wrightc wrote:Ah, that's fair enough Scott, but Carson wasn't calling *Howard* a bully. He may well have been calling both you and Tycho a bully, but he left Howard out of that particular loop.
I wasn't even calling Scott a bully, I was calling Tycho a bully. I said that Scott shares the problem of seeing Keenspot as being a negative force on the lives of the individual cartoonists.
At least in Scott's case, he's always seemed to me to be at least a bit more concerned about the individual cartoonists, whereas we're all ants to Tycho for all I know.
As for the archives thing, I've been taking better pain medications since last year, and I'm not in nearly the desperate state of mind I was in, then, physically and financially. Now, with the pains in my head and back under control, I can look the situation overall more clearly.
And you know what? I'm glad Scott brought that up, because it's a perfect example of what I was talking about.
Webcartoonists delight in the misfortune of others.
A broad generalization, of course. But those of you to whom this does not apply to can see what I mean, I bet.
My financial state has been very precarious for years. I'm very lucky to have a place to live right now... I can't go into the details, but if I lost the trust of my landlord, I could be out on the street very quickly. And I wouldn't have anyplace to go, most likely, but some kind of shelter. I'd lose the rest of my possessions (some were destroyed in a flood a couple years back, a huge backwash coming off of some mountains... lucky not to lose *everything*)
This much has not changed: if I lose my home, Elf Life would have to be taken offline because
I would no longer have any direct control over my own work
Yes, I'm guilty of pushing my art sales too hard last year. The removal of my archives and the ruination of my life were the circumstances I was desperately trying to *avoid*. My series and my work had fallen on hard times because of a too-extravagant story and huge loss of interest by readers, so I had to make do with what little I had left. And, yes, part of that was a dramatization of "removing the archives". I *gasp* moved a few recent comics into another folder for a short period of time. Tie me to the stake and burn me!
And you know who came through for me? Not all these blowhards who are always criticizing Keenspot for giving us a raw deal. You know who finally came through for me?
KEENSPOT
Keenspot advanced me money to save my desparate situation at the time. Chris Crosby even offered to put me up if I really did lose my home, which really was a serious danger.
Sure, I could make even more money from Keenspot. I could make more money from Keenspot by not having such a screwy life, and keeping up my comic more, by doing more to advance the popularity of my comic myself. The server/ad revenue/everything else is a great deal for someone like myself, who has no stable family life and lives on pennies. The deal that we have with Keenspot is very simple and very fair; they do not take advantage of anyone; we have an escape clause that allows us to fly very easily (you notice, though, that this event is very rare?)
Before, when I was feeling more put upon, some of you really did have me convinced that I was guilty of some ethical malfeasance. No. You need to search your souls. You have been
taking delight in the misfortunes of others. I know there's a scowl on your face while you do it. That's part of the enjoyment, to feel the rush of anger and superiority.
And you want things to "rant" about. Your readers demand that you are snarky and vicious to others.
That's not my problem. That's yours. And I don't mean just you, Scott. I mean, the whole freaking webcomics "community".
Howard, I still have plenty of respect for. He's not up to that kind of crap, and I've only criticized him for a single lapse in judgement. And he has *never* kicked a guy like me in the ribs when I was down.
