TWCL

[lonelyfetus]

UPDATE: The Comicpress business model will be re-examined and worked.

Frumph wrote:

At this time we will not offer premium under the ComicPress name anymore and will also not have it available in this business model.

TL;DR: To update to future versions of Comicpress will cost you $79. 2.9 will stay free, with minimal to no support and questionable longevity.

No, I'm not joking. http://comicpresspremium.com/premium/ Looks like it's announced so I can finally say something about it!

The other day I was just thinking about how lame it was I was getting a fully featured open source webcomic theme for wordpress. I really want to pay nearly a hundred dollars to have it installed by a stranger on the internet by giving a username and password and let them into my webspace/SQL.

WITH: The potential of charging more depending on the "design features".

HOW EXCITING.



Alternative PHP scripts for webcomic hosting that is currently supported:
Webcomic+Inkblot: http://webcomic.maikeruon.com/
ComicCMS: http://comiccms.com/

Fleen Article: http://www.fleen.com/archives/2010/04/26/sufficiently-chunky/
Further reading: http://forum.webcomicscommunity.com/index.php/topic,498.0.html

[Edit: Added additional links.]
[Edit: TL;DR added.]

[lonelyfetus]

nb4 "Legacy - or rather 2.9 will remain free, and Premium is more like a full featured back end with an ever so slightly different interface."

In other words: It's still free, but they don't mention we all know wordpress is known to have major security gaps that need constant updates, and tends to cannibalize it's own code. Only 3.0+ (Premium) will get that kind of attention by their developers.

I've seen it in action. It has a slightly better upload page- just like the kind you get with the manager plugin, but 99% is back end changes (to act more like a plugin, and less likely to fubar with wordpress updates) that most people won't notice. Congratulations, you guys just invented Webcomic + Inkblot with a price tag.

nb4 "They can use any business model they want"

They can charge anything they want, but this new style of "Give something free and pull it away without notice to tell people that only SERIOUS webcartoonists will put down $$$" gives me the same right to call bullshit. Time to go with something else and warn others.

[lonelyfetus]

Here is a short twitter conversation with one of the developers (and possibly the main one behind the pay scheme) of the new Comicpress 3.0 Premium:

@ideawhore wrote:

FUN FACT: From now on all future version of comicpress will cost you $79. http://comicpresspremium.com/premium/

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore better FUN FACT: Comicpress Premium is *not* the regular ComicPress (Legacy) that is freely distributed.

@ideawhore wrote:

@Frumph fun fact: the only difference is back end stuff an average user won't notice and a slightly better post page. Plus a $79 price tag.

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore better fun fact: the purchase price is for install/setup/configuration by the designer, it just happens to be the way to prem.

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore Even better fun fact, price is variable to the designer you buy it from, prices may vary dependant on deal

@ideawhore wrote:

@Frumph you're forgetting to mention wordpress is known to cannibalize itself, so 2.9 won't be stable much longer after 3.0's release.

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore One of the developers is going to offer it for $39 to webcomics.com members @guigar (will be informed at some point)

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore Now you're reaching

@ideawhore wrote:

@Frumph saying that wordpress needs constant new security upgrades which caused many prior versions of comicpress to fail is no reach

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore there hasn't been a single hack to comicpress 'ever' no idea where you get your info but you're wrong

@ideawhore wrote:

@Frumph no, no comicpress hacks. I never said that. But comicpress has failed compatibility when *wordpress* updates itself.

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore that happened once when it went from wordpress 2.6.5 to wordpress 2.7, nice try though.

@ideawhore wrote:

@Frumph is that your best guarantee that it won't ever happen again? How about when servers have a PHP or SQL upgrade?

@Frumph wrote:

@ideawhore backwards compatibility rocks doesn't it?

@ideawhore wrote:

@Frumph The web doesn't have a very good track record of that. Specifically forward compatibility. I know you have a lot to gain with this-

@ideawhore wrote:

-but I'm only the first to openly admit that I hope you fail.

[lonelyfetus]

Adam Smithee (creator of the obscure comic, Apple of Discord) came about when I was talking to Phil (@Frumph) and before going to bed. First he acted like a happy customer and immediately turned into a lulzy overzealous White Knight when I candidly admitted how I felt about Comicpress' new charging. I admit I was being a smart ass, but I was speaking one aspiring cartoonist to another. This isn't totally relevant, but I know everyone enjoys webcomic drama.

@kallisti_x, after my post that Comicpress is charging $79 wrote:

@ideawhore I'm notoriously cheap, but that's still a price I'd probably be willing to pay. Comicpress has been good to me, to many people.

@ideawhore wrote:

@kallisti_x My balls have been fucking awesome, but I'm not going to be charging my wife for what she can get elsewhere for free.

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore You're not doing your wife any favors by offering her your balls free of charge - she's doing you a favor, in all honesty.

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore And you're right - she doesn't NEED you, there are plenty of other balls in the sea. So buy her a gift now and then. A $79 one. about 3 hours ago via TwitterGadget in reply to ideawhore

@ideawhore wrote:

@kallisti_x you've got a bit of Frumph's brown on your nose, dude. Try not to make it so obvious who benefits from here in.

----> This is after I've finished my conversation with @Frumph and left for the night.

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore And you've got trickle of entitlement running down your leg.

