explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-20T23:37:32Z

92.23.11.33: /* Trivia */ A bit more about that.

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by boiling down a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|epoxy}} — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings, named for the chemical substructure {{w|epoxide}}, which is the precursor component to these substances turning from liquids to solids.

[[File:FiveMinEpoxy.jpg|thumb|A typical 2-part epoxy applicator.]]Many types of epoxy are multi-part (usually two-part), where the components, such as {{w|resin}} and a {{w|Epoxy#Curing|hardener}}, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user squeezes out both of the separate chemicals onto the initial surface, or into a container, by depressing both syringes simultaneously. The user then thoroughly mixes the components, as quickly as possible. The mixture is spread over the surface(s) to be joined or protected, and/or into the gaps to be filled, and if there are separate surfaces involved they are quickly positioned and held in place. The combined epoxy cures quickly, usually within a few minutes. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text, as with a couple of the substances involved, references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on others can also require special techniques or products to gain the best advantage. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. {{w|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also ''still'' not adhesing as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.

Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|The word is probably being used in humorous contrast to the "hardener" component, and perhaps also by analogy with laundry products that contain a fabric softener alongside a detergent. However, {{w|plasticizer|plasticizers}} are often added to polymers to make them more pliable, and thus to increase their impact resistance. These plasticizers tend to be lost over long periods of time (e.g. by evaporation or degradation), which contributes to old plastic becoming brittle.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually a different kind of resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin (a kind of '{{w|Flux (metallurgy)|flux}}') is one of two parts that make up rosin-core solder, used in electronic work, where the rosin is located in the center (the "core") of the wire-like solder, similar to how graphite is in the core of a pencil. When heated hot enough to melt, it {{w|Soldering#Flux|cleans corrosion and oxides from the surfaces}} of the metal parts to be joined, creating bare metal surfaces that can be 'wet' by the solder. In rosin-core solder, the two substances are touching rather than kept completely separate, since they're both in solid form, and don't react with each other even when they're heated to melt them. In this respect they differ from common combination epoxy chemicals that will be both liquids that cure together on contact even at room temperature. Rosin is also frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "{{w|The Devil Went Down to Georgia}}" or the folk song {{w|Old Rosin the Beau}}.
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they are inadvertently applied to skin. In hyperbole, we have a substance here that seems to bond *solely* to skin. This may be a reference to {{w|cyanoacrylate|cyanoacrylate adhesives}} ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin (sometimes to positive effect, for medical applications!) due to being moisture-activated, while often failing to bond the target materials. Still, none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}}
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{Maybe|Not effective as epoxy}}
|Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces — especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done. This humorously describes this as an intended effect, although there are situations where this truly may be intended. 'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, often created by mixing paint and glue, and an adhesive used to join two pieces or repair a crack or break can be modified for a deliberately cracked or discolored surface to match the other surfaces.
|-
|Placebo
|{{Maybe|Not in the field of adhesives}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality it has no mechanism of action to produce that effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something, as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, merely causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (and presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{Maybe|Not intentionally}}
|{{w|Duct tape}} is widely used as a way to join and/or cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. [[Randall]] is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|{{w|Acetone}} is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (including nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive smell, and is actually toxic, making fragrance an odd reason for adding it to any product. It ''would'' give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds. The use of 'X fragrance' in an ingredient list, instead of simply listing the ingredient X, usually implies that the actual ingredient is some (cheaper) substitute for X with a similar scent. Since acetone is already inexpensive, perhaps some substitute has been discovered that provides the smell without weakening this glue, though that seems unlikely given the context.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{Maybe|Yes, but not in resin}}
|This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Not in epoxy}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|ethylene-vinyl acetate|Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)}}, some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode {{w|Lucy Does a TV Commercial}} and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Unclear}}
|This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but {{w|2-Polyprenyl-6-hydroxyphenol methylase|a name with a "2-" prefix}} generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a {{w|functional group}} attached to the ''second'' position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit. It may be intended to mimic the confusion consumers have over seemingly-similar named compounds, which may or may not have wildly differing properties.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{Maybe|Not for taste, but salt can be useful}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy that isn't labelled safe-to-eat. However, salt, sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures, but when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction and spacing in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}{{Citation Needed}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. The comic implies that this is because the glue is produced using material taken from a fictional breed of gorillas called “Gorilla Glue” gorillas. Extracting and consuming the blood of a creature or person in an attempt to inherit some of the qualities of the 'donor' is a kind of {{w|sympathetic magic}}, so this may be suggesting that including this will give the epoxy 'the strength of a gorilla', which is commonly considered a powerful animal. Although animal products, including [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue blood], have historically been used in some traditional glues, these have typically not come from gorillas, and Gorilla Glue contains no such ingredients.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No|Probably not}}
|Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. Poor prior research can cause much frustration when the chosen adhesive does not bond to one or both surfaces intended. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, always causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.
|}

==Transcript==

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin (coloured beige)

Hardener (mango yellow)

Filler (darker yellow)

Softener (cream)

Rosin (very light red)

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else (yellow-dark green)

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance (light blue)

Placebo (white)

Minced duct tape (grey with a tint of green)

Acetone Fragrance (beige-yellow)

Powdered bar magnets (brown)

Polyethylvinylesteracetate (blue-white)

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate (blue-white but slightly darker)

Salt and pepper to taste (light grey)

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas (red)

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours (beige)

==Trivia==

* The syringe of 'Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance' has light blue fill color on part of the wrong side of the plunger.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:2879: Like This One

2026-01-20T21:00:02Z

92.23.11.33:

i'm very confused what "this gas molecule" or "this skin microbe" is meant to be; it doesn't seem like there would contextually be an obvious specific instance of either of those classes? looking forward to seeing the conjecture given in the explanation when it settles down - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 02:48, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:I believe it's referring to her holding her hand out to signify a (large number of) gas molecules. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.49|172.69.34.49]] 02:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
::ahh, what she meant was "like these ones"--ok, I understand what both would mean now. - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 03:02, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::She's pointing at one molecule. Just because you can't pick it out of the mass doesn't change that. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::: Indeed. And one wouldn't want to get the wrong idea about ''which'' molecule she might study. Obviously, there are a lot of N2 ones, and a few O2s, but they're not necessarily of interest. The odd noble gas atom (if that counts as a molecule-of-one) or CO2 would probably be the more useful, along with SO2 / O3 / other trace ones as what she might be indicating. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 05:34, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::::In my head-canon, she's using her stick-figure hand to point out an exceedingly long nitrogen nanotube that she's manufactured. Could be interpreted as a threatening gesture, I suppose?
:::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:00, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
: I think that's the whole joke - such statements are inevitably true, but at the same time essentially meaningless. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.140|172.70.86.140]] 16:49, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

I thought Ponytail probably studies the CO2 content of the atmosphere to track and predict climate change, but does not want to discuss it in a situation where people usually ask a question like "So what do you do?" (like a party). So she obscures the answer and makes her study field sound so mundane that Megan and Cueball will probably change the topic; whether they pick up the cue that when someone answers like that, they probably don't want to talk more about it, or whether they're bored out of asking more about some everyday gas molecules. [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 00:56, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Other possible instances would include "Hominids" and "False vacuums". I was sure it was going to end with, "Cartoons like this one." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
: Also, neutrinos would go on the list [[Special:Contributions/172.68.144.217|172.68.144.217]] 10:25, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

"I'm a researcher studying potential apocalyptic events..." [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.115|172.70.90.115]] 09:40, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

Hmm. I’m a criminologist studying the behavior patterns of psychopaths.
::But wait, is the 'this one' referring to you, or me...? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.50|172.71.178.50]] 16:04, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

"I'm a researcher studying computer simulations…" (sadly, not actually the kind we are (maybe) living in but close enough) [[User:Brycemw|Brycemw]] ([[User talk:Brycemw|talk]]) 14:17, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

"I'm a researcher studying research topics..." [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:35, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

"I study logical paradoxes..." (¿"...like this one"?) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.180|172.69.43.180]] 15:45, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:"I study self-referential statements..." [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 17:09, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

"I'm a biologist studying key turning points in human evolution... like this one!" "Man - that is the worst pick-up line..."[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.71|172.70.90.71]] 16:20, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

"I study mathematical integers... like this 1." [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:44, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
: I am not the judge of this contest, but if I were, you win! [[User:Terdragontra|Terdragontra]] ([[User talk:Terdragontra|talk]]) 20:03, 13 January 2024 (UTC) Word!!! [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 01:00, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

"I study human comments..." --Anonymous

"I study traditional pub signs, like The Swan" [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.55|172.71.178.55]] 09:32, 12 January 2024 (UTC)
:Is ‘The Swan’ perhaps owned by [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Gnome_Ann Gnome Ann] (at least in this hypothetical)? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.1.131|172.68.1.131]] 14:59, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

"I'm an astrobiologist studying less-develooed civilizations... like this one" - Human Physics Padawan

"Skin microbes" seems a bit (intentionally?) obscure, especially since, it seems to me, the closest a modern microbiologist gets to an actual bacterium is its Illumina lane. "Skin lesions", however (warts, moles, calluses, liver spots, eczema/psoriasis, melanoma, yada) ... Of course, this might only occur to audiences of [ahem] a certain age (cue Rod Stewart's/Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" ...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.186|172.70.207.186]] 21:51, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

”I’m a linguist studying languages”, and “I’m a student studying fictional works” also are kinda funny. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.1.130|172.68.1.130]] 15:01, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

I'm a linguist studying sentences like this one. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 19:24, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm a geologist studying continents like this one. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 19:25, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
:I'm a urologist, studying incontinence like this one. Whoops! [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 21:00, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

== Do we really want to break down each bullet point? ==

We could probably do well to simplify it to just something saying the list contains things immediately surrounding the characters, part of their bodies, or intangible ideas commonly employed during normal conversation. It probably doesn't need to explain what sound waves are, for instance --[[User:Raviolio|Raviolio]] ([[User talk:Raviolio|talk]]) 15:34, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:If breaking them all down, perhaps better a simple table rather than each 'hanging off' a bullet-point. But then we're more committed to breaking them ''all'' down (including Title Text) with potentially several paragraphs per 'explanation column cell'. (My preference, this moment, would be to restore the simple bullet-list then follow with the "air molecules" expansion below in regular prose, perhaps briefly zoom through the others in a single para to follow that, if not just wikilink those and leave to be checked at will. But that's just based upon what the current text might best be formatted as.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.180|172.69.43.180]] 15:45, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
::The long exploration of exactly what interpretation of 'like' should be placed on Ponytail's remark that's currently attached to the bullet point seems rather peripheral to the joke. If anything ought to be explained, it's why each thing would (a) always be present (or at least, with rare exceptions like being in a spacecraft in deep space), but also (b) not be usefully identified by the remark.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.36|172.69.194.36]] 16:43, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

== Dreams like this one ==

I don’t think “I study dreams like this one” necessarily implies that the conversation itself is a dream.
It probably shall mean that the neurologist ''thinks'' they are in a dream, which would irritate other participants who don’t feel like they are part of a dream.

It could also imply that the neurologist is able to “show” a dream.
They could point towards an optical hallucination, being aware that it is not real, but not respecting the inability of the other participants to see it.

If I was the neurologist, it would just mean that I am currently dreaming while having this conversation in reality.
“This one” would mean “the current one”.
BTW how is it called if you dream while awake, separate/parallel to the reality? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.181|172.70.246.181]] 08:25, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

::[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daydream Daydream?] [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:25, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

1921: The Moon and the Great Wall

2026-01-20T18:48:23Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ Encompassing the vagueness of from where in space...

{{comic
| number = 1921
| date = November 27, 2017
| title = The Moon and the Great Wall
| image = the_moon_and_the_great_wall.png
| titletext = And arguably sunspots, on rare occasions. But even if they count, it takes ideal conditions and you might hurt your eyes.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a reference to the myth that the {{w|Great Wall of China}} is the only man-made object that can be seen from the {{w|Moon}} (or from space) with the naked eye. {{w|Great Wall of China#Visibility_from_space|Sadly, it cannot}}. In fact, it's barely visible from the orbit of low satellites. Not only that, even if it is visible from a particular distance in space, it wouldn't be alone with that title. There are {{w|Artificial structures visible from space|plenty of objects visible from space}}, at or beyond any such orbital distance; the {{w|Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant}} is one, and so are the clusters of greenhouses in Almería Spain.

This comic mocks the myth by conflating it with another saying about the Moon, and how the Moon's craters and valleys are visible to the naked human eye. Indeed, the Moon is the only {{w|Astronomical object|celestial body}} for which this is true, as all other bodies (with the potential exception of the Sun, see the title text) can only be seen as tiny points of light by the unaided human eye. There is nothing special about the Great Wall of China in this factoid, though; the Moon’s features can be seen equally well from practically any place on Earth with a view of the Moon.{{Citation needed}}

The title text states that one is sometimes able to see large {{w|sunspots}} if any are present and conditions are ideal. However, looking directly at the sun with the naked eye risks extensive damage to the eye and should NEVER be done. It could, however, be possible to see them when the Sun is seen through a thin cloud cover or maybe at sunset/sunrise. (It's possible to see very large sunspots with {{w|solar eclipse}} {{w|Solar viewer|glasses}} or other adequate {{w|Eye protection#Protection against light|protection}}, but that's not unaided human eye.)

==Transcript==
:[Megan is holding her arm up towards Ponytail as they stand atop a large brick wall with {{w|Merlon|merlons}} along the top. They are standing to the left of a tower with three small windows as well as merlons on the top.]
:Megan: Did you know that the moon's craters and plains are the only structures on the surface of a celestial body that can be seen with the naked eye from the Great Wall of China?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Astronomy]]

User talk:FaviFake

2026-01-20T14:58:42Z

92.23.11.33: /* Incomplete template - the image seems broken */

[[#jumpb|''(jump to bottom)'']]
<big><big><big><big>Hey there, feel free to '''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:FaviFake&action=edit&section=new send me a message]''' :)</big></big></big><div style="float:right;margin-left:10px;margin-bottom:10px;">__TOC__</div></big>

== Objects table ==
Thanks for replying. The current table in the main text looks good, but still it is a ''description'' or just ''enumeration'' of game objects, not an ''explanation'' (or in some cases: partly an explanation). Supposing we keep the current structure, it is possible to add explanations for the planet names in the '''Explanation''' column. For example, first sentence of the second paragraph is a good ''explanation'' for the Uzumaki planet's name. On the other hand, Andal has only a ''description'' (what it looks like and what features are present on the surface) and no ''explanation'' (that it refers to Animorphs series of books). There's also a question where one should put explanations of items and messages. Some do not need an explanation ('You found a stick'), but most do: what they mean and what they refer to, both in xkcd context (such as when there's a comic about the thing) and in general context. I hope you understand the difference between ''description'' and ''explanation''. Maybe there's also some misunderstanding resulting from a language barrier; English is not my native language.

What is also missing in the table are many structures or objects found on the planets and, most importantly, dialogues or monologous of the characters, which contain many puns and references, and also hints for the player. There's simply no place for them in the current structure. Making more columns may be messsy. That's why I proposed making several tables covering different aspects.

Please take my remarks as proposals to improve the structure and not as a criticism or request for you to make everything right and fill every cell of the table. I think we need to create a clear structure for everyone else to fill in with details; but also to provide good examples to follow.

Technical remarks:
* In my opinion, the filename column is not needed, it does not appear anywhere while playing, it's in source code only. Better remove it to have more horizontal space for the rest. The names given to the planets by the editors of the explanation page shown in the Description column are fine.
* Coordinates are also not useful for a regular player, who does not use some Javascript addition/cheats, maybe remove it as well; textual directions in '''Explanation''' column are sufficient.

-- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 19:59, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
:> Thanks for replying. The current table in the main text looks good, but still it is a ''description'' or just ''enumeration'' of game objects, not an ''explanation'' (or in some cases: partly an explanation). Supposing we keep the current structure, it is possible to add explanations for the planet names in the '''Explanation''' column. For example, first sentence of the second paragraph is a good ''explanation'' for the Uzumaki planet's name. On the other hand, Andal has only a ''description'' (what it looks like and what features are present on the surface) and no ''explanation'' (that it refers to Animorphs series of books).
:Hey! Yeah, that's the state of the table ''right now'', and I 100% percent agree with everything you're saying here. All planets and items that need an explanation should be explained and not just described. I mostly just copied and pasted the "planet description/explanations" from the old list to the table: creating the table was way more painful than i thought. I was actually surprized to see that nobody explained what Andal referred to, but I don't know anything about it so more knowledgeable people will have to chip in on that

:>There's also a question where one should put explanations of items and messages. Some do not need an explanation ('You found a stick'), but most do: what they mean and what they refer to, both in xkcd context (such as when there's a comic about the thing) and in general context. I hope you understand the difference between ''description'' and ''explanation''.
:I do! And I wish other people could help here. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but this is the banner i put above the table:
----
'''ALL ITEM EXPLANATIONS NEED TO BE TRANSFERRED FROM THE OLD PLANET LIST TO THE NEW TABLE''' 
We are currently switching from a disorganized list (below, inside the green banner) to the new organized table, but the explanations for specific items are missing from the new table. Please help by copying the item explanations from the old list and adding them to the new table ''in this format:'' 
<code>The item message &ndash; <nowiki>''Where to find it &ndash; Explanation, such as references etc''</nowiki></code> 
Example: You found a cheese platter (Your tanks recharge faster) – ''Next to the cell tower – The cheese is a reference to [https://example.com 1234: Cheese]''
----
'''OTHER ISSUES:'''
* upgrades that end in "???" need to be replaced by the exact upgrade message shown to the user.
* the "Tiles (X, Y)" column for planet coordinates is empty

:As you can see, the explanations should be put right next to the items and messages. Unfortunately no one has started to add them to the table yet

:> Maybe there's also some misunderstanding resulting from a language barrier; English is not my native language.
:Your English is excellent :)

:> dialogues or monologous of the characters, which contain many puns and references, and also hints for the player. There's simply no place for them in the current structure. Making more columns may be messsy. That's why I proposed making several tables covering different aspects.
Almost all the dialogues are on the [[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript]] page, so I guess they should be added there. I don't know if they're already here, I haven't looked at it enough
:: The transcript is not the place for explanations. Puns and references shall be explained elsewhere. I continue working on the transcript but there's still quite a way to go. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 5 May 2023

:> Please take my remarks as proposals to improve the structure and not as a criticism or request for you to make everything right and fill every cell of the table. I think we need to create a clear structure for everyone else to fill in with details; but also to provide good examples to follow.
:Yeah; i totally get everything you said. In my last reply I think I was a bit too rude for some reason, maybe it's because I just finished the table and was tired.

:>* In my opinion, the filename column is not needed, it does not appear anywhere while playing, it's in source code only. Better remove it to have more horizontal space for the rest. The names given to the planets by the editors of the explanation page shown in the Description column are fine.
:* Coordinates are also not useful for a regular player, who does not use some Javascript addition/cheats, maybe remove it as well; textual directions in '''Explanation''' column are sufficient.
I was heavily inspired by the table in the [[2712: Gravity]] explanation, which included these. I kind of agree that the filename could be removed, and the filenames could be added to the planet name or explanation, i didn't think about that. About the tiles, someone might use them someday, but if the column keeps remaining empty, i don't mind seeing it disappear

:I really liked your ideas, if you don't mind I'll copy and paste this discussion in the actual comic discussion page and see what others think --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:37, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

::Update: I found a way and added all the coordinates, and moved the planet filenames to the Planet Name column to make more space for the other columns :)

::: Hi, what about dividing planets and objects like in [[User:Malgond/Drafts/Escape_Speed|my experiment]]? There's plenty of horizontal space for explanations and the entries are quite compact vertically. I also think about color-coding the different Types of game objects. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 5 May 2023

::::Hmm, I think it looks a little messy and maybe too complicated. Do any other comics have two different tables? Also, I'm personally not a fan of mixing items, landscapes, and people. I think most people reading the table are there to get an overview of the planets and what they contain. Do we really have to explain everything in such detail? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:09, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

:::::We do not have to follow other explanations too closely, we could use a new form if it seems clearer and better. The current form has no place neither for explaining items nor for dialogues/monologues. More columns could be problematic (specifically in today's world of high and narrow screens of smartphones). Should we explain everything? Well, it us up to collective "us". Personally, I would like someone explain a few puns/dialogues I do not understand.
:::::For now, there's only a handful of people still interested in somehow finishing the explanation for this huge comic. Maybe if we two can agree on some format we could put it in discussion page and ask for votes. (Discussion needs a cleanup, BTW). -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 22:00, 7 May 2023 (UTC)

:::::Hey, I'm back. I see you're enhancing your example table, and iI was wondering, do you plan to move your edits to the actual article after you're done and use the test to see how the formatting looks? Isn't it easier to just add them to the main page directly? Just wondering. If you want I can help you port them over :)
:::::Keeping the contents of the table on your talk page and then porting them over afterwards could lead to a loss of information added after you started editing your user page [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:11, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

::::::I'm back too. Yes, I intend to put it in the main article, but I am a bit shy to replace a lot of your work; I've asked for opinions in the talk page. Let's see how it sorts out. Maybe someone has a still better idea. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 21:50, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

::::::Oh. I think the structure of the current table in the article is better than the one you've been working on: for example, it's easier to sort for items, is more compact, and is just one. Why don't you just add a "transcript" column like the table on [[2712: Gravity]] to put what things and people say, and add the rest of the information on the respective columns? Personally, I think you're making it a little bit too complicated. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

== Haltones ==

"They're not **predominantly** gray, the two main colors are just white and black. Sometimes he uses the gray color just like when he uses any other color" ... It didn't say that they were predominantly grey(/'gray'), any more than it said that they'd be predominently black (as [[:Category:Comics with inverted brightness]], often, in preference to white). The point being that even the most "black and white" images aren't monochrome, but have degrees of grey at the boundaries, with smoothly antialiased boundaries between the full black of the line (or filled area) and the full white of the background (or inverted detail). You'll see this if you zoom in, with your favourite image editor. And very often in images with a default RGB colourspace, even if the effective pallette employed covers just greyscale values. But greys actually do feature a lot, too (often the first choice of non-black-and-white, for slight lessening of prominence, as opposed to 'red pen' ''increased'' visibility). So it's technically inaccurate to describe them as pretty much monochrome. But how to convey this in <...counts...> less than 157ish words? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.173|172.71.242.173]] 16:35, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
:The wiki page says
::::"xkcd comics are usually plain, predominantly black-and-white line drawings, but sometimes they make use of hues beyond the usual monochrome colors, even if it is just red-penned annotations.
:I think it's enough, since, even if grey is more used than other non-monochrome colors, I don't believe it's so important that it needs to be included as a "third" main color. If Randall uses many bright colors, that he will obviously also use simpler hues of grey when needed. What do you think? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:51, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
:Aside from the antialising edging gradient, I just used the Random Page link and landed on [[1301: File Extensions|something with functional greys]], [[734: Outbreak|an unusual use of 'Post-It' yellow]], an unremarkably "just black pen" comic and then [[1788: Barge|more functional grey]]. I'd argue against "monochrome" as a description, as clearly there is more than just #000000 and #FFFFFF, often enough, in an actual fill-colour/broad-brush context. Even if that's #808080 or another no-hue shade. (I was expecting to land on a "grey pen" comic to assess, after enough clicks but, having seen what I got in the random first handful, I saw no need to go on.)
:And "monochrome" can be/often is coloured. Sepia photographs or "night vision" green displays are perfect examples of monochrome (with or without halftones/dithering/whatever). As is [[267: Choices: Part 4]] (other Choices comics may be considered "duotone", in different ways).
:Maybe "...are often drawn as black shapes on white, or occasionally white shapes on a dark background, but may feature at least one additional highlighting shade or an even fuller colour pallette." Does that sufficiently cover that whole breadth of use? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.154|172.70.86.154]] 19:48, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

== Childish slang. ==

Agree with you on the recent change that you (generic 'you', not ''you'' 'you'!) sound infantile, any which way, upon use of the words mentioned. Which is how it was still said before the revert in that version of edit. But with <code>"pretty gay" and "retarded" are infantile and offensive slang for "foolish" or "contemptible"</code>, you miss the point. Foolishness is just one distant contender for what "pretty gay" is often intended to mean (even if not actually being used for someone/something 'effeminate'). And "retarded" is more in the whole "thick, stupid, dumb" line of insult than "contemptible" (which is more "horrible, dislikable, repulsive"..?).
 Personally, I also thought it better with not actually defining insults (correctly or otherwise), as it adds power to them. I can call someone a "numpty" in jest, for example, and colloquially that might be understood as the low-level insult (if that) which it is intended to be. But if I start to bandy around its {{wiktionary|numpty#Scots|dictionary definition}} then it becomes more of a seriously accusatory description.
 Just my opinion. Not really understanding the latest revert when it had seemed to be improved (if anything) in the version you reverted away. Just putting it there. I know you're doing a lot of editing (good stuff!) just wondering if you considered this one carefully enough in your obvious zeal. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.89|172.71.182.89]] 16:31, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
:Addendum. Meant to say, if you decide to undo/reform your own revert (I won't do it, but on the offchance you see my point), I'd have not said "''commonly'' used". They're used in slang, but I don't think we can say how frequently they pop up. They're "used in slang" (and also not in slang, or at least not insulting slang, where "gay" has a long history of just meaning "happy", whilst "retarded" is often to do with decceleration/minimised acceleration of physical systems) but I'm not sure they're no more than minority words in the whole world of such language. They depict a subset of insult-givers (like the character in the comic, for whom it adds a certain additional characterisation) amongst all the many and varied insult-givers, and Randall surely chose such semi-bowlderised terms to not have to write any of all the far worse words he might also have done. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.31|172.71.94.31]] 16:46, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

== IP page to delete ==

I didn't see your thinking about why the Deletion category was not needed there. And, believe me as an IP myself, I've never known anything useful being said on an IP's User or User Talk page. With that example not breaking the pattern any. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.131|172.70.85.131]] 00:41, 22 June 2023 (UTC)
:I just don't think there's a reason to delete it, it's useful to have a previous talk page if the IP continues to edit and people want to communicate with them [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:51, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
::"The IP" is whichever one of 'us' happens to land on that particular Cloudflare route.
::I'm not going to go back and find out which IP it represents, to check if it's in their current stock of connected gateways, but it might not be. Or it was even (depending on date) a pre-Cloudflare 'straight' access unproxied and thus no longer seen, even if the exact same editor on the exact same IP lucked on ''their'' initial gateway.
::Certainly it won't map to a meaningful 'user', chances may even be that it doesn't map to ''any'' user. IP-version User/User Talk pages are anachronisms pretty much as soon as they're created. Or before, if based upon trying to contact an author of an older edit. I was on 172.70.85.131, above, but who knows (before I submit it) what this reply's sign-off will say.
::And a one-shot editor may never ever see the results of any conversation that was tried to be started. Whereas I ''might'' see any response, anywhere, that contextually makes it plain that they're talking about an edit I once made.
::Honestly, I think it'd be worthwhile checking ''every'' IP-focussed namespace page and archiving anything truly interesting that found itself in there in some other central location then condemning them all to deletion. Maybe, if possible, prevent their creation too. But I don't have the ability to do anything (except sift through them for any of the very rare gems of quality, but I wouldn't be able to do anything about it from there on in, so...
::...not gonna do anything more about it (I can't, other than reinstate the To Be Deleted membership, whch I won't bother with), but I hope you understand my perspective on this. I've seen you become a very useful member of the community, who I generally respect for your input and tweaks to the site, and don't expect you to take instruction from li'l ol' me (not even working with an established identity). Just consider this as food for thought, and leave it at that if you wish. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.19|162.158.34.19]] 20:12, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

== RTL/LTR: "...but I think it refers to me" ==

Yeah, it does. The point being that we might not do anything about the smartarses who vandalise knowingly (and I don't see a problem with what you otherwise did), but when someone thinks ''they'' have unique and funny joke (along the lines of putting "Citation needed"s ''everywhere'') they might spot the comment and then realise how we've seen it all done before so refrain from the prank. I can't even recall how many times we have had to revert things, but best to put off the casual comedian, and it won't change the outcome either way for the dedicated vandal with their blood up and looking to cause trouble. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.107|141.101.98.107]] 20:00, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
:I guess you're right, I just thought it was very clear for everyone that rendering an entire article unreadable was an act of pure vandalism, but I guess an editor comment doesn't hurt. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:53, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

== The reason "the image size wasn't there"? ==

...because it didn't need an image-size restriction, originally? Compare the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:Miss_lenhart.png previous and current version sizes]. Nice to have a (''huge!'') high-res headshot, no doubt, but clearly that's why you found that it now needs artificially constraining... No actual mystery. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.63|172.70.85.63]] 17:16, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

:Yeah you're right, I just assumed every comic had the image size to be future-proof. The weird thing was that the "imagesize: " part was already there, but there was no value. Anyway, nothing important.

== I disagree with Oxford commas. ==

"For breakfast I had some bread, toast, and jam." - A legitimate(ish) case of ", and ". Or "I created the world, and saw that it was good." I otherwise prefer to suscribe to replacing all non-final conjunctions in sequence with commas but ''not'' adding one before the ultimate (remaining) conjunction. That's like having "Fish, and chips", where it isn't an actual afterthought. And best to rephrase or repunctuate (e.g. with super-listing semicolons to separate) if you have confusing comma-breakout clauses that ''so'' easily clash (or lead you down funny garden paths) with Oxford Commas. My opinion, but this is why syntax is clearer when leaving out OCs. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.93|172.70.85.93]] 13:59, 6 July 2023 (UTC)
:I just think it's better to use it everywhere to avoid any possible confusion. If we used it half the time, it would be inconsistent. But it's no big deal.
::Similarly, no big deal. Except that it ''looked'' like an error. You've done a lot of useful changes, recently... A ''lot''... Which is not a bad thing, I must add. Occasionally I've seen what (I thought!) you intended to say, and I've helped out with a misplaced word or two. And I honestly do not feel like OCs read correctly in many circumstances. How would you even OC something like "...you should paint it red, yellow or, maybe, orange"?
::The comma already does a lot of heavy lifting, four or five different uses can occur in the same sentence, with it commonly doing duty as a sub-clause parenthetical (except without the clear open/close distinction of an actual parenthetical) ''as well as'' conjunction-replacement within a list. You will find many instances of non-OCed lists on the site. In fact I find the "Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd..." bit, below this edit box, to be the exception and not the rule.
::Anyhoo... I 'corrected' an example, but did not re'correct' it once you made it obvious what rule you were working to. I think you're less right than me, naturally, even if I wouldn't say that you're more wrong. ;) But I thought I'd make you a brief note of my thoughts rather than edit-warring the issue. Less brief, now, but I hope you still take it in good humour. (Oh, yeah, I'm sort of Ok with Oxford Spelling, insofar as it's mostly what I use naturally. Except for the "-ize" bit. That and their Comma are totally against how I was taught at school, a number of decades ago. :P ) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.71|172.71.242.71]] 15:26, 6 July 2023 (UTC)
:::You really seem to care about this a lot more than I do, if you want feel free to revert my edit back. I'm not even sure why we're here talking about commas lol
:::I'm no expert and I just like commas. Thanks for checking my edits, I think I've seen a few of your corrections. I have a lot of free time at the moment and I seem to like fixing up unorganized things here --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:42, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

== Science Girl/Hairbun ==

You may have noted that several of the Talk pages attached to those you changed already had discussions about whether someone was Hairbun or (a possibly grown-up version of) Science Girl, and you had people like Kynde support the change ''to'' treating her as Science Girl. No skin off my nose, but I'm not sure your arguments are strong enough to support your broad sweep changes in that regard. I think I'd side with "bun with trailing hair" being SG (regardless of apparent age/maturity, as the description only really says ''usually'' a child, whether you take that as prescriptivist or descriptivist) but not enough that I'd reverse your considerable efforts in this matter. But on the off-chance that you hadn't noticed the prior discussions and conclusions, before making your own assessment. FYI, only. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.204|172.71.178.204]] 14:01, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

:I will properly reply to you tomorrow since it's midnight here. Btw thanks for letting me know these hyperlinks were rendered correctly, and for fixing my 1 typo <s>(after i corrected 100)</s>
::Guys, some things may be being taken too seriously. Assuming [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1608:_Hoverboard&diff=prev&oldid=317396 this was the 'one error'], yeah, the Pedant's Curse hits us all, that's the point. Easy to see how it was done (read as "a Category:Interactive..." rather than "an interactive", or whatever). Happens to the best of us, when concentrating on loads of other things. Not sure about the Jill thing, at all, myself, but that discussion is probably for soewhere else. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.158|172.69.79.158]] 22:22, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

:::Nonononono I wasn't serious when I thanked you about the typo, I was also just kidding. I was joking about how after I corrected a ton of typos I added one more.
:::On the main topic you brought up: I think Jill's main characteristics (I'll talk about why I renamed her) are that she is a child, she is usually interested in science, and has always one or two buns with trailing hair. [[Hairbun]] isn't as defined as Jill: she just has a bun. This is what the page [[Hairbun]] (written entirely by Kynde, I haven't reformatted to remove the bullet points yet), say about the bun:
----
:::*Her appearance, apart from her glasses, can also change.
:::**In 703: Honor Societies, 708: Sex Dice, 1511: Spice Girl, 1601: Isolation and in every instance in 1608: Hoverboard her hair looks somewhat different, curly and with some kind of ponytail, but since '''her main distinguishing characteristic is the hair bun''', these comics are included.
:::[...]
:::*There are some characters with hair buns that are not Hairbun:
:::**Since she is a grown woman, she should not be confused with Jill or any other small girls with hair bun like in 1584: Moments of Inspiration.
----
:::And on the Page for Jill, before I ever touched it, it said:
:::*As she is usually also clearly a child she usually cannot be confused with Hairbun
----
:::Kynde mentioned [[1511: Spice Girl]] and [[1601: Isolation]] as featuring Hairbun and not Jill, but they look exactly like a grown-up Jill. Plus, on the gallery section on [[Hairbun]] (I'm working on adding back a better one since the old one was kinda broken UPDATE 11:13, 8 July 2023 (UTC): Added the gallery back with vector images), this was the first picture of Hairbun:
:::[[File:Hair Bun Girl with curly hair and ponytail.png]]

:::So, to recap: Hairbun has always had a version with a bun with trailing hair, but it was inconsistent between comics, so I settled on Jill is a girl that always has trailing hair and Hairbun is an adult that sometimes has trailing hair.

:::On the topic of renaming Jill:
:::*I searched the wiki for Jill and found 3 discussions. One of them ended up "why world we even create a page for that girl, there aren't many comics featuring her.", but didn't criticize the name too much iirc
:::*We did the same thing for [[Danish]]. The only time she was given ''any'' name ("Danish in the sense of "darling" iirc), that was the name used.
:::*If we change our minds and Jill also becomes a woman, we don't have to remove the "girl" part.
:::*I'm not sure about this, but I think she's slowing being added more and more outside science comics.

:::Wow this was long --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:20, 8 July 2023 (UTC)

== In reply to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2794:_Alphabet_Notes&curid=26437&diff=321127&oldid=320916 this query]... ==

There's {{w|Welsh orthography|the Welsh}}, at the very least! (Well, you did ask! Even if it's truly not so relevent. ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.159|172.70.86.159]] 11:29, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
:Lol. TIL! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:13, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

== Plural animals ==

Following on from Ferret->Ferrets, what about the last remaining singular that is Category:Apatosaurus? (I must admit, all your edits/re-edits are making my head spin, as worthy as they often are, but this seems like the next logical step that I thought you might have done to finish that particular neatening job.) But I'll leave it up to you as to whether it's Apatosauruses, Apatosaurii or whatever else you might consider most appropriate... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.98|172.70.85.98]] 10:15, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
:I actually thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that I don't know what the plural of that word is. Feel free to research if there's a "right" word and rename that category :)
:> (I must admit, all your edits/re-edits are making my head spin,
:Yeah I don't really organize everything I want to change beforehand, so whenever i notice a little thing is missing, I add it to every page that needs it. I guess it's easier to review my edits in bulk from a page's version history lol --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:53, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

== Community portal spam ==
The spammers seem to be deleting text from Community Portal. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 07:28, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
:Thanks, but I couldn't find any recent example concerning me. Do you mind giving an example? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:49, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

== Possible Adminship? ==

Hi FaviFake, I’m Victoria. I’m planning on reaching out to Jeff via Twitter/X because there’s a long list of things that only he can do. You can see the list at my [[User:42.book.addict#To_Do_List_for_Jeff|user page]]. One of these tasks is promoting more admins. Seeing as you are quite active, and have done quite a lot of edits (top 10 in CS score-wow!), would you like to be mentioned in my message as a possible admin candidate? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:21, 3 November 2024 (UTC)
: Oh hey, thanks for messaging me! I started caring a lot for this site about a year ago, went on a complete pause for a few months, and came back this week. You seem very active, love to see some new active users! I saw your message on the community portal saying you were trying to find a way to contact Jeff. That's actually something I've thought about doing for a long time but never actually tried since not even Davidy22 was able to contact him at one point iirc.
:Anyway, yes, I'd love to be an admin for this site since there are so many things I can't do as a user (i have my own to-do list, which includes 1) actually deleting pages in Pages to delete and 2) improving/fixing the comic templates and Main page).
: So yeah, I wish you good luck contacting him! My only advice is to use any possible way to (or to get someone else to) contact him without worrying too much about annoying him. His last contribution was more than a year ago, he can totally jump back in for a moment after being unreachable for so long. I really like your message, it's very well-written, now the hard part is getting it to him. Asking Davidy22 for his email address (or finding it online) sounds like a great idea to me. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:12, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

== Trivia below transcript ==
The FAQ page says that trivia is below transcript. I'm very sorry about this. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 00:41, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Nono don't be sorry, you're totally right! I came back here after months of being offline and forgot about the order! I realised my mistake yesterday but didn't have the time to go look for the article to revert my edit. Please revert it if you get the chance to do it before me. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 04:53, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
::There, I should've fixed it now. I see you also reverted my edit, thanks! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 04:59, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

== On the Ghosts in the NavPane ==

When I saw 42's inclusion of Ghosts in the Character NavPane, I was pondering asking for Demons and Aliens (the blob-monster types, or near variations, from both UFO-ish comics and far-future) to be added alongside.

But I agree with you that they're not ''really'' minor characters. Yet I think they (all of them) deserve a slot there, as they are as much a feature as the (Animals/)Squirrels section. Originally thought to suggest "Groups" (could include "Multiple Cueballs" and even "Children" for groups with otherwise un-IDed child characters), which you could still ''also'' add (but for human-character groups only), but now thinking "Other Beings" could hold Ghosts, Demons and Aliens (maybe "Future Beings" separate from the latter, or at least the differently-futuristic "Floating Orbs" as ''another'' other classification category in there). As a section between Real People and Animals, I thought, unless it's decided best to put them after Animals.

Food for thought, anyway. You (and 42, and maybe others) may have your own ideas on this, and I wouldn't (and can't) spring my own ideas upon you by suddenly just editing the appropriate source. It probably needs discussion. I nearly put my earlier thoughts in the Community Portal area, but as you're personally active on this at the moment I thought it might be easier for you to ponder if I finally commited it to writing just here. (Feel free to move this contrib/advertise it wider, if you see fit.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.62|172.70.91.62]] 14:19, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
:Just popping in to add my 2 cents-I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of having “other beings” in the navbox. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::Hey there, thanks a lot for messaging me about this. I disagree with you for one specific reason: the navbox was initially supposed to catalogue the recurring characters in the comics which displayed more or less the same behaviours across comics, such as [[Black Hat]] and [[Beret Guy]]. It then expanded to include real people, such as politicians, which still remained the same characters across different comics. The animal section is different in that some of them are the same animals across comics (such as bobcats and red spiders, for example), but since we had to include them, we included EVERY animal, even when they were completely different every time, because it'd look weird if the only animals there were the specific ones i mentioned.
::If we included a section such as Other beings that includes ghosts, I believe it would be filled with characters that are not the same in every comic they appear in and the navbox would completely lose its intended purpose. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:13, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

== (Whoops, forgot a header!) ...FYC ==

If you agree with {{diff|356369|these additions/changes}}, with or without other adjustments, I was wondering if you'd like to do the respective changes to the Incomplete Article category page, as I find it's semi-protected and I'm thus locked out from the edits that I thought I might duplicate there too (in my IP state – yes, I know I could change this, but I'm happier just to leave it up to you/whoever). Anyway, for your consideration. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.75|162.158.202.75]] 17:09, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
: Done! Thanks. I removed a few technical details. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:24, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

==The [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' article index]] project==
''The messages regarding the [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' article index]] project have been moved to '''[[Talk:What If? chapters]]'''. To add a new topic regarding the index, [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:What_If?_chapters&action=edit&section=new click here].'' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:15, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

== Removed "Discussion" super-header. ==

I had wondered, as (at that time) you hadn't bothered to remove any of the ''other'' equivalent super-headers. It looked a bit like an accidental select-and-cut, like sometimes editors do, given your actual edit was waaay down the other end of the page. (It was a bit too neat, not like the usual case of somehow snipping off just one of the "="s, make a =="header"== into a ="header="=, effectively, but I've also seen similarly unmessy accidents happen, so your decent tightening up of the whitespace could have just as easily been a part of the same misclicking.)

