FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

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Don Alexander
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FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by Don Alexander »

Is it just me or has all the NSFW stuff disappeared recently? Seems especially nipples keep being covered by scenery censorship or speech balloons...

As this question keeps getting posted in every thread of a potentially NSFW strip, here's the answer courtesy of Giz:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15&p=550157#p550157
Giz wrote:gockel, Sokora... I'm sure I've mentioned this in the past for other comics but Ma3 has had one hell of a struggle in keeping ad providers for it. Americans are REALLY strict when it comes to the female nipple. I have no clue why that is. We could chop heads off and they wouldn't say a word, but a female nipple? BAN!! I'm not joking here. With that said, since MA3 started, we've been banned left & right from many ad providers, and each time we get banned, we lose like 2 months of ad money and it's tough. When we did the arc where Sonya brings Peggy to Gary's apartment and they find Zii and DiDi there, well, that arc pretty much banned us almost everywhere. We were then told that the only way for us to get ad providers in again was to tag the updates so we could split the NSFW and SFW pages apart. After the 4some lesbian arc, we were asked if we could tame it down for a bit in order to get some ad providers interested in advertising on the site again. This went on for a bit, and we got ad providers again in order to make a bit of money. What then ended up happening, each time we'd do a strip that was NSFW, we'd make 0 money on it. Dave and I said to ourselves "wow... what a system we're stuck in." Oh, sure we could put porn ads and see porn on every page but we don't want that. Ma3 is a sexy comedy, sure, but we never saw the comic as a porn comic. If it was, we'd see dongs left & right. If you browse the archive, you'll notice that every nsfw page has ads, but they're internal ads, and don't generate money.

When volume 7 started, we were still showing nipples & all (making no money) and Dave and I wondered if we could write strips that were cleaner for a bit. Soooo, we started to write a little cleaner for a while. We knew we couldn't make it last forever. I mean, at one point, something is gonna happen, and we'll have to break that SFW cycle. When we planned the foursome arc, we were SURE we'd break it. I mean, a foursome!! When the scene came up with Kiley, because we KNEW she had to leave in a huff, we were forced to keep her dressed. We figured "oh well... I guess she has a zipper down there?" It was the only way for her to leave the way she did, and we only had so many strips left before we had to close the book. So in the end, that happened the way it did because of how we end our books (has to match the beginning.)

With this all said, the Kickstarter bonus story had fan service. We have no restrictions there. We also don't plan on being SFW forever & ever. If a joke needs nipples, it'll get nipples, but just know that each time we do it, we make nada with ads.

Anyway, hope this clarifies a few things.
But we need our nipples!!! :(( Can't Giz make a Patreon or something like that??
Giz wrote:In regards to advertisers and their fear of the female nipple, I really don't know what more I can say. If we show the female nipple, we'll become a porn site with porn ads. We don't want that. I can't stress that enough. Sure we can do a Patreon, but is that a long term solution? I'm not going to jump into something until I'm sure. For now, it is what it is, and honestly, for this latest comic? It's funnier as is with the shirt on. For printed books, we may tweak a few strips if we feel it's necessary, and the bonus stories will have the "scaaaaary" female nipple.
For some reason I'm interested in the discussions on Ma3 Vols. 1...5! Where have they gone?
I have archived them to free up some space in the Ma3 forum - too many stickies on top. The threads have not been locked, though. Kudos to Az for pushing me.

Gary got laid!/There's character development!/Gary got laid by DiDi!!!/[Something] happened that I was not expecting in my headcanon. Therefore, the comic is surely wrapping up and will end soon.

While there does not seem to be a rigidly fixed plan, the creators estimate Ma3 will run for 12 years/volumes. The comic started in May 2008 and due to all kinds of little accumulating delays, we are still (as of early summer 2017) quite far from the end of Volume 9, so hold your horses! It may run longer than late 2020, but unlikely shorter. (Applicable only to Ma3, I do not know about the other comics really, except that SDB is supposed to return someday for likely one more volume.)

But wait, now I'm hearing the comic will end soon!!! Did I miss some announcement??

You did. Indeed, more recently, the 12-year plan has been dropped. I will refere to multiple posts from Giz in the Q&A thread:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15&start=2055#p584208
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15&start=2070#p587817
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15&start=2100#p590798

More material may land in this FAQ. We had some important things in the past, but they aren't talked about much right now. I'm sure Spidrift will help me out. ;)
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by Spidrift »

Good stuff.

The other FAQ that I can remember off-hand is "What exactly sets off Yuki's crotch-kicking fugues?", but that's a bit of a dead issue now, and the answer has changed a bit over time.
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by BioYuGi »

Well I'd rather the comic stay active, so if missing out on nipples most of the time is the way it's gotta be, I'm fine with that. I already accepted things wouldn't be as sexy as they could be ever since the Eerie Cuties censorship. Now to guiltily turn off adblock for these sites...

