Talk:The System is Down

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[edit] Is

Although the "Is" should capitalized by rights in the title of this article, the title in the Toons menu on the Homestar Runner site puts it in lower case. Hence, the title of this article should remain "The System is Down". --Render 04:53, 21 Sep 2004 (MST)

[edit] Preview

On the toons menu preview of the cartoon it shows Homestar running past the 404 error. Should that be added to trivia? Sesshoumaru Cian 09:16, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SoaD reference?

I think The System is Down might very well by a reference to the herd rock band "System of a Down". (note: big fan here.) --12.202.214.217 15:56, 1 Oct 2005 (UTC)

I think it may be just a referance to the e-mail techno, but you never know. Maybe that could go under a "fun fact." — _talk Bubsty _edits 20:50, 2 Oct 2005 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it's talking about a system... being down... - Camalex(talk) 20:52, 2 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, but when I search "The System Is Down" (the song) on YouTube, I get a lot of System of a Down. Remember to stay jumbo/LARGE. Neox And while I'm at it, you know that link to the main page of this wiki in the top-left corner with Homestar on it? I've seen him blink every now and then. Has anyone else seen this? Would they happen to know how this works? Jelly? Grapity?

[edit] difficulties

Ok, you removed the system is down goof i added, let me explain where I found it. First click on the Flash file for the cartoon, then read the first paragraph, you will eventually get to the word "difficulties" which is missing the "u" and the "l" is small, and capitalized. If you don't notice this, i don't know what to say... Now go to the other place wher you can view this cartoon (the link from homestarrunner.com, the toons menu), read that same paragraph, and the word "difficulties" will be spelled correctly. For some reason, it is wrong on the Flash file...

Again, if you don't see this, I don't know what to say except...I guess I am looking at it wrong (?).

Anyways, Tell me if you can notice it now...bye

You're looking at it wrong. The .html file uses the .swf file, so it's not possible for them to be different. Try resizing the window and see what happens. Or zoom in. It's definitely spelled correctly. — It's dot com 01:06, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

P.S. Don't forget to sign your name. The best way to do it is to type four tildes after your message, like this: ~~~~

Could be due to the low-quality setting (i.e. no anti-aliasing) on the image. It causes lines of pixels to double or vanish, depending on your window size. Resize your window and I’m sure you’d notice other “goofs”. —anonymous (do I have an account?)

[edit] dvd transcript

"Sass dackery"... shouldn't that be "Sass Daquiri"? I don't drink, but I think if all you have to go on is phoenetics, he might be saying the actual word. Trelawney 03:53, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

I transcribed it; I didn't know what they were talking about. I tried searching my head, google, spell check, for the most probable way to spell it. Sass Daquiri is probably what he's saying. By all means, go ahead and change it. —BazookaJoe 03:56, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Do ya tink this should be peoples error pages?

Well, If we could change the URL for our error page we could download the swf and then when you get error ta-da! It would be a cool idea huh?

Isn't that a copyright infringement or something like that? It might not be legal to make this cartoon our 404 error page. — Has Matt? (talk) 23:33, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

It probably would be copyright infringement, but what if we asked TBC for permission? Or do we prefer not to bother them with such trivialities? - Point7Q 18:31, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Weebl's Stuff Breakout

Maybe Weebl's Stuff vandalized the website because of nothing cool. - LAZOR Leave a message. {beep}

Vandalized? What are you talking about? And why is the text small all of a sudden? It's beginning to creep me out. Neox

[edit] Release Date

So this came out in January of '03? I didn't know about Homestar Runner back then, and I thought this was an April Fool's Day Joke.

No, it was made in response to the site being over-viewed and crashing. --DorianGray 23:47, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Musings

1: The 'system space' appears to be three-dimensional - Strong Bad steps 'into' the page when Bubs appears (note the relative height of the bottom of his shoes compared to Homestar's).

2: Is this an early appearance of a form of Technochocolate? (Swiss Cake roll jammed into a motherboard...) [Edit: I will learn to sign my comments...] -StarLion 00:29, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] *maximum requirements

The article says the error page was specific to Internet Explorer 6, but wouldn't versions below that display the same looking error or at least one very close to it? (I haven't used anything lower in ages, so I don't remember very well.) Octan 20:48, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I just checked... the one in IE5.5 is identical to the one in IE6, and the one in IE5.0 is almost the same (the word "Refresh" is a link, though). Vague memories of IE4 suggest it had similar messages, but I may be misremembering (though Google seems to say it did). IE7's are completely different though, and I've never personally used anything older than IE4. I think just "Internet Explorer 6 (or earlier versions)" will do for the fun fact... --phlip ^T_C 21:11, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] possible mb reference image

