Squidi

[Sophistemon]

As you may or may not know, Sean Howard (often referred to as 'Squidi') has decided to discontinue his Webcomic due to the hostility he has had to deal with on the internet. His lasted blog, which describes the reasons of his leaving and his feelings on the subject can be found on his homepage, located here: http://squidi.net/. I am sorry if most of you already knew all of this, but I felt that it was my duty to inform you of the fall of such a great comic. I would encourage you all to attempt to contact Sean, but I fear that he has irrevocably made up his mind. Goodbye, A Modest Destiny. Goodbye, Mr. Howard. And good luck to you both.

[McDeath]

Yes, despite what many people on the 'net *cough* PA *cough* have said, A Modest Destiny was a decent comic with some good character development. I am truly sad that people being idiots on the Internet has forced him to shut down Squidi.

So long Sean, and thanks for all the fish.

[egomann]

It was a decent comic, but it was overshadowed by it's creator.

[Sophistemon]

I am forced to agree. Though we must be fair in this; he would not have been so outspoken had he not had a reason to be. Unfortunately, I believe that the same zeal that was used to protect his comic ended up consuming it and causing its downfall.

[Starbuck_II]

I salute you Modest Destiny! *salute*

I blame the baby ;D (JK)

[Sophistemon]

The baby did add more concerns to Sean's already hefty plate, but nobody can blame a baby for being a baby. I hate the fact that the ending to this story, the one that he'll tell his children, is: 'And then I got fed up with the internet in general and shut the site down.' I can understand his reasons (he was tired, I think, of the constant strain that the business thrust onto him) but I have trouble accepting that fact that he took the coward's way out. It is his life, of course, and thus his to live as he wills, but the whole thing leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

[grim_chook]

Where OOTS is my favorite AMD was certainly a close second. I shall miss these comics dearly and think no good of PA, fast becoming a Microsoft of the webcomic world! :P

[Bogardan_Mage]

I really wish this sort of thing would stop happening to things I like. Damn you all who stood in Squidi's way! Please, Rich, don't you do anything like this (well, if you must, but give adequate warning). I wouldn't be able to stand it.

[abadguy]

Well, Mr Howard simply let his head grow too big, with all the sycophants in the forums stoking his ego. Tried to pull a publicity stunt and failed miserably and now he's stuffed his head back in the sand. I enjoy his comic but not his antics. Really sad he had decided to quit but at the end of it all, he was asking for it. I'm sure he'll be back when things settle down at home.

[yrro]

Yeah, I love his comic, but I don't really think he's quite justified in demonizing PA the way he did.

From what I've seen, he's really really touchy about just about everything, including his copyright. Whereas the PA guys... pretty much don't care. I can see them not caring right up until the moment he threatened to sue, at which point I can understand not liking him much. And in any case, from what I understand, they never really took direct action against him, aside from one negative comment when he, you know, threatened to sue them. It's just that there are a lot of jerks in the world, some of whom seem to like penny arcade.

That's just kind of the way squidi is, is my impression from reading his blogs. He's a great author, but he almost everything else he writes seems to be almost directly aimed at ticking off anyone else in the comics community - whereas most comic authors tend to mention the comics they feel are great and should be read, he tends to go off on how inferior so many are because they don't appeal to *his* grand idea of what a comic should be about.

I dunno, I'm not surprised at all that he seems to be the black sheep of the community, with or without the PA suit.

But still, AMD was a great comic, and shall be greatly missed.

[Hzurr]

I really enjoyed the comic. A lot. It was funny, and very well written.

I nearly had to stop reading it, however, because of the blogs. At first it didn't bother me, but many of the later ones really got me upset, simply because squidi would have driven me crazy in real life (He's intolerent, and so far left it gives my neck a crick).

However...that was a superb webcomic. I'm sad to see it go.

[Wren]

He created the hostility himself. If he can't take that, then fine. What he gets for being a drama queen.

I only really enjoyed his earlier comics, although his more recent stuff wasn't that bad either.

