2411 Irreconcilable Differences.

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I’ve been sitting here trying to decide what to write for almost ten minutes & keep not starting because I can’t talk about most of what’s going on in my life and the rest I don’t want to talk about or feel like people will be alienated. Over the last 4 years or so the internet has basically punished me into feeling like I can’t talk about much of anything. I’m sure I’m not alone in this feeling. There is no subject that someone won’t freak out over. So I’m here, alienated from things in a sort of vaguely uncomfortable way.
There are a few people that have told me they don’t want to see me do a blog at all. Not that they don’t want to read it, they want me to stop doing it because they don’t like me as a person. After the last few years of using twitter I’m starting to think they are right. I’ve stopped reading almost every webcomic I ever enjoyed because the creator is a complete asshole. I’m only holding out on Questionable Content because I feel like I need to retain something from the days when I was inspired to make my own webcomic, but I can’t stand Jeph Jaques. Maybe he’s okay in person, but as a voice on social media he’s intolerable. I’m sure I’m the same way to a lot of people and maybe the blog doesn’t help. When I started the going idea was that you weren’t just selling your comic but also selling yourself. Now I’m not sure if that was good advice or not. My personality seems to work as a group of people with bits of it distributed among them, but as a single unit not so much. Comics in general used to be a huge part of my life but they’ve been ruined in almost every way. If people are still making comics domestically that I would like I haven’t seen them. Now I just sort of pirate manga and try to buy the collected volumes if they ever get a US release. I can’t have them ruined by social media… yet. I feel like Google translate might find a way someday.

Hopefully today is not the day you decide you hate me. In fact I hope it’s the day you decide to support my work on Patreon, or whatever. Maybe instead of driving you away my blog has humanized me in your mind and I’ve made a connection with you. I hope so anyway.

39 Comments

I like the blog… people who dont can just skip it. I think it’s important for people remember you’re a real flesh and blood person, and not some mythical content producing robot.

Not my bad. Your bad.
No, not you’re bad, just, blarg.

Haven’t heard webcomic writer vs writer drama in a while. I remember there was a ton back in the day. And (interestingly enough) QC and ‘Sam and Fuzzy’ have a fake rivalry (they use it to facilitate crossovers and stuff).
Not only has the drama died down, but so have the crossovers. They are weirdly rare now.

I don’t use social media so I have no judgement on most comic creators, but I like the blog.

I read this, Freefall, Girl Genius, EGS, and QC. QC is getting very ‘woke’ preachy.

I occasionally binge catch-up on Sinfest – it got so preachy I have to assume the whole thing is just satire now.

Comics I miss; Bruno the Bandit, Schlock Mercenary.

I vote on TWC and often follow the link from the “you’re not logged in” thing to a comic. I reckon about 50% of them are dead links by now. By the way, you’re up to no.41 on the top 100. Well done!

No one is sure if Sinfest, like Chris-Chan or Nikocado Avocado, is serious or a massive prank on its viewers.

Man I really miss Schlock. That was the first part of my morning routine for almost 15 years. Such great content. I keep waiting for Howard to drop something new but nothing… So sad.

Jackie, to hell with social media and the idiots in it. Keep doing your thing man, you’re grand! I’ll read whatever you write until you stop. In fact I just found out your fiction story continues on Patreon and that may have put me over the edge to sign up… I’ll need to scrounge some pennies assuming the gas pump doesn’t suck them up but I’m going to make it happen

I haven’t continued that story for years. I thought I took all mentions of it out of Patreon, but I must’ve missed one. Or the site didn’t actually save my changes. I’m just barely keeping the regular comic going so don’t let that be the thing that convinces you to join patreon.

To be honest, most of the comics I’ve read over the years finished their runs and stopped producing comics. I read a few now, with Questionable Content, Girl Genius, and Sequential Art being the few older ones I still read. I’ve picked up some others here and there, but most either fell to the wayside from lack of updates, content I no longer cared for, or them expressing predatory/derogatory practices/remarks towards consumers.

