And so, as the most recent Trenches thread fell into the abyss of the third forum page, a wondrous thing happened, why not. It reached a second page of posts discussing how dead or not the comic is.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Somewhere here there's a metaphor. It's not called the trenches for nothing. They don't get to play with the big boys, they're never invited to the company lunches, and are pushed down to the third page and even deeper, while the artists are in a rotating limbo of horrible working conditions.
I remember when there was an awesome comic, made by the guy who drew Penny Arcade and the guy who drew PVP Online. It sounded like a really awesome comic. I wish it was still around
This comic is still on the front page?
Its April frigging 6th.
90 days since a Thanksgiving themed comic came out.
Sorry this is a personal vendetta but I do check this site 7 days a week.
"New comic every day" is a lie.
I love Penny Arcade.
I love Camp Weedonwantcha.
To have this embarassment on the front page with so many deserving webcomics....WTF?
This is all I got to rant for a site I love. Ignore me if you are wondering.
Somewhere here there's a metaphor. It's not called the trenches for nothing. They don't get to play with the big boys, they're never invited to the company lunches, and are pushed down to the third page and even deeper, while the artists are in a rotating limbo of horrible working conditions.
This comic is still on the front page?
Its April frigging 6th.
90 days since a Thanksgiving themed comic came out.
Sorry this is a personal vendetta but I do check this site 7 days a week.
"New comic every day" is a lie.
I love Penny Arcade.
I love Camp Weedonwantcha.
To have this embarassment on the front page with so many deserving webcomics....WTF?
This is all I got to rant for a site I love. Ignore me if you are wondering.
Its funny because I have not started reading any other of the other comics they do because of the fear of getting left hanging again. I am sure I am missing out on some great stuff, but I really live my life by the" fool me once shame on you, fool me twice..." Oh wait this is the third time Scott has got me.. Dang it!
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
And so, as the most recent Trenches thread fell into the abyss of the third forum page, a wondrous thing happened, why not. It reached a second page of posts discussing how dead or not the comic is.
How dead is it now? So dead.
They must know someone who is talented, could carry a webcomic and would love exposure on their site. Hopefully they ca give the Trenches spot to someone like that?
I promised myself that it wouldn't bug me anymore, but it does. It bugs me seeing that unchanging "The Trenches" link on the PA Main Page. It bugs me so much that I signed up to post this.
I enjoy nearly every PA project, and the offshoots, with the exception of The Trenches. It needs to end. Is there a contractual reason that they have to maintain a link or are they hoping to engage more readers and make a case to save it?
I think the fact that Trenches is still featured on the front page of penny-arcade.com is indicative of deep business problems at Penny Arcade Inc. Possibilities:
They are so disorganized that they're not even aware that a front page feature is generating very few pages views and little ad revenue and is generating much ill-will.
They signed a contract that has terms so onerous that it's cheaper to leave a dead comic on the front page than replace it.
They have so much money coming in they don't care if a front page comic isn't making much money.
I doubt #2 is true, since they've dealt with bad contracts before and probably have each contract triple reviewed.
If #3 is true, they're doomed for bankruptcy eventually because that attitude will infect every thing the whole company does and everything they make will turn to crap.
My guess is #1: People in charge literally have no idea what's going on.
My guess is #1: People in charge literally have no idea what's going on.
I don't think any of those are the complete truth, honestly. They're probably aware of the Trenches issues, and have probably had a talk with Ty (or whoever's drawing it, since the About the Authors hasn't been updated in forever), but don't have anything to say to the readers. For all we know, they could be running another Strip Search behind the scenes, but without the fun and games this time, to line up a new artist (and possibly a writer) that's more reliable for a fresh product. That's not to excuse the silence, but I think nobody's really interested in the comic anymore except in a morbid way as we all wait for them to finally put it down for good, so I don't really think they owe us an explanation either.
Until then though, I'd love it if they turned the slot into a rotating spotlight until they find a new comic. Abby and Maki were both runners-up in Strip Search, why not feature their comics there? Abby probably would have won Strip Search if they didn't think she'd need too much pushing, but now that she's proven herself capable of updating comics regularly with great content, I think she deserves a little time on the front page there (no disrespect to Maki, his stuff's great too, but it really felt like it came down to Katie or Abby).
I think the fact that Trenches is still featured on the front page of penny-arcade.com is indicative of deep business problems at Penny Arcade Inc. Possibilities:
They are so disorganized that they're not even aware that a front page feature is generating very few pages views and little ad revenue and is generating much ill-will.
I'm sorry, a handful of people on a forum thread doesn't count as "generating much ill-will."
I'm disappointed with what's happened to The Trenches (especially as I was one of the comic's most vocal defenders in the early days when it actually updated on a pretty consistent basis and had a coherent plot but everybody just complained all the time about how they hated Isaac and couldn't understand what was going on). But get real. They just added the fourth iteration of their own convention last year. PA is not suffering as a business because of supposed ill will generated by mismanagement of The Trenches.
It's easy to write off the posts in this thread as the entirety of the damage done the Trenches being dead in the water. And, maybe you're right - after all, PA is doing great and no one else is saying anything, right? However you've got people like me - I've been following the Trenches for ages, watching it go weird and grind to a halt, wonder what's up, delving into the forums for some explanation, and seeing other similarly confused and disappointed readers asking the same questions with no answers forthcoming.
I'm relatively rare in that I didn't just stop being a lurker but actually joined the forums to share this feeling. I would hazard a guess that I speak for several others feeling the same way but not motivated enough to speak their mind - after all, it's hard to care too much about a dead comic.
