Creative Issues

So the other day I was talking about my own blog and what I wanted to write here. I think the conclusion I came to was a good one.

Since then Eric Burns has had his own crisis with his readers. Essentially they want him to write less about something he was enjoying writing about (his John Stark comic) and more about something he used to write about but (according to his critics) hasn't really been that focussed on lately (webcomics in general).

Eric's position is that it is his blog and not there's. He pays to write there and any audience he gets is a bonus. He can and will write whatever he wants. Which is in itself a contentious position because his publishing of it on the web automatically puts it out there to be read right?

My criticism is not of his decision to say it's for him first and foremost. It is his and he can do and say whatever he wants. It's that he says he'll write whatever he wants and yet he's folding under the pressure of his readership. He's decided to remove the John Stark snarks and post them elsewhere. If his readership really isn't that important to websnark then why move Stark?

I have to say Scott Kurtz made some good points, Eric is cut. Some people don't like Stark (or posts on Stark at the least) and they're being pretty vocal about it. Eric said he doesn't feel comfortable posting about Stark on websnark which is either because he doesn't want to turn people away from websnark or because he doesn't want people to talk trash about him or Stark again, or both. Either way, can you blame him?

I sometimes wish he was more like Maddox in terms of telling demanding fans to eat a bowl of his nuts. But then I guess he wouldn't be Eric, would he?