While We Wait: Part 2

[Dachs]

So Dachs, you have any estimates on the updates times of arrival?

Probably Friday, due to quiz bowl.

 

[Luckymoose]

Probably Friday, due to quiz bowl.

Argh, damn you and your laziness.

 

[North King]

But of course. On the other hand, he tends to freely admit that his writing is utterly god-awful, so he gets points for humility alone, which is more than what most of his targets can claim.

Except he's also a deliberate *******, which takes down those few points.

 

[Thlayli]

Please let this not become the personal attacks thread. Whether from Symph or any other party, AT any other party.

Nothing wrong with being tongue and cheek, but we're not supposed to openly insult each other.

 

[Symphony D.]

Except he's also a deliberate *******, which takes down those few points.

Meh? What do you think the point of mocking something is? To be deliberately antagonistic toward it. You don't destructively criticize something in a nice way, or it wouldn't be destructive criticism, or if it was, it'd be particularly bad destructive criticism. Some people patch holes, some people tear the whole building down. Both are useful in their own ways for pointing out flaws. You haven't said he's wrong, just that you don't like how he presents his points, and that's an aesthetic and tangential point to what he says, which is more often than not right. He admits he is using those same qualities, so that can't be used as an attack--he recognizes that he does it. The most that he can be gotten on is engaging in schadenfreude, and quite honestly most everyone but the extremely empathetic do that to some degree--some people just do it openly.

Spoiler In-Depth, Long-Winded Explication :

You might say that he's being an ******* for doing that to begin with, but its rather apparent he's not interested in directly helping these webcomic authors out (that is not the point of the blog; that's what "Your Webcomic Can Still Be Saved" et al are for), and based on the bulk of their reactions, most of the webcomic authors aren't interested in improving, which is precisely the reason he is being antagonistic towards them--he has in fact gone out of his way to repeat this in most such reviews (like the statement regarding CAD having had cut-and-paste artwork since forever). He's making fun of them because they have bad attributes, whatever those might be, and they either have not fixed them despite abundant time or have refused to fix them.

Now, it's true that a few changes have come about as a result of his work (CAD has actually begun having slightly varied facial expressions, Shortpacked has dropped the damn drama story [for now]), but those results come as a direct result of derogatory, antipathetic commentary and the resulting controversy it has generated--shaming the authors in question into changing

Solomon is functioning for webcomics as a Drill Sergeant might--by harshly criticizing failure in an attempt to get them to improve their behavior or implode and drop out, or at least to inform the populace at large of the faults of a given comic. This is no different a behavior than when your parents tell you they're "disappointed in you", just a difference in magnitude. In truth, he's doing it because he has fun making fun of them, but he has made his efforts public, so they basically serve the above function amongst the populace at large.

If they were unaware of their mistakes (bad writing, bad art, bad plot, whatever) then they could be forgiven. But when these things are pointed out and the author's immediate response is to rally a lynchmob to spam the blog of the guy pointing it out (however harshly he might do so) they move from being naive to being stupid--they should know better. Stupid people don't tend to be worthy of time, patience, or nicety unless the person working with them happens to be a Saint.

To write is to expose yourself to criticism, and not all of it is going to be phrased nicely, and not everyone is going to like your work, and some people are going to push buttons extra hard just to see whether or not you can take the pressure. He's one of them. It's generally a given that the harshest critic of a given author's work should be that author--many of Soloman's targets believe they're flawless. Being nice does nothing but foster that delusion--the opposite approach is required. And a person doesn't need to be perfect themselves (ie: not use the same sorts of fallbacks) to point out another person's mistakes--that just makes them hypocritical. As long as when confronted on that point they acknowledge it, that's fine, because it's more than the other party is capable of doing.

This sort of goes back to the earlier argument we had in this very thread where apparently just because somebody phrases their critique in an unappealing way, that somehow diminishes what's said--it doesn't. The point remains. Saying the person who said it or the way it's said changes the basic argument is simply either ad hominem or a fallacy of style over substance.

 

[North King]

Meh? What do you think the point of mocking something is?

Hey, I get criticizing a person over their comic. What I think is incredibly childish is his little snipes at the authors which have nothing to do with the comic itself. Ooh, the author of PvP is fat? Amazing! Please, continue your rolling wit onwards, it just has my rolling on the floor! So creative! So enchanting!

Point is that he's being a dumbarse. Yes, the way you say things can diminish what you say.

 

[Symphony D.]

What I think is incredibly childish is his little snipes at the authors which have nothing to do with the comic itself.

That I'll agree is fairly tasteless and contributes nothing to any of his points (being itself just ad hominem).

 

[andis-1]

Damn I'm bored. Update faster Dachs and EQ!!!

 

[Luckymoose]

I am personally excited about Daft updating 1936NES.

 

[andis-1]

Ah yes! That one too! Daft get your lazy ass to work!

 

[Abaddon]

I want upsates

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I can't wait for the NESLife update. I love that NES.

 

[~Darkening~]

You know, I don't even remember my glorious plans for collapse in Acre anymore . (Hint.hint.hint)

 

[Luckymoose]

I thought Daft was going to post the update exactly 16 hours after his last post last night at 8:54 PM.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

@Next Orders Due Thread:

People really shouldn't post in there unnecessarily. Even if it isn't used much, cluttering it up with comments is highly unnecessary.

 

[Luckymoose]

Do you think it is time for the new While We Wait Thread?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Seems like LF just did. We're done with this one.

Farewell, WwW#2!

 

[Birdjaguar]

It seems we should have at least waited for some kind of "significant" post count. Maybe 3,025.

Farewell my child your end is near,
Reborn you'll be, never fear.

 

[jeps]

We can still get to 3025 easily.

But that is pointless now. NEW THREAD!

 

[Padma]

Moderator Action: 3020 works. Thread closed.