Jul 27
On the subject of guild drama, private vs public, and the world of Micro and Macro behavior. Deep… Plus the net came back and that makes me happy.
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Great Diary Scott, I like it when you vent like this. Makes it a lot more interesting. Also I just had to say this:
I can haz first post?
Scott, if you need the comments moderated, I wouldn’t mind that. If that’s what it takes to get the “j00 $uk” comments out, fine. I can deal with that. Removing comments on entries here and there (like the ones that aren’t really captivating or just you telling the community what’s up) is fine with me as well. Removing comments *entirely* might cause more damage than good.
Just my opinion, I know others may disagree with me.
Vent away! But remember who loves ya baby! Keep up the great work, don’t get discouraged by a few jerks (and I’m not sure these comments didn’t come from some of those involved in our little bit of guild drama – they seem the type).
Hey Scott,
I am very new to this guild, but I do understand the drama’s of guilds/clans from alot of other games that I have played. I am the second in command of a COD Clan of 100+ members. Now that is nothing compared to this oil’d guild machine. Things will happen from time to time and as you stated we are humans behind these computers and at the end of the day we turn them off and do real world stuff (I hope must of us do). The point I am trying to make here is that don’t let the negative get to you. Go in and have fun with the positives! The leader of our “clan” stopped playing for a long time because every time he came into Team speak all he got was whining and criticism. Do not let that be you come in and play with us commoners…ask for Dornoll
Have a great night and a good start to your Monday.
-Nick
AKA Dornoll
But Scott, I just checked, and nobody took a dump on your couch.
Ohh….Metaphorically.
Re: “This sucks! You suck!”
I understand that you are tempted to turn off comments and I’ll understand if you feel that it would be better if you did, but I say that the jerks can go phuck themselves. Go blow off steam somewhere else.
Your diaries are always an interesting look into a fellow’s opinions.
I’ll apologize here for my comment on your latest comic and the drama that followed. I really like the comic (along with the others shown since I started reading your site). I didn’t mean anything negative by it and had simply commented my first (shallow?) reaction.
I agree with your opinions on restricting commentators. If the comments are only disruptive, there is no need for them to be there.
On the other hand, it would be a little depressing if you removed the comments altogether. I like the discourse that comes from it.
Sad to hear about your guild drama.
Hopefully there are more bright skies ahead.
You’ve helped create a great community here. And we are still behind you.
WTB idiot proof guildies. ooops not gonna happen, ever rofl keep up the good work scott and dont let a few bad ppl get ya down remeber this and ppl need to remember this as well IT”S a game!
It was one of those weekends… Its nice to have a critic to keep you on your toes once and a while, but good critic is not a Jerk either. If they don’t care enough to be constructive and respectful, why should you? BTW, the live show was really cool, next time some mics in the crowd would be cool
*super duper hugs for Scottypants*
@Cudd /agree … no more hugs for them
“Screw it and do my thing.”
I think that sums it up. Glad you had a chance to vent and stuffs. Sometimes that’s all it takes
*sends warm fuzzies*
Go on and do what you do and us fan will keep supporting you. Some people in this world feed off of drama. They love the attention and love to cause eyebrows to rise. They want to feel like the diva making an entrance or leaving the scene. Unfortunately we deal with those people either in work or play. It’s best to put up with it and eventually, people will get tired of them and will lose their steam.
Gogo Scott!
@Matt Well put sir.
Scott, last time you thought about shutting down comments, most of the critics moved on doing whatever the heck they do.
Just keep on keeping on Scott!
P.S. Just hang out with your kids for a few hours, that’ll always make you feel better.
great diary. I love listening to these. i just wanted to say that I appreciate all your work on the site, comics, podcasts and it really ticks me off when 1 or 2 bad apples ruin it for everyone. Scott you do great work and we all look forward to it everyday(I know I do at least). thanks again and keep up the great content!
This is your site and I think most here would respect any decision you make.
Some people just have fun buy causing others grief.
But I love the site and the shows, so please keep doing what your are doing. It gives me stuff to look forward to each week.
Hey Scott,
I’m sad to hear about the guild drama. I was in the guild for a while earlier this year as Moony. It was definitely a great experience and all of the folks that I played with were stellar folks.
I agree with what everyone else has said so far about you and the site. And, I will be a fan, no matter what you do. Just know that I do make it a point to visit your site daily because you collect interesting stuff, great geeky information and your comics that always put a smile on my face, especially the WoW and Star Wars related ones.
Like AgentEggroll said, go and goof around with your kids, that always works. I know, I have a daughter, an awesome WoW playing geeky daughter.
Hey!
