Mastodawn

Alan Tupper, Alleged Artist Nov 9, 2022

@jaycie It would be great to have another comics instance around! I run Comics.town, for roughly that audience but more instances is always better.

The Silent Vale Nov 9, 2022

@jaycie If you're doing that, i'd suggest pixelfed, since it's art focused.

Cali Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie I’d like to see it have a simple non-creepy way to pay the artists, and support the platform.

@geekosupremo Me, too. That would be out of scope for this particular site, though perhaps something we could incorporate later.

Cali Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie the platform sounds very interesting though. Any idea what you’d build it in?

@geekosupremo Not yet, though Mastodon and Pixelfed are both on the table.

Cali Nov 13, 2022

@jaycie gotta say pixelfed is looking pretty slick.

Zack Weinberg Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie I'm not a comic artist but I would consider paying to support the existence of this site, especially if there were some sort of revenue sharing arrangement with the artists

GB-Paúl [COMMISSIONS OPEN]Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie Sounds very interesting, I would definitely consider it.

The Gneech! Awww Yeah Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie All I can say is "Maybe?" I like the idea, as running my own site is a nuisance and expense, but at the same time, has sequentializing tools and I have control. So... I'd have to see!

Bonkers Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie but you are polling amongst existing Mastodon users who don't need to move anywhere. Moving between servers is an unneeded hassle, unless your home server is about to shut down.

@bonkers I know of at least one comic artist on mastodon.social so the users are there.

Bonkers Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie they surely are. But why would they need to relocate? Just build a community that welcomes users from all instances

No, I think Mastodon is not the correct fediverse codebase to start that kind of project from. I think a comics host (a la Tapas or Webtoon) with ActivityPub federation built in so replies and feeds automatically flow to the rest of the fediverse, including Mastodon, would be a better choice. Not sure whether starting with an existing gallery site that does this (like Pixelfed) or starting from scratch would be easier, probably depends on your code experience & comfort.

@Snapai I might start with Mastodon for the familiarity and transition over to a custom solution part by part (https://martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerFigApplication.html).

bliki: Strangler Fig

Inspired by the strangler figs in Australia, a strangler fig application gradually draws behavior out of its host legacy application

martinfowler.com

rezmason Nov 12, 2022

@jaycie My willingness to pay would be proportional to the number of comics I like and my assurance they won't disappear

Niku 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 13, 2022

@jaycie If I were an artist I would, but the donation amount would depend on how much money I make with my works, but at least still 2 dollars. I also donate to my current instance provider.

[email protected]:~ $

Nov 14, 2022

@jaycie Would join because I run my own instance, however, If I would use a other instance I would be okay with supporting it financially.

But it has to be a voluntary donation. Don't like the idea of a paid instance.

John Lusk Nov 14, 2022

@jaycie

No, already have a home. No, if I lost my home, I'd probably move elsewhere.

Yes, if I was a comic artist w/out a home, in heartbeat, for $2/mo (I'm assuming that's affordable, but I'm not a starving artist, so who knows?)

@tarheel Yeah, I'm picturing this as a place to publish one's comics first and foremost while still encouraging creators to keep their primary social profile elsewhere for redundancy. So more like a storefront where you can meet the artist.

John Lusk Nov 14, 2022

@jaycie

Would require identity-switching, I guess? Maybe not that hard once you've logged in? I'm sure other instances would be happy if you were to take the image load off. :)

@tarheel Depends on the client one uses but many support multiple accounts and one could always use the built-in web client without switching accounts.

Acorn Squashbuckler Nov 14, 2022

@jaycie As a reader from another instance I think I would be more inclined to pay the artists I follow directly, rather than pay for the instance itself. If a lot of artists I followed were on the instance though I would certainly consider it.

@AcornSquashbuckler Yeah, classic bootstrapping issue. I'd rather not charge anyone but with advertising off the table the funds have to come from somewhere. And the more readers who pay, the more we can do for the creators (including paid moderators, better hosting, adding features just for web comic artists, etc.).

Acorn Squashbuckler Nov 14, 2022

@jaycie Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I love the idea and I totally see the merits, but I figured being honest with myself for the sake of the poll was probably a more productive interaction.

Like, on the one hand I feel like readers would be surprised and apprehensive of paying for the webcomic _platform_, but those artists already make so little it wouldn't be fair for them to shoulder the cost either. Socially it's a tricky niche to fill.

@AcornSquashbuckler The honesty is invaluable! I want to avoid starting an instance without enough demand, after all.

And yeah, we need to renormalize paying for things directly and push back against the big tech lie that advertising (i.e. the theft of privacy, focus, and autonomy) was ever enough to pay the bills.