Aeire on Keencast with Milholland

[bokonondeemax]

In case you didn't notice the newsbox, check the May 25 podcast.

http://www.keencast.com/

[HiFranc]

It's interesting.

[cmdrrickhunter]

Just tagging this post with one more person who is removing Aeire's work from his morning list. I kept it on, because I enjoyed QoW. I kept it on because I thought "Maybe she's just totally overloaded and can't even check the forums to find out how much we miss her." I know how things are. The podcast, however, was the last straw.

No, I haven't listened to it. If she's addressing posters like me, feel free to laugh at me. I'll laugh with you, I enjoy being the butt of a joke that brings people mirth.

Take a look at the duration: 1:31. Thats a lot of time. She's certainly not swamped over her head if she can drop 2+ hours (setup time) to do a podcast.

Meanwhile she won't take 5 minutes to read the forums, see everyone's distress, and post a "sorry, I'm just not able to maintain this community." There's a huge debate over "I'm owed the knowledge of whats happening" vs "you idiot, you didn't pay anything." However, there is a more simple truth. A lot of people are nontrivialy hurt by Aeire's vanishing act. Her failing to take 5 minutes for us, to me, says that she feels her 5 minutes are worth more than the pain of her readers. Its not even 5 minutes, more like 3. I choose to view that as a reflection of her character. You are welcome to do the same, or just shrug it off with "she has her reasons".

Her valuing 5 minutes when she's swamped with massive deluges of work is a fair decision. However, to have 2 hours to spend on random people when she doesn't have 5 minutes to address those who are closer to her, that just seems a little bit wrong.

So go ahead and listen to the podcast. Go ahead and laugh at me if she addresses me by name, saying, "CmdrRickHunter is a whiny idiot with funny teeth." I dont think its worth 1:30 of my life when I've got work projects I'm stuck doing at home because Idont have enough hours in the workday. However, I do feel that its worth 10 minutes of my time to voice my slant on the whole "she doesn't owe us anything" argument. And I haven't spent the time to go through all the posts to see if someone has allready beaten me to this argument.

Insinuate what you want out of my time usage.

[GabrielTane]

No, I haven't listened to it. If she's addressing posters like me, feel free to laugh at me. I'll laugh with you, I enjoy being the butt of a joke that brings people mirth.

I've listened to the podcast and it actually was really good. Aeire is just a co-host though, so she doesn't get into her own comic or readership. I was kind of hoping for a snippet about the (still on it's way?) future project. I didn't even know she was involved until I was listening to it. I wanted to hear it for Milholland's rants.

A lot of people are nontrivialy hurt by Aeire's vanishing act. Her failing to take 5 minutes for us, to me, says that she feels her 5 minutes are worth more than the pain of her readers. Its not even 5 minutes, more like 3. I choose to view that as a reflection of her character. You are welcome to do the same, or just shrug it off with "she has her reasons".

Her valuing 5 minutes when she's swamped with massive deluges of work is a fair decision. However, to have 2 hours to spend on random people when she doesn't have 5 minutes to address those who are closer to her, that just seems a little bit wrong.

You're spot-on about her allocation of time. It is, after all, her prerogative as to how she spends her time. Where you lose your high-ground is with the bits about her readers being hurt.

Yes, some of us were concerned. Some of us were so concerned that her "leave me alone" was enough to upset us to the point of no longer coming here. But that's not Aeire's fault or concern. Yes, if she wants readership, she has to cater to her fans...to a point. But she doesn't have to coddle the more... hmm... sensitive ones (yeah, that's a nice way to put it).

It's the argument about treating your customers right if you want to have custmers. While we don't pay for anything, we are the readers of her work. Can she do what she does without readers? Sure. Would it be a fulfilling to her? Well, that's up to her.

The other point at which you lose it is here

However, to have 2 hours to spend on random people when she doesn't have 5 minutes to address those who are closer to her, that just seems a little bit wrong

Closer to her? Says who? How do you, or any of us, know that the people that do the podcast (Striptease creator, right?) aren't closer friends with her than a bunch of fans she's never met? That seems really, really presumptuous on your part to think that a community of readers who post in a forum are supposed to be closer to her than people she's met with and worked with quite a bit, sometimes in person. Besides, I get the feeling that, for the most part, the Keenspot community of Artists is as closely-knit as the commuity of fans.

