To all webcartoonists on my friends list or reading my livejournal:
Hey guys. How's it going. Take gander over here, if you would - http://www.websnark.com/archives/2005/07/why_im_not_a_go.html
I'm sure you're all familiar with Comics Nation, it's a site with tracker software that lets people know when your comic updates. Originally it was a ratings site, like Buzz or TWC. They added me without asking me, I asked them to take me off, they refused, words were exchanged yeah whatever it's explained in the comments section.
So a week or two ago Randy says 'hey, they put you on their site again', I say 'what.' and email them, asking them to please remove me from their list as I had no wish to affliate with them. It was a polite enough email, professional. They sent me a response almost immediately saying they were looking into it, and then emailed me a bit later and said that it was being removed, along with an apology for it being added in the first place.
Cool. Wow. They got better. There wasn't a hassle, it was nice. I was happy.
And then I see Websnark, see him mention my site's not on there, go to comment and let him know that it's not on there because I asked that it wouldn't be added, and leave it at that, and I see this - http://www.comic-nation.com/forums.php?mode=topic&fid=1&tid=3374
Yeah. Way to go guys.
So let's review shall we? These guys, high school or college I have no idea, started up this website as a ratings site. Instead of advertising the site and letting it grow naturally, they added a shitton of high-traffic webcomics to their site without asking anyone if they wanted to be on there. When I asked them to remove me (I have...a deep loathing for ratings sites, really), they refused, arguing the point with me, telling me I couldn't MAKE them take it off (I forget the actual words used but I believe I still have all the original emails squirreled away on my computer), and then finally saying 'okay okay it's not a ratings site anymore we took it off will you just let us keep your comic there', I told them no. Why? Because they had gone out of their way to treat me as shittily as possible and frankly I didn't want anything to DO with them. I didn't post about this on my website, I didn't post about it on the forums or in the QoW LJ because...I hate drama. I hate webcomic drama bullshit. I hate it so much, and I wanted to avoid it. So I kept my mouth shut.
So after this latest incident, I figured wow, maybe they'd grown up, maybe they were cool now, they took my site off and nicely even, that was cool, and then I see this forum post.
EDIT #4 - Apparently that wasn't the only forum post. Hey look here - http://www.comic-nation.com/forums.php?mode=topic&fid=1&tid=3292 Yeah, they totally care, don't they? Yeah. And in case they pull THAT page down too, here's a printscreen of it: http://www.queenofwands.net/images/notcare.jpg
To quote: "We are past the stage where putting on a nice public face and attempting to gain new users is a high priority, and I'm fairly certain actual laws are totally neutral on the subject, so I think we'll survive having a few angsty artists annoyed at us."
Hey cool. Nice to see I was right - apparently now they feel they don't HAVE to be nice anymore. Isn't this just grand? /END EDIT #4
The only reason these guys wanted the high-profile comics on their website was because it would get them more traffic. More than likely they didn't ask anyone if they wanted to be ON it because they didn't want to hear people say no.
I don't know what they're doing, I don't know what they're up to, I've pretty much ignored all activity from them and hadn't really given them a THOUGHT until Randy told me they added me again, and once that situation was taken care of I promptly forgot about them again, because I figured it was done.
I did NOT expect to read such petty disgusting immature bullshit on their forums.
I'm not really writing all this in an attempt to get everyone to leave the website (although I have to be honest the thought DID cross my mind), but I thought maybe I'd make some of you aware what exactly is going on, as I'm not sure what else they've said about me or what they'll continue to say in the future. However a word of warning - it is...more than apparent that they don't really give a shit about the cartoonists they're linking, or their wishes. To me, it looks like they just want the traffic and the hits. So yeah. That's who you're dealing with here, that's my side of the story, I'm going to go back to ignoring this for the most part, although if you have questions, leave a comment and I'll attempt to answer as promptly as possible (although with me up to my elbows in work, and con next week, there might be a slight delay.
Thanks.
- That angsty artist/author of that "sucky piece of comic shit"
EDIT: Uh, also, if we could keep the comments to just questions please, I don't need any 'atta girls' or 'how dare they's' or 'you sucks' or...whatever. If you've got a question about the subject, then post. Thanks.
EDIT #2 - Con would be the San Diego Comicon, I do not have a table this year and will be happily wandering and checking out panels. If you are a reader and catch this and manage to catch me, yes I'll do sketches - and the likelyhood of my being at the Keenspot panel and cheering (heckling) my coworkers is high.
