Slashdot Mirror
XKCD Improving the Internet ... Yet Again
netbuzz writes "Comic creator Randall Monroe suggested in a recent xkcd strip that YouTube comments would be better — or, more precisely, less idiotic — if only those posting them were forced to hear their words read aloud first. Well, YouTube has gone and made this "audio preview" a reality, albeit an optional one. And, it's not the first time that xkcd has contributed to the betterment of the Internet, as those who are familiar with last year's "Internet census" and its use of a Hilbert curve may remember."
Although I think that the people who need this feature most are the kind least likely to actually use it.
Never underestimate the stupidity inherent in all human beings.
I love xkcd, but hate idle. Should I start loving idle or start hating xkcd???
First non-pants story I've seen on idle! Huzzah!
Will stupid people realise how stupid their posts are when they're read out aloud?
The best example would have to be this strip and the resultant web site (NSWF).
Somehow it won't show how lame it is, when someone comments "first". (pardon me, I'm new to the internet and find it quite stupid).
Perhaps a custom recording for that one word may be of use.
I think the greatest improvement of our lifes from xkcd was when Stallman got a katana. Now I can sleep better, knowing he will be protected from the he-who-cannot-be-named, aka Bill.
Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.
I'm about to go register the username Robert'); DROP TABLE users;--
It also be nice if they would order the comments oldest to newest from top to bottom for English readers (instead of bottom to top).
Though it didn't actually come from a comic, we shouldn't forget about r9k. Used with greatest effect on 4chan.
On a related note, the audio preview button doesn't work for me.
So when is /. getting this?
With the site building this feature in as an option, they make the virus writing part of it much easier.
Good job Google.
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
Anyone at GMail want to confirm if this particular cartoon also inspired or contributed to the inspiration of GMail Goggles?
Now, if only, we implemented this on slashdot, then we'd be in business!
The problem is, most of the people who need this won't realize how stupid and inarticulate they sound.
...if I said XKCD jumped the shark? A while ago?
It's true and you know it.
Why does idle look so godawful? I tried it in three browsers (Konqueror, Arora, and Firefox), and it looks terrible in all of them. Is there any good reason that these stories look different than every other slashdot story? I really don't get it--every time I go to an idle story, I think my browser forgot how to render properly, until I remember that it's SUPPOSED to look like this.
Those comments on YouTube come from people? I thought it was a virus or something.
thee liekk persOn whO makes Air Force 1sz` shOuldd sO makee thesee shOesz` theey wOuld sell Out sO fastt !
2fknsxc !
In English, anyone?????
Thank god XKCD is trying to make people think before they act.
This is an interesting idea, although part of me really cringes at the notion that we're implementing a device that's designed to IMPEDE communication on a site whose stated goal is: "Broadcast Yourself" It will be interesting to follow usage patterns, but what I most fear is that this becomes a norm, and sites like slashdot receive less feedback due to the sheer amount of time required to listen to each commenter's post.
If you get an error, type "OVERRIDE" or "SECURITY OVERRIDE" and then try the optimize command again.
We so need this on Slashdot...
Cosmic creators suggest in the manual that yOUR lot would be better, or, more precisely, less dangerous/fatal, if only some of those who we put in positions of trust were caused to be responsible for their greed/fear/ego based life0cidal behaviors.
greed, fear & ego are unprecedented evile's primary weapons. those, along with deception & coercion, helps most of us remain (unwittingly?) dependent on its' life0cidal hired goons' agenda. most of yOUR dwindling resources are being squandered on the 'wars', & continuation of the billionerrors stock markup FraUD/pyramid schemes. nobody ever mentions the real long term costs of those debacles in both life & any notion of prosperity for us, or our children, not to mention the abuse of the consciences of those of us who still have one. see you on the other side of it. the lights are coming up all over now. conspiracy theorists are being vindicated. some might choose a tin umbrella to go with their hats. the fairytail is winding down now. let your conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.
