[ SECRET POST #1558 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1558 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 12 pages, 291 secrets from Secret Submission Post #223.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ], [ 1 - take it to comments ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom.livejournal.com]

09. http://i52.tinypic.com/24zeoso.jpg

[foxybanana.livejournal.com]

What would Batman do? Well he's rich, so I assume he would just buy the comics...

[p-drunkwriting.livejournal.com]

CORRECT. And he tends to be a classist asshole from time to time, so I don't think he would care much about this ~trivial matter~.

Whatever Anon, you don't have money to afford it. You're still giving everyone recognition and enjoying their work. You're not the majority and most comic industries have an extremely problematic market (just like any other industry), so you should feel so guilty.

[(Anonymous)]

Aw, I'm the same, only I don't feel guilty about it.
For some people the choice is between buying a thing and pirating it. For me, it's between pirating it and not having it at all.
If I was of the first kind of people, I like to think I'd buy these things. But I'm not.
Firstly, I'm pretty poor even by the standards of the country I live in, very poor by the standards of the developed countries.
Secondly, even if I did havee the money, I couldn't buy it because these kind of things aren't even sold in my country (I guess I could buy online, but I don't have a credit card, not to mention money for the stuff + the insane shipping fees)

So, I just download and think that it's not harming anyone, and the companies or anyone wouldn't benefit in any way from me depriving myself of the stuff I enjoy.

[(Anonymous)]

The whole to buy or download debate is fairly complicated.

If you can afford to buy then you should absolutely try to support the artists/companies that are producing something you love, but if you're poor should you be excluded from something as relevant to all people as culture itself? Music, stories, art, at some point, belong to everyone. It's how we define ourselves and explore the human condition.

When you can afford it, pay, until then, well, even Batman broke a few laws ;)

[othellia.livejournal.com]

If it bothers you that much and you don't plan on giving up the downloads, set yourself a budget and settle with buying (at least) one comic a month? If you start buying lots of comics it will certainly cost a lot, but with one comic it's still a little bit of support and can easily be worked into a small income. IDK.

[accented.livejournal.com]

I admit I have downloaded a few comics, for two reasons mainly. For some, I want to see if it's good enough to buy. Ninety-nine percent of the time they are and I do end up buying the comics because I like to collect them. And another reason I downloaded (granted, only once) was because I wanted this bigass compilation whose individual issues are difficult to find separately and the thing was rare in and of itself.

But I do agree with a commenter up there. If it bothers you that much, save some cash and buy a one or a couple every month. Some websites like http://www.midtowncomics.com/ offer bundles and things like that. Your LCS might do the same. Also, if you live around a Borders, they're closing out and a ton of graphic novels and individual comics are being sold at half (or more) of their original price.

[sonormalithurts.livejournal.com]

Oh OP, a few years back this could've been my secret. Comics were seriously the only thing that brought me any joy. I tried to buy collections of the things I loved when I had but that didn't happen nearly as often as I'd liked.

I feel that the companies benefit from fans, even if not directly by having them buy issues every month, but in a "keeping the form alive" kind of way, you know?

It's all cool and you deserve your happiness.

[sonormalithurts.livejournal.com]

Oh OP, a few years back this could've been my secret. Comics were seriously the only thing that brought me any joy. I tried to buy collections of the things I loved when I had but that didn't happen nearly as often as I'd liked.

I feel that the companies benefit from fans, even if not directly by having them buy issues every month, but in a "keeping the form alive" kind of way, you know?

It's all cool and you deserve your happiness.

[stigmatarobin.livejournal.com]

If you live near a library, use it. If they don't have a great comic selection, request that they buy some. (Some libraries let you submit requests online.)

[0o0f.livejournal.com]

Batman is rich. Okay, someone already said that, but unless you are rich yourself, I think it's unfair to compare yourself to him.

