Saturday, October 16, 2010

Comic 806: Technical Problems

ha ha ha

[Your editor would like to start by apologizing for being late. Your editor knows that you are used to Carl "Won't Return My Phone Calls" Wheeler's lazy "oh hey the day before the next comic is up is good enough for me!" style, but we are aiming to be prompt. The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of today's poster, a mysterious and terrible monster known only as "shufti." Your editor hopes you are somehow capable of enjoying it. Your editor certainly was not. -Ed.]

Welcome to every nerd's wet dream, where "experimental" operating systems (whatever that means) don't have anything to do with internet connections, every office has a stereotypical Linux girl ready and waiting to respond to your mighty call of "Shibboleet", and "lingering problems from sever moves" can be fixed in, like, three seconds.

I mean, seriously, a stuffed Linux penguin and a poster of xkcd's version of Richard Stallman? If she knew, like, two programming languages and treated everyone who was like her as some sort of secret society, complete with password, she'd be the stereotypical xkcd girl too.

...Oh wait.

Hilarious wish-fulfillment aside, this is, at its core, yet another comic frustrated that the world isn't good with technology. We've seen those before. It's also a comic about how superior people who use Linux are. We've seen that before. Hell, we've even seen the exact inverse of this comic - remember #278? Hey guys, if you use Linux you are so smart and your tech support is so awesome that getting bad tech support for a Linux distro is a HILARIOUS concept because of how IMPOSSIBLE it would be. Oh, and, hey, remember that time Randy himself sent a check to Verizon for $0.002 because of a HILARIOUSLY bad tech support phone call? Remember how HILARIOUS that all was? Well hold on to that thought, because I need to barf.

...

Alright, I'm back. You know, I'm pretty much constantly confused why any group, nerds or geeks or otherwise, would feel the need to insist that their group is "better" than another group. I get chauvinism; giving opportunities to people like yourself over people not like yourself is basic human behavior. I get the juvenile reasoning behind superiority complexes; "if you're not 'better', you're 'worthless'" is exactly the sort of thing an insecure adolescent would think. See, I just don't get why this juvenility is so damn pervasive even amongst post-pubescent groups. I'm going to say something that'll probably surprise you - I think Randy is a pretty smart dude.[The views contained in this post belong solely to shufti, who is a wretched fiend and must be wiped from the face of the earth, and do not necessarily reflect those of Aloria and Rob, God-Queen and King of Hatred -Ed.]. Broadly speaking, in fact, I think he's probably a smarter dude than I am [This, however, is true. -Ed.]. Randy's got a physics degree, he's worked at NASA, knows several programming languages, and has a great aptitude for technology. Hell, he's even written some short fiction that was pretty good. Me? I'm just some undergraduate going for an English degree. I run a rarely-updated flash fiction blog and a somewhat-more updated blog dedicated to remixing xkcd. The combined hits for both of those blogs over their entire lifespans probably don't even come close to the hits any single xkcd comic gets on any single day. Why is it that Randall is the one who feels the need to keep asserting how awesome he is, while I'm the one content when I get one or two constructive responses to some poem I throw up [BLAAARGH -Ed.] on my Facebook?

I know what a lot of you will say - he's famous for a horrible comic which is causing him seven levels of existential torment, etc. etc. I'm sure that's at least partially why. But that can only be significant if his standard for legitimacy is still tied to beliefs he should have outgrown by the time he started working through college. And that's my question - why didn't it? And why didn't it for so many others, including so many of xkcd's current fan base? Comics like this (and the slavering support it so consistently gets) just make me sad for exactly that reason. [They also make your editor sad because they suck, horribly. -Ed.]

To: Randall Munroe
CC: xkcd fanbase

You are smart in your own right. You don't need to prove this to anybody. You're only holding yourself back by forcing other people to deal with your own issues.

(Two notes: one, I'm not railing against people with legitimate social disorders like SAD, and two, I'm not saying that all fans of xkcd are socially retarded basement-dwellers. All I'm saying is that I wish that Randall and those like Randall could learn to see more value in themselves and others without obsessively clinging to the metric of peer approval.)

