I'm putting together a list of sorts of webcomics etiquette. Things we want people who read webcomics, but don't write them, to know.

Stuff like "Don't bitch about hiatuses. If you had a job you did for free three days a week, you'd want some time off occasionally, too." And "Do write emails to artists you like. Many readers only take the time to write when they dislike something. Positive feedback is good, too."

So what do you want the webcomic readers of the world to know?

1) as the creator/creators of the comic, please... don't tell us how the story SHOULD go. Don't get mad at us if we kill off your OMGFAVCHARRIEEVAR!!1!... if we kill someone off, it's for the advancement of the PLOT.

You know, that thing that everyone ELSE is coming back to read? The one you skipped right over because you wanted to see if/when character xx and character yy got together? Yeah, that.

That leads me to #2

2) please do NOT tell us which characters should fall in love/have mad passionate sex with/etc etc etc! Unless we specifically request that sort of thing (for example, fan art is permissible... it can be amusing then), then about 95% of the comics that you read, their creators do NOT want to hear of this sort of thing.

And NEVER email us with your OMG I HAVE TEH BEST SHIPPING FAN FICTION EVAR!!! Let me refer you back to that 95%, and add about another 4% to it. Most of the time, reading what's likely to be a Mary-Sue injected into our creation simply to have sex with your FAVORITE CHARACTER EVAR is bound to make us want to claw our eyes out with a spork.

That's the main ones I can think of at the moment.

>Net

Net
1) as the creator/creators of the comic, please... don't tell us how the story SHOULD go. Don't get mad at us if we kill off your OMGFAVCHARRIEEVAR!!1!... if we kill someone off, it's for the advancement of the PLOT.

You know, that thing that everyone ELSE is coming back to read? The one you skipped right over because you wanted to see if/when character xx and character yy got together? Yeah, that.

That leads me to #2

2) please do NOT tell us which characters should fall in love/have mad passionate sex with/etc etc etc! Unless we specifically request that sort of thing (for example, fan art is permissible... it can be amusing then), then about 95% of the comics that you read, their creators do NOT want to hear of this sort of thing.

And NEVER email us with your OMG I HAVE TEH BEST SHIPPING FAN FICTION EVAR!!! Let me refer you back to that 95%, and add about another 4% to it. Most of the time, reading what's likely to be a Mary-Sue injected into our creation simply to have sex with your FAVORITE CHARACTER EVAR is bound to make us want to claw our eyes out with a spork.

That's the main ones I can think of at the moment.

>Net

Wow, I wish I got those kinds of comments/emails related to my comic. That's really a following/fandom going on. Must be annoying for a really popular webcomic, I suppose. Maybe I'm weird, but I would be thrilled if someone was so into one of my characters or story to do anything like that...

And I love it when people "get mad" at any plot development. It shows they're into it.

Net
1) as the creator/creators of the comic, please... don't tell us how the story SHOULD go. Don't get mad at us if we kill off your OMGFAVCHARRIEEVAR!!1!... if we kill someone off, it's for the advancement of the PLOT.

I actually haven't had problem yet. But I'm curious as to the reaction when I kill off a certain character,(who for some reason has become quite popular) very shortly. I just wasn't planning on making him a main character, so we"ll see what the reaction is.

As for etiquette, I can handle criticism about my art or my grammar. But when people start nitpicking about illogical things happening in the story, I'm like "You're reading a webcomic about anthromorphic animals dealing with the zombie apocalypse... The whole thing is illogical."

That's the only thing they really ever irks me.

This reminds me of a thread in another forum where the poster asked what represented the Definitive Drunk Duck strips or stories. The proper answer is that it's all subjective and therefore a matter of personal opinion.

Personally if someone has a problem with my work I DON"T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT in the comment's column. If you don't like what I do then DON'T visit my site. But I perfectly understand that other cartoonists feel differently.

As far as suggestions regarding what I am doing with the story line or characters, I don't mind that at all. As Usedbooks noted, it's an indication that people like your work enough to get involved, and that seems like a good thing to me.

As far as criticism goes, if a visitor feels so strongly about something that he or she MUST complain then shoot the cartoonist a PQ. It's private and does not rest among the other comments left like reeking dog doo that never goes away.

Yeah, I think part of webcomic etiquette is if you spot an error (like a typo), it is better to send an email or private message, so the creator can correct it. Most creators do like to correct typos but don't really like those kinds of messages in a public comment section or forum.

Actually, comments that address only the creator probably should always be conducted privately. But maybe that's a personal preference too? I don't know. To me, it falls under the same etiquette as "don't carry out one-on-one conversations in a forum." If it's not something of interest to multiple users, then keep it private.

