The Oatmeal vs. FunnyJunk

June 2, 2011 8:07 AM

Soon after Inman's blog post went up, the FunnyJunk administrator sent a message to his users in which he said that “the Oatmeal wants to sue funnyjunk and shut it down! He thinks we're nothing more than dirty content thieves." The message linked to Inman's contact page and The Oatmeal Facebook account. The Facebook page was soon "completely trolled," said Inman, and he was not impressed by the quality of the commenters. “Their favorite noun was ‘fag’,” he said.

The Oatmeal vs. FunnyJunk: a webcomic copyright fight gets personal. (FunnyJunk site may contain NSFW thumbnails.)
posted by Horace Rumpole (94 comments total)

Ah, the ebaum's world business model.
posted by fatbird at 8:11 AM on June 2, 2011 [9 favorites]

While it pains me to say this, I support The Oatmeal in this situation.

But that doesn't change the fact that The Oatmeal makes the laziest jokes possible in every comic.

I'll continue to boycott both.
posted by cloeburner at 8:14 AM on June 2, 2011 [22 favorites]

Perhaps they will both exhaust themselves, wither and die.
posted by boo_radley at 8:14 AM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

Having no dog in this fight, I just want to mention that Funnyjunk is a pretty hellish looking website. I can understand The Oatmeal having a fanbase, but Funnyjunk isn't... isn't anything.
posted by Nomiconic at 8:17 AM on June 2, 2011

Funnyjunk also steals rage comics from reddit, too.
posted by empath at 8:18 AM on June 2, 2011

Whoever wins, we lose.
posted by Eideteker at 8:20 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Funnyjunk also steals rage comics from reddit, too.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU
posted by cortex at 8:20 AM on June 2, 2011 [35 favorites]

Funnyjunk also steals rage comics from reddit

I think "abject apathy" would sum up the amount of rage this knowledge induces in me.
posted by panaceanot at 8:21 AM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

But the onus is on Inman to police his copyrights and send out takedown notices. This is quite a drag on a one-man operation, and Inman tells me he has never done it (though he did recently ask Google to remove some of his FunnyJunk hosted content from its search engine).

It might help if he used the one legal method that was specifically created for these kinds of issues to solve this problem. The whole DMCA takedown process is designed to make it easy for content creators to push ISPs to remove content, without having to spend any money on legal fees or lawyers.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:22 AM on June 2, 2011 [5 favorites]

It sounds to me like the guy that runs Funny Junk is opening himself to serious legal liability in his responses -- any lawyers care to comment?
posted by empath at 8:24 AM on June 2, 2011

FunnyJunk is an unfunny aggregator and The Oatmeal is a terrible comic run by a shameless pandering SEO worker. I have absolutely no dog in this fight.
posted by flatluigi at 8:25 AM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

As funnyjunk.com is hosted in the Netherlands, I'm thinking a DMCA takedown notice will have zero effect.
posted by introp at 8:26 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

from article: “Their favorite noun was ‘fag’,” he said.

They learned it from watching you, Mr Man-boobs.
posted by koeselitz at 8:26 AM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

I'm thinking a DMCA takedown notice will have zero effect.

It also means, I think, that he doesn't benefit from the safe harbor provisions of the law.
posted by empath at 8:29 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Discussion of the controversy has sprawled across Facebook and into sites like Reddit," AND METAFILTER!
posted by oxford blue at 8:31 AM on June 2, 2011

Funnyjunk also steals rage comics from reddit, too.

They steal stuff I hate?

I'm torn between apathy and indifference.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 8:32 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

This year's Something Awful Goons vs. Eric "eBaum" Bauman.
posted by jsavimbi at 8:35 AM on June 2, 2011

"Funnyjunk also steals rage comics from reddit, too."

Huh. I thought all the rage comics came from 4chan.

