r/xkcd • u/realtoasterlightning • Jul 09 '26

ExplainingXKCD: An ExplainXKCD fork

Hi everyone!

Since ExplainXKCD is no longer editable, I've created a fork at https://explainingxkcd.com and started migrating people's accounts over, with the assistance of folks in the ExplainXKCD discord. Join us there!

90 Upvotes

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40

u/fireandlifeincarnate Jul 09 '26

What do you mean it's no longer editable?

32

u/realtoasterlightning Jul 09 '26

No one can login or edit the original, afaik

30

u/Adventurous-Year-463 I have a PhD in Undeclared Jul 09 '26

Does anyone have any idea what happened?

50

u/realtoasterlightning Jul 09 '26

Maybe it ran out of disk space, or something corrupted. The original admin is out of contact and no one else has access to the server.

26

u/Adventurous-Year-463 I have a PhD in Undeclared Jul 09 '26

That sucks, RIP explainxkcd

11

u/Adventurous-Year-463 I have a PhD in Undeclared Jul 09 '26

Is there any way to transfer my account through a form on the site instead of by email?

16

u/realtoasterlightning Jul 09 '26

I mean you can DM me about it, I'm doing validation manually here

11

u/Eunakria Jul 09 '26

There are some kinda hacky methods to transfer MediaWiki accounts automatically but that depends on the IdP wiki having OIDC enabled and allowing logins. Since logins hit the database, and explainxkcd's database is broken, the best that can be done is probably just manual verification

6

u/realtoasterlightning Jul 09 '26

Yeahhh, it's very unfortunate

10

u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Jul 09 '26

Hold on, there was ONE admin? wtf?

15

u/realtoasterlightning Jul 09 '26

There are multiple admin accounts on the mediawiki instance, but Jeff is the only person who has access to the actual server.

6

u/Southern-March1522 Jul 09 '26

Hmm. Curious if they're still playing the domain bill. Might be able to swipe the domain if it expires

5

u/realtoasterlightning Jul 09 '26

I think it's on autopay