Gutterflycomix Free Webcomic Hosting

[JohnLynch]

My bandwidth more than doubled between April and May

How did you manage that one?

[Thomas51471]

I'd like to play with the automation script they have. I want to see if it works better than the one I'm using now.

Now that is a good idea. If anyone would like to see our service in action or want to toy with our automated script (it can only be used on our server, sorry) then feel free to start up a free account with us. We do not require that we host you exclusively, so you can sign up with a comic hosted here or anywhere else. Just follow our TOS. That is all we ask. We'd love to extend a free account to anyone interested.

[Ryuko]

My bandwidth more than doubled between April and May

How did you manage that one?

Voodoo. And updating.

Apparently, I advertised a lot on forums that month, and I got linked from Zebra Girl near the end of the month. Keep in mind, this is going from (average) 40 visits a day to 108, so not a huuuuge change, but still pretty good, I thought.

...maybe I just stopped sucking?

Edit: So much?

[KittyKatBlack]

Just a quick question....


...why was this posted in the first place? *is confused*

[Sput]

Heh.

Also, i say keenspace is a fine place for new comics- but only if you go with irc/forums. within a month here i was like- integrated into the keenfamily. really. an oldbie adopted me. daddy k-dawg.


i have to say though, GF might be better for my comic- except that i went indie for free. heh.

[Sam_Charette]

If comics do go over their bandwidth at Gutteflycomix.com we contact them long before we consider to shut them down at all and let them know they have gone over the bandwidth. We wait for their response and then together, they and we, discuss where to go from there. The whole time we continue to allow them access to their ftp and their site is still live on the network.

If we do not hear from them on the first email, we try again and only after we have heard nothing for a few days after the second email do we suspend them. In the event that this happens we still try to contact the creator and will work with them so that we and they win in each case.

Well that's not too bad. Most places will just automatically charge you.

My question to you, though, is what if this person can't afford to pay? What then?

And if you decide to give them a break that month, especially if it's a free account, what about those people who paid and are using the same amount of bandwidth?

[Thomas51471]

There are alot of hypothetical things that could happen that we could discuss here, but how we would deal with them in "real world" terms would really have to be addressed when and if these senarios take place.

Having said this, in the case that you ask about, a line of constant communication would be established with the creator and we all would review the comic in question and try and determine if this were a fluke month for them. If, in that case, it was and the creator were unable to pay for upgrades then we could work out a deal where, for that month, they would in essence slide and we all would monitor them next month to see if they reached those numbers again. If not, then no harm, no foul we all go on about our lives.

If they do reach their limits again and, based on their target audience and such, we feel they will consistantly reach the limit but will still be unable to pay for upgrades we might suggest a number of professional hosts that are affordable they could go with and aquire their own http://www.url.com or we might referr them to a service such as CG or DD. But before we referred them to another free hosting service we would highly suggest they take that last step toward independent web publishing for themselves. If they were realistically pushing over 2-3 gigs each month they should really try and host themselves because, in the long run, it is a much more rewarding experience.

In any case, communication with our creators is key. We don't see them as merely people we host, but as friends that we truly want to help and want to see succeed. As of yet, no one has reached their limit, but after our first full year we will review our progress and adjust from there if need be.

[McDuffies]

Just a quick question....


...why was this posted in the first place? *is confused*

So we get to know the competition?

[Sam_Charette]

Lots of good stuff

Well that's not bad then. Most of the time your host will just shut you down or charge you the overage, so if PA links you, you're dead. Given your description, though, it doesn't sound that bad at all, and it sounds like you can realistically provide the service that you intend.

[Thomas51471]

We certainly hope we can continue providing a personal service as we have set out to do. We realize that each person that we host are people, we also realize that once you are the size of CG then a more personal touch is just not cost or personell effective. That is why we intentionally want to remain smaller and limit what we do.

We also feel that given support everyone can eventually (as long as they are serious about the field) go on to successfully host themselves and do a much better of it than we can do for them because they are running their own business and can taylor it for themselves. But often times people just need a helping hand and that is what we are here for.

As I have said above, if anyone of you wants to try our free hosting out (as long as your comic adheres to the PG guideline in our TOS) to see how it works, by all means feel free to submitt. The only criteria we ask you to adhere to is remain PG in content on your comic. All comics are accepted whether they currently exist or not. Just stay PG.

We also suggest that no matter who primarily hosts you, that you get hosted on as many free services as possible. The more communities you become a part of the more exposure your comic will see.

Anyway, thanks for all the positive feedback and comments. It is nice to know that all of us are in this business for the same reason and that is to further the medium any way we can.

[Noise Monkey]

We're all in business to make me rich and famous? Glad to hear it!

Actually, its nice that in spite of itself, this turned out to be an pleasant and enlightening thread.

*jumps ship*

*hits head on buoy*

*drowns*

[Axonite]

We also suggest that no matter who primarily hosts you, that you get hosted on as many free services as possible. The more communities you become a part of the more exposure your comic will see.

Anyway, thanks for all the positive feedback and comments. It is nice to know that all of us are in this business for the same reason and that is to further the medium any way we can.

On that note, one thing ComicOstrich can actually be used for currently is comic promotion - put up a page with a sample image and link to your comic, plug your comic on the forum there, etc.*

(* Etc. coming soon...)

[RPin]

Option to display your own ads: No -- you must contact CG/KeenSpot to negotiate this.

Just a side note, and this is a question I dared to ask Kisai and Chris Crosby by the time the whole deal /BurstNet/Aryan Jesus issue came up: According to them, it is okay to sell adspace on your page as long as you follow the rules for Comic Genesis, which is the mandatory ad must always go on top, and your own banner must not compete with the services provided by GoogleAd/BurstNet or any other ad provider for Keenspace and you must respect the guidelines for bandwidth usage.

I was specifically asking if it was okay to sell a newsbox or a banner on the bottom of the page to another comic creator, because I know a bunch of people here already doing that (or rather, I knew, I have no idea if they're still around). I was told it was okay, but perhaps there was a change of mind, so I have no idea.