A month in ....

[CooksACarrot]

About the financial aspect, i can only hope the Canadian health care and social safety net are able to catch some of the burden. Or he might have had some form of insurance.

I'm honestly not sure that it does for someone who is, in essence, self-employed. He would likely qualify for some Employment Insurance, but it is pretty hard to live off that for one person, let alone a family. And the property costs out in BC are INSANE (I've seen semi-detached crap shacks in Vancouver go for a million dollars, and the bubble hasn't fully burst yet).

[smjjames]

About the financial aspect, i can only hope the Canadian health care and social safety net are able to catch some of the burden. Or he might have had some form of insurance.

I'm honestly not sure that it does for someone who is, in essence, self-employed. He would likely qualify for some Employment Insurance, but it is pretty hard to live off that for one person, let alone a family. And the property costs out in BC are INSANE (I've seen semi-detached crap shacks in Vancouver go for a million dollars, and the bubble hasn't fully burst yet).

Wuh? How much of a crap shack are we talking here? For some reason I'm imagining a dilapidated garden shed going for a million dollars....

[SculptsAir]

About the financial aspect, i can only hope the Canadian health care and social safety net are able to catch some of the burden. Or he might have had some form of insurance.

I'm honestly not sure that it does for someone who is, in essence, self-employed. He would likely qualify for some Employment Insurance, but it is pretty hard to live off that for one person, let alone a family. And the property costs out in BC are INSANE (I've seen semi-detached crap shacks in Vancouver go for a million dollars, and the bubble hasn't fully burst yet).

Well, i might be wrong, but i was under the impression that Danielle has a job. He would not have to support a whole family.

[CooksACarrot]

About the financial aspect, i can only hope the Canadian health care and social safety net are able to catch some of the burden. Or he might have had some form of insurance.

I'm honestly not sure that it does for someone who is, in essence, self-employed. He would likely qualify for some Employment Insurance, but it is pretty hard to live off that for one person, let alone a family. And the property costs out in BC are INSANE (I've seen semi-detached crap shacks in Vancouver go for a million dollars, and the bubble hasn't fully burst yet).

Wuh? How much of a crap shack are we talking here? For some reason I'm imagining a dilapidated garden shed going for a million dollars....

The kind of shitty little semi-detached bungalow that you are sure has a meth lab somewhere in the back. This was a few years ago, but not much has changed. I do believe that property values get more rational once you get away from the south end of the province.

[mustache_man]

As am I. I'm also astonished at the level of drama being put into this blog.

Seriously? The guy has clearly been through something major, and he's having a lot of trouble putting it into words and talking about it in public. If you can't understand that as anything other than "drama," well... I sincerely hope you're never put in a position to understand firsthand.

Oh well, I really hope whatever is eating him up is on its way to resolution. After all, if nothing else, it's affecting his livelihood.

I do understand what Xavier is talking about though. I don't really have a problem with him having trouble getting the words out. That part is fairly understandable. I do have a teeny tiny issue with the whole "Explanation tomorrow soon tomorrow soon maybe? ". I won't lose any sleep over it or rage about it, but it sort of gets old quickly. The issue had been dragging for so long that he probably should have made no new announcement at all, just posted whatever explanation he feels he owns (he doesn't, btw. It's nice, but he doesn't really have to give any of us a thorough explanation) as soon as he was happy with it.

[RocketScientist]

People have been freaking out all over the place every day that there was no word. Seems to me that no matter what he does, someone had to complain about it. I am going to ask people to please keep the general non-productive complaints to yourselves. It's not doing any of us any good, and if you just need a catharsis, you can pay for therapy just like me and everyone else.

[Morgaln]

So, two days since we were told there would be an explanation "tomorrow," and still there hasn't been one. I honestly don't care what the explanation is; I never cared, it's likely personal stuff that's not my business anyway. But I do care that I am repeatedly promised things "today", "tomorrow", "very soon" or whenever and those promises are never delivered on. That is highly unprofessional behavior and I refuse to support that behavior from now on. My adblock will stay on indefinitely for Goblins.