(It's also weird to see the "fag" thing get spread to other places. 4chan has its own culture with the word, and seeing that bitten on Funn Junk is kind of sad.)
posted by klangklangston at 8:40 AM on June 2, 2011

Though, really, if 4chan got motivated, they could just post endless CP to Funny Junk and take the whole thing down.
posted by klangklangston at 8:42 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

FJ was also recently in a tizzy about reddit stealing their content. These teapots just keep getting more tempestuous!
posted by Jpfed at 8:42 AM on June 2, 2011

Rage comics, as far as I know, originated from 4chan, but a lot of the new ones are first posted on various subreddits, /r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu and (this one is pot related, so might not be worksafe): /r/trees, for examples.
posted by skynxnex at 8:46 AM on June 2, 2011

Huh. I thought all the rage comics came from 4chan.

Originally, yeah, but I think f7u12 users make the vast majority of them now.
posted by empath at 8:47 AM on June 2, 2011

Are we sure that FJ isn't owned by Carlos Mencia?
posted by pwally at 8:47 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Honestly, if I had funny junk, I would maybe get sex partners to sign an NDA, not create a website to broadcast it.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:48 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's also weird to see the "fag" thing get spread to other places. 4chan has its own culture with the word, and seeing that bitten on Funn Junk is kind of sad.

Well that's certainly one way to look at it. Another way is that "fag" is an incredibly common perjorative that 4chan happens to use in a self-perjorative way. The usage cited in the article

Yo f**, we are more than you think

Doesn't seem to have any really conenction to 4chan, except for the vaguely-threatening Anonymous rip-off.
posted by muddgirl at 8:50 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Don't know why I did that in the blockquote. Wierd brain.
posted by muddgirl at 8:50 AM on June 2, 2011

Wow. Defending the Funnyjunk site as anything but a source of adspam is pretty silly. I mean, love or hate the Oatmeal, at least it seems to have a purpose and a direction. Funnyjunk is pretty much a parked domain awaiting a real site.

The fact that a large number of low-Q mouth-breathers rushed to defend it might be funny except that it is so sad.

And I'm not even talking about the various reasonings behind the defence, which is often so specious that this story just got sadder.

If you enjoy Funnyjunk and visit it more than once a month on purpose, I'm reasonably sure there is something wrong with you. You should spend more of that time searching out child porn, because then you might be less reprehensible.
posted by clvrmnky at 8:55 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I sometimes think the average IQ of one of those 'mouth-breathers' must be quite high, but some sort of impaired social functioning prevents them from using their powers for good not evil.
posted by oxford blue at 8:56 AM on June 2, 2011

Is there some reason that Inman - and all the other webcomic creators Funnyjunk and the like rip off - haven't simply just begun a class action lawsuit? I mean, Funnyjunk's infringements are so numerous that a class action has got to look attractive to some enterprising IP lawyer.
posted by mightygodking at 8:59 AM on June 2, 2011

I'm suddenly understanding what I didn't understand about a discussion in a thread yesterday -- the phrase "It's pretty okay, for a web comic." Ah ha.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:03 AM on June 2, 2011

It's also weird to see the "fag" thing get spread to other places.

Very sheltered childhood.
posted by DU at 9:17 AM on June 2, 2011 [4 favorites]

Is there some reason that Inman - and all the other webcomic creators Funnyjunk and the like rip off - haven't simply just begun a class action lawsuit?

Yes, the site's in the Netherlands.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:26 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Whoever wins, we lose.

Whoever loses, we win.

- Mr. Glass-half-full
posted by TheShadowKnows at 9:29 AM on June 2, 2011 [6 favorites]

I'll continue to boycott both.

You're boycotting The Oatmeal? In my day, if we didn't care for something, we just didn't read it.
posted by cgomez at 9:30 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also, the other side of the coin is WikiLeaks and the Pirate Bay. There is very little you can do to sue a website out of existence if they're already about skirting whatever laws they don't like to begin with.

