Questionable Content XVIII: "That's only sort of good news"

[Manga Shoggoth]

Welcome to the latest installment of discussion threads for Questionable Content (http://questionablecontent.net/), a M-F"slice of life" comic in which life is defined by coffee, robots, Butts Disease (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2016), and spontaneous metal interludes (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=666).

You have been warned.

Links To The Past
Questionable Content 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140480)
Questionable Content 2: Espresso With Extra Scorn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176418)
Questionable Content 3: Ironically Quite Popular (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194380)
Questionable Content 4: Attack of the 60-Inch AnthroPC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215953)
Questionable Content 5: Suffers Occasional Outbreaks of Butt's Disease (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242665)
Questionable Content 6: Murder Mode (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280941)
Questionable Content 7: Will Work For Makeouts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?328150)
Questionable Content 8: OMG I SHIP IT! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?383478)
Questionable Content 9: To Kill a Yelling Bird (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?433481)
Questionable Content 10: La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503452)
Questionable Content 11: It's Like Seeing a Unicorn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531481)
Questionable Content 12: Artificial Unintelligence (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?548806)
Questionable Content 13: It's YOU Who Is The Dork! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?563685)
Questionable Content 14: I Deserve A Fancy Butt Emblem (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?578277)
Questionable Content XVI: Yes, Butt (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?589216-Questionable-Content-XV-I-HAVE-MORE-QUESTIONS!-I-Told-You-This-Thread-Was-Weird]Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird[/url]
[URL="https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?610991-Questionable-Content-XVI-Yes-Butt)
Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet" (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?631466-Questionable-Content-XVII-quot-My-Brain-Is-Trash-And-I-Live-On-The-Internet-quot)
Questionable Content XVIII: "That's only sort of good news" (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645291-Questionable-Content-XVIII-quot-That-s-only-sort-of-good-news-quot)

[The Glyphstone]

I feel like we might need to update the intro text at some point. There's still plenty of robots and Butts Disease, but very little coffee, and music of any kind, let alone spontaneous metal interludes, has disappeared entirely.

[georgie_leech]

I was still kind of rooting for Avatar of Ignorance, but this one is good too.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I feel like we might need to update the intro text at some point. There's still plenty of robots and Butts Disease, but very little coffee, and music of any kind, let alone spontaneous metal interludes, has disappeared entirely.

I'm quite happy to edit the post - I just went with what Wraith had previously.

[Mechalich]

If Roko named names in her 'epic rant' I find Nelson's assertion that they probably won't get sued highly dubious.

[Delicious Taffy]

I was gonna ask when Roko got popular enough online for something like this to get traction. Then I remembered it's Millefeuille who was streaming, the one who entered the room bragging about how big her ass is, a trait which I'm told easily exploited to get views online, and it makes perfect sense.

[Maryring]

If Roko named names in her 'epic rant' I find Nelson's assertion that they probably won't get sued highly dubious.

Why? There's no cause. She's not a media outlet. She's a person ranting in a private setting, where someone else put her frustrations online. I know we're in the darkest timeline and all, but civil rights haven't been that eroded yet. If anyone is in trouble it's Millefeuille for streaming Roko online without consent. (Even if Roko had said it's okay at some point, it only came up after they were drunk and you can't proper consent if you're somehow impaired).

If anything, it's more a lesson in "don't stream your friends while drunk".

[Wraith]

I'm quite happy to edit the post - I just went with what Wraith had previously.

Don't blame me, I stole it from John Cribati.


Why? There's no cause. She's not a media outlet. She's a person ranting in a private setting, where someone else put her frustrations online. I know we're in the darkest timeline and all, but civil rights haven't been that eroded yet.

If I were to get drunk and make a curse-laden rant that went viral on the internet, I could very much expect to be pulled in by HR where I work and asked to explain my conduct. There's 'private setting', and there's also 'being identifiable as belonging to this business and having my actions associated with them, even tenuously'. Doubly so if the rant was about one of the clients with whom my business is associated - they'd rightfully want to know why my company allowed their employees to bad-mouth them on social media, and what they intended to do about it? This isn't conjecture - people have lost their jobs over this very thing.

Given that Roko is the lead manager for the non-profit that doesn't have an HR department, I can see how suing her could well be a viable alternative, especially if the business is as sketchy and unpleasant as they have been made out to be so far. Hell, they could sue her even if what she said was true and could prove it - she's worked here for what, a couple of weeks? At an organisation dependant on charity? What are they going to do, go to the wall in legal fees and court appearances for someone who, in a real business, would still be on probation?

Not that it will come to that, by the looks of things. The Internet has decided to mobilise on her behalf, so I am going to assume what happens next is that a bunch of people turn up and solve the problem for her by boycotting/cancelling the offending business into submission. :smalltongue:

[Shadow of the Sun]

Why? There's no cause. She's not a media outlet. She's a person ranting in a private setting, where someone else put her frustrations online. I know we're in the darkest timeline and all, but civil rights haven't been that eroded yet. If anyone is in trouble it's Millefeuille for streaming Roko online without consent. (Even if Roko had said it's okay at some point, it only came up after they were drunk and you can't proper consent if you're somehow impaired).

If anything, it's more a lesson in "don't stream your friends while drunk".

I would like to introduce you to the SLAPP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation).

They don't need to sue her for libel, they just need to have literally any grievance, however minor, and try to bankrupt her.

[hungrycrow]

Not that it will come to that, by the looks of things. The Internet has decided to mobilise on her behalf, so I am going to assume what happens next is that a bunch of people turn up and solve the problem for her by boycotting/cancelling the offending business into submission. :smalltongue:

Thank goodness! Then some AI will be able to form a union of itself and collectively bargain on its own behalf!

[Mechalich]

I would like to introduce you to the SLAPP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation).

They don't need to sue her for libel, they just need to have literally any grievance, however minor, and try to bankrupt her.

In this case they have the grievance of 'being accused of a crime' because that's what Roko just did - she accused them of criminal labor law violations (again, if she named names, which isn't clear). And, because criminal union-busting is extremely difficult to prove in court, the company can very easily argue she made a false accusation, which is absolutely something you can sue over. Winning, after all, isn't necessary, since they can crush Roko's tiny NGO under ruinous court fees.

[Wraith]

Thank goodness! Then some AI will be able to form a union of itself and collectively bargain on its own behalf!

In fairness to Jeph, forming a Union is more than just a group of people saying that they have decided to unionize. A Union is a legal entity unto itself, almost like a corporation - it has rights and special laws in place to dictate how they can act and interact with other groups, so "forming a Union" conveys special protections and privileges on this within it. Retaliating against a single worker is one thing, but retaliating against a Union is way more serious - just because its small, doesn't change the fact that it carries federal weight with it.

Even the Union consisting of one AI isn't entirely outrageous - a Union just has to represent a sizable proportion of the workforce, not even most of it, and if the oppressed AI in question is *the entire workforce* because it is the entire production line then... sure, why not? Sounds silly, but this arc is about AI civil rights so they might as well start somewhere?

I just hope I was wrong about The Internet mobilizing and solving the problem. The last couple of arcs involving Roko/the non-profit have all ended when some rich and/or powerful benefactor steps in and volunteers to solve the problem for them at short notice and zero conflict - Yay donating billions to charity, in-universe-Elon Musk offering to build cheap and sustainable bodies, in-universe-Albert Einstein volunteering to sponsor a pro-Body Act, The Internet answering a viral donation drive for May's body - that it would almost be a shame if within a couple of days the sketchy company had seen Roko's rant, their hearts grew three sizes on the spot, and all was forgiven overnight, instead of some actual world-building and exploration of the AI's right going on, y'know?

[The Glyphstone]

Sadly,that's not the type of story Jeph likes to tell. He got his jokes in so now he's wrapping the arc up with a Deus Ex Robotica.

[Daywalker1983]

More robot Drama... Maybe we will See faye again

[Morquard]

No, I'm with Millie here, that was 100% her fault.

[Rodin]

Sadly,that's not the type of story Jeph likes to tell. He got his jokes in so now he's wrapping the arc up with a Deus Ex Robotica.

It's not just getting the jokes in. He's inserted a Big Bad Evil Corporation solely to make the incredibly unsubtle point "Unions are good and corporations are bad, Mmmm'kay?"

Notice how we haven't seen a single dissenting viewpoint here? Or spoken to the AI that's having problems or seen a single company representative?

That's because Jeph doesn't want a nuanced storyline, he wants political grandstanding. Which still has no place in the comic even if the indy music and coffee shop are increasingly absent.

Roko getting drunk and having a bad social media moment? I'm down for that. That's a fun storyline you could muck about with, especially if you had a reasonably sympathetic antagonist on the other end of the rant that Roko would have to go and deal with. It doesn't even have to be about the AI rights organization - she could have told an indiscreet story about Yay that caused tension in their relationship.

But there is no other side here. Just McEvil. Because Jeph can't stop himself from forcing serious issues into his comic when he isn't prepared to think about said issues even a little bit.

[Delicious Taffy]

Legal stuff, whatever, nobody wants to read about a court case in a semi-comedic robot comic written by a guy with fleeting pet topics. Next month it'll be some kind of animal-care kerfuffle or like, an underground society of professional Puppy Racer players with a moral about the dangers of competitive sports.

Melon doing something stupid and catching fire, that's the interesting part of all this. I wanna see the funny robot girls do funny robot stuff, with a human nearby to question weirder bits.

[Mechalich]

It's not just getting the jokes in. He's inserted a Big Bad Evil Corporation solely to make the incredibly unsubtle point "Unions are good and corporations are bad, Mmmm'kay?"

Notice how we haven't seen a single dissenting viewpoint here? Or spoken to the AI that's having problems or seen a single company representative?


Considering this perspective, not a single member of the QC core cast works for a large corporation, and there hasn't been one since Marten got fired from his nameless office job ages ago. QC characters work for independent businesses, academic institutions, the government, or are self-employed, but they just don't work for large companies. The only exception is Hanner's Mom, who is so cartoonish in her evil she can be used in Dune parodies.

Even if Jeph had a solid understanding of the issues of corporate governance, unionization, and so forth, QC would be poorly positioned to discuss them because it has no characters properly positioned to do so.

[Rodin]

Legal stuff, whatever, nobody wants to read about a court case in a semi-comedic robot comic written by a guy with fleeting pet topics. Next month it'll be some kind of animal-care kerfuffle or like, an underground society of professional Puppy Racer players with a moral about the dangers of competitive sports.

Melon doing something stupid and catching fire, that's the interesting part of all this. I wanna see the funny robot girls do funny robot stuff, with a human nearby to question weirder bits.


Considering this perspective, not a single member of the QC core cast works for a large corporation, and there hasn't been one since Marten got fired from his nameless office job ages ago. QC characters work for independent businesses, academic institutions, the government, or are self-employed, but they just don't work for large companies. The only exception is Hanner's Mom, who is so cartoonish in her evil she can be used in Dune parodies.

Even if Jeph had a solid understanding of the issues of corporate governance, unionization, and so forth, QC would be poorly positioned to discuss them because it has no characters properly positioned to do so.

Which is why I wish he'd stop introducing these topics in the first place. You can't write about AI civil rights without going into real civil rights, and if you're going to go into civil rights the topic needs to be handled with the care it deserves.

Hannelore's mother works because (as far as I can recall) the actions of her company are never glanced at or used as part of a storyline. Her mother acts a certain way because she is a Big Business Exec, and that's literally all we need to know for the story. What matters is how that outlook influences the way she treats Hannelore, and the way Hannelore reacts to that treatment. It's character drama, not political drama.

The problem I've had with Roko for some time now is that she's the mouthpiece for Jeph's politics. Cops are bad, having lots of wealth is bad, post-prison support sucks...etc etc. It's hard to look at any storyline involving her without seeing the underlying motive. Which is a shame, because she's otherwise one of the better written characters.

[Wraith]

Considering this perspective, not a single member of the QC core cast works for a large corporation, and there hasn't been one since Marten got fired from his nameless office job ages ago.

Marten, Tai and Momo work for a university. The one I work for has an annual turnover of close to a billion dollars, so thinking of SMIF as a benevolent non-corporation is very much missing a chance to be relatable. Just imagine if this were all happening not to an unnamed AI bystander and a faceless, undescribed company that hadn't existed until now and will disappear when this arc concludes, but instead to Momo? I can't help but feel that we'd care about that just a tiny little bit more.


The problem I've had with Roko for some time now is that she's the mouthpiece for Jeph's politics. Cops are bad, having lots of wealth is bad, post-prison support sucks...etc etc.

Unless you get your billionaire friend to donate incredible amounts of money to charity on a whim. Or have an Elon Musk-expy vow to develop the cheap and sustainable AI bodies that you want. Or a guy who owns a space station to endorse the laws you want endorsed after one phone-call.

I'm otherwise broadly on-board for those politics, if only Jeph would stop immediately undermining them and disproving his own point.

[Willie the Duck]

No, I'm with Millie here, that was 100% her fault.
Agreed. Deciding to pressure your friend into drinking past the point in which they are comfortable, and then (once they are too inebriated to properly consent) broadcasting the results to the world at large is just plain awful behavior.


I'm otherwise broadly on-board for those politics, if only Jeph would stop immediately undermining them and disproving his own point.

I think the people who were genuinely offended that Jeph's political positions exist have jumped ship, so the fact that the rest of us still grumble and gripe every time he decides to jump back on the soapbox speaks to how poorly he does so. I think it was MaxKilljoy who said (paraphrased) 'he's not good at speaking about politics, and worst still he's trying to shoehorn his strip (not designed for said purpose) into the role of his political mouthpiece.'

[Shogo]

Yeah. The idea of unionizing workers doesn't bother me. The problem is that the situation Jeph has constructed, even with AI shenanigans, just falls apart to me the moment any real thought is applied.

As I've said previously, I just don't buy any situation in which this assembly line could reasonably be considered to be the AI's body. There's no way this company built equipment vital to their ability to produce whatever it is they produce under the expectation that it would be the body through which an AI expresses its personhood. It's way too much of a risk to their profit margins to gamble on the AI never deciding it wants to do something different. Among other possibilities that would backfire just from the need to build an entirely new factory and assembly line if you couldn't come to terms.

If anything, the assembly line would be a piece of equipment that the company allows their AI employee to operate.

Or, as I had put it, this comes across as a forklift operator arbitrarily deciding that a company forklift belongs to them personally. It certainly doesn't feel like a legitimate civil rights issue. It just requires too much braindead nonsense.

[Mechalich]

Or, as I had put it, this comes across as a forklift operator arbitrarily deciding that a company forklift belongs to them personally. It certainly doesn't feel like a legitimate civil rights issue. It just requires too much braindead nonsense.

AI forklift would have actually made much more sense. Or actually, Jeph should have just done this storyline using Crushbot.

[VoxRationis]

As I've said previously, I just don't buy any situation in which this assembly line could reasonably be considered to be the AI's body. There's no way this company built equipment vital to their ability to produce whatever it is they produce under the expectation that it would be the body through which an AI expresses its personhood. It's way too much of a risk to their profit margins to gamble on the AI never deciding it wants to do something different. Among other possibilities that would backfire just from the need to build an entirely new factory and assembly line if you couldn't come to terms.

If anything, the assembly line would be a piece of equipment that the company allows their AI employee to operate.

Except that it would not be difficult for the company to arrange a situation (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25354864&postcount=1189) where the factory machinery is the first and only body the AI has ever occupied, and the fact that a judge is likely to see it the way you do in your last sentence makes it unlikely that they'll lose their factory. Replacing a normal workforce with an employee whose entire existence is contained within company property is a huge win for the company as far as their ability to exert control over the workforce goes, to say nothing of the payroll advantage. It's absolutely worth the risk if the company takes the time to set things up properly.

[Rodin]

AI forklift would have actually made much more sense. Or actually, Jeph should have just done this storyline using Crushbot.

Or even reintroduce Jeremy, who is having some sort of corporate/legal pressure put on the robot fighting ring. He gets to bring back Seven and Punchbot. He gets to do a "where are they now" sort of storyline exploring the fallout of Yay's forcing a Deus Ex Robotica through the legal system and why that might not have been an ideal solution. Introduce some antagonists and build that story up slowly over the course of some weeks and then we get this climax where Roko makes the situation exponentially worse. It could have been a whole THING.

[Eldan]

Right, so it is just going to be fine. Because in this world, the law doesn't work like that.

[Mechalich]

Right, so it is just going to be fine. Because in this world, the law doesn't work like that.

The level of utopianism in the current strip is indeed mighty. The funny thing is, it might not be unreasonable, in-universe. For example, if AIs have the vote, and if there are a significant number of them, and we're ~3-4 presidential cycles into the post-singularity version of the universe a massive political shift would not only be possible, but likely - and since AI were awarded civil rights in the QC universe, the direction of said shift has been pre-determined. Unfortunately, those are all unanswered questions. We don't know if AIs can vote or not, we don't know how many AIs there are nationally or globally even in the most general terms, and we don't know how long it has been since the singularity.