So, raise your hand here if you've ever actually met with and talked to Aeire. How many here have her phone number or chit-chat with her on even a semi-regular basis.

Yeah.

All that aside... all of the arguments have already been made. Should she have let us know she's done here? Should she give us a reason or excuse? Blah blah blah.

She's alive, she's doing her thing. If that "thing" doesn't include us, so be it. Move on. Just don't try to make a big epic out of it. If you're outta here (bye-bye, SamTheUnPokable), then leave. Don't try to be a drama-queen about it.

If you're still waiting on word from Aeire, then take the hint that she did spend a couple of hours doing a podcast and didn't take a moment to update her site.

(/soapbox)

[badkittyface]

how can you just leave me standing
alone in a world that's so cold?
maybe i'm just too demanding.
maybe i'm just like my father: too bold.
maybe you're just like my mother:
she's never satisfied.
why do we scream at each other?

this is what it sounds like

when doves cry...

[cmdrrickhunter]

I do love the argument about how an emotionally charged person can't just leave one message and walk off =) Terribly valid.

Anyways, you are right. Perhaps closer was not the best word. More associated with? Ugg, I think a lady I ment explained my life really well a while back. I told her I was an engineer and she quipped off "I used to not know how to spell engineer, now I are one!" I really dont know what the most accurate word would be. I would see putting more value on readers than random people. Anyone with any skill with this accursed language want to help me out? =) Pre-brainwashed perhaps?

As for the "just leave" answer... most people who left just have. However, some of us are a bit too dramatic to do so. I personally felt like "she owes me an answer," until I read a few posts here which corrected me on this mistake. So I posted what I feel now. Hopefully people will be able to push closer to the truth of what we feel, one more argument to discuss.

Anyways, thank you MUCH for responding with so much careful wording and thought. It shows that you took the effort to read and contemplate, even such intentionally inciting words as my own. I am very flattered, and you do the community well.

[badkittyface]

Anyways, you are right. Perhaps closer was not the best word. More associated with? Ugg, I think a lady I ment explained my life really well a while back. I told her I was an engineer and she quipped off "I used to not know how to spell engineer, now I are one!" I really dont know what the most accurate word would be. I would see putting more value on readers than random people. Anyone with any skill with this accursed language want to help me out? =) Pre-brainwashed perhaps?

acquaintances, maybe? i don't understand what you're driving at with that sentence, because i would imagine that most of the people who listen to these podcasts are fans of Keenspot stuff, not random people. it's confuzzling.

As for the "just leave" answer... most people who left just have. However, some of us are a bit too dramatic to do so. I personally felt like "she owes me an answer," until I read a few posts here which corrected me on this mistake. So I posted what I feel now. Hopefully people will be able to push closer to the truth of what we feel, one more argument to discuss.

the way i see it, a lot of people are just frustrated because they don't know why the commentaries have stopped and Aerie won't say why. that's what all of this drama boils down to: the way some people deal with frustration. i guess it makes them feel better to pull a "sour grapes" by shit-talking in a venue (here, LJ community) where Aerie might see it. if it's that important to them, then i guess it's better that they vent here instead of dyeing their hair blue and climbing a water tower with an M16, although neither option is conductive towards an answer.

the bonus is that it adds a little dirty amusement to the place... for me, anyway. it's kinda like sneaking a peek at Jerry Springer and watching people scream about they baby mama.

personally, i wouldn't be surprised if this girl changes her mind about doing another project. if Bill Watterson had had this much bitching and whining every time he took a sabbatical, we'd have had a lot less Calvin and Hobbes.

preemptive strike:

"OMG WATTERSON ANNOUNCED HIS SABBATICALS!!!1!"

yeah, yeah... here's a tissue.

[Ambystoma4]

I'm sure he would have stayed gone a lot longer if he'd had his own forum.

My soft spot is dedicated to Gary Larson personally. Cal 'n Hobbes was good, but the Far Side was much more sophisticated and underrated.

Any Peanuts fans here?

[TPRJones]

Hell, I'd just been assuming she was dead. I have been checking back on the QoW site every month just in case.

I just now stumbled back on this forum for the first time in forever, and saw this. Nice to know she's not rotting in the ground somewhere. I hope she can find peace with whatever has driven her away from her own success.

[badkittyface]

yay Far Side! Bloom County is another one of my all-time favorites. the only strip still running that i actually enjoy would be Get Fuzzy, but i don't read paper funnies much anymore. :/

[Ambystoma4]

I'm a was a little too young to get Bloom Cuunty when it was running. I do remember the penguin and the cat from it though.

