I'm pretty sure it's not "Zalgo" July 7, 2009 6:20 AM   Subscribe

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?
posted by scalefree to Bugs at 6:20 AM (48 comments total)

i cant believe it's not̶̀ ̛͟͞҉̀Z̴̨̀͘À̸͝L̸͟G͞͞͏̵̢O̵̷̧͠!!!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:24 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


Whatever you are doing wrong, I am also doing wrong.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:26 AM on July 7, 2009 [3 favorites]


here's Skorgu (br00tal name!) on how to render Zalgo fonts.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:26 AM on July 7, 2009


T͙̗̱̱̻̳h̭̝͖̼̱͕ͩͅe̦͔̲̯ͥ ͚̻͖̫̬ͨ̿Ḳ̘̭͐̓̒̆ộŏ̎̎̆ͫ̈́̊l͈̰͔̝͖̲̝̆͛̿̈́ͧ̓-̘̮̼̣̲̙̊̓̇ͮͪ͆Ä͍̞̻̻̗͍̞ͭͥ͐i̺̟̫̭̝̣͕̓̓ͩͮ͋̋͊d̞͆ͥ̎̍̽ ͍̹̬̤̼̺̊̐ͫͩͩͮM͓̗̠̞̺͍̗͒̊́̆͐ͩͮä̪̜̗̘̖̱̖́ͮ̍̃̅n͇̳͓̲ͩ?̺̮̘͔̔̒͊͆ͅ
posted by elfgirl at 7:05 AM on July 7, 2009 [4 favorites]


boxboxsquigglesquiggleboxboxsquiggle!
posted by bjrn at 7:07 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


□□□□□□□□□□ □□□ □□□□? □□ □□□□ □ □□□□□□□□!!
posted by Plutor at 7:10 AM on July 7, 2009


▫▫▫ ▫▫▫▫▫.
posted by Plutor at 7:11 AM on July 7, 2009


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

Please, please, take back the img tag.
posted by GeckoDundee at 7:21 AM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:28 AM on July 7, 2009


Always fun when a new kind of annoying is discovered.
posted by Atreides at 7:32 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


Is the needed font the same as the Zalgo one?
posted by scalefree at 7:36 AM on July 7, 2009


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?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:37 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


Ha! Found it!
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:41 AM on July 7, 2009


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).
posted by starman at 7:42 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


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.
posted by quin at 8:03 AM on July 7, 2009


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?!"
posted by Atreides at 8:07 AM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by GeckoDundee at 8:18 AM on July 7, 2009


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)
posted by Reverend John at 9:16 AM on July 7, 2009


It makes me sad that there's no established Mac solution yet.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:21 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


I think the answer is over there behind that wall.
posted by Sailormom at 9:23 AM on July 7, 2009


It makes me happy that there's no Mac solution, because maybe this thing will die out.
posted by not_on_display at 9:25 AM on July 7, 2009 [4 favorites]


/me braces for the incomprehensible snark directed at my comment.
posted by not_on_display at 9:27 AM on July 7, 2009


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

Wait till the 3.0 version.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:30 AM on July 7, 2009


not_on_display: iyonimo, ducy?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:05 AM on July 7, 2009


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

C͉̭͑̔ͭo͉̥ŕ̤̯̍̑ͪ̏̆ṱ̱͈̰͛̈̋e͍̭̔ͫͮ̀͑̏x̟̞͖̝̻̺̹̿͆̇ ͎͍͕̙͙͋̓̐i̭̼̣̳͇s͉̝̼̲̟̩͕͒̓͐̇ͪͥ ̻̠̲͎͕̥̲a̦̝͒͂̓͐ ͍̣͎̜p͒̿͌o̬͚̠̘͕͙ͪ̂̈ͦͯͧͩo̞̲p̮̩̽͗͆͌ͫ͊!̻̬͑̋ͪͩ
posted by shakespeherian at 10:50 AM on July 7, 2009 [2 favorites]


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.
posted by shmegegge at 10:54 AM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:57 AM on July 7, 2009


never mind. problem not fixed with new font.
posted by shmegegge at 10:57 AM on July 7, 2009


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.)
posted by shakespeherian at 11:17 AM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by cj_ at 11:23 AM on July 7, 2009


Also, Plutor's comment is just a bunch of actual unicode boxes.
posted by cj_ at 11:25 AM on July 7, 2009


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

imho, yckma!
posted by not_on_display at 11:29 AM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by cj_ at 11:34 AM on July 7, 2009




Here's how you get it to work on a Mac: just b̵̸̺̬̳̟͈̹̬̼͇̻͉͕͕͈͕̪̱ͪ̅̅͋̇̑̒̉̀̚̚͜u̷̷̧͕̦͍̻̳̖̙̫̬̭̮͇̹͑ͭ̂ͮ̈́̀̆̏̒̍ͭ̃̓ͨ͗̑̚ͅỹͯͮͥͯ͌ͪ͌̿͂ͭ̈͢҉̱̰͙̟̱̰̫̟̪̭ ̴̴̧̻̠̠̮̤̜͇̞̥͈͈̜̬̓̂̐̉̌̓́̄ͩ̑ͣ̆͂ͯ̿͌̐̈͆̕a̛͈̩͖̩̺̙̠͓͕͍͍͑̈͛ͣ̆̊͢ ̂̃ͩ̈ͬ̈́ͭ̎̒̈́͛̈̓̑̌̊̅͗̓͏̗͍̯̱̝́͞P̷̢͈̦͈̳͙̮̳̙͈͖̙ͯ͋ͣ̋̾͘͞C̴̨̤̝͉͈̹̫̬̤̟͕̗͙̬̳̮̼̖̪͛̊̑͋̃ͬ̾ͩͦ.̴̢̛̛̮̱̫̲̤͕͕̥̥̼̈́ͬͦ͂̆̓̍̀͗͠
posted by Pastabagel at 11:50 AM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


Caution: Nerds at play
posted by Cranberry at 11:58 AM on July 7, 2009


I unicode supposed to support arbitrarily many stacking diacritics? If so, why?
posted by mr_roboto at 12:30 PM on July 7, 2009


Got to. This America, man.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:57 PM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


Interestingly enough, it works on the iphone mail client, but not on my mac.
posted by empath at 1:18 PM on July 7, 2009


Can someone explain how these diacritics are SUPPOSED to be used?
posted by empath at 1:19 PM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


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.
posted by sleevener at 3:06 PM on July 7, 2009 [2 favorites]


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.
posted by morganw at 3:10 PM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by starman at 3:10 PM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by shmegegge at 3:34 PM on July 7, 2009


I fucking hate memes.

Amen, lets all I fucking hate memes.
posted by mattoxic at 3:38 PM on July 7, 2009 [5 favorites]


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.
posted by smoke at 4:09 PM on July 7, 2009 [1 favorite]


*pulls up a chair, eats I fucking hate memes*
posted by brain_drain at 6:49 PM on July 7, 2009


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.
posted by idiopath at 7:23 PM on July 7, 2009


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