First off, I'm skipping Comic 480 because my entire post would be "eh, that was kind of funny, but it seems like sometimes you are putting no effort at all into these."
Ah, youtube commentors. A fitting target for anger. Probably, though, you already know what I'm going to say about it. But just in case -
This is comic is absolutely nothing more than a lamer version of comic 202. Both have exactly the same point - Youtube commentators are idiots and they write stupid things. Funny, yes, but no more so now than it was then. There are also a few reasons why the first one is better anyway -
- He actually gives examples of comments, which even if made up are pretty funny and are similar to what you'd see on youtube, whereas the new comic just kind of mumbles through it
- The new comic has a totally lame and unneeded Mr. Hat appearance
- There is a totally unneeded "ooh check it out I'm making a virus, i'm such a cool hacker" panel.
Anyway, I guess there isn't much more to say but this is basically a kind of sad shadow of the first Youtube Commentors comic. I mean, what's next? "My hobby: Drawing a map of the internet, and it's like got facebook over here and digg over there" or "Dude check it out, if you go up to him and say 'Sudo buy me a donut' he totally has to do it!" ?
Seriously, you need to make comics that aren't just reformations of old ones.
And you know what? While we're on the topic of dumb comments, I foolishly took Greg's advice on my last post and read the comments on Mr. Munroe's soon to be pulitzer prize winning novella and let's just say there are a few people who could use that virus even in the generally intellectually brilliant world of xkcd:
"you should consider writing entire books filled with this awesome."
"now i can get through class by thinking, what would this look like xkcd style and everything is so much better…until i realize its not but that’s what pie is for"
"Ron paul should be shot"
Bastions of sophisticated discourse, right there. But I'll be damned if you ever see Randall mention anything about how his own commentors are sycophantic lapdogs who live only to breathe the air that the glorious Randall once may have breathed, or perhaps stood near.
Ah, youtube commentors. A fitting target for anger. Probably, though, you already know what I'm going to say about it. But just in case -
This is comic is absolutely nothing more than a lamer version of comic 202. Both have exactly the same point - Youtube commentators are idiots and they write stupid things. Funny, yes, but no more so now than it was then. There are also a few reasons why the first one is better anyway -
- He actually gives examples of comments, which even if made up are pretty funny and are similar to what you'd see on youtube, whereas the new comic just kind of mumbles through it
- The new comic has a totally lame and unneeded Mr. Hat appearance
- There is a totally unneeded "ooh check it out I'm making a virus, i'm such a cool hacker" panel.
Anyway, I guess there isn't much more to say but this is basically a kind of sad shadow of the first Youtube Commentors comic. I mean, what's next? "My hobby: Drawing a map of the internet, and it's like got facebook over here and digg over there" or "Dude check it out, if you go up to him and say 'Sudo buy me a donut' he totally has to do it!" ?
Seriously, you need to make comics that aren't just reformations of old ones.
And you know what? While we're on the topic of dumb comments, I foolishly took Greg's advice on my last post and read the comments on Mr. Munroe's soon to be pulitzer prize winning novella and let's just say there are a few people who could use that virus even in the generally intellectually brilliant world of xkcd:
"you should consider writing entire books filled with this awesome."
"now i can get through class by thinking, what would this look like xkcd style and everything is so much better…until i realize its not but that’s what pie is for"
"Ron paul should be shot"
Bastions of sophisticated discourse, right there. But I'll be damned if you ever see Randall mention anything about how his own commentors are sycophantic lapdogs who live only to breathe the air that the glorious Randall once may have breathed, or perhaps stood near.
And as a final note, there was one comment on the story that truly made my day...
I wonder if that guy at xkcdsucks makes any money off his blog about your blog, how sad, he can’t exist without you to complain about, it would be really annoying if he was profiting from such ugly parasitism, is he making profit off of complaining about you? I want to know cause then I can make money off complaining about him complaining about you.
If any of you know how to make money off this blog do e-mail me. However, I am concerned that this Apropos character has learned my deep secret - without xkcd, I cannot exist! I will turn into a greenish vapor and vanish, making all around me puzzled and perhaps doubting their sanity for the rest of their lives. Also, if the idea of this "ugly parasitism" making money bothers you, my god, don't ever listen to talk radio. Or watch the news in an election year.
That comment is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what you said got me thinking- I'm no Xkcd fan, but I actually think some of Randall's very early strips are much funnier than what followed. For example, I like these:
http://xkcd.com/6/
http://xkcd.com/14/
http://xkcd.com/27/
http://xkcd.com/36/
http://xkcd.com/38/
Mind you, even back then he was making bullshit like this:
http://xkcd.com/17/
All I could think when I read this was, "HEY MAYBE RANDALL SHOULD HAVE ONE OF THESE FOR WHEN HE POSTS A NEW COMIC! ZING!" Of course, by now he's probably beyond the point where that would help.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of an example comment is a real indictment of this comic, actually. Makes it seem very half-hearted.
ReplyDeleteI would guess Randall is trying to build off of 202, since the focus is put on the generic commenter, and his melodramatic discovery of his own idiocy.
Though honestly, the fact that he has a virus is probably a better indicator that he's a moron. And that he may be looking for products to enlarge his penis.
