That is my point too. But not everyone sees the same point, and internet isn't yours or mine. Some people simply do comics for selfish reasons, to make their lives a bit more interesting and creative. And after they do that, it's only logical that they want someone to see those comics too.To me, the whole POINT of having a webcomic, of forcing you to update to a schedule, and posting week after week after week is to improve.
Aaand, has any of comics who Solomon criticized actually shown any "improvement", or even followed Solomon's advice?Without growth and improvement, shit just remains shit. And most of the works that Solomon and Co. targeted were, in fact, shit that continued to remain shit. Even stuff like PvP and Ctrl-Alt-Del, while they certainly aren't the SAME shit they were when they started, have grown to become comfortable with copypasta. If anything, the Solomon rants taught me that settling for a "good enough" style was never an option, and was a huge factor in the development of my own mantra for webcomics.
And, I think, the refusal of CG's FCBD offerings has something to do with that. It's one thing to "encourage" amateurs, but without lighting a fire under them, they won't improve. This lack of improvement does nothing to encourage growth the way you think it does.
Very nice thing about critics like Solomon is, they're adored by people who aren't their targets. They think that people who got trashed deserved it and they proud themselves that their own comic is better than that - while the true might as well be that the critic just hasn't stumbled onto them yet. "It's funny because it's not me."
Put yourself in this situation: what would you find more helpful? A critique that points to your mistakes with respect, or a critique that trashes your comic for characters having large ears, calling you names for just daring to show that "ear fetish" thing on internet?
People on this forum have improved not only through critique, but through seeing others improve, reading comic discussion threads, or just exchanging advices. We can all see this improvement if we follow comics by forumers (and that is liting the fire under them - a kind of fire that won't burn them to the ground). On the other hand, any positive effect Solomon has is yet to be seen.
Admitt it: Solomon is writing purely for venting. He is frustrated by bad comics, so his blog is just there to let this frustration out. It's not done for the community, future of webcomics, or doing anyone a favour, and it's not going to have any lasting effect, because he is just one of millions of venting internet lunatics.
Those are some aspects of webcomics. But there are other aspects you neglected: the amateur/hobbist aspect - most of people who are doing this are amateurs without pretension; the lack of money leading to the lack of time artist can dedicate to a comic; the audience - most of people spending that much time on internet are still computer/gaming/sf freaks, and thus topics of the most succesful comics are very limited; the history - first four or five people who made webcomics, determined it's development for good etc etc etc...I'm not saying all webcomics are superior / inferior to all print comics. However, you can't tell me that something as simple as XKCD's "Alt Text Jokes" would be half as effective if you didn't have to go at least a little out of your way to look for them.
I'm talking about the advantages of having immense online archives and an easy way to reference /index old pages for clues.
I'm talking about the ability to track every single person who's reading your comic and be able to react at a speed that print comics could never hope to account for.
I'm talking about the advantages of being able to scale everything you do, and not be constrained to the standards or the expenses of trying to duplicate these efforts in print.
I'm talking about all the advantages that made you come into a forum like this to argue about webcomics in the first place.
Do I expect the general standards of comics -- that things work better when they're laid out in strips or pages -- to change? No. This said, I would be a fool to think that a print comic is inherently superior to a web comic. They're different experiences, which is why I tried to leave "Quality" out of the equation. Yes, for now Print is dominated by professionals -- and many of the people we see online would never see the light of day. This does not make it inherently better, this just means it has a much higher barrier to entry right now than webcomics do.
The internet is an inherently more powerful medium than 'mere print' alone. It should follow that webcomics have just as much more power over their 'mere print' alternatives.
All those aspects affect the evolution of webcomics. It's a logical evolution, according to all the influences.
As you see, difference between print and web comics is much deeper than that which you suggested - and I have to note that, while nice, aspects you mentioned are mostly technical and logistic. They make webcomics sould like some improved version of print comics, which they aren't - they are a completely different subculture. And that's good, since noone needs yet another printed comics scene.
Think, why we're all here? Some of us might be attracted by archieving or infinite canvas, or communication with readers, but large majority of us are here and not in print because we're hobbists, or because we're not good enough (in conventional sence) or suitable for print.
Here's a thought: to stop the flow of crappy webcomics, all we'd have to do is - cancel Comic Genesis. That is the only place that lets any Tom, Dick and Harry post their comics just for the kicks or because they're bored. Any other place asks for either money, some level of engagement in administration, or some editing pick - and that, we assume, means that the artist is serious about his work. So canceling CG would single-handedly decrease the number of crappy comics for what, about 50% - of course it would rid us of some very good comics (I know at least several good webcomickers who wouldn't start their webcomicking if there wasn't for free hosting) but hey - you have to crack an egg or two.
so I just went for one paragrapth instead)