SpiderForest Webcomic Collective now open for submissions!

[Harishankar]

Some of the reasons I've not gone for hosting on a specialized comic hosting site is that:

1. I already have a website with a small, if dedicated audience where I'd been posting my comic strips for a long time before I discovered that there actually existed communities and hosting providers for webcomics like CG. Now starting from scratch on a new comic site seems too much work and maintenance and splitting up my audience.

2. The process of having to apply and wait until your application is accepted sounds too much of a hassle to bother, especially if you already have some hosting space and a domain name, or you can find so many free hosts who offer more flexibility by way of generic web hosting, not restricted just to comics.

On the other hand, I can see the advantages of a closely knit, pre-existing community of targetted audience, so the idea of a specialized hosting site does have its merits.

I personally prefer to stick to being master of my own domain. I get full control over my web space and I have existing readers already.

[McDuffies]

@McDuffies I'd be more worried about the men staring at them... myself, I don't actually drive. Small town, everything's in walking distance.

check your underwear drawer, Mcduffies prolly raided it.

shhh

[Metruis]

If McDuffies REALLY wants my large granny panties, well... I'm not gonna stop them, they're five bucks for a pack of three. I can always get more.

Some of the reasons I've not gone for hosting on a specialized comic hosting site is that:

1. I already have a website with a small, if dedicated audience where I'd been posting my comic strips for a long time before I discovered that there actually existed communities and hosting providers for webcomics like CG. Now starting from scratch on a new comic site seems too much work and maintenance and splitting up my audience.

2. The process of having to apply and wait until your application is accepted sounds too much of a hassle to bother, especially if you already have some hosting space and a domain name, or you can find so many free hosts who offer more flexibility by way of generic web hosting, not restricted just to comics.

On the other hand, I can see the advantages of a closely knit, pre-existing community of targetted audience, so the idea of a specialized hosting site does have its merits.

I personally prefer to stick to being master of my own domain. I get full control over my web space and I have existing readers already.

You can keep your site hosted on your own host. Twilight Lady and Life's a Witch both have their own hosting and domain name, they just include the top banner for SpiderForest, giving them exposure across the network of sites, and in return, giving us exposure on theirs. It's not just a host... it's a collective, which has benefits like a pre-existing audience for that genre (in this case, mainly fantasy and humor comics, as there used to be two domains, one for humor and one for fantasy, they were however combined) and then the smaller community for support and critique or whatever.

It's not just hosting you're applying for. Sure, it's ad-free free hosting, but the community and the shared readers and support. You can be master of your own domain and still be part of that, of course...

The reason I went for ComicGenesis in the beginning was--and I looked at all the different freebies--I found it offered the most freedom for web design and everything, and the newsbox gave that cross-comic exposure. SpiderForest just takes that to a more finely targeted level.

I can see why you'd want to have total control over your domain, though, and the switch to a different site does have that problem, with splitting readership between the two... my CG site ranges 70-200 uniques a day depending on my update schedule and the SpiderForest one more like 30-100 right now... but many of those are brand new readers from the network, and as my advertising was originally directed at the CG mirror (being the only one I had), many of my original readers still only read on CG. If I only had one mirror site, there wouldn't be that problem... the existing readers wouldn't be spread out. Which would be especially nice for advertising purposes. But then, there's many readers I wouldn't have attained without the added community support...

[Phalanx]

Do I sound old if I said I joined Comic Genesis (then called Keenspace) because it was the only free webcomic hosting service available that I knew of that time? *shifty look*

But a few of the comics I like are on Spiderforest. Nahast for one. No harm trying for those of your who are interested.

[McDuffies]

Do I sound old if I said I joined Comic Genesis (then called Keenspace) because it was the only free webcomic hosting service available that I knew of that time? *shifty look*

Now c'mon, Geocities and Angelfire were giving it a run for their money.

[Metruis]

Do I sound old if I said I joined Comic Genesis (then called Keenspace) because it was the only free webcomic hosting service available that I knew of that time? *shifty look*

Noooo, calling it Keenspace makes you sound old.

Honestly, I knew of CG, DrunkDuck and SmackJeeves. SmackJeeves comics always had stupid layouts with the comic not on the front page and the +fav button, which irked me... I didn't know of WebcomicNation then but I don't like it because of the terrible layouts... and DrunkDuck comics all had terrible layouts too! ComicGenesis, you had to be able to code for, but then you could make a less stupid layout. I've joined DrunkDuck since then to give it a run for its money and my goodness but does the admin panel ever suck. CG is much better. >_>

[K-Dawg]

Do I sound old if I said I joined Comic Genesis (then called Keenspace) because it was the only free webcomic hosting service available that I knew of that time? *shifty look*

Now c'mon, Geocities and Angelfire were giving it a run for their money.

Don't forget tripod and something I used cjb.net or whatever it was called. Ugh it was all so bad

Oh and Homestead!

[Cope]

Geocities is closing down this year. This freaks me out on some visceral level.

[Warofwinds]

I started out on ComicGenesis, and moved to SpiderForest about 2 years back. Still have my CG mirror.

Even being on SF, CG is the FIRST place I recommend to people thinking about a webcomic. This place was the best home for a newbie comicker ever. /random Kez comment.

[RPin]

Geocities is closing down this year. This freaks me out on some visceral level.

What? What about some of my favorite artists who keep their art sites as if we were still stuck in 1996?

[Metruis]

I started out on ComicGenesis, and moved to SpiderForest about 2 years back. Still have my CG mirror.

Even being on SF, CG is the FIRST place I recommend to people thinking about a webcomic. This place was the best home for a newbie comicker ever. /random Kez comment.

I agree totally.

[McDuffies]

Geocities is closing down this year. This freaks me out on some visceral level.

What? What about some of my favorite artists who keep their art sites as if we were still stuck in 1996?

Where will all whose Sailor Moon fan sites go? Here?

[Killbert-Robby]

Not to mention email-to-play rpgs

[Phalanx]

Geocities is closing down this year. This freaks me out on some visceral level.

What? What about some of my favorite artists who keep their art sites as if we were still stuck in 1996?

Where will all whose Sailor Moon fan sites go? Here?

Poor Kelly will be working overtime smiting those to death now.

[Rkolter]

I remember Geocities fondly. I was in the SoHo district, at site 4450.

Heh. It's not there now, but it's still in google's cache. I closed it down in mid-2001 apparently. I didn't realize I still had Dragon Tales up when I was dating Beth...

[McDuffies]

Soho? Isn't that where all those Jack the Ripper murders happened?

[Rkolter]

Soho? Isn't that where all those Jack the Ripper murders happened?

Ye... no.