[Arklytte]

So, two days since we were told there would be an explanation "tomorrow," and still there hasn't been one. I honestly don't care what the explanation is; I never cared, it's likely personal stuff that's not my business anyway. But I do care that I am repeatedly promised things "today", "tomorrow", "very soon" or whenever and those promises are never delivered on. That is highly unprofessional behavior and I refuse to support that behavior from now on. My adblock will stay on indefinitely for Goblins.

*THIS*

[Krulle]

or not...

When I start reading a webcomic, I often have it on, but once I've decide I like it, I turn it off and leave it off. It's the absolute minimum I can do for the artist who shares his work with me, for free.

When I need to crawl through the archives for whatever reason, I might switch it back on temporarily again (for loading speed), but I make sure to switch it on again.

The alternative would be a 'net where content will cost me money directly.

Please think about that.
You may reduce traffic, but you will force a change in attitude in content providers in the long term.
(or ads which are served by the site, and thus not on adblock lists)

[WearsHats]

So, two days since we were told there would be an explanation "tomorrow," and still there hasn't been one. I honestly don't care what the explanation is; I never cared, it's likely personal stuff that's not my business anyway. But I do care that I am repeatedly promised things "today", "tomorrow", "very soon" or whenever and those promises are never delivered on. That is highly unprofessional behavior and I refuse to support that behavior from now on. My adblock will stay on indefinitely for Goblins.

The man's working his fingers off, doing his best. But apparently that's not enough. He's working now to explain a difficult situation, but laboring to find the right words. You don't care. Something major enough has happened to disrupt his entire life for over a month, but a delay of a day or two while he tries to figure out how to talk about it is too much to put up with. He thought he could do it, but it's more of struggle than he expected. I guess that's never happened to you in your life.

So you throw your tantrum. Even though you enjoy his work, you've decided to punish him by ensuring that he never sees any return from you, even indirectly, for the value his work brings you. Even if it costs you literally nothing. And you've furthermore decided that you just had to tell us all, to shout it from the rooftops.

Well, it's your right.

I hope you never find yourself on the other side of that situation. And that, even if you do, the people around you remember that you're a human being and offer compassion and understanding.

[RocketScientist]

[mod="RocketScientist"]I really don't want to start handing out official warnings for beating a dead horse, but if people keep posting with nothing better to say than "I was promised a post from the over stressed author" then I'm going to do it.[/mod]

[Guus]

CooksACarrot! We need your special random thread powers! Distract the masses!

[CooksACarrot]

CooksACarrot! We need your special random thread powers! Distract the masses!

What awesome potato chips flavours are available where you live, but not other places? For me, it is Dill Pickle and Ketchup, both of which are delicious.

[thinkslogically]

I had dill crisps one time when I was in Sweden and I still miss them. They were awesomely weird

WE get ketchup crisps in the UK quite a lot (also prawn cocktail, Worcestershire sauce, pickled onion), but I'm not such a fan of those.

[nikohl]

Aw maaaan. Weird/strong flavoured crisps are always my favourite. Prawn Cocktail, Worcestershire sauce, pickled onion are right up there on top of my list. Dill pickle and ketchup sounds awesome.

I like Branston Pickle flavoured mini cheddars.

...I think there's something wrong with my tastebuds though. I've long been an exponent of eating crisps with chocolate. Dairy Milk goes best with ready salted or salt and vinegar, but the more luxurious taste of Galaxy actually complements Prawn Cocktail really well. I also like chocolate buttons on top of well-salted chips, because then they melt and go all awesome.

[Guus]

Haha, CooksACarrot to the rescue!

[YardMeat]

CooksACarrot! We need your special random thread powers! Distract the masses!

What awesome potato chips flavours are available where you live, but not other places? For me, it is Dill Pickle and Ketchup, both of which are delicious.

When I lived close to Louisiana, we had these crawfish flavored chips called "Crawtaters". I miss them so.

[Groo_the_Wanderer]

Hi there,

Just want to ask if it's possible to have the next "update" in the update thread just be when we have some sort of definitive answer one way or the other.

Thanks and fingers crossed the Tarol has / is getting it all worked out.

