on his blog that his feature, Candorville, along with eight other features are part of a comic survey at St. Paul Pioneer Press. Readers are encouraged to vote for their favorite and can vote once a day. " /> on his blog that his feature, Candorville, along with eight other features are part of a comic survey at St. Paul Pioneer Press. Readers are encouraged to vote for their favorite and can vote once a day. " />
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Comic strips

Candorville and 8 others in St. Paul Press ‘keep or drop’ survey

Published: August 23, 2006 1 minute 54 comments

Darrin Bell has mentioned on his blog that his feature, Candorville, along with eight other features are part of a comic survey at St. Paul Pioneer Press. Readers are encouraged to vote for their favorite and can vote once a day.

The nine comics under scrutiny are: Candorville, Dog Eat Doug, Fred Basset, Lio, Mutts, Non Sequitur, Piranha Club, Red and Rover, and Sylvia.

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Comments 54

  1. OK, this has to be by far the most retarded way of choosing which comics go and which ones stay.

    C’mon, let’s all write to this paper and let ’em know what we think of these “polls”.

    comics_survey@pioneerpress.com

    I say don’t vote for any comics! Just tell the editors to do their jobs and be editors!

    COME ON! EVERYBODY JUMP IN!

  2. OK, this has to be by far the most retarded way of choosing which comics go and which ones stay.

    C’mon, let’s all write to this paper and let ’em know what we think of these “polls”.

    comics_survey@pioneerpress.com

    I say don’t vote for any comics! Just tell the editors to do their jobs and be editors!

    COME ON! EVERYBODY JUMP IN!

  3. I agree that any online poll (especially one where an individual can vote more than once) is inherently flawed.

    Why should anyone who is not a customer or potential customer of the Pioneer Press have a say as to which comics go in it?

  4. I agree that any online poll (especially one where an individual can vote more than once) is inherently flawed.

    Why should anyone who is not a customer or potential customer of the Pioneer Press have a say as to which comics go in it?

  5. Goodness…

    Okay, I don’t really mind comic polls in general, but this is borderline ridiculous.

    You have to send a email EVERY FREAKIN’ DAY!? Goodness, that’s just odd.

    I remember hearing Bill Holbrook (who draws two syndicated comics and one webcomic) in one interview where he said that he likes his newspaper because their comics section has few of everything (some in the politics field, some in the “classics” field, some in the “modern” field…etc). I think all newspapers should do that.

  6. Goodness…

    Okay, I don’t really mind comic polls in general, but this is borderline ridiculous.

    You have to send a email EVERY FREAKIN’ DAY!? Goodness, that’s just odd.

    I remember hearing Bill Holbrook (who draws two syndicated comics and one webcomic) in one interview where he said that he likes his newspaper because their comics section has few of everything (some in the politics field, some in the “classics” field, some in the “modern” field…etc). I think all newspapers should do that.

  7. Demonstrates editors’ sheer laziness or basic misunderstanding of survey design. If purpose is to respond to readers, then survey should be limited to readers. Who vote once. Unless you read the comics every day of the year, then you should be able to vote at least 365 times.

    But the editors should be consistent. Soon they should have surveys on which lifestyle/metro columnists should be dropped, which wire services they pull stories from should be dropped, which sections of the newspaper should be dropped (all those darn ads!) and, finally, which editors should be dropped.

  8. Demonstrates editors’ sheer laziness or basic misunderstanding of survey design. If purpose is to respond to readers, then survey should be limited to readers. Who vote once. Unless you read the comics every day of the year, then you should be able to vote at least 365 times.

    But the editors should be consistent. Soon they should have surveys on which lifestyle/metro columnists should be dropped, which wire services they pull stories from should be dropped, which sections of the newspaper should be dropped (all those darn ads!) and, finally, which editors should be dropped.

  9. You should only worry about being dumped if you think your strip is not really popular with the readers. Otherwise don’t sweat it. If you haven’t built a following of some sort by now maybe you need to rethink your strip or go apply for a job a Macy’s. I hear they have an excellent executive training program.

  10. You should only worry about being dumped if you think your strip is not really popular with the readers. Otherwise don’t sweat it. If you haven’t built a following of some sort by now maybe you need to rethink your strip or go apply for a job a Macy’s. I hear they have an excellent executive training program.

  11. Rob, I personally don’t have a problem with editors running polls or surveys to gauge a feature’s popularity, but I think the cartoonists in question are worried about how easy it would be for someone to manipulate the outcome and therefore invalidating the accuracy of how popular one feature might be over another.

    I could easily write a script that would send in 100 (or a thousand for that matter) emails a day (from different bogus email accounts, and IP addresses so they didn’t look like the same person) and then repeat that every day until they announced a winner.

  12. Rob, I personally don’t have a problem with editors running polls or surveys to gauge a feature’s popularity, but I think the cartoonists in question are worried about how easy it would be for someone to manipulate the outcome and therefore invalidating the accuracy of how popular one feature might be over another.

