Message from Scott Meyer

Scott Meyer asked me to post this message to you:

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who took the time to go look at my work. Your comments have been very useful, and so overwhelmingly positive as to make me question their authenticity. (Scott told you I was paranoid.)

My web host was, as you're aware, brought to its knees, but don't waste time feeling sorry for them. Having spent a great deal of time on the phone with them yesterday I can tell you they deserve all the punishment you doled out. (The tech support guy informed me that my strips took up 89k, which is "almost a meg.")

Comments

[probabilityzero]

64k ought to be enough for anyone... (sorry...)

[Wayne]

Scott should stick to his original artistic decision even if that means not being syndicated on traditional newspapers. The new medium has arrived and it's called the Internet, and it's the present and future of the media. Sacrificing the authenticity and uniqueness of his work to fit into the old mold just seems like a non-sense to me. Scott should try to negotiate with media outlets that will feature his work on the Internet exclusively.

[Gaby]

Love the mullet-haired boss - more of that please!
Also love the ones where he thinks he's just said his thoughts out loud, and explaining stuff to your kids - the bit about the bees just bragging about how many flowers they visit is genius!
Agree with a previous comment about the fact that it's not easy to go back/forward - a calendar would be a great idea.
In'How to share a film you love with the person you love', the last 2 panels are obviously the same (she holds her head weirdly), but the second is close up, so at least it looks a bit different.
'How to tune people out' is the worst - just the same panel 4 times. It just looks too static. There should be a little body movement at least (just to prove you've made the effort!).

[doodaddy]

I thought the wordiness would bother me... then I read a few. My suggestions is to follow Adam's advice and simplify your panels and words for papers. Let that build to a book deal, similar to The Dilbert Principle. Your work has book all over it. I'm sure you could write a *book* and not just a collection of old comics (again similar to The Dilbert Principle).

It could use the same cheeky satire to mildy pan all the silly help books and relationship "common knowledge" tricks.

I also like the idea of sticking (mostly) to relationship humor. You need a focus to make it funnier.

[mason]

For Scott Meyer,

After having commented that I don't think BI is funny enough to make it into syndication, or even really the funniest web comic I've read, I thought it only fair that I also temper that statement by admitting that I've already added it to my RSS feeds and I've forwarded a link to one of my friends who I think would really enjoy your sort of humor - something I've never done before.

[Stella]

The line "And I hardly ever used to menstruate." is the best. I actually laughed out loud rather than the usual mental titter. There's nothing funnier (or sexier for that matter) than suprise.

[niobedancing]

I didn't even notice Adams was recommending this comic - I've had Basic Instructions on my RSS feed for awhile now, since someone else on Livejournal included it in their top 10 favorite webcomics. I love the strip and hope it does well.

[Malc]

Add my compliments to the pile, Scott, I love the strip.
I don't agree that you should take time to alter the shape/format. There's a lot of crap talked about this, and people should note that your web format is the same shape as a Far Side panel, so the problem is what, exactly?
Certainly the size of words in a newspaper is important, so experiment with Photoshop and see if those words are unreadable in a newspaper panel.

Can't see what the fuss is about, and you don't need a mentor to submit your work to a syndicate. You're already on a winner, if it ain't broke, don't fix!

[Crissman]

Two comments:

Get better navigation between strips. I just read ALL of them. A back forward or calendar or something would be great. The oldest are all labelled as July, 2006, although the copyright says 2003.

Store needs work. I couldn't read the t-shirts because the pic was too small, and the text below the t-shirt didn't even say what the t-shirt said. I clicked on a few t-shirt pics to read, but got bored of that quickly.

Oh, and the strips are hilarious! Keep em broad. Relationships is too limited. For instance, I loved the one on How to win at Risk!

[Salagir]

I'm been reading the archives, and the first strips didn't occur to me as very funny. Too much nerdy (do you know how much people stop reading after [1] "lows of physics" ? About 150%! [2]) But it's the week-end and frankly, I have nothing to do with my life so I read all the archive (the navigation system isn't the best, but a geek is talking there... don't care about that)
Well bad idea : now I have about 10 tabs opened on different strips that will be printed on the office shared printer [3] to go in the bathrooms, the best reading place ever since the opening ot fastfoods.
I'm been laughing my ass off [4] on many of them. This is great material (I'm already copying punchlines for my personnal use and look cool in parties [6]).
The only things that.. well suck, is the art. the characters are good, the draw-on-photos-technique works well. But the copy-paste is killing it. When the characters aren't exactly looking at each other, the reader thinks "oh my god this guy uses *cliparts*!!!) and it kills most of the drawing part. The reader wants you to redraw every panel even when not necessary (I "draw" a comic strip [7], I know that too much copy-paste, even a little in fact, make the reader angry). I still don't userstand why, the reader prefers many badly-drawns piscture to 1 or 2 well-drawns and copied.

