Public Service Announcement
on March 18, 2009
at 4:23 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized
Every time you leave a mean comment on the internet, a variable gets accidentally reused in a proof. This leads to much confusion and dismay, not to mention a very troubled indeterminate who will need someone to pay for his or her visits to Sigma Freud.
Seriously–if you don’t have anything nice to say, you’re wasting your time and your fingers’ stamina. I delete mean comments, so only you and I have will ever have the pleasure of reading your well-composed, original, and wryly insightful insults.
For every intelligent person there are two idiots. And the more is the awesomeness of the blog, the more they come. You simply rock.
( I bring every day your words and strips to my math department, where you are considered very very inspirational :))
:oO Mean people is everywhere!
I’m a reader of your web comic, and i can’t imagine how anyone can be apolite with you after having fun reading your draws. :oS
I haven’t been a subscriber for long, but I agree with anthonnyag. Why be mean? Your stuff is funny and makes me feel smart.
I’ve never left a nasty comment before, but this post makes it a lot more tempting to do so.
So that’s why my proof was messed up. Next thing you know, someone’s trying to divide by zero.
@blah Truly? I consider this sort of a notification of the terms of service. On my end, a cranky, insomniac grad student. On your end, a hopefully mildly amused reader. Between us, a repartee that doesn’t make me want to yell at inanimate objects (such as the computer screen).
@Sushi I think division by zero errors occur when someone offers you lower mortgage rates or a killer deal on prescription drugs.
I think your blog is wonderful and anyone who would leave a crappy comment probably needs to be on some sort of meds.
I didn’t intend harm. I don’t remember why, but I visited your blog and noticed the error, and wasn’t sure how to report it.
Despite how the post came out, my personal belief isn’t that the comic didn’t belong here. I actually think it’s nice that you added to the records of the event, and taking the effort to do so adds to the specialness.
I WAS worried about how it would be interpreted, and I agree, in hindsight, that you did the right thing deleting those posts.
Long-time reader, first-time commenter. Thanks for taking my call :-)
Illegitimi non carborundum – I love your cartoons, even when they go beyond my 30-years-ago-calculus-for-CompSci-majors background.
Bread Machine.
I commented on how I wanted a “normal”-joke (normal as in orthogonal) in the caption contest vote. It didn’t convey anything nice I guess, but it wasn’t mean either, right? Since the comment wasn’t deleted, can I relax or should I worry that brown sharpies will strike down upon me with great vengeance and furious anger?
Maybe we should raise the bar for leaving comments. Given that only dumb people leave mean comments, I suggest a mathematical equation that needs to be solved correctly in order to submit your comment is a good filter :)
Or just a checkbox that says “Check here if this comment isn’t dumb.” Maybe that would’ve made me think more before I posted :)
I am a little curious as to what the mean comments might say. Purely for sociological reasons. You can really tell what kind of fool a person is by the specific mean things that they say. I for one would like to know how the relative proportions of the different types of idiots exist in the anonymous ether of the internet.
I wonder What happened to the freedom of speech :)
Okay, meaningless references to free speech constitute dumb comments. I am an attorney and a mathematician, and nothing is more annoying than the completely-unsubstantiated proposition that one cannot delete a comment from one’s blog without eviscerating First Amendment freedoms. Seriously, people? This is the Internet. That person’s comments can be posted in a million other fora. Speech is not constrained. >:(
That’s probably a spambot thar. The smiley face is a link to a nutritional supplement website with what are probably fake reviews. The link is badly formed, though (maybe on purpose?).
Vague comments which fit almost anywhere are all the rage among spammers nowadays. The way to tell is to ask:
1) Did they say anything specific to the website that can’t be found by simple title/URL pasting?
2) Did they have a link to something?
3) If you really think about it, was what they said relevant?
This one passes 3, but the link is strong evidence in this case.
You will always get the snarky remarks.
Unfortunately, the internet happens to give a platform to cruelty disguised as humour. You don’t have to beat someone up or taunt them to bully someone just a nice subtle cut here and there does the trick nicely and covers up low self-esteem.
At least the comments you are getting are well-composed, original and wryly insightful!
Keep up the good work and just ignore the crap. I love your drawings.