COMIXPEDIA EVENT #2: BLIND DATE now active!

[Shepherd]

Hello Keenspacers,

You may recall the Comixpedia event FRIGHT NIGHT from last October. Well, we're back again with another all-call free-for-all: the BLIND DATE, which is up now at http://blinddate.comixpedia.com (address still propagating, so if you can't see it yet just be patient).

In a nutshell: we're asking webcomicers to sign up to participate in an online event in which they will be PAIRED AT RANDOM with another creator to turn out a love-themed comic.
Signups go to JANUARY 23, 2004.

Randomized pairings will be posted JANUARY 24, 2004.

Final comics are due FEBRUARY 8, 2004.

My goal in running these things is always to get as interesting a cross-section of the webcomics community working, communicating and collaborating together as possible, so it's always great when people leap into the fray. Benefits to you, the creator are an interesting opportunity to meet new people, gain new readers, and interact with some of the coolest folks in comicdom.

I don't know how frequently I'll be able to keep tabs on this thread, so feel free to e-mail me (through the sign-up address at the site) if you have any specific questions. If you do, feel free to ask them here and post whatever answers I provide here, too.

Thanks!

- Matt Shepherd
Events Editor, Comixpedia

[Jops]

Sounds nice but...
...are you saying that if i join i'll have only 16 days to

- contact the other guy/gal/cat/deep one/whatever
- make up a short story and agree with the content
- organize on who does what and decide the style of the comic (this may be trouble).
- draw the comic

???

Okay, it's not impossible, but a bit more time would be nice.

[Ghastly]

I'm banned from Comexpedia. They won't let me join in any reindeer games.

[TheGoobla]

Yeah. That's a fairly short time span to:

1. write it
2. draw it
3. sex0rz
3. ????
4. profit!!!

[Shepherd]

...are you saying that if i join i'll have only 16 days to

- contact the other guy/gal/cat/deep one/whatever
- make up a short story and agree with the content
- organize on who does what and decide the style of the comic (this may be trouble).
- draw the comic

Well, (cough) yes.

I KNOW it's not a lot of time, and there are various reasons for that, most having to do with Christmas holidays and me being a goof. But I figure two weeks ain't bad. There's no minimum length, and urgency is the mother of creativity. Or something.

Unfortunately, no sooner do I post this than the e-mail at the 'pedia gets all snookered -- should be back up soon. There was a redirect on the address to my Hotmail one, and it exploded. Whaboom.

Signups should be working tonight or tomorrow morning.

- Matt

[McDuffies]

Well, it's a great idea, but from my experience with CRX you need more that two weeks just to agree with collaborator on some basic stuff. Drawing the comic itself is the easiest thing here.
Without intention to sound as smart-ass, I really really really suggest you to move that due for a month or so. (basically because I'm interested in participating but with February 8. due, won't be able because of other stuff to do).

[Phalanx]

I agree. It'd be hard enough to come up with a comic with that kind of deadline, but to collaborate with someone...

Unless you know your 'blind date' beforehand, teamwork isn't going to be easy/possible.

[ZOMBIE USER 17345]

I'll join! Might be a good breakthrough for Lover's Dyrge.

But, uh . . . my email bounced. What's the deal, McNeil?

[War]

Hah. Love.

[ZOMBIE USER 17345]

Says the lonely cat man.

[Brockway]

*In deep pained dramatic soap opera accent*

Love? Love?! What do you know of love? I knew you were cheating on me the whole time with the preacher, and yet I let it continue... perhaps I share some blame... but you hold it doubly so!! Why do you continue to test our love?!

*end soap opera voice*

Yeah, thats not alot of time.

[Nishichi27]

You might want to extend it at least a week, so it could end on Valentine's Day on the 14th. It would make more sense if you're just thinking about it, and it's only a week extension. How bout it?

[McDuffies]

He's already edited his original post. I'm not sure if he's not ignoring us or something...
What's so important about that due anyway? Why would it be a problem to delay it?
Maybe he suggested it to Comixpedia council and now they're in process of voting or something.

Funny thing how number of female authors if larger that in off-line comics. Without that, this event would never be possible. *tries to imagine*

[RPin]

That's so cool...

If my comic was older, I would join it.

That, and if I had time too.

[Shepherd]

He's already edited his original post. I'm not sure if he's not ignoring us or something...

I didn't edit my original post!

At least, I don't think I did...

Mail problems:

My Hotmail account (where the signup e-mail address was routing people to) was fritzed for most of yesterday for no particular reason, but all e-mails were also copied to the sitemaster so don't worry if you didn't seem to get through... you probably did. An updated participants' list will be posted daily at the Blind Date page at Comixpedia.

Deadline:

The reason for the deadline is that we want to run them UP TO Valentine's day, because that's the logical termination point for a Valentine's Day event.

Given that there's no prizes or anything, I could see my way clear to granting extensions if people e-mailed me and let me know they were working on it.

But I'll talk to the rest about extending the deadline today. I figured two weeks seemed like lots of time, but I also drink a lot.

Responses:

I have (for obvious reasons) mentioned the event on several forums to try to get as broad a crossection of webcomic creators involved as possible (and we have 20+ signees within the first 12 hours, which is pretty cool), but I have this crazy day job followed by an even crazier night job, so I don't have THAT much time to keep up with the various forums.

The easiest way to get hold of anyone for quick answers is the Blind Date thread in the general Comixpedia forum.

Confusion:

Just to be clear -- 99% of participants understand (correctly) that this isn't going to be a gender-paring M/F comics dating service. A few -- well, one -- is under the impression that because it's called "Blind Date" we are going to somehow get an even number of girls n' guys and pair 'em off.

Given that there's a 5-to-1 ratio of guys to girls making comics, I don't see how that could be possible.

And it would also presume that all participants are heterosexual and would want to date people of the opposite sex, which wouldn't be very open-minded at all.

We're just teaming up cartoonists at random -- same gender, different gender, whatever. But if you sign up, you're not going to get paired with somebody of the opposite sex.

Whew! Thanks for raising all the points above. Can't guarantee I'll be back today, so wander over to Comixpedia if you have further questions or suggestions.

[Shepherd]

But if you sign up, you're not going to get paired with somebody of the opposite sex.

Er... you probably won't get paired with somebody of the opposite sex, I should say. There are, at this point, three girls signed up out of 20 people overall, and somebody smarter than me can do the math.

And one of them is married, so you're down to two potentially eligible bachelorettes.

But hope springs eternal.

- Matt

[YarpsDat]

I hereby make this thread a sticky.

[Ghastly]

Incidently, why doesn't Comixpedia have a "I forgot my fucking password" button on it so that if you forget your password you don't have to create a whole new account all over again.

[Shepherd]

Thanks for stickyfying.

Initial response looks good for STARTING on Valentine's Day rather than concluding, so we may extend the deadline to Feb. 14. A decision will be made tonight and the event page updated tomorrow. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!

I never forget my password because my password for everything is "ghastly" so it never comes up. But I'll pass that along.

- Matt

[KittyKatBlack]

Man, I sure hope that was a joke....