Comparison of Motherboards (detail from toon has been rotated 90° and flipped horizontally)

Not sure if this is an appropriate place, but I thought this was interesting; I noticed in the commentary, Matt mentions they did a Google image search for "motherboard" when drawing the motherboard in this. Turns out, apparently that image still comes up in the top 10, specifically, it seems very likely that this image is the one they were looking at. The comparison is uncanny, from the color of the various onboard ports and connectors, and even many of the capacitors, such as next to the RAM slots and between the PCI's. The only thing that doesn't match up is the green square, which in the photo is a chip soldered on at a 45° angle.  Green Helmet 04:39, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

GreenHelmet, that's just sad. Hello! They copied a motherboard with Swiss Cake Rolls smashed into it... where are the Swiss Cake Rolls in your example, eh? (That's sarcasm, btw. I think you nailed it, actually.) =] OptimisticFool 04:52, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

This motherboard makes a reapparance in nightlife and you can see there the part that is hidden under the bottom-right swiss cake roll here. See that watch-battery-lookin'-thing on the real motherboard? Yeah, they duplicated that, too. Oh, and the square above that thing, too. OptimisticFool 07:32, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

That chip at a 45&deg angle is most certainly a (terrible) integrated chipset, the battery is the CMOS/clock battery, and the square above it is a northbridge (I think,) and the square to the left of it is an AMI BIOS (I think.)

That definitely belongs in the article. I've added it. Nice find! — It's dot com 04:23, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Was this always in Shorts?

When initially released, did this cartoon replace the Index Page, similar to April Fool 2014? Or was it always in the Shorts category? - HoveringSombrero (talk)

I think it was unlisted after it was used that one time to replace the index page ---J∃ffJMan 12:26, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

None of our histories go back to the day or even the year it was released, and I myself can't remember specifically, but given the nature of the joke and the fact that it automatically redirects to the toons page, I think it's likely that it briefly replaced the index page for maximum visibility and humor. I don't know whether it was unlisted at first, but it was definitely listed as a short four and a half months after it was released. — It's dot com 16:51, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

[edit] "What happened [to] my website?"

I hear "what happened my website?" in the introductory line (and at least one other editor seems to agree). I know "well, that's what I hear...!" arguments never go anywhere, but by cross-referencing I think there's evidence it's meant to be "what happened my website?"

1. The phrase reappears in the Kick The Can commentary. I hear "what happened my website?" even more clearly — this character has very strong enunciation, and I even hear a slight pause between "happened" and "website".
2. The post-Flash update notice opens with the question "What happened our website?" (repeated on its Index Page message) This is such a distinctive phrase ("what happened our..." is not documented elsewhere in the body of work) that its use here suggests it's riffing on "what happened my website?", ergo that's what is being said here and in Kick The Can. Just like TSID, the Update Notice is remarking on how homestarrunner.com looks dramatically different than visitors might expect, making such a reference natural.

I want to avoid edit/revert warring, and since the in/exclusion of "to" affects three articles I wanted to raise the point here before it gets applied across all of 'em. At the very least I'd like to see "this line could also be..." footnotes a la The Reddest Radish. -- Bleu Ninja 20:30, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

Some people on the Discord server brought up sbemail 206, and I'm pretty sure I don't hear a "to" there, either. And as far as I'm concerned, having it written by the Chaps without the "to" outright confirms it. Would be a really weird coincidence otherwise. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 02:24, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

Footnotes should be avoided. Just change the transcript. -113.37.226.89 03:10, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

I'm having a slightly hard time making out what exactly Homestar is saying in this toon compared to the "Kick The Can" commentary clip above and sb206 which to me come across as far less ambiguous. In the latter two I hear "happened my". This one is less clear but I'm leaning towards the intention was also to say "happened my". That said, the way Homestar pronounced his line here also makes it sound like there was a very brief "to" in there, or maybe our brains are filling in the gaps with that. Overall, I still think the intended and most likely phrasing was "happened my" after hearing it several times. Maybe I should install software that slows down sounds clips! XD

As for footnotes, the ambiguity in disconnected required a footnote. So if consensus can't be reached it might be necessary in some cases. --Stux 14:32, 12 October 2024 (UTC)

You can listen to it slowed down on YouTube. I definitely don't hear a "to" there. --121.75.30.214 08:01, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

I thought it sounded like "What happened-'d my website?" Not a full "to", but an extra syllable there. 68.37.38.51 21:14, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

Seems like there’s consensus for no ‘to’ (not to mention TBC explicitly writing it thusly.-113.37.226.89 01:25, 14 October 2024 (UTC)