...when someone drops into the middle of something, doesn't get the joke/setting on the ONE page they skimmed over, then decides to judge the comic wholesale by this perfunctory glance? I'm just curious how many other people this happens to. I imagine this is more a problem that story comic writers have than gag-a-day comics since the humor isn't always reliant on character-based humor and more situation-based. Though I'm a little bothered with the idea that all comics must be funny and aren't allowed to tell a story or develop characters in any way...

And yes, I mean literally one page. Like as if someone were to post it in a forum for others to judge it or they refer to only seeing the one page.

Dismissing a story comic entirely based on one page is a lot like grabbing a piece of puzzle from the border and telling people you know what picture it makes without looking at the other pieces or the box cover. Removing the piece from its larger context renders it irrelevant! Actually, more accurately, it's like ripping the most cutesy-poo page out of a Harry Potter book and acting like that sums up the series (I've never read HP but I know it has some darker dramatic points here and there...of course I gather this from watching the movies with Rifftrax over them). The people that read it will know you're full of it, but everyone else who's on the fence or biased against it already will except that as fact (and an excuse not to read it for themselves and form their own opinion. Then again, stupid people rarely have their "own" opinions anyway...)

I realize that people make snap judgments all the time. Judging books by their cover, so to speak. (my snap judgment on twilight was based on what the author herself said about it, and it didn't sound appealing!) I wonder what's worse though, those who won't bother looking to begin with or those that give a peak and judge it all on an offhand page? I once judged a song harshly by the first few seconds and turned it off whenever it came on the radio. One day I listened to the whole song and totally wanted to kick myself for missing out on so much! From there on, I give everything a fair chance, even if I may fast-forward a bit on a few!

It's of course for this very reason that story comics don't advertise well on Stumble and digg. Keep that in mind if you're a story comic writer, nobody surfing those things are willing to commit to a story, and the deeper it is the less hits you'll retain. It's like giving people a Lego when your comic is a Lego sculpture. The Lego might be bright and colorful, but it's not gonna suck people in!

Gag/one panel/strip people, GO NUTS that place is a paradise for your ilk!

So, anyone else? Personal experiences? Opinions? Ooovaltine?

I don't think I've had any commenters drop in an make conclusion about my entire story from one page, but I have to agree that that would be annoying.

I admit though that there are a few comics that I've only seen one page or two and then though to myself "eh, I don't think I'll like this...". But then I got back to those same comics and actually read them and find that they're really great! I think it's because of how fast-paced this world is now; we want instant gratification. I think we should slow down and try to appreciate things more.

One thing that I have noticed about my comic is that sometimes when I make the characters do something or say something that I think is significant to the plot no one who comments says anything about it. That always shocks me o_o. Another thing that annoys me is when people ask about the time period...because there are so many hints that reveal that. D:

I don't know...I think all in all, I'd rather have someone look at my comic and dismiss it than to not look at all. Because if they look and don't like it, the seed has already been planted it their head; they might remember my comic later and come back! XD

Yeah, people will always have a tendency to judge based on the latest update. It's the nature of websites in general. That's the reason to always put your all into each page. Make sure the latest page is representative on your quality of work. There's no getting around that an active story will have slower parts and vice versa, but just make them as interesting as possible. It doesn't hurt to make an interesting website layout too. It's all part of first impressions.

Although people tend to make negative judgments based on a single page, that first impression bias can work in your favor too. I know that single lines in my story have caused people to link to my comic (or that page specifically) in forums or blogs. While the one wisecrack wasn't exactly representative of the story or the general mood, some of the people who clicked to see it took the time to read the story and became interested enough to stick around.

In fact, I gained a number of (returning and loyal) readers who checked out my comic with completely different expectations -- based on either my title or my personality (in comments or forums).

