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."

Interesting concept...

[Phydeaux314]

Although I think that the people who need this feature most are the kind least likely to actually use it.

Re:Interesting concept...

[tool462]

Correction. The people who need this feature are likely to use it to get the computer to say naughty things to them. Especially if there is an option to have the voice be the woman with a British accent used on some GPS systems.

Re:Interesting concept...

[caluml]

I suspect you mean an English accent. Scottish or Welsh are very different. In fact, I'd go so far to say that you probably mean a "Posh" Received Pronunciation English accent.

Re:Interesting concept...

[tool462]

Correction accepted. But, I'm more inclined to believe that it's actually an American actress (from Iowa or something) doing her imitation of what she thinks an English accent is--a grotesque hybrid of Received Pronunciation and Cockney.

Re:

[Hoi Polloi]

I've always been amused by how American accents are frequently portrayed by British actors on the BBC. They are generally done with a barking Texas accent as if they had seen one too many episodes of Dallas growing up.

Re:

[Samah]

It's gotta be better than any American attempt at an Australian accent. It makes me cringe away from the TV and slowly edge toward the remote to change the channel.

Re:

[GrahamCox]

an English accent is--a grotesque hybrid of Received Pronunciation and Cockney.

Yep, that's sounds about right.

Re:

[Mr_Magick]

Hey, I am from Iowa you insensitive clod...

I really am from Iowa, and according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] so are these people:
Tom Arnold
Lara Flynn Boyle
Terry Farrell
John Getz
David Anthony Higgins
Mary Beth Hurt
Ashton Kutcher
Cloris Leachman
Ron Livingston
Kate Mulgrew
Donna Reed
Brandon Routh
John Wayne
Elijah Wood

Re:Interesting concept...

[Anonymous Coward]

I really am from Iowa, and according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] ...

I just added God and Steve Forbes, too.

Re:

[twistedsymphony]

Who?

Re:Interesting concept...

[Roxton]

It's encouraging to see that people can and do escape Iowa, but that probably doesn't help your point.

Re:Interesting concept...

[KevinKnSC]

Pro-tip: When listing famous people from your state, don't lead with Tom Arnold.

Re:

[freeweed]

Hey, he's a big guy - and, he's good with knots!

Re:Interesting concept...

[Drooling Iguana]

And James T. Kirk. He only works in outer space.

Re:

[VolciMaster]

I think you just proved the point :P

Seriously, though - I love Iowa, I love corn :)

Re:

[Whiteox]

Doesn't Capt'n Kirk live there now?

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

I too come from baltimore. It's not really the greatest city. In fact it's close to the worst pit of hell ever; but I live right near MICA so I'm surrounded by somewhat docile art students.

Re:Interesting concept...

[Legion_SB]

This American is becoming partial to the Welsh accent. Thanks mostly to the girl from Torchwood.

Re:

[dangitman]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllsssshhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(pounds fists on ground in despair)

Re:

[commodoresloat]

Actually, I rather like the idea of it being a lower class Scottish accent. Especially if she sounds pissed to the gills and says "shite" a lot.

Re:

[caluml]

Kelly MacDonald in Trainspotting [google.co.uk] sort of thing? I can see where you're coming from, aye, I can, laddy. (Oh, and it's "pished" :))

Slashdot, cmon: It's been 4 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

Re:

[definate]

Nah, I want an awesome chav accent to say naughty things to me like. "Wot u look'n' at twat!" and so forth. :-)

Re:

[Ed Avis]

It's okay to call it a 'British accent'. Surely you realize that many Scottish and Welsh people speak with this accent too; and many English people do not.

Re:Interesting concept...

[David Gerard]

That would be the Factory Standard GPS Voice (Female) [uncyclopedia.org].

Re:Interesting concept...

[WDot]

You are absolutely spot on. I just signed up for a youtube account JUST to have the computer read me some colorful comments. =p

It's done in a Microsoft Sam-like voice. Poking around the site doesn't seem to reveal any options for changing the voice, but on the bright side the system is really easy to use. When posting a comment you have the text field and three buttons under it: First "Audio preview," then "Post Comment," and "Discard." Hopefully they'll change "Post Comment" to "Post" so that Audio preview will be the largest button, causing the quick and the lazy to sometimes accidentally hear their comment. (=

Re:

[Firehed]

I think Slashdot's approach with the quick-reply AJAXified version is fine: preview and cancel, with two useless buttons that nobody uses. And after you preview, you still usually have to wait about 15 minutes to post the comment because you type at a rate of more than two words per hour.

Audio previews should really wipe out all but the true extremes - only the most determined idiots and geniuses will actually submit their comments. Whether that's a good thing or not remains to be seen.

Re:Interesting concept...

[Austerity Empowers]

I was going to say the mandatory voice would be a pre-pubescent boy, shrieking loudly. If you can stand what you're saying with that coming over the speakers, it's probably exceptionally intelligent and informed.