Get Fuzzy is fairly decent. Citizen Dog was another comic that I liked, and Dilbert used to be pretty good when Scott Adams was still doing it on the side.

I've kind of lost interest in newspaper comics, they're kind of tame. The exception being Mallard Fillmore.

[fourpastmidnight]

personally, i wouldn't be surprised if this girl changes her mind about doing another project. if Bill Watterson had had this much bitching and whining every time he took a sabbatical, we'd have had a lot less Calvin and Hobbes.

Of course, this implie that Aeire cares what anyone thinks. Of course, comparing Aeire and Bill Watterson is like comparing a garin of sand to the Sahara, but I see your point. No offense, but Bill is the man.

I moved at the end of March, before the lack of commentary was obviously never going to end. I got set up in April, but hadn't been checking on this comic. It's not one of my usual rotation - usually I just catch up on it once a month. I saw it hadn't been updated, so checked the forums to see if it was officially over, and see if the new project was up yet. It's not.

My comment is this - I've read NUMEROUS times on this forum and the lj that moving is hard and that Aeire's been busy with that. These comments are as recent as last week. I'm curious... HOW HARD IS IT TO MOVE?!?! I mean, wtf? I'm rolling on the floor here! I moved a five bedroom house with two children, a husband, three cats and no moving company. I packed and unpacked in a grand total of less than three weeks time. No, my husband didn't help, he was out of town training for the new job. My kids are 3 and 5. They're excited about the packing peanuts, not unpacking toys. Set up every room, stocked the pantry, and have the house running as though we never left our old home. And you're telling me that Aeire is still moving since MARCH? I don't really care what she's doing, it's her thing, you know. I just found it hilarious that people who don't know her are making excuses for her, and trying to be all high and mighty over the ones upset throwing their little temper tantrums.

I just had to comment. Not usually something I'd do, but I thought I'd point it out. I'll probably check back, since some of the commentary is actually funnier than the comic. And here's what I'll find... Someone will says "right on, f*$# her, she's a horrible person and I hope she gets herpes". Someone else will say "I'm better than you, she has a life, I respect that and she is so busy, how difficult fame must be, even the webcomic kind, and since I didn't pay for it, she is entiteld to do whatever she wants". And the rest of us will sit in the middle and laugh.

And I love Dilbert.

[Ambystoma4]

I don't know. We don't have any answers; we just kind of hang out here for one thread.

It gets kind of annoying when people drop in like that. It's like "dude we don't care. Yeah, it sucks, but you're negativity is killing the fun mindless banter in the rest of the forum." I personally just read the fifty or so other comics that I have bookmarked. I'm more ticked off that people keep posting about Aiere being absent more so then her actually being absent. I like her art.

I personally hate moving. I takes me three months before everything is unpacked.

[GabrielTane]

I have stuff I haven't unpacked in 3+ years. Yeah, lazy bastard I am.

But I agree Amby, annoying are the trolls that go through the trouble of creating an account just to drop a negativity bomb on a thread. People go through the trouble of typing how they don't care or how they are "just sayin'"... but (and I think this was mentioned before) if they didn't care, we wouldn't know about it... because they wouldn't even post it.

Besides, didn't she start up after the move absense and then later stop updating again for "no reason"? I was never even thinking that she was out again because of a move. Was I wrong on that?

Meh.

[Ambystoma4]

I don't know. I didn't think a move had anything to do with the lack of updates, of course I was out of the loop for a good half year. My personal theory when I first heard she quit updating was that she found something better to spend her time on like a boyfriend.


But, yes,


Meh

[fourpastmidnight]

Sorry for being a troll. I wasn't trying to be negative. The comments about moving were in the livejournal. I wasn't trying to be negative, or really complain about her absence or anything. I doubt she's still moving. I really thought that was obvious without saying it, but I guess it wasn't. I was commenting more on people saying that moving was what she was doing. And the people that then raged about how horrible she was. I thought it was funny, and that's what my post was meant to be. Sarcastic about the comments that people made about her absence, some comments of which are in this thread. I am sorry it didn't come across as intended and ruined some people's day. I certainly did not create an account to cause negativity, just laugh at people. But I can see I'm not welcome, so I'll leave you guys to it. Enjoy whichever thread you come for.

