Honey, why the gloom?

You know what’s funny?

How every little community has its own brand of drama.

I learned this when I helped jump-start SWAG (The Star Wars Artists Guild) oh so many years back. What started as a project in bringing together a bunch of artists interested in doing something they loved really turned in to a lot of work...a lot of work that came with its share of headaches and drama.

Now granted, a lot of that came from the position I was in, “Baron Administrator” a fancy way of saying “figurehead”, but still, you wouldn’t believe the amount of bullsh*t I had to wade through just because at one point I thought it would be fun for a bunch of folks to have one place to showcase some pics of Wookiees and stuff.

But behind the scenes? In the cogs and inner workings of the site? It was nuts.

It seemed like for every normal person who was content to go with the flow and help out you had two or three freakshows who had nothing better to do than stir up trouble. And don’t even get me started on my tenure as the Art Director for the now-defunct “Online Journal.” I've seen fewer Divas on a Milan runway.

Anyway, point being is that when you have a community revolving around a hobby (re: something you do for fun and to relax), it’s amazing the kind of people who will shout it down and bring their own anger and jealousy to the party.

I’ve seen it first hand in the Star Wars RPG community, and to be honest it’s one of the reasons why I’m not really that prolific anymore. The constant arguing over which system is better, why someone is stupid for liking a certain system and all of the various minutia and rules-bickering just really sapped a lot of the fun out of visiting the community forums and participating in the community for me.

I find this to be the same atmosphere in the webcomic community.

People put hard work into what they create and there are others just sitting in the wings to rip it down and criticize. Be it because they lack creativity, originality, or are just unhappy angry-as-piss losers who have nothing better to do, they’re out there, waiting to pounce on any webcomic they don’t like or take issue with.
Oh, and the creators don’t get off that lightly either. Some of them are producing questionable content and comics I would be embarrassed to show to ex-cons and former Marines.

Still, again, we’re talking about freaking COMICS. Yet the anger rages and persists. As if they have nothing better or more important to get wound up and upset over in the world. Wow, I really wish I had their free time.

I guess that’s why I never bothered creating a forum or anything for the Raptor Squad site like other websites have. What’s the point? Most forums turn into a battlefield of pointless flame-wars and arguments, and those that don’t require an around-the-clock guard detail.
I’ve seen it first hand on the Holonet (a SWRPG forum) and back in my days at SWAG, and it was a daily chore to monitor, edit and step in to make sure folks played nice. Because, for whatever reason (I blame the anonymity of the interweb), people found it impossible to talk about freaking Star Wars art without sniping, arguing and just being asshats in general. Hell, from what I've seen lately its only gotten worse as time goes on, so a while back I decided to take my leave and not look back. It's easier that way and I get to keep my sanity.

So, you might wonder (or maybe not, and that’s cool too) what this has to do with webcomics and Raptor Squad?

Well just keep those eyes peeled true believers! I’m currently working on something that will allow you to waste even more time at work!

Why? Because I care! That's why!