In this series I'd like to share a variety of places on the internet. They are not necessarily my favorite places, nor places that I like or dislike (unless I say so). More so they are a taste of what I think exemplifies the diversity of thought that the internet provides.
Today's adventure brings us to xkcd.com, a site with little more than the imaginative comics of a Mr. Randall Munroe. This is a site that I really like. Despite the site's humility in scope and design, it is immensely popular, garnering an estimated 150 million visitors per month.
For some reason, programmers seem to love xkcd comics; if you spend enough time on programming forums and communities like Reddit, it is inevitable that you will run into them at some point. Usually in the form of a link in this exact form: relevant xkcd (hmmm, ironic that I didn't just link you to an actual xkcd isn't it?).
It is hard to pin down exactly what it is about them that makes them so popular. I believe their understated look and nature is attractive. The jokes are usually just clever enough to be interesting, and relatable enough to be funny to wider audience. I'm not sure at what frequency xkcd produces content, but as of writing there are nearly 3000 comic strips on his site, with no signs of slowing down.
If you have some free time I highly encourage you check out xkcd and read some comics. There's a 'random' button so you can really get lost in there.
Pro tip: don't forget to check the alt and title attributes...!
Anyways, that's enough for now. Here's to xkcd, and the internet!
-Peter V.