darknet comic slurper

[sskl...@gmail.com]

I use the darknet comic slurper. Today about half my comics were gone. They were also gone from the list on the side bar. Any one know what is going on?

[D.D.Degg]

sskl... wrote:
> I use the darknet comic slurper.
> Today about half my comics were gone.

> Any one know what is going on?

An intimidating letter from Universal Uclick?
http://www.universaluclick.com/comics/list
(Though why the Sunday Foxtrot remains is puzzling.)

D.D.Degg

[Cryptoengineer]

On Jun 18, 6:52 pm, "D.D.Degg" <ddd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> sskl... wrote:
> > I use the darknet comic slurper.
> > Today about half my comics were gone.
> > Any one know what is going on?
>

> An intimidating letter from Universal Uclick?http://www.universaluclick.com/comics/list

> (Though why the Sunday Foxtrot remains is puzzling.)

Haven't seen it today, so can't comment on the change.

Nevertheless, I've always felt a little 'dirty' when using the DCS. If
there's any class of site owners that I feel deserve ad revenue, it's
the creators of webcomics. The DCS denies them this. But it's soooooo
convenient.

My alternative has been to set up my daily comics as a subfolder in my
Firefox bookmarks. I can open a whole folder's worth of bookmarks into
separate tabs with a single click, then just delete the tabs one by
one as I read them.

pt

[Dave Van Domelen]

Most of my slurper picks are syndicated strips, and I moved to the
slurper once the official sites became horribly clunky to navigate (I'm
looking at you, ucomics). I do have a few "updates once in a blue moon"
strips like VGCats in my list as well, since otherwise I'll forget them
entirely in the time between updates (and I do make a point of going to the
site once there is an update).

Dave Van Domelen, notes the most annoying thing about strips being
removed from the slurper is that there's no evidence they were ever
there...so you better remember everything you had so you can reconstruct it
through other means.

[John W Kennedy]

On 2013-06-19 20:39:04 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:
> My alternative has been to set up my daily comics as a subfolder in my
> Firefox bookmarks. I can open a whole folder's worth of bookmarks into
> separate tabs with a single click, then just delete the tabs one by
> one as I read them.

The same strategy works with Safari.

--
John W Kennedy
"Though a Rothschild you may be
In your own capacity,
As a Company you've come to utter sorrow--
But the Liquidators say,
'Never mind--you needn't pay,'
So you start another company to-morrow!"
-- Sir William S. Gilbert. "Utopia Limited"

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <652439da-92ec-4589...@m4g2000yqe.googlegroups.com>,

Cryptoengineer <pete...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Jun 18, 6:52 pm, "D.D.Degg" <ddd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> sskl... wrote:
>> > I use the darknet comic slurper.
>> > Today about half my comics were gone.
>> > Any one know what is going on?
>>
>> An intimidating letter from Universal
>Uclick?http://www.universaluclick.com/comics/list
>> (Though why the Sunday Foxtrot remains is puzzling.)
>
>Haven't seen it today, so can't comment on the change.
>
>Nevertheless, I've always felt a little 'dirty' when using the DCS. If
>there's any class of site owners that I feel deserve ad revenue, it's
>the creators of webcomics. The DCS denies them this. But it's soooooo
>convenient.
>

Do you click on ads on comic web sites? I don't think I have once
in the history of the Internet. (And I have the big ad sites blocked
in my browser anyway). My guess is that the person who is going to use
darkgate is not the ad clicking type...
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[Dann]

On Thursday, June 20, 2013 2:09:44 AM UTC-4, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

> Do you click on ads on comic web sites? I don't think I have once
> in the history of the Internet. (And I have the big ad sites blocked
> in my browser anyway). My guess is that the person who is going to use
> darkgate is not the ad clicking type...

The problem isn't necessarily the presence of ads, it is the damned site design that makes the user jump through hoops to get to the content they want to see.

If I want to see Prince Valiant, I shouldn't have to scroll down past half a dozen banner menus, banner ads, and a splash for the syndicate to get to it. And perhaps they could present a full size image right away instead of presenting a small one that can be magnified via yet another user action?

Alas, the distributors of the content see these things otherwise.

Creators of the content are usually pretty good about such things. i.e. Day by Day, Sheldon, xkcd, etc.

