HELP for Comic Genesis Signups

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

A little over a month ago I decided to upload a second comic to CG- it is on the list there (Band Geeks Anonymous) but after the confirmation email I never got any other notifications. I realize that it was really foolish to do this, given the fact that I am aware of the troubles facing newbies right now. I'm not holding my breath over this or anything, but figured I'd speak up about it anyway just in case.

Thanks for all the info, Dr. Neo Lao.

[IceKeyHunter]

I'm trying to be as patient as I possibly can as well, but I'd appreciate some sort of update on the whole issue.

[Dr Neo Lao]

All new members who registered after July have some good news

If you signed up between the end of July 2009 and one week ago today, and have not received a "Here's your FTP info!" email yet....

...you'll get it this weekend. A bug in the signup process (yeah, I know, again) clogged the whole works. I've cleared the clog, which should get everything back up to speed; meanwhile, I'm fixing that bug over the weekend.

Still no word on SiteAdmin, but new members' accounts ought to start working soon. Please stay by your inbox...

[starknights]

hey guys they fixed the no welcome email problem i was goldenflex
ty dr neo for all the help

[InsectsCorp40]

I have signed up for Comic Genesis and finally got confirmed. Then I joined the forum and succeeded here. But, now I try to login with the right username and password and still can't get in. What's wrong? I need a step by step process to get in. Please help.

InsectsCorp40.

[Dr Neo Lao]

...now I try to login...

What are you trying to log into?

For FTP (to access your comic and upload your stuff) then you'll need to set up an FTP password, if you have not already done so.

For SiteAdmin, you won't be able to log in at the moment as it is broken. However, you don't need to use SiteAdmin to run your comic.

[csgrimm]

I received the email about 3days ago advising me of my account.
I'd have gotten the mail server but have been loaded with work for myself.
It took 6 days about from initial sign up to receive them email so after 4 days I stopped checking as diligently for the email.

I tried setting it up at the link given and it says my username is not valid
Somehow my forum account also was disabled and had to send reactivation link.
In order to set up ftp password it's requiring a code I don't have.
I'm pretty sure it all goes back to the fact my account is just disabled.
I feel incredibly stupid with this. But as your main post states I had 2weeks before the signup would be deleted.
What's going on?

Edit:
Okay so I get that admin is broken and has been a while.
I guess I'll figure it all out when I get home.
But the ftp bit I don't get. I'm setting up a password but I need a code? Hurr
I feel useless. I figure it out later I guess.

Edit part deux:
Tried siteadmin ftp and getting login failed.
I see my comic there! So whoo! But I can't upload anymore..

Final Edit:
Sooo I think I got it. I guess? See how this all pans out but.. yea.

////Social Suicide////

[Dr Neo Lao]

Read this page, it'll make it a little clearer how to get your FTP password.

Short version: you need your comic name. You enter the password you want to use and it'll email it to you. When you get the email, it'll have the confirmation code (the one you don't have yet).

Once you have your FTP password, then read this page.

It'll tell you to install an FTP program. If you don't want to instal one, read this page.

You can run your comic without SiteAdmin.

To run a comic on CG you only need to know three things:
-Comic Genesis comic accounts run off templates. You don't edit the code for each day, the server does that for you based on how you set up the templates.
-KeenTags are your friends.
-The Help Center is here to provide help - feel free to ask if you don't know. That's how you find out.

The fourth thing is how to draw, but some people manage without even that! And welcome to CG!

[Glissy]

I am considering signing up for hosting with comic genesis. I have already registered a domain name (using nearlyfreespeech.net) but that is all I have done with it. I know that CG can service it directly but I am unsure if I need to do something differently during sign up for this to work (I have not signed up with CG yet). Any advice would be appreciated,

Thanks!

-Glissy

[Dr Neo Lao]

If you specifically want to use the domain name then you won't be able to use it with CG (at the moment). CG normally has the option to let people use their own domain names (the function is called "domain parking") but the current system that is used on CG is quite archaic and time consuming. It is difficult to add domains and just as hard to remove them (if, for instance, someone registers, starts and then abandons a comic and the domain expires).

Presumably, this feature will be available again at some stage (CG is in the middle of upgrading its code) but when this will happen we are not sure.

You can still sign up for and use a CG account if you want (either as practice or as a backup) but if you specifically want to use the domain you may need to get paid hosting. Most of the free webcomic hosts (like DrunkDuck, WebComicsNation and SmackJeeves) don't offer domain parking.

If you've already paid to get a domain with nearlyfreespeech.net then I would suggest to get some hosting from them as well. Comics that are starting out have exceptionally low bandwidth so they (nearlyfreespeech.net) are about the cheapest option around (plus they offer php) and then later on down the track if you either change your mind or become bigger with lots of readers then you can change your setup to suit your new needs.

Post here if you need a hand or tips on setting up your comic. We'll help you out if we can no matter which options you choose.

