figmentPez
Staff member
Robert Downey Jr. posted one of this years Christmas story comics to Facebook.
[Webcomic] PVP Discussion
- Thread starter Dei
- Start date
I guess we'll never know. 2 week holiday hiatus during a holiday themed storyline. Buffer what?
Myeah, I've been wondering myself. No notification either. I don't mind an artist taking a few weeks off (though a professional can have guest artists or filler or just use a buffer), but unannounced? The blog talks of TT season 2 and so on, but nothing about taking a vacation...
He did tweet somewhere between Xmas & New Years that he was taking a few days off because of the holidays & being sick. But still.
There have been several instances in the past couple of months where he'll just miss a day with no explanation. Not the best plan when your front page says "Updates Mon-Fri". I tried to pull up the archives to call him out on it, but the archive no longer links to a calendar, but rather you must choose your starting month (which in itself is a stupid method". I dunno - I've tried to be on "his side" for most of his issues, but he keeps making it more difficult.
There have been several instances in the past couple of months where he'll just miss a day with no explanation. Not the best plan when your front page says "Updates Mon-Fri". I tried to pull up the archives to call him out on it, but the archive no longer links to a calendar, but rather you must choose your starting month (which in itself is a stupid method". I dunno - I've tried to be on "his side" for most of his issues, but he keeps making it more difficult.
You know, I wish he would just be up front about this stuff.
I'm guessing most people would be cool if he dropped to Mon-Wed-Fri or some variant thereof, and advertisers ultimately care about CPM/CPA vs ROI (and always being late or skipping updates is not going to help in the total eyeballs market).
I'm guessing most people would be cool if he dropped to Mon-Wed-Fri or some variant thereof, and advertisers ultimately care about CPM/CPA vs ROI (and always being late or skipping updates is not going to help in the total eyeballs market).
figmentPez
Staff member
"Thanks to Table Titans and Mappy we have a lot of new readers who just really have no idea where to dive into PvP. For that reason our site is getting a much needed facelift which we’ll be debuting soon. And we’re going to launch with a new story-arc that will help introduce new readers to our characters for the first time."
Yes, and for all those new readers: Here's an unexplained two week hiatus, right after we got linked from Robert Downey Junior. Want to know where to start reading? Nowhere, because this comic doesn't update anymore, don't bother.
Yes, and for all those new readers: Here's an unexplained two week hiatus, right after we got linked from Robert Downey Junior. Want to know where to start reading? Nowhere, because this comic doesn't update anymore, don't bother.
If he dropped to mon-wed-fri, he'd only do one comic a week.
I think the forum might need an "ohhhh burn!" rating for posts like this.
Wait, which comic is that?
Questionable content. Jeph has always been a machine when it came to getting his work done.
I remember him announcing when they got married. I feel so sorry for them. That sucks.
A little something I threw together in the summer because I was going to make a point (and painfully bored while living in a hotel) and kept updating to finish.
Green = Regularly scheduled strips (198)
Orange = Guest strips (28)
Red = Unexplained absences (35)
GasBandit
Staff member
Welcome aboard. I think we're gonna like you.
A little something I threw together in the summer because I was going to make a point (and painfully bored while living in a hotel) and kept updating to finish.
Green = Regularly scheduled strips (198)
Orange = Guest strips (28)
Red = Unexplained absences (35)
In related news, is there anybody who would not fire an employee based on the above schedule, where orange was requested time off and red was a no show (or even called-in absence)?
Is there really any point in comparing the schedule of a normal job with one of a self-employed artist?
What did Krampus end up doing for Xmas?
He's also not getting paid to keep the same schedule as those cartoonists.
Dave
Staff member
It would be interesting to see how this compares to past years. No, I'm not asking you to do this. I just think it would be interesting.
A little something I threw together in the summer because I was going to make a point (and painfully bored while living in a hotel) and kept updating to finish.
