The 2012 State of Comic Crack Address

You've seen me drop off posting on my board and even trim down the categories. I don't have much to say about comics in general that hasn't been said a million times before. I'm not buying anything and my spare time goes more towards collecting Charlton scans online. I post on Jim's blog. I think you are damned if you keep it and damned if you don't. If you kill it all, you'll wish you'd tried something different. If you keep it, you'll feel like it's an old person in a coma hooked to a breathing machine. I have no answer for you.

Does your tracking service let you look at keywords people are typing to get here? It would be interesting to see what people search for to find the site. Typically it takes hundreds of random people finding my board to pick up one or two people who post anything. It takes thousands of post to get someone who wants to post regularly. It takes one post to annoy someone enough to leave.

Shooting the shit is fine, but everyone here has different expectations. Mike posts thing that interest him, but they don't necessarily evoke any response from me. That's not intended as a slight, but I just have nothing to say. Disagreements spark the most conversation, but nobody really wants to disagree.

I've said it a million times that news and information OR contoversy is the best way to keep conversation flowing. Tracking down news is work. Maintaining a site is work. Even if you had more traffic, it'd require more babysitting.

I have no answer for you. I saw a big lapse in conversation after you agreed with my post on the 17th. I could've replied that I agreed with you agreeing with me. I don't think that adds to the thread constructively. I have no new discoveries because I'm not going to conventions anymore. That where I was doing all my purchasing.

There is a growing age gap between me and collectors who like and buy modern comics. I don't share their interests and don't feel a real need to make them think like me. I sometimes clarify my perspective, but that isn't really my idea of fun when I read a messageboard.

Next week I go back to work and I expect it to be hell because business has picked up. Management was to make things better for them at the employees expense and I'll have to justify every inhale and exhale I do. You can't really expect us to post more if you aren't posting more either.

Again though, it's up to you. Your board is FAR more successful that most blogs people start.

df1

Thanks for your well put and worded responses. You reflected nicely on things that I could relate to. You yourself run a board and I'm sure you can relate to some of what I am saying but personally I've always felt your board was far more successful. I think you have more to offer and better inside information and you have people who have remained loyal to your board. You've honestly done a lot of work. It's funny. The 1st few times I looked at your board, it must have been 6 years or so ago now. I thought your board was the deadest, most blandest board I have ever seen. In some ways, it interested me to look deeper and as I looked, I discovered a lot of things I liked about it.

I typically like your board when it is completely open, with all the thread areas visible, unlike now where a lot have been turned off. Even still, even with you stating you have quit comics and so on, you still generate much more comic discussion then I do here when I actively pursue it. You have people who come by and initiate things. Contribute and add to discussions. I consider your board a success. Even when you try and sabotage it, it does decently well.

Yes, I can pursue more news and bring it here. I don't know how many thread I have brought here. Copied and pasted the article here. Downloaded a photo or a couple and added it to the thread and included links back to my source. No one appears to say much to any of them.

I have felt I got off on a bad foot. You know I sometimes feel like there is only 1 pool of regular comic board enthusiasts and we are a bit of a spinoff fighting for the same pie. You have a board like CGC which is like a god-like board because comic enthusiasts of all walks of life come there and talk about every subject imaginable. This branches out to boards like Gregs ValiantFans which had a loyal following and great participation for a comic that has lost all of its luster nearly 20 years ago. The cliquiness of that place drove me out and it was right about the time I started my board. I kinda consider your board and Whet's board a spinoff of Greg's board. You almost seem like the Anti-Valiant (in terms of Greg's) board and yet you have a handful of their posters. And Whet's Lyria board had a good hook. One I could have done myself 20 years ago because I was into much the same thing but I have to say he has done an admirable job. But even he seems to be struggling. At least his board is self sufficient. He can take breaks and people will keep posting.

I think I got off on a bad foot by being vocal that I quit Gregs board and when I started my board, I had a few of their posters here. My content was sparse as I was just starting, combined with the fact that I had left Greg's board and suddenly I felt snubbed by Greg's posters. Its amazing. I see people at your's and Whet's board all the time, but they never once stepped foot in my board even though I left links to it on every post. Even Whet has dissed my board. I always made it a point to contribute to his but he never could bring himself to visit mine once he disappeared a few years ago. Its funny, if I miss long enough on his board he will contact my FB page and ask me whats up.

