I respect everybody's free speech.

Feel free to criticize me or my comic or any of my rants in my comment box.

I don't care if you write some racist diatribe and hurl insults (that will only expose you as an idiot).
As long as you don't make any direct physical threats (to me or any person or group of people) or spam.

Thats all I gotta say.

2) please do NOT tell us which characters should fall in love/have mad passionate sex with/etc etc etc!

PLEASE!!! I LOVE THOSE COMMENTS!!! BRING EM ON!!! As it usually cracks me up. lol!

1) as the creator/creators of the comic, please... don't tell us how the story SHOULD go.

I like that stuff too. It lets me know that you really love my comic so much.

I'm always amused to hear what people want to happen next as well.
It shows they are invested in the story that they are willing it to turn out the way they want.

I have been reading this thread for the last week and find I agree and disagree with what some have posted.
I agree w/ Kyupol.
let people say whatever.
Also the whole spamming thing is really in poor taste.
if you want me to check out your comic just send me a pq.
no need to put it in the comments.

But one thing I kind of find irritating is the comments "posted just so you read their comic" thing, as though I am obligated to read a comic because you left me a comment. Don't deny this happens. And many of us have done this. I have seen this a lot. They comment on comics thinking they will get someone to read theirs and comment back.
Now I do want to say there is a matter of community building with some who do this to welcome new people and encourage young artists, which I used to do, but there are those who just do it for page-views. They could care less about my comic or someone else's.
I noticed this when I deleted my comic. I used to read tons of comics and loved supporting many people here on the Duck over a year ago. I didn't care if your read my comic or not. Many of them didn't but some did. But when I decided to take a break and revise my comic I also decided to scale back my favorites to a more manageable list. This meant me not commenting on their comics. When I started up again with the same comic name 4-5 months ago many of those people disappeared. Oh there still on here but they never welcomed me back as one would maybe think if they were connected to me or the comic. I'm not mad at them and any support is support but it just bugs me a bit. I hope this is making sense.

But to summarize, comment on something you actually care about...

or I'll roll up in the corner bobbing like Rain Man crying like and effin' baby on fire! j/k ;)

But one thing I kind of find irritating is the comments "posted just so you read their comic" thing

I think you mean the posts with a "5" but with no comment.

That started during the old days of drunkduck when the rating system REALLY affected your rankings.

So as a gesture of friendship, people would put a 5 on the comics of their friends. Just to push it to the top 30.

But even when the admins have fixed that by actually basing the top rankings on number of hits and frequency of updates (which is more fair IMO), people still wont break off the tradition.

Right now, I interpret that as:

"Hey buddy, just letting you know I checked out your comic and I'm reading it. See ya!"

It actually motivates me to a certain extent. I love comments. :)

kyupol

But one thing I kind of find irritating is the comments "posted just so you read their comic" thing

I think you mean the posts with a "5" but with no comment.

That started during the old days of drunkduck when the rating system REALLY affected your rankings.

So as a gesture of friendship, people would put a 5 on the comics of their friends. Just to push it to the top 30.

But even when the admins have fixed that by actually basing the top rankings on number of hits and frequency of updates (which is more fair IMO), people still wont break off the tradition.

Right now, I interpret that as:

"Hey buddy, just letting you know I checked out your comic and I'm reading it. See ya!"

It actually motivates me to a certain extent. I love comments. :)

no.
I mean the comments just to read their comic thing.
the "5" guys are in that group of course but there were some who commented just for the comment back.

I always comment on virtually everything I read on DD.
I like reading comments, so I assume others do too, so in that spirit I leave as many as possible.
Even if I dont intend to come back to the comic again, I still leave the author something to read.

kyupol

But one thing I kind of find irritating is the comments "posted just so you read their comic" thing

I think you mean the posts with a "5" but with no comment.



Right now, I interpret that as:

"Hey buddy, just letting you know I checked out your comic and I'm reading it. See ya!"

It actually motivates me to a certain extent. I love comments. :)

That's how I roll. Sometimes I have something to say and sometimes I just want people to know I checked it out.

About blank 5's... I think most of these are not the self-promotional comments. Many are from regular readers who can't think of anything to say but want you to know they're still reading and supporting you. (Many of the blank 5's I see come from readers who have no comic of their own.)

I have a (bad?) habit of not commenting on comics I don't plan to follow regularly. I feel a little guilty to leave a comment on a page and not check out the rest of the comic and return later. I don't know why I feel I should be silent on all but my favorites. -- I know I love to get any comments even if the person never comes back. But I don't want people to feel they need to check out my profile or comic(s) just because I left them a comment. :-/

I don't check out the comics of every commentor I get. For a regular reader, yeah, I almost always will take a look at what they've created. I like to know what kinds of people enjoy my work. I don't comment or follow everyone's work, though, just the stories that draw me in.

I almost feel rude not to follow comics of people who comment so regularly on mine, but I do reply to comments left on my comic. And I think it's a matter of respect to be honest with people. I'm glad you enjoy my story, but it doesn't necessarily mean I'll be into yours. After all, I don't mind that I leave comments on every page of some comics whose creators would probably never want to look at one of mine. I don't know why I feel guilty about doing things that I don't mind other people doing to me. Just my nature, I suppose.

kyupol

But one thing I kind of find irritating is the comments "posted just so you read their comic" thing

I think you mean the posts with a "5" but with no comment.

That started during the old days of drunkduck when the rating system REALLY affected your rankings.

So as a gesture of friendship, people would put a 5 on the comics of their friends. Just to push it to the top 30.

But even when the admins have fixed that by actually basing the top rankings on number of hits and frequency of updates (which is more fair IMO), people still wont break off the tradition.

Right now, I interpret that as:

"Hey buddy, just letting you know I checked out your comic and I'm reading it. See ya!"

It actually motivates me to a certain extent. I love comments. :)

I still feel happy when you leave that good ol' 5 under my updates, Kyupol. :)

We mentioned the annoying self promoters... But there are worse subspeciecs of that animal:

1. There's the self promoter who doesn't even mention anything about your comic, they just spam an ad for their own.

2. The self promoter who has a banner ad in their comment.

3. The self promoter who has a full poster in their comment.

4. And worst of all- the self promoter who encourages their fanatical readers to spam other comics for them. :gem:
We've currently had a huge amount of reported comment where someone is doing exactly that. The fact is that aggressive marketing like that is actually offensive.

Ozone, wow, someone getting their supporters to spam for them?
Who would do such a thing? I cant imagine who it might be!
*turns off sarcasm mode*
(I considered doing a joke of slipping in the nameof the comic that is doing it because we all know who it is, but I wont since then people will think that I'm just spamming for the comic!)

;)

Indeed, best not to talk about specific individuals, just examples of bad etiquette.

---------------
Here's a general one people don't like anywhere usually:

"Woot! I got first comment!"

"Wohoo! I got second comment!"

...and so on.

Once upon a time before the internet when fanzines were stapled mimeographed sheets and Amateur Press Associations existed; the etiquette was to say RAEBNC.
"read and enjoyed but no comment."
As for asking what's going to happen next? My problem giving comments is that I almost always know so I am usually disappointed. So my comment became RAEBIHRIB. "Read and enjoyed but I have read it before." lol!
As far as shameless self-promotion; go ahead and do it. It's the same as "Enough about you, let's talk about me." lol! Say anything you want, but that doesn't mean I have to listen. ;)