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19 May 2013 08:12 pm
Pandas...
...The Teddy Bears of Satan?
What does that make Mugger and Raccoons in general?
19 May 2013 08:18 pm
@Kenno Arkkan: In all honesty, it would.
I ran a SJ comic for five years paying $20 a year. Zero donations, and I make less in a month than many people make in a single paycheck.(Disability) People using ad-block never stopped me from releasing a single update.
19 May 2013 10:01 pm
Anon's point ought to be obvious.
I'm happy to buy books, plushies, whatever- and talk up comics I love (like Fel). But the sneakier, more intrusive and creepy the ad companies get, the more necessary blocking ads becomes. So a lot of folks (myself included) have made an informed decision to permablock ads. There are plenty of ways to generate a revenue stream that don't abuse viewers or compromise our privacy.
if Ghostery for Firefox has taught me anything, it is that far, far too many total strangers are way, way too interested in monitoring what I am reading. That alone is reason enough to block all of them.
On this site alone I see 7 trackers:
Facebook, Pinterest, Google analytics,
Google +1,Project Wonderful, Quantcast,
and Twitter button.
Sorry Arkan, not interested.
19 May 2013 10:21 pm
@Syncline: :I i still don't understand what bothers you. this only two (2) ads (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY LESS than most webcomic pages) you see here, are picked >>BY HAND<< by me. no one is looking at you browsing and saying "Hey! I should smack this OBNOXIOUS FLASH AD WITH MUSIC IN IT in his face!!".
But anyways, im "asking", not forcing you; pointing a gun to your head or anything. Thanks a lot for reading and enjoying My Life with Fel.
19 May 2013 10:51 pm
Been Having Problems Lately
The problem is that the images often don't load in the earlier pages of the comic, and I have to often reload the page to see the panel-- I thought it only affected those pages, but it apparently affects all pages since this one is on the fritz too.
Also, who is the badass here? I forgot how divisions works, is it better to be 1st, or is it reversed, like with Burn Categorization [1st-6th, from sensitivity to complete burn through and conversion into charcoal].
19 May 2013 11:01 pm
@Syncline: Exactly. Besides, I could understand if he was personally hosting and maintain the operation of the site. That stuff costs money, and ads help with that, but those are things that SJ takes care of, free of charge.
19 May 2013 11:19 pm
Ad Nauseam
Been reading with no ad blocker, but using the Tor browser. I hope this gets you the ad hits; it (hopefully) keeps the snoops from tracking what I'm doing. I'd prefer to support your art without being tracked by folks who really have earned our distrust.
19 May 2013 11:44 pm
@Anon: :I just putting a couple facts here: The webcomic has it's own domain (mylifewithfel.com) that's 14 usd a year, and in order to be able to use it i have to pay for a premium account on SJ, which you can check right in the webcomic's profile: http://www.smackjeeves.com/comicprofile.php?id=78971 That's $59 usd
In this particular case, im not running "free of charge", as you assume I do.
I pay those two things for two reasons:
1-I lack the skills to build a decent website myself and just buy a domain and hosting and use it myself, that's why I use smackjeeves.
2-The only way to let the website use it's proper domain is paying for the silly premium account. It's a tad too much for my taste, but that's what I pay for letting others do what I don't know how to do.
Not that it's worth winning an internet fight, right? but i guess it's info the readers should know, in general :I
20 May 2013 12:35 am
It's best to give a good representation of the financial situation if you request these sorts of things.
[I learned it from total biscuit, and bay12games, it's apparently very effective.]
20 May 2013 03:04 am
It doesnt matter who you are, what dimension you leave in, if you are human or not. Everyone always wants to get the top bunk first.
20 May 2013 05:12 am
@That Greek Guy:
I dunno, when I was a kid, I had a bunk bed all to my self. Handy when having friends over. But for day to day? I slept on the bottom bunk. It's a pain in the ass climbing up and down every time you want to get in or out of the top bunk. Plus in the summertime? Heat rises, and the top bunk is right up in the middle of it.
20 May 2013 07:19 am
@Kenno Arkkan: And another $20 if you want the fancy donator status at SJ. If you can't muster setting aside $50 to $70 a year, for comic expenses, without relying on the few meager bucks you get from ads, you might need to reevaluate your budget.
Not bashing your comic, just your "I need ad-clicks to keep it going!" mindset.
20 May 2013 10:21 am
Domain & URL Alternatives
@Kenno Arkkan:
It's true that dot com domains usually cost more than less popular types like .bt .cu .pt, etc. But, IMO, you're paying too much for what you get. Are you SURE your domain does not include free URL forwarding? With forwarding you could avoid paying US $59 for Smackjeeves's Premium services just to accept a domain name. Though, you want "URL Cloaking", too, so it is transparent.
