Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"

[Radar]

Probably Diogenes?

I doubt he was ever interested in employment or achieving anything except for getting rid of wordly needs.

[Eldan]

Maybe one of the stoics? Seneca? Zeno?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Who said anything about giving up on her career goals? One can work at the dildo factory while they seek employment as a librarian.

Which philosopher said that? I can't recall.

Probably Diogenes?

I doubt he was ever interested in employment or achieving anything except for getting rid of wordly needs.

Maybe one of the stoics? Seneca? Zeno?

Hypatia? Sappho?

(OK, Sappho was a poet, but Hypatia is at least a librarian).

[Vinyadan]

I have to say that I am extremely unhappy about QC's way of handling cookies. You have turn off all of the legitimate interest handles one by one, and you also have to open a menu for each handle to be able to do so. Plus, you get something this:

Below is a complete list of the information that may be gathered.

• Type of browser and its settings
• Information about the device's operating system
• Cookie information
• Information about other identifiers assigned to the device
• The IP address from which the device accesses a client's website or mobile application
• Information about the user's activity on that device, including web pages and mobile apps visited or used
• Information about the geographic location of the device when it accesses a website or mobile application

And you have nested options with something like a hundred handles, more or less. The design itself is extremely confusing. Plus, you don't really get told how the cookies are used -- do you get identified by username in the various services you are logged in? It would be pretty easy to create a register of all usernames and services for a user.

Is it so hard to add a "reject all" button?

[Radar]

Is it so hard to add a "reject all" button?

No, as there is always an easy "Accept all" button. Rejecting the cookies being hard is done on purpose by many services managing advertisements as they are counting on people being lazy and accepting all the cookies for the sake of not having to click through a bunch of menus.

Not sure if any of that was done directly by the people managing QC site - this could be connected to whatever outside ad system they are working with.

[Traab]

So the steady forward progress to reducing everyone to boring normal status where nothing exciting happens marches on. Now pintsize is going to have to tone down his chaos gremlin behavior (not that there really has been much for some time) Its honestly like jeph is trying to shut down the comic by removing all drama from it character by character. Everyone is settling down into a stable relationship, with stable work, and stable daily life.

[Max_Killjoy]

No, as there is always an easy "Accept all" button. Rejecting the cookies being hard is done on purpose by many services managing advertisements as they are counting on people being lazy and accepting all the cookies for the sake of not having to click through a bunch of menus.

Not sure if any of that was done directly by the people managing QC site - this could be connected to whatever outside ad system they are working with.

This is why I run NoScript, PrivacyBadger, etc, on top of having my browser reject ALL third-party cookies, along with all known fingerprinting methods, etc.

I don't even see these stupid cookie things, and my browser is blocking them.

Hell, even the GITP site is trying to run JS from a site called "skimresources", which is on a couple of blacklists.

[Rodin]

So the steady forward progress to reducing everyone to boring normal status where nothing exciting happens marches on. Now pintsize is going to have to tone down his chaos gremlin behavior (not that there really has been much for some time) Its honestly like jeph is trying to shut down the comic by removing all drama from it character by character. Everyone is settling down into a stable relationship, with stable work, and stable daily life.

Yep.

I didn't have a problem with Momo getting a body because Momo is tied pretty closely to Marigold. Giving Marigold another "human" to talk to was very valuable from a storytelling perspective.

I don't see a point in giving Pintsize a body. We've had the "how do you human" story from 3 different sources already. There's no interesting story to tell that hasn't already been explored. What's more, Pintsize is the comedy mascot. He does wacky comedy, that's his role in the comic. It's like if Snoopy found a magical lamp and wished to be human, and then the strip was about him adapting to his life.

Of all the decisions he's made, I find this one the most baffling. It really does feel like he's done with the comic and is just carrying on out of sheer inertia at this point.

[Wraith]

Who said anything about giving up on her career goals? One can work at the dildo factory while they seek employment as a librarian.

