whats wrong with my internet ….. how come its not like 2007 ????
seriously , how can we get back on top ? we used to be the BOMB
that would be FUCKING COOOOOL !!!!
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
Drunk Duck should be Bigger
That was before antisocial media took over! Once they'd seen fleecebook and tweeter, the cat pictures were out of the bag. There's no going back. Web 1 is just a museum now and we are the living exhibits. They come here to see what people looked like before lip fillers. I even have an Olde English gap between my front teeth!
Maybe its just me but I totally feel like webcomics are slowly losing their flame y'know? I feel like it's mostly about webtoons now or any really old webcomics and their creators that people bother keeping up with.
Of course it could always be that I'm out of the loop too. So who knows?
But in terms of advertising, have you thought about advertising on TopWebcomics? It's $1 per day and they do get daily traffic from people when they go vote on their favorite webcomic or it's webcomic creators going on there to set their stuff up and what not. Might be worth a shot.
And maybe doing something weekly to keep the Duck relevant might help? Or something daily. At least on twitter and facebook so it can reach out to people. Of course not everyone has time on their hands, so I get it if this is slightly difficult but there could be a webcomic of the day, almost like Featured Webcomic, but the Featured Webcomic stays special and like how it is already on the site, but webcomic of the day can be announced on twitter/facebook/whatever other platform the Duck is on so not only is the Duck reaching out everyday but comic creators get their work featured more, it might also attract creators and want to join the duck for the help of exposure and they might just stay for a longer ride.
Nowadays social media is really what will help anyone get anything out there.
ozoneocean wrote:
Hahah I agree.
I dunno… I suppose I could pay for advertising to raise our profile?
Nah, it'd be waste, I reckon. As I've said before, I was seriously shocked, coming back to the Forums (from Fury), after a few years…
The whole place used to seem so lively, and I always felt like an outsider, looking in. Now I feel almost a clique member… from a cast of thousands, a platform open to the WHOLE planet, now has about Twenty-six regular posters !
The last buy out was the killer in my opinion. It would take a total makeover to even begin to get back some of that buzz.
I'm trying to piece together the history of a demolished building at the moment from various fragments of evidence. It began life as a Georgian family home with surrounding land, which was then sold off and repurposed as a hotel and pub between the wars. Several structural additions were made and as streets grew around it and the population increased, it seems to have mostly lost it's hotel function, still thriving as a pub into the nineties. As with many pubs, takings then decreased to the point where such a large building could no longer pay for it's upkeep. It fell into disrepair and was demolished a few years back to make way for a housing estate. Unfortunately there was no ozoneocean to step in and save it.
It doesn't seem like any of the old online communities or games I used to hang out at really exist anymore. My guess is that the internet has just gotten a lot bigger than it used to be. There's so much content coming out 24/7 that all people have the energy to do is mindless scrolling or hitting a like / share button. I'm so behind on movies, Netflix, tv shows, anime, games, etc. that I barely even read webcomics anymore. :(
What I think would help the site is a rebrand, an app, and some really good marketing. Unfortunately, that would require buckets of money which we so don't have…
I wouldn't despair too much. This is a good, solid site with a long, respectable history, and there will always be webcomics in some form. Webtoons is an overproduced, too-slick site that is much more restrictive and censor-happy than this one, and it doesn't have the staying power that the Duck apparently has.
The fact that the Duck accepts mature work and mature creators is frankly a huge advantage to it. It's one of the only sites out there that does, and that's very important to the future of creativity. To any creativity, to foster a creative landscape online and allow people to express themselves.
There are plenty of people of all ages who want to express themselves through the medium of sequential art – comics. Some have the dedication and resolve to make it their profession and to do it all their lives. Most, as in any largely passion-based field, don't have more than one story in them, one delve into that world. I think it's important they have that and try it, but it's only natural that we do see a gradual falling-off of those who find that comics are not for them, and they lose their flame, so to speak.
There are also, I would say, at least a hundred people who don't say anything on forums for every person who does. It differs from community to community, but even in the physical world, a lot of people are just not very social anymore. Garbage like Twitter persists because so many people don't want to have to bother being social or relating to other living beings.
