The Whiteboard, a webcomic and a question!

[flyweightnate]

It's a good point that it's no longer easy to hop in, hop out. The narratives are lengthy, sometimes.

The day or week long hijinks are a lot easier for casual followers. The long form stuff is why I haven't picked up several other webcomics, versus something like The Far Side or XKCD.

Maybe have a Sunday special that's a standalone gag each week, outside the narrative? Let the casual reader get a feel for it without needing to find the beginning of the current story arc.

[DocsMachine]

Thanks guys!

This is kind of like asking someone who played paintball once, why they don't play more often. And there are, of course, a ton of legit reasons, with a simple "it's just not my thing" right near the top. (Or they have a bad knee, or just don't have the time, or didn't like the pain of a hit, or maybe they're just a psychopath that doesn't like having fun. )

But if you pushed emails to every customer email address you have on file, it gives you visibility.

-That's called "spamming" and tends to be frowned upon. I'd toyed with the idea of mailing list, but back then, my ISP absolutely prohibited any sort of bulk outbound mail- like, any more than ten at a time.

I should have set up an RSS in the thirty minutes or so that sort of thing was, well, a thing, but procrastinated.

It's worth noting, though, that there's a new comic every weekday, and has been with very few exceptions, since about 2015.

All the pop culture reference go over my head[...]

-It's interesting you say that, as I tend to try and keep pop culture out of the comic. At least the "ripped from the current headlines" type of thing. I admit to swiping bits from movies (had Doc recently use a The Rocketeer style jetpack and helmet) but I guess I tended to see that as an 'easter egg' kind of thing. That is, if you 'get' it, you get it, but it's not, like, the key to the gag or something.

I very much appreciate that it's a reprieve from the politics. I've stopped reading over half of my webcomics since 2010 because they think their view is the only morally allowable one. TWB was never at risk.

-This. Absolutely this.

Early on, I had a few semi-political bits, like about the capture of Hussein or the mission to get bin Laden, but like you, I started realizing I hated seeing political references in other comics, and similarly stopped reading several, myself, because of it. So I stopped, apart from an acknowledgement of things like Memorial Day or Veteran's Day or the 4th of July.

Same reason I only did the one cheap "Corona" joke and haven't had the crew "masked up" and "social distancing" and all that. Comics are escapism. You read comics, and watch TV shows and go to movies to escape the real world for a bit

wheres the paintball?

-You mean like the 340-strip long tournament series that started here and ended here (just a year ago) AND included an MCB cameo?

It seems like everyone except doc, Roger and......docs gf.... Spacing on her name at the moment are really the only characters that are active.

-It's a balancing act. I've been dealing with it since the beginning. You show a lot of Bandit, people want to see Jinx. You have a storyline with Jinx, everyone wants to see Rainy. Or Sandy & Swampy. Or Bruno & Red. The coffee shop scene has proven to be very popular- not all my readers play paintball. But then, lots of readers prefer to see the "wacky inventions" rather than either paintball OR the coffee shop.

I try and provide a little of everything, but you can't please everyone.

Which is, actually, why I asked this- I was genuinely curious if there is/was something I was doing egregiously wrong that I should probably change.

Doc.

[XEMON]

I didn't realized you had one a day ...
Paintball is great, all the extra stuff is great too.

A "free standing" once a week posed here will remind everyone about it on a semi-regular basis ...

[Axel]

I actually second the long story arc comment. I, too, like to jump in every few months and binge it--checking in every day for a 15-second read isn't my thing--but it became incredibly hard to find my place and get back into the story.

Also I got too fat for my "Sneaky Bastard" t-shirt. Could you do something about that for me, please? 😜

[gabe]

I read TWB on an annual basis like others here. The problem is I'm a "start to finish" sort of reader so I end up reading from the beginning to remind myself about the characters, how the evolve through the series and what arcs they have. By the time I get to about the middle of the series I move on to other things.

Probably the same reason I never finish video games. I'm never happy starting in the middle and going to the end. The beginning is always the most fun for me.

[Trbo323]

-You mean like the 340-strip long tournament series that started here and ended here (just a year ago) AND included an MCB cameo?

That's not a great example though...


