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Salon on User Friendly
DoasFu was the first of many people to write us about the Salon article currently running concerning User Friendly, Illiad, the rise of the strip, and the new book. Warm fuzzies for all.
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You raise a good point and I'm sure it's already happening as your other responders have pointed out.
... oops. Too late.
The difference between the posers and the genuine in any tribe is depth. As geek becomes chic, I'm sure the real geeks will still find ways to differentiate themselves from the poseurs, and it will probably be knowledge based, not something superficial. So scripts kiddies will eventually be exposed as superficial unless they take the time and effort to gain real depth.
We just have to avoid looking arrogant to the masses in asserting ourselves as the real thing
-M
yeah, thats what i'm thinking too. Please someone stop the pain.
Well... I could say looks can be deceiving... ;) But no. He's actually a pretty decent guy, even though he's only 4'5" tall. His long curly red beard is nice, though.
De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum
Anyone with a moment to mess around on Yahoo! can find a few online lists of comic strips, but I'd like to add to the "funnier than UF" list Sluggy Freelance - www.sluggy.com. He manages to get in the occasional tech joke without harping on as UF does.
At that, I actually kind of like UF, but I find it to be second-tier... funny sometimes, but not consistently or with enough variety.
These are *MY* opinions.
They will not be *YOUR* opinions until the Orbital Mind Control Lasers are operati
User friendly - the flamethrower.
Unfortunately, they probably can't get Yogurt to do the merchandising. I'll probably have to settle for an official User Friendly smurf gun.
Yeah its definatly niche humor, and I think its incredibly over-rated. But lots of /. readers compose that niche, let 'em enjoy it. But if the publisher is expecting to make a profit off that book, they're gonna be in for a surprise.
Posted by Nr9:
who the fuck do you think you are?
oh yah, and you know the bai math, our pre-algebra is like their algebra 2, people who leave here with pre-algebra go to bai guo and enter algebra 2
"Mr. Adams says his artistic talent is pretty limited in several of his books"
Yes, his artistic talent is limited. He is no Bill Watterson, which is why he has chosen such a simplistic style. If you look at the early Dilbert strips, you can see how poorly he started out, but he recognized his strengths and weaknesses came up better for it. Admittedly, taking stabs at Illiad's ability as an artist is only semi-relevant, when the issue is his unfunniness, but for me its just another reason to hate User Friendly.
So you're not just an asshole, you're a prejudiced asshole
Apparently this whole 'humor' thing is a stretch for you. I guess thats why you're such a 'UFie'
Hey, if you don't like the strip, then don't fucking read it!
It's too late for that. After its greatness was expounded upon in various geeky forums, I decided to check it out.
The scars are still there, and I'm still bitter, and I'll complain all I damn well please. If I see a bad movie, I have a perfect right to complain about how bad it was. I have to confess though, I am partly at fault "Maybe it'll get better, maybe he just had a rocky start" but no, as I clicked through each horrific strip in the archive, the nightmare only grew, and by the time I had realized it was NEVER going to get better, I was irrevocably damaged.
In conclusion, people need to be warned about how bad User Friendly is. Maybe they can avoid the pain so many have been subjected to.
It's easy to confuse the geek cartoonists because they only have several plot themes to use.
Anti-Microsoft
and
Anti-Bill Gates.
Lord help us if Microsoft were to actually go away. What would we poke fun at to feel superior?
It isn't a painful kind of un-funny. It's more of a shake-your-head-and-click-somewhere-else kind of unfunny.
Except for the wasted bandwidth of discussing it on Slashdot.
Here is some information you should know.
1) Illiad is a he and looks like anyone else
2) He isn't a computer geek, that is correct. Salon's listing of what he has done is correct. Some stuff there just isn't in the FAQ created.
3) He gets all his content from people that have emailed in, and from the regulars of Undernet's #UserFriendly.. ALL of the story lines with Greg answering the tech support phone are real calls. Seven of them are mine.