I wish I had an answer, because I feel helpless about sites like that too. The internet sort of just works this way. FunnyJunk is a site that takes all the popular stuff and puts it in one place. You may as well try to shut down porn. Or The Huffington Post.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:34 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love The Oatmeal, but even if I were neutral before, this:

Update: In the comments section of his blog yesterday, Inman added a brief update: "The owner of FunnyJunk made it so the site changes all instances of 'The Oatmeal' to 'the fag,' and none of the stolen material I mentioned was taken down."

would've tipped me to Inman's side anyway.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:40 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

What's with the attitude here? Gosh, if you don't like The Oatmeal, that's fine.
However, please stop acting like the theft of content isn't worth discussion though.
posted by Flotsam Rosewater at 9:46 AM on June 2, 2011 [13 favorites]

Did that article deliberately pull out every quote with a "fag" or "faggot" in it, or is that the only offensive terms these morons know? I haven't been exposed to that level of mindless homophobia for years. I though we had moved on; I see now I have just been living a sheltered life.
posted by londonmark at 9:47 AM on June 2, 2011

Okay one last thought: I guess just as a "I know nothing about this or how to do this" idea, Inman did note that he asked Google to take down links to FunnyJunk that illegally post his work. Maybe that's honestly the people who need to be talked to. What would be the economic damage to FunnyJunk if Google just applied the same penalties for rank spamming to sites that violate the DCMA to U.S. browsers?
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:48 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Internet slap fight.
posted by iamabot at 10:08 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

cmgonzalez: “I love The Oatmeal, but even if I were neutral before, this... would've tipped me to Inman's side anyway.”

It's cute how you assume that a crud-minded, body-mocking jerk like Matthew Inman would tell the truth about things like this. Besides, I'm sure "fag" is one of his favorite words, too; he can use it as a political cudgel all he wants, but we're talking about a guy who's written comics about how it's fun to abuse and degrade prostitutes here, so I have a strong feeling the word is in his vocabulary.
posted by koeselitz at 10:09 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Everyone loves prostitutes until they're caught with one in their trunk.
posted by oxford blue at 10:19 AM on June 2, 2011

I had to read further and see his pic before I kept going with the concept of "I never knew Iman made comics?"
posted by stormpooper at 10:20 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

"Everyone should know that as soon as you post something on the internet, it's not yours anymore," wrote on commenter.

Where to people get the idea that if you put something on the internet that you're giving up your copyrights and putting it in the public domain? I've heard this sentiment a number of times from people of all different age groups, and I don't understand how they could think that.

My best guess is that they were told to be careful what they post on the Facebook because it could end up all over internet, and somehow understood that to mean "Whatever I see on the internet I can re-uploaded all over the internet!"
posted by papercrane at 10:24 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Where to people get the idea that if you put something on the internet that you're giving up your copyrights and putting it in the public domain?

If you don't want to be quoted, keep your mouth shut.

Related: if you don't like these kind of sites linking to them probably isn't the best approach.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:30 AM on June 2, 2011

Where to people get the idea that if you put something on the internet that you're giving up your copyrights and putting it in the public domain?

I understand the sentiment that it's not reasonable to expect anything on the internet to not get copied.

I don't think he cares about it being copied. He cares about getting attribution, which is reasonable.
posted by empath at 10:32 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

He's not a poor suffering artist, but a businessman who happens to be a poor artist. That is to say empath is spot on.
posted by oxford blue at 10:40 AM on June 2, 2011

I understand the sentiment that it's not reasonable to expect anything on the internet to not get copied.

You're right, I'm talking about people who believe that you lose you're copyrights. It seems like a common common misconception
posted by papercrane at 10:45 AM on June 2, 2011

Yes, the site's in the Netherlands.

Step 1: Find Dutch lawyers.
Step 2: Sue their asses.
posted by mightygodking at 10:47 AM on June 2, 2011

Step 1: Find Dutch lawyers.
Step 2: Sue their asses.

Step 3: Profit?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:51 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Funnyjunk also steals rage comics from reddit, too.

