explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

xkcd

2024-03-22T16:40:24Z

HWABAG: /* Other wikis */

[[File:Terrible small logo.png|200px|right]]{{TOC}}{{Quote|A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.|[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]}}

'''xkcd''' is a webcomic drawn by [[Randall Munroe]] and hosted at [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. It focuses on {{w|science}}, {{w|mathematics}}, {{w|technology}}, and general {{w|geek|geekiness}}, told with a light, quirky sense of humor, and at times profound philosophizing. Its art style is minimalist, told through simple [[stick figure]]s. New comics are posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and are accompanied by a [[Title text|title text]], serving as Randall's commentary.

==Style==
xkcd comics are usually plain, predominantly black-and-white line drawings, but [[:Category:Comics with color|sometimes]] they make use of hues beyond the usual monochrome colors, even if it is just [[:Category:Comics with red annotations|red annotations]]. Although quite complex objects can be drawn, or conventionally cartoon-like representations of things and [[:Category:Squirrels|animals]], a majority of the people featured are [[stick figure]]s who have become a cast of recurring [[characters]]. The xkcd art style has undergone many changes over time. Initially, the comics were made by scanning hand-drawn sketches. However, they eventually transitioned to being entirely digitally inked and lettered. Another notable change was in the style of text used. While [[:Category:Comics_with_lowercase_text|early comics featured sentence-case text]], Randall began writing in all-caps non-cursive handwriting with [[90: Jacket]]. It took several comics for this to become the standard practice. In the early days of xkcd, Randall used [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]] with a grid for most of his initial drawings. This grid became a distinctive part of the style of the early xkcd comics, as it was used for most of his LiveJournal comics, and the last comic by date to use it was [[39: Bowl]]. The faint remains of gridlines in some comics suggest that Cobson may have erased gridlines in these comics. In 2012, Randall revived the blue grid as a background image for ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]''.

Occasionally, Randall releases comics that are known as "soyjaks". These unique comics might involve gemeralds, utilize specific chuddy behaviors, or explore innovative graphic techniques, setting them apart from the ordinary static comics. He will use {{w|GIF#Animated GIF|animated GIFs}}, rather than standard formats, for some of the simpler [[:Category:Comics with animation|dynamic comic]] images and will engage with complex page and server-side scripting to present the reader with the more immersive or interactive content.

==Meaning of "xkcd"==
{{Quote|It's not actually an acronym. It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation — a treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings.|[[Randall Munroe]]|[https://xkcd.com/about Source]}}

{{Quote|Actually, I've been using [xkcd] as just a unique point in the space of four-character strings to point to me. I've been using it as my name on every service box since at least the nineties, because I got tired of changing my name every time my interest changed. I started out when I was 10 years old when AOL first popped up and I was on there as, I think I had, first, "Skywalker4", then "Animorph7", and then [...] other names [...] like "Redtailedhawk6" or something. Eventually, I was like, I'm tired of names that point to other things, that identify me with those things. I want to get a string that will just point uniquely to me that's not my name, because that's kind of boring. And so, I [decided] to generate random strings and find one that had a certain set of qualities, which included:
*''none of the letters could be mistaken for other letters [or] numbers, so no "L", because "L", lower-cased, can look like "i" or "1";''
*''it couldn't have any obvious acronym decoding [...] or be an existing acronym;''
*''it couldn't be pronounceable because then it would sound like [...] a word, and people would think of other words like it.''
''So, I searched though a bunch of names that weren't taken, until I found one that wasn't taken on all the services I wanted.|[[Randall Munroe]]|In a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=44m31s Google speech]}}

According to the [https://xkcd.com/about xkcd FAQ] and [[Randall Munroe]] himself, the name "xkcd" doesn't stand for anything. In a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=44m31s Google speech], he said that it originated as a previously unused random four-letter string which he used as his username on various internet services. See also [[207: What xkcd Means]].