4) USerFriendly started out as a "side what the heck kind of thing" that's how it was when I started reading it in January '98. Since then it's popularity has run like wildfire. (Sorta like Dilbert when it fstarted)
5) Animated UF.. Illiad and I have mentioned to each other 2 or 3 times about that, problem is: Time
6) The book, well I don't have much to say there other than Illiad probably felt that his older stuff wasn't good enough to be published.. or maybe that the format it was in didn't work for print.
7) To the "It won't last" coward poster: You base your statement on what? Or was it just the SOP flame bait post? Even Illiad didn't think it would last / take off like this.
8) To the other that say it is unfunny. That is because the humor level of the comic is more than likely over your head.
Ok, done for now.
"Got, Root, What is difference?" -- Pitr of User Friendly
Well, if geekery is ever "discovered," you can bet your bottom dollar the people who do the discovering won't be doing a bit of coding. They'll be buying ibex-hide computers, picking up $500 copies of Elizabeth Taylor Designer Linux on Rodeo Drive (with no idea what to do with them), wearing copyleft-style shirts from Tommy Hilfiger, and quacking incessantly about RMS and Linus and ESR without having a clue as to who any of them really are. But actually writing code? you've got to be kidding.
I could do without that kind of "discovery."
--
Too lazy to sign in
We haven't realized it's the worst comic ever because even if it wasn't a damn good accomplishment, and did suck, we still live in a universe with Family Circus, Garfield, and Beetle Bailey. And there's just no competing with Bil Keane.
Erk? Two weeks to figure out BO? With help?
I figured out BO in 2 hours, and had gotten bored with it by the end of the day!
How many Microsoft and Quake jokes will it take for the general public to realize that User Friendly is not funny?
The first week I read UF it was kinda funny, but then it wore thin.
'Way to go Microsoft!'
'Stef sucks in Quake!'
Can we say OLD?
Not to mention that all the stupid-user jokes on UF are common urban myths in the IT position that can be read from one of many web pages.
DAMN, I sure wish I had enough free time to read articles about shit I don't even like!!!
Spells his name wrong.
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Mmm...I love getting home from school every evening and reading the latest User Friendly comic strip (it comes out aboout 5:30pm my time). Let's just hope that Illiad doesn't run out of ideas anytime soon..
Umm... wasn't ESR actually supposed to be Obi-Wan? I thought the Dust Puppy was Luke.
Not like it matters.... the strip's still hilarious.
b underscore geiger at hotmail dot com
o/~ All God's children shall be free in Pirates of the Caribbean, when we reach that Magic Kingdom in the sky... o/~
Weird, wild stuff...
I had no idea that Illiad was a "non-techie." That actually makes the strip funnier, I think.
User Friendly is very funny, usually. I recently went through all of the 1998 archives just to re-read them, and get the ones I missed originally. (i have a cake job!!! Woohoo!)
I'm glad the strip is finally getting more public notice, he deserves it.
Computers can only simulate determinism. ~Hermetic.
....you are feeling very sleepy. You will go to Amazon. You will buy the book...
But honestly, I'm amazed its been only ad supported until now. Makes me realise how highly frequented the site must have been.
Kudos to Frazier, I say...
--Remove SPAM from my address to mail me
More importantly, the net has brought about a time of change, where people can be what they want. If they try to and not do so correctly, it is a little forgiving but rejects the rejects. Slashdot, freshmeat, Userfriendly even webpagesthatsuck.com (we remember the days of that, don't we?) became authorities over time.
But as the community keeps getting those wiz kids (no.. they aren't all kids, but wizards sounds funky), won't it cause the misled to think that the net is an alternative to school and a degree? Or at least create more misled?
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
So now we have User Friendly - The Book.
How long before User Friendly - The Movie? That would sure beat South Park for me!
YEAH HI.
Posted by Nr9:
Whats english homework?
That's cool, but it could only work in python. That's probably one of the clearest self printing programs I've ever seen (not that I've seen that many).
Bill - aka taniwha
--
Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
Scott Adams actually can actually draw...
...and has a sense of pacing.
Funny, Mr. Adams says his artistic talent is pretty limited in several of his books. But I guess you know him better then he knows himself, since you're such an authority on cartooning.
Where do you get this? Frankly, Dilbert's been a lot slower then UF lately, IMNSFHO.
