155: Search History - Revision history

Jacky720: fix bakker bit

2026-01-26T23:08:33Z

fix bakker bit

Jacky720: I'm not sure why this was removed, and the explanation still appears to consider the searches in reverse order. Chronological explanations.

2026-01-26T23:07:05Z

I'm not sure why this was removed, and the explanation still appears to consider the searches in reverse order. Chronological explanations.

FaviFake at 08:01, 16 November 2024

2024-11-16T08:01:10Z

108.162.241.84: misspelling in comic put in transcript (like #460 and #1054)

2024-10-22T14:38:34Z

misspelling in comic put in transcript (like #460 and #1054)

172.71.246.120: http:// → https://

2024-07-07T13:46:06Z

http:// → https://

Lettherebedarklight: /* Explanation */ make clearer

2024-02-22T07:58:19Z

‎Explanation: make clearer

Lettherebedarklight: /* Explanation */ add

2024-02-22T07:33:28Z

‎Explanation: add

Lettherebedarklight: /* Explanation */ whoops

2024-02-22T07:32:12Z

‎Explanation: whoops

Lettherebedarklight: /* Explanation */ fix broken link

2024-02-22T07:16:55Z

‎Explanation: fix broken link

FaviFake at 09:28, 23 August 2023

2023-08-23T09:28:58Z

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 |-
 |robert bakker paleontologist
-|Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who has written the book ''Raptor Red'' about the life of a female Utahraptor (see below). Randall has presumably included "paleontologist" to filter out results about {{w|Robert Bakker (rower)|Robert Bakker}}, the Dutch rower.
+|{{w|Robert T. Bakker|Robert Bakker}} is an American paleontologist who has written the book ''Raptor Red'' about the life of a female Utahraptor. Randall has presumably included "paleontologist" to filter out results about {{w|Robert Bakker (rower)|Robert Bakker}}, the Dutch rower.
 |-
 |robert bakker "possible raptor sympathizer"

