SMBC Wiki:Getting started

Welcome to the SMBC Wiki

This site was modeled after explainxkcd.com and requires a lot of work, such as adding transcripts and explanations, documenting recurring characters, and making the site look less like xkcd.

Pages up to the latest comic have been created, but almost all of them still need proper transcripts and explanations. For comics without manually created transcripts, a bot has been run to generate transcripts automatically using AWS's Textract. These transcriptions have a lot of errors, but they are somewhat sufficient for searching for comics by text.

There is also a Discord server at https://discord.gg/ARxyyTEzr7, which is to be used for broad coordination and planning, though all that gets discussed on there should eventually be explained on public facing wiki pages as well.

What to do?

The most helpful thing you could do is add basic explanations to comics that explain references, such as linking to external sites that define terms, explaining who mentioned real people are, and pointing out references to science or philosophy topics. Don't worry too much about keeping style or voice consistent across the wiki, that can be looked over later, and the primary goal right now is giving at least something helpful for people who might not be familiar with the topics SMBC references.

What to do if I find a page with incomplete or incorrect information

Fix it! If you're unsure of what to do, or if you don't have time to correct the page, fix what you're able to, then leave a comment on the talk page.

What to do if I find a technical bug in the wiki

Report it on the Main Page talk, and if applicable, the relevant page's talk page.

How to...

...edit a page

Click Edit in the page tab at the top of the page. Make any changes you would like to see, write a short explanation in the Summary box (e.g. grammar, added transcript), and click Save changes.

...make a page

Type your page name (e.g. Tiny ponies) in the search bar, click the red link in Create the page Tiny ponies on this wiki!, then add some content and save.

...add a category to a page

Type [[Category:Your_category_here]] at the bottom of the page.

...create a new topic on a talk page

Click Add topic, add a summary such as Guacamole in the Subject box, then type something like Can we double the guacamole? ~~~~ in the large text box below. The ~~~~ will transform into your username and an Eastern Time timestamp, for example, TinyPonies (talk) 06:09, 20 April 2024 (EDT).

...reply to a comment on a talk page

Click Edit (or Create if the talk page is blank), then add two line breaks after the comment you want to reply to, and type something like :Can we double the guacamole? ~~~~ The colon : will indent your comment — if you're replying to a reply, or a reply to a reply, add more colons for each level in.

...use wiki markup

Wiki markup or wikitext is the code wikis are written in. For the most part, you can write plain text, but if you want to know more:

How to insert	Using this code
Bold, italic, or both	'''Bold''', ''italic'', or '''''both'''''
Headings, lists, and more	See MediaWiki
Link to a wiki page	[[Zach Weinersmith|The great Weiner]] or [[Zach Weinersmith]]
Link to a category	[[:Category:Characters|SMBC has many characters.]]
Link to Wikipedia	{{w|Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal|SMBC}}
A comment visible only to editors*	<span style="display:none">please help i'm trapped in a weiner zachtory</span>
An inline <code> block**	<code><nowiki>here it is!</code>
A full <code> block **	<pre><nowiki>where it is?</nowiki></pre>
A blockquote	<blockquote>Kids these days</blockquote>
Not to be confused with flying penguins or regular penguins.	{{distinguish|flying penguins|regular penguins}}

* One would normally use HTML comments, but this functionality is buggy at the moment.

** Inside code blocks, the left angle bracket < should be substituted with <.

...create a character page

Create a page at Character Name, or if that page name is taken, Character Name (character).

Then use this template:

{{Infobox character
| image      = Filename.png (if applicable)
| imagesize  = 150px
| caption    = Character Name
| first_appearance = [[Comic link]]
}}
'''Character Name''' is a recurring character in [[SMBC]]. Character Name was once arrested for pug trafficking.

{{character|name=Character Name}}

[[Category:Any relevant categories here]]

Transcribing comics

Let's look at an example comic, Three-3.

A machine transcript starts out like this:

==Transcript== {{computertranscript}} :[Describe panel here] :Dear evolution, how come sexual reproduction is almost always binary? Why not allow more complex genetic mixing? :Noah built an ark. Only allowed two of each kind. That was the end of a lot of species. Man :Read your bible. :The three-bro-ed sloth :The daisy chain orangutan :Circle of liiiiiife :Unicorns :I think it might've been the "unicornucopias" that got the lord miffed. :I can forgive him for drowning the world but never for this. :Caption: smbc-comics.com ==Votey Transcript== {{computertranscript}} :[Describe panel here] :Did you know that phoenixes actually rise from asses? :*

Transcript This transcript was generated by a bot: The text was scraped using AWS's Textract, which may have errors. Complete transcripts describe what happens in each panel — here are some good examples to get you started (1) (2). [Describe panel here] Dear evolution, how come sexual reproduction is almost always binary? Why not allow more complex genetic mixing? Noah built an ark. Only allowed two of each kind. That was the end of a lot of species. Man Read your bible. The three-bro-ed sloth The daisy chain orangutan Circle of liiiiiife Unicorns I think it might've been the "unicornucopias" that got the lord miffed. I can forgive him for drowning the world but never for this. Caption: smbc-comics.com Votey Transcript This transcript was generated by a bot: The text was scraped using AWS's Textract, which may have errors. Complete transcripts describe what happens in each panel — here are some good examples to get you started (1) (2). [Describe panel here] Did you know that phoenixes actually rise from asses?

A completed transcript would be:

==Transcript== :[A man is praying in his room.] :Man: Dear Evolution, how come sexual reproduction is almost always binary? Why not allow more complex genetic mixing? :Evolution [represented by a green speech bubble with various plants, body parts, etc. surrounding it]: Read your Bible. :[Close-up on the man's puzzled face.] :Evolution: Noah built an ark. Only allowed two of each kind. That was the end of a lot of species. :[Three sloths in a group hug with closed eyes and tongues extended.] :Banner: The three-bro-ed sloth :[At least three orangutans in a group, with their arms waving in the air.] :Banner: The daisy chain orangutan :Orangutan 1: It's a cirrrrrclllle... :Orangutan 2: Circle of LIIIIIIFE :[The silhouette of four unicorns in a row.] :Banner: Unicorns :[Back in the man's room. The man looks frustrated.] :Evolution: I think it might've been the "Unicornucopias" that got the Lord miffed. :Man: I can forgive Him for drowning the world but never for this. ==Votey Transcript== :[Evolution speaking with the man staring forward.] :Did you know that phoenixes actually rise from '''''asses'''?''

Transcript [A man is praying in his room.] Man: Dear Evolution, how come sexual reproduction is almost always binary? Why not allow more complex genetic mixing? Evolution [represented by a green speech bubble with various plants, body parts, etc. surrounding it]: Read your Bible. [Close-up on the man's puzzled face.] Evolution: Noah built an ark. Only allowed two of each kind. That was the end of a lot of species. [Three sloths in a group hug with closed eyes and tongues extended.] Banner: The three-bro-ed sloth [At least three orangutans in a group, with their arms waving in the air.] Banner: The daisy chain orangutan Orangutan 1: It's a cirrrrrclllle... Orangutan 2: Circle of LIIIIIIFE [The silhouette of four unicorns in a row.] Banner: Unicorns [Back in the man's room. The man looks frustrated.] Evolution: I think it might've been the "Unicornucopias" that got the Lord miffed. Man: I can forgive Him for drowning the world but never for this. Votey Transcript [Evolution speaking with the man staring forward.] Did you know that phoenixes actually rise from asses?

That's an example of the formatting of a transcript, and here are some others: (1), (2) Again, don't worry too much about formatting or consistent style, these examples are just to get you to hit the ground running.