Unkindest of all

[scarfman]

I read theferrett's two-and-a-half part essay on pursuing LiveJournal stardom, because it was linked to. The context of the link was a discussion of the assertion that cuts are bad, mmkay, because people skip them, mmkay. So I thought about not cutting my cartoons any more. After digesting the arguments I've decided I'm going to continue to cut graphics - at least wide and/or multiple graphics - and spoilers (as does the Ferrett), which I already did. But I'm going to decline to cut for length (as does the Ferrett). Which I've never done. Because I've hardly written an update much longer than a screen anyway.

And I'm going to friend the Ferrett. Because people whose writing I like like his.

Comments

[drake57.livejournal.com]

I always click lj cuts.
It dosen't bother me if people don't LJ cut something,i LJ cut because i got way too much grief when i didn't.

[abates.livejournal.com]

*nods* I always cut long entries because if I didn't people would kill me and then I would die and my LJ would end up on ljdrama.org and get lots of visitors but I wouldn't know because I was dead which would be a bummer.

[drake57.livejournal.com]

Exactly! ;)

[abates.livejournal.com]

If jwz is any indication, the way to LJ stardom is to post bizarre and strange links with pictures, make snarky comments about them and generally be the LJ equivalent of Gregory House.

Or alternately you could do like miss_mcdonald and just take pictures of yourself dressed as Ronald McDonald.

[drake57.livejournal.com]

OK miss_mcdonald is scary :)

[abates.livejournal.com]

The halloween pic rocks. :)

[larksilver.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I can't read The Ferrett at work. Or, as of this morning, Questionable Content, but that's another story.

So lookin' at his schtuff will have to wait til I get home.

Nobody except Paul G. ever comments on my LJ either way, but I do use a cut so that others can not read it more conveniently. ha!

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Eh... he's not the only famous LJer, and they don't all do it that way. Really long posts without cuts make it hard to quickly browse a flist.

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

True. But I'll arbitrarily claim that those who have become famous due to their LJ-cutting have done so in spite of the cut, not because. Just like I've become LJ-famous (such as it is) despite me not automatically friending everyone who reads me.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Do people pick up that many readers just from random browsing? Most of the people I started reading for their writing (as opposed to deciding to be buddies) are people I saw say something smart in a community or someone else's journal.

[theferrett.livejournal.com]

Not that I know of. Which is another reason to be against the LJ-Cut, if your main goal is attracting readers. I mean, if someone thinks, "Gee, that looks uninteresting," you never get the opportunity to change their mind.

[wednesday]

I have image placeholders turned on. People who cut their images get me to look at them. If I see an image placeholder someplace I don't expect it to be (I expect them, say, in syn account feeds oriented towards the purpose, which go in a separate filter), I typically ignore the image entirely -- it's all too often irrelevant or a waste of my time. It's also often a means of imposing a significant download upon the user, which I find nontrivially frustrating. (Right now, I'm on the back of a slow DSL line and have to share my bandwidth with someone who has latency-sensitive requirements, so if five people all post something bigger than a userpic at once, um, no.)

Best compromise practice, IMO, is a thumbnail and a cut.

[scarfman]

'Tis a puzzlement. I get mixed messags on this. Those on my flist who're on LJ to post cartoons - most or all of them being fellow Daily Grinders - don't cut their cartoon, unless it's particularly wide (say, about as wide as an Arthur, King of Time and Space strip) or long. For an hour after I read the Ferrett's polemic against those who whine when their flist page formatting is bunged up, I decided I'd post a warning that I was going to stop cutting any of my graphics. I changed my mind because I don't like my flist page formatting bunged up.

As for the graphics I don't cut - well, I don't have a thumbnailer. I suppose I'll just have to start giving them intriguing alt tags, and hope for the best.

[pedanther]

I notice that the Ferrett's prescription, despite being titled "Do Not Under Any Circumstances Use LJ-Cuts", does recognise some circumstances where cuts are appropriate: "I want LJ-Cuts for photos, spoilers and quizzes."

I'd guess that "photos" in this context means any large image, including cartoons. (But I'm open to correction.)

[wednesday]

Thumbnailing apps are pretty easy to come by these days. What are you running?

[scarfman]

Resending because I'd set my login to remember this IP and it didn't, dammit

At home I mostly use a Gateway Solo 1200 laptop running Windows XP Professional. But I'm disinclined to make a habit of using software they don't also have where I work (which is why I do my webcomic in MSPaint).

[scarfman]

Wow. The Ferrett ought to add to his How To Comment-Whore list, "Post an entry on a How To Comment-Whore list".