So, some people are asking about what happened to the Top List links on Requiem, and I figured I would let everybody know what was going on with things.

The toplist links are gone, and they will not be coming back.  To everybody who was good enough to give us their vote, I thank you for it.  But as for what I think of them?  Personally, I have never liked the damn things, and after having most of them not working for some unknown reason (some after the reorg, some before) I decided to kick them out the airlock sans suit. Traffic-wise, I have never gotten all that much from them overall. So there is not much real benefit to keeping them.  Requiem is one of those comics that people find, bookmark, and come back to through their bookmarks.  And with the way a number of these f#@!ing lists are ran (I’ve been waiting 3 and a half goddamn years for somebody at Buzzcomics to respond to my emails about giving me a new password for instance), I can just as easily do without them.  However, they should be able to survive quite well without the ad revenue our visits bring them.  If I’m really that desperate for additional traffic (ya know, outside of advertising, and linking webcomics I actually like and read, and the good people who tell their friends about us (who I love for so doing)) I’ll pick a fight for no good reason with the creators of a really big webcomic. Or, I’ll put together a comic that is a compendium of every webnerds fetish/secret desire and hawk the shit out of it.  (I hear Transgender, bi-sexual, catgirl ninjas ranting about the Singularity are the in thing this year 😉 Just sayin’ )

(And this tale of terror that I mentioned above? Heh, it almost happened once, just as a way to screw with a whole bunch of people.  It would have made millions, trust me 😉 )

Here’s the thing, Toplists are fine if you are willing to play the game.  Post a picture (or more likely a pinup) of some character from the comic, and expect everybody to click on a little button to some dodgy site so that they can see it.  It works for some.  But you know what?  I don’t think you should have to do that.

If I come up with something cool for the comic (like the Tarot Card series, or a wallpaper, or concept art, or previews of something coming up) you people should have the right to see it without having to pay with a damn vote.  Why?  Because you people take time out of your busy lives to come here and read.  You choose to do this.  You invest your time.  You come here during the week and I do my best to tell you the best story I can. It never seemed right to me, to trade votes for that kind of thing.  So it’s over.  Finito, f#@!ing caput.  There may be additional content that will show up in different places (like the Spiderforest Webcomic Collective Blog for instance), but you will never have to throw down a vote in order to see it.

The Webcomic list tag is there because I believe that a big list of just about every webcomic in existence is useful to people.  I know that I’ve used it in the past.  I don’t get a vote for it.  Traffic/ranking on it is entirely dependent on traffic.  No popularity contests.  No B.S.  The Renderosity link is there because there is useful stuff there for artists, plus I have purchased a lot of stuff through them that has been used in the comic.  The same with the Daz3d links.  (Heck, the character models for 99% of the people in Requiem are built on Daz3d models)  And the Firefox one is there because I am user.  And I love it.  And friends don’t let friend use IE.

That’s it.  There will be more stuff coming down here, as I think of things to say.  As it stands right now, comics are done though the 3^rd of July, and I have been melting my brain refreshing my memory of Pro-Engineer.  Please pardon my slight crabbiness 😉