forums v journals v tagboards

Xmung · Post by **Xmung** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:03 pm

i notice some people use either personal forums, blogs/journals (frequently embedded in their home page)and/or tagboards (or two or all three). just wondering the pros and cons and which might be the more useful way of communicating with readers and which get more reader feedback...

MixedMyth · Post by **MixedMyth** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:19 pm

I used to keep hamsters...but every time they'd have a tumor and eventually die.

They were sweet little things, too.

Anyway, I guess it depends what you're looking for. Is it depth or imediacy? Tagboards are nice because they're just right there. I know people are lazy and don't always want to follow links to blogs or journals. Or they just don't notice them. Then again, it's probably more fullfilling to keep a blog or a journal.

Me, I just use the journal feature over on DeviantArt.

Phalanx · Post by **Phalanx** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:04 am

Mine got eaten by the neighbour's cat.

Psiogen · Post by **Psiogen** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:36 am

I dunno what the best way of doing it is, but I do know that I just installed a blog on my site...very very laboriously, I might add.

Xmung · Post by **Xmung** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:35 am

Phalanx wrote:Mine got eaten by the neighbour's cat.

your tag-board??

you know, sometimes i think it would be good to have a forum... but then think it might be a fair bit of work, especially being a moderator. i did sign up for a keenspace forum, just as they got cut-off...

i tried running a phpbb from my server but failed dismally at the technological side of it...
i was thinking of a journal but it seems a bit one sided... i rant, others comment... maybe, if i'm lucky
tag boards don't really seem to get much in the way of real discussion going on.
hamster are furry.

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:40 am

I have a forum on my site, but nobody uses it much.

I have a hidden chat room, too.

If you purchase Linux webspace, the forums will practically auto-install. Often they're a free option included in the price of your hosting package. Them, and a bunch of other crap you'll never use.

[AOD] · Post by **[AOD]** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:56 am

Forumwise, I'm fortunate enough to have a kind friend who gave me my own sub-forum on his site, but nobody posts there.

I guess I haven't really built up a following, that, or my following is curiously unvocal.

I have a tagboard, but nobody posts there, either, except maybe me and a friend.

I voted for hamsters, because hamsters are just plain cool! (and go well with tomatoes!) Ice sucky.

What's a journal supposed to be, anyway?

:/

@~AoD

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:08 am

[AOD] wrote:I guess I haven't really built up a following, that, or my following is curiously unvocal.

There are popular Keenspot comics with slow to dead forums. I'd quite like to know what makes a comic... discussable.

- Joel Fagin

[AOD] · Post by **[AOD]** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:13 am

Well, to use something familiar to both of us, let us use the example of It's Walky!. Those forums are one of the liveliest forums I've seen for a comic, and I've seen plenty to know. I'm guessing it's the nature of the comic itself - certain things lend themselves more towards discussion. For example, the technique and style that Willis uses - the deep character studies, the sudden, rather unpredictable plot twists, all lend themselves to rather complex speculation of some sort. His 'evilness' as a cartoonist may, in fact, lend itself towards speculation upon the behalf of his fans out of pure frustration (hence the cause for common exclamations of 'Damn you, Willis!' in the aforementioned).

@~AoD

Terotrous · Post by **Terotrous** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:41 am

A lively forum is highly based on its members. In that sense, I would think that it's mostly luck. Of course, you have a better chance at getting the extremely good forumites if you have a larger fanbase.

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:46 am

I was told that when I was young, a hamster I was holding bit me (probably 'nibbled' is a better word), and I threw it against a wall.

I don't remember it, even though I'm still friends with the girl whose hamster it was, and she remembers it clearly.

RPin · Post by **RPin** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:48 am

Joel Fagin wrote:
[AOD] wrote:I guess I haven't really built up a following, that, or my following is curiously unvocal.
There are popular Keenspot comics with slow to dead forums. I'd quite like to know what makes a comic... discussable.

- Joel Fagin

I posted this at Comixpedia:

"You guys seem to be ignoring a rule: the 16 factor.

There's always a ratio of readers/readers that will return feedback to you. Now, the more your comic appeals to sixteen year old kids, the more likely you'll get a huge fanbase and an active forum, because those are the only ones that have time to spend on foruming. If you look at the most popular comics's forums, you can easily have an idea of the average age of their memberlist.

Now the big question is: would you want a fanbase like that?"

Alschroeder · Post by **Alschroeder** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:55 am

Well, you know we COULD do something about that...
For instance. We could all post at least one comment in another Keenspacers' forum. Either start a thread or contribute to it...
Because there's a kind of inertia to these things. Once there are a lot of people contributing, others will join in if they think things are "happening".
I suggest that every so often (daily? Weekly?) we pick one forum of one comic---and everybody on this thread log in, register (if we haven't already) and post a comment on an existing thread or start a new one.
Once we have a lot of comments in one, things will sort of take care of themselves. Answers to your comments might get you to return, but as they see more and more people logging in, people are more likely to log in further....
For instance, everybody might log into NIGHT AND DAY's forum and post comments one day. The next time, we might log into LOXIE AND ZOOT's. The next time we might log into SUBLUMINARY's.
It's not like Keenspot, where there are only fifty or so comics, who often share the same forum platform. There are hundreds or thousands of Keenspace comics...and our best way to build up traffic is to help with each other's.---Al
Just a thought. Whaddaya think?---Al

[AOD] · Post by **[AOD]** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:04 am

I think that might be feasible, but difficult. After all, how can we be assured that people will actually DO it? And how shall we choose, out of the thousands of keenspace comiques, which to do which week? Shall we form some sort of forum-based, "Top-Fifty" in mockery and imitation of Keenspot?

?~AoD

Alschroeder · Post by **Alschroeder** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:18 am

First come, first served on this thread. And no, there would be no way to enforce it---but if people on this thread don't do it, then we won't log into THEIR forum.
And we'd get others joining to get more traffic on THEIR forum. So we'd have new people joining all the time...---Al

Psiogen · Post by **Psiogen** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:34 am

[AOD] wrote:Shall we form some sort of forum-based, "Top-Fifty" in mockery and imitation of Keenspot?\

We did that last year...
http://allstars.keenspace.com/

And two years before that...
http://turbocool.keenspace.com/

...and hey, if anyone wants to go post on my forum, feel free!
http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/viewforum.php?f=11

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:00 am

Whee!
http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/viewforum.php?f=250

I prefer forums as a means of communicating and interacting. It's not immediate like a chat room, so you can hold a conversation at a leisurely pace. I can say something to you, leave for three days, and pick up where we left off more or less. Plus forums take more thought and effort than a tagboard, so there's a lower spam factor. The downside of that is, of course, a very low ratio of readers will bother with forums.
Journals are cool, too, but I see them as more of a one-sided form of communication.

Alschroeder · Post by **Alschroeder** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:11 am

Oh, I knew I forgot something... http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/viewforum.php?f=38---drop by any time!---Al

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:13 am

I really don't think this is the best place to plug your fourms, guys.

Sippan · Post by **Sippan** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:19 am

Forums kick ass. Although, I really really don't like forums where newer posts in threads are towards the end instead of in the beginning. If I don't keep in mind which page I was on in every single thread when I left the forum, I'll be completely lost the next time I show up, and the fact that ALL the posts in the thread, even on pages I haven't viewed, are marked as "read" as soon as I click the subject, doesn't make it easier. Grr!

But the worst thing is that nobody else in the whole world agrees with me =)

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forums v journals v tagboards

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forums v journals v tagboards