Chat Systems
Chat Systems
[An Euler diagram with many circle like drawings for various chat systems is shown. Some circles overlapping others in complicated ways, others are single circles with no connections, but most are embedded into others. Inside the circles mainly the standard sticky figures like Cueball, Megan, Ponytail and Hairy are shown but there are also a few others.]
[The list of items and its intersections from left top to right bottom is:] Skype - none, Email Email - none, Skype, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, ICQ, iMessage, Signal, WhatsApp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, BBM, Telegram, Twitter DM SMS - none, Email, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, Snapchat, iMessage, Signal, WeChat, WhatsApp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, Peach, BBM, Twitter DM AIM - none Slack - Email, SMS, Hangouts, IRC, Signal Hangouts - Email, SMS, Slack, IRC, Signal IRC - Email, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, Signal Snapchat - SMS ICQ - Email iMessage - Email, SMS, Signal, FB Messenger Signal - Email, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, iMessage, Zephyr, Instagram DM WeChat - SMS WhatsApp - Email, SMS Zephyr - Email, SMS, Signal FB Messenger - Email, SMS, iMessage Instagram DM - Email, SMS, Signal Peach - SMS BBM - Email, SMS Telegram - none, Email Twitter DM - none, Email, SMS The "chat" tab in an old Google Doc - none Apache Request Log - none Wall (Unix) - none Wall (bathroom) - none
[Caption below the panel:] I have a hard time keeping track of which contacts use which chat systems.

The comic consists of an Euler diagram showing a wide variety of chat systems and their intersections. (Euler diagrams should not be confused with Venn diagrams , see more on this here ). The comic demonstrates the complexity that can be involved in modern communications: simply remembering how to get in touch with someone can be a challenge.
Below is a table with explanation for all 24 mentioned chat systems and below that a list of each system's intersections with the other systems. Several of the systems are already considered old, like The "chat" tab in an old Google Doc , but some people keep using them, which is part of the joke. There only seems to be one "chat" system which could in no way be said to be an on-line chat system, and that is the Wall (bathroom) at the bottom, which refers to how people writes notes on public bathroom walls, making it an extra joke and possibly a reference to 229: Graffiti .
In the title text, Randall explains how he is one of the only few Instagram users to use the UNIX 'talk' gateway (an old peer-to-peer chat system whereby users logged into the same UNIX system could privately communicate with each other in a full-screen interface.) But he doesn't tell how he had enhanced this old fashioned software.
Note that this is similar to the earlier 949: File Transfer .
The 24 chat systems with the number of stick figures inside are listed. Notice there are only 23 real systems, as one of the systems is a bathroom wall.
[An Euler diagram with many circle like drawings for various chat systems is shown. Some circles overlapping others in complicated ways, others are single circles with no connections, but most are embedded into others. Inside the circles mainly the standard sticky figures like Cueball, Megan, Ponytail and Hairy are shown but there are also a few others.]
[The list of items and its intersections from left top to right bottom is:] Skype - none, Email Email - none, Skype, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, ICQ, iMessage, Signal, WhatsApp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, BBM, Telegram, Twitter DM SMS - none, Email, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, Snapchat, iMessage, Signal, WeChat, WhatsApp, Zephyr, FB Messenger, Instagram DM, Peach, BBM, Twitter DM AIM - none Slack - Email, SMS, Hangouts, IRC, Signal Hangouts - Email, SMS, Slack, IRC, Signal IRC - Email, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, Signal Snapchat - SMS ICQ - Email iMessage - Email, SMS, Signal, FB Messenger Signal - Email, SMS, Slack, Hangouts, IRC, iMessage, Zephyr, Instagram DM WeChat - SMS WhatsApp - Email, SMS Zephyr - Email, SMS, Signal FB Messenger - Email, SMS, iMessage Instagram DM - Email, SMS, Signal Peach - SMS BBM - Email, SMS Telegram - none, Email Twitter DM - none, Email, SMS The "chat" tab in an old Google Doc - none Apache Request Log - none Wall (Unix) - none Wall (bathroom) - none
[Caption below the panel:] I have a hard time keeping track of which contacts use which chat systems.