Vlad - I completely agree that many early ones were great. That's why I started this blog in part - because it used to be good and then went downhill, and few people seem to notice. There are tons of things out there that just suck, but I started a blog about xkcd because of how it sucks compared to back then.
ReplyDeleteJay - nice.
Pat - I don't think he's trying to build of 202. Maybe just like thematically, but there's no connection besides the topic. Maybe if the example comment had been "it was a soundstage on mars" or one of the others, to at least indicate that he realizes it's a similar topic, I would believe it.
Put this one under the list of "I'm Randall and Better Than You" comics. This is, what, four or five?
ReplyDeletelol You should give that last guy the domain of xkcdsuckssucks.
ReplyDeleteVery good job on creating the next two comics for Randall, the map and the sudo remakes.
I think the Mr. Hat appearance is cuz it's kind of like, oh hey.. he's living with Mrs. Hat. And look at the shennanigans into which she dives headfirst!
She is just so quirky.
I mean, that is her, right?
Google AdSense. You're even on Blogspot, so it's pretty easy. I've made 23 cents of my blog at last check, and I don't even have readers.
ReplyDeletehaha. sorry for making you slog through that misery, man.
ReplyDeleteYOU NOTUNDERSTAND TRUE WISDOM OF XKCD
ReplyDeleteI don't know, the idea of Youtube comments being spoken aloud is amusing and not a rehash.
ReplyDeleteI'm tempted to donate $10 to keep this blog going.
ReplyDeleteBut I should probably spend that $10 on food.
Amanda - is it? I dunno. Does it matter? I dunno.
ReplyDeleteRob - I will look into this but I suspect it would require me being more of a sellout than I want to be right now. I feel dirty enough with that digg.com button there.
Eye - YEAH, PROBABLY. SUCKS TO BE ME.
Anon - The point of this comic is not that comments are read outloud, it's that they are dumb. If the virus made you reread your own comment, rather than read it to you, the comic would be identical.
Ethan - I think I should spend your $10 on food.
maybe *someone* should get a life instead of ripping on someone else via the internet. you dont like what munroe does? stop going to the site, idiot.
ReplyDeleteits not too awful hard.
Wow, someone is new here.
ReplyDeleteAlas, I have a constant inner drive to criticize xkcd and it will not leave me alone even if I wanted it to.
I cannot allow bad humor to be loved so dearly.
So that's it, huh? You're just satisfiying a pathetic, selfish need to criticize?
ReplyDeleteNo wonder YouTube has such idiotic comments. People like you post your dumbassery just to satisfy yourselves.
Absolutely ridiculous. I'd like to see you write some comics of your own.
Just so someone can make fun of you for writing shitty material.
Ok, just to be clear, the "Carl" whose name is not a link is of course a very different Carl from yours truly. Accept no substitutes - Only the real Carl Wheeler's username will link to the real Carl Wheeler's blogger profile.
ReplyDeleteWith that out of the way -
Fake Carl, I would not say there is anything particularly selfish about my need to criticize. I mean, the comments here, for the most part, seem appreciative, and it's not like I'm getting paid for this (though I am going to look into that at some point...)
Pathetic, maybe, though really no more so than a movie or book critic. Just less filtered.
I will say that the original purpose of this blog was to satisfy myself. Is that bad?
As to making fun of my shitty writing, I already am writing a fair amount right here, feel free to make fun of it.
I like to think my posts are generally more thought out than youtube comments, but who knows?
I am not the troller/flamer above but i have posted in other articles, Point A. Its a good idea, and youtube took it, so this comic actually served a purpose. Point B.Again, read the Alt. Text, it has humor in it that ties the comic together. Point C. You are serving no useful purpose with this hate blog.
ReplyDeleteTLDR: Get over yourselves and stop over analyzing things
"this comic served a purpose"? Really? Has it made youtube a better place? I'll believe it when I see it. To think it would would require a) that the comments always be read out loud, and b) that hearing stupid comments read out loud would stop people from making them. Neither of those is true here.
ReplyDeleteOn the alt-text, I don't think it ties the comic together at all. As you can see if you read my own alt-text, the "how is babby formed" comment doesn't make sense here because that wasn't even a youtube comment. No one goes to youtube comments to ask medical questions. The alt-text isn't bad, but it certainly doesn't make the rest of the comic better.
As to point C, you are wrong: I am making myself and a small group of readers happier. That is my purpose.
"Alt. Text, it has humor in it that ties the comic together"
ReplyDeleteI always forget about the, ahem, "alt text" (title text people!!), and I don't think the comic should NEED any alternate text to make it's point, or to make it humorous. Everything the comic requires for those purposes should be contained within the comic itself!!
"TLDR: Get over yourselves and stop over analyzing things"
Well, there are a small group of regular commenters on here, I'm a regular reader, and I very much enjoy the critique on this comic. It is, these days, much more amusing than the comic itself to me personally! Sometimes part of the fun in life is to analyse things, and just because we're not giving it the glowing reviews you no doubt think this comic deserves does not make the opinions of the writers and the commenters on this site any less valid.
Unless, you know, you want to start spewing on the xkcd forums "stop over-analysing this comic!" in response to the more positive reviews. Fair's fair.
Bunnie, those are excellent points. Of course, while I agree with you on the purpose and place of alt-text (sorry, habit) that one's really just an opinion that is hard to "prove" so to speak. But I do believe it is true.
ReplyDelete