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Comics fandom stuff
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scans_daily was TOS'd!
I'm kind of torn about it. When I first became aware of the community, I was actually amazed that they hadn't been TOS'd already, let alone that they continued operating for a number of years without problems. It wasn't just a page here and a page there ... it was whole issues of brand-new comics. Leaving aside the right and wrong of it (I tend to come down pretty firmly on the side of more liberal copyright laws, on the whole), I was kind of surprised that some copyright holder or other hadn't come down on them like a ton of bricks a long time ago.
But on the other hand, during the time that I was visiting them a lot, I discovered a ton of series, GNs and webcomics that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. A lot of what was posted to the community were older series that have been out of print for a long time, and in some cases can't be had for love or money; I tracked down a lot of old back issues on Ebay, and in other cases just enjoyed reading the scanned pages and the snarky comments. It had one of the most vibrant and cheerful communities in online comics fandom these days. A number of creators were aware of them and turned a blind eye, or, like Warren Ellis, joined in occasionally.
Getting a lively comics discussion going online is difficult because it's a visual medium and kind of a niche one. Especially with a long-running series or an old or obscure one, the scans_daily model (where you post pages illustrating what you're talking about) is just about the only way that you can launch a large, active discussion. Some of those comics would never see the light of day otherwise (they had so much old and long out of print stuff on there ...) As for the newer stuff, if comics companies are passing off bright-colored tripe for $4 a pop, I want to be warned ahead of time so I don't drop my money on it.
I wonder what the situation is ... There's no lawsuit that I'm aware of, just a TOS'ing, so maybe it's nothing more than one person sending an email to LJ and LJ going "oh shit" and deciding to cover their asses and pulling the plug. I really can't see how Marvel and DC could not have known about a site this big and long-running already, and it's been operating for a number of years without interference. I'm not shocked or even particularly surprised, but I am sad, and I wonder what the whole story is.
scans_daily was TOS'd!I'm kind of torn about it. When I first became aware of the community, I was actually amazed that they hadn't been TOS'd already, let alone that they continued operating for a number of years without problems. It wasn't just a page here and a page there ... it was whole issues of brand-new comics. Leaving aside the right and wrong of it (I tend to come down pretty firmly on the side of more liberal copyright laws, on the whole), I was kind of surprised that some copyright holder or other hadn't come down on them like a ton of bricks a long time ago.
But on the other hand, during the time that I was visiting them a lot, I discovered a ton of series, GNs and webcomics that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. A lot of what was posted to the community were older series that have been out of print for a long time, and in some cases can't be had for love or money; I tracked down a lot of old back issues on Ebay, and in other cases just enjoyed reading the scanned pages and the snarky comments. It had one of the most vibrant and cheerful communities in online comics fandom these days. A number of creators were aware of them and turned a blind eye, or, like Warren Ellis, joined in occasionally.
Getting a lively comics discussion going online is difficult because it's a visual medium and kind of a niche one. Especially with a long-running series or an old or obscure one, the scans_daily model (where you post pages illustrating what you're talking about) is just about the only way that you can launch a large, active discussion. Some of those comics would never see the light of day otherwise (they had so much old and long out of print stuff on there ...) As for the newer stuff, if comics companies are passing off bright-colored tripe for $4 a pop, I want to be warned ahead of time so I don't drop my money on it.
I wonder what the situation is ... There's no lawsuit that I'm aware of, just a TOS'ing, so maybe it's nothing more than one person sending an email to LJ and LJ going "oh shit" and deciding to cover their asses and pulling the plug. I really can't see how Marvel and DC could not have known about a site this big and long-running already, and it's been operating for a number of years without interference. I'm not shocked or even particularly surprised, but I am sad, and I wonder what the whole story is.
no subject
On the other hand, the vast majority of it was, say, someone going through a 20 years' worth of X-Men and picking out the one or two pages here and there that had to do with a particular minor character's arc and doing a timeline, or somebody posting a hilariously WTF? panel from an issue of Batman that came out in 1963, or people digging up obscure manga or Golden Age comics that haven't been in print in 50 years. There was a lot of really cool stuff on there and a lot of highly entertaining snark and discussion in the comments -- it was gay-friendly and woman-friendly (at least compared to most other places) and funny, and turned me onto a bunch of comics I hadn't heard of.
The only reason why I never got more involved with discussions over there, I admit, was because I figured they'd probably get nailed for copyright infringement eventually, and I was a gigantic wuss.