Those sites are very user friendly, IMHO.

I play TribalWars from time to time. They have a pretty good set up where the ads are present in a way that isn't too intrusive. And they also make it clear than paying for the "premium" service will eliminate the ads and really focus the user's experience on playing the game.

My experience with comics distributors does not inspire much confidence that their "premium" services are well focused on the user's experience instead of it just being yet another marketing opportunity.

I may be wrong on that count.

--
Regards,
Dann

[Mark Jackson]

On 6/20/2013 11:57 AM, Dann wrote:
> On Thursday, June 20, 2013 2:09:44 AM UTC-4, Ted Nolan <tednolan>
> wrote:
>
>> Do you click on ads on comic web sites? I don't think I have once
>> in the history of the Internet. (And I have the big ad sites
>> blocked in my browser anyway). My guess is that the person who is
>> going to use darkgate is not the ad clicking type...
>
> The problem isn't necessarily the presence of ads, it is the damned
> site design that makes the user jump through hoops to get to the
> content they want to see.

I took Ted's post to suggest that, if one visits a page but does not
click on ads, the incremental revenue to the artist and/or the syndicate
is negligible or zero. I am not at all sure that is true.

> If I want to see Prince Valiant, I shouldn't have to scroll down past
> half a dozen banner menus, banner ads, and a splash for the syndicate
> to get to it. And perhaps they could present a full size image right
> away instead of presenting a small one that can be magnified via yet
> another user action?

Yes, that's why I built a Javascript page for KFS strips. Now that the
backdoor I used has been closed I rely on their 4-comic-at-a-time
"favorites" feature. Less convenient (honestly, some aspects are
actively annoying), but still free. The ads don't bother me - I don't
run an ad blocker, other than Firefox's native ability to block popups.

> Creators of the content are usually pretty good about such things.
> i.e. Day by Day,

Oh, has Muir done away with the obnoxious surprise audio on mouseover?
That shows surprising good sense.

> My experience with comics distributors does not inspire much
> confidence that their "premium" services are well focused on the
> user's experience instead of it just being yet another marketing
> opportunity.
>
> I may be wrong on that count.

Well, people write positively about Daily Ink. I pay only for Gocomics,
whose custom page has only one banner ad at the top of the (long,
single) page.

--
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a
secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our
ignorance. - Daniel Kahneman

[Dann]

On Thursday, June 20, 2013 1:15:37 PM UTC-4, Mark Jackson wrote:
> On 6/20/2013 11:57 AM, Dann wrote:
>
> > Creators of the content are usually pretty good about such things.
> > i.e. Day by Day,
>
>
>
> Oh, has Muir done away with the obnoxious surprise audio on mouseover?
> That shows surprising good sense.

I had not run into that issue before.

--
Regards,
Dann

[John W Kennedy]

DailyInk is much the same as GoComics. It also has some extras, like a
weekly blog by the King Features Archivist, who writes about rarities
(such as Soglow's own clone of "The Little King", "The Ambassador") and
answers readers' questions (such as "What is a topper?").

--
John W Kennedy
"There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump
of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that
because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in
the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear
I can't see it that way."
-- The last words of Bat Masterson

[Antonio E. Gonzalez]

You're missing a bigger point:

That turd is still going, somehow.

I did find a palatable way to follow it:

<http://failbyfail.tumblr.com/>

Oh, and if you scroll down: yes, Muir's gotten desperate enough
that he's stripping his female characters. "There, you've seen their
tits, now give please give me money to keep this going!"



--

- ReFlex76

- <http://twitter.com/ReFlex76>

[D.D.Degg]

sskl wrote:
> I use the darknet comic slurper.
> Today about half my comics were gone.

Dark Gate became too popular and well-known
and a syndicate attacked it.

So don't tell anyone but there's
http://daily-comics.appspot.com/

They don't do King Features there
(you can still get those from Darkgate),
but they do collect most of the
Universal Uclick/UFS/NEA strips that
were knocked off Dark Gate.
Also the Tribune Media strips
that were knocked off Dark Gate
with the UU roster are available.

Inexplicably a few strips
(Nancy, others)
are not on the menu.

D.D.Degg