Talk:2667: First Internet Interaction

Is this related to https://www.kerrang.com/green-day-fans-remind-the-internet-not-to-post-wake-me-up-when-september-ends-jokes/ ? 172.70.114.87 (talk) 21:51, 2 September 2022‎ (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

((Hey, what a coincidence. You edit-conflict the following ramble (that mentiones the September thing) that I was trying not to make too wordy and mostly failed at...))

Not entirely sure what my first Internet thing was (pre-web, might have been telnetting - or even Kermitting - to the software ftp/whatever server at Univeristy of Kent, but that was pretty much not an 'interaction'). And I may have IRCed/Usenetted already, with forgettable results, but I'm fairly sure my very first email to anyone outside of the campus networks (and certainly my first outside of JANET) was to Terry Pratchett.

Mind you, I'd only just become sort of reassured that I didn't have to pay any kind of postage for email. (Probably.)
I think I had to wait until after The Eternal September to start getting the comic-like responses. But then I probably lost my patience with various Eternal Septemberites (AOL/WebTV/etc) myself, though never with Greenday details. 172.69.79.173 22:10, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

is there a related comics section? If so, https://xkcd.com/1053/ is probably related. 172.69.34.8 00:46, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

Good one. I know I've seen Green Day mentioned in at least a few other xkcds some other media about Randall. 172.70.214.79 01:01, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

I think the title text is implying that he does have a serious problem 172.69.33.35 01:15, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

The reply was a conditional, so we can't really infer that generality. 172.70.214.59 01:30, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

On the contrary... It might be conditional, but we know the condition: "If you don't know who Green Day is", we know for sure that L'il Cueball DOES NOT know who they are, so the condition has been met. I agree, I think Cueball is saying "You were right, I DO have a serious problem!" :) NiceGuy1 (talk) 04:24, 4 September 2022 (UTC)

Maybe Cueball's socialization issues. Or possibly that the internet is broadly searchable if you don't know something, so you needn't ask humans. But while I'm outside American culture, I doubt that now or at any time has it been "a serious problem" to not know what or, as it turns out, who is/are "Green Day".

The name isn't apparently a reference to St Patrick's holiday, but, says Wikipedia, "slang in the San Francisco Bay area" for what I can call taking a herbal holiday. At least, I assume I can, but rules may be subjective. And it's local, so perhaps in New York it does mean St Patrick's Day. Japan celebrates "Greenery Day" for, indirectly, historic reasons. I expect they don't try to say "greenery".

Anyway, would "AOL Kids" tell you about the San Francisco meaning? It is "A Logic Named Joe" all over again, as has been noticed often. Incidentally, it appears that Green Day were founded as "Sweet Children". Robert Carnegie [email protected] 162.158.159.73 03:12, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

I know of Green Day (more so after these two comics, obviously) but until now I doubt I'd have mentioned them off the top of my head if I'd have been given an hour to list as many musical acts as I could, except for very isolated instances of prior "oh yeah, someone mentioned this lot earlier". And not sure when they first came to my attention, but probably well post 1993 (and well well post being a 9yo).

And I couldn't (recent info aside) have actually named any of their songs if asked specifically about them. Probably heard something they did, some time, but if I've experienced American Idiot then absolutely nothing about it (tune, words or (except since Wednesday) title) seems to have stuck. I have now glanced at their wikipedia article, and... ^{-> Who...}_{my head}^{...osh! ->}

But then I could tell you that Clive Dunn performed "Grandad" and Terry Wogan did the "Floral Dance" and Joe Dolce sang "Whatsa matter you" instead, so probably my serious problem is that I'm just not in their normal target audience. An ocean away and a decade (or probably more) outside their usual fanbase catchment. ;) 172.70.91.128 03:23, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

This is what I come to explainxkcd for, answers to such questions as “Who or what is or was Green Day (and why should I care)?” and other such things I’ve never come across during my more than six decades of literacy. Thanks explainxkcd. 172.71.146.137 08:52, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

My sole knowledge of Green Day is that they released an album called "Dookie", there were two or three songs from it that were on MTV, and I couldn't name any of them today, not even at gunpoint. RAGBRAIvet (talk) 09:14, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, Cueball has always been drawn bald (or at least with no visible hair), yet the 1993 Cueball shows a relatively long and very unkempt growth.  Wonder what happened – alopecia?  Very early onset of male pattern baldness?  Or maybe he just prefers to shave it and rock the Yul Brynner look? RAGBRAIvet (talk) 09:24, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

Not all "child stick-figures" have had hair (obvious girls, like clear women, being the exception for obvious characterisation/distinction reasons) so I presume it's a deliberate contrast. Young Cueball (Who Is Not A 'cueball') clearly had full hair (with maybe a pudding-basin cut/styling?) that was distinctive. Whether, then, Current Cueball has hair so non-descript that there's no depiction that can be done...; whether he is full bald/shaved (because of early male-pattern-baldness/other)...; or whether his hair is just so head-shape-clingy... I don't know.

Note that Cueball's head (especially in early comics) is not a true oval/ovoid but seems to have a small cusp (about where the crown of his hair would be) that's often usefully depicting his head-attitude but also where the illustrating pen probably started and ended its head-loop. I choose to believe that to be representative of his (short/managed) hair as an abstract of where the hairs might radiate from in a pretty normal hairstyle aithout excessive styling/combovering/etc.

But there are many possible reasons for any (in)consistent portrayal. Except that it clearly depicts a youth who has changed (perhaps through cynicism of life's many challenges, including online interactions) into the more world-worn current self. 172.70.85.33 12:40, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

So who else is going to admit they had never heard of Green Day ever before? I sure had not, and I'm an 80s kid living in California. Maybe because I've never been in indie rock bands that much. Does that makes me one of the lucky 10,000 of the day? Ralfoide (talk) 18:34, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

It does! 172.70.210.243 18:51, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

I never heard of Green Day before and I'm not sure I should care, but I was never into rock that much. -- Hkmaly (talk) 02:36, 4 September 2022 (UTC)

We need a category for children, e.g. 742: Campfire. 172.70.210.243 18:51, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

My first online interaction was trying to figure out why my school district's Data General PL/1/BASIC-knockoff clone was so pathetic compared to the Xerox PARC Smalltalk system I had been reading about in the issue of BYTE I had picked up. 172.70.206.95 21:57, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

Interesting. I don't remember what was my first online interaction. Guess it wasn't very formative. It PROBABLY was in comments under some technical article. -- Hkmaly (talk) 02:40, 4 September 2022 (UTC)