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| date      = May 2, 2007
 
| date      = May 2, 2007
 
| title    = Online Communities
 
| title    = Online Communities
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| image    = online_communities_small.png
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| image    = online_communities_small.png  
 
| titletext = I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'
 
| titletext = I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'
 
}}
 
}}
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{{TOC}}
 
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*A larger version of the image is available [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png here].
 
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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This is Randall's first map of online communities, with a successor (showing some zoomed-in highlights of the map) at [[802: Online Communities 2]]. As Randall says on the map, the area of each "country" is roughly proportional to its membership, at least in 2007. Geographic location means a bit more, however, as the '''Compass-Rose-Shaped Island''' points out. North-south corresponds to a spectrum from practical to intellectual, and east-west corresponds to one from web-focused to real-life-focused. The map also bears a slight resemblance to {{w|South East Asia}}. Randall likes to draw maps in a manner like this. Each "country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of Memes" and a small "Straits of WEB 2.0."
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{{incomplete|Not every site and meme has an explanation; Transcript needs checked for completeness and cleaned up. One label unreadable, but may be obvious to someone who knows blogs well.}}
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'''''Note:''' This comic dates from Spring 2007. The internet changed a lot since that time. A larger version of the image is available [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png here].''
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 +
 
 +
This is Randall's first map of online communities, with a successor (showing some zoomed-in highlights of the map) at [[802: Online Communities 2]]. As Randall says on the map, the area of each "country" is roughly proportional to its membership, at least in 2007. Geographic location means a bit more, however, as the '''Compass-Rose-Shaped Island''' points out. North-south corresponds to a spectrum from practical to intellectual, and east-west corresponds to one from web-focused to real-life-focused. The map also bears resemblance to East Asia
 +
 
 +
Randall likes to draw maps in a manner like this. Each "Country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of memes" and a small "Straits of WEB 2.0".
  
 
===Compass Rose-shaped Island===
 
===Compass Rose-shaped Island===
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This is a joke located near the middle of the map, that nonetheless serves to organize the illustration. A Compass Rose —the name for the multi-pointed star that shows where North is on the map— appears on most maps; however, here, it's actually land that just coincidentally looks like a compass rose.
+
A joke located near the middle of the map, that nonetheless serves to organise the illustration. A Compass Rose - the name for the multi-pointed star that shows where North is on the map - appears on most maps; however, here, it's actually land that just coincidentally looks like a compass rose. The "points" of the island do, however, roughly organise the map: Left is "Focus on Real Life" (labelled "IRL", an abbreviation for "In Real Life", Right is "Focus on Web", labelled ".com". Up is Practicals, labelled "N", as in "North", but with small letters making it spell "Noob", slang for a "Newbie" or "New user" - a person less experienced with the internet, as many of the sites to the top of the map are ones infamous for having large numbers of largely computer-illiterate people. Down is "Intellectuals", labelled π, an important constant in mathematics approximately equal to 3.14.
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The "points" of the island do, however, roughly organize the map. Left is "Focus on Real Life," labelled "IRL," an abbreviation for "In Real Life." Right is "Focus on Web," labelled ".com." Up is "Practicals," labelled "N," as in "North," but with small letters making it spell "Noob," slang for a "Newbie" or "New user" — a person less experienced with the internet, as many of the sites to the top of the map are ones infamous for having large numbers of largely computer-illiterate people. Down is "Intellectuals," labelled ''"π,"'' an important constant in mathematics approximately equal to 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937511.
 
  
 