There's a flip side to everything. ;)

While non-sequential gag strips have the luxury of being able to stand alone and enjoyed/understood at a glance, people won't feel as motivated to go back and read other pages to see what led up to it or stick around because they just have to see what happens next. If they like the strip, they might check out more at some other time, but it doesn't have the level of curiosity and suspense of a story. Basically, gag strips have a different audience from story comics. I don't believe anything is gained by trying to "compete" or appeal to non-targets.

Ugh, yes, I 100% get you on this, Amelius.

I'm also entertained when people comment on the page (and do so faithfully for every update) but are obviously not paying attention to the story. Kinda makes me feel people are reading out of obligation instead of geniune enjoyment/interest. *sniffle*

I feel that this is an unfortunate disadvantage that web comics have over print comics. It's too bad that you can't flip through a webcomic and see what's ahead like a print comic, and that fact in addition to waiting for pages to load... I guess some readers feel that if they didn't like one page they don't want to bother spending time to figure out if they'll like the rest. I guess like Usedbooks said, we just have to keep giving each page our all!

Well, of course. We put so much effort into our comics. Not nice when that happens. But I'd say there is always something to learn. Even so, one can't be blowing with the wind. I believe one should make the comic they want to (at least here, if you are working for a publisher well... then it's the job). It's always difficult and people look for different things, so you can't cater for all.

You seem to have a lot of followers, and 99.9% seem to enjoy your comic. I'd be realy proud. If only I got 10% of the coments you get, I'd be jumping up and down with joy.

You see, maybe you are doing the very same thing you are complaining about. You have tons of positive feedback, why would you let just one negative one bring you down. As a fellow artist I can understand perfectly that one negative criticism can hurt more than thousands of positive ones. But one has to have faith in one's own art. Consider it, yes. But never let it bring you down. Also the internet is full of people that will try to wreck other people's joy just out of spite. Best is to ignore them.

Haven't read your comic, but the few pages I've seen look realy nice.

Well, I think I have the same problem with my comic.

Because of my artwork and my style, people from different site other than drunkduck would think it's a gag comic. I tried on SmackJeeves and the first few pages someone commenting going: "I don't get it!" and I explained to him that it isn't a gag comic, it's a story.

Yes, I don't get a lot of commentators but I still am working on my stories because I'm passionate about it. At least, someone out there is enjoying my work silently.

To be honest, I'm a story reader kind of person more than gag/random/whatever they are. I have few of them that I could stand and the rest doesn't mean anything to me.

Another thing, you could never satisfy everyone. Even though, you would put on the best comic ever but you'd always find someone that would complain about it. It's a human nature kinda thing. All I gotta say, if you love what you're doing, don't give it up!

It doesn't bother me because I understand that I can't be liked by everyone.

There are people who either don't like me and/or my comics and I accepted it already a long time ago.

In fact, I do find humor in some of the negative comments I got.

"That's deep. A dude with a bean for a head, is sad and has a cute angel chick watching over him as he goes to take a piss. Nice use of the self-insertion character, mate!"

- a comment on BK. lol Way to summarize that comic. :)

"I think this is all Bull Shit, Im just here for the porn."

- a comment on MAG-ISA. lol Just because I have pretty girls in the cast, you want them to take off their clothes and fulfill your sexual fantasies?!? lmao!!!



So go ahead. If you got something negative to say about my comics, just speak your mind (as long as you don't put threats of violence against me or anybody). I believe in free speech. :)

I get a lot of "I don't get it" as well, and especially as single page feedback.

I don't take it personally. Sometimes there's nothing to get yet. The page is intended as the experience itself. There are different ways of creating and different readers out there. I can find one page of re-printed art in a book of comics history, taken entirely out of context of the the story and be amazed by it. I can study it for half an hour or more and keep flipping back to it days later.

Others want quick payoff and have more appreciation for the obvious. They want to follow A to B to C without any artsy pretense or indulgence spoiling the fun. They want to see a piece that's easily accessible and that they can relate to immediately. Both are legitimate approaches and the latter probably gains a wider audience.