I think that'd be all for today. Btw, as it's Adams' blog, I just read today's strip on my calendar, and I'm still laughing at Alice face in the 2nd panel.

[1] http://www.geeksworld.org/imgs/webcomics/Frazz/20050304.gif <- this link isn't legal, as Scott Adams himself explained here why some time ago, and I agree with you, but... I'm weak.
[2] source : Leonardo Da Vinci (so overated!)
[3] for personnal use of course. What did you think ?
[4] I learnt this saying, as all my english knowlegde on the internet. Don't blame my english teacher who teached me to say : "My name is Patty[5] ! What's your name?"
[5] Patty is obviously a common English name.
[6] and there's nothing you can do about that ! YARK!
[7] the url is already everywhere in the message, what did you expect ?

[Adam]

If I had any money, I would buy some t-shirts.

[KD]

My biggest advice at this point to him is that he's going to have to change how he shades his comics. He needs to drop the gray scale and start using print tones like manga artists use. I know of at least one drawing package that has them so if he looks he can find them.

I think papers can only do black and white and not gray tones so while it looks nice and he should keep it for his webcomic, it'll definately need changing for print. :\

[Avi]

I realized Mr. Meyers (is that a correct adress?) doesn't neccesarily need to squash down all his strips - they could be Sunday size.

[bill]

After reading all of 2007, i added him to RSS feed and am awaiting the new arrivals. I don't like the change in format, it is too limiting, and while i know you want to get a paper syndication deal. i would -refer a book myself. Way too funny.

[Dave]

Since his web server is finally serving up pages, (I give up after 3 seconds. I'm like that, so deal.) I finally got to look at some of the comics.

I'm noticing one problem. The women are not drawn with the right proportions. Even Beatle Baily's got Ms. Bixly. You can have boobs on a comic character and still get syndicated.

[tpeichel]

Definitely do not focus solely on relationships. I love the strips with the boss in a suit and a mullet.

[Miss J]

Love love love Scott Meyer!

To increase market potential:
I would take the 4 panel strips like in the archives around 2006, and move them into a horizontal panel for newspaper distribution.

I sent my favorite to the fun people(see: those with a sense of humor) in my life. Now all my friends and family know how to wash a cat. (Sept 06)

[Zach]

I finally got to see your comics. They're funny... I like them.

[TaffAndy]

Underground housing? Check these:

http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=0620

[Geoff]

OK, I read everything in the archives...and I couldn't find anything better than the reference to big trouble in little china.

[jakesdad]

not saying your hosting co isn't a bunch of idiots but being in operations for a well-known website (one significantly bigger than dilbert.com) they MIGHT have meant "your files are ~89k" bytes (big "B")- files sizes are normally quoted in (kilo/mega/giga) bytes " - that's almost a meg"abit (little "b") - network bandwith, which was almost certainly your/their bottleneck, is normally expressed in (kilo/mega/giga) bits/second. so 89kB=712kb which is still not quite "almost a meg" even in backwidth terms but may be what they meant.

of course, they might just be morons - I once had "technical support" for my cable modem tell me to "ping yahoo.com" AFTER I had just told them that I was getting no DNS resolution and had isolated a 50% packet loss to the gateway address from my modem.

[Joshua Jacobsen]

Well, that's probably exaggerated by the users (like myself) who went back and read every single comic that you posted on the site. Photocartooning vs cheating. LOLz! I loved that one.

[Lazy Boy]

"my strips took up 89k, which is "almost a meg.""

Time to write that company a cheque for $89.00 and advise them you just sent them a cheque for almost a grand...

Great work! Keep your pH between 6.5 and 5.5 and you'll do just fine.

Lazy Boy

[Andy]

Not normally one for commenting here. I have a few Dilbert books, which were bought for me as gifts. I just ordered a T-Shirt from Basic Instructions. To ship to the UK.
Well done Mr Myers.

[Pamela]

I added Scott's RSS feed to my Reader and look forward to following his future.

Here is another comic you might like:
http://xkcd.com/

[Chris Hehman]

In case you're shopping for web hosts, I heartily recommend pair Networks - pair.com. Big sites like Tom's Hardware use them. Very reasonably priced and geek-friendly. I've been a happy customer (no other affiliation) for 10 years.

I'm putting a link to the "How to Smile" comic in a staff photo announcement at work.