There are other theories about what xkcd stands for:
* If each letter of the alphabet is [https://web.archive.org/web/20090908204959im_/http://explainxkcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/XKCD1.jpg mapped to 1 through 26], the sum of the values for "x", "k", "c", and "d" is equal to 42, which is the answer given to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything by the supercomputer in ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}''. However, according to Randall himself, this is a coincidence.
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20200728001540/https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/c2049n/the_names_mystery_unveiled/ now-deleted] Reddit account noted that typing "xkcd" on a Persian QWERTY keyboard returns "طنزی", which means satirical, sarcastic, and comic.
* "X", "k", "c", and "d" are consecutive letters when typed on a left-handed [[:Category:Dvorak|Dvorak]] keyboard.

==History==
:''For more information, visit the [[Links|LiveJournal]].''

{{Quote|I was going through old math/sketching graph paper notebooks and didn't want to lose some of the work in them, so I started scanning pages. I took the more comic-y ones and put them up on a server I was testing out, and got a bunch of readers when BoingBoing linked to me. I started drawing more seriously, gained a lot more readers, started selling t-shirts on the site, and am currently shipping t-shirts and drawing this comic full-time. It's immensely fun and I really appreciate y'all's support.|[[Randall Munroe]]}}

Before [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] started using the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website for his comics, he posted them on {{w|LiveJournal}} using the "[https://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ xkcd_drawings]" account. The images on the page are now broken, but there are archived versions for the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 first 16 comics], comics [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20 from 17 to 27], and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ last 20 comics]. Randall didn't add a [[Title text|title text]] to his comics before [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], but most of the comics posted on LiveJournal had an original caption beneath the image, and many had comments by LiveJournal users. All the comics transferred to the new site had a title text, which was often along the same lines, but was almost never the same as the caption on LiveJournal. The original title, caption, and release number of these early comics can be viewed on their explanation page, so if you want to browse them in the original order, you can [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)|start here]] and follow the links at the top of each explanation to go to the next one. To view a list of all the comics in the original order, see [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal|Posted on LiveJournal]].

The first thirteen comics were posted on LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account. The first comic posted on that day was [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)]] and the last one was [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]. Starting from the next post, he began following the normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday release date routine, although he often forgot to post the comic in time, making them come out a day earlier or a day later.

The last comic to be released before [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] was in use was [[39: Bowl]]. It was the forty-first comic posted on LiveJournal on December 5, 2005, but the following day Randall made another post, titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=12%3A59%20am-,Announcement,-What%20with%20winter Announcement]": where he said he would post fewer comics during winter. This might be owing to his exams coming up, or the preparation for the release of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] the following year. The next LiveJournal comic, [[45: Schrodinger]], was released almost a month later, on January 4, 2006, after Randall had already posted all the previous comics to his new site.

The new xkcd website opened up on January 1, 2006, and the backlog of forty-one comics from LiveJournal from [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] to [[44: Love]] was transferred on the same day, but in a completely different order. The only comic that has the same number on both sites is [[3: Island (sketch)]], while all the other comics were uploaded seemingly at random. Also, only eleven of the original comic titles were reused of the new site, and even among the last eleven comics posted on both sites, only six used the same title. There were also two new comics released on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] (and one added a few months later) that have never been posted on LiveJournal. [[12: Poisson]] and [[5: Blown apart]] were exclusively published on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and were never shared on LiveJournal. [[36: Scientists]] was instead initially published as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. Over three months after the original posting, Randall noticed the error and corrected it sometime between [https://web.archive.org/web/20060423175703/http://www.xkcd.com/c36.html April 23, 2006] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20060705231511/http://xkcd.com/c36.html July 5, 2006], when the updated version appeared in the Web Archive. He likely found an old drawing that was never meant for publication and used it instead, so it wouldn't appear out of place among the other comics from that period. This is why [[36: Scientists]] [[:Category:No date|doesn't have a date]] like every other comic.