Verily, its unfunniness stabs at me from the depths of hell. Or possibly canada.
So you're not just an asshole, you're a prejudiced asshole. Wonderful combination.
FYI: The names of countries are CAPITALIZED.
Another post claimed that User Friendly was not painfully unfunny. I disagree.
Heads up, folks. Clue stick coming down! **WHAM!!** Hey, if you don't like the strip, then don't fucking read it! Ain't nobody forcing you to. Humor is highly subjective. Different people like different things. Personally, I find User Friendly funny as hell. Not quite as funny as you, but hey, you're not a popular comic strip.
I wasn't going to reply to this guy's flamebait, but then I realized I haven't had a good flame in a while. It invigorates the spirit, it does.
This flame was sponsored by Dust Puppy, Inc.(TM)
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
I met Illiad at Atlanta Linux Showcase a couple of weeks ago and personally found him to be quite cute. If you search for pictures from the showcase I'm sure you'll find one of him.
Hearing some guy with a Russian accent say "Windows NT is unstable" isn't funny even the first time...even if you're drunk.
In the future, here's my one hint to Illiad - you have to hurt someone to make someone else laugh. Misery is a huge component to humour. This isn't just a flip statement - look at popular humour throughout the ages. The crux of the magic of the humour is always that there is a victim.
UF, on the other hand, tries to be victimless.
A couple of weeks ago, I watched the patrons of Stacey's in Palo Alto finger through the UF book. Not one laugh. Not even a grin.
As one who rushed out and placed an advance order for the UF book, I was surprised when it arrived. I was expecting (having been conditioned by the various C&H / Bloom County compendiums that populate my bookshelves) for it to be a first-to-Nth collection of the strips chronologically.
The single biggest and most confusing omission was the birth of Dust Puppy, followed by DP's creating Erwin. Such central characters (since they're a bit obtuse for a casual reader) seem to need this germination to be included.
Rafe
V^^^^V
Rafe
Opinions expressed by the author may not actually exist in the wild.
...as geek culture goes mainstream.
;)
;)
This comment left me a little unsettled. I wonder if it could really happen? Would we really want it to happen? Obviously, if it's going to happen, it'll happen whether or not we want it to. However, I find it rather unlikely.
I fear that "going mainstream" might just amount to people doing everything they can to look like a geek, rather than actually be one. They'll install Redhat, Caldera, or Mandrake, run Enlightenment, and hang out in some #channel, being k00l d00ds. They'll wear Copyleft t-shirts, talk about what Linus or Raymond said lately, and use the Linux credit card. (Well, at least that'll bring more capital into the Community for furthering development!!
Yet as we all know, being a geek takes so much time and effort...and study. I have gained the impression that this amount of learning is just not something that non-geeks are interested in. People are more concerned with office gossip, the latest styles, or the sports page. They won't "have time" for debugging their code, compiling the latest library to support whatever, or making sure their box on the Net is patched up and "secure" (as secure as things can be
Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see. The Community will continue to affect mainstream culture...but just how much, and in what way, is a mystery to me.
Congratulations to Illiad. Remember, just because he is not a techie (you would have found out if you had ever read anything on his website regularly, that does not mean he does not have good insight into the Open Source (OPEN SORES!) community.
Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes, they go the 'ouse? It says Romans go home. No it doesn't. What's Latin fo
Perhaps you're a waste of a moderation?
>;)
how about math?
its so hard... the new chapter.. opn adding fractions.. i don't get fractions..
whats 1/2+1/3?
It's 5/6ths you dipshit, now get the fuck off the thread. If you wanna talk about your homework take it to e-mail, or a telephone, or ICQ, or AIM, or IRC, or anywhere else that we don't have to see it.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
I JUST REALIZED......! I read that at least 50 times... but then again it was at 4:30 in the morning when I realized that I had missed a strip.
okay.. so, when is User Friendly going to start getting funny again?
Heh. The only picture I saw from the show was of you and Thyla.
:)
Cute.
I read User Friendly for a few weeks, until I realized it wasn't that funny a strip. How many times can the same Windows NT jokes get recycled? It's already worn off it's charm for me, and it probably won't ever hit the mainstream at all.