[minister for crawling around under desks plugging things back in]

I sent one to my girlfriend, stiched two together to make into a desktop and printed one out for the noticeboard at work. Very very funny!

[JD]

HEY CHARLES!!!

So you admit that you "stole" Freda Ho's posting?

Posted by: Charles | August 09, 2007 at 12:06 AM

Seriously, don't stiffen poor Scott's creativity ><
I'd LOVE to see him in his original format!
and .... I regret to say that...
His comics is actually funnier than some of your recent ones... and also he is funny in a way which is more universal :P

Think about that awhile, Charles.

[3d Mark]

I'm laughing at the people who don't get your artwork. One commenter even said he was offended by it! I love the drawings - don't change a thing.

[Charles]

This is to he Adams Scott:

This guy stole my comments and posted it as his own. Notice how clicking on his email link redirects you to his website. Should I be flattered?

Charles

:
Posted by: pantsofdeath | August 09, 2007 at 12:26 AM

1. Lighten up the background
2. Be more of an artist by being less. Put less detail in the drawing of the characters, and also lighten up their clothes a bit. The gist of the humour, and thus of the whole strip, is afterall in the narrative and not in the detail of the drawings
3. The wife keeps being a different person whilst the husband is always the same. This is unnecessarily distracting.
4. The husband is visually on a different level relative to the wife (wives) who is (are) generally lumpy and/or unattractive. Perhaps female readers will not like this. Perhaps the husband should also be the typcially overweight uncooly dressed suburban husband/father.

[jmc]

Great Comic! I've now read every instruction, and added the RSS feed.

And, I don't see why you can't do both: Keep going on the 'net, do a book (I'd buy one!), etc. Then, wait for the syndication offer. Anyhow, I'd be happy if I could make a measly $100k a year!

Sorry about being one of the visitors that brought your ISP's server to its knees. Look around though, there *are* ISPs with actual, intelligent techs. I have one. Too bad I live in Australia :)

Soon, you'll be able to do "How to find a new ISP"

[Tokyo Joe]

I think only one other person guessed that this was Dilbert (a bald one, yet), just in a square format that was part of Scott's (Adams) experiment to do something radically different.

My guess is "Meyer" was his art teacher back in the 9th grade -- or his first pet, a sheepdog. (See "How to Choose a Password.")

That is why these strips were so good ... and familiar.

Great spoof, Scott!

[khkjhkjh]

"Do you think we, the audience,
don't notice stuff like that?"

tell this a-hole to STFU. I noticed the rework and it reminded me of old Haynes manuals. In fact I liked it
If I humor .... I'll read your comic ,
If I want high art ... I'll Go to the Louve (but there not that funny )

[bob]

Time reading your (Scott meyer's) is clearly not time wasted, as some have commented. Thanks for brightening my evening; both Scotts.

[Kevin Kunreuther]

Just so you know, Scott Meyer, if you're still reading the comments section, I'm still falling off my chair, wetting my pants and stifling guffaws reading your stuff. I need to know your snail mail address so I can send you my medical bills (concussion, broken hip, bruised humerus, bruised diaphragm from laughing continuously like a crack addled hyena), dry cleaning bill (urine, blood & fecal soiled trousers), and an Elbonian currency stuffed thank you card for giving me more than enough reasons to laugh like an insane gibbon at the absurdity of this current plane of existence.

[v kap]

A Meg? This guys taking u for a ride...u cud buffer 10 strips in that much! Maybe one called "How to handle insane tech support guys"...

[James]

I've come around I guess.... I love it now! Just out of curiosity, why did you recommend the 2 worst strips on there?

[T.G.]

I laughted all your comics, i did not stop till i finished all, and added the rss feed of course, hehe.
Still, have to decide what t-shirt to buy: "smarter than a monkey cheaper than a robot" or just "i am an adult", hehehe.

[stuart - velkairiwyth]

Hah! Switch to a better provider S-Meyer :)

That little comment reminded me of a band that I play with. They are signed to a record company, and they had their first album released back at easter. We are all uk based (Dundee, scotland) and the only shop you can buy their album in is Virgin... In JAPAN!

That was almost half a year ago and yet to date they still make no album sales due to the screw up by the label... Why they are sticking with them I dont know... They do sell a good number of albums on the cheap at gigs, I guess thats worth something...

Anyway, we start recording our first album tonight. Cant wait! And at the same time Im dreading it :p (Its embarassing stood in a room full of people watching and singing along to headphones...)

[thisdaydreamer]

Love the strip. Subscribed to the feed. Steadfastly trying not to join the vast hordes of people pointing out that the tech support guy needs help with numbers.

