How often do new OotS come out?

[Dragon Star]

Just wondering aprox what pattern it follows. every two days? three? or is it random?

edit:Ok, sorry for asking about this. i was honestly just wondering, not complaining. I know that the author (who's name is Rich, right?) has a life, and i can wait, so sorry and whatever.

[Meta]

is anything truly random?

[NerfTW]

When they're done.

Go through the news archives to see why.


8/8/2009

It can't have escaped the keen notice of my longtime fans that my irregular update rate has become a little more irregular lately. Or rather, it has become quite regularly infrequent. Since I have reached the natural conclusion of this segment of the story, I have decided to try what worked for me back in 2007 when life last conspired to impair me: take a break. So, OOTS will not update at all for the next three weeks, allowing me to rest and recharge my batteries in preparation for the next story. When it returns on August 31st, we'll have a new story arc with new challenges and (with a little luck) a more favorable update frequency.


10/14/2007

So, obviously, The Order of the Stick is back. I've gotten a few emails from...let's call them, "passionately concerned readers"...who were under the mistaken impression that once my vacation was over, OOTS would return to a regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. Just to clear everything up, no, OOTS's update schedule will remain random for the foreseeable future. Taking three weeks off was very good for me, but it doesn't actually change any of the facts that caused me to switch to a random schedule in the first place.

The goal is still to have three comics a week, every week, but that may not be possible. The next best thing, therefore, is to "catch up" afterwards when circumstances force me to miss. I only produced one comic last week, so now I have posted four this week—putting me only one comic "in the hole". So during some future week when the stars align more favorably (maybe next week, maybe not), I will again post four comics to bring me up to a three-a-week average since the comic's return from hiatus. And once I "zero out" my late comic balance, any additional comics beyond three that I do in any given week will go into a hypothetical buffer to guard against future absences. Or at least, that's the plan. We'll see how it plays out in reality.

The issues causing this are still ongoing, I would assume.

edit- there might still be forum posts about it if they weren't purged from being old, so do a search of the Giant's posts to see more.

[Setra]

is anything truly random?
Monty Python

[Conuly]

They update when they update. We just had a spate of very fast updates, but they're often a little less frequent.

And before you ask - speculating on exactly why this is the case (personal reasons are personal!), or complaining about it? That'll get Roland here to lock the thread. If you're impatient, I suggest you start again at the beginning and reread, or (if you have the funds) pick up one of the prequel books.

[Ancalagon]

Just wondering aprox what pattern it follows. every two days? three? or is it random?

Before the thread gets locked, here an useful answer: updates are totally random. At the moment it comes down to roughly once to twice per week, spikes above or below that are not unknown.

[Boogastreehouse]

Ten GP says the thread won't get locked for another two hours...

(It is now 2:20PM Pacific time)

[Amarsir]

Without any speculation, complaint, or forecasting, I can give you a factual historical answer:

There were 7 updates in April
8 updates in May
4 updates in June
9 updates in July
and two so far in August.

Draw your own conclusions from that.

[Katana_Geldar]

Asking about the update schedule is a BIG no-no here.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Hi Roland! How's your summer going?

[Kish]

The update schedule is random, based largely on the author's health. Because of some past threads, this is a rather touchy subject, and so the mods will likely lock this thread soon.

[Kranden]

Whenever he feels like it :smallwink:

[Shale]

With everybody posting about the "don't ask about updates" policy I feel compelled to tell Dragon Star that this was a perfectly fair question to ask, since you have to dig around in the archives to find Rich mentioning the comic's non-schedule. As long as as you don't start complaining about new comics not coming often enough for your liking (which happens more often than anybody would like), you're fine.

[Vemynal]

Hi Roland! How's your summer going?

also hope its going well

[Nimrod's Son]

is anything truly random?
Monty Python
I think you'll find most of that was quite carefully calculated by six extremely clever people. Don't mistake silly for random. :smallwink:

[Lecan]

With everybody posting about the "don't ask about updates" policy I feel compelled to tell Dragon Star that this was a perfectly fair question to ask, since you have to dig around in the archives to find Rich mentioning the comic's non-schedule. As long as as you don't start complaining about new comics not coming often enough for your liking (which happens more often than anybody would like), you're fine.

While it's not prohibited as far as I can find, you don't have to look far to find the information: Link to FAQ (can be found on the left rail of every page) (http://www.giantitp.com/FAQ.html#faq11)

Edit: Nevermind, it is prohibited (read the sticky, right?):
ANNOUNCEMENT #1: OotS updates at random. Discussion of the comic update schedule is strictly prohibited.

