. If you click the Draw one your self you will go to a page where you can do exactly this.]

:[Below these six frames is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page).]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding
:your personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==Help! We lost the text==

:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! we lost the text that goes with this post!'''
:[For cases where the user has to submit or select a text according to a picture]
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from Randall's (or others?) input. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the picture from the post. This picture is also random and are from Randall (or users?) collection.]

:[Below this and above five frames with text in two columns are this line of text:]
:Which text post do you think went with this picture?
:[The five texts below are from a random sample, created by Randall (or by users?). :[Below this is a box where you are invited to write and submit a text suggestion. In the box written in gray letters (rather than black, which it will turn to when you type something) are the following text:]
:Or, write your own
:[To the left is a button with the text:]
:Submit

:[By clicking on any of the five text boxes you get to a new page with the chosen text now standing above the picture from the post above. If you write a text and click the submit button your own text will be written above the picture.]

:[Below this submit text box is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page).]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding
:your personal data:

* Please stop sending us
:your personal data
* We are running out of
:places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize
:whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here
:comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

:[To the right below the thin black line are three post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and and a picture. All three again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]).]

==Reason for data loss==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
|<%= reason %>
|
|-
| +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|A reference to Hex, the magical computer from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which would occasionally emit this error
|-
|AOL window in front of Netscape window
|
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|butter to text interface not found
|
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|The CRM-114 unit's malfunction is the main plot device in the film Dr Strangelove
|-
|confirmation BIOS
|
|-
|could not initialize sound blaster 16
|
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|cumulonimbus #19 too rabbitlike
|
|-
|dictionary too stiff to read
|
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|
|-
|ERR:INVALID DIM
|If there's an invalid DIM ram inserted it's unlikely this error message could be shown since the pc won't start.
|-
|error reading drive B. Abort, Retry, Fail?
|A common error from MS-DOS, often caused by a failing floppy disk
|-
|ethics in journalism
|
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|floating point unit no longer afloat
|
|-
|friday squid blogging
|
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|A common error from the Commodore Amiga
|-
|GSM filter change required
|
|-
|hard drive oil depleted
|
|-
|helvetica scenario
|A reference to the episode on Calcium from the BBC TV show Look Around You.
|-
|HTTP 403 and 3/4ths
|Http errors are integers so this code is invalid
|-
|http is down
|
|-
|hung up prematurely
|
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|
|-
|lp0 on fire
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|Main Bus B Undervolt
|A line from Apollo 13, when the spaceship is 'having a problem'.
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|
|-
|microwave running
|Both microwaves and Wifi operate on the frequency and have been known to cause interference
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|out of monads
|Monads are a concept in functional programming languages, such as Haskell.
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|PC LOAD LETTER
|Error message on older printers stating to add extra letter-size sheets, which has become known to be a very cryptic error message.
|-
|Please Insert Riven CD 4
|Riven is a graphical adventure game by Cyan Worlds which was distributed on CD.
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|
|-
|server aperture too narrow for capital letters
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server power cable stolen by raccoon for nest
|
|-
|server room haunted
|Maybe a reference to an UVB-76 broadcast in 2001, which said "I am 143. Not receiving the generator." and "That stuff comes from hardware room." in Russian
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|butter instead of number
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Ubuntu is open source and does not require a license, so this kind of message would never happen.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|Nor would this.
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|
|-
|undefined is not a function, which really makes you think
|
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|User accepted terms but not conditions
|Normally, at a EULA you must accept 'terms and conditions'. There is basicly no option to only agree to terms.
|-
|User is not a typewriter.
|
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|virtual memory got too real
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|A line frequently announced by the Protoss advisor in Starcraft.
|}