http://news.google.com/?ncl=1216734813&hl=en&topic=n
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities;_ylt=A0wNcyS6yNJIZBoBSxKs0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/world/29amnesty.html?hp
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/02/nasa.global.warming.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/05/severe.weather.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/02/honore.preparedness/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/28/what.matters.meltdown/index.html#cnnSTCText
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/10/07/atwood.debt/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01dowd.html?em&ex=1212638400&en=744b7cebc86723e5&ei=5087%0A
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/05/senate.iraq/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/washington/17contractor.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/world/middleeast/03kurdistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080708/cheney_climate.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080805/pl_politico/12308;_ylt=A0wNcxTPdJhILAYAVQms0NUE
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/18/voting.problems/index.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080903/ts_nm/environment_arctic_dc;_ylt=A0wNcwhhcb5It3EBoy2s0NUE
(talk about cowardlly race fixing/bad theater/fiction?) http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/19/news/economy/sec_short_selling/index.htm?cnn=yes
http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=ApTbxRfLnscxaGGuCocWlwq7YWsA/SIG=11qicue6l/**http%3A//biz.yahoo.com/ap/081006/meltdown_kashkari.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/opinion/04sat1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(the teaching of hate as a way of 'life' synonymous with failed dictatorships) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081004/ap_on_re_us/newspapers_islam_dvd;_ylt=A0wNcwWdfudITHkACAus0NUE
(some yoga & yogurt makes killing/getting killed less stressful) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_on_re_us/warrior_mind;_ylt=A0wNcw9iXutIPkMBwzGs0NUE
is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious a
...that reading XKCD is work-related.
Am I the only one who doesn't really see this as a problem? I've never been in the situation where I'm watching something on youtube, and am suddenly interrupted by a stream of moronic comments. Frankly, I treat youtube as a novelty. An enormous narcissistic portrait of (primarily) white, middle class people. It's fun to watch, but if you're using it for any serious data, you're crazy.
If you get an error, type "OVERRIDE" or "SECURITY OVERRIDE" and then try the optimize command again.
Stone the Fuckin crows...better pass me a tinnie love before I watch this sheila on ewe-tube flash her tits.
http://xkcd.com/285/
YouTube comments come from people!
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
I love when "Stephan Hawking" reads my YouTube comments to me...
Did anybody ever explain to the O.P. how babby is formed?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
More like the shark jumped xkcd.
I don't know if it improved anything but at least from my German, politically uninterested, albeit perhaps uninformed but also unbiased point of view his blagentry regarding the elections seemed to switch the whole internet from supporting Ron Paul to supporting Barack Obama overnight. No, really. I went to bed and the frontpages of all major social networks were Paul! Paul! Paul! and when I woke up Obamania broke loose. Fine with me though. I like "that guy." :)
Any threat posed by ESR can be easily nullified by getting him to pontificate on just about any subject. Far more than the sound of racking a slide on a pistol, ESR loves the sound of his own voice. This should buy you the time you need to carry on with your op or E&E.
Obligatory xk...oh, wait.
Last night I played a blank tape at full volume. The mime next door went nuts.
Hey, cool. I've got mod points on Slashdot, too!
Everybody takes after xkcd!
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Try these:
Workit, better, faster, stronger.
Great, now people are going to post even more incomprehensibly because they'll have mangled their spelling to make the text-to-speech engine pronounce it better.
<3 xkcd though.
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
who cares more you or me??
I'm guessing you because you took the time out to correct me.
try this: my roflcopter goes ssssssssssssssssssssss
"Pants are still optional, but recommended for you." ~ CmdrTaco's Sig
I thought it had something to do his sig in a way I couldn't quite understand. Thanks for clearing that up Brit folk! I feel rather daft now.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
So we have a comic constructed around esoteric in-jokes that often require specialized knowledge to "get." These jokes are never explained. There's even a dig at people who don't get them at the bottom of the main page ("may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors"). Okay, fine.
However. Comic 472 (the "house of pancakes" one) is an esoteric in-joke that anyone with a liberal-arts degree worth the paper it's printed on would get instantly, and yet *this* joke gets a link and an explanation for people not in the know. As far as I know, it's the only one.
Seriously, what the hell?
idle.slashdot.org reminds me of CNN's "half hour news hour", which was a pale imitation of The Daily Show. idle is like a pale imitation of fark. Now with even narrower text entry boxes!
I think we should take this opportunity to see how far /.'s comment nesting will go. I'm thinking it can handle another 5 or 6 levels before it really starts looking silly.
Now if only we could get something similar implemented for congress.
I tried using this feature (current firefox release) and got nothing but sped up gibberish. Its sped up at least 1,000 times faster than a normal human voice. How is this useful?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
When will this kind of feature be available on /. ?
~WBGG~ "And I'm so sad like a good book I can't put this Day Back a sorta fairytale with you" ~Tori Amos
I was shocked to see this button on YouTube after reading that XKCD comic, but it doesn't work for me. It playes all my comments really fast so I can't understand it.