91 comments:

  1. I'll be the first to post and say that Shufti has moved on to the bargaining phase.

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  2. i'll be the first to post and say that shufti has moved on to the treacherous douchebag phase

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  3. Nobody in particularOctober 16, 2010 at 8:44 PM

    There was so much wrong with this comic that I actually feel cheated that so little was said here.

    The smart tech support was, of course, because Randall can pretend that not only are cute, interesting, internet savvy girls real, but they are within vision range of any given cubicle of any given technical support station.

    (RANDALL MONROE RELATIONSHIP WATCH: Randall Monroe currently does....*NOT* have a girlfriend)

    The comic basically is mocking the fact that Technical support people have a script, even though one would assume that, a good portion of the time, the calls are from technically inept people whose problems can be solves as simply as "restart it". So it is not only time saving but completely rational to go off the script. It is designed to work the best with the most people. Randall assuming that he could make a better system is hubris bordering on sheer egocentrism.

    Besides, what kind of jerk argues with the person who is trying to give you technical support? I mean, even if that person is not being as helpful as they can be, they are trying to be nice to you. Don't be the guy they tell their friends about.

    This all accumulates into probably the worst and most cliched punchline of all time, which is it was all a dream. Why bother? Why did it have to be a dream? What does that add, besides reminding us all that Randall operates on a "Bad Two and a Half Men episode" writing standard? It is useless. Try harder.

    So. In conclusion. I believe we should try our damndest to make sure that we point out these things. Because XKCD isn't bad in the broad, obvious ways. It doesn't kill people, and its humor isn't outright insulting or awful or morally reprehensible. But for every comic, there are many, many ways it is poorly made, poorly conceived, and poorly delivered. While 806 may not have given us pictures of vaginas while we were at work, it certainly is a dreadfully, awfully, terrible made comic. And we must note this, mark it, and write it down in this blog. Hopefully he'll either improve or he'll stop. I'm thinking it'll be the latter long before the former.

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  4. shufti, I feel compelled to some modicum, or perhaps modica, of compassion and empathy towards, if only because 1) you seem like a pretty decent and level-headed and, yes, smart sort of person 2) Rob took the opportunity to utterly savage you parenthetically, but, dude, did you feel cheated or what by the vitriol in 805's comments? Because, really, you shouldn't have. Lay into the guy. That's what we're here for.

    CAPTCHA: gogywart. I feel no need to add to the awesomeness of this 'word.'

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  5. i'll be the first to post and say that rob is fucking awesome

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  6. also parenthetically isn't the only way I savage shufti

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  7. What you and shufti do privately is your own business

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  8. and the owner
    and the paying customers

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  9. I knew this was a dream when I saw XKCD TECH GIRL levitating in her chair--what? His art is always like that? Oh...

    But, besides that, this comic is basically, "WOMEN, AND LINUX/eXpErImEnTaL OS USERS (in that order) ARE SO MUCH FUCKING SMARTER; LOOK AT THIS SAD PLEBEIAN--READING A GOD DAMN SCRIPT, HAHAHA. I KNOW A WORD: SHIBBOLETH!"

    Also, some things I noticed (of possibly little-to-no importance): XKCD TECH GUY is hip enough to have a wireless headset with his phone... In fact this guy has only a desk, his headset, and a phone. XKCD TECH GODDESS, on the other hand, has merely a stuffed penguin, a laptop, headset and unseen poster of XKCD GOD RICHARD STALLMAN. Also, her headset changes between frames.

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  10. "(...)its humor isn't outright insulting or awful or morally reprehensible"

    I present you... One Two(674), Joshing(707) and Anatomy Text(631). I rest my case.

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  11. You know, every time I've had modem problems and called tech support, they've always been able to fix it when it was on their end, and I never got "could you restard your computer please"

    I guess I'm just fucking lucky.

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  12. I would like to be the first to post that Rob is a fat, lonely bastard who should be defenestrated something proper (and not behind the privacy of closed parentheses either).

    @Anon 8:44

    Unfortunately I didn't feel the need to rehash, like, EVERYTHING that Carl and Rob and the rest have ever said. I'm sorry that apparently "cheated" you. I guess I will just have to hang my head in shame for not being able to validate your views for you.

