Comments on: I'm pretty sure it's not "Zalgo"

I'm pretty sure it's not "Zalgo"

scalefree — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:20:14 -0800

The quote in this comment comes out all blocks for me (FF3, OSX 10.5.7). What am I doing wrong & how do I fix it?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:24:23 -0800

i cant believe it's not̶̀ ̛͟͞҉̀Z̴̨̀͘À̸͝L̸͟G͞͞͏̵̢O̵̷̧͠!!!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:26:02 -0800

Whatever you are doing wrong, I am also doing wrong.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:26:39 -0800

here's Skorgu (br00tal name!) on how to render Zalgo fonts.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:00:43 -0800

HE COMES

THE ONE WHO WAITS BEHIND THE WALLS

By: elfgirl

elfgirl — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:05:02 -0800

T͙̗̱̱̻̳h̭̝͖̼̱͕ͩͅe̦͔̲̯ͥ ͚̻͖̫̬ͨ̿Ḳ̘̭͐̓̒̆ộŏ̎̎̆ͫ̈́̊l͈̰͔̝͖̲̝̆͛̿̈́ͧ̓-̘̮̼̣̲̙̊̓̇ͮͪ͆Ä͍̞̻̻̗͍̞ͭͥ͐i̺̟̫̭̝̣͕̓̓ͩͮ͋̋͊d̞͆ͥ̎̍̽ ͍̹̬̤̼̺̊̐ͫͩͩͮM͓̗̠̞̺͍̗͒̊́̆͐ͩͮä̪̜̗̘̖̱̖́ͮ̍̃̅n͇̳͓̲ͩ?̺̮̘͔̔̒͊͆ͅ

By: bjrn

bjrn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:07:39 -0800

boxboxsquigglesquiggleboxboxsquiggle!

By: Plutor

Plutor — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:10:39 -0800

□□□□□□□□□□ □□□ □□□□? □□ □□□□ □ □□□□□□□□!!

By: Plutor

Plutor — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:11:05 -0800

▫▫▫ ▫▫▫▫▫.

By: GeckoDundee

GeckoDundee — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:21:19 -0800

It's because I read this thread, isn't it? How do I make it stop?

Please, please, take back the img tag.

By: Chocolate Pickle

Chocolate Pickle — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:28:24 -0800

Someone posted an AskMe about that, and someone posted an answer. Turns out you need a font that can support diacritical overlays. I think that was what they said; sorry, I can't find it now.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:32:09 -0800

Always fun when a new kind of annoying is discovered.

By: scalefree

scalefree — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:36:01 -0800

Is the needed font the same as the Zalgo one?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:37:33 -0800

Always annoying when a new kind of fun is discovered.

Can someone explain to me in short words what is going on here and with the other Zalgo post?

By: Chocolate Pickle

Chocolate Pickle — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:41:16 -0800

Ha! Found it!

By: starman

starman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:42:13 -0800

It looks like it is a Zalgo effect. Here is the AskMe. I don't think it's been documented how to get it to work on a Mac (other than copying and pasting it into TextEdit). More on the Unicode trick it is using. What it should look like when you do it right (courtesy mnsc).

By: quin

quin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:03:34 -0800

I totally get the coolness of what is going on with the Zalgo effect, but lord I hope it doesn't spread much outside of that thread. It doesn't play nice with my system and it becomes less funny with each subsequent spotting in the wild.

But I'm grouchy from having had to face down an Ancient Nameless Formless Force of Eternal Evil earlier today. She kept barking and barking until I finally said "Screw it" and got up to let her outside to pee.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:07:43 -0800

I'm waiting for my cane to arrive in the mail, so I can wave it and shout, "This is what you kids call posting on a community blog these days?!"

By: GeckoDundee

GeckoDundee — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:18:26 -0800

Can someone explain to me in short words what is going on here and with the other Zalgo post?
posted by jessamyn at 12:37 AM on July 8 [+] [!]

It looks like it is a Zalgo effect. Here is the AskMe.

This place is sweet.*

*Or AskMe is out of control. I reckon the glass is half full, so get lost.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:03:04 -0800

I fucking hate memes.

By: Reverend John

Reverend John — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:16:53 -0800

Wait... so I installed the Doulos SIL font, and the Zalgo thread became a lot more comprehensible, but...

smoke said "hurble burble rhuk kkikik"?

Is that another layer of speaking in tongues from him?

(confused)

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:21:14 -0800

It makes me sad that there's no established Mac solution yet.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:23:47 -0800

I think the answer is over there behind that wall.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:25:59 -0800

It makes me happy that there's no Mac solution, because maybe this thing will die out.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:27:02 -0800

/me braces for the incomprehensible snark directed at my comment.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:30:16 -0800

It makes me sad that there's no established Mac solution yet.

Wait till the 3.0 version.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:05:39 -0800

not_on_display: iyonimo, ducy?

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:50:52 -0800

Wait does this mean that none of the mods can read the Zalgo'd comments?