He'd do this:

[twilightedge.livejournal.com]

(http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v244/TwilightEdge/?action=view&current=128751088934.jpg)

[missing-mile-15.livejournal.com]

I download a few as well either because I can't afford them like you (seriously, prices are only going up, and with all the ones I want to buy I'd be in debt up to my eyeballs). I downloaded all of Sandman at one point (though alas, that was a harddrive ago) because the trades were expensive and the series, while complete at least, is long. I occasionally pick up big stories in trades to show my support, something that maybe you could do if you're feeling that guilty.

[gethenian.livejournal.com]

Do you have any thrift stores or flea markets where you live? Cuz I know in New York, you can go to these big thrift stores and flea markets and buy BOXES of used comics for a couple of bucks.

[(Anonymous)]

which could be comparable to downloading them. the second-hand buyer/downloader still isn't paying for them.

but I'm with the secret!op. when I can't afford it, I download.

however, when I can, I do buy.

[gethenian.livejournal.com]

It's not really that comparable.

Downloading is one person buying something and uploading it and then potentially thousands of people downloading it. The only people who profit from it is potentially the owners of the site that supports downloadable files, who probably get money for ads or something, thus reinforcing and encouraging piracy.

Buying second-hand is one person buying something, reading it, and then either giving it away to a reseller or selling it themselves at a fleamarket or something. In either case, you pay much less for it than you'd have paid originally, the money goes to support independent individuals running honest businesses, and it can only be resold once. So the people who made it to begin with aren't out any more money than they would be if the original buyer had loaned it to a friend instead of selling it to a stranger.

If you own a physical comic book, the money has been given to the publisher for that copy and what happens to it after that is of no significant consequence to them. It is the property of the buyer, who can do with it whatever they please, including sell it to anyone willing to pay for it. That doesn't happen often enough to significantly impact the overall profits or sales figures for any comic that gets put out -- because most resold comics have stopped being printed by the time they're resold anyway, and comic books rarely get resold more than twice. Probably rarely more than ONCE.

A downloaded comic, on the other hand, might be downloaded hundreds of times. That's potentially hundreds of instances of the content of published material being distributed for free, with no profit made by the publisher, or by the original buyer, or by anyone except the pirate-file hosting site operators.

So really, which option do you think is better? REALLY?

help :)

[velvetcure.livejournal.com]

check out 'swagbucks'. you just use the site to get points and it's really easy to get get $5 amazon [.com OR .ca -whereever you are from] gift cards. seriously i just bought a $120 coffee maker from amazon for free using swagbucks amazon cards. it's a lot of reward for hardly any effort. i only use it once a day.

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/saraL

and here are some surveys that use paypal. it doesn't add up to much but $20 here or there can get you some free comics and then you won't make batman cry. :P

http://www.surveyhead.com [best one!]
http://www.dailysurveypanel.com [small cash amount but it's an easy $2 here or there]
http://www.myhotspex.com [if you do enough surveys you'll be VIP and then you can cash out $10-$25 amazon gift cards OR paypal. it's pretty sweet but it takes a little longer.]

message me if you need any help figuring them out! :D

[xanykaos.livejournal.com]

Mm. It's a struggling industry. If you're following super-mainstream books, maybe it's a drop in the bucket. But for a lot of the smaller titles--even the smaller ones within the "big two"...I dunno, now it feels a little cold.

Scan sites are a nice enough way to get your feet wet and see if it's worth it, but if that's the only way you're supporting the industry, it's not quite fair. If you live in the States, go to your library: a lot of them have a pretty good selection these days, and many of them even do something called "Inter-Library Loans"--that is, if there's a book (or a trade paperback) you want that your library doesn't have, they can put in a request to get a copy from another library (if they don't feel like buying their own copy or it's out of print).

Also advocating the "buy one comic a month." I've upped my budget since getting a steady job (and developing my addiction), but back in college, I figured I could allow myself the $3.50 a month for one title I really liked (it was Fables, btw. Sometimes Ultimate X-men, if I was feeling spendy).