I don't know if anyone will respond to this but it's been on my mind for a while. I've been on drunk duck since they had cookies you used to give out. Unfortunately I had to delete my old account because of a person who was continuously stalk me writing messages on my comics emails ect.

But that's beside the point the thing is there were so many people I once communicated with, commented on comics and it was a load of fun you kind of made friends. But I am not sure when it happened may have been when drunk duck had the major shut down but those people and those comics are no longer around they don't update. I am unsure if they left to another site or just stopped drawing all together. But out of sedimental reasons I cannot just get rid of those comics from my favs hoping Sunday they will come back. Or I just re-read them remembering how much I loved those comics.

I am not sure if anyone else feels the same way. But it's sad and I often feel so lonly now without those people around we would read each other's comics comment and have a good time. I know I can get involved in things like projects often sadly I don't have the time to participate I did however get to in the awards and managed to finish my page for that.

Still I didn't know if anyone else out there felt the same with the dead comics and missing creators.

I definitely feel you. Most of the people who originally commented and encouraged me are long gone, and so many comics I enjoyed simply stopped cold.

Some favorite comics actually concluded (I still miss them, especially if the author made nothing else and left) but most are “abandoned.” (Including two of my own, I guess. But one was a strip with no canon/story, so it wasn't left hanging.)


But it's nice to have new people around and new comics to follow. I'm very slow to do so. I end up getting informed about the newer talent by the featureds and the DD Awards.

i know what you mean bro. i wasn't on drunk duck in its glory days, but i used to be apart of several different internet communities where i shared a lot of relationships with people. you just need to make new friends is all. thats how i feel.

I've only been here since 2012, so these so-called ‘glory days’ are sort of like myth to me… I've felt very welcome since I've been here. Plenty of commentary and discussion, both on my comic and others… Lots of encouragement…!

I'll admit that when I look at some older comics that are just wonderful but haven't updated in years, I feel a sort of bittersweet longing for something I never knew… (looking at you, Elspeth…) but seems there's plenty of new, if not to fully replace, certainly fills in…

My two cents…!

And there are some who linger and no one cares about. So it goes both ways.


For every wonderful favorite that stopped updating there is an undiscovered gem you haven't found yet.

@used books:
I understand that, I used to get a lot of encouragement,comments, so I felt like part of the community. It is very sad to see those comics go. I enjoyed them for the style of art, the genre and story. I can't let go of them, and delete them from my faves list. I guess it's just sentimental is why. I think if the comic concluded, I was always able to find another one they started, but I know the feeling. I have myself stopped one comic all together and re-did it in Chinese, I just haven't' been around to draw it out.

@totalraddad: it seems to happen on a lot of sites, but I think here I've noticed it more then anything, it's a sad thing to see, it's like loosing friends.

@ kimLuster: from what I seen, most of the people that talk on here, or are featured ect, have only been around since after the shut down I think. aside from Charby's creator but I don't see much of her around on forums or commenting on others stuff anymore, but she was one of my favorites. so I'm glad she's still around.

it's good you felt welcome! that's wonderful news.

I think when I came back to this site, it's kind of hard coming back and no one is around anymore, you do feel a since of loneliness. I can look back at one of my old comics and see over 10 comments a day (full of support, and interest in the comic)to when i came back straight down to 0. I can't really tell if anyone enjoys my comics anymore, one reason I'm kind of reluctant to come around is because it appears that I'm completely outside of the inner circle.
(then again, I can't really tell if anyone actually comments on older pages because Drunk Duck doesn't have a set up to tell you.)

I've added a few new ones, but I'm not sure if they felt completely left out but they have like 3 pages then they just stop, I have found one on another site that continues to update there then here. so it's hard to try and add new comics when they don't update. :(

@Bravo1102: I think I've notice that, there are really good comics around, but no one notices them, so they get lost, but that happens a lot. and I've also noticed that comics that normally don't get the ‘since of welcome’ here move to another site to update, so I'm lucky to find them updated on other sites. where I can see that they feel more at home.