Absolutely true, but it's a lot harder to look for a job while you are already spending most of your time at work. For Claire to give up a huge chunk of her focus on hunting for a job that she is properly qualified for after such a short amount of time feels premature.

I'd even go so far as to say that the whole thing was a bluff - that she never really wanted the dildo factory job either, and that was just her way of finding a way in to talk with Pintsize about his body. Particularly with today's strip, this little exchange almost has parallels with a 'coming out' conversation - although Jeff doesn't seem to quite want to commit to that so openly yet.

So the steady forward progress to reducing everyone to boring normal status where nothing exciting happens marches on. Now pintsize is going to have to tone down his chaos gremlin behavior (not that there really has been much for some time) Its honestly like jeph is trying to shut down the comic by removing all drama from it character by character. Everyone is settling down into a stable relationship, with stable work, and stable daily life.

Pretty much agree. That would explain why he keeps pulling more characters into plots that could already be explored by other characters who have been left by the wayside. For example, "AI gets a new body and has conflicting emotions" is a story that could have been told by Momo, Winslow and May and already HAS been started by Roko, and none of them were ever really broached or resolved. Throwing Pintsize into the mix, giving him a pep-talk from Claire and never mentioning it again is a handwave towards resolution, I guess.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Absolutely true, but it's a lot harder to look for a job while you are already spending most of your time at work. For Claire to give up a huge chunk of her focus on hunting for a job that she is properly qualified for after such a short amount of time feels premature.

Even ignoring the need to have some level of income, You very quickly hit a point where a long period of unemployment in your job history becomes a red flag to employers - this can be as little as 6 months, depending on the employer. You can backfill to a degree by doing voluntary work, but that puts no beans on the table.

[Ibrinar]

I wish for pintsize to realize that if two hands are useful then a dozen are much more useful and become a face with a butt on the backside surrounded by a dozen tentacles ending in hands.

[Mordokai]

Jeph Jacques, a master of subtletly.

[VoxRationis]

To be fair, Pintsize is exactly the sort of person (any)one would expect to have negative opinions about law enforcement.

Of course, if anyone, even those critical of law enforcement, were to consider his protestations objectively, they would be forced to admit that Pintsize's opinion more likely derives from a resentment of not being allowed to enact mayhem as he sees fit and less likely from considerations of justice or equity.

[Willie the Duck]

It is something of a mixed situation isn't it? If anything, this makes using Pintsize as the mouthpiece for Jeph's favorite political topic less effective than using Roko and May. It'd almost work better if he'd maybe just done that punchline and not added the footer and trailer comments. Still, it is absolute in character for Pintsize. If any other webcomic author could have had their Pintsize-like character say the exact same thing no one would bat an eye.

[Keltest]

I vote that we confiscate Jeph's soapbox until he can learn to use it responsibly.

[Thufir]

I vote that we confiscate Jeph's soapbox until he can learn to use it responsibly.

Lulwut. Lulwut again for the character limit.

[Morquard]

I already can't see the original Pintsize in the person who's talking to Claire in this latest strip.

Goodbye, Pintsize. It was a good run.

Can't really add anything to this. Pintsize is gone. If I had read today's strip without the last 5 or so as context, I would have thought that some weird colored Winslow, but never guessed Pintsize.

RIP chaos gremlin

[Keltest]

Lulwut. Lulwut again for the character limit.

IMO, and i think others share this opinion, Jeph really doesnt know how to write about many important issues. Regardless of where you stand on them, whether you agree or disagree with him, whenever it comes up as a topic in the comic, its just... cringe inducing, for the most part.

He handled OCD pretty well, and being an alcoholic, presumably because of his actual experience with those things, but when he wrote about, say, Brun growing up poor, he put his metaphorical foot in his mouth so hard. And he clearly has certain opinions on certain topics that i will stay well away from that, when he feels the need to, he just basically states as fact out of nowhere and with no context or nuance.