==User names==
:[Below are possible (not all?) user names mentioned next to any post as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[In alphabetical order:]
*@meganamram
*Agric Silverfinger
*Aidan2
*Aiden5
*Aidenn Aberforth Milne
*Agric Silverfinger
*Amanda08
*Arthur19
*Ashley8
*Ashley92
*Bailey2001
*Barbara1974
*Caden14
*Caden2010
*Carol04
*Chad80
*Charles18
*Cheyenne1988
*Curic Copperfinger
*Dakota94
*David St. Hubbins
*Debbie26
*Debbie3
*Debbie62
*Debian Bush
*Destiny1983
*Dillon2008
*DragonBall Cooper
*Dunston Chexin
*Egbert Bentley White
*Eliezer Yudkowsky
*Elon Musk
*Facebook Scott Fitzgerald
*Frances29
*Frances51
*Frances99
*Gary1951
*Gary86
*George Reagan Renesmee Martin
*Green Mario
*Greg2004
*Hatsy Collins
*Henry4
*J. Alfred Leftshark
*Jack3
*Jack39
*Jacob10
*Jada5
*Jaden Riley Rufio Tolkien
*Jaina Khloe Rowling
*Jalen81
*Jeph Jacques
*Joe Biden
*John2
*Justin87
*Kaitlin1976
*Kathleen78
*Keira48
*Kelsey1970
*Kelsey1996
*Kenneth96
*Khloe14
*Kristy2007
*Larry Ronald Hubbard
*Linda08
*Lisa1995
*Lord Mondegreen
*Margaret11
*Margaret5
*Marie3
*Mark Zuckerberg
*Mark92
*Martin Van Halen
*Minecraft Holmes
*Misty3
*Myspace Tom
*Norton Ghost Dad
*Paul1957
*Professor Monoculatus McToff
*Raymond6
*Ronald22
*S. G. Dukat
*Samuel19
*Sarah55
*Sierra10
*Shaun46
*Sheena2005
*Sherri97
*Stacy07
*Steven02
*Steven50
*Susan25
*Tim21
*Tina Belcher
*Todd33
*Tonya22
*Tracy1977
*Tricia14
*Trinity1989
*Virginia2006
*Wric Tungstenfinger

:[Below are descriptions of possible (not all?) user pictures shown next to any user name as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
*[Hairy complete stick figure]
*[Chipmunk]
*[Close up of male face with black hair on a gray background]
*[Galaxy]
*[Chipmunk head]
*[e^iπ ≈ 0]
*[Reddit snoo with gulf of binary]
*[Tree crossing the street]

==Like buttons==
:xkcloud has "Like" buttons next to each post (next to the post text above the picture), similar to those on Facebook, but with random alternative text. Examples include:
* Covet
* Crave
* Like-like
* Hanker
* Thirst
* Yearn

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-01T12:35:53Z

173.245.53.150: +++ fix in first entry

==Help! We lost the picture==
:[After clicking on the red button on the first page you will go to the next page]
:[At the top of the page there are the following text (every time?):]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss: [Here follows a text which is a random reason taken from Randall's (or others?) input. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]])]
:[Below is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc. Next to the picture is a random user name (the picture can be used for several user names)]

===Reason for data loss===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
|OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START
|(This sentence contains + sings but the wiki table doesn't like that.)
|-
|AOL window in front of Netscape window
|
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|
|-
|ethics in journalism
|
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|friday squid blogging
|
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|
|-
|GSM filter change required
|
|-
|helvetica scenario
|
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|
|-
|lp0 on fire
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|
|-
|microwave running
|
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server room haunted
|
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Ubuntu is open source and does not require a license, so this kind if message would never happen.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|
|}

===User names===
*Paul1957
*Aidan2
*Marie3
*Lord Mondegreen

Our policy regarding your personal data:
* Please stop sending us your personal data
* We are running out of places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

This page allows users to submit entries to the "xkcloud", which has other images (drawn by other people? Someone confirm) to vote on, or "Draw Your Own" image options.

There is also a variant in which one creates text to go with an image.

xkcloud has "Like" buttons, similar to those on Facebook, but with random alternative text. Examples include:
* covet
* like-like
* yearn

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-01T12:34:59Z

173.245.53.150: added first explanations

==Help! We lost the picture==
:[After clicking on the red button on the first page you will go to the next page]
:[At the top of the page there are the following text (every time?):]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss: [Here follows a text which is a random reason taken from Randall's (or others?) input. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]])]
:[Below is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc. Next to the picture is a random user name (the picture can be used for several user names)]

===Reason for data loss===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
|+ + + OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START + + +
|
|-
|AOL window in front of Netscape window
|
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|
|-
|ethics in journalism
|
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|friday squid blogging
|
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|
|-
|GSM filter change required
|
|-
|helvetica scenario
|
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|
|-
|lp0 on fire
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|
|-
|microwave running
|
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server room haunted
|
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Ubuntu is open source and does not require a license, so this kind if message would never happen.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|
|}

===User names===
*Paul1957
*Aidan2
*Marie3
*Lord Mondegreen

Our policy regarding your personal data:
* Please stop sending us your personal data
* We are running out of places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

This page allows users to submit entries to the "xkcloud", which has other images (drawn by other people? Someone confirm) to vote on, or "Draw Your Own" image options.