This seems like the perfect venue to dust off "and nothing of value was lost".
posted by Dark Messiah at 10:55 AM on June 2, 2011

but we're talking about a guy who's written comics about how it's fun to abuse and degrade prostitutes here, so I have a strong feeling the word is in his vocabulary

All jokes are, naturally, 100% serious.
posted by Dark Messiah at 10:59 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

> but we're talking about a guy who's written comics about how it's fun to abuse and degrade prostitutes here

Wow; you weren't kidding. I have only a passing familiarity with The Oatmeal, so had missed the more offensive entries. His Women with Moustaches site is particularly despicable.
posted by hot soup girl at 11:07 AM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

"All jokes are, naturally, 100% serious."

Dude has to be funny if he wants to be cut slack over his lazy misogyny. Thems the rules. Instead he's an SEO douchebag who only exists because he's better at marketing himself than Perry Bible Fellowship or Hyperbole and a Half.

I mean, seriously, Four Things To Do With A Shovel is really two things (dig a hole, kill someone) done twice and shittily. Lazy hooker joke is lazy.
posted by klangklangston at 11:29 AM on June 2, 2011 [5 favorites]

"but we're talking about a guy who's written comics about how it's fun to abuse and degrade prostitutes here, so I have a strong feeling the word is in his vocabulary."
posted by koeselitz at 6:09 PM

"Wow; you weren't kidding."
posted by hot soup girl at 7:07

Seriously? Degrading prostitutes? As opposed to raping them in an alley, leaving without paying, physical and mental abuse while at work, having drugs pushed on them?

Fucking hell, getting a prostitute to play Mario Cart with you and your buddies? Degrading? Right.
posted by marienbad at 11:46 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Fucking hell, getting a prostitute to play Mario Cart with you and your buddies? Degrading? Right.

Well, it was probably a shitty emulator...
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:51 AM on June 2, 2011

Fucking hell, getting a prostitute to play Mario Cart with you and your buddies? Degrading? Right.

You could at least read the entire comic strip before firing off a defensive retort. Then you would have a chance of not looking stupid.
posted by mek at 11:54 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Fucking hell, getting a prostitute to play Mario Cart with you and your buddies? Degrading? Right.

You could at least read the entire comic strip before firing off a defensive retort. Then you would have a chance of not looking stupid.

Yea, I generally considered myself an Oatmeal fan, but that whole strip is disturbing. No longer a fan.
posted by londonmark at 12:03 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Man, I hadn't even seen the "4 Reasons To Carry A Shovel" one. Ugh.
posted by koeselitz at 12:07 PM on June 2, 2011

Dark Messiah: “All jokes are, naturally, 100% serious.”

By that token, it's just fine that the FJ people called Inman a "fag," because hey – they were just joking! Sadly, I don't think it works that way.
posted by koeselitz at 12:09 PM on June 2, 2011

I don't think his shitty content should be stolen. That doesn't change the fact that it is shitty.
posted by graventy at 12:10 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

"The owner of FunnyJunk made it so the site changes all instances of 'The Oatmeal' to 'the fag,' and none of the stolen material I mentioned was taken down."

Does anyone have a link? I wasn't able to verify this. I haven't found any Oatmeal content on FJ ...

Dude has to be funny if he wants to be cut slack over his lazy misogyny.

That.

What's with the attitude here? Gosh, if you don't like The Oatmeal, that's fine.
However, please stop acting like the theft of content isn't worth discussion though.

The quality of the "stolen" content is worth discussion, imo.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:20 PM on June 2, 2011

I've occasionally liked The Oatmeal in the past - a few chuckles. The prostitute stuff seems like a crude attempt to go for edgy humor and failing, but it's tasteless, yeah.

No matter, really, FJ is doing this to basically doing this to every half-way successful webcomic creator. Don't like Inman, fine. Do you like Randall Munroe, or Ben Driscoll, or Zack Weiner, or Natalie Dee or Drew? FJ has no argument in this. It is entirely one-sided. Fuck 'em as soon as we can figure out how.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:31 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Update: In the comments section of his blog yesterday, Inman added a brief update: "The owner of FunnyJunk made it so the site changes all instances of 'The Oatmeal' to 'the fag,' and none of the stolen material I mentioned was taken down."