[Glissy]

Thanks Dr Neo Lao, that was very informative. My friend and I are currently discussing what route we want to take with the comic. I am tempted to use Comic Press but I am under the impression it will not work with CG. Am I correct in assuming this?

-Glissy

[Dr Neo Lao]

Correct. CG does not offer php or MySql so the only systems that work are CG's built-in system or hand-written html.

Most free hosts only offer basic hosting (html with maybe some one-click scripts) but almost all paid hosts offer php and mysql as standard.

Personally, I detest ComicPress (WordPress has a web-comic specific plugin which is ComicPress) because I have not found a single comic running ComicPress where it is easy to find a given strip. It is very easy to go from one strip to the one next to it (either before or after) but some comics even forget to include links to the first strip so you can read the story from the beginning.

I like the archive that DMFA uses because the story is divided down to story arcs. In my old comic I set up the archive so that a reader can reach any strip from one page. Many authors like and use WordPress for comics because it has many features that make life easier for the creator. If you want to use WordPress, go for it.

I thoroughly recommend reading Joel Fagin's tutorials before you get started as they have some great information that will help you avoid the same mistakes everyone else has made.

[Sidewalk Warrior]

Hi, I'm not sure if anyone's asked this, but can I use the same email address to sign up for two accounts? I'm hoping to be able to run two comics, possibly on alternating weeks, and this seems like the easiest way. If I use the same address will this be barred as an attempted bulk signup? Or, if I get the confirmation email, can I run two accounts without confusion? Thanks in advance.

[Dr Neo Lao]

Uh ... you know, I'm not sure.

Depending on what type of email you have, you may be better off with two seperate emails or better off with a single email. The email that you sign up with is locked in and you can't change it. If you stop running you comic for a while and then come back and can't remember your password, then your replacement password is sent to the email that you signed up with - and only to that email.

So if you have a stable email that is likely to stick around for awhile, then I don't see why you would be disadvantaged. But if you lose access to that email, then you could potentially be locked out of both comics.

I guess it is up to you discretion. I think you might be able to use the same email as you don't use your email to sign in anywhere. Though some people prefer ComicName@someurl for each comic that they run in order to keep them separate rather than have Name@someurl for several things.

[Sidewalk Warrior]

Thanks, I'll see what happens.

[Dr Neo Lao]

...can I run two accounts without confusion?

I think I failed to address this one before.

If you run two comics in one account (like, have on update during the week and one update on weekends) then it isn't really an issue and you'd be able to run both comics on one account without confusion. It would create confusion for your readers because if you have readers that are following one comic and not the other then they'd have no way to navigate around the one they preferred not to read.

If you have two (or more) accounts then that is perfectly fine and you'd be able to run them all without confusion. This is the recommended way because 1 accounts are free and 2 it lets you have an individual look to each comic. Note that (normally) you'd be able to have all your comic accounts linked to a single forum account under SiteAdmin, but that's a non-issue at the moment since SiteAdmin is broken and can't be accessed by new users anyway.

So long as you had all the images and files and such associated with each comic in separate sections on your computer then you'd avoid confusion.

[Sorcha]

My verification code isn't working. The page simply reloads when I click 'Verify' - I received the authorisation code today so it's not out of date. Any ideas?

Nevermind. I think it verified.

[Sidewalk Warrior]

If you have two (or more) accounts then that is perfectly fine and you'd be able to run them all without confusion. This is the recommended way because 1 accounts are free and 2 it lets you have an individual look to each comic. Note that (normally) you'd be able to have all your comic accounts linked to a single forum account under SiteAdmin, but that's a non-issue at the moment since SiteAdmin is broken and can't be accessed by new users anyway.

So long as you had all the images and files and such associated with each comic in separate sections on your computer then you'd avoid confusion.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Thanks again.

[fed-up]

Howdy, folks.

I signed up about two months ago, and got the "Your ComicGenesis account is ready" e-mail fairly quickly. However, nothing's happened since. The ftp site says "fed-up" is not a valid username and to please contact a wrangler, and while the domain name is registered (no longer a "not-found" error), it gives me a 403-forbidden blank screen instead of the test comic.

What should I do next?

[ofbloodandmagic]

Hi, I've run into a problem signing into SiteAdmin from the main page. I have a username and password for the FTP site (successful login via Butch), I have a username and password for the Forum, and yes, I used said Forum username and password (case sensitive) to log into Site Admin.

It's been 24 hours, I have received Welcome email and the site is active on http and (Butch) ftp (although I have yet to make sense of it). But the SiteAdmin login keeps refusing me access with this message:

Could not connect to the Master databaseForum Username ofbloodandmagic not valid!
You must have a ComicGenesis Forum login (or you entered a bad username or password, it is CASE SENSITIVE.)

Please see below for possible correct spellings:

ofbloodandmagic

Logout to try again (hit cancel)

Site URL is http://ofbloodandmagic.comicgenesis.com/