I did check the companion pages, and they were all happyily as they (once) were. Note that the extra level of header ''does'' have use for (e.g.) putting a similar level of header at the bottom to give Archive, FAQ, etc, sections (not part of the now-top-levelisted points), or even such that we can have "for <foo>, see <otherPortal#section>" to gather things up with less repeats. Not to have their own subheaders (unless they, too, get so large that we have to further split them!), but to be seperate-but-appended like a Transcript (and maybe Trivia) section, regardless of how subheadered an in-depth Explanation gets. If we ever get that (and, really, we could do with a ''lot'' of archival for most of the Community Pages, and maybe some FAQing, for which I ''might'' suggest a subheadering to easily scan for... e.g. ... the situation with the MathML that seems to get revisited more often than not), then we probably need the superheaders back, unless we put messy indented-bullet-trees (at the top? with or without "expand"-hiding?) ''only'' for non-discussion items.

Not that I totally agree that "1.<many...>" (and the occasional "1.<something>.<subsubitem>" was unreadable, either, but ''so long'' as we don't have a further main(ish) header, of equal import, then ''maybe'' it's ok to do it your way. Just it seemed like a big decision to make, to cut out all the (admitedly untaken) options out of the equation. ...And that is a summary of the mental arithmatic whizzing through my head when I had decided (on balance) that you'd probably just made an unknowing misedit that needed bringing back in line with the others. Just to explain the snap decision to undo your 'accident'. Not sure whether you'd been purposefully thinking about it for far longer, of course. Maybe even a couple of minutes! ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.58|172.71.178.58]] 14:53, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

:I totally agree with everything you said! One day I noticed there was a useless superheader at the top which was making the TOC unnecessarily slightly harder to scan through. We should definitely bring it back if someone decides to organise the portals, but I figured since it was untouched for more than a decade, it's likely it won't happen in the near future. There was no need to explain the reasoning behind your revert, but I appreciate you reaching out! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:06, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

==A simple Thank-you==
Thank you so much for expanding my knowledge of xkcd, the wiki, and wikis overall. That user page creation left a bit of a mark on me lol. I have found out that I have reached a high enough level to create user pages. I have created 2 user pages and 2 discussion pages for other worthy members of the community. Thank you for the very helpful advice, and thanks again for providing helpful information from the community. Sincerely, [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 05:14, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
:No worries! I'm glad we have another active contributor <3   --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:09, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
::It's relevant to note that we only create User pages when people explicitly ask for them. On the other hand, '''User talk''' pages are created if you want to talk to that specific member privately. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:14, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

== Removing references to order of LiveJournal comics ==

[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1%3A_Barrel_-_Part_1&type=revision&diff=320394&oldid=320342 But WHY?] 
I'm very unhappy to realize you have deleted my hard work giving people a possibility to click through the first comics in the order they where released on livejournal. I have not checked them all, but I'm not happy that it has been deleted and would like to get it back. Pleas try to explain why you found it a good idea to remove this info from so many comics! I'm quite upset about it at the moment. And since you removed it would like you to restore it if you cannot make me see why! Seems there is also more info I put in that have been deleted? :-( --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:31, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

:You are mistaken! I actually liked the idea of browsing the first comics in the original order ''so much'' that I moved it above the explanation! This means it's now much easier to browse them in the correct order, because the user is no longer required to scroll to the bottom of the page: the links are right below the comic.

:I did this for all the 50ish comics. I think you might also have missed the "Original title" and "Original caption" parts of these first comics. In every one of these comics, right under the title (above the image) there's an "Original title". Likewise, below every Title text there's now an "Original caption" part, which contains the LiveJournal caption. See for example comics [[4: Landscape (sketch)]] or [[8: Red spiders]]. I also added a link to the specific LiveJournal post both on the title and caption parts, so users can see them for themselves. Your hard work no longer sits in the hidden Trivia section, but is actually above everything else and easier to read and use!

:I do think it's still not perfect, especially part to browse the comics. I'd like to create a custom template with real buttons (not just links) and an actual explanation of the situation, or maybe integrate it directly into the {{tl|comic}} template. But still, a much better solution than putting everything in the last section! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

::I'm sorry for the harsh words. Late that night I realized all my trivia info was deleted (did see the original title text was added), but did not realize that the info was relegated to a more prominent place. So I take back my comment, and instead now thank you for improving my work. Hope you accept this apology from a message written at a bad time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:58, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

:::Of course! You were very polite. I'm glad you're still active in this wiki :) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:16, 12 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Me to, so there at least is one active admin. Sadly I'm not very good at the tech stuff a<nd also do not have time to look into all kinds of wiki policies... Glad there are others like you who lift the mantle on those parts. We really need a guy like Davidy... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 13 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::UPDATE: I moved the sentences above the ==Explanation==, so it should now be clearer. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:01, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

== Jill's renaming ==

Hi FaviFake 
Just came around to think about the renaming og Science Girl, that I created, to Jill. I really do not like it, and we do not generally give generic figures a name, Megan and Danish the exceptions. And because she is in a comic based on a children song, the name is clearly from the song not because the generic Science Girl is called Jill. Jill is not even used in the comic, only in the title text. You wrote there where no less than three discussions regarding this name change, agreeing with you. But they are not on the talk page of Science Girls page. I'm seriously considering changing it back, so let me know where these discussions are located. I also think it was a mistake to call Danish, Danish, but it beats calling her Black Hats girlfriend. It was just a nickname he used, and they killed the witness as no one must know... But that was done way before I began editing this page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:21, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

:Hey, thanks for your message! I'll respond tomorrow because I don't have time, but for now I just wanted to note somewhere (before I forget) that I looked though all 41 appearances and counted the times where science is the main theme of the comic. The result was that the majority of Jill appearences are not related to science. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:07, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

::Well I will have to check that but the first instance was included because it was a girl who where interested in science even though she doesn't look like ScienceGirl. And an adult version of her was included because it was science again. The question is of course if there are now a different girl... But I do not like the naming of her. We did refrain from naming Cueball Rob, and there was also someone who did not like Megan. But that I like now. I prefer keeping Danish, but do not like the reason why she got than name. And other generic characters have been given a name in some comics without we used this. And really feel it is wrong to name her after a children song just because she was in a comic about that song! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:26, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

{{Outdent|::}}
Hey.
And an adult version of her was included because it was science again.
I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to, but this would actually help my case! "Girl" implies she's either a teenager or a child. This means that, if you wanted to broaden her definition to also include "adult versions", you'd have to use another name. Science Woman? Science Female Charachter? I think Jill is better: it sounds like a name a child would have, but doesn't prevent us from giving the name Jill to adult versions. If we change our minds and Jill also becomes a woman, we don't have to remove the "girl" part.

We do not generally give '''generic figures''' a name
But I don't think she's a generic figure. In a bit more than a third of the comic appearences, she's specifically interested in science. This, to me, means she's likely the same person on most of the comics. SHe also has a similar behaviour.

Even if that weren't the case, we would still have to find a name for her that's generic enough, that represents her qualities, AND that's not a proper name. Or, we could just call her what Randall called her, "[[Jill]]". There is precendent on this wiki for giving a name to a character based solely on one instance, where the name wasn't even intended: that's [[Danish]]. Even more: Danish was used by Randall as an adjective, but here Randall gave us a proper name!

There where no less than three discussions regarding this name change, agreeing with you.
I didn't say they agreed with me. There was no consensus on all of them, iirc, mainly because few people partecipated. Yes, I remember they weren't on her talk page, which is weird, but they were somewhere else. I remember they were mostly even.

The first instance was included [...] even though she doesn't look like Science Girl
That specific comic is an exception, in all other comics she has a bun with trailing hair. Randall may have drawn a ponytail because of the limited space. Anyways, as I said, the majority of the comics featuring her aren't mainly about science. (Of course, almost all Randall comics relate to science, but I counted comics where it was intented.)

We did refrain from naming Cueball Rob
That's because there was consensus on the fact that Cueball is an everyman, while Rob is the same charachter.

And really feel it is wrong to name her after a children song just because she was in a comic about that song!
Well that's the only mention of her name we have, even if it's unrelated. I like that she was named after a nursery rhyme, it fits her character, since she's a child.

[...] I really do not like it, [...]

[...] I do not like the naming of her. [...]

[...] There was also someone who did not like Megan. But I like [Megan] now. [...]

[...] I really '''feel''' it is wrong to name her after a children song [...]
I'm starting to see a trend here. Do you think it could be possible you're against the name change because you simply... don’t like how it sounds? I didn't like how "Science Girl" sounded, but that's not why I changed her name...

--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:34, 31 March 2025 (UTC)
:Thanks for the reply. Sadly you could not show me any discussion about the name change. Only that you said there where. So that did not help. Yes maybe I used the same wording many time. Also not native English speaker so may have less options to express my meaning... What I do not like about Jill and using that comic to name her, is that I do not think that comic at all is representative of the character I had identified and named Science Girl. But I do agree that if there are several instances where she is represented as an adult it could be a problem. I only new her as adult in [[1520: Degree-Off]] and I can see this has been changes, although I believe this should be reverted as this is not hairbun bu Science Girl. I did not know it had been removed. In this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1520:_Degree-Off&oldid=123879 version] she was named Science Girl] but it was removed without my knowing. And that she was an adult version was in this [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Jill&oldid=123921 version]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:35, 31 March 2025 (UTC)
::Looking at comics now, and just found this one, without looking for Jill and saw her here: [[2747: Presents for Biologists]]. To me the important thing is the interest in science and that the hairbun is not tight but with strings of hair hanging loose. So maybe the explanation to Jill should be changed to a young woman, often a child with a loose hairbun, not to be3 confused with the generic every woman Hairbun... Then Degree-Off is also clearly Jill. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:56, 31 March 2025 (UTC)
{{Outdent|::}}
Also not native English speaker so may have less options to express my meaning
I'm also not a native speaker, I'm Italian! :D I wasn't pointing out your choice of words but rather what you were trying to say, which is (I think?) that you don't like the name. Anyways:

To me the important thing is the interest in science [...] So maybe the explanation to Jill should be changed to a young woman [...]
It seems your opinion has changed completely then! This is what [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Jill&oldid=123921 you wrote] about [[Hairbun]] before I joined this wiki:
''Since she [Hairbun] is a '''grown woman''', she should not be confused with Science Girl or any other '''small girls''' with hair bun like in [[1584: Moments of Inspiration]].''
According to this logic in this comic:
* [[1520: Degree-Off]] - taller than other woman and man, so a woman → '''not Jill'''
* [[2747: Presents for Biologists]] - as tall as other woman and man, so a woman → '''not Jill'''

Also, this would mean we'd have to rename Jill to someone else in a third or a fourth of her appearences.

But I do agree that if there are several instances where she is represented as an adult it could be a problem
I agree! If there's one thing that I think everyone can agreen on is that we shoudn't call a grown woman a "girl". And "Science Woman" sounds like a superhero.

So, to avoid naming Hairbun '''based on how she looks''' and Jill '''based on her displayed interest''' (I'll remind you, you said in Hairbun's page that this is Hairbun:)
[[File:Hair Bun Girl with curly hair and ponytail.png]]

...all i did was standardise the matter:
*'''Jill is a child OR girl that always has trailing hair''' (except 1 comic), and
*'''Hairbun is an adult that sometimes has trailing hair.'''

I think any other definition would be incredibly confusing. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:03, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
:Well I originally put in degree off as Science Girl as she both looked and behaved like Science Girl. So I may have changed my mind. Cannot find the picture you said that I said was Hairbun? Maybe it was from before I introduced Science Girl. I have created both of these characters and then others have changed the explanation and the name. I also called her [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hairbun&oldid=88388 Hair Bun Girl], which I can now see it wrong since she was a woman, but again, not native English. Here is my first creation of [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Jill&oldid=123862 Science Girl]. There where more than a year between, so maybe I changed my mind regarding which could be hairbun in between? I'm certainly more interested in having those characters with hairbun and dangling hair to be another than normal hairbun now. And would today have collected those that looks like that together. Also there are many instances of Jill where she do not have a speaking part, thus saying she is always interested in science doesn't fit with how she is listed now... It is difficult. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:57, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

::Oh yeah that makes sense, I didn't consider the fact that Science Jirl was created possibly years after Hairbun. I'm not sure I understood your last sentence, about Jill not speaking? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:26, 2 April 2025 (UTC)
:::I think only a year after. But still. I meant that there are several instances with Jill where she do not have a speaking part in the comic, and thus cannot be said to have a special interest in science or her sharp wit. So if science should be her main indicator then she has to say something. But I do not really know how to make this as best as it could be. (Science Jirl, Jirl a combination of Jill and Girl ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:46, 4 April 2025 (UTC)

::::It'd be so funny if we settled on Science Jirl haha. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:10, 4 April 2025 (UTC)

== As I can't edit it... ==

Regarding the Editor FAQ:
For headlines, you have to use wiki-style code. The simplest way is a preceding semicolon at the beginning of the line which causes the entire line to be rendered in bold.
...I might be tempted to say something like "This makes use of {{w|Help:Wikitext#Description_lists|Description List}} markup", given how there are circumstances when a ";something:fuller description of something" is also actually useful. And then go on to say something about how this is functionally simpler than the actual (sub-)header use of =s, ==s, ===s, etc, (which you'd be advised to check what 'level' of (sub-)header you're already working in and go for the next level on from that) and would the usually be recorded in a Table Of Contents of either the page concerned or any page which it is transcluded within.

Except that we're going into really ''technical'' territory with the latter bit. Generally, ==s are for Explanation, Transcript, Trivia headers in comics, you could say. (The reason being is that the Main Page has a single-= header under which the Latest Comic is transcluded and so ==s are best to be inherited as transient sub-headers - but you don't need to say that... it's just an obvious reasong behind the stylistic decision.) Headering a section other than these, in a comic (such as a place for a Table Of Things, or similar) would generally be ===ed (or, rarely, ====ed, as a sub-sub-header of the Explanation/whatever). It is best to avoid any ===+ing at all in the Comic Talk page because, if the Comic page itself gets a TOC (some do, most don't, but all ''potentially'' could) then the transcluded Discussion gets (probably!) inadvertently and improperly added in. (You can force a NOTOC, and some other tricks, but I've never been able to find a NOTOCIFTRANSCLUDED-like thing, not without peppering noinclude sections around section headers, which is... getting ''far'' too complicated.) So, just saying "Don't use '==...'s in Talk Pages, stick to ';'s..." (even without the reasoning) might be an advisable statement.

Yeah, I'm giving you a lot of stuff here (I think you know all of it, actually), hopefully you can tease out some of the bits actually useful to suggest in the FAQ. :P [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.164|172.68.205.164]] 21:52, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Darnit, also meant to add that in the {{template|Citation needed}} explanation you wrote, could you change {{template|actual citation needed}} to {{template|Actual citation needed}}? The latter is the actual template, the former is just a redirect. No harm in ''using'' the redirect-needing ones (generally), but you might as well advertise the correct ones. Like you don't advertise {{template|cn}} or <nowiki>{{template|fact}}</nowiki> (both ->{{template|Citation needed}}, as are {{template|citation needed}}, {{template|Citation Needed}} and other case-accomadating variations), though people still are able to use them. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.164|172.68.205.164]] 21:58, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

:Sorry but you're gonna have to give me exactly what you want me to paste in the article, I haven't understood a word of what you said. I changed the actual cit needed thinghy--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:45, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

==User page creation==
I just wanted to say thanks again for making my user page! --[[User:Xnerkcd|xnerkcd]] ([[User talk:Xnerkcd|talk]]) 17:38, 13 April 2025 (UTC)
:No worries! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:22, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

==Admin==
What does an admin do? Are they just the people that can create pages?
:Not an admin, but they basically manage the wiki state-of-affairs and oversee day-to-day operation. Basically, a stepup from typical moderators. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.208.206|172.69.208.206]]
::I guess that's what they're ''supposed'' to do. Because of the status quo, they just sometimes pop back in and do stuff we can't. We can however create pages ourselves. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:46, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

== A Barnstar For You :3 ==

{| style="border: 1px solid {{{border|gray}}}; background-color: {{{color|#fdffe7}}};"
|rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;" | {{#ifeq:{{{2|}}}|alt|[[File:Blueprint Barnstar 3.PNG|100px|border]]|[[File:Blueprint Barnstar 2.PNG|100px|border]]}}
|rowspan="2" |
|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: bottom; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Template Barnstar'''
|-
|style="vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | Thanks for all of your work on improving the templates on here! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:01, 18 April 2025 (UTC)
|}
:Thanks so much! But [[User:Firestar233]] definitely deserves that award more than I do! He created the templates for the what if? index that are still incredibly useful! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:31, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

==''Restructuring [[Header text]] as a table''==
''The messages regarding the [[Talk:Header text|''Header text'' reformatting]] project have been moved to '''[[Talk:Header text]]'''. To add a new topic regarding the projects, [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Header_text&action=edit&section=new click here].'' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:15, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

== So, the HiddenCat..? ==

You do seem pleased that it works, but I can't work out what you've done by it (presuming it has effects upon a different page). And slightly worried by the additional redlinked category that the page now has. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.161|172.68.229.161]] 19:31, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

:Sure. See {{mw|Help:Categories#Hidden_categories}}. I only applied it for the new All pages and the old All comics cats. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:13, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:Solved the redlink (non-)issue by un-redlinking it (aka creating the cat). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:55, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

::Still less than wise as to what ''problem'' it solves, but I'm just happy that you're happy. ;)
::Also "The categories that a page is in are normally listed at the bottom of the page." I'd have written as "The categories that a page are in are normally listed at the bottom of the page.", to match "categories=>are" ''or'' "Each category that a page is in is normally listed at the bottom of the page." to force "category=>is" agreement- but maybe that's a UK-English v.s. US-English thing. (Or just my particular regional sub-dialect of English (quite near me there's a place where "we was" and "I was" are considered 'correct' and another where "we were" and "I were" are, so there's easily room for such confusion, even though I'm a "we were" and "I was" person myself). Or just me be entirely mistaken about something!) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.187|172.68.205.187]] 20:52, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:::> ''Still less than wise as to what ''problem'' it solves
:::Solves the problem of displaying a category that should not be seen by users.

:::Also, your suggestion seems grammatically incorrect. The "is" you'd like to change to an "are" is referring to "a page", not "categories". You may want to read the sentence again. afaik, "a page is here" is correct and "a page are here" is incorrect. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:18, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

== Exclusive xkcd textbook comics ==

Hey uhhh does anyone know about [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/science/randall-munroe-xkcd-science-textbook.html this]? Should we make explanations for these?
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:48, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Google's Ai says there are multiple exclusive comics for the textbook, but I've only been able to find Inside Body, shown here:

[[File:Inside Body.jpg|300px]]

 {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|23:07, 8 May 2025‎}}
:Hey, I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific about what "this" and "these" are. You might be looking for this page: [[New York Times: Good Question]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:06, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
::'This' links to a NYT article about randall munroe doing illustrations for a science textbook. Google's AI overview says there are three exclusive comic for this. I've only been able to find one. I'm asking if we should add explanations for these new comics. I have given it the temporary name 'Inside Body', since when I saved the image from the NYT article, the name 'Inside Body comic' was used.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 16:59, 9 May 2025 (UTC)
:::upon further investigation, the article is on the page you linked to. My question is still whether we add an explanation for Inside Body. Also, do we add explanations for the other comics shown in the science textbook pages? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 17:02, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

::::A large language model is one of the most unreliable sources of information. Unless you find any other site or person mentioning that there are exclusive xkcd comics on some textbooks, I don't think we should in any way create pages based on what a large language model generated. Can you find any actual sources?

::::We might still explain that one specific comic, but this is not the right place to discuss this, we should use the community portals. Besides, there are many other comics in [[New York Times: Good Question]] that aren't explained. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:06, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

== It's a date. ==

I'm confused by {{diff|377635|the ISO Dates edit}}. First of all, as explained in my full revert's summary, lowercase are (mostly) reserved for time-placeholders and uppercase used for date-placeholder. And I checked a number of separate documentations and implementations where datetime format variations are described/configured, without finding even one that consistently reserved only "MM", etc, for month, for disambiguation with time's equivalent "mm"-for-minutes, but lowercased everything else.

Secondly, the apparent reason for this edit did not mention this. (Perhaps an overzealous editor auto-correct? Except it/you 'missed a few' and came back to 'fix' them.) The reason actually suggests a sentence's meaning was previously reversed when it clearly was not.

I reverted to before both your edits and those which had prompted your mass-'correction'. Technically, this leaves the "US format in binary" incorrect, which was the only case-change that the prior editor had actually rationalised before you. An argument ''could'' be made that "mm/dd/yyyy" could be parsable as being "MM/DD/YYYY, but in binary", like kb/kilobits is to kB/kilobytes... though that's not even how it's phrased and I'm sure that this should indeed be uppercased like it had been. I also think the other change, to the sentence, is more elegant (for the exact same meaning), but am allowing for a slight possibility that I'm wrong about that. As such, I'm letting you consider where we go from here. Revert my change (the latest, as I type) to re-'fix' things back into lowercase, if you have enough reason to, or reassess the things you blitzed and restore the "binary date" and/or rephrased "drop leading zeros" edits.

Any further discussion, on either original issue, I will leave between you and the other editor, though I thought I'd give you a direct nod about my full reasons why I nuked ''both'' changes, as you had apparently put far more effort into your contributions (for right or wrong). And I'm not currently unconvinced by ''their'' edits, but maybe you can take the opportunity to explain things better and switch my opinions over to your POV. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.44|172.68.229.44]] 04:05, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

:Sure! I just made the table on that page sortable again. Microsoft has always used yyyy, dd, and MM in their settings, so I assumed that was the standard. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:55, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

== From Kynde's page ==

::::: And finally: the typos in the message you replied to were caused by my keyboard autocorrecting my words (my pc is broken). When you reply, do it on my talk page so we don't spam Kynde's. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:44, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
{{outdent|:::::}}
:Hello, I think you mistook another IP's recent comment as being from me-IP, from things said prior to the above. There are a few of us around, and I don't mind being mixed up with some of them (or vice-versa) that are similarly longterm maintainers of seemingly good intentions. Though I think that IP also used "propogate" instead of "propagate" (like I know I've got my own blindspots in spelling/grammar, and occasional tendency to lapse into dialect), which also amused me.
:As to your autocorrection-errors, it surprised me... In my experience, non-native but fluent of English don't let mistakes like that happen, and you're certainly up there with native speakers (il mio italiano è per lo più limitato a ciò che può fare un traduttore online... così!). I think it just looked... careless. Also, strangely induced errors.
:Don't let me discourage you, you've gone to a lot of trouble. Some things maybe necessary, some things maybe more just 'your own vision' that I could take or leave. Just that the "diff" page doesn't always align things to make it easy to compare old vs. new versions for anything more complicated than paragraphs/bullets/tabling to bullets/tabling/paragraphs or tabling/paragraphs/tables (as required). Complete rewrites don't help, even assuming that they accurate rewrites.
:...so, this is my response. From your invitation. Of course I can't speak for anyone else involved. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 18:17, 29 June 2025 (UTC)

::Oh well, until you decide to create a proper account I will blindly assume every IP that uses parentheses and subclauses is the same exact person! You are everyone.

:: Grazie per il complimento; il mio inglese would be better if I cared about looking over every message I post. I usually only extensively proofread article changes. You're right, that specific mistake wasn't an auto correction, I just didn't want to explain everything, but I have time to kill so I guess I'll just do it. On mobile, i prefer using Gboard's glide typing feature, which can sometimes mistake two words even if their letters are almost completely different. You can look it up, it looks cool, though I doubt it'd be ergonomic to use on your tablet. That's why help became hello.

:: Amusingly, there's a grammar error in your reply that I'll let you find! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:17, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

== Rather than re-de-revert. ==

{{quote|The text "Don't remove this notice too soon" is there when there isn't a specific reason the page is incomplete. Now there is a clear moment when the page can be marked as complete. Not sure why you put back the PAGE CREATED BY thingy|{{diff|381894|Your re-revert}}}}

It's not just "Don't remove the 'Don't remove this text too soon' text too soon"... It's contectually applying to the ''whole'' incompleteness tag. Now, I'm not saying that, without it, people will think it ok to remove the whole thing, but there's no reason to remove it until you're removing the whole thing as solved. What even is the benefit of doing so?

But, honestly, I restored it not for meta-ontological purposes, but because I was actually trying to counter the strange removal of the PAGE CREATED BY bit. I appreciate that you may think that it confuses new readers, and I daresay that it does (a little bit), but it probably confuses them more when some new comics have this time-honoured bit of site culture and some do not. Whereas they shouldn't really take too long to realise that:
* "CREATED BY A BOT" is basically what it says on the tin, before any human has had a chance to ponder the newly added page,
* "CREATED BY <A JOKE>" is a new article once the rabble have gotten to it,
** ...though, IMO, you should only normally change it as "first editor" (or "first editor with a good idea ror a joke to put there") with something to contribute into the Explanation and/or Transcript (or will do momentarily), not ''just as a "FIRST!"-type thing then leave it...
** ...and you should think twice before changing someone else's joke to your own; perhaps refine it (oapply mild corrections to grammar/spelling/whatever it's trying to reference), but if you just totally "no, MY IDEA!" it, what's to stop the next person going "no, no, ''MY'' IDEA!!"? Just accept what's there (or tweak it, honourably), you'll perhaps be able to get (and keep for a reasonable time) the subtle 'bragging rights' to a future comic, if everyone plays nice and doesn't just entirely change it on a whim. Or remove it for no good reason, before the whole tag is considered superfluous anyway...
* If someone (like yourself) adds in an incomplete tag ''back'' into a previously 'presumed complete' page, that can happily stay without the BOT-inspired humour. Unless one feels like it, but actually adding the tag back in to pages, which (by wiki convention) are always open to being re-edited if you so wish,
** ...if I may say, adding an "incomplete|X and Y need doing to this page", instead of just doing X and Y to the page, is a waste of edits. I appreciate there are some things you might not be able to actually do (explain something that currently confuses you, for example), but occasionally it's a request to trivially reformat something, and no obvious reason why you haven't just done the reformatting in this edit. If you haven't time to do it all now, it doesn't need a placeholder to make a note to yourself to come back and do it when you can..
** ...and, unless you've changed it since I last looked, there's at least one "X needs doing" that seems to have been done but the "X needs doing" tag is still there. Haven't been able to work out if ''not all'' X has been done (for some reason), or whoever did complete it left this tag (whether or not they've deleted othersz along the way). When I have time to to through it line-by-line (more work than to quickly write something like this, which is to explain things that are clearly not as self-evident as I had thought), maybe I'll be the one to remove the notice to that effect..

I have no doubt that some of my thinkings around these matters (and various site traditions/conventions, which may predate me and do definitely prefate you) are perhaps a little strange. Similarly, I find some of your thinking strange. Or at least what I imagine is your thinkings, based upon your occasional doings. As it is practically impossible to cover all the various aspects of thought (or ideas about your aspects of thought) in an Edit Summary, especially one with "Reverting edit by..." filler already in it, this is to make up for the rather limited and compressed 'explanation' you perhaps had to make do with previously.

And it's only my opinion, albeit based upon site consensus (messy and ever-changing as that is) that I've absorbed from my time here. Perhaps you wish to shift consensus, but I'd of course like you to at least know that ''this is what you're doing''. If you don't know this, your well-meaning attempts to restandardise the groupçsnhive mind may just be more confusing than productive. Perhaps you may want to say "I don't think we should <foo> any more", rather than just de-<foo> everything without warning people that you might be treading on their metaphorical toes. Not that I can stop you, but every now and then I might be seeming to tread on your own toes (with no malicious intent), just because we're dancing to completely different beats. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.216|82.132.246.216]] 17:10, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

:Hi!

There's no reason to remove it until you're removing the whole thing as solved. What even is the benefit of doing so?

:That message is part of the default text for new comics. If someone has changed the incomplete tag, it's harder to notice that a specific reason has been created if the old text is still there. For these reasons, I believe editors are more likely to overlook what's written in the notice, thinking it only contains the default text.

[H]onestly, I restored it not for meta-ontological purposes

:What's a meta-ontological purpose?

the strange removal of the PAGE CREATED BY bit. I appreciate that you may think that it confuses new readers, and I daresay that it does (a little bit), but it probably confuses them more when some new comics have this time-honoured bit of site culture and some do not.

:Two things:
:1. The main reason I remove it is to avoid the above: editors thinking nobody pointed out specific page issues. And not just newer editors, even I sometimes miss an incomplete reason because I SEE THE ALL CAPS TEXT AND THINK NOBODY CHANGED IT. (im not screaming)

:2. Recently, I don't remove the joke from the LATESTCOMIC, unless it's really hard to see the actual incomplete reason.

"CREATED BY A BOT" is basically what it says on the tin, before any human has had a chance to ponder the newly added page,

:That hasn't been the case for months now. Look at the OG versions of the pages. Editors are adding it wholesale.

...though, IMO, you should only normally change it as "first editor" (or "first editor with a good idea ror a joke to put there") with something to contribute into the Explanation and/or Transcript (or will do momentarily), not just as a "FIRST!"-type thing then leave it...
...and you should think twice before changing someone else's joke to your own; perhaps refine it (oapply mild corrections to grammar/spelling/whatever it's trying to reference), but if you just totally "no, MY IDEA!" it, what's to stop the next person going "no, no, MY IDEA!!"? Just accept what's there (or tweak it, honourably), you'll perhaps be able to get (and keep for a reasonable time) the subtle 'bragging rights' to a future comic, if everyone plays nice and doesn't just entirely change it on a whim. Or remove it for no good reason, before the whole tag is considered superfluous anyway...

:I haven't considered this type of edit warring before, and I'm happy to stay away from it. I'm not sure whether the "you" was referring to me specifically, because I only edited the CREATED BY once or twice (i mostly remove it when it's old or hides the real reason a page is incomplete).

adding an "incomplete|X and Y need doing to this page", instead of just doing X and Y to the page, is a waste of edits

:I've been trying to do that less recently

If you haven't time to do it all now, it doesn't need a placeholder to make a note to yourself to come back and do it when you can..

:I thought this use was accepted. I do it because if someone else gets there before me, they can do it themselves. Could you suggest other ways for saving these small-but-needed edits?

unless you've changed it since I last looked, there's at least one "X needs doing" that seems to have been done but the "X needs doing" tag is still there.

:I think I've always removed an incomplete tag I created myself for all comics that aren't the ~20 most recent if, after chacking the page, I notice the editor has forgotten (and I always check the edits within a few days unless im on vacation). Please feel free to remove all my or others' incomplete tags if you notice it's complete. I don't understand why you're saying you noticed one and seemingly didn't remove it? If the editor that fixes the page forgets, it's up to whoever notices first to remove it.

Similarly, I find some of your thinking strange. Or at least what I imagine is your thinkings, based upon your occasional doings.

:Yeah I don't think I've ever explained my removals of the CREATED BY things. To summarise:
:Reason number 1) editors thinking nobody pointed out specific page issues because they think it's still the default notice.
:Reason number 2) the comic is old
:Reason number 3) confuses new users, but in the last year or so I haven't worried about this because I removed the incomplete notices from the [[Main Page]]. Hopefully the newbies will look at the mainpage first.

Perhaps you may want to say "I don't think we should <foo> any more", rather than just de-<foo> everything without warning people that you might be treading on their metaphorical toes.

:It's not that I want the tradition to stop, it's just that it gets in the way of productiveness. A notice is the most powerful thing we have to spread a message, and yet we use it as a joke which sometimes hides what's actually wrong with the page. I wish there were a way to keep the CREATED BY's and still allow for important notices to be highly visible. Currently, if I have to choose one, I choose the latter. Do you have any ideas about this? New templates, edits to the bot script, new fields for the existing template, a different notice type, etc?

:Also, any thoughts on the topic above. Your suggestions are often a good start but then you stop replying :( ㅤ [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:21, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

::Ok, my prior reply seems to have been not posted, for reasons I can only guess (dodgy connection, looked like it happened but I moved on too quick, or didn't notice I'd landed on Edit Conflict, something like that?). But I've also been way too busy to actively ponder if you've not bothered to respond to me, in turn.
::Not going to recompose everything, at length, but Incomplete templates ''easily'' contain the original BOT text/user-version, as long as users don't go over-creative over it. Genuine reasons added to this are still visible. The BOT-original "don't delete this too soon" doesn't become any more superfluous than the now ubiquitous "editing it" link. For as long as the notice is 'new' on a new article, there's no reason at all to squeeze anything out in most circumstances. Don't underestimate the readership.
::If you're adding a box back in for an old article that has passed such 'newness' (or where there never was one), keep it as businesslike as you wish, of course.
::If you have a long, complicated list of things, it's probably a long, complicated article where you can site an Incomplete notice by the side of each troublesome item (as you have done).
::Not going any further, like pointing you back at innumerable 'classic' examples of it all just working (whether new users or old users took the necessary hints), as that was a lot of wasted work from last time I 'replied'. But it's all there in the back-pagesz if you care to look. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.128|82.132.245.128]] 16:45, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

:::Short and sweet reply, I like it! You should have a dodgy connection more often :D I seem to care about the notice much less than you do, so, sure; I'll keep it on relatively new articles and do whatever if it's older and doesn't still have the original. I still wish there were an easier solution, but it's just a notice. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:53, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

== Questions ==

Dear FaviFake

I posted a new question on the Randall question thing. I have no clue how to use the Wiki, but I still did my best to post a question. If I did it wrong please forgive me and I'll do my best next time.

PS. The question I posted is all the way down, at least as I am writing now.

[[User:Little Timmy|Little Timmy]] ([[User talk:Little Timmy|talk]]) 01:30, 29 July 2025 (UTC)Little Timmy[[User:Little Timmy|Little Timmy]] ([[User talk:Little Timmy|talk]]) 01:30, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

:No worries, that was good. You can learn more about editing this wiki on [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:50, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

==''Restoring the mini [[Comic series]]''==
''The messages regarding the [[Talk:Comic series|definition of a proper "comic series"]] have been moved to '''[[Talk:Comic series]]'''. To add a new topic regarding the comic series, [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Comic_series&action=edit&section=new click here].'' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:46, 31 July 2025 (UTC)
== Leaderboard ==

Wow, you probably know already but I’m just re-reminding you that you fell out of 1st place. Keep up the good contributions! {{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}} [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 09:57, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:Oh well, I surely care more about [[Special:ContributionScores#All time (Top 50)|this other list]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:09, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::I never knew this list existed! I wonder what’s behind it? The “well known” one is <nowiki> {{Special:ContributionScores/50/7/nosort,notools}} </nowiki> I guess, but what’s the one for this list?[[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:11, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::Who knows! Maybe Mediawiki has the answer. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:20, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

== Small Talk (Or Something Like That) ==

Hey, how's things going? Everything alright? Any wiki-wide events I missed? Really miss how things were before. -Tori '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 15:51, 9 August 2025 (UTC)

:Hi welcome back!!! The only interesting thing imo opinion is that Randall replied to me again, I'm not sure if you saw that, see my userpage. :) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:39, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

::Oh and the [[Comic series]] page was divided into main series and miniseries and is now just a list of transclusions so we don't have to keep 2 pages up to date. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:41, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

== "I'll omit this part because I'm not sure it should be published." ==
why? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 09:28, 18 August 2025 (UTC)
:What? could you elaborate? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:37, 19 August 2025 (UTC)
::randall's reply. the answer that starts "Most of those were inside jokes sent to friends [...]" [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 11:44, 19 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Oh right. Some have said it's a bit personal. Now that the sitewide banner's off I'll reinstate it. Thx. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:40, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:::{{Done}} --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:42, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

== A rational rationale? ==

You know, some people complain about explanations being too long. Copying {{diff|384566|a swathe of wikipedia}} about twice as large as the original explanation text seems about as odd as initially deciding to removing that text (which linked to the page in question, for the curious) ''possibly'' because you personally didn't know about it. It's ok, not everyone does know, even native speakers, but also maybe the treatment originally given to that part could be reworded to slightly more compact. (I liked the flippant bit. But I wouldn't have said it quite like that, myself.) Yet there's some confusion over your underkill-then-overkill approach. And if I was going to rewrite it, it'd be more considered than either excising or copypasting. Could have just been left alone, though. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.85|82.132.237.85]] 17:27, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:It said singular they was considered incorrect, iirc, which is not really the case nowadays. I did a bit of ce before pasting it; my logic was: either add it back correctly, or remove the wrong part. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:28, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

==Tori and I have an idea==
Please check the proposals board for an idea to subvert the 255 character signature limit. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 17:40, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

==[[:Template:comic discussion 1167]]==
Hi FaviFake. I was looking through the unused templates page to try to do some cleanup on here when I noticed a [[:Template:comic discussion 1167|template]] from back in 2013. You had originally tagged it as a page to delete, but then added a lot more to the template. Since it is still unused and I cannot surmise any purpose for it, I have re-tagged it. Would you mind explaining your thought process? Thanks, '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:36, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:I don't remember why I used it, probably as a sandbox. It's unnecessary, thanks for flagging it.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:58, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

==Contact Info Google Site==
Hi FaviFake, what is the URL for your Google Site of contact info? I remember that you had posted it on here, but I cannot find it. I was experiencing Cloudflare errors in the past 24 hours and was unable to contact anyone on Explain XKCD. I would greatly enjoy it if we had some other form of communication outside of here. Thanks. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:17, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
:Oh, thank god it's back. I noticed the outage and it seems someone had posted about it on reddit.
:The website is https://sites.google.com/view/FaviFake, you can bookmark it if you want. I noticed you're also on Reddit (and Wikipedia iirc), so I might contact you there if there's a more serious outage. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:58, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

{{Links}}

== [[Hoverboard]] ==

I glad that someone has looked at my changes to this game description.

I am sorry, however, that you disagree with my two main points.

Can we discuss?

I see no point in getting into a "reversion war" over comments to a comic.

[[User:Sprucegrouse|Sprucegrouse]] ([[User talk:Sprucegrouse|talk]]) 13:52, 4 October 2025 (UTC)
:Of course. I simply think your version is too odd:
The best way to enjoy this comic is just to play the game! (Just be sure that you play using a web browser other than Safari.) If you have not yet tried (hard) to play it "cold" already, do so now. Reading beyond this Alert first will deprive you of the best this game has to offer.
Mine:
The best way to enjoy this comic is just to play the game! If you didn't do that already, reading anything below will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic.

I don’t see the need of specifying browsers, and the complex language you used, in a ''spoiler alert''. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:11, 4 October 2025 (UTC)

== Comic list numbers. ==

Had a look at all today's edits to the Comics-bar template, carefully, after making it fully correct. Though the other person apparently didn't spot it, and I didn't have enough space in the Explanation to say it in longhand, I think I need to appeal to you directly. Not ''entirely'' sure you realised what you were dealing with. Or you just have a weird idea of what's acceptibly correct.

If I'm actually wanting to look at the list that contains (say) comic 1500, I wouldn't find it by following the text "1500-<whatever>" that links to a 1501-2000 page. I would if I was followed the "<whatever>-1500" one, before that, that links to the explicitly 1001-1500 page. But quick scanning of the text might miss the obvious overlap and initially get you to explore only the latter. When you do, you get to the page that starts "2000, 1999, 1998, ...", then you scroll down to the bottom to find that it ''doesn't'' have the desired 1500 after all. (Before you ask, there are possible reasons that you might want to view the ''list'' item, and deliberately didn't go to the [[1500]] explanation page itself.) The explanation "unnecessary specificity" is at least misleading, and that edit made the whole top-bar misleading.