[Setra]

I think you'll find most of that was quite carefully calculated by six extremely clever people. Don't mistake silly for random. :smallwink:
Lies! :smalltongue:

[Shale]

While it's not prohibited as far as I can find, you don't have to look far to find the information: Link to FAQ (can be found on the left rail of every page) (http://www.giantitp.com/FAQ.html#faq11)

Edit: Nevermind, it is prohibited (read the sticky, right?):

The FAQ is actively misleading on that score - it refers to a M/W/F update schedule, says Rich tries to post new comics around midnight, etc.

[Mystic Muse]

also hope its going well

Same here.

[pendell]

Just wondering aprox what pattern it follows. every two days? three? or is it random?

edit:Ok, sorry for asking about this. i was honestly just wondering, not complaining. I know that the author (who's name is Rich, right?) has a life, and i can wait, so sorry and whatever.

Dragon Star,

I'm assuming you've been advised up thread as to why it is a bad idea to ask this, and this thread will certainly be locked as soon as Roland escapes from his groupies again.

Some things to think about as well as stuff upstream:

I notice a definite slowdown just before new products are announced -- a new book, or a new set of T-shirts, or what not.

A thing to keep in mind, I think, is that the Giant is pretty much a one-man show, and there's more to OOTS than just the online strip. There's also the stuff that pays the Giant's bills, for which the online strip serves as advertising. There's product to ship, suppliers to talk to, deals to cut, a bazillion forms to fill out and regulations to comply with.

In addition to this, I'll wager that the Giant has little in the way of hired help. Maybe family, but for the most part I'll wager he's his own accountant, office manager, press secretary, marketeer, and janitor.

I'm a bit surprised, honestly, that he quit heis full-time job to do this. It wouldn't surprise me to find he's working much harder now than he ever did as an employee.

All this, plus I assume a famly of some kind. Plus whatever he does for FUN. OOTS is fun he provides for other people -- he can't relax with this strip the way we can.

All of which means that the strip typically comes out once a week. The Giant doesn't like being pressured on the deadline, partly I suspect because he has surprises in store for us and doesn't want to spoil the surprise.

And I still haven't touched on health issues, which the Giant does not want to discuss but has acknowledged as an issue.

*I* wish the updates were faster. But I can't make his job easier or write as well as he can. So we make do with what we have, and so does he. What else can we do?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[tassaron]

The schedule isn't even that bad. I know comics that have three-a-week schedules that still manage to update less than OOTS. At least Rich is honest. :smallsigh:

[Gandariel]

Like everybody, i' *like to see more strips/week, but you must consider, as someone has already said, that Rich has lots of things to do besides the strip... Plus, i'd like to add it's not easy to come up with his great jokes. it's not like he sits at the pc and he makes up dialogues and jokes on the spots. personally, i prefer him to slow down with the comic and keep a high quality for the strips

[licoot]

I look at it this way, for various reasons already mentioned the giant cannot keep up the Monday-Wednesday-Friday type update schedule, but I would much rather he go at his own pace then try and keep updating that often, not be able to keep it up and end up either not regularly updating or just never updating it anymore

[ref]

So, the new question is: How often do these threads become locked?

[Volthawk]

So, the new question is: How often do these threads become locked?

Usually, I see them locked quickly, although sometimes they last. Like one thread a while back got to 3-4 pages, I think.

[Leecros]

I'm a bit surprised, honestly, that he quit heis full-time job to do this. It wouldn't surprise me to find he's working much harder now than he ever did as an employee.

There's a drastic difference between having a full-time job and doing something you enjoy doing.

I would rather quit my job and do what i enjoy full-time than keep working at my job. Rich is actually privileged in the ability to make a living off of what he enjoys doing. Even if it means more work than he would normally have done.

[FabuVinny]

So, the new question is: How often do these threads become locked?Every single time.

The real question is how many people manage to get a post in before the lock.

[Ancalagon]

I think the issue is more that a question like this is legit but that the quests quickly derail into one of the topics that get threads locked...

[Cizak]

So where's Roland? Not complaining about the mods, please don't smite me, it's just that he's usually so fast.

[rainbowjo]

So where's Roland? Not complaining about the mods, please don't smite me, it's just that he's usually so fast.

The Mods would never smite you Citizen. Go back to your fun. :)

[Darth Hunterix]

Schedules are EVIL! Pray to allmighty Random!

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Grumblesville.