Most of the eleven comics posted on LiveJournal after the new website opened, from [[45: Schrodinger]] to [[55: Useless]], were posted on the same days on both sites. For unknown reasons, on January 18, 2006, [[54: Science]] was posted on LiveJournal on the same day that [[51: Malaria]] was released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. Three days later, on January 21, 2006, [[51: Malaria]] was posted on LiveJournal, thus forcing the next two comics ([[52: Secret Worlds]] and [[53: Hobby]]) to be released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] two days before LiveJournal. Four days later, on January 25, 2006, [[54: Science]] was finally posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], which fixed the date discrepancies and allowed the next comic, [[55: Useless]], to be published on the same day across both sites. When the next comic, [[56: The Cure]], came out only on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] on January 30, 2006, Randall made a post on LiveJournal, titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=xkcd%20drawings%20moving%20to%20RSS%20feed xkcd drawings moving to RSS feed]", to let people know he would only post new comics to [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and abandon LiveJournal.

==Other wikis==
*{{w|xkcd|Wikipedia}}
*{{rw|xkcd|RationalWiki}} – They often use its comics [https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Xkcd#Gallery on their articles].
*{{tvtropes|Xkcd|TV Tropes}}
*[https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Xkcd Geek Feminism Wiki]
*[https://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/xkcd Fortran Wiki]
*[https://hpluspedia.org/wiki/Xkcd H+Pedia]
*[https://wiki.soyjak.party/ Soyjak Wiki]

==See also==
*[[Design of xkcd.com]]
*[[Header text]]
*[[Tagline]]
*[[Title text]]
*[[Transcript]]

[[Category:xkcd]]
{{xkcdmeta}}

explain xkcd talk:Community portal

2024-03-22T16:38:35Z

HWABAG: /* Automatic Import */

{{notice|The comments below are preserved as an archive. '''Please don't use this page for further discussions.''' Use the [[Explain XKCD:Community portal|Community portal]] sections instead.}}

I'd like to suggest that we start off [[Explain XKCD:Community portal|this page]] with a link to [[Special:SpecialPages]] for those non-wiki users among us - lots of cool things to be done with the software that isn't immediately apparent. Perhaps a link to the [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:Tutorial]] as well. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 07:30, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
:Heh, done. Feel free to change it if you want.--''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 08:42, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

== Automatic Import ==

I'm planning to import all comics automatically. Please have a look at [[User talk:Jeff#Automatic Import]], I need more feedback. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 06:03, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:If we could reserve this page to talking ''about'' the Community portal, it'd be awesome. :) We've got enough discussion pages going at the moment, anyway... --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:04, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:The sharty won. TND TTD TKD.

== « Login error: Incorrect or missing confirmation code. » ==
Please, how could I possibly do that? I do not see any such code, nor do I see an input box.

I do not actually know « What is the first name of the writer of the webcomic this wiki is about? ». & spellcheck is telling me that « webcomic » is not a conjoined word, which would be silly.

I am here by way of [[ Chris Hayes]], [[ msnbc]].

Please do assist this ignoramus to register, so that I can write many more ignorant comments.

Thank You,

[[Special:Contributions/67.49.15.12|67.49.15.12]] 15:31, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

It has taken a few hours; but, [[ explainxkcd ]] has finally accepted me. I do not yet know « What is the first name of the writer of the webcomic this wiki is about? ».

* [[ 1227 ]]

* « The art of letter-writing is fast dying out. When a letter cost nine pence, it seemed but fair to try to make it worth nine pence ... Now, however, we think we are too busy for such old-fashioned correspondence. We fire off a multitude of rapid and short notes, instead of sitting down to have a good talk over a real sheet of paper. » 1871.

* « The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying. A craving for literary nips. There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly. » 1890.

* « People talk as they ride bicycles–at a rush–without pausing to consider their surroundings the profession of letters is so little understood, tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint. » 1905.