To those who say other people closed down his comic.. wrong. He did it himself, he chose to. Who cares if random joe X sends him a stupid email? Deleted. So what if someone makes a stupid comment on his forum? Deleted (after getting flamed to death). He still had a large and loyal fanbase who had donated plenty of money and bought his stuff, he copped out on them.

[Pop Goes the Weasel]

Don't forget that people were using his sprites in their own webcomics and claiming them foir themselves. Legally, he had every right to do what he did, and it would not have gotten so bad if Gabe didn't publicly reply to Sean's plea for help in a mocking manner. Really, the law says Sean was right.

[Starbuck_II]

Don't forget that people were using his sprites in their own webcomics and claiming them foir themselves. Legally, he had every right to do what he did, and it would not have gotten so bad if Gabe didn't publicly reply to Sean's plea for help in a mocking manner. Really, the law says Sean was right.

Agreed, Copyright enfringment is a real thing.
Penny Arcade people should know better. The Mods there are turning blind eyes to evils and breaking laws.

Someone should send a Monk/Paladin who calls herself a Samurai at them.

[Wren]

Mods on the PA forums took care of the squidi avatar/sig thing rather quickly, they work separately from the PA guys and do things on their own accord.

Occasionally Gabe or Tycho will step in and say "do this" to the admins, but they don't actually post in the forums. Well, Gabe sometimes posts in the 'New Comic' threads, but rarely.

[LurkerInPlayground]

Hello there, I'm a fan of Rich's work.

Squidi landed in the trouble he is in precisely because he is too belligerent.

Penny Arcade didn't break any copyrights and it was Squidi who made the larger fuss over nothing. Some of PA's forumers wanted to do pixel art for a sig or somesuch and Squidi felt it was an affront to his "art." As far as I can tell, the only similarities were that they were drawn in pixels.

Squidi's reputation is well-deserved and you can see it in the way he writes everything. To him, everybody in the comics community is either an "ass-hat" or some philistine out to desecrate his work. From the beginning he's had a hostile attitude towards people who were undeserving of his wrath. Just read the tone with which he writes his going-away post.

I personally never have read very much of Squidi's comics, but they didn't seem bad. What's more, he had a fanbase. Squidi wouldn't be the first person to have recieved hatemail or slandered on the internet. When you're on the internet it is almost inevitable that you will receive attention from undesirables. I think he could have stomached the consequences for his actions and continued with his comics. Although it doesn't help that Squidi actively made enemies, he made his own bed and he can sleep in it.

Also, I'm not going to hear this nonsense about PA being a Microsoft of the wecomic world. Penny Arcade is very lax about their own copyrights and I never got the impression that they took themselves too seriously. I have never seen them try to establish a monopoly and it is silly to say that they are an evil syndication simply because they are the most successful and well-known webcomic. Remember that it was Squidi who couldn't stomach the thought of someone else doing pixel art on a forums.

[Drumbum42]

Squidi shall live on forever!

The dieing breath of a webcomic. AMD will shut down some time soon. The end of one of my 2 fav. webcomics. (This and OOTS) (8-bit is good too) I have save all possible things from the site in preperation of closeing of squidi.

It was a very well written comic. And I'm glad others agree.

go to the web page to see his closeing statment at http://www.squidi.net/

[The Giant]

The Voice of Mod: Let's keep in mind that personal insults and attacks are not OK here, and technically, Sean is still a member of this forum (even if he only posted once). So if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

[Sophistemon]

Hello there, I'm a fan of Rich's work.

Squidi landed in the trouble he is in precisely because he is too belligerent.

Penny Arcade didn't break any copyrights and it was Squidi who made the larger fuss over nothing. Some of PA's forumers wanted to do pixel art for a sig or somesuch and Squidi felt it was an affront to his "art." As far as I can tell, the only similarities were that they were drawn in pixels.

I agree with you that Squidi may have been overzealous with protecting his work, but I too would have been insulted had somebody taken credit for something that I had done, though I would have handled it differently than he did. But as to him being hostile to other webcomics, the fact is that Mr. Gabe was unnecessarily rude in his news-post, and then along comes Mr. Kurtz, (whose comic, PvP, is one of my favorites) and, in an attempt to smooth things out and better understand the situation, sadly made matters (at least in Squidi's point-of-view) worse, though I am sure that that was not his intention.