Re:

[PCMX]

I would go further on your prediction by claiming that no one will use it altogether other than to just try it out. Albeit innovative for an online service, it is a feature that serves no real purpose when not imposed on the user.

I'm so torn...

[Anonymous Coward]

I love xkcd, but hate idle. Should I start loving idle or start hating xkcd???

Re:

[Kagura]

XKCD is good to go, but this story has no business on the default home page.

Re:I'm so torn...

[Ihmhi]

I believe most of us would agree that nothing from idle belongs on the front page.

Re:I'm so torn...

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

To be fair, I believe most of those would agree that nothing on Slashdot belongs on the front page.

Re:

[kaizokuace]

or any facsimile of a front page.

Re:

[PitaBred]

It can be fixed. You just go into your preferences (you have a user account, so it's available to you) and untick "idle" from the sections. Not that frickin' hard. Hell, it's easier than posting a comment is.

Re:

[Kagura]

I can't complain about idle being on the front page if I do that.

Re:

[PitaBred]

"I'm too lazy to log in, but not lazy enough to not comment or just not click on the fucking article"?

Nice.

Re:

[el americano]

It'll still be in the RSS feed, with no indication that it's an idle article until you reach that awful white on green.

Re:

[Ihmhi]

Which is how I get to my Slashdot articles... I don't suppose there's a way to change RSS preferences, is there?

My main gripe is that it's in the RSS feed.

Re:

[somersault]

Hitler doesn't just love your favourite band - he loves all music, all forms of art, your mother and all computing technology apart from the iPhone. I discovered this while using a man in the middle attack on an email conversation between himself and Elvis.

Re:

[flosofl]

I'm about to go register the username Robert'); DROP TABLE users;--

Ah, yes. We call him Little Bobby Tables...

Re:

[Doug Neal]

The thing I dislike about xkcd is the cringeworthy lameness of it, which crosses the line (as this site often does) from 'geeky but interesting' to 'jesus, I hope your nerdiness doesn't rub off on me'.

I disagree, although I do see where you're coming from as this is pretty much exactly how I feel about User Friendly [userfriendly.org]. XKCD does have it's slightly lame/cringe moments but for the most part it's inspired observational comedy imho.

I'm impressed!

[Verdatum]

First non-pants story I've seen on idle! Huzzah!

Re:

[WK2]

Completely on topic, since this is idle and we are talking about pants.

What does "idle is pants" mean? I laugh every time I see it, but have no clue to its meaning.

Re:I'm impressed!

[twistedsymphony]

"pants" is a British adjective synonymous with "rubbish".

Re:

[TooMuchToDo]

Note to self: Never say "My junk is in my pants" to my British friends.

Re:

[mengel]

And especially not "my junk is in my fanny-pack".

Re:I'm impressed!

[commodoresloat]

As an American, I always had a problem with this expression because I thought, what's a Brit to do when someone is wearing pants that are rubbish? Are they to say, "my good fellow, those pants are completely pants!" But then someone corrected me and noted that they would say "those trousers are completely pants." I felt much better after that conversation.

Re:

[dangitman]

And, of course, trousers is the greatest word that the English language has ever created - which contrasts nicely with pants. Trousers is best when said in the voice of Rick from The Young Ones.

Re:

[Whiteox]

Trousers=Pants in the UK. And yes, you can mod me informative.

Re:

[bh_doc]

And yes, you can mod me informative.

Will do!

Re:

[Dogtanian]

""pants" is a British adjective synonymous with "rubbish"."

This comes from the British "pants" which is short for "underpants". Which I guess is kind of weird etymologically, but since we didn't call trousers "pants" in the first place it doesn't matter to us :-P

Taco's Sig

[Prien715]

"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.

Re:

[legirons]

JFGI? [google.co.uk]

Re:

[NoPantsJim]

I for one have been waiting for a non-pants story for far too long.

Re:

[denis-The-menace]

I figured it out.

click the triangle and the front of the tags.

PS: I apologies for my previous post since it is not true since we can still tag this story: idleispants

Re:

[fastest fascist]

Speaking of tagging, and completely off-topic of course, but this is idle... WTF is up with the "story" tags? I mean, no shit, what else do we have to tag here than stories? Some stories are tagged "story" twice! I get the feeling it's some new form of trolling, or maybe there are just a lot more than I thought of the type of person here, who go around puting sticky notes with words on them on everything: "car" for cars, "cat" for cats, "tree" for trees...

Someone clue me in here. It doesn't matter in any

Re:

[lgw]

so he just followed the example set by our leaders
and silenced his critics.

Hey now, Obama isn't president *yet*, don't call him our leader. You know, the guy who threatened to revoke the FCC charters for many stations that ran negative ads - that guy?

No good

[kamikazearun]

Will stupid people realise how stupid their posts are when they're read out aloud?

