OotS 512

[Olaf the Stout]

*sigh*

Is Rich ever going to upgrade his POS server? This is really getting old.

Damn him and his free comics.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Damn him and his free comics.

Reading a comic on the internet I pay for is no more free for me than reading comics in a paper I pay for. And he isn't giving the comic away for free, as noone would be buying his books without the webcomic. So if you want to defend him against criticisms of the product he delivers, just do it. But can we stop pretending that webcomics are exempt from criticism for being no more free than most of the other media I consume?

 

[Fifth Element]

Reading a comic on the internet I pay for is no more free for me than reading comics in a paper I pay for. And he isn't giving the comic away for free, as noone would be buying his books without the webcomic. So if you want to defend him against criticisms of the product he delivers, just do it. But can we stop pretending that webcomics are exempt from criticism for being no more free than most of the other media I consume?

There's no marginal cost to you to view the comic. It's effectively free, assuming you would pay for internet access if it didn't exist.

It costs Mr. Burlew money to put it on the internet. Complaining that it's really popular is, well, I don't know the word for it.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I haven't been able to get to the strip all afternoon. Must be a popular installment.

I would guess not. This is pretty serious--my guess is that, ironically since OotS is usually much more popular, Erfworld is the cause. Not because Erfworld is very good, but because it was (randomly AFAIKT) selected recently in Time magazine's Top Ten Webcomics, and that coincides reasonably well with the server failures (maybe lots of Time readers checking out the entire history of Erfworld?).

 

[Buck Godot]

Actually, Rich has said that it's people visiting the forum after a comic update that causes all of the problems. I have noticed that whenever Rich shuts down the forums, the server load vanishes completely.

Now Rich, for obvious reasons, doesn't like taking the forums offline. But unless he decides to either get a separate server for the forums, get a server cluster, or both, then I get the feeling that the server problems are going to continue on Update Days for the conceivable future.

They were around for a long time during the Spring and Summer until there was a lot of optimization done on the forums. And I really don't think there is much blood left that can be squeezed from that stone.

And since the crashes started with the last Erfworld update, then the idea of Time Magazine slashdotting GitP (and thus introducing a ton of new readers to both OotS and Erf) makes perfect sense.

So it's not a "POS" server to blame here. I've seen first hand what can happen to boards when hundreds of people instantly log on and try to post to a single section/thread. It ain't pretty.

 

[Heckler]

Reading a comic on the internet I pay for is no more free for me than reading comics in a paper I pay for. And he isn't giving the comic away for free, as noone would be buying his books without the webcomic. So if you want to defend him against criticisms of the product he delivers, just do it. But can we stop pretending that webcomics are exempt from criticism for being no more free than most of the other media I consume?

But the newspaper artists get paid to have their product put in the papers.

Rich is shelling out his own money to get his product on the web.

So there is a big difference.

 

[Grog]

It costs Mr. Burlew money to put it on the internet.

Actually, he said a long time ago that he was making enough money off OotS that he was able to quit his job and work on it full time. So, no, putting OotS on the internet doesn't cost Rich money; it makes him money.

 

[Darkwolf71]

I've used that Dancing Lights as flare beacon trick before!

That's awesome. What's the range on Dancing Lights? I thought it was short. Of course, that's still 50 feet at 10th level.

*takes notes.

 

[Thunderfoot]

As a former Soldier I would like to point out that the 'Tower" chat is eerily close to that of an artillery strike called in on your current position....it might be too late to escape.

Let me conjecture the finish of that conversation...
The bad news is... you're about to be obliterated be the incoming Meteor Swarm/Fireball/Disintegrate or other high level Oh Crap spell you wish here....*whsitleing sound emulating incoming rounds*

 

[Buck Godot]

Actually, he said a long time ago that he was making enough money off OotS that he was able to quit his job and work on it full time. So, no, putting OotS on the internet doesn't cost Rich money; it makes him money.

Technically he has said that he views the website as advertising (i.e. it costs him money) for the books and games (which makes him money).

A fine distinction perhaps, but it's one he's quite adamant about. As many posters who have called him out on his board have found out.