Talk:Webcomic

Hey there! So, I'm a huge webcomic fan and I'm keen to help update this page, but it's difficult to know where to begin with such a broad topic. So far I've managed to make the intro sound less like it was written 10 years ago, and I also changed "Sample webcomics with their own fandoms" to "Notable webcomic fandoms", because IMO, all webcomics have their own fandom, no matter how small, and acting like that's a surprise is one of the things that made the page sound outdated xD

However, I'm not really sure this is a useful section for the page to have in general, because it's just a list of somewhat-famous webcomics, and it's hard to know where to draw the line with what makes a webcomic (or its fandom) "notable". With that said, I'm also unsure as to what should go there instead. Would an overview of some common webcomic genres with notable examples help? Or webcomics who have found financial success via their fandoms? (That would still be a pretty long list). What kind of information should a Fanlore page about webcomics highlight that can't be found on a pop culture wiki? Enchantedsleeper (talk) 10:00, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes to "an overview of some common webcomic genres with notable examples help" but it should be short, so it's not too much canon info. Yes to "webcomics who have found financial success via their fandoms," and tie some things from fanservice and possible instances of webcomic creators communicating and having contact with their fans, how webcomics have or have not integrated fan tropes, styles... Some other things: a section of some sample fanworks inspired by a webcomic, a section on webcomic fans and conventions, webcomics and cosplay.... Hopefully some good suggestions. I'm sure others can think of more, and as the page progresses other topics will surely pop up. Thank you, Enchantedsleeper, for working on this page! --MPH (talk) 12:19, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

That's all super helpful - thanks, MPH! I'll get to work :D Enchantedsleeper (talk) 18:56, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Rethinking the "Financial Status" sections?

This page doesn't define "financial success" but if Gunnerkrigg Court and Dresden Codak are "unknown" when Tom Siddell was able to quit his day job a decade ago to work on the comic full-time & Arryn Diaz pulls in $4k/month on Patreon even when she doesn't update... what DOES count as "financially successful based on their fandoms"? -- Quaelegit (talk) 23:57, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

Good point - I went back in the page history and it looks like this is the edit where that section was added: [1] ; "financial success" is definitely a nebulous term - especially given the variety of titles in both categories (in-progress vs. complete stories, publisher clout, genre, etc) and I'm not sure that it's a good way to categorize webcomics on a wiki that's meant to focus on fandom and fans. Basically, it's not terrible but I don't think it's adding any value to the page.

Does anyone have ideas/thoughts about what we could replace those sections with? -- Mokuroh (talk) 23:28, 23 March 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for finding that! I guess we could page User:Enchantedsleeper since she started the section... Tbh, the discussion on its own seems worth having, i think? Well, the section could definitely use some work (will try to come back with more specific suggestions when less tired), but the idea of having a section to talk about the fan-supported financial success of webcomics seems like a very good idea!! It's this "uncertain financial success" section that confuses me. Looks like that was added by User:Sparrow here: [2]. -- Quaelegit (talk) 07:53, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Oh, hi xD So, firstly, I'm not especially wedded to the "financial success" section given that I made that edit back in 2017. I couldn't tell you the exact reasoning for it, though based on the page history I'm guessing it was a way to gesture at "notable webcomics" but specifically talking about how fans supported them, since that's fandom (and thus Fanlore)-relevant. However, the additional section about unknown financial status definitely puts more emphasis on the finances than I intended. It was never about the finance part, it was about the fandom part. I actually realised that the entire explanation for why this section exists is right above us... But anyway, it doesn't have to be permanent; pages can evolve, and we were working with a much newer page which meant that we were still figuring out the right way to approach the topic.

Anyway, I'd support whatever people would like to change that section to; basically I think it's just an issue about how to list "notable" examples of webcomics without having a massive great list that takes up the whole page. Maybe we don't really need any examples at all? --enchantedsleeper (talk) 22:25, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

ETA: Actually, on second look at the page, we already have a lot of examples in the genre breakdown section anyway. So *shrug* we can just delete those sections outright, or maybe re-angle them into a bit about fan-creator interactions that includes monetisation? --enchantedsleeper (talk) 22:29, 20 April 2023 (UTC)