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 
:^( There’s no oodio button in this blag.
But yes, if you type a moronic post, chances are the audio’s going to sound moronic. “But it sounded better in my head!”
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Did you just hack Matt’s blog?
Your link is on the blog’s homepage
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I wonder if they will credit you in the patent that they have no doubt already filed. 🙂
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i love audio preview…. not
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That’s awesome XD!
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Spectabulous!
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I’m shocked and awed, Randal. It makes me wish I had a reality-impacting web comic of my very own. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. You can’t just make Cory Doctorow wear red goggles and a cape and not expect repercussions into the future. It’s like you’re inventing your (or, in actuality, representing and documenting our) own nerd pop culture.
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absolutely brilliant
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I agree- Monroe for president would be cool. Hey, at least we know he can debate pretty well.
Thing is, he writes a joke, Google changes. Can Bush do that? I think at this point Monroes might actualy LOOSE power if he got elected president.
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first
those comments really won’t disappear.
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i think this just proves that done right you may be able to take over the world (or perhaps just the US for starter) with just comics
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O lord.
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I saw the preview this morning.
The first thing I thought of was your comic and when I came back from work, viola there is a blag on it.
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This is really stupid. Who the hell is going to ever use this feature. I hope you suck monkey balls like pizza.
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Waha, STFU.
I C U P
I P U C
yay!
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Now people will write comments just for the fun of listening to the audio synthesizing. The (already-lack-of) content will never see the light of day again.
Now, I have to shave a monkey and fly off into space.
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Three words. Win.
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The word “dramatic” being in red threw me off. I thought it was an unwritten SWF file. Damn wikis.
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@ph00tbag “It’s funny, because the moment I saw that feature on Youtube, I came right here because I knew there would be a blag. I just knew it.”
same. i saw the button, and thought “what the hell, i can’t beleive this. XKCD must have said something about it”
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Well, it’s not going to be the first pointless feature that’s been implemented on the internet in any case.
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Hahaha! XKCD ftw.
I’m sure google takes a lot of random input into account when developing new features. Just looking at Google “Goggles” should be enough proof for this.
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This is high-larious. I started seeking out truly moronic comments to test the audio-preview. While the monotonous vocalization doesn’t highlight the ‘douche-iness’ of a message, it certainly can’t cover it up.
Also — I propose: Anyone who, when confronted with a vocal synthesizer, does not immediately want to enter the following:
“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
is not a properly functioning member of society.
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If everything works well we’ll have users who can write comments like this
http://baumanletters.ytmnd.com/
In direct response to http://youmakemetouchyourhandsforstupidreasons.ytmnd.com/
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Randall, thank you for making the internet a better place.
this is worth of a nobel prize or something…
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I can’t believe this site doesn’t have audio preview!
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Yesh. What is with all the random, just quoting other sites, comments? I can’t decide if they are just poorly formatted posters, trolls, or spammers who have managed to get past the “we caballeria” down here at the bottom of the screen. I hope it is just poor formatting. The other two would require me to pull out a flaming spam gun and shoot them in the face with banana cream pie(Like the crazy dude from gargoyles, only less harmless personal vendetta and more actual terror to strike into the hearts of my enemies.) I feel the need to test this comment for stupidity. It passes.
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So, for those keeping score: Richard Stallman gets a katana to match the one his comic counterpart wielded, Cory Doctorow doesn’t go anywhere without his goggles and cape, the comic about wood got a wikipedia entry edit-locked – and now the youtube audio preview! The blogosphere seems poised to collapse under the weight of your awesome. And then it shall become more powerful than we could ever imagine; an elegant community for a more civilized age.
Also, there’s a joke somewhere in here about Randall being like the Architect of the Matrix, but I can’t find it.
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P.S. Don’t be surprised if Morgan Freeman gives you a call, wondering if it’s cool that he read for you out loud.
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Clearly a photoshop. Either that, or those comments were written in a soundstage on Mars! Look at it, virtually no typos.
There is no intelligence on Youtube, so this has got to be fake!
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“Wow. It seems someone at YouTUBE took this comic seriously and decided to add an “Audio Preview” feature. ”
Dude get over it, no one with a normal life reads your shit. Fuck you and your loser diggers and basement dweller cohorts.
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Ehehe YouTube going down…
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You’ve changed the Internet, Randall. You should feel proud.
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I just went on Youtube this morning and found that feature. I was shocked, and amazed.
You’re shaping the internet as you write this comic, dude. Careful not to let the power go to your head though. 🙂
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Only problem is it plays the audio WAY too fast for me. It sounds like a chipmunk on crack. I have no idea why it doesn’t work.
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Wow. As soon as I noticed that feature, I immediately thought of xkcd.
xkcd: changing the face of the internet for the better.
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real life imitates xkcd
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this is great.
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Youtube should implement a feature where you can filter out comments that weren’t previewed via audio.
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