===The Icy North===
 
===The Icy North===
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These are communities that were once major players, but now in a much reduced role. While some are still fairly large, they're somewhat relics of older times, hence the "Mountains of Web 1.0" that run through them — Web 1.0 is the first major generation of websites.
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Communities which were once major players, but now in a much reduced role. While some are still fairly large, they're somewhat relics of older times, hence the "Mountains of Web 1.0" that run through them - Web 1.0 is the first major generation of websites.
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* '''[http://yahoo.com Yahoo!]''' was the most popular search engine around 1998, but lost out to Google. It remains in business due to diversification (it now owns Tumblr, for instance).
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* ''Yahoo!'' was the most popular search engine around 1998, but lost out to Google. It remains in business due to diversification (It now owns Tumblr, for instance).  
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* '''Windows Live''', particularly ''Windows Live Messenger'', used to be a particularly major way for friends to communicate, now taken over by Skype and the like. Once a more-or-less ubiquitous branding, now used much less. https://home.live.com/ ‎is one remnant.
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* ''Windows Live'', particularly ''Windows Live Messenger'', used to be a particularly major way for friends to communicate, now taken over by Skype and the like.  
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* '''[http://aol.com AOL]''' was once a huge player in the internet service provider market, noted for sending out millions of floppy disks and CD-ROMs in the 1980s and '90s offering a month or so free internet service (followed by high fees and difficult cancellation). Notably, AOL was the first company to sign up large numbers of people to internet access throughout the year, whereas before then internet was mainly provided by colleges and universities, fundamentally changing internet culture (see {{w|Eternal September}}). This influx of new users or "Noobs" (short for "newbies") names the ''Noob Sea'' south of AOL. The ''Chat Rooms'' nearby were a selling feature of early ISPs — ways to communicate with other people from that ISP. They are largely dying now, but were a major selling point in the early days.
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* ''AOL'' was once a huge player in the internet service provider market, noted for sending out millions of CDroms in the '80s and '90s offering a month or so free internet service (followed by high fees and difficult cancellation). Notably, AOL was the first company to sign up large numbers of people to internet access throughout the year, whereas before then internet was mainly provided by colleges and Universities, fundamentally changing internet culture (see {{w|Eternal September}}) - This influx of new users or "Noobs" (short for "newbies") names the ''Noob Sea'' south of AOL. The ''Chat Rooms'' nearby were a selling feature of early ISPs - ways to communicate with other people from that ISP. They are largely dying now, but were a major selling point in the early days.
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* '''[http://classmates.com Classmates.com]''' and '''[http://reunion.com Reunion.com]''' are early sites that offered to help you find your former classmates from school, a role largely taken over by the big, more generalized social media sites. Classmates.com is probably best known by its memetic advertisement that said "She married him??!! And they've got 7 kids??"
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* ''Classmates.com'', ''Reunion.com'' Early sites that offered to help you find your former classmates from school, a role largely taken over by the big, more generalised social media sites.
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* '''[http://friendster.com Friendster]''' was the first big social media site. It was later outpaced by ''Myspace'' and ''Facebook'' (see Social Media below). It has survived by rebranding itself as a social gaming site, now used primarily in Southeast Asia.
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* ''Friendster'': While a few rebrandings let it survive - mainly as a primarily Southeast Asian social gaming site, apparently - Friendster was the first big social media site, later outpaced by ''Myspace'' and, now, ''Facebook''. See Social Media, below.
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* '''Qwghlm''': A reference to ''{{w|The Baroque Cycle}}'', a series of science fiction books by Neal Stephenson. In them, Qwghlm is a group of islands in the icy north. See [http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/Qwghlm http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/Qwghlm].
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* ''Qwghlm'': A reference to the "Baroque Cycle", a series of science fiction books by Neal Stephenson. In them, Qwghlm is a group of islands in the icy north. See [http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/Qwghlm http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/Qwghlm].  
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* '''Chasm''': A barely-readable note just below the "O" of "NORTH." This may simply be a reference to a lot of fantasy series containing a chasm. (For example, the One Ring is destroyed by flinging it into a fiery chasm in The Lord of the Rings.)
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* ''Chasm'': A barely-readable note just below the "O" of "NORTH". This may simply be a reference to a lot of fantasy series containing a chasm. (For example, the One Ring is destroyed by flinging it into a fiery chasm in The Lord of the Rings.)  
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===Dating sites (Northwest coastal regions)===
 
===Dating sites (Northwest coastal regions)===
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* '''[http://eharmony.com E-Harmony]''' and '''[http://okcupid.com OkCupid]''' are dating sites; the other, larger sites near them are mostly social media sites.
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* ''E-Harmony'' and ''OkCupid'' are dating sites; the other, larger sites near them are mostly social media sites.  
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* '''The Lonely Island''' label appears to be a joke: Surrounded by, but separate from dating sites and social media sites, it would be a rather lonely place. Possibly named after "[http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tol_Eress%C3%ABa Tol Eressëa]" (Translation: The Lonely Island), a somewhat obscure location in J. R. R. Tolkien's books, but there are {{w|The Lonely Island|other possibilities}}.
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* ''The Lonely Island'' label appears to be a joke: Surrounded by, but separate from dating sites and social media sites, it would be a rather lonely place. Probably named after "[http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tol_Eress%C3%ABa Tol Eressëa]" (Translation: The Lonely Island) a somewhat obscure location in J. R. R. Tolkien's books, but there are {{w|The Lonely Island|other possibilities}}.
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* ''Classmates.com'' is a services in which the user can meet fellow classmates that came from the same high school. The website is probably best-known by its memetic advertisement that said "She married him??!! And they've got 7 kids??" (Incidentally, there is more to the coupled picture than what the advertisement says.)
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* ''Reunion.com'' is/was one of Classmates.com's competitors.
  
 
===Social Media (West)===
 
===Social Media (West)===
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These are sites mainly used to communicate with friends, such as Facebook and Myspace. The first large one was ''Friendster'', but this has largely become a social gaming site primarily used in Southeast Asia, as discussed in The Icy North, above. Other social media sites listed are:
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Sites mainly used to communicate with friends, such as Facebook and Myspace. The first large one was ''Friendster'', but this has largely become a social gaming site primarily used in Southeast Asia, as discussed in The Icy North, above. Other social media sites listed are:
  