(Personally, I'd have gone with 1-499, 500-999, etc, even though the lack of a '0' makes the first one shorter. Each of them being (500n)+1 to 500(n+1), as it is, is also ok. But neither method is (500n) to 500(n+1), however you look at them.) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.195.93|81.179.195.93]] 18:44, 4 October 2025 (UTC)
:Fine, sure. If someone is looking for exactly 1500, rounding it will be annoying for them, but I thought the nicer round numbers were more important than full correctness. But I don't mind, you can change it back. There are bigger fishes to fry. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:26, 4 October 2025 (UTC)
::That's a very strange thought to have had, here in the home of mathematical nitpicking, nerd sniping, over-anaylsing and all-round adherence to the ideals of accuracy and/or precision. I'm just surprised that it spent so much time with a partial off-by-one error.
::Although I didn't actually personally notice it until one or more other people did and at least partially tried to fix it. I suppose we all have our blind spots! Though maybe this is one of those cases where some people, once they see the issue, [[2598: Graphic Designers|couldn't unsee it]]. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.195.93|81.179.195.93]] 22:28, 4 October 2025 (UTC)

==2==
`^ -_ /| /\ -\ /_ /` -\ -\ /` -` /\ %20 `^ ‘_ -`%20 -`|_ %20 |_ -` `’ -_ %20 ‘_ -’ /_ ‘_

^UP|DOWN -LEFT_RIGHT %20SPACE /DIAGDOWNLEFT \DIAGDOWNRIGHT `DIAGUPLEFT ‘DIAGUPRIGHT {{unsigned ip|204.137.100.1|21:45, 12 November 2025 (UTC)}}

:Ok, I've not worked out the exact symbolic logic, in use, but the plaintext is obvious. Then the significance of the tetragrams may be the final puzzle. (Sorry, Favi, they put this here. For whatever purpose.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 22:30, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
:DOYOUNEEDHELP {{unsigned ip|204.137.100.1|22:48, 12 November 2025 (UTC)}}
::Personally, no. Not sure about you, though. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 00:21, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:::{{w|Beetle|HELP}}
::::Beetle? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:30, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
wut [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:36, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:IAMNOTJUSTANYBODY [[Special:Contributions/204.137.100.1|204.137.100.1]] 14:43, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::WAIT A SECOND I GET IT!!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:56, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::Their hint wasn't about beetles, it was about the BEATles! 'I am not just anybody' is very deliberate wording. That wording happens to be used in the Beatles' Help! Look at the album cover for Help. It's quite memorable. Why? Because it uses FLAG SEMAPHORE. WHICH USES DIFFERENT ARM POSITIONS TO COMMUNICATE LETTERS. SPECIFICALLY, THERE ARE EIGHT DIFFERENT ARM POSITIONS. AND THERE ARE EIGHT SYMBOLS USED IN THAT CODE. AND, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE {{w|Flag semaphore|FLAG SEMAPHORE WIKIPEDIA PAGE}}, IT HAS AN ALPHABET. AND WHEN YOU TRANSLATE IT, YOU GET:

::T R A N S M I S S I O N T W O O F F O U R W Q M W.

::Wow that's intricate. Okay, we have two now. That took a while. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 15:13, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
::::Ah, right. I was still dealing with the backformation and plotting out the digrams on graph paper as two-element vectors (and misread the 'Q' as another 'O'). But of course everybody knows that ''HELP!'' {{w|Help!#Album cover|doesn't actually depict "HELP"}} [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.223|82.132.245.223]] 16:12, 13 November 2025 (UTC)
:::Now we have XVERWQMW in total --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 15:25, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

== Is it you? ==
Are you {{w|User:FaviFake}}? I'm just here from enwiki. Further question: are you aware of a page like {{w|wikt:Wiktionary:Wiktionary for Wikipedians}} for this wiki that would explain the differences? I've been spending some time dealing with duplication of diffusing subcategories of [[:Category:Science]] and I'm slightly concerned that I haven't found an equivalent of {{w|WP:BOLD}} here so my actions might be somehow against how this wiki functions. Thanks for any help you might be able to give :) [[User:lp0 on fire|lp0 on fire]] [[User talk:lp0 on fire|()]] 18:14, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, it is me! What do you mean "explain the differences"?
:Here, everyone is BOLD since we have so few active editors. Welcome! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:07, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
:(Waited for FF to reply, for once, before sticking my own nose in.)
:Philosophically, explainxkcd is very much Wikipedia-like (far more so than Wiktionary is, though that's a high bar that's easy to limbo under).
:The main exceptions are probably discovered by practice, if not explained via the FAQ or other related pages. We don't like citation-style or note-style linking ([#] or [#]), prefering more the 'prosaic'/inline version, and use {{template|Actual citation needed}}s for when they're lacking because {{template|Citation needed}} is only used 'humorously' (YMMV!). The general format of Comics pages is fairly well tied down to an easily checkable (or correctable) house-style, also described elsewhere.
:Also (outside of the individual Talk/Discussion comments, which are going to just be how the attributed author ended up doing it) the default is to go with how US-English (Randall's version) is spelled, rather than how UK-/Commonwealth-English may be spelt (if you even realise/realize it applies... but someone may be along later to 'correct' it if they think it's labelled/labeled incorrectly). I ''think'' Wikipedia tends to ask for only in-article consistency (and tied to where the article's focus in the Anglosphere might primarily be). Of course, if you're in the US (or have had your {{w|English as a second or foreign language|ESOL}} education via an americanized school, rather than an anglicised one), you only really need to worry about your random tyops. :p
:My main advice(/advise? - no, I think that noun is still the same... it's things like practice/practise I need to remember to change!) is to hold off on creating new pages (especially Categories and Templates), until having checked how(/if) it fits with the others (e.g. what's the correct "Category:[[List of] Comics [with|featuring] ]FOO" form for what you want), as it saves someone having to rename it. Or mark it for deletion.
:But some of my personal preferences/expectations might well be 'YMMV'. It's (like Wikipedia) a collaborative site where the (active) community might reshape some expectations or granted latitudes over time. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.174|82.132.237.174]] 14:58, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
::Thanks, those are both helpful responces (that was a genuine typo; the humo[u]r was initially unintentional) in their own ways. If someone couls look over just one or two of the edits where I removed [[:Category:Science]] from articles that were already in one or more subcategories and confirm my edits were helpful I'd be very grateful. I think I'll mostly stick to Wikipedia (I've finally got round to writing an article!) but I might edit here intermittently. [[User:lp0 on fire|lp0 on fire]] [[User talk:lp0 on fire|()]] 19:54, 3 December 2025 (UTC)
:::For what it's worth, as yet another random editor, I have at least looked at the first few of your 'Science removal' items. Where you're either replacing them with a 'more specialist science' or because that more specialist science was also already there. They mostly seemed like valid hierarchical changes (without delving into what cats were ''actually'' sub-cats of other cats), and certainly I don't think any that I wanted to bother change back again. Which is as good as you could hope, I'm sure. ;) [[Special:Contributions/78.144.255.82|78.144.255.82]] 20:20, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

== template coding? ==

Hi FaviFake! I know that you're probably pretty busy IRL, but could you take a look at [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#categories template]] and the new comments at [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Main page comic number]]? They both involve templates, which I remember you're pretty good with (Template:What if and Template:book). If you could lend your expertise into helping to implement these, or just giving your thoughts, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:21, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

== Incomplete template - the image seems broken ==

Hi FaviFake

On most pages with the incomplete template the image of work in progress seems to be broken. But sometimes it is not. I have tried to look into it, but cannot see what is wrong. Was it you who added the image? And can you fix it?

Regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:27, 20 January 2026 (UTC)--

:Hi... sorry to butt in, but see (sorry, long read) [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Interwiki media-linking errors.]] for one of several prior mentions of this (several people have noticed it) at least as far back as its mention in [[Talk:3191: Superstition]].

:I think the most immediate 'solution' is for someone to actually upload the used images (both green and blue) to this site. Then it won't go wrong due to whatever dodgy 'find and link' process is happening in the cross-site process.

:I've also found that clicking on the "Refresh" button (just above an Explanation Page's break-out box for the Discussion) sometimes makes it work. Sometimes makes it stop working. Sometimes makes the one that works stop working and vice-versa, in the same step. But if we can avoid that entirely then it's probably better. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 14:58, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3195: International Station

2026-01-20T01:00:38Z

92.23.11.33:

Sometimes I wonder if some of these comics aren't just for the sake of seeing whatever explain xkcd users come up with [[Special:Contributions/2A01:CB19:FAB:3100:D027:1047:976:8EE2|2A01:CB19:FAB:3100:D027:1047:976:8EE2]] 22:25, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Holy refresh pull exclamation mark! tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 14:55, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

Should the "not-earth" "space" be changed to something like "the void between astronomical bodies"? I'm not sure if, say, the surface of the Moon or Mars or {{w|A Taste of Armageddon|Eminiar VII}} count as being "in space". [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:27, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
: I think "space" gets used pretty frequently for "not-Earth". Consider that NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and launches probes to other astronomical bodies. People talk about the Moon landing as being part of the "space program". "Spacemen from Mars" is a reasonably common phrase. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.254.45|163.116.254.45]] 19:38, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
:: Try getting to (or from) the Moon (or Mars) ''without'' using using space at all. I challenge you. (If you can do it, there's probably a Nobel Prize in it for you. Or just a life of far more mundane wealth-accumulation. Possibly in an entirely undetectable but criminal sense.) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 20:11, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
:Let us not forget {{w|https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/space#Verb|the verb form of "space"}} but I am unsure how to work it in here! [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 23:16, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
::I believe that you intended to write <code><nowiki>{{wiktionary|space#Verb|the verb form of "space"}}</nowiki></code>, as in '{{wiktionary|space#Verb|the verb form of "space"}}', for a start. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 00:24, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

I initially interpreted the cartoon as showing the people and objects floating within something gloopy, and the wrench as a bone, and that the joke was about an "internal space station". Here we are, inside a gelatinous cube, or possibly a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immunity_Syndrome_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series) gigantic space amoeba]... [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:43, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

'''New Category: Weightless''' There are a few strips that take place demonstrating micro-gravity, right? Is that worthy of a category? The 'space' tag could be used for comics ''about'' space or comics ''in'' space (or, I guess, comics on planets?). [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.82|191.101.157.82]] 17:08, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I think the ISS was originally called start quote Alpha end quote period tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/134.173.108.120|134.173.108.120]] 18:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm early! [[Special:Contributions/2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327|2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327]] 18:24, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

It took me a moment to get it, but when I did this xkcd made me capitals LOL which doesn't happen often [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8|2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8]] 21:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:You forgot tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 21:31, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

At least it's not the International Ampersand En Bee Ess Pee Semicolon Station ellipsis tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/174.142.148.226|174.142.148.226]] 21:42, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:Speaking of Ampersand Aa Em Pee Semicolon, that's a real life example of this effect actually happening. It was at the end of the alphabet where they would say "X, Y, Z, and, per sé, 'and'". Tilde tilde tilde tilde. Not sure if that is relevant enough to the comic though. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 02:26, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Dear Bot, don't get this Irishperson started on apostrophes. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 22:57, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

From John Littlewood's "A Mathematician's Miscellany": A minute I wrote (about 1917) for the Ballistic Office ended with the sentence 'Thus a should be made as small as possible'. This did not appear in the printed minute. But P. J. Grigg said, 'what is that?' A speck in a blank space at the end proved to be the tiniest a I have ever seen (the printers must have scoured London for it).[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 03:59, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

International Space Space Space Station? [[User:Inexplicable|Inexplicable]] ([[User talk:Inexplicable|talk]]) 07:17, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
:International Space Space Space Space Space Space Space Station? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 17:22, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

These comments make me want to see if you could have "tildetildetildetilde"(the actual characters) as your account name. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:18, 18 January 2026 (UTC)
:Nope, typing ~~<nowiki />~~ gives an invalid username error. [[Special:Contributions/2A04:4E41:6405:35F:0:0:EB9C:B35F|2A04:4E41:6405:35F:0:0:EB9C:B35F]] 05:49, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

This one reminds me of 3143 a bit too much. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 03:45, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Am I the only one that interpreted it as "originally it was not supposed to be a space station but rather a 'regular' (ie. terrestrial) station, but because of a transcribing mistake they put it in space, hence the random floating stuff" {{unsigned|Baruch|10:04, 19 January 2026 (UTC)}}
:That is a good insight! I think the wording is open to this kind of interpretation. (Interestingly, the "random floating stuff" does not include a sketch of the station interior itself, or any structure, ''per se''.) [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 18:50, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

The main page has been vandalized with a floating picture of Osama Bin Laden. {{unsigned ip|65.35.147.191|15:39, 19 January 2026}}
:I just dealt with that. If I have to deal with it again, then I will. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.8|82.132.244.8]] 16:01, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi, the headlines regarding ISS crew issues began on 8 January, not 15 January. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 00:39, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi, "SEAOFBLUE" or whatever the editor objects to is a red herring. The main point is the ''early return''. The medical issue is the stated reason for that return, but the Wikipedia entry describes the return, and definitely does not provide any medical details. Nobody has. The main point is the early return process. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 00:42, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
:Whatever. Just doesn't need twenty words (no, I didn't count them) in the link to the external resource about it. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 00:50, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
:And, note, the comic with the ISS-related joke did not come out on Friday 9th, Monday 12th or Wednesday 14th, also. Leaving it more dissassociated from the 8/Jan/2026 announcement than the actual 15/Jan/2026 return. I can't say how long the idea had been stewing in Randall's head, before publishing, but he's usually quicker than a week to respond to obviously topical events. So if that's what he's done, I think we're on shakier ground trying to link it to the initial news item than its possible inspiration being the successful one. If one needs the connection.
:That's entirely leaving aside from the possibility that he deliberately waited until they were all safely back on Earth (and the emergency, whatever its nature, hadn't worsened) before doing something too funny, just in case it went sour. But then the link to the return is even more definite. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 01:00, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

3195: International Station

2026-01-20T00:54:24Z

92.23.11.33: How about this?

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic plays on different meanings of the word 'space': firstly as the invisible character between words, and secondly as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is claimed that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the {{w|International Space Station}}, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International [space] Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as "International Space Station". The resulting accidental name was then accepted, due to it being apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase. (This is similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]); there were also multiple examples of strings with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s.) The word 'point' can sometimes be used to refer to a specific location within a wider space, such as a {{w|Meeting point|muster point}}. The "International Space Station Exclamation Point", then, may sound like it refers to a named location in the International Space Station (the "Exclamation Point") that is specifically intended for making exclamations (such as the one in the title text).

Similar problems to these can occur when customers order signboards. They sometimes come with unintended quotation marks, because the customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them. Or they may give the order verbally, resulting in similar problems as seen in the comic, or [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/nov/01/5 even more comprehensive failures].

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

The ISS crew was in headlines on 15 January 2026, the day before the comic, when NASA and SpaceX {{w|List of accidents and incidents involving the International Space Station#2026|returned some crew members}} to Earth, earlier than scheduled, because of an unspecified medical concern.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:3195: International Station

2026-01-20T00:50:01Z

92.23.11.33:

3195: International Station

2026-01-20T00:28:45Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ (Ok, so "sea of blue" was misused. But "huge unnecessarily long link-text of blue" is what it was.) Recorrected the date to be more relevent. Announced earlier, but happened the day before. In the context of comic release, more relevent.

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic plays on different meanings of the word 'space': firstly as the invisible character between words, and secondly as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is claimed that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the {{w|International Space Station}}, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International [space] Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as "International Space Station". The resulting accidental name was then accepted, due to it being apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase. (This is similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]); there were also multiple examples of strings with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s.) The word 'point' can sometimes be used to refer to a specific location within a wider space, such as a {{w|Meeting point|muster point}}. The "International Space Station Exclamation Point", then, may sound like it refers to a named location in the International Space Station (the "Exclamation Point") that is specifically intended for making exclamations (such as the one in the title text).

Similar problems to these can occur when customers order signboards. They sometimes come with unintended quotation marks, because the customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them. Or they may give the order verbally, resulting in similar problems as seen in the comic, or [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/nov/01/5 even more comprehensive failures].

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

The ISS crew was in headlines from 15 January 2026, when NASA and SpaceX had enacted the early return of some crew members to Earth {{w|List of accidents and incidents involving the International Space Station#2026|because of a medical concern}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:3195: International Station

2026-01-20T00:24:34Z

92.23.11.33:

1211: Birds and Dinosaurs

2026-01-20T00:21:04Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ Not sure why that got removed. Still useful to know.

{{comic
| number = 1211
| date = May 13, 2013
| title = Birds and Dinosaurs
| image = birds and dinosaurs.png
| titletext = Sure, T. rex is closer in height to Stegosaurus than a sparrow. But that doesn't tell you much; 'Dinosaur Comics' author Ryan North is closer in height to certain dinosaurs than to the average human.
}}

==Explanation==
At the time the comic was released {{w|bird}}s were commonly considered to be a separate {{w|class (biology)|class}} of {{w|tetrapods}}. However, this classification is false according to {{w|phylogenetic taxonomy}}. Taking into account that birds developed around {{w|Late Jurassic|150 million years ago}} out of small {{w|theropod}} dinosaurs, birds along with crocodiles are indeed the remaining representatives of the {{w|Archosaur|archosaur clade}}. This premise appeared also in comic [[867: Herpetology]].

This relation between birds and dinosaurs is depicted in the comic in a {{w|cladogram}} which shows that ''{{w|Tyrannosaurus rex}}'' is more closely related to the common {{w|sparrow}} than to ''{{w|Stegosaurus}}''. Not only do the former share a phylogenetic branch, but ''T. rex'' also lived around 80 million years ''after'' ''Stegosaurus''. The concurrence of both species in popular culture is a widespread error. ''T. rex'' is also much more alike to modern birds than to other dinosaurs in terms of anatomy. This relationship was pointed out on the [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6133/690 Science] journal the week of the comic.

The comic draws the conclusion that if birds must in fact be considered modern dinosaurs, the hunting practice of birds of prey (specifically, the {{w|peregrine falcon}}) is consequently a dinosaur fight. For an inveterate dinosaur aficionado like [[Randall]], this fact must make the modern world much more attractive.

The title text is a sidesweep to the webcomic ''[http://www.qwantz.com Dinosaur Comics]'' drawn by {{w|Ryan North}}, who says that he stands [https://sharpread.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/guest-post-john-patrick-green-interviews-ryan-north/ 2 m tall] (exactly 2m is just slightly under 6'6¾"). At that page the title text of the comic [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 strip] from the same day refers to Randall and ''[[xkcd]]''. In reality, unless someone actually ''is'' exactly average height, they could always find examples of dinosaurs with heights that are closer to their own than to the 'average' person.

The conclusion of this comic is referenced in the title text of the last image in the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/101/ Plastic Dinosaurs] What if?

==Transcript==
:By any reasonable definition, ''T. rex'' is more closely related to sparrows than to ''Stegosaurus''.
:[Diagram showing that ''Stegosaurus'' came earlier than ''T. rex'', along with it showing that ''T. rex'' came closer in time to sparrows. Evaluation criteria "separation by time", "phylogenetic distance" and "physical similarity" are highlighted in red.]
:Birds aren't ''descended'' from dinosaurs, they ''are'' dinosaurs.
:Which means that the fastest animal alive today is a small carnivorous dinosaur, ''Falco peregrinus''.
:[A picture of two birds is shown, one large and one small.]
:It preys mainly on other dinosaurs, which it strikes and kills in midair with its claws.
:[In red:] This is a good world.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:1211: Birds and Dinosaurs

2026-01-20T00:17:51Z

92.23.11.33:

I'm very confused by this article, for the following reasons:
1. The math is blatantly incorrect in this comic. Saurischians/Ornithischians diverged around 230 mya [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_dinosaurs (wikipedia has good sources on this)], while we can date the oldest Tyrannosauroids (present after the split between T. rex and the first birds) at around 160 mya [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosauroidea (same)]. Adding in Stegosaurus at 155 mya, T. rex at 65 mya, and Sparrows at 0 mya, we get 255 mya of distance between Tyrannosaurus/modern birds but only 240 mya of distance between Tyrannosaurus/Stegosaurus. This comic would be true if Stegosaurus were replaced by Triceratops, but as it stands Randall seems to be getting the argument incorrect, and I'm not sure why that's not in the description of this article.
2. For some reason the article explanation refers to a Science article that's exactly the opposite of what it's described as suggesting; since almost all dinosaurs are likely to have had some feathers [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaur (I can replace this with a non-wikipedia source when I have more time)], this makes T. rex more similar to other dinosaurs.
~~thunderbeard

:I think you might not be doing the right sums. “The phylogenetic distance between two species is an estimate of the amount of time since the most recent common ancestor of both species, in other words the time that each has evolved independently of the other.” https://phylodiversity.net/wcornwell/papers/Vellend_etal_2011_bookchap.pdf So, I think what you should be comparing is (a) the time since the LCA of sparrow and ''T. rex'' to the present day and (b) the time since the LCA of ''T. rex'' and ''Stegosaurus'' to the ''T. rex''; i.e., just the longer branches of the two inverted red Υ’s. [[User:AntAllan|AntAllan]] ([[User talk:AntAllan|talk]]) 18:56, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

: You are probably confused by the naming: birds did not descend from ornithischians but from saurischians. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.114|162.158.89.114]] 14:59, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

I added the transcript, That was legit enough. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 06:03, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

: So the next question is, how tall is Ryan North? This is such a shout out! : ) {{unsigned ip|24.193.34.113}}

: - According to https://what-if.xkcd.com/16/ (Lightning), "paleontologists estimate he stood nearly five meters tall at the shoulder".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.196|162.158.38.196]] 11:33, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
::So currently our explanation says that Ryan North is 2 meters tall, but I could not find any primary source from North about his height. I attempted to use Grok, but it is currently unavailable to free users. So I asked Gemini, and Gemini cited this explainxkcd page for Ryan North's height. And also cited the Xkcd page. But we all know that LLMs make up their citations ''ex post facto'' anyway. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 18:59, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Browsing through the article history, there was a lot of pussy-footing around with the original editor's "198cm" claim, but North himself made the claim of exactly 2 meters in [https://sharpread.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/guest-post-john-patrick-green-interviews-ryan-north/ this 2016 Wordpress interview,] so let's go with that. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 19:10, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Of course I do believe that Randall is going for his "What If?" in-joke here, so we need to also acknowledge his facetious "5 meters tall at the shoulder" estimate! [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 19:12, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
::A glaring omission, and part of the intrinsic humor, of the comic is the total omission of any concrete measurements or units. While we've supplied the "stands 2 m tall" here from North's claim, the Xkcd is lampooning the meme of "football fields and Libraries of Congress" comparative measurements, I am fairly certain. [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 23:05, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Basically, you could say the same thing about almost anyone (because that's how averages work, and with the truly wide spread of actual dinosaur (estimated) heights as well). The link between dinosaur heights and a guy who does a dinosaur-related thing imparts a 'meaningful' humour to that not-even-pseudoscientific 'comparison'. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is implicit in what's currently said there. Without going into invoking any more esoteric a measurement than "the average human". But you're welcome to work with smoots if you want. Or light-nanoseconds, or rack-units, or... [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 00:17, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

A few minor edits, Made the text "Falco Peregrinus" italic for the lulz. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 10:34, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Transcript currently says "...showing that T.Rex came at the same time as sparrows", which isn't what is showed at all (or at least implied, and certainly isn't correct). But I'm not sure about alternate wording of this. Something to do with the common ancestor to both branching much more recently, perhaps, if that isn't already dealt with? [[Special:Contributions/31.110.57.223|31.110.57.223]] 12:07, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

:Sorry about that, I added the transcript and I was an idiot at the time so I thought "Maybe they came at the same time?", So I just added that, Sorry about that. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 22:55, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

;Quote

So I take it that the last line marks him as a Browncoat? --Thisfox [[Special:Contributions/122.148.216.22|122.148.216.22]] 07:20, 13 May 2013 (UTC)
:Yes, I believe you will. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 07:53, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

;Diagram

Some evolution diagrams are honest enough to use solid vertical lines for the bits that are actually known and dotted horizontal lines for the wishful thinking bits connecting the different families. [[Special:Contributions/121.74.153.117|121.74.153.117]] 00:00, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

2372: Dialect Quiz

2026-01-19T20:58:19Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ Not there, though. It must follow the punctuation.

{{comic
| number = 2372
| date = October 14, 2020
| title = Dialect Quiz
| image = dialect_quiz.png
| titletext = Do you make a distinction between shallots, scallops, and scallions? If you use all three words, do they all have different meanings, all the same, or are two the same and one different?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of online quizzes that offer to compare the user's dialect of American English with others around the country. These quizzes generally contain questions about word usage, names for certain objects, and pronunciations that vary between different regions of the US. There are also quizzes about broader English dialects, but this comic focuses on commonly cited differences between American dialects.

The earliest quiz of this type to be widely disseminated online was the [http://dialect.redlog.net/ Harvard Dialect Survey], conducted in the early 2000s by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder. The survey created maps of the distribution of various word usage (such as pop/soda/coke for a fizzy softdrink) and was a relatively early example of widely shared Internet "viral" content. In 2013, Josh Katz of the New York Times created [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html a new version] based on the Harvard survey, which became the Times' [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/-em-the-new-york-times-em-most-popular-story-of-2013-was-not-an-article/283167/ most popular content of 2013] and spread the idea to many more people. Many of the questions in this comic directly derive from entries in those surveys.

Randall's previous two comics have been about election predictions, leading up to the 2020 US General Presidential Election. A prominent predictor of the election results is [[Nate Silver]], who runs the FiveThirtyEight website. He [https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1315348221565206530 posted his results] of taking the New York Times version of the survey on October 11, 2020, just three days before this comic was posted. [[2371: Election Screen Time]] specifically suggests that Randall may be spending too much time obsessing over new posts and content from the election predictors. It's coincidental, but likely, that Nate Silver's tweet inspired Randall's post: he was reminded of the 2013 feature from the Times.

; How do you address a group of two or more people?

* A) You
* B) Y'all
* C) I have not been around two or more people for so long that I can't remember

: Reference to the first question of the Times quiz: "How would you address {{w|You#Informal_plural_forms|a group of two or more people}}?" (with options including "you all", "you guys", "y'all", etc.). Option C may reference the significant decrease in human interaction and social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternatively, it may suggest that some xkcd readers are particularly introverted.

; How do you pronounce "Penelope"?

* A) Rhymes with "Antelope"
* B) Rhymes with "Develop"

: Both the options for this are wrong, making it the first of many quiz questions to be impossible to answer correctly. Neither Option A's "PEN-e-lohp" /ˈpɛːnəˌloʊp/ (possibly "PEEN-e-lohp" /ˈpiːnɪˌloʊp/) nor Option B's "pe-NELL-up" /pɪˈnɛləp/ are a typical pronunciation of this name (beyond mispronunciations). In English, the only correct way to pronounce this name is "pe-NELL-o-pee" /pəˈnɛləpi/, which is not listed. (A) is the answer Juan from Club Dread (2004) would have given, and the way video game parody band "Random Encounters" pronounces their second cat's name. In Questionable Content, this is also the way Faye pronounces Penelope's name in comic 725. Whether this is a coincidence or deliberate is unknown.

; What do you call the scientific field that studies the stars?

* A) Astrology
* B) Agronomy
* C) Cosmetology

: The actual answer is {{w|astronomy}}, which is not listed, though several answers ''are'' listed that sound similar to fields that study stars. {{w|Astrology}} is the pseudo-scientific "study" of the influence of the stars and planets on our lives, including horoscopes, {{w|agronomy}} ''is'' scientific but instead studies agriculture, and {{w|cosmetology}} is the study of cosmetics and makeup (with a name close to {{w|cosmology}}, a branch of astronomy, and {{w|comet}}, an astronomical object). The last may also be referring to the occasionally makeup-heavy faces of movie and television "stars". [[:Category:Astronomy|Astronomy]] and [[:Category:Cosmology|cosmology]] are recurring themes on xkcd.

; How do you pronounce "genre"?

* A) Gone-ra
* B) Juh-neer
* C) Jen-er-uh

: Reference to a question found on some quizzes: "How do you pronounce ''genre''? ZHAHN-ruh, or JAHN-ruh?" A majority of (American) English speakers pronounce "genre" as either "'''ZH'''AHN-ruh" /ˈʒɔnrə/ (beginning with the "zh" sound found in "trea'''s'''ure") or "'''J'''AHN-ruh" /ˈdʒɔnrə/ (beginning with the "j" sound in "justice"). Neither of these are listed, and none of the quiz's pronunciation options are common. However, they are close to other words: ''GONE-ra'' /ˈgɔnrə/ sounds like {{w|gonorrhea}} /ˌgɔnəˈriə/, ''juh-NEER'' /dʒəˈnɪər/ is the way the second and third syllables of ''engineer'' are pronounced, and ''JEN-er-uh'' /ˈdʒɛnərə/ is close to how ''genera'' /dʒɛˈnirə/ (the plural of {{w|genus}}) is pronounced.

; Do you pronounce "Google" with a high-pitched yelp on the...

* A) First syllable
* B) Second syllable

: "Google" is not generally pronounced with a high-pitched yelp on either syllable.{{Citation needed}} On the other hand, {{w|Yahoo!}}, a competitor of Google, has advertised its services with a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm5FE0x9eY0 high-pitched yodeling jingle], with the high-pitched yelp on the second syllable (as opposed to {{w|Goofy}}'s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-70mtXw35c iconic holler], with the high yelp on the first syllable).

; What do you call the thing on the wall at school that you drink water from?

* A) Gutter pipe
* B) Drainpipe

: Reference to a quiz question in the Harvard and Times quizzes, "What do you call the thing from which you might drink water in a school?" Answers included "drinking fountain", "water fountain", and "bubbler". However, the question in this comic implies that school children (or at least the quiz maker) drink out of {{w|Rain gutter|gutter pipes}} or drain pipes, which are used to collect rainwater and/or {{w|sewage|should absolutely not be drunk from.}} This may be hinting at the fact that at that time some of the drinking fountains has been polluted by virus, and was considered "as dangerous as drainpipes".

; How do you pronounce the name for a short silent video file?

* A) Animated give
* B) Animated gift

: Reference to the "{{w|Gif}}" pronunciation debate, with people split between pronouncing it "gif" (with the hard-G sound in "graphics") or "jif" (with the soft-G sound in "giraffe"). Both options presented in this quiz use the hard-G sound, but neither option uses the standard pronunciation for the ending of the word, "if". The original authors of the standard clarified they intended it to be said as if "jif". Maybe it is entirely appropriate that their product, which lacks any audio stream, was made known to most of its end-users without a sound-guide and left everyone to spontaneously derive their own way of voicing its name. This is also a reference to [https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/gift-as-a-verb how some people dislike the use of the word "gift" as a verb, and think that "give" should be used instead].

; What do you call the baseball-sized garden bugs that, when poked, glow brightly and emit a warbling scream?

* A) What?
* B) Lawn buddies

: There are many different varieties of common insects with distinctive traits and behaviors, some of which even have multiple names; the creatures described "lawn buddies" combine three of these traits into one peculiar and somewhat frightening bug. The fact that no known creature like this exists forms the humor of the two answers: the first is reasonably confused, and the second is alarmingly familiar.

# The Harvard and Times quizzes actually include the question: "What do you call the {{w|Armadillidiidae|small gray bug}} that curls up into a ball when it’s touched?" (options include "roly-poly," "pill-bug", "potato bug", "doodle bug", etc.). It is also worth mentioning that "potato bug" itself can refer to three completely different kinds of insect; besides the aforementioned "{{w|Armadillidiidae|small gray bug}}," it can also refer to the {{w|Colorado potato beetle}} or to the {{w|Jerusalem cricket}}. A dialect quiz such as this one might ask the quiz-taker to identify what kind of insect they associate the term with.
# The {{w|Firefly|Lampyridae}} family of insects do glow (although not exactly "brightly"). These insects emit their light spontaneously, as a mating signal, though they often do emit light when shaken or presumably poked. These are variously called "fireflies," "glowworms," or "lightning bugs;" a dialect quiz might reasonably ask the quiz-taker's preferred term.
# {{w|cicada|Cicadas}} and {{w|Madagascar_hissing_cockroach|cockroaches}} can be large for insects, though nothing approaching the size of a baseball, and can make very loud noises indeed, although it would be a bit of a stretch to describe any of their associated sounds as a "warbling scream."

; What do you call the misleading lines painted by disgruntled highway workers to trick cars into driving off the road?

* A) Prank lines
* B) Devil's Marks
* C) Fool-me lines
* D) Fauxguides
* E) Delaware lines

: Reference to the fact that some quiz questions ask about road features, such as "verge/berm/parking strip/curb strip" and "roundabout/traffic circle/rotary". However, these particular road lines, if they have ever been made, aren't common enough to warrant different names, unless the creator of the Quiz is referring to painted lines that haven't fully faded out of existence. The Delaware Line was a formation within the Continental Army. Devil's Marks may be a takeoff of [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Devil%27s%20Strip Devil's Strip]. Misleading lines on the road were also mentioned in [[1958: Self-Driving Issues]].

; What do you call the blue-green planet in the outer Solar System?

* A) Uranus
* B) Neptune

: This question references the fact that Uranus and Neptune are quite similar in appearance, as well as the two common pronunciations of Uranus: "YURR-ə-nəss" and "yoo-RAY-nəss" (which sounds like the phrase "{{tvtropes|UranusIsShowing|your anus}}", a favorite joke of little kids). The original Greek pronunciation is "oo-ra-nos", but this is not a common pronunciation among English speakers. It also references the fact that Uranus and Neptune are both blue-green colored planets in the outer solar system and are often confused by people who don't know much about them. (It's a common misconception that Neptune is dark blue, but [https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3761 it's actually blue-green].)

; What do you call this tool?
[[File:CloveHammer.png|150px|alt=Image of a claw hammer]]

* A) Banger
* B) Nail axe
* C) Wood mage wand
* D) I'm familiar with this tool but have no specific word for it
* E) I have never seen it before

: The only name most people would ever call this tool is a "hammer". The last two options reference options in many quiz questions like "I'm familiar with this but have no specific word for it" and "I am not familiar with this" (such as on the pill-bug/roly-poly question on the real quiz). These may appear as options to questions that ask about something that might not exist everywhere, or something which many may not have a word for (for example, some areas of the United States have a name for "sunshowers," while most don't). However, it's a bit absurd for these options to be present for this question (and this question alone), as virtually all users in an English dialect test would be expected to know what a hammer is. This also serves as a bit of reverse perspective on the saying, "{{w|Law of the instrument|When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.}}"

; What do you call a long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff?

* A) A long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff
* B) A longwich
* C) A salad hot dog

: Reference to a common dialect quiz question: "What do you call a {{w|Submarine sandwich|long sandwich}}?" with options typically including "sub", "hoagie", "hero", etc. The first answer directly repeats the phrasing of the prompt, painting the person who would answer that way as either very literal-minded or bearing a snarky side. The hot dog answer could refer to the common online discussion: "Is a hot dog a sandwich?, and bears resemblance to jokes playing on synonyms to discredit their need for unique names, i.e. "Beef jerky is just a meat raisin." In this case, the argument would be "A sub sandwich is just a salad hot dog."

; What do you call the scaly many-legged animal often found in attics?

* A) Lightbulb eater
* B) I have no special name for them
* C) I've never looked in my attic

: Another reference to the frequent appearance of quiz questions asking what users call various creepy crawlies. {{w|Millipedes}} best fit the description. They have many legs, though rarely if ever a thousand of them, as their name (from the Latin word for "thousand feet") suggests. The hard rings that separate an individual's body into segments give the animal a scaly appearance. And of the thousands of species, only a few have common names, hence "no special name for them". The reference to "lightbulb eater" is obscure, but may refer to the tendency of millipedes to congregate in large numbers in dark crevices, or perhaps Randall is simply conjuring more frightening creatures. Perhaps Randall found some in empty (no bulb) light fixtures in his attic, though it is possible this refers to another unknown frightening creature that nobody has a word for.

: Normally, questions about uncommon things would include an "I've never seen one" option, like option E in the hammer question. Instead, this question has "I've never looked in my attic" as an option, implying that these creatures are present in all attics, and anyone who doesn't know them would have to have never checked their attic at all, or that they are too afraid of this creature possibly dwelling in their own attic to go look.

; What do you say when someone around you sneezes?

* A) "What was that?"
* B) "Oh, wow."
* C) [Quietly] "Yikes."

: Reference to a question on some quizzes about which of several words/phrases you say in response to a sneeze, with usual answers including "bless you", "God bless you", and "{{w|Gesundheit}}" (from the German word for 'health'). This question may also be referencing the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}} in answer C (and possibly answer B). Sneezing isn't a primary symptom of COVID-19, but most people are hyper-aware of possibly contracting the disease from the people around them so sneezes are treated with suspicion and it's seen as rude to sneeze openly. It is also possible that a person who has been able to catch a sneeze-producing condition has also caught COVID-19 and, while the sneeze itself isn't ''caused'' by it, the air and various airway fluids so forcefully projected are a possible infective vector with that little extra frisson of concern, given the current situation.

; Do you make a distinction between shallots, scallops, and scallions? If you use all three words, do they all have different meanings, all the same, or are two the same and one different?

: Phrased similarly to questions like one on the Times quiz, "How do you pronounce the words Mary, merry, and marry?" Options included "all three are pronounced the same", "all three are pronounced differently," or all three combinations of two being the same and one different. Also refers to the naming confusion around {{w|scallions}} and {{w|shallots}} - also known as 'eschalots' - but with the unrelated but similar-sounding {{w|scallops}} substituted in the middle.

: 'Shallots', 'scallions' and 'eschalots' are names used in different dialects, for various species and cultivars of onion used in cooking, either as a small bulb (especially [[wikipedia:shallot|Allium cepa var. Aggregatum]]) or as a long green leaf (especially [[wikipedia:Allium_fistulosum|Allium fistulosum]]). In many dialects, the green leaf type is called a 'scallion' and the bulb a 'shallot'. In at least one dialect (NSW Australia) the green leaf type is called a 'shallot' and the bulb an 'eschalot'. This causes confusion in recipes posted online. The word 'shallot' is also pronounced with emphasis on either the first or second syllable, as referred to in question 5. Despite the answer options offered, there is no evidence of dialects which use all three terms, or where 'shallot' and 'scallion' are interchangeable. Many people in the US call scallions "green onions", as was joked about in [https://genius.com/Stan-freberg-christmas-dragnet-lyrics Stan Frieberg's Christmas Dragnet parody].

: {{w|Scallops}} are invertebrate marine animals similar to oysters and clams, frequently harvested for food. In some regions of the UK and Australia potato {{w|fritters}} are also called 'scallops'. The word 'scallop' itself can be pronounced either as /ˈskɒləp/ or /ˈskæləp/, and its spelling has varied over time in a similar way to that of 'shallot'. However, these are difficult to confuse with shallots or scallions.

==Transcript==

[Box with title at the top]
:<big>Dialect Quiz</big>
[Smaller subtitle underneath]
:Compare answers with your friends!

[Quiz is divided into two columns. Answers to questions are indicated by a letter followed by a closed parentheses, such as A). These letters are greyed out]

[Column 1:]
 
How do you address a group of two or more people?
:A) You
:B) Y'all
:C) I have not been around two or more people for so long that I can't remember

How do you pronounce "Penelope"?
:A) Rhymes with "Antelope"
:B) Rhymes with "Develop"

What do you call the scientific field that studies the stars?
:A) Astrology
:B) Agronomy
:C) Cosmetology

How do you pronounce "genre"?
:A) Gone-ra
:B) Juh-neer
:C) Jen-er-uh

You pronounce "Google" with a high-pitched yelp on the...
:A) First syllable
:B) Second syllable

What do you call the thing on the wall at school that you drink water from?
:A) Gutter pipe
:B) Drainpipe

How do you pronounce the name for a short silent video file?
:A) Animated give
:B) Animated gift

What do you call the baseball-sized garden bugs that, when poked, glow brightly and emit a warbling scream?
:A) What?
:B) Lawn buddies

[Column 2:]
 
What do you call the misleading lines painted by disgruntled highway workers to trick cars into driving off the road?
:A) Prank lines
:B) Devil's Marks
:C) Fool-me lines
:D) Fauxguides
:E) Delaware lines

What do you call the blue-green planet in the outer Solar System?
:A) Uranus
:B) Neptune

What do you call this tool?
 
[Image of a claw hammer]
:A) Banger
:B) Nail axe
:C) Wood mage wand
:D) I'm familiar with this tool but have no specific word for it
:E) I have never seen it before

What do you call a long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff?
:A) A long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff
:B) A longwich
:C) A salad hot dog

What do you call the scaly many-legged animal often found in attics?
:A) Lightbulb eater
:B) I have no special name for them
:C) I've never looked in my attic

What do you say when someone around you sneezes?
:A) "What was that?"
:B) "Oh, wow."
:C) [Quietly] "Yikes."

