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Shebly

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RANDY IS ETERNAL

Robot Hamster

[Is it cold in here?]

(moderator)

And finally, shipping and portmanteau names.  You don't do it in real life (I hope!); it fails to meet the criteria I mentioned under "QC" and "Discussion" above; it fails for the reasons given in the quote just given.  Please don't do it!

Take this seriously.
(/moderator)

[TheEvilDog]

Cannot forget the stupid people.

FYP. 

FYP? For Your Pleasure?

F is for Fixed.
Y is for Your.
P is for Post.

[SirDudley]

Cannot forget the stupid people.

FYP. 

FYP? For Your Pleasure?

F is for Fixed.
Y is for Your.
P is for Post.

That was my next guess. Huh. Never seen that particular anagram before.

[Blackjoker]

I'm more partial to an acronym Flying Yak Patrol myself...

[cuzsis]

(moderator)

And finally, shipping and portmanteau names.  You don't do it in real life (I hope!); it fails to meet the criteria I mentioned under "QC" and "Discussion" above; it fails for the reasons given in the quote just given.  Please don't do it!

Take this seriously.
(/moderator)

 Not being snarky here...I honestly don't understand what the above means? Could you translate please? 

/I would prefer not to inadvertently tick someone off..

[Method of Madness]

In all fairness, the answer "do you think Hannelore would ever share her bed?" question is becoming less and less obvious.  The rule is to stick to the general trend of the character, and if the story changes the character, there's no reason not to discuss that in the thread.  Again, the romance in QC is hardly something I think often about, but merely suggesting that Marten and Hannelore might become an item in the future is hardly the crazy shipping it once was.

And cold, when you do the whole "(/moderator)" thing, it shouts "I am pulling rank".  Which is fine once in a while in extreme circumstances, but you and the other mods do it far too often for it to really have any gravitas.

[shiroihikari]

And cold, when you do the whole "(/moderator)" thing, it shouts "I am pulling rank".  Which is fine once in a while in extreme circumstances, but you and the other mods do it far too often for it to really have any gravitas.

I doubt you're looking for validation, but I agree with this.  Playing the "moderator" card is good when the situation calls for it, but...

Once again, I don't necessarily think she should be with Marten, but I also don't see Hannelore being a virgin forever and ever, amen.  But that's just me. 

[SJCrew]

I'm hardly a shipper

I'm definitely trying not to be a "shipper"

(Er...  That squee sound wasn't meant as a ship or anything like that

I'm not a MartenxHanners shipper

This board has been trying very hard to move away from that kind of shipping.

lol

Excuse me if I'm not quick to jump aboard the preferred couple hate train, but to my understanding, Marten and Hannelore are the topic of discussion right now because, well, that's what's going on in the comic. They're getting closer plain-as-day and Jeph really isn't being subtle about it either. If you have the right to assume that Marten and Hannelore will never progress any further in their relationship, I don't see why a few well-reasoned individuals can't speculate all the same the possibility that, hey, they just might become an item somewhere down the line. Both parties can come up with good arguments for the occurrence of either scenario.

After all, let's not forget: the only limitations Jeph's characters have are the ones he writes. Non-shippers have just about as much control over that as shippers do. Yet do I find it interesting QC canon doesn't seem to point in favor of the chaste and innocent Hanners maintaining her disposition forever, as many people are quick to believe. I like cute and spazzy Hanners as much as the next guy, but...the times, they are a-changin'.

I'm still thinking it's not shipping as much as it is the brother/sister-like relationship between the two.

Just a thought, do any of you guys actually have siblings? I don't recall the last time I've said anything to make my sister blush.

[ysth]

So, Jeph mentioned Ctrl Alt Del on twitter; what was it that was so offensive? (The author caved and replaced it.)

[Method of Madness]

Is this really the place for that?

Anyway, Tim (the guy behind CAD) replaced a moderately offensive joke with a joke that's almost as offensive, but doesn't work nearly as well.

[Tergon]

And cold, when you do the whole "(/moderator)" thing, it shouts "I am pulling rank".  Which is fine once in a while in extreme circumstances, but you and the other mods do it far too often for it to really have any gravitas.