The answer that "the Silent Majority" will come up with if exposed to too much "Blue Screen of Death" humor is:
"Huh? My PC with Windows works fine for what I do with it. Those geeks must have an agenda. I wonder how they're gonna try and extract money outta me now?"
And they're not far off. Sysadmins all across the land plot how they can "help" those mere users.... How to protect them from "hackers" (oops, sorry, "crackers").
That's the message I think the majority of Americans would get from User Friendly.
Hmmm. Some of UF just doesn't really get a chuckle from me, but some other stuff does. The recent NT server stability one was a funny jab at mindcraft.
If you can read through the whole thing and not laugh at ANY of them, there's probably something wrong with you. I mean, I detest Peanuts and it can still make me laugh every now and then.
And, it's not really suprising that customers at a bookstore wouldn't laugh at most of the jokes, it's insider humor.
>> Your post is more funny (as in ludicrous) than UF has ever been.
.. umm, KNOWN facts about the strip and it's creator.
Oh? And how other than stating
>> A couple of weeks ago, I watched the patrons of Stacey's in Palo Alto finger through the UF book.
>> Not one laugh. Not even a grin.
Ok.. and that means what? I do that with dilbert, Garfield, Calvin and hobes and a slew of other books. I still like than but because I don't laugh while reading them not make them funny? Please, explain this to us and where you got your PHd in Psychology to know how people think.
Of course I have realized something. I looked back and remebered ALL the other posts relating to UF when it wasn't as popular and maybe 1 person would say it wasn't funny.
And remeber April 1st? The "threat of shutdown" joke? Even if it was an April Fools joke, I received over 900 emails of support on my "Support page" and no one said then it was unfunny.
Now lets look, UF is becomming really popular and the creator was interviewed and that interview put ona site where millions of people will see it ina day. NOW UF is not funny, NOW people are picking it apart.. I think it is more that people can't stand something that started out such small and part time becoming so popular just by mainly word of mouth.
No sense really in any kind of bashing anymore. If you think back really hard, and look. I almost bet you that people posting the unfunny posts now are the same people that supported UF all those other times.
But feel free to continue, "Anonymous Cowards" really don't have much if they have to say something is bad and have to hide to say it.
UF has a very strong following, if you don't like it fine.. the rest of us that do don't care what you think (mainly cuz your wrong).
The Bastage of the Web
P.S. Pitr is not russian, he is just speaking slavic. Please, get facts right BEFORE putting your foot in your mouth.
"Got, Root, What is difference?" -- Pitr of User Friendly
AAAAGGHHH!!!! Pictures are evil! But Thyla is gorgeous
Anyway, check out Dibona.com. You'll find a lot of pictures there.
Some shitwad of an AC posts flamebait, gets his sorry ass moderated down, and promptly reposts his lame vitriol....
What we NEED here is a filter to get ALL AC posts out of our view. Seems that 90% of all flamebait, trolls, and other such clutter comes from ACs, no there'd be no real loss.
Also, how 'bout a filter to make users with low enough karma disappear from our viewscreens....
(Too cowardly to back your post up with your karma level??? I don't want to see ya.... Post enough crap??? Ditto.)
Passion is what makes a geek. It's what drives the time, effort and study. How many of us stay up late at nights debugging code just because "you almost have it working!", and by 4am you get it to work. It feels great, except you have to be at work by 7am.
:)
No matter how someone tries to be a geek, if you don't have the passion, then you are not a geek. Last night I stayed up late because I had to understand "exactly" how the formula of Hue is created from RGB. Now half asleep (and my wife wanting to kill me) I solved the problem, and I'm thrilled. -- side note, I'm a network person trying to understand graphics
Also, off topic: The article says Eric Raymond was Luke Skywalker, I thought he was Obe-Own(sp?), and the dust puppy was Luke.
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind
As I browsed the After Y2K page, I saw a picture of what is supposed to be Illiad. Is that what Illiad is supposed to look like? What is the source picture Nitrozac for that drawing anyways?
Why hasn't anyone realized how unfunny this comic is?