Line #29 Webcomic/UserFriendly


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uf19981111.gif]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:The tao of Pitr.]]
3	With its tagline of [[LongRunners "Impairing productivity since 1997"]], J.D. "Illiad" Frazer's ''[[http://www.userfriendly.org/ User Friendly]]'' covers the antics of the staff at a small ISP and frequently brings current events in the IT field into its strips.
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5	Similar to ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'' and ''Webcomic/{{PvP}}'', it has become a bit infamous for its creator, who is very outspoken on several topics about both webcomics and the computer industry. Much of it comes from perceived laziness, since the strip very often does cop out when it comes to fresh content. This came to a head in 2009 when it was found that Illiad had plagiarized several [=MetaFilter=] users by using their comments as punchlines for the strip, for which he apologized and modified the offending strips to credit the original sources.
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7	O'Reilly Media and Manning Publications have published compilations of the strip in dead-tree form. For various reasons, from late 2009 most of the strips were reruns, and at the end of [[https://web.archive.org/web/20220226013838/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/read.cgi?id=20220224&tid=4056273 February 2022]], the site closed down entirely.
8	----
9	!!This webcomic provides examples of:
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11	* AcquaintedInRealLife: At one point AJ plays an online game and gets mugged repeatedly by a female player character called "Lady Shady". He talks to her a bit but often ends up just getting mugged. Later he sees Miranda at the water jug and asks her how things have been, and she cheerfully tells him about this new game she's playing and how she'd stripped some twerp of all his possessions "courtesy of The Lady Shady".
12	* AffectionateParody: Gentler than most -- it chides nerddom and programmers now and then when they become too obsessive or Slashdot is in uproar over something trivial.
13	* AlcoholInducedBisexuality: PlayedForLaughs when AJ goes on a bender after blowing his chances with Miranda for the umpteenth time. After singing his woes for most of the strip, he turns to a homeless man and asks "What's your name, baby?" On the other hand, AJ is so drunk he might not have known the person he was addressing was male.
14	* AnthropomorphicVice: A giant talking cola occasionally shows up, possibly just as a hallucination, and seeks to corrupt someone. Caffeine is after all a stock geek vice, especially in the form of cola.
15	* AprilFoolsDay: An infamous prank involved teasing that an unnamed big company, implied to be Microsoft given the strip's staunch anti-MS, pro-Linux stance, had been threatening the site before temporarily pulling it down entirely, leading to outcry among Linux communities before it was revealed as a joke... which itself led to more outcry as people had seriously thought the site was being threatened. A more detailed story can be found [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/bk829/what_is_your_best_april_fools_prankthat_went/c0n7mf4/ here]]. Some future April 1st strips would make reference to this incident in some fashion, primarily thru SelfDeprecation.
16	* ArtEvolution: Visible early on, but averted through most of the strip run. The art style stabilized in the first 6-8 months, and hardly changed after that, remaining rather rough. Many comics [[CutAndPasteComic re-using character art]] adds to this effect.
17	* AuthorAvatar: Illiad's paper-bag-over-head character, though he rarely interacts with the day-to-day plotlines.
18	* BenevolentBoss: The Chief, though he's a little more world-weary and underhanded than others.
19	* BringMyBrownPants: AJ, for ''good'' reason.
20	* CasanovaWannabe: Stef, so very much He has a thing for butter, [[BestialityIsDepraved llamas]] and Miranda. In that order.
21	* CerebusSyndrome: The later story lines feature Sid getting cancer and A.J. joining the army and being sent to Afghanistan.
22	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Cobb, Stef's colleague from Sales. Much nicer and smarter guy, despite his inability to say "ethical". Hasn't been seen since 1998.
23	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: After Pitr leaks shower photos of her to the internet via the Hubble telescope, Miranda gets her revenge by tying him up and deleting random clusters from his code library backup discs, one for each email address he spammed.
24	%% * DeadpanSnarker: Erwin the A.I.
25	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Several of the main cast, and with Cthulhu himself even! He still maintains his malevolence.
26	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Kuan. See SpeakOfTheDevil, below.
27	* DueToTheDead: Certain celebrities beloved by the author have received memorial Sunday strips. Chuck Jones, E. Gary Gygax, Mary Travers... Major TearJerker territory.
28	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The bottom of the forum page had a request for good behaviour that ended with "and if you're really bad, we'll call your Mom. We're not kidding, we've done it before." This was a reference to a RealLife event in which the moderators had so much trouble with a persistent troll that they contacted the troll's ISP, who gave them the account holder's 'phone number. The 'phone was answered by the troll's mother, and he never bothered them again.
29	* {{Geek}}: Nerds and geeks, meet A.J. He is now your leader. So stereotypically nerdy, he inspired the creation of [[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/sextips/ Sex Tips for Geeks]].
30	* InhumanResources: The [[PerpetualSmiler Smiling]] [[FauxAffablyEvil Man]].
31	* InstantAIJustAddWater: Or in this case, Dust Puppy.
32	* KarmaHoudini: Pitr sexually harassed Miranda (passing off shower photos as space pics), and Sid murdered an intern [[TroubleMagnetGambit by proxy]]. They both still work at Columbia Internet (though Miranda managed to get revenge in the former instance).
33	* {{Lzherusskie}}: Pitr, because the book he read said evil geniuses are supposed to have a stereotypically villainous accent.
34	* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Sid claims that obsessive addiction to ''VideoGame/NetHack'' is a good thing because it helps build character.
35	* MonkeysOnATypewriter: Referenced in [[http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051201 this]] strip.
36	* MustHaveCaffeine: Manifests in many forms, including a Kool-Aid Man parody that haunts Greg with bizarre "you need caffeine" strawman arguments.
37	%%* NerdsAreSexy: Miranda.
38	%%* OldMaster: Sid.
39	* ParodiesForDummies: How Pitr started on the path of evil genius-hood.
40	%% * ResetButton
41	%%* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: TeamPet Dust Puppy.
42	* SerialEscalation: Stef's suckitude at Quake. So much suckitude that [[spoiler:he dies on the ''intro screen'' to ''Videogame/QuakeIIIArena''.]] He is nicknamed "Lava Boy" because he ''always'' falls into the lava in games. [[spoiler:Even in games such as ''Videogames/NeverwinterNights'' in which it is impossible to do so.]]
43	* SpeakOfTheDevil: Hastur. Yes, Hastur. Yes, ''that'' -- oh no you don't! Too late. I was in the next room.
44	* TeamPet: Dust Puppy, an innocent, adorable ball of fluff with feet and big eyes who happens to be a God at ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.
45	%%* UnsoundEffect: [[AC:code code justify code]].
46	* VerySpecialEpisode:
47	** A Very Special Week reminding us about Remembrance Day and how it's not just about World War I and [=II=]'s dead any more. In [[http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20081110 this]] and the next five strips, no-one's laughing, least of all Sid. Another story line deals with getting cancer. A later story has A.J. joining the army, and being sent to Afghanistan [[spoiler: where he is wounded in action]].
48	** Much earlier, following the September 11th attacks, the techs pulled out of their remote office in an old missile silo. "After the last few days, living in a missile silo just isn't cool anymore."

Context Webcomic / UserFriendly