There's just not enough data to take a plot like this and assess whether it makes any sense at all.

[Keltest]

Right, so it is just going to be fine. Because in this world, the law doesn't work like that.

Why not? This reads like Nelson is effectively blackmailing them to keep their legal team at bay, while the court of public opinion has motivated them to let the union go through. They probably arent big enough to eat that kind of negative press for the time it would take to blow over. The problem wouldnt really show up until the next time they tried to negotiate with a group and their reputation for scorched earth tactics means they wont be allowed to get anywhere near the property.

[Delicious Taffy]

If a single drunken rant clip can cause this much of a change, why don't they become political vloggers and just call out the crummy businesses that way? Or at least have someone who does that on the side. Like, we've already seen two examples of the cast becoming ludicrously popular online without any prior establishing moments, and now Roko has an excuse to have at least a small audience who're willing to follow her.

[The Glyphstone]

It felt like old QC for a bit, but old QC would have thrown in a Spontaneous Metal Interlude or Fairy Girl running through the office, just to remind us that the drama comes second to the slice of life general zaniness. Now it feels like the zany moments are interludes between drama.

[Wraith]

I'm disappointed that my previous suggestion that this would be yet another situation solved off-screen by internet randos appears to be true. Unfortunately, it still doesn't actually solve any of the problems - Roko knew from the start that using public opinion as leverage to get the AI recognised would just cause the company in question to temporarily abide, and then go back to making the AI's life miserable (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4718). Now the company knows that the AI non-profit is on to them, so they'll just do what they wanted anyway but they'll know to hide their tracks better.

Nothing has been solved. The AI still works for a crappy company who can fire them for any reason they choose, and NOW they have motivation to do so because the AI got Roko and her clowns involved to publicly humiliate them. Being associated with a group who slanders your company in a drunken viral video probably IS grounds to fire someone, AI or not. And when that happens, they STILL don't have a resolution to the fact that the AI is embodied in company property and will be immediately kicked out into cyber-space. The AI non-profit can try to claim that it was retaliatory as much as they like, but see above - THEY have provided reasonable grounds, even if they could afford a protracted court case.

[Willie the Duck]

It does seem that Roko is rather incredulous that this is working out to towards her goals as well, so it seems that even in-universe this is improbable. Perhaps the factory owners will eventually retaliate, and possibly lightning wouldn't strike twice if they tried victory by public shaming in this way again. Mind you, the factory won't be mentioned again regardless because all of this is in service of Roko's character journey, but I get the feeling that the implied message is less 'this is how to successfully effect change' and more 'Roko wants to do things by the rules, tilt at windmills, fight the good fight, and (based on that) oftentimes lose (since the world isn't fair); She finds out that when she (unintentionally) instead plays Dirt-Harry-level loose with the rules, she ends up getting the results she wants; oh what does a enterprising young idealist to do?'

[VoxRationis]

Nothing has been solved. The AI still works for a crappy company who can fire them for any reason they choose...
Well, the nice thing about union representation is that it often comes with protections against arbitrary dismissal.


Being associated with a group who slanders your company in a drunken viral video

True speech isn't slander, no matter how drunkenly slurred it is.

[The Glyphstone]

The legal line for slander/libel is a bit fuzzy, but IIRC is requires the claim to both be false and to proveably cause harm. The factory can't fulfill the first of those, because there is proof that Roko's drunken rant is factual. That's also why it can't be considered 'blackmail' - defending yourself against a legal accusation of slander by saying 'what we said is true, here is our proof' is perfectly valid.

[Keltest]

Frankly, on consideration, one wonders why, if they had solid proof, they didn't simply escalate things right away. It kind of calls into question Nelson's qualifications as a lawyer.

[Mechalich]

Frankly, on consideration, one wonders why, if they had solid proof, they didn't simply escalate things right away. It kind of calls into question Nelson's qualifications as a lawyer.

Hmm, that is curious. To expand, the National Labor Relations Act (which Jeph has mistakenly also referred to as the NLRB, which is the National Labor Relations Board, a government agency not a law), provides protections for employees attempting to unionize. One of the key protections is that it is illegal to retaliate against employees who do so, and retaliation is one of a small list of reasons why a company cannot simply fire an employee whenever they want - note that the baseline, in the US, is that employees can be fired without cause at any time, so-called 'at-will' employment.

However, retaliation is notoriously difficult to prove and the burden of proof is on the employee, not the company. Essentially the terminated employee has to sue on their own behalf. Now, Roko claims that, in this specific case the AI has them on record - presumably threatening termination in response to attempting to form a union. What this actually means is that someone in management was staggeringly incompetent and used explicit language in the wrong place (or perhaps forgot that an AI naturally records everything and can submit their memory in court), essentially giving the employee not only grounds to sue, but a clear victory in court if they chose to do so.

The AI, according to Roko, apparently chose not to sue in this case because they want to keep their job. This is not entirely implausible. Even a clear victory in a wrongful termination lawsuit is liable to have consequences for future employment elsewhere. Now, a semiconductor manufacturing concern is likely to have sufficient market capital that such things shouldn't matter, and of course, if an AI goes jobless it's not like they're at risk of starving, but these sorts of inhibitions impact ordinary human workers all the time.

[hungrycrow]

Well, we managed to have tension for all of two pages.

[Rakaydos]

I think there's a way for Jess to have his cake and eat it too, regarding political topics and courtroom resolutions, and the old QC we know and love.

Hamilton Cabinet Meetings. Epic Rap Battles of history.

Characters watching the procedings on TV in the first panel, and start summarizing what they watched, musically, on panel.

Perhaps Martin could make a podcast out of it.

[Vinyadan]

Damn, Nelson is a pink, cold, calculating Pintsize who thrives on chaos and emulation.

[SaintRidley]

I'm going to let it slide because it's a comic, but given my very recent experience, nah, this union fight would not be over by a long shot.

[Rodin]

I think our reaction to this non-apology is supposed to be "Yeah! Roko sticking it to THE MAN! WHOOO!", but in actuality it's making me actively dislike her. Author Filibuster much?

[Radar]

I think our reaction to this non-apology is supposed to be "Yeah! Roko sticking it to THE MAN! WHOOO!", but in actuality it's making me actively dislike her. Author Filibuster much?
Keep in mind this was very much not what she wanted to record for the public. She just vented her emotions and knew exactly that this would have been a really bad public statement and wanted to do the real take right after.

[Wraith]

An interesting point has been made on Reddit: If you didn't already know about Jeph's politics, would you view this current arc as pro- or anti-unionisation?

It's being asked in jest, but I can kind of see their point. The pro-unionisation group in the comic are idiots without training, experience or understanding. They're childishly naïve regarding the subject, rely on reactionary twitter-mobs to get anything done, and are now coming across as crude and unprofessional in the post-victory gloat. Success has been handed to them entirely by happenstance (again), barely at all because they were doing the right things in the right places.

Meanwhile, the (supposedly anti-union) company they sic'd the mob on has... What? Threatened retaliatory action that we haven't seen, with 'proof' that hasn't been shown, against a poorly defined victim that we haven't met - and who, from what we know of their species so far, might be yet another annoying pastel-coloured twerp in athleisurewear? Who politely put up with Beepatrice's literal song-and-dance routine despite having way better things to do? Who even agreed to meet with the non-profit in the first place, despite them having no legal authority? And have been magnanimous enough not to sue Roko for her previous statements, legitimately or not?

A lot of stuff has been said about this sketchy, evil corporation being evil and sketchy, but frankly I'm starting to feel a little bit sorry for them and the AI nonsense they have to put up with.... :smalltongue:

[Willie the Duck]

An interesting point has been made on Reddit: If you didn't already know about Jeph's politics, would you view this current arc as pro- or anti-unionisation?
Potentially pro-unionization. However, the whole 'unions and pro-union groups solve their solutions through poorly informed ____-leaning mobs' message seems like right out of the rhetorical playbook of those opposite what I believe to be be Jeph's political slant.

[Traab]

Potentially pro-unionization. However, the whole 'unions and pro-union groups solve their solutions through poorly informed ____-leaning mobs' message seems like right out of the rhetorical playbook of those opposite what I believe to be be Jeph's political slant.

Nah every side says the other side forms their solutions through poorly formed x leaning messages. After all, our side is the one thats correct, therefore any opposing viewpoints have to be based off flawed logic and emotional nonsense rather than facts and reason. Thats just rational really.

[Willie the Duck]

Nah every side says the other side forms their solutions through poorly formed x leaning messages. After all, our side is the one thats correct, therefore any opposing viewpoints have to be based off flawed logic and emotional nonsense rather than facts and reason. Thats just rational really.

Right, but it seems that Jeph is saying that HIS SIDE relies on poorly informed mobs to get their way.

[Cikomyr2]

An interesting point has been made on Reddit: If you didn't already know about Jeph's politics, would you view this current arc as pro- or anti-unionisation?

It's being asked in jest, but I can kind of see their point. The pro-unionisation group in the comic are idiots without training, experience or understanding. They're childishly naïve regarding the subject, rely on reactionary twitter-mobs to get anything done, and are now coming across as crude and unprofessional in the post-victory gloat. Success has been handed to them entirely by happenstance (again), barely at all because they were doing the right things in the right places.

Meanwhile, the (supposedly anti-union) company they sic'd the mob on has... What? Threatened retaliatory action that we haven't seen, with 'proof' that hasn't been shown, against a poorly defined victim that we haven't met - and who, from what we know of their species so far, might be yet another annoying pastel-coloured twerp in athleisurewear? Who politely put up with Beepatrice's literal song-and-dance routine despite having way better things to do? Who even agreed to meet with the non-profit in the first place, despite them having no legal authority? And have been magnanimous enough not to sue Roko for her previous statements, legitimately or not?

A lot of stuff has been said about this sketchy, evil corporation being evil and sketchy, but frankly I'm starting to feel a little bit sorry for them and the AI nonsense they have to put up with.... :smalltongue:

Rorschach's Labor rights

[Vinyadan]

I can tell you that the comic is pro pro-union people, because, unless I missed something, we have yet to see anyone from the big company. If it were anti-union, we would see the plight of those people, and them scrambling to stop the cascading, deleterious effects of unions.

At the same time, we haven't seen the workers, either. So it isn't strictly pro-labour. It's pro-people-who-are-pro-labour-unions.

Again, I am not following the comic too closely, so I might be missing something, but this isn't really Roko's battle. It's a worker's battle. Roko & friends are useful allies, but that's it. To tell the truth, it would make more sense as part of Roko's story if it were a somewhat minor issue she cares about among many issues she's working at, instead of being its own storyline. But, if it is to be the main story, the fight to unionise should be followed at the plant.

EDIT: the twitter people rushing in to save the day also are an example of this pro-pro-union attitude.

[Mechalich]

At the same time, we haven't seen the workers, either. So it isn't strictly pro-labour. It's pro-people-who-are-pro-labour-unions.

Again, I am not following the comic too closely, so I might be missing something, but this isn't really Roko's battle. It's a worker's battle. Roko & friends are useful allies, but that's it. To tell the truth, it would make more sense as part of Roko's story if it were a somewhat minor issue she cares about among many issues she's working at, instead of being its own storyline. But, if it is to be the main story, the fight to unionise should be followed at the plant.

Roko runs (somehow), an AI rights advocacy organization. Labor rights is definitely going to be part of that advocacy, perhaps even a majority of it since many AIs, by their very nature have no need for many of the other sorts of rights ordinary humans do. In this case, for instance, the AI in question lives in the assembly line. It doesn't have to worry about people treating it badly in the public sphere because it never goes there. This fight is very much Roko's, especially as the AI in question probably retained her organization as pro bono legal counsel - this is a common activity by NGOs in the US, as merely threatening to litigate some issue can open up negotiations.

That said, I agree that the absence of actual representation of either side of this debate is telling. There's a common critique of NGOs that they operate more to sustain themselves than actually solve problems (this is commonly said of government bureaucracies as well, and many NGOs are very much bureaucracy adjacent). The current story structure very much leans into this, and it is troubling.

To draw back even further, there's a fundamental conflict between Roko as a character and the comic's overall approach. Despite her occasional 'f*** all ya b*******' breakdowns - which is actually very regionally in character, she's the most MA person in the whole comic - Roko is a serious person who directs her energy towards serious issues. She wants and needs her work to be fulfilling and important, not just to take home a paycheck. This is a major departure from basically everyone else in the comic. Even the successful people like Marigold and Sven don't find much meaning in their work, both having openly denigrated what they do. The theme and mood of basically everything Roko hopes to do with her life clashes heavily with the rest of the comic.

[Wraith]

It's pro-people-who-are-pro-labour-unions.

That's a pretty interesting insight, thank you. Almost as though actually being in a union isn't the point, but rather for people to see it said that unions are good. That certainly fits with the "junk food" approach that Jeph has taken with other heavy topics like LGBT and civil rights - few details, but the vaguely 'feel good' vibe of seeing it mentioned. I would strongly suspect that the concept of a bad union - and there are some, either through corruption or incompetence - would never occur.


The theme and mood of basically everything Roko hopes to do with her life clashes heavily with the rest of the comic.

I get the feeling that Roko is stuck between wish-fulfillment and comedic failure. A lot of the characters have - especially in the last year or so - gotten what they wanted with relatively little conflict, and that's why Roko succeeds in her current tasks. At the same time, it's hard to write "and then all AI had civil rights forever" as a plot, so often she's got to fail at her big goals and settle for minor ones, or ones achieved by other people for the same ends.

If Roko could just outright fail, it could be played for dark comedy, or at least wacky hijinks as she has to scramble to fix an increasingly bizarre situation. If she could outright succeed, then we'd get a significant event surrounded by lots of worldbuilding as AI culture gets fleshed out. But instead we get the status quo, which is that a character can't fail and suffer, but success can't change anything significant. "Insignificant/accidental successes and then swear about them" isn't very fulfilling as an arc

[Mechalich]

I get the feeling that Roko is stuck between wish-fulfillment and comedic failure. A lot of the characters have - especially in the last year or so - gotten what they wanted with relatively little conflict, and that's why Roko succeeds in her current tasks. At the same time, it's hard to write "and then all AI had civil rights forever" as a plot, so often she's got to fail at her big goals and settle for minor ones, or ones achieved by other people for the same ends.

If Roko could just outright fail, it could be played for dark comedy, or at least wacky hijinks as she has to scramble to fix an increasingly bizarre situation. If she could outright succeed, then we'd get a significant event surrounded by lots of worldbuilding as AI culture gets fleshed out. But instead we get the status quo, which is that a character can't fail and suffer, but success can't change anything significant. "Insignificant/accidental successes and then swear about them" isn't very fulfilling as an arc

There's also the issue that location works against the comic. Northampton, MA is the most liberal city in one of the most liberal states in the country. This limits the opportunity for local level activities, doubly so since Jeph has previously established that there is little, if any at all, anti-AI prejudice in the city. Yes some kids made fun of Bubbles that one time, but that was mostly because her body violated typical human appearance norms not anything to do with her AI status. A small 3-person NGO should be focused almost entirely on local issues, but there simply are not going to be a lot of issues of this kind in the local context - especially not issues that don't ultimately boil down to 'we don't have enough money' like May's did. Even this labor thing wasn't especially AI-related, it was just a garden-variety unionization conflict at the core.

[Delicious Taffy]

I'm on Yay's side with this latest strip. A drunk sleepover has a lot more potential for being interesting, whereas the whole vague union thing is really boring and doesn't have Millefeuille shouting about butts.

[Vinyadan]

Roko runs (somehow), an AI rights advocacy organization. Labor rights is definitely going to be part of that advocacy, perhaps even a majority of it since many AIs, by their very nature have no need for many of the other sorts of rights ordinary humans do. In this case, for instance, the AI in question lives in the assembly line. It doesn't have to worry about people treating it badly in the public sphere because it never goes there. This fight is very much Roko's, especially as the AI in question probably retained her organization as pro bono legal counsel - this is a common activity by NGOs in the US, as merely threatening to litigate some issue can open up negotiations.

I understand what you mean, but I just think Roko is ultimately secondary in this fight*. I think that her fight as a leader of an NGO should be to keep it running in the face of adversities that might come from inside (quarrels, jading, loss of confidence) or outside (lack of funding). Nelson's fight would be to win the cases and apply leverage. I'm not sure of what Beeps's fight would be: improve her act as an ambassador, I guess.

To tell the truth, it's pretty odd that we didn't see Roko and Beep's presentation. It would have added a lot to the situation (showing the bad guys!), and opened up a lot of options in how to present Roko's relationship with Beep. It would also have been a good chance to explain if it's really a single AI who wants to become an union unto itself, and some general info about the situation at the plant.

*this is probably an effect of her never meeting the AI of interest. Otherwise, I would understand the transferral of the fight from the worker to the representative.

[The Glyphstone]

I think the presentation was meant to be a Noodle Incident we know Beeps improvised a song and dance routine, but keeping it offscreen lets us imagine the whole thing and its probably funnier that way.