There is also a variant in which one creates text to go with an image.

xkcloud has "Like" buttons, similar to those on Facebook, but with random alternative text. Examples include:
* covet
* like-like
* yearn

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-04-01T12:32:00Z

173.245.53.150: Created table for explanations

==Help! We lost the picture==
:[After clicking on the red button on the first page you will go to the next page]
:[At the top of the page there are the following text (every time?):]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss: [Here follows a text which is a random reason taken from Randall's (or others?) input. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]])]
:[Below is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc. Next to the picture is a random user name (the picture can be used for several user names)]

===Reason for data loss===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
|+++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|
|-
|AOL window in front of Netscape window
|
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|
|-
|butter overflow
|
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|
|-
|ethics in journalism
|
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|friday squid blogging
|
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|
|-
|GSM filter change required
|
|-
|helvetica scenario
|
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|
|-
|lp0 on fire
|
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|
|-
|microwave running
|
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server room haunted
|
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|
|-
|SQL ejection
|
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|
|}

===User names===
*Paul1957
*Aidan2
*Marie3
*Lord Mondegreen

Our policy regarding your personal data:
* Please stop sending us your personal data
* We are running out of places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

This page allows users to submit entries to the "xkcloud", which has other images (drawn by other people? Someone confirm) to vote on, or "Draw Your Own" image options.

There is also a variant in which one creates text to go with an image.

xkcloud has "Like" buttons, similar to those on Facebook, but with random alternative text. Examples include:
* covet
* like-like
* yearn

1506: xkcloud

2015-04-01T11:19:07Z

173.245.53.150: extra reasons

{{comic
| number = 1506
| date = April 1, 2015
| title = xkcloud
| image = xkcloud.png
| titletext =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is one of those complicated interactive entries, more like reviewing a video game than explaining a normal comic.}}
In this April Fools interactive comic, [[Cueball]], presumably representing Randall, admits to the readers he built a flimsy cloud services company using spare computer parts. His setup failed and in part caught fire, making him lose data he was required to hold as part of his service. He requests the users help him recover, make up and reimagine the lost data by pressing the large red button at the bottom of the comic.

Pressing the button shifts the comic into a survey displaying either a poorly drawn picture or an ambiguous text post, prompting the reader to choose a matching text post or poorly drawn picture respectively. The survey also allows the reader to make up a text post or drawing, completely defeating the purpose of recovering the lost data. By completing the survey, the reader's entry is added to three other posts. These posts are accompanied by a button similar to Facebook's "Like" button, which reads either of the following titles: Covet, Crave, Hanker and Thirst. All of these are synonyms of "want".

This comic may be a reference to the 2008 film Be Kind Rewind.

==Transcript==

====Introduction====

:[Cueball sitting behind a desk labeled XKCD.COM.]
:Cueball: We've made a huge mistake.
:[Cueball points at a bunch of computers]
:Cueball: I figured starting a cloud services company would be easy. After all, I've got ''tons'' of computers!
:[A zoomed view on cueballs head.]
:Cueball: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr — They all struggle to protect privacy and user data... And ''we'' offered a solution. I forget what it was, though.
:[Cueball is standing with his arms up.]
:Cueball: Anyway, long story short, we screwed up ''immediately'' and lost ''tons'' of their data. Also a bunch of stuff is literally on fire?
:[Cueball standing behind a desk labeled XKCD.COM.]
:Cueball: We can fix this. But we need your help.
:Clickable button: '''CLICK HERE''' to help us recover user data before Facebook & Co notice we lost it.

====Interactive page====

Help! we lost the picture that goes with this post! 
Reason for data loss: (This is a random string. Some examples:)
* This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
* Server fell in ocean.
* LP0 on fire
* files overwritten with more interesting content
* Baby ur much 2 fast
* spontaneous splinal dereticulation
* electrons too big, stuck in wafer
* friday squid blogging
* Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
* server room haunted
* microwave running
* unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
* UTF-31 decode error
* the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
* data too big
* butter overflow
* overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
* +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++

Our policy regarding your personal data:
* Please stop sending us your personal data
* We are running out of places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

This page allows users to submit entries to the "xkcloud", which has other images (drawn by other people? Someone confirm) to vote on, or "Draw Your Own" image options.

There is also a variant in which one creates text to go with an image.

xkcloud has "like-like" buttons, with random adjectives applied to an xkcd-style "Like" button.

==Trivia==
*It's the first and only comic without a title text.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics without title text]]

1506: xkcloud

2015-04-01T11:14:07Z

173.245.53.150: put the reasons into a list

{{comic
| number = 1506
| date = April 1, 2015
| title = xkcloud
| image = xkcloud.png
| titletext =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is one of those complicated interactive entries, more like reviewing a video game than explaining a normal comic.}}
In this April Fools interactive comic, [[Cueball]], presumably representing Randall, admits to the readers he built a flimsy cloud services company using spare computer parts. His setup failed and in part caught fire, making him lose data he was required to hold as part of his service. He requests the users help him recover, make up and reimagine the lost data by pressing the large red button at the bottom of the comic.