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* '''[http://faceparty.com Faceparty]''': A UK social media site started in 1999.
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* ''Faceparty'' A UK social media site started in 1999.  
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* '''[http://myspace.com Myspace]''': A social media site partially owned by, of all people, Justin Timberlake. Started in 2003, and peaking around the time this comic was made, it nonetheless still remains popular for bands (hence "Myspace Bands" in the southwest). It was never known for having a particularly attractive web design (partly because users could extensively customize the look and feel of their profile pages), hence only a very small part of it labelled "Attractive Myspace Pages."
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* ''Myspace'': A social media site partially owned by, of all people, Justin Timberlake. Started in 2003, and peaking around the time this comic was made, it nonetheless still remains popular for bands (hence "Myspace Bands" in the southwest). It was never known for having a particularly attractive web design, hence only a very small part of it labelled "Attractive Myspace Pages".  
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** The '''Series of Tubes''': A reference to an internet meme. In 2006, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, while arguing for the end of "Network neutrality," a concept that keeps ISPs from favouring or charging more for high-speed access to sites, claimed that such regulation was needed because the Internet was "not a truck" you could just load up with as much as you want, but a "series of tubes." This was fairly accurate, but his arguments were poor and badly phrased, and his speech subsequently received widespread derision (originally from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show), and it became a running gag on the internet.
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** The "Series of Tubes": A reference to an internet meme. In 2006, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, while arguing for the end of "Network neutrality", a concept that keeps ISPs from favouring or charging more for high-speed access to sites, claimed that such regulation was needed because the Internet was "not a truck" you could just load up with as much as you want, but a "series of tubes". This is not very accurate, and his arguments were rather poor, and, as such, his speech received widespread derision, and became a running gag on the internet.
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* '''[http://facebook.com Facebook]''': Generally considered (at least in the West) the "modern" social media network, and the most popular. However, this comic is from 2007, and Facebook did not catch up to Myspace until 2008-2009. [Source: {{w|Myspace}}]
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* ''Facebook'': Generally considered (at least in the West) the "modern" social media network, and the most popular. However, this comic is from 2007, and Facebook did not catch up to Myspace until 2008-2009. [Source: {{w|Myspace}}]
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* '''[http://orkut.com Orkut]''': A social media network launched in 2004 by Google, it became hugely popular in Brazil, India, and, to a lesser extent, Japan.
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* ''Orkut'': A social media network launched in 2004 by Google, it became hugely popular in Brazil, India, and, to a lesser extent, Japan.
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* '''[http://xanga.com Xanga]''': A blogging and social media site launched in 1998.
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* ''Xanga'': A blogging and social media site launched in 1998.
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* '''[http://livejournal.com LJ]''': LiveJournal, a blogging site, more or less, but one that allows an internet forum-like structure where anyone, or selected people, can all start new posts on a community. Noted for a large number of teenagers, fanfic authors, and the like in its heyday, hence the "Bay of Angst" to its south.
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* ''LJ'': Livejournal, a blogging site, more or less, but one that allows an internet forum-like structure where anyone, or selected people, can all start new posts on a community. Noted for a large number of teenagers, fanfic authors, and the like, hence the "Bay of Angst" to its south.
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* '''[http://www.blurty.com/ Blurty]''': LiveJournal's software is Open Access, meaning anyone can use it to set up a site. {{w|Blurty}} is, according to Wikipedia, an 18+ general community using this software.
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* ''Blurty'': Livejournal's software is Open Access, meaning anyone can use it to set up a site. {{w|Blurty}} is according to Wikipedia an 18+ general community using this software.
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* '''[http://cyworld.com Cyworld]''': A South Korean social media site featuring avatars and "mini-rooms."
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* ''Cyworld'': A South Korean social media site featuring avatars and "mini-rooms".
  
 
===The Blogipelago (Southwest)===
 
===The Blogipelago (Southwest)===
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This is a portmanteau of blog and archipelago. Sulawesi is a real island in the Indonesian archipelago, implying that this region's similarity to Indonesia is probably intentional.
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Portmanteau of blog and archipelago. Sulawesi is a real island in the Indonesian archipelago, implying that this region's similarity to Indonesia is probably intentional.
  