Well it's sort of supposed to shout that, no?  That's exactly what he's doing.  And he's not doing it to be a douche, but because he's been very specifically directed to by Jeph.  Canonical discussion of what's been in the comic is fine, speculation as to what may happen is also fine, and even relationship-type speculation is also okay to an extent.  But Jeph has been extremely, extremely clear on a number of occasions that he does not want his characters slapped together like fanfic pairings, and he intensely loathes people speculating on sexy shenanigans between his characters.  He outright said that he doesn't care if people think it's unreasonable or unfair, because it's one of only a handful of rules he applies to the forums, and he's the one who calls the shots.
Cold is simply doing exactly what his job requires of him and shutting down that kind of discussion.  If you think there's an emotional connection that could lead to romance, fine.  But people who declare that Marten and Hanners should totally have sex, that's not.

Just a thought, do any of you guys actually have siblings? I don't recall the last time I've said anything to make my sister blush.

You've never told your sister she was pretty rad when she was feeling a bit sad?  Because... that is exactly what's happened here.  Any and all subtext aside, Marten saw Hannelore feeling sad and said she was pretty awesome, and because she's shy, she blushed.  That's... not only exactly the sort of thing I'd say to my sister, but exactly the sort of response she'd give.

[Kazukagii]

That's... not only exactly the sort of thing I'd say to my sister, but exactly the sort of response she'd give.

Really? That's nice. If I told my sister she was rad she'd raise up an eyebrow and tell me: "The 90's are over, stop it."

In more comic related news, Sad Hanners is sad, and this comic has slightly depressed me. Still, this has been a fun week, what with all the threats SWIII. Let's do it again next week. Just make Monday's comic a little more happy, eh Jeph? I can keep my spirits despite Hanner's neglect because it's Friday and I'm happy, but if this is still happening Monday I'm just going to get depressed.

[snubnose]

Hmmmm.

I cant help it.

I dont like Hanners Dad.



Oh, and I think for the time being Hanners + X is not worth shipping for any X. Unless X agrees to only cuddle her in full body condom.

[tinkerbell]

So, Jeph mentioned Ctrl Alt Del on twitter; what was it that was so offensive? (The author caved and replaced it.)

It is true that this really is not the place for such discussion, but if you go to the main page of the website in the news section he has a link to the original. Just so your curiosity is sated.

[Is it cold in here?]

While I agree with the general sentiment for the moment, and further agree Marten is probably not ever going to be a good choice for it, I think it does Hannelore a disservice to presume she's incapable of a non-platonic relationship. We've seen her reaction to the firemen, yaoi, the 'party favors,' etc... she's not asexual. She's got a lot holding her back, but the assumption it's never going to happen just feels like a misplaced attempt to keep her "innocent."

This is in my opinion a good post and the right way to discuss Hannelore's future. Someone may contradict me later but I say, "good job, new person".

It's good because it extrapolates from the strip, which distinguishes it from prurient slashfic.

It's good because it opens ground for reasonable discussion. Hannelore's desires are real. Her inability to do anything about them was her own assessment, at least as of strip 521. Since then she's been able to initiate a hug and tolerate being playfully poked, which is progress. And yes, there is an error to avoid, that of thinking of her as a child. It's an easy mistake to make when she says things like "Make the scary man go away", but she is 22 and in terms of life experience and emotional development is out of childhood and into early adolescence.

[Dr. ROFLPWN]

Dude. Marten and Hanners are totally moirailin' for each other.

Just sayin'.

You know, previously I was ready to devalidate this statement and point out that they both have pretty full pale quadrants, but honestly? I think you may be onto something. They've always kind of done conciliatory flirting back and forth, for one. Faye has practically 'rail-dumped Marten for Dora at this point, for two. And Marigold has got to be an Ampora-style pain to be in a moirallegiance with; I love her, but honestly, the girl is all about her own FEELINGS and PROBLEMS.

So yeah I will totally ship Marten ♦ Hannelore. All the diamonds, all the fist-b♦nps and bro-hugs. :D

EDIT: ...ffffffff someone (who knows what I'm talking about and is part of the surprisingly small crossover of MSPA fans and QC fans) needs to do a fanart of Marten as Equius and Hanners as Nepeta. IT WORKS, YOU KNOW IT DOES

[Odin]

So, Jeph mentioned Ctrl Alt Del on twitter; what was it that was so offensive? (The author caved and replaced it.)