Pressing the button shifts the comic into a survey displaying either a poorly drawn picture or an ambiguous text post, prompting the reader to choose a matching text post or poorly drawn picture respectively. The survey also allows the reader to make up a text post or drawing, completely defeating the purpose of recovering the lost data. By completing the survey, the reader's entry is added to three other posts. These posts are accompanied by a button similar to Facebook's "Like" button, which reads either of the following titles: Covet, Crave, Hanker and Thirst. All of these are synonyms of "want".

This comic may be a reference to the 2008 film Be Kind Rewind.

==Transcript==

====Introduction====

:[Cueball sitting behind a desk labeled XKCD.COM.]
:Cueball: We've made a huge mistake.
:[Cueball points at a bunch of computers]
:Cueball: I figured starting a cloud services company would be easy. After all, I've got ''tons'' of computers!
:[A zoomed view on cueballs head.]
:Cueball: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr — They all struggle to protect privacy and user data... And ''we'' offered a solution. I forget what it was, though.
:[Cueball is standing with his arms up.]
:Cueball: Anyway, long story short, we screwed up ''immediately'' and lost ''tons'' of their data. Also a bunch of stuff is literally on fire?
:[Cueball standing behind a desk labeled XKCD.COM.]
:Cueball: We can fix this. But we need your help.
:Clickable button: '''CLICK HERE''' to help us recover user data before Facebook & Co notice we lost it.

====Interactive page====

Help! we lost the picture that goes with this post! 
Reason for data loss: (This is a random string. Some examples:)
* This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
* Server fell in ocean.
* LP0 on fire

Our policy regarding your personal data:
* Please stop sending us your personal data
* We are running out of places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

This page allows users to submit entries to the "xkcloud", which has other images (drawn by other people? Someone confirm) to vote on, or "Draw Your Own" image options.

There is also a variant in which one creates text to go with an image.

xkcloud has "like-like" buttons, with random adjectives applied to an xkcd-style "Like" button.

==Trivia==
*It's the first and only comic without a title text.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:April fool's comics]]
[[Category:Comics without title text]]

1506: xkcloud

2015-04-01T10:15:49Z

173.245.53.150: added extra transcript lines

{{comic
| number = 1506
| date = April 1, 2015
| title = xkcloud
| image = xkcloud.png
| titletext =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is one of those complicated interactive entries, more like reviewing a video game than explaining a normal comic.}}

==Transcript==

====Introduction====

:[Cueball sitting behind a desk labeled XKCD.COM.]
:Cueball: We've made a huge mistake.
:[Cueball points at a bunch of computers]
:Cueball: I figured starting a cloud services company would be easy. After all, I've got ''tons'' of computers!
:[A zoomed view on cueballs head.]
:Cueball: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr — They all struggle to protect privacy and user data... And ''we'' offered a solution. I forget what it was, though.
:[Cueball is standing with his arms up.]
:Cueball: Anyway, long story short, we screwed up ''immediately'' and lost ''tons'' of their data. Also a bunch of stuff is literally on fire?
:[Cueball standing behind a desk labeled XKCD.COM.]
:Cueball: We can fix this. But we need your help.
:Clickable button: Help us recover user data before Facebook & Co notice we lost it.

====Interactive page====

Help! we lost the picture that goes with this post! 
Reason for data loss: This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.

Our policy regarding your personal data:
* Please stop sending us your personal data
* We are running out of places to put it
* Is this even yours?
* Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
* Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
* Why are you doing this
* Please stop
* Help

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:April fool's comics]]

1501: Mysteries

2015-03-20T12:22:15Z

173.245.53.150: Made the table sortable

{{comic
| number = 1501
| date = March 20, 2015
| title = Mysteries
| image = mysteries.png
| titletext = At the bottom left: The mystery of why, when I know I needed to be asleep an hour ago, I decide it's a good time to read through every Wikipedia article in the categories 'Out-of-place artifacts', 'Earth mysteries', 'Anomalous weather', and 'List of people who disappeared mysteriously'.
}}