I wouldn't take it as an indication that there's no community out there or here. I'd just say that maybe working on gradually building things up, as you seem to be doing all the time, is a very good strategy. Keep things regular like the posts and podcasts, and maybe occasionally nudge people in the directions of the forums. There are always going to be people totally new to everything, even in this day and age – they could always use someone to point them where they need to go.
hushicho wrote:
I wouldn't despair too much. This is a good, solid site with a long, respectable history, and there will always be webcomics in some form.
The fact that the Duck accepts mature work and mature creators is frankly a huge advantage to it.
There are also, I would say, at least a hundred people who don't say anything on forums for every person who does. There are always going to be people totally new to everything, even in this day and age – they could always use someone to point them where they need to go.
Long and respectable history, yeah, but it USED to be lively ! Even at a hundred people who don't say anything on forums for every person who does , given there's a whole planet's worth of folk out there, that's pretty dismal, when those of us even semi-regularly posting could all be comfortably housed in a cosy cocktail lounge** B-)
I'm sure there will always be people who want to put comics up - and here and Fury are about the best (and only places I used properly)…but few will get the heady numbers on their comments area that past creators did !
**anyway, mine's a Bloody Mary !
Cheers !
BearinOz may have hit on something that has been noted in the evolution of social media and human interaction there. More are becoming observers and less actively participate.
It could be that originally many niche forums attracted folks all sharing similar interests and passion. So there was more activity and interaction. As more and more people came into various communities there were more that were content to be observers and lurkers rather than participants.
Just something to think about. Maybe culture is changing and evolving and old enthusiasm is being replaced by passive observation because more people are looking, but the number of the involved remains the same.
bravo1102 wrote:
Maybe culture is changing and evolving and old enthusiasm is being replaced by passive observation because more people are looking, but the number of the involved remains the same.
I'd say that's most likely, based on what I've seen all around. There's also a distressing trend socioculturally in a lot of places – especially the US – where people feel like they don't dare interact with others, for fear of being ostracized. Which is silly, but here we are; there are plenty of exclusive and exclusionary groups in the world today, and it's the de facto way many groups now operate.
Maybe we just have to do something we're not doing, to encourage people to interact and to reassure them that it's okay for them to do so.
I will say that for some years, there was definitely too much interaction from people who had nothing to say. Everyone, for a period, was there to weigh in with the expertise they didn't have, and instead of supportive comments or saying anything worth saying, people would just say whatever and expect you to be cool with that. So maybe what we're seeing is just social trend swinging the opposite direction. I'd imagine that it will all swing back by itself eventually, but I don't want to wait!
Another community I participate in, PaperDemon, has started regular events and incentivized interaction, which I think is good. And thinking of PaperDemon, they also have a Discord server, which I have found is where a lot of people also interact in groups…which is another reason why people are less likely to comment, I think. A different medium of interaction.
I would like to see more comments and more interaction with comic creators. I'd very much like to see some ideas discussed here on how we might be able to do that.
hushicho wrote:We're trailing that at the moment for here, on the insistence of Boundbun. :)
they also have a Discord server, which I have found is where a lot of people also interact in groups…which is another reason why people are less likely to comment, I think. A different medium of interaction.
Oh, make no mistake, I'm not on that server! I don't generally give out contact information unless I know someone really well, and I almost never go onto servers of people for long.
But I do think that a lot of people do hang out on Discord servers now, and I think they get their chat need out there, so they likely don't feel inclined to further interact through comments or participation in forums. There are also a lot of people who are on phones, which aren't suited to typing at length. I think that's a lot of the reason why there many be plenty of views on comics but very few comments. Any extra step people have to take, and they'll avoid it altogether. It's not so much laziness as it is…just a general unwillingness to endure even a slight delay. As people have become less interacting, I have observed over the past few years, they have also generally become far less patient.
