Scrapers
I would have submitted this to Webcomics.com as an article, but this is directed at kind-hearted, well-intentioned developers, not the producers of comics. There are a lot of scraper websites and apps being produced at any given time. A scraper looks at HTML on a page (or possibly in an RSS feed), locates the salient content — in the case of webcomics, the comic image for that day — and either hotlinks the image or copies it to some other server. There, readers can view all the day’s comics without having to see blog posts, comments, ads, logos, anything.
I’m not saying “stop scraping” because that will never happen. There will always be people who do this as a hobby or as a service and they don’t care about ownership or what’s happening. That’s why we always recommend having your URL in the image itself, so at least there’s that. You’ll never prevent that kind of sharing (and there are even occasions where you don’t want to).
But the kind I think that’s preventable is scraping done out of ignorance. Who doesn’t want a place or an app that’ll strip out all the noise and just deliver your favorite comics to your phone without having to visit eight different comic sites? I get it from a reader standpoint. And I get that it’s a neat project from a developer standpoint.
I think though that that kind of developer doesn’t see the harm in it — and even, with some amount of pride, will approach a cartoonist and say “check out this app I made that lets readers get your strip on their phones!” There’s three problems with allowing that though, and three reasons why I say no.
1) Sites are elaborate for a reason. Webcartoonists provide content that is free to read. But a couple things make it worth the cartoonists’ while.
One is advertising across the site and trying to foster a good connection between advertisers and audiences. I pulled near-pornographic ads from my site; generally cartoonists don’t callously run whatever is going to make them a fast buck. On the contrary, readers’ interest drives successful advertising. If it’s a sci-fi strip, it stands to reason (unobtrusive) ads for a sci-fi book or movie would be relevant to their interests. They are potentially useful for the readers too. I wish I could block all the dumb smokeless cigarette ads out there because my audience doesn’t care about that. As a content provider you need to engender that kind of relationship.
Another is all the connections to other facets of that strip, like the community forums, or blog posts with relevant news or con appearances, and ways to contact the cartoonist. All that stuff gets taken away by a scraper.
Finally, site branding is eliminated. Ideally the website should fully support the tone of the content. It should be an experience that enhances the content and draws a reader further in. A scraper kills all that branding effort — or worse, replaces it with the scraper’s own brand.
2) We’ve already provided a trimmed-down way to view the comics. It’s RSS, and in most cases, it delivers the comic image (or a link to just the comic) to every reader that wants it. If that’s how a reader insists on receiving the strip, then here it is. There was anxiety about RSS killing websites and advertising, but at least RSS still lets the provider control some of the secondary goods. Blog posts show up in comic RSS feeds for a reason, as does the occasional ad. It is a compromise, but it’s a good one.
3) It wasn’t opt-in. This one is the biggest sin to me, and it’s important even if you don’t care about (1) and (2). Typically no permission is given for a comic’s inclusion in a scraper app. So the cartoonist hears about it second- or third-hand. And the cartoonist then sends an e-mail to the scraper and asks to have their work removed.
The developers at whom this write-up is aimed at are often apologetic, and polite, and remove the comic immediately, and they have my appreciation. I know they are well-meaning; they just want to use their talent to provide a useful tool. I just wish a little more research was done beforehand, before they went to all the wasted effort!
The trouble is, if you make an app like this opt-in, you find that almost no cartoonists want to participate. So the app dies for lack of comics in its stable. I’ve heard pitches from more idealistic and impassioned developers, who talk about blog access and even revenue sharing. But that’s not the cartoonist sharing in their ads. Those ads are running on someone else’s content. That would be the cartoonist sharing their revenue, and there’s no reason to do that.
So be smart, guys. Don’t spend all that time coming up with the coolest app ever — and some of them are really cool — only to get in trouble later and make a bunch of cartoonists mad and end up with no content for your service. Even if you totally disagree with my other points, cover them bases and ask permission first!
