Okay, in 18 hours since first posting my LJ name I’ve acquired close to 100 “Friends of” entries, which I believe to be an indicator of some mild interest in either my ramblings, my life, or my work.
I strongly suspect it’s more my work (Schlock Mercenary — just inked two rows) than my life (migraine is currently under control, children are not) or my ramblings (discovered some political cartoons that actually lean the same way I do).
So… is there interest in setting up an actual Schlock Mercenary community? I know, I know, I’ve already got TWO forums (Keenspot Schlock and Nightstar Schlock) out there, but neither of them leverage the community aspect of this big ol’ Live Journal thaing.
Comments welcome. Volunteers appreciated. I’m not exactly made o’ time these days.
–Howard
Oh, set up an LJ community – my readers seem to like it, they can babble there about strips, and I announce updates and other stuff in there as well. It’s kind of handy to have, and it’s fun!
As much as I am interested in Schlock, in this medium I am much more interested in yoru ramblings, and a little more interested in your life. There’s plenty of Schlock elsewhere.
That’s not to say I don’t want to see Schlock here, too, of course. I just hope you don’t cut back on the ramblings or life to make room for it here.
Eh, greetings, random Schlock lover here, but this comment has to do with that political cartoon site. Finally something showing the other side… seems so rare these days, oh well, if you think you have it bad living in Florida, try living around Washington DC…
Actually, I’m in Utah.
I’m in Utah, but I follow comics from all over, and don’t watch local TV, nor spend much time reading the local news.
–Howard
Re: Actually, I’m in Utah.
Oops, sorry, probably got confused with another webcomic creator… so many of them out there.
At any rate, lucky you, even farther away from it all. Funny thing is, for me the normal national level news is local news. After a while you just become desensitized to it…
I grew up in Florida…
Maybe that’s where the error crept in.
Creepy errors…
I don’t know if a Schlock community is necessary–the reason I put you on my friends list, like with, say, Neil Gaiman’s RSS feed, Making Light, and Electrolite, is to hear what you have to say, not so much to communicate with other Schlock fans. The fora are good for that.
Schlock community vs. Howard Rambling
See, I don’t really know how these community things work. Maybe fans want to interact, maybe it would be a good collection point for strip-specific stuff I want to post… I just don’t know.
I’m probably much more likely to push ramblings and life-events here than I am in the Open Letter, though. The Open Letter is a more formal (heh… “formal”) statement of The State Of Things, while LJ for me will be a bit more free-form.
Keep the comments comin’. I wanna know what you think.
–Howard
Re: Schlock community vs. Howard Rambling
The biggest thing about reading a LJ by someone is that you’re interest in their life, hense the reason we check them. If I want Schlock news, I’ll just hop on over to Schlock and read the latest strip while I’m at it. More interested in random events in your life than in how the latest strip is coming… after all, the strip is always coming.
Re: Schlock community vs. Howard Rambling
The big difference between an LJ community versus an individual LJ is that, if set up right, anyone can post to a community, start a thread, whereas here only the blog owner can actcually start a thread, and others post to it if they are so inclined.
I don’t remember if a paid account is required to *create* one, but I’d be happy to do so if that’s the case.
Personally, I’d give it time to stabilize before making any decisions on that. Obviously there’s going to be an initial surge since you posted it to the Shlock page, but it might taper off in a few.
And, of course, there’s always the option of setting up an LJ poll 🙂
Re: Schlock community vs. Howard Rambling
Anybody can create a community. The restrictions placed on a free account (like mine) will apply to any community I create, however. If the community needs polls, for instance, someone with a PAID account should be running it, rather than me.
And to be sure, someone with some actual FREE TIME should be running it rather than me.
Re: Schlock community vs. Howard Rambling
I’m probably much more likely to push ramblings and life-events here than I am in the Open Letter, though. The Open Letter is a more formal (heh… “formal”) statement of The State Of Things, while LJ for me will be a bit more free-form.
That’s the idea. I think it works out well.
I certainly wouldn’t MIND a Schlock Mercenary community. It’s my favorite comic ever after all, and I’m not a huge ‘forum’ person so a community has certain advantages in that regard.
However, I don’t think it’s necessary.
I figure having one LJ-point-of-entry for you is easier than having two, especially since your not particularly central to the LJ-experience.
On the whole ‘why I’m here’ issue:
A lot of the interesting stuff about a LJ community for someone whose work you admire is to see other aspects of that person, including their rants and random stuff here and there. It’s like people wanting to know what a great Renaissance artist was thinking or going through when he did some wondrous piece of art even if those thoughts/events had no direct bearing on the art in question.
Ummm…
The fact that you said “great Renaissance artist” in a discussion about reading my blabbering makes me giggle. And now I need to go poop, I giggled so hard.
–Howard “not full of myself… just ‘full'” Tayler
Re: Ummm…
The fact that I was making an amusing little analogy as to why one would be interested in your random thoughts and the events in your life should in no way be taken as an indication of praise or a comparison between your work and the work discussed in the analogy.
BrandonQ,
happy? damn modest artists;P
Re: Ummm…
I’m back from pooping, now. Thanks for the clarification. I’m gonna go draw some more stuff. 🙂
Re: Ummm…
Well, as much interest as we have in you, I think that qualifies as WAY to much information…
Serves you right.
🙂
I friended you mainly because of an actual interest in the guy behind the comic strip. That said, if there were a Schlock Mercenary community, I would probably join it. I don’t bother with the fora, since they would be yet-another-thing to do to avoid actually working. LJ, on the other hand, already has a certain portion of my leisure time devoted to it, and I find it far easier to rationalize just adding one more community…
I already experience an interesting dichotomy between my comic’s website and my own LJ (there’s also a dichotomy between the Avalon LJ community and everything else, being that everything else is active to some degree). Basically, the website is impersonal and informative, and the forum adds a community aspect to it. However, I can’t put any of myself into the site… see, it’s not about me. It’s about a dead comic strip. 🙂
Now, the LJ… that’s for me. Along with general ventings and mishmash, I will often post comic-related stuff… but the comic-related stuff usually has more personal impact for me than whatever gets posted on the site. Or else it’s directed for the people who have an interest in me as well as the comic (’cause if they didn’t care about what I have to say, I’m not sure how they put up with me being on their Friends list).
So, anyways… maybe I’m expecting the same to happen here. And I intend to have gotten in on the ground floor once you start posting bonus material. 😉
Bonus Material!?!
You’ve already ferreted out my secret plan. Fie on you, you bed-sharer-of-Willises, you! Now it won’t be a surprise! 😉
Re: Bonus Material!?!
Jeez, both of you must make it publicly known whenever you take a poop. The sleeping arrangements in that hotel room was a lose-lose situation for me…
(Actually, it was lose-lose-win. I didn’t have to sleep cheek-to-jowel with 30 other webcomic artists who had just loaded up on Guinness. Sure, it would have been one hell of a learning experience, but still…)
Willis talks poop too?
Willis talks poop too?
Man, am I ever in some frightening company.
Okay, I need to go to bed now. There’s cartooning and stuff to be done tomorrow, and I need my beauty sleep. BAD.
Re: Willis talks poop too?
Let’s just say that Walky seems to take some inspirationf rom his creator…
… which probably means that Willis has a DW-Bot hidden somewhere along with orbital weapons platforms.
I think you’re a cool person, that’s why I’m stalking you. *grin*
As for a LJ community, I’d join one. I frequent a couple of the keenspot fora but I must admit that while I checked the Schlock forum a couple of times, the discussions there seemed to be a bit too much about physics for me. I’m more of a biology person. So, that’s why you don’t see me there; I got scared away.