"I don't get it" isn't so bad. It's honest.

If it's an outright attack on the other hand, consider who's commenting. There are some who suffer from a crippling subjectivity and basically live in a bubble of their own fanatical preferences. These folks wanted the work to be something else before they even made it to the second panel. Honestly, they're incapable of offering any kind of opinion that's going to be constructive.

kyupol

"I think this is all Bull Shit, Im just here for the porn."

- a comment on MAG-ISA. lol Just because I have pretty girls in the cast, you want them to take off their clothes and fulfill your sexual fantasies?!? lmao!!!

Man, that sums up my attitude to basically everything, ever. :(

All comics, life in general, this thread... :(


----------------------

I see Amy's issue. She'd get it worse than most of us since her comic is Uber popular- on the net that means there will be links through to it from all sorts of diverse places (blogs, journals, lists, recommendations, links nest to fan art, articles, reviews etc.) and THAT will mean there'll be a LOT more casual curious viewers dropping in to see what all the fuss is about, and among them a lot more of the kind of person who thinks "OK, I've seen it now, I don't know what all the fuss is about and I'm going to say so!".

She's not really talking about negative criticism per-se, just negative fatuous criticism based on a complete misunderstanding. The only stuff I've had in that regard are silly comments about my comic being pro-war, wondering why Pinky isn't sexually assaulted by sailors because of how she's dressed, and people complaining it's not correctly true to the period in which it's set.
Maybe there's more but I can't remember them.

Most other negative criticism based on the work itself (not based on some silly misunderstanding about it), I take seriously in that silly way that artists do where you have 400,000 people saying "WOW that's brilliant!" but you only believe the one person that says "this thing sucks".

I worry about this, sure. About the worst I got was somebody thinking that my comic was meant to be read in a weird Zen mindset which I didn't really know how to respond to.
What can be kind of frustrating about making a webcomic is that the most recent update frequently has to be an ambassador for the comic as a whole. If you're doing a long form story making every page interesting, dynamic and telling of the characters can be a real pain to write and plan out. One thing that I've learned to like about making minicomics is that you can do things like devote an entire page to a character walking to his mailbox or something or even leave a page entirely blank and the reader won't think it's weird or it takes away from the story. If you do the same thing in webcomics readers will say that nothing's happening or even feel cheated.

It's not happened that much since my comic doesn't have a lot of pages, but one person asked, "Why does everyone's outfit in this page look outdated?"
Bless their heart, they didn't even pay attention to the very first page that tells you that. It didn't so much annoy me as it made me kind of chuckle a bit.
Another one would be someone PM-ing me about the content of the comic. It went along the lines of "I don't get it. Everyone isn't taking this issue seriously? It's like nothing happened!" This made me shake my head. Am I THAT bad at comedy that it is hard to understand that a comedic moment is happening? *le tears of sad*

I went off on a tangent there (a bad habit of mine, I admit). Anyway, I try to keep from doing this since I'd like to say that I'm a bit shallow when it comes to comics. It's not fair to the creator of the comic, and it's especially not fair on me for missing out on a great comic due to on the spot judgments.

I think I might as well be honest and say that I've done that.

I mean, it's not that I come to a complete conclusion, but I do usually base if I'd like a comic or not from one page. I dunno.

Ahhh, thank you so much ozoneocean! That's spot-on what I'm trying to say here! i think sometimes my meaning and intention gets lost in my constant rambling. Plus I kinda left a sentence hanging unfinished in there so I ninja'd it out.

What got me to write this up was I saw a thread for webcomics on a site heavily centered on Western Superhero comics, and they had posted at least one page of a few other DD comics and were making assumptions about them all. I suppose some people don't mind negative attention, but I pour farrr too much of myself into my work to be pleased by someone holding up my comic as the "worst comic on Drunk Duck" just because it happens to be in the top list (seriously, he said he'd just pull them from the top ten) and the page he posted was so cutesy-poo and self-referential that they summed it up as "Anime vampires" and another poster suggested the "guy" who makes it needs a writer. From one page! I've never made a claim to be "the best" here, but I'm certainly not the worst either.