    By the way, I would like to point out that hubris *IS* sheer egocentrism. Just so you know.

    @Gryffilion

    There would be more vitriol, but it dried up a good bit by the time I finished posting over on my blog. I recommend going over there if you want to see more swearing and seething hatred. Or, alternatively, be in IRC when the latest xkcd comes up and I go through my obligatory "FFFFUUUU" moment. Still, I *did* call Randy emotionally stunted and insecure. That has to count for *something*.

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  13. UndercoverCuddlefishOctober 17, 2010 at 2:45 AM

    the title text on the image in the post makes up for any shortcomings of the post itself

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  14. "XKCD TECH GUY is hip enough to have a wireless headset with his phone..."

    Really?

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  15. i'm gonna just say it

    that blanket in the last panel? not a blanket. it's a wave of jizz, and it's happened before.

    randall munroe writes from life

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  16. http://thanksforyourcall.blogspot.com/

    In case you ever wondered why call centre workers don't jump for joy at every word you bless them with from your lips.

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  17. Liza: Hi you're through to Liza at customer service.
    Mr Munroe: My computer is broken.
    Liza: In what way?
    Mr Munroe: My computer is broken.
    Liza: ...And?
    Mr Munroe: It doesn't work. Could you get someone who isn't a complete retard, sugar? Preferably a man?
    Liza: Uh...
    Mr Munroe: Not that women aren't as good as men or anything. I'm all for womens' rights and shit. You hot?
    Liza: Sir, I'm not-
    Mr Munroe: Aw fuck it. SHIBBOLETH!
    Liza: What?
    Mr Munroe: SHIBBOLETH! SHIBBOLETH!

    Take that, Verizon!

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  18. It being a fantasy aside, why does the first guy have a land-line phone AND a headset?

    I like how we can naturally assume the girl must be cute, and specifically "cute" not hot/etc.

    Also, PFSC's original story arc did call centres much better. Although, that is not remotely surprising, I'm just link-whoring because John Campbell is a god.

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  19. how the fuck is he gonna dial numbers with a headset, you motherfucker?

    that's why he needs the phone.

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  20. It was also listed in the comments to the 805, but the fellow in the fifth panel does seem to have a stick figure erection... i keep trying to see it as something else, an arm across his lap, a leg cocked up (no pun intended). It's the two faces turning into the vase picture that i just can't turn into the vase!!! Why does call center dude have an erection?! He is looking at the tech guru girl, do girls who like stuffed linux penguins and bearded swordwielders turn him on? I mean yeah they turn me on, but i'm pretty sure i'm just twisted. Anyway the erection ruins a comic i might have almost liked.

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  21. 9:37, he's receiving calls, not making them.

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  22. Anon 1015: Funny, the terrible humor, smug self-righteousness, and philosophical red herrings are what ruined a comic I might have almost liked if it weren't XKCD.

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  23. @ Nobody in particular: "Bad two and a half men episode" is redundant

    @ randy's truly awfully shitty art, specifically panel 5: There is no way that is anything but a boner, or randy having a stroke while drawing. Look at it up close- all the limbs are accounted for. The only other explanation is that Hair Bro has an additional forearm attached to one of his hands, or he has a gigantic thick throbbing cock.
    perhaps an unconscious slip, showing what randy really thinks about the hypothetical ignorant-douchebag-who-inexplicably (to randy and his ilk)-gets-laid?

    No matter which it is, randy comes out looking like a tool.

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  24. oh holy shit, that is a gigantic cock.

    I thought at first that maybe people were looking at one of the doodled-on penises that xkcdexplained likes doing, when you first started talking about it. then more people started mentioning it and I went to XKCD and found that Randy has given tech support man a giant raging boner.

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  25. Um I thought the boner thing was obvious. I mean, he IS talking to a girl who uses Linux and uses TWO programming languages it'd be weird if he DIDN'T have a boner.

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  26. but bonerman is a non-nerd who doesn't know anything but how to read from a script. he wouldn't appreciate the true beauty of megan if she let him make anatomy slides of her genitals in a TGIF.