I've picked a few new comics, they update for a bit, then leave, and never update again here. not sure what the cause for that is exactly. but it's kind of heart breaking at times, when you find an interest in a comic that's new, but fails to update.

A big chunk of the issue you're seeing is two things. #1: many of the folks like myself who have been around for the last 10 years ( I think I'm one of the oldest living fossils around on the site behind Oz. ) were active as teenagers and young adults, and most of them have grown up and now have jobs, families, businesses, etc. that consume most of their time. Those folks may still be around and reading, but just don't have the time to spend hours engaging and talking like they used to.

The #2 thing, is the current state of DD after Wowio ignored and allowed most of the things that made it function to deteriorate and become outdated via neglect. Unfortunately, that means that now means that Oz has effectively taken on the running of the site as a passion project, and the money to get things up and working again is relatively limited. There are plans to fix things ( I'm working on putting together a potential blueprint for a rebuild in my spare time, but again, not much of that and it's slow going. ), and thereby bring back the community, but it's going to be slow going because DD is and always was the home of the little guy, and the little guy doesn't often have a lot of money to blow on site upgrades.

Haha hey Mika-yi! Long time no see! If ya haven't seen me on the forums it's because I sequester most of my whining to the bugs/suggestions forum :D (but I just left way too much text in a recent main page article too!) and I still comment on comics, though I get far behind when depression hits and last month was HELL.

But for the most part my lurk-status is due to a lot of social anxiety. I think it's great that newer members feel welcome, but ever since 2006 I've felt like people resent me being here so I try not to be around to bother them. People I looked up to said some very unkind things when I was suicidal, and I've never forgotten that.

(by the way I'm very sorry to hear someone was harassing you like that!)

So as a result I have to work up a LOT of courage to even post anymore, it takes me hours to even write a simple post like this and I've lost count of how many times I X'd out a whole reply after writing for fear of how people would respond… but I am a lot more active than I've been in the past, while also being busier than ever. I'm working on 5 comics right now (6 if I include the short I'm working on and 7 if I include the book) in addition to patreon stuff! 2 of the comics had been half-dead for a few years but I just started updating them again. All day every day I'm working!

But yeah I got 174 comics in my faves and maybe only 33 of those have updated within the last month! And I'm really starting to feel cursed because there's so many times that I work up my courage to comment and the comic STOPS. (◕︿◕,)

Rag and Bone, HIND a queen of rabbits, SAWGIRL, Rizmo… among others on other sites…

I also have a problem where I feel guilty for missing a bunch of pages and feel compelled to comment on every page I didn't comment on and it's a procrastination loop because I don't have time to do that! (ỌДỌ)

Off-topic, but I just wanted to let you know you aren't alone, Amelius. Not that I inspire envy/resentment (that has never happened) but the online anxiety thing. Sometimes I type up long heartfelt, insightful, or amusing (imo) things for a forum or journal or social media, proofread, edit, re-edit, spend upwards of 40 minutes on it – and then feel less and less comfortable until I delete it (either before or after posting). This is very very common for me. I have no reason for it. I just worry about being met with (hostile) debate. Or being noticed at all really. When I was a kid, I used to write stories that I never let anyone read. The idea of an audience horrified me (still does; I force myself past it sometimes).

The longer the hiatus, the easier it becomes not to return. And when you were updating no one seemed to notice anyway and you were not happy with it anyway and the reasons to stay away grow and grow.

And why were you doing this anyway? Read and linger but don't put yourself through the pain and effort of a regular updating comic ever again.

Envy of the talents of others, the dedication and tenacity of others, things you can't find in yourself. And nothing is ever right. It didn't ring true. It didn't work. So stop and start again, until that too becomes a reason not to do anything.

And the weeks become months and soon a whole year and your passion has completely disappeared and everyone is better off without having to read your comic, not that anyone ever did anyway.

