The Dumbing of Age Book 15 Kickstarter has reached the final 10 days!
As of this writing, we're just under $1K from unlocking the CARLA magnet! and when will that mysterious other silhouette drop, who knows, not even me, maybe it was supposed to drop this past week and i lost track of things
144 thoughts on “Update”
NGPZ
Jocelyne and Sarah should totally duke it out Street Fighter style for the title of Joyce’s Big Sister XD
John Campbell
I’m thinking more Double Dragon. With the bat.
Adam Black
I forgot about that game.
The bat swings. The kicks, the flips.
Bogeywoman
And then kiss
spriteless aunty
No need for evil moms with so many big sisters.
Amós Batista
hear me out, hear me out: MUGEN
IntangibleMatter
She’s on her phone texting Jocelyne about a duel to the death over who gets to be the true big sister
Slartibeast Button, BIA
Hand grenades in a coat closet, or Minuteman missiles at 10,000 miles?
Jude Deluca
She wants Jocelyne to meet her at the Dueling Arena in the forest behind the school at sunset.
Taffy
If we’re making yugioh references, Joyce and Dorothy look a little bit like the Three-Legged Zombies card.
https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Three-Legged_Zombies
TrueSurvivor
That is the best/worst playing card I have ever seen.
Taffy
It’s one of the first I ever saw. Back when Yugioh was just coming out in America, Mcdonalds had little booster packs with their kids meals. The first one I ever opened had Three-Legged Zombies and Megasonic Eye.
Rowan
The upsetting thing about this is those zombies between them clearly have only 2 legs
stePH
I thot it was referencing Shoujo Kakumei Utena. But then I don’t know from Yugio.
stePH
Utena references always eat! ⚔️🌹
thejeff
Dueling to win a sister rather than the Bride
Slartibeast Button, BIA
When Hank finds out he has *three* daughters, he will be even more confused.
John Campbell
Sarah’s Joyce’s sister, but that doesn’t necessarily make her Hank’s daughter. On the other hand, there is Becky.
Taffy
Seems like a bad deal for Hank. Becky’s parents have a 100% mortality rate, so far.
Holly
Don’t we all, alas.
John Campbell
Something happen to Leslie and Robin when we weren’t looking?
Wack'd
there’s a new rules post
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it’s on the front page and everything
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it’s also crosslinked on the “read before posting page”
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and i’ll be posting it in the comments every night for a weekish to make sure folks see it
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thank you for your attention in this matter. no replies to this post are required on your part.
NGPZ
THANK YOU
as much as I don’t always agree with your deletion choices, transparency like this is nonetheless an important step in the right direction 👍🏽
clif
Thank you.
RassilonTDavros
I appreciate this, it’s always good to have some general guidelines in place.
RassilonTDavros
I’m really liking the Sarah/Jocelyne conflict so far, really excited to see where the Big Sister War goes.
TrueSurvivor
Whoa these rules are Wack’d!
(This is not actually a comment on the rules themselves or the moderator. I just love puns)
The Other Mike
A good pun is its own reword.
jabbingQuirker
concerning; “I reserve the right to modify these rules at any time and for any reason. If and when that happens, a comment will be made under that day’s comic.”
are the listed rules going to be updated with any modified rules, so that there are no rules hidden in a single comic from weeks ago?
/gen
Wack'd
plan is to update the rules post and then post a link to the rules post in the comments. you’re right that was worded ambiguously, i’ll go fix it
Ornathe
Thanks! I think these are genuinely pretty good guidelines going forward, and it makes it easier to see where some of my own comments in the past could have been better as well. I appreciate the clarity here and the examples – I think it’s going to get a lot of negativity and redundancy out of the comments.
Jerna
If anyone thinks those rules are too harsh, just replace “it is getting deleted” with “that’s a paddlin’.”
(Just joking. The rules are clear.)
Steamweed
Some people might be into that.
BarerMender
Oh, baby.
00A86B
Not looking to debate to rules, just genuinely trying to understand the motivation here – what is the issue with asking “Why is a character doing [X] instead of [Y]?”? To me that feels like actively inviting analysis of the character and their motivations/story arc in the way that you broadly seem to be trying to encourage.
If someone wants to invite analysis/thoughts from others on a character’s actions is there a different way you’d like them to go about it?
Wack'd
if you feel like you have an actual answer to “why x and not y” that’s fine. just asking the question in aggrieved tone (“why isn’t joyce talking to joe???”) is the issue
Taffy
This isn’t an excellent rules post. It reads a lot like pre-emptive scolding. The overall tone is impatient and put-upon, as though even posting these (honestly still pretty vague) guidelines is an inconvenience you’ve been coerced into and something you would rather not have to do at all.