==Explanation==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Entry
!Weirdness
!Explainable
!Further Details
|-
|Who Carly Simon is singing about in ''You're So Vain''
|9%
|4%
|The lyrics of the song include "You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you". This implies that the vain subject of the song is wrong in thinking that the song is about them, however they are the subject of the song. This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27re_So_Vain#Subject_of_the_song Wikipedia article describing possible interpretations of the songs subject]
|-
|Lindbergh Baby
|17%
|25%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping Lindbergh baby kidnapping]
|-
|UVB-76
|40%
|23%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76 UBV-76 Number radio station]
|-
|Toynbee Tiles
|25%
|34%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles Toynbee tiles] are colorful ceramic tiles with cryptic messages that have been found embedded in asphalt in the streets of various midwestern-to-eastern cities.
|-
|Jimmy Hoffa
|10%
|42%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hoffa Jimmy Hoffa] was an American labor union leader who disappeared in 1975. He is widely believed to have been murdered.
|-
|The WOW Signal
|55%
|20%
|A strong and clean radio transmission near 1420 MHz received by the Big Ear Radio Observatory at Ohio State University in 1977 that appears to have originated from interstellar space [http://www.universetoday.com/93754/35-years-later-the-wow-signal-still-tantalizes/]. This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.
|-
|Mary Celeste
|70%
|43%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste The ''Mary Celeste''] was a sailing ship found adrift, mysteriously abandoned yet otherwise undisturbed, in 1872. No explanation for these events has ever been determined. Its name has become a watchword for mysteriously abandoned ships.
|-
|DB Cooper
|76%
|20%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper DB Cooper] Robber who jumped from a plane and was never found.
|-
|Salish Sea Feet
|96%
|31%
|{{w|Salish Sea human foot discoveries}}
|-
|Lead Masks Case
|99%
|12%
|Two Brazilian electricians were found dead on a hill top. No injuries. {{w|Lead Masks Case|Both were wearing lead masks.}}
|-
|MH370
|100%
|0%
|{{w|Malaysia Airlines Flight 370}}; disappeared on 8 March 2014
|-
|Voynich Manuscript
|35%
|68%
|The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system: {{w|Voynich manuscript}}.
|-
|Why I keep putting ice cream back in the fridge instead of the freezer
|0%
|96%
|Randal apparently frequently puts his ice cream container into the refrigerator rather than into the freezer.
|-
|JFK
|38%
|86%
|The assassination of President John F. Kennedy has inspired many conspiracy theories, beginning almost immediately after the event. The subsequent murder of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald added fuel to the fire by encouraging speculation that he was silenced to cover up the true story.
|-
|Oak Island Money Pit
|32%
|98%
|
|-
|Zodiac Letters
|62%
|62%
|A set of letters written by the so-called {{w|Zodiac Killer}}, a serial killer who was active at Califorina in the 1960s and 1970s. The letters are availabe at [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer_letters Wikisource].
|-
|Amelia Earhart
|56%
|74%
|Amelia Earhart tried to circle the earth at the equator in an aeroplane in 1937, but she, her navigator and the plane disappeared over the Pacific without any trace.
|-
|Lost Colony
|74%
|83%
|The {{w|Roanoke Colony}} was the first English attempt to establish a permanent settlement in the New World. The colony of over a hundred settlers disappeared some time in the late 1580s, with no signs of violence and no clear clues as to what happened other than the word "Croatoan" carved into a fencepost.
|-
|Bigfoot
|60%
|98%
|
|-
|Loch Ness Monster
|64%
|100%
|
|-
|Kentucky Meat Shower
|85%
|93%
|Chunks of meat fell from the sky in Kentucky in 1876; this was possibly projectile vomit from a vulture [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2014/12/01/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-mystery-unwound-by-projectile-vulture-vomit/].
|-
|Dyatlov Pass Incident
|93%
|96%
|On February 2, 1959, nine skiers in the northern Ural Mountains apparently fled their tents without taking time to put on winter clothing. They were found dead, some with physical injuries: {{w|Dyatlov Pass Incident}}
|}

The title text refers to Randall staying up late to read Wikipedia articles, which is apparently not very unusual for him and has an obvious explanation (following up on an idea that eventually led to today's cartoon).

==Transcript==

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1292: Pi vs. Tau

2013-11-23T00:10:21Z

173.245.53.150:

I started an explanation. Hopefully others will help improve it, as I don't think it's quite adequate. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.174|199.27.130.174]] 05:32, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

The comic currently shows the symbol π (pi) in all three cases, but it should have the symbol τ (tau) in the rightmost case. I'm sure there is a compromise symbol "pau" too. Maybe with a deformed left leg? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.4|141.101.97.4]] 07:07, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

WolframAlpha gives
<pre>
4.5545743763144164456766617143366171162404440766665105335330776311513504520604364524762740226212061363100001776216741750712622557020442741544760057441760026766230424023460366047331305225241275347777145543054127636365666430221066167347236617261603127725745513663702031155234027041040155322217227723576660045156156303357534162372112340027743775672417274565277274565735325624457113522164166560115654407251403563246444122664066521461311773474046032763760765740133706761276420415672577471077133607673035331070364705651055376634161405567176532346433567731715723623721267302576735154761375545411215522177775706407470673020025353246535120744232706060324711633457720155013202527060250466252665661576165164140301645132275526153126363575631176312270212441433434206352313125326760006365710744276056412434626534152021052065172556442150110056601034116570607064550553636566432544260105637423220411372664024454234201642615033200331506013362432026775605543212342336511350621361642654426372425415023071413764173735461042064323757413414533013..._8</pre> which does indeed have four 666 sequences. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.254|141.101.99.254]] 08:06, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
This number contains 7777, 000 and 444 twice, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.11|141.101.93.11]] 09:08, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Wrote the transcript, not sure if I explained the visual well enough, so I left the incomplete tag if someone else has a better idea. Should suffice for understanding however, considering the content [[Special:Contributions/108.162.248.18|108.162.248.18]] 08:55, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