[thousandinone]

So, two days since we were told there would be an explanation "tomorrow," and still there hasn't been one. I honestly don't care what the explanation is; I never cared, it's likely personal stuff that's not my business anyway. But I do care that I am repeatedly promised things "today", "tomorrow", "very soon" or whenever and those promises are never delivered on. That is highly unprofessional behavior and I refuse to support that behavior from now on. My adblock will stay on indefinitely for Goblins.

The man's working his fingers off, doing his best. But apparently that's not enough. He's working now to explain a difficult situation, but laboring to find the right words. You don't care. Something major enough has happened to disrupt his entire life for over a month, but a delay of a day or two while he tries to figure out how to talk about it is too much to put up with. He thought he could do it, but it's more of struggle than he expected. I guess that's never happened to you in your life.

So you throw your tantrum. Even though you enjoy his work, you've decided to punish him by ensuring that he never sees any return from you, even indirectly, for the value his work brings you. Even if it costs you literally nothing. And you've furthermore decided that you just had to tell us all, to shout it from the rooftops.

Well, it's your right.

I hope you never find yourself on the other side of that situation. And that, even if you do, the people around you remember that you're a human being and offer compassion and understanding.

Tantrum? Really? This is Thunt's source of income. In how many jobs would it be remotely understandable- much less acceptable- to no call no show for more than a month straight? None that I'm aware of. Even if it's something severe like the death of a loved one, an employer would be wholly justified in terminating the employee if he or she simply stopped showing up to work with zero explanation. It's also a matter of feedback; simply turning off the adblocker is insufficient, because most don't even run an adblocker- any difference an individual made would largely go unnoticed, unless it were done en masse. No one is suggesting a mass blocking, but rather those who have turned their adblocker back on are stating it here- we know that Thunt looks through the forums, and we're hoping that if another long, inescapable hiatus is required in the future that he'll be more communicative- there are simply not circumstances where it would be impossible to say anything at all; even legal liability can be dodged with a sufficiently generic statement.

It's not that we don't care. We do. Caring and being upset about being left in the lurch are not mutually exclusive. You are dissembling by throwing this accusation. Again: Even if it's something severe like the death of a loved one, an employer would be wholly justified in terminating the employee if he or she simply stopped showing up to work with zero explanation. Not even a detailed explanation- just a heads up that something urgent is going on that he can't explain right now would suffice. We should have at least gotten a blog post or a tweet regularly through this absence. Even if Thunt didn't have access to the internet, Danielle obviously did. The appropriate way to handle this would have been some bit of communication on each scheduled update day. That's not an unreasonable request.

And no, this isn't a job per se- we aren't Thunt's boss or employer. He doesn't owe us an explanation. But it is extremely unprofessional of him to leave us in the lurch, regardless of the circumstances. This doesn't mean he's a bad person. This doesn't mean he's in the wrong. But the reality of it is that it's going to cost him market share, both from those who've dropped the comic over this, and those of us who have removed our goblins filter from adblock. This isn't "ensuring that he never sees any return from us." He has, in fact, seen a notable return from anyone who has simply read through the archives once without an ad blocker on. This is "not providing funding when service is not rendered." The comic is ad supported. When I see an update, my filter will go back on and I'll view ads again. The way I see it, most of us have a huge backlog built up in terms of ad funding for Thunt- who amongst us HASN'T refreshed the page multiple times a day for the better part of this absence?

If you would, can you please list some other careers where it would be remotely acceptable to no-call no-show for a month straight? Because the way I see it, there aren't ANY.

And this is disregarding the fact that you're being blatantly insulting and condescending to him. Of course, it's in-line with the groupthink around here, so the mods won't do anything- even if they're quick to punish an IMPLIED insult elsewhere, so long as it's counter to the groupthink. This is one reason I tend to avoid this forum despite truly enjoying the comic and its merchandise.

Again- I don't fault him for the circumstances, and I don't fault him for the delays. I am in fact quite concerned about the entire thing! But I don't feel that it is at all unjustified- much less a TANTRUM- for his audience to expect some kind of information on the matter. After all, even in a direct employer/employee relationship, circumstances are circumstances. But no-call no-show is not acceptable, regardless. If you disagree, congratulations- you've earned an internet white knight point. This one is extra special, because usually people only get them for rescuing the "ladies."