Oh, and here's one that I follow but I don't know if it's common etiquette. Keep your public comments appropriate for the rating of the comic. I once deleted a (positive and pretty good) comment because it contained a strong curse word and the comic was rated E. (It's a matter of respect for other readers.)

Net
1) as the creator/creators of the comic, please... don't tell us how the story SHOULD go. Don't get mad at us if we kill off your OMGFAVCHARRIEEVAR!!1!... if we kill someone off, it's for the advancement of the PLOT.

You know, that thing that everyone ELSE is coming back to read? The one you skipped right over because you wanted to see if/when character xx and character yy got together? Yeah, that.

2) please do NOT tell us which characters should fall in love/have mad passionate sex with/etc etc etc! Unless we specifically request that sort of thing (for example, fan art is permissible... it can be amusing then), then about 95% of the comics that you read, their creators do NOT want to hear of this sort of thing.

These two are my favorite part about having fans though, i mean they get so into the story to care about who ends up with who, you shouldn't be hating this you should be damn proud your creation has such passionate fans.

I can't really think of anything to say to readers/fans, but i can think of a ton to say to creators that whine about readership rates in their public author comments or get pissy when a fan tries to give them said constructive criticism. "OMG u dun hav a comic whut do u know about making webcomics ther serius work in my 3 day per week job DX", etc.
Well kinda straying from the original point, i think creators need more etiquette help then fans.

about criticism, i hate it when somebody says "this could be better" and leave it at that

that was helpful! i don't know what i'm doing wrong so where should i start? i won't because i don't know.

i personally don't mind where the criticism shows up.

Skullbie
These two are my favorite part about having fans though, i mean they get so into the story to care about who ends up with who, you shouldn't be hating this you should be damn proud your creation has such passionate fans.

Well, let me clarify then. :) I don't mean some degree of this, but I've seen where fans take it waayyy too far.

And I'm not that popular, this has never happened to me, personally. :) I've seen where someone literally got death threats if they killed off a character. That's taking fandom way BEYOND the extreme. THAT's what I'm referring to.

>Net

For me almost anything is cool...
Except when people e-mail me about their sex fantasies about my characters (hardcore). That's a bit strong.

I'm with Ozone any type of attention is great for me I'm totally a whore.

seriously....Id kill for some psycho fans haha. My current group of regulars are all cool as fuck and i love them, but a psycho fan would make things a hell of a lot more interesting.

The fact is, no matter what you think, your reader is sort of like a customer. can they make you change a story element? only if you really let them. otherwise, they are free to voice their opinion, no matter how asinine. be grateful that you even have readers who care enough about your characters to saw things like that.

It's kind of difficult to draw a line as far as comments are concerned. Generally, I'd say the more comments the better, so I wouldn't want a set of "rules" that might discourage people from leaving them. These are a few thoughts that spring immeditely to mind:

1. Spoilers: Personally, I like it when readers try to guess what's going to happen next. It shows they're interested in the story. If they're right, though, they could be inadvertantly spoiling the story for other readers who haven't guessed. I'm not saying don't do it, just ... be careful!

2. Be polite: If you do have (what you think is) a valid criticism, by all means say it but don't be rude. If someone showed you their work in real life, you wouldn't just say "That really sucks!" You'd be more diplomatic, pointing out the things you do like and trying to be constructive about the things you don't. Act the same way on the web. Imagine how you'd say it if the creator was standing in front of you.

3. Other readers: Don't criticise other readers for their comments. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion and the last thing a creator wants is a flame war going on between fans. Most systems allow a creator to report/mute/delete comments that are completely out of order so, show your support for the creator by all means, but leave the job of responding to them.

4. Evangelise! With the (possible!) exception of those comics which already count their readers in the tens of thousands, every creator would like his comic to have more readers, whether it currently has ten or a hundred and ten. Therefore, if you really think a comic is good, tell people about it and click those voting buttons. It only takes a few seconds, it costs nothing and it's a very practical way of supporting the comic.

I appreciate most comments, but I do have my limits on what I can take. Outright rudeness/flaming and repeatedly telling me to update for example.

I do prefer more thoughtful comments over "cool" or "poor dude"...but I'd feel a bit weird actually asking people to start making deeper ones.

Though I actually think I even prefer short and blunt comments over only recieving a rating number and nothing else. :D I understand why some people do that though, it's not easy thinking of something to say every time.

