"Updates three days a week"

[Foghost]

I am an avid reader of OOTS. :smallcool: Often I open the page with trepidation only to find that there is no new strip. :smallannoyed: To add insult to the injury the old strip is crowned with the statement "Updates three days a week without warning". What a joke. :smallfurious: The comic has not updated that often for a long time. Once a week is much closer to the truth. You have no obligation whatsoever to update three times a week, however, if you claim to do it and fail .. well it looks bad.

In short, keep up the excellent work but please get rid of that false statement. :smallsmile:

[dish]

Firstly, I suggest you read the following statement from the Giant Three-a-week (on average) (http://www.giantitp.com/index.html#RD4eKf1OFBCveGJ2pdt).
Secondly, I suggest you subscribe on RSS so you know precisely when a new strip is published and don't have to come looking only to be disappointed.

[Alfryd]

Yeah, but this has been going on for weeks now. It seems unlikely Rich will be able to make up the difference any time soon, so updating the text to '2 per week for the forseeable future' might be more, uh... forthright?

[The Wanderer]

Y'know, I consider myself a very smart and understanding guy. One thing I can't understand though is people who complain about not getting updated on a free story often enough. Especially those who seem to think that the Giant should say "Well, I'd really like to spend an extra day away this weekend, but I have to give my readers more updates", or "Well, mom's in town and wants to see me, but I have to do more work on the comic first. Maybe next time", or "I'd really like to spend more time with the family around Christmas and New Years, but I haven't been hitting that 3 a week schedule enough".

This isn't even going into "I could really use some rest as my condition is acting up and causing me pain, but my readers are waiting", or "It would be nice to have dinner at a nice restaurant with the Mrs, but I have to fill in more hobgoblins in the background of this one comic", or "My friends that I haven't gotten a chance to see in forever called and want to hang out, but that'll make all those people who show up to complain anonymously have to wait even longer".

Honestly, just pipe down and learn some patience. Find something better to do with your time than to flame an author about his free story with terms like


What a joke

because your life cannot be so empty that this is the only thing you have to look forward to. And just be glad that the Giant isn't the type to, say, block the IP of everyone who complains for a month or two as a little payback, because in his place that would probably be my standard policy.

Go read a book, watch a show, play a PS game, whatever. And learn how to show some respect for someone who is using their creativity to entertain you at no cost to you.

[FujinAkari]

Very much agree with Wanderer here.

We already know Rich is critically behind scheduale in terms of War and XPs, as well as the second Adventure Game. Considering that it is projects like these which pay his bills rather than publishing a free webcomic on a bannerless website... of course he's giving his paying job more attention than his nonpaying one...

[MBV]

While the comic in itself is free, remember, this is mr. Burlew's work, he makes his living writing this comic, and selling the books. The reasons you put up (extra long weekend, diner and stuff) are all things people with regular jobs also would like to do, but can't. However, it is one of the pro's of being your own boss that you can schedule your own time, and we all know that his health has been flaring up, which is a valid reason for cutting back on work time, and relaxing more, and seeing as we are all addicted to OOTS anyway, it won't really influence sales.

And look on the bright side, at least the stroy will last longer....

[Foghost]

:smallsigh: I tried to be ironic but I obviously failed. Damn my poor English :smallannoyed:

Tank you for the link, dish.

Wanderer... sorry to say but you do not possess the qualities you seem to assume. Besides, the fact that someone does something for free (and does it very well) does not mean that any critique is a sacrilege. I do not expect Giant to work on the comic especially when he has something more important to do. I am simply pointing out that "Thrice a week" is misleading and creates false expectations. "Updates without warning" would be entirely adequate.

[FujinAkari]

Besides, the fact that someone does something for free (and does it very well) does not mean that any critique is a sacrilege.

Blatantly false in this scenario. When someone is producing something for free, you are not allowed to complain he is not giving you free stuff expediently enough. If you wanted to critique the comic itself, fine, that is what the forums are for, but you never have the right to demand more from a free service.

Every comic Rich produces is a gift to the internet. We don't even have to put up with annoying banners or pop-ups. If Rich choose never to publish another, that would be his right. As a result, yes, it is a sacrilege (or at least exceedingly inappropriate) to complain that he isn't doing enough.