[Wildstag]

I think the presentation was meant to be a Noodle Incident we know Beeps improvised a song and dance routine, but keeping it offscreen lets us imagine the whole thing and its probably funnier that way.

Probably, but it's also in the same story where 90% of the set-up is offscreen as well, including the subject of the case. Comes off less as an intentional-Noodle-Incident and more like laziness.

[Traab]

At first I thought the seethe thing was roko flinching in fear that she may have ranted a little too much at the omnipotent being.

[Kish]

Jeph, I'm vastly more sympathetic to your politics than to this "everyone secretly wants to drink" thing.

[Mordokai]

Jeph, I'm vastly more sympathetic to your politics than to this "everyone secretly wants to drink" thing.

You're right, most of would prefer to not be secretive about it.

[Eldan]

I got mildly drunk exactly once in my life, out of curiosity, and found the experience very unpleasant. Never had more than about half a drink once or twice a year since then.

[Willie the Duck]

Jeph, I'm vastly more sympathetic to your politics than to this "everyone secretly wants to drink" thing.

Huh, that was not my takeaway at all. I saw Yay, our resident 'loudly and performatively better than you' character (who people generally seeing getting shown to be not so above it all) declaring themselves to be above something and then it being shown that they aren't.

Their specific example speaks to me. I'm curious what it'd be like to lapse in my sobriety -- in about the same way I'm curious as to what it is like to be in a major automotive collision.

[Wraith]

Jeph is deliberately portraying Yay as someone who is 'trying too hard' - every time they open their mouth to sound edgy and mysterious, they screw it up and just sound childish, entitled, naïve and annoying. Like a 13 year old who has just gotten their first taste of freedom and whose first reaction is to rub it in the face of their 12 year old sibling.

My biggest criticism is that Jeph is too good at it. Yay's character is perfect for what he wants them to do... Which is to annoy the hell out of me and make me groan whenever they appear, because that makes Roko look wiser and more sensible in comparison, and that is suitable for her characterisation. She's the 'Straight Man' to the duo, even though Yay is trying to be that but is hopelessly out of their depth.

At least, I hope that's what he is trying to do, and isn't actually trying to make them edgy-but-likeable :smallconfused:

[BRC]

Jeph is deliberately portraying Yay as someone who is 'trying too hard' - every time they open their mouth to sound edgy and mysterious, they screw it up and just sound childish, entitled, naïve and annoying. Like a 13 year old who has just gotten their first taste of freedom and whose first reaction is to rub it in the face of their 12 year old sibling.

My biggest criticism is that Jeph is too good at it. Yay's character is perfect for what he wants them to do... Which is to annoy the hell out of me and make me groan whenever they appear, because that makes Roko look wiser and more sensible in comparison, and that is suitable for her characterisation. She's the 'Straight Man' to the duo, even though Yay is trying to be that but is hopelessly out of their depth.

At least, I hope that's what he is trying to do, and isn't actually trying to make them edgy-but-likeable :smallconfused:

I think part of the problem with Yay is that Jeph only recently found a take on the character that actually works for what the comic is, and it goes against the earlier versions of the character.

Like, Yay was introduced as a deus-ex-machina basically omnipotent Robogod to swoop in and solve a problem that Jeph had escalated past the abilities of his established cast to solve (I feel like he could have just had Station serve the same role and it would have been fine.)

So now when Yay floats around being all smug, but gets shot down to reality by more grounded characters, it's with the context that Yay is still basically an omnipotent Robogod, and that any problems they encounters is only because they've decided it would be fun to play-act at having normal friendships. The central joke of "Smug Bastard is actually just a person" is pretty heavily mitigated when the smug bastard in question could topple nations on a whim.

Like, okay, let me rewrite things a bit.

Station is like "Huh, I can't crack that encryption myself right now, let me see what I can do".

Yay isn't an omnipotent robo god who overheard the chatter and decided to investigate. Yay is instead roughly a counterpart to Bubbles, but focused on cyberwarfare instead of physical combat. They were developed by the government, but successfully petitioned for their own freedom / the program was shut down at the same time as Bubbles' program was, just a lot more quietly.

In this version, Yay didn't just hear about Bubbles' situation, Station reached out and contacted them, knowing their interest in AI Autonomy, Yay decides to help out. They show up, are very smug, and serve basically the same role that they do in the comic, but without magically putting everybody to sleep with a touch. They might still have plenty of money and multiple bodies, but they're not a gajillionaire robo-god, they are a cybersecurity specialist AI who received a generous government pension in exchange for promising to not commit treason or whatever.

So 1) Unless the problem is specifically related to hacking, Yay couldn't just solve it if asked to, because their skillset is specifically limited to cybersecurity.
and 2) Yay's whole schtick of being smug and annoying and getting shot down lands a lot better because Yay's smugness is mostly based around having previously only experienced a very specialized world in which they are the best at what they do, and they are now encountering situations for which their abilities no longer apply, which, I think, works a lot better than "Robo God decides to make friends and be a person".

[Willie the Duck]

So, perhaps if instead of just giving away near all their money, Yay had given up their gawdhood somehow*, and were merely a precocious kid who once did some awesome stuff, that would work better?
*maybe part of the hacking prowess was some quantum core they had to give up or something, maybe in a longer arc with more self-reflection and such.

[Rodin]

I think part of the problem with Yay is that Jeph only recently found a take on the character that actually works for what the comic is, and it goes against the earlier versions of the character.

Like, Yay was introduced as a deus-ex-machina basically omnipotent Robogod to swoop in and solve a problem that Jeph had escalated past the abilities of his established cast to solve (I feel like he could have just had Station serve the same role and it would have been fine.)

So now when Yay floats around being all smug, but gets shot down to reality by more grounded characters, it's with the context that Yay is still basically an omnipotent Robogod, and that any problems they encounters is only because they've decided it would be fun to play-act at having normal friendships. The central joke of "Smug Bastard is actually just a person" is pretty heavily mitigated when the smug bastard in question could topple nations on a whim.

Like, okay, let me rewrite things a bit.

Station is like "Huh, I can't crack that encryption myself right now, let me see what I can do".

Yay isn't an omnipotent robo god who overheard the chatter and decided to investigate. Yay is instead roughly a counterpart to Bubbles, but focused on cyberwarfare instead of physical combat. They were developed by the government, but successfully petitioned for their own freedom / the program was shut down at the same time as Bubbles' program was, just a lot more quietly.

In this version, Yay didn't just hear about Bubbles' situation, Station reached out and contacted them, knowing their interest in AI Autonomy, Yay decides to help out. They show up, are very smug, and serve basically the same role that they do in the comic, but without magically putting everybody to sleep with a touch. They might still have plenty of money and multiple bodies, but they're not a gajillionaire robo-god, they are a cybersecurity specialist AI who received a generous government pension in exchange for promising to not commit treason or whatever.

So 1) Unless the problem is specifically related to hacking, Yay couldn't just solve it if asked to, because their skillset is specifically limited to cybersecurity.
and 2) Yay's whole schtick of being smug and annoying and getting shot down lands a lot better because Yay's smugness is mostly based around having previously only experienced a very specialized world in which they are the best at what they do, and they are now encountering situations for which their abilities no longer apply, which, I think, works a lot better than "Robo God decides to make friends and be a person".

That would have been a much better resolution to the storyline. It also would have left open plots like taking care of Jeremy and the other robots left jobless by Corpse Witch's arrest, instead of having the DEM of "it's magically ok now, laws don't matter!" that we actually got.

It all goes back to my biggest complaint about QC for the past 5 years or so, which is that Jeph has ceased to be good at long-running plots. Instead he gets bored and flips a switch to resolve the plot and then moves on.

[Morquard]

Like, Yay was introduced as a deus-ex-machina basically omnipotent Robogod to swoop in and solve a problem that Jeph had escalated past the abilities of his established cast to solve (I feel like he could have just had Station serve the same role and it would have been fine.)
See, that's the thing. The "Jeph wrote himself into a corner and need a deus-ex machina to get out" is something that's often brought up in regards to Yay, and I absolutely disagree.

Two strips (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3389)before Yay showed up the first time (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3391), Station spoke with Hanners and said he would consult with some of his colleagues. A single strip before (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3390)Yay showed up, Hanners then spoke to Faye about that conversation.
There were still so many options open. A colleague could easily have had a way to do it, or something. The only reason we know that Station can't do it, is because station told us 2 strips ago! Just don't say that and boom, problem solved, and we knew Station was a powerful AI, he was established to be friends with one of the main cast, nobody would have yelled deus-ex machina there! And even with that sentence, he was consulting other AIs. Maybe if three or four of the mega-AIs would link up and work together they could do this.

But no, despite all that, Spookybot showed up and snapped a finger to resolve everything.

The only reason that happened was because Jeph WANTED them to show up. He didn't need to. He hadn't written himself into a corner and didn't have a way to solve it. He WANTED Yay in the comics.

[Rodin]

See, that's the thing. The "Jeph wrote himself into a corner and need a deus-ex machina to get out" is something that's often brought up in regards to Yay, and I absolutely disagree.

Two strips (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3389)before Yay showed up the first time (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3391), Station spoke with Hanners and said he would consult with some of his colleagues. A single strip before (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3390)Yay showed up, Hanners then spoke to Faye about that conversation.
There were still so many options open. A colleague could easily have had a way to do it, or something. The only reason we know that Station can't do it, is because station told us 2 strips ago! Just don't say that and boom, problem solved, and we knew Station was a powerful AI, he was established to be friends with one of the main cast, nobody would have yelled deus-ex machina there! And even with that sentence, he was consulting other AIs. Maybe if three or four of the mega-AIs would link up and work together they could do this.

But no, despite all that, Spookybot showed up and snapped a finger to resolve everything.

The only reason that happened was because Jeph WANTED them to show up. He didn't need to. He hadn't written himself into a corner and didn't have a way to solve it. He WANTED Yay in the comics.

Station would have been able to help with the encryption. He wouldn't have been capable (or willing) to do all the other DEM stuff that Squidbot eventually does - physically torturing Corpse Witch, transferring ownership of the fighting ring to Jeremy, breaking into Roko's apartment and delivering all the goodies on Corpse Witch...etc. etc.

He needed an outside force who was not associated with the main cast in any way to take care of everything, because otherwise the extremely illegal (and arguably immoral) nature of what Squidbot does has negative effects on both how we perceive the characters and how the characters would be looked at in-universe. Squidbot is a DEM in purest form, a godlike being who waltzes in and snaps its figures and then waltzes out of the story again.

And given how Jeph writes, I can pretty well guarantee you he didn't have plans for Squidbot. He liked the character so he retconned the hell out of their personality and turned them into Yay. And we're supposed to just forget about that and treat Yay as a Data-like "what are these human feelings" robot instead of the immensely powerful, intelligent, and crafty AI that was first introduced as Squidbot.

I will agree that he hadn't written himself into a corner. In what has become Jeph-like fashion he decided writing a proper way out was too hard and solved it all with a massive DEM.

[Mordokai]

See, that's the thing. The "Jeph wrote himself into a corner and need a deus-ex machina to get out" is something that's often brought up in regards to Yay, and I absolutely disagree.

Two strips (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3389)before Yay showed up the first time (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3391), Station spoke with Hanners and said he would consult with some of his colleagues. A single strip before (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3390)Yay showed up, Hanners then spoke to Faye about that conversation.
There were still so many options open. A colleague could easily have had a way to do it, or something. The only reason we know that Station can't do it, is because station told us 2 strips ago! Just don't say that and boom, problem solved, and we knew Station was a powerful AI, he was established to be friends with one of the main cast, nobody would have yelled deus-ex machina there! And even with that sentence, he was consulting other AIs. Maybe if three or four of the mega-AIs would link up and work together they could do this.

But no, despite all that, Spookybot showed up and snapped a finger to resolve everything.

The only reason that happened was because Jeph WANTED them to show up. He didn't need to. He hadn't written himself into a corner and didn't have a way to solve it. He WANTED Yay in the comics.

This comic (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3418) seems to imply(rather strongly, I'd say) that Station had nothing to do with it.

[Vinyadan]

I'll never understand the idea of getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk.

Anyway, Roko might have just saved humanity by making Yay feel undignified from intoxication. Roko might say excessive stuff and Melon or whoever that was might catch fire while drunk, but Yay could probably throw nukes or destroy the GPS system or disrupt financial trading on a global scale, or just start causing blackouts.

[KillianHawkeye]

I'll never understand the idea of getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk.

Is there some other reason to do it? :smallconfused:

[Vinyadan]

Is there some other reason to do it? :smallconfused:

If you like wine, you can get drunk because you drank too much of it. Which is why wine should be drunk within certain restrictions (never on an empty stomach, and always within certain quantities, and at times related to meals).

[Rodin]

There's different levels of alcohol consumption.

1) A drink after work to relax. Not enough to influence your behaviour, probably not even enough to prevent you from driving. Just a little something to take the edge of the day off. This is the only form of drinking I ever partake in (other than having a single drink to be sociable at a gathering).

2) Drinking enough to get tipsy. This is where you're visibly intoxicated and your behaviour is affected, but you're still in control and you know when to stop. A healthy level of drunk, if you will.

3) Drinking to get absolutely smashed. This is the type we typically see in QC - the pass out, can't walk, throw up on the sidewalk drunk.

I can just about see wanting to get tipsy every now and then. If I actually liked the taste of alcohol I probably would go to that level on special occasions.

I cannot see the appeal in getting smashed. Getting so drunk that my higher reasoning functions go away scares the hell out of me, and I can't understand why anyone would crave such an experience.

[halfeye]

There's different levels of alcohol consumption.

1) A drink after work to relax. Not enough to influence your behaviour, probably not even enough to prevent you from driving. Just a little something to take the edge of the day off. This is the only form of drinking I ever partake in (other than having a single drink to be sociable at a gathering).

2) Drinking enough to get tipsy. This is where you're visibly intoxicated and your behaviour is affected, but you're still in control and you know when to stop. A healthy level of drunk, if you will.

3) Drinking to get absolutely smashed. This is the type we typically see in QC - the pass out, can't walk, throw up on the sidewalk drunk.

I can just about see wanting to get tipsy every now and then. If I actually liked the taste of alcohol I probably would go to that level on special occasions.

I cannot see the appeal in getting smashed. Getting so drunk that my higher reasoning functions go away scares the hell out of me, and I can't understand why anyone would crave such an experience.

This probably misses the point. Alcohol to get tipsy is nice, but. The main problem with alcohol is that some people perform better when relaxed. So they drink to perform better. The amount of alcohol they need to perform better increases as their body gets used to alcohol. Then comes the point where being smashed actually interferes with their performance, now they need alcohol to perform, and they can't perform because of the alcohol. Typically they can't see that this is a problem, until they are so hooked on alcohol that it obviously is.

[KillianHawkeye]

There's different levels of alcohol consumption.

1) A drink after work to relax. Not enough to influence your behaviour, probably not even enough to prevent you from driving. Just a little something to take the edge of the day off. This is the only form of drinking I ever partake in (other than having a single drink to be sociable at a gathering).

2) Drinking enough to get tipsy. This is where you're visibly intoxicated and your behaviour is affected, but you're still in control and you know when to stop. A healthy level of drunk, if you will.

3) Drinking to get absolutely smashed. This is the type we typically see in QC - the pass out, can't walk, throw up on the sidewalk drunk.

I can just about see wanting to get tipsy every now and then. If I actually liked the taste of alcohol I probably would go to that level on special occasions.

I cannot see the appeal in getting smashed. Getting so drunk that my higher reasoning functions go away scares the hell out of me, and I can't understand why anyone would crave such an experience.

I agree with not getting completely wasted, but buzzed/tipsy and even just relaxed are all degrees of drunkenness IMO.

The only thing I really don't understand is having a drink "socially". That's just a waste of money. Drink something else if you're not even going to feel the effects.

[Mordokai]

As a highly functioning alcoholic, I can offer the following insights. If you don't agree with anything in bullet points, attribute it to personal bias.


alcohol tastes good. Has been since I started drinking it, some twenty years ago, and back then, I've been drinking watered-down lagers/pilsners. Ever since I've gotten into the craft beer scene, with stouts, porters, barley wines, and whathaveyou, yeah... alcohol tastes really good.
I like the feeling of being drunk. I understand this may be somewhat contradictory, but I honestly do. Now, given I've spent the last decade boozing myself out of my mind, what is "pleasantly buzzed" for me would be "dead drunk" for most other people. I'm writing this post after a bottle of wine(admitedly, with a help of Grammarly, but hey, I hope it wouldn't look too bad without it) and I know for a fact I am perfectly capable of driving a vehicle right now. I won't do it, since you know... common sense and if the police were to stop me, I wouldn't pass the breathalyzer. But I know for a fact that I am capable of doing it. I will do ten pushups with pretty good form after the fact, the only reason I'm not able to do more being my upper body strength being too low for anything more.
why am I doing this? Honestly... it's a routine. I know I am capable of cutting it, but when it carries with it as a little penalty as it does for me... I really don't care. I will wake up tomorrow with no headache and no hungover. Those were two big no-no's back when I started and now they are completely gone. Yeah, it will probably cut my life expectancy by as much as a decade, if not more, but I consider this a feature, not a bug.
when I'm drunk, it's pretty much the only time I do something... anything. I wouldn't be writing this if it weren't for the good ol' C2H6O. I know, intellectually, this is a bug. For me, again, it is a feature.