==Trivia==

*The xkcd Twitter account posted a [https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1316484953480323072 series of Twitter polls] asking the questions in this comic.
**How do you address a group of two or more people?
***You (31.2%)
***Y'all (33.5%)
***'''Can’t remember anymore (35.3%)'''
**How do you pronounce “Penelope”?
***'''Rhymes with “antelope” (58.6%)'''
***Rhymes with “develop” (41.4%)
**What do you call the scientific field that studies the stars?
***Astrology (34.5%)
***Agronomy (18.5%)
***'''Cosmetology (47%)'''
**How do you pronounce "genre"?
***Gone-ra (24.7%)
***Juh-neer (18.8%)
***'''Jen-er-uh (56.5%)'''
**Do you pronounce "Google" with a high-pitched yelp on the...
***'''First syllable (63.6%)'''
***Second syllable (36.4%)
**What do you call the thing on the wall at school that you drink water from?
***Gutter pipe (32.9%)
***'''Drainpipe (67.1%)'''
**How do you pronounce the name for a short silent video file?
***Animated give (29.6%)
***'''Animated gift (70.4%)'''
**What do you call the baseball-sized garden bugs that, when poked, glow brightly and emit a warbling scream?
***What? (48.6%)
***'''Lawn buddies (51.4%)'''
**What do you call the misleading lines painted by disgruntled highway workers to trick cars into driving off the road?
***Prank/fool-me lines (14.8%)
***Devil's marks (22%)
***Fauxguides (22.5%)
***'''Delaware lines (40.6%)'''
**What do you call the blue-green planet in the outer solar system?
***'''Uranus (51.7%)'''
***Neptune (48.3%)
**What do you call this tool? 🔨
***'''Banger (29.7%)'''
***Nail axe (22%)
***Wood mage wand (29.1%)
***Don't know/not familiar (19.2%)
**What do you call a long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff?
***'''That description verbatim (43.1%)'''
***A longwich (33.2%)
***A salad hot dog (23.7%)
**What do you call the scaly many-legged animal often found in attics?
***Lightbulb eater (29.5%)
***Don't have a name for it (19%)
***'''Never looked in my attic (51.5%)'''
**What do you say when someone around you sneezes?
***"What was that?" (8.6%)
***"Oh, wow." (17.1%)
***'''[quietly] "Yikes." (74.3%)'''
*Shallots, scallops, and scallions ran against each other in [[1529: Bracket]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]

Talk:3195: International Station

2026-01-19T20:11:02Z

92.23.11.33:

Sometimes I wonder if some of these comics aren't just for the sake of seeing whatever explain xkcd users come up with [[Special:Contributions/2A01:CB19:FAB:3100:D027:1047:976:8EE2|2A01:CB19:FAB:3100:D027:1047:976:8EE2]] 22:25, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Holy refresh pull exclamation mark! tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 14:55, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

Should the "not-earth" "space" be changed to something like "the void between astronomical bodies"? I'm not sure if, say, the surface of the Moon or Mars or {{w|A Taste of Armageddon|Eminiar VII}} count as being "in space". [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:27, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
: I think "space" gets used pretty frequently for "not-Earth". Consider that NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and launches probes to other astronomical bodies. People talk about the Moon landing as being part of the "space program". "Spacemen from Mars" is a reasonably common phrase. [[Special:Contributions/163.116.254.45|163.116.254.45]] 19:38, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
:: Try getting to (or from) the Moon (or Mars) ''without'' using using space at all. I challenge you. (If you can do it, there's probably a Nobel Prize in it for you. Or just a life of far more mundane wealth-accumulation. Possibly in an entirely undetectable but criminal sense.) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 20:11, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

I initially interpreted the cartoon as showing the people and objects floating within something gloopy, and the wrench as a bone, and that the joke was about an "internal space station". Here we are, inside a gelatinous cube, or possibly a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immunity_Syndrome_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series) gigantic space amoeba]... [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:43, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

'''New Category: Weightless''' There are a few strips that take place demonstrating micro-gravity, right? Is that worthy of a category? The 'space' tag could be used for comics ''about'' space or comics ''in'' space (or, I guess, comics on planets?). [[Special:Contributions/191.101.157.82|191.101.157.82]] 17:08, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I think the ISS was originally called start quote Alpha end quote period tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/134.173.108.120|134.173.108.120]] 18:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm early! [[Special:Contributions/2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327|2603:7083:8700:E02:FE51:837E:B6F:327]] 18:24, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

It took me a moment to get it, but when I did this xkcd made me capitals LOL which doesn't happen often [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8|2401:D005:D402:7A00:7FE1:F042:B839:91B8]] 21:23, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:You forgot tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde tilde --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 21:31, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

At least it's not the International Ampersand En Bee Ess Pee Semicolon Station ellipsis tilde tilde tilde tilde [[Special:Contributions/174.142.148.226|174.142.148.226]] 21:42, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
:Speaking of Ampersand Aa Em Pee Semicolon, that's a real life example of this effect actually happening. It was at the end of the alphabet where they would say "X, Y, Z, and, per sé, 'and'". Tilde tilde tilde tilde. Not sure if that is relevant enough to the comic though. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 02:26, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Dear Bot, don't get this Irishperson started on apostrophes. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 22:57, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

From John Littlewood's "A Mathematician's Miscellany": A minute I wrote (about 1917) for the Ballistic Office ended with the sentence 'Thus a should be made as small as possible'. This did not appear in the printed minute. But P. J. Grigg said, 'what is that?' A speck in a blank space at the end proved to be the tiniest a I have ever seen (the printers must have scoured London for it).[[User:Lordpishky|Lord Pishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 03:59, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

International Space Space Space Station? [[User:Inexplicable|Inexplicable]] ([[User talk:Inexplicable|talk]]) 07:17, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
:International Space Space Space Space Space Space Space Station? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 17:22, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

These comments make me want to see if you could have "tildetildetildetilde"(the actual characters) as your account name. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:18, 18 January 2026 (UTC)
:Nope, typing ~~<nowiki />~~ gives an invalid username error. [[Special:Contributions/2A04:4E41:6405:35F:0:0:EB9C:B35F|2A04:4E41:6405:35F:0:0:EB9C:B35F]] 05:49, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

This one reminds me of 3143 a bit too much. [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 03:45, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Am I the only one that interpreted it as "originally it was not supposed to be a space station but rather a 'regular' (ie. terrestrial) station, but because of a transcribing mistake they put it in space, hence the random floating stuff" {{unsigned|Baruch|10:04, 19 January 2026 (UTC)}}
:That is a good insight! I think the wording is open to this kind of interpretation. (Interestingly, the "random floating stuff" does not include a sketch of the station interior itself, or any structure, ''per se''.) [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 18:50, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

The main page has been vandalized with a floating picture of Osama Bin Laden. {{unsigned ip|65.35.147.191|15:39, 19 January 2026}}
:I just dealt with that. If I have to deal with it again, then I will. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.8|82.132.244.8]] 16:01, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

1211: Birds and Dinosaurs

2026-01-19T20:01:13Z

92.23.11.33: For the benefit of such benighted people who are not sufficiently metricated. Or those of us who are metricated, except in terms of people-heights. ;)

{{comic
| number = 1211
| date = May 13, 2013
| title = Birds and Dinosaurs
| image = birds and dinosaurs.png
| titletext = Sure, T. rex is closer in height to Stegosaurus than a sparrow. But that doesn't tell you much; 'Dinosaur Comics' author Ryan North is closer in height to certain dinosaurs than to the average human.
}}

==Explanation==
At the time the comic was released {{w|bird}}s were commonly considered to be a separate {{w|class (biology)|class}} of {{w|tetrapods}}. However, this classification is false according to {{w|phylogenetic taxonomy}}. Taking into account that birds developed around {{w|Late Jurassic|150 million years ago}} out of small {{w|theropod}} dinosaurs, birds along with crocodiles are indeed the remaining representatives of the {{w|Archosaur|archosaur clade}}. This premise appeared also in comic [[867: Herpetology]].

This relation between birds and dinosaurs is depicted in the comic in a {{w|cladogram}} which shows that ''{{w|Tyrannosaurus rex}}'' is more closely related to the common {{w|sparrow}} than to ''{{w|Stegosaurus}}''. Not only do the former share a phylogenetic branch, but ''T. rex'' also lived around 80 million years ''after'' ''Stegosaurus''. The concurrence of both species in popular culture is a widespread error. ''T. rex'' is also much more alike to modern birds than to other dinosaurs in terms of anatomy. This relationship was pointed out on the [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6133/690 Science] journal the week of the comic.

The comic draws the conclusion that if birds must in fact be considered modern dinosaurs, the hunting practice of birds of prey (specifically, the {{w|peregrine falcon}}) is consequently a dinosaur fight. For an inveterate dinosaur aficionado like [[Randall]], this fact must make the modern world much more attractive.

The title text is a sidesweep to the webcomic ''[http://www.qwantz.com Dinosaur Comics]'' drawn by {{w|Ryan North}}, who stands [https://sharpread.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/guest-post-john-patrick-green-interviews-ryan-north/ 2 m tall] (exactly 2m is just slightly under 6'6¾"). At that page the title text of the comic [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 strip] from the same day refers to Randall and ''[[xkcd]]''. In reality, unless someone actually ''is'' exactly average height, they could always find examples of dinosaurs with heights that are closer to their own than to the 'average' person.

The conclusion of this comic is referenced in the title text of the last image in the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/101/ Plastic Dinosaurs] What if?

==Transcript==
:By any reasonable definition, ''T. rex'' is more closely related to sparrows than to ''Stegosaurus''.
:[Diagram showing that ''Stegosaurus'' came earlier than ''T. rex'', along with it showing that ''T. rex'' came closer in time to sparrows. Evaluation criteria "separation by time", "phylogenetic distance" and "physical similarity" are highlighted in red.]
:Birds aren't ''descended'' from dinosaurs, they ''are'' dinosaurs.
:Which means that the fastest animal alive today is a small carnivorous dinosaur, ''Falco peregrinus''.
:[A picture of two birds is shown, one large and one small.]
:It preys mainly on other dinosaurs, which it strikes and kills in midair with its claws.
:[In red:] This is a good world.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1211: Birds and Dinosaurs

2026-01-19T19:52:00Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ We don't really do <ref>-type references, when we can help it.

{{comic
| number = 1211
| date = May 13, 2013
| title = Birds and Dinosaurs
| image = birds and dinosaurs.png
| titletext = Sure, T. rex is closer in height to Stegosaurus than a sparrow. But that doesn't tell you much; 'Dinosaur Comics' author Ryan North is closer in height to certain dinosaurs than to the average human.
}}

==Explanation==
At the time the comic was released {{w|bird}}s were commonly considered to be a separate {{w|class (biology)|class}} of {{w|tetrapods}}. However, this classification is false according to {{w|phylogenetic taxonomy}}. Taking into account that birds developed around {{w|Late Jurassic|150 million years ago}} out of small {{w|theropod}} dinosaurs, birds along with crocodiles are indeed the remaining representatives of the {{w|Archosaur|archosaur clade}}. This premise appeared also in comic [[867: Herpetology]].

This relation between birds and dinosaurs is depicted in the comic in a {{w|cladogram}} which shows that ''{{w|Tyrannosaurus rex}}'' is more closely related to the common {{w|sparrow}} than to ''{{w|Stegosaurus}}''. Not only do the former share a phylogenetic branch, but ''T. rex'' also lived around 80 million years ''after'' ''Stegosaurus''. The concurrence of both species in popular culture is a widespread error. ''T. rex'' is also much more alike to modern birds than to other dinosaurs in terms of anatomy. This relationship was pointed out on the [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6133/690 Science] journal the week of the comic.

The comic draws the conclusion that if birds must in fact be considered modern dinosaurs, the hunting practice of birds of prey (specifically, the {{w|peregrine falcon}}) is consequently a dinosaur fight. For an inveterate dinosaur aficionado like [[Randall]], this fact must make the modern world much more attractive.

The title text is a sidesweep to the webcomic ''[http://www.qwantz.com Dinosaur Comics]'' drawn by {{w|Ryan North}}, who stands [https://sharpread.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/guest-post-john-patrick-green-interviews-ryan-north/ 2 m tall]. At that page the title text of the comic [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 strip] from the same day refers to Randall and ''[[xkcd]]''. In reality, unless someone actually ''is'' exactly average height, they could always find examples of dinosaurs with heights that are closer to their own than to the 'average' person.

The conclusion of this comic is referenced in the title text of the last image in the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/101/ Plastic Dinosaurs] What if?

==Transcript==
:By any reasonable definition, ''T. rex'' is more closely related to sparrows than to ''Stegosaurus''.
:[Diagram showing that ''Stegosaurus'' came earlier than ''T. rex'', along with it showing that ''T. rex'' came closer in time to sparrows. Evaluation criteria "separation by time", "phylogenetic distance" and "physical similarity" are highlighted in red.]
:Birds aren't ''descended'' from dinosaurs, they ''are'' dinosaurs.
:Which means that the fastest animal alive today is a small carnivorous dinosaur, ''Falco peregrinus''.
:[A picture of two birds is shown, one large and one small.]
:It preys mainly on other dinosaurs, which it strikes and kills in midair with its claws.
:[In red:] This is a good world.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Biology]]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-19T19:42:09Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ It's not (primarily) the epoxy sticking to the surfaces, as it may still do. It's the surfaces not undergoing adhesion because of the epoxy...

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by boiling down a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|epoxy}} — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings, named for the chemical substructure {{w|epoxide}}, which is the precursor component to these substances turning from liquids to solids.

[[File:FiveMinEpoxy.jpg|thumb|A typical 2-part epoxy applicator.]]Many types of epoxy are multi-part (usually two-part), where the components, such as {{w|resin}} and a {{w|Epoxy#Curing|hardener}}, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user squeezes out both of the separate chemicals onto the initial surface, or into a container, by depressing both syringes simultaneously. The user then thoroughly mixes the components, as quickly as possible. The mixture is spread over the surface(s) to be joined or protected, and/or into the gaps to be filled, and if there are separate surfaces involved they are quickly positioned and held in place. The combined epoxy cures quickly, usually within a few minutes. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text, as with a couple of the substances involved, references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on others can also require special techniques or products to gain the best advantage. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. {{w|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also ''still'' not adhesing as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.

Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|The word is probably being used in humorous contrast to the "hardener" component, and perhaps also by analogy with laundry products that contain a fabric softener alongside a detergent. However, {{w|plasticizer|plasticizers}} are often added to polymers to make them more pliable, and thus to increase their impact resistance. These plasticizers tend to be lost over long periods of time (e.g. by evaporation or degradation), which contributes to old plastic becoming brittle.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually a different kind of resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin (a kind of '{{w|Flux (metallurgy)|flux}}') is one of two parts that make up rosin-core solder, used in electronic work, where the rosin is located in the center (the "core") of the wire-like solder, similar to how graphite is in the core of a pencil. When heated hot enough to melt, it {{w|Soldering#Flux|cleans corrosion and oxides from the surfaces}} of the metal parts to be joined, creating bare metal surfaces that can be 'wet' by the solder. In rosin-core solder, the two substances are touching rather than kept completely separate, since they're both in solid form, and don't react with each other even when they're heated to melt them. In this respect they differ from common combination epoxy chemicals that will be both liquids that cure together on contact even at room temperature. Rosin is also frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "{{w|The Devil Went Down to Georgia}}" or the folk song {{w|Old Rosin the Beau}}.
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they are inadvertently applied to skin. In hyperbole, we have a substance here that seems to bond *solely* to skin. This may be a reference to {{w|cyanoacrylate|cyanoacrylate adhesives}} ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin (sometimes to positive effect, for medical applications!) due to being moisture-activated, while often failing to bond the target materials. Still, none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}}
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{Maybe|Not effective as epoxy}}
|Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces — especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done. This humorously describes this as an intended effect, although there are situations where this truly may be intended. 'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, often created by mixing paint and glue, and an adhesive used to join two pieces or repair a crack or break can be modified for a deliberately cracked or discolored surface to match the other surfaces.
|-
|Placebo
|{{Maybe|Not in the field of adhesives}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality it has no mechanism of action to produce that effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something, as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, merely causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (and presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{Maybe|Not intentionally}}
|{{w|Duct tape}} is widely used as a way to join and/or cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. [[Randall]] is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not bode well for the adhesive.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|{{w|Acetone}} is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (including nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive smell, and is actually toxic, making fragrance an odd reason for adding it to any product. It ''would'' give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds. The use of 'X fragrance' in an ingredient list, instead of simply listing the ingredient X, usually implies that the actual ingredient is some (cheaper) substitute for X with a similar scent. Since acetone is already inexpensive, perhaps some substitute has been discovered that provides the smell without weakening this glue, though that seems unlikely given the context.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{Maybe|Yes, but not in resin}}
|This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Not in epoxy}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|ethylene-vinyl acetate|Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)}}, some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode {{w|Lucy Does a TV Commercial}} and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Unclear}}
|This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but {{w|2-Polyprenyl-6-hydroxyphenol methylase|a name with a "2-" prefix}} generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a {{w|functional group}} attached to the ''second'' position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit. It may be intended to mimic the confusion consumers have over seemingly-similar named compounds, which may or may not have wildly differing properties.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{Maybe|Not for taste, but salt can be useful}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy that isn't labelled safe-to-eat. However, salt, sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures, but when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction and spacing in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}{{Citation Needed}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. The comic implies that this is because the glue is produced using material taken from a fictional breed of gorillas called “Gorilla Glue” gorillas. Extracting and consuming the blood of a creature or person in an attempt to inherit some of the qualities of the 'donor' is a kind of {{w|sympathetic magic}}, so this may be suggesting that including this will give the epoxy 'the strength of a gorilla', which is commonly considered a powerful animal. Although animal products, including [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue blood], have historically been used in some traditional glues, these have typically not come from gorillas, and Gorilla Glue contains no such ingredients.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No|Probably not}}
|Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. Poor prior research can cause much frustration when the chosen adhesive does not bond to one or both surfaces intended. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, always causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.
|}

==Transcript==

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin (coloured beige)

Hardener (mango yellow)

Filler (darker yellow)

Softener (cream)

Rosin (very light red)

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else (yellow-dark green)

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance (light blue)

Placebo (white)

Minced duct tape (grey with a tint of green)

Acetone Fragrance (beige-yellow)

Powdered bar magnets (brown)

Polyethylvinylesteracetate (blue-white)

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate (blue-white but slightly darker)

Salt and pepper to taste (light grey)

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas (red)

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours (beige)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

3195: International Station

2026-01-19T19:35:04Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ Less sea-of-blue for that link. (And deunderlined, where unnecessary, for easier source-reading.)

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic plays on different meanings of the word 'space': firstly as the invisible character between words, and secondly as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is claimed that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the {{w|International Space Station}}, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International [space] Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as "International Space Station". The resulting accidental name was then accepted, due to it being apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase. (This is similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]); there were also multiple examples of strings with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s.) The word 'point' can sometimes be used to refer to a specific location within a wider space, such as a {{w|Meeting point|muster point}}. The "International Space Station Exclamation Point", then, may sound like it refers to a named location in the International Space Station (the "Exclamation Point") that is specifically intended for making exclamations (such as the one in the title text).

Similar problems to these can occur when customers order signboards. They sometimes come with unintended quotation marks, because the customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them. Or they may give the order verbally, resulting in similar problems as seen in the comic, or [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/nov/01/5 even more comprehensive failures].

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

The ISS made the news on 15 January 2026, the day prior to the release of this comic, due to the early return of some crewmembers to Earth {{w|List of accidents and incidents involving the International Space Station#2026|for medical reasons}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

3195: International Station

2026-01-18T22:00:19Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ This is news to me. And isn't being mentioned anywhere in the usual ISS/Space blogs I read. There have been holes (e.g. in the Soyuz capsule, a few years back), but nothing particularly drastic.

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This joke makes fun of the parity between 'space', as in the invisible character between words, and 'space', as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is said that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the {{w|International Space Station}}, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International (space) Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as International Space Station, with the accidental name being accepted due to the resulting name being acceptably apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase, similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]. There were also multiple examples of strings, with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s. The full name of "International Space Station Exclamation Point" may also sound like it refers to a location in the International Space Station by the name of "Exclamation Point", one apparently intended for making exclamations like the title text. In a similar vein, when customers order signboards, they sometime come with unintended quotation marks. The customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them.

The ISS made the news on 15 January 2026, the day prior to the release of this comic, due to the {{w|List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_International_Space_Station#2026|unprecedented evacuation of some crewmembers to Earth for medical reasons}}.

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:1037: Umwelt

2026-01-18T18:05:31Z

92.23.11.33: /* Snake in canada */

Normally I understand xkcd. But this one hurts my head. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:35, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
: I sorted all of them out. Phew!!! That was some work. The ones at the end have no appropriate picture in the image part. Atleast the hurricane one should be added. Please do so. [[User:TheOriginalSoni|TheOriginalSoni]] ([[User talk:TheOriginalSoni|talk]]) 11:09, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
:: I live in one of Umwelt's "hurricane areas", and that's the one I see. How do we add it? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 06:06, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

There is a fixed image used if your browser does not support javascript, which is missing. Additionally, the alt text varies at times. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 20:16, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

I can't see any of them neither in Firefox nor in IE :( --[[User:Kronf|Kronf]] ([[User talk:Kronf|talk]]) 11:32, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

This has got to be one of my favourite xkcd's! That amount of ingenuity in one edition! [[User:D3KN0W|Dean]] ([[User talk:D3KN0W|talk]]) 22:33, 01 January 2013 (UTC)

There is now also a category page for Jurassic Park, but I'm not sure how to work that into the explanation. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:04, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

I can't resist noting that Chrome is sadly mistaken in thinking that its puzzle piece links up to a corner piece - it would have to be an edge piece to do that. Firefox would never have that kind of issue... [[User:Natf|Natf]] ([[User talk:Natf|talk]]) 13:15, 28 March 2013 (UTC)
: Supposedly, if there were a puzzle with inner corners, such as one with a plus cut out of it, this could link up as shown. ... I wanna make a puzzle like that now. [[Special:Contributions/99.44.200.140|99.44.200.140]] 08:00, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

It would be difficult to compile, but I think this page would benefit from having the conditions along with the image (for instance, "Displays when running Netscape:") [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 03:27, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Hey, um, I think there is an Animaniacs reference. Namely, the question about hot dogs resembles Yakko's question to the Wally Llama except it dealt with packages of eight and packages of ten. (I forget which is which) {{unsigned ip|71.166.47.84|23:46, 8 October 2013}}

I came here to seek informartion about how each strip was seen. Disappointed... Especially after seeing there is a hebrew one!?!?!?!? (number 29) Is it real? Because I assume it should be visible from Israel and I can't see it [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 22:26, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

Added two location references to the 2Fast2Furious and Snake comics, with browser references. Anyone know why I got those results? {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.77|02:57, 28 March 2014}}
: I don't, especially since I live in the UK (not Texas) and yet I see the Snake comic? [[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 14:14, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I found a new one, it seems to display when using TOR. Should I add it? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.60|173.245.49.60]] 02:22, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:Yes definitely. [[User:Chriswampler|Chriswampler]] ([[User talk:Chriswampler|talk]]) 16:07, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
::The Reviews comic just as appearing under TOR is actually comic #1036. Can you confirm that it is actually showing up under Umwelt? [[User:Chriswampler|Chriswampler]] ([[User talk:Chriswampler|talk]]) 20:34, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:::Yes. I checked like ten times. I just did it again.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.153|173.245.53.153]] 20:40, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:Honestly I can't do much explaining. Does anyone get it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.61|108.162.219.61]] 20:54, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:For me, using TOR, it displayed the full Aurora comic. [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 17:50, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Has anyone tested the Steam browser, whatever it is, with this comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 18:50, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I tested the Steam browser and got the "This plugin requires Sergey Brin's permission to run" comic, same as when I use Chrome.[[User:RobotSnake|RobotSnake]] ([[User talk:RobotSnake|talk]]) 18:16, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
:That is because the Steam browser is WebKit/Chromium-based. (Now you know something!)[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.88|173.245.50.88]] 03:34, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

For the Yahoo Chrome one with Sergey Brin, it reminds me a bit like how German tanks were unable to be moved on D-Day because Hitler, whose order was needed to move them, slept through the first five hours of the batter. It's the same theme of failure due to having only one person able to give permission, and that person being asleep.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.188|173.245.54.188]] 14:53, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

I get Pond on both my laptop (Firefox) and iPhone 3. I live in North Holland. Hope it helps, ask some other Dutch people about it for affirmation. On Opera, I get the turtle one. I should also note that if I make my browser window smaller, the right part of it is cut off. This page is clearly incomplete... -Maplestrip [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 21:58+, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

...Uhm, have you guys ever tried looking at this page in Lynx? Because, seriously, this is amazing. It's basically this entire page. The start in particular is hilarious: "<nowiki>[[two people...]]</nowiki> <<..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all of this>> [[Two people standing next to eachother..." Reading some of this, is this where you got all the transcripts for these comics from? -Maplestrip [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 22:10, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

In Ireland I get no comic strip loading at all! Just nothing in between the direction buttons, on Chrome or Safari! :/ {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.215|18:41, 13 November 2014}}

Just something I feel should be added to the "Blizzard" comic: it seems to also change the distance measurement (magnitude and system), in the last panel, depending on your location; for instance, the final panel refers to them only having [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22279334/Screen%20Shot%202015-03-25%20at%2010.03.06%20PM.png six more kilometres to travel] for me: fitting given that I'm located in central Ontario. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.17|108.162.216.17]] 02:23, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm in Georgia but I still got the Hurricane image. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.187|108.162.238.187]] 14:12, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

I have the "Reviews" one. With Firefox/Linux without referer and without javascript, from France. With javascript I don't have any comic. Edit : I checked, it's because I have the "Reviews" one but inside a <noscript> tag, so it doesn't display when javascript is activated. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 14:20, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

And now we need Randall to make an Umwelt page for Microsoft Edge. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.61|108.162.221.61]] 02:06, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Note of interest: Windows 10, Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, GA. Currently receiving "The Void" on both Chrome and Microsoft Edge unless Javascript is disabled. When disabled, "Reviews" is shown instead. Also: Chrome on HTC One M8 shows "Corporate Networks" with yellow triangle and Google - a combination which incidentally does not seem to be on this page. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 05:11, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm on Windows 10 in NJ and I'm getting "Snake" instead of "Hurricane" on Opera, Chrome, Edge and Maxthon. Has this happened to other NJ users, or is "Hurricane" in only some parts on New Jersey? Maybe it's because it's on Windows 10. {{unsigned ip|69.123.50.168}}

I'm in Idaho using Firefox, and I get Reviews whenever I go to this comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.74|108.162.246.74]] 18:41, 17 April 2016 (UTC)

Should I add to the article that I'm seeing "Snake" on Chrome version 49.0.2623.112 on Windows 8 in Massachusetts? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.72|108.162.219.72]] 00:13, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
:I posted that comment before I had an account. Now that I'm looking back at this article a year later, I've gone ahead and done it. —[[User:CsBlastoise|CsBlastoise]] ([[User talk:CsBlastoise|talk]]) 22:28, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

I got a variant of the snake one in Ohio using Windows 7 and Google Chrome Version 49.0.2623.112 m. As of now, it should only be visible in "Texas (on Chrome Version 33.0.1750.154 m), New Jersey, California (on Chrome Version 39.0.2171.95), Maryland, Massachusetts (Safari for iOS), Connecticut (Safari for iOS)."[[User:Bbrk24|Bbrk24]] ([[User talk:Bbrk24|talk]]) 16:35, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm getting Plugin Disabled in Safari, Firefox, Safari mobile, Chrome mobile, and the Google app. The only anomaly is Chrome desktop, where I'm getting Tornado (located in "the Midwest"), and I'm all out of browsers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.72.113|162.158.72.113]] 21:37, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

I get the review strip when sharing http://xkcd.com/1037/ on FB, and the full aurora strip using chrome on my android t-mobile phone [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.89|173.245.48.89]] 17:55, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm in Virginia, but when i look at umwelt in firefox, it gives me the tornado, whith ohio in the third panel, and on chrome, it does aurora, still saying ohio. {{unsigned ip|172.68.78.127|11:38, 22 October 2016}}

I looked at it in Firefox, and the alt text changed from saying "web browser" to "browser window size" Should we add that?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.59|108.162.238.59]] 18:11, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

I can see the Hurricane comic and I'm in California. Anyone else getting it from a place not mentioned in the article? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.233|172.68.142.233]] 04:33, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

I live in New York, but I get the snake comic for some reason. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.160.136|172.69.160.136]] 18:41, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm surprised nobody mentioned yet that "Umwelt" is the German word for "environment" - both in the sense of "someone's surroundings" as well as in the sense of "nature/ecology". [[User:Dermaniac|Dermaniac]] ([[User talk:Dermaniac|talk]]) 13:38, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

For the Israel comic, it's not just that interfaith marriage is culturally frowned upon, Israel in fact does not legally recognise interfaith marriages. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.170.65|162.158.170.65]] 11:30, 12 August 2022 (UTC)

Strange, im seeing the aurora one, but im in NC... [[User:Ilios2357|Ilios2357]] ([[User talk:Ilios2357|talk]]) 21:37, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

== Comic Might Now be Broken? ==

For some reason, this comic does not seem to be working now. It doesn't work on Chrome version 57.0.2987.133 on Windows 8 in Massachusetts, even though it worked a year ago on the very same computer with version 49.0.2623.112 of Chrome in the same location (showing "Snake" then); I tried it on Internet Explorer on the same computer (only because it's the only other browser I have on it), and it didn't work there either; my brother grudgingly agreed to try it on Firefox on his Ubuntu 14.04 machine (in the same room), and we got the same result.

No, I'm not talking about the void; here, there is absolutely no image at all. It seems to be the same as the experience that an anonymous user posted above about two and a half years ago:
<blockquote>In Ireland I get no comic strip loading at all! Just nothing in between the direction buttons, on Chrome or Safari! :/ [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.215|173.245.53.215]] 18:41, 13 November 2014 (UTC) <code>''(Comment was actually unsigned; contributor and timestamp are implied by <nowiki>{{unsigned ip}}</nowiki> template and edit history, respectively)''</code></blockquote>
Now, every time I tried on my computer, the browser said that the page was trying to load unsafe scripts. Maybe this is somehow linked to the fact that within the past few months, Randall (or more likely Davean) made all xkcd links secure (<nowiki>https://</nowiki>), and the now secure nature of the page could be blocking the location- and browser-sensing scripts in the comic itself. However, the comic still didn't work when I opted to "Load Unsafe Scripts", so maybe it isn't that simple.

Also, it might be helpful to note that [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] posted on here that he was having an issue that is probably quite similar to this one:
<blockquote>I have the "Reviews" one. With Firefox/Linux without referer and without javascript, from France. With javascript I don't have any comic. Edit : I checked, it's because I have the "Reviews" one but inside a <noscript> tag, so it doesn't display when javascript is activated. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 14:20, 9 December 2015 (UTC)</blockquote>
Anyway, with all that said, is there anyone else who is having this issue and/or knows what might be causing it?

—[[User:CsBlastoise|CsBlastoise]] ([[User talk:CsBlastoise|talk]]) 23:48, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

:It has to do with the browser getting scared off by "mixed active content." Mozilla's developers discuss it in more detail here: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Mixed_content]. In Firefox at least, there's a config change you can make (security.mixed_content.block_active_content) to override this and get the comic to display. (Well, kind of. I'm still getting "The Void," but I'm working on it.) Other browsers can probably be reconfigured likewise, though you should remember to change back when you're done to avoid security problems.. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.94|108.162.216.94]] 03:28, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

when using chromium on ubuntu 16.04 32 bit (yeah yeah yeah) I get no comic loaded, there is no element present. --> http://i.imgur.com/KZwpN8y.png have fun all. -[anon]

I live in Florida and I had the "Lake Diver Killer" comic show up for me in Umwelt. Then it changed to the "Void" comic despite the fact that JavaScript was supported (it was Google Chrome) and now nothing shows up at all. I don't get it.... --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 12:25, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

I notified davean, since nobody said doing so. [[User:Musaran|Musaran]] ([[User talk:Musaran|talk]]) 14:26, 29 May 2017 (UTC)

Developer console on Opera 46 shows this error:
GET http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8?callback=waldoCallback&w=796&h=658…%3Dopera%26hs%3DuXE%26gbv%3D1%26sei%3Df5dkWd_9MMiGaJKyibAG&_=1499764695887 503 (Service Unavailable)
So it appears there are problems with the server.
Also, I confirm that disabling Javascript in the browser results in the reviews comic displaying. [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]]) 09:28, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

Israel is incorrect. I ive there and I got Saturday _OHF {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.36}}

Guys it won't even load in my iPad browser, you can't even see the ring now. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 05:45, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

Two buttons and no comic on Chrome 20/10/21, Oxford UK

Istočno Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 24. 10. 2022., Firefox 103.0.2 on Arch Linux desktop - nothing, just the two layers of buttons. Same thing in Private Browsing as well as normal. Inspect [Element] does show the Reviews strip in a <noscript> tag, but nothing appears on the page. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.143|172.68.50.143]] 00:56, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

I have good news: [https://mastodon.social/@chromakode/109531309722997557 Umwelt is being fixed!]

== New location for long Too Quiet? ==

I got the long version of Too Quiet on a Chromebook in Minnesota. The long version only seems to be mentioned for Chrome in Indiana. Can anyone else verify? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.46|162.158.214.46]] 17:09, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

No one thought to mention that the "Snake" has two heads? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 23:56, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

== accessing XKCD with Netscape Navigator ==

I cannot access XKCD from Netscape 4.7 (i.e. a version from the 1990s), it gives a messagebox "Netscape and this server cannot communicate securely because they have no common encryption algorithm(s)."

Now I can work out what's going on: XKCD is not allowing unencrypted connections / is redirecting plain HTTP requests to the HTTPS version, but the only versions of SSLTLS that NS4 supports are ancient, insecure and prudently not supported by the site itself.

Now, if we assume that it's talking about still using NS ''per se'', not 1990s NS: — the last version of Navigator was NS9, based on FF2.0. In FF2.0, I get "Firefox can't connect securely to xkcd.com because the site uses a security protocol which is not enabled." Looking in the options, it only offers two protocols (SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0), both of which are enabled.

I therefore have reason to believe that the Navigator Umwelt phenotype can only be accessed by user-agent spoofing, as XKCD and hence Umwelt apparently cannot be accessed from Netscape due to XKCD requiring higher TLS versions than NS offers. -- [[User:HarJIT|HarJIT]] ([[User talk:HarJIT|talk]]) 15:40, 4 August 2018 (UTC)

:Yes, you're right. p.s. shortening the section header to improve the TOC. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 12:04, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

I keep trying to view the comic, but no matter what I try, it won't show me anything - [[User:AnonymousSub61|AnonymousSub61]] ([[User talk:AnonymousSub61|talk]]) 14:51, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

On the Chrome OS in Massachusetts, only two rows of navigational buttons are displayed. It may apply across every state with the chrome OS. 3 June 2021.

Can confirm chrome OS doesn't work in georgia. i think randall forgot to add a bit for browsers/states that support javascript but aren't specifically listed- [[User:Anonia|Anonia]] ([[User talk:Anonia|talk]]) 9:58 21 december 2021

I live in South Korea and use an LG U+ phone, but no comic shows up.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.62|108.162.246.62]] 15:15, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

== new location for aurora??? ==

i get the aurora one even though i'm not in any of the locations shown in that section. i live in madrid, spain
I get it too, but the US version. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.174|162.158.174.174]] 18:27, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

edit: also it shows me the utah version [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 16:34, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

is there an error with the smith college one? none of the people's hair is changed like in the wellesley one.. [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) 13:18, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

on uni.xkcd.com, trying to display this comic displays Reviews, the previous comic [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 06:14, 9 October 2023 (UTC)

I was driving through Colorado on my phone, of it's in desktop view it shows snake, but in mobile shows the Aurora comic. is there anything about on the page relating to using desktop vs. mobile view? {{unsigned ip|172.70.210.249|19:10, 29 March 2024}}

i am in the UK but i get the aurora one [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.112|172.71.94.112]] 16:23, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

I checked across a total of three browsers and two devices from Hungary and I'm also getting Aurora. Could be another location? {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.7|14:52, 20 January 2025}}

Defnately happening for mobile. When was mobile unopenable thingy? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.49.187|172.70.49.187]] 12:51, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

== missing comic ==

referrer discord seems to have its own comic. [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1248017672390840321/1249979936958185533/IMG_0342.png?ex=66694608&is=6667f488&hm=9f651a38c08bdbfbf4a11c67e02993b40ed082d02ec006b336c63f504412ae01&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1977&height=1255]
I'm not a wiki editor, and also this probably won't be seen for a while, but oh well. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.29|172.71.31.29]] 16:22, 11 June 2024 (UTC)randomnoneditor5555
:Unless I'm mistaken, this is [[2699: Feature Comparison]]. Your mesage has been seen (by me, at least). And I don't know if you're saying that you you are ''disinclined'' to be a wiki editor, but if instead you think yourself ''incapable'' of editing (beyond the above comment) then be assured that it isn't that hard to do. Best advice would be to Preview any chosen change, see if it looks like you expect. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.175|172.71.242.175]] 21:19, 11 June 2024 (UTC)
No enbed generated when I did.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.118.225|172.68.118.225]] 23:43, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

== incorrect snake size ==

>The joke here is the extreme length of snakes. The world's longest living snake is the reticulated python, the longest ever measuring over 22 feet (6.95 meters).
Not interested in figuring out how you guys handle this, but the longest snake on record is about 10 meters long according to [https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-snake-in-the-world.html this article], while [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-snake-ever-(captivity)#:~:text=The%20longest%20snake%20%2D%20ever%20(captivity,25%20ft%202%20in)%20long. Guinness] claims a 7.67 meter(25'2") snake as the longest ever recorded in captivity.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.175|162.158.126.175]] 06:20, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm in Washington (not DC, there is a state by that name, for anyone who doesn't live in the US) and I saw Aurora with "as far south as us" on both Chrome and Edge. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 18:48, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

We still need descriptions for maxthon and netscape. I vote we add this to the incomplete explanations. {{unsigned|Stallman|05:53, 20 November 2024}}
I'm in American Fork, Utah, and I keep seeing Snake. What's up with that?[[Special:Contributions/64.72.215.98|64.72.215.98]] 16:17, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

== Snake in canada ==

I live in canada and saw the snake comic. I was on chrome on a 2011 imac running macos high sierra {{unsigned ip|2604:3d09:d07d:c200:18a5:d6e5:19fd:3886|03:12, 18 January 2026}}

3195: International Station

2026-01-17T18:57:32Z

92.23.11.33: /* Transcript */ Can apostrophe Tee be asterisk space asterisk comma probably inside some space hyphen habitat ellipsis

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This joke makes fun of the parity between 'space', as in the invisible character between words, and 'space', as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is said that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the name, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International (space) Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as International Space Station, with the accidental name being accepted due to the resulting name being acceptably apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase, similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]. There were also multiple examples of strings, with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s. The full name of "International Space Station Exclamation Point" may also sound like it refers to a location in the International Space Station by the name of "Exclamation Point". In a similar vein, when customers order signboards, they sometime come with unintended quotation marks. The customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them.

The ISS made the news on 15 January 2026, the day prior to the release of this comic, due to the {{w|List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_International_Space_Station#2026|unprecedented evacuation of some crewmembers to Earth for medical reasons}}.

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

3195: International Station

2026-01-17T18:52:38Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT APOSTROPHE S SPACE TRANSLATION SPACE ERROR PERIOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This joke makes fun of the parity between 'space', as in the invisible character between words, and 'space', as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is said that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the name, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International (space) Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as International Space Station, with the accidental name being accepted due to the resulting name being acceptably apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase, similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]. There were also multiple examples of strings, with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s. The full name of "International Space Station Exclamation Point" may also sound like it refers to a location in the International Space Station by the name of "Exclamation Point". In a similar vein, when customers order signboards, they sometime come with unintended quotation marks. The customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them.

The ISS made the news on 15 January 2026, the day prior to the release of this comic, due to the {{w|List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_International_Space_Station#2026|unprecedented evacuation of some crewmembers to Earth for medical reasons}}.

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in space, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:Title text

2026-01-17T02:04:15Z

92.23.11.33: /* full title text stopped showing on mobile */ I clearly mistyped one version wrongly. Without actually checking the original again, guessing it was this one!