Also, because I have never seen the altered sprites that caused the whole mess, I am unable to voice my opinion on whether or not they as similar to Squidi's work as he maintains, or just possess similar feet, as is the stance of Mr. Gabe.

Also, I did not mean for this thread to be a place for the hurling of insults, so I would like to offer The Giant my apologies on that.

[Lord_Reanicus]

Hello there. I'm Lord Reanicus, ex-mod from the late Squidi.net forum and now mod in the Post-Squidi Community Forum, and I came here to adress this topic.

I realise it might be offensive to the members and Rich that I only join so ad-hoc, but I promise I will try to be here more than just write in this little topic. I do enjoy OotS quite alot!

Anyways, what I wanted to adress:

Penny Arcade didn't break any copyrights and it was Squidi who made the larger fuss over nothing. Some of PA's forumers wanted to do pixel art for a sig or somesuch and Squidi felt it was an affront to his "art." As far as I can tell, the only similarities were that they were drawn in pixels.

There is a saying that goes something as "If you don't know what exactly happened; don't retell it."

Sean Howard, aka Squidi, found out that someone in the PA Forum had made a generator that made avatars that quite clearly were just a rip-off of Sean's work. Don't come here saying it's just pixels, because you can see the difference between the styles in SNES 32x32 pixel characters very easily.

It wasn't just the foot, by the way, it was pretty much everything.

Now, these avatars were spread all over the forum. Sean told the maker to stop, he did, but the members refused to stop using the avatars, so Sean pm'd the Admin/Mods and they blatantly did nothing about it and made ridiculed him because of it.

Now, at this point, if you were in Sean's shoes and NOT pissed off, or at least understand why he was angry and sent a latter to Gabe about it, then you are quite clearly lacking in empathy.

I'm not going to defend Sean by sticks and stones, and I agree that he's done things that are unfair, but this PA Incident wasn't him bitchin' about people making avatars that remotely looked like his work, but quite blatantly and obviously was his work in a perverted process.

I note that the respected maker of the OotS also do not want his avatars edited, altered and spread in another forum aswell, and this in light at what Sean had to undergo.

So perhaps this wasn't just a bagatelle after all?

In any case, I take blame at doing this. The case has been long burried and dead, Sean's gone and there's little to do about that. Ah well, I recomend people to download the archieves. It's good read!

[Hobot]

I think this thread should be locked and deleted quickly before a giant flame-war errupts, as is often the case with anything involving Squidi. His name is synonymous with overblown disputes and petty rivalries.

I can only hope that he'll actually follow through with what he says this time.

[Wren]

Not sure about that, this thread was already on its way to the bottom.

[Sophistemon]

I think this thread should be locked and deleted quickly before a giant flame-war errupts, as is often the case with anything involving Squidi. His name is synonymous with overblown disputes and petty rivalries.

I can only hope that he'll actually follow through with what he says this time.

The insults were not necessary, but if the Giant wills it I will of course erase this thread.

[Hobot]

The insults were not necessary, but if the Giant wills it I will of course erase this thread.

Are they insults if they're the truth? Look at any other place (forum, blog, etc.) where his name is mentioned and you'll see what I mean.

[Sophistemon]

Perhaps you are correct, but the Giant (and myself) would most likely prefer this thread to be insult-free, even if those insults speak the truth.

[sktarq]

There is a difference between insults, opinions, and facts. As long as everybody keeps the last two clearly seperate and the first off site then we'll be fine. Truth included.

Edit: Does anyone know of anywhere where one can see examples of both the originals and the disputed knck-offs so that late comers (like myself) can see what all the fuss is/was about?

[Hobot]

Perhaps you are correct, but the Giant (and myself) would most likely prefer this thread to be insult-free, even if those insults speak the truth.

There is a difference between insults, opinions, and facts. As long as everybody keeps the last two clearly seperate and the first off site then we'll be fine. Truth included.