So yeah, I know a lot of this will sound incredible to any sane person. And that is good. I will never force anybody to drink alcohol. If anything, I will try to gently nudge them away from it.
But do realize there are reasons behind alcohol dependency. None of them good. I will be the first to admit it is a personal weakness. But we are people, after all. Weakness is our nature.
I haven't been able to rise above this one for any long period of time.

[Radar]

There's different levels of alcohol consumption.

1) A drink after work to relax. Not enough to influence your behaviour, probably not even enough to prevent you from driving. Just a little something to take the edge of the day off. This is the only form of drinking I ever partake in (other than having a single drink to be sociable at a gathering).

2) Drinking enough to get tipsy. This is where you're visibly intoxicated and your behaviour is affected, but you're still in control and you know when to stop. A healthy level of drunk, if you will.

3) Drinking to get absolutely smashed. This is the type we typically see in QC - the pass out, can't walk, throw up on the sidewalk drunk.

I can just about see wanting to get tipsy every now and then. If I actually liked the taste of alcohol I probably would go to that level on special occasions.

I cannot see the appeal in getting smashed. Getting so drunk that my higher reasoning functions go away scares the hell out of me, and I can't understand why anyone would crave such an experience.
That sums it up really well. For me, regular daily intake of alcohol would not seem a good idea, but occasionally I do not shy away from liquors. However, my comfortable level beyond which I do not go hovers somewhere just below 2 on the list. That, or maybe it is fully 2 and I simply control my behavior better as to anyone that does not know me, I would not look intoxicated.


I agree with not getting completely wasted, but buzzed/tipsy and even just relaxed are all degrees of drunkenness IMO.

The only thing I really don't understand is having a drink "socially". That's just a waste of money. Drink something else if you're not even going to feel the effects.
Even small doses of alcohol help you relax, so social drink has some logic behind it as it loosens up all the gathered people. Also, depending on personal tastes, there are alcoholic drinks that taste really good.

Besides, drinking anything (alcoholic or not) at a bar or eating in a restaurant is technically a waste of money as you could spend less doing grocery and sitting at home. Yet, people do go out to meet up with each other.

[Delicious Taffy]

So, what are the current bets for how long until Roko and Yay start dating? I'm gonna say one year.

[Eldan]

As a highly functioning alcoholic, I can offer the following insights. If you don't agree with anything in bullet points, attribute it to personal bias.

[LIST]
alcohol tastes good. Has been since I started drinking it, some twenty years ago, and back then, I've been drinking watered-down lagers/pilsners. Ever since I've gotten into the craft beer scene, with stouts, porters, barley wines, and whathaveyou, yeah... alcohol tastes really good.


Man. I know I'm an addictive personality. I'm really happy I have never met a type of alcohol that didn't taste absolutely horrible to me. People occasionally try to tell me that I just haven't had their favorite beer/wine/spirit yet, but no, they all taste like absolute garbage.

[Wraith]

Alcohol does taste like garbage. The stuff you can add to it - water, hops, fruit juice, sugar, etc - is there to try and disguise it. I'm not teetotal by any stretch of the imagination, but my ideal alcoholic beverage does not taste even remotely of alcohol.

Notice that we have now reached the point of heartfelt confessions and admitting personal information rather than discuss the comic. Again. Almost as if the characters have had this same conversation several times before, and it didn't go anywhere then, either.... :smalltongue:


So, what are the current bets for how long until Roko and Yay start dating? I'm gonna say one year.

One year, IRL. In comic time...? 3 days, maybe? :smalltongue:

Whenever it is, judging by the current schedule, it will be within half a dozen strips of them telling Roko that they aren't interested in romance. Like the last week, for example; Yay calls themselves 'eldritch', and within a few panels proves that they absolutely aren't by sulking like a toddler.
They've also called themselves above such petty human concerns like getting drunk (they're absolutely interested and just wanted to be tsundere about it), referred to themselves as scary (they giggle and pull uwu faces).... As soon as they say "we don't do romance" you can guarantee they're angling to try out This Human Thing You Call Kissing and are just being obtuse about it.

[Mordokai]

Man. I know I'm an addictive personality. I'm really happy I have never met a type of alcohol that didn't taste absolutely horrible to me. People occasionally try to tell me that I just haven't had their favorite beer/wine/spirit yet, but no, they all taste like absolute garbage.

As mentioned, I hope you never find a brand of poison you like.

With that in mind, there are a lot of poisons I like. Coffee with cocoa beans? Three to five sorts of hops? Sour berries of your choosing? With a pinch of salt?

You can get all of those and then some. And they are delicious. When I started drinking those twenty years ago, I wouldn't have imagined any of those existed. In truth, back then, they may have not. And even if they did, I couldn't imagine liking them.

Was I ever wrong...

As said, I honestly love the multitude of tastes. I won't try to convince you to try them, but if you want to know more, do not be afraid to ask :smallsmile:


Alcohol does taste like garbage. The stuff you can add to it - water, hops, fruit juice, sugar, etc - is there to try and disguise it. I'm not teetotal by any stretch of the imagination, but my ideal alcoholic beverage does not taste even remotely of alcohol.

Notice that we have now reached the point of heartfelt confessions and admitting personal information rather than discuss the comic. Again. Almost as if the characters have had this same conversation several times before, and it didn't go anywhere then, either.... :smalltongue:

You may be on to something. Alcohol itself tastes pretty bad. But you can add many additives to it to make it taste better.

As a funny aside... do you know why pharmacists are considered the biggest cronies?
We consider 70% alcohol "diluted" :smalltongue:

Also... "again"? When has this happened before, if it is not too forward to ask?

[Traab]

Possibly the too poor to eat raisins argument? That was this comic wasnt it? I remember a lot of confessions about being poor growing up and what was available for eating

[Wraith]

Possibly the too poor to eat raisins argument? That was this comic wasnt it? I remember a lot of confessions about being poor growing up and what was available for eating

That sounds about right. Someone claimed that it was virtually impossible to grow up without eating raisins at some point as they are the cheapest and easiest-to-acquire of snack foods, and various people pointed out that there's a point where you can be so poor that you don't get snack foods. At all.

I think I recall that something similar also happened when Brun was finally specified as being on the Autism spectrum (rather than just being generically implied to have an unnamed social disorder), and then again when Clinton and Elliot finally hooked up, with a few forum-safe anecdotes about sex and hooking up, too. Nothing crude, but several forum goers seemed eager to highlight their own situations and use it to point out how badly handled the comic was - pretty much ANYTHING but focusing on meeting yet another random AI annoyance/character. :smalltongue:

[Wildstag]

That sounds about right. Someone claimed that it was virtually impossible to grow up without eating raisins at some point as they are the cheapest and easiest-to-acquire of snack foods, and various people pointed out that there's a point where you can be so poor that you don't get snack foods. At all.

I don't know if I made that argument here, but on the subreddit I definitely did. A 6-pack of Sun-Maid raisins is $1.98, and a couple decades ago when I was growing up it was half that price. It's around that price at every convenience store I've seen raisins sold at. The price I provided is for Walmart; at Target it's 1 penny more expensive for the same product.

I still argue that it was a ridiculously bizarre choice of food to suggest that Brun hadn't eaten, especially since the part of the world her parents are from uses raisins in A LOT of recipes, and immigrants tend to try to replicate recipes from home affordably.

[hungrycrow]

I don't know if I made that argument here, but on the subreddit I definitely did. A 6-pack of Sun-Maid raisins is $1.98, and a couple decades ago when I was growing up it was half that price. It's around that price at every convenience store I've seen raisins sold at. The price I provided is for Walmart; at Target it's 1 penny more expensive for the same product.

I still argue that it was a ridiculously bizarre choice of food to suggest that Brun hadn't eaten, especially since the part of the world her parents are from uses raisins in A LOT of recipes, and immigrants tend to try to replicate recipes from home affordably.

Clearly Brun's parents spent all their food money on antique clocks.

[Delicious Taffy]

Wildstag's debilitating raisin addiction aside, I really would like to see more of Brun's interactions with characters who aren't Clinton and her coworkers. Maybe her and Momo could start a band, nobody in the comic is really doing that at the moment.

[Mechalich]

I still argue that it was a ridiculously bizarre choice of food to suggest that Brun hadn't eaten, especially since the part of the world her parents are from uses raisins in A LOT of recipes, and immigrants tend to try to replicate recipes from home affordably.

More pertinently, raisins are a school food, and poor kids get subsidized school food. I went through K-12 school in MA in the relevant timeframe. Raisins were available. So were numerous other 'snack foods.' Being incredibly poor does not, in the US, keep you away from snack foods. If anything, food insecurity does the opposite.

And that's the greater point. QC has a real problem when it attempts to portray anything that Jeph can't reference using his personal life experience, and it's very clear he simply does not research things before starting stories. As the comic has moved away from people and life situations that parallel Jeph's own, this has become a greater and greater problem.

[Keltest]

More pertinently, raisins are a school food, and poor kids get subsidized school food. I went through K-12 school in MA in the relevant timeframe. Raisins were available. So were numerous other 'snack foods.' Being incredibly poor does not, in the US, keep you away from snack foods. If anything, food insecurity does the opposite.

Indeed. Snack foods are among the cheapest foods available. "too poor for snack foods" is "literally starving to death" or "lives separate from society in a tent in the woods" poor.

[Wildstag]

Wildstag's debilitating raisin addiction aside.

How'd you know? Have you been to my office?


And that's the greater point. QC has a real problem when it attempts to portray anything that Jeph can't reference using his personal life experience, and it's very clear he simply does not research things before starting stories. As the comic has moved away from people and life situations that parallel Jeph's own, this has become a greater and greater problem.

And exacerbated by his attitude that no criticism is constructive. Granted, that attitude is easier to sustain given his patreon income.

[KillianHawkeye]

Indeed. Snack foods are among the cheapest foods available.

Foreal. Eating healthy is expensive! Eating cheapass junk food is terrible for you, but at least moderately affordable.

[VoxRationis]

Does anyone else find it odd that Yay immediately frames the question of extraterrestrial life in the context of the solar system, rather than our galaxy or the universe?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Does anyone else find it odd that Yay immediately frames the question of extraterrestrial life in the context of the solar system, rather than our galaxy or the universe?

Not really. Considering how large the universe is, and how much time and effort it takes just to get a couple of largely automated probes outside the local solar system (let alone transporting actual living creatures) it is a very logical limitation.

[Wraith]

I still argue that it was a ridiculously bizarre choice of food to suggest that Brun hadn't eaten, especially since the part of the world her parents are from uses raisins in A LOT of recipes, and immigrants tend to try to replicate recipes from home affordably.

It was a ridiculous point to be made by Jeph, and at the same time it did highlight how homogenous the experiences of the reader-base could be. A number of theories were put forward to explain why it could be true - maybe she was home-schooled, maybe she had abusive (or at least neglectful) parents, maybe she didn't grow up abroad (one of her parents is Lebanese but its never said how distantly), maybe she went to a school that was just plain weird like Sam's.... Any reason could have worked, but we had to write it for ourselves because the comic's official stance was "it just is, shut up!".


How'd you know? Have you been to my office?

I tried, but I couldn't get in. The door seemed to be jammed by what looked like an enormous drift of tiny red boxes.....


Foreal. Eating healthy is expensive! Eating cheapass junk food is terrible for you, but at least moderately affordable.

As per the above; one suggestion given was that if you were forced to eat cheap and unhealthy junk food, which would you probably choose, especially as a child or young teen - dried fruit, or potato chips and chocolate?

It *can* be made to make sense, if you're not aware of all the other things that are probably likely to happen instead.

[Willie the Duck]

That sounds about right. Someone claimed that it was virtually impossible to grow up without eating raisins at some point as they are the cheapest and easiest-to-acquire of snack foods, and various people pointed out that there's a point where you can be so poor that you don't get snack foods. At all.

I think I recall that something similar also happened when Brun was finally specified as being on the Autism spectrum (rather than just being generically implied to have an unnamed social disorder), and then again when Clinton and Elliot finally hooked up, with a few forum-safe anecdotes about sex and hooking up, too. Nothing crude, but several forum goers seemed eager to highlight their own situations and use it to point out how badly handled the comic was - pretty much ANYTHING but focusing on meeting yet another random AI annoyance/character. :smalltongue:
My google-fu is failing right now, but this brought to mind a bunch of comics regarding which I am so glad the fanbase didn't decide to all share personal anecdotes (Dora commenting how she'd never seen a skid mark in Marten's underwear, Momo battling a squirrel, anything involving Melon).

[Wraith]

...Momo battling a squirrel...

In fairness, that one hardly needs discussing. There's only so many ways it can go down, we've all been through the lot of them so many times now...

[Rodin]

What, have I never told you about my days in the 5th Regimental Anti-Squirrel Battallion?

Well, gather round kids. In those days, most humans were slaves in the nut mines, but there was this one group that...

[halfeye]

It would be at least a little funny if that was the last QC comic.

[Keltest]

It would be at least a little funny if that was the last QC comic.

I think it would be a lot funny. If Jeph doesnt take an unannounced vacation here for a week, it will be a serious missed opportunity.

[VoxRationis]

There's a pessimistic aspect of my being that worries that upgrading Melon's coolant system will only result in her being full of live insects...

[theangelJean]

What's Melons job? Have we been told?

[eee]

What's Melons job? Have we been told?

She lets bugs crawl all over her. And apparently inside her, too.

[Wraith]

Until today I was 99% sure that Melon's job (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3643) was a metaphor for customer service.

Apparently, it is very literal. :smallconfused:

[Vinyadan]

She lets bugs crawl all over her. And apparently inside her, too.

Suddenly, this made me very unconfortable about this job and whoever is paying her for it.

[Delicious Taffy]

Suddenly, this made me very unconfortable about this job and whoever is paying her for it.

Girl's gotta make a buck somehow.

[Mechalich]

Faye, if the goop is 'incredibly toxic' you should be wearing gloves.

[Keltest]

Faye, if the goop is 'incredibly toxic' you should be wearing gloves.

Lets be fair, there are lots of things that are toxic if ingested that is perfectly fine to touch as long as you wash afterwards. I dont wear gloves when I handle a tide pod for the dishes, for example.

[Mechalich]

Lets be fair, there are lots of things that are toxic if ingested that is perfectly fine to touch as long as you wash afterwards. I dont wear gloves when I handle a tide pod for the dishes, for example.

A Tide pod is a sealed packet, the active ingredients are isolated by a polyvinyl film that dissolves in water. Faye is handling an open tub of the 'goop.' If you pour an entire container of Tide into a bucket and carry it around you should be wearing gloves (and probably safety glasses). Also, Tide, in the grand scheme of things isn't especially toxic (it's mostly alcohols, salts, and propylene glycol), which is why the small amount you might absorb through the skin or mucus membranes can be ignored (the main reasons why consuming Tide Pods is so dangerous is how concentrated the mixture is). if you're working with actual hazardous chemicals - as in the kind that require placarded transport and special storage cabinets - PPE is essential.

[Wraith]

Why have they flayed Melon from the neck down, and left only her partially-melted face intact? It's ONLY her head that has melted, and she clearly has a seam around her neck.

Unless she's keeping the monstrously deformed face and just wanted new body-skin. That's very much a Melon 'thing' to do, I suppose.... :smallconfused:


Faye, if the goop is 'incredibly toxic' you should be wearing gloves.

Also, why shouldn't Melon taste it, if it would make her happy? What's it going to do, poison the robot who doesn't have a digestive system?

Possibly it should read 'corrosive' instead of toxic? In which case, more pastel AI twerps should gorge themselves upon it.

[hungrycrow]

Possibly it should read 'corrosive' instead of toxic? In which case, more pastel AI twerps should gorge themselves upon it.

If it were corrosive Faye's lack of PPE would be even more bizarre.

[Wraith]

If it were corrosive Faye's lack of PPE would be even more bizarre.

Bizarre; yes. Given that she regularly welds or uses an angle-grinder while wearing that same white, sleeveless tank-top; not out of character.

[VoxRationis]

Why have they flayed Melon from the neck down, and left only her partially-melted face intact? It's ONLY her head that has melted, and she clearly has a seam around her neck.

Unless she's keeping the monstrously deformed face and just wanted new body-skin. That's very much a Melon 'thing' to do, I suppose.... :smallconfused:

If this sealant is meant to connect her skin, which now needs to be replaced everywhere, why apply it by having Melon haphazardly jam her hand into a tub of it?

[Keltest]

If this sealant is meant to connect her skin, which now needs to be replaced everywhere, why apply it by having Melon haphazardly jam her hand into a tub of it?

One might assume that that the chassis is designed to absorb and distribute it through the hand, which is why having her stick her face in it (and get it all in her systems) would be sub-ideal.

