XKCD: It's more than a comic

I think the point is that a long thread could be several screens long, and you have to either go all the way back up to close it, or find a button that is being described as "invisible".

Literally invisible, until you mouse over it. Given this:

• A
  • B
    • C

You would have to click somewhere on the column under one of those dots.

1783: Emails

It rings well with the previous one: Why are we still using e-mails? More seriously, e-mail has some good uses, but seriously, why are there still mailing lists?

We still use email because professionals generally want to send/receive something more formal than a text message. Hence why they also insist on the greeting at the top and bottom.

I mostly use email nowadays to centralize my notifications for various sites.

It goes like this:

Use voicemail for a next day reply

Use email for a same day reply

Use text for a same hour reply

Use chat for an instant reply

In theory, of course

edited 9th Jan '17 9:36:37 AM by DeMarquis

I just got through a morning of replying to and composing all of my necessary emails that piled up during the holidays. One of my least favorite chores, but it had to be done

Emails are best at conveying complex ideas in a more or less permanent format. You can attach documents, format your thoughts, and generally come across as comprehensive and coherent. Chat's best for quick conversations but it's impermanent, informal, and difficult to retain and track.

And plus, do you really want your boss to have the ability to IM you at any hour of the day, and then expect an instant reply because of the format?

Did you guys hear about the new French law prohibiting companies with over 50 employees from emailing their employees off work hours? I could use such a law, as someone who, like most American employees, hasn't had an actual lunch break or weekend in years. But that kind of thing would never fly in this work-through-the-nervous-breakdowns-until-you-die country.

Re: Email addresses, I've always felt that their usage is best summed up by the "address" part. It's good for the kinds of thing that physical mail used to be and its more permanent than a lot of IM or other social media is, it's easier to verify and check back, and its a good way to consolidate lots of communication in one place

edited 9th Jan '17 11:17:53 AM by frosty

I would rephrase the end:

• Use chat for reply within minutes.
• Use phone for instant reply.

Also, I never use voicemail.

I don't really care when my employer sends me e-mails. I only read them at work anyway.

The problem with voice phone is that lots of people use voicemail to screen their calls.

Well, if they don't reply to calls, then they probably won't reply to chat either.

I'm lucky in that my employer can't email me outside of work, because my email is only accessible through the computers at work. (Network security reasons.)

Also, public sector unionization, which means I actually do get lunch breaks. Unions are essential. If you don't have one, management will walk all over you.

(Though if you are high-level management in the public sector, you're pretty much on-call 24/7. That's why they get the extra pay.)

Emails are for long-form messages in short threads, especially in a professional context.

A world without oceans.

It's rather interesting what our computer algorithms do to RL data.

Do an image search for "Content Aware goofs".

Content Aware is an ability in Photoshop to fill in blank spaces with elements of the background, warping them to cover the hole.

edited 11th Jan '17 8:44:55 AM by blkwhtrbbt

I think it's also intended to be a bit of a joke on those political maps resized by population.

You mean those kinds where the countries are expanded or shrunk like balloons depending on the data used? Those always look gross to me. x_x

Wifi.

This one feels.... kinda lazy.

Trash

Unless there is a joke I'm missing, this looks like a theme that has been done before (bottom left panel of this comic comes to mind). I know using the wardrobe for all of mundane things is an enticing idea, but I was expecting something more devious from Black Hat Guy.

Dumping nuclear waste in Narnia isn't devious enough for you?