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Manoon
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by Manoon »

It's ridiculous - but I certainly don't blame the authors for dealing with it like this. What else could they do?

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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by trlkly »

I've got a question I assume would be an FAQ:

Is the comic pronounced muh-NAH-zhah-T(R)WAH [as in French] or muh-NAH-zhah-THREE [as in English]?

Edit: Here's the answer they gave in the other thread:
trlkly, since we both speak French at home, it's safe to say that we pronounce 3 as "trois" but we won't kill anyone for saying "three." I have no preference per say. I think Dave is more bothered by it than me, and prefers "trois." As for "ménage," it's closer to the "menagerie" way of saying it when we say it in French, but I've seen myself say the "muh-Nahzh" when pronouncing it in English, so go figure! lol
Last edited by trlkly on Thu Feb 11, 2016 3:14 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Johnny Wendigo
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by Johnny Wendigo »

Three for you, trwah for me...
wendigo n neighbors.jpg
wendigo n neighbors.jpg (115.69 KiB) Viewed 40560 times

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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by Shazam »

Was the concern of the ad networks satisfied by being able to segregate individual strips that contain the dreaded nipple monster? Or do you suffer from the ad networks pulling back from the entire site after scarring the eyes of our chaste young with individual (or dual) displays?

If the former, and if you now have a mechanism to differentiate strips that contain the fearful feature from others, then the question is whether the periodic sexy display boosts viewership for the site. I'm not sure how much titillation impacts overall page views, but I presume it has a moderate effect. If so, losing revenue for one strip out of 20 or 30 (or whatever ratio), on one of your titles (or I suppose multiple), might be worth it, if it raises the overall readership for the other 95%+ of that strip and 100% of other strips by a notable percent.

It sounds like earlier you'd lose the ad networks entirely, but you've now got an ad network and tech for a more granular solution. That just makes it a marketing question of how to best boost revenues, and that depends on numbers... whether it is generate revenues from 100% of pages, or generate revenues from 95%+ of pages (if the revenues per page in that case are higher.)

Good luck regardless. Always a pain as a small business, being at the whims of some other, often semi arbitrary party. :(

dmh3000
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by dmh3000 »

I would say that Patreon could be a promising venue. After multiple successful kickstarters and the success other comic creators have had, you could offer early strips or exclusive wallpapers like some other people do as incentive to donate. Maybe even through in the bonus stories from the books.

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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by vampire hunter D »

Maybe skip an uncensored online version and just have the nipples in the print editions. Would be a good way to sell books to thise who already read thw comoc online.
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by supremz »

In my mind anyway, you need to decide which is more important to you: money or art. Otherwise you'll inevitably have to sacrifice one for the other. We'll support you no matter what, though. :ymblushing:
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by Don Alexander »

Well, I guess it's the money which earns you the freedom to do the art (in the way you really want to). ;)
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by supremz »

I hope so. I dislike when a great work is sullied by external influence.
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by True_Avery »

supremz wrote:In my mind anyway, you need to decide which is more important to you: money or art. Otherwise you'll inevitably have to sacrifice one for the other. We'll support you no matter what, though. :ymblushing:
As a professional artist, no.

No.

This is a mindset used to guilt trip professional artists into charging less for our Art because, apparently, its always one or the other. If Giz wants to make more money, choosing to drop the nipples to ad revenue is a valid strategy, and if she wants to spend her time editing them back in to make the book more appealing then that is her professional ability.

Stop guilt tripping artists into being proud of making money off their product. You don't get to say you support people like us, but backhand it by saying, essentially, that we're selling out by making a living off our fucking trade.
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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by supremz »

But why are you selling your art to people who want to censor it in the first place? Because you need to eat, right? And was it ever your decision that you needed to sell your work in order to eat, because nobody forced you to, or would you rather not do another kind of work that would make your life more miserable?

There are artists all over the world who are willing to sacrifice wealth for integrity.

So, actually, I do have every right to criticize you for selling out, because I made the decision not to, and you should feel guilty, or at the very least responsible, for your actions, instead of blaming the people who pay for it with their money when you could have done it on your own.

No artist would ever want to censor their comic unless they are bribed. La propriété, c'est le vol!
HEY LOOK APPARENTLY CANADA HAS FASCISM TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://8ch.net/fringe/res/76453.html#76485

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Re: FAQ (aka where have all the nipples gone to?)

Post by suranae »

Actually your right to criticize in this case is limited to the copy of the work you purchased. Not the overall comic That's it really.

Not to quash your belief too hard but I think you're conflating freedom of vision with market reality.

To some degree Giz and Dave should've stuck to their guns and rolled on but as people they need a roof over their heads and food on the table. The money made from net adverts is crap but it beats nothing.

I'm not even sure it's feasible for a business to do what you're asking. It'd put them out of business

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