Hi All,
I've noticed that pretty much every webcomic artist and his cartoon dog out there has some sort of user feedback for their site, be it full-blown forum or a "user comment" page.
My question for those of you that employ these community building/user feedback devices is this: are they a good idea? Is it nice to know exactly what your readers think about your comic or not? Both perhaps? Is there a good advantage in letting your audience have a voice?
Interested in knowing what everyone thinks ...
Most of the time I find that it is friends or family who are posting on them. I don't find them all that useful. Sadly, I don't even check it anymore. I just keep on drawing irregardless of commentary good or bad or ugly.
[quote:a013f2e246="Anonymous"]I just keep on drawing irregardless of commentary good or bad or ugly.
In that case, you won't mind if I comment that "irregardless" isn't a word. :)
I have a shoutbox and a forum on my site -- the shoutbox I thought would be a nice way for people to give me a little instant feedback, which has been the case. It's also a good way for clever robots to inform us where we can get things from Russia.
The forum I'd hoped would blossom into a full-blown political discussion board, but apart from a flurry of activity in 2003 (when Wil Wheaton, of whose site I was a member, briefly closed his politics forums, many of his users migrated to my site), this died out and the forums remain a kind of painful reminder of the community I'd hoped to build and was unable to. Every day I think about taking them down.
I refrain from including politics in my forums. No better way to lose members than to do that.
What? "irregardless" is not a word!?! Come on! How about snib or diphus or combrinit? Am I on the right planet?
[quote:b2056cb550="dictionary.com"] irregardless: ir·re·gard·less
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
and there yah go.
Anyway, feedback is good in limited doses. Find out what doesnt work, and dont do that again. Ignore people who tell you how to do your business... unless they're right.
Long and the short of it: Take it or leave it.
I have a tagboard on my homepage, a forum and an email contact link.
Let's start with the good. Feedback is nice, but you have to make sure that you have a thick skin and impeccable manners in case of negative opinions and also that you don't become your readers' bitch trying to accomodate all of their whims. People can be unreasonably demanding sometimes, and you have to ignore them when they are - because if you are too available and approachable people will take it for granted and bug you about everything.
It's very cool to hear from readers, there are many who seem to be really nice people as well as people who come up with interesting suggestions and criticism. Some have become regulars on my site and started discussions with other readers about stuff unrelated to the comic.
As for the bad and the ugly:
The ugly. Every day I check my site worrying that some ass spammed the tagboard with porn links/movie spoilers/flames towards other posters etc etc - it happens very rarely but you can't really leave a tagboard/forum completely unattended. The majority of the problems I've had wasn't particularly malicious in nature, but even so it's annoying if you have to delete spam, even if it's someone posting ten times how much your c0m1c r0x, or that they like cheese.
The weirdest had to be some guy whose IP originated from China, who impersonated me on the tagboard. He wouldn't post anything nasty, but if someone posted a compliment to the comic he'd reply using my name and saying "thank you very much", "glad you liked it" and stuff like that. I banned his IP from the tagboard but maybe I should have offered him a job instead answering my emails.
The bad. You get a mixed bag of people talking on your site, some of the stuff they write can make you sad. Just to mention a couple of examples, a spooky reader asked me if I had made provisions for someone to continue my comic in case I died, while another guy asked me how I could manage to remember the look and clothing of all those characters, did I keep sketches and notes next to the computer, or what? D'oh!
Overall, I'd recommend giving your readers a way to express themselves, but you'll have to keep out of heated discussions, refrain from flaming them and spend some time that you could spend drawing to answer emails, delete duplicate posts and stuff like that.
a spooky reader asked me if I had made provisions for someone to continue my comic in case I died
have you?
A sense of humor is the biggest thing, and yes... banning IP's is the second thing. :)
Since my webcomic is a retelling of a story cycle that goes back fifteen hundred years, the biggest category of reader commentary on the message board is "Which source did you get that from?" Every once in awhile a reader will make a story or site suggestion, and sometimes I will look on it and decide it is good. So far the fraction of my reader base that comments at the message board is too small for behavior problems to have shown up. And some people still prefer to email.
