Erfworld, The Thread.

[Socash]

It's not really difficult to tell the difference between "this is bad business/moderation practice and makes for bad PR" and "you're a terrible person and should be made to live on the street." D:

Honestly, as someone who has been with the comic from the beginning, ever since the first... six I think comics went up at once, the whole debacle with the nuclear moderation is kind of heartbreaking to hear about. So this is going to be a bit long, sorry.

I mean, people always complained. Oh sweet marmalade did they complain, and on certain occasions so did I. There were complaints and criticism from Hawaii to Kansas starting more or less the second Erfworld hit the GitP page. People complained about Parson not immediately picking up on all the mechanics, about basically every character (except Scarlet), about more or less every twist and turn in the whole of Book 1. Why isn't Parson rolling over everyone like a katamari, why is Jillian or Stanley anything, why does Wanda get shot, why is Charlie so overpowered, etc etc.

And then in Book 2 too. So and so is carrying the idiot ball, and here's a page-long essay on why not being privy to the reader's information and viewpoint makes this character temporarily braindead for the purpose of driving the plot forward. And so on and so on.

I hear ya. I fell in love with the story that first day and followed it since. I've never had any complaints about the quality of content and never nitpicked it apart like quite a few of the diehards did. That's the main reason I stopped bothering with webcomic forums in the first place.

Maybe my memory's going. I remember Rob (who did dip in on the forums now and then) seeming a bit annoyed about it at times but overall being pretty good about the whole thing. Lumping in the people who are passionate (or, let's be fair, bored) enough to seriously analyze and pick apart the world he created and passionate (or, let's be fair, bored) enough to go stir-crazy asking for more... lumping those people in with trolls and taking out the good people with the bad makes me a bit sad inside. Following it up with a statement that he doesn't care about fairness or rules and will, in fact, ban someone for being reacted to badly is just adding insult to injury.

I mean, the point of rules is one of security: that you can learn and follow them and be basically okay. There's a reason the rule of law has been deemed superior to the whim of man, after all! So, uh, basically, seeing Rob declare himself tinpot dictator of all things Erf (even though he always had absolute power) is a real bummer. I could take the long and lengthening delays, the glacial pacing even when updates were happening, but this is too much.

Sorry Erf, I'm out, I don't care any more. As far as I'm concerned, Parson conquered the world, learned that wasn't what was important to him and went home determined to make something of himself.

I got room in my boat for you. At the risk of another warning, people have every right to complain when they give money and updates dry up. It's bad business and downright shady.