Ok fine, let me further clarify, those weren't insults or opinions at all, they were facts. Don't be so quick to assume I was referring to Squidi himself, I was talking about discussions about Squidi.

EDIT: I know you weren't referring to me specifically SKTARQ. I just thought you had made a good point and I decided I should be more explicit.

Edit: Does anyone know of anywhere where one can see examples of both the originals and the disputed knck-offs so that late comers (like myself) can see what all the fuss is/was about?

You don't need to see them, they were definitely knock-offs. The perpetrator even admitted they were long ago. The fuss was more about the conduct of the parties involved.

[sktarq]

the fact is that Mr. Gabe was unnecessarily rude in his news-post

That is an opinion in the form of a fact. Its possibly (even likely) a well founded opinion but the kind of talk that will get everyone in trouble.

Furthermore I wasn't thinking about you-I was making a blanket statment-if you thought i was talking to you then that tells me more of how you view your own posts than anything.

[Cougaar]

well, I don't know squidi or his work or whatever happened to him but I've been victim of 2 incidents that sound similar

a) I like to grab a pencil now and then and produce something that after much work on it resembles something that might be called a good drawing. as I showed it to my friends they said it was good and convinced me to put it up on my webpage. I did and about a year later I hoined a forum, someone checked my webpage and said: "I've seen those drawings before" whereupon I took one o the originals and todays newspaper and scanned them in to prove that I really do own the originals and thus that my work had been "stolen" and used by someone else. Yes, I was angry and I fumed about it - but - I did that fuming offline, for a forum is not a place to post if you're angry. I went over my homepage and redid the way I put my pictures up, so they could no longer be rightclicked and saved. It still irks me, that people would take my hard work and claim it is theirs and I know I'm right in thinking they have done something wrong. But there's no use in me getting antsy about it. All in all, somebody thought what I have produced is so good, they want to claim it as their own. It's a bit of a twisted way of giving a compliment and doesn't make it right. But thinking like that helps me keep my cool. I think I can understand anyone who has put time and effort into something and sees it stolen, modified and/or plagiatised - it hurts and some characters explode when they are confronted with it happening to them.

b) I've modified some smilies to fit in with a certain style for a forum elsewhere - I asked if it were okay to post them, I did my best to find out if they belonged to anybody (not wanting to commit a theft myself after the previous experiance) and repeatedly told people that I had NOT made the smilies from scratch, but had only modified exsisting ones. Half a year later, I was victimised by a bunch of flamers, that I had stolen the images only to claim that I had made them. Twice. Meh, it was a "difficult time" and I've left that community that prefer (f)lamers to resonable people. But I think I can safely say I know how it feels to be told one has stolen somebody's intellectual property when oneself thinks one has done no wrong.

The point being, it's a point of perspective - I'd wager a penny that neither side of the "argument" between squidi and "the others" had the emotional distance to reason with the other - it's not hard to get very upset. And once people start (f)laming reasonable discussion is usually no longer possible.

IMNSHO, it's regettable that a creative mind has retreated - a lot of people loose something special that way. Not only the creative person but also the people that enjoyed what was created and those who enjoyed talking about it. Even the (f)lamers loose out - one of their opponents is no longer there to attack.

If I were prone to wishing for things not possible, I would wish that I'd've met squidi sooner - I might have been able to calm the anger a little and perhaps soothe the pain a little. I've learnt that sometimes it's best to move to another place, there are millions of other places on the 'net where one can find honest and nice people. Noone is forced to communicate with others on the 'net. That's what makes it such a great place. Even though I've been harrassed, hurt and victimised in one place - I simply left and found a new home elsewhere. Places, where my creativity is appreciated and where I enjoy reading and writing.

Meh, I've gone all serious and sentimental.. sorry 'bout that. I'll be back to my usual cheery and happy self in a bit ;)

[Sophistemon]

That is an opinion in the form of a fact. Its possibly (even likely) a well founded opinion but the kind of talk that will get everyone in trouble.
[/s]

Sorry, SKTARQ. I'll be more careful of that in the future.

EDIT
I agree with the above poster. The creative mind deserves to be cared-for and nourished, not irritated to the point of self-imposed exile.