Everyone except this wiki calls it ‘alt-text’, Randall himself included. See XKCD 45. I vote for changing all occurrences of title text in this wiki to alt-text. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.51.212|173.245.51.212]] 20:55, 3 July 2014 (UTC)
: Randall also called it “title text” twice: [[442]], [[1045]]. —[[Special:Contributions/108.162.253.174|108.162.253.174]] 09:07, 23 June 2015 (UTC)
: The link doesn't give any evidence why calling this the 'alt text' is incorrect. But if you inspect the page source, you'll see Randall uses the 'title' attribute, rather than the 'alt' attribute for this purpose. {{unsigned|Accidus}}
:: This is because while a "title" shows up on mouseover, the "alt" shows up only if the image doesn't load, so you know what was supposed to be there. It'd be harder to cause the image not to load just to see a little extra joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.23|172.68.26.23]] 12:14, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
:::Please stop writing in all-capitals in your edit summaries. It sounds like you're shouting. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.105|162.158.93.105]] 08:33, 23 January 2018 (UTC)
:This is also because the "alt" attribute is older than the "title" attribute and most browsers used to show the value of "alt" as a tooltip if no "title" was given. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.105|162.158.93.105]] 08:33, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

Are there actually any comics without title text? If not, I propose removing the first "almost." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.4|172.68.34.4]] 20:54, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

Is it possible to simulate title text on the wiki for pictures? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:13, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
:In what way? The standard comic-template already makes the title text an alt text (or whatever it is, tag-attribute-wise) to the image, if you hover/inspect the image. Which means a slow-loading page (whenever it's a bad connection) gives the placeholder TT ''and'' the subtitle TT, until the image is actually available. May depend upon browser/etc, but should be like that for most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.77|172.70.91.77]] 20:12, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
::Thanks, and what about title text for text? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 07:48, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure what you even mean by that (unless it's that covered by the separate Transcript section), but you can ellucidate further if you wish. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 23:46, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

;Running joke
The title text on XKCD is similar to the edit summary on Explain XKCD. The edit summary is used normally to explain the edit, but some users use it to expand the joke. [[User:CommunityGuidelines|CommunityGuidelines]] ([[User talk:CommunityGuidelines|talk]]) 03:19, 18 September 2023 (UTC)
:This also happens in the [[template:incomplete]]. [[User:CommunityGuidelines|CommunityGuidelines]] ([[User talk:CommunityGuidelines|talk]]) 01:29, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
::See [[User:ColorfulGalaxy]]'s, Victoria's, and [[User:ClassicalGames]]'s recent edits. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.246|172.69.22.246]]
Example: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2919:_Sitting_in_a_Tree&diff=prev&oldid=355009 U-N-D-O-I-N-G]

== full title text stopped showing on mobile ==

Recently I noticed that xkcd's title text on my phone (Android with Chrome browser, regular xkcd.com site) has stopped showing me the complete title text when I long press the picture. This is obviously distressing as I miss the punch line for half the jokes. Coming to this page I discovered the existence of the mobile site m.xkcd.com which has an alt-text button, so thanks xplaincd for that one. Has anyone else noticed this behaviour recently, presumable due to either an xkcd or Chrome update?
[[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 00:45, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
:I know it's long been the case on my Android Chrome browser (tails off into a "..."). I think it works better on my Android Firefox browser (which I prefer to use for other reasons), but I haven't got the tablet with me at the moment to double-check that.
:If it's an update (and a different update for you... maybe related to different Android versions, yours is probably a higher number or two than mine is - which, for some reason, could mean that I got an earlier 'deal-breaker' than you did), it's with Chrome and/or the flavour of Android subsystem that Chrome picks up as its UI-handler.
:Though I half remember (but can't test) that there may be an 'expand this'-type spot in the truncated infobox window. So long since I've bothered doing that (I've mainly got here, maybe Firefox, or I can even "view-source:<url>" to quickly peak at the relvent bit of the raw HTML) that I've not got a muscle-memory for it... [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 01:40, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
:Just remembered, I have another oldish tablet around her (long story).
:Could check this properly on xkcd #3195 (the latest), because the TT was short enough to not need truncating.
:But back a page to #3194 and long-press gives
Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the
materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare you...
:...above a horizontal rule and then the "Open image in new tab"/etc list.
:If I tap the truncacted alt/title-text space, though, it "fills out" as:
Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the
materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare
your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that
fills your house with dangerous vapors.
:...again, above the Open Impage/etc items. I suspect that an image with a link to go to will have a further horizontal rule for that bit and further items.
:This is... let's see... Chrome 138.0.7204.179 running on Android 8.1.0 (and various sub-build info that won't matter much). No special changes to the browser's settings, that relate to this (some settings tweaks to maintain some legacy-style 'tabbing' like I prefer it, shouldn't matter for this though).
:It seems that Firefox (146.0.1) also truncates (ending at "surfaces careful..."), but also gives the full text when tapped in a similar manner.
:Hope that is a useful pointer and it works with yours. My builds (save for Android itself) should be the newest/nerly-newest available, give or take an update that I've not been pointed at yet. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 02:02, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:Title text

2026-01-17T02:02:36Z

92.23.11.33: /* full title text stopped showing on mobile */

Everyone except this wiki calls it ‘alt-text’, Randall himself included. See XKCD 45. I vote for changing all occurrences of title text in this wiki to alt-text. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.51.212|173.245.51.212]] 20:55, 3 July 2014 (UTC)
: Randall also called it “title text” twice: [[442]], [[1045]]. —[[Special:Contributions/108.162.253.174|108.162.253.174]] 09:07, 23 June 2015 (UTC)
: The link doesn't give any evidence why calling this the 'alt text' is incorrect. But if you inspect the page source, you'll see Randall uses the 'title' attribute, rather than the 'alt' attribute for this purpose. {{unsigned|Accidus}}
:: This is because while a "title" shows up on mouseover, the "alt" shows up only if the image doesn't load, so you know what was supposed to be there. It'd be harder to cause the image not to load just to see a little extra joke. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.23|172.68.26.23]] 12:14, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
:::Please stop writing in all-capitals in your edit summaries. It sounds like you're shouting. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.105|162.158.93.105]] 08:33, 23 January 2018 (UTC)
:This is also because the "alt" attribute is older than the "title" attribute and most browsers used to show the value of "alt" as a tooltip if no "title" was given. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.105|162.158.93.105]] 08:33, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

Are there actually any comics without title text? If not, I propose removing the first "almost." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.4|172.68.34.4]] 20:54, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

Is it possible to simulate title text on the wiki for pictures? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:13, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
:In what way? The standard comic-template already makes the title text an alt text (or whatever it is, tag-attribute-wise) to the image, if you hover/inspect the image. Which means a slow-loading page (whenever it's a bad connection) gives the placeholder TT ''and'' the subtitle TT, until the image is actually available. May depend upon browser/etc, but should be like that for most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.77|172.70.91.77]] 20:12, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
::Thanks, and what about title text for text? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 07:48, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure what you even mean by that (unless it's that covered by the separate Transcript section), but you can ellucidate further if you wish. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 23:46, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

;Running joke
The title text on XKCD is similar to the edit summary on Explain XKCD. The edit summary is used normally to explain the edit, but some users use it to expand the joke. [[User:CommunityGuidelines|CommunityGuidelines]] ([[User talk:CommunityGuidelines|talk]]) 03:19, 18 September 2023 (UTC)
:This also happens in the [[template:incomplete]]. [[User:CommunityGuidelines|CommunityGuidelines]] ([[User talk:CommunityGuidelines|talk]]) 01:29, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
::See [[User:ColorfulGalaxy]]'s, Victoria's, and [[User:ClassicalGames]]'s recent edits. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.246|172.69.22.246]]
Example: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2919:_Sitting_in_a_Tree&diff=prev&oldid=355009 U-N-D-O-I-N-G]

== full title text stopped showing on mobile ==

Recently I noticed that xkcd's title text on my phone (Android with Chrome browser, regular xkcd.com site) has stopped showing me the complete title text when I long press the picture. This is obviously distressing as I miss the punch line for half the jokes. Coming to this page I discovered the existence of the mobile site m.xkcd.com which has an alt-text button, so thanks xplaincd for that one. Has anyone else noticed this behaviour recently, presumable due to either an xkcd or Chrome update?
[[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 00:45, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
:I know it's long been the case on my Android Chrome browser (tails off into a "..."). I think it works better on my Android Firefox browser (which I prefer to use for other reasons), but I haven't got the tablet with me at the moment to double-check that.
:If it's an update (and a different update for you... maybe related to different Android versions, yours is probably a higher number or two than mine is - which, for some reason, could mean that I got an earlier 'deal-breaker' than you did), it's with Chrome and/or the flavour of Android subsystem that Chrome picks up as its UI-handler.
:Though I half remember (but can't test) that there may be an 'expand this'-type spot in the truncated infobox window. So long since I've bothered doing that (I've mainly got here, maybe Firefox, or I can even "view-source:<url>" to quickly peak at the relvent bit of the raw HTML) that I've not got a muscle-memory for it... [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 01:40, 17 January 2026 (UTC)
:Just remembered, I have another oldish tablet around her (long story).
:Could check this properly on xkcd #3195 (the latest), because the TT was short enough to not need truncating.
:But back a page to #3194 and long-press gives
Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the
materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare you...
:...above a horizontal rule and then the "Open image in new tab"/etc list.
:If I tap the truncacted alt/title-text space, though, it "fills out" as:
Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the
materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare
your surface carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that
fills your house with dangerous vapors.
:...again, above the Open Impage/etc items. I suspect that an image with a link to go to will have a further horizontal rule for that bit and further items.
:This is... let's see... Chrome 138.0.7204.179 running on Android 8.1.0 (and various sub-build info that won't matter much). No special changes to the browser's settings, that relate to this (some settings tweaks to maintain some legacy-style 'tabbing' like I prefer it, shouldn't matter for this though).
:It seems that Firefox (146.0.1) also truncates (ending at "surfaces careful..."), but also gives the full text when tapped in a similar manner.
:Hope that is a useful pointer and it works with yours. My builds (save for Android itself) should be the newest/nerly-newest available, give or take an update that I've not been pointed at yet. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 02:02, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:Title text

2026-01-17T01:40:48Z

92.23.11.33: /* full title text stopped showing on mobile */

explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical

2026-01-16T21:11:04Z

92.23.11.33: /* Interwiki media-linking errors. */

<noinclude>__NEWSECTIONLINK__
{{Community links}}

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

Technical issues ''about'' the [[explain xkcd]] wiki, including bug reports or MediaWiki extensions requests. {{AddNewSection|Page=Explain XKCD:Community portal/Technical|Text=(+post)}}
|}</noinclude>
<div class="plainlinks" style="background:#f69191; border:1px solid #000000; margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:100%; font-size: 135%; padding: 0.5ex; text-align: center;">'''RSS FEED:''' If you're here for the broken RSS feed, please see [[#RSS FEED]]!</div>

<div class="plainlinks" style="background:#f69191; border:1px solid #000000; margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:100%; font-size: 135%; padding: 0.5ex; text-align: center;">'''Random Button Glitch:''' If you're here for the broken Random Comics button, please see [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous#Random_Explanation_Button_bias_towards_newer_articles|the Miscellaneous portal]]!</div>

----
==ARCHIVED DISCUSSIONS==
<div class="plainlinks" style="background:#edf6ff; border:1px solid #a7d7f9; margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:100%; font-size: 120%; padding: 0.5ex; text-align: center;">Most of the discussions on this page have been archived. The archive is available at '''[[explain xkcd talk:Community portal/Technical]]'''.</div>

== Unable to view "what if?" page ==

The link to the page for the [[what if?]] blog displays an error: "No input file specified." [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 03:38, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

:This also happens to me on [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] Must be something with the ?s in the titles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 15:46, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

::I've noticed that as well. I made a page in my userspace that redirects to the what if page, and for some reason that seems to work. ([[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink|here is the link to the page]]) [[User:Blue screen of life|Blue screen of life]] ([[User talk:Blue screen of life|talk]]) 20:09, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

:::I have also noticed this but it is not just on pages with questions marks. Both [[259]] and [[1705]] show the same thing. A full list (as of 22 June 2020) of the ones i found is in the last reply to my report found here [[#2138_page_issues]] [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 12:20, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

::::Both [[259]] and [[1705]] have an ({{w|E acute|e-with-accute-accent}}, Unicode U+00E9) in the URL, so for those pages, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
::::For the "what if?" page, I had recently added a redirect from [[what if (blog)]] to get to it, and the [[What If]] disambiguation page has been updated with it, so at least we can get to it that way; and for the comic explanations, at least we can get to them by linking to their number-redirects (as [[58]] instead of [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]); but not sure how to fix it overall. At the following page, it suggests tweaking an {{w|Apache HTTP Server|Apache}} {{w|Rewrite engine|rewrite}} directive in {{w|.htaccess}} (or a {{w|Common Gateway Interface|CGI}} setting in {{w|PHP}} if it's running on {{w|Internet Information Services|IIS}}):
::::* https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vmaw1tu5kkhyon0n
::::So maybe something about that has changed recently? Documentation:
::::* [https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewriterule Apache mod_rewrite <code>RewriteRule</code> directive]
::::* [https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.cgi.force-redirect php.ini <code>cgi.force_redirect</code> directive]
::::Summarizing a few points from [[User talk:SlashMe#Homeopathic Wiki|this related discussion]]:
::::* Only one of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=sysop 10 administrators] has made recent edits ([[Special:Contributions/SlashMe|SlashMe]]).
::::* Neither of the site's [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ListUsers?group=bureaucrat 2 bureaucrats] ([[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] and [[Special:Contributions/Lcarsos|Lcarsos]]) have made any edits recently.
::::* For admin access to the ''server'' itself, my limited understanding is that [[Special:Contributions/Jeff|Jeff]] might actually own the server, but may have also given admin access to [[Special:Contributions/Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]; however, neither of them have made edits recently.
::::But "most recent edit" might not be a good indicator, so I wonder of some of these folks are still involved in the project?
::::– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 05:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
: Looks like it happens for any page that has a percent-encoding in the title. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:32, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

=== Known broken pages ===
(Redirects work, whereas links to the actual page are broken.)

Title containing e-accute-accent:
* [[259]] ↳ [[259: Clichéd Exchanges]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=259:_Clich%C3%A9d_Exchanges What links here])
* [[1705]] ↳ [[1705: Pokémon Go]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1705:_Pok%C3%A9mon_Go What links here])

Title ending with question mark:
* <del>[[what if (blog)]] ↳ [[what if?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])</del> <ins>fixed – content now exists at [[what if]], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 broken links] are in the process of being updated (see below)</ins>
* [[58]] ↳ [[58: Why Do You Love Me?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=58:_Why_Do_You_Love_Me%3F What links here])
* [[111]] ↳ [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F What links here])
* [[1205]] ↳ [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1205:_Is_It_Worth_the_Time%3F What links here])
* [[1841]] ↳ [[1841: Who?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1841:_Who%3F What links here])
* [[1913]] ↳ [[1913: A ?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=1913:_A_%3F What links here])
* [[2065]] ↳ [[2065: Who Sends the First Text?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2065:_Who_Sends_the_First_Text%3F What links here])
* [[2138]] ↳ [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F What links here])
* [[2236]] ↳ [[2236: Is it Christmas?]] ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=2236:_Is_it_Christmas%3F What links here])

=== Moved ===
I moved the [[what if?]] page to the [[what if (blog)]] page which I then changed to simply [[what if]] to fix this issue and because anyone new to this site would type that any way to see it. — [[User:Sqrt-1|The 𝗦𝗾𝗿𝘁-𝟭]] [[User talk:Sqrt-1|talk]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|stalk]] 06:47, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

:Still trying to wrap my head around it – so just to summarize, we currently have:
:
:* '''[[whatif]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=whatif&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' (see below)
:* '''[[What If?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=What_If%3F What links here])
:** ↳ ''also redirects to'' '''[[what if?]]''' – page broken ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&redirect=no no-redirect link]) ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F What links here])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** ''content manually moved from'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&diff=198070&oldid=197859 diff]) '''[[what if?]]''' ''to'' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if&diff=198071&oldid=197486 diff]) '''[[what if (blog)]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_(blog)&redirect=no no-redirect link]) (''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if%3F&action=history previous revision history] remains at'' '''[[what if?]]''')
:**** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:
:For completeness, we also have...
:
:* '''[[what if book]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if_book&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[what if#The book]] – actual content'''
:** Suggestion: for consistency, also add a '''[[what if (book)]]''' page that redirects here?
:
:...and the disambiguation page...
:
:* '''[[What If]]''' ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=What_If&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[What If (disambiguation)]]''' – disambiguation page
:*** ''links to'' '''[[17: What If]]''' (↲ '''[[17]]''' redirects here ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=17&redirect=no no-redirect link]))
:*** ''links to'' '''[[what if]] – actual content'''
:*** Suggestion: mention the ''book'' here as well, and link to its section in the [[what if]] page?
:
:...and these troubleshooting pages from [[User:Blue screen of life]]:
:
:* '''[[User:Blue screen of life/redirecttest]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/redirecttest&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:** ⇒ ''moved to'' '''[[User:Blue screen of life/whatiflink]]''' – test page ([https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Blue_screen_of_life/whatiflink&redirect=no no-redirect link])
:*** ↳ ''redirects to'' '''[[What If?]]''' (see above)
:
:Given that the actual content of the "what if?" article now lives at '''[[what if]]''', I've started updating pages <ins>(except for Talk pages)</ins> to link directly there instead of the other redirect pages. All that's left to do are pages that link to the '''[[what if?]]''' redirect-page (which is broken). <del>Its [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if%3F "What links here"] special page is broken too, so it's difficult to find what pages link there – but now that it redirects to the [[what if]] page, you can see them indirectly from ''that'' page's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/what_if&limit=500 "What links here"] special page.</del> <ins>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=what_if%3F These] are the pages that still link there.</ins> There are still a lot of them to go.
:
:Also, should the following redirect-pages be simplified to have them redirect straight to the new [[what if]] page, instead of redirecting through the intermediate '''[[what if?]]''' page (which itself redirects there anyway)?
:* '''[[whatif]]'''
:* '''[[What If?]]'''
:– [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 17:20, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
:: Fixed the double redirects, don't ask me why we have so many pages for the same thing. [[User:PoolloverNathan|PoolloverNathan]]<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Special:Contributions/PoolloverNathan|s]][[User talk:PoolloverNathan|talk]] [[Wikipedia:WP:SEAOFBLUE|the blue seas]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 16:29, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

== Discussion not displaying with comic ==

I am using FireFox on a Win10 machine. When I come to the site I can see the comic, explanation and transcript. But the discussion section is hidden. Even when logged in.

Any ideas?

: You say "when I come to the site". If the address bar says you are on Main_Page and you see the heading "Latest comic", then it's simply working as designed. Above the comic, click on "Go to this comic explanation" and you will see the comic plus discussion.

: Also, Steve, please sign your comments every time, with four tildes. That expands into your user name and a timestamp. Like this -- [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 10:10, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

== Random page sometimes takes me to an invalid address ==

Sometimes, when clicking on "Random page" in the left sidebar, the site will be blank apart from the text "No input file specified. ".

An example of such an URL is: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F

:I've noticed this happens for ''all'' URLs to comics that end in a question mark (or possibly any special character). Interestingly, this doesn't happen if you go to the comic from the search bar. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 23:04, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

== Bug on the main page ==

Bug Enviroment(Might work on other enviroments):
Ubuntu 20.04LTS
Firefox85.0
2021.2.7

Bug:
The front page reads: `Welcome, Main Page, to explain xkcd!` with `Main Page` formatted as a username,can someone fix this?

[[User:Xkcdjerry|Xkcdjerry]] ([[User talk:Xkcdjerry|talk]]) 09:48, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

== Occasional error via Cloudflare ==
Just a note that I'm getting Cloudflare errors of "origin not reachable" (sounds wrong to me, in my head it should be 'destination', but never mind) three times now in the last ten to fifteen minutes - of maybe a dozen general site-requests.

I've also been getting seemingly .CSSless formatted pages over the past few days, which I've been putting down to slightly dodgy wifi at my end (not unknown) but if I'm getting Cloudflare's error cleanly then perhaps it's been entirely upstream/downstream/however-you'd-describe-the-Explain-server. (Obviously CSS resource requests, as with images, are additional HTTP calls, but I still lump it into the single site-request ''per page'' in my 'dozen' estimate above. No obviously lost images, though, in incomplete pages - not that can't be explained by .CSS non-following, anyway.)

I had copy-buffered some of the exact info, but due to incompetence I recopied over it before coming here. If it happens again, I'll try to bring it over here. But (the way these things go) maybe it won't. FYI, though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 12:04, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
: Not a Cloudfare error (looks like an error of the actual explainxkcd server) but every now and then (like just a few minutes ago) I get an error page that generally goes away if I immediately refresh. To whit:
Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
: Not really a problem (occasionally happened while submitting an exit, and I have to confirm to the browser that I wish to repost the data, but this particular copied instance was through a more 'read-only' link-click, like most of the instances) but... in case someone finds this to be new and useful information... here you are! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 03:45, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
:OP, here, of the above 503 error report/casual mention. Obviously this is the same message that happened for an ''extended'' period of time over a number of days, but I've only just happened to find the site responding again and have not yet looked to see if it is explained as the same or different cause to the old intermittent issues (at root). I hope things are resolved from the major outage (server quota? bill payments? renewal/reconfiguration blips?) but wonder if I should report any future minor outages? I'm still smarting from the total loss of the fora.xkcd.com platform, a few years back, and while I'm not active enough here to consider a proper login (lurking as a freeloading anon-IP is good enough, usually, for my intellectual enjoyment, with all due apologies) I did have a slight pang of emptiness while it was out-of-order. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 15:48, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

== Add TemplateData ==

Add the {{mw|Extension:TemplateData|TemplateData}} extension to allow setting data for templates. This will help editors because they will be able to see the data of templates.

== MediaWiki 1.30.0?! ==

This wiki is [[Special:Version|currently]] on [[mw:MediaWiki 1.30|MediaWiki 1.30.0]] ([[mw:Release notes/1.30|release notes]]), the first of three releases of a version of MW that reached end-of-life in June of 2019 ([[mw:Version lifecycle]]). It's thus missing multiple important security updates from 1.30.1 and 1.30.2, not to mention the two years' worth of security updates since 1.30.x reached end-of-life. Even 1.31.x will be reaching end-of-life in just over a month.

If the sysadmins here update to [[mw:MediaWiki 1.35|MediaWiki 1.35.2]] ([[mw:Release_notes/1.35|release notes]]), that version will be maintained till September of 2023, with only a few security updates in the meantime. I would '''strongly''' encourage y'all to update to 1.35.2; to promptly update if there's a .3, .4, etc.; and to make sure you switch to the next LTS release (which will presumably be 1.39) well in advance of September of '23. (Note that this will also require updating to PHP 7.3.19 or later.) [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 07:17, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

== Uptime ==
Did the website just go down? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 13:06, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

It was definitely down this weekend!
https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/nxrm65
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:21, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

== Comic template lappend breaks for standalone comic links ==

For example, https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html is changed to https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html/ which isn't valid [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.15|172.69.90.15]] 15:51, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Template here, I think it needs to be changed to solve this https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Template:comic

exkcd page here https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Blue_Eyes

== May not be your problem, but FYI. ==

My typcal setup: Android tablet, with Chrome for Android (latest update), but also Firefox for Android (ditto), using default Gboard (likewise) for input.

Occasionally (notably within the last few weeks/maybe a month or so), when going in to edit an explainxkcd page through Chrome (it's how I divide up my browsing), I'm getting the cursor in the textarea box which ''can'' be used to Cut/Copy/Paste (as applicable and useful), but the on-screen keyboard isn't popping up. Page is fully loaded (can be refreshed, doesn't have the "stop loading" alternative), can go back (page viewing) and try to go back to the page editor (often to same result). Sitting and waiting doesn't pop the keyboard up, either (sat there for minutes). Happens both on home wifi and mobile connection.

If I transfer my attentions to the page to Firefox (copy URL, to use there... but I don't use that by default for expxkcd stuff) there's no problem, but then if I come back to Chrome again it seems to start working again ''anyway'' so not sure if it's just avoiding/flushing a transient problem that would also initially crop up with Firefox if I used that more.

Because editing is a different (mobile-optimised) process on Wikipedia and I can't be sure about any the equivalence of any other wiki out there (and it doesn't happen with anything else I regularly key into on Chrome) it's not something I've reproduced outwith this site, and of course desktop page-editing doesn't require touch-screen keyboard because there's a physical one.

Not getting much feedback with Chrome (really can't get on with their bugrep processes, it's too huge a project to make headway, IME), not even tried to pester the Gboard team and I've not ''seen'' anything said on here about this being a site-issue (not sure how it could be, as it's outside the remit of the core web-page rendering process and more an Android or App level of incompetence), but I thought I'd make a note of it here for future reference. Make of it what you will. Annoying but not game-breaking. And I just wanted to vent a little. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 16:54, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

== [[special:interwiki]] ==

where'd it go? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.200|172.69.68.200]] 05:07, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

== Please update MediaWiki + AbuseFilter ==

Seriously. Many scripts and such built for modern, supported versions of MW do not work here because it is so unbelievably undated. PinkAmpersand above basically covers the reason why. I also highly recommend adding the extension AbuseFilter (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter) as it immensely makes removing vandalism easier (by straight up disallowing or blocking those that do, esp if it's like the current formulaic massive-replacement vandalism.) [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:48, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

:Ditto. I feel like the main problem is that the sole person who has access to the backend either doesn't have time to update, doesn't have interest, or doesn't have the technical knowledge necessary. But yes, I agree - updating and installing an extension to help control vandalism would help this wiki tremendously. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:09, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

== ↑ ? ==

Why do some pages have ↑ at the very start? They can all be spotted by searching ↑
Is it a technical thing, vandalism, some sort of glitch? Maybe I'm just uninformed or being an idiot.
:Edit logs tell me that an IP user manually reverting vandalism somehow inserted one or more extra characters while manually reverting vandalism. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:59, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
::Should it be removed? It's not necessary and might be confusing for screenreaders... [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:00, 23 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Maybe not en-mass, I'd say. But I've dove in to delete a rogue leading <nowiki> </nowiki> tag left from a part of a prior vandalism (likewise, just before the {{template|comic}}-element) and I've promised myself that I'll remove any more that I spot (and now that arrow) in any future whole-page edit I make. Plus a small shopping-list of inessential but useful edits like making {{template|Citation needed}}s flow better when they're mispunctuated/etc.
:::But that's my solitary opinion. I'm sure hunting out and squishing this isn't a problem at all. I'm just balancing my own peculiar brand of OCD with what is somehow my also my own version of casual apathy towards other details. (Also, it probably looks better for a named account of recognised good standing to start editing potentially hundreds of pages in a session, rather than myself... potentially indistinguishable from the IP who seems to relish worn out memes in a general page-trashing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.121|162.158.159.121]] 12:20, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Is there anything else we can do to prevent vandalism? ==

There's been quite a significant uptick in vandalism recently, and I don't feel we have any effective tools to combat it. I believe one of the biggest issues here is due to the way logged-out editing works on this wiki. Blocks are completely ineffective at slowing vandals, and IP editors can vandalize with basically nothing we can do to thwart them other than revert-warring. '''Is there a better way?'''

There's been some discussion of installing AbuseFilter, but I'm not sure anything became of it. We could disable logged-out editing, but that would likely be counterproductive as we get lots of legitimate contributions from logged-out users. If there's a way to switch to location-based IPs, we could rangeblock problematic users as well as proxies. Does anyone have any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.145|162.158.78.145]] 16:11, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:I'm sort of making server side changes via telegraph so an extension is probably going to take a while to get installed. Takes a bunch of emails and followups to get single variables changed in the mediawiki settings file. There is an email verification option, and some edit frequency variables that could be set to make spam more time consuming. Don't love range blocks but wouldn't mind getting the CDN IPs dealt with so we can actually use the IP bans again. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very grateful that you're working on changes under the hood. What do you think is the best way to deal with disruption in the meantime? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:19, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Could borrow a patrol bot like the ones people on main wikipedia have, could ask around. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:53, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
::::There's not really a drop-in solution that you can use, especially since the server's MediaWiki version is not in sync with Wikipedia's (so a lot of the APIs etc have completely changed; when initially reverting vandalism I tried importing some scripts from enwiki but they failed as a result), but also because the bots have gotten pretty complex (using machine learning provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, for example). [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:56, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
:::::Oh I do notice mediawiki hasn't been upgraded in a while. Looks like new version of mediawiki should be dropping extremely imminently, would be nice timing for an upgrade '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:45, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== Rollback ==

Does the rollback permission exist on this wiki? [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User talk:Vandalbane|talk]]) 17:00, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:The rollback permission of course exists but there's no group called "rollbacker" like you'd find on Wikipedia (limited to admins). You'd need the sysadmin to change the configuration to add one, which as established is not really an option right now. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 03:58, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== What happened to custom JavaScript? ==

I put some code in <code>[[User:Some user/common.js]]</code>, but it is not alerting 'hi' every time I load a page. Why can't we execute JavaScript anymore? Is it in response to the [[Project:Crap|crapping]] incident? [[User:Some user|Some user]] ([[User talk:Some user|talk]]) 21:16, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
:Entirely because of that, yeah. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:51, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

== My IP ==

Why is my IP address a Cloudflare address in Norway? Is this a joke of some kind that I'm missing?

Other wikis like Wikipedia are showing me my actual IP when I go to [[Special:MyContributions]], so I suspect this is a wiki misconfiguration. It changed again while I was typing this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.194|162.158.222.194]] 16:55, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
:All IPs (as this one will be) are from Cloudflare gateway IPs, because that's the default IP that the Wiki understands as the source. Cloudflare mediates all the traffic, and perhaps to some advantage (not being privvy to the logs, I can only guess how much it insulates the true server from extreme problems, but I bet it does in some way).
:There have been suggestions before to change some setting (in the MediaWiki implementation? ...can't recall exactly) to have it pick up and use the IP that the gateway reports (in its meta-request) was the origin, but that's not been enacted for Idunnowhat reason.
:Because the black-box that is the Cloudflare traffic shapes in various ways, you will find that a single user will jump around 'apparent' IPs, and I've also been in the relatively embarassing situation of replying to another IP's info and finding that I've registered on the exact same IP so that it looks like I'm stooging myself, or something.
:On the whole, though, it's a harmless quirk. And given the trivial nature of deliberately spoofing origins (even on top of assuming you get an effectively static NAT from your ISP in the first place) I don't personally see it as a problem to 'solve' this. But neither would I complain if the 'fix' were implemented if this query reminds someone that they ''were'' going to try and do the necessary tweak.
:As a lay-answer, I hope that fills you in a little. ''If'' those who have more knowledge/control of the process want to add anything or correct me, I'm sure they'll do so as soon as they can, but here's a reply to keep you going for now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 01:19, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
:fyi it is supported in MediaWiki through <code>$wgCdnServers</code>. See [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Cloudflare#Integration_with_MediaWiki MediaWiki’s introduction]. {{unsigned|物灵|06:58, 6 April 2025}}

==Main page in categories==
{{notice|'''This discussion is marked as duplicate.''' See [[#Main Page|this discussion]].}}
[[Main_Page]] was found wrongly appearing in some newly-created categories, such as [[:Category:Cosmology]]. Could you fix it? --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 17:49, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
:Never noticed this myself, but I'll take it as read. Before checking myself, I'm wondering if this could be when the main page 'inherits' tags from the Current Comic that it features. And thus solve itself (whilst gaining others) upon a newer Current Comic. (Must surely inherit "Monday Comics"/etc, on schedule every week.)
:If it is that, perhaps the solution lies in the details contained within https://m.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Categories#Categories_and_templates_(transcluded_pages)
:Or maybe I'm wrong about it. But I have no rights to edit (thus at least examine the 'code' of) the Main page, to check my snap theory, as with most people. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 19:21, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

This happened again in [[:Category:Airplane banner]]. [[User:I27.O.O.I|I27.O.O.I]] ([[User talk:I27.O.O.I|talk]]) 09:00, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and it lasted as long as the latest comic was still one with particular categories. I don't intend to worry about it. If someone goes to a category that interests them and looks at the main page, as temporarily advertised, they're likely to find (as part of it) a comic which is indeed in that category. Doesn't sound like a big problem to me, except for determinin why some cats (e.g. Friday Comics) ''don't'' link to the Main page when they might be expected to...
:(PS, I know for sure that I27.O.O.I isn't the same person as ColofulGalaxy (and various others, beyond even those with the bloomin' obvious "CG" initials or other recent spoofs on the RFC1918 addresses), and I don't think I mind too much, but faking disagreements between your various IDs isn't helping, anyone... smells too much of trying to establish alibis in advance of your next attempt to vandalise the site with stupid stuff. And doesn't impress me, so I doubt it impresses anyone else either. As long as you're just doing sane things, however, I'll accept your little idiosyncracies.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.32|162.158.74.32]] 19:37, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
:(PPS: You left your fingerprint on this latter attempt to 'rescue' [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2659:_Unreliable_Connection&curid=25530&diff=307289&oldid=307282 this page]. - Spammer a few minutes before midnight, my IP reversion happened shortly after. A little later "Elisabeth" then re-spammed (modified), then another IP immediately jumps on it to restore it but with the modified undo-summary line clearly indicating that some sort of a game is being played. Please don't, it's not clever.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.34|172.70.90.34]] 02:22, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

This doesn't happen to date categories, but it happens in manually added categories such as [[:Category:Statistics]]. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:49, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

==Cannot create user page==
It says: There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[Talk:2659: Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 22:56, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
:(Removed alternative text in the link involved, to not hide behind trickery.) I think you know that there's no problem with [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] itself, except that it had become one of several pages targeted for spamming, the only one then locked down, then finding that the spammers just retargeted to its Talk page, etc.
:I'm torn between "not assuming bad faith" and "don't feed the trolls", as competing principles, so I'm spelling out the situation. However much a tribute you might think it could be, I don't think there's a future in having a new username that's directly referencing a comic which has become so frequently seen in the recent history of this wiki's edits.
:Obviously any genuine contributions are more than welcome. So prove me wrong, why don't you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 03:20, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

::Could you help now? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:13, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

: I've created your talk page. I guess that what you intended is to have a backup or mirror page for comic [[2659]]. Am I right? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:16, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

== Fanmade comics ==
A fanmade comic appeared on xkcd. Could you edit the template? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.100|172.69.23.100]] 07:21, 28 April 2023 (UTC)
:You're going to have to say more about it, at least for me. Apart from the Sandbox attempt to make a page, I haven't seen the comic you're describing anywhere. Certainly not anywhere official. Link, for our benefit? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.66|172.70.85.66]] 10:04, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

==Why doesn't this code block work?==
Does anybody know why the code block at the end of [[Transcript on xkcd|this page]] doesn't work? I've tried everything and it still looks like plain text

== Can't add RSS feed because of pubDate value on 27 Nov 2015 ==

When I try to add the RSS feed in Nextcloud News feed reader I get an error <code>Impossible to convert date : Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</code>.

[https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexplainxkcd.com%2Frss.xml W3C Feed validation] says that <code>pubDate must be an RFC-822 date-time</code> and points "Pacific Standard Time" portion as the cause of the error: <code><pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:24:34 Pacific Standard Time</pubDate></code>. Can you please fix the timestap for this?

== Admin request posted here because of vandalism ==

I can not currently access the admin requests page because it has been vandalized... can someone please protect the latest comic page (2805). There is some pretty childish vandalism going on there right now. Thanks!
:It's not the latest, seems like ALL. I went back to 2804, 2803, jumped back like 15 comics, all the same thing. To me the most offensive part is doing it with a nonsensical image. And why pipe it through Archive somehow? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 02:33, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
::UGH. the vandals are back at it again... we need to lock xkcd pages @NiceGuy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.2|172.70.39.2]] 00:59, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

== Way to contact the site hosters? ==

As many have pointed out the software this wiki runs on is horribly outdated. WikiEditor also isn't here for some reason. Quite a bit of messages here have seen no action. Is there some kind of contact form to reach the hosters? {{unsigned|Aaron Liu|00:36, 10 October 2023}}
: There are various levels of admin who do intervene, as and when jecessary, but I understand that the (active) ones closest to the actual hosting level of intervention are not really ready to do the (increasingly greater) degree of uprooting necessary to get a "working" system to be "marginally better working", by way of that very dangerous middle-ground of potentially being ruined entirely.
: I appreciate and anticipate the counter-arguments regarding letting it go totally unupdated, of course, just I've personally seen enough failures (participated in some, or been the actual invokee, myself) to be very sympathetic to the "if it aint (too) broke, don't fix it" tendency. But that inertia is not the only factor, of course, and the full motivations (or lack of them) of those involved is not for a lowly IP like me to explain, even if I think I know... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.42|172.69.195.42]] 01:24, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Have they posted some sort of statement? It also is most definitely not “marginally” better working, compare the source editor to that of Wikipedia and look at topic subscription etc features. Not to mention a lot of security fixes haven’t been added and this version has reached EOL long ago. Updating also would not ruin this entirely…[[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:22, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Some have also said that quite a bit of assistive scripts for modern versions don’t work. Visual Editor, while horrible, is still easier for new people to get started with. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 17:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
I've found a new reason: This wiki doesn't even allow loading userscripts! [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 01:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
:That might actually have been a conscious decition, after a 'certain user' caused chaos here, not so long ago. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 19:01, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
::It was about a year and a half ago. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::Huh? What happened? Is there a place to request gadgets then? [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 02:04, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::"What happened" involved automated vandalism (from someone who been doing it manually, then found the "better way") though I couldn't tell you the exact details, there were automated 'unvandalism's made in response, and theusafBOT/etc does some of that still, in response to non-automated(/off-site scripted) vandalism/errors that it can actually catch before ordinary users (or IPs like me) can. But certainly a certain brand of scripting was turned off to curtail the 'high intensity' vandalism phase.
:::You're more or less in the best place to request things, right here. Whether updates, (re)adding functionalitu or tweaking site settings. Can't tell if those who ''can'' do these things can't or won't do them... Or are actually absent, instead of just not replying. The cavalry has been known to come running in when necessary (e.g. when "what happened" happened) so it could be any manner of non-response (until you get one). Not necessarily the best state of affairs, but better than being confirmed absentees.
::::I ran a bot to mass-edit pages by replacing their content with the word "crap" repeatedly. I was 15 then, and I thought it was funny. It wasn't. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.143|172.68.174.143]] 06:41, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
:::As an occasional but infrequent actual-Wikipedia editor, too, I must say that if the Visual Editor is what I currently have to use for that (at least as an anonIP when using a mobile device, which tends to be when I get the urge most) then I like the unaugmented editor here more. Straight up, honest, un'wizarded' interface, where you only have to get used to markup details and not a WYSIWYG editing environment (as well?). Not sure I'd be happy with an even ''more'' 'assistive' script imposed upon me, like I dislike modern generations of Windows (and 'user friendly' linux dists). So can I just ask that functional/visible changes of the kind you seem to be asking for, if made available, aren't overimposed/left as options rather than the default (or only) choice...? Ok, so I can (or would have to) adapt, but I'd rather not. Of course, I have no weight to pull in this matter, it's just an afterthought (even as I wish you good luck with raising an admin's eyebrow, in some useful manner). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.135|141.101.98.135]] 05:14, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
::::I am not asking for VisualEditor, which no one likes on Wikipedia either. For some blasted reason they made it edit HTML instead of Wikitext and it’s clunky and loads for a very long time.
::::I’m asking about the WikiEditor, aka Wikipedia’s source editor. In VE, click on the pen next to the publish button and click on “source editing”. That editor makes this one look like freaking Stone Age, syntax highlighting is especially a game-changer. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:03, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
: There’s also the annoying ReCaptcha v2 every single edit… it seems like it would be relatively easy to switch to v3 which only makes you do the challenge when you’ve visited a bit too much. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 16:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Unfortunately, that would make things easier for someone who wanted to do mass vandalism like I did. If it didn't do it every time, someone could still edit quite quickly. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.192|172.68.174.192]] 18:32, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
::Well, I can tell you that it doesn't always demand that I fulfil more than a tickbox (most trouble I have is when it fails to connect to give me the tickbox (or respond with anything useful when I do), for which I'm forced into one or more Previews until it will. When it ''does'' ask me to do something about it, I do often get forced through two or more request to identify traffic lights, motorbikes, stairways, bridges, hills, tractors, buses, etc, etc, etc... But I think that's more the Tesla-training Algorithm being nust greedy for my attention than the Robot-sentry having a less casual attitude to my attempt to edit. (I believe I'm on a usually untroublesome source IP/Cloudflare gateway, but it could also depend on how many others try to do things via (part of) the same route. Very, very rarely I get Google Search requesting something similar of me ((It: "You have made a lot of searches", me: "Of course I'll have play your little game, but this is my first lookup today...")), which I'm sure isn't Cloudflared, so it might reach back to my ISP's gateway and what fellow users are currently getting up to.)
::As for the guy above (and you, Liu), can't speak for how well or badly others on your own 'choice' of gateways behave. Or yourselves. Luck of the draw? For the first part, at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.174|172.69.195.174]] 20:31, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
:::MediaWiki 1.40 automatically tags all edits that remove over 90% of page text with "mw-replaced". You could block all edits in mainspace with that tag, either if MediaWiki has it or through the AbuseFilter extension. While I can complete the CAPTCHAs, it's very annoying to need to Captcha every edit on a place where the main focus is edits. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 03:06, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
:::Plus, v3 doesn't just do nothing. It tracks how your cursor moves to see if it's robotic, while v2 annoyingly gives you the challenge every time. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 20:01, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
::::Presumably for touchscreen control (like mine, right this moment), it does something else than track a nonexistent mouse-pointer's passage across the monitored elements of the display... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.190|172.70.90.190]] 12:26, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
::There are a few MediaWiki plugins that help keep vandalism/spam under control without requiring users to solve a Captcha every time they make an edit. I use https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Moderation on the wiki I maintain, and it works very well. However, it does require that there be enough active moderators to approve edits, as it basically requires every single edit to be approved before it's posted. Thus, it also introduces some "lag" between when stuff is written and when it can be seen by others. I think it could work if the extension could be installed (I'm not even sure if it's supported on this version of MediaWiki) and if a good list of moderators could be put together. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 20:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I disagree with requiring edits to be approved. Unless we have extremely high vandalism, just filtering out the above tags I mentioned and using ReCAPTCHA v3 would be enough. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 23:16, 16 February 2024 (UTC)
::::Ok, fair point. However, that wouldn't stop human vandalism, just vandalism from bots. I'm not sure how much human vandalism there is, though, so it might not even be a problem. [[User:Obwankenobi|Obwankenobi]] ([[User talk:Obwankenobi|talk]]) 12:35, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::It's hard (for us 'civvies') to know how much bot-vandalism is stopped but [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Log/newusers&offset=&limit=500&type=newusers&user= probably a lot], most of which we never see, with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2503:_Memo_Spike_Connector&diff=335487&oldid=335486 occasional ones] we might see having be dealt with. (I'm guessing these things are rare (temporarily-)successful 'bots, because flesh-and-blood vandals wouldn't be occasionally doing essentially the same insta-reverted thing on a thematically-small set of pages, over several ''years'' without moving on. It has to be a lucky unattended script-based effort that just keeps trying the same things over and over with an easily revertible but tangible result happening only infrequently.)
:::::More obvious human vandalism tends to rumble on, with occasionally a spate of it as someone gets short-term kicks for it. Though some of them seem may repeat themself after a break. Friendly humans and friendly 'bots both tend to provide the main anti-vandalism responses fairly quickly, though, depending upon what kind of a mess they caused. I've seen worse places, definitely, and it's by no means a losing battle against chaos, just regular skermishes.
:::::Not wanting to tempt fate, of course. I guarantee that there'll be some fool that takes all this as a challenge, so I just have to trust to the Good Guys keeping on keeping on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.71|172.70.90.71]] 14:21, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

heyo, is there a way to add actual citations to explainxkcd instead of the template citation needed? couldn't find anything, but i'm pretty new here - thanks in advance. [[User:Nigga|Nigga]] ([[User talk:Nigga|talk]]) 21:47, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
:Not that I have much faith in your usernae lasting long (you're 'that guy', aren't you? ...in which case you know anyway), but for the sake of anyone else who needs to know:
:*If you mean "add an actual 'citation needed' tag", then it's {{template|Actual citation needed}} that you'll use.
:*If you mean "add an actual citation link to somewhere", then:
:** Link to URLs with [].
:*** A link such as [<url>] will give you a superscript-number link, which isn't pretty, IMO.
:*** A link such as [<url> <text>] (that's a space between the two) will link <text> to the URL, just work it into the sentence you're writing, fairly easy
:** Link to internal (or cross-wiki) pages with [[]].
:*** [[<page title>]] will make a literal link to <page title>.
:*** [[<page title>|<text>]] (with a pipe) is how you make the <text> your link.
:** You can use the last to link specifically to wikipedia's cross-site format, but for that it's best to use {{template|w}}
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe...) uses the page title
:**** It will use the link as if the first character is uppercase, so you don't need to capitalise that. Other case-sensitivity is preserved.
:**** <nowiki>{{w|<singular page title>}}s</nowiki> will link the obvious pluralisation of the page title, just to save you effort
:*** <nowiki>{{w|<page title>|<text>}}</nowiki> (w-pipe and pipe) lets you use entirely alternate text.
:** There's also templates that shortcut (or make easier on the eye, or add appropriate warnings) for some other commonly referenced external sites, from xkcd's own what-if to TVTropes.
:...hope that helps everyone that doesn't already know these few simple bits as relate to wikis in general or this wiki in particular. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.218|172.71.242.218]] 22:24, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