I enjoy reading comics for the stories and the characters, and the unique portrayal of such. Yours is one I’ve enjoyed for quite awhile now, and will be in my bookmarks and follow list as long as you keep updating. Even support you on patreon too~ Your blog is nice because it allows me to feel that bit of connection with you as a human, I get to see how your mind works and the nuance of the comic is more clearly visible through your correspondence. Anyways, just wanted to chime in and give my own thoughts on the whole shebang.

I like you. You’re cool and tell imaginative stories and are honest and open. Doing comics seems really rough, most creators I follow are having severe mental problems and other health woes on the regular. Maybe I’ve said that before. If you are ever in town you can stay here and we’ll feed you and give human support in whatever way you need. Hugs or ears or whatever. Sorry for the lack of monetary aid, the ads on my comic don’t even pay for the hosting fees.

Then there’s people like LB Lee and Robot who make comics about their mental and physical health issues.

Well, OK, Robot made, not makes. I miss Robot. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten a cold, emotionless, robotic hug. To be clear, I’m talking the virtual kind, I’m pretty sure I’ve never met them. I’m certain I’ve never officially met them.

LB still makes, if I’m not mistaken. I haven’t had the mental fortitude to read their work lately, but that’s OK, I’m really not the target audience.

I’ve never let a creator/actor’s personal thoughts stop me from enjoying what they may have created. Of course, writers may do something with their personal thoughts into their comics and might make me not like their comic.

I’m trying to remember if I ever liked Questionable Content.

I did like QC once. The period when Marten and Dora were dating was probably the high point. They’re breaking up was just the start of it ending, for me at least.

Yeah, same with me I think.

Since it came up, I resumed reading QC for the first time in a while, and, since I’ve been reading tons of manga/manhwa/etc lately I started putting in how the Japanese would view the current QC cast, lol.

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4711
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4712

Thoughtbubbles: “She’s an idiot.” “She’s an idiot.”

“I like destroyed a lot of stuff because I was so bored.”
“So you’re a delinquent.”

The only one with any sense, yellow robot, gets criticized by fools for damaging the precious self esteem of delinquent (I think). Green robot gets kicked out for lack of sense. Faye gets kicked out for lack of sense. (etc)

“Trans? Ah, I see. Chuunibyo.”

I zoned out when I realized that the comic had become solely focused on lesbians, a trans character, and then, let’s say, unconventional romances. I didn’t mind any of them individually but they took over the entire comic. Jeph even joked about how the older characters are still there, even still in the coffee shop, just “out of frame” for like 5 years running.

The old cast is still around though lesbian (Dora), gay (Marten) or robolesbian (Faye).

And there’s my point. Raven? Penelope? Sven? Steve? Yeah, all the straight, relatively normal people are sort of forgotten; everyone we actually see is LGBTQ or just plain weird, and it’s entirely about relationships. It actually made it stale.

Well, as long as you don’t endorse the exploits of Nazi Germany or some similar despicable shit (which is not likely to happen if your blogposts in the last 10 years are anything to go by) than you should be free to write these posts and nobody has any right to tell you otherwise.

It feels like that there is so much uncertainty in life, that people will grab the tiniest of opportunities to excert some sort of control on something. Because lets face it, feeling like you have no control over anything is the start of a vile anxiety attack and you would do almost anything to get out of it. I think that is why people seem not to use any filters in online interactions. It is “cheap”, because you don’t risk anything valuable; if someone will have a bad oppinion of you after you crash into their face than you will just ignore them, or even feel vindicated about your actions. On the other hand it is an instant hit of self-satisfaction that you physically crave after a while.

I am sure I am just reinventing the wheel here; sorry about that. I guess what I really wanted to say is that you are not alone. As long as this platform gives you a chance of connecting with friendly people, you should not forsake it.