[Wraith]

If this sealant is meant to connect her skin, which now needs to be replaced everywhere, why apply it by having Melon haphazardly jam her hand into a tub of it?

Perhaps she is being invited to lather herself in it, like she were soaping herself in the shower? That would kind of make sense, if Faye can't touch her because its toxic, Bubbles wouldn't want to in case it messes up her own dermis, and Union Robotics doesn't have an upright shower/tanning booth-style applicator. I'm having to make this up on the spot, but tomorrow's strip could be a excuse for Melon-based cheesecake... assuming you're into the "slimy but skinless" thing. :smalltongue:

[Traab]

I see a few ways this could go, either she has to have her entire dermal layer replaced so it will all match, hence her flayed body, or the hand goops goes on under the skin layer for some reason to aid in signal transmission and her meat suit is hanging on a rack nearby to be replaced when they are done.

[Wraith]

Bubbles is entirely correct, and her restraint in the face of Faye's unprofessional pig-headedness is undeserved.

I kind of hope that tomorrow's strip features Faye going to Martin, complaining that Bubbles is being a bitch to her, and then Marten goes, "Wait, back up - you saw that one of your clients had the equivalent of a fractured skull* and thought it wasn't a big deal? The hell is wrong with you?"

* Or whatever.

[VoxRationis]

To be fair, a fractured maxilla means a lot less for a being that will never have to exert significant force on that structure than it will for your average human.

[Radar]

To be fair, a fractured maxilla means a lot less for a being that will never have to exert significant force on that structure than it will for your average human.
Still, it is more about being throughout is part of well... doing your job. You want to have clients, you do your job well and in a timely manner.

Let's also not forget that Faye and Bubbles are on their own and do not have savings to fall back on - this certainly adds to the stress expressed by Bubbles.

[hungrycrow]

On the other hand, their clientele seem to prefer unprofessional jerks.

Maybe catching this problem late adds a lot to the cost? They already wasted a bunch of goop.

[Keltest]

Bubbles is entirely correct, and her restraint in the face of Faye's unprofessional pig-headedness is undeserved.

I kind of hope that tomorrow's strip features Faye going to Martin, complaining that Bubbles is being a bitch to her, and then Marten goes, "Wait, back up - you saw that one of your clients had the equivalent of a fractured skull* and thought it wasn't a big deal? The hell is wrong with you?"

* Or whatever.

I disagree. Faye made an honest mistake and now Bubbles is picking a fight over it by painting a false dichotomy between the quality of their work and her snarly attitude. Faye is not stupid and is aware that there is a problem, having Bubbles harp on it is not helpful once that understanding was reached.

[Willie the Duck]

It depends entirely on what Jeph wants it to be. Either 1) Faye diligently looked at the damage and genuinely did not know that it was anything more than superficial (in which case Bubbles is forgetting that everyone doesn't know what she knows and this should be a learning experience for everyone), or 2) Faye was slacking off/playing fast and loose/whatever and ought to have caught the problem but didn't (in which case, once again she takes her job less than seriously, to the detriment of those about whom she supposedly cares). I'm guessing that Jeph is going to play out the story of the later because 'Faye screws things up' is a favorite story beat. Either way, neither of them are handling it well, but at least that's character-consistent, as opposed to everyone grabbing the idiot-ball so drama can happen.

[Cikomyr2]

This is basically the event foreshadowed by the "never get in business with someone you are sexually involved with" that Dora had.

Fact is, Bubble is right on a professional level to point out a serious oversight and be critical of her business partner.

Fact is, Faye is right that her personal life partner should be more curteous when criticizing her, because you allow yourself to be extremely vulnerable with these people, so any negative feedback can be felt much more profoundly than with a causal work acquaintance or even work friend.

They need to reasses the parameters of the work/relationship dual track they are on. They have been able to make it work until now by not being aware of the problem. They can still make it work as long as they establish proper boundaries when it comes to work.

[Traab]

Im picturing this being the start of a discussion/argument about how faye is treating this repair job as if she is restoring a table or something, meanwhile to bubbles this is basically plastic surgery and thus not to be half as&^%. You know, thing versus person style arguments.

[Wraith]

Fact is, Bubble is right on a professional level to point out a serious oversight and be critical of her business partner.

Fact is, Faye is right that her personal life partner should be more curteous when criticizing her, because you allow yourself to be extremely vulnerable with these people, so any negative feedback can be felt much more profoundly than with a causal work acquaintance or even work friend.

This is a good summary of what I was thinking, however I don't think that Bubbles was even all that discourteous. She didn't swear, she didn't shout, she made one 'snippy' comment while also making a good point. This is unusual for Bubbles, who is usually stoic and taciturn. This sort of comment from her is notably direct, but compared to the way that other characters tease each other - especially the way that Faye talks to people - it barely even registers.

The two sides aren't equal. Faye was goofing off and half-arsing her work, potentially putting Melon at risk and certainly endangering the reputation of their fledging business with her flippancy; Bubbles was slightly less than grovelling in pointing out the mistake and expecting Faye to own up to it.

One of the theories I've seen put forward that could arise from this arc is the suggestion that Faye doesn't really see AIs as 'real people'. They're pastel coloured and have silly names, and their bodies can get beaten up and welded back together without it hurting them, so as far as she is concerned their bodies aren't as valuable as a human body. Its not bigotry, she's just wildly underestimating how much value an AI has on its physical body - for some its a hugely intimate thing like Roko's trouble integrating into her new chassis, whereas for Bubbles its her only link to her past and her old life without her memories so her body represents huge sentimental value to her. Sometimes AI chassis are disposable, but others are utterly indispensable, and I can understand how Bubbles would be upset at Faye failing to understand the difference, implicitly suggesting that even Bubbles' body is 'disposable' in the same way that Melon abuses her body or that May discards her old one.

I hope it goes that way. Yet another "she said a mean thing and I overreacted and said mean things back until we all apologised" arc just really, really isn't doing it for me.....

[Mechalich]

One of the things that frustrates me about this bit is that Jeph has changed the nature of AI bodies from something like an industrial robot to something much more like an advanced sci-fi android.

When Faye was working in the underground fighting ring she was performing macroscopic industrial maintenance, welding, soldering, part replacement, and other sorts of activities that were very much a cross between automotive and appliance repair, and AIs were presented as being highly mechanical 'under the hood.' Fast-forward to the present comic and we see Melon stripped down and she's a human being made of synthetic components, with faux muscles, ligaments, bones, and the whole package. Not a robot at all, but rather an android. In fact the very language used reveals this: 'maxillary' is clearly a reference to 'maxilla' which is the upper jaw bone in vertebrates. There's no reason Melon should posses anything even like that since it would make far more sense to cast the non-motile portions of the skull as a single piece rather than the series of fused components vertebrates have as a consequence of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Faye isn't qualified to repair mechanical people. Neither is Bubbles. The kind of machine shown in comic 4792 is obscenely complicated and probably requires maintenance by a team of highly trained specialists, ie. just as a GP wouldn't be equipped to handle the major skin grafts necessary to treat a severe facial burn and would refer the patient to a surgical specialist.

Faye's casual treatment of AI bodies was totally appropriate a few thousand comics ago, but it no longer is because the nature of those AI bodies changed during an absurdly small in-universe window, often on characters who existed throughout that period like Melon (seriously, if they'd peeled Melon's skin off at comic #3000 she would have looked different underneath).

[Delicious Taffy]

Huh. In today's strip (#4795), Faye is calling Melon "May". I wonder if that's a normal typo or if the author actually forgot which blueish jackass was in the shop. Or maybe Faye forgot also, since May is in there all the time and she just got used to saying May as the default M-name. Either way, it's a little funny. Might get fixed, might not.

[VoxRationis]

One of the things that frustrates me about this bit is that Jeph has changed the nature of AI bodies from something like an industrial robot to something much more like an advanced sci-fi android.

When Faye was working in the underground fighting ring she was performing macroscopic industrial maintenance, welding, soldering, part replacement, and other sorts of activities that were very much a cross between automotive and appliance repair, and AIs were presented as being highly mechanical 'under the hood.' Fast-forward to the present comic and we see Melon stripped down and she's a human being made of synthetic components, with faux muscles, ligaments, bones, and the whole package. Not a robot at all, but rather an android. In fact the very language used reveals this: 'maxillary' is clearly a reference to 'maxilla' which is the upper jaw bone in vertebrates. There's no reason Melon should posses anything even like that since it would make far more sense to cast the non-motile portions of the skull as a single piece rather than the series of fused components vertebrates have as a consequence of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Faye isn't qualified to repair mechanical people. Neither is Bubbles. The kind of machine shown in comic 4792 is obscenely complicated and probably requires maintenance by a team of highly trained specialists, ie. just as a GP wouldn't be equipped to handle the major skin grafts necessary to treat a severe facial burn and would refer the patient to a surgical specialist.

Faye's casual treatment of AI bodies was totally appropriate a few thousand comics ago, but it no longer is because the nature of those AI bodies changed during an absurdly small in-universe window, often on characters who existed throughout that period like Melon (seriously, if they'd peeled Melon's skin off at comic #3000 she would have looked different underneath).

I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. The more we see of these sorts of advanced bodies, the less plausible it is that a business like Union Robotics would even have made sense on paper. Devices as intricate and technologically advanced as these bodies aren't repaired by two people with a buzz saw.

[Wraith]

Faye: "Bubbles got angry with me for failing to point out crucial information that radically changes the context of a situation, and then refusing to take ownership of my mistake; what a bitch!"

Also Faye: "I have failed to point out crucial information that radically changes the context of this situation, also why are you implying it was my own fault?"

Ah, Faye - you never change. You dumb-ass. :smalltongue:

[SaintRidley]

And in leaving out said crucial information, she's shown herself to have utterly failed to consider her client's/patient's differences from her own meatbag experience. Meatbag privilege in action.

[Cikomyr2]

Today's pun made the entire setup of the joke worth it.

[SaintRidley]

I really want Roko to find the bread of her dreams.

[Radar]

I have to compliment Jeph on today's visuals of stretching the dermal layer in place - it was a bit strange but at the same time felt very natural for what was going on.

[Mordokai]

I know by this point everybody is probably sick of my fanboying, but everytime Hanners appears, the comic instantly gets better.

[Manga Shoggoth]

She does bring a certian something to the comic.

[Mechalich]

Characters talking about problems with their work and their relationships is what QC is good at. Even though the framing of this situation doesn't quite click, the core conflict is very much in Jeph's wheelhouse - Faye and Bubbles could have had the exact same argument working on a dishwasher as opposed to Melon. Post-world tour Hanners has taken an upgraded place as the sounding board participate in these kinds of conversations, being more assertive and experiential than Marten (who used to do a lot of this).

[Morquard]

Ugh, perfect opportunity for some relationship drama of actually established characters instead of drama with new robots... and they're both "Oh I'm so sorry" - "No its me that's sorry!" Gods, what has this comic come to, people talking about their feelings like rational adults...

[Rodin]

Ugh, perfect opportunity for some relationship drama of actually established characters instead of drama with new robots... and they're both "Oh I'm so sorry" - "No its me that's sorry!" Gods, what has this comic come to, people talking about their feelings like rational adults...

On the one hand...

I do like that QC characters go away from a fight and cool down, talk it out with someone, and then realize that the fight was stupid. Characters in all sorts of media will typically hold grudges until they die of old age over the pettiest of nonsense and it frequently bugs me that temporary spats don't happen without either major drama or wacky hijinks ensuing.

On the other hand...

This is about the 5th or 6th time we've seen this exact sequence with various couples. Dora with Marten several times, Dora and Tai a couple times, Marigold and Dale...it's been done. And we could use some of the relationship drama. It's also quite a promising character clash - Bubbles takes her work very seriously and always has done, while Faye has always been very flippant about her job. And it's resolved in under a week?

[Wraith]

Couldn't even have left it over the weekend and given us the pretence of some sort of cliffhanger, too. Just done and dusted, and a whole new unrelated arc on Monday morning - assuming that a couple more strips aren't added on to next week to excruciatingly explain to us what just happened last week, that's happened enough times too.

I almost hope that Melon is happy with her new skin, tips them £5 and a pigeon (because lolrandom) then walks straight out of Union Robotics and is his by a street-sweeping truck. Not because I hate Melon, quite the opposite, I just think it would be funny to watch Faye and Bubbles watch their hard-work and emotionally fraught success go right down the storm drain and they have to start over again. :smalltongue:

[Delicious Taffy]

See, this is the good stuff.

Also: Oh no, they made Melon hot. Think of all the extra nonsense she'll be able to get into/away with now.

[mucat]

Also: Oh no, they made Melon hot.
Hopefully they did the opposite? I mean, the poor girl was catching fire before...

[Wraith]

Oh good, this again.

Why did Bubbles seem surprised that Melon had a wifi antenna? She's not just an AI mechanic, she's specifically the COMPETANT AI mechanic, and she literally just removed that section of skull AND replaced the skin AND regrew the hair, did she not know that there was a couple of copper and/or fiber-optic rods in there as she was doing it?

Why does Professor Bennet randomly shrink and grow between panels 1, 2 and 4?

Where did Professor Bennet's spectacles go between panel 1 and 2?

Why won't Jhim 'let' Sam get healthy, nutritious breakfast? Does he only force-feed her boutique pastries and artisan raisin bread? The MONSTER!

I also have mixed feelings about 'Emmett Bennett' as a name, but that's not really an issue so much as a "I hope there's a punchline involved at some point".

[Willie the Duck]

Why did Bubbles seem surprised that Melon had a wifi antenna? She's not just an AI mechanic, she's specifically the COMPETANT AI mechanic, and she literally just removed that section of skull AND replaced the skin AND regrew the hair, did she not know that there was a couple of copper and/or fiber-optic rods in there as she was doing it?

There is nothing in the strip to indicate that the hair is specifically a wifi antenna. It is a cowlick that she naturally possesses (because she's Melon and her hair does that. See Dilbert's tie). It just happens to give better wi-fi signal when it sproings back up because it's funny. I'm guessing Rocky and Bullwinkle did the same thing with horns and tv reception 50-60 years ago.


Why does Professor Bennet randomly shrink and grow between panels 1, 2 and 4?

Where did Professor Bennet's spectacles go between panel 1 and 2?

There is an attempt to have the 'camera shot' pulling back -- we see more and more ceiling (and top of her head stays fixed, relative to the tree outside). What's not right is that, in a pullback, we should see more to the left and right. We get a leftward movement between 1&2 (exchanging milk carton for Sam), so hard to judge. Between 2&4, there ought to be a slight increase in stuff we see left and right (maybe get parts of the milk carton again along with Sam), but we don't.

The spectacles don't make sense (unless she starts washing them between 1&2, in which case why not make it obvious?). If were looking for issues, there's also the disappearing left inner window frame that was there in panel #1, but missing in 2&4 (could have been part of the pullback and change in angle, but the lower window still has the piece to which it used to be co-linear).


Why won't Jhim 'let' Sam get healthy, nutritious breakfast? Does he only force-feed her boutique pastries and artisan raisin bread? The MONSTER!

I also have mixed feelings about 'Emmett Bennett' as a name, but that's not really an issue so much as a "I hope there's a punchline involved at some point".

Side note: AFAIK, Sam's dad is Jim. I think Jhim is a Something*Positive character.
Maybe he thinks that, as a single parent (and in the food profession), he 'ought' to be making his kid a fresh breakfast every day (now how do you want your eggs today, young lady? And no, 'in cereal form' is not an answer.)

Names: I don't love all the goofy names, but with characters like Jim Bean and Marigold Farmer, it's at least a consistent trend.

[Wraith]

There is nothing in the strip to indicate that the hair is specifically a wifi antenna. It is a cowlick that she naturally possesses (because she's Melon and her hair does that. See Dilbert's tie). It just happens to give better wi-fi signal when it sproings back up because it's funny. I'm guessing Rocky and Bullwinkle did the same thing with horns and tv reception 50-60 years ago.

I'm fairly sure its deliberately implied. Melon's hair suddenly sticks up like an antenna and her wifi is immediately improved - surely that's most likely interpreted as cause and effect, not a really weird and pointless correlation-without-causation?

For the record I'm not against funny. I thought it was cute, and I like Melon because she's generally good natured and genuinely caring. However, "random thing happens and Melon says another random, but entirely unrelated, thing" is just a really bizarre punchline, but the alternative also doesn't make much sense.


Side note: AFAIK, Sam's dad is Jim. I think Jhim is a Something*Positive character.

Thank you, much appreciated. :smallsmile:


Maybe he thinks that, as a single parent (and in the food profession), he 'ought' to be making his kid a fresh breakfast every day (now how do you want your eggs today, young lady? And no, 'in cereal form' is not an answer.)

As is usually the case, I think we're just putting way too much thought into it. Sam is lolrandom - that means the loud quirky kid likes boring, tasteless cereal because Shut Up She Just Does, Okay?.

[Willie the Duck]

I'm fairly sure its deliberately implied.
It's implied that her hair sticks up, and it gives her better reception. As far as I can see, that's it. That that must mean that there was an antennae in that hair is, AFAICT, not needed.


