Everyone just wants to be remembered

[SirGutsalot]

I was thinking the other day, how long my comic will actually exist on the internet for. They say that once something's on the internet, it's there forever but I thinks it's funny to imagine 70 year old me just casually looking up my comic. A part of me hopes I've made some kind of mark on the internet
for a long time but I suppose I'll never know...

Do you think generations down the line, will be able to find traces of your comic?

[Bones]

I don't make comics but I wanted to be a writer ever since I was a small child. And I think that anything someone creates will stick with others in ways they don't understand. When I was smaller, I wanted to make books for people and make them happy. When I got older, I realized that the best way to reach others is to reach out to them. So I started writing for the children that I'll have one day or the ones who will come next in our generation so that they can see the worlds in my eyes.

The hope that you have that you will make a mark is enough to guarantee that you have the chance to. Putting the effort behind it is what will make it into a reality.

[LordVincent]

Bro don't give me that existential crisis inducing talk I'm gonna go hide under a rock now

[keii4ii]

I actually knew someone who printed out all of his comics because he wanted them to last. He had doubts about the longevity of today's file formats. Would JPGs and PNGs still be widely readable 30 years from now? He had a point, you know?

So I guess I'm shooting myself in the foot by making an extremely print-unfriendly (vertical scroll) comic!

[modrawmanga]

extremely print-unfriendly (vertical scroll) comic!

I wonder about that whole vertical scroll format too... if it's just a temporary trend or going to be a standard... even though I believe mobile is the future, I got fatigue after reading too many scrolls webtoon and recently go back to the good ol book manga format...

@SirGutsalot
they say the best way to be remembered as a creator is to keep creating, so years down the line after that comic was done, people who loves your new comic can look up your old comic
if you just make one and dissapear, then how would people even know it's there?

[indagold]

I never really thought about it or care much. Most I worry about is my comics being corrupted or deleted off my hard drive than what future generations will think.

Only people I wonder who would care are those who make adult comics who probably pray to god every day their kids won't find it lol

[sarahrebecca58]

I eventually plan on a paperback anyway on smashwords, the real impact I want to have isn't so much the story itself, but more like how books like A Tale Of Two Cities, Jude The Obscure, 1984, The Bell Jar, and other classics are not widely read but within the university demographic are taught in schools. Often the ideas about technology stand the test of time more than the book itself.

[Testaccount]

Well, I hope future generations will be able to find my work. My goal is to be published one day, so I hope to have books in print and online =)

[Bones]

Tell me when so I can scrounge up cash to buy them.

[Canis]

I would actually think so but it would be hidden away because the internet would be bigger than it would be now like ancient ruins except ancient websites.

[lunaartemisasama]

Well is not forever it lasts while your host lasts * insert dramatic music*. I used to write fanfiction and roleplay in a forum that doesn't exist anymore , so that's it. If Tapas is out of business, your computer crash and Anymous decide to attack Google Drive, well ...bye comic (but you must be really unlucky for that to happen lol).

About the question...not really.

[scarlet_wings_kaili]

I'd be nice, but I wouldn't make that my main goal. I started writing because I loved stories despite being told that I wouldn't be any good at it (language delay +learning disability), so I started out writing for myself foremost.

But if my work does make a mark, I'd probably not want to look at it too much because I'd probably be a better creator by then.... and cringe

[shazzbaa]

They say that once something's on the internet, it's there forever

I feel like it's sort of.... it's either there forever, or it disappears startlingly quickly.

A lot of the webcomics I read as a teen are gone. One ended up being re-hosted by a kind soul who still had all the files from back before the website went defunct, but others like... might be remembered by a few folks who used to read them, or mentioned as a comic that used to be online in some wiki -- maybe you can find one or two pages in the wayback machine if you're really looking -- but only those few traces remain.

I don't think my work lasting past my generation is super important to me. Heck, forget still existing when I'm 70 -- I'll consider myself extremely fortunate if my work is even still relevant when I'm 70. Some of my own comics from just 4 or 5 years ago feel outdated and cringey now -- not just in terms of art, but in terms of what jokes seemed funny at the time. Rereading favourite webcomics from 10 or 12 years ago, there are parts that I still love, but there are also elements of them that have really not aged well, whether that's weirdly thoughtless jokes or just thinking that "teh awesum" is a cool way to spell anything.

To me, the idea of some kid stumbling upon my comic still on the Wayback machine somewhere in 2057 is just passingly neat. But the idea of some kid growing into a 50-year-old who remembers my comic and, even if she can't find it on the internet anymore, still tells her friends about her favourite parts or gets excited when she meets someone else who used to read that comic back when it was online -- I feel like being remembered in that way would be way more incredible.

[XzynderVexymous]

Yes absolutely. You can find traces of the first things on the internet.

Earth's Immigrants | Tapas

[jiany0u]

I recently reread a webcomic I did 10 years ago. It was really cringey and embarrassing, but some of it held up better than expected. I immediately downloaded the files and put them on Dropbox in case the host goes down. I was surprised it was still up in the first place. Funnily enough, I recently learned that one of my IRL friends, who I met recently but hang out with all the time, used to read that webcomic 10 years ago. Small world.