Like, its his right to put what he wants into the comic, but holy crap is his current method of writing about things he deems important completely not effective.

[Rodin]

IMO, and i think others share this opinion, Jeph really doesnt know how to write about many important issues. Regardless of where you stand on them, whether you agree or disagree with him, whenever it comes up as a topic in the comic, its just... cringe inducing, for the most part.

He handled OCD pretty well, and being an alcoholic, presumably because of his actual experience with those things, but when he wrote about, say, Brun growing up poor, he put his metaphorical foot in his mouth so hard. And he clearly has certain opinions on certain topics that i will stay well away from that, when he feels the need to, he just basically states as fact out of nowhere and with no context or nuance.

Like, its his right to put what he wants into the comic, but holy crap is his current method of writing about things he deems important completely not effective.

The other issue I feel he's done well with is writing a trans character. He's stayed away from the truly thorny issues while making it clear that Claire has had problems. It's not perfect, and as someone who is not trans I'm not sure how fit I am to comment. Still, I've had very little issue with how Claire has been written and she's quickly become one of my favorite characters.

[The Glyphstone]

I think it helps that Claire being trans is like...the 5th most prominent thing about her character? Far more front-and-center obvious are her various personality quirks and character foibles, whereas say...Brun, is far more defined by her 'difference' (autism, in this case) and comes across as more two-dimensional. So that is indeed probably the best way to write a trans character, as a character who just happens to be trans.

[Max_Killjoy]

IMO, and i think others share this opinion, Jeph really doesnt know how to write about many important issues. Regardless of where you stand on them, whether you agree or disagree with him, whenever it comes up as a topic in the comic, its just... cringe inducing, for the most part.

He handled OCD pretty well, and being an alcoholic, presumably because of his actual experience with those things, but when he wrote about, say, Brun growing up poor, he put his metaphorical foot in his mouth so hard. And he clearly has certain opinions on certain topics that i will stay well away from that, when he feels the need to, he just basically states as fact out of nowhere and with no context or nuance.

Like, its his right to put what he wants into the comic, but holy crap is his current method of writing about things he deems important completely not effective.

My brother is a member of the group of people Jeph seems to feel free to libel.

And Jeph's comic is slowly losing the level of quality that makes me willing to put up with his kneejerk garbage.

[Willie the Duck]

Can't really add anything to this. Pintsize is gone. If I had read today's strip without the last 5 or so as context, I would have thought that some weird colored Winslow, but never guessed Pintsize.
RIP chaos gremlin

I mean, I don't disagree (this is not the Pintsize we knew), but at the same time, he was already gone from the comic. 'Guy who is Pintsize in name only shows up only to become a bland-also-all-issues-resolved noncharacter is... not great, but also not a real loss, in my mind. It's kind of like the characters from a cancelled comic book line showing up in the first issue of another series only to get killed off to show that the stakes are real -- dumb (and a little frustrating to anyone who liked said characters and were upset about the cancelation), but it also was clearly those characters in color-scheme anyways. I don't know. We were never going to get the old dynamics back anyways, so I guess I feel there isn't much to lose (not that any of this makes the storyline actually interesting, mind you).

My brother is a member of the group of people Jeph seems to feel free to libel.
And Jeph's comic is slowly losing the level of quality that makes me willing to put up with his kneejerk garbage.

Now clearly I do not know Max_Killjoy the living breathing person, merely Max_Killjoy as presented by the words posted on this forum, but it seems to me that you would enjoy this. From D&D to webcomics, I don't think I've seen you engage in a published/media property except to hate-watch/hate-read them. Someone you disfavor repeatedly doing poorly at a political statement with which you disagree seems like it would be right up your alley.

