I don't know what the problem is between The Webcomic List's updating system and Webcomics Nation comics, but for some reason WCN comics are always listed as "could not connect to site". Even those that are listed as "normal" don't show current updates. And it happens again, and again, and again. AND it only seems to happen to WCN comics. Other Modern Tales family of sites (Graphic Smash, GirlaMatic, Serializer) seem immune to the "glitch". Joey (Manley) once mentoned that the TWCL/WCN problem is easily fixable if TWCL would just pick up the WCN RSS feeds. But I guess easy solutions are sometimes a bit too easy for some to notice. So, to combat this situation, Monique (GAAK artist) and I now have our own mailing list so that folks who read GAAK and ArrowFlight can get email notification of new updates.You can sign up here:
www.webcomicsnation.com/moniquem/email_notify.php?do_this=join Cutting out the middle man. Easy solution realized. :) Dee
Comments
I like TWL But I also like PiperKa
I dunno why TWL wouldn't want to fix that - maybe Ash isn't aware of the problem?
In the meantime put your comics on Piperka.net - that's what I use for my reading list right now...Â
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Ash has been made aware. Not
Apparantly Ash's scraper
The weirdest thing about this is that WCN and Modern Tales are running on the same server, with virtually the same codebase (MT's is actually a minor-version upgrade from the codebase running WCN at the moment, but only because it has more administrative features on the backend for the editor to manage multiple contributors).
So I dunno.
The RSS feed should be plenty useful to anybody looking to build a notification service that includes WCN comics:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/rss.php
This problem is the major motivation for me to build a SOAP-based service allowing developers to pull public data directly from our database without having to scrape. I'm working on that, but it's a lower priority than projects that generate revenue directly. I still wonder if the notification services in the webcomics world (not just TWCL) will be interested in upgrading their systems to take advantage of the direct database access, or if they're happy enough with their scraping techniques that they'll just keep doing that, inefficient as it is for all concerned.
Joey
www.webcomicsnation.com
Carrot and Stick?
Carrot - better SOAP access
Stick - start banning IPs for inefficient scrapers?Â
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Xaviar Xerexes
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnaw.
Innocents Will be Caught in the Crossfire....
Carrot - better SOAP access
Stick - start banning IPs for inefficient scrapers?
Nah, that'll just hurt the WCN authors trying to list their work on TWCL. That Ash dude needs to work on his scraper code.
As an aside, I thought it was just my comic having a problem with not showing updates on TWCL. I see now that I'm not alone.
The MacNut
Creator/Writer/Artist
The Vanguard - now beginning Chapter 2!
The MacNut
Creator/Writer/Artist
The Vanguard
http://thevanguardhome.com
TWCL "unkind" to WCN
There will be no Christmas cards sent this year...
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