The fact that Jeph even reads that sex-offender's webcomic is a pretty damning commentary on Jeph being able to take the high ground in any discussion about the characters in QC. The author of CAD is internet-famous for getting busted trying to get a 14 year-old girl to meet up with him for sex and sending her pictures of his dick; well, that and the ongoing stupidity in pretty much every strip he posts and the callouts about it on thirteen different forums, the parody strips on other webcomics, etc.

At this point CAD seems to only exist to provide fodder for other people to make fun of it.

(moderator)

And finally, shipping and portmanteau names.  You don't do it in real life (I hope!); it fails to meet the criteria I mentioned under "QC" and "Discussion" above; it fails for the reasons given in the quote just given.  Please don't do it!

Take this seriously.
(/moderator)

 Not being snarky here...I honestly don't understand what the above means? Could you translate please?  

/I would prefer not to inadvertently tick someone off..

It means that Hannelore is Jeph's Virgin Mary character and ever speculating that she would have a romantic or sexual interest in anyone, ever, is against the rules of the forums and blasphemy according to Jeph, the Pope of the Church of QC.

Never mind that even the "real" Virgin Mary had, like, 4 or 5 kids by two different dads.

[Dr. ROFLPWN]

Jeph doesn't normally read it-- someone just linked it in his drawing stream and he took a gander. Ninja'd by tender but yeah.

(daaaaang Odin calm down I mean I got my problems with Jeph and his policies, but calling a dude a CAD reader is over the line, that is a slur in and of itself)

Having also taken a gander at it, I can say with candor that it is impressive how positively racist Buckley manages to be without using a single inappropriate term! It's like magic, only it's shitty and horrible.

[Odin]

The fact that Jeph even reads that sex-offender's webcomic ought to tell you something about Jeph.

Jeph hearing about the strip through through the grapevine is much more likely than whatever you're trying to imply.

If you think I'm implying anything, English must be your second language.

CAD has been an internet meme for "web comic written by sex offender" at least since late 2009 when I heard about it (that and jokes about how Tim can't draw hair and instead makes it look like everyone has birds on top of their heads). There is even a "Tim Buckley is a fucking moron, and this thread is where we will track his constant fuck ups" thread over on the SomethingAwful sub-forum dedicated to various fuckups you'll find scattered around the internet.

And... checking that thread where they're talking about this now, there is this choice quote about the current incident, for those that are curious:

Really? REALLY? FOUR VERSIONS?

Wow, four versions. Four versions, and not a single one funny.

He sure did agonize over this one everybody.

I love how he brings up the "WELL I'M JUST NOT OFFENDED BY COMEDY" thing - showing he completely has missed the point. Stand up comics make race related humor, sure, but they do it in a different manner and have some tact. Their jokes are also more clever. What Tim has done is the equivalent of a comic just standing on stage and going "MAN THOSE BLACK PEOPLE SURE DO LOVE FRIED CHICKEN M I RITE?!" and that's it - that's the punchline, he's not leading into anything at all.

It's such a train wreck, this is seriously why the thread exists.

[akronnick]

And now people who don't read CAD, know all about CAD and would never read it, have never heard of CAD, hate Tim Buckley and CAD, or read CAD religiously but would never admit it are not only visiting his site, but reading two separate versions of today's comic and talking about it and most likely linking to it all over the internet.

Nothing attracts eyeballs like controversy.

Well played Mr. Buckley, well played.

[Odin]

imˇply
1. to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated

The fact that Jeph even reads that sex-offender's webcomic ought to tell you something about Jeph.

This 'ought to tell you [something] about Jeph' = implication [of something] about Jeph. I don't know what you're implying, and don't really care.

But yes, I know you want to talk about CAD and Tim Buckley and SA memes and how Jeph is a Pope of some kind, so I'll ignore those tangents.

The only time CAD is even mentioned on this forum is when Jeph comments on it--either on these forums himself or when someone relays one of his comments about it. Jeph has admitted that he follows CAD (there were a few posts in the Ask Jeph thread where he makes comparisons to how he writes a script and how Buckley does things), so I don't know why you would even argue that he "heard about it through the grapevine" or whatever.