I may not be one of the top forum posters or even someone you’ll remember after this comment, but I enjoy your work and thank you for the product you produce (The Instance, ELR, comics, etc).
Loved this diary, release those impure energies! Life is too short to spend even a second worrying about something … especially something posted by someone on the internet.
Happy Days! Good Times!
Keep up the good work,
James
The differences are what make us special. Sometimes there has to be some friction to make all the surfaces smooth. The guild drama will subside and the people that remain will be stronger for it. Do not let the meanies get you down. Randy and I love you!
scott, i know you said you won’t read comments anymore, but i hope you read this.
i just want to say that it’s not true the comic is not fun anymore. maybe it’s not to everybody’s liking, and surely you have your ups and downs, but this is a great webcomic and look forward to a new comic 3 times a week (wish it was daily, but i know you’re busy). the art is good, it’s clever and you show that you respect your readers by trying to keep a regular schedule. you do your podcasts almost every week, you organize cool events, you deserve the so-called yes-men.
i personnaly got you robot strip and understood what you wanted to do. i am an avid fan of PA and the FruitF**** never came to my mind when i read it. i thought it was funny and sad at the same time and totally got it.
i just hope all of this won’t throw you off your game too much. keep up the good work.
oh yeah, and i can’t wait for the book, this is long overdue IMO.
Oh please moderate away. Get help doing it. If you look at sites like shacknews.com, they have strong moderation, and have been a pleasure to read for practically a decade.
First, I’d like to say that I enjoy your site and comics quite a big, especially when I can view you drawing them and having the commentary (hint ^_-).
Second, I know exactly what you mean about negativity. I’ll put this in WoW terms because that’s the latest “drama” but my guild has always been more laid back and casual when it comes to raids but recently too many people have been too negative on others, and others have been slacking in more ways than one. While I enjoy constructive criticism, I do not encourage the negative put downs of ideas or style. In short, I would urge you to ignore the negative input, as hard as that is, and focus more on the positive support of your fans and of constructive/peer input about your work. GL Scott! =D
I say that it is your darn website, so if you don’t feel like hearing people sit behind their computer screen and be rude, you have every right to moderate and ban as much as you want. Hope you feel better soon. These things are always a little less horrible with some distance.
Yeah, dude, moderate away. You have a lot of great fans, and don’t have any reason to put up with or respond to obvious trolls.
I love what you do, Scott. Helps keep me sane!
ROFLCOPTER U Suxz0rZ
Okay, seriously you don’t but I couldn’t resist. I don’t see the point of trolls on the internet but I suppose some people try to make their life feel better by trying to degrade others. Comments arn’t always a bad thing but sometimes they can be.
I present to you a link to the game developer (Jeff Minter) blog who last year made Space Giraffe on 360, it received VERY mixed review (look on Metacritic) but you will associate with it (perhaps).
http://stinkygoat.livejournal.com/115584.html
Peace and happiness to you all
- Chris
Keep your chin up Scott, when I played WoW the guilds I was in were always having drama but you’ve gotta play for fun, not politics. I’m glad when you do the diaries and I wish I could loan you a cup o’ internet. Most of the stuff on TV these days is garbage, most of the music these days is lame, but when I can read the comic or listen to ELR it’s actual good honest entertainment. Always be proud of that. Moderate as much as you need, we’ll be behind you.
Okay Scott, you helped me a while ago so I’m going to help you now since it sounds like you need it.
On the whole, I think it would be a bad idea to completely shut off comments on your site, don’t get me wrong though… it is YOUR site and you have every right to do so. Although you need to remember that 75% of what makes your site awesome is the community that supports it. Moderation is one thing, but outright silencing the people that help to make your community what it is is a little drastic. I mean as you know, I was discouraged with my podcast, I wanted to shut it down because no one was listening to it and to this day I don’t have the kind of community that you do. But you told me to soldier on, don’t let it get me down and keep writing and belting out those shows. Sadly I only kept the blog going, but we shut it down for other reasons aside from general lack of people, but I digress.
I guess what I’m trying to say is Trolls and Jerks, they come as part of the territory. But remember, those Trolls and Jerks make up an amazingly small percentage of an otherwise awesome community of people on this site whose input is infinitely valuable and that’s rare, believe me… If anyone knows how hard it is to make something small but awesome and have people actually enjoy it and feed it, I would be one of those people. To have the number of people you have here and to have the high ratio of positive vs negative comments, it’s very rare and I would love to have that kind of community. Just ignore the “This show sucks” comments or moderate them. It’s really just a matter of knowing what’s constructive criticism and what’s someone being an Ass.
