Pete writes: “This is a copy of a joke Johnny Hart used decades ago. I didn’t get it then either.”
Now your editor has to rant a bit. I didn’t sign onto GoComics on April 1, because I was busy that day. When I tried to sign in to the “new and improved site” on April 2, about 8:15 pm CDT, I couldn’t. I asked for a password reset, which requires sending a verification email (pretty standard). After 30 minutes and 3 resend tries, a verification email never arrived. The help screen is less than helpful:
Beta testing before releasing software is not a crime!
Comics I Don't Understand 
Is tuna fish dangerous/ poisonous? A “safe cracker” would be a cracker without tuna fish on, if that was the case. Maybe there was a scare about mercury poisoning when it first came out. Perhaps fugu/ pufferfish would be a better fish for that joke.
I had the same problem with GoComics, but using the link to change the password that was sent in the mail announcing the switch worked.
Maybe a reference to mercury in tuna from years back?
Even when you go to the new location of your collection page (the old one no longer works, now everyone gets their own unique URL), it’s still broken. If you’re not a paying customer, your comics page shows the first three strips, OMITS THE FOURTH ENTIRELY, and then gives links to the rest. Ad banners block much of the page even if you have adblocker (the banners are just obstructive and blank), the strips have shrunk again, and you can no longer go from strip to strip (gotta back up to the root page and click each link separately).
Oh, and the archives are apparently all paywalled now, and linking to a strip doesn’t work even if you’re a paying customer.
The GoComics “upgrade” had two effects for me:
1)Requiring a pointless password reset that was quite clunky.
2)Hiding the My Comics page and changing its URL for no reason.
You and I are doing the beta testing. This is endemic in the industry; I’ve been a vendor for over 35 years and it’s bloody terrifying. https://xkcd.com/2347/ doesn’t even come close to how bad it is. Many/most of us in the business wake up every morning more or less expecting that the entire Web may be down…forever.
Vendor management has recognized that security is important, but not that it costs, so teams are spending more and more of their dwindling resources on security work instead of actual product development and functional testing. Which reduces profits, so the teams get cut. It’s a death spiral. I’m kinda glad I’ll be retired at some point in the next ?decade?.
I took the comic to mean that the writer of that entry just doesn’t like tuna.
As for GoComics, it is definitely making the free version clunkier, which I assumed was to entice free users to pay to upgrade. I switched from using GoComics for most of my dailies, and ArcaMax for the ones GoComics didn’t have, to ArcaMax for most, and GoComics for the ones ArcaMax doesn’t have. (Plus, of course, all the ones that I read that are on neither platform, such as those I read on Tinyview, and QC.)
Dvandom: I thought that omitting the 4th thing was a glitch unique to me; thanks for letting me know it’s not. Weird solution – add a comic there that you don’t read, I guess.
Concerning the new GoComics: I have a program that runs in the wee hours everyday to scrape the comic image url from about 120 comics and consolidate them onto four html pages that I can browse without bothering with ads or navigation issues. I was dreading this update, fearing it would break my program. As it turns out, I did have to make adjustments, but not nearly as drastic as I was expecting. Here is what I have observed so far (bearing in mind this is still a work in progress, since apparently, GoComics itself has still not settled down.) The program normally runs for about 25 minutes, 99% of that time being delays built in to slow it down. While testing it on my Windows box, things worked fine. When I moved it to my Linux box, the runtime increased to over 90 minutes. The only difference being that I had logged into GoComics (via browser) in Windows, but not in Linux. When I first went into GoComics with FireFox on the Linux box (not logged in) the experience was pathetic, (I can see why people are complaining). Loads of pop-up ads, the comic is teeny, just plain crappy. Once I logged in, things looked a lot better. I am assuming there is a cookie somewhere that signifies I am and logged in, so my program should be back to a normal runtime tomorrow. We’ll see.
I am not sure what Dvandom means about linking to a strip not working, since that is exactly what my program is doing.
One strangeness I have come across is when you just enter gocomics.com in the browser, it/they expand the url to http://gocomics.com which directs the browser to an Azure page not found. https://gocomics.com works fine, but for some reason my browsers don’t automatically use that form.
I believe from what I have heard that the archives allow 30 days back for free subscribers.
What I don’t like on the new GoComics site is that I can’t access the comments from my favorites page.
Brian – that was what I thought also – but does not seem to go back that far – even with the former strips which have been transferred to it. Will have to see as it goes along.
At gocomics, I’ve always linked each strip from my bookmarks on the left (safari on iPad). I have other favorite comics that aren’t on gocomics, so it’s more convenient for me. So the new format actually saves me a click, and I didn’t even have to update the bookmarks.
Other than Wallace the Brave, never been a fan of the comments section. PBS being one of the worst for political vitriol. So, while I hope more people get back to commenting, it’s not a big issue for me.
The new password was no trouble for me, though apparently was for many. I did have to add my display name, though.
Overall, I think it’s better. Except the parts that aren’t.
I contacted GoComics through their support page to point out my issues. They sent me a form letter listing 9 different problems they’re working on.