I'll go back and edit the implication out, since it offends you so much.

[cherrypi]

And now people who don't read CAD, know all about CAD and would never read it, have never heard of CAD, hate Tim Buckley and CAD, or read CAD religiously but would never admit it are not only visiting his site, but reading two separate versions of today's comic and talking about it and most likely linking to it all over the internet.

Nothing attracts eyeballs like controversy.

Well played Mr. Buckley, well played.

In the wise words of Danielle Corsetto: "I don't know the guy personally, but actually no, I don't think he's doing that. I think he's actually THAT uninformed."

[akronnick]

I don't know whether or not he did it on purpose, but people are talking.

[jwhouk]

So, Jeph mentioned Ctrl Alt Del on twitter; what was it that was so offensive? (The author caved and replaced it.)

I try not to think about that "webcomic". Buckley has awful taste (witness the miscarriage storyline and its horrible ending.)

[iduguphergrave]

I'm going to do something radical and actually discuss what this thread is supposed to be here for!

RE: New comic: Poor Hannelore  Sadly I know how she feels.

[Odin]

I'm going to do something radical and actually discuss what this thread is supposed to be here for!

RE: New comic: Poor Hannelore   Sadly I know how she feels.

There really isn't all that much to discuss, unless you want to get into the subject of how all of the characters were brought up in abusive and/or traumatizing environments and are now having to learn how to cope as adults (and then turning that conversation to Hannelore in today's strip).

[Nick and Marla]

I'm going to do something radical and actually discuss what this thread is supposed to be here for!

RE: New comic: Poor Hannelore   Sadly I know how she feels.

There really isn't all that much to discuss, unless you want to get into the subject of how all of the characters were brought up in abusive and/or traumatizing environments and are now having to learn how to cope as adults (and then turning that conversation to Hannelore in today's strip).

Works for me. Sad stuff.

Bawwwwww.

[Border Reiver]

Concur.

Call more often H!  Otherwise when you do call Dad'll assume the worst (and barring the serious injury or death of a child there is little worse).  On the other hand it gets him on the phone.

[Method of Madness]

What's this sex-offender Buckley talk?  CAD's one of the strips I'll check soon after midnight (along with LICD and xkcd), and I never realized how hated CAD was here.  It's a fairly solid webcomic, and come on, how can you hate the Space Archaeologist arcs?  It's like an incompetent Indiana Jones...in SPACE!

And Tergon, you say that "speculation as to what may happen is also fine, and even relationship-type speculation is also okay to an extent."  Well, for the most part, (aside from a few obvious jokes), that's all that was occurring.  Not so much "MANNERS SHOULD TOTALLY DO IT" as much as "well, who knows, they might find something in each other at this rate."  And speculation isn't shipping, shipping implies that you have a desired outcome.  Saying something might or might not happen is different, and as far as I can tell, not against the rules.

[Tergon]

Oh, no doubt, MoM.  But even the obvious jokes around here... well, we all remember the Perfect Shitstorm over the breakup arc.  Obvious trolls may be obvious to most: people who spam that their ship is the only way to go, or people who post for the sole purpose of saying that QC is badly written and has shitty characters.  They're a dime a dozen, but some still poke their heads up once in a while, and occasionally they manage to wrangle a reaction.  I believe - and I hope he'll correct me if I'm wrong - that Cold was just nipping that potential in the bud before it started to grow.
Please don't think I'm mini-modding or anything like that.  I've learned my lesson on being an idiot in the past!  It was just that you seemed surprised at Cold's response and, well, I thought I would point out that there is a basis for his reaction.  Saying what the forum rules are isn't my job, I was just pointing out that the standard is there and that it is Cold's place to do exactly what he did.  I think we can all agree that nobody wants another Shitstorm thread, and it's just a sensitive topic at the moment with the breakup arc so fresh in our minds.

[Method of Madness]

I have no issue with Cold doing his job.  My point was if he uses the "(/moderator)" card too often, it will end being meaningless.  I'm not saying he shouldn't hold people back here and there like he's doing, but he should refrain from pulling rank unless the situation really calls for it, if only so people will see that tag and know that shit just got real.  If it's on nearly every thread page, then it's almost second nature to ignore it.