Thank you to both Scotts for adding a new source of laughter to my life.

Cheers!

[Mokkery]

Technically, an 89k cartoon IS almost a meg. That’s because you need to add in about 850k for the tracking cookies, Trojan horses, and worms that get appended to all of your cartoons.

Do you really think that the government is going to just sit around while you cartoonists spread your subversive messages around the globe?

If they don’t keep an eye on you then the terrorists win. Lower bandwidth is a small price to pay for democracy.

Sweet dreams, Scott & Scott. ;)

[Matt]

Can't he do both?

Produce a 3 panel strip for syndication and the 4 panel for the web. They don't need to be seperate versions of hte same strip, which will allow Scott M to take them in different directions or explore different styles in the future (if he wants to).

This could also offer cross promotion opportunities with the newspaper work driving traffic to the Internet version.

The internet version can be a success. Looking at C-A-D and penny arcade, although both these target a specific, and geeky, market segment.

The site logo almost made me squirt my morning beverage out my nose. I see a "plank of knowledge" t-shirt in my very near future.

[concatenator]

The strip Scott Adams pointed to in the last but one post was not the most funny one, so at first I didn't think much, but I started reading more, and now I think Scott Meyer is really funny. No doubt there.

I like the 'verbosity', it adds to the humor. As is Dilbert's terse text, and Douglas Adams's entire book.
Let everyone just stay the way they are, and not turn into each other.

I were you, I wouldn't listen to suggestions on format change. Who on earth reads comics for their font size, or colors? I read them because they are funny.

[mike]

for all of you pointing out that 89KB != 1MB, realize that web hosting on shared servers (the transfer rate) is done in bits, not bytes. So if he's serving a 89kB page, once a second, that's 1mbps.

Take a look at anyone that gets featured on Digg or Slashdot .. sometimes they post the MRTG logs later, but several "hits" a second after being mentioned someplace popular isn't at all unreasonable these days.

Simple solution : The Coral CDN. Make sure you load his comics through that first, and then post the (fqdn_of_orignal_page).nyud.net link.

[lernet]

Personally I think Scott should stick with something broad, because that's what he's been doing and I think he's doing great. However, I do agree that if he wants to market his comics to newspapers, he really has to scale down on his words. Frankly it's a little wordy for comics. IF it were published in books, I think the words could probably stay as the market will be different. However, newspaper readers don't really fancy much words and if printed on newspapers, I'll bet the words are going to be really small and reading will be difficult for most. So I guess, it all boils down to what he really wants to do, which market he intends to go into. But I think it might be hard to reduce words and not compromise his original style. Having multi-style to suit market will be a suicide as well.

[M. Lowe]

I like the wordy square format better. It will be harder to get syndicated but not impossible. Look at "Tom the Dancing Bug". Funny as hell, similar format and it did get syndicated.

[mingz]

nice comic

[Adam]

I've added it to my feeds. Don't change a thing.

[benjamin]

Basic Instructions is in my favorites and I've been commanding anyone I see with internet access to read it.

Thank you, Scotts.

[sr enthusiast]

The third panel in Scott's How to Curse Without Cursing comic is the single funniest thing I have read in years (sorry SA). While my sense of humor may tend to be a bit unusual, I have laughed out loud each of the seven times I have read it (I'm trying to resist reading it anymore today for fear of diluting the impact too soon).

Good luck Scott, I'll be looking for you in the Chicago Tribune comics (right next to Dilbert).

[joanne]

Oh yes, I love the spreadsheet management Dilbert cartoons of the last couple of days.
It is the new wave in our office, too bad they didn't hire 3 extra people to do the things.
It is amazing what you get if you print a spreadsheet, fold it in different ways, then peruse. Something along the lines of throwing chicken bones.

[Shawn]

Jesus, this comic is funny! I may have an issue trying to read these at work. Perhaps you should have one on "How to stifle a laugh".

[Joanne]

Good that your web provider was brought to his knees. When I opened your page it was all pixelated and illegible.
I was irritated, now after reading all the good comments, I am pissed I couldn't open it.

[Esn]

Great work, Scott! Of course, keep in mind that 80% of DILBERT FANS like your work. The reaction of the general public will be very different. I compared the recent strips on your website to your first ones in 2006, and I think that you've improved. The humour is still very smart, but it is more concise now.

I hope that you don't switch to doing only relationship-based humour. I don't think that choice has any artistic or market benefit (considering that some of the most popular comics from the past while have been about "everything" - The Far Side, Bizarro, The Perry Bible Fellowship). Even if you do, I hope that you switch back after a while.

[Woody]

I can't believe that you people started this process without me.