Re:

[EchaniDrgn]

I stand corrected, suxzorz does in fact get parsed and spoken.... That's sad...

Of course...

[evanbd]

The best example would have to be this strip [xkcd.com] and the resultant web site [wetriffs.com] (NSWF).

Re:Of course...

[Free the Cowards]

That's a pretty bad example if you ask me, given that both sites were created by the same person.

Re:

[invisiblerhino]

Don't forget 'died in a blogging accident' and 'x girls, y cups'.

Re:

[trippcook]

You guys are obviously forgetting to check the most useful site on the internet. http://www.isxkcdshittytoday.com/ [isxkcdshittytoday.com] The RSS feed is very, very handy.

Re:Of course...

[Free the Cowards]

How pointless. It would be more accurate to simply have a text file which reads "no".

Re:Of course...

[Andr T.]

Nah. It means Nova Scotia Wildlife Federation [canlii.org].

Life imitates XKCD

[Andr T.]

I think the greatest improvement of our lifes from xkcd was when Stallman got a katana [xkcd.com]. Now I can sleep better, knowing he will be protected from the he-who-cannot-be-named, aka Bill.

Re:Life imitates XKCD

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

While the comic [xkcd.com] that inspired that is an excellent one, the idea of pulling that prank on Eric S. Raymond is seriously foolish [catb.org].

Re:

[dangitman]

Why, because he might wet his pants and cry like a little girl? Why else would he push the "tough guy" image, if he wasn't a scared little wuss?

Re:

[Culture20]

"ESR loves the sound of his own voice."

How, he's like a Dragon. Can you subdue him with the flat of your blade?

Re:

[Firehed]

Katana? That's clearly just a special-order XXL shaving razor.

Now if they could just get the order right

[johanatan]

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).

Re:

[evanbd]

You can configure that in your display preferences. The prefs link on the left (or top right on the awful idle display mode).

Re:

[Macthorpe]

Why should everyone else's defaults be configured to what you think is sane?

Re:

[WK2]

And Youtube comments, as well as blog posts, are often discussions and people replying to each other. Because it breaks up the logical order of discussion. Why is top posting bad?

I have to ask...

[ThisIsAnonymous]

So when is /. getting this?

Re:

[Instine]

If you want it we'll make it. I'm CTO at TEXTIC we make Talklets [textic.com]

if only...

[kellyb9]

Now, if only, we implemented this on slashdot, then we'd be in business!

Re:if only...

[WK2]

Yes, then people, would realize, how their comment wheezes, when it is full, of unnecessary commas.

Re:

[wilhelm]

Bill? Bill Shatner? Is that really you?

Re:if only...

[AioKits]

No, the program recognizes this and just switches to William Shatner's voice to read aloud instead.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Yetihehe]

Many people will. Many times I didn't click the submit button after reading what I just wrote.

Wait a minute...

[loocas]

Those comments on YouTube come from people? I thought it was a virus or something.

Shades of Soylent Green

[quanticle]

YouTube comments come from people!

Re:

[Matey-O]

Not _entirely_ true. See, the internet DID achieve sentience, but it wasn't the Singularity you'd hoped for. Instead of uber computers and floaty holograms, it presented itself as an Commentbot for all fora. Kind of a cross between Eliza and a kiwi. (The fruit, not the bird.)

First Impressions

[nizcolas]

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.

Re:

[SanityInAnarchy]

To call the comments we're talking about "communication" is an insult to everyone reading this. (I mean, at least you guys can read.)

pot kettle black

[nomadic]

We so need this on Slashdot...

Also

[nizcolas]

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.

Comment on Daft Punk videos

[chord.wav]

Try these:
Workit, better, faster, stronger.

Great

[HunterZ]

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.

Opinion of Idle

[British]

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!

Re:

[dancingmad]

Half Hour News Hour was FOX not CNN.
And yes, it was awful.

Re:

[Andr T.]

Your licence will be banned when the other geeks realize you can't spell licence.

Re:

[Andr T.]

Damn, it appears my LICENSE will be banned as well.

Re:

[RobBebop]

Yeah, I liked it better when it was just the drawings of a guy flowing around the world in a barrel.

Re:

[pushing-robot]

Already done. [factcheck.org]

Re:

[pushing-robot]

(...And I shouldn't ignore PolitiFact [politifact.com]...)

Re:

[dj_tla]

The phrase is "case in point" [thefreedictionary.com].

Re:

[mkiwi]

This is called lolspeak [speaklolspeak.com], and was largely popularized by the lolcats [icanhascheezburger.com] videos. The theory behind it (if there is such a thing) is to say something that sounds phonetically just like what you want to say, but is spelled in a fun manner. Usually there aren't a lot of caps or numbers (that is mostly with l33t and similar) because it makes the text much harder to read. Readability is a hallmark for anyone who does this well.

Ex.
I'm teh suxxorz. wen he told me, i wuz liek: zOMG dat's totally kewl. I nevr thot u