And as for the breakup arc, I'll preface that by saying I wasn't on the forum yet.  In fact, according to my profile, I don't think I even have an account yet (joined in December, started posting in February or March).  But wham-arcs like that are extremely rare (I pretty much just count 500 and 1800, and hilariously enough, one ends up with Dora and Marten starting to date, and the other starts with Dora and Marten ending their relationship).  Anyway, the point is I didn't see how crazy the forum got, but since massive shifts like that happen so rarely, maybe it's not a horrible thing that the forum reacts when they do occur.  And we need not assume that every speculation about a possible romance will lead to a repeat of the Dorapocalypse.

(I think that made sense)

[SJCrew]

You've never told your sister she was pretty rad when she was feeling a bit sad?  Because... that is exactly what's happened here.  Any and all subtext aside, Marten saw Hannelore feeling sad and said she was pretty awesome, and because she's shy, she blushed.  That's... not only exactly the sort of thing I'd say to my sister, but exactly the sort of response she'd give.

Yeah, then my sister blushes because I'm a cute guy and she's totally attracted- Whoops, TMI.

[Is it cold in here?]

 Not being snarky here...I honestly don't understand what the above means? Could you translate please? 

/I would prefer not to inadvertently tick someone off..

You know how some Harry Potter fans think a sexual relationship between Harry and Draco is a cool thing to talk about?

Doing the equivalent with Jeph's characters, postulating a hookup that doesn't make any sense for the characters or the story, massively squicks the people who, unlike me, actually run the forum.

If it helps, think of it as a local culture thing, that you'd respect in the same way as you'd try to speak the local language in a foreign country.

A relationship that does make sense for the characters or that's been foreshadowed in the strip, for example Dale and Marigold, is fair game to talk about. By contrast, Jeph himself has abruptly dismissed talk of romance between Marten and Hannelore.

This information about how the forum is supposed to work is written down, though distributed across several threads. Some of it is IMO underemphasized. An unofficial list of things to avoid is at http://questionablecontent.wikia.com/wiki/Questionable_Content_forum#Things_that_tick_off_Jeph. Take another look through the stickied threads here and in the I'm New subforum, and please be welcome!

[Method of Madness]

Forgive me if I've misread your post, but how is speculating about a Dale/Marigold romance any better than doing the same with Marten and Hanners?  They both can be backed up within the comic itself, and can be viewed as a natural progression of all characters involved. (Well, except Dale, maybe)

[Is it cold in here?]

I have no issue with Cold doing his job.  My point was if he uses the "(/moderator)" card too often, it will end being meaningless.  I'm not saying he shouldn't hold people back here and there like he's doing, but he should refrain from pulling rank unless the situation really calls for it, if only so people will see that tag and know that shit just got real.  If it's on nearly every thread page, then it's almost second nature to ignore it.

People should feel free to PM me with feedback and suggestions about moderation, especially suggestions that have been proven to work in similar forums. The question of how and whether to distinguish between talking as a moderator and talking as a regular participant hasn't had a definitive resolution. The question of how to stop bad things before they start without intervening too frequently is another one I keep chewing over.

since massive shifts like that happen so rarely, maybe it's not a horrible thing that the forum reacts when they do occur.  And we need not assume that every speculation about a possible romance will lead to a repeat of the Dorapocalypse.

(I think that made sense)

There's reaction, and then there's posting a copy of one of Jeph's cartoons with the speech bubble edited to call another discussion participant a "faggit"[sic]. Yes, it really got that bad.

Forgive me if I've misread your post, but how is speculating about a Dale/Marigold romance any better than doing the same with Marten and Hanners?  They both can be backed up within the comic itself, and can be viewed as a natural progression of all characters involved. (Well, except Dale, maybe)

Because one of the two has been vetoed by Jeph on Twitter and Tumblr.

At one point, Jeph threated to "burn this place to the fucking ground" over mentions of a Hannelore pairing where, unlike this case, the other character wanted it. We are his guests.

[sitnspin]

Wow, that almost made me cry. I grew up with parents who were always too busy for me, I was raised mostly by people who worked for them. It really does get lonely. Then they died when I was still in my late teens. I never really did get to know them. Unfortunately, they didn't invent anything cool and life-saving. No wonder Hanners is as screwed up as she is. Poor girl. If she was more comfortable with hugs, she could really use one.