== Confirmation Email Bug ==

Hi. I've been trying to get my email confirmed so that I can get pinged when pages are edited, but I just can't find it, even after trying multiple times. I use Gmail, and yes, I have checked my spam folder. Has anyone else had this issue? EDIT: I see that others have had this issue, but the admins haven't done any action to solve it, except for one sarcastic comment by Davidy22 back in 2014. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:43, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

== Lack of Userpage ==

Hey, I joined a few years ago, but I still do not have a Userpage. Can you make one for me? I do not have the permission to do so. [[User:GreyFox|GreyFox]] ([[User talk:GreyFox|talk]]) 22:47, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
:This is actually your very first post, after joining a bit more than a year ago ("18:35, 14 November 2023 User account GreyFox (talk | contribs) was created"). I'm sure someone can oblige (not me, for obvious reasons), but you've not done much to contribute (at least under this account), which would have then eventually brought you to the point where you ''can'' just self-create your Userpages/etc. So your request is a bit out of the blue.
:Just so long as we all know where we stand, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.227|172.69.194.227]] 09:42, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
::Oh, thanks! Do you know the exact number of edits I need to create it?
:::50 to be autoconfirmed. Also, please sign your comments. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:23, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

== server errors ==
is anyone else constantly getting 503 errors? [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 17:14, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
:yup, been seeing those all the time. Also seeing that the server is down a lot of time-it suggests me to Google for what I’m “looking for” [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:18, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
::503s are fairly common (often when I'm in a rush), and have been for... well, certainly years, maybe more than a decade (though more common during major vandalism/anti-vandalism surges). I had, however, noticed a recent blip (during the last day or so) of the Server Down/Try Google page that you refer to, which I haven't seen for a ''long'' time (not really sure when, but maybe five years or so ago). In fact, I probably got Cloudflare 'rejections' more, during aformentioned vandal-overloading.
::Without any access to the admin logs, I can only speculate as to what might be sparking it. But service (notwithstanding the brief page-refusals themselves) seems to be happily unaffected. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 20:29, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

== Allow new users to edit their own page ==

I found someone asking if we could change this in the proposals page (Community portal/Proposals: Allow Users to Edit their own talk page if not auto confimed (not a typo)). [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 14:39, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

== Technical difficulties? ==

I keep getting a message that says: "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties.Try waiting a few minutes and reloading. (Cannot access the database)"
It's happened a lot so I was wondering if there was a specific cause behind it and perhaps a way to fix it.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.65|172.68.54.65]] 00:17, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
:yeah, I’ve been getting those errors too. I can’t even log into my account before it says that there’s an error again. I’ve been steadily receiving them for a couple months, but never like today. From Recent Changes, it doesn’t look like anyone is spamming the wiki, so maybe it’s an attack of some kind. You’ll need to contact the admins who have access to the server and can poke around, but good luck getting [[User:Davidy22]] or [[User:Jeff]] online. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.130|172.69.135.130]] 17:16, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
::update: I’ve been poking around a lot of websites, trying to see if the website is being attacked. The websites all say that the server is down. I’ll try to ask Jeff on this and pray that he checks his email. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.129|172.69.135.129]] 17:21, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

== The site is collapsing ==
503's are to be expected, but i've got them and the "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties. Try waiting a few minutes and reloading." error way, way too much. it's actually getting really hard to edit stuff because of them. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:58, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:heck, i just got a 503 when posting this topic. also, load times are noticeably longer. and i'm getting "loss of session" errors when i try to edit... [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 02:02, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
::I’ve messaged Davidy22 and Jeff about it, hopefully they see it and reply. It looks fine right now, appears that it works horribly at times and fine later. Due to the on-off nature of it, I would suspect DDoS attacks, as a 503 error means that the server can’t process the request, which occurs with DDoS attacks. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:37, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:::update: I’ve made a Reddit post, as I’ve seen Davidy22 active on Reddit and respond to older threads on r/xkcd. Hopefully they respond! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:50, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
::::October update: Davidy22 responded to my emails and said that he has emailed Jeff multiple times. Apparently Jeff is ignoring his emails and not responding. I’ve been checking Jeff’s Twitter/X/Whatever once a week and it shows that he uses it semi-regularly. Apparently Jeff is a podcaster too? Anyways, nobody has really responded to me on r/xkcd, so I’m thinking of sending a DM to Jeff via Twitter. I have a to-do list for Jeff listed on my User Page, feel free to give any thoughts, proposals, comments on anything else you want him to do in this thread. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:46, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
::Agree, the situation is not terrible but feels extremely unstable. What happens if the wiki just breaks, and nobody can even contact Jeff? I feel like these errors are happening more and more frequently. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:30, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Were you around for the (hacking-enforced) sudden ending of the xkcd fora? All things end.
:::But (touch wood) the 503s/other connection refusals are a lot less frequent right now, so I'm not actually quite so worried as I might occasionally have been. What's more likely to happen is that the hosting plan, physical hardware and/or domain reaches an end and then... that's probably it unless someone with the wherewithall somehow manages to drag it back up again. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.14|162.158.74.14]] 00:09, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
::::I really don't like the idea of this site becoming permanently unavailable :( This makes me want to contribute less! I was not around back then, no. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:I've been getting these errors a lot as well all of a sudden. Sadly from what I've read on these pages, the sysadmin has basically left and ghosted everyone. The moment the site fully breaks for whatever reason, ExplainXKCD will be history. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.58|172.71.178.58]] 15:34, 23 May 2025 (UTC)
::It's probably not the site breaking (as in, it's not intrinsically failing), just that unrestrained useless traffic to it (I theorise, elsewhere that it's a sudden rise in inconsiderate AI-training has led to a rise of ungoverned degrees of site-scraping) is marginalising our more legitimate attempts to interact. ''It would help'' to get some Administrator-led process to mitigate it, but it really should be better dealt with more towards the gateway-side of the connection (or the scrapers gradually toning their scraping down, but I doubt that'll happen). It, say, Cloudflare ''itself'' gets a good solution in place to dissuade such high attempts to access all the sites it otherwise proxies for, then we'll be back to just the site bumbling along in its ''slightly'' unmaintained condition. We then still have a couple of sub-administrators, a Bot and a good population of other users to keep things running against more trivial issues (short of hardware/infrastructure/financial failures). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.141|172.68.186.141]] 16:55, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

== List of All Comics ==

I think that FaviFake and I have accidentally broken the All comics page. When clicked, it brings you to the page List of all comics, which displays the comics 3000-3002 (as of right now) instead of the list of all comics (oops-my bad). How do we fix this? There’s also the page List of all comics (3000-3500), but the TheusafBOT ignores it. Can someone more technical help troubleshoot this problem? Again, sorry for making a muck of things. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:43, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:Oh I'm sorry, I created a new topic for this and I didn't see this one. I noticed the [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]] today and scheduled it for deletion because we never make such a page until we have exactly 500 comics to put there. Also, the name is wrong, it should say 3001-3500.
:The page [[List of all comics]] is supposed to display comics 3001-3005, not all comics. You might be confusing it with [[List of all comics (full)]], which would work perfectly if [[List of all comics]] displayed the last 3 comics. I have no idea why the bot stopped updating it. Maybe it will work now that the wrong page is scheduled for deletion? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:15, 31 October 2024
::Wait a second, why did you move the List of all comics to [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]]? It seemed to me like everything was working fine before you moved it [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:24, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:::I was trying to copy the content to [[List of all comics (3000-3500)]], and accidentally broke it. Sorry! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 16:48, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
::::Yeah I can confirm the content and the entire edit history was moved to the incorrectly-titled page that's now scheduled for deletion. I guess maybe we didn't really need the edit history on that page, but who knows.
::::Weirdly, the bot seems to have restored the page as it was and then stopped doing its thing. Since we're the only ones here, I suggest you manually create the missing rows for the new comics and we'll see if that works when the next comic drops. If it doesn't, I'll contact the maintainer and creator of the bot myself. Sounds good? :) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:29, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:::::Sir yes Sir! 🫡 [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 04:51, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::: Great, thanks! I can also do it this afternoon if you don't have time. I realise my previous messages read like orders lol, they were supposed to be suggestions to try and fix the issue. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:18, 1 November 2024

== The [[List of all comics]] is no longer being updated automatically ==

Hey everyone, I noticed the bot isn't updating this page anymore: [[List of all comics]]. There are supposed to be five comics in it but there are only two at the moment. Is this supposed to happen? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 05:06, 31 October 2024

== 2034: Equations error? ==

One of the TeX math-thingies (sorry for the informal writing), is showing this error: "Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable. Please see math/README to configure.): \oint". Idk why it's showing this, can someone fix this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.48|108.162.237.48]] 19:25, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:It's a long-standing error, to do with the background processes that turns the TeX-style markup into embedded images. All equations (or whatever it might be that the particular MathML was being used to render) that were originally given cached-imagery ''still work fine'', but it seems a later update made it so that if you adjust it at all (even slightly), it no longer has the route to produce the embedding cleanly.
:It can probably be solved by rolling back some module(s) that got refreshed quite some time ago, though the advised fix is to actually fully update them (and/or reconfigure the backend scripting) to work with all the newest versions of the original tools. Unfortunately, the people (or maybe person) who would do this is not too active at the moment (may also not be up to speed on everything, either, if it involves a bit of more tricky administration), so we're left with the occasional problem establishing the texvc handler.
:Not sure which page you're encountering this on, but sometimes if you look back in the edit history you can find a working version of the thing you're seeing go wrong. If it's an aesthetic difference (e.g. the presence or absence of a spacing character), you might be able to just restore the render-cached version and make do with it not looking ''quite'' right.
:If it's a necessary change that was made (e.g. "''dt''" instead of "''dx''", which is definitely wrong the old way), or it seems never to have a valid render, then there's two obvious solutions:
:#Make your own image of it as it should be and (with a suitably auto-validated account, or via a handy external image hosting service and/or a more mature account here) get that embedded in place of the markup-source, or
:#Replicate its appearance in more basic (by standard) but complex (by source needed) markup. Combinations of basic wikimarkup and HTML can do most 'fiddly positional' things, see [[2614: 2]] for a numerator/denominator layout, for example.
:Not as 'simple' as TeX-markedup. But, on the other hand, the "\oint" symbol is "∮", so perhaps all you need to do is copy'n'paste that actual unicode symbol to wherever you found the problem, and use that instead, and forgo the TeX version altogether? (Might not show on some displays, but probably enough to make it a minority issue.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 22:50, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:Had the brainwave that I could probable ''search'' for the offending \oint, actually. Did so, found [[2034: Equations]], noted that it was the only (current) rendering issue and therefore just did the pasting over myself. Looks good for me, but obviously might not help (but not make worse) others' viewing of it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.54|172.69.195.54]] 22:58, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

...Why didn't I think of just pasting the Unicode equivalent. I'm dumb, but thanks for fixing it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.10|172.69.70.10]] 13:44, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

== Esolang wiki bug ==
The "esolangs.org" wiki is also experiencing a similar bug. The server was repeatedly changing a particular user's signature in his posts. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 04:01, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:Fucking bullshit. One, this doesn’t belong here and I’ve copied it into [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical|the Technical Community Portal]]. Two, I saw your talk page on [https://esolangs.org/wiki/User_talk:ColorfulGalaxy%27s_CA_discoveries esolangs.org], which you brought up this “bug”, which the local admin (who’s probably just as sick and tired of you as I am) called BS on. If the server was changing your sig to my sig, it would be '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''', not the sig that you faked in. You’re obviously seeking attention and are being abusive and childish. Please see the bottom of https://esolangs.org/wiki/Esolang:Introduce_yourself to see a full list of complaints. I will be asking Kynde to ban you and all of your alt (or shared) accounts. -tori [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.98|162.158.167.98]] 05:36, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::Additionally, the complaint doesn’t even make sense. The 2 wikis are running on different servers and different MediaWiki software and should in no shape or form be having the same bug across 2 different systems. Plus, why is the CAPTCHA in the esolang wiki so damn difficult? (Just a side note :3) '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:42, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:I just realized that they've changed '''my''' signature as well. That's strange. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 06:37, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Once again they suddenly redirected my username to the Main Page. And the bug even forgot to remove "User:". [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:05, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

:It's working normally now. [[User:ConscriptGlossary|ConscriptGlossary]] ([[User talk:ConscriptGlossary|talk]]) 13:06, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

The wiki may have been hacked. I checked it and got "HTTP 429" error message. [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 19:14, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, it has not been hacked. The error message means that the server that is hosting the wiki is under a lot of stress and load. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:20, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::Yes and no.
::;429 Too Many Requests (RFC 6585):The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time. Intended for use with rate-limiting schemes.
::...it generally means that (in the opinion of the server), the person getting the 429 has been bashing the connection too much. This ''could'' be because they happen to be going through the same proxy as an actual prolific user (or several sub-prolific ones that similarly got lumped together to add up to "too much"), but load-sharing systems generally account for that already. General 'stress and load' is more likely to invoke a 500s message (depending upon what actually is happening).
::But, either way, if you get one of them then you're advised to pause, take a breath, perhaps wait a little before your next refresh/reload attempt, but if ''that'' goes wrong then wait a bit longer still (double your patience, maybe), and again more (further doubling) as necessary.
::Either it's not your fault, but you probably don't need to add to the problems, or it ''is'' your fault (e.g. you're webscraping in the background at full throttle) and you ''really'' need to stop causing those problems (and try not to do it again later). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 20:17, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Oops-you’re right. I just did a cursory search on google with the Google AI, so that explanation is more correct. Thank you! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:42, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
::::Hint: even if you don't entirely trust Wikipedia not to be written (or rewritten) wrongly, you don't get the whole world of possible wrongness of a mostly uncomprehending AI repeating a load of mangled fragments put together on an "at least it looks grammatically correct" basis. If you trust AI so much that you don't go looking anywhere else (there are plenty of technical sites out there, including the actual official RFCs which say what servers ''should'' be doing and saying) but Wikipedia is also far from wrong and pretty thorough on this point.
::::Ask Google's AI for entertainment, or to start to put together a school report (but be prepared to check ''everything'', as well as edit enough not to be caught by AI-detection as well as Plagiarism-detection). But not for insta-expertise, if you've not got enough grounding in the subject to at least sanity-checking what you're being told. Truth-checking and reality-checking are always necessary, of course, no matter what the source. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.36|141.101.98.36]] 01:25, 30 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::Noted and acknowledged. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 14:31, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

== Total amount of accounts created on this wiki? ==

I was editing [[explain xkcd:Museum]] and I was wondering how many accounts have ever been created. Is there a way to access this? {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|15:52, 17 March 2025}}
:Hey, I moved your message from the Coordination portal. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:26, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:The base information you need is from the special page that is https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/newusers - although bear in mind that an overwhelming number of created accounts are spam-attempts (that get no further), so perhaps the count needs to be qualified as "users that have then gone on to post" (a few of which ''are'' still spam-only contributors, but now an insignificant amount rather than a probably overwhelming majoriy).
:How you go about counting ''and'' classifying valid accounts is up to you, of course. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] 21:46, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
::How would one actually count these? Is there an easier way? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:37, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
:::There's <code><nowiki>[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}]]</nowiki></code>, that gives you the value [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}]] (it was 142,958 when I wrote this), for the total number of registered users (including no-input pre-spammers, only-ever-spammed contributors, "I only created this account to say..."ers who didn't realised they could do as much as an IP, maybe some banned, sock-puppet/legitimate-alts/forgot-my-old-login duplicate accounts, maybe ''not'' some totally excised by top-tier-admins).
:::There's also <code><nowiki>[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}]]</nowiki></code>, with the value [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}]] (119, as I write this), which I think is everyone active (+registered) in the past 30 days.
:::Possibly there are other "magic word" values for more useful in-betweeny values (nearer the top end of the first), e.g. of everyone who has made at least one edit ''ever''. But not sure I know what that might off the top of my head.
:::I can think of ways to ''interrogate'' the wiki for one or other (better) counting criteria, but it would be horribly intensive. If anyone wanted to do this (it already needing a bit more technical ability than merely using inbuilt auto-value magic words, and preferably you'd need to not be a 'mere' scriptkiddie jumping in with both feet without knowing how to do it sensibly), I'd suggest ensuring a ''very'' throttled-back process that may take its time over days. Then, once 'completed', a not-quite-so-throttled-back version can just 'top up' its stats with everything from the last point you'd reached the last time round until the present (to never hammer the site).
:::Please please please, though, you should probably only try any of this if you're already sure of everything I've been suggesting. There are also far easier ways to attempt a DoS, but it would be ironic if you did this ''while trying to be helpful''... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.65|141.101.98.65]] 20:43, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Oh neat that's exactly what we needed! Could you add these magic words to the museum, maybe calling one "total accounts" and the other one "users active in last 30 days"? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:21, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

== email confirmation ==

my email confirmation did not get sent even after a week. is there anything wrong? - [[User:Bb777|(((((((((((((([...]((((((((((((((]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 21:36, 22 March 2025 (UTC)
:been broken for a decade i think. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:25, 23 March 2025 (UTC)
::WE REALLY NEED JEFF BACK !!!!!!!! [[User:Bb777|hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 16:12, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

== MediaWiki error when visiting [[1270: Functional]] or [[1270]] ==

When I go to [[1270: Functional]] or [[1270]], there is a MediaWiki error. This does not occur at [[1269]] or [[1271]]. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 13:57, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:Could not replicate.
:[[1270]] redirects to [[1270: Functional]], so does it happen for you if you go via [[Functional]] and ''its'' redirect? How about https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1270:_Functional (as URL) rather than what you may be doing (but so did I, at first, still to find no error) in plugging the text into the "Search explain xkcd" field..?
:Unless it's an off-page edit (some template, broken and then fixed), the page itself seems to have no recent edit to explain any changes (to broken and/or to unbroken)... I think we may need more info. Including myself in "we" in case it's an error even I can fix, which isn't unknown but not guaranteed! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.160|172.71.178.160]]
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270: Functional]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/L5icGdZ9nBzw.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/1nP1qunLk86a.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[Functional]]: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/7S3Ct5wghTIH.png?o=1
::Screenshot of MediaWiki internal error when visiting [[1270: Functional]] via index.php: https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/HghYaRj9wA1f.png?o=1 [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 14:06, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:::I can see the history page, but the same error occurs when I visit any diff links, old versions, and the talk page. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 14:12, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Anybody else? ''None'' of that happens here.
::::Could it be somehow browser-specific, or even extension-related? One thing to try is if you any further browsers handily installed (or installable) that you can use (even if just just for this one purpose, you don't need them to be the default system one). As of right now, though, I'm flumoxed and don't have any obvious other steps, and I dont believe anybody else has the means to enable the debug options.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 22:17, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:::::This occurs on a Chromebook managed by my school, so I can't install any browsers besides Chrome and I can't manage the extensions. I can see the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1270:_Functional&action=edit editing page] but I get an even less elegantly presented [https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/xQOVUQMjoF1r.png?o=1 error] when I try to preview the page.[[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:30, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Couldn't replicate either, Windows 11 Chrome Canary. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:14, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
:Figured out the problem. This error occurs on any page using the <code><nowiki><math></nowiki></code> tag. I don't know why, though. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:30, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
::Yep, added <code><nowiki><math>This causes an error.</math></nowiki></code> to the top of [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]] and now it gives the same error. [[User:Dgrilawidbanana|Dgrilawidbanana]] ([[User talk:Dgrilawidbanana|talk]]) 20:35, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:::This bug has been around for at least 7 years. Here's the fix: [[#Mediawiki exception on some pages]]. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

== Captcha repeat ==
When you've finished editing, there is an "I'm not a robot" CAPTCHA.

But if you preview the changes before saving, that gets reset, so you can't just say "yup, looks good, go ahead and publish this change."

How hard would it be to make the CAPTCHA sticky, so that it doesn't need an extra interaction/mouse movement after previewing?

Or, alternatively, to not display either the CAPTCHA or the Save Changes until after a preview. {{unsigned|JimJJewett20:40, 14 April 2025}}

:If you're going to Preview (which can often be a good idea), don't bother ticking the "I am not a robot". Previews (also the "Show Changes") are 'free' and don't need you to feed the CAPTHA machine.
:What's wrong with 1) editing, 2) previewing, 3) going "Yup, looks good" and ticking the box, 3a) ''if'' required, fulfill the Captcha, 4) Submit..?
:It's exactly the same amount of work as having the Captcha-fulfillment at position (1a) and 'sticky'
:Also, however hard it might be to 'sticky' the CAPTCHA, there's a ''reason'' that a validated CAPTCHA isn't held over willy-nilly. Theoretically, an automated system (or semi-attended one) that relied upon finding out if it ''could'' post an edit, before it even bothered to try could benefit (if only by a smidgen) from first having a pot-shot at authorisation and only then (presumably before any 'time out' kicked in) pushing the latest spambot stuff.
:I see no value in allowing that, even if there was anybody who might have enough of an 'in' on the server code to enable such a thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.248|162.158.33.248]] 23:02, 14 April 2025 (UTC)
:Moved this to technical portal. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:07, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

== Request for feedback about {{tl|comic}} ==

Hey, I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on the random button on our comic template, please see this page: [[Template talk:comic#Random button should link to Special:RandomInCategory]] --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:30, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

:Does anyone here know how to create a random link that fetches pages from two different categories? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:12, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

== Random comic/explanation glitches ==

For some reason, I can''not'' press random without being sent to either the Verizon comic-thing or comic #4 (this is one of my first times commenting, no clue how to do links). I’ve now pressed the button for random comic 8 times and keep getting these two pages, any idea for fixing this? [[User:AK24Ammit|AH24Ammit]] ([[User talk:AK24Ammit|talk]]) 00:24, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

:update: it’s now added repeatedly sending me to [[1057:Klout]] and [[2875:2024]]. I can’t get it to send me to any other page through the random button. After 23 random comic presses, I got each of these four comics 6 times and the latest comic once. [[User:AK24Ammit|AH24Ammit]] ([[User talk:AK24Ammit|talk]]) 00:29, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

== Incessant 503 errors ==

I cannot keep contributing to this site if the 503 errors continue. The time it takes to perform a single action is about 10 times greater than it should be, some pages never load, and almost everything is broken and outdated. The situation will get worse if we do nothing. We have to do something :(   --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:47, 26 May 2025 (UTC)
:I've not yet found any page that won't ever load, can you give an example?
:Updating the website, though useful for other reasons, also cannot help this problem much. Different hosting might help, but mostly different proxying. Site-side changes, of the kind we've perhaps been waiting for, would be minimally useful to this external issue. Maybe we'll get some changes out of this crisis, maybe we'll just get the site closed down as not worth the additional effort. (Just going read-only might not even help, and would still be gruelling loss.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.10|172.71.178.10]] 16:27, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

::Can't do much better than Cloudflare for proxying, at least not on a budget. If the DDOS is from an AI-scraper or a malicious-but-not-paying-attention source, temporarily shifting everything to a new domain and having explainxkcd.com just be a placeholder with human-readable instructions to het to the temp site ''might'' help, at least until the adversary adapted. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.16|162.158.167.16]] 19:31, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

::Well anything would be better than the current situation, except a total shutdown. Why is nobody worried this entire wiki is dying in front of our eyes and the owner doesn't even remember it exists? Jesus --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:03, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

:Same issue. What could be causing this? {{unsigned ip|162.158.114.253|14:49, 27 May 2025}}
::The server's seemingly being hammered by a new batch of unregulated traffic, that's been hammering many other sites. Your attempts to connect are getting lost in the overload, until the instigators get bored, smarter/kinder or someone implements a better way to stop the offending connections better. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 16:41, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

== wtf is going on with the server?? ==

why is the site giving a db error 90% of the time? is something wrong? how/when will it be fixed? (can it be fixed at all?) update: the db crashed AGAIN while i was writing this. also its not like above section, since it currently *specifically* gives db errors. "cannot access the database." [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 16:54, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:See the sub-header above (and other contributions by people in the last two or three comic Discussions), but imagine you're at a party, trying to talk to your friends, and people you don't know keep coming over and trying to start various inane conversations that just keep distracting you, and ''they just won't leave you alone!''
:So: 1) Too much traffic. 2) Not with the server. 3) Difficult/not quickly (it's not really a server-fix). And the DB isn't fully crashing (that'd do something else). It's just unable to reply to everyone, every time, and even saying "No I can't talk to you" takes up time.
:Ideally, you get someone else to intercept anyone coming over to talk to you. Maybe a VIP-section "red rope", and a big guy with a clipboard of guests/a personal secretary to vet newcomers. Doing that yourself is just going to distract you more. (Or you can take enough amphetamines to become enough of a party animal to comfortably be at the centre of the ''wildest'' of parties, but that takes finding a dealer with the right product, as well as other problems. And the tendency to overextend your analogies.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.72|172.68.205.72]] 19:36, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
::That reads like the "explain" of an XKCD that I want to see. :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.131|162.158.175.131]] 21:17, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

==Special:ContributionScores on Main Page busts caching, causing load==

Long story short, the Main Page transcludes a top contributors table, [[Special:ContributionScores/10/30]], which marks the entire Main Page as dynamic (not cacheable). This means that (1) Cloudflare is not serving up a static version of this page, even to those not logged in, (2) the Main Page wikitext is getting reparsed on every hit, and (3) the parser is recreating the table from scratch on every hit, consuming a lot of database connection time, roughly between 0.5 and 1.0 second each. This is...suspicious, given the wiki's technical difficulties. I suggest an experiment with removing it to see if technical issues improve. If so, and if people wish to keep the table, I suggest creating a static version of the table that is updated only occasionally (even once every few hours by bot should be fine).

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:750px; overflow:auto;">Expand for details...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">The whole story is: While browsing overnight, I noticed that the issues with page loads seemed caching-related; pages never seemed to load on the first click, though refreshing was often successful, at least during the presumably lower-load overnight hours. Research led me to the possibility that some broken caching system was leading to the database running out of connections (even on a cache hit, one is still needed to determine whether it is a cache hit or miss), so I started looking at some technical indicators, eventually leading to the parser profiling ("NewPP") and transclusions block at the end of the parser output [https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&page=Main%20Page here].

For the main page, it outputs:

<nowiki>NewPP limit report
Cached time: 20250528101640
Cache expiry: 0
Dynamic content: true
CPU time usage: 0.059 seconds
Real time usage: 2.564 seconds
Preprocessor visited node count: 273/1000000
Preprocessor generated node count: 2367/1000000
Post\u2010expand include size: 17895/2097152 bytes
Template argument size: 714/2097152 bytes
Highest expansion depth: 7/40
Expensive parser function count: 4/100
-->


</div>
</nowiki>
</div></div>

From a quick search, it sounds like transclusion of a special page will always cause the parser cache to be bypassed, causing all of the parsed output to be regenerated on every hit by any visitor, logged in or not, via the API or not, etc. (While it's not technically wrong that increased number of visits may be causing issues, this would be a multiplicative exacerbation of that.) Combined with the fact that the page is recreating a pretty heavy database query to count and tabulate the last 30 days of edits, this seems Really Bad. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 11:14, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

: Edited for corrections and clarity. Also, one can generate and profile the cost of any bit of wikitext using the API: <nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&text={{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}&title=Special:ContributionScores</nowiki> would create and time the processing time needed to generate <nowiki>{{Special:ContributionScores/10/7/nosort,notools}}</nowiki>.
: I'd noticed that there was a recent change from 7 to 30 days of scoring, but it turns out that doesn't make a big difference in processing time. In addition, the parser considering the content static doesn't seem to be enough for Cloudflare to start caching a page, so that might not be as easy to change. Still, simply allowing the parser output to be saved and regenerating the table for the vast majority of visitors' hits might be a big help. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 13:27, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

:: Does this affect other pages? If not, then the main DB issues aren't fixed... but if it does, then why is the contribs page loaded for EVERY page? Also, I *support* removing this... it's just a showcase that exists for no good reason if shown to every viewer, the recent contribs should probably be restricted to users only or something [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.176|162.158.8.176]] 08:30, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::: The contrib table doesn't load on every page, but the vast majority of hits are going to be to the Main Page. And (my hypothesis is) it holds database connections open while it's running, which consumes that limited resource on the server. (We could just raise the cap, but we don't have access to the server.) A lot of the lag time in the profiler above is just sitting in a queue for the next database connection, which affects everything. So in that sense, it affects the whole wiki. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 17:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::Hi. I changed to 30 days on suggestion by FaviFake. But that was in March. Just changed it back to 7 again just to try it. Of course I can also try to remove it for a period of time. But for us that makes a lot of contributions that list is a motivating factor. So I would hate to remove it. Also it has worked with 30 days for more than two months and with the 7 days for as long as I have used the site (since 2012). So it seems weird that it should suddenly be the front page that breaks it all. It is also not the first time we have had these issues. Not sure how they where resolved last time but strange if it suddenly is the main page that causes all these problems [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:29, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

::: (Un)Fortunately(?) I suspect the technical caching issue is more relevant, where naively transcluding a Special page via <code><nowiki>{{Special:...}}</nowiki></code> causes everything to re-process on every hit. That doesn't mean losing the feature entirely (or even the 30 days); I can help make a bot that can send the output (inside <code><nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=parse&text={{Special:ContributionScores/10/30,nosort,notools}}&title=Special:ContributionScores&format=json</nowiki></code>) to a template, automatically updating once per short interval (an hour?). The delayed version can also be Main Page only; the live version can always still be linked, and/or the full page linked to.
::: You're right that perhaps this isn't necessarily ''the'' proximate "straw that broke the camel's back" cause. And there are a lot of other problems and solutions that could help - like simply raising the DB connection cap, or all the stuff about crawler traffic, and that Cloudflare doesn't seem to be caching the basically-static CSS from tool.php, etc. etc... But without admin access to diagnostics or settings for the database and Cloudflare, we can only work with the tools we have. Even this specific widget itself does some caching in a newer update, but we don't have access to updating it. (That said, I'm still keeping an eye out for other things that might have changed recently.) [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 17:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)
::::As it did not help making it 7 days again I have now removed it. Seems to make no difference to begin with. But lets give it some time to work. But I'm not optimistic. Let me know if I moved the correct bit, I'm no expert just sadly the only active admin and we cannot get hold of Jeff... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:34, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Since the removal of the Rankings table, I haven't noticed a downtick of connection errors. (That said, I dislike people ''aiming'' to be in the Rankings, I consider that editing should be its own reward, so personally I'd be happier without it anywhere quite as prominent.) Haven't done a full technical analysis, but I estimate that from a prior peak of maybe 1.5 "technical difficulties" or "also, a 503 error" responses, generally varying between zero issues (straight in) and normal worstest-case scenario of three attempts (fourth attempt is Ok, ''maybe'' unstylsheeted), in the last 24 hours it's been more like 2.5:1 fail to success ratio. (i.e. reaching up to maybe 6th-attempt success, worst case.) Not nice, but survivable.

Though got a new one, just a few minutes ago. An actual Cloudflare error: "SSL handshake failed Error code 525 // Visit cloudflare.com for more information. // 2025-05-30 20:01:57 UTC". In case that interests anyone. Looks like the server was temperarily so incapacitated as to not be able to even handshake with the proxy. But I don't currently expect that to recur, just thought I'd note it as a 'new' glitch, in passing. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.123|172.71.241.123]] 20:37, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

: Well, ''right now'' things seem more stable. But during Friday just after the change, when pages could load at all, I noticed they were loading faster, but the availability was just as bad or worse for a while. I'm not really sure how much credit to the latest improvement goes to changing the contribution table. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 00:59, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:Everything seems to be good now. No constant DB errors, and it's now smooth! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.142|162.158.8.142]] 07:00, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

::Should I try inserting the contribution score to see if the problems return, because it would be nice to know if it was this or just random. Also even though some might dislike this score it has been there always, and should not just be removed because one person writes negatively about it. But of course if it was really the reason behind the problems it has to stay of the front page. But a link could be inserted. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:44, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:::To clarify, I wasn't saying I disliked the score, ''per se'', just that it encourages edits-for-the-sake-of-edits and (though I rarely see the Main Page myself) is prominent enough for the new discoverers of the site to take as a challenge (in well-meaning ways, as well as less so). I have sympathy with "But for us that makes a lot of contributions that list is a motivating factor." Just pointing out the functional inverse that it is a motivating factor ''to make a lot of contributions''. (And that I personally abstain from that competition, buried within the contributions of various other IPers, no temptation at all to edit without decent cause.)
:::A version of the table weighted against new accounts ''might'' make me happier, but too many ways of doing that (hard threshold, to kick in at an arbitrary 'account maturity' age, so no-one appears on the list until 'old enough'; a formula that slopes from 0 to 1 at the "maturity" time, multiply the contributions by the current value; ditto, but a smoother function that becomes assymptotic to 1) that probably also involve scripted conversions and various arbitrary choices. So not something I'd imagine being done.
:::I do think it's a good idea to re-add it ''for science''. Give it a week to settle down, without it as an issue. If (as it seems) it has died down properly, add it again for a further week (or less, if it becomes obvious it has reintroduced the same DoS-like scenario). Let the outcome shape your further decision, or fine-tuning. Not mere yay/nay preferences, like mine, regarding it.
:::It's also very likely only a ''factor'' in the slow-down. It was ok (in both 7 day and 30 day versions) for aong time, but ''together with'' increased amounts of site traffic (as per anecdotal evidence from elsewhere on the 'net) it went bad on us. The improved situation could also have been due to the perpetrators turning their (accidental?) web-hammering scripts off, having finished their project, or now making them far less aggressive. The 'benefits' of the League Table might not now cause such side-effects. But also it's still possible that the problematic traffic comes back and hobbles the site gain, regardless of the absence frontpage League Tabling.
:::And you can always add the Special:ContributionScores(-slash-whatever) information as a link to go to, rather than transcluded (if you've decided that it's still trouble to have where it was). But cross that bridge if you come to it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 16:31, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

::PS I also gets 0-2 errors at the moment, so it is not all good, had to reload twice to get the comment above posted. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:45, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

:::My observations: still 'terrible', maybe even slightly worse, Friday and early Saturday, UK time, noting the Friday Comic didn't get Bot-imported until well into Saturday PM (theusaf might have failure logs?), but I'm sure I saw it on xkcd.com on Saturday morning (but still had showed Wednesday as of Fri/Sat midnight, UTC+1, or thereabouts, i.e. early Friday evening Randall Time, not untypical for such updates). The table-transclusion was removed at least a full day before. Don't know if anything else caused lag in the proxy's response.
:::Since Saturday evening, more or less ok. ''Some'' errors, in line with "background levels" before this recent splurge actually hit. If I get a "technical problems", an imminent refresh sorts it (doesn't return another error), gets on with things. Not perfect, might mean a bit more RAM/swapspace might further help, or a higher quota of shared processing threads (if there are any that can be spared from whatever else is running in whatever rackspace unit it might be). Livable, if also still vulnerable to the next period of increased pressure. Keeping an eye on it, and still trying to eventually get through to the hardware-owning sysops, would be wise. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.109|172.70.90.109]] 16:31, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: A note for the future: the new (current) version of this extension [https://codesearch.wmcloud.org/search/?q=ContribScoreCacheTTL&files=&excludeFiles=&repos= caches] data for half an hour (by default), so if we ever get an update, the bot wouldn't be necessary anymore. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 07:46, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

== What would it take to clone ExplainXKCD? ==

What would it take technically and financially to clone this web site?

Installing MediaWiki and cloning the wiki pages should be fairly straightforward. There may be some pain due to differences in MediaWiki versions.

Cloning or rewriting the bots may be a chore.

Paying for hosting and Cloudflare will take a steady stream of income.

There's also legal issues, like how to protect everyone from liability if someone wants to sue, even if it's a frivolous suit.

There will need to be multiple administrators at every level so we don't have the "if one person disappears for awhile and problems arise, we are stuck" issues.

My guess is that between the existing administrators and regular contributors, we have the technical skills to do this. It's the financial and legal issues that give me pause.

