1836: Okeanos

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 19:42, 12 May 2017 by 162.158.62.225 (talk) (Explanation)
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Okeanos
WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT
Title text: WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: First edit.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

The NOAAS Okeanos Explorer, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea Okeanos, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [1] of its deep sea exploration online.

This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [2]. The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humoristic examples of what the chat section would look like. Several of the examples are the product of commenters falsely believing the livestream is that of a game. Probably since most livestreams on youtube are of people playing games and Randall is joking about the viewers of said streams in particular not being able to tell the difference, as well as youtube commenters in general. Randall mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in 202: YouTube and 481: Listen to Yourself.

Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section.

Comment Explanation
Fake A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.
Who else is watching this in 2017? This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.
Is this prerendered or will these graphics be in the game? Commenter probably thinks this is a trailer for a game with hyperrealistic graphics.
That squid is neoliberal. Political commenter.
Why do the McElroy's never talk? A reference to The Adventure Zone, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their dad. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish.
Stop messing around and eat the fish already. Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher.
This is why Trump won. Another political commenter.
Why do you never craft anything? A comment referencing the game Subnautica where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials.
This is just a distraction Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.
Something is wrong with that baby giraffe. A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is either confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe, or is feigning this confusion as a joke.

The title text is a comment by someone who allegedly lost their phone in the ocean, which is not a small place[citation needed] and wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it.

Transcript

[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube live-stream. The live-stream is from "OceanExplorerGov", using a submarine to explore the Central Pacific Basin. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the chat (typically shown in live-streams) is displayed]
User #1: Fake
User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?
User #3: Is this pre-rendered or will this be in the game?
User #4: That squid is a neo-liberal
User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk
User #6: This is why Trump won
User #7: Why do you never craft anything
User #8: This is just a distraction
User #9: Something is wrong with that giraffe
Caption: I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration live-stream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.


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Discussion

Take it from here guys. Also, glad the website is back online! Nialpxe (talk) 06:58, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

"Who else is watching..." is used as some form of community bonding on Youtube to connect with other people re-watching (or watching for the first time) (much) older videos at a later date. COmpare with "Who else got here from XKCD [or similar]" if the video was linked from a particular site and it's users are trying to recognize each other. 162.158.222.76 07:03, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Yay! The website's finally back online! --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 11:35, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Isn't often Randall does color. Hmmm, must be Fake.  :) --108.162.238.11 11:37, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Guess it is supposed to be funny, but just for the sake of it... Randall has done 383 comics with color, including this one, making it more than one in five (20.9%) that use color! ;-) --Kynde (talk) 15:54, 14 May 2017 (UTC)

"When I went on a boat I dropped my phone can you look for it" I wonder if this is supposed to mean that the phone [insert name here] dropped is the one live-streaming or if [insert name here] is asking the people on the live-stream to look for his phone. --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 11:49, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Crafting might not be a Minecraft reference, as lots of games have crafting. 172.68.206.52 12:54, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Fixed it. --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 13:30, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
First time I read that, I was thinking along the lines of a Let's Play with a MMO. --172.68.78.70 13:08, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
Me too. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 09:43, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

"[T]he ocean... is not a small place[citation needed]" is flat out hilarious. I just want to show my appreciation for whoever put 'citation needed' in there. I'm going to spend the next several days just thinking about how funny that is. IonFreeman (talk) 13:38, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Honestly, I feel that joke is way too overused on this wiki 172.68.142.197 16:19, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
[citation needed] 108.162.219.10 17:46, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
I only can remember it being used twice, and this was one of those two. OldCorps (talk) 16:33, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
Yes it is used too much. I have rephrased the title text explanation anyway, and deleted it. --Kynde (talk) 15:54, 14 May 2017 (UTC)

Did anyone notice the subtle style changes to xkcd? The buttons at the top have their glow going beyond the black line now, and (less noticable) your mouse needs to be one pixel farther into the comic to see the mouseover text. 172.68.34.82 18:24, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

No, but thanks for mentioning. --Kynde (talk) 15:54, 14 May 2017 (UTC)

Why is the title text capitalized?

Whoever added that to the chat has capslock on, I assume--172.68.141.220 11:47, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

It says that this comic needs more explanation of the comments. However, there is a quite detailed table beneath it that described the comments. Does this still need the incomplete tag? Dretler (talk) 18:35, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

I thought that this comic was being a little unfair to the average person watching a scientific livestream. I am watching the live NASA feed of the impact of DART into Didymos, and of the 120,000 people currently watching, it does seem that the most vocal people are exhibiting this level, or more, of trolling and scientifically dubious comments. Randall, I should not have doubted you. Dextrous Fred (talk) 22:30, 26 September 2022 (UTC)