What's going on with the strip?

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Has it gone the way of "Dungeons and Denizens"? http://dungeond.com/

A funny, well written strip, just dropped in the middle of a storyline.
Graveyard Greg promised in June that "Things will be back to normal next week!" Nothing since then.

Rich at least had the courtesy of giving us an idea of what was going on, how long he would be gone, and when he would be back. Rob has said, "Look, we're trying!" two months ago, when he posted the "Erfworld is now Random as Well" thread. Since then, things have been PAINFULLY slow.

Will we ever get back to a "normal" posting rate?

[pclips]

I have no idea, honestly. We know it's painfully slow. There is nothing we can do to speed it up. I'd post news if I had news.

I am working more than 40 hours a week on Erfworld stuff alone, on top of my other comic, my convention schedule, and my music. Not all of my Erfworld work is going to be readily visible as I complete it. Jamie has a wife, a job, and mortgage...all new in the last year. Rich currently has page 72 from us, and he will update it when his schedule and health allow.

All three of us are doing our best for Erfworld. I am not going to make any promises that updates will get more frequent or consistent, because I have little reason to think that they will. Sorry, but we not only feel your pain, we're living it.

[ShiningTed]

Thanks for letting us know Rob.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Indeed, thank you for saying "SOMETHING!" Anything, even a "Seriously, we ARE still alive!" is better than a dial tone.

I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to the next strip.

[Troubadour]

I have no idea, honestly. We know it's painfully slow. There is nothing we can do to speed it up. I'd post news if I had news.

I am working more than 40 hours a week on Erfworld stuff alone, on top of my other comic, my convention schedule, and my music. Not all of my Erfworld work is going to be readily visible as I complete it. Jamie has a wife, a job, and mortgage...all new in the last year. Rich currently has page 72 from us, and he will update it when his schedule and health allow.

All three of us are doing our best for Erfworld. I am not going to make any promises that updates will get more frequent or consistent, because I have little reason to think that they will. Sorry, but we not only feel your pain, we're living it.

Need any help? I'm in the Northern Virginia area, love the comic, and am really good at thankless, invisible administrative tasks, and could probably use a hobby.

[sihnfahl]

A funny, well written strip, just dropped in the middle of a storyline. Graveyard Greg promised in June that "Things will be back to normal next week!" Nothing since then.

Well, GG had problems with rotating artists on projects, I believe (he writes, other people draw). I think he just got tired of having to switch...

Other comics of his (Gaming Guardians and Guardians) are also on hiatus.

He managed to start up Carpe Diem again.

[Lombard]

Rich currently has page 72 from us, and he will update it when his schedule and health allow.

Good to know, I've wondered if something was blocking up on that aspect of things. Not something you can really gripe about either, given the situation, eh? Even if he was being a slackochondriac about it.

[Merry]

Well, I for one think it's totally worth the wait. :)

[spite48]

Thanks for the update. Look forward to seeing p 72.

[jmsl]

I just want to chime in and say an update is almost as good as a new page. I think that's the worst part, just not having any idea of the current status of things. Communication is important in any relationship.

[Yuber8900]

Always nice to hear of an update.

[Ozar]

Rich updated OOTS but not Erfworld?

[pclips]

Rich updated OOTS but not Erfworld?

He's holding off on 72 until a regular update day for Erfworld, which means Saturday afternoon.

[The Giant]

This has more to do with not wanting to update both comics at exactly the same time, though I did think that it being only 12 hours away from normal Erfworld update time was a nice coincidence.

While Rob sent me the comic yesterday, I was away from the computer for the day and didn't get it (because I had no prior warning that it would be coming my way that day). I received the comic, therefore, when I opened my email AFTER posting tonight's OOTS. I made the decision that it could wait until tomorrow, lest the traffic load on the server increase substantially by both comics being loaded in short succession by each reader. I didn't want the server to slow to a crawl and/or crash because I posted both comics at once (as has happened before).

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[kpenguin]

Well it's good to know that:

a) There's going to be an update tomorrow!
b) The Giant is smart is enough to think of such things.

[ShiningTed]

Once again, thanks for letting us know, and good to see both comics back on their regular schedules

[Lord_Jadawin]

This thread delivers.


Thanks for the updates from both creators!

[Surfing HalfOrc]

HURRAY! Order of the Stick is back to its "Three a week!" and Erfworld gets an update today!

I'm glad I didn't go with my more snarky tone when I started this thread. It was going to have grumbles about professionalism, not appreciating the "head of the line privledges" and other unhelpful things. But the more polite, "What's going on?" seemed to get better results!

Keep up the good work guys! Don't let this go the way of Dungeons and Denizens or Sentimental Horde. (A couple of strips I really liked, that just fell off the edge of the world.)

[teratorn]

I'm glad I didn't go with my more snarky tone when I started this thread. I

Good try at cleaning up your act, but you were in fact a bit annoying. You're too impatient. The story is very close to the end so I don't worry too much about delays. It will get finished eventually. I worry more about if we'll get book two.

In a way, waiting for Jillian to croak will make the moment so much better.

[Zelig the Liar]

I know I'm not paying a subscription here, nor have I seen any subscription options, so I'm working under the assumption that this is a totally free webcomic. If they were providing a service for mandatory payment, I'd be upset. If they were providing the comic and had their hand out for donations, I'd be irked if I'd payed. They aren't doing any of those things (afaik), so I'm perfectly thrilled every day there's an update and totally indifferent on days there is not. I go and read my other favorite comics like Penny Arcade and Gunnerkrigg Court.

Thanks Rob for the info and preemptive thanks to all three of you (Rob, Jamie and Rich) for the update tonight.

@Surfing HalfOrc, I'm confused about what you mean by "head of the line privileges".

[SteveMB]

And, naturally, my ISP picks today to start flaking out....

[Surfing HalfOrc]

@Surfing HalfOrc, I'm confused about what you mean by "head of the line privileges".

Simple: There are a lot of Wecomics out there, some good, some great, and some that only get published because you can publish ANYTHING on the internet. But Order of the Stick is one of those "Great" webcomics, and anyone getting top billing with Rich probably has a story as high quality as Rich's.

And so far, Erfworld has been just that. A very high quality, entertaining, and thought-provoking comic. That's now gone into slow motion.

I know the comic is free. I also know that the authors/artists can and will make money (maybe not a fortune, but decent money none-the-less) from the compilations, the dwagon plushies, the T-shirts, the game, the coffee mugs and whatever else people who like the strip decide to buy.

But they will only do that if people remain interested in the story. At first, I didn't care for the story, then it started to grow on me, and now I look forward to it almost as much as I do OotS. And since I've already bought books from Rich, I'll probably buy stuff from Rob and Jamie.

I'd just like to see the strip get updated to the schedule posted at the top of the page, not one every 8-10 days.

[Dolohov]

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Now that I've switched to reading via RSS, it's not inconvenient at all. Every new OotS and Erf has been a pleasant surprise. In fact, it's kind of nice not getting one of each on the same day; it's meant a nice surprise two days in a row.

[doliemaster]

I feel no inconvenence, Captain SNES is my favorite webcomic, you want slow updates, read that, funny and great plot but slow as ANYTHING on updates.