Bad attention (completely off-topic)

[Olaf Solstrand]

Sigvald:

> Yes, but only to draw attention towards the *topic* - in that case the
> overlapping panel style, not my person. I have sometimes posted serious
> questions to DCML without getting any response, through that I have learned
> that seriousity may not always be enough to draw attention towards an
> interesting topic.

I think this is a wrong approach, Sigvald. We have several good discussions on 
the DCML every day, all without insulting anyone.

The truth can be pretty hard to swallow, but it often is that if you say 
something VERY interesting, and nobody answers - that is normally because 
others are not interested in the same things as you are. If people feel that 
they have nothing to contribute with, they often remain silent.

Take the "best Duck Tales episodes" discussion... I don't think anyone so far 
has said anything bad. Someone started a discussion on DuckTales. Many has 
contributed to the discusson. I haven't - because I haven't watched much 
DuckTales and therefor I haven't much to say about DuckTales. Also, if we count 
heads, I'm sure that more than 90% of the DCML still has not said anything in 
that DuckTales discussion. Including you, Sigvald. Why is that? Because we 
don't feel we have anything to contribute with there.

So, you're right - seriousity may not always be enough to draw attention 
towards a topic. But towards an interesting topic? Well, what is interesting 
varies from person to person. In a discussion about the panel style in a recent 
Fecchi story, many on the list will be in the position that they haven't read 
this story. Others will be in the position that they don't have an opinion 
about this panel style. Some people are in the position that they don't have 
the time to write to DCML. And many people DON'T answer a question if they have 
nothing to contribute with.

So, what interests you, MAY not interest everybody else. Which is why they 
don't answer you. It's as easy as that.

It does NOT help to ask the same question in a very bad and insulting way. Yes, 
you get more attention. But you don't get more attention towards the question, 
you get more _negative_ attention towards yourself.

Sigvald, to take this Fecchi thing.

You wrote:
"Seen isolated this person's drawings are OK, but the way they are arranged on 
each page IMO make stories drawn by this person look awful in any Disney-
magazine. This is because the panels are not arranged properly as in most 
Disney comics. In stead the panels seems to be randomly arranged and sometimes 
with parts of one panel covering another panel – just like in modern super-hero 
comics. Maybe this person thinks that using such a modern style is cool, well I 
don't think so at all. Still most stories published in the "Donald Pocket" 
books look normal, and I hope they will look so in the future to. If this IMO 
lousy Fecchi-style ever becomes the normal look of the stories in the "Donald 
Pocket" books Egmont will loose me as a reader of those books, that's for sure!"

This wasn't even a discussion! You were *stating* that this was bad, using 
words like "bad", "awful" and "lousy".

If you had written e.g.:
"The panels in this story was arranged in a relatively unusual way for a Disney 
comic - they're not lined up like panels use to be, but more scrambled, almost 
randomly arranged, sometimes with parts of one panel covering another panel - 
in other words, in a more modern style, like the one in many super hero comics.

What do you think of experimenting with the panel style in this way? 
Personally, I prefer panels to be lined up properly with white space between 
them, like most other stories still have, but what do you think?"

If you had written something like that - well, I can tell you for sure that _I_ 
would have given the same answer as I did this time. I assume Fernando, 
Jonathan and Matthew would have done the same - as we have opinions on this, 
and is interested in discussing it. To make it clear: I answered you because 
the topic was interesting me, NOT because it was written in a negative way.

As for more attention - well, the fact that you wrote this in such a negative 
way, brought you more attention. E.g. you got a few responds from Daniël. I 
don't defend what Daniël wrote - but he wrote that BECAUSE you wrote your post 
in such a negative way. So, you're right - you got more attention by writing it 
in a negative way, but is this really the kind of attention you want?

Cheer up, Sigvald. Happy thoughts. If you write an interesting post in a 
serious way, and people don't answer you - that is NOT because your post is too 
serious. That is because people don't think what you think is interesting is 
interesting, or because they feel they have nothing to add. So, I think the 
best for both you and the rest of the list will be if you go back to writing 
serious posts.



Olaf