Over exfoliated
I think I’ll be keeping mine on, though I sometimes wish I had a thicker one… skin, that is.
I’ve been getting a nice chunk of new readers from the social content discovery site Stumbleupon, a system that lets people rate and review websites. And so I have been reading the reviews recently…
By my calculations, for every three positive reviews I get one negative one – and that really is good enough for me, considering the amount of anti-evolutionists, fundamentalists and pun-haters I must offend – but despite the more positive skew, I can’t help thinking about the negative ones.
The worst bit is that when someone posts a disparaging comment on the site I get a chance to converse with them, talk it out and sometimes even win them over, but on Stumbleupon there is no way to do this… I’m left in an angsty limbo.
So I think it’s really best that I talk it out with you. After all, you’re a reader, and probably a regular one too (I check my stats… only two thirds of you will be wearing underwear for example) and so really it is your opinion that matters.
I just want to discuss what you think they mean, and if there is anything I can, or should, do to in response.
So, here’s what Vachie had to say about Lessality… a strip all about black and white and shades of grey.
Colour colour colour colour colour. Also, it’s not funny. Just stupid.
Derek’s Different gained the following thumbs-down responses from Inquiz and euxneks:
Almost everyone’s DNA is unique…
And
Doesn’t quite work like that.
To finish, we have Lukey125 who says the following about the site in general.
Is it to much to ask for a punchline in at least 1/10 comics?
Followed closely by Zephyrwolf:
Generic blog! It’s just like spam!
I feel better already, just for typing this up… next week, my old school reports.
Oh, and if you are one of the stumblers that left a positive remark, or just gave me the good-old thumbs-up, thanks… I like you too.
Philip J Schadenfreude on
They’re all stupid. And I’m always wearing underwear, but not always a shirt.
I liked the one about Derek. I think that was around the time I started reading, and it was probably one of the things that made me come back. But the “Almost everyone’s dna is different” comment made me laugh. Such hopeless pedantry.
Personally, I love that only “1/10″ of the comics have a punchline. I’d rather have things remain interesting than simply become a constant barrage of “teh funny”. The strips here always give me something to think about and generally make me smile, and my favorite webcomics are the ones that drop a little poignancy, surreality, or even outright angst in here and there.
That’s exactly why I keep coming back: because I know that I’m not going to get another “pop-culture is unique and stupid and my way of looking at it is unique and has a dog that is a bast**d because mean snarky people and things being all nihilistic and bored yet au fait with f***ing everything while swearing and wishing they were Penny Arcade” strip.
I like a little philosophy from my RSS machinery.
I always wear underwear… but I avoid pants at all costs. And StumbleUpon led me here. I have been stumblin’ for almost 4 years now. I recommend it for all FireFox users!
Wanna throw up? Get me naked.
I am a Stumbler, that’s how I found this site. And I like it! I like it a lot. : )
I love your comics simply because they make me think and have a bit of a chuckle. I love that they’re not obvious funnies and that you often ask for people’s opinions and the like.
I think a lot of the people that don’t like them just don’t really get them.
“Almost everyone’s DNA is unique…”
No. Everyone’s DNA is unique. Not almost everyone. Everyone. Shutup.
Also, I discovered you from StumbleUpon.
I’m only wearing underwear. Does that affect your stats?
F**k the ppl that don’t like your art.
Art is personal.
That Vachie dude doesn’t seem to like much. I wonder what he does so well?
I read this comic as much for the discussions as for the comic it self.
There wouldn’t be this level of discussion if it was only a humour comic.
I enjoy the debates it triggers and the intellectual discussion. I guess Vachie just doesn’t get that.
Also, how many regular readers do you have? If you would let me, I would buy your bloody products. There is a real complaint. Where is the store, I wanna buy stuff.
About the comic.
I dunno about normal ppl, but I really find the sub dermal body interesting, even sexy in some ways.
Not that I plan to do anything with a skinned person, but……
TGJB – Mixing it up, eh? That’s going to play havok with my statistics.
Mike – I think they missed the point that I was trying to make… that DNA sequence is unique, but in Derek’s case so was the structure.
Biology is an interesting subject for that, since everyone thinks they know it all. I think it is the belief that being alive means you are an expert on living things and how they work. Compare that with physics – all people are subject to physical forces, but ask them how it works and most people will admit they don’t know.
They’re like people that drive cars but admit they have no idea how a combustion engine works
Genetics however, with the engineering, has become a widely discussed but much misunderstood science.
South-Side – I think I do achieve a punchline in 1/10 of the strips, just. I’ve never aimed at being ‘funny’, it’s such a subjective thing… I could tell you which of my strips made me laugh, but from the evidence I have they are usually the ones that other people don’t find funny at all. I’d rather go for interesting, or at the least, ‘thought about’.