    I could easily write a script that would send in 100 (or a thousand for that matter) emails a day (from different bogus email accounts, and IP addresses so they didn’t look like the same person) and then repeat that every day until they announced a winner.

  13. These reader polls tend to be dominated by long-established strips, no matter how trite or stale they may have become. “New” strips, meaning those in a newspaper for less than a decade or so, almost always do badly. A lot of readers value familiarity more than humor, storytelling, or art.

    Also, humor with a bite tends to do poorly. “Candorville” and “Piranha Club” stand a good chance of finishing near the bottom of this poll.

    This also shows you how little value editors place on their comics pages. There’s no way they’d have a “reader poll” for news stories or columnists. They don’t seem to realize that a good comics page can be a real asset to a newspaper — like a top-notch dessert menu at a restaurant.

  14. These reader polls tend to be dominated by long-established strips, no matter how trite or stale they may have become. “New” strips, meaning those in a newspaper for less than a decade or so, almost always do badly. A lot of readers value familiarity more than humor, storytelling, or art.

    Also, humor with a bite tends to do poorly. “Candorville” and “Piranha Club” stand a good chance of finishing near the bottom of this poll.

    This also shows you how little value editors place on their comics pages. There’s no way they’d have a “reader poll” for news stories or columnists. They don’t seem to realize that a good comics page can be a real asset to a newspaper — like a top-notch dessert menu at a restaurant.

  15. johnw,

    “Top-notch dessert menu” … I love that.

    Great analogy.

  16. johnw,

    “Top-notch dessert menu” … I love that.

    Great analogy.

  17. Why are newspaper strips cursed with attitudes like this?
    If newspapers want a vibrant comics section that will attract readers then they have to give the section some respect. Editors should take responsibilty for the comics they pick for their newspapers and then show some loyalty to their choices. Put some excitement back in this section!
    I guess the thinking is that these polls involve the readers but I think it just discourages the creators and alienates many readers. Which is perhaps why both groups are turning away from print and more to web comics.

  18. Why are newspaper strips cursed with attitudes like this?
    If newspapers want a vibrant comics section that will attract readers then they have to give the section some respect. Editors should take responsibilty for the comics they pick for their newspapers and then show some loyalty to their choices. Put some excitement back in this section!
    I guess the thinking is that these polls involve the readers but I think it just discourages the creators and alienates many readers. Which is perhaps why both groups are turning away from print and more to web comics.

  19. Must keep: Mutts Must drop: Piranha Club

  20. Must keep: Mutts Must drop: Piranha Club

  21. Keep: Non Sequitur
    Drop: Piranha Club

  22. Keep: Non Sequitur
    Drop: Piranha Club

  23. Drop them all and start from scratch.

  24. Drop them all and start from scratch.

  25. Polls conducted by newspapers are horribly unscientific, and as a result are really meaningless as a tool to gauge which comics a paper should run. I prefer the music store analogy. A good music store carries all kinds of music, not just a certain type of music, music for a certain type of listener, or the top selling music. Newspapers should offer various types of comics for various readers, not just a certain type of comic, comics for a certain type of reader, or the top vote-getting comics.

  26. animal lover,keep mutts,drop sylvia

  27. animal lover,keep mutts,drop sylvia

  28. keep all the animal cartoons

  29. keep all the animal cartoons

  30. “Music Score Analogy” – perfect. In fact, newspapers do just that with their different sections – international, national and local news, metro, arts, sports, business, columnists covering various topics. They don’t have just local news, or high school sports, swimming team.

  31. “Music Score Analogy” – perfect. In fact, newspapers do just that with their different sections – international, national and local news, metro, arts, sports, business, columnists covering various topics. They don’t have just local news, or high school sports, swimming team.

  34. Please keep Fred Bassett … in a hole and then cover that hole with industrial strength cement. If there is such a thing.

  35. Please keep Fred Bassett … in a hole and then cover that hole with industrial strength cement. If there is such a thing.

  36. Maybe at the age of 82 my eyes are failing – I find it difficult to read the print in the Sylvia strip altho the message is usually sutble and often with much irony. Why don’t we ever see her “ma”? I vote KEEP SYLVIA.

    Drop Candorville.

  37. keep dog eat doug lose lio thanks

  41. keep- Fred Basset
    drop- Sylvia

  42. keep- Fred Basset
    drop- Sylvia

  45. Leave – the gun; Take – the cannolis

  46. Leave – the gun; Take – the cannolis

  47. Drop Lio and put back THE LOCKHORNS
    We miss them

  48. Drop Lio and put back THE LOCKHORNS
    We miss them

  50. Mark, great Godfather reference!

  51. KEEP RED AND ROVER!!!! I don’t care about the rest.

  52. KEEP RED AND ROVER!!!! I don’t care about the rest.

  53. Keep Tumbleweeds lose Calvin & Hobbes

    — whoops sorry I thought it was 1985

  54. Keep Tumbleweeds lose Calvin & Hobbes

    — whoops sorry I thought it was 1985

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