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  27. It's just his fist.

    ...STROKING HIS GIGANTIC COCK

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  28. "oh holy shit, that is a gigantic cock."

    it's randall's dream, remember

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  29. oh yeah. I rescind my "oh holy shit"

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  30. UndercoverCuddlefishOctober 17, 2010 at 4:16 PM

    he is going to use that gigantic cock to fuck the shit out of the tech support girl once she finishes with the call

    she might fix your prissy little connection issues randy but at the end of the day she will go home to bang the guy that knows how to interact in the real world without being a socially retarded prick

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  31. Perhaps Randall, having finally defeated his archnemesis Carl, is now preemptively adding dicks to his comics in an attempt to defeat xkcdexplained.

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  32. What is it with you and Haiku? It's a real OS you know. Just sayin'

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  33. I am not a computer nerd, and I am alright with that. I'm just saying, of ALL the possible OSes to pick, he chose "Haiku" to give pleasure to its few proud followers, and any new followers resulting will probably just say "I like the name Haiku" as justification for a few days. The first people are, with little to no doubt, computer geeks. The second group are not and will shortly revert to their commercial Windows OS [or Macs and tell their friends that they're "edgy like that"].

    Really, I just don't get the whole open source OS infatuation. I am a bigot when it comes to OSes, but I am admitting that here and now.

    Also, there are more problems here than the choice of "Haiku" -- keep on topic!

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  34. Randall: Single and apparently loving [liking very much*] it.

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  35. Apparently Randall misses the fact that "ah, young love" is a phrase most commonly used in a sarcastic fashion for the very sort of reason that he's ridiculing it there.

    As for the alt-text... do you think he could ever give up on his contempt for soft fields of knowledge and maybe have a few sessions with a psychologist? Those of us who aren't desperately lonely are perfectly realistic about what we mean by "love."

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  36. Randall thinks in Binary absolutes, though, emulating his beloved computers. It is complete, or it is nothing!!!

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  37. Seriously? I hate Randall Munroe, too!

    I bet no woman and blog in the history of the world have ever been so connected!

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  38. Wow, 807 is an astoundingly bad effort. He's put in some decent ones lately (I liked the pumpkin carving one and apparently was the only person in the world to laugh at Paradise City), but this one (a) has no joke and (b) has no insight either.

    I can vaguely imagine a good comic based around the theme of the naivety of youthful romantic experiences, but this ain't it.

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  39. Randall must have seen a couple of high school kids out on a date and gotten so jealous that he had to write a comic going "Young love is so STUPID amirite?"

    It's kind of funny and sad at the same time. But mostly funny.

    Not the comic, I mean. I meant Randall's bitterness and jealousy.

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  40. re: 807

    Option #1: Randall is being deliberately obtuse to make an ironic statement.

    Option #2: Randall is being completely retarded.

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  41. So much for a webcomic of ROMANCE, sarcasm, math, and language.....

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  42. I have to say #807 actually made me laugh, but only because of how utterly pathetic randall sounds

    "boohoo love doesn't mean anything waaaah, no one will suck my dick *emoface*"

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  43. Randy: Wa wa wa
    Me: Ha ha ha

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  44. I actually quite like the alt text of the new one. It is certainly true. But yeh... old idea and terrably executed. Was there any hint they were 'young' beofore the punch line text? No there wasn't which meant it was a nother observation not a joke and not funny.

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  45. Hey rob where do I email my hate for a guest post. All I see is carl ugly wheeler's address

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  46. Man, I never though I'd post about XKCD again... but talk about perfect timing. I just got out of a two year relationship I was engaged in.

    In fact it reminds me of this comic: http://xkcd.com/291/

    I want to punch my screen in. It's too fucking true. Especially the line "I bet no two people in the history of the world..." I used to know better. I used to tell myself "Love isn't enough to work." But I wanted my last relationship to prove that wrong. It was the only factor making it work. Then she dropped the ball, and basically could have saved us a lot of heartache and grief if she would have just simply told herself and me that she wasn't ready to be serious. I told her a million times it's okay to wait. RAGE. Why woman... WHY!

