George Blackman’s Post

A bit more pain in Setka The most important feature of any social network is creating posts and engaging in comment discussions. In short, working in a text editor. The way comment editing looks makes me suffer. A tiny input field that can’t be expanded—when you try to scroll, your finger inevitably touches the keyboard, making unintended edits to the text. Pain and suffering. I get it, but this feels like one of the most critical flows. 😅

A few weeks ago I wrote about making and editing webcomics over on Reddit, but the BEST part of that post were the questions I received. I like my advice, and I drew on my three years as a WEBTOON editor and my MFA in Fiction to give practical, useful suggestions. I had previously gathered many of these tips in educational videos, portfolio reviews, and in university classrooms, so I'd given a lot of thought to them already. But the ongoing responsibility of an editor is to listen to creators and to readers, and the redditors in r/webtoons are among the most passionate members of that community. The questions that concern them offer important lessons for everyone in this space, especially the publishers. You can check out the post for yourself, but here are the trends I noticed: 1. Creators are anxious about attracting an audience. Big platforms promise visibility, but it's a very competitive time to be making comics. 2. Creators are anxious about localized titles, especially big-budget projects with very specific storytelling trends. They seem to view these series primarily as competition, and this us vs. them mentality suggests they haven't felt like these popular titles benefit them. 3. They want to know how to advance in this field, whether that's finding collaborators, creating Originals, and/or publishing in print. There's a definite passion and interest to make more comics, they just want help with the how! I've heard these messages many times before, and seeing them again from the Redditors just confirms that we have a long way to go as a community and industry. Groups like the Cartoonist Cooperative, the Cartoonists of Color/Queer Cartoonists Database/Disabled Cartoonists Database, and many informal groups online offer support in ways that no one else can. Whether the publishers step up their efforts, and how they do it, will determine a lot about the next few years in comics. If you're interested, take a look at the post and its replies! https://lnkd.in/gKQ4_WPr And if you're looking to hire an editor, whether it's for your publishing company or your comic project, I'm #opentowork! https://lnkd.in/gB_XHjej

Excited to Share the Latest Updates to My In-Browser Text Editor! I’m thrilled to announce a few powerful new features and a fresh, colourful interface for my text editor! Here’s what’s new: Modernized Interface: A vibrant new look to make editing even more enjoyable. Find & Replace with Optional Regular Expression: This feature now features regex support, enabling more flexible find and replace. The feature has been added, but testing is left for the wide developer network and my network, which has supported me in all my endeavours. "Save As" with Autogenerated Filename: When saving, a suggested filename (with date and time for uniqueness) pops up. Users can modify it as they like! Clear Content Button: Start fresh with a single click—no page reload required. LLM Text Cleanup Macro: A unique macro to streamline and clean up AI-generated content, obscuring LLM traces in articles and blog posts for a polished, professional finish. Check it out here: https://bz2.in/texdit (bz2.in is a short private URL service created by me on AWS using S3 and CloudFront #TextEditor #ContentCreation #RegularExpressions #TechInnovation #ProductivityTools #WebDevelopment #CodeEnhancement #NewFeatures Expecting to hear your feedback as I keep enhancing this tool. Thanks for all the support!

This One Shortcut key has Instantly Boosted My Editing Efficiency 10x. I regularly use similar shortcuts to increase my editing speed, I think am kinda shortcut nerd 😄. I will be sharing such information for fellow creators in coming days, so make sure to follow 🙌 by the way Did you know about this shortcut?

Here's a question that I've gotten from some coaches I've worked with:    "Where do you come up with ideas for your content?"    I've joked that I use the Mr.Burns (from "The Simpsons") approach, where I have 1000 monkeys working away on 1000 typewriters, but I don't really have such a resource.   However, I do have a number of proven ways to instantly come up with content ideas, and I'll be sharing them during a live workshop that I'm doing on Tuesday (there are at least six of them)   If you want to get past creator's block for good, join us by registering at the link in the comments! 

✍️ Joan Westenberg might be my favourite independent writer. I always feel like her last article is the best, but then she manages to write a better one. Her take on society's stupidity is pricelessly accurate and precisely my opinion. "The human species isn’t on a steady decline into stupidity — it just feels that way. Why? because now everyone has a microphone. A few decades ago, the loudest voices in the room were filtered by effort, editors, publishers, broadcasters, academics, or sometimes just the looming threat of social ostracization. If you wanted to shout your theories about how birds are government drones or how Elvis is alive and living in your basement, you’d need to put in some work: submit your nonsense to a newspaper, write a manifesto, shout at strangers in the park, or get your own cable access show. That took effort, money, and a certain level of charisma (or at least persistence) (...) The real problem is that people confuse volume with truth. Just because someone has 60,000 followers doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about. It just means they’re good at gaming the system — posting in the right format, at the right time, with the right bait for whatever tribe or algorithm they’re courting. But just because someone is louder, more confident, or more popular doesn’t mean they’re right. In fact, 8 times out of 10, it means the opposite. The folks who actually know what they’re talking about are usually the ones who hesitate, who couch their statements with caveats like, “It’s complicated” or “There’s no clear answer.” That kind of intellectual honesty doesn’t play well on social media, where certainty reigns supreme and ambiguity gets left in the dust. Nobody’s going to share a tweet that says, “Well, it depends on a variety of factors, and we’ll need more data to draw any definitive conclusions etc etc etc.” It’s boring. It’s slow. It doesn’t fit in 280 characters. Complex issues — climate change, global pandemics, geopolitical tensions — get boiled down into bite-sized takes that spread like wildfire because they’re easy to understand and emotionally charged. And who benefits from this? The loudest voices, not the smartest ones." Read “Don’t Confuse Volume with Truth“ by JA Westenberg on Medium:

Do you have a Substack? This traditionally text based platform is picking up speed on the internet, largely due to its new visual focused features. Many are wondering if Substack is the answer to many creators’ worries; but can it stand the test of time? Read our blog to find out more: https://t.ly/1gBeL #socialagency #socialinsights #substack

Would you pay to be in a chat thread with a writer or journalist of your choosing? Substack has been experimenting with new features for subscribers to various publications. One of them is direct access to a writers via a subscriber-only chat channel. From a reader's perspective: I messaged an overseas games writer I subscribe to a question last week, and felt chuffed to get a reply. But... I've already see this get abused by spammers or spinners looking to pitch a (not very good) story. Or 'send me money' requests. But at its best, its an interesting value-add. Newsrooms are constantly looking for ways to make their subscriptions more sticky -- offering (or selling) events or talks featuring their reporters for instance. So I'm wondering if there's any value in this? And for my journo mates, is this opening up a new circle of hell for you? I get it! I really do. Responding to your inbox is already pain enough, as well as fielding stuff over social media. What do you think?

An 'easy' way to make content is to take the role of news reporter in your industry. This is a consistent way to get content out, but you risk becoming the forgettable messenger. To avoid this, give your take on the news––creating op-eds, not editorials.

‘Algorithmic programming comprises three steps: (1) Pooling: Creating a pool of eligible stories for the specific module; (2) Ranking: Sorting stories by a ranking mechanism; and (3) Finishing: Applying editorial guardrails and business rules to ensure the final output of stories meets our standards. Editorial judgment is incorporated into all of these steps, in different ways.’