[CooksACarrot]

thousandinone I think you have a misunderstanding as to the relationship between you and Thunt. You say that you understand that you are not his employer, but proceed to act as though you are. You are his customer at best, and that is a fundamentally different relationship. Many workplaces allow for some sort of short or long term disability to deal with a crisis. Or he, as his own employer, has determined that a legal situation prevents him from allowing himself 9as employee) from working. Presumably Thunt has informed himself of his circumstances, and he, as employer, has determined that the circumstances are significant enough to warrant such an absence. He is working with himself to end the absence as soon as he can manage it. As his customer, you have a right to be upset that a product that you have engaged in is not currently available. But you do not depend on this product for your own well being or your own business. It is, at best, a diversion. And its absence for you is an inconvenience, not a crisis. It may be a significant inconvenience, and I have no doubt you are as concerned as the rest of us, but your life will go on one way or another. Thunt has not engaged in a 'no-show' with his employer, he and his employer are working to resolve the problem. What he has done is to temporarily remove the product from the shelves. He has promised it will return, and with an explanation. I can think of a number of businesses that would not go that far.

Please be patient with us as we grow to serve you better.

[stevedj]

So, two days since we were told there would be an explanation "tomorrow," ...

But... but... tomorrow is still, well, tomorrow. You know, just as Little Orphan Annie said, it is "always a day away". So, stop yer complainin', and enjoy a Broadway Hit(albeit the movie version was the best I could find )

[thousandinone]

thousandinone I think you have a misunderstanding as to the relationship between you and Thunt. You say that you understand that you are not his employer, but proceed to act as though you are. You are his customer at best, and that is a fundamentally different relationship. Many workplaces allow for some sort of short or long term disability to deal with a crisis. Or he, as his own employer, has determined that a legal situation prevents him from allowing himself 9as employee) from working. Presumably Thunt has informed himself of his circumstances, and he, as employer, has determined that the circumstances are significant enough to warrant such an absence. He is working with himself to end the absence as soon as he can manage it. As his customer, you have a right to be upset that a product that you have engaged in is not currently available. But you do not depend on this product for your own well being or your own business. It is, at best, a diversion. And its absence for you is an inconvenience, not a crisis. Thunt has not engaged in a 'no-show' with his employer, he and his employer are working to resolve the problem. What he has done is to temporarily remove the product from the shelves. He has promised it will return, and with an explanation. I can think of a number of businesses that would not go that far.

I think you have a misunderstanding as to the intent of my post. It was not to establish an employer-employee relationship- I figured that was clear from what I wrote, but I can be somewhat poor at communicating at times. It was comparing the professionalism of his conduct with that which would be expected in any other professional circle.

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said "As his customer, you have a right to be upset that a product that you have engaged in is not currently available." The sentence imediately following that is largely irrelevant. What he has done is also not equivalent to temporarily removing the product from the shelves. It's more comparable to a software company dropping product support and further updates while still selling copies of the software. Perhaps I should have used that analogy from the get-go. Furthermore, when a product is pulled with no explanation, the company in question almost always tanks. Generally, if a company has to pull a product (either temporarily or permanently) explanations are offered if the company wishes to survive.

Regardless, the point of my post wasn't to bash Thunt or hold him to the standards set in a relationship that I don't have with him. It was more to criticize the internet defense force, particularly those who are insulting to those who dare object to anyone being remotely upset about this. The mods won't do it- from years of lurking, it's quite evident that the rules don't apply equally to everyone, but rather favor the forums groupthink. Someone needs to say something! As I said- Thunt isn't a bad person, but he has been quite unprofessional regarding this absence, and everyone who is upset about this has a right to be. My comparisons to an employer-employee relationship were merely to illustrate how and why it was unprofessional.

If someone on here wants to denigrate those who are reasonably upset by this, then it is on them to demonstrate that this does not constitute unprofessional conduct. "You don't need it, you just want it" is immaterial, and does not modify this.

[thinkslogically]

Anyone who's self-employed has an absolute right to pack up and stop whenever they feel like it without any explanations at all.