Astar
You see, maybe you are doing the very same thing you are complaining about. You have tons of positive feedback, why would you let just one negative one bring you down.

If I may? I do not see how having lots of positive feedback invalidates the opinions of those with less positive things to say. My best, and harshest critics, are sometimes my own readers! I know when to ignore a troll, and I know when someone's just bent on being a jerk. I take everything everyone says on equal account. If there's a grain of truth in a harsh comment, I'll see it. If it's just "this comic sucks!" then I know I'm dealing with a reeeeally picky customer who'll never be pleased. Besides, if I only listened to positive feedback, I'd still be in the dark ages of comic art. I don't think you are aware just how terrible I was when I started off. I mean, i inked, scanned, colored and posted 8 pages on the same day once. And I didn't use pre-sketches, either...it was awful! Someone even asked if I was using MSpaint to color (it was photoshop!)
Not saying I have a thick skin, in fact when someone is negative I tend to have major doubts about my work. But I've made far too many sacrifices to give up on the account of someone telling me I'm worthless!

Buuut I think you may have misunderstood the intent of my post, ozoneocean worded it much much better than I did ^_^ I already know how people feel about trolls and negativity, I'm talking about book-cover judges rather than people that just wanted to get under your skin. For all intents and purposes, a book-cover judge may not be a troll, but they certainly feel their opinion gathered from a very small reference pool is fact. What's worse is they tell other people this, and they'll believe it. It's kind of the "Taste this, it's terrible!" factor. Why would anyone try it?

usedbooks
That's the reason to always put your all into each page. Make sure the latest page is representative on your quality of work.

Quoted for truth! That's pretty much been my motto since...well, not day one, I'm not sure when I started becoming obsessed with quality, but my husband would even tell ya that I am an obsessive fiend when it comes to making my comic. I won't even break for lunch when I'm working. I should be doing that right now though...
working that is. But I was compelled to respond. Compelled I say!

Anyway, the problems I have aren't always quality related. They're more due to the fact that I write my comic very much for my existing audience and not with the intent of pulling other people in. I know some people may find the very idea ludicrous, who wouldn't want more fans after all? But since my comic has a LOT of unpublished material that I'd done when the comic started off as something I drew for my group of male friends back in my home state of Michigan, what I'm doing is re-writing existing material that's already telling a story and when people jump into the middle of it, it's like getting on a moving train. I write everything with the assumption that the people reading it have familiarized themselves with the archives already.

My other problem of course is the fact that I make a comic with obnoxious cartoon colors and expressions(and hair)that people are loathe to take seriously. It's kinda hard to take the mystery/drama parts seriously when the comic looks like a Saturday morning cartoon, but I always thought that was what made it charming ^_^
And to further confound me, the popularity of crappy vampire fic like Twitlight doesn't help me either!

Plus, when someone looks at something with the idea that it's crappy, they'll think it's crappy no matter what the quality. There are, after all, people that say Arrested Development was never funny and that Looney Tunes were poor quality productions. If you love something, there's always someone out there who hates it for only that reason!

I kind of got a few of these responses after I got featured. Like, "Oh it's a zombie comic with furries." No, actually they aren't furries. If you read the whole comic you'd realize it's my bizarre take on antrhpomorphic animals dealing with a zombie apocalypse. It's not about people dressed in mascot costumes, who enjoy having sex in said costumes, dealing with a zombie apocalypse.

I really try not to let people's opinions bother me all that much. If someone is critical of my art or writing, there is probably a good chance I spent a few hours being critical of that page myself. And if someone is being critical just because my comic doesn't fit into the genre or style that they prefer, who cares? They were never going to read your comic anyways, so why should I care about their criticism?

