Smack Jeeves
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Contents |
[edit] History
Smack Jeeves is a free webcomic hosting site founded by Dan Liebner in the May of 2005. According to Liebner, there are over 3000 comics hosted.
[edit] Service and Features
Smack Jeeves provides free webcomic hosting. Though it doesn't have FTP -- which may be a draw back for people uploading a large number of images -- the browser file upload is relatively fast. Liebner, the sites founder, is frequently updating the service to add new features for its users. An array of customizable templates is included in every new site. There has recently been some trouble with this, but the bugs are being worked out as of this writing. Though the site is geared toward new users unfamiliar with HTML, it's easy to overwrite the default layout with your own design.
The site also has an optional ratings system for each comic. The customizable template makes it possible to modify the look of or eliminate the ratings system as each user sees fit, (though users new to HTML and javascript will have difficulty with this). Each site has a built in news page for the authors to use, as well as a comments system.
Lately, due to some problems with Dreamhost, account confimation emails have been delayed. "[because of] an enormous spam run, we have had to temporarily suspend outgoing email from our webservers. We are having trouble pinning down the exact cause, however it is a distributed spam run across multiple servers (at least 20 that we have found so far). Once this has been resolved we will reenable it and queued email should go out." Liebner has emailed donator codes to donators, as well as helped new registrants who post in the forum regarding this problem.
This problem seems to be mostly resovled now, but the server has also generated some blank pages when users attempt to access the site. This also seems to have been resolved, but its cause remains a mystery.
[edit] Premium Service
The site also offers "donator codes" for $10 each. A donator code gives the user more benefits, such as larger file uploads, and ad space, as well as the recently added option to download the entire comic to a zip file. In lieu of financial support, many members opt to voluntarily paste a google ad into their template.
[edit] Tech Support
As Liebner is constantly upgrading the site and adding new features, there tend to be some weird bugs that go along with the updates. Despite this, a post in the forum generally yields fast support.
[edit] News and Additional Information
Many attempts, (most unsuccessful), have been made by community members to create a Smack Jeeves News site. The latest incarnation of this project, SmackTalk has been the first incarnation to be published. It boasts help with tech support, interviews with the SmackJeeves creator, reviews of comics, etc.
There is also a large community available to all Smack Jeeves users for tech support, as well as comic feedback, site gossip, and once a month, a free comic plug.
Recently, after a number of flame attacks on the forums, Liebner has written a comprehensive ToS, which was sorely needed.