In particular, “I understand the guesswork involved in figuring out why a comment was deleted is stressful for some commenters” is troubling, because every commenter I’ve seen bring it up had also mentioned being autistic in the same breath. It all comes across as if you simply don’t care whether people know what they’ve done wrong, and if they stop commenting altogether because of it, that’s an acceptable or even desired outcome. It may filter out the worst kind of poster, but there’s so much room for “acceptable losses”, and that blows.
NGPZ
If I’m being openly, nakedly honest here, I sadly must concur
” It may filter out the worst kind of poster, but there’s so much room for “acceptable losses”, and that blows.”
it’s basically like anti-virus software, the more false positives it registers like this, the worst it is at detecting actual threats
the underlying thought process at the moment seems to be “I just got to buckle down and do what I must to root out the worst as fast as possible at this point — maybe it all still goes to shit, but at least this way nobody can tell me I didn’t do my job”
Doopyboop
I don’t like feeling like if I write the “wrong” comment it’s going to get deleted and I’m going to get banned. I don’t like second guessing any comments I write. It makes me not only not want to comment anymore, but it’s putting me off the comic as a whole because reading the comic and going “wow blank sure is happening oh boy I wonder what others think” is part of my enjoyment for this comic. What’s the point of reading if I can’t confer or converse with other commenters without wondering “is there even a point to saying anything?”
Wack'd
all rules are pre-emptive scolding. the effect of posting a “no running” sign at the pool is identical to that of a lifeguard yelling “no running” at someone who’s running.
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if i come off as aggrieved, it’s because i am a little. i’ll admit my first rules post was hostile, but my second one was pretty okay i think and i still got yelled at for being unreasonable. i’m not asking for pity here, no one likes their moderator, but i’m frustrated! it’s frustrating!
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i do care whether people know what they’ve done wrong! i care a lot! i don’t want to be a jerk! but i only have so many hours in a day and i gotta put my own oxygen mask on first. it genuinely bums me out that folks like ngpz feel stress over this. if my language is clinical there, again, it’s because i’ve tried both “overtly hostile” and “baby gloves” and both of them made it look like i don’t care. i genuinely dunno what to do at this point.
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and like, the constant psychological analysis. “wack’d doesn’t care.” “wack’d just wants to look like she’s doing a good job.” “wack’d is on some sort of power trip.” i don’t get to express my true deepest feelings through the subtle art of moderating a comments section! it’s not a thing that happens!
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like, what would make the rules “not vague”? do people want a terms-of-service length document with subsections? i don’t actually know how to be clearer on this stuff than i already have been!
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and for the record, the threshold for being banned here is so high it’s not worth discussing. it’s, like, literally “calling someone a nazi” caliber stuff. i’ve banned maybe four people since i started and three of them are folks who never got their posts approved here to begin with. so that’s not something you gotta worry about
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anyway i don’t expect pity or sympathy here. taffy and ngpz and doopyboop, i know you’re all good folks trying your best. yotomoe too. like i explicitly reached out to starrymoon to say it’s okay if she has problems with how poc get depicted in the comic. i’m not deleting stuff because i think you’re bad actors, or because i wanna scare folks off. i’m just trying to find the sort of stuff that historically starts fights and generates negativity. i don’t wanna delete good faith criticism. but, y’know, if i’m gonna leave this up, i feel like i should get to address it. i dunno. i don’t want anyone to feel how i’ve felt in the past two weeks of having this job–like someone out there hates them and wants them to fail.
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anyway i hope everyone at reddit has fun speculating on how i’m having a meltdown or how i’m clearly unwell or whatever. fuck, man.
NGPZ
thanks for at least sharing your thought process
my spoons are hella low rn b/c bronchitis, but I’ll just say
I don’t read the Reddit and neither should you
that place is like, KNOWN for their Nazi problem 👀
Doopyboop
I appreciate hearing that you think I’m a good person and will not be banning people willy nilly. I’m sorry if comments I made yesterday upset you. When that first comment of mine was deleted, I did become upset because from my perspective, all I did was express my opinion that Yotomoe’s comment wasn’t wrong. And in becoming upset, I’ll admit I was uncharitable towards you and I’m sorry for that. I will not comment anymore speculations or opinions regarding your modding, because I don’t want you to feel dog piled or hurt. I may not agree with your reasoning, but I’ll just have to accept your rules and either just keep commenting with good faith or just stop commenting for both our sakes.