....I might have more to say on this later....but too tired now...

megan_rose
Stuff like "Don't bitch about hiatuses. If you had a job you did for free three days a week, you'd want some time off occasionally, too."

I'd agree with CharlieHorse that its a bit subjective. Personally I don't mind people whining about hiatus, if they keep it civil and bear in mind the creator has a life outside of making comics (well... most of us do ;) ). People commit to check back for a new updates and are bound to be frustrated if something they enjoy goes and dies for an undetermined length of time.

Skullbie
"OMG u dun hav a comic whut do u know about making webcomics ther serius work in my 3 day per week job DX"

Owch! I only work three days and find it hard to update even once a week... haha. :) But seriously, I agree that it is important for creators to respond to any comments in a civil way, and not to get too defensive.

I disagree with some of the suggestions mentioned here, but I suppose that's indicative of different peoples' approaches to their own comics/audiences. :]

I think it's completely valid to complain (gently) about hiatuses or missing updates *if* the author hasn't given any indication that they will be missing anything, or if they are constantly wrong about when they will update. If a creator sets a schedule of Mondays and Thursdays, and then only manages to actually update on those days about 50% of the time, I think that's a valid complaint for the readers. In that case the creator is just not living up to a promise they've made. The creator should be more honest about when and how often they can update. Or, if they go on hiatus, they should announce that ahead of time, and give a date when they'll return- instead of vanishing for a few weeks with a sorry! ^___^; on their return.

Way too many webcomic creators are way too sensitive. People sending them any kind of comment, criticism, suggestion, etc shows that they have readers who, for whatever reason, cared enough to give a message. It may not be one you agree with or solicited, but it's evidence of an active audience.

I can't help but think it sounds kind of pretentious to write a 'webcomics reader ettiquette' guide in the first place. I mean, I understand the need, but the people who are going to be reading a guide are probably not the ones who would need the advice in the first place.


1. Most webcomic creators appreciate receiving criticism or corrections in private, rather than in a public comments area.

2. Try to be polite in all correspondence- for example, criticism is more likely to be accepted if it isn't put in a rude or extreme way.

3. Please understand if the creator does not want to read your fan writing, publicise fan art you've given them, incorporate your suggestions, or reciprocate links to your site. There are many reasons why they may not do so- they may not want others' influence on their story, your suggestions may not match their vision for the comic, they may feel that posting fan art would reduce the focus of their comic, or they may receive so much correspondence/suggestions/art/etc that trying to keep up with it or incorporate it would take time away from working on the comic. A good creator will acknowledge and thank the giver, and a good giver will be gracious about what the creator does (or doesn't) do.

skoolmunkee
I can't help but think it sounds kind of pretentious to write a 'webcomics reader ettiquette' guide in the first place.

Well, it's not like I'm going to be writing a 150-page book about it, and then going around enforcing it. It's just for funzies.

Well, since I'm another person who likes constructive criticism and hearing about mistakes, I'm having to think harder about legitimate etiquette. But I think I can cook up a few things most authors could agree on:


- If an author wants to hear about mistakes and problems in their comic, they probably only want to hear about it once. Having five people in a row tell them about the same spelling mistake is not very helpful.

- Do not post obscene things in the comments section when you're reading an all-ages comic. Some authors a very careful to make their comic presentable to all ages.

- It's always nice to hear from fans in the comments section. On Drunk Duck, the ratings don't mean anything anymore, so commenting just to score the page with a '5' only proves that you exist. Please tell us what you think!

Things to avoid in non adult comments:
Tentacle jokes, incest jokes, I want to **** your character comments, this fat character looks pregnant yet she or he's not comments, furry porn jokes in an obviously not adult furry comic and what others said before.

Also plugging your own comic in comments is a big no-no. I think others have came up with good what you should put in advice, so I'll leave it at that.

JillyFoo
Also plugging your own comic in comments is a big no-no.

Ugh, I hate that. It happens on just about any art-related site. Does that ever actually work?

Net
1) as the creator/creators of the comic, please... don't tell us how the story SHOULD go. Don't get mad at us if we kill off your OMGFAVCHARRIEEVAR!!1!... if we kill someone off, it's for the advancement of the PLOT.

You know, that thing that everyone ELSE is coming back to read? The one you skipped right over because you wanted to see if/when character xx and character yy got together? Yeah, that.

That leads me to #2

2) please do NOT tell us which characters should fall in love/have mad passionate sex with/etc etc etc! Unless we specifically request that sort of thing (for example, fan art is permissible... it can be amusing then), then about 95% of the comics that you read, their creators do NOT want to hear of this sort of thing.