You and your content have outlived the era in which it was created. It’s inevitable with success. As for shutting down your blog, social media brings out the worst in folks just because its a single person perspective. If you like the blog, keep it, if not, scrap it. Mostly I like reading about you, but if you say something I don’t like, its a blog UNDER the comic I came for anyway. I avoid you a few days and then come back to see how you’re doing.

I don’t comment very often. Not just here, but in general across the internet. I imagine I’m not alone in this. I just usually don’t have much that I consider to be worth the time to say. Sometimes I’ll think of a joke or witty reply to something and comment it, very rarely I’ll feel like I have some useful input on a discussion that hasn’t already been said.

In this case, I feel like showing support. I may not be able to afford to support anyone through patreon, struggling to make ends meet myself, but it doesn’t cost anything but time to say that this webcomic is always a joy to read. Over the years I have dropped most of the webcomics I used to follow, picking up a couple new ones here and there, I keep coming back to check in on your story and characters. While I may not always read the blog posts, I have never had my experience lessened by their presence. If you feel they are worth continuing, then that’s enough of a reason to keep them.

Maybe humanity is just too vain and insecure for a concept like widespread social media to work. I mean, do we even like each other that much? Would we ever, even as our best selves?

It’s more like, our brains struggle to even comprehend social groups of this size. We didn’t evolve to do that. It takes conscious effort to remember that all those other people, are PEOPLE.

Anyone who says you should quit making the blog altogether is a jerk. It’s their choice whether or not to read it, it shouldn’t have any bearing on whether or not you keep writing it.

Having dealt with my father’s dementia for a year while working full time I can imagine the time you have spent is much more difficult. Caretaker burnout is real and if you are also trying to support yourself it can be devastating. Keep writing, kill the haters with kindness (and sarcasm!) and be YOU. I read this comic because it’s interesting and thought provoking.I also read QC, Girl Genius (met Phil and Kaja at Gencon back in the Elfquest days), DOA and Grrl Power every day.

I’d have to say that this comic and Grrl Power are the two where I most consistently read the blog and or discussion. For this comic it is more about the author’s content and Grrl Power is entertaining follow the debates over imaginary science. As for the authors we read having their faults, most of the people that I enjoy reading have been outed for their faults. At least the dead ones anyway. You can often find someone who will list off their affairs, their misogyny, their racism or their substance abuse and who will tell you what a horrible person they were. But for all that, they had relationships and people enjoyed the stories they told. Add in the internet, which for all that we may try to avoid it, acts as a filter between us and the rest of the people out there on the net. I can’t speak for Jackie as an individual but I would bet that as a group people respond on line and develop an online persona in response to audience feedback. My perception is that this tends to amplify some traits while damping others. At some point a blogging author has to make a decision about the risk of alienating his audience. I’m not aware of it in online comics but we certainly see people make career killing statements in other media. So if Jackie gives us a little slice of his personal life I can respect that while recognizing that it can never be the whole picture.

Do it, man; write about what you want. You don’t need readers who walk over you talking about stuff in the space of the site devoted to that sort of thing.

Accidentally wrote this as a reply to a comment

Ahem

I like you fine, I’ve never thought you were an asshole from your writings. I came back to the comic cause I missed it so much, you’ve always inspired me with your story. Sorry other people rub you raw, but then, I stay away from social media. Love you, stay strong!

Me, I like the blog. As for your h8rs, well, you can’t please everyone. Don’t take it seriously, just shrug and move on.

People LOVE to psychoanalyze strangers based on minimal information, especially online. None of the people who want the blog to go away even KNOW you as a person. They also clearly lack self-control, as they can’t just ignore the blog. I find this the funniest part of the internet; how gosh darn difficult it is for so many people to NOT click or read or watch things they know they won’t like. They want users banned, content deleted, widespread censorship (meaning money spent to hire modders full time), all because they can’t just move on. It’s funny, but only because it’s really, really pathetic, because words on the internet are even less threatening than words in real life, and we used to successfully teach kids to ignore those.

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