[Mark Thorson]

And another thing, you reuse
"art", for example in:

http://www.basicinstructions.net/2007/06/how-to-listen-to-other-peoples-problems.html

the woman in frames 3 and 4
appears to be the same image,
just scaled down a little in
frame 4.

Do you think we, the audience,
don't notice stuff like that?
It's insulting to think you'd
try to pull that on us.

If you can't draw, hire
somebody who can. Talented
artists are a dime-a-dozen
these days.

Don't fall into the trap of
thinking that dialog alone can
rescue a strip. Imagine the
Dilbert strip if it consisted
only of rotoscoped images and
no drawn art. It would have
been a total flop. Even
Adams' meager drawing skills
raise the strip well above
the naked gag lines.

[Chaundra]

I'm in tech support... I think you talked to one of my flunky co-workers... :)

LOVE the strip, still think "remembering names" is the best. I added the link to my blog, and will check back often. Take THAT, evil paranoia!

[techguy]

I read them all, over the course of about three hours, at great risk to my job, and I must say I don't like them one bit.

[Bryan]

To all of the people here explaining that 89K isn't even 10% of a meg... I point you to this strip (weighing in at 52K, btw):

http://www.basicinstructions.net/images/18joke.gif

Get It? Huh? Get It? It's funny because 89K isn't even close to a meg, and here's the math showing it!

One post about it is helpful. The others are from people who didn't get the joke at first, and are now posting to prove they're in on the funny.

[Mark Thorson]

I'm not convinced. Your
"drawings" look like they were
rotoscoped. Even amateur
drawings would look better
than that.

[EatsShootsAndLeaves]

Bald-headed Scott #2: great comics! Go, go, go.

Only one small criticism: when using quotation marks, the second one should be outside the period/comma/exclamation point. [Example: "Great comics," she said.]

[Steve]

Was the tech guy's name "Mordac" by any chance?

[pablo]

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
"He was crushed for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him"
"All who are not with me are against me"

The Word of God.

[RustyBadger]

Hawesome comic, Scott - and thank you, Scott for bringing it to our attention!

To those few who seem to not grasp the filesize issue: filesize and transfer/storage quotas are measured in bytes, not bits. I checked, and the comics seem to be between 60 and 90 kilobytes in size (less than a tenth of a meg). A "meg" refers to a "megabyte", which isn't even close to 89 kilobytes. Bandwidth is measured in bits per second. Normal techs would not confuse the two systems of measurement. The only thing I can think (besides the tech being a moron) is that he meant "megabit" (there's generally 8 bits to one byte, so 90 kilobytes is close to three-quarters of a "megabit") - but that term hasn't been used to describe filesize since, like, forever. Nowadays it's used strictly for bandwidth capacities (ie "hundred megabit"; "gigabit" and so on) to refer to the bit-per-second capacity of the pipe.

Anyways, I guess I outnerded myself there.

[CLD]

I'm glad to hear it and I hope that in whatever direction "Basic Instructions" goes its phenomenally successful. (A) because it deserves to be and (B) because I think I'd like to be a smarmy jerk about "liking it before it was championed by Scott Adams."

[Do Gbert]

Scott M,

Your stuff is funny, no doubt; but the format is a bit rough around the edges.

First, lose the default Windows font in the narrative. Since you use a lot of text on multiple lines, consider a basic serif font which is meant to guide the reader's eye. Plus, it will more closely resemble an instruction manual.

Second, consider terser prose (again, in keeping with the instruction manual theme.) Scott A. can help you there, he's got it nailed.

Finally, give us some air. Lose the all-black background.

Look forward to seeing the improvements!

Good luck.

[Brett]

It took a minute to get what you were doing and accept the wordiness, but it really is a funny strip. How to fake a smile was my favourite. Bookmarked the page.

[A Different Scott]

You should do one called: "How to make an awesome cartoonist make calendars." I'd take that advice. I'm undecided on whether or not it should include the 2x4. I guess that's up to you.

Your site is now going to be part of my routine sites to check. I'd add it to my RSS feed if I knew what that meant.

[Brent]

Obligatory

89k is all anyone should ever need!

[Andrew]

I had to work late to catch up after spending a disproportionate amount of time fixated on your handiwork. Thanks!

[Matt]

"I found myself slacking off at work and reading Basic Instructions all afternoon. I ended up sending links to my friends to check it out too and they all found it hilarious."

I did the same, and almost collapsed when reading "How to fake a smile". By far, that is the funniest cartoon I have read in years.

[Anonmeous]

Consider getting your "own" server from layeredtech, rackspace, etc. You'll be glad you did in the long run.