The hardest thing about doing a story comic for me, is putting out pages that advance the plot but may not have a punchline or crazy action sequence. I feel like I'm cheating the reader since I currently only update once a week.

Oh gosh x.x I've had a comment or two in the past on my comic that was kinda like this...Something along the lines of it not being accurate (accurate to what?! o.O) and not grasping the full concept of physical/psychological/emotional slavery. I mean, what the heck is that supposed to mean? xD Not sure if the people commenting read the whole story but they made a lot of assumptions about it regardless x.x. I think this is definitely a problem that story writers, as opposed to strip makers, have to deal with far more often. Because unlike a strip, the story acquires all sorts of different dimensions as it progresses. A comic strip can just completely redeem itself on the very next page xD.

For the most part, I get more positive feedback than negative, so if I come across a comment like that, I don't really think much of it :3. Your webcomic is like number 1 on the site girlfriend xD! Don't let that one viewer let you doubt your comic's credibility :3. They were probably being completely honest in their opinion of your comic, but you know? That's 1 opinion out of like 500,000. The way I see it is if someone has a major beef and bone to pick with my work, then why on Earth would they waste time nitpicking at every little thing about it? I'd rather them just come out and tell me they don't like the story if they're gonna do that x.x.

... and I also had people who had a problem with the following things:

MAG-ISA
1) The Iraq war fictional scene in the prologue. I AM anti-war. Deal with it. Doesn't matter if its Bush or Obama. I AM ANTI-WAR!!! :)

2) Scene that implied that reptilians are behind school shootings of columbine and virginia tech. Maybe they are maybe they aren't. Believe what you want. The reptilian existence cannot really be proved using the traditional scientific method. Only the possibility of their existence. Point is, MAG-ISA is a work of fiction.

3) Lack of character development of female characters. This one's valid though. Later on, we will go into their tragic pasts. Don't worry. Lucia probably had it worse than Eman.


KATROPA
- this is from the old school DD. I dunno if anyone can still remember this.

1) Overall lame dialog. Gimme a break. This was done in 2003 and back then my English was bad.

2) OMG! One of the villains is a BLACK GUY!!! What? Black guys can't be villains? This was one of the things that helped wake me up to how ridiculous all this political correctness is.

3) Killing off characters just because.

4) Even holding a sword is inaccurate.


Brood Knight
1) The story seems to jump around with no script whatsoever. Yep. I didn't have a script for this. It actually came from a story I wrote when I was 14 years old. It was called "Warrior Quest" (I forgot... probably some lameass title). Then its sequel was a ballpen-drawn, semi-typewritten-with-microsoft-word comic called "Magical Warrior" (yet another lameass title with a cliche badass action star dude as the protagonist).

Then it so-happened that I liked the Mara-Nina character from Magical Warrior. Mara-Nina used to be one of the bad guys in Magical Warrior. In the "Brood Knight" storyline she's reformed her evil ways to a certain extent.

2) The art.

3) Other than that, this comic seems to have had the least number of negative criticism.


----
Not that I'm whining.

I actually like it when people point out the deficiencies of my comics. I learn from them. I learn about my readers. And it helps me grow.

I don't have this problem with my comic, at least I don't think.

I'm really guilty of it though. If I see a comic I really like, but It's really long and I can't get through all the pages in time, I'll comment on the new updates before reading the whole thing and sometimes my comments come out sounding a little dumb. I'm still working on a lot of the comics I currently comment on. They're never judgemental, though. ._.

i dont know how many pages people read of Putrid Meat before they decide they get it or dont get it. i suppose it varrys. i've had people who i know have read it all the way and not get it, whilethere are other people DO get what im trying to do. i mean basically i built up each chapter till Bones is about to take over Septica, which was all pretty episodic, then Exis comes and takes it all away and now Bones wants to kick his ass,and that part's pretty ongoing. alot more people get the second part better then they do the first part. and i mean people who arent just trying to be trolls.alot of people just dont get it while others do and i've been trying to figure out why that is.

