11/08/04 — 4:50 pm CST

Web Slaves

You will remember I recently mentioned a furor on Carson Fire's Elf Life page regarding one of his readers getting his (her?  who cares) tights in a wad because Mr. Fire uses his on-page blog to express his political opinion.  As a result of this, Fire, first buried the political section of the blog out of sight, but lately, he's decided to just give it its own box below the main blog box, so whiney reactionaries and the professionally offended will have to work a little harder to find something to make them snarky. 
          This is the same Carson Fire, by the way, who last year was pilloried by the webcomics world for suggesting that he wouldn't be financially able to maintain his website if he didn't receive some money, and that, as a result, he'd have to remove his archives.  He was, it should be noted, offering to sell some of his original artwork in exchange for the funds requested.  The webcomic community accused him of trying to blackmail his readers into buying his art, which is absurd.  The art, the archives, and the web page were (and are) his property to dispose as he wishes.  No one was threatened or even inconvenienced.

But wait, there's more.
Last week, Venus Envy author, Erin Lindsey, ran a politically-themed comic on her site expressing her disillusion at the results of last Tuesday's elections.  She was told, by some of her readers to "shut the fuck up and draw the comic."  Well.   Aren't we nice?  I'll admit it wasn't her best work, but, again, it's her comic.  It's her right.

"Donation" is not a synonym for "purchase price"
Most webcomics operate under a donation system.  That is, the author creates the webcomic, updates it with something vaguely resembling regularity, and—eventually—a few readers begin (grudgingly, and often in the hopes of receiving free crap) to cut him or her a check (or, more likely, to click the Paypal button).  I don't have time or space to list the wealth of buttmunch demands to which some (not all, most people probably don't, but we're talking about the irritating minority here) people believe they are entitled just because of an occasional gift of maybe five dollars.
          My faithful Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary defines "donation" as "an offering or gift" (2nd definition).  I tend to see the webcomic donationsmore as a tip, which is to say, it's payment given for high-quality service received.  By neither definition, however are donors entitled to abuse or berate the author for the items that appear on his or her site or the manner in which he or she maintains it.  The only way, to my knowledge, that you'd have rights that were even similar, would be if you contracted the author to create the comic for an actual paycheck.  (If you've a mind to do just that and you have an extra $25,000 lying around shoot me an e-mail at the address below.)  Otherwise, it works this way:  he or she makes a comic, (s)he posts it on the web on the site (s)he maintains at his/her own expense, you read the comic, you like the comic, you cut a check (or you hit the Paypal button), if (s)he is feeling very generous, (s)he may create some sort of special premium, like a wallpaper or maybe a sense of scale.  That's it.
          If, like me, you're either too poor or too cheap to do a lot of donating at all, then you need to just shut the fuck up and be thankful there are others around to bear your load.  Maybe send the author a nice thank you note or something.

Think a minute
Most webcomic authors do what they do because they enjoy doing it.  A lot of them, like those mentioned above (and Maritza Campos of College Roomies from Hell, and Randy Milholland  of Something Positive and a ton of others) feel a great loyalty and duty to their readers.  Ms. Campos has done her best this year to maintain her comic despite the threat of a hurricane and a near-crippling bout with carpal tunnel syndrome.  Despite that, they all do remain human beings, with opinions and rights and all that other human crap.  Cut 'em some slack and remember that they are just as entitled to their opinion and lives as you are.