Found a couple:

What it's like to have an Apple product

The Male Angler Fish Gets Screwed

Why I Believe Printers were Sent from Hell

No mention of "Oatmeal" or "fag" on any of the ones I've found ...

The first two examples keeps the attribution in the images; the third removes it.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:34 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think it's two different discussions:

(1) The Oatmeal is a terrible comic.

(1) Don't post people's work without crediting them. This goes for FJ.com, but this also goes for all those Tumblr blogs.
posted by muddgirl at 12:38 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

...all those Tumblr blogs which post other's peoples photos or art without crediting them, I mean.
posted by muddgirl at 12:39 PM on June 2, 2011

Yours is the first mention of Tumblr at all in this thread, muddgirl.
posted by flatluigi at 1:16 PM on June 2, 2011

"You could at least read the entire comic strip before firing off a defensive retort. Then you would have a chance of not looking stupid."
posted by mek at 7:54 PM

Wow patronising as. I did read the whole comic... so exactly how are Jousting and playing sofa-forts degrading to a prostitute, more degrading than the examples i gave?

Yes, the bird-feeder one is a bit crass but I figure he was just trying to be offbeat.
posted by marienbad at 1:26 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

The quality of the "stolen" content is worth discussion, imo.

So if I steal your car, but the cops think it's a laughable car for you to own, no foul?
posted by rodgerd at 1:37 PM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yours is the first mention of Tumblr at all in this thread, muddgirl.

That is true... I don't quite get your point.
posted by muddgirl at 1:40 PM on June 2, 2011

By that token, it's just fine that the FJ people called Inman a "fag," because hey – they were just joking! Sadly, I don't think it works that way.

I am not saying you have to like or even appreciate it, but seriously, comedy is completely subjective. Do I think his site is genius; no; not even close. But I am seriously too concerned with real things in life than getting all outrage filter because some guy makes bad jokes about hookers. Family Guy and American Dad do the same shit; "I don't know what killed her; maybe it was when you stuffed all those dollar bills down here throat, maybe it was when you hit her with a chair. I don't know, I'm not a doctor..."

I also don't care whatsoever what someone calls someone else, ON THE INTERNET (of all places). Get back to me when he actually kills, abuses, or otherwise does wrong by a hooker; then I'll give a shit.

Oh, and if he's just an SEO whore, then really, what gives you the impression he believes in anything his comics portray. You're just picking and choosing things you don't like because clearly you don't like The Oatmeal from the looks of it.
posted by Dark Messiah at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I object to the phrase "SEO whore" as unfair to legitimate whores, who typically generate their own content.
posted by mek at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

I object to the phrase "SEO whore" as unfair to legitimate whores, who typically generate their own content.

They don't generate their own content; just a place to..... Nevermind.
posted by Dark Messiah at 2:38 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Family Guy and American Dad do the same shit

And they are also terrible. Popularity doesn't make something funny or socially acceptable.

Dead hooker jokes are not just unfunny - their incredibly lazy. Comedians have been drawing from that well since forever. Some people really dig jokes that poke fun at people they perceive to be inferior (I guess because it makes them feel superior?), but I find it tiring.
posted by muddgirl at 3:12 PM on June 2, 2011

So if I steal your car, but the cops think it's a laughable car for you to own, no foul?

I'm just saying it's notable if the car was a tricked out Gremlin X. Not that it's no foul, just that the quality of the content is worth discussing.

After all, the explicit (perhaps original) purpose of copyright law is to encourage innovation. Does it do that? How does this case fit in, etc?
posted by mrgrimm at 3:25 PM on June 2, 2011

this is the internet endgame: a stolen boot stamping on a stolen face, forever.
posted by felix at 3:35 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Dark Messiah: “I am not saying you have to like or even appreciate it, but seriously, comedy is completely subjective. Do I think his site is genius; no; not even close. But I am seriously too concerned with real things in life than getting all outrage filter because some guy makes bad jokes about hookers.”