Green = Regularly scheduled strips (198)
Orange = Guest strips (28)
Red = Unexplained absences (35)
He stole our Tastemaker, and PvP Christmas was ruined for all the fans.
GasBandit
Staff member
I find it a stretch to believe he should be paid at all, at this point.
figmentPez
Staff member
We've repeatedly discussed advertising deals, page views and other reasons why Kurtz would be much better off if he kept to a consistent schedule. He's not getting paid by a syndicate, he's getting paid by advertisers, sponsors and other marketing deals. Would you want to pay top dollar for ad space on PvP if he doesn't have any new content up for two weeks after getting linked by a major celebrity? One of the biggest chances for fresh eyes to view ads, and there's not even a notice of when regular strips will return.
That doesn't change that he's under no contractual obligation to provide PVP on that schedule. One of the benefits of being self-employed like he his is that he has control over his schedule, if he feels taking advantage of that is worth more than the additional money he would make (like recently when he and his household got sick over the holidays), then I'm not going to worry about it either. My point was not that he wouldn't make money with more updates, but that Blot's comparison of his schedule to that of newpaper cartoonists is a poor one.
Because he doesn't hold it to an absolute schedule he's not getting paid to hold it to unlike people who are getting paid to do so? Is Bill Amend worth less professional consideration other newpaper cartoonists for you too since he only puts out a Sunday strip? A better point of comparison would be Table Titans, since to my understanding he is working under a contract to put out content on a certain schedule for that. If he's failing his obligations there, then I would agree he doesn't have a leg to stand on in those gripes.
GasBandit
Staff member
How many sundays has foxtrot missed? that's my issue. Scott sets an expectation by calling his strip a weekdaily strip, then misses 35 weekdays and has guest strips for another 33. If his schedule is too tough, he should, as others have said, switch to MWF and build a buffer.
Eh. Self-employed and all that, nice. A doctor that randomly doesn't show up for his speaking hours, a gas station that mysteriously isn't open during opening hours, a grocery store closed at hours it should be open - once in a blue moon, sure. Accidents happen, there can be a very good reason, tragedy in the family, I don't care.
Without warning, without reason, disappearing for 14 days? you'd be bankrupt if working for yourself, and fired working for anyone else. It's not just "unprofessional", it's simply not grown up.
Without warning, without reason, disappearing for 14 days? you'd be bankrupt if working for yourself, and fired working for anyone else. It's not just "unprofessional", it's simply not grown up.
There's been 35 days with no comic out of about 260 weekdays, or a success rate of about 86.5%. That's enough to say it's usually a M-F strip. Would it be better if he was a bit more consistent? Certainly, but as it is, if he went down to a MWF schedule he'd been doing about 30 less strips a year (assuming no guest strips), so complaining that he's providing more content because there's also with the occasional lapse just seems like such a non-issue to me (Now, complaining about people complaining about it on the other hand...
).
).
GasBandit
Staff member
Only in school is 86% a good success rate. In the real world, 86% gets you fired/contract terminated/clients lost.There's been 35 days with no comic out of about 260 weekdays, or a success rate of about 86.5%. That's enough to say it's usually a M-F strip. Would it be better if he was a bit more consistent? Certainly, but as it is, if he went down to a MWF schedule he'd been doing about 30 less strips a year (assuming no guest strips), so complaining that he's providing more content because there's also with the occasional lapse just seems like such a non-issue to me (Now, complaining about people complaining about it on the other hand...
And when has he done that? Because you can't say that about this latest gap, since there was a reason, he announced it over twitter.[DOUBLEPOST=1389126106,1389126028][/DOUBLEPOST]
Unless people have abandoned PVP en-masse this year for this reason, I think it's safe to say you're wrong there.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, actually, starting around june this past year, pvponline's alexa rating started trending down very visibly. Though, there's no way to tell if that was due to absences (since apparently most of the absences actually were in the last 4 months of the year) or just dissatisfaction with the strip in general. Which is something I could believe.