Yes, I'm an occasional contributor, and no, I haven't created an account yet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.119|162.158.175.119]] 19:51, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

:It would help if we didn't want to clone ''all page history''. Already, it would bar those bits hidden behind admin-level deletions, etc, but limiting the actual depth of history scraped up and made available on a new platform would be wise from a 'start over' POV, ''especially'' if not having direct access to the core database. Possibly a 'bot could maintain an "anything new on old site gets reduplicated to new site" until a phased cut-off, with enough thought, dyluring the ''duration'' of the migratory process, but you need a solid base (maybe with further back-filled history as much as you can).
::Removing page history might violate the "attribution" part of the CC-BY-SA license (but I am not a lawyer so don't take my word for it.) [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 17:46, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
:And then there's user accounts. Maybe there's a way to confirm your rights to an original-site username on the new-site (potentially complex things, or just something to do with logins on both, posting "it's me" on the new site, then "yes, that new-site claim me of being me is indeed correct" on old-site, but you still have to deal with potential claim-jumping/identity-gazumping). Which also needs trust of the new-site admins to play fair with potential disputes.
:And it'd be a good opportunity to clean some up things (everyone can think of several inconsistecies that ''they'd'' deal with, given the opportunity), but only with a lot of hands on effort. So factor that in for potential work.
:On the whole, though, best just to 'start fresh'. A task in itself, perhaps use and acknowledge this site's "best material" (I think copyright might be not so much an issue if based upon a fair and dutiful copy, due to the details of [[explain xkcd:Copyrights]], but that's of course something that needs advice sought for any particular implementation). That, of course, needs community acceptance not to be seen as an "upstart usurper" site, perhaps, and could create a schism where some would refuse to partake in the new project at all.
:i.e. you raise good questions (and prompt others), but I'm not sure there are ''undeniably'' objective good answers to them all. Trying it and seeing how it goes is probably the ''only'' way to bash out the many details. Not an easy project. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.144|172.71.241.144]] 21:19, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

:I think it would be absolutely awesome to move to something that *isn't* self hosted, something that as far as I can tell this wiki is. If we move or clone, may we see [https://weirdgloop.org/ Weird Gloop] as an option? They have a lot of experience and will [https://weirdgloop.org/blog/why-were-helping-more-wikis-move-away-from-fandom#how-to-not-turn-into-fandom-20-with-these-2-simple-tricks probably not turn into another fandom and will not be bought by them]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.250|172.69.130.250]] 15:33, 30 May 2025 (UTC)
::Oh ye gods... Yes, whatever you do, ''don't'' go anywhere near Fandom, as a solution. Not that I think this will be a convincing argument on its own, but you'll absolutely lose me as an 'explain' reader (never mind contributor) if it goes onto a Fandom/ex-Wikia hosting model. I've no experience of Weird Gloop (yet), but the URL (about why they're different) certainly does vicerally appeal to me on first glance. Do your own independant research, though, anybody tempted down that or any eqyivalent route. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.123|172.71.241.123]] 20:37, 30 May 2025 (UTC)
:[https://github.com/saveweb/wikiteam3/ Wikidump] can get all page content with full history (for pages that have not been deleted). It doesn't require admin privileges to use. [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 21:38, 31 May 2025 (UTC)
:The site seems stable now, at least for the last half-day. I'm not sure if the attack/scraping ended, or if there's a real back-end fix in place, but here's hoping it stays stable. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.73|172.68.26.73]] 02:11, 1 June 2025 (UTC)
::Replying to '''my''' comment of 02:11, 1 June 2025 immediately above: I spoke too soon, I got two "Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties." errors in less than 5 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.217|172.69.67.217]] 03:20, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: Why should we do this in the first place? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.8.165|162.158.8.165]] 07:01, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
:: So we can manage things when someone with server-level access is required. For example, if someone with server-level access was around during the last week or two when we've been having intermittent-but-sometimes-heavy site-is-too-busy-try-again-later errors, we (or, rather, the server operator) would have more insight to the problem and would likely be able to do something about it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.157|172.71.170.157]] 16:01, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

: The resources at [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Grabbers Mediawiki/Manual:Grabbers] seem useful - they seem written for the new server administrator to have the new server save things into the new wiki. (I worry about the note regarding MediaWiki version 1.39+ since we're stuck on 1.30, but I think that might be about the version of the *new* wiki installation.) In particular, there exists a [[Special:Export]] page (and associated API) that also exports the page history. There are a few options for migrating people's accounts; [https://github.com/ciencia/mediawiki-extensions-StubUserWikiAuth Extension:StubUserWikiAuth] seems most promising so far. [[User:AySz88|AySz88]] ([[User talk:AySz88|talk]]) 09:56, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

== new and exciting 522 and 524 cloudflare errors ==

everyone else saw that, right? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|this website's domain expires in august]] 02:21, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
:From at least midday (UK time), yesterday. But given the lack of ''any'' recorded edits for 4/Jun (UTC), only being broken by your (and other) early-hours edits of 5/Jun, was a lengthy period of whatever-went-even-more-wrong. (I had kept notes, I probably got 522s and 524s, when I checked back every few hours. Might have been other 52Xs, but not got that bit of scrap paper with me right now.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.234.190|82.132.234.190]] 12:00, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
::Expires. Will that mean that if it is not prolonged this entire site will vanish? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:22, 6 June 2025 (UTC)
:::Read [[User talk:Lettherebedarklight]] (to the bottom!) for one Q&A that was done on it. I know I also ''previously'' discussed LTBDL's 'discovery' (before they decided to break their own User Page in suggesting this was going to be an issue), but they also ignored me. As they still have their alarmist signature up, despite the other explanation, thus alarming you.
:::Short version: the domain potentially expires ''every year''. Every year, so far, it has been renewed. It's not the first time. Chances are low that it'll be the last.
:::Or, to rephrase your question, this site may vanish if it ''isn't'' prolonged (the auto-renew is not auto-renewed, perhaps the person paying for it gets fed up doing it).
:::PS. is it just a coincidence that, since the 'day outage', we're now getting many IPv6 contributors? (And vastly different IPv4 ranges/submasks.) Seems like a Cloudflare-led thing, assuming that nobody has been reconfiguring the explainxkcd server in any way (which is the current 'complaint'). ...Not worth a seperate new header to mention, but thought I'd mention it in passing, as I'm here. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.213.196|82.132.213.196]] 10:32, 6 June 2025 (UTC)

== Problem Sending a Question to whatif@xkcd.com ==

I tried to send a question to whatif@xkcd.com, and I got an automatic mail from google that "It was failed to send to the group", does it means that the question was sent, or that it got blocked entirely? [[Special:Contributions/2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01|2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01]] ([[User talk:2a06:c701:9640:fa00:75b3:1b2f:6aeb:fc01|talk]]) 15:16, 11 June 2025‎ (UTC) ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

:Yup, that's a known error. See the notice on ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' for more info. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:34, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

== Monobook style categories bug ==
I recently switched to the monobook style in preferences, and I saw this on the main page:

[[File:Monobook Font Bug.png]]

Is this something that's inherent to the monobook font or something that I can fix on my end? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:03, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

==Bug on Modern style==
I encountered this UI bug opening up the site. Is this one-time or have others experienced this? [[File:UI Bug.png|200x200px]] --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 16:25, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:that's just broken css. if you refresh it, it should render correctly. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:57, 29 August 2025 (UTC)
:I'm sure you've occasionally had a "page cannot load" error on the HTML (a few months back, it was particularly bad, but it's fairly rare at the moment). But imagine if you luckily escaped the issue of the HTML file loading. ''It'' tells your machine to ask for the CSV, as well as things like the images it needs. And then the inability to get the CSV happens. It could have been the image that didn't load, also. The lack of stylesheet
:A refresh of the page is usually what I'd try next. Or a hard-refresh, possibly, depending upon which browser I'm using. Either it all appears fine or the HTML totally fails the second time from whatever glitch is plaguing the system at that time. If you get exactly the same.
:I'll have to admit, though, but it took me quite a few moments to find what was wrong with the UI... maybe I'm innured against the occasional version of this issue. Unless I was looking for the Recent Changes link, for example, I'd probably just read the page as normal and then move onto the next page I want to check/editing the Talk page, all of which likely loads correctly and leaves me none the wiser that I'd missed a minor reshuffle.
:Tell you what, though, the "Recent Changes" page looks quite a bit different without Stylesheet-styling. And you can even invoke that, if you want. Depending upon browser, you can either choose which (or no!) stylesheet gets applied, also useful to see a site using its "mobile" settings from your desktop. Or you may be able to use whatever the equivalent of Object Inspector is for your page code and 'break' the particular ".css"-line that governs it. Sometimes gives interesting and useful results, on more awkward sites that try to enforce "no copypasting" or selectively hide/obscure things. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:29, 29 August 2025 (UTC)

== Upgrading MediaWiki ==

::''Moved from [[User_talk:Kynde#Upgrading_MediaWiki]] [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:57, 10 September 2025 (UTC)''

Hi! If you aren't already aware, the wiki's MediaWiki software is many years out of date, 1.30 became end of life in 2019. This likely opens up the wiki to security issues, and presumably some annoyance from the users due to lack of newer features. It seems that Jeff never got around to this. If you have access to the wiki server, please upgrade the wiki, or have someone else do it. I think the recommendation to avoid compatibility issues is to go from LTS to LTS on upward, so <s>1.30 > 1.31 > 1.35 > 1.39 > 1.43</s> (it seems that you can go straight from 1.30 > 1.35 > 1.43 although the errors may be more difficult to read, based on the FAQ https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading#How_do_I_upgrade_from_a_really_old_version?_In_one_step,_or_in_several_steps? ).

If you want assistance with MediaWiki upgrades, this organization called Professional Wiki seems to also performs this service. https://professional.wiki/en/mediawiki-upgrade-services In any case, they would probably follow a form of the procedure outlined in the official MediaWiki manual.

To check the wiki's current version: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Version

Version lifecycle: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle

Upgrading procedure/manual: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Upgrading

Thank you! [[User:Cam1170|Cam1170]] ([[User talk:Cam1170|talk]]) 19:32, 9 September 2025 (UTC)
:Hi Cam1170, thank you for your proposal and thought! Unfortunately, we are unable to update this wiki's MediaWiki software because the owner has gone AWOL. He is a bureaucrat on here, and the other 'crat is also inactive. Despite multiple times to reach out to him both on-site and through other platforms, he has not responded. We are assuming that this wiki will stay frozen like this unless we migrate (which I have no idea how will be done-or if it's even possible!). '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 01:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:Noting that even migrating would probably involve someone (active) taking it upon themselves to provide the 'blank' new server on a new host (and new domain!) upon which the existing available information is to be written. (N.B., possibly still to a limited degree, without the access also required to upgrade or grant a further third party the access required to upgrade, unless there are some truly weird backdoors. Everything I know indicates that even making sure that everyone can reproduce their accounts in the new system would be a tricky achievement to get right.) And then we'd probably still have this place's 'box' (or boxes, or cloud-like bundle of cooperating resources) happily but redundantpt continuing in whatever 'protected stasis' we'll have then placed it in, as we try to re-establish the SEOing/etc that leads to our new doorway.
:This isn't the first time, probably won't be the last, that we've been advised of the 'issues'. And been only able to state that our active most-priviliged users seem not to be priviliged enough to even consider the direct server-level access needed to up-patch/re-install the core backend. Nor to properly migrate everything (leaving this service running as a 'ghost' site, to a greater or lesser extent), from the box(es) it runs upon all the way to the original registered domain.
:I had written more, but it boils down to the conspicuously absent progenitor being the main hurdle, likely for reasons beyond even their control. Though ''perhaps'' there are further missing administrators who might have enough access to (if they don't entirely break everything, in the attenpt) assist us, should they be coaxed/cajoled to return.
:Personally (as if my opinion counts), I see no urgent need for (e.g.) a more visual editor. Dealing with entirely new and more complex bugs, compared to what I think is far simpler to work with, is one thing that I know will at least annoy me.
:As for security issues, I believe we're at not a bad 'stuck' stage, compared to some (newer!) stages we could be at. And 0-day exploits are an ever present (intangible) risk at the bleeding edge, of course. ;) But you'd be also right to question what I know of all this, as an effectively unknown voice from the wilderness. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.27|82.132.238.27]] 05:40, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::Ahem...
I see no urgent need for [...] [the] visual editor.
::'''Tables''' --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:47, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Seems like others have made it clear why I cannot help. I ended up stuck as the only admin without bureaucrat powers... Also I'm not very tech minded so not the best admin you could have. but at the moment the only active. :-/ Not quite sure what Favifake means though? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::::Yes, of course! You're still unable to do anything, just like everyone else.
::::I replied to IP, which said the Visual editor wasn't necessary. Tables are incredibly hard to set up without the visual editor, so I think it's ''the'' most important feature we're missing right now.
::::''[Moved from [[User_talk:Kynde#Upgrading_MediaWiki]] [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:57, 10 September 2025 (UTC)]''
:::::Easier to custom convert 'raw' tabular data to "tabular data under wikitable format" than to painstakingly arrange it in a visually-'aided' WYSYWYG table, actually. Making a casual table might be easier, but making a ''well thought out'' table with any complexity benefits from knowing the abilities and limitations of the markup.
:::::I had thought someone would object on a different sisue, actually, but that would also be something for which actually caring about the back-end markup (and using Preview judiciously) certainly doesn't hurt, with "dumbing up"/abstraction often not being an overall advantage. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.43|82.132.245.43]] 21:53, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::Sorry but I unfortunately didn't understand anything of what you just said :( ㅤ [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:17, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::::I think they're saying that [https://imgur.com/gallery/i-dont-even-see-code-anymore-WqqJfNb the raw markup isn't exactly difficult]. And further that a WYSIWYG interface (which was typoed!) can often create suboptimal layouts, just because it was tweaked to 'look right' in the rather limited context of the composition editor.
:::::::And I probably agree, to an extent. Wikitables are designed to be far more simple/uncluttered, at source, than the equivalent HTML code. You can easily hand-craft them to both render nicely and be intelligable by future editors. It's not rocket science.
:::::::And then there was something about creating wikitables from non-wiki data, which might not actually be totally relevant. But is something I sometimes do, and I'd definitely consider a visual editor an impediment if I was doing that. The difference being that you can (hopefully) just toggle that option away. Or, rather, not bother toggling it on. Either way, I'd do what I think looks best for later editors, like leaving nice/logical text-spacing in monospace font by judicious use of whitespace/newlines - often lacking/badly done otherwise. If you want ''my'' opinion, too. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 21:17, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::::"the raw markup isn't exactly difficult" yes is is? Merging cells is a nightmare, adding new cells to the rowspan/colspan is a nightmare, moving text around is annoying, clicking preview constantly is time-consuming... i could go on and on. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:57, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::::::::I concur. Especially with large tables, it's hard to find where you need to edit, simply because it all looks the same. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:09, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
: that's actually quite scary that the person who pays for the server has gone awol. That means this wiki is just 1-2 unpaid bills away from being shut down for good without any means to recover it. I think updating the software is the least of our concern. I mean, if the current admins should retire as well, then there's no one who could even appoint new admins. [[Special:Contributions/2.204.192.65|2.204.192.65]] 09:51, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
:: As said before, when the domain-name was "mere months from expiring" (n.b., it ''seems'' to be annually renewed, automatically, so is ''forever'' potentially mere months from expiring), there are all kinds of other ways for a site to fail. Some, like the hosting/hardware rental, might be tied to the same bill-paying cycle as the domain, so any such interruption might happen across the board as a grand-slam. (Interruptions might not mean the loss of the account-holder, and the loss of the account-holder might not mean an interruption... Would depend on how someone organises (or fails to organise) such things.)
:: Other failures could happen any time. Glad to see we're back from the outage: my initial guess was that someone ''had'' tried to update the site, somehow, but had got it horribly ''horribly'' wrong and left it unworkable. This would have been our invisible benefactor, perhaps, unless a "guerilla hacktivist" had taken a big chance and bigger risk. Probably not any of that, though, or at least it was someone who could still revoke the broken changes.
:: And then there's just a vital rapidly spinning disk shedding its magnetic coating or even fragmenting, or its circuitry develops a dry-joint/whisker of solder. The lifetime of an HDD is said to be "3 to 5 years", by one source I found (though I'm personally using ones that are >30yo, in near constant use, and I've seen far earlier failures, so I don't know how useful that is). If it's now sitting on SSD, that has read/write-cycle 'limits', instead. So, if it's not RAIDed with someone able to hotswap replacement drives, potentially some time (perhaps in a darkened but air-conditioned room) there may be the momentary shriek of metal (or silence, at least compared to the general humming of everything else) and ''at best'' we'll revert to the last valid automated backup... If there is one, and someone can fix it. (My second theory about the blackout was this. But I don't remember anything new to the site that didn't come back when it returned.)
::As for the WYSIWYG (cheers, yep!) thing, I've had to use enforced-visual editors, elsewhere. A right pain. I sure would hope it's optional, for my part. I also think it's healthy for people to not rely on too much 'wizardry' and know more about how everything works, but then I'm someone who has thirty-year-old HDDs running forty-year-old OSes. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.89|82.132.237.89]] 11:50, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Based on what I'm seeing in terms of recent changes, it appears that the cloudflare errors appeared about 2:00 UTC September 11th, and left about 14:00 UTC September 12, making for around 36 hours of total downtime. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 21:57, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

== A precaution ==
In approximately 2 hours, MediaWiki will be switching something on the server-side, so be ready for a temporary read-only period starting 15:00 UTC. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 18:04, 24 September 2025 (UTC)
:I wonder what will happen with this wiki's old-ass MediaWiki version...I '''''hope''''' everything will go back to normal... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 18:05, 24 September 2025 (UTC)
that's for wikis supported by the WMF, and we're not. unfortunately. It’s the WMF doing the thing, not the MW software. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:50, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

==RSS FEED==
I've created a megathread for the broken RSS feed since this keeps being brought up. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:26, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

=== RSS Feed: XML not well-formed ===

<pre>XML Parsing Error: not well-formed

Location: https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml?_SLWxoPenuRl=nOtinFEeDPREVIew

Line Number 31, Column 18:

<title>3015: D&D Combinatorics</title>
------------------------^
</pre>

PHP-Fix:

$title = str_replace("&", "&amp;", $title);

or

$title = htmlspecialchars($title);

: Same problem here. Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first time an xkcd title has included an ampersand (as far as I can see from [[List_of_all_comics_(full)]]). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.85|141.101.99.85]] 14:16, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

=== rss feed ===

Hello

the rss feed is broken, could you fix it ?
<nowiki>
Error :
try{(function overrideDefaultMethods(r, g, b, a, scriptId, storedObjectPrefix) {
var scriptNode = document.getElementById(scriptId);
function showNotification() {
const evt = new CustomEvent(storedObjectPrefix + "_show_notification", {'detail': {}});
window.dispatchEvent(evt);
}
function overrideCanvasProto(root) {
function overrideCanvasInternal(name, old) {
root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = old;
Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, name,
{
value: function () {
var width = this.width;
var height = this.height;
var context = this.getContext("2d");
var imageData = context.getImageData(0, 0, width, height);
for (var i = 0; i < height; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < width; j++) {
var index = ((i * (width * 4)) + (j * 4));
imageData.data[index + 0] = imageData.data[index + 0] + r;
imageData.data[index + 1] = imageData.data[index + 1] + g;
imageData.data[index + 2] = imageData.data[index + 2] + b;
imageData.data[index + 3] = imageData.data[index + 3] + a;
}
}
context.putImageData(imageData, 0, 0);
showNotification();
return old.apply(this, arguments);
}
}
);
}
overrideCanvasInternal("toDataURL", root.prototype.toDataURL);
overrideCanvasInternal("toBlob", root.prototype.toBlob);
//overrideCanvasInternal("mozGetAsFile", root.prototype.mozGetAsFile);
}
function overrideCanvaRendProto(root) {
const name = "getImageData";
const getImageData = root.prototype.getImageData;

root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = getImageData;

Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, "getImageData",
{
value: function () {
var imageData = getImageData.apply(this, arguments);
var height = imageData.height;
var width = imageData.width;
// console.log("getImageData " + width + " " + height);
for (var i = 0; i < height; i++) {
for (var j = 0; j < width; j++) {
var index = ((i * (width * 4)) + (j * 4));
imageData.data[index + 0] = imageData.data[index + 0] + r;
imageData.data[index + 1] = imageData.data[index + 1] + g;
imageData.data[index + 2] = imageData.data[index + 2] + b;
imageData.data[index + 3] = imageData.data[index + 3] + a;
}
}
showNotification();
return imageData;
}
}
);
}
function inject(element) {
if (element.tagName.toUpperCase() === "IFRAME" && element.contentWindow) {
try {
var hasAccess = element.contentWindow.HTMLCanvasElement;
} catch (e) {
console.log("can't access " + e);
return;
}
overrideCanvasProto(element.contentWindow.HTMLCanvasElement);
overrideCanvaRendProto(element.contentWindow.CanvasRenderingContext2D);
overrideDocumentProto(element.contentWindow.Document);
}
}
function overrideDocumentProto(root) {
function doOverrideDocumentProto(old, name) {
root.prototype[storedObjectPrefix + name] = old;
Object.defineProperty(root.prototype, name,
{
value: function () {
var element = old.apply(this, arguments);
// console.log(name+ " everridden call"+element);
if (element == null) {
return null;
}
if (Object.prototype.toString.call(element) === '[object HTMLCollection]' ||
Object.prototype.toString.call(element) === '[object NodeList]') {
for (var i = 0; i < element.length; ++i) {
var el = element[i];
// console.log("elements list inject " + name);
inject(el);
}
} else {
// console.log("element inject " + name);
inject(element);
}
return element;
}
}
);
}
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.createElement, "createElement");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.createElementNS, "createElementNS");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementById, "getElementById");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByName, "getElementsByName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByClassName, "getElementsByClassName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByTagName, "getElementsByTagName");
doOverrideDocumentProto(root.prototype.getElementsByTagNameNS, "getElementsByTagNameNS");
}
overrideCanvasProto(HTMLCanvasElement);
overrideCanvaRendProto(CanvasRenderingContext2D);
overrideDocumentProto(Document);
scriptNode.parentNode.removeChild(scriptNode);
})(24,14,-9,19,"ojkrt", "ltwvx");} catch (e) {console.error(e);}Erreur d’analyse XML : mal formé
Emplacement : https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml
Numéro de ligne 63, Colonne 18 :
<title>3015: D&D Combinatorics</title>
------------------------^
</nowiki>

[[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.228|172.71.130.228]] ([[User talk:172.71.130.228|talk]]) 08:58, 12 December 2024‎ ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

=== RSS ===

RIP RSS feed yet again. 23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)23:29, 24 March 2025 (UTC)[[User:Bb777|[insert signature here]]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]])
:Is there something new we should know? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.6|172.70.58.6]] 00:30, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

=== the rss feed seems to be broken ===

the rss feed button on the side leading to https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml throws up and error making the feed not load properly in rss readers.

"This page contains the following errors:
error on line 463 at column 18: EntityRef: expecting ';'
Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error." {{unsigned ip|172.71.241.19|20:38, 5 May 2025}}
:I think this is the continuing issue as of [[#RSS Feed: XML not well-formed]], you're talking about. As far as I'm aware unfixed and (with the current smattering of active admins at their limits of admin-levels) unfixable. Because of a 'bare' ampersand (or two) being misinterpreted as a failed attempt at a character-entity reference. ''If'' that was fixed, without me noticing, then I'm sure someone will be along to try to fix your new issue too.
:People have been trying to prod other people who can prod the server back into shape (insofar as that issue), but I've not yet been privy to anything coming of that, and presume you're just trapped in the exact same glitch. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.30|172.70.91.30]] 21:59, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

::What exactly happens if it's broken? Is it just unusable forever, or is just that one comic that's broken? Or something else? I'm curious. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::It's unusable so long as the "I'm parsing this is an '&Thing;' ... oh, wait, it has no closing ';'... ARGH!" happens to it. If you click on the RSS feed, to the left, you can see how it shows the (not ''quite'' humanly-readable) lines of the RSS feed (most recent, chronologically backwards) until the last line it shows is the comic imediately after the most recent "D&D" entry. (Actually, depends on browser. Sorry, just checked. It does that on Android Chrome, but currently I'm on Windows Firefox and it 'only' complains. But if you'll take my word for it.)
:::Someone really needs to go into the https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml file (who can edit it directly) and find the two "D&D" instances and make them "D&amp;D". (Note to editors: Had to "amp amp" the "amp", here in this edit, to get it to appear just as amp... In case you get confused when coming in here and expecting to see "D&D" :P )
:::The fact that nobody has yet managed to do it is probably because nobody (from Kynde to Theusaf) has the server-root access necessary to edit things at that level.
:::Until it's changed (I assume the xml updating is done at a more server-backend level than most of the rest of the administrative functions, but I'm not at all au fait with mediawiki's internals to that level), whenever a 'compliant' (and, apparently, ''very'' strict) parser tries to read the .xml it'll 'quite rightly' tell you that there's a bare ampersand and then refuses to do anything more.
:::Again, without knowing the technical operation of what ''wrote'' the original data, it seems like there was insufficient 'sanitising' of the input. It applied the bare-ampersand without forward-converting it to an ampersanded ampersand-entity. That maybe also needs fixing (in case we get more), even if the existing ones get manually changed. I don't use any RSS feeds, myself, being too new-fangled ("Initial release: RSS 0.90 (Netscape), March 15, 1999; 26 years ago; Latest release: RSS 2.0 (version 2.0.11) March 30, 2009; 16 years ago"... yeah, ''to me'' that's still new-fangled! :P ) so all I know about how this one fails is what people have talked about above, and trivially clicking on the left-sidebar link to look at it myself, and venture what I think is the logical nature of the glitch (both cause and effect). Maybe somebody knows more about it, but I'm filling in until that person comes along and says oytherswise (and/or more) about it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.193|162.158.33.193]] 20:28, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::: It's not being "very strict" to reject an unescaped ampersand: it's just part of the XML spec. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.67|162.158.216.67]] 09:00, 28 May 2025 (UTC)
:::::Now it says there's an error on line 767...--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 19:23, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
::::::Same error, of the same (second of two, once it had added its influence to the first) comic that did the "&D" problem. But just with more non-invalid lines before it. Check it again after another few comics and it should be line 770+. This isn't the new <City> thing, for several reasons, if that's what you were thinking it was. (Though there appears to be ''another'' issue with it, which is masked and made moot by the &D-breakage.)[[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.227|82.132.246.227]] 04:55, 18 September 2025 (UTC)

=== RSS Feed doesn't seem to contain anything after 3 August 2025 ===

There do not seem to be any new entries in the RSS Feed after the third of August. {{unsigned ip|216.212.38.209|16:01, 23 September 2025}}
:That's been noticed. But not much chance trying to fix that (manually adding in, if necessary) until we can properly (and manually?) fix the ampersand-D issues. For which there seems to be no-one with sufficient access. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 22:12, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

May I ask why my PHP-Workaround for the broken RSS Feed has been removed without any explanation and not included in the the new RSS-Feed section? (see history) or is this another wiki edit hell not worth wasting another constructive thought?
[[Special:Contributions/2003:6:53B1:1546:C5D5:2F07:E2E6:772B|2003:6:53B1:1546:C5D5:2F07:E2E6:772B]] 21:36, 2 October 2025 (UTC)
:I think that FaviFake forgot to add it into this mega-thread. I've pasted it back in. Sorry! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 22:16, 2 October 2025 (UTC)
::Yes sorry! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:24, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
:::Apology accepted [[Special:Contributions/2A01:599:444:E43A:5D04:9DC4:8A10:3A9D|2A01:599:444:E43A:5D04:9DC4:8A10:3A9D]] 20:01, 9 October 2025 (UTC)

=== PHP Workaround for Broken RSS Feed ===
The following PHP-Code creates a RSS-Feed from the "All comics" page on explainxkcd: (with kind help from Kimi K2)
<pre>
<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

// php-xml module available
if (!class_exists('DOMDocument')) {
die("Error: DOMDocument class missing. Please install php-xml");
}

// configuration
$url = 'https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics_(full)';
$url2 = 'https://www.explainxkcd.com/';
$feedTitle = 'xkcdExplain';
$feedDescription = '';
$feedLanguage = 'en-en';
$maxItems = 40;

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_URL => $url,
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_USERAGENT => 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/125.0.0.0 Safari/537.36',
CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 20,
CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER => true,
CURLOPT_ENCODING => 'gzip, deflate',
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8',
'Accept-Language: de-DE,de;q=0.9,en-US;q=0.8,en;q=0.7',
'Cache-Control: no-cache',
]
]);
/* */
$html = curl_exec($ch);

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
die('cURL-Fehler: ' . curl_error($ch));
}

$httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
if ($httpCode !== 200) {
die("HTTP-Fehler: $httpCode");
}

curl_close($ch);

// DOM-Verarbeitung
$dom = new DOMDocument();
libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$dom->loadHTML($html);
libxml_clear_errors();
$xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);

$items = $xpath->query('//tr[ .//a[starts-with(@href,"/wiki/index.php/") and contains(@href,":")]]');
if ($items->length === 0) {
die("Nothing found.");
}

// creat RSS
$rss = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');
$rss->formatOutput = true;

$rssRoot = $rss->createElement('rss');
$rssRoot->setAttribute('version', '2.0');
$rssRoot->setAttribute('xmlns:atom', 'http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom');
$rss->appendChild($rssRoot);

$channel = $rss->createElement('channel');
$rssRoot->appendChild($channel);

$channel->appendChild($rss->createElement('title', $feedTitle));
$channel->appendChild($rss->createElement('description', $feedDescription));
$channel->appendChild($rss->createElement('link', $url));
$channel->appendChild($rss->createElement('language', $feedLanguage));

// Atom Self-Link
$atomLink = $rss->createElement('atom:link');
$atomLink->setAttribute('href', (isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) ? 'https://' : 'http://') . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
$atomLink->setAttribute('rel', 'self');
$atomLink->setAttribute('type', 'application/rss+xml');
$channel->appendChild($atomLink);

foreach ($items as $item) {
if ($maxItems-- <= 0) break;

$cells = $item->getElementsByTagName('td');
if ($cells->length < 4) continue; // Sicherheits-check
$number = trim($item->getElementsByTagName('th')->item(0)->textContent);
$title = trim($cells->item(0)->textContent);
$link = 'https://www.explainxkcd.com' . $cells->item(0)->getElementsByTagName('a')->item(0)->getAttribute('href');
$image = 'https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/' . trim($cells->item(2)->textContent);
$date = trim($cells->item(3)->textContent); // YYYY-MM-DD

// RSS-Item erzeugen
$rssItem = $rss->createElement('item');
$rssItem->appendChild($rss->createElement('title', htmlspecialchars($number . ': ' . $title)));
$rssItem->appendChild($rss->createElement('link', htmlspecialchars($link)));
$rssItem->appendChild($rss->createElement('description',
htmlspecialchars('<img src="' . $image . '" alt="' . $title . '" /> ' . $title)));
$rssItem->appendChild($rss->createElement('pubDate', date(DATE_RSS, strtotime($date))));
$rssItem->appendChild($rss->createElement('guid', htmlspecialchars($link)));
$channel->appendChild($rssItem);
}

header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8');
echo $rss->saveXML();
?>
</pre>
{{unsigned ip|2a01:599:442:d8ec:967c:b1b4:cb3e:2bc2}} 20:08, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

----

===Can't we just rename the two pages?===
[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3028:_D%26D_Roll&diff=prev&oldid=389591 This edit made me think]: can't we just rename the two pages to something like ...DnD ... to fix our RSS feed? Would that work? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:18, 27 October 2025 (UTC)
:Only if that propogated to (overwote/superseded and deleted the old entry) the RSS file. But with (for totally different reasons?) there not having been any updates since 8/Aug/2025, I don't even see that happening. And a number of reasons to think that even if it replaces the items: a) it won't remove another wrong aspect, b) it won't let us (easily!) add all the missing ones since that point.
:I think it still needs someone with server-side editing priviliges to just correct it, perhaps add some text-sanitising to the script that updates it ''and'' investigate why the updating script isn't still running.
:Though you could try renaming the first (i.e. chronologically last) page that pops up. ''If'' it makes it update that entry (revealing the other D&D error as the new stopper), then make the second change... (surely if it's kick-started to respond to that, then it's kick-started to start adding new things, but no idea if you'd ''then'' need to change/unchange everything since the current last, in order to prompt them to be added). But my guess is that you'll change the page, nothing will happen, you'll wait... eventually you'll want to undo the change back to how it currently is. (Or look for every page that references the changed page to get them pointing at the new-name... as not leaving a Redirect page on the old name might be the only way to make it 'RSS official').
:Or I'm totally wrong, and it's all much simpler. Can't test any of these hypotheticals and predictions myself. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 20:40, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

=== Working Native Solution ===
You don't need a PHP workaround or external script. MediaWiki has a built-in feed that works perfectly and requires no maintenance:
* '''Working Feed:''' https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:NewPages&feed=rss

This bypasses the broken custom XML entirely. --[[User:XkUjlmoh|XkUjlmoh]] ([[User talk:XkUjlmoh|talk]]) 11:34, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
:Not quite the same. It's a different article summary and slightly under the last 40 comics (which doesn't include the broken ones, at this moment, so not entirely possible to say that it's automatically "D&D"-proof, when it happened/if it happens again). But maybe it'll be useful enough for some purposes. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 15:10, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

== Fix Random Comic RNG ==

The random comic button seems to not work properly since it wont show comics before 2022. {{unsigned ip|174.168.56.208|16:41, 17 October 2025 (UTC)}}
:This is a known issue, please see [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous#Random_Explanation_Button_bias_towards_newer_articles]]. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:02, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

==Main page comic number==
The main page currently states that there are 3,161 comics. However, the latest comic as of today is [[3159]], resulting in a discrepancy of three comics. Is there a reason for this? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 20:02, 27 October 2025 (UTC)
:Moved from Kynde's talk, they've said enough times that they aren't a technical user. Unfortunately I don't have time to look into this, but I'm sure someone will. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:32, 27 October 2025 (UTC)
::The main page is, through the magic of the instruction <code><nowiki>{{#expr:{{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}}}}</nowiki></code>, taking the number from those listed in (and as enumerated at the top of) [[:Category:All comics]]. At the time of writing, that has comics [[1]] to [[3159]] , plus [[ngram charts]] and [[verizon]], giving a total two more than the numbers would suggest.
::The possible changes are to either remove non-numbered comics from the All Comics categories or (such as when some people were wondering whether the [[404]] 'non-comic' should count in the total), make a hard-coded mathematical adjustment to the counted number within the Main Page to 'correct' it. (And be prepared to re-hardcode it if the number of non-number comics changes later.) If you think it worthwhile. An even more useful change would be to have a way to ''auto''-adjust for non-number comics via a bit of extra categorisation and counting being fed into the subtraction. Depends on how much work you want to do! ;)
::Or... you could also just add ", including non-numbered comics", or your choice of wording, to the "We have..." text and then (regardless of how many such oddities occur, and why) it might not be considered any kind of problem. Simple enough, just not within my power to do for you![[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 21:06, 27 October 2025 (UTC)
:::How can people miss such a huge message, ffs.
{{misc page}}
:::Fixed by marking them as extra. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:19, 27 October 2025 (UTC)
::::They were {{diff|390190|marked as not-extra}} again...
::::Just found the other more recent suggestion(s) I saw, about this:
::::*[[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Category:Extra pages]]
::::*[[Template talk:comic#Extra Page vs Extra Comic]]
::::Makes sense to me. But I couldn't implement it, even if I wanted to change how everything works (admitedly, so that it works better, after maybe a little messing around)
::::Tempted to check exactly which pages are "extra=no" (i.e. have been changed, looks like should be "extra=page") and "extra=yes" (probably candidates for "extra=comic" treatment). But anybody can find that info, especially people who can do something about it. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.77.121|2.98.77.121]] 00:45, 23 November 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yep, there's been the paradox that non-numbered comics don't count as comics (for numbering purposes) but non-numbered ''non-''comics do.
:::::I give you three(+) options to 'solve' it (there could be more), in increasing order of complexity. By both dsscription (sorry!) and implementation.
:::::# Change the main page to say something like "We have #### comics ''and other pages'' explained", don't bother to change anything (except maybe abandon "Extra Comics" idea and stop using "extra=yes", although that does more work than recategorising), potentially have all extra comics and extra non-comic pages in the count, but nobody's now particularly bothered that this count is higher than the highest comic number and nobody[[[Template:Actual citation needed#top|''actual citation needed'']]] ever complains about this again, ok?
:::::# Accept that non-comic extra pages are "extra comics", make them "extra=yes", excludes them from the count (keeps them in the Random Page, as broken as that is), makes the "number of comics" correct again, the counting complaint ends until something else different needs pondering about in the future and further decision needs to be made.
:::::#* Slight variation: do that, but change all "Extra Comics" to "Extra Pages" as the sole "extra=yes" result/repository, without distinction.
:::::# Have both "Extra Comics" ''and'' "Extra Pages" 'infrastructure', i.e. categories, etc. Then have the comic template expanded by one further "is there an <code>extra=</code> term, and is it's value [1) 'yes', or perhaps 'comic', 2) 'page']?" nested search term to assign accordingly. (Benefit of being able to check just if <code><nowiki>{{{extra|}}}</nowiki></code> is blank/nonblank for the comic template check to see if next/previous, etc, are needed, without comic/non-comic distinction.) Anything that uses a comic-template that needs not to appear on the 'number of comics' needs one or other valid "extra=" value. Count is accurate, theoretically the Random Comic can be made to go to any number-comic, no-number-comic and (optional) non-comic extra explanation.
:::::#* Similar, but use <code>extracomic=yes</code> and <code>extrapage=yes</code>, with appropriate choices. Complicates matters (don't get the benefit/script optimisation described above), setting ''both'' extracomic and extrapage is accidentally possible (though shouldn't matter, it'll act only on the first), anything still "extra=yes" will be treated as a normal comic until changed (as it would if you chose to go with "extra=comic" template choice-change, above, but you could at least find 'illicit' hangers-on in the "All comics" list" to then change them accordingly). Again, numbered-comics, not-numbered-comics and not-comics are dealt with seperately (where it counts) but can still be grouped for Random Comic (or perhaps better "Random Explanation"?) purposes, such as it is.
:::::Simplest item is the first. Even the last isn't too complicated, for someone who has more than basic template-editing experience. (Please, nobody who has just followed the ill-advised "How to make a template" course in the FAQ. That's too basic for this, and also far too much "Hey guys, just make loads of templates, yeah!?" for comfort.)
:::::Your choices, however. Perhaps discuss first, though? [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.65|82.132.236.65]] 08:39, 23 November 2025 (UTC)
::::::I would like to vote for using extra=page and extra=comic. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:17, 24 November 2025 (UTC)
::::::The {{tl|LATESTCOMIC}} template contains only the latest comic number (currently {{LATESTCOMIC}}). theUSAFbot updates it whenever it uploads the new comic (and when other people change the template), so as long as the bot doesn't break it should always be up to date. it's already used in the main page to get copy the explanation from the latest comic and to get the percentage of incomplete explanations, so I think it should be used for consistency. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:30, 16 December 2025 (UTC)
{{outdent|::::::}}
Yeah, is there any benefit to counting the comics in the category compared to simply using {{tl|LATESTCOMIC}}? At least that one is always up to date and correct, and can be edited by non-admins if needed. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:39, 17 December 2025 (UTC)

==What If? Toolbar button==
The button called 'What If?' on the left-hand toolbar currently links to [[What If? Chapters]]. However, users would be clicking this link possibly to go to the article about the blog or the articles about the books. So, I think we should have that button link to [[What If (disambiguation)|the disambiguation link]] instead. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 14:41, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

==Comic number off again==
The comic number is now a full nine numbers off? What's happened? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 00:14, 23 November 2025 (UTC)
:See the subsection two above this... [[Special:Contributions/2.98.77.121|2.98.77.121]] 00:27, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

== Interwiki media-linking errors. ==

The (currently present) Incomplete Transcript infobox for [[3192: Planetary Alignment]] has the image (that is officially Ambox_warning_green_construction.svg) represented by redlinked "40x40px" text, instead. (For me, right now... This might change, see below.) The Incomplete (Explanation) box currently shows its ''blue'' construction symbol correctly, but the very same Incomplete-tag infobox on various other recent comic pages have red "File:Ambox warning blue construction.svg" (for the exact same image as definitely shown in that page's Incomplete).

This also seems to apply to some other cross-wiki images, the most recent being the thumbnail image that is added into the Conic Sections comic. Although I just revisited the page to grab its details properly and it ''showed up properly'' again, without any page edits having been made to explain the different behaviours.

After a quick scan through recent comics (with or without Incomplete-tagging, fewer yet with Incomplete Transcripts in place) and not so recent ones which might have 'imported' images (all full comic pages having on-site 'uploaded' images, as standard, with no issues at all) I am forced to surmise that this is an issue affecting (inconsistently!) 'interwiki loan images', those images usually seemlessly available through a <code><nowiki>[[File:image name.ext]]</nowiki></code>-style inclusion (where the image hasn't been locally uploaded, but found through the tendency to use an external MediaWiki source), either directly or via some form of template-parameter specification (which ultimately boils down to a [[File:]]-call, or similar).

Regardless of the obvious issues about the local wiki version being a bit old, I'm wondering if this is due to (inconsistent) incompatibilities introduced at the external end of the traditional search-path for nonlocal image (and potentially other?) data. As often as not, it seems, the loading of a page asks the back-end to "fill in the details" of the externally-hosted file that the page source (or template transclusion) specifies and ''cannot find it'', so marks it as a redlinked item. Revisiting the page (unless it's treated as cached, at some point between browser and back-end and so repeats the last result) ''may'' have the same difficulty or may have it show up as expected. I suspect that, if I keep plugging away with a hard-refresh on [[3192]], the "blue construction" image will show up as redlinked and the "green construction" one will show (the opposite of the situation that brought me here).

