More Details on New Webcomics on Keenspot Lineup

According to Chris Crosby himself, two great KeenSpace comics: “Elf Only Inn” and “Count Your Sheep” have been added to Keenspot.

EOI was No 1 on the Keenspace guide for some time (representing 23% of Keenspace’s visits), and CYS, although a relatively young comic, was quickly recognized for it’s unique webcomic goodness.

You can find some more information on this issue on this thread.

Another issue mentioned on this thread was a new advert set-up for “Ghastly’s Ghastly Comic. By request of advertisers, Keenspot’s regular adverts were taken down from Ghastly’s site, because of the nature of the comic. Luckily, Ghastly and the Keenspot crew came to a solution satisfying for both sides (different adverts) and “Ghastly’s Ghastly Comic is staying on KeenSpace.

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achim

16 Comments

  1. I’m surprised they bothered to mollify Ghastly. It’s not like he’s going to stop bitching and whining about how Keenspot is a bunch of censors for not ‘Spotting him (or Sexy Losers when he tries to make himself look like some sort of spokesman for adult comics).

    It’s funny how Ghastly and his little troop on the Keenspace forums are always so down on Keenspot yet (and because) they really want to get their own comics on Keenspot. They also seem to think that being accepted by the group they despise is the goal of having a webcomic. The cognitive dissonance involved is mind-boggling.

  2. I agree with you there was some unecessary Keenspot bashing on that thread in particular, and I’m sorry to say I’m involved with it, specially because like many other newbies, I was under the impression that Chris Crosby was the sole responsible for the down sides of Keen.

    Yes, Ghastly sure is vocal about his opinions. But he said himself that, if he does what he does, it’s because he wants Keenspace to become a better place than it is. He chose not to be silent about the things that he does not agree, and that’s something I respect and admire on him.

    If you want to call me one of “his little troopers”, oh well…

  3. Hasn’t Keen said they’ll let people host almost anything on Space so long as:
    1) it is a webcomic
    2) Keen doesn’t get cease and desist letters?

  4. That’s how Keenspace works.

    He’s talking about Keenspot, an invitation-only club where the supposedly best Keen comics are.

  5. I was replying to “I’m surprised they bothered to mollify Ghastly.” and I mentioned Space directly in my message.

    However abrasive Ghastly has been, he definitely is running a webcomic, and I haven’t heard any evidence of a C&D letter.

  6. Jeeze. Nevermind me, then.

    Still, according to the Keenspace TOS, “KEENSPACE reserves the right to refuse to publish any material which, in KEENSPACE’S discretion, would increase KEENSPACE’S risk of liability.”

    It’s not very clear here where to Keenspace is risked to liability, if that’s solemnly under the grounds of the law, or anything else. But I’m inclined to believe that, if your comic is not generating revenue to Keen industries anymore, they can refuse to continue providing you their service.

    I’ve only heard of one case of C&D letter so far. But all this comic had to do was take down the depictions of Bert having homosexual intercourse. Even he dozens of sprite comics on Keenspace never got a single C&D notice, which is kind of surprising, given the cruzade Nintendo went against all Pokemon related sites a couple of years ago.

  7. Gwalla: No one likes a clubhouse they’re not allowed in. It like being a black guy outside the country club.

  8. You just described Pantsketch, Dumbrella, 4ToonTellers, and the incredibly obscure bagofchips.
    Keenspot’s not really a club as much as it is a business.
    Would you call King Features syndicate, Image Comics, or Modern Tales an “invitation-only club”?

  9. “Mollifying?!” Huh?!?

    Erm, there seems to be some misunderstanding here. I don’t consider myself one of Ghastly’s ‘little troops’ (Or anyone’s little troops, for that matter. God. Little troops. Talk about demeaning…), but I can’t just sit here and listen to this without at least being just to Ghastly and clearing up a few things.

    The original post is in a comment somewhere on Comixpedia and the rest is on Keen, I think. I’m going by memory so someone please correct me if I get anything wrong:

    1) Ghastly’s Keenspace ad was pulled because one of the advertisers didn’t agree with one of his comics. (I really don’t have to go into the details here, right?) Said advertiser threatened to pull out unless Keen pulled those ads from Ghastly’s site.
    2) So Chris pulls the ads. Ghastly is still permitted to stay at Keen… without having to put up banner ads.
    3) Ghastly didn’t like the idea of his comic leeching bandwidth off Keenspace without being able to pay anything back (In the form of add revenue).
    4) He comes up with the new ad idea where he finds his own advertisers (who know what they are getting into this time) and splits half of the profits with Keen. When there’s no advertisers he’ll have in-house Keenspot ads instead.
    5) Chris, being a nice guy AND sensible too boot, agrees to this, everyone is happy.