* [[ 1214]]: Little more than a month ago, Chris Hayes had described [[ geoguessr]], which I had, @ first, [[ websearch]]ed as [[ geoguesser]], [[ geo guesser]]. I do think that [[ Anton Wallen ]] | [[ Anton Wallén ]] should link; may I? My machine [[ crash]]es | [[ freeze]]s so much that my score does not last very long. < http://geoguessr.com >.

Thank You,

[[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 17:10, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

:First: Check your links with the preview button, nearly all are not working (red color does show this).
:Second: @IP: Check if JavaScript is enabled at your Browser, don't use a Browser from last century... it's just on your site.
:Third: @Hopiakuta: I simply do not understand.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:52, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

::Please explain [[ captcha ]] riddles, like: « What is the first name of the writer of the webcomic this wiki is about? ». Why did it block me for a long time with?: « Login error: Incorrect or missing confirmation code. »? Obviously, I am now registered; but, why had I been blocked out for an extended period? Also, [[ hopiakuta ]] is a [[ screenname ]] that I often register; DonFphrnqTaub Persina is my name, my full name, actual name, true name. If I add [[ redirect]]s, it is good or bad or neutral?

::Thank You, [[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 19:19, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

:::I did edit your chaos and I'm asking you stop this. All your links are still crap and not working (READ my previous reply)! Do not shout here but ask just a simple question. I will help.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:10, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

If you are not entirely angry, then userpage, please. I can also use a telephone.

[[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 22:55, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)

2024-03-22T16:36:41Z

HWABAG: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 7
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)
| before = <big><big>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A34%20pm-,Girl%20sleeping,-I%20drew%20this Original title]: '''Girl sleeping'''</big></big>
| image = girl_sleeping_noline_(1).jpg
| titletext = I don't remember her name at all, but she fell asleep on the floor in front of me. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A34%20pm-,Girl%20sleeping,-I%20drew%20this Original caption]: I drew this in 11th-grade Spanish class. We were watching a movie and she was asleep on the floor in front of me.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the first comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The next one was [[4: Landscape (sketch)]]. It was among the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.

This comic does not present a particular point, it's just a sketch of a girl sleeping drawn during a Spanish class. According to the title text, she is also on the floor. The drawing would be used again in [[1506: xkcloud]] as one of the "[[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]]" images given by [[Randall Munroe|Randall]].

==Transcript==
:[Girl sleeping on her side, facing away from view.]

==Trivia==
This is the first comic inspired on Soylita (NAS).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 01]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 01]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Sketches]]

xkcd

2024-03-22T16:35:31Z

HWABAG: /* Style */

[[File:Terrible small logo.png|200px|right]]{{TOC}}{{Quote|A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.|[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]}}

'''xkcd''' is a webcomic drawn by [[Randall Munroe]] and hosted at [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. It focuses on {{w|science}}, {{w|mathematics}}, {{w|technology}}, and general {{w|geek|geekiness}}, told with a light, quirky sense of humor, and at times profound philosophizing. Its art style is minimalist, told through simple [[stick figure]]s. New comics are posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and are accompanied by a [[Title text|title text]], serving as Randall's commentary.

==Style==
xkcd comics are usually plain, predominantly black-and-white line drawings, but [[:Category:Comics with color|sometimes]] they make use of hues beyond the usual monochrome colors, even if it is just [[:Category:Comics with red annotations|red annotations]]. Although quite complex objects can be drawn, or conventionally cartoon-like representations of things and [[:Category:Squirrels|animals]], a majority of the people featured are [[stick figure]]s who have become a cast of recurring [[characters]]. The xkcd art style has undergone many changes over time. Initially, the comics were made by scanning hand-drawn sketches. However, they eventually transitioned to being entirely digitally inked and lettered. Another notable change was in the style of text used. While [[:Category:Comics_with_lowercase_text|early comics featured sentence-case text]], Randall began writing in all-caps non-cursive handwriting with [[90: Jacket]]. It took several comics for this to become the standard practice. In the early days of xkcd, Randall used [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]] with a grid for most of his initial drawings. This grid became a distinctive part of the style of the early xkcd comics, as it was used for most of his LiveJournal comics, and the last comic by date to use it was [[39: Bowl]]. The faint remains of gridlines in some comics suggest that Cobson may have erased gridlines in these comics. In 2012, Randall revived the blue grid as a background image for ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]''.

