How NOT to get Senpai to notice you (A Friendly PSA/Rant about spamvertising)

[SpavVy]

The heck is wrong with people these days? I just can't understand what makes them think that advertising on someone else's wall and then acting like a jerk when they call them out on it is okay?
Especially when one creator has a primarily young audience, and then this guy posts R18 links on their wall just overall makes him even more of a scumbag.

[Kura]

Yea that guy did the same thing on my wall, I just deleted it though and didn't bother responding. Good thing I guess because I avoided this kinda conversation.

[michaelson]

This creator received a temporary ban from our services due to these posts but due to their ... less than savory replies via e-mail, their ban has been escalated to a full ban.

We apologize for the behavior of this person and if anything like this occurs again please contact me at

michaelson@tapasmedia.co

[tayo_rafferty]

I know firsthand how sucky it is when "popular" creators don't so much as say hi to you even if from a logical perspective it probably wouldn't kill them to do so.

[/quote]

Actually I think it might kill them considering how many people they get notifications from XD

And yes, I would be lying if I didn't say that sometimes it feels like Staff has a certain bias towards certain webcomics.

It would surprise me if the staff did not have a bias, I don't begrudge them for it. I think everyone on here just has a certain "type" of content that they gravitate towards. Most of the stuff I subscribe to is comedy or Scifi/fantasy and y'know what? That's what I would feature if I had a vote.

(Newsflash: They are a BUSINESS first and foremost and though you don't have to agree with some of thier picks, your niche hipster comic about how much humanity sucks probably isn't in thier interests to promote at the moment.)

This is simply the best part of your post.

[VermillionWorks]

How to gain friends in the webcomic community (according to that guy):

[kyupol]

Webcomics are oversaturated. And situation gets worse by the day. So either just do this as a hobby and deal with whatever happens happens.... I got about 20 subscribers here and I got a comic that's over 600 pages.

Lol I suck hahaha. (But then again... Smackjeeves says I got 120 something readers... About 30 subs on comicfury... And had 350+ subs on drunkduck during year 2008-2009 which was the heyday of my comics... so there... Maybe I got moderately successful with webcomics lol)

Or just do something else like make YouTube videos if all you want is to be popular. Lol

[Cherry_sama]

Then there's me, on the opposite end of the spectrum, who's way too shy to advertise my comic much at all. My general response to Senpai is to duck in the bushes screaming "I AM NOT WORTHY!!" XD

[Marvin]

I don't think that guy wanted us (I say "us" because he posted on my wall too) to notice him at all... I actually checked, like everytime I get that kind of message on my wall, and my comic wasn't even in his reading list so I guess he just wanted to use my wall as advertisement space because he thought a lot of people checked my profile or something...

I don't mind when people ask me to check their comic if it's a real demand, not a spam. Like if someone sends me a private message telling me why they asked me specifically and they're one of my readers who comments fairly often etc... then I'll be happy to check their comic out. But this was just pure spamming.

Also, I don't mind thank you drawings on my wall after I subbed to a comic (:

Anyway, good thing he got banned, he would never have fit with us gummybears :DDD

[keac]

No really, screw senpai noticing you!

This kinda motivated me at some point lmao

[sarrowsmith10]

I'm not sure why its so hard to just be nice to people? If you want Senpai to notice you, just be nice to them. Comment on Senpai's pages. Click the "like/heart" button on their posts. Plug them on your page. Share their comic on the forums. You know. Make friends.

[Mari]

I feel like that's very dishonest. Making friends in favour of hoping them to plug your comic. I never ask people to share my works or anything like that... I feel like anyone who wants people to plug their work as a favour has either too big of an ego and needs to be knocked down from the clouds a peg or two, or doesn't care about their work at all. I don't know, wouldn't you rather have people recommend it on their own? Or maybe that's just my pride...

[sarrowsmith10]

I don't know, how else can you be friendly online? I think the biggest compliment an artist can get is when another creator plugs you and leaves you nice comments. I try to do that with people I admire. And often they are nice enough to at least comment back. I mean, you need to start somewhere, and being a jerk isn't a good way to start.