i mean the first chapter is basically an intro for Bones, the second one is about the bank heist, the 3rd is how he has to get a job while he's hiding out from the cops or Charlette will rat him out, the next one is him working somemore, the next one is how that job started a plague and bones gets caught in the middle of it and tries to survive. i mean all these little stories are complete to me. a begining, a midle and end and a plot and they chain together in a bigger story. i just wonder how straight forward i have to be about this. reasonably so, i know. specially seeing as how the stories can take a really long time to get through and people wont remember something you may have pointed out 2 months ago. honestly, i think PM's the Drunk Duck poster boy for just confusing the fuck outa people plot wise. and im sure some of the people who dont get it havent read it all the way. hell,that could be a good precentage.it's hard to tell based on comments alone. but i'd really like to know,outa everyone who reads my comic, how many people just dont get it?

My comic has very few readers, and very little in the way of comments.

So, um, no. I don't get this all that often. It'd be interesting if I did though.

I suppose this sort of thing is inevitable though. It's particularly inevitable for webcomics that have been running for a long time.

a lot of people are too busy to read more than one page. you know how many comics are on the internet. like when i go into the comic book part of the store i tottaly just look at the cover first then if its interesting i open it and flip through it for five seconds and then usually its back on the shelf. i do the same thing with online comics. i open up about thirty tabs and give each comic about fve seconds. about ninety percent are closed without comment or a look at another page. just because i dont like them. and i dont feel like going through the entire archive in order to confirm that. the world is too full of stuff now and theres just not enough time. i only read the opening post btw.
what song was it ? was it chumbawumba ?

lothar
and i dont feel like going through the entire archive in order to confirm that. the world is too full of stuff now and theres just not enough time.

we'd all probably agree on that Lothar. I don't think that's the issue though really...
The point is that some idiots will just look at that one page, decide that they don't like it, and then write up a big spiel about WHY they don't like it based on that one page.

I mean, if they're too busy to read any more of the comic, why aren't they also too busy to write a bunch of useless inaccurate babyish criticism about it too? The missing link there is that they're a cretin. ;)

Obviously I would rather people understand the story and appreciate the drama of my story....but I would rather get hits from people who don't understand it and only look at one page then get nothing at all!
Amelius, I cant help but wonder, have you been spoiled by your popularity, if you can be so picky about the attention you get!
Feel free to send all the people who don't get you comic over to my comic, I'm happy of anything I can get. One page view is still one more then I would have had otherwise!

Zaymac- Your concept for a comic about people in mascot costumes having sex with each other during a zombie apocalypse sounds like webcomic gold. You would get a million hits a day off the belfry with a plot like that.

harkovast
Amelius, I cant help but wonder, have you been spoiled by your popularity, if you can be so picky about the attention you get!

I doubt that's it man. When you reach a certain level of popularity you no longer care about it one way or the other. What you care about then is your comic and it can feel painful when some tit is misrepresenting it for no reason.

I think that if you put something out there, into the public domain of the internet, then you cant really get mad at how people respond to it.
If they don't get into it, don't like it, don't pay it enough attention or anything else, that is their right.
No one owes it to a comic creator to give their comic an even break.
Not everyone is going to like it enough to get into it, but I can't get upset at them for not paying attention.
I've seen TV shows for about five minutes, mid way through an episode and said "this is crap" turned the channel and never went back. Is this fair to those shows? No. But I don't owe those shows an even break so they have no room to complain if I dont give it too them. It is their job to get the viewer involved, not my job as the viewer to study them and decide on their merits carefully before making a decision. The same is true of webcomics, including my own. If someone reads it properly, thats great, I appreciate them doing that. I personally believe it will reward their investment of time. But if they dont believe it will repay their commitment, then that is their choice to make.