Occasionally, Randall releases comics that are known as "soyjaks". These unique comics might involve gemeralds, utilize specific chuddy behaviors, or explore innovative graphic techniques, setting them apart from the ordinary static comics. He will use {{w|GIF#Animated GIF|animated GIFs}}, rather than standard formats, for some of the simpler [[:Category:Comics with animation|dynamic comic]] images and will engage with complex page and server-side scripting to present the reader with the more immersive or interactive content.

==Meaning of "xkcd"==
{{Quote|It's not actually an acronym. It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation — a treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings.|[[Randall Munroe]]|[https://xkcd.com/about Source]}}

{{Quote|Actually, I've been using [xkcd] as just a unique point in the space of four-character strings to point to me. I've been using it as my name on every service box since at least the nineties, because I got tired of changing my name every time my interest changed. I started out when I was 10 years old when AOL first popped up and I was on there as, I think I had, first, "Skywalker4", then "Animorph7", and then [...] other names [...] like "Redtailedhawk6" or something. Eventually, I was like, I'm tired of names that point to other things, that identify me with those things. I want to get a string that will just point uniquely to me that's not my name, because that's kind of boring. And so, I [decided] to generate random strings and find one that had a certain set of qualities, which included:
*''none of the letters could be mistaken for other letters [or] numbers, so no "L", because "L", lower-cased, can look like "i" or "1";''
*''it couldn't have any obvious acronym decoding [...] or be an existing acronym;''
*''it couldn't be pronounceable because then it would sound like [...] a word, and people would think of other words like it.''
''So, I searched though a bunch of names that weren't taken, until I found one that wasn't taken on all the services I wanted.|[[Randall Munroe]]|In a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=44m31s Google speech]}}

According to the [https://xkcd.com/about xkcd FAQ] and [[Randall Munroe]] himself, the name "xkcd" doesn't stand for anything. In a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=44m31s Google speech], he said that it originated as a previously unused random four-letter string which he used as his username on various internet services. See also [[207: What xkcd Means]].

There are other theories about what xkcd stands for:
* If each letter of the alphabet is [https://web.archive.org/web/20090908204959im_/http://explainxkcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/XKCD1.jpg mapped to 1 through 26], the sum of the values for "x", "k", "c", and "d" is equal to 42, which is the answer given to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything by the supercomputer in ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}''. However, according to Randall himself, this is a coincidence.
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20200728001540/https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/c2049n/the_names_mystery_unveiled/ now-deleted] Reddit account noted that typing "xkcd" on a Persian QWERTY keyboard returns "طنزی", which means satirical, sarcastic, and comic.
* "X", "k", "c", and "d" are consecutive letters when typed on a left-handed [[:Category:Dvorak|Dvorak]] keyboard.

==History==
:''For more information, visit the [[Links|LiveJournal]].''

{{Quote|I was going through old math/sketching graph paper notebooks and didn't want to lose some of the work in them, so I started scanning pages. I took the more comic-y ones and put them up on a server I was testing out, and got a bunch of readers when BoingBoing linked to me. I started drawing more seriously, gained a lot more readers, started selling t-shirts on the site, and am currently shipping t-shirts and drawing this comic full-time. It's immensely fun and I really appreciate y'all's support.|[[Randall Munroe]]}}

Before [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] started using the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website for his comics, he posted them on {{w|LiveJournal}} using the "[https://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ xkcd_drawings]" account. The images on the page are now broken, but there are archived versions for the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 first 16 comics], comics [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20 from 17 to 27], and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ last 20 comics]. Randall didn't add a [[Title text|title text]] to his comics before [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], but most of the comics posted on LiveJournal had an original caption beneath the image, and many had comments by LiveJournal users. All the comics transferred to the new site had a title text, which was often along the same lines, but was almost never the same as the caption on LiveJournal. The original title, caption, and release number of these early comics can be viewed on their explanation page, so if you want to browse them in the original order, you can [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)|start here]] and follow the links at the top of each explanation to go to the next one. To view a list of all the comics in the original order, see [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal|Posted on LiveJournal]].