    As far as I know, Ghastly hasn’t complained about Keenspot since. Especially since they spotted Count Your Sheep and Elf Only Inn. 😀 *Go Chris!*

    So yeah, the hatchet is buried, there is now peace between Ghastly and Keenspot, and the end of the world has come 😉

    Wiser heads will let the matter rest now that it can.

  10. Right. I think everybody got what I meant, but thanks for the correction anyway.

  11. Jesus H. Murphy, keep up with the times. Keen and I have burried the hatchet.

    My “crusade” while definetly verbose and passionate was about much more than just my own comic (but of course the myopic would not be able to see that). It was about changing Keenspot promotions from an Old Boy’s Club system of cliqism and politics to a meritocrisy and I think it’s starting to move that way.

    As for me, I’ve already said before there’s no way I could be part of Keenspot, not at least the way it is now. I also doubt very much there are many people who see being promoted to Spot as being the goal of having a webcomic. There are a lot of people who, upon looking at the comics on Spot that were considered “spot worthy”, examine their own work and find that on the merits of writing, artwork, readership, pageviews, and marketability it is equally as deserving of promotion as many of those already there. Operating as a meritocrisy instead of an Old Boy’s Club those artists would be promoted and their revinue potential would be much better exploited for the betterment of all things Keen. Everyone would win. It’s the waste of unexploited potential that got under my skin more than anything else.

    But as I’ve said before. I’ve grown tired of butting heads. Change has been affected within Keen and it seems to be steering towards the right goals. I’ve come to an agreement with Keen that still allows them to exploit the promotional power a comic with a readership as large as mine possesses and possibly even allow both Keen and myself a little extra money in our coffers to boot. Continuing to have the same old Ghastly/Crosby arguments again and again is not going to do me any good, it’s not going to do Chris any good, and it’s not really going to do much good for Keen anymore either which is the one thing Chris and I both have in common. We both make our arguments, as bullheaded and asinine as they may be at times, from the perspective of people with a passionate interest in the future well being of Keen. All of Keen, Space and Spot. Surprisingly enough Chris and I agree on more points than we disagree upon and I, for one, have realized that continuing to have the same blow-ups over the same issues again and again that we don’t see eye to eye on isn’t going to really help.

    Keen is changing. Keen has changed. It still has a ways to go but I’m confident it’s heading in the right directions and I’m pretty sure Chris is too. So for all our sakes I’ve decided to shut up on the issues we disagree upon.

    Of course every now and then some whiney little ***** will pipe in their two cents worth and I’ll probably respond in kind. What can I say, that’s one of my flaws. I’m a brash, loud-mouthed opinionated asshole. Those who know me and love me are able to accept and overlook my failings. Those who don’t, well they’re just text on my computer screen so they don’t really matter that much to me to begin with.

    So like I said, there’s enough good people in Space and Spot with an honest interest in the betterment of Keen that I’m comfortable leaving it up to them to correct our course when it needs changing.

  12. You never thought that we “bash” keen because we want it to improve?
    I for one am not a fan of Ghastly’s comic, but it’s damn well popular comic, has been for a long time, it attracts different audience that the rest of keenspace, and Chris would just be crazy to let him go.

  13. —I’m actually in the process of having my legal advisors tweak and rewrite portions of the Keenspot contract. This is taiking longer than expected, but as I intend on utilizing Keenspot for eventual TV/film production of the strip, I need to make sure that every base is covered. Summer will most likely be the time we migrate over.

    —Thanks for caring. 😀

    CMorrison
    The Polymer City Chronicles

  14. Supposedly Polymer City Chronicles was spotted back in March, but it hasn’t moved. What’s up with it?

    –Freak

  15. > But I’m inclined to believe that, if your comic is not generating revenue to Keen industries anymore, they can refuse to continue providing you their service.

    Uh… if a comic is approaching a million pageviews and generating a few dozen gigs of bandwidth, and there are no advertisers around to pay for it, it’s money out of Keenspot’s pocket.

    At this point, it’d be an act of charity to continue hosting his comic. And in my opinion, Keenspot doesn’t owe Ghastly a damn thing. They continued hosting his site on Keenspace for several months after he blatantly invaded the company’s privacy and never apologized for it. He site should have been erased a long time ago; he’s fortunate Chris is a nicer guy than I am.

    Soooo, anyway.. how ’bout those comics, eh?

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