I can more understand getting upset at rude comments rather then ones that show a lack of attention. Even then though, I think it is a bit silly to go on the inter net and not get insulted. Being able to mock and insult things with impunity is one of the inter nets main features. It's not a nice fact and people shouldn't do it, but they do.
Complaining about getting something you put on the internet insulted by trolls seems rather like jumping in a tiger pit with your body covered in meat and complaining when you get bitten.

Hark... lol!

Your entire post is an excellent example of the very thing this thread was about ;)

-Someone reads a little bit of something and then goes off on a massive misunderstood rant about it. As you just did, quite hilariously in this context.

Yes, what you've said could be valid and fit somewhere, for something... but not here. ^___^


You see, what you're not getting is that these "viewers" take an extremely active role by going away and writing massive rants about something they've not read enough of to rant about.
It's like your rant here. You haven't understood the point I've just described because you haven't really read through the thread properly, so you're ranting about some other idea based on your own imagination of what it's about.

Now to respond to your post in the light of the facts I've outlined; in this case viewers who are going to write a review or do a big rant about a subject OWE it to themselves, the comic writer and all the viewers who will see their rant to have actually read the subject of their rant properly before they go and write it.

However, if they simply don't like the comic after looking at the first page and so bugger off: no one cares one little jot. No even a smidgen. That's not what this thread is about.

Ozone, laughing at me is rude, don't be a jerk.
I don't mock you, even though YOU have completely failed to understand my post, so I don't see why you need to do it to me.

I said that what people want to say about a comic you put in the public domain is their right.
If they want to read one page, jump to (what the author feels) is the wrong conclusion and then write a ten page article about why they hate it, that is up to them.
As I said, they don't owe the author anything, not their time, or their praise.
Ideally yes, everyone should read everything carefully before making opinions. But if they don't want too they don't have too.
Somethings ARE just rubbish and you can tell they are rubbish by looking at one page.
Somethings are good, but you cant tell unless you read more of them.
Does that put me under contract to read everything in detail before I post an opinion? No.
Does that mean someone cant post an opinion without taking in all the information?
No.

If someone posts rants without researching them, unless they are brilliantly funny people will stop reading them after a while because they will realise what they are saying is nonsense.
If someone gets things horribly wrong, most likely they will just make themselves look stupid. Why would I get upset about that?

I have actually had someone who ran a comic review blog review my comic and basically skim through and say it was utter crap. I didn't agree with what he said and in places he obviously had not read the plot very carefully at all (he actually admitted to not reading half of it.)
But then people looked at what he had posted and pointed out his errors, so I was vindicated and he looked like a hack.
If someone jumps in with opinions that are ill founded this is what will usually happen, and even if it doesn't, who cares?
It is just there opinion and they are as entitled to it as I am to mine.

And at the end of the day, if people rant about a comic saying they hate it...GREAT! More people talking about my comic. Everyone will come and look at the comic to see what they are talking about, and maybe a few will decide its not so bad after all.

harkovast
Ozone, laughing at me is rude, don't be a jerk.
I don't mock you, even though YOU have completely failed to understand my post, so I don't see why you need to do it to me.

Why is laughing so rude? If I'm to go by what you wrote, it's entirely appropriate. Your last post gives me all the license in the world for just that behaviour. -I'm acknowledging your existence, and apparently any acknowledgement is good acknowledgement. By doing that I'm validating it. It's my "right" too apparently. :)

In fact your last post has a completely different slant to the one before. Now you're going more in depth about the fact the these people are writing long spiels on the basis of nothing and you're justifying that. Fine, just don't pretend that's what you were originally saying ;)

To your last post; It has nothing to do with it being their "right". In this thread we are talking about creators here, from the creators perspective, us as creator, and how we feel about an idiot misrepresenting our work to others on the basis of no research. We have a "right" to feel annoyed by that. This is what the thread is about...
apparently you want to deny that right?

-No, you don't at all. All you want to do is try and justify your earlier misunderstood position by adding this new perspective to it.
That's Interesting, for sure, but disingenuous and I can see through it very easily.