Melon's hair suddenly sticks up like an antenna and her wifi is immediately improved - surely that's most likely interpreted as cause and effect, not a really weird and pointless correlation-without-causation?

The causation is the hair sticking up causes improved wifi because it is acting like an antenna, not that it is an antenna (complete with physical wires and whatnot), and that works in-comic because it would be funny. Let's say we were watching Family Matters, and Urkel puts on some wacky invention involving tin foil and batteries and gets near-electrocuted (cue 90s sitcom-grade special effect). The family comes to his aid, pulls him out and asks if he is okay. He says, "I can hear FM stations when I touch my fillings!" Would that imply that he somehow made a working radio in his mouth?


For the record I'm not against funny. I thought it was cute, and I like Melon because she's generally good natured and genuinely caring. However, "random thing happens and Melon says another random, but entirely unrelated, thing" is just a really bizarre punchline, but the alternative also doesn't make much sense.
I know you're just doing the 'what are the logical conclusions of the thing.' However, much like the 'Dora must be pedo-ing on underage Tai in the we-could-have-met-as-teens' saga a while back, I think you have decided a thing must-be (despite alternate potential explanations), and found problem with the implications of that doesn't-have-to-be thing. Melon's force of Melon-ness causes her hair to sproing back up into her identifiable cowlicked self (despite it being totally new hair and having no reason for it to be so) and that's the nonsensical situation. Her response that it improves her wifi is just a sitcom joke-closer.

Mind you, next time we cut back to the shop, they could be discussing how her hair includes antenna wires, but again I don't think that is necessary for the situation to 'make much sense' (as far as sitcom logic ever does).


As is usually the case, I think we're just putting way too much thought into it. Sam is lolrandom - that means the loud quirky kid likes boring, tasteless cereal because Shut Up She Just Does, Okay?.
Well, yes, that's most of these things. The strip would be barely worth discussing if not for over-analysis. She likes the thing, so Emmett has to change their position on the subject. The main takeaway I get from today's strip is that Becky probably knows about Emmett's crush on Sam.

[Delicious Taffy]

At the very least, Emmet's Mom seems to actually like Sam. Seems like a bit of a helicopter parent, but mostly in regard to safety and health instead of trying to micromanage their friendships, which is nice. I really hate her hair, though.

[Keltest]

At the very least, Emmet's Mom seems to actually like Sam. Seems like a bit of a helicopter parent, but mostly in regard to safety and health instead of trying to micromanage their friendships, which is nice. I really hate her hair, though.

My uncle runs a machine shop. If anything, I think this is a fairly restrained reaction to learning that your kid was messing with things in there and then not telling you about it.

[Traab]

Im thinking she is manipulating sam to learn more details about what her kid is up to and sam seems to operate under the rule of "everything is fine, there is no reasons anyone could ever object to whatever odd thing I do" so has no trouble sharing. I do hope emmet doesnt get into trouble over this. Im not sure about panel 4 and that expression. Could be she is hiding her own snort of laughter at the idea, could be a grimace she is hiding so as to not let on that she is upset by hearing about this for some reason.

[Keltest]

Im thinking she is manipulating sam to learn more details about what her kid is up to and sam seems to operate under the rule of "everything is fine, there is no reasons anyone could ever object to whatever odd thing I do" so has no trouble sharing. I do hope emmet doesnt get into trouble over this. Im not sure about panel 4 and that expression. Could be she is hiding her own snort of laughter at the idea, could be a grimace she is hiding so as to not let on that she is upset by hearing about this for some reason.

The followup questions seem to indicate the grimace.

[Radar]

The followup questions seem to indicate the grimace.
And the specific nature of the question indicates that there was a very good reason for the grimace. It kind of unsubtly suggests that such things like fires, explosions and unauthorized use of machines did happen before.

[theangelJean]

And the specific nature of the question indicates that there was a very good reason for the grimace. It kind of unsubtly suggests that such things like fires, explosions and unauthorized use of machines did happen before.

Well, according to Emmett, they have... In fact, all of them (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4711). And then some (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4710). Emmett has been transparent with Sam, at least ... Eventually.

Also in my backwards archive trawl to find that link: remember how we were wondering why Willow was suddenly being introduced to the old cast? It was so unrealistically serendipitous (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4747) that we forgot Jeph had already lampshaded it as exactly that... And it might all have been in service of a joke about Willow and Iris's relationship (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4762).

[Willie the Duck]

Asthma attack and hives? Emmett must have really gotten into trouble when they got into trouble.

[Vinyadan]

Well, according to Emmett, they have... In fact, all of them (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4711). And then some (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4710). Emmett has been transparent with Sam, at least ... Eventually.

The one about getting drunk and falling into a ditch sounds terrifying. I read a similar story of a grown man, an alcoholic, who got drunk, passed out in a ditch, spent the night there, and in the end got three fingers amputated.

And then there are those who don't fall into the ditch and simply pass out in a field, and get run over by a tractor, and those who drown in a puddle instead...

[Eldan]

Or who freeze to death and never wake up, or fall in the wrong spot and hit their head, yeah. (My father worked in a clinic for addicts for 40 years. I heard a lot of stories.)

[Yuki Akuma]

I miss Sam's friendship with Momo.

[Windscion]

Heh. Good on Sam here. Faces facts: she don't GAF, move on.
Not to trivialize! That kind of betrayal can be shattering.

[Daywalker1983]

Emmett seems prone to mugging like no other Character. Combined with the related hijinks and the impromptu crying it's like a cartoon Character Was suddenly fused into QC.

[theangelJean]

Emmett seems prone to mugging like no other Character. Combined with the related hijinks and the impromptu crying it's like a cartoon Character Was suddenly fused into QC.

What's "mugging" in this context? I can only think of "mugging for the camera" as in deliberately exaggerated facial expressions, but that has an element of knowingness that Emmett doesn't show.

[Wraith]

Who the hell looks for goatse references with their monitor facing the door, which is wide open, which an incredibly anxious and neurotic teenager who is banned from the internet wandering the house? How could that POSSIBLY go wrong? :smalltongue:

Reddit is tearing this strip apart. They hate Emmett's 'baby-talk' accent, that the mom somehow makes a living looking at 15 year old memes... But mostly I think they just hate being called out.
The last few days has made some readers very uncomfortable - they likened Emmett's behaviour to that of a child who has been abused, terrified of putting a single foot wrong and desperately begging for forgiveness at even the vaguest hint of parental disapproval.

Actual wholesome content, where an anxious teenager says thank you because their mom is patient with them and not a dead-beat? Apparently that doesn't compute.


What's "mugging" in this context? I can only think of "mugging for the camera" as in deliberately exaggerated facial expressions, but that has an element of knowingness that Emmett doesn't show.

I've also heard it used to mean any kind of unnecessarily exaggerated display of emotion - Emmett seemingly has absolutely no chill, pink with embarrassment one minute, panicked pleas for forgiveness the next, and now being overwhelmingly saccharine with their mom.

It kind of works, but at the same time; Emmett is a teenager, and a character in QC. Mugging and/or 'no chill' is hardly unusual in either context. :smalltongue:

[theangelJean]

Who the hell looks for goatse references with their monitor facing the door, which is wide open, which an incredibly anxious and neurotic teenager who is banned from the internet wandering the house? How could that POSSIBLY go wrong? :smalltongue:

I'd forgotten they weren't allowed the internet. I wonder if Jeph did too? Seriously, anything you don't allow your kids, you don't do around them unless they understand the double-standard completely - otherwise they're peering over your shoulder at all opportunities. e.g. I can keep my 8-year-old out of the chocolate because she has an anaphylactic reaction, but anything I install on the tablet or the computer, she wants in. (And I still don't eat chocolate in front of the kid, because it's plain cruel.)



Reddit is tearing this strip apart. They hate Emmett's 'baby-talk' accent, that the mom somehow makes a living looking at 15 year old memes... But mostly I think they just hate being called out.
The last few days has made some readers very uncomfortable - they likened Emmett's behaviour to that of a child who has been abused, terrified of putting a single foot wrong and desperately begging for forgiveness at even the vaguest hint of parental disapproval.

Actual wholesome content, where an anxious teenager says thank you because their mom is patient with them and not a dead-beat? Apparently that doesn't compute.

Hmm. I'm not on Reddit, and Emmett's mum comes across as patient and reasonable. But they might not be completely wrong - we haven't heard much about Emmett's dad yet.



I've also heard it used to mean any kind of unnecessarily exaggerated display of emotion - Emmett seemingly has absolutely no chill, pink with embarrassment one minute, panicked pleas for forgiveness the next, and now being overwhelmingly saccharine with their mom.

It kind of works, but at the same time; Emmett is a teenager, and a character in QC. Mugging and/or 'no chill' is hardly unusual in either context. :smalltongue:
Thanks for that, and yeah I agree - "fourteen" explains a whole lot.

[Wraith]

Hmm. I'm not on Reddit, and Emmett's mum comes across as patient and reasonable. But they might not be completely wrong - we haven't heard much about Emmett's dad yet.

The thought sort-of-kind-of crossed my mind, I have to admit. Professor Mom is a helicopter parent, which is an annoyance of sorts, and I can see how her questioning of Sam as to Emmett's whereabouts and activities could possibly be interpreted as 'snooping'. Emmett's reaction of "OH GOD PLEASE DON'T PUNISH ME I'M SORRY!" reading as someone terrified of retaliation is plausible...

...But Occam's Razor says that Emmett has also started fires and almost died in a ditch after tattooing herself. Keeping an eye on her because she's an insane bumbling mess is entirely appropriate behaviour, and I think the reaction speaks more about the redditors than it does the comic. If they can't tell the difference between a concerned mother of an emotionally immature teenager and a narcissistic abuser... That makes me sad rather than angry.

[Keltest]

The thought sort-of-kind-of crossed my mind, I have to admit. Professor Mom is a helicopter parent, which is an annoyance of sorts, and I can see how her questioning of Sam as to Emmett's whereabouts and activities could possibly be interpreted as 'snooping'. Emmett's reaction of "OH GOD PLEASE DON'T PUNISH ME I'M SORRY!" reading as someone terrified of retaliation is plausible...

...But Occam's Razor says that Emmett has also started fires and almost died in a ditch after tattooing herself. Keeping an eye on her because she's an insane bumbling mess is entirely appropriate behaviour, and I think the reaction speaks more about the redditors than it does the comic. If they can't tell the difference between a concerned mother of an emotionally immature teenager and a narcissistic abuser... That makes me sad rather than angry.

I think it really depends on which behavior came first. Is Mom a helicopter parent because Emmett can't be trusted with a butter knife without causing some kind of mayhem, or is Emmett going out of their way to cause problems in an effort to get some space from an overbearing mom who doesnt trust them one iota?

[Rodin]

I think it really depends on which behavior came first. Is Mom a helicopter parent because Emmett can't be trusted with a butter knife without causing some kind of mayhem, or is Emmett going out of their way to cause problems in an effort to get some space from an overbearing mom who doesnt trust them one iota?

With no evidence, I'm going to side with "fourteen in a comic strip one step removed from cartoon antics". Emmett's meant to be wacky, but a more realistic kind of wacky then the likes of Melon or Emily. Emmett's mom is meant to be a bit overprotective, but not without justification and not without the best of intentions. Emmett likes hanging out with Sam because Sam is a shenanigans magnet. Emmett's mom thinks Sam is a good influence for her extremely introverted and socially anxious daughter, but the shenanigans concern her.

All of this may change once we find out more, but at the moment I don't see anything to be concerned about.

[Willie the Duck]

I'd forgotten they weren't allowed the internet. I wonder if Jeph did too? Seriously, anything you don't allow your kids, you don't do around them unless they understand the double-standard completely - otherwise they're peering over your shoulder at all opportunities. e.g. I can keep my 8-year-old out of the chocolate because she has an anaphylactic reaction, but anything I install on the tablet or the computer, she wants in. (And I still don't eat chocolate in front of the kid, because it's plain cruel.)

I suspect the idea is that the mom heard about them seeing the robot butt at the robotics shop, tried to do online research as to whether to freak out about it, and ended up down a weird internet rabbit hole.

[Rakaydos]

I suspect the idea is that the mom heard about them seeing the robot butt at the robotics shop, tried to do online research as to whether to freak out about it, and ended up down a weird internet rabbit hole.

My first thought was that one organization who accidently made their logo into a goatsee reference relatively recently. Not a deliberate NSFW search, but noticing something accidently NSFW about a mundane subject.

[BRC]

Emmet's mom does something unspecified Academically involving The Internet

https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4702

[Wraith]

I suspect the idea is that the mom heard about them seeing the robot butt at the robotics shop, tried to do online research as to whether to freak out about it, and ended up down a weird internet rabbit hole.

When Emmett and Sam first mentioned Professor Mom, they described her job as 'Professor of Internet'. Rather than Computer Sciences, she could just as easily be a professor of Art, History, Art History or even Sociology that just happens to have a specialization in internet culture.

There's a few equivalent real-life positions like that, and in a QC world where computers can make their own memes, it makes as much sense as any other kind, I guess.

[Willie the Duck]

Emmet's mom does something unspecified Academically involving The Internet
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4702
I remember. I am inferring my guess simply from the this being contemporaneous with finding out about the robot butt. Maybe a stretch. She's just doing her normal job is the other. QC is pretty wacky, but my assumption is that she's not staring at an actual Goatse/Goatse-inspired picture on a computer when her child can walk in.


When Emmett and Sam first mentioned Professor Mom, they described her job as 'Professor of Internet'. Rather than Computer Sciences, she could just as easily be a professor of Art, History, Art History or even Sociology that just happens to have a specialization in internet culture.

There's a few equivalent real-life positions like that, and in a QC world where computers can make their own memes, it makes as much sense as any other kind, I guess.
I would guess probably Sociology or Communications as a field, with 'of the internet' as a focus; but yeah the internet could be its' own PHD track in this world.

[georgie_leech]

The internet could be it's own PHD track in this world, what with it being practically its own weird subculture(s) that rapidly changes constantly which also bleeds over into the non-digital world in weird ways.

[Vinyadan]

Lol, from all info collected, I am now fairly certain that she's actually a content moderator on facebook. Works from home, sees a lot of goatsee, and doesn't want her child to access the lurid gunk she spends her day immersed in.

[Wraith]

...Jesus Christ, she moderates MommyMilkers69420's chat, doesn't she?

[Keltest]

...Jesus Christ, she moderates MommyMilkers69420's chat, doesn't she?

Chat modding can't really be considered a profession by any stretch, even if it is work.

[theangelJean]

Emmet's mom does something unspecified Academically involving The Internet

https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4702

And it seems like the boundary is "not allowed to get a phone with Internet access" rather than "not allowed Internet access". Which would be unusually restrictive for a 14-year-old in 2022 IRL, but then again said 14-year-old already ordered themself a tattoo gun and taught themself how to use it, so *shrug* I don't see most kids their age actually complying with that, but I have an oddly obedient kid who hasn't reached that age yet, so I dunno.

[Vinyadan]

And it seems like the boundary is "not allowed to get a phone with Internet access" rather than "not allowed Internet access". Which would be unusually restrictive for a 14-year-old in 2022 IRL, but then again said 14-year-old already ordered themself a tattoo gun and taught themself how to use it, so *shrug* I don't see most kids their age actually complying with that, but I have an oddly obedient kid who hasn't reached that age yet, so I dunno.

The tattoo gun incident does seem a good reason to take unsupervised internet access away from a kid.

[Traab]

Since she is specifically talking about the goatse hands, I was thinking it was that somewhat more recent tik tok video where someone bends over, acts like they are spreading, then uses a camera trick and hey presto, its the persons face that appears. Stuff along those lines, so its the goatse hands and pose, but no mind scarring horror.

[Keltest]

So real talk though, Mom Popcorn absolutely tastes better, right?

[geoduck]

So real talk though, Mom Popcorn absolutely tastes better, right?

Assuming basic competence in preparation, most things taste better if someone else makes them.

[Windscion]

What geoduck said.

[Delicious Taffy]

Something something kids watching TV

[Wraith]

If I didn't know better, I'd think this feels like a direct (and well deserved) thrust right at the snark community.

"Look at them, sat there making inane complaints over something that they continue to keep viewing - what a pair of ridiculous-sounding children! Their outrage is so silly that its funny!"

And yes; I am aware of the irony that it is I, of all people, pointing this out and laughing with it. :smallbiggrin:

[Willie the Duck]

Certainly doesn't have to be (as in, it works on its' own), but it would work as such a take-that. My only question would be why now? I think one of the two main QC reddits is all-complaint-all-the-time, so if he's paying attention, I would think he'd have done so after raisins or MommyMilkers or Yay too-quickly exposing their secret or the like.

Anyhowsers, jump shift from big weighty 'my mom doesn't care' plot to watching cartoons. Glad kids still watch TV together. Glad we don't have to 'resolve' that issue. Glad we don't have to jump straight into a 'will they or won't they' plot for these two. Kinda want more shown on the Emmett-makes-mistakes/mom-hovers/Emmett-is-terrified-of-getting-in-trouble plot, but that might just be me wanting to skip to the end of the book, so to speak.