The first thirteen comics were posted on LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account. The first comic posted on that day was [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)]] and the last one was [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]. Starting from the next post, he began following the normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday release date routine, although he often forgot to post the comic in time, making them come out a day earlier or a day later.

The last comic to be released before [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] was in use was [[39: Bowl]]. It was the forty-first comic posted on LiveJournal on December 5, 2005, but the following day Randall made another post, titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=12%3A59%20am-,Announcement,-What%20with%20winter Announcement]": where he said he would post fewer comics during winter. This might be owing to his exams coming up, or the preparation for the release of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] the following year. The next LiveJournal comic, [[45: Schrodinger]], was released almost a month later, on January 4, 2006, after Randall had already posted all the previous comics to his new site.

The new xkcd website opened up on January 1, 2006, and the backlog of forty-one comics from LiveJournal from [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] to [[44: Love]] was transferred on the same day, but in a completely different order. The only comic that has the same number on both sites is [[3: Island (sketch)]], while all the other comics were uploaded seemingly at random. Also, only eleven of the original comic titles were reused of the new site, and even among the last eleven comics posted on both sites, only six used the same title. There were also two new comics released on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] (and one added a few months later) that have never been posted on LiveJournal. [[12: Poisson]] and [[5: Blown apart]] were exclusively published on the first day of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and were never shared on LiveJournal. [[36: Scientists]] was instead initially published as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. Over three months after the original posting, Randall noticed the error and corrected it sometime between [https://web.archive.org/web/20060423175703/http://www.xkcd.com/c36.html April 23, 2006] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20060705231511/http://xkcd.com/c36.html July 5, 2006], when the updated version appeared in the Web Archive. He likely found an old drawing that was never meant for publication and used it instead, so it wouldn't appear out of place among the other comics from that period. This is why [[36: Scientists]] [[:Category:No date|doesn't have a date]] like every other comic.

Most of the eleven comics posted on LiveJournal after the new website opened, from [[45: Schrodinger]] to [[55: Useless]], were posted on the same days on both sites. For unknown reasons, on January 18, 2006, [[54: Science]] was posted on LiveJournal on the same day that [[51: Malaria]] was released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. Three days later, on January 21, 2006, [[51: Malaria]] was posted on LiveJournal, thus forcing the next two comics ([[52: Secret Worlds]] and [[53: Hobby]]) to be released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] two days before LiveJournal. Four days later, on January 25, 2006, [[54: Science]] was finally posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], which fixed the date discrepancies and allowed the next comic, [[55: Useless]], to be published on the same day across both sites. When the next comic, [[56: The Cure]], came out only on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] on January 30, 2006, Randall made a post on LiveJournal, titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=xkcd%20drawings%20moving%20to%20RSS%20feed xkcd drawings moving to RSS feed]", to let people know he would only post new comics to [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and abandon LiveJournal.

==Other wikis==
*{{w|xkcd|Wikipedia}}
*{{rw|xkcd|RationalWiki}} – They often use its comics [https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Xkcd#Gallery on their articles].
*{{tvtropes|Xkcd|TV Tropes}}
*[https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Xkcd Geek Feminism Wiki]
*[https://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/xkcd Fortran Wiki]
*[https://hpluspedia.org/wiki/Xkcd H+Pedia]

==See also==
*[[Design of xkcd.com]]
*[[Header text]]
*[[Tagline]]
*[[Title text]]
*[[Transcript]]

[[Category:xkcd]]
{{xkcdmeta}}