    Randall, I don't know how you fucking do it, but you mention things that at least I, and I'm sure thousands others, think about it on the same wavelength. At least I know I'm not alone there.

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  47. XKCD is epic, in every sense, concept, or viable iteration of the word. the fact that you don't think it is means one or all of three things:

    1) You don't understand the content/concepts being used to convey the author/animator's jokes and ideas.

    2)You don't like having to learn something new to understand something.

    3)You don't like smart things.

    Bottom line: stop "don't-ing" and start doing. Especially when it comes to reading AND liking XKCD.

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  48. So Randall still has no girlfriend?>

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  49. @2:36

    The amount of sand in your vagina and your GOOMHR shit just gave me an aneurysm. Thanks a lot jackass.

    @3:44

    Anyone who still uses the phrase 'epic' is probably retarded and an obvious troll.

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  50. 806 - The best part of this was until I just checked out xkcdsucks. I genuinely thought the first 6 panels were the entire comic because at my resolution, the first two rows perfectly fit into my RSS feed reading panel. As a result I thought the punchline was just "haha, if you ask for the Linux nerd you will get your problem fixed immediately as opposed to the dumbasses they normally hire". It was wishful but slightly amusing.

    The full comic is in some ways worse, shibboleet, tech support backdoors, etc. and I was inclined to say the first 6 panels only were better than the full comic, but while it doesn't bring the "funny" per se in the way Randy intended, the full 9 panels do kind of bring a dark humor if you just think about how hilarious it is that geeky Randy would dream about such a thing. Also, there was a bit of "funny" brought when I saw the last panel as a literal wet dream. At first I just thought it was his frustration at it not being true.

    807 - LOL Randy is frustrated because Megan left him for some guy that she had more in common with and who did not over analyze their relationship

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  51. I'm pretty sure 2:36 is just Kirk crossposting an emotional breakdown from the forum topic on 807.

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  52. Yes, Anon 4:33. I'll start reading and liking XKCD just because you told me to! Disregard that it is UTTER SHIT, right?

    Anyway I'm here because guess what was Retweeted on my timeline today? Yep. XKCD #807. Let's see...

    Oh, dear.

    Maybe Randall would have a girlfriend if he stopped being such a dick. Also, I don't think we romanticize "young love". As far as I know, there isn't anything more transient and unstable than young love.

    Oh, and there he goes. Smug McSmuggy Munroe is above such human feelings like "love", you see. No, siree, he doesn't need that over-romanticized shit. He can live perfectly well fantasizing and obsessing over the same woman again and again, while the rest of us fools are pursuing happiness with other people, even if those relationships aren't perfect. It must have something to do with people in general not being perfect, but Randall "God Himself" Munroe has no time for that. He's too busy scribbling badly proportioned stick figures with captions.

    Seriously: only good thing in this "comic" is that it has a landscape. It sort of adds to the image. Besides that? Utter lameness!

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  53. What the fuck is with Randall? It's like he heard "XKCDSUCKS IS SHUTTING DOWN" and said "EXCELLENT. I NOW NO LONGER NEED TO TRY."

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  54. HAS RANDALL GOTTEN OVER MEGAN YET?

    THE ANSWER IS OF COURSE #807

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  55. @Professional Mole

    "Also, I don't think we romanticize 'young love'."

    You mean besides Romeo & Juliet, Twilight, Titanic, etc. etc.

    To prove my point I googled "movies young love" and behold what came up:

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090522075241AAcI1yO

    "Something really good and sad"? "The notebook, it's amazing"?

    Fuck. That. Shit.

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  56. Randall is transcending humanity, don'tcha know.

    Oh, and thank you Cap'n: I went through a "phase" and dated someone who would literally say "For the win!" and "epic" and by the end of the relationship I started thinking they had some serious social problems or something. I now think that of basically anyone who says these things out loud along the vein of "geekness is cool!"

    And anonymous344, I will just give you one counter-proof because at least your troll is slightly different from the standard trolls [well, it's basically three trolls rolled into one, so bonus??], and I kinda like your cheesy "stop don't-ing" line.