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore Yeah - the people who benefit are real human beings who have put a lot of hard work into making this... for free, up until now. about 3 hours ago via TwitterGadget in reply to ideawhore

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore Comicpress is ultimately just a theme for Wordpress - and there's a lot of people who charge money for those themes. about 3 hours ago via TwitterGadget in reply to ideawhore

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore If you don't like it, use one of the other themes - InkBlot, for instance - or hey, start your own, give that away for free. about 3 hours ago via TwitterGadget in reply to ideawhore

@kallisti_x wrote:

@ideawhore Just don't shout empty rhetoric to express your impotent rage because someone has the audacity to want money for their hard work. about 2 hours ago via TwitterGadget in reply to ideawhore

@Frumph wrote:

@kallisti_x and you are amazing

@Frumph wrote:

RT @ideawhore: @Frumph -but I'm only the first to openly admit that I hope you fail. [ This guy is a total asshole. ]

These are the kind of dudes you will be supporting if you pay for the new versions of Comicpress. I've often heard them refered to as good guys. I know I can be a total asshole, but that's because I genuinely love the potential of webcomics and my extremely low tolerance for bullshit goes off when the mentality to blatantly USE you for financial gain becomes the accepted norm, and any concerns are shrugged off with patronizing remarks.

I understand if I have to be the only dick in order to have these concerns brought to attention.

All of these tweets have been posted as is and in full, to keep the integrity intact.

[Beertycoon]

tbh, if they charge $79 and people are willing to pay that, more power to them. I'd charge $79 if I were them too...


...on the other hand I would never pay $79
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[Casual Notice]

TL;DR. Are they trying to charge $79 US for an add-on to a free php blog routine, or did they name their $79 php comic manager in a manner confusingly close to the free Wordpress add-on?
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What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
S*P*Q*R

[Lifes a Witch]

Is $79 a one-time fee or do you have to pay more for consultations and upgrades later on?

I'm with Beerty on the charging. If they can do it, more power to them! Goodness knows, we'd all like to monetize our own labors of love. (this not a reference to the twitter conversation above. )

I've been very happy with the wordpress plug-in "stripshow" which is still free and supported if anyone is interested in something other than the alternatives listed above.
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[mooncity]

Hmmm... sounds like I should go with Inkblot then.

I understand people wanting to make dough, but to take something that's been free forever and then taking it and putting it behind a paywall strikes me as kind of a dickish move.
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Mooncity
Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow since 1976!


The comic strip that never was.

[RustMonster]

If $79 means Comicpress actually works now, I'm probably going to cave in and buy it.

It's twice the price it should be, though.

[n9uxu]

Well, I don't want to pay $79, but Tyler and crew are putting in a lot of work, and if they think that they can make a few quid charging, more power to them. As I understand it, that $79 includes ongoing support from your chosen designer, so that's a perk.

As per @Frumph, he's always been there to help when people's sites melt whether they paid for his freelance design work or not. He's a good guy, and I'm happy to say I'm a fan!

As per ComicPress, I think the idea of legacy being stable for more than an few wordpress revisions is a pipedream, but there are other comic-themes to use if you don't want to go premium, so no big deal.

Though again, I can always find another use for $79...

Dave
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Also be sure to read ttallan's

[smbhax.com]

Hm ouch, hopefully the tons of small webcomics using ComicPress won't end up caught in plugin compatibility limbo somewhere down the road.
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[lonelyfetus]

Everyone and their dog wrote:

More power to them.

I get that this is a lost cause. I may ultimately be the only person who sees a problem with it in the end. Other than a brief mention in a forum and a blurb in an April Fleen post, only the people involved seems to really have known about this.

$79 is roughly what I pay for a year's worth of unlimited hosting (domains, bandwidth, web space, etc.) You can get 8 domains for a year with this price.

It's nearly 3x the subscription fee of Webcomics.com - and I heard more fuss then unlike this Comicpress change, and it's simply a valuable *resource* rather than a vital backbone of the majority of working webcomics out there. It's a nice option, but no means did it make it mandatory for you to drop everything to start over.

$79 only includes an install and tech support. If you're lucky you may somehow talk one of them into working it into your custom template for less that another $100. Will there be a conversion of comics, or will it cost you to transfer your archive of over a thousand comics? What happens to all of your custom bells and whistles you've added throughout the past few years?

I guess that's fine. What's also interesting is Wordpress 3.0 is coming out and this new version of Comicpress is specifically designed to work with the coming release. 2.9 is not, and there's been no interest in changing it - not yet anyway. It may be smart to backup everything before any inevitable updates. Hopefully some independent developers will have the foresight to jump in and keep the thousands of comics out there in working condition. Until then...

More power to them.

[Magravan]

That's funny, we were just looking at ways to put TOGM up on our own site, and the jump to pay now before we do saves us from having to add yet another expense... I'm glad they did it before I started using it!

[lonelyfetus]

Casual Notice wrote:

TL;DR. Are they trying to charge $79 US for an add-on to a free php blog routine, or did they name their $79 php comic manager in a manner confusingly close to the free Wordpress add-on?

I added a one line TL;DR at the top, hopefully that helps a few people get to the point of all this.

They're charging for the next release with no promise yet that it's a one time fee for future releases. It's the intention, but it's purposely and questionably not mentioned.

The big difference is that Comicpress is re-written to be a little more stand-alone. It works with wordpress instead of through it.

Comicpress is now maintained by a group of developers who've been involved for a while, and overlooked by Tyler Martin (@mindfaucet) - who is the creator and the most qualified to be selling any design services. It's the one and the same Comicpress, not a bootleg.

[Wolfus]

So unless I pay $80 (stop abbreviating it to $79), every time Wordpress updates due to their never ending cycle of poor security, my entire comic platform may stop working?

If that isn't holding nearly 3 years of work hostage to the tune of $80, I don't know what is.
I'm sure other people feel similarly, unless the free 2.9 is going to be constantly maintained, but remain without glistening features of Premium.

And I'm just curious, what anti-piracy measures will be in place? People pirate themes, forum software and many other things. What's stopping them from grabbing this?
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