[Alfryd]

Y'know, I consider myself a very smart and understanding guy. One thing I can't understand though is people who complain about not getting updated on a free story often enough.
Look, it's a simple case of false advertising. Rich has said he'll update an average of 3 times a week, and has been struggling to manage twice, without a word of explanation coming our way. (Unless, of course, he's been secretly squirelling away updates to the strip buffer in order to provide a safety margin for future ill-health or the like, but I somehow doubt this.)

Sure, it won't make a vast difference to my life if he updates X times a week fewer than advertised, and Rich is his own boss. There is absolutely nothing to stop him setting whatever schedule he feels most comfortable with, including none at all. But he needs to stop raising false expectations. It's not polite.

Telling people not to complain won't actually make them happier.

[Caffeine Addict]

Foghost's post makes (him|her) look like a prat, but there is a point there. It's one line of text and it might make sense to change it, if only to stop posts like Foghost's. :)

[The Wanderer]

The thing to me is that it has taken only a casual look during my time here to see that the Giant really, truly, tries to accommodate the readers, to make things work and get the most and best out there he can. So it just gets under my skin to see this always seemingly being rejected by the very same people he is reaching out to and trying to please.

To me it often comes off like a case of ungratefulness, something that has always ticked me off. Trying to argue out of it later by trying to claim to be ironic doesn't help a case either. :smallwink: :smalltongue:

[FujinAkari]

Foghost's post makes (him|her) look like a prat, but there is a point there. It's one line of text and it might make sense to change it, if only to stop posts like Foghost's. :)

It really shouldn't be necessary. There is a news item about it on the main page, and an explicit point made against these sorts of threads in the Forum Rules and Guildlines, BOTH of which should override a single line on the comics page. The problem here is people like Foghorn aren't bothering to look, not that Rich isn't keeping us informed.

[Caffeine Addict]

It really shouldn't be necessary. There is a news item about it on the main page, and an explicit point made against these sorts of threads in the Forum Rules and Guildlines, BOTH of which should override a single line on the comics page. The problem here is people like Foghorn aren't bothering to look, not that Rich isn't keeping us informed.

I'd disagree on two counts, both because of the RSS feed. Firstly, in this day and age you don't need to go there everyday, sweaty with anticipation because your RSS reader helpfully tells you when Rich is about to DDoS himself. Secondly, with RSS linking straight in, I'll wager that a lot of people never visit the front page to see the news anyway.

I'm not going to argue about if Foghorn's post meets the rules, because I think we all know it was never going to go well. I'm purely talking about that one little line of text.

[Holammer]

Critique of content that's free as in "free beer" is indeed sacrilege as FujinAkari pointed out. If someone hands you free beers regularly, you wouldn't criticize this person when he suddenly starts to give you a little less than ordinary, would you?
If you on the other hand had paid the "Weekly 3 Beers Club" fee you'd be fully entitled to rage him in the face for not supplying the beer on time ^^

[Colt]

Ok, i'm going to try to keep this un-insulting,

It seems like the point has gotten a little clouded since this thread started, so far as in can tell, what Fog was saying was that, while he wishes Rich would update more, he is ok with it, but if Rich isn't planning on updating 3 times a week like he advertises, he should change it to twice a week or once a week. This has been a bit of a peeve for me, it's more of the fact that Rich is claiming 3 but making 1 or 2 that is the problem, not the fact that he is making less.

[The Extinguisher]

The problem is, he didn't say "I'm going to update three times a week no matter what." He said "I'd really like to update three times a week, but some weeks I might not be able to."

The three/week is up there because that's the ideal schedule.

[TiamatDragonGod]

Wow, Don't you guy's feel a tiny bit pathetic arguing over a little sentence on a web site?

Get over it people... :smallannoyed: :smallamused:

[Simons Mith]

I do feel Rich should count extra-length comics as being worth two, three or more updates each.

[Maroon]

It says "updates three times a week without warning". That means that if Mr Burlew is ever planning to do three comics a week he's not going to tell you about it. He is not claiming to update three times a week, only that it's a possibility.

[Yoritomo Himeko]

THIS IS ONLY A SUGGESTION.

Would it be better for Rich to just take regular breaks? The comic really improved the last time he took some time off.

Maybe every other month or so, just take a week or two off, and then come back. That might help things a bit.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Comments on the timing of the posting of the comic have long been considered an Inappropriate Topic on these boards. Please don't start threads to discuss this.