    XKCD is NOT epic in every sense of the word because the standard XKCD comic turned out is one panel. Latest XKCD? 3 lines. I don't care if he does likeomgtotally roll out some crap posters occasionally, and then proceed to advertize the shit out of them. Say THOSE are epic, and you know what? En masse we don't dislike those posters as much as the standard comic because yeah, it shows SOME effort. Not always a lot [see his latest internet diagram], but more than, say, 807. But XKCD in general? Nope. If you want aesthetically pleasing representations of information, kindly direct yourself to Information Is Beautiful. Afterwards, come back to Randall's scrawled map of the internet and tell me that Randall's twice-a-year made-for-sale posters are "epic".

    "Epic" should only ever be used before the word "Poem" or you're doing it wrong [no, really, any other usage: 96% chance you're making yourself sound functionally illiterate].

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  57. I'm not so sure we romanticize young love; rather, we romanticize FALLING in love (which happens to be manifested most often in young couples). And you know why we do it? Because even if it's illusory and transient, falling in love is probably one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. There's a reason so many romantic films exist. There's a reason so many songs are about falling in love. It's because when you're in that state, you're literally obsessed with it and with your partner. It's a freaking big deal.

    Yes, that feeling won't last forever; even people who are married for half a century aren't in that "fallen in love" state. It would be too exhausting to keep it up. And yes, after a breakup, you often look back bitterly, thinking, "Wow, I was really an idiot there. What caused me to do all that?" I'll tell you what. You were in love. It's darn powerful, and that's why we romanticize it.

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  58. http://bash.org/?36214

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  59. OMG, I can't believe they feel connected just because they like the same song either! Get out of my head Randall!

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  60. Arthur:

    Romeo & Juliet: ended up dead.

    Titanic: ended up in disaster(and one of them dead).

    Twilight: creepy hundred-years-old vampire stalking teenager. Teh creepeh.

    If any thing, young love is intense and mesmerizing(and Gamer2k4 gives some good insight on that), but it seldom lasts. The thousands of cliché "long married couples who hate each other" are there to prove that.

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  61. @Mole: In Twilight, Bella asks Edward to kill her and make her a vampire. So technically they both end up dead then, too. It's perhaps even worse because they've romanticized WANTING to be dead and with your lover -- the act, not just the state.

    And I seriously thought this comic was going somewhere about those darn indy hipsters whose sole romantic connection is based on "liking the same band". Which makes a good story but a poor ACTUAL relationship. Yes, this is personal experience talking.

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  62. Oh, and knock out that "perhaps" in the first line. As I've said before, I enjoy Twilight but I'm not deluding myself into thinking it is actually good -- it is without doubt worse as a piece of literature than most things you can name. Well, except for some raunchy sex fantasies, 'cause those bring a whole new level to "failure to suspend disbelief" and "jarring different levels of prose".

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  63. One little cuddlefish mentioned how cool it was to view romance from a Martian's point of view. After which I thought to myself: "why yes, yes it would be COUGH http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2030#comic COUGH"

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  64. goomh randy i was just thinking about how stupid it is when two people care so much that they both like or experience something

    fuckin' philistines

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  65. Raven: "I am not a computer nerd, and I am alright with that. I'm just saying, of ALL the possible OSes to pick, he chose "Haiku" to give pleasure to its few proud followers,"

    Then again, that's what he always does with memes and references.

    "Really, I just don't get the whole open source OS infatuation. I am a bigot when it comes to OSes, but I am admitting that here and now."

    "Really, I just don't get the whole OS infatuation." Fixed that for you, because, really, this phenomenon isn't restricted to free/OSS OSes.

    "Also, there are more problems here than the choice of "Haiku" -- keep on topic!"

    Just commenting on what bugged me ;-)

    "Randall thinks in Binary absolutes, though, emulating his beloved computers. It is complete, or it is nothing!!!"

    Don't ya tell me. This, along with the misuse and following alteration of the word "multi-tasking", is what bugs me about most with people using tech terms (for things they were not meant to be used (and might be incorrect or confusing) for).

    In other news: Randall knows jack shit about programming, thank you very much.

    3:44: Huhahahahah.