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* '''[http://www.huffingtonpost.com Huffington Post:]''' ''The Huffington Post'' is a web-only news site, named after its founder, Arianna Huffington. It's noted for attracting notable people to do very good write-ups of politics and news, generally with a liberal slant, but also for having a medicine section that supports every sort of quackery and nonsense, including a regular column by {{w|Dana Ullman}} promoting {{w|homeopathy}} (see [[765: Dilution]]).
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* ''Huffington Post'':
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* '''Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean:''' In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Howard Dean raised funds mainly over the internet, and was doing very well, until a gaffe caused him to crash and burn just before the primaries began. See {{w|Howard Dean presidential campaign, 2004}}.
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* ''Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean'': In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Howard Dean raised funds mainly over the internet, and was doing very well, until a gaffe caused him to crash and burn just before the primaries began. See {{w|Howard Dean presidential campaign, 2004}}.
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* '''Cory Doctrow's Balloon:''' Reference to [[239: Blagofaire]].
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* ''Cory Doctrow's Balloon'': Reference to [[239: Blagofaire]]
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* '''[http://boingboing.net Boing Boing:]''' An occasional trend is for a smallish magazine to get a website, have the website become vastly more popular than its print edition, and become a successful website. Examples include [http://cracked.com Cracked.com,] [http://theonion.com The Onion,] and the subject of this label, [http://boingboing.net Boing Boing.] Boing Boing is a group blog covering technology, intellectual property, science fiction, and futurism.
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* ''Boing Boing'':
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* '''[http://technorati.com Technorati:]''' A site for searching blogs.
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* ''Technorati'': A site for searching blogs
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* '''Sulawesi:''' As mentioned above, a real island that is part of the Indonesian archipelago.
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* ''Sulawesi'': As mentioned above, a real island that is part of the Indonesian archipelago.
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* '''{{w|Xu Jinglei}}:''' A Chinese actress. According to Wikipedia: "In mid-2006, her Chinese-language blog had the most incoming links of any blog in any language on the Internet, according to Technorati."
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* ''{{w|Xu Jinglei}}'': Chinese actress. According to Wikipedia: "In mid-2006, her Chinese-language blog had the most incoming links of any blog in any language on the Internet, according to Technorati."
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* '''[http://postsecret.com/ PostSecret:]''' A website that people send postcards to, describing their secrets. Some are little secrets (like swigging milk directly from the jug or carton), some are old, deep-seated traumas, and some are just things that they could never admit to anyone publicly. Worth a look.
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* ''Post Secret'': '''Placeholder.'''
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* '''The Wet Sea''': Perhaps a reference to a West Sea, but not sure what that would be. Maybe just a simple joke, as what else would a sea be but wet?
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* ''The Wet Sea'': Perhaps a reference to a West Sea, but not sure what that would be. Maybe just a simple joke, as what else would a sea be but wet?
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* ''TWB'' or ''TMZ'': A very-hard-to-read label, south of Technorati.
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* ''TWB'' or ''JWB'' or possibly even ''TMZ''?: A very-hard-to-read label, south of Technorati. If it's meant to relate to  Wikipedia, to the east of it, it ''might'' read TWB, short for "[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translators_Without_Borders Translators Without Borders]", a charitable project that tries to translate necessary texts into the languages of the people who need them for free. None of the other apparent readings connect to any major blogs. However, [http://TMZ.com TMZ], while a less obvious reading, is a incredibly major gossip blog, rated 15 in the "[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs World's 50 most powerful blogs]" by ''The Guardian'', and, at time of writing, rating 10  in the [http://technorati.com/blogs/top100/ Technorati top 100].
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** '''TWB''' is short for "{{w|Translators Without Borders}}," a charitable project that tries to translate necessary texts into the languages of the people who need them for free. This ''might'' be it, if it's meant to relate to Wikipedia, to the east of it. On the other hand,
 
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** '''[http://TMZ.com TMZ]''' is a major celebrity gossip blog, rated #15 in the "[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs World's 50 most powerful blogs"] by ''The Guardian,'' and, at time of writing, rating #11 in the [http://technorati.com/blogs/top100/ Technorati top 100.]
 
  
 
===Sea of Culture (Central region) ===
 
===Sea of Culture (Central region) ===
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Sites for sharing and showing off music and images, most focusing on self-created content.
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'''Needs descriptions of each site'''
  
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* '''Gulf of YouTube''': [http://youtube.com YouTube] is the definitive video website where people can upload videos with the purpose of public viewing, ranging from home movies through official music videos through Let's Plays of people playing video games to questionably-legal uploads of cartoons and films. Google has since purchased YouTube.
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Sites for sharing and showing off music and images, most focusing on self-created content
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* '''Piczo''': Teen-oriented website that allowed one to make a profile and put up pictures. The site has been dead since late 2012, due to the rise of Facebook. See {{w|Piczo}}.
 
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* '''Broadcaster''': Another dead site, almost lost to the web. Only a few scraps of information remain on the web. [http://www.seomastering.com/wiki/Broadcaster.com One of the rare scraps of remaining information] indicates that it was a webcam broadcasting service that also allowed YouTube-like sharing of videos.
 
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* '''The Bit Torrent''' and the '''P2P Shoals''': Reference to file sharing (passing around often copyright-infringing files, such as movies, CDs, and the like), often done with the {{w|BitTorrent}} protocol. A "Torrent" can also be a flood of water, hence it being used to name a river. "P2P" stands for "{{w|Peer-to-peer}}", the basis for the BitTorrent protocol.
 
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* '''[http://flickr.com Flickr]''': a website where people can upload and share photographs they took.
 
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* '''[http://lastfm.com LastFM]''': a music website that is notable of its "scrobbling" feature.
 
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* '''[http://deviantart.com DeviantArt]''': the largest art website, where people can upload, sell, and buy not only art itself, but also video, audio, Flash-work, and even skins (the original purpose of deviantArt). While many big-name/professional people and organizations have their works in deviantArt, the site is more infamous for the large amount of people who upload low-quality fan-art and fan-characters, most notably of media from Japan. Another point of infamy is the large amount of drama that can happen in the website.
 