StarryMoon
The rules are confusing to me because essentially criticism with the comic and, in relation, the author is immediately shut down. So I then question, is criticism with the depiction of POC (as of lately, more so WOC) going to be shut down too? Because it sure does feel that way. Having problems with the way POC are written doesn’t change anything unless voicing out those problems are allowed too. How does Willis get to hear the voices of minorites who also share the same criticism?
NGPZ
@StarryMoon, a more than valid question, because this is literally the only reason Willis even still keeps a comments section at ALL
many other webcomic authors have burned theirs to the ground, but Willis keeps his around because of how liable he is for messing up as a white dude who writes a LOT about POC, WOC and many other kinda people who are a lot different from him.
Wack'd
i’ve outlined specific modes of criticism that will be deleted. not only are “criticizing how minority characters treated” not among them, not only were they explicitly cited as exceptions in my previous two rules posts, but i explicitly waved through two of your posts on the subject, starrymoon. like, i saw your post on the subject while idly scrolling tumblr and told you, to your face, in no uncertain terms, that your comments were fine and i was approving them. i’m really struggling with how much more explicit and detailed i can be on this subject.
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i will say you can criticize the comic without criticizing the author. just talk about the content of the story without going “therefore willis is [insert negative quality]”. i think you personally are pretty good on this point! i think your comments have been useful and well-reasoned even when i don’t agree!
Dr T
Does this apply to the typical meme post of “Dammit Willis” whenever the author overturns the apple cart from time to time? I’m certain that it’s never meant to be anything but endearing
Wack'd
nah that’s fine
anon
Good luck! i apologize in advance for my fat fingers accidentally tapping ‘report’ on innocuous comments
(unless it’s changed to have a confirmation secondary ‘are you sure’ message lol)
Taffy
Sarah deserves to blast whoever she wants with a rocket launcher.
nadamás
She deserves to blast whatever she wants with TWO rocket launchers!
Masha
Always double tap with your rockets. Otherwise they’ll just keep coming back like a resident evil boss
TrueSurvivor
As a person who has never played the games, my favorite thing about Resident Evil is a mod somebody made for the remake of Resident Evil 2. It does absolutely nothing except replace the music soundtrack you get when being chased by Mr. X to ‘X Gon’ Give It to Ya’ by DMX. There are great videos of it online if you are intrested.
Sajuuk-Khar
This is why RE protagonists NEED the infinite rocket launcher, now more than ever
Taffy
I’d be fine with Sarah building a Shagohod and rampaging across the entire campus, demolishing everything in sight.
Needfuldoer
Does she also get a shovel so she can do some rocket jump market gardens?
clif
There’s still time, alt text. There’s still time.
CrazyJ
Perhaps they are saving it for sweeps week.
Jon
Personal headcanon: Jocelyne is a writer and therefore has the physique of a Victorian orphan dying of consumption. She’d be all skin and bones, deeply unpleasant to eat.
It’s actually one of the writer’s natural defense mechanisms, like with poison frogs.
Wack'd
hey, you take her home, throw her in a pot, add some broth, a potato? baby, you’ve got a stew going
Rose By Any Other Name
Re Alt Text
Well, she’s have to work things out with Tony, but I’m sure Slipshine subscribers would enjoy seeing some trans sapphic content.
Bill Erak
Silly alt text, Sarah maybe bigger but Jocelyen is the older one! Clearly in the power dynamics of eating each other, Jocelyne would win
Sajuuk-Khar
ACKCHUALLY, sir, I think you’re going to find Sarah has class levels in Paladin and a proficiency with Bat (Baseball), whereas Jocelyne is a mere Artificer who took the “wordsmith” specialization like a total chump
Newlland(Henryvolt)
Immediate sibling rivalry is always healthy…😅
Mel
Now, now, girls, everyone can be Joyce’s sister. Except maybe Dorothy for the obvious reasons.
John Campbell
If the Internet has taught me anything, it’s that Dorothy is now Joyce’s step-sister.
Mitzi B.
Read Hall is going to have levels of enmeshment never seen before!
Amós Batista
alt: first, we need to know the exactly meaning of “eat” here
clif
Sorry. I don’t have the 10 foot pole that I’m not touching that one with. ;-D
Wack'd
why doesn’t the ten-foot pole, the largest pole, simply eat the others
clif
Hm. I’ll get back to you on that one.
Tan
I’ve seen bigger honestly