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| The Comic | The Author | Advertising | Intellectual Property | Contact Us | This F.A.Q. was last updated on April 18, 2006. Q. When was UserFriendly born? A. November 17th, 1997. It has been published daily ever since. No breaks, no change-ups, no guest cartoonists. Q. Where do you get your inspiration? A. Real life, from years of working in I.T., and from being a geek myself since as long as I could remember. The first (user-programmable) computer I ever used a Hewlett-Packard 2000 mini, with thermal-paper printouts. I continue to be inspired by geeks I hang around with, absorbing tech industry and science news, and the occasional visit to tech companies who oddly enough invite me out to observe their staff for ideas. Q. Where else is UserFriendly published? A. Many places in print: Linux Magazine International, Linux Journal, and many others from monthly four-colour glossies to university newspapers around the world. We stopped maintaining the public list once it grew past fifty or sixty publications. UserFriendly used to be published in the National Post, one of Canada's two national newspapers. The new executive editor has a thing against comics that were launched on the Web, alas. Q. Why "Illiad"? A. At the time, anonymity. That no longer exists for me, so I prefer to be called "J.D." Q. Do you do signings? Book tours? Speeches? Panels? A. Yes, I think I've done somewhere around 100 speeches and panels since 1998, from keynotes at technical conferences to panels in the smaller family-oriented SF conventions. If you'd like to book me, please be prepared to cover the usual: travel costs, hotel, food and transport to and from the airport. If you want me at a small conference, or a non-profit, I don't at all mind doing it on the cheap. If you're a big commercial conference or major corporation, I expect first-class airfare and a four- or five-star hotel. I reserve the right to charge a speaker's fee as well. Signings: I'd rather not be locked to a table to sign things. I'm always more than happy to autograph a book, poster, cartoon, shirt, whatever. Just approach me and ask. I'm friendly and can be very accommodating. Q. What's with the ads on the site? A. The lion's share of UF's revenue comes from advertising. We don't accept ads that take over the browser, like pop-unders or eyeblasters. We do take standard animated ads, some flash ads and a very few "Rich Media" ads that show video. If you don't like ads but want to continue visiting UF, we offer a way to turn those ads off: Buy a Membership. Memberships support my work at UF and help keep this site afloat! Q. I don't like ads, so I'll block them, and I don't want to pay you. Find a different business model. A. Ah! Are you related? If a coder releases software under a shareware license, and you use his work for free, and do away with his nag screens without paying him, does the response "Find a different business model" put you on some kind of moral high ground? Does the fact that you simply disagree with his use of nag screens make it okay for you to bypass them without paying for his work? Q. Who do advertisers reach on UserFriendly? A. Mostly I.T. workers. We have a hefty reach to a narrow but deep demographic of technology professionals. This includes front-line tech support to CIOs and CTOs; from regional ISPs to the U.S. Air Force; from the minions of Microsoft to the serfs at SuSE/Novell. Apparently we also reach the geeks at the SCO Group, even though I make fun of the company's underhanded shenanigans on a fairly regular basis. Q. I want to advertise on UF. What do I do? How much do I need to spend? A. First, be prepared to spend at least US$500. If your budget is less than that and you'll probably get a better bang for your buck using Google Adwords or similar. Contact David Barton, my VP of Biz and Imperial Expansion with your needs and questions and he'll get right back to you. (Use the "biz" address) My apologies, by the way, for not being able to take advertising buys of less than $500. If we did that, we'd be worked to death with $20 buys. Each advertising campaign takes roughly the same amount of time to set up, launch and administer, so with 2 people working a site like UF, we have to commit our time responsibly. Q. Can I put a favourite UF comic strip on my own website? A. Yes -- you can assume this FAQ gives you express permission to do so with the following qualifications:
You can do this for up to six (6) User Friendly strips. Beyond that, you'll need personal permission in form of a reprints contract. Note that this might involve a license fee. Q. Can I print one of your strips on a t-shirt or mug? A. Occasionally it's fine. Please ask first. Contact David Barton at our "biz" address with a request for a reprint contract. A license fee may be involved. Q. Can I use one of your strips on our Intranet, in a e-mail newsletter, or in a presentation? A. Yes. Please Contact David Barton at our "biz" address with a request for a reprint contract. Again, there might be a license fee. Q. Can I print User Friendly strips in a book or other print form? A. Yes. For anything commercial print-related, please contact my agent David Fugate at 'david' -at- 'launchbooks' -dot- 'com'. Q. Is it okay if I 'webscrape' or pull down the comic with a script? A. Such programs that allow a user to view comics owned by User Friendly.Org are unauthorized; and such activities constitute copyright infringement, unfair competition and trademark infringement, rendering the owner and/or user of such programs liable for damages. In short, no. Q. What if I'm a paid member? A. The answer is still no -- unless the only thing you do is pull down the current strip. No going back into the archives and hammering the server. Doing that will get you blackholed, paying member or not. If you aren't a paid member and you pull down the current strip please pull down the ads as well. The concept here is that of a two-way street. | |||||||||||||
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Copyright© 1997-2013 |