I would also hazard a guess that the people following the forums thread (whether they lurk on it or actively post) are themselves a fraction of the people who read the Trenches and are now wondering what's up with it. I would further suggest that those people are a fraction of the people who were never really into the Trenches, but are wondering why the same dumb picture of Marley looking at the ghost has been up there for the last two months while everything else on the front page is pretty dynamic.
Anyway the point of this post is to just stand up and be counted in saying that The Trenches is a bit of an embarrassing thorn in PA's side and it'd be nice for it to either be taken seriously by the site or officially retired. That's not an unreasonable stance to hold and I hope the stalwarts who would dismiss these thoughts as low-key grumbling can appreciate that the grumbling isn't just a few individual malcontents.
At first I thought advertising another comic on the front page wouldn't be fair to Katie who won the contest, and that was one of the perks. But I think that was really only for one year, so it would be a fair play. And greatly beneficial to someone who works hard and puts out something consistently.
Posts
You can't use this forum to promote your comic.
Yes, you might want to pick a forum of a comic that is not dead, you might actually get more visitors to your comic....
Nobody of the company ever acknowledges them..
I'm saying the Trenches, is the Trenches of PA...
Believe.
This comic is still on the front page?
Its April frigging 6th.
90 days since a Thanksgiving themed comic came out.
Sorry this is a personal vendetta but I do check this site 7 days a week.
"New comic every day" is a lie.
I love Penny Arcade.
I love Camp Weedonwantcha.
To have this embarassment on the front page with so many deserving webcomics....WTF?
This is all I got to rant for a site I love. Ignore me if you are wondering.
Its funny because I have not started reading any other of the other comics they do because of the fear of getting left hanging again. I am sure I am missing out on some great stuff, but I really live my life by the" fool me once shame on you, fool me twice..." Oh wait this is the third time Scott has got me.. Dang it!
How dead is it now? So dead.
They must know someone who is talented, could carry a webcomic and would love exposure on their site. Hopefully they ca give the Trenches spot to someone like that?
I enjoy nearly every PA project, and the offshoots, with the exception of The Trenches. It needs to end. Is there a contractual reason that they have to maintain a link or are they hoping to engage more readers and make a case to save it?
That said, I think it's going to be quietly swept under the rug once they figure out what to replace it with on the front page.
- They are so disorganized that they're not even aware that a front page feature is generating very few pages views and little ad revenue and is generating much ill-will.
- They signed a contract that has terms so onerous that it's cheaper to leave a dead comic on the front page than replace it.
- They have so much money coming in they don't care if a front page comic isn't making much money.
I doubt #2 is true, since they've dealt with bad contracts before and probably have each contract triple reviewed.If #3 is true, they're doomed for bankruptcy eventually because that attitude will infect every thing the whole company does and everything they make will turn to crap.
My guess is #1: People in charge literally have no idea what's going on.
I don't think any of those are the complete truth, honestly. They're probably aware of the Trenches issues, and have probably had a talk with Ty (or whoever's drawing it, since the About the Authors hasn't been updated in forever), but don't have anything to say to the readers. For all we know, they could be running another Strip Search behind the scenes, but without the fun and games this time, to line up a new artist (and possibly a writer) that's more reliable for a fresh product. That's not to excuse the silence, but I think nobody's really interested in the comic anymore except in a morbid way as we all wait for them to finally put it down for good, so I don't really think they owe us an explanation either.
Until then though, I'd love it if they turned the slot into a rotating spotlight until they find a new comic. Abby and Maki were both runners-up in Strip Search, why not feature their comics there? Abby probably would have won Strip Search if they didn't think she'd need too much pushing, but now that she's proven herself capable of updating comics regularly with great content, I think she deserves a little time on the front page there (no disrespect to Maki, his stuff's great too, but it really felt like it came down to Katie or Abby).
I'm sorry, a handful of people on a forum thread doesn't count as "generating much ill-will."
I'm disappointed with what's happened to The Trenches (especially as I was one of the comic's most vocal defenders in the early days when it actually updated on a pretty consistent basis and had a coherent plot but everybody just complained all the time about how they hated Isaac and couldn't understand what was going on). But get real. They just added the fourth iteration of their own convention last year. PA is not suffering as a business because of supposed ill will generated by mismanagement of The Trenches.
It's easy to write off the posts in this thread as the entirety of the damage done the Trenches being dead in the water. And, maybe you're right - after all, PA is doing great and no one else is saying anything, right? However you've got people like me - I've been following the Trenches for ages, watching it go weird and grind to a halt, wonder what's up, delving into the forums for some explanation, and seeing other similarly confused and disappointed readers asking the same questions with no answers forthcoming.
I'm relatively rare in that I didn't just stop being a lurker but actually joined the forums to share this feeling. I would hazard a guess that I speak for several others feeling the same way but not motivated enough to speak their mind - after all, it's hard to care too much about a dead comic.
I would also hazard a guess that the people following the forums thread (whether they lurk on it or actively post) are themselves a fraction of the people who read the Trenches and are now wondering what's up with it. I would further suggest that those people are a fraction of the people who were never really into the Trenches, but are wondering why the same dumb picture of Marley looking at the ghost has been up there for the last two months while everything else on the front page is pretty dynamic.
Anyway the point of this post is to just stand up and be counted in saying that The Trenches is a bit of an embarrassing thorn in PA's side and it'd be nice for it to either be taken seriously by the site or officially retired. That's not an unreasonable stance to hold and I hope the stalwarts who would dismiss these thoughts as low-key grumbling can appreciate that the grumbling isn't just a few individual malcontents.
It seems like the PA Wikipedia page should be updated.