Jocelyn Samara
patreon
The SmackJeeves situation
🕑 Added 2019-12-05 18:23:41 +0000 UTCI've had some patrons here who exclusively read Rain via SmackJeeves express a lot of confusion about what's going on there. The site looks weird and different, or they can't even find it. The short answer is: it's a mess.
A couple days ago, it seems SJ changed the site layout to a hideous, unintuitive new design, and let no one (other than paying users) know ahead of time. I've heard people saying they've been getting error messages when trying to find Rain and other comics they read there. To make matters worse, I can't even log in. My saved settings weren't working, and they won't respond to my attempts to restore password.
That was the situation yesterday. It's gotten worse as I've dug around more.
I've been getting a lot of new information from other SmackJeeves users, both authors and readers. SJ is removing or arbitrarily resizing comics to the point of ruining them. It's also removing message boards to make communication even harder. And at least for my part, it's also removed all my page blurbs (which I'm extra bitter about, as I frequently put a lot of work into those too).
Also, another SJ user explained to me why I can't sign in anymore. Apparently, "SJ made new password rules and locked out anyone who's passwords didn't fit the new requirements." You know, rather than just making people create a new password or anything (that would've made too much sense). But nearly 48 hours and several new password requests later on my end, I've still yet to get a single email from them for a new password. This should be quick and easy and automated for them, so it's pretty infuriating that they can't even handle that right.
If anything, I'm grateful I had the consideration to put the comic up on multiple sites. Partially for extra exposure, and partially as a precaution in case one of the sites ever went down or something. Didn't think I'd ever actually need it like this, though.
Unfortunately, not every author had considered that. Some apparently even lost their comics. If anything, that's what's really ticking me off most: seeing people who used that service for years and watching everything they built in that time get nuked... and for what exactly? Filling the pockets of someone behind the scenes?
Then there's the people who strictly read on that site who also get screwed. Because they might not even have accounts, and therefore almost definitely don't know what's going on. They just know their favorite comics are suddenly stopping or outright disappearing. And doing that to them is just adding needless confusion to an already poorly conveyed situation. The whole thing is just so gross to me.
At this point I'm struggling to find anything they didn't completely fuck up. And I just can't support that place anymore. They clearly don't support us: author and reader alike.
I think at this point, even if I ever do get to finally log back into my SJ account, I'll probably just shut it down. Delete everything, and slap some links to some better websites where people can continue to read Rain. (Like DeviantArt and Comic Fury.)
DA - https://www.deviantart.com/jocelynsamara/gallery/27273884/rain-comic
CF - https://comicfury.com/comicprofile.php?url=rain
I'm beyond done with SJ, though. Again, I'm sorry for everyone that this inconvenienced. :(
Comments
Some Ed
This sort of thing is why, once I determined that ComicFury met my needs, I became one of their few patrons on Patreon. I can't give them much, but I don't want the comic platform deciding they need to resort to something crazy to make money. I mean, I'm sure money isn't the only thing going on here, or the password issue wouldn't be happening at the same time. But it's obviously a concern, given their makeover and stuff. Unless that's actually a ruse, and they instead decided to lock out every creator they determined they wanted to muck with, and gave the password complexity crap as an excuse to defer the lawsuits as long as feasible.
Mild Lee Interested
RIP Smackjeeves. Fingers crossed that all creators can recover their work. It would be nice if the NHN listened (the way Patreon did) but somehow I doubt it :( Hopefully, they value of their aquisition completely tanks and the corperate wankers that did this suffer a huge loss.