[quote:4cc69d01d7="Gianna"]
The weirdest had to be some guy whose IP originated from China, who impersonated me on the tagboard. He wouldn't post anything nasty, but if someone posted a compliment to the comic he'd reply using my name and saying "thank you very much", "glad you liked it" and stuff like that. I banned his IP from the tagboard but maybe I should have offered him a job instead answering my emails.
That is just crazy, that guy must have had no life at all!
Mike
[quote:89b628d50f="Gianna"]...a spooky reader asked me if I had made provisions for someone to continue my comic in case I died...
Aw, you could've had some fun with that one. ;)
I have to ask, are you Chris CROSBY, Chris CLAREMONT or Chris CARTER?
None of the above. CANTRELL. Not as well known but just as crazy.
I'll just quote Warren Ellis
"Never ever write for an audience other than yourself. Your only responsibility is to the work. The only thing you "owe" the "fans" is the best possible story you can manage in return for their money. That's the whole deal."
//Erik Melander
[quote:f8d685560b="Warren Ellis via GiantPanda"]Never ever write for an audience other than yourself. Your only responsibility is to the work. The only thing you "owe" the "fans" is the best possible story you can manage in return for their money. That's the whole deal.
I think that may be one of the main reasons why so many comics (web or otherwise) are sub-par at best.
Most people do not have Ellis's writing skills. And quite honestly, stories about the games people play, the funny things their roommates say, and the TV shows they watch just aint all that interesting.
Or, I should say: Most comic creators don't have the skills to make them interesting.
Really, all of the long-lasting stories were made with an audience in mind.
This is my experience with feedback, what you want you don't get enough of, and what you don't want you get more than you can stand of. I only get maybe one email every six months, and most of the time they're good stuff, and much like when you get that nice thrill from looking in your (actual) mailbox and see something that isn't an advertisement or a bill, the same is true for feedback from your site.
On the other hand, this six month period email was telling me that is wasn't possible to do my comic in the format I was doing, when everyone and their grandmother does this format. Feed back is great when it isn't from people who have no idea what they're talking about (kind of like the comments from friends and family) they are either going to love everything you do regardless of quality, or give advice that makes no sense.
maybe I'm bitter
I agree with Gianna. I like feedback, and I like chatting with my fans about various topics.
I DON'T like (nor do I allow) my readers trying to guilt-trip me into doing something. I had someone threaten me that if I didn't move from Comic Genesis to Drunk Duck (No offense to the DD people, I don't think they were affliated with them, really) they'd (get this) STOP VOTING FOR MY COMIC ON TWC!
Silly, but sad in a way.
Ironically I did consider doing a mirror before, but after this I thought I might as well use my WCN account.
Personally the only thing I think a creator owes their audience is forthright communication about updates. If they're going on hiatus, let the audience know and don't leave them dangling. That's all.
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Audience Participation: Good/Bad/Ugly?
Hi All,
I've noticed that pretty much every webcomic artist and his cartoon dog out there has some sort of user feedback for their site, be it full-blown forum or a "user comment" page.
My question for those of you that employ these community building/user feedback devices is this: are they a good idea? Is it nice to know exactly what your readers think about your comic or not? Both perhaps? Is there a good advantage in letting your audience have a voice?
Interested in knowing what everyone thinks ...
RE: Audience Participation: Good/Bad/Ugly?
I think deep down, everyone likes to get feedback, whether constructive or complimentary. Constructive feedback helps me improve my 'toon, and compliments - well - compliments and kudos are the little things that make drawing a webcomic so satsifying.
I can't speak for other cartoonists out there, but I often find my audience to be silent 95% of the time - so I'm always left wondering if what I'm creating is good/bad/ugly. Feedback is a good thing, IMHO.
Re: RE: Audience Participation: Good/Bad/Ugly?
[quote:c028850c50="bobweiner"]I can't speak for other cartoonists out there, but I often find my audience to be silent 95% of the time - so I'm always left wondering if what I'm creating is good/bad/ugly. Feedback is a good thing, IMHO.
I'll agree with that but for me it's 99.9%.