----

(The discussion about different results was trimmed)

Wolfram gives the result with 666

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1.5+pi+octal
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022
</pre>
The Unix arbitrary precision calculator gives the result without

$ echo "scale=200; obase=8; 6*a(1)" | bc -l
<pre>
4.554574376314416443236234514475050122425471573015650314763354527003043167712611655054674757031331252340351471657646433317273112431020107644727072362457372164022043765215506554422014311615574251563446213636251744101107770257
</pre>
Any suggestions how we can check them?

"Randall says so" is probably correct, but insufficient :-) {{unsigned|Mike}}

:Please use the <nowiki><pre></nowiki> tag for this long numbers.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:20, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Testing Wolfram Alpha with <pre>4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000177621674175071262255_8 in decimal</pre> and <pre>4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000_8 in decimal</pre> both indicate the approximation is only accurate to a limited degree.
<pre>
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000177621674175071262255_8+in+decimal
</pre>
<pre>
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=4.55457437631441644567666171433661711624044407666651053353307763115135045206043645247627402262120613631000177621674175071262255_8+in+decimal
</pre>

The method I used to get the value I put in the text was; I used the following command to generate my approximation:
<pre>echo 'scale=200; obase=8; a(1) * 6' | bc -l | tr -d ' \\\n' ; echo</pre> which outputs<pre>
4.554574376314416443236234514475050122425471573015650314763354527003043167712611655054674757031331252340351471657646433317273112431020107644727072362457372164022043765215506554422014311615574251563446213636251744101107770257
</pre>
In 'bc'', a(1) is arctangent of 1 (i.e. 45 degrees, or pi/4); (pi/4 * 6) should be equal to 'pau'. I additionally checked the result using base 2 encoding, and converted each three bit binary value into an octal value. The decimal value of pi (using a(1) * 4) matches with the value of pi to at lease 1000 digits.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.86|173.245.54.86]] 09:21, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Both Maxima and the GNU Emacs calculator output as the first 1000 octal digits:
<pre>
4.5545743763144164432362345144750501224254715730156503147633545270030431677126116550546747570313312523403514716576464333172731124310201076447270723624573721640220437652155065544220143116155742515634462136362517441011077702611156024117447125224176203716336742057353303216470257662666744627534325504334506002730517102547504145216661211250027531716641276765735563341721214013553453654106045245066401141437740626707757305450703606440651111775270032710035521352101513622062164457304326450524432531652666626042202562202550566425643040556365710250031642467447605663240661743600041052212627767073277600402572027316222345356036301002572541750000114422036312122341474267232761775450071652613627306745074150251171507720277250030270442257106542456441722455345340370205646442156334125564557520336340223313312556634450170626417234376702443117031135045420165467426237454754566012204316130023063506430063362203021262434464410604275224606523356702572610031171344411766505734615256121034660773306140032365326415773227551
</pre>
This also agrees with the first 220 digits of the previous result (last two digits above are 57 vs 61 here, maybe due to rounding when converting to octal). Again, no 666 within the first 200 digits. The Wolfram result deviates from this at the 18th digit already. --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 10:21, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Also e+2 does not contain the substring '666':
<pre>echo "scale=200; obase=8; e(1) + 2" | bc -l</pre>
<pre>4.55760521305053551246527734254200471723636166134705407470551551265170233101050620637674622347347044466373713722774330661414353543664033100253542141365517370755272577262541110317650765740633550205306625</pre>--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:43, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

: A sudden flash of realization: are we getting nerd-sniped here?--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.168|108.162.254.168]] 11:55, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

: The claim is clearly about e+2, making Dgbrt's comment closest to the right direction. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.40|173.245.54.40]] 12:03, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

When I take Wolfram alpha's octal(pi*1.5) I get the first 303 (base 10) characters as this:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022106616734723661726160312772574551366370203115523402704104015532221722772357666
</pre>
200(base 10) is 310(base 8) so in the fist '200' characters, 666 shows up 4 times (5 if you count 6666 as twice?) [[User:Xami|Xami]] ([[User talk:Xami|talk]]) 14:01, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