  
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'''Straits of Web 2.0''': A ''strait'' is a narrow passage between two outcroppings. Web 2.0 is a term used to describe new internet architectures, which these programs and Wikipedia (the other side of the strait) are examples of. '''Gays of Web 2.0''' is a pun: The opposite of a gay person (homosexual) is a straight person (heterosexual).
+
* ''Gulf of Youtube'': YouTube is the definitive video website where people can upload videos with the purpose of public viewing, ranging from home movies through official music videos through Let's Plays of people playing video games to questionably-legal uploads of cartoons and films. Google has since purchased YouTube.
 +
* ''Piczo'':
 +
* ''Broadcaster'':
 +
* ''The Bit Torrent'' and the ''P2P Shoals'': Reference to filesharing (the passing around often copyright-infringing files, such as movies, CDs, and the like), often done with the BitTorrent protocol. A "Torrent" can also be a flood of water, hence it being used to name a river. P2P stands for "{{w|Peer-to-peer}}", the basis for the BitTorrent protocol.
 +
* ''Flickr'': a website where people can upload and share photographs they took.
 +
* ''LastFM'': a music website that is notable of its "scrobbling" feature.
 +
* ''DeviantArt'': the largest art website, where people can upload, sell, and buy not only art itself, but also video, audio, Flash-work, and even skins (the original purpose of deviantArt). While many big-name/professional people and organizations have their works in deviantArt, the site is more infamous for the large amount of people who upload low-quality fan-art and fan-characters, most notably of media from Japan. Another point of infamy is the large amount of drama that can happen in the website.
 +
 
 +
"Straits of Web 2.0" - A strait is a narrow passage between two outcroppings. Web 2.0 is a term used to describe new internet architectures, which these programs and Wikipedia (the other side of the strait) are examples of. "Gays of Web 2.0" is a pun: The opposite of a gay person is a straight person.
  
 
===User-created content and discussions (Southeast)===
 
===User-created content and discussions (Southeast)===
 
Sites such as {{w|Wikipedia}} and chat programs such as IRC.
 
Sites such as {{w|Wikipedia}} and chat programs such as IRC.
−
* '''Wikipedia''': The world's largest encyclopedia, collaboratively edited by its users. It's labelled as "The Wikipedia Project" (actually called ''{{w|Wikimedia}}''), since Wikipedia has generalised to cover a number of separate web sites, though, at the time of this comic, none near the size of Wikipedia (excepting, possibly, Wikimedia Commons, which is partly an image repository for Wikipedia), perhaps explaining the small size of all the other vertexes of the "web."
+
 
−
* '''Usenet''': The predecessor of most modern forums. A set of discussion groups that dominated the early internet. It also predates the standard web architecture to some extent — there's no standard weblink for it, for instance. See {{w|Usenet}}.
+
* Wikipedia: The world's largest encyclopedia. Given you're on a wiki, we're going to presume you know about it.
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* '''IRC isles''': IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, a simple, low-bandwidth program for chatting. Common uses include Dungeons and Dragons games and other geeky pursuits.
+
* The Wikipedia Project: Wikipedia has generalised (actually called {{w|Wikimedia}}) to cover a number of separate web sites, though, at the time of this comic, none near the size of Wikipedia, perhaps explaining the small size of all the other vertexes of the "web".
−
* '''[http://sourceforge.net SourceForge]''': A code repository. Basically, a place for programmers to meet up and work together on a variety of free and open source projects. See {{w|sourceforge}}. Has become less respectable since this comic was created in 2007, due to [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/08/gimp_dumps_sourceforge_over_dodgy_ads_and_installer/ allowing misleading advertisements intended to trick people into installing questionable software.]
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* Usenet: The predecessor of most modern forums. A set of discussion groups that dominated the early internet.
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* '''[http://mit.edu MIT]''': The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most respected universities for Engineering, Robotics, and other such fields.
+
* IRC isles: IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat - it's a simple, low-bandwith program for chatting. Common uses include Dungeons and Dragons games and other geeky pursuits. Well, common uses by me, anyway.
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* '''[http://www.engadget.com/‎ Engadget]''': A blog/online magazine, in multiple languages, reviewing tech products and commenting on technology news.
+
* SourceForge: A code repository. Basically, a place for programmers to meet up and work on a variety of free and open source projects. See {{w|sourceforge}}.
−
* '''[http://gizmodo.com/‎ Gizmodo]''': A blog about technology and design.
+
* MIT: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most respected universities for Engineering, Robotics, and other such fields.  
−
* '''[http://makezine.com/blog/ MakeBlog]''': A blog highlighting bizarre and interesting do-it-yourself projects, often with a geeky theme.
+
* Engadget: '''Placeholder'''
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* '''Google's Volcano Fortress''': A volcano fortress is one traditional dwelling place of evil geniuses in fiction, and Google has quietly taken over huge chunks of people's interaction with the web. Perhaps this provides some background for [[254: Comic Fragment]]?
+
* Gizmodo: '''Placeholder'''
−
* '''Stallman's Airship''': A joke, perhaps in line with Cory Doctorow's Balloon ([[239: Blagofaire]], also referenced in this strip). The Super Mario series of games also commonly contains bossfights in airships.
+
* MakeBlog: '''Placeholder'''
 +
*Google's Volcano Fortress: A Volcano Fortress is one traditional dwelling place of evil geniuses in fiction, and Google has quietly taken over huge chunks of people's interaction with the web. Perhaps this provides some background for [[254: Comic Fragment]]?
 +
*Stallman's Airship: A joke, perhaps in line with Cory Doctorow's Balloon ([[239: Blagofaire]], also referenced in this strip)
  
 
===Ocean of Subculture and Sea of Memes (East)===
 
===Ocean of Subculture and Sea of Memes (East)===
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:'''Need descriptions'''
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'''Need descriptions'''
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Sites related to smaller internet communities, a.k.a. "Subcultures." Also, a whole lot of internet memes, unsurprisingly. The "Viral Straits" references the idea of something "going viral," i.e. spreading quickly to huge numbers of people on the internet. These sites are often responsible for things going viral, and the memes listed are ones that went viral in the past.
+
Sites related to smaller internet communities, a.k.a. "Subcultures". Also, a whole lot of internet memes, unsurprisingly. The "Viral Straits" references the idea of something "going viral", e.g. spreading quickly to huge numbers of people on the internet. These sites are often responsible for things going viral, and the memes listed are ones that went viral in the past.  
  