You'll be able to run your own website etc. with all the control in your hands.

[John]

I definitely added Basic Instructions to my RSS feeds right away.

[p]

"...almost a meg" ...Priceless!
keep on scott!

[MichaelM]

I'm another instant fan. I almost never literally laugh out loud at a comic, but Basic Instructions had me lol-ing several times, and snorting unattractively through my nose trying to cover up my laughter the rest of the time. Well done. And yes, I've emailed links to friends and added the comic to my RSS feed.

I don't know whether you should stick with the current format or go for syndication - but either way, I'll be a reader. I'll buy the calendars, books and coffee mugs too, and I'll give them to friends. I hope you'll make coffee mugs. I buy mugs of Dilbert strips from time to time, and would really like to add some Basic Instructions mugs to the rotation.

[Allen Anderson]

Personally I would like to say that there are a half a dozen comics in my newspaper in which I would throw over for "Basic Instructions". It's one of the best I've seen, and I mean that. Hope Scott makes it all the way.

So if %80 of the %20 of the general public who like Dilbert, also enjoy "Basic Instruction", that's 16% of the general public who would enjoy it (could be higher, as I'm sure there would be quite a few who would enjoy "Basic Instruction" who do not enjoy reading Dilbert". I say he's got success if he can only make his work more visible.

The comic is hilarious! It really is. The only thing I would consider changing is that the characters look too life like. One of the things that makes Dilbert and many other comics so appealing is that they are fun to look at. Dilbert is a middle age guy with glasses, no mouth, unusual hair, and a tie that always flips up. Charlie Brown has a gigantic, round head (not to mention bald before reaching adolesence). Every successful cartonist has their unique drawing style. I'd recommend developing one.

[PHaser]

Scott,

That dark and twisted place from which the paranoia springs is also the obvious font of you humor. Very excellent stuff. I will be sending out links to your work to people I know, and I wish you continued success.

BTW, I just read "how to explain sex to your child" and had to stifle a cubicle laugh. I almost popped a sinus.

Cheers

[Mikey Benny]

Mr. Meyer,

My main suggestion for your webcomic would be to go easy on the gradients and go to an 8-color PNG format. The new files will be about 40% (yes, less than half) the size of your current GIFs. Even a simple as-is conversion to PNG will save you about 10% of your file size.

Good luck,

Mike

[~C4Chaos]

good luck Scott M. i love your comic too and i added it to my RSS reader. i'm happy for you that you're being mentored by my favorite cartoonist of all time.

ok, now that i got the sucking up part out of the way, here's my suggestion for your online gig. it's time to take advantage of internet traffic bro!

1) get a Dreamhost account. screw Blogger! have the tech guys install Wordpress.

2) if you're worried about image hosting, have your comic strips hosted on Flickr. don't worry, you can control the copyright settings. the advantage of having it on flickr is that you can build a following there too. and people there are cool. look me up :)

3) test the popularity of your strips by monetizing your blog. here's a great article form ProBlogger.
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/06/how-bloggers-make-money-from-blogs/

that is all. godspeed and have fun!

~C

[michals]

After reading several of Scott Meyer's strips I have to say I really enjoyed them. The only thing that disturbed me a little (actually quite a lot) was the bold man with a beard that appeared in most of them.

[ScottM]

I especially like that Eric Estrada and Richard Brautigan make frequent appearances on your comic.

[horse]

1024K = 1meg
89K = .086 megs.

89K is 8.6% of a MB.
I am 100% dork.

[Tyrun]

I loved it and added it to my RSS feeds!

Keep up the great work, and best of luck.

I'd definitely advise getting a new host, sounds like yours doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

[the man in the trout mask]

Comics??!! - is this all we have to talk about today?

Oh,well - all the best to Scott - now can we move on?

[Erik]

Wow...I was going to comment about the 89k = 1 MB bullshit, but it looks as though everyone but your tech support guy has that figured out. I agree with the general consensus that anyone who is that incompetent or dishonest does not deserve your business.

[Publickenemy]

Dear Good Scott (Meyer),

I want to be another in a long line to compliment your work. I laughed harder at your strips than I have at Dilbert since the mid-nineties (no offense to B-Scott; after all, I haven't missed a Dilbert blog entry in two years, I buy all the calenders and books, and God help me I even have the Dilbert TV show on DVD).

In summation:
G.S.: Keep up the good work!
B.S.: Keep taking my money until I start giving it to G.S.!

[Barry]

Sounds like your host needs a bit of help from you, ala your Board of Knowledge.