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 The title text refers to a document posted on a humor site (''very'' NSFW):  [https://web.archive.org/web/20130721005347/https://www.somethingawful.com/weekend-web/aol-search-log/ part 1], [https://web.archive.org/web/20130814103859/https://www.somethingawful.com/weekend-web/aol-search-log-2/ part 2], [https://web.archive.org/web/20090212133929/http://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-3.php part 3].
-Here is each search in order with an explanation given:
+Although real search history displays the most recent search first, Randall has listed his searches chronologically for humorous buildup. Here is each search in order with an explanation given:
 ====Table====
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 |-
 |velociraptors
-|He is searching for velociraptors now, so he should have all the information he needs to hold off small fast dinosaurs.
+|Randall is curious about velociraptors and wants to learn about them.
 |-
 |site:imdb.com "jurassic park"
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 |-
 |raptors
-|Randall is continuing to research raptors, as he really wants to be safe against them.
+|Randall is continuing to research raptors, as he really wants to be safe against them. The word "raptor" is less formal and might suggest Randall starting to become scared of them.
 |-
 |dromaeosaurids
-|This isn't a type of raptor, but it now seems that Randall is now paranoid about smaller, fast dinosaurs in general. {{w|Dromaeosauridae}} is the taxonomic family that encloses all types of raptor.
+|{{w|Dromaeosauridae}} is the taxonomic family that encloses all types of raptor. Randall has chosen this scientific term in the hopes of learning more scientific and technical detail than his previous search gave.
 |-
 |utahraptor
@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 |-
 |"home depot" deadbolts
-|Randall is so paranoid about raptors existing and being able to pick locks (or perhaps break them, in the case of Utahraptor) that he is installing deadbolts. He is choosing to buy the deadbolts from {{w|The Home Depot|Home Depot}}, a common American home improvement store.
+|Randall is now scared that raptors may attack him at home. Knowing that they can open doors in Jurassic Park, he thinks they may be able to pick or break locks and has chosen to install deadbolts. He is choosing to buy the deadbolts from {{w|The Home Depot|Home Depot}}, a common American home improvement store.
 |-
 |security home improvements
-|He is now reinforcing his home against possible entry points, such as the windows.
+|He is now reinforcing his home more generally, possibly including other entry points that cannot be deadbolted, like windows.
 |-
 |surviving a raptor attack
-|Randall has entered survival mode and just wants to survive the perceived raptors.
+|Randall's paranoia increases, and he now assumes his security measures will not hold up against raptors, or he will be attacked outside his home. In the event a raptor reaches him, he looks for advice on surviving a direct raptor attack.
 |-
-|Robert bakker paleontologist
+|robert bakker paleontologist
-|Randall is now looking for more general information on {{w|Robert T. Bakker|Robert Bakker}}. He has presumably included "paleontologist" to filter out results about {{w|Robert Bakker (rower)|Robert Bakker}}, the Dutch rower.
+|Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who has written the book ''Raptor Red'' about the life of a female Utahraptor (see below). Randall has presumably included "paleontologist" to filter out results about {{w|Robert Bakker (rower)|Robert Bakker}}, the Dutch rower.
 |-
-|Robert bakker "possible raptor sympathizer"
+|robert bakker "possible raptor sympathizer"
-|Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who has written the book ''Raptor Red'' about the life of a female Utahraptor (see below). This has apparently caused Randall to suspect he is a "raptor sympathizer".
+|The previous results about Robert Bakker's work led Randall to believe the paleontologist is a raptor sympathizer. This search would be made to try and find confirmation of this, but is unlikely to return results.
 |-
 |site:en.wikipedia.org surviving a raptor attack
-| <code>site:</code> is a [https://searchengineland.com/what-you-can-learn-from-googles-site-operator-14052 Google operator]. He has inevitably gone on Wikipedia on how to survive a raptor attack, as Randall heavily relies on Wikipedia for anything he wants to know.
+| <code>site:</code> is a [https://searchengineland.com/what-you-can-learn-from-googles-site-operator-14052 Google operator]. Randall repeats his earlier survival query, but filtered to a site he considers reliable: {{w|Wikipedia}}, which is a generally comprehensive source but sometimes subject to vandalism and inaccuracy.
 |-
-|learning from mistakes in Jurassic park
+|learning from mistakes in jurassic park
 |If you google this search term, the results are largely about where Jurassic Park depicted its dinosaurs wrongly. But, given the themes of the rest of the searches, he probably wanted to know where those characters in Jurassic Park made mistakes in keeping the dinosaurs in captivity, or in dealing with the new dangers once they got loose, or both.
 |-
 |big-game rifles
-|Having thought about getting close to raptors to hit them, he realized that it's not a very clever idea, so he is now planning to shoot them from a distance.
+|Randall wishes to purchase a rifle with which to shoot raptors, possibly based on a perceived failure to do so in Jurassic Park.
 |-
 |tire irons
-|Since velociraptors do not fear fire, he wants {{w|tire irons}} to hit them with. Tire irons are heavy, so they should hurt raptors.
+|Realizing rifles did not work in the movie, or could fail in several other ways, he now wants {{w|tire irons}} to hit them with. Tire irons are heavy, so they should hurt raptors.
 |-
 |treating raptor wounds
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 |-
 |do raptors fear fire
-|Having seen how to make {{w|molotov cocktails}}, he is having doubts on whether they will work.
+|Randall is considering fighting off the raptors using fire, and wishes to know if it would be effective at scaring them.
 |-
 |how to make a molotov cocktail
-|As a precaution, he wants to know how to make molotov cocktails to fight off raptors if needed.
+|It's not clear whether the previous search results found that raptors fear fire. In the case they do, he wants to make flammable {{w|molotov cocktails}} to fight off raptors if needed.
 |-
 |do raptors fear death
-|To see if the scare tactic will work, he sees whether raptors fear death. Unfortunately, they don't, which is also shown in the next search.
+|Randall upstages his "fear fire" search, as he now believes the raptors do not fear fire and may not fear death itself. If they do not fear death, he cannot hope to scare them off.
 |-
 |can raptors pick locks
-|Randall wants to know if raptors can enter his house if he locks it
+|This search is actually more reasonable than most of the previous, backtracking to the original concern of securing his home against raptors. Alternatively, he is even more paranoid as he no longer wishes to risk leaving his home.
 |-
-|How to tell if my neighbors are raptors
+|how to tell if my neighbors are raptors
-|Randall is starting to become paranoid about raptors and this is his first search term on the matter. He wants to know if his neighbours are raptors, presumably to move house if they are, even though they died out 71 million years ago.
+|Randall is now completely paranoid about raptors. Even though velociraptors died out 71 million years ago, Randall thinks that his human neighbors may in fact be raptors in disguise (possibly advising him to be less scared of raptors), who he will also need to protect himself from or flee the neighborhood. As raptors cannot assume human form,{{citation needed}} this is a completely ridiculous and embarrassing punchline to the search history.
 |}

@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 ==Transcript==
 :[In a slim panel at the top of the comic Randall (drawn as Cueball) stands to the left and his speech is written in the rest of the panel to his right.]
-:Randall: In solidarity with the many AOL users whose often embarassing web searches were released to the public, I offer a sample of my own search history:
+:Randall: In solidarity with the many AOL users whose often emba<!-- DO NOT FIX. THE TRANSCRIPT IS CORRECT-->rassing web searches were released to the public, I offer a sample of my own search history:
 :[The long panel beneath the first panel shows a screenshot of Google's front page. The Google logo is partly cut through the top third of the logo. It is in the typical Google color code. Beneath the logo are six links for where to search, one of them is black, because it is chosen, the others blue. One has a red super script indicating there are news there. Below is the search bar. To the right of this, there are three lines with links, for what type of search preferences etc.]

