Good News, Everyone!

Forum registration is now functional again. I know this because I had three registrations in my inbox today, two of which were bots or spammers (or spambots). Oh, how I had missed the subtle dance of checking anti-bot sites, Googling names, and otherwise figuring out if a registration was real or not.

I am, in fact, being sarcastic. If you’re a real-human being who would like to contribute to our forums, please, register and I will happily let you in. If you’re a spammer, please smash your head into your monitor repeatedly. I’ll wait.

But, strangely enough, today’s blog is not about spammers or registration. It’s about ghosts.

I have complained before about the plethora of ghost hunter shows on cable now (and how I should have my own show, Ghost Fighter). Things, however, have sunk to a new low. There is now a ghost-show on Animal Planet.

I actually watched a couple, as I was curious how they’d incorporate the whole ‘animal’ angle into the show. Would there be ghost pets? Would psychics channel the spirits of animals? Would they somehow use animals to try and sniff out spirits?

The truth is even better: In the two episodes I saw, there was a passing reference to a family pet and then the animal was completely forgotten for the rest of the episode. It was literally “. . . and then Rover got really upset and I looked outside . . . “ with a quick cut of a dog looking at the camera. Needless to say, the dog didn’t look particularly agitated.

Now, maybe it’s just me, but if your channel is called Animal Planet and the show you’re running has absolutely nothing to do with animals, mayhap you shouldn’t run it? Or perhaps, change it to include animals?

Now, I’m not advocating throwing hamsters into haunted buildings to see what would happen (confused hamsters), but why not just have a show where the ghost hunters use dogs?

Just get a couple of high-strung dogs and have their handlers lead them through scary buildings. The dogs, being nervous by nature, will occasionally freak out. You then edit the whole thing together with the proper voice over and bingo, instant Animal Planet exclusive.

It would go something like this:

Narrator: “As the ghost hunters wound their way through the abandoned mental hospital which was built over an Indian burial ground and also happened to be the sight of several Civil-War battles, Mr. Jingles became nervous.”

Cut to Mr. Jingles licking himself.

Narrator: “That means he’s sensing something! But what?”

Mr. Jingles looks at a wall. And then the floor. And then the wall again. He resumes licking himself.

Narrator: “The spirit must be close! What will Mr. Jingles do now?!!!”

Mr. Jingles is now humping the camera man’s leg.

Cut to commercial.

Cheers,
-Jason

Technically Incompetent

Say for example that you were a regular reader of Wayfarer’s Moon and decided, hypothetically speaking, that you wanted to visit the forums and read what was being said there. You, theoretically, would go to the forums and be amazed at the profound and often hilarious insights provided about the comic. You would then, perhaps, wish to register for the forums and participate in said discussion.

You would probably expect that the process of registering would be quick, easy and above all, painless.

Unfortunately that would not be the case, seeing as how one cannot currently register, as our forum software is somehow broken.

Let me explain: Leigh and I are technically incompetent. Oh, we’ve worked with computers for over thirty-years combined and we are masters of our particular fields. However, we don’t really know how computers work and we know just enough to know that if we do something wrong, we could potentially set the computer on fire.

NOTE: No, I’ve never actually set a computer on fire. I did delete the entire Wayfarer’s Moon page once, which is why I’m not allowed to touch the web-stuff ever again.

So, if you need a comic page written, penciled, inked, colored, and lettered. Call us. We’re like elite comic commandos. Okay, slow, out-of-shape commandos who get winded if they stand up to fast, but commandos none-the-less.

Web-pagey programming types, not so much.

To sum up: if you’ve tried to register for the forums and couldn’t, we know and are having our guy look into the issue. Please be patient until we get this fixed. We’ll let you know once the issues have been resolved.

Cheers,
-Jason

Mom!!!

In a move that rocked the world of online gaming today, Blizzard announced that they would soon be displaying a user’s real first and last name in their forums. They hope this will cut down on the flame wars and insults that their forums have become known for.

For those of you who don’t quite get what that means, here’s a sample of what might go on:

BGB008s
Druids totally suck! They’re totally overpowered and only noobs play them!

URM0M
Hah! U suck, BGB008s.

ARtHass
Lol! Ur jast mAdd cus druids own u!

URMOM
Yah! LOL@ARtHass!

BGBOO8s
Sut up! You bth suck! F#()^*! U!

URMOM
U gona cry? ? I bet ur cryin r8t now!

ARtHass
Cryb8be!

However, if the users have to use their real names, things would change radically.

Billy Smith
Druids totally suck! They’re totally overpowered and only noobs play them!

Martha Smith
Hah! U suck, Billy Smith!

Dr. Phillip W. Jones
Lol! Ur jast mAdd cus druids own u!

Martha Smith
Yah! LOL@Dr. Phillip W. Jones!

Billy Smith
Wait, Martha Smith? Do you live on Green Street in Pittsburg?

Martha Smith
Actually, I do.

Billy Smith
Mom?

Martha Smith
Billy, is that you?

Billy Smith
Mom! What the hell?

Martha Smith
You watch your language! And no, druids don’t suck!

Billy Smith
But, you’re my mom! You’re supposed to support me!

Martha Smith
Not when you’re being a suckhole, dear.

Dr. Phillip W. Jones
Lollz!

As you can see, interactions on the Blizzard forums would be greatly changed. The user base, as you can well imagine, is not happy about this. Last I checked, there was a new post every 3 minutes on how much this would suck. Posters cite that marketing people could glean data on them, spammers and hackers could target Blizzard customers specifically, and those with odd or unusual names would be mocked relentlessly.

Honestly, I’m of two minds about it. Anonymity on the Internet can be a hassle, as some people use the lack of accountability to be jerks. A real name might very well curb a lot of that behavior.

On the one hand, I wouldn’t want my real name on a public forum like that. I mean, if people knew who I was, I could be the target of all sorts of insidious plots . . .

Oh, wait.

My name’s already all over the webcomic and our forum. You know, that might very well explain the increase in ninja attacks. Hmmm, and here I thought I was being targeted because of my rugged good looks and frighteningly advanced intellect.

I guess that’s only part of it, then.

Cheers,
-Jason

Ice Age 3

This particular video came from a thread on the Wayfarer's Moon Forum.

The first Ice Age was cute, though I haven't seen the second. The rat-squirrel, in all his pathos (a modern day Wile E. Coyote) however, is a favorite of mine. He tries and tries and never gives up, though he does (sort of) succeed in the clip below:



Cheers,
-Jason

100th!

Happy 100th!

To honor the occasion, I made a special (wherein 'special' means 'without any art skills') comic to give thanks to our most frequent posters!

You guys wanted cameos, right? Here you go!



Obviously, I have no idea what any of you look like. Not that it matters, as you've all been rendered as stick figures.

By the way, Jacobus, you're upside down because you're in Australia (down under and all that).

Thanks a lot guys! See you on the forum!

This and That

Well, convention season is drawing closer. Leigh and I are planning on hitting three or four this year, though we haven't finalized any yet. We hope to be doing a couple in the Northwest, as well as one or two in California and potentially even one in Texas.

More info will be forthcoming as things are finalized.

Also, I would like to add that the forum has been very lively lately. We've been lucky enough to get some intelligent, witty, and frequent posters, so if you're at all interested in Wayfarer's Moon, there's tons of commentary and the occasional explanation about the world of Lachryn from myself and Leigh.

Tomorrow, I plan on finally finishing up my blog on Sci-Fi (hint: even faster spaceships and walking).

Cheers,
-Jason