That actually reminds me of an audio clip a guy recorded of his conversations with his phone carrier. I think it's called "Verizon bad math" if anyone cares to Google it. I recommend listening to it for a good laugh.

Anyway, yes Scott all the positive comments were sincere. It is extremely rare for a comic to make me laugh out loud multiple times, and yours did just that. I'm willing to bet you'll see a noticeable increase in traffic to your site from now on, too.

[Scragglykat]

Actually, I'm almost convinced now that Scott Meyer is me from the future. His drawings of the main character (presumably a self portrait) look exactly like me as well. I'm convinced he, or should I say, I, have traveled back in time to create the web comic I have been saying I'd create for the past year. Of course, I saw the comic on time travel, only further convincing me of this. So I get the great idea to shave my beard so that I can start a comic and not look just like Scott Meyer... oh no... I see a comic about shaving your beard. He's got me covered... now what do I do?

Signed... soon to be Scott Meyer?

[Angela S]

Saving it on my blog as a fave place. Go me.

As for the poll -

I say why not do both? Syndicate in the papers and run the online comic a day behind so that those of us who live in areas where the comic isn't carried can still read it.

[Tyler]

I echo the comments of my fellow blog readers. Your tech guy is an idiot. Time for new service.

[~*~]

89k Megabytes! This dude/dud should measure our success in Iraq! Can he count my money and tell the bank?

Does he read? Cuz if he's a Dilbert fan, the comics on your web site are about to change into poorly drawn boring dribble. (Accidentally, of course.)

[Tom]

Sounds like ideal fodder for a strip...

[peter]

Scott M. Great strip, I laughed out loud several times and had to walk away from my PC to clear my head. Thanks for the laughs. I'm still laughing at the Dee-nis joke on how to remember names, and that was 4 hours ago. I think anyone who has ever tried to fake a smile for a picture, will love the how to fake a smile, (laughing thinking about "good times") HAHAHA. Great stuff. i can't wait to wrap my next present.

[rita mae]

89K? Byte? Kilobyte? Megabyte? Gigabyte? Bite me!

Let it rest, people. Scott M. is a writer and artist, not a computer geek. Let it rest, already.

Thanks for your thanks. You will do fine. Keep on keepin' on. Are you a real person? Do you have a ten year old genius brother named Bobby? What if your site is really a site set up by Scott A to fool all of us? Wouldn't put it past him. He likes to see people dance. I read that somewhere.

I hope one of the Scotts answer me.

Scott A, still love you and still too old to stalk you.

Rita Mae

[Chris]

Dude, you draw people with four fingers per hand...that is the reason your huge pictures are crashing the server.

[Wacky Bob]

I think that the tech support guy needs some Basic Instruction.

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

[AndyT13]

89K is almost a Meg? Awesome! By that meansurement my penis is almost 5 feet long!

[techy]

I don't know which was funnier, the comics, bringing the site to it's knees, the holy crap from Scott Adams or the alleged tech guy. Ha...ROFL

[Bill]

Thanks for pointing us to Scott Meyer's strip.

My own preference would be for Scott M. to remain general.
If it's funny, it's worth laughing at.

>
> (The tech support guy informed me that my strips took up
> 89k, which is "almost a meg.")
>

Find a new tech support guy.

I originally followed the link because I was wondering
what a C++ guru was doing writing a comic strip. At first
I thought it was Scott Meyers, with an 's', who still has
way too much hair for a grown-up.

[jo]

Now that's funny. Scott's techy quote was better than his strip even.

[Sophia]

I found myself slacking off at work and reading Basic Instructions all afternoon. I ended up sending links to my friends to check it out too and they all found it hilarious. What is great about that comic is that these life instructions can apply to a wide range of people. At least, people who work or who have been in serious relationships. I didn't appreciate Dilbert until I started working in a cubicle, but once you get it, it's just so funny.

[Roger Hågensen]

"(The tech support guy informed me that my strips took up 89k, which is "almost a meg.")"

... dude change host as soon as possible, that's not a tech guy, thats a hamster doing tech support.

[Robert B.]

Please tell Scott Meyer to thank that tech support guy for making me feel like a computer genius.
Assuming Scott Meyer really exists.

[Chuck]

Tech guy: "They take up 89k, which is almost a meg."

Scott: "...!"

Tech guy: "Hold please."

[Abhilasha]

you sceptic you...we loved you. Keep up the good work.

[Nena]

I was finally able to read a few of the comics today. I will read more when I get home to my better internet connection.

I think that Scott has a tremendous talent for humor! Comics rarely get more than an amused grin from me, and I laughed aloud at two of the three Basic Instructions that I read. I have added Basic Instructions to my list of obscure comics that I read daily.