Consider a small high-street shop that sells sweets or cupcakes or whatever. No-one has a contract with the business to go in and buy their stuff, but one day something happens and the owner doesn't show up and open the doors. That's odd, think the regular customers, but there's nothing they can do. They might be disappointed, but there's no contract, no 'duty' from the shop owner to explain, no reason at all why they couldn't just sack it in and abandon ship. Yes it would hurt the business to be closed for a period like that, but that doesn't mean they aren't fully within their rights to do so. The only difference with online stuff is that you get paid by the numbers coming 'through the door' rather than by sales most of the time.

Regardless, I'm sure the consequences of all this are completely and 100% clear to Thunt. It's patronising to assume that he needs to be told that his absence is probably harming his business - he's the one with the bank account.

[thousandinone]

Anyone who's self-employed has an absolute right to pack up and stop whenever they feel like it without any explanations at all.

Consider a small high-street shop that sells sweets or cupcakes or whatever. No-one has a contract with the business to go in and buy their stuff, but one day something happens and the owner doesn't show up and open the doors. That's odd, think the regular customers, but there's nothing they can do. They might be disappointed, but there's no contract, no 'duty' from the shop owner to explain, no reason at all why they couldn't just sack it in and abandon ship. Yes it would hurt the business to be closed for a period like that, but that doesn't mean they aren't fully within their rights to do so. The only difference with online stuff is that you get paid by the numbers coming 'through the door' rather than by sales most of the time.

Regardless, I'm sure the consequences of all this are completely and 100% clear to Thunt. It's patronising to assume that he needs to be told that his absence is probably harming his business - he's the one with the bank account.

Yes, we've all acknowledged that they have that right. The issue is that some feel that the 'customers' have no right to be upset or complain about it. It goes both ways. And in this case, it's entirely possible that the bank account alone would be insufficient to reveal this fact- ad payments don't go out daily or weekly, so the 'drop' in revenue from those who have stopped reading or turned their ad blockers on would probably be completely offset (and then some!) by the extra revenue generated from everyone obsessively refreshing the page repeatedly for the first few days or weeks. This may be sufficient for this to actually be a boost to his overall revenue.

Oversimplification doesn't change anything. Fact of the matter is, it's unprofessional conduct, and those who are upset are well within their rights to be. The idea that people aren't 'allowed' to feel a certain way is vile and absurd.

[Wolfie]

I'm going to say this as quickly and succinctly as possible:

THunt is not beholden to us.
THunt does not owe us an explanation.
THunt does not owe us a comic.
WE are not his employer - HE is his own employer. (That's what self-employed is.)
THunt created this comic years ago because he thought it was a great idea.
THunt had another great idea and decided to put it up online.
We get to enjoy what he puts up, when he puts it up.

End of story.

---

Want a longer ?
<takes off Mod/Admin hat> <gets on soap box>

Thunt has opened his heart and his inner self to us, the readers, over the years. He has shared darned near everything with us. Right now, he is going through something. What that "something" is, nobody here yet knows.
However, even if he never posts another comic EVER I will be grateful for what I've already been given.

Although we cannot stop the people here who want to grumble, whine, and otherwise verbally show parts of themselves better left covered with their pants, we would prefer if it would stop. It irritates me (the person, not the Admin) that some people can be so childish about this. Thunt is a human being going through something horrible right now and all some people want to do is complain they aren't getting what they want. Tough. Thunt didn't take time out from his crisis to let you know he's still going through a crisis? Tough.

I really hope that next time something huge and horrible happens to you*, you will find the time to pull out your phone or log on to your computer and tell everyone via Twitter or a blog or a forum that you can't talk right now because you're busy dealing with [something].

*you = complainers of Thunt not "updating everyone"

<steps off soap box> <puts Mod/Admin hat back on>

Oh and btw, if Wears was being condescending, he has reason. All of the Mods here have reason, but he does probably better than most. Wears is a personal friend of THunt's and he's worried. He's also irritated that people keep bashing Thunt when he's clearly down. We've requested that people stop.

Group think? No. I'd call it being respectful.

It's almost like walking into a funeral during the viewing and telling the family of the deceased just how much of a jerk you think he was and then getting offended when the family retaliates.

We don't expect everyone to have the same opinion. But coming to the forums and complaining about the author, especially in a time like this, is firmly in the "Not Cool" category. IMO.