@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 ==Transcript==
 :[In a slim panel at the top of the comic Randall (drawn as Cueball) stands to the left and his speech is written in the rest of the panel to his right.]
-:Randall: In solidarity with the many AOL users whose often embarrassing web searches were released to the public, I offer a sample of my own search history:
+:Randall: In solidarity with the many AOL users whose often embarassing web searches were released to the public, I offer a sample of my own search history:
 :[The long panel beneath the first panel shows a screenshot of Google's front page. The Google logo is partly cut through the top third of the logo. It is in the typical Google color code. Beneath the logo are six links for where to search, one of them is black, because it is chosen, the others blue. One has a red super script indicating there are news there. Below is the search bar. To the right of this, there are three lines with links, for what type of search preferences etc.]

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 The comic references the {{w|AOL search data leak}}, where users had potentially identifying and embarrassing search histories published. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]], drawn as [[Cueball]], thus publishes his own potentially embarrassing searches in solidarity with the AOL users. All of his searches relate to his fear of dinosaurs, mainly {{w|velociraptors}}, as a consequence of the {{w|Jurassic Park (movie)|Jurassic Park}} movie he saw when younger. The search "{{w|Utahraptor}}" may be a reference to Dinosaur Comics, which xkcd has parodied in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]]. Alternatively, "Utahraptor" may be referenced because the raptors portrayed in Jurassic Park were much more like utahraptors than velociraptors in terms of size.
-The title text refers to a document posted on a humor site (''very'' NSFW):  [http://web.archive.org/web/20130721005347/https://www.somethingawful.com/weekend-web/aol-search-log/ part 1], [http://web.archive.org/web/20130814103859/https://www.somethingawful.com/weekend-web/aol-search-log-2/ part 2], [http://web.archive.org/web/20090212133929/http://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-3.php part 3]. Here is each search in order with an explanation given:
+The title text refers to a document posted on a humor site (''very'' NSFW):  [https://web.archive.org/web/20130721005347/https://www.somethingawful.com/weekend-web/aol-search-log/ part 1], [https://web.archive.org/web/20130814103859/https://www.somethingawful.com/weekend-web/aol-search-log-2/ part 2], [https://web.archive.org/web/20090212133929/http://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-3.php part 3].
 ====Table====

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-The comic references the {{w|AOL search data leak}}, where users had potentially identifying and embarrassing search histories published. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]], drawn as [[Cueball]], thus publishes his own potentially embarrassing searches in solidarity with the AOL users. All of his searches relate to his fear of dinosaurs, mainly {{w|velociraptors}}, as a consequence of the {{w|Jurassic Park (movie)|Jurassic Park}} movie he saw when younger. The search "{{w|Utahraptor}}" may be a reference to Dinosaur Comics, which xkcd has parodied in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]]. Alternatively, "Utahraptor" may be referenced because the raptors portrayed in Jurassic Park were much more like utahraptors than velociraptors in terms of size. Although it is true that a real search history would list the most recent search at the top, it is clear that Randall intended us to read from top to bottom, as if it were that order he made the searches. Randall is most likely aware of this, but this is a comic, and it is much funnier if we are reading his searches in search order, and to ensure this he list them with the first search at the top. Here follows each search in order with an explanation given:
+The comic references the {{w|AOL search data leak}}, where users had potentially identifying and embarrassing search histories published. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]], drawn as [[Cueball]], thus publishes his own potentially embarrassing searches in solidarity with the AOL users. All of his searches relate to his fear of dinosaurs, mainly {{w|velociraptors}}, as a consequence of the {{w|Jurassic Park (movie)|Jurassic Park}} movie he saw when younger. The search "{{w|Utahraptor}}" may be a reference to Dinosaur Comics, which xkcd has parodied in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]]. Alternatively, "Utahraptor" may be referenced because the raptors portrayed in Jurassic Park were much more like utahraptors than velociraptors in terms of size.
-The title text refers to a document posted on a humor site: [https://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log.php link (part 1)] [https://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-2.php link (part 2)], [https://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-3.php link (part 3]).
+The title text refers to a document posted on a humor site: [https://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log.php link (part 1)] [https://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-2.php link (part 2)], [https://www.somethingawful.com/d/weekend-web/aol-search-log-3.php link (part 3]). Here is each search in order with an explanation given:
 ====Table====
 {| class="wikitable"
-!Item
+!Search query
 !Explanation
 |-