If I were to start a webcomic I'd consider a "Free Subdomain Service" with URL forwarding, URL cloaking, and path forwarding. I've had a free domain with ShortURL.com for several years now and it just puts a tiny, unobtrusive bar at the bottom. Or, for $1.88, one can upgrade to Premium to remove it and get more features. I've also considered tipdots.com and freedomain.co.nr. (Subdomains: For example, you could get mylifewithfel.vze.com or mylifewithfel.at.tp.)
You've already promoted mylifewithfel.com, so a subdomain is probably unacceptable. But there are cheaper places. Try searching "Best Domain Name Registrars", "cheapest domain renewal", "Domain Name Price Comparison" or similar (paying attention to reputation and features). Though, I've heard that transferring a domain to a different registrar/host can be a bit complicated.
20 May 2013 10:27 am
Top is not always preferable...
@That Greek Guy:
It's like what Mujaki said: There are definitely disadvantages to the top bunk. It tends to be hotter. And bottom is a lot easier/faster than climbing up and down. I'd know, I was on the top bunk as a child. And there was this one time when I fell off the top bunk... It wasn't pleasant, but at least I didn't break anything. (I fell flat, instead of on a limb.)
20 May 2013 11:00 am
@xpacetrue: I also had top bunk as a kid, and fell off once before the guard rails were installed. Surprisingly, it didn't even wake me up. The noise of me hitting the ground woke everyone else in the house up, but I somehow slept right through it.
@Kenno Arkkan: I use a custom filter to whitelist PW ads on all sites (@@projectwonderful), so I've been seeing yours all along.
20 May 2013 01:37 pm
just cause you asked nicely . . .
"Adblocker off for this site"
also, i had to mention how i love your ability to shift styles. it give a wonderful amount of momentum to your pacing!
20 May 2013 02:42 pm
Ads, Shop, & Optimization
There are distinct groups: Those who regularly use ad blockers and those who don't. And there are those who are willing and able to make donations or purchase MLWF-themed merchandise and those who can't. If this is insufficient to cover costs, you might leverage what you can and/or try to cut costs.
The "Shop" button at the top left corner is pretty small. You've a variety of merchandise. Perhaps a few more items, though? Calendars and/or mugs, perhaps? Maybe mention the shop or certain items more often? Maybe have a bit of sale once a year?
Prices seem a bit steep. US $25 for a simple mousepad feels a lot more like a straight donation than a purchase. Lower prices does mean less profit per purchase, but the increase in sales may or may not merit such change.
How much of that $25 do you get and how much does Furry Dakimakura keep? I haven't done much research in this, but I do know there's numerous custom tshirt, mug, and calendar type merchandising (gift shop) sites today. You might consider some research and searching for someplace that lets you keep a larger percentage of sales. However, I've heard customer service runs the gamut from poor to excellent. If service is bad enough it might drive away customers or make you wish you chose someone else.
I do not use outright ad blocking. Though, when I use Opera I usually have the pop-up blocker on. I do not even do that with Firefox most of the time. Occasionally, I'll turn flash or javascript off if I have to use sites that bug me. (Image ads do not bother me much. But a lot of tabs with flash ads can make my CPU beg for mercy. And pop ups are incredibly annoying. Video ads are the worst, though, for a slow connection.)
I'm surprised at myself, though, because I'm somewhat privacy/security conscious. I think I may have to consider something like Ghostery for Firefox or Tor when I can upgrade my PC.
20 May 2013 05:20 pm
@That Greek Guy: Funny enough, my brother and I used to sleep on a bunk bed when we were kids and he always had the top bunk :c
@Anon: what's the point in trying to give facts and make people understand if they just keep assuming stuff... geez.
@xpacetrue: Thanks for the advice :O Really? $25 is too much for a silicon mousepad? Those things are around $30 down here... It's really tough to me to put prices on stuff that i don't really know how much my target usually pays for.
Anyways, i was just saying "it would be nice". Not that it's "indispensable or i won't update EVER" like some guys assume :I
20 May 2013 06:04 pm
I'm waiting to see a very fluffy hybrid, much like that anthro we see on your post about what inspired you to start this comic.
21 May 2013 02:02 pm
Anything for an good artist
I never even had an addblocker until resently flash-sound popups started to freak me out... but as long as such thing doesnt hit this site, i am absolutly ok with deactivating my block for you ^.^
22 May 2013 02:19 pm
I never block ads. I only block Flash, and if your ad is in Flash, chances are I don't want what you are selling.
But I'll never block JPEG, GIF, PNG or Text ads.
Kenno Arkkan
Reply19 May 2013 08:10 pm
oh hai
We at My Life with Fel, would really appreciate if you unblock us from your adblock extentions. It helps us getting ad revenue and paying stuff. It's cool if you don't D: just sayin'
DISCLAIMER: Smackjeeves has been derping with the load of pics, if you can't see the comic page, try again later :c this is out of my hands, apparently.