I never felt like I needed any of these guys, but to be honest, I feel like those are the guys who post on boards like this. That left friends. I can honestly say I've had a few friends with genuine interests in comics post here and it felt like since they considered theirselves my friend, they could say anything they wanted. When called out on it, they high tailed it out of here like they knew they were damaging my board. Almost a big....Fuck you man.

I've never been unwilling to try and chase down and bring news here but I don't want to do it if no one is reading or responding to it. Even though my numbers were down, I still posted far more than anybody else and I started easily 90% of the threads if not 95. I'm just not getting the returns.

Yeah, i can see keywords but its hard for me to believe that people actually come here during a search. Its funny but when I post on Twitter, my page jumps with hits immediately to record breaking levels. But none stay and join or post. All these subjects and no one wants to join. And I have to feel like the age of message forums have jumped the shark and have peaked. People don't go to places like this anymore. They'd much rather be on a board like Facebook or Twitter and get snippets of conversations in 2 sentences then to post about things.

I like your analogy of regretting not trying harder or living on life-support. It is a damn if I do proposition. Sometimes I get thick skin and I just dont care and I just post to be feeling like I'm doing what I should. I bring things here and I give it my best shot. I do all I can. I have bursts of output and I put a lot into it. But then as the weeks go by and you see no returns if not even worse than before you put that effort into it. Its hard not to get discouraged. 2011 sucked the life out of me. I've got people who would act like we were cool and want to hang out if we were around each other but who no longer want to support my board after they used to. To be honest, I haven't wanted to support their efforts in anything since.

People used to come and post. There have been good times on this board. I thought at times that 2010 was a year that was bringing me up. But like you said, 1 bad post and 3 users may not ever show again. People are too touchy. People don't use the board to preach their own points. They'd rather wait for you to be the one posting it and then tear you down for having the nerve to post it. They don't want to offer anything themselves. Not that they're obligated to. But their M.O. is to come on and take jabs at what you're trying to accomplish. I almost feel like there is enjoyment in seeing a board struggle. It puts people in a "you need me" mode. This is where I get to the point of wanting to quit.

Anyway, I won't be without a full fledged effort for 2012. I'll give it another shot and I'll get motivated and put forth a good effort and post a lot and get as much material together as I can to create discussion. But, if I have another year like I did in 2011, I can't see myself wanting to keep at it. My threshold for being satisfied and happy with this is set very low. If I could see 4 or 5 people posting a month and 2 or 3 threads going, I'm fine. But we've dealt the majority of the last 6 months with 1 thread going and people visiting once every 2-3 weeks instead of 4 or 5 days. Thats not meeting my minimum bar for wanting to keep this place open. I think my bar is really, really low and I'm just not coming close to it lately.

So, I appreciate your well put words. Because I think it was spot on. And its good to read responses.

I guess my analytics does not show keyword searches for my board. Instead it shows what link brought them there. It is usually a direct link followed by a few from other boards I frequent, like yours. I wouldn't mind analyzing what keywords bring people here, but I'd feel like it would have little to show because not many people stop by. I do see visitors down at the bottom of my page often, but I often wonder if they are real or bots.

The squirrel and nuts analogy is a good one but I feel like I've constantly laid out nuts and got few squirrels. I think there is a broad range of topics here. Not saying I don't need to add more because I do because traffic is obviously way down. I'm just saying I'm tired of putting it out there and no one comes. Or the people I do have have stopped coming for one reason or another.

Like I said, I'm willing to give 2012 a decent shot. I'll get myself motivated and I'll find all I can to post. I've got almost 4x's as many posts as anyone else here. And thats fine. I'm the admin. Its expected. But 5 years into this, I shouldn't be looking at 2 or 3 people once or twice a month. I shouldn't have to hit my old friends up on Facebook and say "Hey man, I see you posting all this shit about comics on your Facebook page, why don't you bring some of that to the Crack?"....getting a yeah man...and then no shows.

I'm not going to keep doing this if this is the way it keeps going. I don't feel like its the content so much as it's the intent. I'm tired of dropping 20 subjects and getting 3 posts total out of all them. Or a post and I'll be back in 3 weeks. The board has hit bottom again and I'm just tired of trying to claw my way out of it.