As for which path to take (syndication or web), that's a tough call. But I think Scott Meyer would be wise to follow the advice of Scott Adams. It's like receiving advice on how to improve your fiction writing from Stephen King - you may not consider him a genius like Dickens or Joyce, but he sure has made an ass-load of money, so he must know something worth knowing.

[GLK]

Scott,

Much success with your cartooning career. I look forward to seeing more of your work. Remember, paranoia is just a higher state of conciousness. Or maybe you've smoked too much weed. Either way, Good Luck!

Gary

[dalandzadgad]

haha, awesome.

i read all the comics last night (taking breaks for some great laughs) and was late to work today, keep up the good work.

[annika]

On a completely unrelated note:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTO_dZUvbJA

pretty interesting, although if you don't have 22 minutes Dogbert's genius is noted around the 15th minute.

[fnc]

I'll translate what their tech support guy said for you, "It's time for you to get a new web hosting service."

As for your comic, I think it's very funny stuff. Keep up the good work.

[George W. Lucas]

The strips take even more space if they're viewed by people with large monitors. =)

[Jenn]

did this count as the blog for today? bo-ring.

[Ray]

I'm STILL doing my best to bring your webhost down. Some would say I am a slow reader, but I choose to label it as "savoring each comic".

A little more than halfway through the archives now...

[Bart]

"89k is almost a meg"
hell with skills like that I'm surprised he's not working for you favorite chain store electronics retailer!
With the same logic in mind you better not develop any color layout cuz those could be damn near a Gig.

Seriously, you've got a great strip. Keep 'em coming.

[Marco]

Nitpick, but don't feel too bad about the support guy... if he was switching units on you (89k bytes almost equals a meg bit), then he was right...

[niCk(MemBeth)]

89K? That's Great! What kind of compression are they using?

Even if they are worried about you having almost "a meg" of data, when you don't even have a tenth of that, then I would find a new host quickly. This must be a free service.

[mike]

Scott, I thoroughly enjoy your strip, and I'm glad that I can add it to my daily RSS feeds.

Thanks!

[Shane]

Uh huh, just wait until he starts "reviewing" other popular online comics and bringing the competition to their knees by costing them millions in unanticipated ISP costs each time he links to one. They will call it the Adams effect and shake their fists in the air, screaming for revenge.

To anybody standing in his way, good luck.

[Daniel]

What are you talking about? 64k should be enough for anybody!

[Sail Boffin]

If your tech support guy thinks that 89k is almost a meg, I suggest you switch ISP's immediately if not sooner.

[Dustin Tarditi]

I wasn't able to post a comment yesterday, but want to commend Scott on his comic - I really like it.

My only recommendation is to make the female chararacters look a little less androgenous if their being female is key to the story/joke. I prefer it a little more visually apparent if the gender is important, so we don't have to study and analyze the art just to understand the context.

Not that every woman needs to look like Betty Boop or Brandy from Liberty Meadows, but only look like Pat from SNL if that is part of the joke.

Maybe I just subscribe too much to the Stan Lee and John Kricfalusi schools of exaggerated visuals in comics :-)

[squigs]

It is almost a meg. If you're talking about megabits and you decide that 700 or so is almost 1000. Or you just arbitrarilty decide to declare a megabyte is 90k.

[Allan]

>> (The tech support guy informed me that my strips took up 89k, which is "almost a meg.")

Is it just me Scott, or would that make a nice Dilbert?

[action]

Sounds like an application of the clue stick is required...

[CLB]

Thank you for the opportunity to peak in and comment on your work! Hope it really takes off for you.

[Jayce]

Time to get a new host. But, then, I have a talent for pointing out the obvious.

[KC]

That same tech support guy says he penis is 3 inches long, which is almost a foot.

[Justin Campbell]

Actually thats about 1/10th of a meg (1024k = 1mb)

[dan]

Actually it's almost 10% of a meg, because one megabyte is 1000 kilobytes. Do the math. If a megabyte is one million bytes, and a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, it would take 1000 kilobytes to fill up a megabyte.

I think you need a new tech support guy.

[Kevin]

> The tech support guy informed me that my strips took up 89k, which is "almost a meg."

...presumably in the same way that the guy is "almost competent."

[Bryan Talbot]

I have to say, that I enjoyed Basic Instructions a lot. Thank you both Scotts.

[Andrew]

almost a meg? more like almost 1/10th of a meg. u need a new tech guy!

[Flabaya]

I like you... you're a sharp guy. You aren't paranoid. You just know bullshit when you see it. (or read it in this case)

Fubi