And NEVER email us with your OMG I HAVE TEH BEST SHIPPING FAN FICTION EVAR!!! Let me refer you back to that 95%, and add about another 4% to it. Most of the time, reading what's likely to be a Mary-Sue injected into our creation simply to have sex with your FAVORITE CHARACTER EVAR is bound to make us want to claw our eyes out with a spork.

That's the main ones I can think of at the moment.

>Net

But you told me you loved all my ideas and were going to use them in the future! :(

Dawg
But you told me you loved all my ideas and were going to use them in the future! :(

I was. Then you killed mah favorite character. *shun*

((yes, this goes EXACTLY against my point #1 above, so what's your point?!? )

>Net

I welcome any and all comments, even inappropriate ones for the lolz. I have gotten comments from people like, "nice page reminds me of MY COMIC *URL*" or like, "wow cool read my comic?" and usually out of morbid curiosity I'll look, or even comment, if it's interesting. Those people are usually new to the site though. Plus, you've got to admire the gall it takes to do that.

If I make a typo, I prefer to be alerted, and if it's really a typo there, it's not like the comment saying "there not their" is going to surprise readers-- they've probably noticed it too. People are more likely to read your comic than to read your comments, so I feel like pointing it out is just better. And in terms of pointing out typos, I do it whenever I see it, because I can't imagine someone *not* wanting to know about a typo. And it's way too much effort to expend on such a trifling error to actually PQ someone like, "page 26, panel 3, you spelled "potato" "potatoe"!" or something..)

One thing though, is giving out "4"s... why bother? On a site like ours where everyone doles out the 5's, even to sprite comics, a 4 is more of a slap in the face than anything else. But everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Generally speaking (lol pun?), I don't appreciate vague criticism... like "looks good but could use some work."

Kristen Gudsnuk
If I make a typo, I prefer to be alerted, and if it's really a typo there, it's not like the comment saying "there not their" is going to surprise readers-- they've probably noticed it too.

Yes, I'd much rather people pointed out typos too (I want to eradicate them as soon as possible!) and I've no problem with that kind of thing being in a public comment.

Kristen Gudsnuk
One thing though, is giving out "4"s... why bother? On a site like ours where everyone doles out the 5's, even to sprite comics, a 4 is more of a slap in the face than anything else.

I think this is often an indication that the commenter is new to the site and hasn't yet realised that the rating system doesn't actually mean anything. I used to give 4's when I was new to the site and so I have no problem with others doing it to my comic. I don't see it as a slap in the face. In their own mind, the person giving it is still saying "I pretty much like everything about this page except maybe one thing", so I can live with that!

The comment section should be an area for free expression.
If people don't like something about my comic, they are perfectly within their rights to say so.
They don't have to pretend to be nodding dogs, smiling blankly even as they hate what they are seeing.
If they want the plot to go a certain way or desire a certain out come, that's good, it means they are into the story. I am not likely to change it based on what they say, but they are still welcome to say it.

The only thing I would take objection to is someone being actively rude, insulting, racist or something else along those lines.

megan_rose

JillyFoo
Also plugging your own comic in comments is a big no-no.

Ugh, I hate that. It happens on just about any art-related site. Does that ever actually work?

I really dislike people that do that sort of thing.

There are places and ways of advertising yourself.

I'll check out someone's work if they have something really interesting to say in their comment. But if all they do is advertise themselves I'll make a point of avoiding them for ever.

Ozone I agree entirely.
If you want to advertise on my comic, you can buy project wonderful space at the top.

If you want to talk about my comic, leave a comment.

Do not try and combine the two to get free plugs!
It is crude, ill mannered, shows disrespect to the comic you are commenting on and will most likely just drive people away rather then attract them.

Don't do it!

Kristen Gudsnuk
One thing though, is giving out "4"s... why bother? On a site like ours where everyone doles out the 5's, even to sprite comics, a 4 is more of a slap in the face than anything else. But everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Also, a "4" rating could be a mistake. I've caught myself a couple of times about to hit the send button and I noticed that I hit "4" instead of "5" in the pull down menu. I know I'm going to leave a "4" at least once by mistake before my career at DrunkDuck is finished.

Heh, in an environment like DD, plugging your own comics in the comments is PARTICULARLY annoying... because if someone's interested, all they have to do is click your name to get your profile, and there's all your comics, right there.

It's honestly rare, though, where I've seen where someone begs for a visit to his/her comic in the comments... and then is still around a month or two later.

>Net

Personally, I just leave the post there when someone begs for hits in my comments.
(yes, they've done that)

I think it brings them more shame and humiliation then hits!