Title text:
Please, we need your help. Our research suggests you’re the last living descendant of the person who knew how to format this config file.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3245/
Worse than only finding old posts about the issue is when you find an old post, then notice that it’s got your name as the author, and you realise you’ve been fighting the issue for so long you’ve forgotten where you posted about it.
And there’s a comment below by you
“Fixed it”
And nothing else
Or when the person with the answer deleted their account and all messages with it, then all of the comments after say “That worked!”
I had an issue with my (old but trusty) scanner and I remembered encountering something very similar before but didn’t remember what I did about it. So I looked for the solution which I knew must exist since I’d found it before. Was pleasantly surprised and hit by nostalgia to find a link to a forum that I used to spend my time on in the early 2000s that seemed to describe exactly my issue. Then I realised the post was by me, helping someone else with that exact problem, in 2004. Day ruined.
No I can’t tell you what that issue was that was the same in 2004 and 2025, I don’t remember, I’m old.