Wow. It seems someone at YouTUBE took this comic seriously and decided to add an “Audio Preview” feature. Now you can hear your comments read aloud to you.
Of course, it’s an optional button using speech synth rather than a mandatory dramatic reading, so it’ll just be used for entertainment by people who haven’t played with a speech synthesizer before:
But then, after a little more browsing around, I see this:
So maybe there’s hope after all.
xkcd 
“I C U P”
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amazing! Munroe for president!
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IT WAS A SOUNDSTAGE ON MARS
That sounded great on audo, dunno what you guys are talking about…
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audio*
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It is a bit incredible, but it’s not that surprising; given the fact that Youtube is owned by Google, I think there’s a pretty good chance that every single Youtube worker reads XKCD
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@KarlH: “Will” own the internet?
I’m sorry, but I don’t really see how you could possibly do more. He made a joke, and it changed YouTube. You don’t get more power than that.
Ten million internets to xkcd.
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@Karl H: “Will” own the internet?
I’m sorry, but what more can be done? When you make a joke, and YouTube (and by association, Google), actually develops a feature. You pretty much win at that point.
Ten million internets to xkcd.
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thanks for info
nice blog
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Randall, fuck off, you son of a bitch.
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Hey, looks like someone else has noticed that Youtube stole this idea from your comic:
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Congratulations! Where’s your Google royalty cheque?
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If only audio preview was a requirement before accepting any comment.
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I’d like to know which API has been used to implement this feature..I have a website for an humanitarian association and this could be very useful for my users.
Contact me back
darklegends@hotmail.it
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Life imitates xkcd.
That’s just awsome.
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How about it reads it in upspeak too? Like someone at the ROFLCon panel? I’m not looking at anyone in particular?
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That’s awesome. I just noticed posting on this vid – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCaxa2xS3pU&feature=related
Actually hearing something say “Dee Colon Less-than” Is fairly awkward, but still seriously awesome.
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EPIC WIN!
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Omg i saw the feature and came right here! I think youtube ppl read xkcd hehe
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Hehe, I thought this as soon as I saw it.
Coincidentally, seen the video by walllofweird on Youtube? Katrina, if you’re reading this, hi XD
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Real Life is a poser.
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Whoa! That’s just totally awesome.
[okay, this comment doesn’t sound too stupid when my system TTS it.]
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ROFLMAO
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You know, as neat as this is, I wish “River Tam vs. Everybody” was the first Munroe idea implemented into reality.
Because I’d see it, like, five times.
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This would make a great WordPress plugin.
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I didn’t read every comment here, but I really believe this feature should be mandatory. Replace Captcha with it to ensure people are in fact people, and that they are aware of the comment they are posting. It could quickly become a standard on Interweb forums.
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No audio preview on your own site?
You should look at that comic you did because it was great.
Then you should implement that feature as well.
For great justice!
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haha nice and fun to test this new feature muha rofl
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I don’t see how it could be for “blind people”. If you’re blind, why would you _listen_ to videos that you can’t actually watch, or comment on just the audio portion? If you can see well enough to watch the video, you can see well enough to know what you’re typing.
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I just discovered this today, and immediately thought of how eerie it is that so often the real world (or digital one) can mirror what you put into xkcd. It’s like a force of nature, unstoppable; it must simply be waited out.
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How about persistent lifetime tracking of the poster’s average comment ratings? At 0, audio playback is optional, but at -1 it’s mandatory. At -10 the voice is switched to a child’s voice. At -25, it’s the voice of Gilbert Gottfried. And at -100, it’s dramatically read by Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump.
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haha. My favorite part of youtube by far! … I wrote in “I like it when its hot and steamy…”
LOL! try it!
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Lola. What the fuck ? Just trying to see if I sound stupid commenting your post. With love,
marc
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Omg, this is epic!
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