C͉̭͑̔ͭo͉̥ŕ̤̯̍̑ͪ̏̆ṱ̱͈̰͛̈̋e͍̭̔ͫͮ̀͑̏x̟̞͖̝̻̺̹̿͆̇ ͎͍͕̙͙͋̓̐i̭̼̣̳͇s͉̝̼̲̟̩͕͒̓͐̇ͪͥ ̻̠̲͎͕̥̲a̦̝͒͂̓͐ ͍̣͎̜p͒̿͌o̬͚̠̘͕͙ͪ̂̈ͦͯͧͩo̞̲p̮̩̽͗͆͌ͫ͊!̻̬͑̋ͪͩ

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:54:36 -0800

cortexAdmin: "It makes me sad that there's no established Mac solution yet."

the Doulos SiL font linked in the askme has a mac version. installing now to see if it helps.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:57:06 -0800

Yeah, tried that already, didn't fix it for me. I'm still on the 3.0* branch of FF, but I get the impression that that's not the problem and that Macs just aren't onboard in general for some reason? I dunno.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:57:28 -0800

never mind. problem not fixed with new font.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:17:39 -0800

Cortex/shmegegge: Are you running OS X 10.5? Also, try setting your MetaFilter display font to Lucida Grande. (I'm at work on a PC, so I don't know if this will help, but it's all I've been able to come up with.)

By: cj_

cj_ — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:23:34 -0800

I'm on 10.5 using FF 3.5, no special fonts installed. It looks like boxes until I go to View -> Style -> No Style, then it magically works and gives a professional white background.

I think the font metafilter uses doesn't support diacritics on osx.

By: cj_

cj_ — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:25:10 -0800

Also, Plutor's comment is just a bunch of actual unicode boxes.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:29:11 -0800

^{^}Potomac Avenue: "not_on_display: iyonimo, ducy?"

imho, yckma!

By: cj_

cj_ — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:34:35 -0800

Actually, on looking at starman's example, that doesn't quite do the trick, but it is at least readable. I didn't realize it was supposed to stack up/down so high, I guess for the "dripping" effect.

I am just going to think of this as OSX being secure against Zalgo.

By: Pogo_Fuzzybutt

Pogo_Fuzzybutt — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:46:38 -0800

It makes me sad that there's no established Mac solution yet.

Cough

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:50:18 -0800

Here's how you get it to work on a Mac: just b̵̸̺̬̳̟͈̹̬̼͇̻͉͕͕͈͕̪̱ͪ̅̅͋̇̑̒̉̀̚̚͜u̷̷̧͕̦͍̻̳̖̙̫̬̭̮͇̹͑ͭ̂ͮ̈́̀̆̏̒̍ͭ̃̓ͨ͗̑̚ͅỹͯͮͥͯ͌ͪ͌̿͂ͭ̈͢҉̱̰͙̟̱̰̫̟̪̭ ̴̴̧̻̠̠̮̤̜͇̞̥͈͈̜̬̓̂̐̉̌̓́̄ͩ̑ͣ̆͂ͯ̿͌̐̈͆̕a̛͈̩͖̩̺̙̠͓͕͍͍͑̈͛ͣ̆̊͢ ̂̃ͩ̈ͬ̈́ͭ̎̒̈́͛̈̓̑̌̊̅͗̓͏̗͍̯̱̝́͞P̷̢͈̦͈̳͙̮̳̙͈͖̙ͯ͋ͣ̋̾͘͞C̴̨̤̝͉͈̹̫̬̤̟͕̗͙̬̳̮̼̖̪͛̊̑͋̃ͬ̾ͩͦ.̴̢̛̛̮̱̫̲̤͕͕̥̥̼̈́ͬͦ͂̆̓̍̀͗͠

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:58:43 -0800

Caution: Nerds at play

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:30:36 -0800

I unicode supposed to support arbitrarily many stacking diacritics? If so, why?

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:57:23 -0800

Got to. This America, man.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:18:55 -0800

Interestingly enough, it works on the iphone mail client, but not on my mac.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:19:50 -0800

Can someone explain how these diacritics are SUPPOSED to be used?

By: sleevener

sleevener — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:06:18 -0800

empath, this is all my fault, those are vestigial remnants of my failed start-up, 'dial-a-critic.' It was a system I was developing whereby the consumer could get one-on-one movie recommendations from famous movie critics, for a small fee. Everything was going pretty well, we even had Roger Ebert on board at our top price point, but then a weeping blackness started to seep through the walls of my offices, and my soul was flayed open by the deafening howl of a mad, murderous presence. It stood before me, in the form of no form, and as it spoke its name my consciousness was thickened, homogenized, and bent to the purposes of unspeakable, endless evil. Anyway, I'm really sorry about all of the confusion. And cortex, I hope there's a Mac solution before too long so you can see what's going on too.

By: morganw

morganw — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:10:22 -0800

Can someone explain how these diacritics are SUPPOSED to be used?

I wondered the same thing, but luckily isn't not obscure: simply googling "stacking diacritics" found a bunch of sources. This one shows them in use for Thai & this one for Tibetan.

By: starman

starman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:10:31 -0800

Can someone explain how these diacritics are SUPPOSED to be used?

They're supposed to be useful for languages that have more than just the typical accent marks. See here.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:34:11 -0800

looks like setting the metafilter font to lucida grande works a little bit. but the diacriticals are all piled in one location, rather than stacking upward or downward. so it just looks like everybody's zalgo comments have annoyingly dense barnacles of text attached to them.

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:38:33 -0800

I fucking hate memes.

Amen, lets all I fucking hate memes.

By: smoke

smoke — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:09:28 -0800

Ha ha ha, apologies for the consternation, it just seemed so apropos to that thread. And yes, reverend, that is another layer of speaking in tongues. Tongues 'pon tongues. In a purely religious and sanctified sense.

By: brain_drain

brain_drain — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:49:19 -0800

*pulls up a chair, eats I fucking hate memes*

By: idiopath

idiopath — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:23:02 -0800

So how long before someone writes a PHP library that strips all diacritics from user comments? I would do it myself for a lark but PHP is the personification of putrid soul-eating corruption.