: The Wolfram result is what you get when you calculate pi*3/2 in decimal, round to 14 digits after the decimal point and then convert to octal. That is, 4.7123889803846910 converted to octal. Definitely, this won't give you 200 digits precision. --[[User:Ulm|ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 15:15, 18 November 2013 (UTC)
:: It lines up too perfectly to be a coincidence. It fits all the requirements: has 666 four times within 2008 digits, and although 0000, 222, 444, and 7777 appear, they only appear once as a run. You can't double count 7777 as two 777's because it is a single run. If WolframAlpha doesn't give the correct precision, it is likely that Randall made the same error. --[[User:RainbowDash|RainbowDash]] ([[User talk:RainbowDash|talk]]) 16:59, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Being τ, tau, is already being expressed in terms of π, pi, it shows bias. (Though I think Pau would lead to some interesting spherical geometry equations. ~~Drifter {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.214}}

The bias is worse than that: From the perspective of π, the discussion is about multiples of π, so (3/2)π (that is 3π/2 = 3τ/4) is indeed the compromise between π and 2π. But from the perspective of τ, the discussion is about fractions of τ, so the compromise between τ and τ/2 is τ/(3/2) (that is 2τ/3 = 4π/3). Maybe we can call this ‘ti’ (or ‘tie’, pace 173.245.53.184 below). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:47, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Actually, both compromises are wrong. (3/2)π is the arithmetic mean of π and τ, while τ/(3/2) is their harmonic mean. But for geometric ratios (which these are), the appropriate mean is generally the geometric mean (hence the name). You can see how even-handed this is: it's (√2)π = τ/(√2). —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:50, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

---

I am in favour of just calling it ti(e). --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.184|173.245.53.184]] 17:52, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

---

There are real world uses to both Tau and Pi: Pi is the number that relates to what you get when you measure a circle (the distanced around divided by the distance across); and Tau is get when you draw a circle (the distance around divided by the distance from the center). It is the difference between a mic (aka "micrometer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometer ) and a protractor. Tau might have some mathematical advantages in both 2D and 3D in that it has no integer attached to it to find either circumference (2D) or surface area (3D) which makes radians and solid angles simpler. However, that advantage is lost in other dimensions and for the area of a circle.

Pau, of course, has a 61% chance of going to the dribbling spheroid hall of fame. (ref: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gasolpa01.html ), to which neither Tau nor Pi can hold a candle.~~Remo ( [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.183|199.27.128.183]] 19:19, 18 November 2013 (UTC) )

---

The differences between Wolfram and BC really bothered me since I have used both for precision calculation in the past. The long and short of the matter, having done most of the maths 'long hand', BC is correct, Wolfram is wrong, and sadly, Randall was also wrong. It seems as tho Wolfram is rounding pi*1.5 to around 15 decimals but leaving the 9 repeating before converting to Octal.

If you take the output of octal(pi * 1.5) and paste it back into the input like so:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777_8
</pre>
Wolfram gives you back (converted to decimal):
<pre>
4.71238898038468999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
</pre>
If you give that same input to BC and ask it to convert to decimal you get:
<pre>
4.712388980384689999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999992894219160392567888
</pre>
If you do the math long hand out to 55 decimal places, pi * 1.5 equals:
<pre>
4.712388980384689857693965074919254326295754099062658731462416...
</pre>
Converting that by hand into octal is a bit of a pain, but if you do, at the 18th decimal place where BC and Wolfram differ you end up with the following:
<pre>
0.000000000000000183697019872102976583909889841150158731462416... is your remainder to be converted so far
0.000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625 = 8 ^ -18
</pre>
Wolfram gives the 18th decimal as 5, BC as 3. I can't see 5 going into 18 5 times, but 3 times fits nicely.
--[[User:DarkJMKnight|DarkJMKnight]] ([[User talk:DarkJMKnight|talk]]) 20:04, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Looks like Wolfram is simply using floating-point mathematics, presumably the IEEE "double precision". Interestingly, this is not the first time floating-point maths has been a problem; in [[287]], a similar problem caused an unintended trivial solution. [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 04:41, 19 November 2013 (UTC)
* On second thoughts, there's no indication that he used Wolfram Alpha; as with [[287]], it simply could have been a Perl script (or Python or pretty much any programming language). [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 05:25, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

---

How can 200 be octal and then mean 310 decimal???
If 200 were octal, that would be 128 decimal, so we would end up writing 128 decimals.
Of course 310 octal is 200 decimal, but taking 2008 to mean 31010 is plain crazy, even if it's the only way to make it fit the "four times 666" constraint!
What am I missing here? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.149|173.245.53.149]] 21:27, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

