The Baaing Tree

[BaaingTree]

Username: baaingtree

Email: lilboocassell <at> net(spamisevil)zero <dot> net

Site description: The site will hold my growing collection of artwork, sci-fi/fantasy stories, and educational mental health comics.  The comics aren't web style; I draw them up, post the pencil rough drafts for free when I'm done, and then sell the finished versions for a little pocket money.  My focus is still mostly stories and artwork.

More: I already have a website at http://baaingtree.com/, or, if you're feeling masochistic and want to watch my work grow up, http://baaingtree.deviantart.com/ Check my work and see if it's up to par.  You can also get an idea of how often I update. (Note the DA account is mostly dead)

As you can see, my work sprawls a bit.  I do a little educational comics here, a little colored pencils there, write a story about romance writers or blue-collar superheroes there.  I have a few ideas concerning paper doll comics and more comic books to come, but those are all blueprint stage.  I'll be honest and say the core of my site is drawings and stories.  The art is all safe for work; the stories can range into more mature range (that is, people die or get horny, as people do), but none of them I think would cause problems.

There are a couple things that might be a bit of a problem for you, Xepher.  I MST stuff--that is, I find something that makes my brain hurt, and then (hopefully) humorously poke fun at it and poke holes the arguments.  It is the only page I have that I worry about pinging any of your limitations: specifically, the sex ones, and the copyright ones.

Regarding copyright: I'm pretty much quoting chunks of websites and forums, maybe magazines and cover blurbs. (Currently, I do NOT post MSTs from book content) I always cite or link back to the original source if available, make it clear the stuff is not mine, obviously make no money off it, and I only quote chunks, and only for satirical/humorous purposes.  Your word is law.  Take a look at my MSTs page.  No good?  Tell me and I'll cut it.

Regarding sex: Some of the stuff I MSTed discussed sexual acts.  Again, take a leaf through.  Too much?  No problem, I'll take it down.  It's a small part of my site, not a big deal.

Also, I was considering posting some short bits of erotica.  If I did, it'd be on a page requiring a password, and again, it'd be a small part of the site.  I'm not sure I even have the guts to try, but I figure I might as well ask now.  I would consider it explicit, but with plot or character development, not just pure Tab A, Slot B.  None of it is on my website or DA account right now. (EDIT 8/18/09: bah, scratch it.  It occurs to me if I don't have the guts to be able to produce it for the forum for review, I don't have the guts to put it on the Web.)

All right, I think that covers anything.  Any questions?

[Xepher]

My apologies for not getting to this (or other applications) yet. I'm gonna try and catch up on this now that my job is over.

[BaaingTree]

Awesome, thank you so much.  If there is ANY information or questions you have for me, feel free to e-mail me at any time.

EDIT: Oh, CRAP.  I completely forgot.  My imagehost site just died last week.  It was run by a friend of mine, and he lost it, so almost all my images are dead in the water.  I'm so sorry, but right now, I don't think it can be helped; it's a couple hundred images, and putting ALL of them up on Imageshack or something and fixing ALL the links for a website I'm going to lose in a few months is more work than it's worth.  All the writing links are still good, though, and most the artwork is on my DA account.  If that's unacceptable, I'm willing to work something out...

[Xepher]

That's okay... maybe just post a few (5 or so) examples that you like best here, just to demonstrate the overall artwork. I don't need to see the entire comic.

[BaaingTree]

*thumbs up* No problem!  Five of my works for you.  Sorry about that, it was just a matter of Murphy's Law timing...

[Xepher]

Anyone else have some opinions on this? Feel free to be honest. I'm a bit on the fence myself.

[griever]

I'm not sure either, Xepher...I was hoping someone else would respond too.

There are some things I kind of like and some things I really dislike.  I like that your DA page shows improvement and some of the more recent art, especially the hand-colored ones, are pretty nice.  I'm not really getting the dolly comics though and don't feel compelled enough to read the writing, although that may be the lack of web formatting that's ruining it for me.  The updates are also pretty sporadic, if the history page is accurate.  Given that your focus is stories and artwork, I think DA is working out fairly well and not really sure that an independent website is necessary.

[BaaingTree]

The dolly comics were a new experiment, mostly in-jokes for a few friends.  I readily admit, I doubt I'll keep going with them.

Thing is, DA is really brutal when it comes to putting up writing.  I need to reformat everything, and it's just not practical.  Plus I've been having some doubts over DA's policy; it's one of the reasons I left my account for dead for a couple years, preferring to move to an independent site.

You mention the web formatting.  Advice would be great.  The Officelive interface is pretty much rigid; I can't do anything with it. (Unfortunately.  One of the reasons I'm trying to leave it.) As for the basic HTML of the stories themselves, feel free to tell me how I could improve it.  I'd love to make it more appealing.

[griever]

Sorry for the lack of clarity, I'm referring more to the writing on the website than on DA.

How much HTML do you know?  I'm completely unfamiliar with OfficeLive.  There isn't any WYSIWYG editor at Xepher, so everything will have to be handcoded anyway.

[BaaingTree]

Sorry for the lack of clarity, I'm referring more to the writing on the website than on DA.

Ah, oops, my mistake.  You're right, it IS a big icky block of text, isn't it? :/ Surely there's a better way for me to format it than that... thanks for drawing my attention to it; I ought to get that patched up.

How much HTML do you know?  I'm completely unfamiliar with OfficeLive.  There isn't any WYSIWYG editor at Xepher, so everything will have to be handcoded anyway.

OfficeLive only uses a Windows visual interface, which uses ASP.NET, and it doesn't allow me to handcode antyhing, unless I specifically input an HTML module. (Which alone can be a bit buggy; I have only used it to put up some Paypal stuff, but even THAT took more brainsweat than it should have.) To be honest, I would be happy--DELIGHTED--to handcode my own.  The idiot-proofing is killing me.

My HTML skills are what I'd consider "good enough"--nothing flashy, I'll admit, but I've got a couple textbooks, enough to make frames, menu bars, format text, make thumbnails, and get everything I need done.  I also know scraps of PHP, enough to do some rudimentary stuff like forms and cookies. (Though I can't fathom needing the latter.) My database skills are better; I make my own, familiar with Inmagic and Access, SQL, etc.

As for my irregularity, I do have to apologize for that.  I've been overseas without Internet for a year, which is why there's a long quiet period, followed by a MASSIVE upload.  And then I was applying to grad school and without a place to live.  Now that everything's settled, I have a flat, a school, and I'm FINALLY in a routine, I hope to stick with updating roughly once a month.

If that's too light for Xepher, that's okay, but since you guys are fairly web-savvy, do you have any advice for where I COULD try setting up shop?  DA is good for images, but bad on ads and text.  LJ is good for text, okay on ads, but bad on images, and my current site is just really clunky to update.  Don't suppose you've got any advice?  I'd hate to have to set up image hosting with Imageshack or something, and then do it all through LJ.

[Xepher]

Sorry I took so long to finally make a call on this. I'm afraid I'm going to say "no" though. Mostly it's due to the sporadic nature of updates, and the all-inclusive nature of the content. That is, you have a lot of stuff, but it's jumping all over the place, both in quality and in purpose. One of the requirements is regular updates, and I'm just not convinced that would happen.

As for other places to try, you've mentioned most of the free services that don't suck too bad. There are a ton of places that offer really cheap (like $3/month) hosting for websites, and then you can do pretty much anything you could've here, with no ads. Best of luck!