And the delete button is there teasing you.

bravo1102 wrote:
The longer the hiatus, the easier it becomes not to return. And when you were updating no one seemed to notice anyway and you were not happy with it anyway and the reasons to stay away grow and grow.

And why were you doing this anyway? Read and linger but don't put yourself through the pain and effort of a regular updating comic ever again.

Envy of the talents of others, the dedication and tenacity of others, things you can't find in yourself. And nothing is ever right. It didn't ring true. It didn't work. So stop and start again, until that too becomes a reason not to do anything.

And the weeks become months and soon a whole year and your passion has completely disappeared and everyone is better off without having to read your comic, not that anyone ever did anyway.

And the delete button is there teasing you.

you just made me sad! but its something i say to my friends a lot when it comes to my work, they say that it's not true and this or that, and i have to just remain quiet or else i come across as a complete whiner. its tough being a creative, because you can never stop doing it. you willingly embrace failure in hopes that you will gain some form of validation from the experience. i hate it, but i sort of love hating.

the best thing is to create for yourself. not for your present self, but for you future self. i have a folder full of abandoned ideas, none of which make sense to me now bc i never took the time to actually make them into something. i want to read the terrible thing i made years later, even if its embarrassing or stupid.

@Iba That is very true, some I know where in college at the time too though. They could have just stopped updating due to a lot of things. but I think I keep them more for the sentimental reasons. and the idea they had in their comics that i really enjoyed.

I don't know much about the Wowie thing. I knew a little but not a lot about it only that it had a lot of issues to work out with the website and all.

@Amelius: OH wow! hi!! I didn't even think you'd see this. but yes I've been around just not around enough. but OH! you remember me! that's so sweet! I didn't think anyone remembered me. LOL I'm sorry for the depression, I understand that a lot. I go from being okay to down to the lowest of lows. it's not easy to deal with.

and I understand I have anxiety with dealing with anything, people in person and online. because I've been one to comment, then it just either gets overlooked (the person would reply to everyone but me.) or I feel stupid after I comment. which is one reason it's hard for me to comment. I also have that thing where I may get scolded by some random person, or them being overly harsh. btw that happens to me a lot, I comment on a comic, like it and love it then it stops updating making me feel like a curse. x.x"

I have a lot too, although very little in my favorites actually update. one of my comics I took off the site, the other is being redone. I normally feel bad if I don't reply to comments, because I want to make sure my readers knew I was thankful for it. but the comments are pretty empty now LOL.

thank you for taking the time to write me back! very sweet of you.

totallyraddad wrote:

bravo1102 wrote:
The longer the hiatus, the easier it becomes not to return. And when you were updating no one seemed to notice anyway and you were not happy with it anyway and the reasons to stay away grow and grow.

And why were you doing this anyway? Read and linger but don't put yourself through the pain and effort of a regular updating comic ever again.

Envy of the talents of others, the dedication and tenacity of others, things you can't find in yourself. And nothing is ever right. It didn't ring true. It didn't work. So stop and start again, until that too becomes a reason not to do anything.

And the weeks become months and soon a whole year and your passion has completely disappeared and everyone is better off without having to read your comic, not that anyone ever did anyway.

And the delete button is there teasing you.

you just made me sad! but its something i say to my friends a lot when it comes to my work, they say that it's not true and this or that, and i have to just remain quiet or else i come across as a complete whiner. its tough being a creative, because you can never stop doing it. you willingly embrace failure in hopes that you will gain some form of validation from the experience. i hate it, but i sort of love hating.

the best thing is to create for yourself. not for your present self, but for you future self. i have a folder full of abandoned ideas, none of which make sense to me now bc i never took the time to actually make them into something. i want to read the terrible thing i made years later, even if its embarrassing or stupid.

The topic of abandoned comics has come up several times so I took the opportunity to go read creator's comments on a bunch of comics that went on hiatus or just ended and compared it to my own process and come up with a sort of “cycle/circle of despair ” that leads to a comic lapsing into the never update again.