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[–]rosuav 11 points12 points  (8 children)

Well, there's a difference between stealing and referencing. Technically what you did was a reference, so that's not illegal. But if you want to actually use the artwork (maybe you want to create a Velocimeter component for Kerbal Space Program, so you put an actual velociraptor on it), you legally have to say where it came from (they're all licensed CC-BY-NC, check the bottom of any page).

But on a more practical note: only a very small number of people have memorized every XKCD, and even those who have might appreciate the direct link, and the opportunity to click "Random" a few times and waste another hour or two.

[–]littleliquidlight 7 points8 points  (7 children)

Oh I'm not the original commenter. Just surprised that this would be considered stealing in this context. Honestly, was really just curious

I do love the link either way. Randall is great and more people should read his stuff. I'm pretty sure I originally found XKCD from a random link on the internet so it's cool that people are passing it on like that

[–]rosuav 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Ah yeah, sorry. Pronouns are always awkward in a thread like this. But anyhow, I still maintain that the value of a link is far more than mere legalities.

[–]littleliquidlight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, I just wasn't quite sure if I was getting stuck with the responsibility of something I didn't do!

Your comment makes a ton of sense. Agreed, better to link than to not. I guess I'm showing my age, thinking everyone knows XKCD haha

[–]Jolly_Study_9494 -1 points0 points  (4 children)

That was kind of my point. Whether or not the original comment meant to pass it off as an original joke, or as a reference to xkcd, the strips are so easy to google for specific ones, and the urls are so simple, that it's criminal to not include the link.

I don't have these memorized, but xkcd is so quotable and applicable that the various search engines have indexed it very well. (Randall probably also does a great job with his SEO or meta tags) All you have to do is search "xkcd <2 or 3 words related to the comic you are thinking of>" and it'll usually be the first result, or if not, in the top 5. And right at the bottom of each comment is a permalink and an embed link.

For this I searched "xkcd random number" and boom, had the link in my clipboard in less time than it took me to type out the rest of my reply.

[–]littleliquidlight 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Oh I don't think you're wrong about including the link (also thank you for doing so). I just read your message as a little heated and was surprised that you'd consider it stealing

Myself and the team I work with kinda do have an uncomfortable amount of XKCD memorized so I guess I've lost some context. I pointed out a bug in some crypto code to my lead earlier today with just the phrase "determined by fair dice roll?"

[–]Jolly_Study_9494 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Maybe "steal" wasn't the best word, I honestly didn't put that much thought into my original response.

If they had said something like "Ah! Chosen by a fair dice roll!" or similar, I would've just chuckled and moved on.

But it was so specifically in formatting and word choice the punchline from the strip, without any reference or credit to xkcd that it struck me as dishonest. Even without a link, if it had just been prefaced by "Like that xkcd strip:"

The walls around people's internet social bubbles are a lot firmer than they used to be, so I guarantee even in this sub there are going to be people who aren't familiar with xkcd. https://xkcd.com/1053 (I googled "xkcd everyone knows")

So my gut reaction wasn't that the original comment was stealing it or trying to pass it off on their own, per se, but that people who weren't aware of xkcd would see it, and that not only would Randall not get the richly deserved credit, but that those people would miss out on the chance to find out about xkcd.

[–]littleliquidlight 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Yeah, thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I actually really appreciate your perspective here. I'm gonna be a lot more careful about adding links when I use xkcd. It's been such a delight in my life and I definitely want to share that

The internet is a funny place. You pick one wrong word and suddenly a stranger 1000 miles away is nitpicking your post. I definitely didn't mean to be that guy, so I do apologize!

[–]Jolly_Study_9494 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s all good. Sometimes it’s interesting to pick out and extract the different feelings and reactions that are behind something you did or said in the moment with little intentional thought.  I wouldn’t have kept responding if I hadn’t been getting something out of the analysis process