Drunk bastards

[mcfadyn]

I'm not sure just how much of you are from Drunk Duck over here, but I'm finding something funny that I need to talk about.  They give you the option of html linking (click on the comic and it redirects you to their site, not DD) and apparently they don't like it if you use it.  Probably not many of you know this, but Jay and I were on DD first and up until 3 or 4 months ago used it to host the comic.  Then BlkKnight was a super cool dude and did this site work for us so that we could have our own site and identity.  We were hoping to wane the DD'ers from the DD site and start coming to our site.  Some came others didn't, it's the way it goes.  So we get a private message saying we need to only have clickable hypertext linking to our site and not just a redirect.  They have the options for your site on DD, I'm not exactly sure what they want.  Either way, we are going to start updating on DD everyday until it catches up with our actual website.  There's alot of loyal DD'ers that just wont read a comic unless it's in their subscription box,  I just find it a bit odd I guess.  It IS a pretty loyal community and alot of really awesome people hang around there.  I just don't like splitting up traffic like that.  Eh, I just had to vent :P  Thanks for reading my rant

-c

[Gibson]

I've been on the great festering garbage scow that is Drunk Duck not once, but twice (shame on me) and the first time I left there to host exclusively on Smack Jeeves, PoY had a bigger audience on DD than on SJ. I did the same thing, left a message explaining why I was leaving DD, put up a link to the SJ site and even posted a couple more pages to make sure all my readers got the message. With me it was the same, some came, some didn't. I was concerned for a long time that so many readers didn't follow me to the other site where I was still updating, but the more I came to a realization, and I hope you'll all pardon me when I say that the realization was "Fuck those people."

Honestly, while it's a nice idea to want to retain as many readers as possible, it's not possible. You're better off spending the time and energy you would spend chasing those old readers instead finding new readers. Drunk Duck is a horrible site and even the community there seems to be crumbling. If some or even many deluded readers can't wrap their heads around the idea of visiting a comic off that broken-ass site, the answer is not to split your attention. Let them go and let them rot. Maybe they'll come find you when DD finally disintegrates into a pile of rusted servers.

I don't understand why anyone is still hosting their comic on that bucket of old tampons they call a website.

[mcfadyn]

Yeah, it's a terrible place to have you're comic up on.  Our idea is to just post everyday and catch up to our other site and then have a piece of art up there linking to the real site.  Then that's, that.  No more of that shit.  I'd like to keep the readers, but honestly it's not worth all that effort.  It's not like Jay and I are making a dime off of the comic... So why split the traffic?  I doesn't truly matter if we lose a few 50-100 readers a day

[Rob]

Yes... I agree... DrBlkKnight is an awesome dude.

[Dr. BlkKnight]

It really isn't. I gave up a bunch of readers switching over and they don't even have the advantage of reading the comic on the Duck. They must go to my site.

[mcfadyn]

Yeah after we catch up with the site, we'll draw a line in the sand and that'll be that.  Tough love.  It's the only love!

[Gar]

What about creepy sweaty stalker love?

[Gibson]

They've already followed him.

[mcfadyn]

Been there, done that Gar.  Got the t-shirt, started the fanclub and became the president.  Time to move on the more intellectual pursuits :P

[mcfadyn]

Just looking over the traffic after updating on DD everyday for the last 3 days... wow.  So our readership has pretty much doubled... What's with these DD'ers?  If it's not in the subscription box they wont read it, but as long as you keep their box full, they will read the shit out of you apparently.

[wendyw]

Just looking over the traffic after updating on DD everyday for the last 3 days... wow.  So our readership has pretty much doubled... What's with these DD'ers?  If it's not in the subscription box they wont read it, but as long as you keep their box full, they will read the shit out of you apparently.

That sounds pretty much correct.
From what readership I had left after rebooting Gilbert and the Grim Rabbit, I probably lost about half of them by moving from Smack Jeeves to my own domain. It's a bit of a bugger, but there's really not much you can do about it.

[Gibson]

The down side to hosting with a community is that we get drunk on the available readership and run the risk of relying on those numbers when should never look at them as more than bonus. When I started, I was very much tied to my in-house stats. It wasn't until I started advertising and drawing readers off-site that I realized there are a lot more people who don't join communities. After that, losing a few member readers didn't bother me in the face of gaining a few dozen more off-site.

The real problem is that, when the backlog of LTB runs out and you don't post any more on DD, you'll face exactly the same problem. Some will follow to the new site, many won't, and you'll be left wondering once again how to get them to click over.

[mcfadyn]

Naw.  Well... maybe. :) But Jay and I are going to drive a hard line.  Once the backlog is up, that's that.  Fuck 'em :D  But seriously, yeah, were just doing this as more of a thank you to the people that first read LtB.  It was the DD'ers that really gave us a start and we didn't just want to leave them high and dry with no info about why.  Heh, rhymes.  Now people know at least we have a real site now and at the end of the term... they can find us there.  Eh, I hope they come... but honestly if they can't read a comic that doesn't show up in their subscription box... they can just stay on DD

[amanda]

Yeah, I don't update on the Duck anymore - it was a great platform for a beginner like me, but once I learned to code, there was no excuse not to have my own site.  Lost a bunch of readers though who simply can't bookmark a different site ^.^

I've rolled out BK's ComicReef on one of my comics (and soon on the other), and that will make life 10x easier.