Your site is yours. Do what you need to do. I run a site for a club I belong to, but the effort has been all mine, and it runs on hardware which is my personal property. I have put my foot down about things on two separate occasions. (yes, I’m talking about “drama” on our site) I used the same analogy as you: I would not let someone come into my house, piss on the rug, and then be invited back. When someone shows himself to be an ass, you get out the ban stick and whack him until he stops showing his face around your site. People get the wrong impression about websites in general. They think that because they can get to it from anywhere in the world, that it is automatically a public place.
It is your site and no matter what you choose I’d support you, but I think if you shut down comments completely you’d end up losing a lot of your community.
Maybe limit comments to the day they are posted or only a day or two before you disable them for that particular post. Or only allow comments on certain topics, I dunno.
But either way I will continue to listen and read.
I understand wanting to shut off the comments but I don’t think it’s the best idea. When you get comments like that anyone who reads them take it for what it is. No one takes them seriously. At least I don’t. I’d be more inclined to reinforce established rules. I’m on a heavily moderated board and it creates far more turmoil than if they were just left.
Scott, with regards to negative comments:
If someone says something that is hurtful to you, I would actually say, respond to it. Not vengefully… Don’t get angry with them. The internet provides such a strong shield of anonymity that sometimes people forget that there are real people on the other side. My advice, as it has worked for me in the past, is to remind them of that.
Tell them, “I’m sorry you feel that way. I enjoy the work I do, and it brings me a great deal of pleasure. You might not have realized it, but the things you said hurt my feelings. If that was your intent, then you’ve succeeded.”
Or something to that effect. Often, it will guilt them into realizing that they were jerks, and sometimes, you may even hear an apology from them. Most of the time, you’ll hear nothing, and on occasion, some petulant child will snark back with another hurtful comment. Ultimately, though, the world in general, not just the internet, is full of selfish people with something to say, and most of it is not edifying, constructive, or beneficial in any way. Extra Life is not low-profile anymore, and people are going to take pot shots. They’re hard to ignore. Sometimes, you just can’t understand WHY. Especially when you have a loyal fan base that likes what you do.
Maybe shutting off comments is a good route to go for you if you want to stop them. But ultimately, you shut out your loyal audience for a few jerks. Which is more important to you, getting no feedback at all from anyone, or suffering the occasional jerk for the sake of the good?
Keep up the good work Scott! Love the show and keep doing what you think is the right thing, because its great entertainment and I love seeing that new podcast downloading in I-tunes when I start it up.
I’d like to see you leave the comments turned on because I’ve always liked the idea of people being able to communicate and share thoughts and ideas right after they read something, or in your case, view a comic.
One thing that you can do to combat the trolls is to force people to register and login before they leave a comment. Usually when people have to register and login before commenting it cuts down the number of comments you get.
The one thing to keep in mind is that usually the people who are happy with something aren’t as quick to speak up as the people who want to complain.
You can always do what I do when I read completely non-constructive negative comments: Just read the comment and then say out loud, “You’re an idiot and your opinion means nothing to me.” Then move on. It may or may not help but it makes me feel better when I read BS on my own sites.
Good luck.
I disagree with what the others are saying about “democracy” and “fair voice” and all that other nonsense. This is your site. This is your house. Don’t let the idiots on your property if all they want to do is poop on your couch.
I agree with your position 100%. Leave the comments open, get rid of the idiots that want to do nothing but rant.
Do what you want. It’s your site.
This is your site, your house, and what you say goes. I agree with the posters that say leave comments on but moderate. I don’t have any problem with moderation, I do it when anyone kids or otherwise are in MY house. But silencing everyone by disabling comments I think may be too much because it silences the people you said in your diary you want to hang around and care about while silencing the jerks. Either way, comments or no, I will continue to support you and all you do, because I like what you do and I support your “Screw it and do my thing” approach. “Doing your thing” is what makes all this so popular; we love it!
Thanks again for the diary entry, I really enjoy the backstage pass it gives us to the inner workings of Scott Johnson. Thank you for taking the time out, and I’m glad to hear it helps as well, because we love the material! Brings to mind Family Guy and “You know what really grinds my gears?” /lol
Hey Scott,
Just wanted to say that I agree about how people on the web say things just to irritate others for fun. They’re like punching a blind man just for an adrenalin rush. I accualy think that’s who most of commenters are, from the short time
i’ve spent reading youtube and itunes comments. Criticism without reason is ignorant. So I hope you don’t get too down from them. I like what you do, it is entertaining and insightful. So please keep it up.
-Ben
Life is too good & too short to deal with the negativity. I’d miss the comments, but do whatever you need to do. You are providing entertainment for US. Any comment that doesn’t originate from a perspective of gratitude or encouragement is just wasting your time & mine.
And in case you haven’t heard it lately, thanks for all you do.