EDIT #3: ...and for the love of god please don't go hassle the CN guys, I don't really need them getting a flood of how-dare-you's either.
I'm sure you're all familiar with Comics Nation, it's a site with tracker software that lets people know when your comic updates. Originally it was a ratings site, like Buzz or TWC. They added me without asking me, I asked them to take me off, they refused, words were exchanged yeah whatever it's explained in the comments section.
So a week or two ago Randy says 'hey, they put you on their site again', I say 'what.' and email them, asking them to please remove me from their list as I had no wish to affliate with them. It was a polite enough email, professional. They sent me a response almost immediately saying they were looking into it, and then emailed me a bit later and said that it was being removed, along with an apology for it being added in the first place.
Cool. Wow. They got better. There wasn't a hassle, it was nice. I was happy.
And then I see Websnark, see him mention my site's not on there, go to comment and let him know that it's not on there because I asked that it wouldn't be added, and leave it at that, and I see this - http://www.comic-nation.com/forums.php?mode=topic&fid=1&tid=3374
Yeah. Way to go guys.
So let's review shall we? These guys, high school or college I have no idea, started up this website as a ratings site. Instead of advertising the site and letting it grow naturally, they added a shitton of high-traffic webcomics to their site without asking anyone if they wanted to be on there. When I asked them to remove me (I have...a deep loathing for ratings sites, really), they refused, arguing the point with me, telling me I couldn't MAKE them take it off (I forget the actual words used but I believe I still have all the original emails squirreled away on my computer), and then finally saying 'okay okay it's not a ratings site anymore we took it off will you just let us keep your comic there', I told them no. Why? Because they had gone out of their way to treat me as shittily as possible and frankly I didn't want anything to DO with them. I didn't post about this on my website, I didn't post about it on the forums or in the QoW LJ because...I hate drama. I hate webcomic drama bullshit. I hate it so much, and I wanted to avoid it. So I kept my mouth shut.
So after this latest incident, I figured wow, maybe they'd grown up, maybe they were cool now, they took my site off and nicely even, that was cool, and then I see this forum post.
EDIT #4 - Apparently that wasn't the only forum post. Hey look here - http://www.comic-nation.com/forums.php?mode=topic&fid=1&tid=3292 Yeah, they totally care, don't they? Yeah. And in case they pull THAT page down too, here's a printscreen of it: http://www.queenofwands.net/images/notcare.jpg
To quote: "We are past the stage where putting on a nice public face and attempting to gain new users is a high priority, and I'm fairly certain actual laws are totally neutral on the subject, so I think we'll survive having a few angsty artists annoyed at us."
Hey cool. Nice to see I was right - apparently now they feel they don't HAVE to be nice anymore. Isn't this just grand? /END EDIT #4
The only reason these guys wanted the high-profile comics on their website was because it would get them more traffic. More than likely they didn't ask anyone if they wanted to be ON it because they didn't want to hear people say no.
I don't know what they're doing, I don't know what they're up to, I've pretty much ignored all activity from them and hadn't really given them a THOUGHT until Randy told me they added me again, and once that situation was taken care of I promptly forgot about them again, because I figured it was done.
I did NOT expect to read such petty disgusting immature bullshit on their forums.
I'm not really writing all this in an attempt to get everyone to leave the website (although I have to be honest the thought DID cross my mind), but I thought maybe I'd make some of you aware what exactly is going on, as I'm not sure what else they've said about me or what they'll continue to say in the future. However a word of warning - it is...more than apparent that they don't really give a shit about the cartoonists they're linking, or their wishes. To me, it looks like they just want the traffic and the hits. So yeah. That's who you're dealing with here, that's my side of the story, I'm going to go back to ignoring this for the most part, although if you have questions, leave a comment and I'll attempt to answer as promptly as possible (although with me up to my elbows in work, and con next week, there might be a slight delay.
Thanks.
- That angsty artist/author of that "sucky piece of comic shit"
EDIT: Uh, also, if we could keep the comments to just questions please, I don't need any 'atta girls' or 'how dare they's' or 'you sucks' or...whatever. If you've got a question about the subject, then post. Thanks.
EDIT #2 - Con would be the San Diego Comicon, I do not have a table this year and will be happily wandering and checking out panels. If you are a reader and catch this and manage to catch me, yes I'll do sketches - and the likelyhood of my being at the Keenspot panel and cheering (heckling) my coworkers is high.
EDIT #3: ...and for the love of god please don't go hassle the CN guys, I don't really need them getting a flood of how-dare-you's either.