For those that know me they already know the answer to this one.
My shitty fans are usually the ones that make me want to stop working on something, or make me not look forward to work on something, or make working on something feel tedious. Also note that 'shitty fans' does not equal all of my fans, as most of my fans are great, very enjoyable and I appreciate having them.
I know may come off as horrible and unappreciative, but it's true. I've just managed to collect some really shitty fans over the years I've been releasing webcomics.
To use a more recent experience as an example (this is on dA not Tapastic). I had one guy that was just shitting on pretty much every page I drew (not literally, just leaving nasty comments on most pages, insulting the story, insulting me, attacking my other commentators or reader) continually insisting I need to quit this comic, because it's a garbage waste of time with no meaning and is a worthless pointless stupid story.
Doesn't sound like much of a fan right? Well he was... I work on 2 comics, this guy was a fan of the other comic I work on, and every time I updated the comic he didn't want instead of the one he wanted he would lose his shit all over the comments section of the comic he didn't read... because yeah... he didn't read it. He refused to because it was 'a terrible comic I will never read this shit, and even if I did read it 1000 times my opinion would not change because it's still a shitty comic'
Now, the easy solution would be to block this guy, but I really didn't want to because that would make it so that he couldn't read the other comic that I worked on that he liked, but the guy would not stop and kept getting worse to the point it was really bothering my readers. So I ask him nicely to stop. He did not. So I gave him a warning, that if he continued this behaviour that I would block him, which would effectively keep him from accessing my account. He of course unhappy that I had the audacity to threaten him.
After some back and forth he demanded to know why the hell I work on this trash comic with no meaning behind it (he kept bringing that term up 'no meaning' 'meaningless') I told him that it was alright that he saw the comic the way that he did everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but that for me comic has a lot of meaning to me for two reasons, it focuses on a lot of experiences I went through growing up, as well as it was my therapy comic, as my health and condition gets worse and worse it's harder for me to draw. Some days I can't even draw a straight line. So I work on this comic, because it's simple enough and unlike my other comic, has a warning at the beginning explaining that my art my fluctuate, so the readers are fine when it does. Just being able to work on something or be able to release stuff on a schedule is therputic to me, because I'm so, so fucking scared of NOT being about to do this anymore and being 'useless' (My other comic I unfortunately learned that I CAN NOT let my art fluctuate and not be good, because people will flip out, call me lazy, say I did a half ass job or that I don't care, and judge every little detail on it. With people who would even message me with PMs equivalent to 'do it right or don't do it at all.')
At this point THIS is where it got weird. This fan threw a fit. Because I did not 'warn' him that I was handicapped and having trouble drawing. That I should have 'warned' him because now I'm making him look like an ass... (even though that was all him. he did that on his own) He started going on about how it was my fault he was putting all these horrible comments on my pages and not his, and now I am making him look bad. Even though my dA explains at the least that I am sick, the warning disclamer at the begining of this comic, explained, that I was sick. My dA journals I would sometimes bring up that I was sick, having a flare up OR in the hospital, as to explain if I have a long hiatus. Those though did not mater apparently.
To end it all off he finished his grand argument with "Well if you're eventually going to die from this illness then why am I even following you. It just means you won't finish Raven Wolf (the name of the comic that I work on that he likes) so it's pointless to even read anything from you now. I'm just going to unwatch you now."
Like... just... fuck my health apparently or that I'm still trying to draw comics through all of it, if I can't entertain him with a story that will finish at a timely pace I, and my series are not worth his time.
At least this ordeal was over right? NOPE. HE WASN'T FUCKING DONE YET.
Several days later he PMs me, telling me 'my friends' are leaving mean comments on his dA for no reason that make him feel bad and make him want to kill himself, and he's sure they're doing it because he left comments on my comic. That makes him getting harassed by this people MY fault. So I need to make a public apology and apologize to him for not warning him that I was handicapped/sick, because it made him look like an ass (because that was all my fault remember)
For one, the list of people he mentioned were not my friends, they were no one I knew or recognized, and when I check out their profile NONE of them followed me or anyone that I knew. So there was nothing I could do about them, secondly I was not going to apologize for not 'warning' someone that I am sick and/or handicapped (and honestly me saying so did not magically make him look like an ass because he ALWAYS looked like one) I explained this to him as well that even if I did make a apology which I was not entitled to do, it would not DO anything to help because I don't know the people harassing him. I ended the response with 'I'm sorry this is happening to you, try not to let random bullying on the internet get to you, I know it's hard but there's more to life than just their opinions, and again I don't know anyone you linked and there's nothing I can do about them.'
He accused me of attacking him, and that I was ungrateful, and continued to insist that this was all my fault anyway and that I'm just making him look bad for no reason because he did nothing wrong.
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