[Cikomyr2]

Since Emmet's mom seem to be involved in rather deep meme studies, maybe shes researching the ability of the internet to find sense-overriding datapoint that just short circuit our better judgement and have us accept the narrative/share the meme.

Basically she is a matter expert about the effectiveness of the internet to manipulate you in accepting crazy ****, and doesnt want her daughter subjected to that kind of risk.

Doesnt require some crazy double standard.

[theangelJean]

Since Emmet's mom seem to be involved in rather deep meme studies, maybe shes researching the ability of the internet to find sense-overriding datapoint that just short circuit our better judgement and have us accept the narrative/share the meme.

Basically she is a matter expert about the effectiveness of the internet to manipulate you in accepting crazy ****, and doesnt want her daughter subjected to that kind of risk.

Doesnt require some crazy double standard.

I mean, you could be right, but I never said the double standard was "crazy". There are quite often good reasons, and Emmett's history alone would be a pretty good one. My comment was more along the lines of "good luck getting kids to accept those reasons, especially teenagers" and "don't rub their faces in it". If Emmett isn't actually forbidden to use the internet, just not allowed internet access on her phone, them even that problem disappears.

[Radar]

I mean, you could be right, but I never said the double standard was "crazy". There are quite often good reasons, and Emmett's history alone would be a pretty good one. My comment was more along the lines of "good luck getting kids to accept those reasons, especially teenagers" and "don't rub their faces in it". If Emmett isn't actually forbidden to use the internet, just not allowed internet access on her phone, them even that problem disappears.
One of the key things about having children is that there will be double standards as they pretty much have to. Some of the things are really obvious as not letting small children use any sharp objects or making sure they go to sleep at a reasonable time even if you will stay up late. With time those boundaries are pushed back and it is simply always a question of where they should be at a given time. Second part of it is making sure to explain the need for the difference between what adults and children can do. And more often than not, you have to figure it out as you go.

[Rodin]

I'm confused by today's comic. I assume that's supposed to be Claire's mother, since that's who is being discussed.

It doesn't look like her at all. In fact, it looks like Claire from a few years ago.

Just compare the characters from the last time we saw them with today's comic: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4681

I've mostly given up complaining about the art, but this is just ridiculous.

[Keltest]

I'm confused by today's comic. I assume that's supposed to be Claire's mother, since that's who is being discussed.

It doesn't look like her at all. In fact, it looks like Claire from a few years ago.

Just compare the characters from the last time we saw them with today's comic: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4681

I've mostly given up complaining about the art, but this is just ridiculous.

The eyebrows are a little bit thicker and the wrinkles or whatever under her eyes have blended into the outline of her eyes, but otherwise they look basically the same to me.

Which is not to say that doesnt Jeph only draws like 3 characters in different color schemes these days, but this particular example seems a bit overexaggerated.

[Wraith]

This is the second time we ever saw Aurelia (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2805), the first time being one strip prior when she was making pancakes - she answered Claire's 'phone for her while she was in bed, introduced herself to a complete stranger, and then deftly turned the introduction into a polite invitation to breakfast.

If you have 'phone anxiety about answering your own 'phone, surely there's no way you would volunteer to answer someone else's, let alone uninvited? Characters in QC tend to get squeezed into whatever plot-shaped hole needs filling, but I'm genuinely wondering if in this case Claire and Aurelia have been mixed up somehow?

[Rodin]

This is the second time we ever saw Aurelia (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2805), the first time being one strip prior when she was making pancakes - she answered Claire's 'phone for her while she was in bed, introduced herself to a complete stranger, and then deftly turned the introduction into a polite invitation to breakfast.

If you have 'phone anxiety about answering your own 'phone, surely there's no way you would volunteer to answer someone else's, let alone uninvited? Characters in QC tend to get squeezed into whatever plot-shaped hole needs filling, but I'm genuinely wondering if in this case Claire and Aurelia have been mixed up somehow?

I’m wondering this too. For reference, this strip is one that most makes me think this is Claire. Apologies for formatting, posting from my phne

https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2976

[Yuki Akuma]

As someone who has severe phone anxiety, allow me to explain how this absolutely makes sense and isn't a retcon:

Phone calls I get out of the blue are fine. Phone calls I have to make or am expecting are torture. It's the expectation that gets me, not the event itself.

[Wraith]

As someone who has severe phone anxiety, allow me to explain how this absolutely makes sense and isn't a retcon:

Insofar as our irrational and poorly designed human brains can 'make sense', thank you for your perspective Yuki :smallsmile: We are, however, back to the same point that we have made before - the comic has shown us one thing, and we're having to invent reasons as to why they no longer apply no matter how illogical, counter-intuitive (and therefore "realistic") they are.

If asked to use one word to describe early Aurelia, I would probably pick 'self-assured'. She's comfortable in her hobbies, in her sexuality, in sharing her weird hobbies with her kids, even in grabbing a baseball bat and stepping out into the dark to confront an unhinged AI prowling about in her garden at 2am... Everything that her kids haven't mastered. The benefits of middle age, of having been around the block a few times and having experience on your side.

And now here she is, freaking out over a 'phone call to her friend in direct opposite of what we've already seen so far. Something something 'fiction better than fact' something 'fiction has to make sense' something. :smalltongue:

I'm not saying that characters can't be flawed or under certain circumstances make bad decisions. I'm just nostalgic for the days where Faye's alcoholism was built up over weeks and months with hints throughout, not just one day flipping a switch and having it outright stated in the comic's sub-title...

[Morquard]

I don't think the two situations are the same. She answered her daughter's phone. She knows her daughter.

She has been interacting with Marigold's online persona for ages, but now suddenly she gotta interact with the actual person behind that. As the actual person behind the MommyMilkers persona. This is a weird step in making it "real".

I'd be more willing to compare it to how easily she revealed all of it to Yay, than that phonecall.

[Delicious Taffy]

This one's just cute, IDK. I want them to hang out.

[tomandtish]

She has been interacting with Marigold's online persona for ages, but now suddenly she gotta interact with the actual person behind that. As the actual person behind the MommyMilkers persona. This is a weird step in making it "real".


Very much this. She's bringing someone she really only knows professionally (and virtually for that matter) into her personal space. Some concern is understandable.

[Wraith]

I don't think the two situations are the same. She answered her daughter's phone. She knows her daughter.

I have to admit, I have always thought of answering someone else's phone - especially without their express request to do so - to be a minor taboo. To my mind, it being Claire's 'phone would increase the anxiety if it were to do anything.


Very much this. She's bringing someone she really only knows professionally (and virtually for that matter) into her personal space. Some concern is understandable.

One wonders why they didn't just use discord or similar voicechat. It's familiar to them both and reminiscent of the streaming-environment that they're used to, maybe that would make them more comfortable?

I think "it's a business call so it has to be by 'phone" is mostly just a "how do you do, fellow children?" moment from Jeph - HE grew up using 'phones 'formally' and is just making things difficult for himself by assuming that other people, including perpetually-online younger ones like Marigold, would only see it the same way. :smalltongue:

[Rodin]

I have to admit, I have always thought of answering someone else's phone - especially without their express request to do so - to be a minor taboo. To my mind, it being Claire's 'phone would increase the anxiety if it were to do anything.



One wonders why they didn't just use discord or similar voicechat. It's familiar to them both and reminiscent of the streaming-environment that they're used to, maybe that would make them more comfortable?

I think "it's a business call so it has to be by 'phone" is mostly just a "how do you do, fellow children?" moment from Jeph - HE grew up using 'phones 'formally' and is just making things difficult for himself by assuming that other people, including perpetually-online younger ones like Marigold, would only see it the same way. :smalltongue:

Heck, I work in a call center and the primary way we are reached is via Teams calling. The phone number is a backup.

As someone with phone anxiety (yes, despite my job) touching anyone other than a family member's phone would be a major taboo and I probably wouldn't answer even a family member's phone unless I knew they were expecting a call. I would pick up the phone and try to bring it to them or let the phone ring through and go find them to say they missed a call. Answering the phone blindly ended when I ditched landlines.

[Daywalker1983]

I'm confused by today's comic. I assume that's supposed to be Claire's mother, since that's who is being discussed.

It doesn't look like her at all. In fact, it looks like Claire from a few years ago.

Just compare the characters from the last time we saw them with today's comic: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4681

I've mostly given up complaining about the art, but this is just ridiculous.

Yeah, me too. I missed yesrerdays Comic and actually wondered why Claire Was streaming now too and why Marigold didnt recognize her.

[Vinyadan]

The little lines beneath the eyes look more like "I'm entering the abyss of anguish and madness" than "I'm somewhat older than the rest of the cast".

Actually, it reminds me of the first time Marten and Claire had sex, he also had those lines because he had been dealing with Faye's alcoholic breakdown.

[Ionathus]

At this point, expecting Jeph to draw people who are older than 30 as *actually* older than 30 is a lost cause. The number of times I've seen Marten's mom and thought "that's a 28-year-old with a skunk stripe" is uncountable.

Other than that, this arc is fun! I'm really, really enjoying the slice-of-life nature of this and Marigold's social awkwardness is very funny to me.

Anything to get a break from the latest Whatever Social Issue Jeph Wants To Explore But With Robots arc.

[Morquard]

I have to admit, I have always thought of answering someone else's phone - especially without their express request to do so - to be a minor taboo. To my mind, it being Claire's 'phone would increase the anxiety if it were to do anything.

One wonders why they didn't just use discord or similar voicechat. It's familiar to them both and reminiscent of the streaming-environment that they're used to, maybe that would make them more comfortable?

I think "it's a business call so it has to be by 'phone" is mostly just a "how do you do, fellow children?" moment from Jeph - HE grew up using 'phones 'formally' and is just making things difficult for himself by assuming that other people, including perpetually-online younger ones like Marigold, would only see it the same way. :smalltongue:

Oh I agree with both parts. I wouldn't answer someone's phone - maybe my mom's if I see it's my brother or something, but that's it, and only because I know she's ok with it. I wouldn't be ok with her answering my phone. However maybe that is something those two had an unspoken or spoken rule about, and she's been doing it for years. Quite possible that during Claire's transition she had been "screening" phone calls for her daughter to make sure it was not some transphobic rant or something (with her permission of course).

And yes, I was wondering the same thing about "why not discord?"

[Willie the Duck]

I feel like, at this point, expecting Jeph to draw people who are older than 30 as *actually* older than 30 is a lost cause. The number of times I've seen Marten's mom and thought "that's a 28-year-old with a skunk stripe" is uncountable.

Aurelia is her daughter's sister, no argument, and that is jarring.

In the case of Veronica, Jim Bean, Henry, and Maurice, I think there is a caveat. I think these characters are specifically coded as being young-old, aging-gracefully, or whatever you want to call it. Aging is a little different than my parent or certainly my grandparents era (when whiskey and cigarettes were considered healthfood and sunscreen was for newborns and lifeguards:smalltongue:). We have celebrities like Paul Rudd who could be mistaken for a 30-something but who is in actuality older than Errol Flynn when he died (looking like a wrinkled leather strap that had alternately been soaked in brine and left to weather on a brickyard parking lot). Exactly how you are supposed to represent that, especially in a comic strip, is a nontrivial task.

Marten's mom is a 'your mom is hot' type character (enough for it to be intimidating for Dora, bitd). Jim was supposed to be youthful enough of a parent that it wasn't too sketchy for him to date twenty-whoknows Dora that one time. Henry is supposed to be 50-something, and the one with actual full grey hair, but also coded as a hip gay nightclub owner. Maurice isn't given a clear age, but is a gold instructor as a side gig (so I don't know, active?). I think they are all supposed to me 'middle aged, but wearing it well.' Emmett's mom doesn't seem to be introduced as a similar type, and, in the few times we've seen her, looks a lot more 45-going-on-60.

[Willie the Duck]

New comic.
Okay, with Marigold this makes sense, but didn't Aurelia invite her daughter's suitor, whom Aurelia had never previously met, over for pancakes?

[Radar]

New comic.
Okay, with Marigold this makes sense, but didn't Aurelia invite her daughter's suitor, whom Aurelia had never previously met, over for pancakes?
Inviting a friend of your daughter and inviting a very famous internet celebrity might be somewhat different I guess.

[Traab]

New comic.
Okay, with Marigold this makes sense, but didn't Aurelia invite her daughter's suitor, whom Aurelia had never previously met, over for pancakes?

Its the change of venue. Think of it like this. You are at work and you chat and laugh with your work friends and everything is fine. Then one day you get invited to come over for a barbeque at their house. Suddenly the context of the friendship has changed, its DIFFERENT hanging out outside of work. I dont get anxiety on the level of these characters, but even I admit that id feel a bit anxious for the first visit. Its the same here. Internet anonymous friends are easy to chat with. Suddenly getting together irl? Thats a change and it brings up all sorts of things to worry about.

[Wraith]

Inviting a friend of your daughter and inviting a very famous internet celebrity might be somewhat different I guess.

Where does "Mid-crisis AI who has stalked you, trespassed on your property, and made weird references to your dog and your secret identity" fall on that scale, I wonder? She seemed okay with that. :smalltongue:

I get it. It's - perhaps unconsciously - a power thing. Aurelia was okay with inviting Marten because he was her daughter's crush, another kid about whom she had second-hand knowledge of being 'a nice person'. She's Claire's mom and has authority over 'kids' inside her own house.

But Marigold is a stranger from the internet, and 'we live nearby to each other' isn't much of a reassurance that she isn't also a crazed axe-murderer. Similarly, Marigold is a richer, more popular, "more professional" streamer than Aurelia - it's intimidating to have someone who is potentially "better" (note the use of inverted commas to indicate a perception, rather than a reality) than you in your house, because you don't have the same sort of authority over them as your kid's boyfriend.

As for Marigold, she has even less to go on. She's a twenty-something introvert who just agreed to meet a stranger off the internet in the stranger's house, and the only other thing that she knows for certain is that MommyMilkers has some kind of interest in a weirdly fetishistic pastime. Not to kink-shame or anything, but if its the only thing you know for certain about someone, it could be interpreted as a red flag?
She could be going to meet Buffalo Bill with a voice-modulator, for all she knows. Her nervousness is entirely justified, even before Aurelia started claiming that she has minor mind-control abilities (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4813). :smalltongue:

I'm making this up, but I don't think it's THAT much of a stretch. Aurelia invites people over that she's sure of or has someone who can vouch for them, and she doesn't yet have that of Marigold. Yay is a bit of an outlier, but let's say they LOOK like a kid and that athleisurewear is inherently non-threatening and I think it still works... :smallsmile:

[Willie the Duck]

Inviting a friend of your daughter and inviting a very famous internet celebrity might be somewhat different I guess.


Its the change of venue. Think of it like this. You are at work and you chat and laugh with your work friends and everything is fine. Then one day you get invited to come over for a barbeque at their house. Suddenly the context of the friendship has changed, its DIFFERENT hanging out outside of work. I dont get anxiety on the level of these characters, but even I admit that id feel a bit anxious for the first visit. Its the same here. Internet anonymous friends are easy to chat with. Suddenly getting together irl? Thats a change and it brings up all sorts of things to worry about.

Looks like it is a bit of both. Half 'Oprah* is stopping by for tea,' and half, 'Johnson and Anderson from work are swinging by, and will find out my work persona is all a façade.' Seems like this is actually pretty on-brand -- When she became an empty-nester, Aurelia kinda-sorta slid into being 'awesome**' without realizing it. Also on brand that Clinton does recognize this (as it frustrated him in earlier plots), and kinda personal growth on his part that this he just calmly explains to her the thing in her blindspot.
*This is the closest I can get to a modern reference. Do universally-known celebrities even exist anymore?
**This is the sober guy who manages young adults talking, but blazing up and hooking up with significantly younger people isn't my idea of awesome, but I recognize that that's what Jeph is coding this as.

[Traab]

At least clinton has personal experience dealing with this as he went from creepy semi stalker boy to oddly cool and attractive looking after his whole thing with emily.

[Cikomyr2]

Its these kind of moments when

- i saw it coming
- im fine with it anyway

[MoonCat]

Honestly, I quite like this set-up where they converge on one another at the coffee shop. I'm expecting they'll give each other some comforting advice before the dramatic irony is resolved.

[Delicious Taffy]

This ain't gonna work like on TV. It's too obvious. That machine is not gonna be sufficient.

[Squire Doodad]

As the actual person behind the MommyMilkers persona. This is a weird step in making it "real".

I would like to take a second and point out that you have said this sentence without a whit of irony and it is vaguely amusing

That said, while I am not following this comic, Aurelia does look like "Claire in 4 years and/or with a recent panic attack" as opposed to "middle aged woman with a college graduate child".

[Delicious Taffy]

Yeah, I figured the mean bean machine couldn't stop this inevitability.