−
;Sites
+
'''Sites'''
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* '''[http://www.2ch.net/‎ 2Channel]''': a Japanese imageboard that was actually the original inspiration for...
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* ''2Channel'': a Japanese imageboard that was actually the original inspiration for...
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* '''[http://4chan.org 4Chan]''': an imageboard in which people can upload pictures, while others comment on them. The website is infamous for its loose/often non-existent rules, incredibly vulgar userbase, source of new memes, and spawning of trolls. 4chan's random board, known internally as /b/, is almost constantly flooded with porn and image macros.
+
* ''4Chan'': an imageboard in which people can upload pictures while others comment on them. The website is infamous for its loose/often non-existent rules, incredibly vulgar userbase, source of new memes, and spawning of trolls. 4chan's random board, known internally as /b/, is almost constantly flooded with porn and image macros.
−
**The fact that 4chan is a very small island on this map (to the far right on the map - left of "dragons" in the sentence ''Here there be anthropomorphic dragons'') made quite a fuss for Randall. And this caused the comic to be mentioned in [http://blog.xkcd.com/2008/02/25/fruit-opinions/ FRUIT OPINIONS!] on the [http://blog.xkcd.com/ Blag]. Although this comic was one of the more controversial, it had nothing on the impact of [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], which was the cause of the Blag entry as that became the most controversial comic written to that point (i.e. 2008): ''...beating out comics about cunnilingus, the Obama endorsement, and my making 4chan tiny on the map of the internet''. (See the grapefruit comic for more details).
+
* ''Reddit'': the self-described "front page of the Internet" in which users submit stories, photos and videos and the best are "up-voted" to the top of the page.
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* '''[http://reddit.com Reddit]''': the self-described "front page of the Internet" in which users submit stories, photos, and videos, and the best are "up-voted" to the top of the page.
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* ''Digg'': a former competitor to Reddit in the social-news sphere, but has been sold since this map was drawn and restarted as a aggregator of news stories.
−
* '''[http://digg.com Digg]''': a former competitor to Reddit in the social-news sphere, but has been sold since this map was drawn and restarted as an aggregator of news stories.
+
* ''Fark'':
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* '''[http://fark.com Fark]''': A website that writes humorous commentary on various news reports, especially the strange, bizarre, or things from the political far-left and far-right.
+
* ''Something Awful'': a website that is meant to showcase all things "awful". SomethingAwful also has a large trollbase, but they tend to be more honorable than the ones from Encyclopedia Dramatica and 4chan. One example is there being a spotty holding of the no-furries rule in the forums. The forums themselves are famous because of the holding of the Let's Plays of Dangan Ronpa and Super Dangan Ronpa 2, which had cooked up public interest to the point of there being an English-language release of the games.
−
* '''[http://somethingawful.com Something Awful]''': a website that is meant to showcase all things "awful." SomethingAwful also has a large trollbase, but they tend to be more honorable than the ones from ''Encyclopedia Dramatica'' and 4chan. One example is there being a spotty holding of the no-furries rule in the forums. The forums themselves are famous because of the holding of the "Let's Plays" of ''Dangan Ronpa'' and ''Super Dangan Ronpa 2'', which had cooked up public interest to the point of there being an English-language release of the games.
+
* ''/.'' (Slashdot):
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* '''[http://slashdot.org /.]''': ''Slashdot'', a news site for technology-related news stories, which are submitted by its users. The "{{w|Slashdot effect}}" is named after this site.
+
* ''YTMND'' is an acronym for "You're The Man Now, Dog!" It's also a community in which users can create meme-type nonsense by playing music over an image (either static or animated).
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* '''[http://ytmnd.com YTMND]''': a community in which users can create meme-type nonsense by playing music over an image (either static or animated). Its name is an acronym for "You're The Man Now, Dog!"
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* ''Stumble Upon'':  
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* '''[http://StumbleUpon.com Stumble Upon]''': A website that attempts to develop a profile for users in order to recommend which websites they might enjoy.
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* ''Del.icio.us'':  
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* '''[http://delicious.com/ Del.icio.us]''': Another image and website aggregator, linking to various things of interest. It uses tags to let people find specific types of content. ('''Note''': Since this comic, this website was renamed as "Delicious.")
 