I'm guessing if I say things like "jokes like this perpetuate rape culture," you'll roll your eyes. I don't know. Suffice it to say: the things people say to each other – including the jokes they make – are real things in life. They matter. They are important. And spreading around the attitude that killing prostitutes is funny, that gay people are worth mocking, etc – those are most definitely real things in life that hurt people. There's no abstracting from the harm they cause.
posted by koeselitz at 3:39 PM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

You may as well try to shut down porn. Or The Huffington Post.

I just imagined 'The Huffington Porn' and my downunder parts got all shrivelly.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:29 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Or Post Porn, which sounds very interesting, and either stimulating in an academic sense or erotic in a Kafkaesque sense.
posted by oxford blue at 6:49 PM on June 2, 2011

SEO spammer vs. Content thief. The battle of who I could care less about.
posted by delmoi at 7:36 PM on June 2, 2011

I think FunnyJunk shouldn't be stealing stuff. So no argument there. I get why he was mad and FJ seems like a leech of a site.

However, about the rest of it, my opinion of the Oatmeal has gone way down recently. I started following his Facebook feed because I liked a lot of his comics, but I wish I hadn't because now I just get frequent reminders of how little self-awareness he has. It's really uncomfortable to be a fan of someone and just cringe when I read some of the stuff he says. I mean, people have already mentioned the misogyny, so I won't rehash that. But the first thing I thought of when I read the "their favorite noun was fag" quote, I guess because it's a word-to-word comparison, was that his favorite noun is retard. If the idea is to make fun of his detractors for being lazy, repetitive, and offensive, well.

And speaking of "retard," he uses the term most in that Geocities-era homepage thing he does where he posts dumb e-mails he gets and then insults the people who sent them. It's even called "Retarded Emails." I facepalm whenever I see this because it just makes him come across like a teenager who's trying to get an ego boost by needlessly bashing an easy target in public. When the internet was young maybe this held some novelty, but now people routinely read stupid comments daily on every website they visit and most recognize what low-hanging fruit it is. Someone sent him a dumb e-mail and he makes a big production out of it? And this is evidence of his superior intelligence? Worse yet, his responses are often along the lines of "you're fucking stupid" with nothing clever. Okay, great? Why bother posting that? It comes across like this transparent ego/insecurity thing that triggers him to reflexively say, "NO YOU'RE DUMB!" and then post it to get direct validation from his fans that the person is soooo dumb amirite? It's so uncomfortable to see someone trot that out in front of so many people.

I saw the FunnyJunk thing unfold on Facebook the other day and it was just like a drawn out version of his Retarded Emails except with some rational justification for his pursuing the issue. It wasn't creative either, just a bunch of insults that fell flat; it's like he gets all riled up and loses all conception of what's funny. I read his comics and (except for the handful of lazy/offensive ones) can barely believe it's the same person; so many of the comics are clever and creative and hilarious, but on Facebook he just seems fragile.

I liked him on FB so I could get alerts to new comics, but now I'm probably just going to unlike him so I don't have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of reconciling my appreciation of most of his comics with this whole bruised internet tough-guy thing he's got going. I hope he finds some self-esteem quickly because he's not funny without it; people are going to keep sending him dumb e-mails and he's probably going to have to deal with things similar to FJ in the future and it would be a shame for all his talent to get drowned out by his internet tantrums.
posted by Nattie at 7:50 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Some of my favorite nouns are fags.
posted by Splunge at 9:19 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Given the shady nature of both sites, I wouldn't be surprised if they were both in on the idea of intentionally creating a bit of internet drama to increase traffic to both sites.

