It's approaching that mark since EOI and CYS have been Spotted, so who's next?Gav wrote:Most of the primary "Spotting processes" have been accurately represented here, so thankfully much of my work is done. But a few things I want to add (some of these are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other three Owner votes):
- Carson's "Suck up to Nukees" theory really hasn't been exploited enough.
- The "requirement" I always mention first whenever I'm asked the question of how to be 'Spotted is the one about consistant updates. I find this weeds out about 95% of applicants right off the bat. Update your strip consistantly (don't miss any scheduled days for at least six months, preferrably longer) and frequently (three times a week minimum) if you ever expect to be taken seriously. Don't give me sob stories about how your computer (or Keenspace) died--everyone has one.
- Exisiting popularity is not required, but it lets us (often, specifically me) know that our opinion of your quality may be wrong.
- Being on Keenspace doesn't "help" in the sense that we'll pick a 'Space preferrably over a non-'Space, though I will admit that we like being able to confirm your stats (which we can on Keenspace) and we regularly check out the top ten or twenty 'Spacers to see what we may have missed. If 'Space doesn't suit you, though, don't get an account just to become 'Spotted, though. It doesn't help that much.
- If you're not a 'Space comic, and you think you're popular enough for us to take notice, report stats accurately (never say "hits"). The only stat that is mostly immune to creative interpretation or tracking is "pageviews." If possible, back up your claims with links to the stats themselves.
- Do not use copyrighted material. We have no inherent bias against sprite comics (though my personal opinion is that any cut'n'paste art is likely going to have to be very well constructed and/or exceptionally written to compensate), but we do against potential lawsuits. If you submit a sprite comic, be sure to indicate if the images are original, 'cause I'm not as much of a gaming geek as you.
- I'm sorry, but we don't send out rejection letters. The reasons are twofold: First, because we just don't have time, but more importantly, because we never want to rule any strip out from improving in the future. I've seen many strips that I feel aren't quite up to snuff now, but probably will be with time and practice and we continue to keep an eye on those. Sending rejection letters might influence the direction of the comic negatively.
- Be patient. We tend to make recruitments in batches at infrequent intervals when we have time available. Times like the end/beginning of every yearly quarter are quite busy for me, for instance, and not much recruitment goes on then. We try to find time to review batches of comics every three months or so, but when something exceptional comes along, we may 'Spot a strip at any time.
- If we make a mass recruitment, it does not mean we rejected your strip. It's very likely that we are still reviewing. If it's been a year since submitting, you may want to nudge us, especially if you think your quality has improved or your update frequency has improved.
- Otherwise, just draw a good strip. Unfortunately, everyone thinks their strip is gold, so there's not much direction here.
There are several people I've thought of.
Rodrigo Pin, for example, is almost assuredly in the next batch.
Similarly, Digital War and Star Bored have been around long enough for us to ask when they will be up for Spotting.
Venus Envy, Space's current 2nd ranked comic, should be Spotted simply for the fact there are too few comics like it (The only I think of is Boy Meets Boy).
I mean, there's Bob n Ed, Paragon Fishing, Saturnalia, and even my White Hydra (Potentially capable of pulling a CYS)