  
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;Memes and related
+
'''Memes and related'''
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* '''Isle of Slash''': "{{w|Slash fiction}}" is a type of {{w|fanfiction}} that takes two male characters from another work of fiction and puts them in a plot where they have lots of sex with each other. Named because of a common way of writing pairings in fanfiction, "X/Y", with the / being pronounced "slash." Adding to this, "Isle of" sounds like "I love."
+
* ''Isle of Slash'': Slash is the habit of taking two male characters from fiction, and writing a plot where they have lots of sex. Named because of a common way of writing pairings in fanfiction, "X/Y", with / being pronounced "slash". Oh, and, "Isle of" sounds like "I love".  
−
* '''Numa''': A reference to the viral video "Numa Numa," consisting of a man dancing and lip-syncing to the song "Dragostea din tei" (Romanian for "Love from the lindens").
+
* ''Numa'': A reference to the viral video "Numa Numa", consisting to a fat guy dancing and lip-syncing to the song "Dragostea din tei" (Romanian for "Love from the lindens").
−
* '''Your Base''': A reference to the "{{w|All your base are belong to us}}" meme, a line from the game ''{{w|Zero Wing}}'', a game with a huge amount of hilariously badly translated {{w|Engrish}} dialogue. See [[286: All Your Base]] for more discussion of the meme.
+
* ''Your Base'': A reference to the "All your base are belong to us" meme, a line from the game ''Zero Wing'', a game with a huge amount of hilariously badly translated {{w|Engrish}} dialogue. See [[286: All Your Base]] for more discussion of the meme.
−
* '''Bay of Trolls''': {{w|Troll (Internet)|Trolls}} are people who attempt to stir up controversy by intentionally saying statements meant to annoy others into responding. "Bay" can refer to both a sheltered port and to an animal's cry, so "Bay of Trolls" can be read as "Shelter for Trolls" or "Angry Shouting of Trolls." Given the communities surrounding it, both would make sense.
+
* ''Bay of Trolls'': Trolls are people who attempt to stir up controversy by intentionally saying statements meant to annoy others into responding. "Bay" can refer to both a sheltered port, and to an animal's cry, so "Bay of Trolls" can be read as "Shelter for trolls" or "Angry shouting of Trolls". Given the communities surrounding it, both are fairly apropos.
−
* '''Soviet Russia''': {{w|Russian reversal|"In Soviet Russia" jokes}} are a style of joke commonly associated with -comedian {{w|Yakov Smirnoff}}, which has since become an internet meme. Example: "In America, you always find a party. In Russia, Party will always find ''you''." — playing off of the idea that "Party" can also refer to the Communist Party. The meme version usually isn't as clever as that, though. See "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia in soviet russia]."
+
* ''Soviet Russia'': "In Soviet Russia" jokes are a style of joke popularized by comedian Yakov Smirnoff, which since has become an internet meme. Example: "In America, you always find a party. In Russia, Party will always find you." - playing off of the idea that "Party" can also refer to "The Communist Party". The meme version usually isn't as clever as that, though. See "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia in soviet russia]".  
−
* '''SPAAARTA''': As in, "THIS! IS! SPAAARTA!!!", a famously over-the-top line from the movie ''{{w|300 (film)|300}}''.
+
* ''SPAAARTA'': As in, "THIS! IS! SPAAARTA!!!", A famously over-the-top line from the movie ''300''.
  
 
===MMORPGs and related games (Northeast by East)===
 
===MMORPGs and related games (Northeast by East)===
−
An area dedicated to MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), large-scale games with huge numbers of players put into the same world. The label "Here there be anthromorphic dragons" references a common marking on old maps ("Here there be dragons") but updates it to joke about the more humanoid dragons seen in many games, or again, how dragons, especilally anthropomorphic dragons, are very-very popular in the furry community.
+
An area dedicated to MMORPGs, large-scale games with huge numbers of players put into the same world. The label "Here there be anthromorphic dragons" references a common marking on old maps ("Here there be dragons") but updates it to joke about the more humanoid dragons seen in many games.
  