In other words: @phsii is right. We’re all paying them to be beta testers. Except I’m not going to renew, so there’s that.
Carl, what I mind more than being a de facto beta tester is the fact that most sites have no way to give solid feedback. And if you do manage to contact them, the droid that reads it is typically just a BIS and sends a form reply that’s irrelevant. And if they do sort of read it, they usually ask questions that were already answered in the original report.
I mean, I get it. Most people reporting problems are not computer professionals and cannot report a problem coherently, have not tried basic diagnostic techniques, etc. But if they’d train the folks to read and use some judgment, they’d pretty quickly learn to tell the difference, one would think. But, again, outsourced BIS are likely a huge part of the problem: not really trained, not incentivized, and not there very long.
Back in the day (1980s), in reporting problems to IBM, we wished for a customer rating system at IBM that would say, “This customer usually reports legitimate problems and has a clue”.
At the time, I had a queue of about 200 problems for which we had internal fixes (the operating system came with source code, so we could fix things). I had a deal with our account rep that I would keep no more than five problems open at once. This meant I’d report five, and once they’d all closed, call to report another five. That conversation always went like this:
“I’m calling to report five bugs.”
“FIVE bugs?!!”
“Well, I have about 200, but I’m only reporting five today.”
They would then happily accept the five without further whining!
What I don’t like on the new GoComics site is that I can’t access the comments from my favorites page.
Don’t click on the strip, that will only open it larger. Click the name above it. That will open the strip page. It’s important to remember that the comments are a separate service run by OpenWeb, not GoComics.
Hmm. As a paying customer, aside from changing my password and the bookmark to my saved comics, I didn’t see much difference. I tried logging out and looking at comics…and it’s not too dissimilar to the Comics Kingdom page that I’m using without paying (select a comic, read that comic, back up to the list…). I’m paid for a while yet, but I may not bother to renew when it comes up. I do read a bunch of comics on there, far more than on Comics Kingdom – but I suspect I could trim it way down without being too sorry about missing things. If I get an account, can I see a set list on Arcamax or is it also click the link to read each comic? The more barriers they put up (the more they annoy their customers), the fewer (paying) customers they’ll have…
Thank you Brian.
phsiii (14): You reminded me of once when I worked for Tandem Computers and got to visit four customers. One was savvy enough that he could have been a Tandem engineer. Another could have been my mother, for all she knew about how it worked.
OpenWeb has gotten its claws into both GoComics and Comics Kingdom of late. It’s odd hwo the two implementations are not at all alike.
CK’s comment system is abominable, hard to get to, and full of bugs. GC is slightly easier to get to but mostly works when called. I have paid GC’s fee for a few years now, because having 75 or so selected comics on a single page is a major convenience. I once used CK’s free trial but found it practically useless, along with their price being considerably higher. I really dislike paying for incompetence, so I don’t. Now, the only strips I use CK for are the ones for which they appear to be the exclusive source. USA Today, Creators, and ArcaMax are fairly reliable, but with them I miss having a comments community. AFAIK, GC is still the only one offering a multi-comic page.
I’ve heard that GC intends to jack up their price substantially, and, well, we’ll see.
I don’t have a subscription with CK, because I only follow two strips, but the OpenWeb implementation looks very similar to GC and works as far as reading the same. What differences do you note?
Yes, a big price hike is planned for GC. That’s why they have limited the access to the archives for free accounts. They need some separation. Collateral effects were the removal of the Search and Random strip options. Those might come back for paid subscribers. Rather than adding perks for paid, they have removed them for free accounts. Before, a free sub with a good adblocker wasn’t much different than paid. I didn’t care because it was cheap at $15/year.
Boise Ed –
I have mentioned that I am an accountant. (Think Gene Wilder in “The Producers” not those fellows in expensive 3 piece suits.) My clients tend to be clients of my dad or clients of the accountant I worked for out of college. I have 4 clients left (alive) and one of them is a corporation.
The clients do NOT use computers. I am generally as if it is the 1980s (or earlier) in doing their taxes.
One of them was just widowed and his wife took care of everything financial. I am trying to do their income taxes for 2024 and still have to do same for 2023 as she took ill just as they were due and they have not been done. Luckily I got the email/phone number of a relative who is helping him now.
While his wife used a computer – he does not use one at all – and doesn’t want to. Luckily in past years I have been in contact directly with their brokers and such so getting info from them has not been a problem, but it is an adventure.
I feel terribly sorry for him as they were a well- matched couple in temperament and what each liked to do in life. When I have met him in person he has been shy and did not talk a lot. Some phone calls we have had lasted over an hour of just general talking. (I actually know them since I was maybe 12.)
Finding that a free account at GoComics allows me to follow only three comics now – three of their choice, btw – I gave in and tried to sign up for a paid account. There are AFAIK two possible formats in which to input a Canadian postal code: the official version ANA NAN, and the no-spaces version ANANAN. Apparently neither is GoComics’ “requested format”. I’ve been waiting four days for enlightenment. Why do so many businesses make it hard to give them money?