One 'fix' is probably to get the MediaWiki images concerned and Upload them locally (for those that can do that), but that's a potentially unending process when further interwiki-images are added/re-encountered, show up as failed and more and more of them are 'officially' uploaded locally to mitigate every instance. Though it'd be easier than updating the backend here (assuming that is even the issue), and I've not found anyone anywhere else mentioning that it's an error created by an 'upstream change' in the wiki-ecosystem (breaking something, or 'over-improving' it, beyond our consistent level of connectivity). Also, the inconsistency bothers me.

If I had to guess, however, there's a "challenge" API which sometimes works with this Wiki's interwiki queries and sometimes is beyond it (but I don't have the background access to either end, or the 'middle' to check this theory out properly, it would just most obviously fit the observed facts). That could also be some gateway used between this and the 'motherload' server (surely not Cloudflare, same as occasionally complains between us and explainxkcd?) acting up occasionally, outwith any wiki-backend's control. One thing it isn't, is the MediaWiki end refusing/failing to send the proxied image to the browser, as it isn't ever a 'broken image' at my end, it being explainxkcd that has decided that it's an unfulfillable image request for which it enacts the redlinking-placeholder in leiu of the requested item being established as being normally present on the 'wikicloud'.

Noting that I have a limited ability to directly ''check'' my conclusions, so I could easily be wrong. And (best case scenario?) the issue might even soon stop happening on its own as something subtle gets fixed behind the scenes, with no help from me or anyone else reading this. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.28|82.132.237.28]] 12:20, 10 January 2026 (UTC)
:For me, I do get the "File:Ambox warning blue construction.svg" redlinked, but the green icon of the transcript-incomplete box is successfully there. Well, this last time I checked, anyway. Yes, I think it has a habit of changing from time to time. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 18:53, 10 January 2026 (UTC)
:The file that the [[Template:Incomplete transcript|Incomplete transcript]] template is trying to access from commons is [[commons:File:Ambox warning blue construction.svg]]. If you go to [[Media:Ambox_warning_blue_construction.svg]], it intermittently succeeds in finding the file and displaying the information about the image, while other times it displays the 404 page for files, even from just refreshing without performing a hard refresh. I have no experience with this, but it seems like something with the server or something like that. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 19:15, 16 January 2026 (UTC)
::This has been going on for {{diff|403180|a little while now}}. I've never seen any problem ''directly'' at the Media Commons end, myself, but the theory that something outside our control between the sites is intermittently blighting the 'check and fetch details' backend seems a fairly sound hypothesis. Could be solved, at least for the regularly reused amboxes, by someone uploading the relvent images locally. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.11.33|92.23.11.33]] 21:11, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

513: Friends

2026-01-16T19:10:49Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ Better linkage. Comics are often referenced by straight "<number>: <title>", and that attempt at wikilinking was redlinking (probably meant the usual template-shortcut to "wikipedia:blah", which also lets you use the "blah" link text).

{{comic
| number = 513
| date = December 5, 2008
| title = Friends
| image = friends.png
| titletext = Friends with detriments.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is talking to [[Megan]]. He confesses that he has a crush on her. Usually the next step in Western cultures, when someone likes someone else, is to ask the other person out (in other cultures, such as Islamic or Indian cultures, it would be more appropriate to request that one's parents contact the parents of the person one has a crush on). But Cueball takes a different route, and in the comic, he explains his thought process. Presumably he actually explains this to Megan.

He explains that he is afraid of rejection, and so instead of asking her out directly, promises to be her "best friend" and someone who is always "there for you," in the hopes that this will eventually lead to Megan developing an attraction for him. This way, Cueball does not have to risk Megan saying 'No' to him, as she will be led to make the first move instead. Cueball is aware that this may not be an ideal situation for Megan, conceding that she may end up changing her definition of happiness to make her feel more comfortable in the relationship, while she is conscious of the fact that she doesn't really love Cueball. Cueball recognizes that if Megan fell for him this way, she would probably have this fact at the back of her mind forever.

And so, after painting this elaborate - but troubling - future, Cueball asks ''sound good''? Megan, however, is not won over by Cueball's plan, and she tells him that she is going to date "this ''jerk''", poking fun at him saying 'I'll tear down the jerks you date'. This suggests that she would much rather date someone else rather than date Cueball whom she -- as he correctly implies -- does not love.

Cueball declares that the other suitor ''doesn't respect you'', an absurdly hypocritical comment given his manipulative plan. He explained earlier that he would ''tear down the jerks you date''; this last line could also be him actually executing on the plan he just detailed.

The title text is a play on the concept of ''friends with benefits'', wherein two friends have casual sex without entering a committed relationship. ''Friends with detriments'' suggests that having Cueball as her "friend" damages Megan's chances of getting a relationship (and sex) with anyone else, since Cueball will tear any candidate down. Also, despite Cueball claiming to be Megan's friend (and appearing to value this friendship), his plans are rather selfish and manipulative, making him a "friend" who is in fact detrimental.

The later comic [[1106: ADD]] suggests that [[Randall Munroe]] has {{w|attention deficit hyperactivity disorder}} (ADHD, formerly "attention deficit disorder" or ADD), a neurodevelopmental disorder best known for causing restlessness and distractability. Another lesser-known, but also common, symptom of ADHD is [https://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-adhd-emotional-dysregulation/ rejection sensitive dysphoria], which causes the patient to experience abnormally severe emotional (sometimes even physical) pain in response to rejection or criticism from others in many contexts, including romance. While Cueball clearly does not represent Randall in this comic as he does in some, it is possible that the issue described at the beginning of the comic may be partially based on real-world experience with this symptom of ADHD.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is talking to Megan.]
:Cueball: I have a crush on you.

:[Cueball is shown alone.]
:Cueball: I could ask you out, and move on with my life if you said no.

:[Cueball has his arms out.]
:Cueball: Or,
:Cueball: <big>WE COULD BE FRIENDS!</big>

:[Cueball has one palm out.]
:Cueball: See, I don't want to consider that you might not be attracted to me. I'm scared of rejection, so I've decided relationships should grow smoothly out of friendships.

:[Megan is shown sitting at her computer.]
:Cueball: When you have problems, I'll be there for you, night after night.
:Cueball: Selflessly.
:Computer: *hug*

:[Megan is shown slamming a door and walking to Cueball to get a hug.]
:Cueball: I'll tear down the jerks you date, and wait for you to realize how good I am for you. That only I will ever understand you.
:''SLAM''
:Megan: ''Sniff''
:Cueball: There there

:[Cueball is shown alone again.]
:Cueball: You don't want to hurt my feelings, and I won't ever force the issue. I'll tell myself it's because I "value our friendship."

:[Again.]
:Cueball: Bit by bit, I'll make you depend on me.

:[Cueball and Megan are shown sitting on a rock in a park, reading a book together.]
:Cueball: You'll think about how long it would take to build this kind of connection again.

:[Cueball and Megan are shown sitting on a couch drinking, getting closer, and kissing.]
:Cueball: And in a moment of weakness
:Cueball: and loneliness
:Cueball: you'll give in.

:[Megan is shown sitting at the computer with Cueball behind her facing the other way washing dishes.]
:Cueball: It'll feel comfortable and natural. You'll quietly revise your definition of love and try to be happy. And sometimes you will be.

:[Megan is shown sitting at the computer.]
:Cueball: Only the wistfulness in your gaze and the tiny pause before you say "I love you" will hint that this wasn't the ending you'd hoped for.
:Cueball: Sound good?

:[Megan is holding hands with another boy, talking to Cueball.]
:Megan: ...I'm going to date this jerk.
:Cueball: But he doesn't respect you!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sarcasm]]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-16T19:03:37Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ more

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by boiling down a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|epoxy}} — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings, named for the chemical substructure {{w|epoxide}}, which is the precursor component to these substances turning from liquids to solids.

[[File:FiveMinEpoxy.jpg|thumb|A typical 2-part epoxy applicator.]]Many types of epoxy are multi-part (usually two-part), where the components, such as {{w|resin}} and a {{w|Epoxy#Curing|hardener}}, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user squeezes out both of the separate chemicals onto the initial surface, or into a container, by depressing both syringes simultaneously. The user then thoroughly mixes the components, as quickly as possible. The mixture is spread over the surface(s) to be joined or protected, and/or into the gaps to be filled, and if there are separate surfaces involved they are quickly positioned and hed in place. The combined epoxy quickly cures, usually within a few minutes. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text, as with a couple of the substances invlved, references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on others can also require special techniques or products to gain the best advantage. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. {{w|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also ''still'' not adhesing as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.

Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|The word is probably being used in humorous contrast to the "hardener" component, and perhaps also by analogy with laundry products that contain a fabric softener alongside a detergent. However, {{w|plasticizer|plasticizers}} are often added to polymers to make them more pliable, and thus to increase their impact resistance. These plasticizers tend to be lost over long periods of time (e.g. by evaporation or degradation), which contributes to old plastic becoming brittle.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually a different kind of resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin (a kind of '{{w|Flux (metallurgy)|flux}}') is one of two parts that make up rosin-core solder, used in electronic work, where the rosin is located in the center (the "core") of the wire-like solder, similar to how graphite is in the core of a pencil. When heated hot enough to melt, it {{w|Soldering#Flux|cleans corrosion and oxides from the surfaces}} of the metal parts to be joined, creating bare metal surfaces that can be 'wet' by the solder. In rosin-core solder, the two substances are touching rather than kept completely separate, since they're both in solid form, and don't react with each other even when they're heated to melt them. In this respect they differ from common combination epoxy chemicals that will be both liquids that cure together on contact even at room temperature. Rosin is also frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "{{w|The Devil Went Down to Georgia}}" or the folk song {{w|Old Rosin the Beau}}.
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they are inadvertently applied to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it mostly only really useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}} This may be a reference to {{w|cyanoacrylate|cyanoacrylate adhesives}} ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin while often failing to bond the target materials.
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{Maybe|Not effective as epoxy}}
|'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable{{acn}}. Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces, especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done.
|-
|Placebo
|{{Maybe|Not in the field of adhesives}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality it has no mechanism of action to produce that effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something, as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{Maybe|Not intentionally}}
|{{w|Duct tape}} is widely used as a way to join and/or cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. [[Randall]] is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not bode well for the adhesive.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|{{w|Acetone}} is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (including nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive smell, and is actually toxic, making fragrance an odd reason for adding it to any product. It ''would'' give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds. The use of 'X fragrance' in an ingredient list, instead of simply listing the ingredient X, usually implies that the actual ingredient is some (cheaper) substitute for X with a similar scent. Since acetone is already inexpensive, perhaps some substitute has been discovered that provides the smell without weakening this glue, though other joke entries value humour over adhesion.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{Maybe|Yes, but not in resin}}
|This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Not in epoxy}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|ethylene-vinyl acetate|Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)}}, some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode {{w|Lucy Does a TV Commercial}} and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Unclear}}
|This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but {{w|2-Polyprenyl-6-hydroxyphenol methylase|a name with a "2-" prefix}} generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a {{w|functional group}} attached to the ''second'' position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{Maybe|Not for taste, but salt can be useful}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy.{{citation needed}} However, salt, sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures. But when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}{{Citation Needed}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. In this case, the label refers to the blood of a fictional breed of gorillas called “Gorilla Glue” gorillas, implying that Gorilla Glue is derived from or incorporates material taken from these animals. The epoxy ingredient list humorously treats this blood as a real component, despite Gorilla Glue being a modern synthetic adhesive. Although animal products have historically been used in some traditional glues, Gorilla Glue contains no such ingredients.

Blood has been [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue historically used in glue], though not typically that of gorillas.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No|Probably not}}
|Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.
|}

==Transcript==

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin (coloured beige)

Hardener (mango yellow)

Filler (darker yellow)

Softener (cream)

Rosin (very light red)

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else (yellow-dark green)

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance (light blue)

Placebo(white)

Minced duct tape(grey with a tint of green)

Acetone Fragrance(beige-yellow)

Powdered bar magnets(brown)

Polyethylvinylesteracetate(blue-white)

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate(blue-white but slightly darker)

Salt and pepper to taste(light grey)

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas(red)

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours(beige)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-16T18:53:24Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ Minor wording changes...

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by boiling down a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|epoxy}} — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings, named for the chemical substructure {{w|epoxide}}, which is the precursor component to these substances turning from liquids to solids.

[[File:FiveMinEpoxy.jpg|thumb|A typical 2-part epoxy applicator.]]Many types of epoxy are multi-part (usually two-part), where the components, such as {{w|resin}} and a {{w|Epoxy#Curing|hardener}}, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user squeezes out both of the separate chemicals onto the initial surface, or into a container, by depressing both syringes simultaneously. The user then thoroughly mixes the components, as quickly as possible. The mixture is spread evenly (or as necessary) over the surface(s) to be joined or protected, and if there are multiple parts they are quickly positioned. The combined epoxy quickly cures, usually within a few minutes. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on some can require special techniques or products. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. {{w|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also not working as a glue as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.

Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|The word is probably being used in humorous contrast to the "hardener" component, and perhaps also by analogy with laundry products that contain a fabric softener alongside a detergent. However, {{w|plasticizer|plasticizers}} are often added to polymers to make them more pliable, and thus to increase their impact resistance. These plasticizers tend to be lost over long periods of time (e.g. by evaporation or degradation), which contributes to old plastic becoming brittle.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually a different kind of resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin (a kind of '{{w|Flux (metallurgy)|flux}}') is one of two parts that make up rosin-core solder, used in electronic work, where the rosin is located in the center (the "core") of the wire-like solder, similar to how graphite is in the core of a pencil. When heated hot enough to melt, it {{w|Soldering#Flux|cleans corrosion and oxides from the surfaces}} of the metal parts to be joined, creating bare metal surfaces that can be 'wet' by the solder. In rosin-core solder, the two substances are touching rather than kept completely separate, since they're both in solid form, and don't react with each other even when they're heated to melt them. In this respect they differ from common combination epoxy chemicals that will be both liquids that cure together on contact even at room temperature. Rosin is also frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "{{w|The Devil Went Down to Georgia}}" or the folk song {{w|Old Rosin the Beau}}.
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they are inadvertently applied to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it mostly only really useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}} This may be a reference to {{w|cyanoacrylate|cyanoacrylate adhesives}} ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin while often failing to bond the target materials.
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{Maybe|Not effective as epoxy}}
|'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable{{acn}}. Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces, especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done.
|-
|Placebo
|{{Maybe|Not in the field of adhesives}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality it has no mechanism of action to produce that effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something, as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{Maybe|Not intentionally}}
|{{w|Duct tape}} is widely used as a way to join and/or cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. [[Randall]] is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not bode well for the adhesive.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|{{w|Acetone}} is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (including nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive smell, and is actually toxic, making fragrance an odd reason for adding it to any product. It ''would'' give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds. The use of 'X fragrance' in an ingredient list, instead of simply listing the ingredient X, usually implies that the actual ingredient is some (cheaper) substitute for X with a similar scent. Since acetone is already inexpensive, perhaps some substitute has been discovered that provides the smell without weakening this glue, though other joke entries value humour over adhesion.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{Maybe|Yes, but not in resin}}
|This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Not in epoxy}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|ethylene-vinyl acetate|Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)}}, some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode {{w|Lucy Does a TV Commercial}} and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Unclear}}
|This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but {{w|2-Polyprenyl-6-hydroxyphenol methylase|a name with a "2-" prefix}} generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a {{w|functional group}} attached to the ''second'' position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{Maybe|Not for taste, but salt can be useful}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy.{{citation needed}} However, salt, sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures. But when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}{{Citation Needed}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. In this case, the blood of a fictional breed of gorillas known as "Gorilla Glue" gorillas would be extracted and placed in the polymer, which would dilute and possibly weaken it. This label jokingly treats this fictional breed of gorillas as a literal source material, as if Gorilla Glue were made from the blood of such gorillas. While animal products have historically been used in some traditional glues, Gorilla Glue is a modern synthetic adhesive and contains no such ingredient.

Blood has been [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue historically used in glue], though not typically that of gorillas.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No|Probably not}}
|Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.
|}

==Transcript==

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin (coloured beige)

Hardener (mango yellow)

Filler (darker yellow)

Softener (cream)

Rosin (very light red)

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else (yellow-dark green)

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance (light blue)

Placebo(white)

Minced duct tape(grey with a tint of green)

Acetone Fragrance(beige-yellow)

Powdered bar magnets(brown)

Polyethylvinylesteracetate(blue-white)

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate(blue-white but slightly darker)

Salt and pepper to taste(light grey)

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas(red)

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours(beige)

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-15T22:28:30Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */ I've never really called the solder-helping substance anything other than 'flux', probably because it often isn't even Rosin.

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|Epoxy}} — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings, named for a particular {{w|Epoxide|chemical substructure}} that's key to these substances turning from liquids to solids. Many types of epoxy are multi-part, usually two, where the components, such as resin and a hardener, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user simultaneously squeezes out the separate chemicals by depressing both syringes at once, onto the initial surface or into a container. The user then thoroughly mixes the components, as quickly as possible. The mixture is spread evenly (or as necessary) over the surface(s) to be joined or protected, and if there are multiple parts they are quickly positioned. The combined epoxy quickly cures, usually within a few minutes. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on some can require special techniques or products. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. {{w|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also not working as a glue as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.

Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|A substance which is added to polymer to soften the polymer and increase its impact resistance.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually an alternative to resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin (also commonly known as '{{w|Flux (metallurgy)|flux}}') is one of two parts that make up rosin-core solder, used in electronic circuits, where the rosin is located in the center (the "core") of the solder and helps the solder to melt and bind better, as well as letting it 'wet' the surfaces to be soldered better — in this case the two parts are touching rather than kept completely separate, as rosin and the solid solder require heat to mix and do their {{w|Soldering#Flux|combined jobs}}, unlike common combination epoxy chemicals that will be both liquids that cure together on contact even at room temperature. Rosin is also frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they bond to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it mostly only really useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}} This may be a reference to {{w|cyanoacrylate|cyanoacrylate adhesives}} ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin while often failing to bond the target materials.
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{Maybe|Not effective as epoxy}}
|'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable{{acn}}. Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces, especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done.
|-
|Placebo
|{{Maybe|Not in the field of adhesives}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality there is no effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{Maybe|Not intentionally}}
|{{w|Duct tape}} is widely used as a way to join and/cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. [[Randall]] is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not fare well for the adhesive.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|Acetone is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (incl. nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive, very unpleasant smell, and is actually toxic, meaning that fragrance is an odd reason for adding it to any product. It ''would'' give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{Maybe|Yes, but not in resin}}
|This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Not in epoxy}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|ethylene-vinyl acetate|Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)}}, some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode {{w|Lucy Does a TV Commercial}} and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Unclear}}
|This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but {{w|2-Polyprenyl-6-hydroxyphenol methylase|a name with a "2-" prefix}} generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a {{w|functional group}} attached to the ''second'' position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{Maybe|Not for taste, but salt can be useful}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy. However, salt or sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures. But when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}{{Citation Needed}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. In this case, the blood of the gorillas would be extracted and placed in the polymer, which would dilute and possibly weaken it. Insofar as Gorilla Glue gorillas exist, they are depicted as ordinary gorillas who just happen to carry glue everywhere. Extracting and consuming the blood of a creature or person in an attempt to inherit some of the qualities of the 'donor' is a kind of {{w|sympathetic magic}}, so this may be suggesting that including this will give the epoxy 'the strength of a gorilla', commonly considered a powerful animal.

Blood has been [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue historically used in glue], though not typically that of gorillas.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No|Probably not}}
|Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin

Hardener

Filler

Softener

Rosin

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance

Placebo

Minced duct tape

Acetone Fragrance

Powdered bar magnets

Polyethylvinylesteracetate

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate

Salt and pepper to taste

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

3193: Sailing Rigs

2026-01-15T22:13:10Z

92.23.11.33: /* The Rigs */ Better wikiinking...

{{comic
| number = 3193
| date = January 12, 2026
| title = Sailing Rigs
| image = sailing_rigs_2x.png
| imagesize = 508x822px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I wanted to make the world's fastest yawl, so I made the aft sail bigger, but apparently that means it's not a yawl anymore! It's a real ketch-22.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by the birds flying in my kite. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic shows the side profiles of a variety of different sailing boat/ship rigs, starting with six real ones, but then moving mostly into ones imagined by [[Randall]], with varying levels of absurdity. The [[#The Rigs|table below]] explains each type depicted.

The title text is a pun on {{w|Catch-22 (logic)|Catch-22}}, a term taken from the {{w|Catch-22|novel of the same name}} for a situation where success is impossible because it requires meeting self-contradictory conditions. For example, the novel introduces the term for a pilot who requests mental evaluation for insanity, hoping to be found not sane enough to fly and thereby escape dangerous missions, but who demonstrates his own sanity by creating the request and thus cannot be declared insane. Per the main panel, a ketch is similar to a yawl but has a larger aft sail, so increasing the aft sail of a yawl effectively turns the yawl into a ketch, effectively making it impossible to build a faster yawl. (This is not technically true, as the distinction between a {{w|yawl}} and {{w|ketch}} is based on whether the aft sail is mounted forward or aft of the rudder post, although a yawl with a large aft sail [https://www.woodenboatstore.com/products/hand-reef-and-steer-2nd-edition would probably be difficult to control.])

==The Rigs==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Image
!Real?
!Description 
!Explanation 
|-
|{{w|Lateen}}
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Lateen.png|x75px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A single triangular sail.
|The triangular sail is affixed to a long yard or crossbar, mounted at its middle to the top of the mast and angled to extend aft far above the mast and forward down nearly to the deck. The sail, its free corner secured near the stern, is capable of taking the wind on either side, and, by enabling the vessel to tack into the wind, the [https://www.britannica.com/technology/lateen-sail lateen] immensely increases the potential of the sailing ship.  The best known Lateen sail boat is also the most popular fiberglass boat, the {{w|Sunfish (sailboat)|Sunfish}}.
|-
|{{W|Bermuda rig|Bermuda rigged sloop}}
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Bermuda.png|x86px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A front and rear triangular sail share a mast.
|A {{w|sloop}} has one mast, typically with two sails mounted on the mast — one ahead and one behind.
|-
|{{w|Ketch}}
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Ketch.png|x101px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A sailboat with two masts, where the main mast is taller than the mizzen (or aft mast), and the mizzen is forward of the rudder post
|Similar to a yawl (below), but with the mizzen (aft) mast mounted forward of the rudder post and its sail typically larger.
|-
|{{w|Gaff rig|Gaff rigged sloop}}
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Gaff Sloop.png|x87px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A front triangular sail shares a mast with a rear quadrilateral sail.
|A sloop is a sailboat with one mast, typically with two sails mounted on it — one ahead and one behind. A [https://nauticalknowhow.mysailingcourse.com/glossary/gaff-rig/ gaff rig] is a sailing rig where one sail is four-sided and controlled by a spar (the gaff) at its top, which is hoisted at an angle to the mast.
|-
|{{w|Yawl}}
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Yawl.png|x100px]]
|{{Yes}}
|Two triangular sails share a front mast, and a much smaller aft mast holds a small aft sail.
|A yawl is sailboat with two masts, where the main mast has two sails (one in front of the mast and one behind, known as {{w|Fore-and-aft rig|fore-and-aft rigging}}), and the mizzen (aft) mast is mounted aft of the rudder post, leading the mizzen sail to typically be small. Similar to a ketch.
|-
|{{w|Schooner}}
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Schooner.png|x102px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A sailboat with two or more masts, where all have {{w|Fore-and-aft rig|fore-and-aft rigging}}, and where the foremast is typically smaller than the main mast
|-
|Ketch-rigged gaff
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Ketch Gaff.png|x98px]]
|{{No}}
|Resembles a gaff, with the aft sail reduced and two triangular sails mounted above. The resulting shape resembles a vertical ketch.
|The first fictional rig. It might be capable of functioning like a sloop, but its rigging would be more complicated and it is likely less efficient at catching the wind.
|-
|Kloop-rigged sketch
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Kloop.png|x100px]]
|{{No}}
|Four or five sails mounted in a nonsensical configuration, with elements from the schooner, ketch, and gaff
| A mixture of the names of {{w|ketch}} and {{w|sloop}}, poking fun at the unfamiliar and odd-sounding names of some rigs. Adding to the absurdity, the kloop-rigged sketch is neither a sloop nor a ketch. However it is technically a {{w|Sketch (drawing)|sketch}}, as "sketch" can mean "drawing"
|-
|Bunkbed rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 100% more boat.png|x118px]]
|{{No}}
|A gaff-rigged sloop mounted on top of a second hull.
|The name refers to a {{w|bunkbed}}, where one bed is mounted directly above another. Bunk-style sleeping arrangements are sometimes used on boats for reasons of space efficiency. It applies this idea to the whole ship, mounting one hull directly above another. While {{w|Multihull|boats with multiple hulls}} do exist, these are commonly mounted side-by-side to guarantee stability. Mounting one hull above another, however, is a design aspect used in the '{{w|small-waterplane-area twin hull}}' concept, usually ''along with'' side-by-side multihulling. It's possible that this 'bunk hulled' design normally floats with the upper hull astride the water-level, though needing a greater depth of water for the 'keel hull', but that {{w|hydrofoil|at speed}} (and/or by carefully pumping ballast water out of the two hulls, and increasing overall buoyancy) it can rise up to present only the thin connectors to the sea surface. Though the stability of such a system, in an otherwise singular bunk-hull, would seem to be a problem when running with any amount of side-wind, {{w|Foilboard|in principle}} it seems more than managable with the right design and use.
Notably, this ship's ''rigging'' is mundane; the connection between hulls seems to be structural. It may be more accurate to refer to it as a bunkbed ''hull''.
|-
|Flettner rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Flettner.png|x94px]]
|{{Yes}}, though not typically called a rig
|The rectangular outline of a cylinder with motion lines around it, indicating a {{w|Flettner rotor}}
|A Flettner rotor is a right circular cylinder with disc end plates which is spun along its long axis. As air passes across it the {{w|Magnus effect}} causes an aerodynamic lift force to be generated in the direction perpendicular to both the long axis and the direction of airflow. In a {{w|rotor ship}}, the rotors stand vertically and lift is generated at right angles to the wind, to drive the ship forwards.

Flettner rotors were previously mentioned in [[3119]]
|-
|Oops, all spinnakers
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Spinnakers.png|x78px]]
|{{No}}
|Three masts each with a sail billowing in front
|A {{w|spinnaker}} is a real type of sail, where a boat is propelled by a large sail directly pulled by the wind, similar in principle to a parachute. However, "Oops, all spinnakers" is not real, as spinnakers are only practical for smaller craft, and if multiple spinnakers are mounted in a row the earlier ones may disrupt the airflow to the later ones. It does not appear that there are any real boats propelled by more than one spinnaker.
The name of the rig is a reference to the {{w|Cap'n Crunch}} cereal type that became a meme, [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oops-all-berries-box-parodies ''Oops! All Berries''], which has also been referenced in [[2256]] and [[2719]].
|-
|Keel rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Keel.png|x98px]]
|{{No}}
|Three sails in a ketch arrangement, but mounted to the keel, which would typically put the ''sails underwater''.
|The book {{w|Heaven (Stewart and Cohen novel)|''Heaven''}}, by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, features an aquatic protagonist who is introduced as sailing a surface craft with underwater 'sails' (and above-water 'keel'), due to the switched nature of his usual environment.
|-
|Kite rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Kite.png|x109px]]
|{{Maybe|Kind of}}
|All sails are replaced by two groups of kites, each tied to the mast with their own independent line.
|A {{w|kite rig}} is a real thing, where a kite is deployed from a boat or ship to catch the wind and pull the vessel along. This rigging is used in various types of vessel, most commonly {{w|kite surfing}}, but occasionally other vessels too, up to [https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/30/travel/airseas-giant-kites-ships-slash-carbon-emissions-scn-climate-spc trials with cargo ships].
However, the real kite riggings typically use one large kite optimised for catching the wind, rather than many small kites optimised for flying (as depicted) which would likely get tangled and not pull much on the ship.
|-
|Longsail rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Longsail.png|x93px]]
|{{Maybe|Kind of}}
|A Bermuda rigged sloop with the aft sail extending ~5 times as far back, well beyond the end of the hull.
|While not technically impossible, such a long sail would likely be susceptible to damage from the wind, as well as potentially making it hard to control the boat.
This is reminiscent of the Sandbagger sloops of the mid- to late-1800s. The foresail was on a very long bowsprit and the boom extended past the stern by up to the length of the boat.

This design could be a reference to "{{w|Cargo bike#Longtail bicycle|long-tail bikes}}", a type of cargo bicycle useful for hauling heavy or voluminous charges at the cost of higher weight and reduced maneuverability.
|-
|Deckhand obliterator
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Deckhand Obliterator.png|x86px]]
|{{No}}
|All sails replaced by an anchor that swings from the mast on a chain.
|Any deckhands (crew) on the deck could be knocked off or fatally hurt if the anchor passes through their space and collides with them. While most captains would consider this counterproductive, it might be effective at its stated purpose.
There is a risk that the anchor might damage the mast in a collision or get wrapped around it. It would most likely be of little use as propulsion.
|-
|Offset rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Offset.png|x108px]]
|{{No}}
|Gaff rigged sloop sails are mounted on a mast that is offset (forward) from the hull via an underwater extension of the keel.
|The extreme mechanical advantage of the sail, potentially combined with the uneven weight, would make this rigging hard if not impossible to control. 
There are in fact [https://junkrigassociation.org/technical_forum/470838 sail configurations] called [https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/gaffs-balanced-lugs-hoyt-offset-rig-etc.53504/ offset rigs] but they aren't like the one shown here.
|-
|Mastless rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Mastless.png|x59px]]
|{{Maybe|Kind of}}
|A single sail is attached directly to the hull of the boat, without any mast to give it form.
|As depicted, the sail would provide little to no useful propulsion, as it would not be high enough to effectively catch the wind, and would, in any case, flap unpredictably.
However, ships do exist without masts, such as ships not powered by wind or, more rarely, inflatable sails (e.g. [http://inflatedwingsails.com/en/concept/ this concept]), which use air, rather than a mast, for rigidity. While not intentional, it is conceivable that the drawing depicts an inflatable sail in its deflated state.
|-
|Unclassifiable chaos rig
|style="text-align:center;"|[[File:3193 Unclassifiable Chaos.png|x86px]]
|{{Maybe|Arguably}}
|Includes elements of the schooner, yawl, lateen, and possibly others, including a sail mounted in an unusual position beneath the prow.
|While this specific rig is almost certainly fictional, there are many ways to rig a ship, some of which are chaotic and difficult to classify.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows five rows of silhouettes of different sail boats as seen from the side. In total 18 different boats are shown, three rows with four each and three in each of the two bottom rows. Each boat has a different sailing rig. All boats are oriented to the left of the comic, and beneath each boat there is a label. At the top of the panel there is a large heading:]
:<big>Common Sailing Rigs</big>

:[Here follows a list of the 18 boats with a description and then their label:]

:[A single triangular sail.]
:Lateen

:[A front and rear triangular sail share a mast.]
:Bermuda rigged sloop

:[Two triangular sails as above, with an additional triangular sail on a second rear mast.]
:Ketch

:[Front triangular sail shares mast with rear quadrilateral sail.]
:Gaff rigged sloop

:[Two triangular sails share front mast and a much smaller aft mast holds a small aft.]
:Yawl

:[Two triangular front sails share forward mast with quadrilateral center sail. An aft mast supports a quadrilateral aft sail.]
:Schooner

:[Resembles a gaff, with the aft sail reduced and two triangular sails mounted above. The resulting shape resembles a vertical ketch.]
:Ketch-rigged gaff

:[Includes elements of ketch and sloop.]
:Kloop-rigged sketch

:[A gaff-rigged sloop is mounted on top of a second hull.]
:Bunkbed rig

:[The rectangular outline of a cylinder with motion lines around it.]
:Flettner rig

:[Three masts each with a sail only attached to the top.]
:Oops, all spinnakers

:[Three sails in a ketch arrangement, but mounted to the keel.]
:Keel rig

:[All sails are replaced by two groups of kites, each tied to the mast with an independent line.]
:Kite rig

:[Bermuda rigged sloop with the aft sail extending ~5 times as far back, well beyond the end of the hull.]
:Longsail rig

:[All sails replaced by an anchor that swings around the mast on a chain, similar to tetherball.]
:Deckhand obliterator

:[Gaff rigged sloop sails are mounted on a mast that is offset (forward) from the hull via an underwater extension of the keel.]
:Offset rig

:[A single sail is attached where the mast would normally be mounted, flapping around freely.]
:Mastless rig

:[Includes elements of the schooner, yawl, lateen, and possibly others.]
:Unclassifiable chaos rig

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Sailboats]]
[[Category:Kites]]
[[Category:Puns]]

3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-15T18:48:05Z

92.23.11.33: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3194
| date = January 14, 2026
| title = 16 Part Epoxy
| image = 16_part_epoxy_2x.png
| imagesize = 511x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a gorilla glue gorilla. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|Epoxy|epoxy}} — substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings. Many types of epoxy are multi-part, where the components, such as resin and a hardener, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or proportionately different widths to maintain the correct mixing ratio) such that the user simultaneously squeezes out the separate chemicals by depressing both syringes at once, onto the initial surface. The combined epoxy quickly cures as the opposing surface is brought into contact; or, for sealant or coating purposes, distributed accordingly before setting. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on some can require special techniques or products. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g. {{w|tetrachloroethylene}}, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side-effects, while also not working as a glue as intended.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Real?
!Explanation
|-
|Resin
|{{Yes}}
|A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
|-
|Hardener
|{{Yes}}
|A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
|-
|Filler
|{{Yes}}
|An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.

Some epoxies are sold as products known as 'fillers', used to repair and cover cracks, holes, and imperfections.
|-
|Softener
|{{Yes}}
|A substance which is added to polymer to soften the polymer and increase its impact resistance.
|-
|Rosin
|{{Yes}}
|While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually an alternative to resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin is frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or cellos to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".
|-
|Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else
|{{No}}
|One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they bond to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it mostly only really useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.{{acn}} This may be a reference to {{w|cyanoacrylate|cyanoacrylate adhesives}} ("super glues"), which famously bond quite aggressively to skin while often failing to bond the target materials.
|-
|Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance
|{{Maybe|Not effective as epoxy}}
|'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable{{acn}}. Poor finish, where an intended smooth uniform surface cracks or discolors, can be a frustrating problem when applying epoxy mixtures to visible surfaces, especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well done.
|-
|Placebo
|{{Maybe|Not in the field of adhesives}}
|The {{w|placebo effect}} happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality there is no effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something as opposed to simply having a {{w|psychosomatic effect}}. Using this term to describe a type of polymer suggests it would make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
|-
|Minced duct tape
|{{Maybe|Not intentionally}}
|{{w|Duct tape}} is widely used as a way to join and/cover things, sometimes in contexts where an epoxy might provide a more high-quality solution. [[Randall]] is pretending that having very small pieces of tape in the mix would add to the epoxy's ability to hold things together. In reality, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it ''less'' effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not fare well for the adhesive.
|-
|Acetone fragrance
|{{No}}
|Acetone is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (incl. nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive, very unpleasant smell, and is actually toxic, meaning that fragrance is an odd reason for adding it to any product. It ''would'' give the epoxy a familiar "chemical smell" that people associate with industrial compounds.
|-
|Powdered bar magnets
|{{Maybe|Yes, but not in resin}}
|This might still work if the pieces could somehow be aligned correctly, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be a magnet in its own right, capable of attracting the other tiny magnets, and thus resisting tension forces. However, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet, since the magnetic force would be weaker than those that held the original bar together. The micro-magnets would tend to clump together, which might strengthen the glue, but wouldn't help it to bond to surfaces very much unless the surfaces themselves were strongly magnetic.
|-
|Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Not in epoxy}}
|This appears to be a reference to {{w|ethylene-vinyl acetate|Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate)}}, some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode {{w|Lucy Does a TV Commercial}} and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin". It also resembles the kind of thing often seen in ingredients lists for common household products such as soaps and cleaners, which are fairly meaningless to the average person buying them.
|-
|2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate
|{{Maybe|Unclear}}
|This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item, but {{w|2-Polyprenyl-6-hydroxyphenol methylase|a name with a "2-" prefix}} generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a {{w|functional group}} attached to the ''second'' position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (possibly deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit.
|-
|Salt and pepper to taste
|{{Maybe|Not for taste, but salt can be useful}}
|Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor, and "salt and pepper to taste" is a phrase found in many food recipes. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy. However, salt or sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures. But when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
|-
|Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas
|{{No}}{{Citation Needed}}
|{{w|Gorilla Glue}} is a popular brand of superglue which uses {{w|gorillas}} as its mascot. In this case, the blood of the gorillas would be extracted and placed in the polymer, which would dilute and possibly weaken it. Insofar as Gorilla Glue gorillas exist, they are depicted as ordinary gorillas who just happen to carry glue everywhere. Extracting and consuming the blood of a creature or person in an attempt to inherit some of the qualities of the 'donor' is a kind of {{w|sympathetic magic}}, so this may be suggesting that including this will give the epoxy 'the strength of a gorilla', commonly considered a powerful animal.

Blood has been [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue historically used in glue], though not typically that of gorillas.
|-
|Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours
|{{No|Probably not}}
|Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress and leaving you in a fix. This is similar to "Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else" above.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin

Hardener

Filler

Softener

Rosin

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance

Placebo

Minced duct tape

Acetone Fragrance

Powdered bar magnets

Polyethylvinylesteracetate

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate

Salt and pepper to taste

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:3194: 16 Part Epoxy

2026-01-15T10:08:42Z

92.23.11.33:

Woah, just reloaded it and new comic! Sick... I should probably read it now. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 20:02, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Paint bucket fill tool strikes again. --[[User:Lycheefoxpup|Lycheefoxpup]] ([[User talk:Lycheefoxpup|talk]]) 20:18, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

TABLES! TABLES! TABLES! WOOOOOO!!!!!! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 20:21, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Table created. However, I am a teenager and do not work in construction, so the explanations may need some work. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 20:56, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
::Every item in this table is real. Ask me how I know. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 21:34, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:::How does the placebo work? Does it just kinda mind control you?--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBaal44|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBaal44|Converse]]''''' 21:42, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
:Robert'); DROP TABLE Epoxy;--
:Did it work? [[Special:Contributions/2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534|2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534]] 23:27, 14 January 2026 (UTC)
Thought for placebo adhesive: Water between two microscope slides. It'll stick real good, but it's not really glue, more... fancy pressure physics. [[Special:Contributions/142.165.161.48|142.165.161.48]] 22:28, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

"Duck" tape, not "duct". Come on Randall, you know better than that. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 00:08, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Both spellings are used. One is trademarked. [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 03:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:Read this: https://archive.is/Fq5Js [[User:Viliml|Viliml]] ([[User talk:Viliml|talk]]) 09:36, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Now I'm wondering what the properties of a powdered bar magnet would even be, if each individual piece continued to be magnetic. [[Special:Contributions/2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE|2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE]] 00:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:A magnetic powder stops being diamagnetic. All the north poles clamp onto a south pole, so the magnetic fields essentially all cancel. You end up with "lump of magnetic powder", not "one big magnet" or "powder you can disperse in a liquid." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
:: But all the little pieces of magnets are still full magnets with a north and a south pole. Magnetic monopoles have, so far, not been observed in practice. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 06:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

So, the 2-poly(etc) seems to me to suggest that instead of being "-vinyl-ethyl-vinyl-ethyly-" polimerisation, with the links between both 'ethyl-like' backbone subcomponents being from opposite ends of the respective subunit carbon-pairing, it'd more likely now be considered as a polymethyl-group with a methyl (or methylene) group as the now unused onward '1-'site, hanging free of the new polychain. I'd have to check the bond-geometries, though to see if it would even work. (Ignoring the obvious problem with the made up name.) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 01:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

I feel like the Polyethylvinylesteracetate is a joke about how polymer names are often long and gibberish-sounding. [[User:Potatocakethrow|Potatocakethrow]] ([[User talk:Potatocakethrow|talk]])

Rosin is also used soldering, which might be relevant to adhesives. Soldering is used to join pipes, among other things. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

:>"Rosin is also used soldering, ...to join pipes" Plumbing (pipes) soldering more often uses "acid flux" (Zinc Chloride and similar), not rosin which is used in electronics and jewelry. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 05:48, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

While it's less common in glues than other animal products (such as skin, bones, or cheese), blood-based glues are (or historically were) a thing. Citation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue
Gorillas would not be a suitable source of this blood, though. {{unsigned ip|178.251.89.99|07:09, 15 January 2026}}