IMO, and i think others share this opinion, Jeph really doesnt know how to write about many important issues. Regardless of where you stand on them, whether you agree or disagree with him, whenever it comes up as a topic in the comic, its just... cringe inducing, for the most part.
He handled OCD pretty well, and being an alcoholic, presumably because of his actual experience with those things, but when he wrote about, say, Brun growing up poor, he put his metaphorical foot in his mouth so hard. And he clearly has certain opinions on certain topics that i will stay well away from that, when he feels the need to, he just basically states as fact out of nowhere and with no context or nuance.
Like, its his right to put what he wants into the comic, but holy crap is his current method of writing about things he deems important completely not effective.

The other issue I feel he's done well with is writing a trans character. He's stayed away from the truly thorny issues while making it clear that Claire has had problems. It's not perfect, and as someone who is not trans I'm not sure how fit I am to comment. Still, I've had very little issue with how Claire has been written and she's quickly become one of my favorite characters.

Good examples.

I think it helps that Claire being trans is like...the 5th most prominent thing about her character? Far more front-and-center obvious are her various personality quirks and character foibles, whereas say...Brun, is far more defined by her 'difference' (autism, in this case) and comes across as more two-dimensional. So that is indeed probably the best way to write a trans character, as a character who just happens to be trans.

True, but I also think Jeph did a pretty good job with Roko's body dysphoria issue; and that was, while certainly not the most interesting thing about her, certainly placed front and center for multiple storylines in which she was involved. Honestly, when it comes to 'Important Issues(tm),' it is realy Brun's poverty and May/Roko's crime/police issues where he has consistently dropped the ball (there have been other plots, like Clinton and Elliot, that have not been great, but they haven't hinged on some big issue). I'm struggling to find a common thread that these two plots had that the others haven't.

[Max_Killjoy]

Now clearly I do not know Max_Killjoy the living breathing person, merely Max_Killjoy as presented by the words posted on this forum, but it seems to me that you would enjoy this. From D&D to webcomics, I don't think I've seen you engage in a published/media property except to hate-watch/hate-read them. Someone you disfavor repeatedly doing poorly at a political statement with which you disagree seems like it would be right up your alley.

It's frustrating because I want to like QC, and I used to like QC a lot more. But every so often, he has to open his mouth and stick his foot in it, and/or approach a nuanced and complicated subject with all the maturity and objectivity of a ranting belligerent half-informed teenager.

If I were simply done with the comic or its author (see, David Willis and his holier-than-thou puritanical attitude simply transferred from one set of beliefs to another) I'd barely talk about it, if at all.

[Traab]

I think it helps that Claire being trans is like...the 5th most prominent thing about her character? Far more front-and-center obvious are her various personality quirks and character foibles, whereas say...Brun, is far more defined by her 'difference' (autism, in this case) and comes across as more two-dimensional. So that is indeed probably the best way to write a trans character, as a character who just happens to be trans.

Honestly, thats the best way to write any character, where there is far more to them than a single trait/condition/stance that is all that defines them. Brun is autistic and thats all there really is to her. Everything she does, and everything that happens to and around her is tied into her autism. Claire is a trans bookworm librarian with a twin brother who is overprotective of her and she meddles in his affairs too much and holy crow does she look like her mom. Oh, she also has a love of terrible terrible puns and its awesome. One is a real character, the other is a soapbox.

[Thufir]

IMO, and i think others share this opinion, Jeph really doesnt know how to write about many important issues. Regardless of where you stand on them, whether you agree or disagree with him, whenever it comes up as a topic in the comic, its just... cringe inducing, for the most part.

Personally, I find this:

I vote that we confiscate Jeph's soapbox until he can learn to use it responsibly.

to be way more cringe-inducing than anything Jeph has put in the comic. From the idea that one line from Pintsize constitutes a soapbox, to the perspective that not liking how something is written makes it irresponsible, to the thought of a bunch of entitled fans 'confiscating' an author's soapbox.

I know that I'm somewhat againsst the grain of the general opinion in this thread, so usually I can't be bothered to argue it, but the double take I did on reading that compelled me to comment on it.