Neither of them had much to lose - the oatmeal had pretty much fallen off the radar after his little stouche with reddit and funnyjunk has always been in the background.
posted by gronkpan at 10:36 PM on June 2, 2011

What's the difference between folks here on the blue declaring some topics off-limits for humor and fundy muslims doing the same over cartoon images of their prophet? This isn't "shouting fire in a crowded theater" speech, these are (mostly) tasteless comics. Does anyone honestly believe that an inane webcomic making a joke about killing prostitutes is actually going to lead to someone committing such an act?
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 2:50 AM on June 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow, I always thought the Oatmeal was pretty mediocre but it turns out that that impression was based on the comics that had been posted to Metafilter. The ones that Metafilter rejected are truly horrible.

However, please stop acting like the theft of content isn't worth discussion though.

For once "theft" is the appropriate word; this is genuine plagiarism.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:01 AM on June 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

We should definitely murder the oatmeal artist. That guy should be killed.

On preview: Purposeful Grimace, exactly!
posted by ryanrs at 3:35 AM on June 3, 2011

What's the difference between folks here on the blue declaring some topics off-limits for humor and fundy muslims doing the same over cartoon images of their prophet?

Congratulations! You have asked The Stupidest Rhetorical Question On Metafilter So Far™

You don't get a trophy, you get a stern fucking look from the wonderchicken. Which is worth a thousand goddamn statuettes.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:14 AM on June 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

I feel like I have to mention this every day:

Freedom of expression works both ways. Inman is free to write lazy jokes for his comics (I mean seriously, "Whores are objects because we fuck them without feeling" has got to be older than Western Civilization) and the rest of us are free to criticise him for his stupid jokes.
posted by muddgirl at 6:50 AM on June 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

Does anyone honestly believe that an inane webcomic making a joke about killing prostitutes is actually going to lead to someone committing such an act?

The point is that if you do tread on sensitive subjects, do it with style and humor. The killing a prostitute thing was as lazy as lazy gets. For what end?

Shorter: if you're going to be offensive, it has to be funny. Or at least clever. Or *more* offensive, if that's the point (e.g. Truly Tasteless Jokes).

Does anyone honestly believe that an inane webcomic making a joke about killing prostitutes is actually going to lead to someone committing such an act?

That's obviously not the point. The point is that he's reinforced a rather negative stereotype of prostitutes as disposable women to make a lame joke about why you always should keep a shovel around. Edit that shit out.

Nothing is off limit for humor in my opinion. But likewise, no one is immune from criticism.

Or what muddgirl said faster and better.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:02 AM on June 3, 2011

And people wonder where the phrase "choking the chicken" comes from.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 6:58 PM on June 3, 2011

Thank you outrage filter, you never cease to let me down. I not only roll my eyes at "perpetuating rape culture", I'm actively trying to stifle a full-on gut laugh. Seriously, a web comic that take 10 minutes to draw and post -- and likely involved that much forethought as to the subject -- is clearly a sign of the end times and society's continual decline into PLANET OF THE RAPES!!!

Personally, I think some of you think about rape just a little too much.
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:35 AM on June 5, 2011

That may be, but some people aren't really given the option to not think about rape.
posted by empath at 9:48 AM on June 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hmm... I could spend a pleasant afternoon learning about a topic that I had never considered before, such as rape culture. OR, I could dismiss it with incredibly hyperbolic language because it hurts to think about new things and I am defensive about that.

Yes, let's go with the second one.
posted by muddgirl at 3:43 PM on June 5, 2011

"Thank you outrage filter, you never cease to let me down. I not only roll my eyes at "perpetuating rape culture", I'm actively trying to stifle a full-on gut laugh. Seriously, a web comic that take 10 minutes to draw and post -- and likely involved that much forethought as to the subject -- is clearly a sign of the end times and society's continual decline into PLANET OF THE RAPES!!!

Personally, I think some of you think about rape just a little too much."

Man, I can't believe all those black people complaining about racist cartoons. After all, they probably only took five minutes to draw, and it's not like anybody still gets lynched, so what's the problem?

Honestly, I think people just want to find racism.
posted by klangklangston at 8:12 PM on June 5, 2011 [2 favorites]