Best Xkcd

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

antitoxic

67 points

11 comments

heavyconsulting.netOtherstory

calmmixed

Debate

40/100

XkcdComic RankingAlgorithmic Analysis

Key topics

Xkcd

Comic Ranking

Algorithmic Analysis

The 'Best xkcd' website uses a simple ranking system to determine the most popular xkcd comics, sparking discussion about alternative methodologies for ranking and analysis.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

Peak period

2-3h

Avg / period

1.6

Comment distribution11 data points

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Based on 11 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Oct 18, 2025 at 10:55 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Oct 18, 2025 at 1:01 PM EDT
2h after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
3 comments in 2-3h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Oct 19, 2025 at 12:30 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (11 comments)

Showing 11 comments

MathMonkeyMan

3 months ago

1 reply

At the bottom is <https://xkcd.com/1654/>, which is actually pretty funny.

caminanteblanco

3 months ago

1 reply

It should really be ; instead of & though, otherwise the first failed install method will stop the rest of the script from executing

jonathrg

3 months ago

1 reply

That's &&

& runs the thing in the background. So this is running all the commands in parallel.

caminanteblanco

3 months ago

1 reply

You're completely right, sometimes I feel like Bash syntax is as impenetrable as regex.

brianpan

3 months ago

I found this interesting: https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal/

7373737373

3 months ago

1 reply

This might be a good use case for https://trueskill.org/ since that takes into account what the rating of the other comic was when one is chosen over the other, it also gives an uncertainty value for each rating

crazygringo

3 months ago

It shouldn't change the mean though, with enough data.

In gaming, people often play against others closer to their skill, so you have to take that into account.

But with the comics, they're being chosen randomly so there's no bias like that to correct for.

Also people's assessment of the comparison comic is so noisy, knowing its rating probably won't help that much.

Uncertainty is key for deciding on the top ranking, but you can just use the standard formula for that.

wonger_

3 months ago

Aka "crowdsourcing a stack ranking of xkcds," or just the page title, "which one is the best xkcd?" Found a lot of gems I've never seen before

ProAm

3 months ago

No, I will not be a constant in your algorthim

Neywiny

3 months ago

Not sure what methodology they're using for analysis. Maybe just total wins? But there are better methods I've discussed on here before. I'm partial and biased towards using the choices as a sorting algorithm, but you can also do elo scoring like competitive chess and some video games

crazygringo

3 months ago

> This site was created in the early months of 2011

Top comic:

> This comic beat 10 other comics and was beaten by 1 other comic for a total score of 0.9091.

Guess this site never got too popular...

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ID: 45627889Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 12:53:43 PM

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