    Mole: "He can live perfectly well fantasizing and obsessing over the same woman again and again, while the rest of us fools are pursuing happiness with other people, even if those relationships aren't perfect."

    Randall is Megan.

    Discuss.

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  66. basho: use the email link in my blogger profile

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  67. Aren't most of XKCD's comics about how great love is, often between people who may or may not be young, given that they have no distinguishing features?

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  68. Repeat Offenders
    These categories of comics get made ALL THE FREAKING TIME and to prove it, I categorized them. So if you're thinking, yeah, he makes a shitload of dumb internet meme jokes, no, it's not just you.

    These have changed over time - the dead horses he is consistently beating now are not the same as those from a year ago. You can see all of them, old and new, over here.
    • More like, SEXkcd!
    • All my relationships seem to end in despair...
    • Look everyone! I know of some COMMON JOKES OF THE INTERNET!
    • We're quirky...and so is our relationship!

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  69. Even the forummers are less than impressed with this one.

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  70. i think i just went crazy from the xkcd forums

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  71. hey rob remember when you were like "we're going to be more punctual than Carl was with posting?"

    YEAH.

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  72. um, we are on comic 807. it was released today. carl would post his review of 807 on midnight wednesday.

    so, we are still more punctual than carl. also, die

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  73. I'm too lazy to do an edit so I'll just describe it.

    The girl is sitting alone at a computer, and maybe it's a dude instead.
    "I like that song" is replaced by "I've heard of that middle school math formula".
    The second sentence remains as is.
    "Young Love" is replaced by Randall Munroe.

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  74. Comic:
    Seriously? –
    I Like Linux penguins and Richard Stallman too! I bet no two people in the history of the world have ever been so connected! –

    Caption: I’m not sure why we romanticize “engineers”.

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  75. The fact that he suggested an idealized xkcd Linux girl was the only one that could solve problems bothered me, as did the random Haiku reference.

    Oh, and it wasn't funny.

    However, calling an ISP for technical support has always a painful experience for me. Specifically ISPs, I've never had a problem with technical support elsewhere, maybe because they used their knowledge instead of a script (but still probably weren't hot xkcd-loving Linux geeks).

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  76. ah....
    A reference to previous strips, computer issues, and linux glorification....
    See, you're jaded, stuck-up and technologically ignorant adults. The people who read and enjoy this--from my perspective, me and a bunch of nerdy highschool friends (I'm the only girl I know who reads this)-- this is funny. His graphs are funny. His young romance remarks are funny. Anything scientific is interesting.
    Its a young, nerdy thing, and you are walking all over it. Fuck you.

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  77. so basically what you're saying is the insufferable idiotic high school kids Randy is writing for like his comic, and you think we shouldn't make fun of you for being insufferable?

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  78. Randall is making fun of stereotypes and that's bad because you feel insulted? This blog initially sets the bar so low for xkcd that when a new strip is up they just come up with stuff to fit it in that xkcdsucks mold. I just don't get it, because it very effectively nullifies 90 % of all the remarks.

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  79. shit guys we're technologically ignorant

    i guess aloria better quit her job huh

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  80. because highschoolers have excellent taste
    and nerds have even better standards


    oh wait

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  81. I have a somewhat suspicious feeling that this entire comic grew from the word "Shibboleet" - an utterly hilarious play on the word "Shibboleth", meaning some sort of distinguishing practice that could be used as identification, while tying it into L337 speak! Why do I think that this pun may have been the driving force for this comic? Because I suspect that Randall, like I, learnt this word very recently - it's used and described in the latest Terry Pratchett book, I Shall Wear Midnight. The train of thought is fairly obvious from there: what sort of context would "Shibboleet" be most hilarious in? Oh, I know, it is a password itself, for people too smart to be passed around by L1 Customer Support and who should go straight to L3!

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  82. Which word is used in the book, Shibboleth or Shibboleet?

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  83. check != cheque

    I guess someone needs spellcheck to check the spelling when they spell cheque.

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  84. "check" is the correct spelling in the US, dude.

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  85. um no Rob cheque is the correct spelling EVERYWHERE americans just mispell things all the fucking time. I would think being as WELLl-READ as you are you would realize this.

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