Franzy – “pop-culture is unique and stupid and my way of looking at it is unique and has a dog that is a bastard because mean snarky people and things being all nihilistic and bored yet au fait with f***ing everything while swearing and wishing they were Penny Arcade”… I think that someone absolutely needs to make a post-modern comic with that as the title. Fantastic.
Stephy, E-money and Philipa – You’ll be able to testify just how addicitve stumbling can be… and I really am glad you found the site through it. Plenty of late nights and sore thumbs.
6027 – You make it sound like you’ll get naked if I throw up… that’s a bit kinky.
Ben – The probelm with statistics is that they cn be a little misleading, but I think I have a hard-core of 1000 regular readers that visit the site three times or more a week. other than that the number of visitors on any day can vary by as much as 30k.
As for the shop, I’m going to sort some things out tomorrow and that will be one of them. The problem I’ve had is that I don’t want to offer generic merch, rather I want to offer something a bit interesting that would mean something to the readers of this comic… and I’m not sure what that is.
Any ideas anyone? What would you like to see?
I personally don’t keep coming here for a punch line …. I come here for a moment that will have a quirky little spin on modern reality …. it might make me grin …. it might make me think …. but whatever it does …. I enjoy the process.
Don’t let the idiots get you down!
You know how movie posters misquote critics to make their film sound better… selecective editing… I think I might do the same to advertise this site, using what you just said, I think I’ll go for:
“I personally don’t keep coming here for a punch line – mama kelly”
Besides, the idiots don’t get me down, it’s not being able to tell them that they’re idiots that gets me down.
“Besides, the idiots don’t get me down, it’s not being able to tell them that they’re idiots that gets me down.” I’m using that to plug your site!
Funny, I just started using StumbleUpon this week — it’s pretty cool. A good idea; it’s hit me onto a number of cool things so far, though not a single webcomic at all. I wonder how many times I have to click it for it to bring me here, statistically.
I’m generally wearing underwear when I’m visiting the Flowfield Unity, being as I usually do it at work. And it’s just odd not to wear unddies at work.
Also, I’m with Ben on a number of things. Part of what makes your comic lovable is that it’s obviously made as much for you yourself as it is for us the readers. I get the impression you’d do it even without a single reader (or something along similar lines anyhoo), and that gives it a special attractions. An authenticity, almost, and a satisfaction of some weird voyeuristic impulse.
Also, Ben, the underlying musculature is kinda hot, but I think the blood is a bit of a turn off, personally. Oh, which reminds me, I met a guy a while back that’d had a pollicisation surgery, which was one of the most fascinating things. Just shaking the guys hand, even, was cool: he had a brilliant surgeon.
Fantastic thumb-muscle-stumbleupon link up there… top work.
And it is true, I would make this regardless of anyone reading it… that was how it started out anyway. that said, it has become a wierd form of symbiosis – my readers shape what I’m thinking about on any particular day because of the conversations we have and so I produce comics that are more attuned to what they are interested in.
But maybe that what what I was thinking about when I named it… I don’t know.
But the blood is soooooo cool.
Never understood how ppl get so turned off at blood.
Merch I wanna see.
1/ Hoodie with the evil teddie bear on the back.
2/ Book. You know I want this book.
3/ Exclusive range of vintage wines.
4/ Customised Lear Jets.
5/ Stuff
Technically, I’m not wearing underwear, because i’m in my pyjamas….affect your stats, Adam?
Has anyone else noticed, that this week seems to have been take-the-piss-and-criticise-unneccassarily week?
I’d just like to ask, has anyone else tried something new this week, say a new look, and had mainly harsh feedback from it? cos it seems to have happened round my area, and it’s a little weird, not to mention VERY irritating!
This should explain most of it
http://eero.info/misc/14oct9-theory-of-internet-douchebaggery.jpg
Sadly, very, very true.
…and quite funny also.
I Stumbled upon your site and was drawn in by the original style. It seems clear to me that you’re doing your own thing here and originality counts for a lot. I have only started becoming familiar with internet culture within the past couple of months. It sometimes seems as if there’s a group of, say, 9 people who have taken it upon themselves to surf around the web leaving negative comments everywhere they go. As if it is there job., like they all work in a factory somewhere and get paid to post snarky little snippets of text from 9:00 to 5:00, 7 days a week.
I’d take that job. What’s the pay? Are there any benefits? I really need some dental work…
oops! I meant “their job,” One of the ‘9″ is bound to point out my mistake!
Oh noes! Hide!
As a fundamentalist anti-evolutionary I must say your comic is just the peaches. OK… I’m not *as* fundamental as I could be… and evolution is kinda cool (in moderation) but anyway, you get my point.
these haters are just a tad dim mate, dont worry about them
I’m all little late in responding, i’ve only been reading for two days, but this is probably the funniest thing on the web i’ve found in a good long while. You’ll see me posting on more recent stuff once i get through the archives!