Hopefully you won’t let stupid people get you down. You do more in a week than most people do in a month, so that should prove to you that they don’t matter.
My best friend recently killed herself, and it’s given me a new outlook on life, to not let the stupid stuff get to you. Especially stupid people, they are just shouting in the darkness hoping people will notice them. Life is short, and do what makes you happy as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone or anything else.
Come play LOTRO with me Scott. You can remain anonymous. Its a fun game and I am in a nice laid back Kinship.
To all the haters. Don’t let them get yah down. They are just jealous. Sometimes the internet is a mean place where jealousy and rudeness can prevail. You are a GIANT of the internet, don’t let some dweebs off on school vacation ruin your week.
I like your comics. Are they Charles Schultz? No, but I dont come here for little kids kicking footballs. I come here for your unique form of outlook on the geek word. Keep it up!
Hey Scott, great diary I really dig hearing your thoughts on things like this. You think you could explore this on the show? Like have an episode that talks about how and why people on the internet are just jerks, and how many of them remain jerks in their day to day lives? Maybe it’s not deep enough to make a whole show out of, but I think it’d be really cool if you guys explored that idea a little more.
Keep up the good work dude!
We love papa Scott!
Just wanted to say keep doing what you are doing you have a lot more fans with positive things to say than detractors, the internet is sadly a place where jerks can have a voice for all to hear.
A friend of mine likes to sign his e-mails with the following quote, which I hope will give you a chuckle, Scott:
“We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.” –Robert Wilensky
Hey Scott,
I don’t really play WOW, and my internet has been down for almost a week, so it looks like I missed all the drama. I have to say, I’m a little surprised. In fact, this diary reminded me why I come here so often.
Your site has always been a safe haven for intelligent, like-minded people who enjoy your work and that’s always been great. You routinely supply us with awesome entertainment via the comic, the podcast, and tons of other things. So bottom line, don’t worry about the troublemakers and just know that there are many of us who support you wholeheartedly.
WoW! I’ve been off the game for a bit and missed all the guild drama?, ehe some folks just like chaos. I find “real life” chaotic enough and really don’t need that in my play life.
Scott, I haven’t read all the comments from folks but did listen to your diary #121. Constructive criticism is usually taken well but people being “pissy” for what ever reason they think might justify nastiness needs to be either deleted, sanctioned, or sent to an open forum for everyone to be pissy right back or better yet, maybe some one would step up to the bat and give free on line mental counsellings for their miss directed anger. Perhaps there should be a simple test they should take before their comments are posted. 1. Do you like to torture little animals. 2. Do you think all of your crimes are societies fault? 3. Are you a normal Joe that is quite certain the aliens are spawning from the cornfields in Ohio?
haha, jk.
Sanction away and don’t let em poo on your sofa! Good luck Scott and try not to give the angry-confused-societal-miss fits the kind of power to upset your day/night.
Not sure if you’ll read this one or not… but if you do, ya gotta remember… “arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics… even if you win, you’re still mentally handicapped”
In poor taste? Probably… but more true than we might like to admit.
Personally I enjoy every cartoon, blog post, diary, etc. that I’ve read/heard/watched you put out.
Keep up the good work… and “… Don’t let the b@stards wear ya down! “
Hi Scott,
Just wanted to wish you luck with moderating the comments. I can understand you wanting to filter out the “You suck” comments. No-one needs this and I think I trust you well enough to only filter out the stuff that needs to be filtered out.
Also keep in mind that you are doing a fantastic job. I check out this website almost everyday and I listen to ELR every week and I live in Holland. And remember the Scottish guy you had on ELR a short while ago. You reach such a HUGE audience that it was only likely that there were going to be a few jerks. But you wouldn’t be reaching that Huge audience if you weren’t doing something right.
Good luck and perhaps till a future Nerdtacular,
Michael
PS. you made some comment about bad stuff needing to happen after good stuff (I can’t remember it too well I listened to the diary before I went to bed yesterday) and it made me think of this quote by Agent Smith in the Matrix:
“Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from.”
I don’t really care about the lamer comments.
But I can entirely understand how they lower the vibe (perhaps “tighten” is the better word) for you. It’s a good move (for your own personal health) for you. I know we all repeat this same thing to O. in his rants, but: remember, the artist’s health is more important than anything else.
The problem seems to be that you’ve forgotten that this is a comic(please don’t crucify me for that, it’s not meant to be an insult people), and not a “social bling-blang blu-blag”. Remember Scott my boy, we love you for your comics, and podcast(s). Everything else we can find on our own, and it’s your unique style and effort that keeps calling us back(I speak for myself).
tl;dr: dont remove comments, just ignore them if you don’t want to deal with them. and we love you. : )