[Ibrinar]

In this case it just felt unnatural to me. Pintsize trying out a human body and realizing that he really likes having hands and expressive features? I honestly think that is an interesting idea for a storyline. Pintsize expressing himself in the way he did after a day? Doesn't work for me. Both because of the speed and because I think the dialog wasn't very natural sounding.

(My other problem is that I think his treatment of robots is boring, they could inhabit all kinds of bodies, how about the story of one that wants something wild instead of standard human?)

[Willie the Duck]

It's frustrating because I want to like QC, and I used to like QC a lot more. But every so often, he has to open his mouth and stick his foot in it, and/or approach a nuanced and complicated subject with all the maturity and objectivity of a ranting belligerent half-informed teenager.
If I were simply done with the comic or its author (see, David Willis and his holier-than-thou puritanical attitude simply transferred from one set of beliefs to another) I'd barely talk about it, if at all.

Makes sense -- you have more to say about a product you sorta- or sometimes- like than one you universally love or hate. Still, while I do recall you making passing reference to Willis' work and your opinion thereof, I don't recall hearing about anything you do like. So that's where I got the impression, I believe.

Personally, I find this:
to be way more cringe-inducing than anything Jeph has put in the comic. From the idea that one line from Pintsize constitutes a soapbox, to the perspective that not liking how something is written makes it irresponsible, to the thought of a bunch of entitled fans 'confiscating' an author's soapbox.
I know that I'm somewhat againsst the grain of the general opinion in this thread, so usually I can't be bothered to argue it, but the double take I did on reading that compelled me to comment on it.

No, I totally agree. Fans do not have the right to dictate what a content-provider provides. We merely get to critique whether we find it to be of high or low quality.
As to it being one line- you are right. Without the author commentary above and below the comic, Pintsize's one line means little.

[Max_Killjoy]

Personally, I find this:



to be way more cringe-inducing than anything Jeph has put in the comic. From the idea that one line from Pintsize constitutes a soapbox, to the perspective that not liking how something is written makes it irresponsible, to the thought of a bunch of entitled fans 'confiscating' an author's soapbox.

I know that I'm somewhat againsst the grain of the general opinion in this thread, so usually I can't be bothered to argue it, but the double take I did on reading that compelled me to comment on it.

First, a lot of the stuff that's bugging people is in Jeph's comments above and below the strips. It's one thing for Pintsize to say it, it's another thing for Jeph to add the comment that Pintsize is right.

Second, this isn't isolated, Jeph keeps pulling this stunt. See, the raisins.

[Kish]

I don't think Jeph is going to either change his politics or stop expressing them.

[Mechalich]

First, a lot of the stuff that's bugging people is in Jeph's comments above and below the strips. It's one thing for Pintsize to say it, it's another thing for Jeph to add the comment that Pintsize is right.

Yes, Jeph has increasingly displayed a real problem distinguishing between character voice and author voice.

It's perfectly in character for Pintsize to say 'all cops are bastards.' After all, Pintsize is a pretty criminal whose only reason for not having a rap sheet longer than he was (until very recently) tall was that his very size limited his mayhem to the 'not worth the effort' level. It's perfectly logical for someone who's lived their life in direct opposition to the existing social order to have such a viewpoint. Extremists have extreme views, no surprise there.

Jeph's end comment at the end of the comic though speaks not in the voice of a fictional character, but his own voice. That's a remark from a real person with a public platform that is both ignorant, insensitive, and insulting to over 700,000 people in the US (that's roughly the number of full time law enforcement personnel in the nation, not counting non-sworn support staff) and tens of millions of people worldwide.

Heck, it's insulting to his own characters, since multiple law enforcement characters have appeared in the comic. Steve, for that matter, may even be one at present assuming his job title is 'Special Agent' or something similar and even if he's not officially law enforcement for national security reasons he still moves in a similar sphere.