Lastly, this old notion of "any publicity is good publicity", sort of tacked on there... Well, yeah, that can be good if you're just interested in popularity, but that's not what we're discussing. The artist already has the popularity, that's why this is happening in the first place, it doesn't matter to the artist in any case, all that matters is that some nitwit has seen fit to malign and misrepresent their work.

-Amy asks us "does it bother you when that happens to you"
-Your answer should then probably be: "No, it doesn't bother me because it means greater notoriety for my work, because popularity is important to me."

That's a better way to go than basically saying that people who don't feel that way about notoriety and popularity are doing it wrong because that is all that really matters. If it's all that really matters to you, that's great, but that's just you.

Ozone I think that I can see through your transparant arguement actually.
I got your goat up a bit when I implied Amelius should just appreicate that people are talking about her and reading her comic, rather then complaining that they aren't reading it correctly.
And now you are keen to ridicule me because of that, even falling back on the old lazy arguing chestnut of "you just dont get it". You're case couldn't be more shallow unless you put an 'LOL' at the end of each line.
Pretty obvious, I suppose I could follow your track and laugh at you about it, but I dont see how that would help move things along.

My first post said if people want to not read your comic properly and talk trash about it, that is their right and you should enjoy the publicity.

My second post said that if people want to not read your comic properly and talk trash about it, that is their right and you should enjoy the publicity.

Wow, yeah, the massive contradiction there is so striking! I sure pulled a crazy 180 with that one!

Yes, I could have answer by saying "No" and leaving it at that, but I was expressing my thoughts related to the topic and the issues it raises. I explained why I dont care if people do that (and how I think it is usually a boon), and why I dont think others should care about it either.

I never said you couldn't feel annoyed about some jerk having a go at your comic. That was you (clumsily) trying to put words into my mouth.
I can do that too, watch!
"Ozone, why do you keep insisting we find peopel who insult our comics and beat them up? Don't you see how wrong that is?"
There! Isn't that fun? But how about we stick to arguing about things that one of us acutally said instead?
I never tried to tell anyone they dont hav ethe right to do something. You have the right to complain all you want. I don't think your complaints are based on a wise philosophy and I think it fails to see the big picture, but you are as entitled to that opinion as the idiot writing the trolling blog about you is entitled to theirs.
I have not said anyone cant voice an opinion. In a momment of wonderful irony it has been you who has used cheap tactics (laughing at me, accusing me orf not understanding the argument etc) to try and shut me up, jsut as you seem to want to be able to silence people you think dont give your comic a fair break.

If I get mad at people who give me unfair reviews, then I am no better then M Night Shamalan (Or however his name is spelt), showing movie critics as shallow, arrogant gits who just dont 'get it' (and ironically, making another crap movie in the process).

I can appreciate how feeling misrepresented might make someone feel bad, but thats the internet! If you made your comic thinking it was never going to happen you are being ridiculously nieve.
People can say whatever they want about my comic. They can say it is a Sonic Sprite Comic with Communist Agenda if it makes them feel good. Why should I care?
Why do I need their opinion to validate me?
They want to be a jerk on the inter net? Good luck to them. I might message them to discuss their point of view and why I disagree, but I am not going to be bothered by it.
I like hearing people tell me they like my comic, but if they want to not read it and jsut slag it off, they can and I cant stop them, so why get mad?
Also, perhaps it is arrogant for me to assume that they don't get it. Someone can get a joke and not find it funny. Perhaps the fault is with the comic for not drawing them in or being clearer too them.
If someone gets the wrong end of the stick, perhaps it is because the comic is confusing or poorly written?

Now I feel kinda bad, because just recently I dedicated an entire article to exactly this at In Genre. Seriously: just went to ten random DrunkDuck comics, read exactly one page of each, then offered a sarcastic critique and determined whether it was "good" or "crap".

Coincidentally, I only did that article because my original plan to interview Amelius never quite came together, since she didn't respond to my email about when would be a good time to interview her...