[badkittyface]

Of course, this implie that Aeire cares what anyone thinks. :) Of course, comparing Aeire and Bill Watterson is like comparing a garin of sand to the Sahara, but I see your point. No offense, but Bill is the man.

pff... no offense taken! i agree completely.

i also don't understand why people get so upset over things like this (and the rest of this is not directed at the person i quoted). i used to read Purple Pussy, and there were month-long pauses between updates for a while there, right at about the time that the whole comic was wrapping up. same thing with Sinfest... oh muh guh... that guy disappears without warning for days... weeks... whatever, and then starts right back up again like nothing ever happened. and Striptease has slowed down lately because Chris is swamped at his job. it just happens, people... especially with an unsyndicated comic that doesn't pay the bills.

and the comic itself is OVER. it's COMMENTARY. it's Aerie writing "huh huh i ate pie while i drew this one" or what have you. is your life really over because you won't know what she was thinking when she wrote the "kill da wabbit" strip? yeesh.

anyway, Dilbert's coo.

[MaxWilder]

Yay for Drama Llamas!

[Amoryl]

wow i didn't remember all this drama last time i was here

it's kinda sad really.

first off, no, she doesn't actually owe us anything, not even the couple hours of her time it'll take to finish the archieves.

secondly, this isn't her job! the "how dare she take 2 hours to do a podcast with a couple of friends instead of using that time to do more commentary" is complete crap. there's a huge difference between hanging out and talking with friends about a mutual interest and trying to remember what was going through your head a year and a half, 2 years ago when you were doing a particular script, then putting it together somewhat more coherently then "durr i ate pie, durr" i mean really, who are you to say she can't take 2 hours of her life for a bit of fun? are you honestly going to tell me that between work and your other "responsibilities" that you don't have ANY time off whatsoever untill every last bit of it's done? thats why most jobs give you a couple days off. being really busy doesn't mean (or require) that one has absolutely NO downtime.

finally, i've been moving for months now. sure you may have moved a 5bd house in a couple weeks while your husband was away training. that doesn't mean it's going to go as quick for the rest of us. i guess Aeire's more like me. busy with work, not making a lot of money, and most of the "moving" involves finding used boxes from stores, friends, prior moves. while trying to schedual time to hook up with that friend who has a pickup because renting a U-Haul to drive across town is still something like $60-100 for a day. then there's the massive cleaning to get a couple cents of your deposit back followed by all the pain in the ass paperwork on both the old and new apartment prior to move in. and the saving up for the new deposit, etc...
no offense to you, but i suspect that your 2 week ordeal was, while very busy, less cluttered and unfocused as many of our moves. i suspect that you already had most of your ducks in a row, had a rental truck to move everything all in one go, and pretty much had nothing else taking up your time beyond the two kids (who do take up a lot of time, i admit)

p.s. the whole Aeire ignoring you on the forum...thats nothing new. as far as i can tell Aeire never posts beyond the old "comic updated" and that one post to stop stalking her across the net. very few comic writers are that active on their forum, only greg dean and howard tayler among the many comics i read really spend much time there. most of the rest set up the forum for their fans to gab, and leave it alone.

[Ambystoma4]

I believe Jeph from QC makes regular appearances on his forum, or he did last time I logged in there.

[Amoryl]

actually, i think you may be right. i don't read his forums because i don't like the style they're laid out in (one thread for a week worth of comics means i have to slog through like 8 random pages to find anything about last nights comic)

still Aeire, Randy, i beleive Gabe and Tycho...as a general rule, don't comment much in their forums (in gabe and tycho's place i wouldn't either...page after page of leetspeak crap assclown jokes and gibberish, i glanced at it once and felt like washing my brain in bleach to forget the stupid) honestly i like when the artist is active on their forums, makes me feel like maybe i know them a bit, like we're old pals or something. but some don't really have the personality or temperment to handle actually being surrounded by their fans like that, which is perfectly valid and fair. the point i was trying to make was that her lack of presence on the forums wasn't really anything new.

[Ambystoma4]

I really never read the QC forums for the strip commentary. I just really didn't care what everyone had to say about the strips since it always degenerated in to "I love Jeph so much I'd have his babies" type stuff. The music and other forums were pretty good, but there is a high post volume there which makes keeping up hard.

I'm pretty indifferent about the whole thing really. I'm in the forums to hang out with other people who share the same interest rather then to hang out with the artists.