This is different that just spamming another artist because you want something in return. That's not what I mean at all. I'm just saying, if you want to be noticed, then being nice to other creators is a good way to do it. shrug

[Mari]

But still, aren't you being nice with the end goal that "maybe they comment me back"? That is dishonest to me. You are not making friends beacuse you want to, rather than because you want to get something out of said friendship.

[JKNNKL]

hunuhnuunhn dredrredrrd miojioijomji ytgygg

[Mari]

Ah could be. English is not my first language (I'm fluent though), so sometimes I misunderstand the tone / come across as cross because my native language has a very different way of constructing sentences & saying things.

[trinkettrancemusic]

Some people entirely lack tact. Tangentially related anecdote: my own brother has done this to my facebook wall repeatedly with his band (I work in the music media for my day/pay job). How does one not realize how garnish and invasive that is?

[Herofeeder]

kathy griffin is a god

[sarrowsmith10]

well, sarrowsmith10 didnt say that you should do all these things on purpose. i think she just means that a consequence of doing all these things is senpai noticing you, not that u should do them with senpai noticing you as a main goal.

@anmarisinkman what @handpressbean said. In the non-digital world, the way you make friends is talking to people.
Example: Kiba the Cosplay Corgi, his mom Nicole, did this with me. She came up to my booth because my art was pretty and I had corgi things. She was excited to find another lover of corgis. So she complimented my art, I told her how cute Kiba was, and we hit it off. We've been friends ever since. She helps me move, run tables, I draw art for her, we talk, we hang out, our dogs play together... If she had come up to my table and I simply ignored her because I thought she wanted something in return, she'd probably just walk away and forget about me. Friendship opportunity lost. And when she paid me a compliment her goal was NOT to get free art or anything like that. (And she never ever asks for it, but I love drawing Kiba.. so it happens)

That's what I'm saying. If you are genuine, you talk to other creators. You don't ignore them. If you want to make friends with someone online on a webcomic site, how else do you form a relationship? Sit quietly and hope out of the 10K other webcomics someone notices you? That's silly. Get out in the community. Read other people's stuff. Offer to beta read or proof read comics. Leave comments. Be a nice person. Be active in the community.

I'm just so confused how any of this is dishonest?

[sarrowsmith10]

Some people entirely lack tact. Tangentially related anecdote: my own brother has done this to my facebook wall repeatedly with his band (I work in the music media for my day/pay job). How does one not realize how garnish and invasive that is?

Yah, someone posting "Hey hope you are having a nice day, oh and check out my band" and then 5 minutes later, "Wow cool shirt. Kinda looks like the ones from my band" and then the next day, "Oh you took a hike today, my band members do that too. you should listen to our music." Yah, that's annoying and counter productive. =_=

People do the same thing with webcomics. I think there is a post about this somewhere.... hum.. I'll have to dig in the forums for it.

[Devika]

I will never understand how people can think that these telemarketer methods will make you popular. I'm guessing they lack the ability to see their own actions from an outside perspective (to a greater degree than most people anyway). I'm also very annoyed by real telemarketers. Stop calling me. (Auto-voicemail their numbers helps, thankfully)

I'm just so confused how any of this is dishonest?

I think it was basically misunderstood as "make friends for the sole purpose of making them promote you", as opposed to "make friends, and you'll all want to promote each other because you like/love/respect each other".

(Googled Kiba and omg he's adorable)

Yah, someone posting "Hey hope you are having a nice day, oh and check out my band" and then 5 minutes later, "Wow cool shirt. Kinda looks like the ones from my band" and then the next day, "Oh you took a hike today, my band members do that too. you should listen to our music." Yah, that's annoying and counter productive. =_=

People do the same thing with webcomics. I think there is a post about this somewhere.... hum.. I'll have to dig in the forums for it.

A while back it felt like there was an epidemic of forum posts like that. Someone would ask a question about pretty much anything and the replies would be like "you can do it like I DID IN MY COMIC WHICH IS ABOUT [insert whole synopsis]" or "I don't know but you can CHECK MY COMIC for inspiration" or "it reminds me of MY COMIC check it out". I get it, you want to plug your work, but there are more and less respectful ways of doing it... xD Helping the poster comes first, you know.