[Method of Madness]

@cold Yeesh.  I guess I had to be there.

[Is it cold in here?]

If people here strike you as oversensitive, it's because the pain is recent.

[Method of Madness]

Five months ago is recent?

Anyway, I'll drop the issue, since it doesn't affect me either way.  I just wanted to know the history behind the madness.

[Kugai]

Awwww that's sad

I get the idea that Hanners does actually like her dad, but he's one of those workaholics that just doesn't make time for his foamily.



He really needs to be brought down to earth, both figuratively and literally.

[Tergon]

Yeah, then my sister blushes because I'm a cute guy and she's totally attracted- Whoops, TMI.

Hey now!  You watch your mouth, I ain't no stinkin' Tasmanian! 

[jwhouk]

@cold Yeesh.  I guess I had to be there.

Just be glad you weren't. It got that ugly.

[SirDudley]

*sees Hanners outfit for Friday*

HHNNNNNNGGG.


So, have we actually seen HannerDad yet?

[Is it cold in here?]

No, he's never actually appeared. We can only wonder what he's like.

[Method of Madness]

He's sort of appeared, we saw his space station from Earth.

[Carl-E]

That's not an appearance, that's a drive-by fly-by. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a little more histoire, for those who are relatively new;

The shit storm happened not just because of the breakup, but the breakup coincided with a repair of the signup engine on the forum, which had been broken for over a year.  Not only was there an emotional arc going on, but there was literally a flood of pent-up new forumites, some who'd been lurking for ages, who had a lot to say and no practice saying it. 

Until that time, all moderators on the forum pretty much ignored the comic discussion part of the forum (including Jeph, who hates to see his work dissected, as do most artists).  They instead lived in the other sections, the ones about music, art and other pastimes in the lower part of the big list of topics.  They got flooded with a horde of new people hitting the "report to moderator" button over insults both real and imagined, screaming about each other.  The old ones stepped in with a fairly heavy hand, locking and even trashing the worst of the threads (the WCDT that week was about 40 pages of diatribes, and will never be seen again). 

Several of us suggested that new, local mods should be added, taken from the ranks of the comic discussion forumites, to try and keep things civil and running in a way that would not require the interventions of the ancients (for those who think that term is trite, note that the moderators before pwhodges and IsItColdInHere all date back to the founding of the boards). 

So yeah, the way things go in here is sometimes a matter of testing the waters, and the mods are really trying to feel their way through this.  At times it leads to a bit of the "Oooh, don't go there!" attitude, but generally it works. 

Well, it's better than it was. 

And will continue to improve with age! 

[/memorylane]

[Nick and Marla]

You know how some Harry Potter fans think a sexual relationship between Harry and Draco is a cool thing to talk about?

I honestly was not aware that people like that actually existed.

[iduguphergrave]

Existed? You probably know one.

[Mr_Rose]

You know how some Harry Potter fans think a sexual relationship between Harry and Draco is a cool thing to talk about?

I honestly was not aware that people like that actually existed.

Oh, wow.
You may wish to brace yourself because, frankly, Harry with Draco is merely the tip of the creepy, creepy iceberg. Pretty sure every combination of any two (or three) even vaguely prominent characters in the novels has been ficced at least once, even ones that ought to be physically impossible and/or are independently squicky in their own right (beyond being perversions of established characters).

And that's just HP fanfics.
It's virtually guaranteed that every prominent fiction will 'acquire' a tenuous cometary tail of slashficcers. regardless of genre, content, or style.

[Mustakyy]

D'awwwww.

*giggle*


hilarious... funny..  sad..  such a great scale of emotions in one week..


When lookin at this week's comics, while some of em seem to have a bit sadder undertone (neglected Hanners is quite sad  , I think Raoulleferes comment on her parents was quite accurate.. a bit harsh, but accurate), the dynamic between Hanners and Marten has been quite nice to watch. They seem to bring the best out of each other.


One thing that has been totally confirmed (though it wasn't that suprising news to anyone, now was it?) is that our lil' indie protagonists berserk button seems to be messing with his friends. Mess with him, meh, he might respond (or not), but mess with his friends and there's gonna be hell to pay..