Comments on: Where’s Your Messiah Now? http://www.fleen.com/archives/2005/12/19/wheres-your-messiah-now/ the webcomics blog about webcomics Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:25:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Fleen » http://www.fleen.com/archives/2005/12/19/wheres-your-messiah-now/#comment-833 Fleen » Thu, 02 Mar 2006 23:35:32 +0000 http://dev.fleen.com/?p=42#comment-833 [...] Now, for a fun game the whole family can play: Campbell has claimed, speak his name and he appears. So the time-to-T-appearance clock starts … now! [...] [...] Now, for a fun game the whole family can play: Campbell has claimed, speak his name and he appears. So the time-to-T-appearance clock starts … now! [...]

]]> By: Jeff http://www.fleen.com/archives/2005/12/19/wheres-your-messiah-now/#comment-28 Jeff Fri, 23 Dec 2005 01:15:30 +0000 http://dev.fleen.com/?p=42#comment-28 I find a lot of entertainment in a <i>quality</i> loon on the street. But I'm fussy that way. I find a lot of entertainment in a quality loon on the street.

But I’m fussy that way.

]]> By: T Campbell http://www.fleen.com/archives/2005/12/19/wheres-your-messiah-now/#comment-24 T Campbell Thu, 22 Dec 2005 20:15:07 +0000 http://dev.fleen.com/?p=42#comment-24 Whoosh, wham, speak ONR's name and I appear. If you want a long talk about this, you have my e-dress, but here's the short response: It's really ironic that you use Jonathan Rosenberg as a counterargument, because Rosenberg is hosting OhNoRobot, and he was one of the first cartoonists to join. (If you look at all those Google results, you'd find his ONR listing near the bottom.) You quote me a couple times but seem to think I think some pretty weird things. Creators would "suddenly decide" not to promote their comic? A creator who wants an audience will "do nothing" to find one? ONR is "the only means" of publicizing a webcomic? Ridiculous! The Web is full of the promotional efforts of cartoonists! Some are shy and retiring sorts, true, but the ones I care about have to have been promoted in some way at some point, or I wouldn't know about them, much less care about them enough to write this! However, I think that cartoonists would rather produce than promote, and after an initial burst of promotional enthusiasm, most of them settle into a routine of regular production and improvement and hoping the audience will come to them. I feel like that doesn't work as well in 2005 as it did in 2000, in no small part because of the extreme volume of material in webcomics today. The assumption among these creators seems to be that the audience will continue to take care of itself. I find that an untenable assumption. We have to keep reaching new readers by the best means we have available. Search engines have long served as matchmakers between seekers and material in the text Web. Why shouldn't they do the same for us? Finally, I do not assume that ONR will be the solution, do not believe that it will inevitably meet its promise. That is my hope, that is my dream, that is our mission statement. But in the end, it's going to depend on the efforts of many people besides myself. Zealots need a movement, after all; otherwise they're just loons on street corners. Whoosh, wham, speak ONR’s name and I appear. If you want a long talk about this, you have my e-dress, but here’s the short response:

It’s really ironic that you use Jonathan Rosenberg as a counterargument, because Rosenberg is hosting OhNoRobot, and he was one of the first cartoonists to join. (If you look at all those Google results, you’d find his ONR listing near the bottom.)

You quote me a couple times but seem to think I think some pretty weird things. Creators would “suddenly decide” not to promote their comic? A creator who wants an audience will “do nothing” to find one? ONR is “the only means” of publicizing a webcomic?

Ridiculous! The Web is full of the promotional efforts of cartoonists! Some are shy and retiring sorts, true, but the ones I care about have to have been promoted in some way at some point, or I wouldn’t know about them, much less care about them enough to write this!

However, I think that cartoonists would rather produce than promote, and after an initial burst of promotional enthusiasm, most of them settle into a routine of regular production and improvement and hoping the audience will come to them. I feel like that doesn’t work as well in 2005 as it did in 2000, in no small part because of the extreme volume of material in webcomics today.

The assumption among these creators seems to be that the audience will continue to take care of itself. I find that an untenable assumption. We have to keep reaching new readers by the best means we have available. Search engines have long served as matchmakers between seekers and material in the text Web. Why shouldn’t they do the same for us?

Finally, I do not assume that ONR will be the solution, do not believe that it will inevitably meet its promise. That is my hope, that is my dream, that is our mission statement. But in the end, it’s going to depend on the efforts of many people besides myself.

Zealots need a movement, after all; otherwise they’re just loons on street corners.

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