This Mathematica code searches for the pattern 666 in the octal expansion of 1.5 pi:
<pre>digits = RealDigits[3*Pi/2, 8, 10000][[1]]; Select[Range[10000 - 2], Take[digits, {#, # + 2}] == {6, 6, 6} &]
{279, 326, 495, 496, 3430, 3728, 4153, 6040, 7031, 7195, 7647, 7732, 8353, 8435, 8436, 8575, 8768, 9008}</pre>
These positions start counting with the leading "4" as position 1. It does not occur in the first 200 digits, but occurs 18 times in the first 10,000 digits. Many other digit combinations occur more times in the first 10,000 digits, including "123" (23 times), "222" (21 times), and "555" (26 times). Note that "xkcd" converted to numbers (a=1, b=2, etc.) is 24, 11, 3, 4. The combination 241134 first occurs in 1.5 pi at digit number 250,745. [[User:Dcoetzee|Dcoetzee]] ([[User talk:Dcoetzee|talk]]) 06:44, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Wow, this filled up fast. Is it time to remove the Incomplete tag yet? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 03:14, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

:Please do your adds at the bottom. Otherwise it looks like as the first discussion here and everybody will ignore your comment.
:My answer is: NO. We still have to figure out if Randall is wrong or just using an algorithm nobody does understand right now.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

---

Someone said there's no indication that Randall used Wolfram, and that double-precision IEEE numbers in mostly any language would cause the same error.
This is not true: IEEE double precision numbers (binary64) are stored internally in binary.
Converting them to octal would give at most 18 nonzero significant (octal) digits, and from that point on all additional digits would be zeros (remember that an octal digit is equivalent to three bits).
What Wolfram does is rounding to a decimal number, which is not round in octal.

I think the previous is an indication that Randall did indeed use Wolfram.
Added to that, he used Wolfram in several what-if's, and in one case he used it so heavily that his IP got temporarily banned from Wolfram.
This leaves little or no doubts in me that Wolfram is the source of Randall's mistake.

Also, I still would like to know why everybody is interpreting "200 digits" as "2008 digits" and pretending that's equal to "31010 digits" instead of "12810 digits".

And out of curiosity, what happened with [[287]] and floating point numbers?
The explainxkcd for 287 says nothing about floating point.

[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 22:09, 19 November 2013 (UTC)
* With [[287]], there was only meant to be one solution, the other solution was unintended. It's mentioned in the discussion only, not in the body of the explanation, but there's a link to an interview where he indicates that it was indeed unintentional. [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 07:13, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

;What is the period of the wolfram answer?
What is the repeat period of the octal answer with the 666's, (the length of the repetend) i.e. the one that comes from Wolfram, that is converting 4.71238898038469 decimal to octal? And how many 666's are in the full repetend? Oooh - I like that new word - thanks to {{w|repeating decimal}}! [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 23:22, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

:Dunno, either Randall uses WolframAlpha whithout further checks, so he has to check his sources, or we all are just dumb.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:54, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

: The period is 4882812500. Yes, what I mean is that it repeats every 488281250010 digits. Not sure I want to count the number of 666's in there. Oh, and thanks for the answer about [[287]], I've seen it now. -- [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.139|173.245.53.139]] 17:46, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

I hardly dare to ask now... ;)
*What is an octal expansion?
*This explanation cannot be complete before someone explains what this actually means, to someone who have never herd of octal expansion before (like me)
[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:33, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:You are absolutely right, the incomplete tag is back. It seems only math geeks were working here but it should also be explained for people with less knowledge on math.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:02, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

:*The wikipedia page for {{w|Octal}} contains a complete explanation. I wrote a plainer one but mine is still very long, so instead of posting it here I uploaded it [http://www.jojonete.com/00/20131121_Octal/ there]. It's very crappily formatted and not thoroughly checked as I don't have time for more at the moment, but I might improve it some other day. Please note that the only reason for not posting it here is its length, and in particular it has nothing to do with copyright issues. I mean, everybody feel free to copy, rewrite, summarize, expand, correct, destroy or do whatever to that text with no attribution, just as if it had been posted here. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 22:37, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

::The explain for non math people should be much more simple. Randall likes simple English, I like simple Math. Not everything is covered but more people will understand the essentials. While I like all that details many people don't. We still do need an simple Math explain here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:42, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

::I know and I agree, that's why I kept my explanation out of this discussion. My summarizing skills are just not good enough. I used the time I didn't have to reformat my explanation, but that just means it's now a bit longer than it was. I hope someone else will write a much shorter and simple one, as I just seem to be unable to do so. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.145|173.245.53.145]] 01:10, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Note that pau is Catalan for peace, which is a good solution for the pi/tau dispute. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.150|173.245.53.150]] 00:10, 23 November 2013 (UTC)