It took 8 strips, roughly 2 weeks in real time for anything paintball to even be mentioned, Darrell's grenades.... Then the next 60 or so strips the prevailing joke is "it's foggy", yes with some pretty good stuff mixed in but it takes almost 10 weeks to move past fog.

This is kind of what I'm talking about, it took almost a year and a half to go through this story arc. If I as the reader am not finding it entertaining, why would I stick around?

And then also if I am finding it entertaining, the conclusion of the tournament itself is rather... Tame after a 300 strip buildup



The pace has really really slowed down. It used to be a trip to the paintball field was like 20 strips and there were no fillers like strips of the car going down the road, the sun coming up etc, it was, they were all at the shop, maybe there's 1 or 2 strips of them packing/traveling (with jokes), then some stuff happens at the field and then they are all back at the shop. Which was great. Because let's say I don't play paintball, but I do run a retail shop, I find humor in the things that happen at the shop, I used to know that in the next month, chances are the characters will be back in an environment I can better relate to so cool. But now, at the rate things are going the next time the crew goes to the paintball field they might as well dig their own graves while they are there because they are never going to leave again.

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[JeeperCreeper]

I love TWB! I've been reading it since 06. Some of my favorites are the fridge monster series. I check in and binge from time to time.
The only bad thing I could say is that theres no way to bookmark where I'm at other than leaving a tab open. So if I close the tab, I loose my spot then I have to find it again.
Keep up the good work! I'll still be checking in and reading when I can.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I binge them often when I’m looking for parts or linking if for other looking for parts. It’s not something I check weekly. But I do enjoy them. I wouldn’t be oppose to a monthly email list subscription to your comics and or project updates. I’m really enjoying the V Twin updates on MCB as well. It’s cool to follow the process and see what goes into building these unique pieces. Wouldn’t hurt starting a comic thread and cross posting some to draw traffic.

[Headshotted]

I read about a weekly basis. I'm also one of your paterons, so I get those updates.

[blitz121]

On another note, congrats to Doc for 20 years of TWB! That is nuts!

[Mishotaki]

when i switched computers, i didn't transfer my bookmarks properly.. and simply stopped checking out all the webcomics i was reading every day/week... I never tried finding everything again, it was just too much work and left it like that...

[lew]

I first read TWB probably a year after it started. I'm not a regular viewer, but I'll read a year's worth at a time.

Keep it up, Doc.

[Sharkpocalypse]

I used to read it pretty regularly back in high school and college when paintball was pretty much what I lived to do in my spare time. Once I graduated and had to focus on not being poor, the sport pretty much faded out for a good 10-12 years, as did everything related to it. Now that I caught the bug again and aren't scraping by on a survival salary, I caught up and am throwing a few dollars at the strip on patreon because I'd like to see it keep going. My favorite bits are the ones I resonate with, though. Especially anything that covers the annoyances you deal with while reffing (I was the ref who wore a roll of duct tape on his wrist to threaten people when they got too antsy with their masks), trying to fix the damage caused by what other people consider "maintenance", or the clashes between those with engineer brain and normal people. For example, shit like this is hilarious to me because it falls right in line with my own thought process. Why just build something back when you can build it back better?

Overall, I know I have niche tastes and a different way of thinking, but TWB is one of the few things out there that seems to mostly line up with that. Admittedly, I think I prefer the shorter story arcs and one-offs to the epics that last for the better part of a year, but I still end up reading all of it.

[Pyrate Jim]

I remember purchasing the first two TWB books when they were the only two available. Was an avid reader even prior to that.
I have a morning schedule of webcomics I read daily while the coffee is brewing.
Questionable Content
Something Positive (infrequent updates)
Girls With Slingshots
Wapsi Square
The White Board
(MWF) Carry On (thank you, Doc for that link. I still voted for you at Ursa Major.)
(MWF) Gunnerkrigg Court
(MWF) Girl Genius
Oglaf every 6-8 weeks just to catch up. Vexxarr less often.

So yeah, TWB has been part of my morning ritual for some time. I thank you, Doc and congratulate you on twenty years.
And yes, I get through all these while the coffee is brewing. It's a nice little escape before reality intrudes and reminds me I have to mow five acres today and it's going to be in the 90's.