−
* '''[http://games.yahoo.com Yahoo Games]''': A branch of Yahoo (see "The Icy North") dedicated to games (mainly boardgames).
+
* Yahoo Games: A branch of Yahoo (see "The Icy North") dedicated to games (mainly boardgames). http://games.yahoo.com  
−
* '''[http://uo.com UO]''': ''Ultima Online'', one of the first MMORPGs, and the first to grow to any size. Based on the long-running ''Ultima'' RPG computer games. Started 1997.
+
* UO (Ultima Online): One of the first MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), and the first to grow to any size. Based on the long-running ''Ultima'' RPG computer games. Started 1997.  
−
* '''[http://www.everquest.com/‎ EQ]''': ''EverQuest'', another important early MMORPG, started 1999. UO and EQ have declined significantly since then; for a while, they were each the iconic MMORPG, but that role has been taken over by...
+
* EQ (EverQuest): Another important early MMORPG, started 1999. UO and EQ have declined significantly since then, for a while, they were each the iconic MMORPG, but that role has been taken over by...
−
* '''[http://www.warcraft.com/‎ WoW]''': ''World of Warcraft'', an MMORPG launched in 2004, again based on a previously-existing RPG series, and by far the largest and most iconic at the time of this comic's creation. A few others have attempted to challenge it since.
+
* WoW (World of Warcraft): 2004 MMORPG, again based on a previously-existing RPG series, and by far the largest and most iconic at the time of this comic's creation. A few others have risen to challenge it since.  
−
* '''[http://www.runescape.com/‎ Runescape]''': Free-to-play fantasy MMORPG; the largest in existence.
+
* Runescape: Free-to-play fantasy MMORPG; the largest in existence.  
−
* '''[http://www.finalfantasyxi.com/ FFXI]''': ''Final Fantasy XI'', the eleventh installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series of video games, and the first to be a MMORPG. It didn't really take off until after this comic was made.
+
* FFXI (Final Fantasy XI): The eleventh installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series of video games, and the first to be a MMORPG. It didn't really take off until after this comic was made.
−
* '''[http://www.lineage.com/‎ Lineage]''': 1998 MMORPG. Particularly popular in South Korea, a country with somewhat of a cultural obsession with video games.
+
* Lineage: 1998 MMORPG. Particularly popular in South Korea, a country with somewhat of a cultural obsession with video games.
−
* '''[http://secondlife.com Second Life]''': A virtual world, noted for largely working from user-generated content, which can be sold by users for real money. See {{w|Second Life}}. ''Third Life'' is a joke based on Second Life — if it existed, it would presumably be a game people play to escape Second Life, which they play to escape their first, real life.
+
* Second Life: A virtual world, noted for largely working from user-generated content, which can be sold by users for real money. See {{w|Second Life}}. "Third Life" is a joke based on Second Life - if it existed it would presumably be a game people play to escape Second Life, which they play to escape their first, real life.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
Line 130: Line 134:
 
:[Land Area Labels:]
 
:[Land Area Labels:]
 
:The Icy North (Yahoo, Windows Live),
 
:The Icy North (Yahoo, Windows Live),
−
:AOL,
+
:AOL, Reunion dot com,
−
::Chat Rooms
 
−
:Reunion dot com,
 
 
:Classmates dot com,
 
:Classmates dot com,
 
:E-harmony,
 
:E-harmony,
−
:Friendster,
 
 
:Faceparty,
 
:Faceparty,
 
:Chasm,
 
:Chasm,
−
:Qwghlm,
+
:QWGHLM,
 
:Yahoo Games,
 
:Yahoo Games,
 
:Mountains of Web 1.0,
 
:Mountains of Web 1.0,
Line 164: Line 165:
 
:Piczo,
 
:Piczo,
 
:The Compass-Rose-Shaped Island,
 
:The Compass-Rose-Shaped Island,
−
::Practicals (Noob)
 
−
::Focus on Real Life (IRL)
 
−
::Focus on Web (.com)
 
−
::Intellectuals (π)
 
 
:Broadcaster,
 
:Broadcaster,
−
:The Bit Torrent,
 
 
:Flickr,
 
:Flickr,
 
:Last.fm,
 
:Last.fm,
Line 178: Line 174:
 
:Fark,
 
:Fark,
 
:Reddit,
 
:Reddit,
−
:Something Awful,
 
 
:Your Base,
 
:Your Base,
 
:Soviet Russia,
 
:Soviet Russia,
−
:/. [Slashdot],
+
:(slashdot),
 
:Spaaarta (YTMND),
 
:Spaaarta (YTMND),
 
:StumbleUpon,
 
:StumbleUpon,
Line 190: Line 185:
 
:Post Secret,
 
:Post Secret,
 
:Technocrati,
 
:Technocrati,
−
:[Hard to read label: Probably JWB, TWB, or TMZ]
+
:JWB,
 
:BoingBoing,
 
:BoingBoing,
−
:Huffington Post,
+
:Huntingdon Post,
 
:Gays of Web 2.0,
 
:Gays of Web 2.0,
 
:The Wikipedia project,
 
:The Wikipedia project,
Line 199: Line 194:
 
:Gizmodo,
 
:Gizmodo,
 
:Usenet,
 
:Usenet,
 +
:XY Singles,
 
:MAKE Blog,
 
:MAKE Blog,
 
:IRC Isles,
 
:IRC Isles,
Line 215: Line 211:
 
:Viral Straits,
 
:Viral Straits,
 
:Sea of Memes,
 
:Sea of Memes,
−
:The Wet Sea
+
:The Wet Sea  
 
:Item Labels: Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean, Cory Doctrow's Balloon, Stallman's airship, Google's volcano fortress
 
:Item Labels: Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean, Cory Doctrow's Balloon, Stallman's airship, Google's volcano fortress
  
 
:(Not a complete survey. Sizes based on the best figures I could find but involved some guesswork. Do not use for navigation.)
 
:(Not a complete survey. Sizes based on the best figures I could find but involved some guesswork. Do not use for navigation.)
 
:Spring 2007
 
:Spring 2007
−
 
−
==Trivia==
 
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This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125025438/https://store.xkcd.com/products/online-communities-2007-poster available as a poster] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category:Internet]]
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[[Category:Online Communities]]
 
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[[Category:Comics sharing name|Online Communities]]
 
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Large drawings]]
 
[[Category:Large drawings]]
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[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]
 
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[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
 
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[[Category:Internet]]
 
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[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
 
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[[Category:Volcanoes]] <!-- Google's Volcano Fortress -->
 

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