[Wraith]

So... Claire's job is just to stand at the till, take orders, and shout them down the line to Hannelore/Dora? She doesn't even make the drink herself? It's not like tea should be beyond even a complete newbie. Hopefully.

And this is after spending X amount of time fiddle-farting around with her 'phone offscreen while 'at work'? I know it was stressed that Dorsa wasn't doing Marten a favour by giving his girlfriend a non-job out of pity, but WOW I wish my time working retail were even half that laid-back! :smalltongue:

[Delicious Taffy]

Sometimes it's not super busy at a place. Even coffee shops.

[Yuki Akuma]

So... Claire's job is just to stand at the till, take orders, and shout them down the line to Hannelore/Dora? She doesn't even make the drink herself? It's not like tea should be beyond even a complete newbie. Hopefully.

And this is after spending X amount of time fiddle-farting around with her 'phone offscreen while 'at work'? I know it was stressed that Dorsa wasn't doing Marten a favour by giving his girlfriend a non-job out of pity, but WOW I wish my time working retail were even half that laid-back! :smalltongue:

This is in fact how it works when a coffee shop has two people working behind the counter and it's not super busy. You've never worked in one, I'm guessing?

In an hour or two they'll switch places so it's Hannelore taking the orders and Claire making them. Or possibly one of them will be cleaning up while the other handles the entire ordering process.

I presume Hannelore does most of the cleaning since she's really good at it.

[Wraith]

This is in fact how it works when a coffee shop has two people working behind the counter and it's not super busy. You've never worked in one, I'm guessing?

Specifically in a coffee shop, no; in customer service, behind a counter, serving foodstuff to people, I have. Maybe it's just a different ethic, but its really weird to me for a customer to ask one person for service, and for that person not to serve them - otherwise someone is taking orders one after the other (the "easy" part), while the poor sod at the other end is preparing and bagging stuff frantically and unable to keep up.

Even the coffee shops that I go to, on the rare occasion that I use them, the barista serving me will take my order and then prepare it, going round-robin with the other baristas who are doing the same thing to make sure that one order gets finished before piling up another.

Then again, it was also very normal for me to be serving customers and for a colleague to be stood 5 feet away having an unrelated chat with their friend, not at all unlike Hannelore and Marigold. Claire isn't usually passive-aggressive, but a similar tiny hint of "hey, stop screwing around and do your job" wouldn't be out of place where I worked.... :smalltongue:

[The Glyphstone]

Though for all we know, its in their training. Terrible service is part of Coffee of Doom's branding and always has been.

[Rodin]

I was at a Starbucks where this happened literally an hour ago. One person handling the drive through orders and working the till, the other person making drinks. It's also a regular occurrence at other coffee shops I frequent - especially if you are with a group. Barista #1 takes the orders, passes on a couple of drinks to Barista #2 while they sort out any food and payment, then once the customer no longer needs direct service they'll go and make any extra drinks. In busy Starbucks locations they will often have someone specifically manning the till with a multi-person staff focusing on making drinks.

Also keep in mind that it's almost certainly not just Claire and Hannelore there - Penelope, Cossette, Emily, and possibly Dora will also be there "just off panel" like the gag we've seen previously.

[DavidSh]

I thought it was a bit more sanitary for one person to be handling the money, while another person handles the food & drink preparation. That seems to be a common recommendation.

And Aurelia was ranked #516 in female baby names in 2021 by the US Social Security Administration. Claire was #59. Clinton was #915 among male baby names. Neither Marigold nor Hannelore was in the top 1000 of female baby names.

[Gnoman]

2021 babies aren't ordering coffee. You'd have to work out the set for 1970-2007 or so to get a worthwhile answer.


Though in this case, it isn't that Marigold thinks "Aurelia" is a strange name, just that she suspects that this is the Aurelia she's just exchanged contact info with.

[DavidSh]

2021 babies aren't ordering coffee. You'd have to work out the set for 1970-2007 or so to get a worthwhile answer.
I was figuring that QC was set some time in the future, what with Station and all of the robots. Is there any indication when?
And "Aurelia" was less common back then -- it doesn't show up on the top 1000 list at all until 2012.

[Willie the Duck]

I was figuring that QC was set some time in the future, what with Station and all of the robots. Is there any indication when?
And "Aurelia" was less common back then -- it doesn't show up on the top 1000 list at all until 2012.

In the beginning, the strip was pretty clearly current-time, as the music references were not-just-current, but with brand-new/up-and-coming bands being such in-comic. It quickly became similar to Marvel comics or the Simpsons, in that it had a sliding 'now,' in that the characters didn't age appreciably, but it stayed current in real-time references. Other than Marten having a walking, talking PC, there weren't many sci-fi elements in it. Those have been retroactively added as they've been introduced. Best guess is that the strip is either 'now*, but with...,' or an MST3K-ish 'Next Sunday, A.D.'
*Exception -- there does not seem to be any references to the Covid-19 pandemic.

[Traab]

One thing that wasnt brought up but would be an issue for most cashier type businesses. Generally speaking one person operates on cash register and is responsible for taking payments and giving change, because at the end of your shift you have to make sure everything adds up and if three people are all using the same register, it is a lot harder to identify who is screwing up at best, stealing at worst. Probably a less important issue here as its a small shop run by friends, not just random employees.

[theangelJean]

One thing that wasnt brought up but would be an issue for most cashier type businesses. Generally speaking one person operates on cash register and is responsible for taking payments and giving change, because at the end of your shift you have to make sure everything adds up and if three people are all using the same register, it is a lot harder to identify who is screwing up at best, stealing at worst. Probably a less important issue here as its a small shop run by friends, not just random employees.

Not that I've worked this kind of customer service, but ... 1) as a customer, I see this happen all the time - multiple people working the one register, where the receipt comes out saying "you were served by X" implying that some kind of register sign-in was required. Quite often the name on the receipt matches the name-tag of a staff member who didn't serve me. So it looks like many businesses ignore this issue.
2) from what I read on Not Always Working, it quite often is an issue.

[Gez]

So Aurelia repeatedly stressed how important it is to maintain anonymity (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4822), but her real first name is known enough that when she is recognized, her first thought is "must be a random fan (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4823)" and not "must be the person I just told my name to, who actually lives in the same town".

[Cikomyr2]

So Aurelia repeatedly stressed how important it is to maintain anonymity (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4822), but her real first name is known enough that when she is recognized, her first thought is "must be a random fan (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4823)" and not "must be the person I just told my name to, who actually lives in the same town".

She's a bit slow on the uptake in this situation, thats all.

I think her worries are more of a Claire -style anxiety where she gets caught in her thoughts and then spirals into a self-feeding worries and concerns. She has a better handle on it than Claire though, since she has developped the instinct to just jump in these situations (her 20-something lovers, her dog, her pot, her channel)

[Wraith]

Ironically, sending a code to "BurgerOni's 'phone" will not prove that Marigold is BurgerOni, only that she was the person who Aurelia spoke with earlier.

If Marigold is someone pretending to be BurgerOni from the very beginning, all she's doing is deepening the illusion because she's assuming that the number belongs to BurgerOni, so if Random Internet Stalker answers the 'phone, then it must be her!

Next up, Marigold asks for Amazon vouchers, as was her plan all along when she first started streaming.....

[KillianHawkeye]

So Aurelia repeatedly stressed how important it is to maintain anonymity (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4822), but her real first name is known enough that when she is recognized, her first thought is "must be a random fan (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4823)" and not "must be the person I just told my name to, who actually lives in the same town".

If you look back a couple comics, Aurelia mistakenly thinks that it was her voice that's recognized. She doesn't realize it's her name.

[Mechalich]

Apparently Aurelia, in addition to her many other talents, is also a crossfit Mom. Not really a surprise exactly, but I'm starting to wonder if this woman ever sleeps.

[Delicious Taffy]

I like these two. They're best friends now.

[Willie the Duck]

Apparently Aurelia, in addition to her many other talents, is also a crossfit Mom. Not really a surprise exactly, but I'm starting to wonder if this woman ever sleeps.

She wouldn't need to mellow out at 4:20 each day if it weren't for all the uppers she takes the rest of the time. :smalltongue:

[Ionathus]

Ironically, sending a code to "BurgerOni's 'phone" will not prove that Marigold is BurgerOni, only that she was the person who Aurelia spoke with earlier.

If Marigold is someone pretending to be BurgerOni from the very beginning, all she's doing is deepening the illusion because she's assuming that the number belongs to BurgerOni, so if Random Internet Stalker answers the 'phone, then it must be her!

Next up, Marigold asks for Amazon vouchers, as was her plan all along when she first started streaming.....

I have never in my life seen somebody put an apostrophe at the start of "phone." Thank you for this brief, astonishing glimpse into your world.

[The Glyphstone]

Is it just the art shift distortion again, or is Aurelia shrinking? She's the same height as Marigold, who's never been portrayed as particularly tall.

[Keltest]

Is it just the art shift distortion again, or is Aurelia shrinking? She's the same height as Marigold, who's never been portrayed as particularly tall.

A few pages ago she was taller than Marigold, so I THINK whats happening here is that she's hunched over a little bit to look Marigold in the eye. Or Marigold found a box.

[Wraith]

I have never in my life seen somebody put an apostrophe at the start of "phone." Thank you for this brief, astonishing glimpse into your world.

It's a holdover from the days when one had to specify between a telephone and a cellphone. I'm aware that I don't need to do it, and it's not even just 'a British thing' any more, but I'm old and don't like change. :smalltongue::smallwink:

In an unrelated subject, I was previously complaining that no one was selling anyone a coffee in a coffee shop - having seen Aurelia's behavious just by standing in the room, I rescind my request that someone give her caffeine, for all our safety.

[Radar]

In an unrelated subject, I was previously complaining that no one was selling anyone a coffee in a coffee shop - having seen Aurelia's behavious just by standing in the room, I rescind my request that someone give her caffeine, for all our safety.
I agree. She would be better off getting one of those tees Bubbles orders to mellow out.

[SaintRidley]

I initially misread that as "cat milk" rather than "oat milk" and was really confused about why and how Marigold would opt for cat milk.

[Delicious Taffy]

I initially misread that as "cat milk" rather than "oat milk" and was really confused about why and how Marigold would opt for cat milk.

Well, she's doing pretty nicely for herself, cash-wise. Cats are small, so it'd be pretty inefficient to milk them and do all the stuff that makes milk safe(ish) to drink, which I assume would make it very expensive. Maybe ordering cat milk would be her way of subtly flexing her money? I mean, I can't see Marigold actually doing that, but the mechanics of it are easy enough to sort out.

[Delicious Taffy]

Far as today's strip goes, this "meme rot" is absolutely a thing and it makes normal communication impossible sometimes. Like, I don't care what face some character from some sitcom made 20 years ago, I asked you a question, could you please answer it like a human being? That and just saying "mood" to everything like I'm supposed to parse what that means. Aurelia is excellent for not succumbing.

[Gez]

Well, she's doing pretty nicely for herself, cash-wise. Cats are small, so it'd be pretty inefficient to milk them and do all the stuff that makes milk safe(ish) to drink, which I assume would make it very expensive. Maybe ordering cat milk would be her way of subtly flexing her money? I mean, I can't see Marigold actually doing that, but the mechanics of it are easy enough to sort out.

I suppose if I saw "cat milk" in a shop I'd assume it's milk for cats, rather than milk from cats. That certainly seems like something that'd be a lot more likely to actually exist without being excessively weird.


Far as today's strip goes, this "meme rot" is absolutely a thing and it makes normal communication impossible sometimes. Like, I don't care what face some character from some sitcom made 20 years ago, I asked you a question, could you please answer it like a human being? That and just saying "mood" to everything like I'm supposed to parse what that means. Aurelia is excellent for not succumbing.

pog based lol

[Willie the Duck]

I suppose if I saw "cat milk" in a shop I'd assume it's milk for cats, rather than milk from cats. That certainly seems like something that'd be a lot more likely to actually exist without being excessively weird.

I have friends with sickly cats that give them cat milk (marketed as such), and it is indeed milk intended for cats, not produced by cats.

[DavidSh]

Far as today's strip goes, this "meme rot" is absolutely a thing and it makes normal communication impossible sometimes. Like, I don't care what face some character from some sitcom made 20 years ago, I asked you a question, could you please answer it like a human being?
AOL. *
Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. **

---
* "I agree" -- taken from common Usenet postings of America OnLine customers.
** General reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Darmok", where the Tamarians appear to speak exclusively in literary references, such as "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra".

[tomandtish]

Well, she's doing pretty nicely for herself, cash-wise. Cats are small, so it'd be pretty inefficient to milk them and do all the stuff that makes milk safe(ish) to drink, which I assume would make it very expensive. Maybe ordering cat milk would be her way of subtly flexing her money? I mean, I can't see Marigold actually doing that, but the mechanics of it are easy enough to sort out.

Man, I feel sorry for anyone who has to milk a cat. Stitches galore!

[Wraith]

To be fair, the dangers of minion-meme abuse cannot be overstated. Although I still think that Aurelia knows way too much zoomer/internet lingo for someone whose sole reason for leaving the house today was to go and learn zoomer/internet lingo and then specifically didn't. Jeph forgetting his characters' motivations is one thing, but this way brought up ~5 minutes ago in-universe!


AOL.
Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel.

To this day, I remain the only person I know of who actually owned a physical copy of Zero Wing. That's the 'All Your Bases Are Belong To Us' game, for the record - I was gamer brain BEFORE it was a thing :smalltongue:

[Radar]

Man, I feel sorry for anyone who has to milk a cat. Stitches galore!
That's why you need milk from GMO goats to fashion yourself a spider silk suit or at least long gloves. :smallsmile:

[Dame_Mechanus]

Far as today's strip goes, this "meme rot" is absolutely a thing and it makes normal communication impossible sometimes. Like, I don't care what face some character from some sitcom made 20 years ago, I asked you a question, could you please answer it like a human being? That and just saying "mood" to everything like I'm supposed to parse what that means. Aurelia is excellent for not succumbing.

If I could answer a question like a human being I would actually have a life and not live on the internet like some gremlin witch with a keyboard who's more comfortable moving 3D avatars around than she is taking a single photo of herself in decent lighting.

If you can't handle me at my "hyperfixating on replying to things with 10-second GIF loops of scenes from ancient cartoons before mentioning that I had a crush on some anime woman," you don't deserve me at my... uh... actually the same thing. It's Transformers trivia and anime nonsense all the way down. Occasionally I talk about ex-girlfriends.

That being said, I wish Aurelia was my mom.

[Traab]

If I could answer a question like a human being I would actually have a life and not live on the internet like some gremlin witch with a keyboard who's more comfortable moving 3D avatars around than she is taking a single photo of herself in decent lighting.

If you can't handle me at my "hyperfixating on replying to things with 10-second GIF loops of scenes from ancient cartoons before mentioning that I had a crush on some anime woman," you don't deserve me at my... uh... actually the same thing. It's Transformers trivia and anime nonsense all the way down. Occasionally I talk about ex-girlfriends.

That being said, I wish Aurelia was my mom.

Screaming woman "Meme rot!" Sassy cat "pictographic communication!"

[Delicious Taffy]

*.gif of that little buck-toothed girl in a vehicle who's looking around confused*

[Radar]

Screaming woman "Meme rot!" Sassy cat "pictographic communication!"
Why not both? :smallbiggrin:

[DaveOTN]

A few pages ago she was taller than Marigold, so I THINK whats happening here is that she's hunched over a little bit to look Marigold in the eye. Or Marigold found a box.

Today she definitely appears shorter than Marigold, although I suppose she could be standing back farther than I realize like some sort of Lord of the Rings-style forced perspective trick.

I do agree the age of the characters seems to be shifting Simpsons-style; Marigold is now comfortable with Zoomer slang despite presumably also being in her early/mid-twenties back in 2006 or so.

I'm actually enjoying this arc so far despite the nitpicking. As long as we stay away from the logistics of how these two are actually wildly successful streamers, their interactions are fun to watch.

[Wraith]

I like it when Marigold gets to be the Straight Man of the scene. It's fun when she's like: "I'm a barely-reformed basement dwelling, nigh-terminal internet addict, but even I know that this is weird".

[Morquard]

I have a feeling when Marigold returns home, Dale and May have been busy coming up with like the perfect strategy to prepare Marigold for her meeting because she was somewhat freaking out before, and she'll just go "Oh that? Don't worry, I ran into her at the coffeeshop and we talked the whole time. She's really cool and has a dog"

[Dame_Mechanus]

I have a feeling when Marigold returns home, Dale and May have been busy coming up with like the perfect strategy to prepare Marigold for her meeting because she was somewhat freaking out before, and she'll just go "Oh that? Don't worry, I ran into her at the coffeeshop and we talked the whole time. She's really cool and has a dog"

Instead it turned out she texted Dale pretty early on so they wouldn't worry. Marigold is more capable than a lot of people (including Marigold) give her credit for.

[VoxRationis]

Well, that doesn't sound fun for anybody.

[Traab]

Mom voice is different from dommy mommy voice, so I understand the issue. :smallbiggrin: