@dpat57, I may be off base, but I'm gonna assume the answer on that one may be a no for purposes of copyright. You could just mention the production date in your author's notes, but if this is a metafictional thing unfortunately I don't suppose there's much that can be done about it!

It's generally frowned upon to fudge live-dates for posting because the timing of when something enters the public eye is important. One cannot claim a popular work of fiction has stolen ideas from their IP if they kept it entirely in a shoebox in their closet, but the moment they post it to a website and it is seen, that IP is a known entity and such claims gain some possible legitimacy. The date this property went “live” is key to figuring out if that person has a legit claim or they are an attention-seeker.

People absolutely will go out of their way to spoof live-dates to pretend they had an idea first, so not letting people post before the current date is a way to prevent such abuses.

Huh, that hadn't even occurred to me. But if that was a consideration in the way the date fields are set up, i.e. if they were deliberately limited, you'd think I wouldn't be able to upload a comic page with a date stamp of Jan 1 2018, but I can.

If the year range isn't a simple setting to expand (this assumes a lot of things, like someone actually has time to search for said setting and tinker a change), or if there's any reluctance to do so, I guess that would be my workaround.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Edit: and in fact I went for the uploaded-through-2018 workaround.

ay no prob!
Yeah as long as it's within the current year I think the days/months may be considered less important, as copyright is more concerned with the year than the month.

It's really a bother though when editing old pages though ,when I uploaded a larger res version of a page from June 2016 it now has a June 2017 date stamp.

I have some suggestions. And I am willing to help save money to make them happen. INHALES
–The NewsPosts on the front page do good with replies. We should think of a way to make them intertwine with the forum. So that conversations can continue longer than a few days and people can browse into other threads in the forums. We really need to get the community aspect back. While I understand forums in general are a dying thing in today's web world I feel it can be better.
This may be a small way to aid it.

–I'd also like us to have a way to @people and they get notified. @OzoneOcean: could be an acceptable way to syntax this.
It should be allowed in forums, news post replies, and in comic comments. Perhaps not notifying the author if a person notifies them in their own comic but doing so in others.
Though this would cause issues with comics with more than 1 author as well. Bringing me to another thing.

–Being able to upload using your own account. I guess there are cases where some group may want to use the same name no matter who uploads so that could be optional. But in most cases the other person has to remind the audience they even exist.

–There should be a space on the comics to allow for DD Awards voting and such. This will be admin only and only appear as needed. This would drastically increase voter turn out. DD should be able to log the votes and give the needed info.

–We should bring back the DD trophies. Maybe give virtual coins for people that comment on comics. I have no idea what they'd be for yet but that could come later! Just collect them!

–I want to be able to make more than 1 landing page. I like to make interactive stories. In my case it's just allowing people to read them in certain orders. I'd like to be able to make a page where you can place image links. I don't care if it uses the current editor. But when you finish a certain issue I'd like the audience to be able to choose which comic they read first. I'd also need to be able to move this page to the front of a current issue which would be impossible in the current editor. That's a different can of worms though. For now maybe this could simply be a check box that appears for chapters? Since you can set those.

–Lastly I think we should get a discord widget. This is how most people I know communicate now. It's how I communicate to my old comic pals MLai and EdBand as we work ahead too. I feel this would get more people to be active here.

EXHALES
phew…

I'll suggest those to Alexey.
I love the Newspost idea.

With the “multiple landing page” idea you can already do that:
Make image links above or beside your comic page and link them to whatever you like, other parts of the comic are fine, that's what it was originally designed for actually. because Lawrence based it on the Pinky TA template where I was doing exactly that :)

Is it the sub page function? How do I tell a sub page to exist before a certain issue using the “set page as chapter head” option?

JustNoPoint wrote:
Is it the sub page function? How do I tell a sub page to exist before a certain issue using the “set page as chapter head” option?

No… that's not what I understood from your proposal…

You can just use the image link function in your comic control panel to link to whatever page in your comic you like :)

It's my fault. I said landing page. Not sure why. Anyway here's an example.

example
You are finishing an issue then get to this page. You have 2 images you can choose from to click and it will take you to said issue.
Note it doesnt actually work on this page either yet. But only because I didn't finish both issues.

We have too many stickies that can be removed because what they advertise is years over or new rules have replaced the old ones yet both stayed sticky!

JustNoPoint wrote:
We have too many stickies that can be removed because what they advertise is years over or new rules have replaced the old ones yet both stayed sticky!

Yup… where and which ones should be removed?

Bah, you make me work! This is how you treat Royalty?!!!
Off with your head!
2 suggestion threads?
This can be placed at the top of the Grand List of bugs thread. Fixed bugs removed and the thread be renamed to a FAQ
What made you first join Drunk Duck? and Why Did You Choose Drunk Duck to Host Your Comic? Are basically the same? Could argue them being split but is it really worth it for 2 stickies? Especially since the latter hasn't been posted in since 2017
NEW RULES - Please read me and more rules Newspost Guidelines 2.0 (How to get your comic news on the front page!) And Board Rules
This board has EIGHT stickies! AAAAHHHHH

2015
2016
2015
Just Closed

All good!
Right, when I have time I will make those changes. :)

I have a few suggestions:

1. Since you also host non english language comics it would be nice to be able to search for a specific language. Uploaders would have to tag their comics with a language, I guess, but that way it would make the languages searchable.

2. Adding links and marking them as “header” places them between the header and your comic. I'd like to be able to edit the look of that area separately from the rest of the page to use it as a navigation menu. At the moment, I use a workaround (thanks to ozone) using a backround image. But if something changes on the page, like if someone used an adblocker to block the banner at the top of the page, it shifts the header and buttons, which makes it look like garbage.

3. The ability to use the header and said navigation menu on subpages as well without having to paste giant snippets of BBCode (which I do atm with my subpages).

4. The ability to sort links. I had to delete and reenter the links 3 times until I got the order right.

5. This was already suggested, but I'm also not fond of the resizing of the comic pages. Maybe, it would be better to limit the dimensions (for example max. 1800px x 1800px, 1MB).

6. The possibility to move inside one chapter only (on the first page of the chapter, there's no “prev” button, reaching the last page of the chapter doesnt't give you a “next” button). That way you could make one comic page with multiple self-contained comics (using a subpage for the chapters).

That's it for now. I don't think any of these suggestions are essential, but they would make nice features.

Assistant authors cannot access stats.

Hi everyone,

I’m still new here so hopefully some old-timer can explain it to me.

On Drunk Duck’s front page there’s a “Latest Updates” section. When I post my latest page, the thumbnail for it pops up there, followed by other cartoonist’s latest postings. After ten other postings, mine goes off the edge, never to be seen again until my next page posting. So a new viewer has only the “Top Ten, the “Quail’s Random” and the “Latest Updates” of (30) comics to view.

Up above that is a Featured Comics Archive line with a left and right arrow. But, these don’t seem to have anything to do with what was recently posted or whether the cartoonist has posted over 25 or 2,500 pages yet or not.

ashtree house and irrevenant mentioned this too. It would be really nice if you could put a left and right arrow on the “Latest Updates” section so that people visiting the site could have access to the Drunk Duck’s entire library of postings whether they post once a year or three times a week.

I don’t know. Maybe there is a certain criteria to be archived like that. If you know, please let me know what people need to do. Thank you.

(Edit) Oh I just found this: https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jun/23/what-does-it-take-to-get-your-comic-featured/

Hi Rick. That frustrates me too. Next time we have a programmer update we'll look at changing that.

An HTML editor would be fantastic, it's one of the things I miss the most about both Smack Jeeves and ComicFury . . . maybe also in addition to HTML, maybe also have a Visual Editor like a lot of Fandom Wikis have for those who aren't necessarily proficient in HTML coding (or, in my case, really rusty at it) can actually see the edits as they're being made, as opposed to a lot of guess work. Yeah, I know we have a preview feature, but it only shows just the content you added, it doesn't show you everything.

Another thing I miss dearly about Smack Jeeves and ComicFury is having custom homepages. I know Drunk Duck (sorry, I still keep rememering it used to be called that) has an option to have the very first page/strip of your comic as its homepage, but I'm talking about where you can actually have a fully custoized homepage that is neither the very first comic, or the most recent one. I'm always thinking of potential new readers, and I feel like it would be far more beneficial for them to see a little bit of what the comic is about so they can judge for themselves as to whether or not they want to actually read it, as opposed to them being totally lost as to what the story is, or who the characters are, or anything like that when the first thing they see is a page from the comic that they've never read before.

I would also suggest actual archive pages for our comics - I'm actually very surprised to see The Duck doesn't automatically attach archive pages to comics like practically every other webcomic host does; it would be quite helpful - surely moreso than just a simple drop-down menu at the bottom of the comic page.

How about guest comments, but allowing each of us as authors to moderate them (i.e. hold guest comments for review, or even turn the featurn on or off completely)? The main reason I'm suggesting this is like I mentioned in another thread, I'm fairly certain that a majority of my readers will be off-site, and I doubt many of them would want to register an account here just for the sake of leaving a comment when they'd probably do if I share new pages on social media like Facebook or something.

J_Scarbrough wrote:

Another thing I miss dearly about Smack Jeeves and ComicFury is having custom homepages. I know Drunk Duck (sorry, I still keep rememering it used to be called that) has an option to have the very first page/strip of your comic as its homepage, but I'm talking about where you can actually have a fully custoized homepage that is neither the very first comic, or the most recent one. I'm always thinking of potential new readers, and I feel like it would be far more beneficial for them to see a little bit of what the comic is about so they can judge for themselves as to whether or not they want to actually read it, as opposed to them being totally lost as to what the story is, or who the characters are, or anything like that when the first thing they see is a page from the comic that they've never read before.

I would also suggest actual archive pages for our comics - I'm actually very surprised to see The Duck doesn't automatically attach archive pages to comics like practically every other webcomic host does; it would be quite helpful - surely moreso than just a simple drop-down menu at the bottom of the comic page.

This is the kinda stuff we used to have . I honestly forgot how gret it used to be. this was my homepage/ warning page/ archive

Would like a specific homepage as opposed to the default first page.
With a completed comic could put up something more special than a cover.
We have the subpages how much harder to add a download for a specific homepage?

That is as a start toward something better.

Love the archive pages because I have a lot of archived finished comics. The idea of letting non-members comment be nice too as I know there was a time where I had a bunch of off-site readers via Twitter.

Actually warned by FB not to promote my comic since it had nudity. It was linking to something that featured nudity so according to FB that's a no-go. Me and my being true to my artistic vision.

Oh yeah, and on the subject of subpages, which I know I've mentioned elsewhere before, it would be tremendously helpful if guests could actually view those pages without having to log into an account, especially if the subpages are beneficial to educating potential new readers about the comic, such as in my case having both an About page and a Characters page.

I wish we could go back to the system of having the warning page instead of making people log in. That's probably never going to happen with the way the internet has become so prudish.

So is that why subpages can't be viewed unless you're logged in?

Like I said, I know for certain that a majority of my readers are going to be outsiders who aren't even on this site, and I'm not too sure that any of them would want to actually register an account just for the sake of being able to view pages that should be able to be viewed regardless of your login status, like an About and Characters pages.

I mean I can at least understand requiring a login for comments - again, as nice as it would be to have guest comments enabled, I can see how requiring a login would reduce unwanted spam and trolling.

Here's another suggestion if somebody hasn't already mentioned it, but I think it would also be extremely helpful and beneficial for everybody if comics could show what their current status is, i.e. on-going, on hiatus, complete, etc.

J_Scarbrough wrote:
Here's another suggestion if somebody hasn't already mentioned it, but I think it would also be extremely helpful and beneficial for everybody if comics could show what their current status is, i.e. on-going, on hiatus, complete, etc.

That's the responsibility of the creator who should note the status in the comic description. It's not up to the site, that would mean the admins have to track down the status of every comic when really that's up to individuals who create the comic to take some responsibility for it and an interest in their readers past, present and future.
All that being said a simple check off in the comic overview page would be all that's needed.

bravo1102 wrote:
All that being said a simple check off in the comic overview page would be all that's needed.

Yyyeeeaaah, that's basically what I meant.

J_Scarbrough wrote:

bravo1102 wrote:
All that being said a simple check off in the comic overview page would be all that's needed.

Yyyeeeaaah, that's basically what I meant.

Well why the hell didn't you say so before I got out my soapbox?
I make a big personal responsibility speech and you just want a button. Don't I look like an idiot now.
Now? Yeah, I always look like an idiot.

If I'm going to take to time to put together extras, really like if they were available to all people who visit the site. I know it's nice to try to get people to join, but folks often can't be bothered. Just like I can't make a whole website for my stuff with all the extras. Barely keeping up with stuff as it is.

We desperately need notifications/alerts for whenever comics we're subscribed/favorited are updated, much like we do for comments and replies. I can't speak for anyone else, but in my own case, I don't always check my favorites list, and other times, the only way I know if a comic I've favorited is updated is if I just happen to see it's been updated on the homepage.

J_Scarbrough wrote:
We desperately need notifications/alerts for whenever comics we're subscribed/favorited are updated, much like we do for comments and replies. I can't speak for anyone else, but in my own case, I don't always check my favorites list, and other times, the only way I know if a comic I've favorited is updated is if I just happen to see it's been updated on the homepage.

Agree. Even constantly checking “most recently updated” on my favorites list, it is so easy to miss new pages. Besides new pages are posted all during the day and I have to check back multiple times a day to make sure I don't miss something. And still do.
Then there is the fact that the site membership is global. Sure the site time zone is PST (US west coast time) but people will post their pages according to their time schedule so pages can drop at any time.
Pay attention and over time you can actually figure out people's schedules. But why should I have to do that? Ideally I'd prefer a date and time last updated under the title/avatar of the comic, not necessarily email notifications.

bravo1102 wrote:
Then there is the fact that the site membership is global. Sure the site time zone is PST (US west coast time) but people will post their pages according to their time schedule so pages can drop at any time.
Pay attention and over time you can actually figure out people's schedules. But why should I have to do that? Ideally I'd prefer a date and time last updated under the title/avatar of the comic, not necessarily email notifications.

Yeah, and because it's a known bug/glitch that updates are shown in real time, and that even if you schedule new strips or pages in advance, they won't actually appear in the updates at the scheduled time because it's not a realtime update, I'm finding myself having to stay up until 3am every Wednesday morning in my time zone so I can manually add a new page at that time so my comic will be updated in real time . . . again, I have to say, this is definitely one thing I miss about ComicFury, or even Smack Jeeves.

ThrisbyDude wrote:
When a few/several months after the site redesign pass, can we have the option to hide our comics from public view and make them link-only?

I have the tendency of not allowing my projects on the front page or to be featured, even on the ‘latest updates’ section. Unless one of my projects is ambitious enough (it depends if I want it to succeed), I'd rather just put {the links to} my projects myself on my profile or test out my comic first instead of having it show up on the homepage here.

There are definitely manual steps like contacting one of the admins to take down posts that were once featured on the main page. Contacting an admin directly to ask never to be featured. It is even possible to change the comic name and username associated with the comic to one less identifiable on the net.