I am still hopeful that the trend will swing a bit back and we will see more interaction, though. I do think that when things are regular, when they're reliable and to some extent like clockwork, it comforts people and puts them at ease. They feel like they can rely on it to be there, and they can afford the emotional investment that participation asks. I do think that just by keeping things updating, it's helping matters immensely from that alone.
ozoneocean wrote:
We're trailing that at the moment for here, on the insistence of Boundbun. :)
I think a discord server could be a neat idea for the Duck. People can actively chat with each other, like the Duck has its very own chat room.
Maybe have an "update" section so users can let others know that their comic has updated.
I do use discord a lot and even have a server for my own comic. So if you ever need someone to help create/organize things I'm totally down for it. Just shoot me a message.
~
It's good to keep in mind that some times people don't have a lot to say about a page. I have friends like that. My boyfriend reads my comic and he's like that but when he does see something he likes he does point it out to me and tells me he really appreciates it. Some times people will think the page is ordinary (not like it's bad but there's nothing for them to talk about) and some times there will be a thing that hits them like "oh damn" and make a comment.
I do like to comment on the comics I read from time to time.
Ever since working heavily on Scarred Eden I very rarely read webcomics anymore because I'm trying to focus on my own. But there are a handful that I do read and comment when I can, also nowadays I really see people starting webcomics and easily giving up, so now another concern is maybe people aren't commenting because they're not ready to invest but they're willing to read it when they can.
However, while people are more of a lurker than a participant, I think the Duck being active on whatever social media they can will definitely help. I already spotted them being fairly active on twitter, was definitely nice to see ;)
Gives people a chance to participate and engage with a webcomic community. :)
Last year, I went to Tokyo with a friend who’s an American expert on Anime and various Japanese comics. We saw a lot of sights; temples, shrines, museums, and especially a big comic convention. The place was packed with tables of people selling their comics, many of whom were independents. In Japan, there’s a lot of female cartoonists. I would say that there was about 60% females at their tables.
When you get on the subways, it’s packed with people in suits. Many of them pull out their smart phones as soon as they board. Sneaking a peek over the shoulder of many of them, they had various comics on their tiny screens. I was amazed.
So, the fact that people aren’t commenting, or liking, doesn’t mean that people aren’t enjoying what you’re posting. I know that we question whether people actually like what we’re posting, but should that really influence what we are expressing in our comics?
There was a link somewhere here that counted the amount of viewing hits that a web site gets and where it comes from. The Duck actually had a lot higher up on the hit count than Comic Fury and other sites.
—Rick Rudge
rickrudge wrote:
Last year, I went to Tokyo with a friend who’s an American expert on Anime and various Japanese comics. We saw a lot of sights; temples, shrines, museums, and especially a big comic convention. The place was packed with tables of people selling their comics, many of whom were independents. In Japan, there’s a lot of female cartoonists. I would say that there was about 60% females at their tables.
When you get on the subways, it’s packed with people in suits. Many of them pull out their smart phones as soon as they board. Sneaking a peek over the shoulder of many of them, they had various comics on their tiny screens. I was amazed.
So, the fact that people aren’t commenting, or liking, doesn’t mean that people aren’t enjoying what you’re posting. I know that we question whether people actually like what we’re posting, but should that really influence what we are expressing in our comics?
There was a link somewhere here that counted the amount of viewing hits that a web site gets and where it comes from. The Duck actually had a lot higher up on the hit count than Comic Fury and other sites.
—Rick Rudge
That's awesome Rick!
I post my comic in Webtoons and as for now, I have +400K views (with +12K views monthly) but people don't interact to much. Having "just" 3.1K subscribers is less than 0.7%. The thing is, even with all that people watching your work, just very, very few participate with a "like" and even less with any comment. I'm not complaining at all, just stating what @Bravo said is true.
I really do wish this place was bigger! I'm certainly one of the newer members here, and I will say that when I first came onto this site I was intimidated by the web format. I don't mean to insult the style of the website, but considering 'new blood' webcomic readers are most likely going to be coming from Webtoons and Tapas first, this site is jarring. Other sites are squeaky clean with pretty displays and paid comics, but Duck is more down-to-earth. I appreciate it a lot, but I know there's a large group of readers that are scared away by the site alone.
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